Signal Fire
“A major branching point has been created!”
A message appeared, fitting the chapter title Endless Forking Paths.
Choose carefully which of the following two options to prioritize.
(1) Respond to the Summons
Queen Daisy’s fury will subside. You may receive reinforcements or various items from her. However, because you must leave the defense of the territory to your subordinates, the territory will suffer severe damage from the Hogryphon raid. Casualties are likely to be numerous, and important facilities may be destroyed. As a result of the lord’s absence at a critical moment, the edification of the territory’s people, especially the vassals, will drop sharply in reaction.
(2) Defend the Territory
You can minimize the damage the territory suffers, and depending on your performance, you may obtain many rewards. However, the longer the defense battle drags on, the more Queen Daisy’s anger will boil over, and malicious slander from hostile forces against the Protector will increase. In the worst case, the Protector may be branded a traitor, and Daisy may send suppression troops instead of reinforcements.
With that, the world turned gray.
Time remaining until decision: 5 minutes.
Everyone except Ho-yeong had frozen in place.
“What the hell is this?!”
For the Protector’s careful consideration, I have temporarily halted the timeline of this world.
“You can do that? Well, I did hear the world I originally came from was in a state where time didn’t flow. So I guess the reverse wouldn’t be impossible either.”
All around him, the characters were staring with anxious faces.
“That’s at least a relief, Daliha. If everyone here kept talking, I’d have gone crazy. My head already feels like it’s about to split. And talking to you in front of people is awkward too. More important, which option do I choose? Haa…”
Ho-yeong drew in a deep breath and muttered, “This really looks like I’ve got to pick one or the other. I don’t think there’s a third option.”
This didn’t seem like one of those situations he could muscle through with improvisation, as he had up to now.
“Damn branching points... Hah. Not long ago, the only branching points I had to care about were on the highway.”
And then he flared up.
“Why do crises have to show up right on the branching point? The second things start going smoothly, they always throw some garbage event at me like variable difficulty or a major branching point. Who balanced this crap? It’s like a pirated mod of a game!”
But soon he steadied himself.
I can’t collapse in the first chapter of all things. I’ve already been through worse. A bomb threat on discharge day, the company blowing up on my first payday, and the trip I sent my parents on for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary... Anyway, I have to pull this off. That’s the only way back.
He had to get to the younger siblings who would be waiting for him, no matter what, hopefully all in one piece.
Have you decided which side to choose?
“Before that, could you at least tell me one thing? I can’t make sense of the situation at all.”
If it is only one thing, then yes.
Ho-yeong immediately rattled off his questions.
“First of all, why did the queen call me here in the first place? Why is she so furious? Who are these hostile forces, and what’s this slander? And what do you mean I could end up a traitor in the worst case? What on earth are you talking about?”
I hear five questions, not one.
“Looks like Lilian’s rubbed off on you. Sorry. But could you really tell me? Daliha-nim, God-novice-goddess-nim. Please...”
At his earnest plea, Daliha relented.
The background behind the summoning of the Protector in the capital, as well as Ulackhim’s desertion, are deeply tied to the recent fame the Protector has gained.
“Hm? The fame I’ve recently gained? What does that mean?”
I have bundled all five questions into one answer. I cannot tell you anything beyond that.
With the little time he had left, Ho-yeong thought furiously.
What could possibly make Queen Daisy this angry? Let’s think through the game story... Right, this flow is definitely that.
The conflict between the royal faction and the republican faction.
The outline came into focus at last.
With monsters swarming the country, all sorts of troublemakers would have shown up too. Revolutionary groups, cults, the whole mess. Queen Daisy got pissed off and declared them all rebels, and then the place was swept by a bloodbath. Joren Tamer got caught up in it and died, didn’t he?
What bothered him was that, from the illustration depicting Joren as a middle-aged man, it looked like the event had been set at least ten years later.
Is this happening earlier than it did in the original history? Could be. They said reality and the game had connected, and the game world had been warped because of it. I’m supposed to be the one who sets it right.
