Clearing the Game at the End of the World Chapter 410

Chapter. 18. Railed (14)

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Bubble Bubble Bubble –

Tak.

Voltaeus placed the magicite on a small heating plate and then poured moderately boiled water from the kettle into a teacup.

Squeak –

The bitter scent of tea mushrooms from Straug rising with hot steam.

Although he had lost all his love for his hometown, the scent of tea that had been in his mouth since childhood was something he could not easily forget.

“The day is coming to an end today.”

The rooftop of the station at sunset. Sitting in an open area and drinking tea while watching the sunset was Volteus’ long-time hobby, so as soon as he arrived here, he had brought a chair to the roof of the building.

“hmm.”

A city engulfed in blue steam. People wiping away sweat with their oily hands. The blacksmith’s brazier emits an orange flame as if jealous of the sunset in the sky, and people are still busy even after sunset.

It’s not a pretty sight compared to the sunset seen with the wind from a moving train, but doesn’t the panoramic view of the city from a high place have its own appreciation?

If you think about it that way, it’s a good break even if it’s not perfect.

Squish, squish, squish.

“No… it can’t have taken this long…”

No, it was a good break.

If it weren’t for the person who took his chair and made him sit on the floor, chewing his fingernails and staring blankly across the alley.

“Naelda.”

“Naelda’s spirit is fierce.

”

“Shut up, Voltaeus. “Like you said, I’m saying it because I’m mentally unstable.”

Naelda.

An elf who can be said to be a gifted teacher.

Although he clearly retains his gratitude towards her… Naelda was the kind of person who felt like his feelings would be diminished if he were to look at her from the side.

‘How did I get involved with someone like this?’

Voltaeus sighed inwardly at the sight of the emotionally unstable elf sitting on a chair and dropping his legs.

“After all, it would have been better to get married.”

“Naelda.”

“It’s not any other guy, it’s Gary and Bout! “What can a timid dwarf as tall as me do?”

“Isn’t this a plan you agreed to?”

“That’s right, I was a little excited back then! Because all wizards are smart! But now that I think about it… Gye is a human who hasn’t even lived for 10 years! child!”

Naelda was chewing her fingernails and spouting out discriminatory dwarf swear words very fluently. They are strange bastards who start digging when they get angry, so that Delphiad guy is like, wow! If you do it! These are the guys who will blow up all the plans while doing it, so it’s a provocative and sensational topic, turning people’s heads into tin cans, blah blah blah…

Waaaa! Ouch ouch!

….Sigh-

‘It’s not good to rest.’

I was so crazy that I couldn’t even smell the tea. How on earth did such a rebellious spirit come out of the elves, a static race that was once called the living tree?

‘And how did I end up giving my heart to such a ridiculous being?’

Even though the only pleasure of the day was interrupted, Volteus was very pleased that Naelda came to the seat next to him, saying she was anxious. Is there any reason why Shard Knight, who can engage in self-contemplation even while sitting on a train, can’t enjoy the car just because it’s noisy?

“Voltaeus! If I don’t recruit that wizard, I might die of stomachache, right? Should I intervene now? huh? huh??”

It’s all because of Naelda’s white calves bobbing next to him as he sits on the floor.

“…Would you like a cup of tea?”

“it’s okay. “Trees don’t drink boiling water.”

“Then you will drink. Take it. It’s probably better to eat than an elf’s fingernails.””

Jjororok-

“….He’s like a rock. “When I was young, it was fun because it was soft.”

“A rock is the foundation of hope and life, so that’s not a bad compliment.”

In the end, Volteus smiled faintly at the sight of Naelda choosing a teacup instead of shaking her legs.

City and sunset. Warm tea and naeldara.

‘It’s a memorable moment.’

Volteus vowed to remember this moment well for the future. To a Shard Knight, good memories have the same meaning as longevity.

The moment when Volteus raises his head to engrave this moment in his eyes.

“come!”

Cheer up!

“….”

“Oh sorry. I’ll give you one of my metal cups. “It won’t break even if you throw it.”

“….Naelda.”

Seeing the three tall figures in the distance, Naelda threw away his favorite teacup (a gift from a handmade dwarven craftsman + expensive Sylvan Strauss tea mushroom) and jumped up.

