Chapter. 21. Another Solo Play (24)
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Darik. A suspicious warlock whose face almost melted. Come to think of it, he said he had some business to do at the palace and would follow me.
“You’ve come this far.”
My head, as heavy as a stone, moved my tired body toward a new question. What did you talk about when you met the author?
“Your face looks heavy in one way or another.”
“…I was in a daze just a moment ago, but now I have a lot to think about.”
“Too much of anything is harmful. “It’s not about greed for money, but sometimes it’s about expectations, hope, and mercy.”
The warlock turned his eyes to the pile of rocks left behind me for a moment and sighed, pretending to dust off unsolicited ashes.
“You know what you need to open the castle gate, right?”
….
When the question was asked as if it were obvious, I took out a pendant from my cloak pocket.
When I used my toes to peel away the floor full of flowers and skin, a groove shaped like a perfect fit for the pendant was revealed.
In my old memories, I remembered a scene where I was running and crying, leaving behind the collapsing Empress Dowager Palace, and holding a pendant like this in my hand.
‘If I could have taken it out from the beginning… wouldn’t I have sold it?’
For ‘poor Pathfinder Hyde’, who was always struggling to pay for train signs, relics without any particularly useful function were just objects to be sold to collectors. It was only after my memories returned that I wondered if it was some kind of design that made it possible to hold this in my hand.
-Cow. Wow.
Huge stone statues walked out from between the wide moat that separated the imperial castle and castle city.
‘The stone statues joined hands to create a bridge leading to the imperial castle.’
Crackling, crunching!
It didn’t seem to go so well this time.
The stone statues, all covered in cursive fire, cracked and broke every time they took a step, and the bridge that was created like that was also broken in places like the stone statues, leaving it looking like a ruin.
“…If even Hwangseong had become like that, it might already be too late. Please step back. “What will I do about the curse covering the castle gate?”
The warlock looked up at the castle with concern in his hoarse voice and stretched out his bony arms towards the root-covered castle gate. While the roots holding the gate were slowly retreating as if they had been touched by fire, I was reminiscing about the stories I had shared with Darik.
[You know what you need to open the imperial castle door, right?]
I knew that I had the imperial family’s seal. Even I was barely able to bring it up after regaining my memories, so how could he have said it before me?
[I have work to do at the castle. If someone clears the road to the imperial castle, I plan to use it as a symbol and follow them. [He cannot appear in a place where the emperor’s curse exists.]
He is probably deeply connected to the curse placed on the capital. A black magical being.
[Heulheulheul. Are you lost? Shall I help you?]
The moment I was lost and wandering in the distorted capital, a person suddenly appeared and led me to the Temple of Mercy.
“ah.”
The thoughts that passed through my fingertips as if I could not catch them came together and created a blurry frame.
[Okay, gotcha! I caught it! I can’t hand you over to that damn thing. Not at all….]
‘When was this memory again?’
In the empty frame, completely unexpected memories came down and took their place.
[So to speak, it is a continuous run. Administrator Dragon or a magical being like me… You asked for your memories from those who are not bound by lifespan or time frames. [To meet again and relive it.]
My subconscious came to mind before I could think. These memories are all one bundle.
As if following that memory, I approached the warlock who was casting a spell.
Skinny arms.
A hoarse voice.
A face melted by a curse
and.
[….I will leave here the first words of gratitude that will last the rest of my life.]
The back of the warlock who was leaving with a carefree expression, as if he had shaken off everything.
“Apart from the damn magic, the roots of the curse covering the castle gate are too deep. “I guess I’ll have to wait a while for it to open properly.”
“Darik.”
“You know that you have to face the emperor without even having time to catch your breath. “I’m in just as much of a hurry as you are, so don’t even think about making a fuss.”
“I’d like to, but I have too much work to do today.”
“hmm?”
Blood was dripping from the warlock’s fingertips, as if he had been bitten at some point. Blood must have been used as a catalyst for black magic.
“Why would that person act like that after pretending not to notice? “I don’t have time to think about it.”
“….this.”
As I tried to cover my bleeding fingertips, I realized that there was no clothing left on my body that wasn’t soaked in blood.
I spoke to his bony hand, which was wrapped in my hand instead of the cloth.
“Why are you doing this here?”
Letting go of my mother, who was the object of my love and hatred for my entire life, and my younger brother, who was a burden on my heart my whole life.
A warlock who ended his life’s goal by simply completing a long story with nothing left.
