57
In the early dawn, with dew dangling on the leaves.
All five people, including Yeon Ji-ho, were up early preparing to leave. With the increased number of people and more luggage, there was a lot to prepare before departing.
“Mr. Ji-ho, does this carriage perhaps repel magic too?”
“No, of course not.”
Since Apophis had been practically chased out by Set last night, he was satisfying his curiosity by going in and out of the caravan as soon as he woke up. As he knocked on the exterior walls of the caravan, he seemed to find it quite sturdy and had many questions.
“Then does it stop swords? The carriages in our world are mostly made of wood, so if a sword or spear were to be stuck in, those inside would likely die.”
“Uh… I’m not sure, but it should be sturdier than wooden carriages.”
“I see, as expected!”
Apophis smiled with a strange expression at Yeon Ji-ho’s answer and slowly backed away. Then he cautiously approached Isquis, who was fluttering with his wings fully spread beside him.
“Ack!”
Before Isquis could gather his wits, Apophis plucked one of his wing feathers. Isquis scolded Apophis with tears in his eyes.
“You snake bastard, why’d you suddenly pluck my feather!”
“All the pens are broken and gone.”
Apophis pointed the feather upright, then took out a black ink from his pocket. He dipped the tip of the wing feather into the ink container, coating it with black liquid.
Soon after, he began to write something on the white wall of the caravan. Yeon Ji-ho, watching from the side, asked with curious eyes.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a magic circle. Nothing special… It’s a lightweight magic spell that’s said to be engraved on all new model carriages these days.”
“Why are you drawing that with my feather!”
Although Isquis was complaining, he didn’t get angrier. Apophis seemed to have expected this much and was lightly ignoring it.
“This should be enough for two horses to pull without strain.”
As the conversation with Apophis was ending, Shango and Set, who had gone to look around briefly, returned. Thanks to their enormous builds, they were quite noticeable from far away in the forest.
Set, turning his head, met eyes with Yeon Ji-ho and approached with quickened steps and a surprised expression. He asked with furrowed brows.
“Ji-ho. Surely you weren’t working?”
“Ah, no. I was just watching Mr. Apophis engrave a magic circle on the caravan.”
Only upon hearing this did Set relax the furrow between his brows. Then he called together Shango, who was slowly following behind him, and Apophis and Isquis, who were bickering.
“The caravan… no, the carriage will head to the ‘Village of Time’ as we discussed yesterday. And Isquis, you already know.”
“Yes! I’ll spy on the imperial palace and fly back like light!”
“Good.”
Unlike when dealing with Apophis, Isquis straightened his body and answered with a proud face, baring his fangs. It had been decided that among the five people here, Isquis, with his good mobility, would go to check on Baal’s condition rather than going to the Village of Time to meet Chronos.
As a result, they would part ways with Isquis here. Yeon Ji-ho, glancing at him, went into the caravan and came back with something he had gathered.
“Mr. Isquis.”
“Yes, Mr. Ji-ho!”
“This… it’s not much, but it’s something I bought as a gift from my world.”
Yeon Ji-ho handed Isquis a paper bag made of kraft paper. Contrary to expectations that he would immediately tear it apart, Isquis glanced at Set’s reaction. Only when Set nodded did he start to carefully tear it open with his nails.
“What’s… this? Ah, no. What is this, Mr. Ji-ho?”
Isquis kept touching the object that came out of the paper bag with his fingers. The rustling sound of plastic material kept tickling their ears.
Isquis, who had first examined the texture, finally held up the item wide open. Yeon Ji-ho explained with a grin.
“It’s a windbreaker. When we flew together last time, I noticed it was colder up there than down here.”
Obviously, it was colder up in the sky than here. Moreover, when his wings flapped rapidly to move forward, the wind felt like someone slapping their cheeks.
Isquis had been flying around in such winds wearing only a single tunic that commoners typically wore. According to Shango, it was difficult to find proper clothes due to the peculiarity of his wings.