“…How could such a rogue elf…”

“Huh? what?”

“no. nothing.”

Volteus poured the remaining tea into his mouth and stood up, following Naelda.

“Gary, I guess the result is good, because his face is wide open! right?”

“okay. “Thank goodness.”

“Hehehe! A wizard, a water wizard! Volteus When this job is over, let’s buy a flower pot and bring in a small tree! “If a wizard takes care of it, I might be able to raise it!”

“Rebuke… you’re trying to buy something precious with money you don’t have.”

“No, there is a big difference between whether it is there or not! Elves know a lot about the benefits of trees that humans don’t! “If there’s even a little bit of green mixed in with the dark hair right now-”

“I’ll try to get one later.”

“oh?”

Naelda looks back with a surprised face, as if she didn’t know she would give permission.

“You, you bastard, said it with your own mouth! I made it clear! “I swore to the five surviving branches of the sacred world tree that I would save them!”

After re-emphasizing her promise, she jumped off the rooftop, wondering if she would say anything else.

Hwii-ik- Boom!

Along with the sound of a rough landing, Naelda’s cheers and the dwarves’ sagas could be vaguely heard.

‘Good moments always feel short-lived.’

Volteus roughly cleaned up the messy rooftop with his feet and headed toward the stairs.

Just as good moments come out of nowhere, a day like today will come someday.

For now, Volteus decided to be satisfied with seeing the smiling face of Naelda, who always sulked.

****

Empty!

“Ah, this is the head room~ Can you hear Voltaeus?”

Empty!

[I can hear. To begin with, the cabin is equipped with a voice expander that transmits the train commander’s words.]

“Ah, yes. great.”

[Then, let’s hear what you must hear while I am more than two train cars away from you.]

Volteus’ voice is heard through a receiver that looks like a trumpet.

As soon as I arrived at the station, I asked where the safest and most secure place was, and the drivers unanimously answered that it was a rail ship, and I was just dragging them onto the train.

“You’re the youngest. Oh, can I call you maknae now? “First of all, Mr. Brastol’s permission has been granted.”

“Yep, sister.”

“okay. First of all, your face looked really serious, so I dragged everyone down, but what kind of strange story did you bring us all here to tell us? And that too on the condition that ‘Volteus is far away from the professor’ in a place where he doesn’t have to worry about other people’s eyes and ears?”

“That…”

“Say it out loud. “I can’t hear you because of the engine noise.”

“that is-!”

I cleared my throat in front of the magic engine turned on at maximum power to prevent eavesdropping.

Clang, clank, clank, clank!

Good luck! Grumble!

A station where dusk falls. The noise of the engine and magic gemstone flames roaring loudly under the pretext of maintenance.

“what?”

“Oh my God, Mountain King!”

“Brastol us?”

A conspiracy revealed in the noise and the distrust of those who encounter it. Astonishment.

Quang!

“…Everyone shut up.”

And anger.

“Tsk.”

Naelda, whose mood was completely different from before, was glaring at me in the shadows swaying with the heat of the magic engine.

“You’re the youngest.”

“yes.”

“You’re the youngest?”

“Yep, sister.”

“Can you take responsibility for that?”

An elf sitting on the oil-stained floor with his knees up and glaring with grim eyes.

“Answer carefully. “The responsibility I am talking about here will have the weight of the lives of 20 railship drivers who may risk their lives depending on the truth of what you say.”

widely. widely.

Naelda was tapping the floor with a small, pointed tool and making eye contact with me.

‘Now that I think about it, my fingers are slightly bent inward.’

Fingers curved to fit perfectly when holding a tool or tool of that size. If elves of this era don’t have to hold a pencil until their fingers become crooked like exam takers, it can be said that Naelda has honed her throwing skills to the point where elves’ fingers are crooked.

‘The reason I’m hitting that screwdriver right now means that if what I say isn’t true, I’m going to blow a hole in your forehead with that screwdriver.’

One thing was certain. Naelda is seriously listening to what I said out of the blue.

This is a nonsense story from a nine-year-old who met less than a day ago, but where does it even make sense?

“…I can’t be completely sure, but based on what I’ve seen and heard, I think it’s certain.”

