177 – Nymphs and the Dark Game #1
“Mr. Ildo, I hope we can meet in the field someday.”
Achilles came to pick me up at the airport.
A brief travelogue of Greece.
Looking back now, it seems many things happened.
“It means that everyone is doing well…! This Inoi is leaving Greece and returning to Korea, where advanced science has developed…!”
“This Coris prefers Korea to Greece…!”
“Of course…! Korea is the world of harsh capitalism…! Our nymphs absolutely love capitalism…! Long live capitalism…!”
The nymphs seemed to have no particular regret about leaving Greece, which resembled their homeland. Rather, they looked eager to return, dashing towards the airplane.
I boarded the aircraft with the nymphs.
Whoosh—.
The airplane began its ascent.
“Ah…! The airplane is taking off…! No nymph has surely soared so high in the sky like this Inoi…!”
As usual, Inoi was being overly dramatic.
Then, she pulled out a sleep mask from her pocket to cover her eyes and fell asleep.
Recently, having taken flights multiple times, it seemed that the nymphs no longer found flying particularly special.
The ancient fairies had fully adapted to the 21st century.
Flap—.
I opened the book “Path of Heroes” that I had obtained in Greece.
“Training List – Expected rewards upon completion.”
“Reward – Endurance 1 NP”
“Pet Coris’s head 0/1 times”
“Massage Coris’s legs 0/1 times”
“Not completed.”
I had recently patted Ari’s head and massaged her legs, so I had slightly expected the training list would be completed.
But it seemed Ari wasn’t Coris, as the training items did not update.
“What could it be?”
Coris.
It was a term used by the nymphs to refer to certain girls.
For example, it referred to someone like Seo Ye-rim.
“Pat Seo Ye-rim’s head and massage her legs?”
I imagined myself patting Seo Ye-rim’s head.
Why on earth would I ever pat the head of an S Rank, five-finger power-wielding fire witch?
It might even be easier to reach out and pat the head of the fierce pit bull from next door.
“Let alone massaging her legs.”
It was a moment when my expression crumpled.
A particularly challenging quest.
It appropriately described the “training” towards the path of heroes.
Whoosh—.
With that sensation, the airplane landed on Korean soil.
“Senpai, I’ll give you a ride home.”
“Is that okay? What will I do with all this gratitude?”
Ari, who had been oddly indifferent and cynical lately, started her car parked in the airport parking lot.
Vroom—.
Then a problem arose.
“This stone slab is too heavy to load…!”
“It might have been easier if it were a car as wide as Jina’s truck…!”
“Let’s try to squeeze it in somehow…! Let’s do it…!”
The nymphs had acquired a loot from Greece.
It was a small stone slab the size of a mini refrigerator, and on its flat surface, a sharp-eared woman resembling a nymph was intricately carved.
The peculiar point was that it had a long arrowhead-like tail, reminiscent of a demon or anthropomorphized germ.
“A nymph with a tail.”
It was a very intriguing stone slab.
Soon, the nymphs managed to shove the slab into Ari’s car trunk and crammed into the backseat.
I sat in the passenger seat and buckled up.
Vroom—.
Until the car started moving, Ari was quite talkative, creating an incredibly awkward atmosphere.
Not long ago, when I examined Ari’s body,
After she had said she needed to make a phone call and stepped away, Ari had returned and often gazed at the distant mountains or fell into silence.
There must be something going on.
“Ari, thanks for the ride. If you ever need help or are going through a tough time, just let me know.”
“Got it. Senpai, see you next time.”
Vroom—.
Ari’s car exited Primal Village.
The nymphs waved their hands toward Ari’s car.
“Morales…! Let’s play together again next time…!”
“Next time, let’s play hide-and-seek…!”
“Let’s have a talk about making money together…!”
Nevertheless, it seemed that the nymphs had a good time playing with the muddy nymph Morales.
Anyway.
I stretched out slowly, taking in the air of Primal Village that I hadn’t experienced in a while.
“Home is indeed the best.”
“This Inoi also feels good to be back home…! Greece had many old, dilapidated buildings and sometimes the air conditioning wouldn’t work, it was really terrible…!”
“This Coris would have almost become a boiling water nymph every time I went to places without air conditioning…!”
“Of course…! That Illinois agrees…! Korea, which has become the second largest GDP nation thanks to the advantages of the fifth industry, is truly a nymph-friendly country…!”
The nymphs seemed to have begun considering Korea as home or their hometown.
There were times when I pondered about what to do if the nymphs said, “This Inoi is a native nymph of Greece…! I want to stay in Greece…!”
But there were no such sentiments—it seemed like they had no attachments to Greece at all.
“Let’s decorate the yard with this stone slab of the nymph with a tail…!”
“Good idea…!”
“Let’s hurry home…!”
With that feeling, we arrived at the well house.
“Everything has been fine at home while I was away?”
When I opened the front gate and reached the yard, I could see that someone had used stones and branches to write my name “Haildo” in the yard.
It looked like some kind of message or distress signal, and I sensed I knew who had written it.
# # #
I crossed over the apple orchard and headed toward the wide rice field.
This abandoned rice field was the place where I had experienced an extraordinary encounter in the past.
There were small ants there, just as I remembered.
Skit-skit…!
“Did you call me?”
