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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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We easily killed the soldier-grade magical beasts deployed in the forest.
With our current group composition, they weren’t difficult opponents from the start.
We literally flew through the obstacles set up in the forest like a gust of wind.
‘Even if there was only one of them, it wouldn’t be a problem.’
I thought, watching my excited companions walking.
“Wow, it looks like no one arrived before us!”
Elena clapped her hands lightly and laughed as if excited.
Despite fighting three times, Elena didn’t look tired at all.
Of course, the same went for Elin and Livia.
Livia was standing nervously around Elin.
She looked perplexed, moving her mouth as if putting something in it.
And as if conflicted, she looked back at me several times.
‘Should I really get along with her?’
I felt that thought crossing Livia’s mind.
When I nodded, Livia seemed to have made up her mind.
Livia opened her mouth as if struggling.
“I’m sorry.”
At Livia’s words, Elin’s eyes widened slightly.
And Elin, who had been silent for a moment, smiled slightly as she parted her lips.
“In the name of the saint, I forgive your sins.”
“…Considering which saint you are, I don’t think that forgiveness has a good meaning.”
“That’s a stereotype. I’m kind too. At least, on the outside.”
“That’s not what people call being kind!”
Anyway, it seemed they reconciled well.
Their heartfelt animosity might not have completely disappeared, but at least on the surface, it was patched up.
And once you patch things up, wounds usually heal someday.
‘Both Livia and Elin have changed a lot from the original.’
Thinking about the original work, it’s strange.
The Livia in the original didn’t reveal her love for the protagonist.
Maybe that’s why she was a character who acted as a lubricant between the protagonist and all the other characters.
She was close with everyone, and thus, she was the one who got hurt the most by everyone.
‘…’
Actually, when I thought about what Livia and the saintess sisters would go through in the future, I felt a bit heavy-hearted.
‘Now they’ll get hurt more.’
In the future, those wounds that could be ended with an apology or two might turn into big wounds that wouldn’t heal easily.
As the story progresses in earnest after the First Incident, things will happen that will hurt them.
“The Hero of Salvation” is a story that progresses by accumulating wounds.
The protagonist and the heroines of the novel move forward while losing what they have in the face of the events they will face in the future.
Some of them could endure it sufficiently, while others couldn’t endure it at all.
However, the heroines were already people whose emotions were slightly off-kilter, and the miasma that began to spread on the ground broke the balance of those emotions.
They would pretend to be fine in front of the protagonist, but in fact, they would become more twisted and obsessed with the protagonist.
While reading the novel, I didn’t know what they were losing as the story progressed.
In the novel, they were always bright, friendly, elegant, and noble.
And only after reading the background settings did I realize what they had lost.
I remember being profoundly sad at that moment.
I had solved the most immediate problem they faced.
However, I didn’t believe that what I had solved completely healed their hearts.
They were unstable because of their dark past, and because of that, they could collapse again at any time.
My life could be in danger again because of them.
Of course, that’s what would have happened in the original work.
I won’t create such a story.
There was also a guide on how not to do that.
‘The achievements are structured to eliminate the sadness they will receive.’
In fact, many of the achievements were structured to solve the wounds they would receive in advance.
I don’t know who created this system, but it seemed like someone who didn’t want them to lose anything more.
‘Who the hell is it?’
Therefore, I became more and more curious about the purpose of the one who created the system.
Who on earth wants to change their future?
“Do you have any worries?”
At the voice heard right next to me, I came to my senses.
I thought it was Elin for a moment, seeing only the silver hair, but I could immediately tell it was Elena.
“Huh? No.”
I shook my head nonchalantly, hiding my inner thoughts.
I thought I should smile at least once, but I stopped.
It’s better not to do anything transparent.
Elena has good intuition in this regard.
“Is that so…?”
Elena laughed softly.
As we walked, the tips of my fingers and Elena’s touched lightly.
“Then that’s a relief. But if you’re having a hard time….”
Hearing that voice genuinely worried about me, I felt a bit more at ease next to Elena.
Someone who didn’t appear in the original work, someone I saved.
And someone against whom I had committed an unforgivable sin.
At the same time, she was also someone who wasn’t protected by the system.
Because there were no achievements prepared for Elena.
Therefore, she was my person whom I had to take care of completely on my own.
“Thank you.”
I said with a sigh-like laugh.
Vowing to protect her no matter what.
At that moment.
Caw!
A single black crow flew high into the sky.
As if that was a signal, the crows in the forest adorned the sky all at once.
I knew what kind of signal that was.
A sign that the First Incident was about to occur.
A premonition that dangerous magical beasts would leap out and attempt to massacre the inexperienced students who hadn’t even properly learned anything yet.