I spoke again with my mouth close to the headphone receiver so that Volteus, who was sitting a few rooms away, could hear.

“The Brastol family is targeting Lord Voltaeus. “I believe that Lord Volteus’ fragment absorbed the fragment of the Lord that disappeared during the last subjugation, and it seemed like he would do anything to secure it.”

Quang!

“Oh my… You’re like a festering root blight!”

Naelda’s roar rang through the train as she calmly told the truth.

[….]

There was no answer from Volteus on the other end of the phone.

****

[This means that you will use the soul jar’s catalyst to cast necromancy from a distance. Professor, are you holding that pouch right now?]

“Yes. That’s why I said that Voltaeus and I should stay away.”

“Sniff! What kind of unlucky item did you bring with you? Give it to me. “I’ll throw it away in a dump far away from here.”

[You’d better not do that, Gary. If they had an idea, they wouldn’t have sent that to a nine-year-old without taking any action. If it is a catalyst that allows soul magic to be used from a distance, then of course the original owner will know where it goes. The professor is supposed to be joining us, so if that thing leaves here, he might think the plan has been revealed.]

Gary was startled at the sound of Volteus’ voice coming through the receiver and withdrew his hand.

Immediately after I revealed the background of the plan, the entire mission, and even the mission given to me. The train’s mechanics, including Naelda, began hastily finishing parts of the train that had been left open for maintenance, while the remaining engineers, including the stoker, were trying to devise countermeasures.

“Nimiral! Why don’t they attack us who came all the way here in the first place? “If a city-level strike force approaches, it will be difficult even for us to hold out.”

“Because we won’t just die. Isn’t it because you don’t want to fight? “Those in fortress cities treat their property as if it were heaven, and treat other people’s property as if it were temporarily entrusted to them.”

“Uh… I thought there were about five knight-class fighters on the railship. Where are the others?”

“They are rentals. Knight Wizards can ride the train for free and always have priority even when there are not enough seats, but they also help protect the train while it is in transit. When we arrived, the three Aura Knights and one Shard Knight were moving from Straug to Fardau Fortress. “They were returning from protecting the workers laying new tracks at the dungeon raid site.”

“ah.”

This is bad news. This means that the four knight-level knights that were calculated as our strength were not our strength.

[The reason they don’t just attack us, who are outgunned, is probably because of the fortress city’s culture of extreme aversion to loss. As you said, both the fortress cities of Straug and Fardau have kissed, but I don’t know where the rumor will get out. The moment the story of the attack on the train at the city level spreads, not only both fortified cities but also Polgrad Island itself will be isolated. They probably want to create a situation that can be resolved on the other side.]

“There will be that too. We are currently setting up an outpost in a new rocky area, but if they fight against us and lose troops, the number of people they will send to protect there will decrease. They are probably in an ignorant battle over the pie in the newly secured territory, and if the number of support troops decreases, they will naturally have no choice but to receive less interest. “I don’t like that, so I try to do it somehow without losing anything.”

“They are trying to keep up with the battle for control of the dungeon raid, but in the meantime they are trying to harass us and share it with us…”

While everything from technology to culture and way of life has changed, why does this not change even after 200 years?

As I listened to the stories of the world going on from the train drivers, I got a rough idea of what kind of picture Fardau Fortress was drawing.

The interest in the new land cannot be given up. Because ‘livable space’ has become more important to humanity than anything else. So, both cities invested in a subjugation war to uproot the pillars.

Since you have invested so much, you need to get as much interest in the land you have secured as possible in order to recover the principal. While they were tamping the land and laying the tracks and claiming ownership, did they come across something mouth-watering enough to make your eyes pop out?

I want to eat the new land, and I also want to have the colored fragments of Volteus, which may contain humanity’s strongest potential + load fragments.

The Brastall family, which did not want to give up on both sides, seemed to be thinking of making a living by investing less in the railship sector while maintaining the troops it sent to support the track construction.

“…When will the train maintenance be finished?”

“It will take 20 hours. “As soon as the maintenance people arrived, we did the basics, but I didn’t know it would be running so quickly, so it will take a while to finish.”