A person who left like that and was never seen again. Since I couldn’t see him even at the end of the Mute Race War, I thought he had really gone off to live his own life, taking care of the abandoned souls.
Why did you, who left everything behind, look like that?
Are you caught up in this miserable fate?
“You… were the last runner? Aldrich?”
Why is it that all the people I bring in are driven down this thorny path?
A bloody, bony hand landed on me, who could not bear to raise my head.
Warlock Aldrich said.
“That’s why you stopped me. “Let’s not do that.”
He spoke in a hoarse, cracking voice as if he was in despair.
****
“Wait about five minutes and the door will open. The emperor has completely surrounded the imperial castle with the vitality he has gathered from all over the capital, but I have not been idle for the past few years. A wedge was driven between the formulas that only ignorantly increased their power. “Unfortunately, I was discovered and ended up not being able to come near the emperor’s curse.”
“The Mute elite friends who were supposed to come will take a little longer than that. The foolish emperor was more offended by the mute ‘Her Majesty the Queen’ than expected. “It would not have been daring to use the title ‘Majesty’ in one’s own land.”
“They must have let their guard down by making the imperial castle into an iron fortress full of power. The only thing in the imperial castle is the damn emperor. It won’t be easy, but it will still be worth it than dealing with countless sword attacks from knights.”
Crackle crackle.
Aldrich rekindled the bonfire I kicked and laughed at the Emperor’s curse, saying it was a novice who only increased his strength. Perhaps due to some magical effect, the fog around the campfire was gradually receding.
‘5 minutes.’
What I wanted to say rose like a tide and ebbed away like an ebb. The words that came up to my throat were blocked by the face in the hood flickering in the light and the figure coughing as if it was difficult to speak.
“….okay. “I am the last runner prepared for you.”
“Like Ottoman… you mean?”
“yes. “I had to be the last one.”
“Why?”
“As the system begins to move in earnest, the possibility of you getting caught up in an unreasonable incident and dying increases.”
What does that have to do with anything? If I die now that I’ve succeeded in standing at the same time as the professor, wouldn’t we all have failed?
No, before that, is NPC Aldrich, who is not even an administrator, able to recognize the existence of the ‘system’?
Although he didn’t say anything, Aldrich must have seen my expression full of doubts and nodded silently. As he cleared his injured throat, a sigh as deep as the ups and downs of life flowed from his mouth.
“Your brother, a godly being from the world outside the system… Yes. “You know everything.”
“How…did it happen?”
“Whatever. Among the people who got hooked by that professor, are there people who are as involved as our party? “It means that I have become an exception to the ‘system’ that God hates.”
“If there is an exception….”
“Shin. Even though he is a single person of divinity, which is a shame to even be called a demigod, he was inherited through the souls of his mother and Neria. “It’s enough to guide abandoned souls like my mother.”
Abandoned soul. Data souls left behind in the world, breaking away from the existing cycle of returning to the server room upon death.
“….Fragments?”
“okay. These are the souls I was supposed to guide. It ended up like that because the damn system blocked the path to the spirit world. Fortunately, things were resolved because I was in the Western Empire, but I couldn’t care about the situation on other continents.”
“That’s why you couldn’t see fragment knights or anything like that here.”
“You put the memories of the dead into my body. Isn’t that crazy? “It is safe to say that it is a suicide that has reached the level of art.”
Aldrich, who was fussing about the Shard Knight using fragments, looked at me and quietly closed his mouth. Because we both know who has reached the peak of artistic suicide.
“Anyway… After your ‘first life’, the system noticed that there was someone interfering with its plans. From the second time, I had a vague idea of the method. What do you people in the spirit world call a ‘server room’? Anyway, I see that there are traces left here and there on the road leading there.”
For a moment, a shiver ran down my spine. Didn’t I get to this point by completely avoiding the eyes of the system? Are you trying to intervene in the process of me dying and being reborn in another body?
“So?”
“So what’s the point? That’s why you’re here. Hyde If you think about it, aren’t you also an ‘abandoned soul’? I’m an unusual being who doesn’t have a place named after me in the server room. “As soon as I sensed your presence in my little divinity, I snatched it up before that crazy god could touch it.”
Aldrich waved his hand as if swinging an invisible fishing rod.
=========
‘Gotcha! ‘I’ve got you!’
‘I can’t hand you over to that damn thing. Not without it…’
=========
Oh, that’s right.
“That was you.”
