‘The Devil Cult seems like a really nice place to live.’

Seated in the carriage, Na Rin hugged the pouch of silver coins Dae Heung had given her tightly to her chest, smiling brightly.

10 taels of silver as a contract fee for agreeing to do odd jobs at Ilwolmun, plus 1 tael each from Ma Jung, Bi Cha, and Dae Heung as a gesture of goodwill(?).

A total of 13 taels of silver were now in Na Rin’s hands.

Goodness. In the Devil Cult, you get paid just for breathing.

‘In the Wulin Alliance, no matter how hard you worked, they’d just brush you off with empty words like “You’re a hero” or “We’re grateful”.’

Tsk. If I’d known it would be like this, I should have come straight to Xinjiang no matter how far it was!

She was newly struck by the fact that there was kindness even in the Devil Cult, which had seemed like a den of demons when viewed from the outside.

“Hehehe.”

“Are you that happy?”

“Hehehe.”

“I guess you are happy.”

Dae Heung was relieved that Na Rin seemed to understand the value of money, but he also felt he should give some advice.

“Na Rin.”

“Mm?”

“To live as a layperson, you need to know how to value money. You should work hard to earn it and spend it wisely.”

Na Rin counted the silver coins in the pouch with her fingers, then looked at Dae Heung and asked:

“If I’m gonna spend wisely, why work hard?”

“Huh?”

“I work hard to spend lots, right?”

“Well, that’s…”

At a loss for words, Dae Heung cleared his throat and changed the subject entirely.

“More importantly, do you know where we’re going now?”

“Seventh Elder’s estate.”

“That’s right. The Seventh Elder’s estate. Among the Twelve Elders, he’s the one most dedicated to education. He’s especially passionate about Mencius’ theory of innate human goodness and puts great effort into properly teaching young children like you. He’s famous for accepting students without any conditions, so if you study hard, it’s not impossible that you could enter the Library.”

Studying, huh.

Na Rin felt a vague uneasiness as she became conscious of her intelligence stat, which was too low to become a scholar.

‘I really didn’t use my head much.’

Na Rin slightly regretted her previous life where she had left all the thinking to her military advisor Zhuge Xiaomi, simply shouting “Ah, forget it. Just tell me who to kill and where!”

Her intelligence stat must have dropped by at least 100 points during her time as the Blood Plum Blossom.

Still, it was better than her completely vanished eloquence stat.

‘Come to think of it, where did Bi Cha and Ma Jung go?’

Thinking of eloquence naturally reminded Na Rin of Bi Cha, so she asked:

“Where are the other uncles?”

“Hm? Oh. Ma Jung is probably at the Sword King Hall handling the kids’ paperwork, and Bi Cha went to the Blood King Hall. Since he couldn’t bring a child this time, he needs to go and bow his head in advance or else…”

Dae Heung suddenly closed his mouth at that point.

“What I just said is a secret.”

“Which part?”

“The Blood King Hall story.”

Na Rin was about to nod obediently when she suddenly became curious.

The Sword King Hall was obviously a place for fighting, and the Shadow King Hall was probably for raising assassins.

Even for the Medicine King Hall and Healing King Hall, you could tell what they were for just from the names. But…

‘What does the Blood King Hall do?’

Just as Na Rin was about to ask for details, the carriage came to an abrupt stop.

“We’re here. This is the Seventh Elder’s estate.”

Dae Heung jumped nimbly out of the carriage, helped Na Rin down, then said something to the estate’s gatekeeper before returning to Na Rin.

“This is as far as I can help you. Good luck.”

“Mm. Thank you.”

Dae Heung was so surprised by Na Rin’s words of gratitude that his jaw dropped.

“You’re… thanking me?”

To the children of the Central Plains, the Devil Cult’s guides were always objects of fear.

Naturally, they had never thought they were doing anything worthy of thanks.

While from the Devil Cult’s perspective, the guide’s mission was a rescue operation, they fully understood that it was essentially no different from kidnapping.

That must have been the case, and yet.

Hearing words of gratitude for the first time, Dae Heung’s heart was in turmoil.

“Uncle?”

“Ah. It’s nothing. Well then, take care. I’ll be… going now… *sniff*”

Dae Heung hurriedly set off, not wanting Na Rin to see the tears that threatened to burst forth.

‘Why is he like that?’

The carriage wheel tracks stretched out long on the unpaved road as it drove away.

Come to think of it, it was already dusk.

Was it because of the red-tinged sunset? Or because of Dae Heung’s tears?

Na Rin was suddenly overcome by a strange feeling.

‘This is where it really begins.’

Na Rin smiled ambitiously.

Eleventh reincarnation. Joining the Devil Cult. Not a bad start.

Get ready, Seventh Elder. I’ll show you what a genius is!

Just then, the main gate of Chilseongwon opened and the gatekeeper who had gone in earlier to relay the message came out again.

“Are you Ju Na Rin?”

“Yes!”

“I’m sorry, but he says he won’t accept you.”

“What?”

“He says he doesn’t want young children anymore.”

Creak.

Thud!

“…Huh?”

She thought it was dawn, but it turned out to be twilight.

Na Rin had no idea why that phrase suddenly came to mind.

“But you’re supposed to accept anyone unconditionally! How can this be!”

“What an ill-mannered brat. Who do you think you’re talking to so casually?”

The gatekeeper tried to push Na Rin’s forehead away with one finger.

Tried to, that is.

“Oof!”

‘It… it won’t budge?’

The gatekeeper, meeting Na Rin’s obsidian-like eyes that revealed her hostility, flinched back in surprise.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Na Rin tried to cross her arms with a “Hmph!” but realizing her arms were too short and chubby to manage it, she just dropped them as if shaking them out and pushed out her lips in a pout.

