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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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It felt like the scenery itself had become a blunt weapon, relentlessly pounding on my head.
It wasn’t just me who felt the world twisting around me.
Hayun, too, was floundering beside me, her hands grasping at the air as if searching for something to hold onto.
“What in the world…”
Words failed me.
My thoughts were swallowed by the sheer absurdity of it all.
Although my eyes told me this was reality, my mind refused to accept it.
Like forcing food down a reluctant throat, my eyes insisted that this was the truth, whether I liked it or not.
In the end, Hayun and I had no choice but to leave the city for a while.
The strange, otherworldly sensation I had experienced countless times while living in the Demon Realm Forest washed over me once again.
I tried to calm myself by recalling those days when I’d encounter bizarre situations and simply brush them off, thinking, “Well, it’s the Demon Realm Forest.” It actually helped a little.
“Haa… Haa…!”
Hayun, however, couldn’t even stand.
The dissonance between her perception and reality was too much to bear.
She crouched down, struggling to catch her breath.
“Get a hold of yourself, it’s okay. We just need to figure out what happened, step by step.”
Trying to comfort her, I rubbed her back gently and looked around Nirva.
It was definitely Nirva, the same place I had visited through warp magic just a few days ago.
It was so identical to what I remembered that it was baffling.
As numerous people passed by, they glanced at us curiously.
Their worried looks, their casual conversations… everything felt real.
They weren’t illusions created by Sharcal to deceive us.
They were real people, living their lives in a city that had been a desolate ghost town just days ago.
The ghost city had returned to its former glory in a matter of days.
I had no choice but to accept this reality, however unbelievable it seemed.
“I-I’m okay now.”
Hayun slowly got to her feet.
She took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart, then looked around Nirva once more.
“Right, Nirva… This is the city I know.”
“……Let’s go to the Len family mansion. We might find some answers there.”
And so, we stepped into the city once again.
Although we tried to calm ourselves and assess the situation rationally, our minds struggled to process what we were seeing.
“Fresh fruit! Straight from the farm, come and have a taste!”
“Hey, you! Be careful with that! If you break it, you’re paying for it!”
“The city feels so lively these days.”
The sounds of people’s everyday lives filled our ears.
All of our senses confirmed that this was real, which only deepened the unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Ah…”
Standing in front of the Len family mansion, Hayun let out a gasp of astonishment.
The mansion was clearly neglected, its state evident even from the rusted gate.
Weeds had sprouted in the garden, growing so tall that they reached the entrance, their leaves brushing against our legs as we approached.
This was different from the well-maintained garden we had seen in the ghost city.
As if welcoming its long-awaited guests, the gate creaked open as Hayun reached out to touch it.
“It’s completely abandoned.”
“I guess they really did fire all the servants.”
Compared to the pristine, albeit color-drained, mansion we had seen before, this one felt old and dilapidated.
The interior was just as desolate, covered in a thick layer of dust.
The numerous servants who had greeted us in the ghost city were nowhere to be seen.
We headed straight for the banquet hall, the place where Sharcal had been sitting on his throne.
Unlike the other doors in the mansion, the banquet hall’s doors creaked ominously as they swung open.
Spiders had spun webs across the ceiling, claiming the grand hall as their home.
Rats scurried between the abandoned tables and chairs, seeking shelter in the shadows.
The overlord who had reigned over this place, the ancient mage who had sat upon his skull throne, was gone.
“……”
The only sound that broke the silence was the echo of my footsteps as I walked towards the center of the hall.
It was eerily quiet.
Standing there, I looked around, and it finally dawned on me.
“I was wrong.”
“What?”
Hayun looked at me, confused.
I turned to face her and explained.
“The Nirva we went to… wasn’t actually Nirva.”
If the ghost city and this Nirva were the same place, then the culprit would undoubtedly be Sharcal.
No one else had the power to single-handedly transform an entire city.
But there was no trace of Sharcal’s magic here.
No mage, not even a god, could alter a city so completely without leaving behind even the slightest magical residue.
“This banquet hall… there’s no sign of Sharcal’s distorted mana.”
