Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: How the Rank 1 Hero Saves the World
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“Ah, nice weather.”
I could see my breath forming a white puff between my lips. Maybe it was because the fine dust levels were good today, but the air flowing into my lungs felt refreshing.
No, actually, it was so cold it pierced right through to my lungs.
It was still January. That was probably why there was no one else on the rooftop garden attached to the hospital.
Thanks to that, no one was around to give me weird looks as I sat on a bench in one corner of the garden, tearing into the triangle kimbap I’d bought from the convenience store.
My picks were Jeonju bibimbap and tuna mayo, of course.
I carefully peeled open the plastic and popped it into my mouth. The intense flavor assaulted my tongue.
Ah, this is the stuff.
I hadn’t thought I’d ever get to eat this again. I’d gotten sick of it back in my senior year of high school from eating it so much, but once I was in Tartarus, I missed it like crazy.
That’s why the moment the doctor said I could switch from hospital food to regular meals starting today, I made a beeline for the convenience store. Not wanting to go to a restaurant in patient scrubs played a part too.
Come to think of it, I needed to buy some clothes.
The suitcase with the clothes I’d roughly grabbed in Wonju, Gangwon-do, was sitting abandoned at Lee Woo-yeon’s place. He’d said he was busy, so he probably wouldn’t have time to bring it over.
Thinking about it, time had flown by so fast.
Huh, actually, it had just been my birthday not long ago.
Kang Ye-na in Korea had turned twenty-five. I’d come back to Korea in December to begin with.
After spending a whole decade in Tartarus, what did one or two more years even matter?
“Whew.”
Life was tough.
It had only been a little over a month since I returned to Korea, but why did it feel so damn hard?
Every time I opened my eyes, something crazy happened, and after dealing with it, I’d be out cold for a week straight.
This time, thankfully, it hadn’t been that bad.
“My fate, I guess.”
Even after slaying Optatio in Tartarus, I’d thought all that was left was to live peacefully from then on. What the hell was this?
One mountain after another, and who knew how long this endless climb would go on.
Still, I couldn’t just keep lamenting forever.
I stretched out on the bench, then stood up.
That was enough self-pity for now. And the current situation wasn’t all that pessimistic anyway.
Because my immediate goal of ‘restoring my stats’ had been achieved, at least in part.
After claiming the dungeon clear reward, my status window now looked like this.
Player Name: Wandering Pilgrim
LV. 79
Trait: Piercing Talon
Class: Hero
HP: 790
Strength: 685
Agility: 525
Mana: 850
Skills: Flame of Annihilation lv.3, Return from Death lv.4, Indomitable Will - on
Of course, compared to my original stats, it was still nowhere near—but it was incomparably restored from the pitiful numbers I had a month ago.
Not just from receiving the Knight Captain’s stats as compensation, but I’d lucked out with the Hero class bonus inside the dungeon.
And the most encouraging part was that my skills were back.
For reference, the system max level for skills is 10.
Flame of Annihilation… well, whatever on that one, but having Return from Death usable again would be seriously useful.
The low level was a bit of a downside, though.
“Even my mana stat went up.”
Considering how nearly impossible it was to boost stats by 100 at my level all at once, it was incredibly generous compensation.
I wasn’t a mage, but having more mana was never a bad thing. Especially since my HP and strength weren’t quite keeping up right now.
Hmm, maybe I should test it out.
I experimentally gathered mana between my thumb and index finger.
Pure red mana coalesced at the tip of my index finger.
Pew!
I flicked it toward the sky as a test, and the mana shot off like a bullet. I quickly snatched the convenience store bag on the bench before the wind from the release could carry it away.
“Ugh.”
The mana didn’t last long and dispersed in midair.
I hadn’t expected much there. Without an object to contain it or magic to shape it, mana alone couldn’t hold form long in the atmosphere.
What I wanted to check was how much mana it consumed to fire it off like that.
My first thought after shooting mana into the sky was this.
“Ah, I’ve got a long way to go.”
Stats looking decent? Bullshit.