Having already envisioned this situation several times, I had planned in my mind beforehand how I would move.
It was a plan so fast that most people wouldn’t even notice the abnormality.
‘We just need to hunt one high-level magic beast commanding the magic beasts.’
After that, the magic beasts would start to scatter on their own.
The high-level magic beast that would appear was a little stronger than Cluac.
In the original work, the protagonist struggled, but it wasn’t a difficult opponent for me now.
Still, I thought I should give a warning just in case, so I slowly opened my mouth.
“Something feels strange. Everyone, be careful….”
[Constellation Gaunis shouts to be really, really careful!]
That’s when something I didn’t expect happened.
“…?”
Suddenly, the surrounding scenery began to change.
The forest distorts and twists.
And soon, the distance between my party members and me gradually grew.
Not only me, but each of them was also getting farther away as if the ground had expanded.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one who realized something was wrong, as everyone’s eyes were wide open in surprise.
“What’s going on…?!”
Caiden exclaimed in confusion, drawing his sword.
“Senior!”
“Young Lord!”
Livia and Elin shouted desperately and ran towards me, but the distance only kept increasing.
Could it be…?
“Livia, Elin! Don’t come this way, hold each other’s hands so you don’t get separated! Senior Caiden, don’t move from that spot and stay still no matter what!”
I shouted to the three people getting farther away and started running towards Elena, who was already quite far away.
“Young Lord!”
Unlike the three who had already become quite distant, Elena was still within reach.
I quickly approached Elena using wind magic.
Fortunately, I was precariously faster than the speed at which the forest was twisting.
I firmly grasped Elena’s slender wrist, which she desperately reached out, and pulled her towards me.
“Wh-What on earth….”
The eyes of Elena, who was hugged in my arms in confusion, were trembling anxiously.
As if asking if I knew what was going on.
“…I’ve read about it. In a book.”
Although not a book from this world, it wasn’t a lie that I had read about it.
And to resolve this situation, we had to wait until everything finished transforming.
And after a while, everything stopped.
Instead, the scenery was distinctly different from the appearance of an ordinary forest just a moment ago.
Caw!
I saw bizarrely twisted and bare trees that had replaced all the lush green trees.
Countless crows with unpleasantly glossy black eyes were perched on those trees.
The forest floor was filled with black feathers shed by the crows instead of leaves.
An eerie wind blew, making our hair flutter.
[Constellation Gaunis says no, why already?! It’s dangerous!]
[Constellation Gaunis worries about you… no, thinks you’re cheap.]
Gaunis’ messages kept popping up.
I wish this fellow would decide whether to worry about me or not.
“Wh-Where are we?”
Elena looked around frantically.
Perhaps because she was scared, she tightened her grip on my arm.
“Wait a moment.”
If we make a sound carelessly now, the magical beasts will find us.
In such a contaminated area, the abilities of magical beasts are usually greatly enhanced.
I cast a soundproofing spell around us so that no sound would leak out and opened my mouth.
“You can speak now.”
“You said you knew something earlier, right?”
I exhaled briefly and opened my mouth.
Because I also had a bit of a headache as the situation wasn’t sorted out yet.
“It’s said that the 7 powerful magical beasts can use power similar to the Demon King. You know that.”
Elena seemed to understand the meaning of my words.
Well, it’s basic knowledge that hero candidates entering the academy have, whether they like it or not.
“Then this scenery is…”
Elena’s face stiffened.
Her pale complexion seemed perplexed by the weight of the words she was about to utter.
“The contaminated area of the Raven King… right?”
It was accurate.
‘The Raven King’s contaminated area,
The 7 Calamities can use power similar to the Demon King.
That cursed power that distorts and pollutes the world.
The 7 Calamities were capable of arbitrarily twisting a certain area through that power.
And the Raven King had turned a part of the forest into his contaminated area.
“Young Lord!”
Elena desperately pointed to one side.
And in an area contaminated by the power of the Demon King or the 7 Calamities, there is always…
The ‘miasma’ that distorts everything begins to flow.
The miasma, like a black fog, filled the surroundings instantly without a chance to avoid it.
It became stuffy to breathe as if dirt had entered between the dust.
The air felt heavy, and it even felt like it was pressing down on the body heavily.
It was proof that magical energy was penetrating the body.
I slowly looked around.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t see the surroundings because it didn’t block the light, but the scenery had become even more desolate than before.
The area where the magical energy had spread began to take on a dull color as if it had lost its light, and everything looked as if it had lost its vitality.
The exception was Elena.
Even in this scenery, Elena was still overflowing with warm vitality.
