Chapter 260. A New Episode (3)The gun barrel flashed, spears and swords made of magic power fell from the sky, and magic arrows rained down. Lightning caused by words stormed, and the knights" crescent blades of magic power shot out.
…That pretty much described the entire fight.
There were at least ten thousand monsters on the opposing side. But we all had confidence fighting few versus many. The four of us, with the help of the 300 or so knights, easily annihilated the entire army of monsters. The knights who were alive at this point were all veterans of war.
“…Ehew.”
After the fight was over, I sighed and put away my gun. I had used up 3000 bullets today, and even Aileen and Jin Sahyuk, who were well-known magic power monsters, seemed exhausted.
The rough breathing of knights was the only sound ringing out.
When I turned around, a pair of huge eyes were staring at us. Looking at the young Jin Sahyuk"s eyes full of admiration, I wondered how such a cute kid could turn out the way she did. Things didn"t quite make sense.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey.” At that moment, Aileen called me. “I fought since we didn"t have much of a choice, but now that it"s over, do you know where the heck we are?”
“Right, this doesn"t seem like Earth… Is this another one of Orden"s traps?” Jin Seyeon added.
It seemed they didn"t understand the situation they were in. I couldn"t blame them since it was hard for anyone to think they were sent to another world.
“No, it"s not a trap. It"s a bit complicated, but… just pretend like we"re in another world. You know, like an isekai novel.”
“Isekai? The heck is that?”
“I"ll tell you in detail later. Anyways, how did you two get caught?”
Hearing this, Aileen pouted, “I don"t know. I fainted and I was shackled when I woke up.”
“Oh, then what about those monsters?”
“I don"t know, they just kept chasing us.”
“Huh? Why would they….”
At that moment, I found something in Aileen"s hair. It was shining so it was quite noticeable with my eyes.
“…Ah!”
Examining it more closely, I realized that it was a tiny crystal fragment. I quickly took it from Aileen"s hair.
===
[Continental Fragment Piece]
—Crystal that maintains the Recorded Past.
—Emits an odor that attracts monsters.
===
“Huh? What"s that?”
“It looks like this crystal is what attracted monsters to you.”
I ended up finding a crystal without much effort. Since the settings change window said there were six crystal pieces, I only needed to find five more.
“Anyways, Fenrir-ssi, can you explain this to the guys behind us?”
Jin Seyeon pointed at the men behind me, a total of 600 knights and soldiers who were staring at us with respect and admiration.
“Ah… Haha, these two are our priests as well. As I said before, we possess rather special divine powers.”
They didn"t say anything in response to my explanation. They all seemed to be in disbelief. I quickly changed the topic.
“They brought livestock to give to Plerion.”
They immediately reacted. Livestock = food. As soon as that realization struck them, gluttony rose up in their tired eyes.
“Livestock?”
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Is it true?”
Just as I was about to answer them, a small hand reached out and grabbed my sleeve.
It was Prihi.
“Is, is it true that you brought livestock?”
Prihi"s eyes were shaking with hope and expectation. I was a bit touched seeing her pull on my sleeve with antic.i.p.ation.
I bent down a little and nodded.
“Yes, of course. First, let"s return to the palace.”
**
We went to the Royal Palace. Then, I told the others about the situation we were in.
“So we have to collect all the crystal fragments before we can go back?”
“Yes.”
“And we"re here because of this idiot?”
Aileen pointed at Jin Sahyuk.
“Idiot? What did you just call me?”
Jin Sahyuk frowned at Aileen"s coa.r.s.e words. But Aileen was someone who wouldn"t flinch even if Chae Joochul came to see her. She glared at Jin Sahyuk even more strongly.
“That"s right, crazy idiot.”
“Ha, say that again, you little dwar—”
“Shut up.”
“….”
Jin Sahyuk"s mouth was forcibly closed. Unable to say what she wanted, Jin Sahyuk shot up and pointed her finger at Aileen. Rather, she was gesturing about how Aileen"s height was "only this much".
“Stay still, crazy.”
But when Aileen unleashed her magic power seriously, even her actions were sealed. Of course, Jin Sahyuk wasn"t the type to go down without a fight. She unleashed her magic power and tried to overrule the restrictions placed on her body.