Ho-yeong recalled the information he had heard on the first day of possession.
Daliha’s line about my recent fame probably holds the key. I still don’t know what that has to do with Ulackhim deserting, though.
Time remaining until decision: 1 minute.
“Damn, already?”
With time running short, he anxiously shifted his attention to defending the territory.
The monster coming is a Hogryphon. This won’t be easy.
The Hogryphon was a variant of the griffon. It was a large monster with the lower body of a boar and the upper body and wings of an eagle.
Can they really hold the line without me?
He shook his head.
Lilian isn’t even here right now. That’s going to throw command into chaos. And the monsters I’ve already converted? Without me, they won’t be handled properly, and in the worst case, their edification may drop low enough that they run off or go feral. On top of that, the loyalty of the vassals and territory people will start to wobble too. This is bad.
He might lose the foundation he had struggled to build.
I’d rather have a known ally turn against me than a hostile force I don’t even know keep growing.
Ho-yeong made up his mind.
Set the priority. Then figure out the route. Stay calm, Bang Ho-yeong.
The man who had endured the company and his three siblings having disasters drop on them all at once more than once had only one second left to decide.
5 seconds remaining.
“Defend the territory!”
At Ho-yeong’s shout, the gray world brightened again.
“Baunal, how many Hogryphons are there? And when do you think they’ll arrive?”
“Huh? You already know it’s a Hogryphon? How’d you know that?”
“That’s not important! The number and the time!”
Startled by the lord’s bark, Baunal quickly explained in detail.
“I couldn’t get a perfect count, but it looked like fifty or sixty. I’ve been on the run from them on Mandragorani for about three hours, so they’d need four or five more hours to reach the southern wall, maybe? And it looked like some adventurer group was being chased by them too. They’re riding horses, so they probably won’t be caught.”
“Adventurers? For now, Baunal, go fetch Lord Berneval. Mandragorani No. 13, take Meyril with you!”
Now it was time to handle Duonoraong and the messenger.
“Chief Butler, follow the messenger to the capital.”
“M-Must I... go and appear before Her Majesty on the lord’s behalf?!”
“Yes. Tell her the territory has come under a monster raid and the lord cannot leave his post, and beg her pardon. And if there’s been some misunderstanding, please explain it carefully.”
“Forgive me, Count of the Border Region, but I cannot do that.”
The messenger blocked the way with a resolute expression.
“Her Majesty said that she wanted the Count of the Border Region himself, not a proxy.”
“You heard it just now too, didn’t you? A Hogryphon raid, a Hogryphon raid! How can I possibly leave when I’m the one in overall command?”
“But—”
“When Her Majesty bestowed this title on me, she said she trusted me to protect her precious people. I’m only following that command! Am I supposed to stand by and watch the helpless be cut down by the beaks and claws of monsters?!”
The messenger lowered his head deeply.
The messenger has been influenced by the Protector’s eloquence.
“I swear on my knight’s honor that once I’ve put out this fire, I’ll go to the capital at once and meet with Her Majesty.”
“Understood. I trust you’ll keep your promise.”
The guard who had brought word of Ulackhim’s desertion was ordered to assemble the troops.
“Tell the standard-bearer to bring the rally flag here immediately. And you, call back every one of the dispatched guards. Not a single one left behind.”
“What about High Knight Lilian and the troops under her command, who have gone after the deserter?”
“Leave them be and hurry up with the troop rally!”
“Yes, sir!”
He also gave orders to Sicoop, who stood there helplessly holding a lantern.
“Sicoop. What color can be seen well from far away?”
“Red, red-orange, or yellow, I reckon. But why do you ask, sir—”
“Can you turn that lantern light red right now?”
“I’ve already set the mana arrangement, so I’d need at least a few hours before I can reset it, sir.”
Ho-yeong frowned and looked around.
“Do we have any thin cloth or paper? And something like an animal, too. Damn, they say even slime mucus is out if you want to use it for potions! Tch. No choice, then.”