That’s why a windbreaker was chosen. Yeon Ji-ho pulled the zipper of the windbreaker open and showed Isquis how to put his arm in.
“Like this, zip it up like this, and there. Your wings can come out here.”
It was a stroke of genius to have asked the neighborhood tailor to modify the back part of the windbreaker, making a large hole for the wings to easily come out. Isquis put on the clothes with an awkward face, stretching out his wings and arms.
Yeon Ji-ho went in front of him like dealing with a younger brother and zipped it up himself. Zipping it up to the neck and flipping the hood over, he looked just like a Korean teenager. Just with wings attached.
“It looks good, doesn’t it?”
Buying a windbreaker in only black and white to match Isquis’s dark wing color was a very good choice. As Yeon Ji-ho looked at Isquis’s clothes with a satisfied face, Isquis’s face turned bright red.
“You, you say it looks good? Me?”
“Yes, the clothes suit you well. Make sure to zip this up when you go up in the sky.”
Only then did Isquis look down at the windbreaker he was wearing with an excited face. He fiddled with the zipper unnecessarily and touched the rustling material of the collar.
Yeon Ji-ho didn’t know, but this was actually the first time Isquis had received clothes as a gift from someone.
Since he was abandoned on the battlefield and had wings attached to survive, he had never cared about clothes. Clothes were just fabric to cover important parts of the body, nothing more, nothing less.
To begin with, Isquis was the only human with wings in this world. Even if he went to general stores or fabric shops, there were no clothes for humans with wings. So he had just bought any clothes and torn the back part with his nails to wear…
“How is it? Do you like it? Shango chose the design!”
“…I didn’t choose it, you just asked which one was better between two…”
“Bird-brain, you finally look like a person for once.”
Not only Yeon Ji-ho, but Shango and Apophis also chimed in. Although they didn’t want to outright say it suited him well, they seemed to think it wasn’t bad as they kept glancing and nodding.
Set, who had been looking at Isquis for a while, finally spoke. Everyone who had been chattering among themselves focused on his low voice.
“Isquis. You look just like a boy.”
“…!”
At his words, Isquis’s eyes widened. Looking like a boy. It was something Isquis had never heard in his life.
‘Mom! Mom!’
‘What’s this little brat?! Who brought him?!’
‘He’s the new recruit drafted as of today! They say his mother dumped him here and left with some bread.’
A poor orphan abandoned on the battlefield. Isquis had never particularly been ashamed of this fact. There were quite a few others like him.
‘Do you want to survive?’
Then one day, Set, whom he met, threw only one question at Isquis, who was crawling on the ground. The question of whether he wanted to survive in this miserable hell.
‘If you want to survive, become a beast of Gorgon.’
‘A beast…?’
‘At least you won’t die.’
Surviving like a beast.
It was the words that the beasts of Gorgon prioritized above all else. Isquis was drawn to the single phrase that he wouldn’t die and became a beast, and as a result, received wings.
For him, wings were his second life and a symbol of his existence.
But on the other hand, those wings made Isquis no longer an ordinary human.
“That’s right. He looks like a boy who plays a lot of mean pranks on girls.”
“Puhk, puhuhup! Now that Mr. Ji-ho mentions it, he really does look like a kid!”
Isquis fumbled to raise his hands and touched his clothes and the wings that poked out between them. Unlike always when they would tear through his clothes haphazardly, this was the one and only piece of clothing made for his wings, for him.
The moment he realized this fact, Isquis’s face turned bright red. He couldn’t look straight at Yeon Ji-ho’s face, which he had been casually looking at until now, and lowered his eyes.
“Isquis! Isquis! Control your expression properly! His Excellency is glaring at you!”
“Ah, ah, no, that’s not what I…”
Isquis stuttered his words, unlike his usual self. Finally, he shouted loudly.
“It’s because I’m happy!”
