Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Chapter 2 – Karen #2
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Dragon Hunter Origin.
Dragon Hunter 3's prequel.
In other words, the timeline before Dragon Hunter 3.
[Master, your heart rate is abnormally elevated.]
[Was there a problem during your conversation with Karen?]
Integra's question left Luther unable to respond.
His mind was so filled with thoughts that he couldn't even properly hear her words.
‘Dragon Hunter Origin…….’
The full title of Dragon Hunter 3 was as follows.
Dragon Hunter 3 ‘Revive’.
Regeneration, resurrection.
Dying and coming back to life.
Failing and rising again.
The story of Dragon Hunter 3 went like this.
Long ago, there were two dragons symbolizing good and evil.
The Divine Dragon Volphid and the Demon Dragon Helcanes.
After an intense battle, the two dragons mutually destroyed each other, but the outcomes were somewhat different.
While Volphid's body completely collapsed and merged with the world, Helcanes succeeded in preserving himself through powerful magic.
But Helcanes could no longer interfere with the world.
He was staving off his own annihilation with powerful magic, which conversely meant he would vanish the moment that magic unraveled.
Yet the world was filled with Volphid's power, Helcanes's natural counter.
If he had been at full strength, it might have been different, but for Helcanes, who was barely maintaining his existence through magic, the world was no different from a space brimming with deadly poison.
In the end, Helcanes found it difficult not just to interfere with the world, but even to reveal himself—a result tantamount to Volphid sealing him away by sacrificing her own life.
But Helcanes did not give up.
Unable to act directly, he used his minions to try to destroy Volphid's world, ultimately achieving half-success.
Helcanes's minions—
The ‘Hecatoncheires’ overthrew humanity's first unified nation, the Holy Empire, and drove the world toward ruin.
Dragon Hunter 3 was set in that ‘post-apocalyptic world’ after it had been destroyed.
Over a hundred years after Dragon Hunter Origin.
Humanity, rising from the ashes, defeats Helcanes's minions and claims true peace—that was the main story of Dragon Hunter 3.
‘But not 3—Origin?’
Dragon Hunter Origin was a side story released after Dragon Hunter 3 became a massive hit.
It drew great interest in how it would handle a world doomed to destruction, but the developer, Arcana Corp, publicly declared they would stick to Dragon Hunter 3's canon without parallel worlds or what-if scenarios.
In other words, they would end it with the world destruction ending.
‘Promised destruction, yet heroes who face that doom unflinchingly and leave hope for the future…….’
The opening movie, showing the heroic figures calmly facing annihilation from behind, was profoundly solemn and moving.
But that was an evaluation possible only from an observer's perspective.
What if this world was not Dragon Hunter 3, but Dragon Hunter Origin's world?
What if the 119 years Karen mentioned were not 119 years in Dragon Hunter 3's Human Empire Calendar, but 119 years in the old Holy Empire Calendar?
Luther unknowingly closed his eyes.
He had no choice but to.
The world's destruction.
A world promised destruction.
[Master? Not only your heart rate, but your temperature is abnormal too.]
[Master, can you hear my voice?]
Integra kept calling out, but he wasn't in a state to respond.
Luther took deep breaths and continued his thoughts.
So, what now?
What should he do?
‘I have to stop it.’
The destruction.
The end of the world.
He couldn't just sit back and let it happen.
Moreover, Luther himself had Star Savior's super-science—literally transcendent power—at his side.
‘Star Savior.’
The thought naturally led him to reflect on himself anew.
A 9th-generation nanomachine-equipped combat homunculus.
A growth-type general-purpose android decisive battle weapon.
‘Yeah, a decisive battle weapon.’
Luther was no helpless civilian A.
He was a being with the potential to become a ‘Star Savior,’ one pillar of Star Savior.
And upon reflection, hope wasn't entirely absent.
119 years was the year Dragon Hunter Origin began.
Meaning the original villains and cause of the world's destruction, the Hecatoncheires, hadn't yet started their full activities.
So, there was an opportunity.
A chance to thwart their schemes and save the world.
‘It’s worth a shot.’
Not promised destruction.
A trial that could be overcome.
‘Yeah, let’s stay calm. It’s not total destruction anyway.’
The world was essentially ruined by the evil dragons, but ‘essentially’—not completely.
Even after the destruction wrought by the Hecatoncheires, about 20% of humanity survived.
‘I can do this.’
It wasn’t complete annihilation.
If worst came to worst, he could escape and save his life.
[Master, your heart rate and breathing are stabilizing again.]
[Master, what’s going on?]
[Please explain.]
Luther felt sorry for Integra, but this wasn’t something he could discuss now.
So, he steadied his breathing and looked straight ahead.
There was Karen, who had panicked upon seeing him in a state of panic.
“Luther?”
At Karen’s worried question, Luther swallowed dryly.
A sudden sense of incongruity hit him.
Karen.
Luther had played Dragon Hunter Origin too.
Not as much as Dragon Hunter 3, but he had replayed it several times.
Yet Luther had never seen Karen in Dragon Hunter Origin.
Karen.
A girl not just beautiful enough for a lead role, but innately gifted with esper talents rarer than even mages.
Moreover, Luther remembered that Max’s tone toward Karen had changed.
When Luther thought he couldn’t understand the language well, Max had spoken politely to her.
