Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
61. Rival (9)
The wall of grass disappeared and a quiet place[1] inside of the old castle was revealed.
There laid a case wrapped in a bundle of a shabby cloth.
As it was an item that must’ve been scheduled to be put on the auction, it should have been at minimum taken care of enough not to gather dust, but it seemed that they had no plans of treating the Danu gods tribe’s treasure with respect.
However, the treasure didn’t budge.
My guess that with the Power of Fate in the moment I faced the divine treasure had something to do with it was a miss.
‘If not with the divine treasure, what did the Power of Fate interfere with?’
The answer came from the side.
Swish!
The superpower wave poker cards, that the Phantom Thief Neon was holding, scattered in the air.
The Phantom Thief Neon quickly unfolded his superpower wave, so the cards didn’t scatter on the ground, but the cards were floating everywhere in the air just like before.
Seeing the fluttering Phantom Thief Neon, Gu Seulbi looked at him with a pathetic gaze.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“I didn’t make a mistake. The phantom thieves don’t make mistakes!”
Didn’t that very phantom thief do a mistake?
Because the in-story mistakes of the Phantom Thief Neon looked like abject failures.
And I hated to admit it, but ‘that word’ me also committed mistakes a few times and made my angel Snare suffer a few times.
“This…. Is ‘that Person’s’ interference!”
The Phantom Thief Neon’s poker cards were engraved with the patterns of spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs, and numbers, but one card was different.
That card was engraved with a swan, fidchell and chess pieces.
I don’t know if it was because of the different symbols engraved, that superpower poker card was full of mysterious energy.
Paaa….!
A superpower wave spouted from the card, covered the surrounding and the sight suddenly changed.
In my vision that changed to black, the surrounding became quiet.
There was no sound of the Phantom Thief Neon and Gu Seulbi’s bickering, and I didn’t see the remains of the grass wall and the divine treasure wrapped in a shabby cloth.
‘I came to this place again..?’
Now this space felt familiar.
Because not a long time ago I met with the Dragon King God in a similar space to this one.
‘Looks like it activated through the card the Phantom Thief Neon had, and it looks like a higher being has a connection with the Phantom Thief Neon, huh?’
The swan mask the Phantom Thief Neon was wearing, and the swan pattern engraved on the card.
The chess pieces and similarly shaped pieces of fidchell engraved on its sides.
And this location and situation within the sphere of influence to the Celtic myths.
When considering the two, there was one higher being the name of which I recalled.
‘Was the Phantom Thief Neon connected with Midir, as Heuk-ma predicted?’
Whoosh…!
The light above shook gently, and gradually became brighter.
In shining light, a man wearing white clothes and eyes blocked by a swan mask appeared.
Midir adjusted the sleeve with three cranes and quietly looked down at me.
“Hello.”
As I politely greeted him, the faint light shined brightly like it gained back life.
Midir returned the greeting.
[Okay, hi. You’re a really polite kid, huh?]
It felt like every higher being I met made such a sound.
I only gave an ordinary greeting, why would they add that?
[It became difficult for us to meet humans after the era of myths ended. Perhaps you feel very polite because it has been a long time since I received a human greeting.]
As if he noticed my doubts, Midir spoke with laughter.
Looking at his attitude without an ounce of shadow, I had a thought:
‘This Midir probably reunited with Étaín, huh?’
The conclusion of the myth related to Midir divided into two, he either reunited with his lover or wasn’t able to do so after finishing his adventure.
This world’s Midir seemed to have safely reunited with his lover Étaín.
[Huhuhu, it seems I did well lending my power to the phantom thief, huh? It’s always a delight to get back what was lost and get even. And there were many good meetings in that process.]
It seems the trigger for Midir and the Phantom Thief forming a connection was this auction.
In PMH, painter Hong Gyeongbok lost his disciple and was spending his days lethargically, so the fact that ‘Imoogi’s Rise To Heaven’ was stolen wasn’t known.
