Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: How the Rank 1 Hero Protects the World
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Just 20 minutes after saying that.
“No, can we really do this?”
I muttered in astonishment, gazing at the scenery beyond the walls.
The knight named Elisa responded curtly with a single word from beside me.
“That’s why the Captain’s an idiot.”
“Son of a…….”
They said only some memories would be inherited, and sure enough, that’s all I’d received—just fragments of memories.
The castle’s current state was utterly miserable.
The basics of a siege defense were endurance. And the most crucial part of enduring was food supplies, but we’d already been under attack from the outside for over six months.
To be precise, there had been two assaults in total.
The first began in the summer, when we should have been tending crops. We succeeded in defending then, but that year’s harvest was completely ruined.
The second attack came again in the fall, when we should have been reaping what little remained of the crops, dragging on until this winter now.
No wonder our food had run out.
What had kept us going this far was the castle’s originally formidable walls and deep moat, the treacherous mountains serving as a natural barrier behind it.
And, surprisingly, the fact that we hadn’t yet lost control over the soldiers.
Curious about that last point, I’d grilled the vice-captain Elisa with questions, but her answers were mostly drowned out by the system’s messages droning on about ‘time discrepancies.’
My guess was that the knights seated around the round table earlier had played a big role…… In the end, since I wasn’t from this era, the system seemed to block any mission-irrelevant information.
“Hmph.”
Who knows what scheme this was. I had to defend the castle alongside the people of this time anyway—shouldn’t they at least give me enough intel?
In any case, that left me knowing our food was depleted but the walls and moat still functional, and the roughly 6,000 soldiers’ morale hadn’t crumbled.
That was it.
And right before my eyes stretched the enemy forces, blanketing the vast plain.
By my rough estimate…… about 100,000?
“Ah, up until three days ago, it was barely 20,000, so we could’ve managed. Who’d have thought they’d go all-out like this just for one castle.”
Damon O’Neill piped up from the side.
Elisa silenced him with a single glare. Damon shrank back like a scolded puppy.
“In front of everyone earlier, I rebuked Sir Hayden.”
Elisa spoke slowly in a solemn tone. Her rigid posture didn’t bend, but her gaze on the enemy was ice-cold.
“But it’s true that even among the townsfolk, voices calling for surrender have arisen. If ■■ personally opens the gates and surrenders, they promised to spare our lives.”
■■.
It came through like static noise, but it was probably the enemy commander’s name or something.
I frowned.
“But that’s just a minority, right? Most say we shouldn’t surrender.”
“Is that promise even trustworthy? Even the ignorant townsfolk don’t believe it. ■■ is the obsessive sort who chased these refugees here with an army. It’s just a ploy to sow division.”
Damon, standing beside Elisa, chimed in.
“The moment we surrender, the massacre begins. No one will survive.”
That much was fact.
I recalled the scenery around Ghost Castle’s outskirts.
Of course, they were unrecognizable now, but judging by the number of houses on the outskirts, those weren’t soldiers.
Even in Tartarus, I’d unintentionally gotten caught in a few wars, and executing civilians after surrender—not just capturing enemy troops—was the kind of thing that earned eternal infamy.
The knight captain must have surrendered around this time to save the townsfolk’s lives.
But the promise to spare them wasn’t kept, and everyone was brutally slaughtered.
Unable to bear that, he must have……
Well, let’s think positively. And above all, I had one advantage over the original knight captain.
I only had to hold out for two days.
- This mission has a time limit. Clear the mission before the eighth night falls.
Of course, I could guess the system had specified the eighth night for a reason, but regardless, the mission wouldn’t extend beyond that.
So I didn’t need to worry about a prolonged war—I could go all-out.
“■■ gave us three days to surrender. If we don’t open the gates by lunch today, the assault begins.”
Elisa said.
I let out a long sigh. No time to brood.
“Then we have no choice but to fight.”
No matter what I did here, the original tragedy wouldn’t change.
All I had to do—all I could do—was give it my all for two days.
I turned from the enemy beyond the walls. Elisa awaited my orders.
“We can’t drag this fight out anyway. They know we’re short on food.”
“Yes.”
“We’re shorthanded, so recruit anyone among the townsfolk willing to fight, no discrimination. Whether hurling rocks or pouring boiling oil, they can do something.”
At that, Elisa—who’d seemed perpetually stern—cracked a faint smile.
“If the Captain’s resolved, everyone will step up. They all defy ■■’s demands and follow ■■-nim, the Castle Lord, and you.”
That just made me more curious about the details. But the system showed no mercy.
Damon asked me.
“Then what about Sir Hayden?”
“Lock him in the underground dungeon and drug him into a deep sleep. Pick three or more soldiers from different backgrounds to guard him, and execute at any sign of trouble.”
It was just a two-day proxy command, but no need to leave obvious risks unchecked.
“Understood.”
Elisa and Damon saluted at my words.
No objections. Either Sir Hayden had thoroughly lost the knights’ respect, or the knight captain was highly revered.
“Then I’ll inspect the other sections of the walls…….”
I needed to know the terrain for battle, so I started to move—when a white system message appeared.
- You must act as the character in question.
Huh? So speaking like this wasn’t appropriate for the character?
No, then they should at least pass on proper memories to know what’s appropriate.