It was thanks to the blessing of the constellation and Elena’s own overflowing life force.
That Elena was doing something absurd right now.
She was covering her mouth with both hands and enduring it tightly.
It seemed she had been doing that since the moment she saw the miasma.
It’s not a very meaningful thing to do.
Because the miasma penetrates not through the respiratory system, but through all parts of the body.
And the life that the miasma penetrates eventually twists bizarrely like those trees and dies.
“…It’s no use. Elena.”
At my words, Elena seemed to realize the futility and exhaled the breath she had been holding.
It’s okay for now.
We can endure it for a while as long as the power of the constellation remains.
The problem was that while I could endure it for a while longer, Elena, who still showed signs of immaturity, wouldn’t be able to endure it for long.
“Young Lord, what should we do? Why is the Raven King in a place like this!”
Elena had a clearly agitated face, unusual for her, as if she was confused and scared.
Because the 7 Calamities are truly disastrous beings.
But it’s not good to be afraid.
This is a contaminated area that has a stronger effect on those who feel fear.
So I had no choice but to say firmly, looking into Elena’s eyes.
Hoping that she would think of me as someone she could rely on, no matter how she felt about me.
“Elena…. I’m here. I’ll always be here. So it’s okay.”
I looked into Elena’s eyes and took a few deep breaths together.
I let it be until she calmed down, as our breaths intertwined.
Until the hand tightly gripping my arm slowly loosened its strength.
“Yes.”
Elena managed to smile slightly.
“Give me a moment to think.”
The magical beasts can’t attack us right away.
The crows have probably conveyed our location, but as the ground has twisted with the area becoming contaminated, the magical beasts will also need time to track us.
In the meantime, I quickly racked my brain to understand the situation.
In the First Incident planned by Nias in the original work, such a thing didn’t happen.
And I know very well that the current Nias wouldn’t order to kill me.
At most, she would have unleashed a powerful magical beast and a few lower-level magical beasts to create an opportunity for me to shine in front of others.
But a contaminated area is not a story that ends at that level.
It was an act with clear hostility and murderous intent.
‘The Raven King has betrayed.’
I immediately made a judgment.
The Raven King had betrayed, and Nias was unaware of this situation.
Or she might know, but it’s not her will.
‘Then…’
I immediately called up the Plot Store.
“Elena. Keep an eye over there for a bit.”
“What? Is there something?”
Elena innocently turned her head at my words.
In the meantime, I quickly purchased two items necessary to break through this situation using 5000pt from the Plot Store.
[Constellation Gaunis is curious about what that ability of yours is.]
This is the power of the system you cooperated with.
I glared at the message window and immediately turned it off.
“There are only crows.”
I hurriedly tucked the two items that fell from the sky into my chest.
And I said to Elena, who was trying to find something other than crows in the brutal scenery.
“I’m done thinking. Let’s move. Quickly.”
Elena nodded her head with a puzzled expression.
As we started walking, the crows that had been still all this time flew up at once.
They were the watchers of this forest, and as we moved, they also began to move to report.
Elena must have had an itchy mouth until now, as she immediately started asking questions.
“What about Elin? And Miss Livia, and Senior Caiden…”
If anything happened to even one of them, Elena would grieve with guilt for the rest of her life.
And I, too, had no intention of sacrificing a single one of them.
If they could just endure for a very short while, I could save them all.
“We’re going to find them now. Don’t worry. There’s a way.”
“A way? But the Raven King’s contaminated area is a labyrinth… isn’t it? How can we find them?”
Elena looked at me with a curious expression.
It was widely known that the contaminated area created by the Raven King was a labyrinth that constantly changed on its own.
Without a special method, it was almost impossible to get out of this complex labyrinth no matter how many times you walked through it.
It’s also difficult to get out using tricks like flying in the sky.
Because even if you know exactly where to go, soon, the flock of crows that obstruct your vision and the sensory confusion caused by the illusory forest will make you lose your way.
Certainly, it would be impossible to escape from this forest or find someone using ordinary methods.
But I knew the setting loophole of this illusory forest.
‘I can’t use it while the crows are watching.’
The crows perched on the bare branches were still watching me and Elena with unpleasantly glinting eyes.
I fumbled with one of the two items I had purchased earlier in my chest.
‘Should I use it now?’
It was an item that might be better to use before the illusory forest started playing tricks.
But at that moment.
“…Ah… Ah.”
I noticed Elena had stiffened, looking at something.
Following her gaze, I discovered a girl collapsed on the ground where the miasma flowed.
“Elin!”
My heart sank for a moment.
There lay Elin, her silver hair soaked in a pool of her own blood, torn to shreds and covered in blood.
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