Chapter 29

When Woojin pointed to an item in the corner of the shop, the owner followed his gaze.

There sat a large pack. It had a boxy shape, like a military rucksack. Woojin stepped closer and brushed away the dust coating its surface.

A strange sheen glimmered beneath. The material was some unknown serpent's hide. The texture of the scales under his fingertips felt as hard as metal.

'…As I thought. Magical beast hide.'

This was no ordinary object. To confirm his suspicion, Woojin asked,

"What's this bag?"

"As far as I know, it's a relic made quite some time ago… but it's considered a failed piece."

"It looks perfectly fine."

Woojin gave it another once-over. The craftsmanship was decent. Aside from the dust, there wasn't a single damaged spot. It was practically new.

"But it has a fatal flaw."

The owner rummaged through his desk and brought out a pouch filled with copper coins.

"It's easier to understand if you try it yourself. Here—lift this."

Though the request seemed odd, Woojin complied. He picked up the pouch with his right hand. It was fairly heavy.

The owner opened the bag.

"Now place the coin pouch inside."

Woojin did as instructed. As the pouch neared the bottom of the bag… it seemed to shrink. Like some bizarre optical illusion.

Startled, Woojin stared inside. The owner grinned and explained,

"It's a storage bag enchanted with a shrinking spell. Any object placed inside has its size reduced by half. When removed, it returns to normal. Oh, and it doesn't affect living beings."

A bag that halved the volume of anything placed inside.

With each item's size reduced, more internal space was freed up. In theory, this bag could carry twice as much as an ordinary one.

A treasure anyone would covet.

So why was it called a failure?

"Lift the bag. You'll understand."

Woojin immediately picked it up.

…It was far heavier than expected.

The owner explained at once.

"While the size is reduced, the weight doubles. Because of that troublesome side effect, you can't actually load it up much."

You could store more items—but their weight would increase. A side effect that crushed its greatest advantage. And so, the relic had long been ignored.

…Until today.

"How much?"

The owner hesitated.

"I've never really set a price. Even with the flaw, this type of relic is rare… I'd need at least one hundred and fifty gold coins."
"I'll take it."
"…Pardon?"

The owner blinked in disbelief.

Woojin removed the pouch of gold coins from his old bag and placed it on the desk.

The merchant stared at the heap of gold, eyes widening. A delighted grin spread across his face, revealing a gold tooth that gleamed brightly.

"…Thank you, sir!"

A deal that satisfied both parties.

The owner repeatedly Bowd, overjoyed to clear out unsellable stock. Woojin slung the new bag over his shoulders and stepped outside, equally pleased.

'Maybe I'll carry something fun in here.'

He headed straight for the blacksmith he had passed earlier.

Inside, he surveyed the weapons on display.

A long two-handed war hammer caught his eye. Even the handle was steel, built to withstand heavy blows—an absurd weapon meant for hunting magical beasts.

In the past, he had hesitated to buy large weapons. They were too cumbersome to carry.

"I'll take three of those. And that shield on the wall."

Without hesitation, Woojin purchased three war hammers and a shield.

He then slid one of the long hammers into the bag. The moment it entered, its length shrank like magic.

Though the hammer was far longer than the bag's depth, it slid in effortlessly—like a serpent swallowing oversized prey.

'Not only can I carry twice the supplies… I can store items larger than the bag itself. Considering that portability, a little extra weight is trivial.'

For an ordinary person, doubling an item's weight would be a crippling flaw.

If the bag were filled to capacity, it would weigh as much as four ordinary packs. Even seasoned mercenaries would struggle under such a burden.

Woojin didn't care.

'Just the right weight.'

If anything, it made for good exercise.

***

After filling the bag, he left the city.

Conrad's proposal lingered in his mind… but settling down in one city just to make money didn't appeal to him. Moreover, the First Frontier City lay close to the Wall, meaning magical beast appearances were less frequent.

Rather than staying put and thinning out beasts in one place, it would be more profitable to travel between cities and take extermination contracts.

'Besides… Conrad's confidence borders on arrogance.'

The expedition hadn't even begun.

Yet Conrad already spoke as if success were destiny. Such overconfidence could lead to ruin. If disaster struck, Woojin might be dragged down with it.

Better to watch from a step removed.

With that conclusion, Woojin set out toward the Third Frontier City.

Traveling at a relaxed pace, he occasionally found chances to test his new weapon.

Graaaargh—!

With a grotesque roar, a massive stag burst from the forest.

Its antlers spread wide like shields, and from the bridge of its nose protruded a long, spiral horn like a conch shell.

'Horned Stag.'

Not particularly strong—but notoriously foul-tempered. Like the wild boar he had faced before, it was fiercely territorial.

It charged.

Woojin rummaged through his bag and drew out a war hammer.

What happened next needed little explanation.

Boom!!

The stag's skull exploded.

