REAPER SCANS
Swordmaster’s Youngest Son
[Translator – Junseo]
[Proofreader – Valirius]
Volume 10 Chapter 353 - The Final Stage of Bradamante’s Strengthening (2)
[You won’t be able to obtain it with money or items.]
“I did think that would be the case.”
[But you’ll still need some gold. Well, maybe a little more than some.]
“I’ll need gold?”
When Picon mentioned needing gold, Murakan’s eyes widened as if he’d thought of something.
“Hey, Picon. You can’t be talking about Ozdok, right?”
[Oh, you remember the name.]
Jin knew that name as well.
“Ozdok? The monster from the folktales of the Eastern Continent?”
In the Eastern Continent, there was a folk story that was passed down orally about a monster called Ozdok.
It was about a gold-eating monster, greedy humans who offered gold to wield the monster’s power, and about a country that fell to ruin as a result of those people rising to power.
Since it was such a famous story, even Jin had heard of the name.
It was a common folk story that could be found in all parts of the world, but with the name of the monster changed. It was to teach the moral lesson that excessive greed led to ruin and that corruption led to misery.
[Times have really changed. Kids these days only think that Ozdok is a monster from a story, but he was a real headache back in our time. That thing ate about thirty percent of the world’s gold reserves.]
“He’s still alive? He wasn’t subjugated after I fell asleep?”
[He sealed himself beneath what used to be the Salva Kingdom. Since the Salva Kingdom, his previous base, was destroyed, there wasn’t any more gold for him to acquire.]
Ozdok was a monster that was awakened through gold, and as such, was powerless without it.
After the fall of the Salva Kingdom, Ozdok chose to fall into a long sleep rather than to leave in search of gold.
He’d made that decision based on his instinct that if he were to recklessly search for gold, he wouldn’t be able to survive in the world that was led by the heroes of the two clans, Runcandel and Zipfel.
It was a respectable decision, but luck was not on his side.
While Ozdok sought safety deep below the land of the fallen Salva Kingdom, the Black Sea began to ‘expand’.
In the present day, the land where the Salva Kingdom once stood was thought to be part of the Black Sea. However, a thousand years ago, it was just ordinary land.
[As the Black Sea expanded rapidly, Ozdok was buried under its poisonous encroachment. I suppose he was buried alive while trying to hibernate.]
“So, you want the kid to awaken the sealed Ozdok, catch him, and bring you his core?”
[That’s right.]
“You crazy baldy. Do you think the kid is one of the ten great knights of the old Runcandel? By what means do you expect him to be able to catch Ozdok?”
[You’re with him. Ozdok is also in a much weaker state than he was back then. He’s basically a corpse.]
After a thousand years without consuming gold, Ozdok had lost most of his formerly fearsome strength.
“And what if he turns out to be perfectly fine? Have you considered what might happen if we awaken him for no good reason? Did you forget how much of a pain in the ass he was a thousand years ago, huh?”
As Murakan said, Ozdok was a headache for the entire world during those times.
Before he settled in the Salva Kingdom, there were countless civilian casualties, skyrocketing gold prices, and the world’s economy was shaken.
Runcandel, Zipfel, Vermont, and all the other powers of the time invested considerable effort to capture Ozdok.
There was no reason why so many of the world’s powers joining together wouldn’t be able to subdue him by force.
However, no one knew of how dangerous he was until just before and during his transformation to become a ‘core monster’.
In other words, the powers were slow to react.
By the time the great powers decided to properly subdue him, Ozdok had already taken the people of the Salva Kingdom hostage in order to use them as a shield.
So, while the great powers were looking for an opportunity to kill Ozdok while minimizing casualties, the Salva Kingdom was destroyed.
[Hey, I told you, he’s definitely a lot weaker!]
“Oi, baldy. No matter how I think about this, it's suspicious. Last time as well, in the first tomb, I had a hard time because of Silderei. I have a feeling the same thing will happen with Ozdok. I have my doubts about waking him up and this is my first time ever hearing that you need a monster core to forge a weapon…”
Clap!
Murakan, who had been pondering for a moment, clapped his hands as if he had remembered something.
“I’ve got it, you bastard. You’ve got a guardian dragon now, don’t you? That’s why you want us to bring Ozdok’s core, so you can use it as an elixir, isn’t that right?”
It was known that a monster’s core was of no use to humans.
But it was the highest tier of elixir for dragons. It was one of the few means that could drastically increase the energy of a dragon’s heart in an instant.
[Ha! Are those the only kind of thoughts you’re capable of? I, Picon Minche, have never told a lie. Guardian dragon? If I had one of those, I wouldn’t even have asked Jin to come here. I would’ve just sent the guardian dragon instead.]
“I don’t believe it.”
[Argh! If you don’t want to go, then don’t! Here I am, going through all this effort to complete your weapon, and you’re treating me like some sort of fraud!]
“Picon, that was him, not me. Hey, Murakan. Why are you being so rude to Picon? Huh?”
Jin began to gently console Picon.
To tell the truth, Jin had a similar train of thought to some extent. Not only was it risky to awaken such a dangerous monster, it also brought back memories of the hardships they faced in the first tomb.
