Blood Moon Rising Over The Plains - Chapter 6: The End (3)

—Yes, Master.

Following my Korean, Noah also answered in Korean. Okay, then.

Buka was seen trembling and putting his hand on the sword hilt at the voice that couldn’t be heard from where. Odobo and the soldier, who were hearing Noah’s voice for the first time, were the same.

I looked at them and unfolded three or four screens. The screens were filled with texts containing a lot of information such as weather, language patch progress, and body scan. Among them, I dragged the map with my fingertip and spread it wide.

“Find the life reactions inside the imperial castle.”

The Korean language, which came out more easily than the less learned Chinese, was enough to give instructions to Noah.

—Currently, there are 163,894 life reactions within the specified range.

“Expand the imperial castle. Limit the life reactions to humans.”

—Currently, there are 62,702 human life reactions within the specified range.

I looked at the yellow dots shining on the map. Among them, the place where Temujin made his subordinates gather the palace people according to my instructions was where the yellow dots were clustered together, making the size bigger. I pointed to that part with my finger.

“Delete the people in this part from the map.”

Okay. Then the red and blue dots gathered here are me and Temujin, and the three yellow dots together are Buka, Obodobo, and Obodobo’s soldier. The ones moving slowly on the outskirts must be Temujin’s subordinates. Huh?

“Buka. To the end of that room, go.”

Whether he understood my ambiguous words well, Buka moved to one side of the room as I said. Then, a yellow dot that overlapped with Buka’s yellow dot appeared in that place.

“Ah, found it.”

“Where is it?”

I moved Temujin’s finger and pointed right below.

“Below!”

It was said that what is under the lamp is dark, and it suited that saying perfectly. I was happy that I had found the Emperor and that my work was done, but somehow the faces of the other people became an indescribable expression.

“…Below? But we’ve checked all the secret passages and searched the palace.”

“There’s a secret passage that only the Emperor knows. Yeojin, can you also know how to get there?”

“Uhm. Noah, can you show me the perspective view of this place?”

—Possible.

“Deploy perspective view.”

Light beams extending from the watch created a small palace in a 3D hologram. Let’s see. I looked at the red dot where I was and pointed to the yellow dot located far below it.

“Guide me to the fastest distance to get to this person.”

—Switching to route guidance mode. It’s a 14-minute walk.

A line extending from the red dot where I was bent several times and connected to the yellow dot. I zoomed in on the details of that part and looked up at Temujin.

“Go like this, can.”

“Thanks to the [Fairy], it’s going to end quickly. I have to give you a lot of rewards.”

I frowned as his lips, flying in like tiny shards, grazed my eyes. Stubble hurts… I pushed Temujin’s face away, irritated by the beard scratching my skin.

“Ouch.”

—Danger alert. ‘Ouch,’ voice recognized as Master’s—

“Ah, cancel. Not this.”

—Master’s request: Level 9 alert canceled.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t deactivated the Level 9 alert yet. I nodded to myself, then met the eyes of the three people staring at me with dumbfounded expressions.

“No, how… how does the Imperial Palace know this in such detail…”

“T-This is a passage only known to the Imperial family, even this!”

“Good heavens, to think I would see a [Fairy] with my own eyes…!”

Startled by their gestures of reaching out to me as if praising something miraculous, I hugged Temujin tightly.

In response, Temujin hugged me back and turned his back, blocking my view. When I looked up, I saw Temujin turning his head, glaring behind him.

“Don’t touch her. Back off now.”

“How could you hide such a fact! If it’s the [Fairy], then long ago—”

“That’s why I hid it. Yeojin is my wife. Do you think I’d let you take her just because you covet her now?”

“Ha, the reason for hiding it is obvious. Lady Yeojin… ahem, I understand. We just won’t call her by name. You were worried that if ‘Khatan’s’ identity was revealed, many would target her.”

“Khatan?”

I looked up at Temujin, puzzled by the unfamiliar word. He nodded, interpreting the meaning familiarly.

“It means the wife of the Khan.”

Ah, so it means something like queen. I rested my chin on Temujin’s shoulder, who was still facing away, and raised my hand high.

“Me, identity, [Fairy], shouldn’t be known? Just don’t show abilities.”

If we see it as a shaman, there would be shamans without skills, so just don’t show my abilities, right?

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Absolutely not, it can’t be done.”

Contrary to my question, Temujin and Buka showed a firm attitude. Perhaps that word has a different meaning than just shaman?

“Well, enough about that. Buka, go and capture him.”

“Yes, Khan.”

Buka left, and Temujin turned to look at Odobo.

“Judging by the location, that one seems to be the Emperor, and the problem is the first prince. Do you have any idea?”

“…I don’t know. To be honest, Prince Yoonje is someone who hides a lot…”

I opened a screen and pulled up the map. Several groups moving with regular steps, Buka approaching the yellow dot that wasn’t moving in the secret passage, and four dots gathered here.

Expanding the range could be a futile effort since we didn’t know which direction or how far they had escaped. If I had scanned it, I could find them anywhere in the world.