Woojin pulled out some rope and hung the carcass upside down from a tree to skin it.

'The meat's quite decent.'

Its hide also fetched a fair price. Worth the effort.

He split open the belly and removed the entrails and inner core.

Rex padded over and sat nearby.

"Feels like you haven't been earning your keep lately."

Rex smacked his lips, as if feeling guilty. He had refused to carry Woojin on his back lately, claiming the bag was too heavy.

"Here."

Chuckling, Woojin tossed him the core.

Having consumed so many cores already, lesser ones barely made a difference to him anymore—so he often let Rex have them.

After roughly tanning the hide and hanging it out to dry, Woojin placed skewers of venison over the campfire. The meat sizzled as it cooked, releasing a rich, savory aroma.

Then he inspected the hammer.

'Bent again.'

The impact felt incredible when he swung it—but with every full-force strike, the handle warped. The shock was simply too much for it to endure.

One hammer had already been ruined on the way here. Two remained. He would have to use them carefully. With deliberate movements, Woojin straightened the bent shaft as best he could.

'As expected… there's no weapon better than my machete.'

After using other weapons a few times, he found himself cherishing the machete even more. An old companion forged through years together.

He drew the blade and wiped it clean with a cloth.

Strangely, no matter how hard he swung it, the machete never broke. Even without sharpening, it maintained its edge.

'At some point… the color of the blade changed.'

When he held it up to the firelight, a dark blue sheen shimmered across the steel.

It hadn't always been like this.

Deep within the Demonic Realm, after hunting countless magical beasts and carving up their corpses with this very blade… at some point, a strange luster had taken root.

Just as Woojin had gained strength and abilities from consuming inner cores, perhaps the blade, too, had changed after being drenched in beast blood time and again.

If so, this machete might itself qualify as a kind of relic.

'There are similar cases.'

He had heard that weapons left behind by renowned paladins sometimes came to hold mysterious power. Likely, those too were born from repeated battles against magical beasts.

Such items were classified as holy relics—strictly managed by the Order Alliance.

Tempting, but not something one could purchase with money.

'Realistically, obtaining something like that would be difficult… Learning Mana Arts would be wiser in the long run.'

Few weapons could endure Woojin's strength. It would be best to learn techniques that reinforced weapons with mana—or divine power.

He should have asked Hector about Mana Arts when they last met.

But at the time, his mind had been clouded with other concerns—whether to remain safely behind the Wall or join the expedition and continue life as a hunter.

'The meat should be done.'

Lost in thought, time had slipped by.

Woojin bit into the skewer. The meat carried the faint bitterness unique to magical beasts, but with each chew, a deep umami flavor emerged.

As he ate—

'…That's noisy.'

Suddenly, the cries of beasts echoed through the forest. Not just one—many.

Listening closely, it sounded like a fight. The commotion of a pack hunt.

Woojin felt a spark of curiosity.

So did Rex.

"Want to take a look?"

Rex nodded at once.

Watching a fight was always entertaining—whether you were human or wolf.

Stuffing the remaining meat into his mouth, Woojin stood and headed toward the source of the noise, Rex trotting beside him.

It didn't take long to find it.

A group of rabbits had surrounded something and were attacking fiercely.

What they were overwhelming, however—

Were three wolf-type magical beasts.

'Wolves being hunted by rabbits.'

An upside-down food chain.

But in the Demonic Realm, that wasn't particularly shocking.

"Grrr…"

Rex growled low beside him, clearly displeased. Watching his own kind hunted didn't sit well.

"Want to help?"

Rex gave a small nod and glanced at him, as if asking for permission.

There were too many rabbit beasts for Rex to handle alone. If they were to save the wolves, Woojin would have to step in.

But fighting an entire pack every time was bothersome. The cleanup alone was tedious. He had felt that keenly when dealing with the leech rats.

This time, let's make it easy.

"Give them a howl. As loud as you can."

Rex immediately understood.

Awoooooo—

He let out a long, powerful howl—a call wolves used to summon their pack.

The rabbits' ears shot upright.

Rabbit-type magical beasts were cautious by nature. They only fought battles they were sure to win. If an unpredictable variable appeared, they preferred to flee first. Even in the Demonic Realm, their herbivore instincts lingered.

Awoooooo—

The wolves that had been hunted raised their own howls and suddenly lunged at the rabbits. They must have assumed reinforcements were coming.

The rabbits, pressured by the sudden shift, broke their encirclement and fled.

They had been deceived—but ultimately, it was the correct decision. Had they stayed, Woojin would have stepped in and slaughtered them himself.

Rex ran toward the surviving wolves.

They exchanged low growls and short howls, almost as if conversing.

Woojin chewed on some jerky and watched.

'Exchanging greetings, perhaps.'

…

After a while, Rex trotted back.

And behind him—

Three wolves followed.

…It seemed his household had grown without warning.