But once Luther believed he understood the language somewhat, Max suddenly treated her casually, like a comrade.
It wasn’t an issue with Integra’s translation.
As an AI, Integra could clearly distinguish the nuances between them.
‘She has secrets.’
Polite and calling her ‘miss’ when alone, but casual when others were around.
‘A past.’
Some past she couldn’t casually reveal.
‘But she says she’s not a character?’
“Luther……?”
Karen spoke again in a small voice.
Having met Luther’s gaze head-on, her face was slightly flushed with embarrassment.
But Luther, already deep in his own thoughts, continued scrutinizing her from head to toe.
‘There was no character named Karen.’
But names could be changed easily.
Or perhaps ‘Karen’ was an alias from the start.
Black hair.
Green eyes.
Telekinesis-type esper powers.
Human female.
That was a decent set of conditions, but no one immediately came to mind.
‘No way…… is she really an extra?’
Luther looked at Karen once more.
If there was any distinct feature to clearly differentiate her—
“Um…… Luther?”
Karen called out to him again.
He had asked what year it was, then suddenly panicked, and now stared right through her, lost in deep thought.
What on earth was going on?
No, why was he staring so intently and thinking whatever he was?
If it were anyone else, Karen would have been quite annoyed, but since it was Luther, she only felt embarrassed.
He was her lifesaver, handsome, and quite possibly an angel, after all.
[Master, Karen seems extremely troubled.]
[I’m curious too about why you’re acting like this.]
At Integra’s voice, Luther snapped out of it and gasped at the sight of Karen—face red, lips pursed.
“Sorry. Someone I know suddenly came to mind.”
“Someone…… you know?”
At Karen’s question, Luther nodded casually for now.
“Yeah, an angel I know. As I mentioned earlier, my memories are unstable right now. One popped up, and I got lost in thought without realizing.”
It was a hasty excuse, but it seemed plausible enough, as Karen nodded as if she finally understood.
Integra, of course, didn’t buy it.
[Master, please tell me later, whenever you can.]
‘Yeah.’
Answering silently in his mind, Luther shook his head to clear his thoughts.
Whether Karen was a lead or not wasn’t important right now.
Her secrets were a bit concerning, but if it were a major issue, it would have surfaced somehow in Dragon Hunter Origin.
‘But it didn’t.’
So perhaps Karen was simply an extra with exceptional abilities and background.
‘Let’s leave it at that for now.’
The immediate priority was finding that meteor presumed to be a spaceship.
“Karen, let’s rest for today. It’s late anyway, and Max won’t wake until morning.”
“Yes, Luther.”
Karen replied promptly, her shoulders slumping as she unknowingly closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.
[Master, Karen’s body is relaxing.]
[Her tension has released, and she’s losing strength.]
[She’ll fall asleep soon.]
As Integra said, Karen looked ready to collapse into sleep any moment.
Luther smiled at her.
“Don’t worry about the night watch. Go sleep. I’ll wake you if something happens.”
“Bu…… you don’t mean you alone……”
“I’ve got backup, so don’t worry.”
“……Understood. Good night.”
Karen bowed her head in greeting, then buried herself deeply in the ground—and like magic, fell into deep slumber.
Having gone through all sorts of hardships in the middle of the night, it was only natural.
“Whew……”
Luther quietly gazed at her sleeping face.
Holy Empire Calendar 119, autumn—not Human Empire Calendar.
The world of Dragon Hunter Origin, doomed to destruction.
And by Origin’s timeline, less than a month until the game’s start.
‘Let’s calm down first.’
No matter what, the game hadn’t started yet.
Even in the doomed Dragon Hunter Origin, it didn’t begin in apocalypse mode.
Getting anxious now would only lead to premature exhaustion.
He needed to stay calm for the time being.
‘Sleep, wake up tomorrow morning, and search for the meteor.’
Gathering more info from Star Savior’s side should reveal why he was in this situation and clues for future plans.
Having made up his mind, Luther squatted beside Karen and spoke to Integra.
“For now…… I’ll sleep, so wake me if there’s trouble.”
[Understood.]
[By the way, Master, was that ‘backup’ you mentioned me?]
At Integra’s question, Luther gave an apologetic smile.
Unlike Star Savior’s Integra, this Integra felt human-like.
Imagining her squatting alone all night on watch made him feel sorry anew, but it couldn’t be helped.
Then, right at that moment.
[Master, for reference, production of the nanosuit-specialized nanomachines you ordered will complete in 31 minutes and 12 seconds.]
“Oh.”
It was quite intriguing.
In Star Savior, Luther’s three core techs—energy gun, nanosuit, and drone—all started at level 5.
So what form would a nanosuit at Lv1 take?
Lv0 was pretty skimpy, though.
Various images flashed in his mind, but Luther soon shook his head.
From opening his eyes in the Dragon Hunter 3—no, Origin—world until now.
Only a few hours had passed, but so much had happened.
And pondering future events on top of that had exhausted his mind, even if his body held up.
Right now, he just wanted to sleep without thinking.
“I’ll check tomorrow. For now…… good night, Integra.”
[Understood.]
[Good night, Master.]
[See you tomorrow.]
“Yeah.”
Hearing Integra’s gentle voice, Luther closed his eyes and surrendered to sleep.