It's a Good Day to Survive

Giant Troll's massive corpse was nowhere to be seen, and only three rings left by Lucy Perhela remained, stacked one atop another.

Lucy Perhela had thrown down seven ring-shaped magic circles in all. Four of them had reacted to the Giant Troll's corpse and triggered their magic, while the remaining three had been left alone for the time being.

"The remaining rings suddenly rose up, overlapped each other, and moved over the Giant Troll's body? And then a flash of light burst from the center of the rings and the corpse disappeared? This isn't some UFO abduction or anything...."

The soldier standing guard while Ho-yeong slept had explained it in detail, but...

"Yes, that is correct. Lord Iolid said he didn't know the full story either, but... he surmised that an elf named Ringring, no, Lucy Perhela, must have manipulated those rings."

If anything, the mystery had only deepened.

What in the world are those fanatic bastards plotting? Why did they take the Giant Troll's corpse? Then was the magic on those rings spatial transfer... no, if Lucy said she controlled the rings directly, then maybe they weren't pre-set magic after all? Then those rings weren't a trap but a fake? Damn it, I don't know. Even the old count doesn't know, so how am I supposed to figure it out?

Ho-yeong frowned at the rings stacked before him.

"And why didn't you tell me sooner?! If something this important happened, you should have woken me at once!"

Raising his voice in frustration, he sent the soldier into a fluster.

"I-I did try to wake Your Excellency. No matter how much I called to you or shook you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from beside your bed, you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't seem to notice a thing. According to the holy knights who treated you, it's a result of severe accumulated fatigue and aura depletion."

"The holy knights treated me?"

Come to think of it, his body did feel much lighter.

"Hmm... I see. I'm sorry for shouting when I couldn't even get up myself. And thank you. For standing watch by my side...."

"Not at all! It is a great honor to guard someone like Your Excellency."

"You must not have rested properly while keeping watch either. Tch."

"It was only two hours, so it is fine! No, I could have stood watch for two days."

"Right, thank you. Two hours of guard duty is nothing, really... easy as pie... no, wait! What did you just say? Two hours?! It's already been that long?"

Ho-yeong checked the time and was stunned. He had thought he had only dozed off for about thirty minutes at most.

But that's a little strange. Even if I was wiped out from pouring out aura, I shouldn't have slept through being shaken awake, right? Me? The guy who would wake up on the dot for guard duty even back when I was a dead-end sergeant?

For someone as light of sleep as Ho-yeong, it was hard to believe.

Maybe because I'm possessing a different body from my original one, my constitution changed... but that doesn't sit right.

Joren Tamer, too, was not the sort of man who sank into truly deep sleep.

Come to think of it, Lucy that crazy bitch was in the dream I just had too... does that have something to do with me not waking up? Did she lay some kind of curse or interference spell on me earlier?

He checked his status window, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Forget it. What's the point of thinking about it now? For the moment, let's deal with the matter in front of me.

Ho-yeong stood up at last, shaking off his uneasy thoughts along with the dirt on his clothes.

"Right. If two hours have passed, then the troops I sent for earlier should all be assembled, yes?"

"Yes, sir. They just arrived. Everyone is waiting for Your Excellency."

"Let's go."

* * *

Ho-yeong climbed the earthen rampart once more. It had been piled up for use as a battering platform, but it made for an excellent command post as well.

Everyone looks a little uneasy. Is it because the Giant Troll's body vanished?

Anxious Evil Eye was flickering its black pupils at the gathered people.

As Ho-yeong tilted his head, wondering what that meant, the young members of the guard spoke up.

"Y-Your Excellency. Were the words you said to Ringring earlier your true intent?"

"Everyone is wondering the same thing. Since the Giant Troll's threat is gone for now, we beg you to tell us plainly."

"Were your words earlier all lies meant to deceive the enemy? You're going to rescue the missing children and the guards, aren't you?"

Only then did Ho-yeong catch on.

"Ah, you're talking about the conversation I had with Lucy Perhela earlier. The people who just arrived wouldn't have heard it, so let me repeat myself. What exactly did I say again?"

Daliha displayed Ho-yeong's words in a status window, allowing the lines to be replayed without a single syllable off.