“No matter how fast and long the system is, as long as it is an external entity, it cannot be helped that its hands are slower than mine.”
“…I missed it a few times. “There were many times when I went astray and ended up being born in a strange place.”
“That remote island. Magical engineer!”
“Or in the woods. Or beast. Or bugs.”
“?!”
“I thought it was only five times? really? “Did you know that you still have a habit of tilting your head like a bird of prey when you look around?”
“No, then no way.”
“…There will be some empty time between 220 years of memories. It was my mistake. “If you want to curse, do it now while you have time.”
“If it weren’t for the ‘compulsive disorder’ engraved in your soul, you, who were born as a magic engineer on that remote island, could have wasted 60 or 70 years complaining about your boring daily life with the residents of other islands. “Thanks to driving myself to death, that period stopped at around 17 years.”
“As expected, the will of the system intervened.”
“The place where the professor fell is also in the northeastern archipelago. I think the system intentionally created this area to be isolated from the rest of the world in order to handle various tasks. You have to take a boat and cross the rough sea for a long time to get there, but all you have to do is create a storm when necessary. “It wouldn’t be difficult.”
Jejeok, Jejeojeok –
It was the sound of the cursed roots of the castle gate drying out. 5 minutes given. Now how many minutes have passed and how many are left?
“I was waiting here so that if you died before coming to the empire, you would somehow be reborn around here. “It’s like the last breakwater named Aldrich, so to speak.”
“When I am reborn, I will be a newborn baby.”
“Did you know that I also do some alchemy? There are quite a few elixirs in black magic that force the body to grow. “If you only live for 6 months, your lifespan will end.”
“What about your memories?”
“Well… I can only hope that you will do your best. If that didn’t work out, I was thinking of using first marriage magic to turn you into an evil spirit with your consent. To be honest, it might be like everything is already broken by then, but you can’t give up. “They say that if you fail, the world will disappear.”
“Why did you act strange and not identify yourself as Aldrich from the beginning?”
“You were fooled, right?”
“I tried to kill you several times.”
“Hehehehe! It doesn’t matter because I don’t die. “How could a being with the souls of saints and evil spirits attached to its soul stand on the side of life and death?”
“As I said before, I am the one most exposed to the system among us. Thanks to being only half of the world, I managed to escape their gaze, but if I were to reveal myself properly, I would immediately be caught in his gaze. Well, for example, someone calling you ‘Aldrich’.”
“Uh… Aldrich?”
“Yeah, like that. By now, that bitch’s rotten radish face had turned red and she was thinking, ‘How did he get there?!’ He must be doing it. “This is why I don’t like children who are quick-witted.”
Unlike me, who was embarrassed, Aldrich didn’t seem shaken at all.
The same as always: eccentric, cheerful and deep-hearted.
“are you okay. “I’m done here anyway.”
Tsk- blah blah blah!
At that moment, the roots dug deep into the gate dried up and tore the gate completely apart.
“Well, it’s time. Stop it. “Work hard.”
“Aldrich what do you mean! “That’s it!”
“What do you mean? “It’s the story as you heard it.”
Aldrich stood up, dusting off his dust-free robe, and kicked the bonfire like I did earlier.
Whoop –
his feet only passed through charcoal and rubble and had no effect.
“I am a being close to half-dead. I have no power over the events of this world. All I can do is get you out of the stream heading to the spirit world before that damn bitch.”
“Ha, but the capital’s gates are definitely…”
“You must have had a hard time all day, right? Seeing how that good brain has turned into a fool. Have you forgotten where this curse came from?”
Aldrich said and pointed to his chest.
“The curse is like the ooze from the mother’s rotting soul. “Although it is a small piece, my mother’s spirit resides within me, so this curse that the imperial family haphazardly massaged is also vaguely connected to my soul.”
“It means that thanks to that curse, I, who was no better than a dead person, was able to be held captive in the world. So, in the imperial capital where the curse is everywhere, it is possible to move as a semi-entity. My soul is in the spirit world, and the curse, like a pile of thread hanging there, is in the basement of the castle. “It’s half and half like that.”
“then.”
“…If you are competent enough, I will soon disappear from the world.”
I was out of breath.
“It’s okay. That doesn’t mean it’s going to disappear right away. I told you, right? “I have work to do in the basement of the castle?”
“…Could you just tell me before it’s too late?”
“No. What if that evil system overhears and spreads ashes? Even though this place is out of her reach, she doesn’t know what’s going on in the world. “Because this world moves in the direction it wants.”