Sharcal had never been here.
The realization brought a strange sense of relief.
It meant he wasn’t lurking in the heart of the kingdom, waiting to strike.
But it also meant…
‘The bastard tricked us?’
No, it wasn’t just a trick.
It was incredibly rare for someone to interfere with warp magic, let alone for a mage to miscalculate coordinates, especially when using a specific location as a reference point.
He had deliberately sent us to a false Nirva.
The question of why lingered in my mind, and anger towards that deceitful mage began to simmer within me.
“Then where was the Nirva we were in before?”
I smiled bitterly at Hayun’s question.
She had a knack for asking the tough ones.
“The Demon Realm Forest.”
I didn’t know how or why Sharcal had recreated Nirva in the Demon Realm Forest, or why that mage had sent us there in the first place.
But one thing was certain.
The answers lay within that dangerous, unpredictable forest.
“We need to get some weapons.”
The thought of venturing into the Demon Realm Forest without a proper sword was unsettling.
I wondered if Nirva had any skilled blacksmiths, but before I could voice my concern, Hayun clapped her hands together.
“I think there are some weapons in the Len family storage room. Let’s go check it out.”
Although I felt a twinge of guilt, I saw no reason to refuse her suggestion.
Knowing Heaven Len, he probably had a collection of weapons stashed away in his storage room, gathering dust.
Hayun led me through the mansion with practiced ease.
As she effortlessly broke through the locked storage room door, I couldn’t help but notice how much more refined her movements had become.
“Your movements are much smoother than before.”
“What, you think I just sew all day? I train with Sen, you know.”
Sen had injured a high-ranking pirate officer and escaped without a scratch.
Considering Hayun had been training with her, it was no wonder her skills had improved so dramatically.
The inside of the storage room was unsurprisingly dusty.
I wondered if it was even hygienic to use a sword from this place, but my opinion changed when I saw the weapons themselves.
“Just needs a bit of polishing, and it’ll be good to go.”
There were a few decent swords in the collection.
Knowing my luck with swords breaking, I figured it was best to bring a few spares, just in case.
“Ah…”
Hayun’s gaze fell upon something in the corner.
Even in the dimly lit storage room, it emanated a soft, white glow.
It was wrapped in a purple cloth, probably to protect it from damage.
Hayun carefully removed the cloth, revealing a beautiful sword beneath.
Its elegance was undeniable, radiating an aura of power and prestige.
With trembling hands, she lifted the sword and whispered,
“White Cloud Dragon.”
Her voice cracked with emotion.
“It was my mother’s sword.”
“……”
Heaven Len, the man who had poisoned his own brother and sister-in-law to claim their wealth and status.
The man who had taken in their daughter, Hayun, only to exploit her inheritance for his own gain.
This sword, crafted in the East, where master swordsmiths rivaling even the dwarves resided, was a treasure beyond measure.
While its practical value was undeniable, its true worth lay in its rarity and craftsmanship.
For collectors, it was a prize worth killing for.
Heaven Len, aware of its value, had kept it locked away in his storage room, its beauty hidden from the world.
But now, the sword that had patiently waited in the darkness had finally found its rightful owner.
Hayun’s eyes were red-rimmed as she turned away, trying to hide her tears from me.
But it was too late, I had already seen them.
She tried to hide her face behind her hair, but her short haircut made it impossible to conceal her emotions completely.
The way she clung to the sword, unwilling to let go, was both heartbreaking and endearing.
Leaving the mansion, I decided not to press the issue any further.
Her grief was palpable, and I didn’t want to make her relive those painful memories.
“Do you want to stay here? Or maybe head back to the academy?”
“No.”
“Could you at least pretend to consider it?”
She crossed her arms, tapping her chin thoughtfully for a moment, before replying,
“No.”
“Right, thanks for humoring me.”
I knew she understood the dangers of the Demon Realm Forest.
But the responsibility to uncover the truth about her family, to understand what had driven Heaven Len to such lengths, weighed heavily on her.
“Well, it’s usually quite expensive.”
“But I’ll give you the friends and family discount.”
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