The faces of those listening, especially Peach and Meyril, turned deathly pale.

"To put it simply, yes, I meant every word. As Sir Demis showed with the Winged Cross earlier...."

"Y-you mean it? Hariad, have you forsaken us!"

"We believed only in Your Excellency. How could you say such a thing!"

"A change of heart is as mischievous as a white fox, so they call him the Border Count...."

The murmuring swelled before he could even finish speaking.

"No, that's not what I meant...."

Ah, shit. This is bad. If I mess this up, I'll get branded as total trash.

Ho-yeong waved his hands frantically.

"Wait! Hear me out to the end. When I was talking to Lucy Perhela and that cult leader bastard, I needed to show a hard front. If I had shown even the slightest opening, those fanatic swindlers would have gotten up to God knows what! What I meant by not getting dragged around by their hostage act was exactly that."

The unrest among the crowd finally settled, barely.

"But I'm not very good at lying. Lucy Perhela is a fake priest, but a priest all the same. She would have seen through even a clumsy lie."

The holy knights nodded.

"So I told nothing but the truth. I only told that part of the truth to those pointy-eared bastards. Even if you can't deceive the enemy, you still shouldn't lay your heart bare like some idiot elf."

Remembering Lucy Perhela talking away with obvious self-satisfaction, some of them snorted.

"I said it earlier, didn't I? I wondered whether I really needed to risk my life to go find children who weren't even my own. Yes, I definitely asked myself that. I just didn't tell you the answer."

The crowd listened intently.

"And the answer is yes. Of course we have to go find them! Those crazy fanatic bastards kidnapped children; are we supposed to sit here and do nothing? Do you have any idea what else they might do?"

His voice had more force in it now, perhaps because he'd recovered some of his energy.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"It's true that the people they took aren't family to me. But that doesn't mean I have any family here now either. They're all in the other world."

Joren Tamer's family was in the other world, the underworld; Ho-yeong's family was in the other world, Earth. So neither statement was a lie.

"So everyone I've protected is as precious to me as family, no, more precious than family."

For the first time in a while, gold-glimmering notification windows floated up. After a long stretch of only red-bordered alerts, the bright gold was almost dazzling to Ho-yeong.

"That's also true about resurrecting the dead. Of course the dead ought to be brought back to life. But I don't want to revive just anyone. And I can't. Bringing the dead back is the job of priests, not mine."

Even though his words could easily have been misunderstood, no one looked uneasy.

"What I can do as a knight is not bring people back, but keep them alive. If they don't die, they won't need to come back to life. I won't let anyone die easily."

Ho-yeong's firm vow bound everyone together tightly.

With that conviction threaded through them, he boldly took the lead.

- Pop.

When they were just about to begin discussing the search operation in earnest, time stopped once more.

The gray that colored the frozen world had, for some reason, taken on a strangely pure-white feeling this time.

"How considerate of you to wait for me. I'm almost moved."

It was time to settle the quests he had completed so far.

Looking at the list of missing and dead, with Vulcher's name among them, left him feeling a little heavy-hearted.

Still, the fact that he had stripped Lucy Perhela of an item made him snort with laughter.

Two hundred-sided dice. One was red, the other blue.

"These are less dice and more like balls. Feels a bit like a board game. Come to think of it, Reign of Dice was originally based on a board game too. Hmm, so I throw two dice onto the map and pick one of the places where they stop... the fact that the reward or misfortune is random is a little concerning."

Ho-yeong tried to think his way around the dice instead.

"If the dice roll somewhere weird, couldn't I just flick them off the map? Like a 'fall-through' in Yut-nori. Or what if I just throw them and don't go anywhere?"

But a red-bordered message appeared in the status window.

"A tip...? That's a warning, isn't it?"

Seeing advice that might as well have been written in red ink, Ho-yeong flinched.

So basically there's no taking it back. Damn.

Still, it was undoubtedly a useful item, so he tucked it away carefully.

"Would be nice to have something like an inventory where I can put items in and take them out. Getting everything as physical objects is inconvenient. Not that they're terribly bulky, but still...."

He grumbled as he closed the leather pouch around his waist, one Peach had made for him.

As if answering that mutter, good news arrived.