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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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“Whoever it was, I owe them one.”
A man with a backpack slung over his shoulder and a dagger in hand muttered to himself as he walked through the ruins.
He was a Pathfinder, making a living by excavating and selling relics he found exploring beyond the barrier.
However, recently a bandit group had been wreaking havoc in the area, making it difficult for him to work. It had gotten so bad that he was even considering moving to a different location.
And then…
Rumors began circulating among Pathfinders that the bandits had vanished.
The rumors turned out to be true.
‘There’s really not a single bandit in sight?’
It had been a week since he last encountered a bandit while exploring beyond the barrier.
Furthermore, today he had managed to unearth a few decent relics.
His steps were light.
‘Now that I think about it, I heard a hero passed through here a while back. Did that hero wipe out the bandits?’
However, most of the rumors surrounding the hero were hard to believe.
Things like the hero being a small child.
As a Pathfinder from the outskirts, he had never even heard of Gwen, the Hero of Roses.
‘Well then, should I call it a day and head back?’
Just as he quickened his pace…
“Excuse me…”
A weak voice called out from somewhere.
He turned to see a woman slumped on the ground.
Her forehead was matted with blood, and she clearly looked unwell.
‘What should I do?’
He wasn’t strong enough to afford helping another injured person.
He didn’t possess any combat-oriented relics, only a bracelet imbued with enough holy power to withstand the Chaos.
And yet…
‘She’s beautiful…?’
She had doll-like pale skin and long, flowing hair that resembled spun ice.
He couldn’t understand why someone like her would be outside the barrier.
After a moment’s hesitation, he made up his mind.
“Take my hand.”
He approached her and offered his hand.
The woman gave a faint smile.
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Creak.
The old door opened with its usual loud groan.
Stepping inside, I sighed as I looked at the counter.
“Fast asleep, oblivious to the world.”
The innkeeper was sprawled over the counter, sound asleep.
So much for manning the counter.
I walked over and woke him up.
“Hey, old man. Wake up.”
The innkeeper finally opened his eyes.
“Hmm? Allen?”
“That’s right. It’s me.”
“What brings you here?”
The innkeeper looked bewildered to see me after so long.
Well, it had been almost a month.
“Don’t worry about it and go get some sleep.”
While I was also tired, perhaps due to my increased Stamina stat, I wasn’t about to pass out like him.
But it seemed my appearance had jogged his memory.
“Oh, right, I almost forgot.”
He hurried into the kitchen and returned with a bottle.
As he pulled out the cork, a familiar aroma filled the air.
The scent of alcohol.
“What’s that?”
“What else could it be? It’s booze. Saved it for when you got back.”
“But I’m not old enough to…”
“Don’t be silly. You left home; you’re an adult now.”
He poured the drink into a glass and offered it to me.
“Here, have a drink.”
Honestly, I wasn’t opposed to the idea.
I was curious about what alcohol tasted like in this world.
And it had been a while since I last had a drink.
‘Well, if you insist…’
As I reached for the glass…
The inn door suddenly burst open.
‘Huh?’
A man entered the inn.
A woman was slumped over his back.
It was obvious at a glance that she was in bad shape.
“Is there a doctor in this village?!”
The innkeeper quickly assessed the woman’s condition.
“We don’t have a doctor, but we have basic first-aid supplies here at the inn. I’ll get them.”
The innkeeper hurried back inside, and the man gently laid the woman down on a sofa.
I watched them silently from the counter.
‘That’s a little early.’
This was usually the time when the Demon King first infiltrated the village for reconnaissance before breaching the barrier.
It was about a week earlier than I remembered.
What did this mean?
‘Strangers appearing at a time like this…’
There was a high probability that one of them was the 71st Demon King.
‘The problem is figuring out which one.’
Of course, I had seen the 71st Demon King’s appearance in the game.
However, the problem was that the Demon King had more than one or two forms.
The 71st Demon King possessed the ability to change their appearance.
‘For now, the man seems fine, so he’s more suspicious…’
I had to be careful.
As much as I wanted to defeat the Demon King, I didn’t want to become a criminal for attacking an innocent person.
‘Even if they arrived early, they’ll need time to prepare before breaching the barrier.’
The only option was to keep an eye on them for now.
If one of them was the Demon King, they were bound to slip up eventually.
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And that slip-up came sooner than I expected.
“Where… Where am I?”
Those were her first words after regaining consciousness.
It was understandable, given that she wasn’t in her own room.
But her next words were completely unexpected.
“Is this… not Ice Valley?”
I froze.
Of course, this wasn’t Ice Valley.
In the first place, Ice Valley was currently…
“I don’t mean to intrude, but may I?”
It was the innkeeper.
He must have noticed my hesitation.
The woman, looking puzzled, nodded at the innkeeper’s words.
“Go ahead. I already figured this wasn’t Ice Valley from the warm air. Where are we?”
“Indeed, this isn’t Ice Valley. This is the Basil region.”
“Basil? That’s good. It’s not too far from Ice Valley…”
“And Ice Valley has already been destroyed by the Chaos.”
