Chapter 62
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Regular Summon (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘Thank you so far...’
‘...Sorry, but... I can’t... hold on much... longer...’
The saintess’s voice came through in fragmented bursts.
It probably wasn’t meant for me, which was why it was breaking up like this.
But I could still get the gist of the situation.
└Regular Summon
‘Saintess! I can get you out of there right now!’
It seemed she couldn’t hold out any longer.
‘Saintess!!’
Was the regular summon function glitching out?
Probably not.
Even if my voice reached her, she might be in such dire straits that she couldn’t properly register it.
I’d already prepared everything to summon her on the spot, but I hadn’t gotten her permission—or confirmation—yet.
What gave me that certainty wasn’t the saintess, but Yena.
“Yujun, summon her!”
“Huh?”
“All the Holy Kingdom survivors just exited the gate!”
The saintess was still inside the gate.
At least that much was clear from her frantic, broken voice alone.
[Regular Summon]
Boom!—
“...Wh-who are you?”
I summoned the saintess, and some white-haired old man appeared instead.
“Saintess...?”
Thankfully, it wasn’t one of those tragic tales where the saintess turned out to be a hulking white-haired grandpa instead of a beauty.
As the white-haired old man straightened up from his crouched position, a woman emerged from within who immediately struck you with the thought, Ah, so she’s the saintess.
“So, who might you be?”
“ᓀᔭᖂᓠ ᓭᓵ ᔑᔥ…”
A massive white-haired elder, covered in wounds all over, speaking some incomprehensible language.
I had no idea who he was, what his connection to the saintess was, or why he’d come bundled with her when I summoned her.
Everything about this unknown figure was a mystery.
For now, all I could do was stay on guard.
“Yena!”
First rule of emergency protocols: Hide behind Yena.
“Hey, you should fight too. You’re a B-rank awakener.”
“I-it’s scary...”
Second rule: Send in Hyeji.
But yeah, he did look terrifyingly strong.
Whiiiiiirrr—
“Urgh...”
Still, not even he could withstand Yena’s wind magic, and he was subdued in short order.
“Let’s check the saintess’s condition first.”
...
“She’s just sleeping, right?”
“Yeah, seems like it, so back off already, Yujun.”
I even pressed my ear close to listen for her heartbeat, just to be sure.
“Keep him pinned down, Yena, and for the saintess...”
“I-I’ll protect her!!!”
“Good, Hyeji, you stick right by her.”
“Yes, sir!!”
I handed Hyeji some pre-prepared potions right away.
She’d taken the worst of the injuries here, so she was probably the best at healing too.
Yena had to keep up the wind magic nonstop, and I needed to interrogate this guy for info, so Hyeji was the only one left.
With the saintess left resting on the summoned bed and entrusted to Hyeji, Yena and I took the white-haired old man to a guest room.
Clank—
Now we had to uncover everything.
This wouldn’t be an easy interrogation...
In dramas, guys like this never crack.
But we were dealing with a completely different problem.
He wouldn’t stop talking, but the language barrier made it useless.
We’d never dealt with anything like this before, so we had zero countermeasures.
I was about to step out and grab my phone for a translation app when Yena stopped me.
“This guy doesn’t seem that dangerous.”
“...You understand what he’s saying?”
“No, that’s why. He’s a non-awakener.”
“Ah... yeah~... I knew it...”
I had no clue how an unknown language tied into him being a non-awakener, but this was the moment to play along like I got it.
“...Awakeners can communicate regardless of language. It’s the same principle as how posts from people worldwide in the gallery get auto-translated.”
But fooling Yena, who I’d known basically my whole life, was impossible as always.
Anyway, if Yena was right, this guy was a non-awakener...
Come to think of it, he looked excessively old.
Even accounting for a harsh life bringing on severe presbyopia, he had to be at least in his sixties.
That was another point in favor of Yena’s assessment that he was a non-awakener.
“Yena, we can loosen the bindings a bit.”
“Okay.”
Conclusion: excessive restraints weren’t necessary.
A non-awakener was weaker than me, with all my stats at E-rank.
Better to make him more comfortable and coax cooperation than overdo the restraints on someone not truly dangerous.
The immediate threat level was resolved, at least.
Now for his identity and connection to the saintess.
The problem remained the language barrier.
Starting with his name seemed like a good first step.
“Shin Yujun.”
“Kwon Yena.”
“Shin Yujun.”
“Kwon Yena.”
We pointed to ourselves in turn, saying our names, then pointed at the white-haired old man last and looked at him expectantly.
“...Francesco Dante.”
“Francesco Dante?”