Unable to find what he wanted, he gave a strange order.
“Take your clothes off.”
“I beg your pardon?! H-Huh?! What are you doing, sir?”
Ho-yeong stripped the white robe from the terrified Sicoop.
“L-Lord?!”
And when the lord drew his sword too, Sicoop stumbled backward.
“Haaah?!”
Had he really just slashed his own palm?
“There. That should do it. Bring that here.”
The hem of the white robe was soaked in blood and turned crimson.
“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and bring it!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
He cut out the reddest section and wrapped it around a mana-soil bead.
“So that’s what you’re doing this for. But for the lord to cut himself like that! You could have used your riding warhorse, or even goblin blood!”
- Puhihing! (Should I let you use your blood instead?)
The warhorse, Ma-yeong, felt like kicking that mage.
“This blade has a karoum plating. Even bare skin without aura would be sliced clean off in a chunk. It’d hurt like hell. How could I do that?”
- Puhihing! (Oh my, what a wonderful master!)
The horse was deeply moved by her master’s words. She did not act on the impulse.
“More importantly, can’t we make this bead flash on and off somehow?”
“As I said before, not right now, sir. Hmm, could we just keep saying the ignition word to make it flicker on and off? Or maybe put a lid on it and take it off again?”
With one hand in short supply, Ho-yeong came up with a better idea.
“Make a magic circle with the mana soil. If we lift this bead high and lower it rapidly over and over, that should do it. Let’s turn the light on first.”
“Yes, sir! On!”
At Sicoop’s activation word, red light burst from the bead. Then, with a magic circle summoned, Ho-yeong lifted the bead high into the sky.
“The sunlight’s so bright the light isn’t spreading as much as I expected.”
- Rani-rani!
At that moment, Mandragorani No. 13 arrived carrying Meyril.
“You’re here! Meyril, this is sudden, but listen carefully.”
Ho-yeong explained the situation at top speed.
“So... this light has to be visible as far as possible, right? So that High Knight Lilian can see this red light and the flag and come back.”
“Exactly. And the adventurers who are being chased can use the light as a beacon too.”
“I understand. Then that means we need to weaken the sunlight. I’ll do my best!”
Magic. A phenomenon that manifested when the mana of the atmosphere responded to the mana of living beings. A mage’s output was heavily affected by their mental state.
Meyril had found stability in Ho-yeong’s warm care all this time. The more confidence she gained, the more her mana surged.
“O sun that has forgotten to rest.”
A weather mage who dealt with natural phenomena. Most of them regarded nature as something to be controlled.
“Please cool your heat for just a little while. I’ll ask the clouds to hide you.”
But Meyril was different. She drew out the mana of nature through communication, not command, through cooperation, not pressure.
“Ooooh?!”
White clouds gathered over the sky of Tamer Territory.
“Amazing, Meyril!”
“That really is something, sir!”
Ho-yeong, and even Sicoop the fellow mage, were in awe.
“Now it shines much better, but can’t we make the light itself brighter? Sicoop, sorry, but let’s yell as hard as you can.”
The lantern had been set so that the louder the activation word was shouted, the brighter it would burn.
“On! Kheh-kheh.”
Sicoop shouted until he was almost choking, but he still couldn’t make it any brighter.
“Tch. I’ve got no mana right now, so I can’t yell myself. Is there anyone here with a really loud voice?”
The one who caught Ho-yeong’s eye was Mandragorani No. 13.
- Raaani!
“Right. No need to look any farther. When it comes to shouting, how could we leave out a Mandragorani? Number 13, let’s go!”
Originally the Mandragorani’s mana stat had been shown as X, but after edification it had gained a mana stat of around 3. Since it possessed at least a little mana, there was no issue using magical items.
“Large roar, front and center!”
Carefully setting the bead on the top of its foot, Number 13 let out a cry.
- Keeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
A radiance redder than the concealed sun burst forth.