The woman’s eyes widened.
It was the reaction I expected.
I asked her,
“Do you happen to know what year it is?”
“Isn’t it 231 Years After Chaos?”
Just as I thought.
“It’s currently 298 Years After Chaos.”
A whopping 67 years had passed.
Incidentally, Ice Valley’s barrier had collapsed in the year 231.
It seemed her memories were stuck just before the fall of Ice Valley.
“I see…”
She clutched her head.
It seemed like she needed time to rest and recover.
I turned my attention to the man who brought her here.
“You said you found her collapsed? What was her condition?”
“She was lying on the ground. Didn’t see any Chaos Beasts that might have attacked her.”
No sign of an attacker…
That statement made the woman even more suspicious.
Still, I continued questioning the man.
“If you don’t mind me asking, who are you?”
It was too early to rule him out completely.
“Well, I don’t see why it matters, but… I’m just a Pathfinder.”
“A Pathfinder? Have you always lived in this village?”
That was strange.
I had no recollection of ever seeing this man, both inside and outside the barrier.
“Yeah, I’ve been staying in this village for about a month now. The bandits were causing so much trouble lately that I couldn’t go beyond the barrier.”
The bandits… That made sense.
After all, I was the one who took care of them.
The timing of his arrival, last month, coincided with my departure from the inn.
‘That makes it less likely that the man is the Demon King.’
That left the woman.
The woman who claimed to be from Ice Valley, 67 years in the past.
She was definitely suspicious.
And yet, I couldn’t shake off a strange feeling.
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I closed my eyes.
I felt the wind, as if an invisible hand was grasping it…
“Damn it.”
This was driving me crazy.
No matter how I trained my Wind Manipulation, it wasn’t progressing as smoothly as I hoped, so I was trying different methods.
One thing was for sure – this wasn’t it.
‘This was kind of how the text described it when practicing wind magic in the game.’
Was this the difference between magic and an ability?
Perhaps because it was an ability, it was usable to a certain extent even without actively trying to grasp its essence.
The problem lay in its precision and strength.
Flick.
I casually tossed a coin into the air. It began to spin wildly.
I wished I could make it hover like telekinesis, but it danced in the air like a falling leaf caught in a breeze.
What’s more, it was slowly descending, as if I lacked the strength to keep it afloat.
‘Even with Precocious, my growth is this slow?’
After a week of diligently honing my Wind Manipulation, I had finally reached Rank C+ yesterday.
However, the difference from Rank C wasn’t significant. To be precise, the weight I could manipulate increased slightly, and using the ability felt a bit smoother.
‘This isn’t enough.’
Just as I was about to focus on training again…
My Wind Manipulation detected something.
Right beside me.
“…!”
I swiftly turned my head.
A woman stood there, practically nose-to-nose with me.
“Eek!”
“Whoa!”
I almost instinctively drew my sword from my inventory.
When did she get so close?
I hadn’t noticed her at all. Was I that engrossed in training?
‘Or could she be…’
I glared at her suspiciously.
Her face paled as she stammered,
“I’m… I’m so sorry.”
An apology?
“I didn’t mean to startle you…”
Now that she mentioned it, I couldn’t stay mad.
Besides, I couldn’t be certain that she was the Demon King.
“No, it’s alright. I was just lost in thought.”
“What was that you were doing just now?”
Her gaze fell upon the coin in my hand.
‘Did she see that?’
As I wracked my brain for an explanation…
“That was magic, right?”
“…Yes, it was.”
It was better than trying to explain what an ability was.
At least magic was a more familiar concept.
Even I, with thousands of hours of playtime, had never encountered Wind Manipulation in the game before.
“You can use magic? That’s amazing.”
“It’s not that amazing. It’s just levitating a coin.”
She shook her head.
“That’s not ‘just’ anything. Do you know how many people can’t even do that?”
“…Well, I don’t know about 67 years ago, but these days, even kids in the village can do that.”
“What?”
She looked genuinely surprised.
“Just kidding.”
Slap!
Her hand connected with my arm.
‘Ouch…’
As I rubbed my arm, I finally got around to asking the question that had been on my mind.
“So, what brings you here?”
It was quite late.
What was she doing at the counter?
“I came to give you a break. You looked tired.”
“I was fine, though?”
“I wasn’t. I feel bad about imposing on the innkeeper like this.”
It was true that the innkeeper was a kind soul.
He had taken her in, providing her with food and shelter despite having no money or place to go.
In return, she had started helping out with chores around the inn, from washing dishes to cleaning.
‘Not that I’m comfortable with it.’
Having a potential Demon King living in the same inn where I was staying and training was far from ideal.
Did she have any plans to leave?
“Say…”
Come to think of it, I didn’t even know her name.
The innkeeper simply referred to her as “miss.”
“What’s your name?”
“My name? Oh, right. I haven’t introduced myself. My name is…”
Maybe, just maybe…
Her name would provide a clue to her true identity.
“It’s Weiss.”
A name I had never heard before.
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67 years long coma ?