I clicked my tongue.
Mana was the power of the soul. But that soul resided in the body in the end. How finely you could control mana depended on the body’s robustness.
And right now, my body’s condition wasn’t all that great.
Plus, there was an even bigger problem.
I kept trying to move like I did at my original specs.
A tiger has movements suited to a tiger, and a rabbit has motions fit for a rabbit.
But I was trying to make a rabbit’s body move like a tiger.
It’d be fine against an enemy one level below me, but against someone equal or stronger, it’d be a fatal weakness.
Even swinging a sword once, the speed I envisioned and what my body could actually manage would inevitably differ.
And that tiny gap would be a golden opportunity for the opponent. My head rolling would happen in an instant.
So far, I’d equipped the Cloak Honoring the Hero against strong foes, so it hadn’t been an issue, but since I couldn’t wear that item all the time, I needed to adapt my body to my current specs.
And the best way to do that was, of course.
“I need to rack up some real combat experience.”
As much as possible.
Start with trash mobs, then once I got used to it, spar with a swordsman of similar specs. That’d be ideal.
Dealing with trash mobs shouldn’t be too hard anyway. From what I looked up online, there were plenty of low-grade dungeons scattered around Seoul.
Sure, the wait times to enter low-grade dungeons were long, but now that the Korean government knew who I was, they’d probably pull some strings for dungeon entry.
Since I was already exposed, might as well milk every advantage I could.
And… there was one more reward left.
I glared seriously at the system window in front of me.
- Dungeon Clear Reward: Some of the blocked information will be provided.
- Receive the fragment containing the Knight Captain’s memories?
- Y/N
I hadn’t claimed the reward yet, so the message still hovered in the air, blinking.
This was the reward the system had suddenly popped up with mid-dungeon and promised me.
Assuming the system had some intent, I hadn’t abandoned the dungeon clear because I figured handing over info like this meant it had some purpose.
Maybe receiving it would help me understand the system better, or even give a tiny clue about returning to Tartarus.
But now that it was right there as a system message, I hesitated.
It felt like peeking into someone else’s diary.
Was it okay for me to see this?
I didn’t even think the Knight Captain’s memories would really help with my goal of getting back to Tartarus…
Screw it, what was I agonizing over? Time was ticking away even now.
I checked that no one was around, mentally apologized to the Knight Captain, and finally hit Y.
- The Knight Captain’s memories will now play.
The moment the message appeared, my vision shifted in an instant.
I was still sitting on the bench, but the scenery around me had changed. I wasn’t surprised, since I’d expected it to show as some kind of illusion.
What spread out in my view was an indoor space. A bedroom, it seemed, with a red carpet on the floor and logs burning in the fireplace.
And sitting in a rocking chair near the fireplace was a familiar figure.
It was the castle lord I’d encountered once in the dungeon, face and body hidden behind a mask and thick clothes. At least this time, he wasn’t lying in bed; he held a thick book in his hands and was reading, though he looked clearly ill.
And the person standing behind the castle lord’s chair was…
Her glossy black hair tied back roughly, wearing comfortable clothes instead of knight’s armor. Even so, a sword hung at her waist.
There was no system explanation, but somehow I knew she was the Knight Captain. Maybe because it was the person I’d possessed.
The Knight Captain spoke to the castle lord, who was gazing at the fireplace flames.
“Begging your pardon, my lord. It’s time to retire for the night. It’s late.”
“This much is fine. Don’t worry.”
“Are you trying to take away even my right to worry now?”
“Your worrying over me is duty, not a right. Or is it?”
“Well, I am your knight, after all. No helping it.”
There was a hint of amusement in the Knight Captain’s tone, and the castle lord’s reply was affectionate.
They were closer than I’d thought.
Well, when I possessed her, we’d been in the thick of war, so the castle lord’s stiff demeanor had made more sense then.
In the end, the castle lord pretended to reluctantly accept his loyal knight’s urging, closed his book, and lay down in bed with her support.
The Knight Captain pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat, watching over him as he lay there.