“20 hours. Until around lunchtime tomorrow…”

The wizard has not yet contacted me. I don’t know what the Barstol family and the soul mage were waiting for, but it seemed like there was at least enough time to come up with a plan.

“Lord Voltaeus.”

[Say.]

“I thought you knew something about soul magicians and soul magic.”

The politics and families of both cities, and what is urgent right now is the hands of enemies targeting Volteus.

[If you live as a Shard Knight, you have no choice but to know. I also know a few soul magicians outside of the city. We have to meet periodically.]

“Then would you like to know what spell this means? Uh… it said, ‘Activate the soul jar as a catalyst and create a crack in the target’s world of consciousness to consume the fragment’s memory-‘ – [

Stimulates the fragment’s memory gluttony. I know. It is a universal and vicious necromancy. This is the magic most often used when attacking the Shard Knight.]

Fortunately, Voltheus knew the magic without having to go far.

“What kind of magic is it?”

[It is exactly as written. It stimulates the memory gluttony of the fragments, making the Shard Knight unable to handle the fragments.]

Memory gluttony? Can’t handle the debris?

When I didn’t answer, I heard Volteus’ low sigh coming from the other end of the phone.

[Do you know what the fragment is?]

“Yes. It’s like a crystal containing the soul of a dead person…”

[That’s right. Therefore, accepting the fragment is the same as infusing its soul into the Shard Knight’s own soul.]

Hesitation was evident in Volteus’ voice.

[The Shard Knight is a being that uses the power inherited from past souls through fragments. And the fragments we mixed into the soul are beings that have become evil enough to curse everyone they meet.] [

They ask for the memories of the Shard Knight in exchange for lending their memories and experience abilities.]

“ “Remember…?”

[okay. memory. It’s kind of like a deal. We gain knowledge and experiences we have never experienced before, but the evil spirits in the fragments completely take possession of the parts of human life that have not yet been affected by evil like them. It is expressed as ‘the memory gluttony of fragments.’]

‘I see.’

Considering the fact that the fragment was a data soul, it made a lot of sense.

Most of the fragments are contaminated data souls, and they are people who have collapsed after repeated pain and death.

They have fallen into the abyss like a starving person rushing to bread, and have no choice but to cling to the ‘living memory’ of the data soul that has not yet been contaminated.

….wait for a sec.

‘Then what does collecting fragments and accumulating power mean…’

Creepy!

“Bol….Theus? “Do you mind if I ask what memories you gave in return?”

[I don’t know.]

Damn it.

[The choice lies with the fragment. They take memories that suit their tastes as much as the power and abilities they give us. We don’t know what kind of memory it was or what it took from me.]

Damn it, damn it!

[So Aurors and Shards are incompatible. Aurors are the darlings of an ego that borders on self-righteousness. The porous soul of a Shard Knight, who gained strength by sacrificing part of himself, cannot reach the power of an Auror. Conversely, Orunite, which has completely hardened itself, also cannot obtain the power of the shard. Because their egos have hardened to the point where it is impossible to give away any part of them.]

Volteus’s calm story comes through the phone.

This is why he placed so much emphasis on mental discipline.

[There is no power without a price. The reason we hate Auror Knights is because we think they are self-centered. In this hopeless world, if you pay the price, you can gain the strength to embrace not only yourself but also those around you, but they chose to never hurt themselves. That’s why we hate those who hold Aurors and speak of chivalry.]

As the Shard Knight becomes stronger, he cuts off parts of himself.

“Then, stimulating the memory gluttony of fragments means….”

[Additionally, you will lose your memory and, in severe cases, you will become a person with disabilities. In some cases, their very existence is consumed by the soul of the fragment.]

[When a Shard Knight with insufficient discipline absorbs fragments beyond his or her capabilities, this often happens without the help of a soul mage.]

Other souls mixed in with the soul are legitimate. Beyond the memories we exchanged, we begin to covet other memories.

A data soul tainted by error. A corrupted soul takes over the body of a being that is still alive and moving in the world.

What will a malicious spirit do when it gains the power and body of a Shard Knight?

[….Just in case, it is usually polite to kill each other before it gets to that point.]

I was speechless as Volteus spoke of the all-too-familiar ‘wasteland courtesy’.

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