These ants were said to be wanderer ants or sage ants.
Unlike most ants that form communities, these ants enjoyed wandering here and there.
Additionally, they economically used items acquired while wandering, such as trading them for sugar, which is why they were also referred to as merchant ants.
I had previously given them sugar cubes to purchase “ant amber.”
It was said that this mysterious gem allowed one to understand the language of insects but could only perform its function if processed specially.
Of course, not just anyone could process it, and neither could nymphs like Inoi or Coris, so I carried the gem in its raw form.
“Just holding this increases my likability among insects, right?”
Whoosh—.
I took out the “ant amber” and showed it to the merchant ants.
Skit-skit…!
The merchant ants made delighted sounds.
It was as if they were saying, “We checked your ID…!”
Swish—.
The merchant ants began to gather items on an old cloth.
Shards of broken glass.
Ordinary looking stones.
Plastic bottle caps, and various other odds and ends.
It felt like they gathered all sorts of things that seemed fascinating and precious from an ant’s perspective.
Skit-skit…!
The ants were like, “If you want to buy something, feel free to choose…!”
However, to me, it just looked like a bunch of junk, and I didn’t want to buy anything.
“Is there nothing else? Is this it?”
Skit-shoo…!
Skit-new…!
The ants began to chatter among themselves as if they were having a meeting.
Soon, an ant that had disappeared into a nearby burrow reappeared about a minute later, offering me something.
Swish—.
It was a card.
One could even call it a card pack for a card game.
“This is a Duel Stone card, isn’t it?”
“Duel Stone” is a card game for two players where each card has attack and defense values for monster cards or special effects for spell cards, and the one who defeats the opponent first wins.
As an aside, it was a card game developed in collaboration between Egypt and Japan.
It was quite popular when I was in elementary school.
“Wow, it’s been a while. I used to play a lot when I was young. ‘Revengers of the Ancient Gods Pack’? They’re still selling this?”
Skit-skit…!
Feeling nostalgic, I decided to buy one card pack from the ants.
At that moment, an ant pointed to a small sign.
There was a circle drawn there, with “30” written on it.
Since I had “ant amber,” I felt like I understood its meaning.
“Are you asking for 30 whispering coins?”
Skit-skit…!
These ants had a thorough business concept.
They were totally capitalist ants.
“Well, I don’t have anywhere to spend it for a while anyway.”
I gave the merchant ants 30 whispering coins that Kkungkkungi often asked for and bought the “Revengers of the Ancient Gods Pack.”
Once I opened it, I found five identical regular cards, “Death Squirrel,” each with a level of 1 and an attack/defense value of 300/300.
By the way, “Death Squirrel” looked similar to a squirrel wrapped in bandages like a mummy.
“No, what? There are five identical cards?”
I felt like I had been cheated.
Well, that was usually how card packs felt.
You usually had to buy several to get a rare card.
“Should I buy a little more….”
As I pondered, I noticed the field where the merchant ants were staying.
There was no roof to block the rain, nor any shade.
“Wait a moment.”
I picked up a PP box nearby and laid some cloth inside, handing it to the ants.
The merchant ants, who suddenly had a makeshift camping site, were overjoyed.
Skit-skit…!
“Are you grateful? If you are, next time bring something more useful. Then I’ll give you a good price for this whispering coin.”
Skit-skit…!
After parting ways with the merchant ants on my way back.
“Ah…! Isn’t that a card from ‘Duel Stone’?”
When I returned to the well house, Illinois, who had been waiting in the yard for Seo Ye-rim, showed interest in the card pack I was holding. I found it even more surprising that a nymph knew about Duel Stone.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Muhuhuh, this Illinois was known as the nicknamed trickster of Springfield, nymph…! I have mastered just about every card game…! Did you know that the inventor of Indian poker was this Illinois…?”
It was the moment the nymphs became interested in card games.
# # #
In the golden gleaming desert of Egypt.
Standing there was a woman dressed in a white outer robe, gazing across the vast desert.
“Behold our deed. And you mighty ones, despair—.”
It was a soft poetic verse.
It was a poem celebrating Pharaoh Ozymandias, who was once called the sun of Egypt and brought prosperity to the desert.
In the era when the Pharaoh existed, golden temples and oases sparkled brightly in the desert, and all people sang of hope.
Of course, that brilliant achievement was buried in the sand and the desert climate, leaving nothing behind, to the point where one could even feel a sense of emptiness.
The woman, ranked S Class 4th, “Priestess – Teto,” with golden eyes, looked upon the vast desert, still harboring hope.
Teto asked.
“I hear that a pyramid has been discovered in the waters of Greece?”
Then, the male attendant, who had been silent like a shadow, bowed his head and replied.
“Yes. It seems the Greeks are trying to monopolize the information, but we have already completed our investigations too. They say a ‘slab’ was found as well. What will you do? Will you go to Greece?”
“No. The slabs discovered in the Greek pyramid are just stones from which the spirits have escaped. Therefore, they cannot be made into cards. Just take one. We must go to Korea.”
Teto tapped on her phone screen.
In Teto’s golden eyes, there was the pictograph of a girl with a pointed tail inscribed on a “slab.”
It was a photo posted by the nymph Illinois on social media.
“This little spirit with a tail will lead us back to the prosperity and glory of the divine age—.”