But Picon didn’t seem to be lying.
And it also occurred to him that catching Ozdok could be used for more than just crafting a sword.
“Please calm down, Picon. You want to complete your masterpiece as well, don’t you?”
“Hm, hm. Yeah, okay. I’m sorry. You want us to wake up Ozdok and capture him, right?”
As Murakan spoke, treading carefully, Picon nodded.
[Anyway, you damned Black Dragon. If it wasn’t for Jin, I wouldn’t have even given you scraps, damn it.]
A vein bulged on Murakan’s forehead. But he endured it, scratched the back of his head, and smiled awkwardly.
“Haha, right, right… We’ll be going, then. Since it won’t be a bad idea to kill him once and for all.”
[If you obtain the core, you have to bring it to me whole, without taking a single bite, Murakan.]
“I get it. I don’t need something like that to be strong anyway.”
* * *
August 28th, 1799.
A giant cat with cheeks so full it looked like it might burst walked along the outskirts of the Black Sea.
It was Shurry.
Shurry was once again demonstrating her abilities as a mythical beast and was finding the location of where the capital of the old Salva Kingdom once was with ease.
It was an area she had visited several times when she was Helluram’s cat, so it remained in her memory.
“I thought this last time as well, but this cat… I’m growing fond of her. Won’t you give her to me? It seems like she likes me as well.”
Mary said, patting Shurry’s back.
“No.”
“Then I’ll win this match and use my right as the winner to take her. Hehehe.”
The reason she rode on Shurry’s back with Jin and Murakan was to decide the victor.
They chose the ‘subjugation of Ozdok’ as the condition for the match rather than a one-on-one duel.
They decided to fight together against Ozdok and see who could deal more blows, who contributed more, and who took the last hit to determine who would win.
Murakan took the role of referee and safety guard in case of emergency. Just in case the two were unable to take Ozdok down with their combined strength, the match would be nullified and all three of them would then engage in battle.
Of course, Mary didn’t know that this was a task to strengthen the youngest’s sword.
‘It’s true that I’m grateful to Mary for many things, but I feel it would be dangerous if I let her know about Vin Branche and Picon.’
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her as his ‘third sister’.
It was just that, if she were to learn of Vin Branche’s existence, then ‘Mary, the 7th flag-bearer of Runcandel’, would definitely make a decision that would benefit the clan.
And that would be pressuring the legendary blacksmith Picon Minche, Vin’s god, to work on weapons for not only Jin, but all of Runcandel.
‘Someday, I’ll make that happen, but now’s not the time.’
There was no way the proud Picon would accept that.
Ultimately, Runcandel was likely to take Vin hostage or force Picon to work through a show of force, so there was a very high possibility that trouble would break out.
And it was also obvious that any personal gain Jin could have gotten from Picon would then be restricted.
Until he was certain Mary was on the side of Jin Runcandel rather than simply Runcandel, he had to be cautious about sharing information.
“Anyway, you said a core monster, right? I’ve always wanted to face one someday. They say they’re on a whole different level than the odd monsters roaming around the Black Sea, so it won’t end so blandly, right?”
She couldn’t sleep all night because her heart was racing at the thought of fighting a formidable monster.
That was why she didn’t ask Jin how he knew about its existence.
Mary was the kind of person who didn’t care much about anything else as long as she could enjoy a good fight.
“Haha, if Ozdok was in his prime, you two wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
Murakan snorted as if Mary had said something cute.
Mary didn’t seem too offended.
“It seems that our Guardian Dragon really likes talking about being in one’s ‘prime’. Guardian Dragon, I’m just saying this just in case, but you won’t make any biased decisions as the referee, right?”
“Of course. No matter how I seem to you, I am an honest dragon.”
“Sounds good. After we catch him, let’s grab a drink when we get back. I heard you’re also interested in manhwa books. I have some nice ones in my collection.”
“Good alcohol and good manhwa, impressive. Let’s do that!”
Murakan and Mary got along well the whole way. Jin didn’t find it all that strange how they quickly became comfortable with each other as if they had been close from the beginning.
It was because he had secretly thought that the two of them would get along well.
“I think we’ve arrived.”
Shurry stopped.
In the middle of the outskirts of the Black Sea, all you could see was barren black land and sky. It was the site where the old royal palace of Salva, once built of gold, stood tall.
Meow—
Shurry opened her mouth wide.
Pouring out from it were gold ingots that had been packed tightly. They were the gold ingots he’d been carrying since leaving the clan to lure Ozdok out.
It goes without saying that humans entering the Black Sea was extremely rare.
On top of that, they were the only ones who came to the Black Sea with such a large amount of gold, and to the site of the old Salva Kingdom’s royal palace.
“A gold-eating monster, you say? Let’s see what it looks like. We’ve brought food, so show yourself!”
Mary shouted as she jumped down from Shurry’s back.
Rumble…!
A strong vibration began to spread across the ground they were standing on.
Reaper Scans
Translator – Junseo
Proofreader – Valirius
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Read the webtoon on https://reaperscans.com/comics/4050-swordmasters-youngest-son/
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