“Geez, just stay put, will you?”
But I stopped her.
“….”
Jin Sahyuk stopped and stared at me fixedly. Her eyes were filled with sadness and indignation. What did she want me to do about it?
Jin Sahyuk sighed at my cold response and ran outside.
“…Oh right, what do we do about the livestock? I don"t have any on me.” Aileen spoke.
“Oh that? Don"t worry, I can make them now.”
“…Make them?”
“Yep.”
The Recorded Past was a world materialized by the power of a Tower Crystal. Although its laws followed that of the real world, the Tower Crystal could be used as an omnipotent, law-defying force to alter it.
And in my hand was precisely a piece of that Tower Crystal.
“You"re going to make a chicken? Are you mad?”
“Lady Aileen is right. Creating life is impossible, and even trying to do so is forbidden.”
Aileen and Jin Seyeon objected. I simply smiled.
“I told you, this place isn"t like the real world.”
I infused Stigma"s magic power into the crystal fragment. Because it was too small, with a single streak of Stigma, I could only make a single chicken.
—Bok, bok!
“Whoa!”
“W-What happened!?”
When a chicken suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Aileen and Jin Seyeon jumped in surprise.
“This is the power of the Tower Crystal.”
“Wow, that"s interesting. Can I do it too?”
Curious, Aileen reached out to the crystal fragment. However, I didn"t let her have it.
“No.”
“Don"t be stingy. Give it here, it was mine to begin with.”
“Aileen-ssi can"t do it. I"m the only one who can.”
“What? Why?”
Aileen could likely alter the landscape or the like with a little bit of practice. But creating life was a little different. The crystal was the origin power forming this world, and Stigma"s magic power was something that could become anything, a divine power, so to say. I could create life only by combining these two together.
“…You wouldn"t understand even if I explained. You know that I was rank 1 in theory in the world, right? You have to do many calculations in your head to make it happen.”
I gave a believable excuse. Or rather, it was one that no one could refute.
“…Wow, you"re so amazing~ what a smarty pants~”
“Don"t be sarcastic, Lady Aileen.”
Jin Seyeon"s sudden seriousness made Aileen frown.
“Who are you to say whether I can be sarcastic or not?”
“He saved our lives.”
“…Hmm.”
I then used the tower fragment to create a pig, a male chicken, and a female chicken. I felt a bit dazed after using all 5 streaks of Stigma, but [Medicinal Memory Physique]"s powerful painkiller made me feel a little better.
“…Huu.”
I sighed off the light pain that remained and examined the livestock.
===
[Pig]
—A fat pig. It seems tasty.
[Female Chicken]
—A female chicken that lays many eggs.
[Male Chicken]
—A male chicken that mates well.
===
Thankfully, nothing was wrong with them.
“Now let"s see….”
I took out the [Random Dice].
Restoring Plerion"s capital was the second goal. I rolled the dice while thinking about items that could help their food situation.
[Fast-growing Rice]
[Fast-growing Wheat]
[Yummy Corn]
[Salty Potato]
[High-performance Cement]
As we weren"t in the Tower of Wish, I didn"t get any fantasy-like items. But the ones I did get were more than enough to help Plerion"s current situation.
“You sure have a lot of strange skills.” Aileen murmured in admiration.
“Let"s go give these out.”
I peered past the door. After hearing that we were preparing to offer livestock to the king, countless knights were waiting eagerly outside the room.
I grabbed one chicken, and Jin Seyeon and Aileen grabbed the pig and the remaining chicken.
The moment we opened the door, knights who were waiting outside approached us. When they saw what was in our hands, they all had astonished expressions.
“M-My G.o.d! Chickens! There are chickens!”
“T-There"s a pig too.”
“H-How did you get all these?”
Their pa.s.sionate reaction startled Aileen. She walked up to me and whispered, “Why are these guys so happy?”
I explained quietly, “Because of the Demon Realm Transformation, most of this world"s food supply became undead, and the ones that haven"t been affected were stolen by Schupert.”