“Umm… if you’re really tired, can you at least lift this?”
As I was still frozen like a statue and gasping for breath, Aldrich blurted out something from inside his black robe.
A glass bottle filled with muddy brown liquid.
“Do you remember this?”
“Yes….”
“It’s a special medicine when you’re out of breath and your back hurts, and you want to throw away everything, including future and destruction. This is precious. “In the end, the production method was lost.”
visor!
Without any time to refuse, Aldrich took out a similar vial, made a toast, and drank it in one breath.
Chiik –
The drug passed through the incorporeal body and jumped straight into the bonfire behind him. I can’t believe I’ve lived with a body like that until now.
Instead of drinking Aldrich’s potion, I carefully stuffed it into my subspace pocket.
“why not. Are there any allergies I don’t know about? Or are you a picky eater?” “No. “I don’t think you need to drink anything.”
To be exact, I don’t think drinking it will lighten my stone-like heart.
Damn it! Damn it!
Coo coo coo coo coo!
“This is…”
“I guess so-and-so hiding in the imperial castle noticed that there was a hole in their iron castle. Hurry up. “All the life force surrounding the imperial castle is flocking to one place.”
The entire castle began to split apart as if the gate had collapsed, and a terrifying wind began to blow and engulf the surrounding fog.
The sight of blood drawn from still living flesh and flower petals of a fully bloomed cursed flower gathered together in the wind was a strange sight where disgust and beauty coexisted.
I took in Aldrich’s injured figure as if it were a carving.
‘My baggage has increased again.’
Or maybe it’s a support.
“I’m going.”
“Do your best. “It’s because I can’t remember it yet. During the war between the two empires, you were a crazy person who used to attack airships all by yourself.”
“Me?”
“You just need to remember why you gave up your overflowing magical talent and picked up a sword. I was disappointed too, but it was a reason I couldn’t help but understand. A warlock who can recognize the level of unconsciousness. Hmm. “Even thinking about it now makes me feel sad.”
“…Ah hmmm.”
Aldrich seemed to have something to say, but then swallowed it.
“why.”
“…It’s nothing special. If I sigh, I’m just holding it in because I’m unlucky. “It’s symbolically ominous.”
“I heard you’re leaving soon.” “I think it would be more uncomfortable for the story I heard here to remain in my head for the rest of my life.”
“…I’m sorry.”
What Aldrich struggled to get out was an unexpected apology.
“I was opposed to your reckless plan from the beginning, Mr. Hyde. Not only that, I opposed Atlaheba and the World Tree by hurling all the double insults and curses I knew.”
“Was it so untrustworthy?”
“Because I knew it would be like this.”
Aldrich’s bony hands stroked my cheek, shoulder, and arm.
“Because I know all too well the lonely pressure and responsibility felt by those left behind when everyone else leaves.”
“Even at this very moment, I cannot bear to know that you will remain in your own pain. This is what happens in our world. Professor and Hyde: You… are strangers, aren’t you? “You came here to go on a field trip?”
“You have no obligation to do this for all of us, yet you and the professor are suffering more than all of us combined. I couldn’t tolerate it. It is not right to place such a heavy burden on the backs of just two people who are the world’s best and luckiest people. “I am…”
A strong wind struck Aldrich and me, unable to continue speaking.
Tears were constantly flowing from the faint remaining eye sockets on his face, where all his facial features had disappeared.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”
Damn it. I was going to complain that I was going to die because it was so hard. If that’s the case, I can’t say anything.
“…what should I do? “I guess this is a family tradition.”
Suddenly, my respect for the countless people who do good deeds while hiding their names from the world soared.
Just having one person who knows what I’m going through makes me feel lighter, so how on earth can I hide that from my life?
“If you’re sorry, I’ll give you the book later too.”
“….”
“Honestly, things like past lives and systems are hard to believe, so uh… it feels like an old legend from some far away place. “We also carved old-fashioned murals in the temple.”
What should I do? This is what we do. I just hope someone notices later.
“going. “I listened carefully.”
I wanted to talk to Aldrich all day long, but the atmosphere in the palace was too serious to delay.
‘It’s a very traditional atmosphere of destruction.’
A crumbling imperial castle at the center of a storm mixed with blood and purple.
Perhaps due to the strong wind’s overflowing energy, ominous sparks were flashing, creating an atmosphere as if a demon lord would burst out.
The Demon King on the verge of collapse and the knight who faced it alone…
Hmm…
“Hmph!”