“I’ll stay until you fall asleep. Rest well.”
“Your worrying is excessive. You think I’ll get up and read again or something?”
“You might. Go to sleep.”
“Really, it’s too much.”
“Yes, yes.”
I watched the scene.
Strangely, the castle lord and Knight Captain didn’t feel like lord and vassal so much as something far more personal. Like… an elderly parent and their grown child from some drama.
I was wondering if the castle lord had really not noticed anything off about me when I possessed the Knight Captain.
The Knight Captain, who’d been watching the castle lord’s steady breathing as he slept, quietly rose from her seat.
She turned her head and glared at the window.
It was already deep into the night.
Silence reigned.
But the faint wind sound that caught the Knight Captain’s ear reached mine too.
An ambush.
The moment I judged that, the Knight Captain drew her sword as well.
A sharp metallic ring echoed as the window slid open smoothly.
Slipping into the room soundlessly like creeping shadows was a figure cloaked head to toe in black.
The Knight Captain leveled her sword at him without a hint of agitation.
“An assassin.”
It seemed like old hat to the Knight Captain.
Being used to assassins suggested this memory was after the first war ended.
The Knight Captain smirked at the enemy before her.
“You knew I was here, yet you still came. Bold of you. Got a death wish?”
“A fallen knight upholding such staunch loyalty—it’s laughable.”
“That all for last words?”
“I’m only here on His Majesty’s orders to relay a message. No need to overreact.”
“The lord sleeps deeply these days; he won’t wake from usual commotion. Even if I kill you, he won’t stir.”
“You still don’t listen. At least hear me out first…”
But the Knight Captain didn’t let him finish and swung her blade.
Masterful technique. The assassin’s throat was severed instantly.
Yet he didn’t die. It was an illusion without substance to begin with.
“…Magic, huh.”
The Knight Captain sighed, and the illusion in assassin form laughed.
“Yes, indeed. The thing you lost.”
Lost?
That was the first sense of wrongness I detected. But there was no one to resolve my question.
Because this scene playing out before me was just a replay of time long past in a place having nothing to do with me.
Three actors continued their fervent performance right before my eyes.
A serpentine voice whispered sweet temptations to the Knight Captain.
“You see it now, don’t you? Come back to us. His Majesty still thinks highly of you. And he could restore your power…”
“No.”
But the Knight Captain showed no interest.
Her gaze shifted from the intangible assassin to the fire crackling in the room. She’d need to add more logs soon, or it’d die down.
Strangely, I sensed worry for the castle lord in that look. And confidence that she could protect him no matter the situation.
“I have no time for illusions conjured by magic. Get lost.”
“You really plan to die like this? Someone of your caliber?”
There was impatience in the threatening words.
Strange. From what I’d experienced, the enemy side had the overwhelming advantage.
“That sounds fine.”
“Petra!”
And that was the first time I ‘recognized’ the Knight Captain’s name.
Petra looked at the illusion with impassive eyes and stated clearly.
“This world can’t be saved by such means. Now disappear.”
As she said it, Petra happened to turn her head my way, letting me finally see the woman’s face properly.
Black hair, and black eyes to match.
A woman with a stubborn, cold impression overall.
But her eyes burned hot, contrary to that impression—like they could warm the entire castle.
Petra, who had once borrowed my body, lived in this moment with unshakeable conviction before my eyes.
“There is only one I serve.”
Yeah, that’s the kind of person you were.
- Playback of the Knight Captain’s memories has ended.
That was all the memory I could see.
My vision quickly returned to normal.
I blinked.
Blue sky, the small garden on the hospital rooftop.
The scene from moments ago was gone from everywhere. All it left was questions in my head.
What was the system’s intent in showing me this memory? I still didn’t know…
“Petra.”
I murmured the name softly.
A steadfast knight like stone, burning her body for her convictions. It suited her perfectly.
It wouldn’t reach her, but staring at the blue sky made my chest feel tight, so I muttered to myself.
“…You did well.”
Really.