Nod—
The white-haired elder—no, Francesco Dante—nodded affirmatively at my echo.
He seemed cooperative enough so far, so I pulled out a potion and slipped it into his mouth.
“Mmm...”
We had a name now, but what next...
Waiting for the saintess to wake up might be the best bet.
She’d be able to talk to him and translate, and she probably knew all about this guy anyway.
So, we’d hold off on his identity and ties to the saintess until she stirred.
Instead, let’s figure out how he got summoned alongside her.
“W-wait.”
“...”
“Okay? W-wait.”
He might not understand me, and he might not want to wait, but common courtesy called for saying something before I left the room.
“Should I check in every now and then?”
“Huh? Nah, no need.”
“Whoa...”
I figured the wind magic would lapse once Yena left, but apparently not.
She’d essentially fitted him with invisible handcuffs made of wind.
Yena and I headed back to check on the saintess again.
“Still out?”
“Yup!”
“...Okay, no rush, so no need to wake her forcibly.”
I peeked just my head into the room, got the update from Hyeji, then moved to the living room and plopped onto the sofa.
Flop—
“Whew...”
It had been total chaos, and we knew next to nothing solid.
But one thing was crystal clear.
‘It worked out even better than planned.’
We hadn’t just rescued the saintess from danger—we’d pulled her out of the gate after the Holy Kingdom abandoned her.
Once the gate fully vanished, she’d be officially declared dead.
I wasn’t sure how that would hit her personally, but objectively, it was a win for our guild.
Still, that white-haired geezer named Francesco Dante nagged at me...
“Haa... how the heck did he even get here?”
└Regular Summon
I’d only used that one function, yet it summoned both her and the old man.
“Yena, can you go hold Hyeji’s hand in the room?”
“Sure~”
I’d never tested summoning multiple people at once before, so let’s experiment now.
[It’s Yena]
└Regular Summon
“You were holding hands?”
“Yeah.”
“...Then, could you maybe hug her this time?”
“...You’ll make it up to me later, right?”
“Uh, well... I dunno how, but yeah, I’ll make it up to you.”
Spotting that the saintess and the old man had been in contact during the summon, I started testing various methods.
“...None of them worked.”
All failures.
Simple physical contact wasn’t enough, apparently.
“I’ll message when you’re ready, wanna try once more?”
“Huh? Sure, whatever...”
I was about ready to give up and just ask the saintess about the situation later when Yena apparently had another idea.
...
[It’s Yena]
-Try it
I summoned Yena without much hope this time either.
[Regular Summon]
“Eek?!”
“...How’d you do that?”
Yena appeared with a smug smile, while a bewildered Hyeji—who’d gotten zero explanation—materialized right beside her.
“What... that’s all it was?”
“Hehe~ Yujun didn’t even think of that, huh~?”
Now that I knew the answer, it seemed ridiculously simple.
Yena had wrapped Hyeji up tight in her wind magic.
The key was probably being under the influence of wind magic.
Which meant Francesco Dante must have been affected by the saintess’s skill—likely her healing—and got summoned along with her.
“Hmm...”
That at least confirmed he was friendly toward the saintess.
“Sigh, if the saintess had just explained the gate situation, none of this would’ve happened.”
Of course, she’d been in mortal peril during the raid, so I got that it was chaotic.
Still, it stung not getting a sitrep.
Not anger at the saintess, but regret that she didn’t trust me enough.
I’d leaned too hard on the [Regular Summon] function without thinking it through.
Anyway, she was safe now, so that was a relief—but next time something like this popped up, I’d prep better.
“Yena, let’s rest up a bit. Hyeji, keep an eye on the saintess. I’ll take over later.”
Waking up in an unfamiliar place would freak her out, and who knows what she’d do, so someone needed to stay by her side.
“Got it!”
Hyeji marched off to the saintess’s room with the confidence of someone entrusted with a sacred duty.
She probably saw it as her chance to shine.
The remaining questions could only be answered once the saintess woke, so we could afford a break until then.
Our bodies were comfy at home, but our minds had been through hell.
‘Regular Summon is way more broken than I thought...’
One click to summon multiples, and even non-awakeners if an awakener was nearby.
If Yena’s wind magic could envelop up to 100 people at once, that meant summoning a hundred in one go.
‘Could be handy for mass civilian evacuations...’
As I brainstormed ways to leverage the regular function, I poked around to see if anything new had popped up.
Then, one name suddenly came to mind.
Not out of the blue, really—just that this shrouded figure was nagging at me.
On a whim, I typed his name in.
“It works...?”
Would you like to register 'Francesco Dante' as a regular?