However, in this world he actively stepped forward and contacted the press, announcing that the ‘Imoogi’s Rise To Heaven’ was stolen.
‘So unlike in PMH, the Phantom Thief Neon came here, and formed a connection with Midir, huh?’
If it was a higher being, who left his name in the myths through the adventure of getting back his lost lover, he would offer his hand with this recapture scheme.
The higher being Midir was famous in Celtic myths for his revenge, he might have already interfered through the Crow Demon King somehow.
[Fomori Demons made many preparations to shame us. We responded to that and made arrangements for a revenge.]
“… Revenge?”
I guess the Danu gods tribe didn’t just took their hands off this case and observed.
As higher beings, the range they could interfere with in this world was limited, and there were just a few moves they could play.
But I guess they were busy moving their hands on the other, unseen, side.
[Pretending to be inferior and making my opponent careless during the game is one of my specialties. Eochu Airem also fell for my tricks.]
By Eochu Airem, didn’t he mean the opponent Midir played chess against in the myth?
I remembered an anecdote about how he, who was famous as a fidchell genius, cleverly played moves that looked shabby to make the opponent let down his guard and caught Eochu Airem.
[In this case, they were wary of Jin people and us, but they didn’t pay attention to humans. The phantom thief and the Dream Demon’s disciple, the Crow Demon King’s child, the party of the human with the qualities for a king and you[2]. Everyone was personally guided by us or were provided information.]
By the party of the human with qualities for a king, did he mean Seong Gukeon?
It seemed that they leaked information to draw Seong Gukeon here.
“The goal was to steal the divine treasure with human hands?”
[Yeah, there is nothing more refreshing than reclaiming the divine treasure with the hands of humans, who the Fomori Demons are looking down upon. Stealing the other auction items is the same.]
The Fomori Demons asked Seong Gukeon to destroy the divine treasure with his own hands.
The two had similar thoughts on certain meanings.
Both camps wanted to take care of the divine treasure with the hands of humans to disgrace and humiliate each other.
Midir’s explanation continued.
[I’m sorry to the child I gave a blessing to, but it seems that your group put their hands on the work of the genius, who couldn’t become a dragon, huh?]
It seemed that Seong Gukeon and Jeon Mu-yeong safely put their hands on the ‘Imoogi’s Rise To Heaven’.
It wasn’t a divine treasure, but perhaps because Fomori Demons wouldn’t be in a good mood about it, Midir continued to have a smile on his face.
‘Then the Danu gods tribe are actively interfering, though they mobilized indirect methods to do so.’
It seemed that the Danu gods tribe prepared an enormous board and made a plan to steal the divine treasure from the beginning.
If so, the Danu gods tribe must have figured out the Fomori Demons’ power.
I suddenly felt pissed.
They might have not know about the ability to turn a space into an otherworld, but the Danu gods tribe knew about the one-eyed giant demon king Balor’s existence more than anyone else.
‘If someone was touched by the Balor’s gaze, they could’ve died…!’
Even though it was thanks to the Danu gods tribe sprinkling information, the lead to find the ‘Imoogi’s Rise To Heaven’ was obtained, and the retrieval process became easier, it bothered me.
I couldn’t stay quiet.
“The Phantom Thief Neon and Merlin’s disciple were almost in danger, because they were exposed to Balor’s eye.”
I said it was because of higher beings, but Midir’s smile thickened.
Far from being angry, his face looked to be in a very good mood.
[You’re not only a polite, but also a kind kid, huh?]
“…”
[We’re also wary of the Eye of Death Balor has. That’s why we prepared gifts for those children.]
Superpower wave flowed from Midir’s fingertips and coagulated, forming some kind of shapes.
One shape was a card, the other an oak tree cane.
It seemed to be the representation of the weapon items the Phantom Thief Neon and Gu Seulbi had.
