As I woke up after our unforgettable night, the morning sun was already climbing high. My body felt light, yet charged — my spiritual energy wasn't just full; it was overflowing. It was as if something within me had awakened, a surge of power pulsing through every vein.
"Could intimacy really restore spiritual energy… or even amplify it?"
I wondered, still half-in disbelief.
The house was eerily quiet. Hana, Goro, and his wife were nowhere to be found. Faint noises drifted in from outside — hurried footsteps, voices, a low rumbling that shook the air.
Curious, I stepped toward the window and peeked through the wooden gaps.
In the heart of the settlement, every villager — Goro, his family, and even the hunters — were on their knees. The air itself seemed to hold its breath.
At the far edge of the square, the King had arrived.
He rode upon a monstrous bull — easily twice the size of any beast I'd seen here — its horns twisted like dark spears. The man atop it was even more imposing: at least six-and-a-half feet tall, muscles coiled under sun-browned skin. A short black beard framed his hard jaw, and his robe, woven from the hides of scaled beasts, hung loosely around his waist. Across his shoulders draped a thick pelt that screamed dominance.
Beside him rode his newest queen, a woman from one of the agricultural settlements. Her beauty was of an entirely different kind — bewitching, earthy, and deceptively fragile. Her hair was a cascade of golden silk tied with thin cords of woven flax dyed in faint crimson. Around her neck hung a necklace of polished bone and amber stones, each bead gleaming faintly in the sun. Her wrists and ankles were bound with strands of silver-colored thread — likely drawn from some rare insect silk — marking her status as royal property.
Ten guards marched beside them, men even larger than the hunter unit that brought me here. Each bore a jagged spear carved from monster bone and wore necklaces of teeth and claws. Following behind were three elders from the other settlements and a cluster of servants — men and women, their faces downcast, their hands trembling as they carried gifts and offerings.
The king's presence pressed down on the entire settlement like a mountain.
I slipped quietly out of Goro's house, keeping to the shadows. It wasn't hard to blend in — there were plenty of trees, stone piles, and the chaos of the gathering to mask my movement.
From my hiding spot, I could clearly see the king. Even from this distance, his spiritual energy was suffocating. It leaked out of him like smoke from burning oil — thick, heavy, and freezing cold. It was ten times stronger than that beast I fought days ago. And the bull he rode? Its presence alone could kill an untrained man. Its spiritual energy burned wild — primal and feral — more vicious than anything I'd seen so far.
Chief Goro stepped forward, visibly shaking, and approached the king, who still sat towering on his monstrous mount. Then, another man — probably from the crowd — was dragged beside Goro. I couldn't tell what was happening at first… until Goro took out a stone knife.
With one clean, merciless motion, he slit the man's stomach open.
The man's scream was short — cut off by the gurgle of his own blood spilling over the dirt. The crowd erupted in a chant, their voices rising like a storm:
"PURE! PURE! PURE!"
I froze. Every hair on my body stood up. My fists clenched so tight my knuckles turned white.
"What kind of lunatic ritual is this?" I muttered under my breath.
The king threw his head back and laughed — a loud, guttural sound that shook the air. Then he jumped down from his bull, landing right in the pool of blood as if bathing in it were some divine act.
"Chief Goro," the king's voice thundered, deep and commanding,"I am pleased. You've purified the land for my arrival. I am very happy to see this settlement still remembers how to honor its king."
Goro, trembling like a leaf, bowed so low his forehead nearly touched the ground.
"Y-yes, my king… we are all owed to your grace."
The king grinned, satisfied, and gestured for his caravan to move. His guards and servants followed him toward the largest shelter in the village — the one I'd always seen empty but lavishly decorated with furs and bones. So it wasn't a meeting hall after all… it was the king's personal lodge.
As the procession entered, the villagers erupted again, this time in a frenzy — fear and devotion twisted into one insane chorus:
"All hail our king! All hail the pure blood!"
I stood hidden among the trees, my blood boiling."This isn't devotion," I thought.
"This is madness."
Soon, the chaos died down. The crowd didn't disperse — not a single person dared to leave. Instead, everyone sat before the king's lodge, right on the dusty road, under the merciless heat of the sun.
No one complained. No one even shifted.
It was like watching an army of statues — their faces blank, eyes empty, each too afraid to move. I could feel the weight of their fear pressing on the air itself.
The whispers began. Soft murmurs, uncertain voices slipping between the crowd.
"What's happening inside?" "Did the king summon the elders?" "Will someone be punished?"
Everyone knew something was happening beyond those thick wooden doors — but no one dared to ask aloud.
From what I could sense, only a few were inside the lodge: Chief Goro and his wife, the king and his queen, his personal advisors, and the three elders from the other settlements. Judging by the heavy spiritual energy leaking through the air, it wasn't a friendly discussion. It felt sharp, like knives scraping stone.
"A court," I muttered to myself. "A primitive one… but a court nonetheless."
Time stretched painfully slow. The villagers sat unmoving, waiting — loyal prisoners under the sun.
Then, finally, the door creaked open.
I caught sight of Haru, the chief's wife. Her face was pale, drained of all color, her steps shaky like someone walking out of a nightmare. She didn't look left or right — just walked straight ahead, clutching something under her arm.
Her spiritual energy felt… broken.
Whatever happened inside that lodge, it wasn't something small.