The Harpy

[Simulation End]

As my vision cleared, I could still see Kallin standing rigidly before me with a tense expression. I stared blankly at him.

“W-what is it?”

His voice trembled with fear.

“…”

That’s right.

This guy used to call me ‘loser Jun-woo.’ Whenever I said anything, he’d humiliate me, and when our opinions clashed, he’d occasionally resort to his fists. And now he even insulted Yuria.

I’d always thought I should teach him a lesson someday… and now he’d conveniently walked right into it.

But…

My mind was occupied with entirely different thoughts.

“Why, why are you looking at me like that? W-what are you going to do?”

Despite his fear, Kallin was desperately trying to act tough. But his voice barely registered, dissolving before it reached my brain.

I was simply preoccupied with a question.

‘Why?’

The unanswered question repeated and grew larger.

‘Why did he die?’

I clearly hit him lightly, but for some reason, the guy had completely crumpled. Even though I’m a Mana User, that was strange power.

I absently stared at my hand. I could see my forearm and the magical power fluctuating inside it. The five-colored magical power was stretched taut and tense…

Wait. Taut?

Like waking from a dream, my mind suddenly cleared.

Ripple.

Perhaps because I’d become aware of it? The tautly stretched magical power rippled and spread out sluggishly as usual. Now the magical power flowed gently over my skin as it normally did.

‘That was… one of the two conditions for the Mana Sword.’

The first condition was the ‘unity of sword and self’ – mixing the sword’s mana with my own mana.

And the second condition was precisely this condensation of magical power.

So that’s it. Even my lightest punch had such devastating power because my magical power was condensed.

It was an amazing experience.

The magical power is always inside my body, but I can’t move it freely at will.

If I had to describe the difficulty level… it’s like trying to spread all your toes and then bend just your fourth toe. 

No matter how much you practice, you can’t move it independently. But then one day, you suddenly notice it’s curled all by itself!

I did it, but I don’t know how I did it.

‘Again. Let me try to condense it again!’

I clenched my fist tightly and concentrated with all my might. But only my brow furrowed while the magical power, once released, just rippled gently without condensing again.

How long had I been struggling like this when suddenly a voice mixed with crying and screaming hit my ears.

“A-alright! I was wrong!”

Huh? What’s this about?

I finally looked up to see Kallin trembling down to his chin with his head bowed. His eyes even seemed to be brimming with tears.

The march had somehow stopped.

Children and adults had gathered around me, watching with tense expressions.

Even Teacher Sena, who had been riding in the central tent-wagon, had ridden over to check on the situation.

With eyes full of caution, like someone dealing with an armed terrorist, Teacher Sena tried to calm me down.

“Baek Jun-woo. I don’t know what happened… but let’s stop here.”

Ah…

That’s when I realized.

I had been standing there with my brows severely furrowed, concentrating intensely… while emanating a Mana User’s aura.

And all the while, staring down at my tightly clenched fist.

In other words, I looked like a vicious Mana User contemplating whether to strike Kallin dead with one blow.

Sigh…

That’s not what was happening at all…

I used my fingers to carefully smooth out my wrinkled brow and shook my arms to relax my tense muscles. I also casually dispersed the intense aura.

“It’s a misunderstanding. Just a misunderstanding.”

I told the truth, but… damn it, I wouldn’t believe me either! The nomads’ suspicious gazes refused to leave me.

Kallin, who was thoroughly frightened, kept his head down and continued trembling.

“What’s going on? What happened here?”

Sensing my awkward predicament, Yuria rode over and asked. She seemed to be trying to break the tense atmosphere.

As expected of her… thank you.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was talking with Kallin when something suddenly occurred to me… really, it’s a misunderstanding. It’s nothing.”

From what Yuria was saying, it seemed she hadn’t heard what Kallin had muttered earlier, and it felt awkward to bring it up now, so I just tried to laugh it off.

But… Kallin was apparently more terrified than I thought. Without being prompted, he dug his own grave.

“N-no! It’s my fault! I-I’ll apologize! Yuria! I-I was out of my mind… just for a moment… I-I didn’t really mean to… I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Forgive me!”

Yuria’s eyes widened into perfect circles.

“Huh? What did you do to me?”

Kallin desperately cried out.

“I’m sorry! I was crazy! I was blinded by jealousy! I-I called you…”

“Called me what? What did you call me?”

“A-a filthy slut… I called you a filthy slut!”

I flinched in surprise. Originally, Kallin hadn’t said anything that harsh.

This guy… he must be really scared. His words are coming out all wrong.

But, whether it was nonsense or not… those words had already escaped his lips.

With her light blue hair swaying, Yuria flashed a bright white smile.

“Oh really?”

She moved without the slightest hesitation.

Smack!

She lightly pushed Kallin’s chest.

“Huh…? Waaaah!”

Kallin screamed as he tumbled from his horse.

“Oh!”

The entire nomad cried out in surprise.

Falls from horseback aren’t uncommon, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly. They can lead to serious injury or even death.

So to suddenly push someone off their horse?

In that moment of collective shock, Yuria’s hand moved like lightning.

Whirr!

She quickly tied a rope around the ankle of the falling Kallin and secured it to the saddle. Kallin didn’t hit the ground but instead hung upside down, half-draped over the saddle.

Her movements weren’t just fast but efficient and economical. In a word… elegant.

That wasn’t something that could be explained by strength or agility alone. It was pure skill.

Even as a Mana User, I couldn’t confidently say I could tie someone up that precisely.

“Aaaah! Waaah! Help me!”

Kallin hung upside down from the saddle, screaming and swinging.

Thanks to her impeccable knot, he wouldn’t die or get injured… but it still looked pretty terrifying.

“Reflect on your behavior for a while.”

After dusting off her hands, Yuria turned to the crowd with a fresh smile.

“Since Kallin was apologizing to me, I’ve given him a chance to reflect. Is that okay?”

Yuria smiled as sweetly as an angel.

Well, despite these little incidents, our journey was largely peaceful.

Especially compared to that desperate flight a month ago after killing the orc.

But a week later, I would say.

“Peaceful? What was peaceful about that… damned wilderness.”