[We’ve personally put protection blessing[3] on them, so they could block Balor’s eye once. I have no plans making shabby moves with the child I gave a blessing to. And…]
Midir whispered with a playful voice.
[The treasure you just put your hands on is the spear from the myth of breaking that demon king’s eye. Don’t worry. Once that spear is in your hands, Balor can’t do any nonsense.]
The weapon, which blocks Balor’s eye.
One of the Danu gods tribe’s four divine treasures.
There was just one weapon that matched those criteria.
The head of Tuatha Dé Danann, sun god Lugh, he had in his possession a five forked spear that guaranteed victory.
When I was carefully choosing what I should say, Midir burst out laughing.
[Huhuhuh, as it seems like you’re a kind child, I probably can rest assured and leave this divine treasure to you, huh?]
“Yes? You’re leaving the divine treasure to me?”
[It’s time, huh? Take good care of those two kids.]
What did he mean by leaving the divine treasure to me and taking good care of the two?
I naturally thought that if someone was going to retrieve the divine treasure, it would be with Gu Seulbi’s hands and passed on to Merlin!
[I got back Étaín, but I can never regain the memories and time I could’ve spent with her. Help my kid not experience the same thing.]
Those words of Midir were overflowing with regrets.
As Midir, who had to spend his time alone through the repeated adventures and hardships, couldn’t regain that time, even if he regained his lover, those feelings were natural.
‘If it’s memories and time that the Phantom Thief Neon could’ve lost, perhaps…’
Before I could answer Midir’s words or say a goodbye, Midir simply finished what he had to say and left.
In an instant, Midir’s presence scattered, and instead a warm voice touched my ears.
At some point, I returned to the old castle.
And as if not a lot of time has passed, Gu Seulbi and the Phantom Thief Neon were arguing.
“If the phantom thieves don’t make mistakes, then what is it?”
“It’s not a mistake, but it’s something close to a mistake.”
“Then shouldn’t you just say you made a mistake?”
The Phantom Thief Neon was steadfast holding his guard, while he was collecting the superpower poker cards.
Strictly speaking, it was because of the Power of Fate’s interference and Midir’s will that the item he put a protection blessing[3] on moved on its own, so it wasn’t the Phantom Thief Neon’s mistake.
‘Anyway, it would be good to take the divine treasure and retreat right now based on what Midir said.’
I was confused, but I decided to follow Midir’s words first.
Because according to his words, if it was the ‘Spear of Lugh’ and the Phantom Thief Neon and Gu Seulbi had a method to block Balor’s gaze, then Balor would be absolutely unable to chase us.
I stretched out my hand towards the divine treasure.
“Wait, we don’t know if there is nothing like an alarm installed on it!”
“If that divine treasure is a weapon, there is a possibility that a rejection reaction will occur if you just touch it!”
Spear of Lugh, Sword of Nuada.
Those two divine treasures were the weapons in the hands of gods, who were picked as the greatest gods in that period even among the higher beings that appeared in the Celtic myths.
In addition, this land was a land greatly influenced by the Celtic myths.
If one just dared to put a hand on those weapons, a heavenly punishment would befall them.
But that was not a problem.
‘The higher being Midir personally said he was leaving the divine treasure to me, and I have that skill.’
The ability to use any weapon or armor.
I possessed this skill from the moment I came to this world.
〈Skill ‘Use of Everything’ activated. 〉
*~*~*
[1] quiet place — 정경 (jeonggyeong), it’s very unclear to me if it was supposed to mean a quiet place or a scene invoking a feeling.
[2] …the party of the human with the qualities for a king and you. — okay, this sentence is a bit funny, because you could also read it as ‘human group and you’, implying that Jo Uisin is in fact not human. But it would be a bit of a logic twister if it was what Midir meant.
[3] protection blessing — our favorite not the blessing from the system window.
Translator’s note: Can gods not drive me crazy for just one day?
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