Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: That's Just My Luck (7)
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The moment I stepped beyond the fog, the noise abruptly ceased.
The continuous roars were no longer audible.
*Thud, thud.*
In the silent world, only the sound of my footsteps echoed.
The sound was so uncomfortably distinct that I flinched and stopped without realizing it.
“Hmm.”
As the saying goes, might as well make the best of it. Since I’d already stopped, I surveyed my surroundings.
I’d trusted the Starseeker’s identification eye and plunged into the fog, but…
“This is tricky.”
The situation was quite complicated.
My sense of direction was a mess, and my other senses weren't functioning normally either.
Thanks to the identification eye, I could at least secure a field of vision of about twenty paces.
But that was all.
The identification eye granted me the ability to see beyond twenty paces even in this dense fog, but it offered nothing else.
I was still being pursued, and it was unclear where I should go.
A situation where the Blue Tower's mages could pop out from anywhere at any moment.
*Thud, thud.*
I resumed walking.
For now, the priority was to get as far away from that bizarre village as possible.
I intended to head north for the time being.
Relying on my twenty-pace visibility, I walked and walked.
To be honest, I couldn't even be sure if I was heading correctly northward.
In this damn fog, everything was a complete mess.
Fortunately, I had experienced a similar situation before.
The third test I took to enter the Cradle of Stars.
The forest where I’d obtained the Mandragora was just like this.
Whether it was thanks to that experience or just plain luck…
…the misfortune of taking a wrong turn and returning to the village didn't happen.
It was a relief, if anything.
I walked without rest.
“It’s so damn vast.”
This wretched fog showed no signs of ending.
Still, I walked.
It was the only thing I could do.
I walked and walked for a long time.
From time to time, a thought would cross my mind.
*Am I heading in the wrong direction?*
*I haven't gone back to the village, but am I just walking in circles?*
*Should I turn back, or keep going?*
Once doubt took root in my mind, I couldn't shake it.
Hesitation seeped into my steps.
This, too, was something I had experienced before.
The hardest part about the forest where I'd obtained the Mandragora was also this.
So, what did I do back then?
“I walked.”
It was no different now.
Forcibly shaking off the clinging hesitation, I pushed my slowing feet forward.
I just walked.
How long did I walk like that?
“Hmm?”
I stopped and lowered my stance.
Beyond the twenty-pace visibility secured by my identification eye, a whitish figure flickered in the hazy fog.
In this foggy world where everything was still, only that whitish figure moved ceaselessly.
Two possibilities immediately came to mind.
An illusion created by the fog, or the Blue Tower's forces.
Either way, encountering it would do me no good.
Of course, there was the possibility that a pursuit party had followed my tracks here, but honestly, the probability was low.
On my way here, I had repeatedly warned of the existence of a powerful Madosa.
Even for knights who would draw their swords at the mere sight of a mage, they had to be cautious when their opponent was a Madosa.
No one wished to become fodder for a Madosa.
It would remain a dishonor even in death.
If a pursuit party were to make a serious move, it would be after they had prepared sufficient forces to face a Madosa.
A 6-star knight at the minimum, and not just any 6-star knight would do.
The problem was that even in this Empire, known as the land of knights, knights of such a high caliber were rare.
And powerhouses of that level were terribly slow to act.
It meant that preparing the right forces would take time.
The deliberation was long, but the action was swift.
*Stealthily.*
I tiptoed and slowly moved away.
And around the time the whitish figure completely disappeared from view, I picked up my pace again.
But the speed I'd gained soon slowed once more.
“Hah.”
Something else appeared in the fog.
This time, it wasn't just one, but several.
I moved away again.
That was just the beginning.
Something—sometimes one, sometimes as many as a dozen—appeared beyond the fog.
Sometimes they stood motionless, other times they were walking somewhere.
And at other times, they would clash and separate repeatedly, as if engaged in battle.
For a moment, I wavered.
*Maybe it really is the pursuit party that followed my tracks.*
But I steadied my wavering heart by once again recalling the dozens of common and plausible reasons why the pursuit party couldn't have arrived here yet.
“Whew. I almost fell for it.”
I muffled my footsteps even more and moved stealthily.
And after wandering like that for more than half a day, I was finally able to escape the fog.
“Hooah.”
I exhaled all the stuffy air that had filled my lungs while wandering in the fog and headed north.
And after walking for two full days, I heard a rumor in a city I arrived at.
Knights from the Imperial Family and the Cradle of Stars had fought a bloody battle with mages nearby.
The Dasmier family's White Whale Knight Order and numerous knights mobilized from the vicinity had defeated countless evil mages after a fierce battle.
“Ah…?”
The people I had tried so desperately to avoid were, in fact, the pursuit party dispatched from the Cradle and the Imperial Family.
“Damn it! Why did I go through all that hell! What a waste!”
The effort of wandering in the fog felt futile, and the time spent anxiously hurrying along felt wasted.
An unwelcome realization.
And even that came too late.
The knights of the pursuit party had apparently scattered in all directions to wipe out the remnants of the Blue Tower.