“Hmm, we should crush the seeds so they can never [Rebuild] again. Prince, I’ll leave this problem to you now. Whether that guy comes back to try to seize the throne or plots something, it’s now your country’s business.”

“Yes, I will deal with my brother.”

“Also, Jin has just finished a [War]. The ministers will know of your betrayal, and even though I’m accepting you as a [Vassal State] and backing you, leading it is your responsibility.”

“…Yes, I know that well.”

“Ah, and don’t worry about the second prince. I’ll take care of him.”

I ignored their words and opened the progress of the Mongolian language. Still at 21%. Despite the time that had passed, the progress wasn’t increasing at all.

—Manual language patch requires some time as it recognizes and downloads surrounding languages. Network connection recommended.

I guess it’s because the environment is China. The only words I hear around me are Chinese, so there are few opportunities to collect Mongolian. Would it be better if I moved the location?

Oh, right, I need to check the satellite too, don’t I? Since everything is revealed anyway, I confidently extracted information from Noah.

“Noah, I thought this was the past where there were no satellites, but why is there a satellite here?”

—Information is insufficient. However, what can be confirmed with satellite access rights is the date of the last transmission record. The last date data was transmitted was June 19, 2208.

About 10 years after I disappeared. It seems the record was cut off at this time, and the date became unknown as the network was also cut off. GPS is possible as long as there is a satellite, separate from the network, so the latitude and longitude are displayed.

I was curious about what had happened, but Noah, a general artificial intelligence rather than a national information system, couldn’t confirm much even when accessing the satellite. Then I don’t know why history regressed to the past? Hmm.

“Has history ever been omitted like this in our previous generation?”

—There have been losses such as the Cretaceous period, the Mayan civilization, and the continents of Atlantis and Mu.

A time when various theories of destruction, such as volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts, and floods, circulated. Then, could the future civilization have been destroyed and reset while I was gone? Did the evolution of humans start again from ape-men?

I had hastily concluded that I had time-slipped to the past with only the tools of those who had regressed and the Great Wall of China. Prejudice is scary; even after retrieving Noah, I didn’t think to check. I thought it was strange that the date was unknown, but…

“Since the satellite is connected, there shouldn’t be any problem with executing the safety alert, right?”

—Yes. It is 100% linked in that regard.

“Are there any malfunctions or errors in the satellite? It couldn’t have been repaired for at least hundreds of years.”

—In the case of satellites, specially treated metals are used, so no separate repairs are necessary.

I didn’t know that. So that’s why it was fine even when the Level 1 alert was activated earlier. Hmm, come to think of it, I want to upload about the kidnapping, but that’s impossible forever, right? Because I don’t have the right to update Noah. Is this something I have to be careful about?

“Yeojin.”

While I was pondering, I heard Temujin’s voice.

“Yeah?”

“What are you thinking so intently about?”

“Safety?”

I answered Temujin’s words and looked around, but Odobo and the soldiers were nowhere to be seen. Ah, I wonder if Buka found them okay? Looking at the distance Noah told me earlier, it’s enough time to go and come back.

“Well, it seems like a useless thought.”

I shifted my gaze to the hand gently grabbing and turning my chin. I didn’t realize when the atmosphere had become like this, but my body leaned far back.

Thud, the smooth, enveloping red silk blanket received my body securely.

“Hmm, are you going to do it?”

“Why, there’s no way you wouldn’t want to… huh?”

Temujin gently took my raised ankle and kissed the top of my foot. As I wiggled my toes from the ticklish sensation, Temujin chuckled and kissed me repeatedly. His lips gradually moved up, stopping on the bandage wrapped around my instep.

“…There will never be a time when you get hurt like this again. There’s no need to think about safety.”

“But—”

“Never. I won’t let it happen.”

Eyes shining like sharply honed blades stared at the bandage wrapped around my ankle. I straightened my upper body, putting strength into my back. I reached out my arms and cupped Temujin’s cheeks, and Temujin’s gaze finally turned to me.

Somehow, the area under his eyes was dark, a tired look I had never seen before. The beard he had always trimmed had grown long in the past few days, and I could feel the rough texture. His faintly wavering gaze avoided mine, scanning the wrists and ankles wrapped in bandages.

“It’s okay.”

“It’ll be okay. Now it’s all over, and all that’s left is to return to Mongolia—”

“I’m not that hurt.”

“Because I healed everything.”

“Yeah, so it’s okay. I’m protected. Bang, bang from the sky, you saw it, right?”

“…Being protected after being hurt is a useless act.”

Ah, I have nothing to say about that. Temujin poked at the part I was already worried about, so I smiled awkwardly.

“Where I was, there’s nothing like this. So, dangerous, don’t know.”

“I can’t tell if where you were was [Heaven] or [Hell].”

I don’t know what that means.

“Still, I like it here better.”

“Why, because I’m here?”

Temujin mischievously raised the corners of his lips and gradually raised his hand as if lifting the hem of my skirt from my ankle.

“Yeah.”

Pause.

Why does he have such a stiff face when he asked the question himself? I tilted my head, then continued.