Fucking crazy system…… I was cursing it out in my head when Damon asked in a puzzled tone.
“Uh, Captain. Didn’t you say before the battle that you’d go see the Castle Lord?”
“Ah…… right.”
So that’s how they prompt me.
I nodded.
“I’m heading there now. You’re dismissed.”
“Yes, sir.”
Elisa and Damon hurried off down the walls to carry out my orders.
- You must act as the character in question.
Hm, meeting the Castle Lord is in-character behavior.
But now that Elisa and Damon were away, this was prime time for some free action.
Cleansing the ghosts’ curse was important, sure, but I wasn’t some nameless knight captain—I was Kang Ye-na, and I hadn’t forgotten my original purpose entering this dungeon.
The hunters who entered must be here, afflicted by the curse.
I had to find them first.
The problem was they’d be acting as people of this timeline too, making them hard to spot—but listening to Elisa and Damon earlier had sparked an idea.
“Inventory.”
The system promptly displayed it. I stared at the floating inventory window.
The system reacted instantly to my words, but according to the knight captain’s inherited memories, this world had no ‘system.’
There was magic and sword aura, though. Fragmentary memories remained of struggling against the enemy mages’ attack spells.
The knight captain seemed to have powers classifiable as system skills too.
Compared to Tartarus in a similar era, though, very few wielded such forces, and even then, their power wasn’t that great compared to Korea.
From my perspective, that was a clear advantage.
“……So someone must’ve figured the siege position would be way easier.”
That’s what troubled me.
I’d heard Lee Seon had brought mostly mage-class rookie hunters. They’d know their magic was powerful in this world.
But the numerical disparity was overwhelming. They’d realize a few mages couldn’t easily overturn this desperate situation.
So if surrender wasn’t forbidden like for this knight captain role, they might’ve switched to the siege position. Hunters who cleared hidden missions and escaped probably did just that.
But choosing siege saves your life individually—no dungeon clear.
I’d suspected something like this from the siege talk, but this dungeon type was a real headache.
Just stick a monster in and tell us to smash it.
Anyway, with the directive to act in-character, I couldn’t actively hunt for other hunters.
But I could at least warn them.
I’d handle the dungeon clear, so even if they picked siege, stay put until I cleared it.
Dungeon cleared, any position lets you exit.
The issue was my sword wouldn’t spare them…… but worrying about that now was pointless.
Best I could do.
For starters, I tested by shouting loudly.
“System, hunter, position!”
- Information partially restricted due to time discrepancy.
As expected.
Elisa and Damon descending the walls didn’t turn despite my shout, nor did the passing soldiers.
As if they heard nothing.
Just as I couldn’t hear Elisa clearly, my words didn’t reach them. Non-existent terms in this era get system-blocked.
But people from my time—same timeline—would hear me.
I grinned.
Simple solution then.
“Equip Screaming Mermaid’s Trumpet.”
Soon, blue light gathered in my hand.
Excluding the unavoidable, I had to phrase it so only hunters understood.
I cupped my hands to my mouth like a megaphone and looked to the sky.
Well, the hunters’ ears might burst, but better than my sword, right?
If they laugh, even better.
* * *
“Huh?”
Hye-won looked up from sharpening arrowheads. Su-hyun, beside her, paused from smashing the house wall for usable stones and stuffing them into the bag on her back, also looking up.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yeah, you too?”
“With a voice that loud? No way we didn’t.”
“Mary, Susan! What’re you doing? No chit-chat—work!”
“Yes, got it.”
Replying to Claire’s cheerful voice, Hye-won and Su-hyun exchanged glances.
“Seems like no one else heard.”
“Yeah, just us. So this…….”
Hye-won cut off as a soldier approached to collect arrows and stones.
Once he left, Hye-won and Su-hyun whispered again.
“Lee Seon Hunter?”
“Voice didn’t match, though?”
“True, but…… who else could it be? Personnel limit.”
They tilted their heads. The sender was unclear, but the message was short and clear.
Some weird words mixed in, but as modern people, Hye-won and Su-hyun had no trouble. Coded so this world’s folk wouldn’t understand.
Pondering the message, Su-hyun finally burst out laughing—pfft.
Hye-won too.
“Defenders eat chicken, attackers munch popcorn.”
“Basically, stay put?”
“Yeah.”
Boiled down: Defenders hold still, attackers steer clear.
I’ll save you for sure.
Hye-won and Su-hyun were in defense position. Luckily, they’d possessed people who knew each other in this world too, different appearances but recognized each other quickly.
At first, they were hopeful. Find all hunters, maybe clear the mission.
Magic seemed rare here, and just endure to the eighth night.
But hope faded fast.
The key was successful defense until the eighth night.
Enemy starts at 30,000 for first three days, swells to 100,000 from day four.
Seeing the plain filled with 100,000, it felt impossible.
No other hunters despite searching.
They tried blocking before day three, but two people weren’t enough.
Thus, they failed defense until the eighth night.
Over and over.
They’d given up.
But hearing the message, despair-filled hearts instantly bloomed with hope amid laughter.
Even knowing Lee Seon—or anyone—couldn’t fix this desperation, emotions surged.
Someone really came to save us.
With trembling gazes, they looked to the sky.
A clear blue, not a cloud in sight.