I considered going back now.
But then, a painful memory surfaced.
A guy with rotten luck.
A guy who goes out of his way to find trouble.
“That's just my luck.”
In my past life, and in this one.
I heard that some of the knights who attacked the Blue Tower would be passing through the city I was in, but I had no intention of joining them.
“Wow. To think I'd live to see the day I'd see the knight order of one of the great Eight Families.”
“The Eight Families? Which one?”
“You idiot! What other family besides Dasmier of the Blue Sea is around here! Stop talking nonsense.”
“Then the White Whale Knight Order will be coming too?”
“Not just the White Whale Knight Order! They say the Mage Hunter, Knight Moro, is coming too!”
And of all people, the Dasmier knight who had earned the nickname 'Mage Hunter' far earlier than in my past life was one of them.
A cursed mouth that could turn a person's stomach with just a few words.
Running into that detestable fellow again was not something I looked forward to.
To be honest, there was also something bothering me.
I had deceived the Mage Hunter.
Of course, it wasn't intentional.
I had no choice at the time, and I had to prevent the innocent Comoniti and Pomoriesi families from becoming victims of the vicious Madosa.
Given the circumstances, there was plenty of room for consideration.
But whether the Mage Hunter would see it that way was something I couldn't be sure of.
It was better in many ways to leave the city before things escalated.
But things in life rarely go as planned.
To cut to the chase, I couldn't leave the city.
I couldn't even leave the inn.
Just as I had packed my bags and was about to step out of the inn's door.
“Kekek. A perfect day to test my luck.”
From behind me, I heard the Imperial language spoken with a strangely awkward accent.
How strange.
In the southern part of the Empire, where foreigners frequently came and go, it wasn't particularly unusual.
But that awkward accent strangely caught my attention.
I frowned and turned around.
And I found the owner of the voice.
Not far from the entrance.
A table with a single bottle of cheap liquor on it.
I saw a man with exceptionally pale skin, messy, curly red hair, and a shirt unbuttoned to his chest.
“A real man settles it in one go.”
The sight of the man, chuckling to himself and muttering constantly as if he'd lost his mind, was all too familiar.
It was inevitable.
Because the man was someone I knew.
And not just someone I knew, but someone I knew very well.
“Victor…?”
Victor Lafayette.
A foreign knight obsessed with gambling.
“O, city. Pay homage. For the incarnation of victory has arrived.”
A pathetic gambler who, despite a name that meant victory, was always busy losing whenever he gambled.
Victor, the Pushover Knight.
He was my fourth Master.
*Plop.*
When I came to my senses, my butt was already planted at a corner table.
I set down the bags I had been carrying.
“Weren't you leaving?”
I answered the innkeeper's question.
“Me? I'm not going anywhere.”
“Aish. Why'd you pack up all your bags if you weren't leaving? So confusing.”
The innkeeper grumbled, likely having planned to take in another guest if I left.
The shameless bastard had already taken my payment for the room.
“Whatever. Just get me a meal over here.”
I tossed him a coin, and the shameless innkeeper quickly disappeared into the kitchen.
Finally alone, I began to observe the Pushover Knight in earnest.
“Time is really crawling.”
His face, a chaotic mix of anticipation and anxiety, looked as if he were on the verge of the opportunity of a lifetime.
It was an expression I had seen countless times in my past life.
I knew all too well when the Pushover Knight made that face.
When there was a big game.
How did it always end when he was like that?
“Ah…”
Rummaging through my memories, I ended up laughing without realizing it.
The image of the Pushover Knight, returning after losing every last bit of his fortune and sobbing by himself, came to mind all too vividly.
I glanced at his appearance.
He didn't look too destitute yet.
The family sword he'd supposedly lost as a stake in a gambling den was still securely at his waist, and though a few were missing, he still wore large-gemmed rings on his fingers.
It seemed this was the place.
The city where the Pushover Knight lost all the precious swords and rings he had brought from his own country.
*Murmur, murmur.*
I could hear the chatter of the drunks at the next table.
It was all about the Dasmier family and the White Whale Knight Order.
Tomorrow at the earliest, three days from now at the latest.
I decided to temporarily erase the existence of the soon-to-arrive Mage Hunter from my mind.
It seemed I would have to stay in this city a little longer.
It wasn't to help the Pushover Knight.
*'My god! What kind of knight bets his squire as a stake!'*
*'Nooo! Squire! Just listen to me, will you? I absolutely will not lose this round! If I win this, both our lives will blossom! That Imperial-made heavy armor! I'll get you one too!'*
The image of the man who bet his squire and shamelessly spouted nonsense was still clearly etched in my mind.
*'Masteeer! Masteeeeer!'*
The sight of that irresponsible man averting his gaze as I was carted off somewhere like a piece of luggage, sold away, came to me as vividly as if I'd seen it just yesterday.
*Grit.*
I ground my teeth.
Everyone's pushover.
But not to me.
“Hah. We meet at last.”
Of course, this life will be different.