When livestock stepped on demonized soil, it transformed them into an undead. The same went for plants. A perfectly fine rice plant would suddenly turn into a man-eating monster.
“Ah… I see, so that"s why the palace was so shabby.”
We gave the livestock to the knights.
“You can eat the pig today. As for the chickens, set up a farm to collect eggs.”
“Haha, of course, of course! First, we"ll have to report to the King!”
The knights laughed happily and led us away. Prihi wasn"t far away. It seemed she wanted to see the livestock as soon as possible.
“…Ooh! A pig! Chickens! There"s a male and a female!”
The young ruler jumped up and down in excitement. A few knights smiled and some even let out tears of joy.
“Your Highness, we won"t have to worry about food anymore!”
“It will only be a matter of time until these two chickens turn into hundreds, then thousands…!”
We watched them celebrate. The King soon approached us and expressed her grat.i.tude.
“Thank you. I don"t know how I can repay you.”
“Haha… There are still more things for you to be grateful for.”
“Hm?”
I gave her the rice, wheat, corn, and potato. Prihi"s eyes widened.
“This is….”
“They"re seeds. Move your subjects to a share house and use the remaining s.p.a.ce to plant these seeds.”
Prihi stared at the seed blankly. She then took the seeds in a daze. She glanced at me for a moment, then quickly ran off.
Pa, pa, pa—
Not long afterwards, she reappeared with a magnifying gla.s.s in her hand.
===
[Mysterious Magnifying Gla.s.s] [Pinnacle-grade Magic Artifact]
▷Weakness Identification
—Uses magic power to identify the target"s weaknesses.
▷Emotion Identification
—Uses magic power to identify the target"s feelings towards you.
*When the user"s magic power is low, the identified weaknesses and emotions may be inaccurate.
===
“Oh?”
Mysterious Magnifying Gla.s.s. It was one of the four rewards obtainable from the Akatrina Episode: Mysterious Magnifying Gla.s.s, Omnipotent Magic Pen, Purifying Crystal, and ???.
“It is one of my prized possessions. This magnifying gla.s.s can identify a target"s emotions. Since you"re from the Temple, I"m sure you can make better use of it than me.”
“Ah, thank you.”
I took it with grat.i.tude. It was naturally one of the things I wanted to get.
“Huhu, as I thought, a valuable item is recognized by a valuable person.”
Prihi didn"t hide her happiness seeing that I liked her present.
**
[Korea, Seoul]
Yoo Yeonha stared at the woman in front of her.
“….”
"Macho" was the word she would use to describe her. Her hair was wild like the mane of a lion, and there was a deep wound slashed across her collarbone. Together with the longsword and black cape on her back, she looked too different than the last time she"d seen her.
“…Nayun, what happened in the past few months…?”
Seeing the suddenly matured Chae Nayun, Yoo Yeonha was slightly taken aback. Chae Nayun replied with the same voice she always had.
“Nevermind that, I heard that Kim Hajin was kidnapped.”
“No, Orden"s just bluffing.”
“I plan on marching over and smashing everything into… huh?”
Chae Nayun"s eyes widened.
“Really? How do you know that?”
Yoo Yeonha smiled and took out a watch artifact.
“This magic artifact is synchronized with Kim Hajin"s smart.w.a.tch. No matter where he is or what he is doing, it shows his biological clock.”
This artifact was a solution to prevent another one of Yoo Yeonha"s huge misunderstandings. It couldn"t spy on Kim Hajin. It only told the level of danger Kim Hajin was in.
“Look here, you can see his vitality and how nervous or tense he is. Everything"s normal, so Orden is lying. He"s just trying to scare us.”
“…Then what about the other Heroes?”
“They"re likely to be with Kim Hajin. Lady Aileen wanted to bring Kim Hajin with her, and their GPS coordinate overlapped for a moment.”
Yoo Yeonha replied in a calm and collected manner. Seeing her like this, Chae Nayun made a dazed face. The following thought surfaced in her head, "Then do I have to go back to the Himalayas…? I came back for nothing because I"m dumb."
At that moment, Yoo Yeonha suddenly asked, “…Nayun, I know this might not be the time to ask this… but are you ready to meet him?”