‘This is troublesome.’

The carriage she had ridden with Dae Heung was long gone, the sun was setting, and Na Rin had nowhere to sleep for the night.

What a mess.

When Na Rin glared at the gatekeeper, he bowed his head deeply as if it were his fault she couldn’t enter.

“Why won’t you let me in all of a sudden!”

The gatekeeper scratched the back of his head and answered:

“It’s a decision from higher up, so I don’t know the details, but until two weeks ago we were accepting children as usual… ahem! We were accepting them. It’s probably not permanent, so don’t be too discouraged…”

“I’m not discouraged.”

“Ah, yes! Of course! That’s right! I misspoke!”

Na Rin frowned at the sight of the gatekeeper fumbling between formal and casual speech.

‘But why is this gatekeeper’s spirit so weak?’

It was clear that he was instinctively trying to read the mood, overwhelmed by the pressure Na Rin was exuding.

‘I did yell at him out of anger…’

But still.

How intimidated must he be for a grown adult to correct his speech from formal to casual when talking to a three or four-year-old child?

‘No, wait.’

Maybe this is normal, and the guides were the ones who managed to resist?

It was quite a plausible guess.

After all, for the Devil Cult to send people to the Central Plains at great expense, only to bring back just three people, must mean they’re no ordinary talents.

Na Rin felt no small amount of crisis.

‘I need to tone down my temper a bit.’

Until now, it hadn’t been particularly disadvantageous to have high intimidation since they’d been traveling through unpopulated forests and deserts.

But from now on, she’d have to live among people.

Constantly creating an atmosphere of fear would definitely be a problem, wouldn’t it?

Fortunately, Na Rin’s intimidation stat didn’t activate all the time.

Except when she intentionally tried to scare someone or when she was unconsciously irritated like now, she was no different from a normal young child.

In the end, the key was how to maintain a normal state of mind.

Well, she’d think about the details later.

“Mister.”

“Y-yes?”

For now, maybe she could use this nasty impression to her advantage.

“Can we talk for a bit?”

Chilseongwon (Seven Star Garden), the estate of the Seventh Elder.

Within it was an institution for teaching young children called Daeseong Seodang (Great Star School).

It was the largest boarding school in the Devil Cult, built with the hope that the children would grow to become great stars.

The Daeseong Seodang, famous for opening its doors to any young cult member with a desire to learn, experienced an unexpected change just two weeks ago.

‘So this is the inn the gatekeeper mentioned.’

Na Rin looked up at the sign that read “Chilseong Inn (Seven Star Inn)”.

Hmm. No matter how you look at it, it seems like just an ordinary inn.

‘They say the cause of the new student admission refusal is here?’

Well, if you want to catch a tiger, you have to enter the tiger’s den.

Na Rin toddled into the inn, stood on her tiptoes in front of the counter, and asked:

“How much for one night?”

The busy innkeeper, a woman taking orders, looked at Na Rin and smiled gently.

“Mom? Little one, did you lose your mom?”

“No, not mom! Not asking about mom! I’m asking how much!”

“I see. Auntie will help you find your mom.”

“That’s not what I…”

This was a disaster.

Her already clumsy pronunciation mixed with the inn’s noise made it impossible to convey her intention.

Before that, it might be because it’s so rare for a four-year-old to come alone for a meal and lodging.

The innkeeper lifted Na Rin up high, waving her around for all the guests to see, and shouted:

“A baby! Has anyone lost a baby?”

Aaagh! What are you doing!

Na Rin covered her face with both hands in embarrassment and kicked her feet, but her feet dangling in the air only looked cute.

Seeing this, the guests laughed as if they’d found an amusing spectacle and chimed in:

“Maybe the kid’s mom abandoned her?”

“Looks like it. You know, they say Chilseongwon isn’t accepting children anymore. So they probably left her here.”

“Oh my! How can you say such things in front of the child!”

Jingle!

At that moment, Na Rin’s money pouch fell to the floor.

Shiny silver coins spilled out of the opened mouth.

“Oh my goodness!”

The innkeeper quickly put Na Rin down, almost dropping her, and swiftly picked up the money pouch before anyone else could.

One tael of silver, two taels, three taels…

‘Oh my! This is at least a week’s worth of earnings!’

The innkeeper was certain.

There could be no other reason for leaving such a large sum of money with a young child at an inn.

That’s right! This must be child support!

“My, what a windfall.”

“What windfall? How can I take care of a child with just this? I won’t even be able to feed her properly. Oh, my poor fate!”

Even as she said this, the innkeeper tucked Na Rin’s money pouch into her bosom.

Calculating that with this money, she could repair the broken kitchen, buy some famous wine, and even get new tables with the leftover.

“Huh? That’s my money.”

“Little one, are you hungry? I’ll make you some noodles, so eat quickly and go up to the second floor.”

“No! That’s not it!”

“We’ll talk later, slowly. A young child shouldn’t go around hungry. You won’t grow tall.”

Na Rin could only gape at the absurd situation unfolding before her eyes.

‘What? How did I lose it so naturally?’

Is this the Devil Cult?

Before she could even exert her intimidation stat, Na Rin, who had been duped right before her eyes, bit her lip hard and tugged at the innkeeper’s skirt.

She couldn’t say it was hard-earned money, since she hadn’t actually done anything.

But still, she couldn’t lose all of her precious seed money.

“Give it back quickly!”

“Yes, yes. Here you go.”

Thud.

No, she was asking for the money back.

White steam rose from the bowl of noodles placed on the table.

Grumble.