Thinking that it was really the last time, I concentrated my strength on the handle of the sword.
Elastic, amorphous liquid-like power spreads from the chest to the whole body, and like the soul of a knight who has been tempered and perfected, the sword made by heating and beating is filled with that incredible energy -…
….Pajik! Pop! Parbat!
“Nimiral.”
They say I was no joke in the past. They say they even cut the airship with a knife.
For a moment, white flames seemed to soar, but soon they failed to form and dissipated in a small explosion.
“The situation is traditional, but I guess I’m not a traditional warrior.”
….I can’t help it.
Disappointed, he put the sword in its sheath for a moment, then took off the cloak from his shoulders and tied it around his waist.
It’s a bit cumbersome to use as a knife, but it’s more convenient to use as a pocket.
“Let’s see. “It is the strongest castle on the entire continent…”
As I was rummaging through my pockets, a castle with a terrifying energy came into my eyes.
The symbolism of defensive magic that has overlapped for hundreds of years and the center of an ancient magic empire.
“The cursed coins have almost all been sucked up.”
It is said to be the best building built by dwarven craftsmen who took decades to build a castle wall in just three months.
“The roots went all the way through the building and everything split apart.”
Nevertheless, the tens of thousands of buildings built to prepare for an unexpected collapse had a structure that did not collapse even if the compartments and pillars collapsed.
“That must have been said before we delved into the basement of the castle to study curses, right?”
.
.
.
.
..
“oh.”
It’s empty though. A cracked high-rise building and a magical storm raging around the imperial castle.
…..Sway la-la-rak!
“One, two, you two….”
“….Will you stay?”
I’m sorry Lucilla.
I bowed my head toward the site of the old Empress Dowager Palace, massaging the various magic bombs that poured out of my cloak pocket. He tried so hard to leave the empire intact.
“It’s all rotten anyway, so let’s build a new one after this.”
Professor Park, a combat expert, said that walking into enemy territory fully prepared on familiar terrain is not much different from putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger.
“…I really liked talking about that guy Ian.”
The steel-jawed bomber next to him set up a trap and said that if you put enough gunpowder into their raccoon den, everything will be fine.
With my fingers filled with magic-chemical high explosives that Sum-Hyde had created like crazy, I smiled after coming to the capital for the first time in a long time and said,
“It was an exception. I was truly outside the game.”
Sum-Hyde didn’t know it, but his magical engineering bomb, created with knowledge of reality, clearly violated Gedroitz’s game rules.
What did they say? It was said that a system called the ‘Devil of Technology’ dumped benefits that were far greater than the knowledge the player used on the opposing formation.
No matter how much I think about it, I have never seen a magical engineering tool in the world that produces such great power with such inferior materials.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Seom-Hyde, who was going crazy, had unintentionally used my cheat-like abilities.
Just enough magic tools to fill a narrow barn on his lonely island.
In this way, there is no need to make a traditional, epic charge.
The rough road turns around.
If there’s a dangerous obstacle, wouldn’t it be a good idea to blast it through?
“Let’s do it my way. Do it my way.”
Not Professor Park’s way, but my way.
My steps are light.
I drank all the holy water I had received and sprinkled a bottle over my head, but the condensed fog still seemed to burn my nose and throat every time I breathed.
“After all, good deeds should be known and recognized.”
Thinking about it now, I guess it was a bit unfair. The world is going crazy. No matter what you do, you fail. It’s so hard that you literally die three times and wake up again.
but. The moment I saw Aldrich crying and apologizing to me, the resentment that had built up inside me suddenly subsided.
It wasn’t that I did anything in particular, it just happened because the person truly recognized my pain.
Ha, indeed.
“It’s also simple.”
Now that I think about it, Professor Park also felt healed when people cheered him up and said, ‘Oh my savior!’ after he went through such a hard time.
When I saw my pain clearly reflected in Aldrich’s soul-seeing eyes, I was completely cured.
What a value-for-money family this is.
The steps towards the imperial castle filled with ominous feelings were light and cheerful.
Chick chizik.
.
.
.
.
Hwareuk.
Aldrich, who was following Hyde with mixed eyes, noticed a white light trailing behind him like a tail.
“…I’m sorry.”
Two steps forward.
Something to be proud of, proud of, and
pitiful about.
His eyes were full of sadness as he looked at Hyde toward the end.
The meaning of that flame means that Hyde also had a vague idea of his end.
Still, it means improvement.
****