Chae Nayun smiled at her worrying words, “Of course. It"s about time. You don"t have to worry.”
Seeing Chae Nayun, Yoo Yeonha made a bitter smile.
What if Chae Nayun and Kim Hajin came together using this opportunity…?
It should be a good thing, but Yoo Yeonha felt her heart ache just thinking about it.
“…I see, I"m glad.”
Yoo Yeonha was smart and a.n.a.lytical. She knew why she was feeling this way.
Yoo Yeonha had thought about how Kim Hajin knew her embarra.s.sing secrets.
Ramen and hamburger.
Jjigae and gukbap.
c.o.ke and Sprite.
They were all unique tastes she would never reveal to anyone. But Kim Hajin knew about them. Given that he was a Returner… Yoo Yeonha could only guess that they were lovers, or at least as close as lovers.
In that case, what relationship did Kim Hajin have with Chae Nayun before he returned in time? Was he closer to her than me? Or was he just as close…?
Yoo Yeonha"s thoughts didn"t continue much longer.
Paat—!
A huge spark of light flashed in the sky. Startled, Yoo Yeonha and Chae Nayun looked out the window.
Paat—!
The flashes continued consecutively. It was much more fierce than usual.
Paat—!
The third flash of light brightened the entire world. This time, the light lingered for a bit longer, as though another sun was created in the sky.
“Hey, Yeonha, that"s….”
“Yeah, it"s the Tower of Wish.”
Yoo Yeonha and Chae Nayun looked up at the sky and realized that it wouldn"t be long… until the conclusion of the Tower of Wish.
**
[Akatrina Continent]
Second day.
The King"s post horses set out to find Yi Yongha, Shin Jonghak, and Seo Youngji. Furthermore, the chicken coop was finished in less than a day.
Third day.
Prihi went to see the royal court"s now most prized possession – the chicken coop. She smiled looking at the chickens laying eggs. She spent many hours sitting in the coop, listening to the chickens" bawks.
Fourth day.
Seeds were planted in farmland guided by Jin Seyeon. Although the plants grew quickly, many impatient citizens secretly dug out the plants and ate them, causing a small commotion in the capital.
Fifth day.
Magic power and cement reinforced the castle walls.
…Kiik.
And now, late at night on the sixth day.
Jin Sahyuk infiltrated the Royal Palace"s secret library just as she had done in the past few days. It was to remember the face of a servant she once had.
“It should be somewhere here….”
Over thirty years had pa.s.sed since then. Although Jin Sahyuk forgot his appearance under her artificial memory seal and time, she remembered his name clearly. She knew that the royal library had a record and a portrait of every knight.
“Year 550, July 3rd….”
She had checked the years 547~549 in the past few days, and now it was time to go over year 550. As everyone who entered the royal palace even once was recorded, there were many pages she had to work through.
“Kindspring, Kindspring… aah, f.u.c.k.”
"How the f.u.c.k are there 50,000 pages?" Jin Sahyuk cursed and sighed, but she continued to flip through the pages. Menial labor was one thing she hated the most in the world, yet she found it to be of utmost importance at the moment.
Just like that, one hour, two hours, three hours pa.s.sed.
Until 4 a.m. when a patrolling knight entered the library, Jin Sahyuk continued to look through the records.
Tap, tap.
At that moment, she felt a presence walking through the hallway outside. A studious knight was making his rounds early.
“…!”
Then, just as the knight was about to enter the library, Jin Sahyuk discovered the name of a servant. She felt her heartbeat quicken as she checked the name.
[Kindspring Winter]
The first servant of the abandoned princess, "Prihi", Kingspring of the Winter Clan.
Kindspring Winter.
Seeing this name, old memories resurfaced in her mind.
In truth, Kindspring didn"t have a last name because he had a commoner background. Jin Sahyuk was the one who gave him the name "Winter", as he was a swordsman who had the ice-attribute…
“Ah….”
Jin Sahyuk looked at the portrait of Kindspring.
The servant who swore eternal loyalty to her.
The name that remained in her heart with regret and sadness.
The dear servant that time buried in her mind shot up like an erupting volcano.