The Tragedy of the Time Limit
Jingling.
Asrion, now flush with silver coins, slipped out of the alley and headed toward the bustling market street. He stopped by a fabric shop and bought a plain but high-quality silk robe. Then he hurried back to where Seol-ah was waiting.
"Stay still for a moment."
He carefully draped the robe over her body. It was to cover her face.
"Young Master…"
"Shh. Stick close behind me."
Asrion whispered lowly. Right in the middle of the market street, his Diamond Class classmates from the academy were swarming around, reveling in the exotic martial world scenery. Asrion masterfully exploited the noisy chaos. He slyly blended Seol-ah into the rowdy group of students. No matter how vicious the pursuers from the evil sects, even they couldn't help but have their attention scattered by the overwhelming number of these bizarre Western kids.
Asrion cautiously entered a nearby inn. He generously offered silver coins and secured the quietest, most secluded room in the corner of the second floor.
"We're good now."
"Haaah…"
Once they were inside the inn room and the door was shut, Seol-ah's legs finally gave out. She collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath.
"Young Master… truly, truly, thank you."
Seol-ah looked up at Asrion with reddened eyes. This silver-haired boy had risked his life for a total stranger like her, covering his bloodied body to lead her here. She bowed deeply toward him, tears of gratitude streaming down her face.
"You are a true great hero, overflowing with righteousness."
Great hero. The weighty respect and praise embedded in that unfamiliar word struck Asrion's eardrums. A faint smile crept across his lips.
"Ahem. It's merely the duty of anyone with power."
Asrion clasped his hands behind his back and spoke in a deliberately stern tone. His gray eyes turned toward the window.
"Don't step outside this room at all. Rest here. I'll head downstairs and scout the movements of those Black Snake Sect bastards."
"It's dangerous, Young Master!"
"Don't worry. My magic… no, my martial prowess isn't so shallow that it'd lose to a bunch of evil sect rabble."
As he strode confidently away to reassure her, Seol-ah clasped her hands together. Her cheeks flushed as she saw him off.
"Young Master…"
To Seol-ah, Asrion was a hero.
Down on the first floor of the inn, Asrion immediately began gathering information. The silver coins from Rian were truly a magic key. He deftly extracted info from the errand boy cleaning the inn and the rough ronin drinking booze, slipping them coins without hesitation.
The Black Snake Sect, the evil faction that had wiped out the Moon Shadow Sect. Their current force size, key strongholds—they even investigated the going rates for ronin who fought for pay. He cross-verified the information from those who'd received silver.
As he compiled that vast, meticulous intel, a strange sense of incongruity suddenly bloomed in Asrion's mind.
This doesn't add up.
The errand boy's vast information network, the currency's value, the intricate faction dynamics. Standing in the middle of the inn, Asrion's mind clashed fiercely with his magical common sense.
No matter how much that commoner punk is a 5-circle monster, could he alone create this massive, organic worldview in his head? Even Grandpa, a 9-circle archmage, couldn't do that. This far exceeds the limits of illusion magic!
His common sense and magical knowledge collided violently. Illusion magic couldn't transcend the caster's knowledge and imagination. It was impossible for a mere 13-year-old commoner kid to create an entire Eastern-style metropolis and endow all these people with individual egos and backstories. Even a 9-circle archmage couldn't.
Asrion's brain, desperate to resolve this massive contradiction, began fabricating its own firm delusion.
Right. This isn't an illusion. It's a real, existing other-dimensional world!
Asrion's gray eyes gleamed like a zealot's.
We're just forcibly connected to this other dimension in spirit form through that wicked guy's magic. We can't escape at will because of dimensional interference limits.
With that conclusion, all doubts perfectly resolved. The Hansel and Gretel siblings he'd met at the candy house last time? Definitely soulless, demonic illusions crudely made by Rian. But Seol-ah was different. The bloody scent from her as she clung to him. Her ragged breathing trembling in fear. The shy scent and flushed cheeks as she looked up at him admiringly.
Seol-ah can't be fake. No, everyone here too! The people here are all real humans actually living and breathing in this dimension!
His conviction that she was human poured massive fuel onto the heroic fire burning in Asrion's chest.
Thanks to the time dilation between virtual reality and the real world, deep darkness had already blanketed the martial world's sky. The other Diamond Class students were out enjoying the long night, buying skewers and watching martial arts displays like tourists. But Asrion kept a thorough distance from them.
His mind was filled with one thing only: the plan to crush the Black Snake Sect.
After stealthily finishing his reconnaissance, Asrion returned to the corner room on the second floor. As he opened the door, Seol-ah, curled up on the bed, startled and sat up.
"Young Master."
Seeing him return safely filled her with relief, but also deep guilt. She bowed her head as if overwhelmed.
Tears welled up in Seol-ah's eyes, unable to bear the remorse toward her benefactor suffering so much because of her.
"Because of me… for you, who have no connection whatsoever, to go through such danger. My sin is too great."
Seol-ah stepped down from the bed and knelt on the floor. Her slender shoulders trembled pitifully.
"If it means repaying this immense grace… once my Moon Shadow Sect's vengeance is fulfilled, I would gladly become your lifelong servant."
That desperate vow, uttered in a tear-soaked voice. Her poignant declaration as a beautiful girl sent Asrion's heart into a frenzy. Raised as a noble young master, he'd heard plenty of flattery and sycophancy, but this blind, life-risking devotion was a first. Born as the sub-male lead in a romance fantasy, he was utterly captivated by her words.
But he maintained the dignity befitting the heir of the Mage Tower.
"Ahem!"
Asrion deliberately cleared his throat loudly and approached, gently wrapping his arms around her shoulders to help her stand.
"I have no desire for a lowly servant."
His gray eyes gazed deeply and tenderly into her teary ones.
"All I wish for is… for the weak who need help to smile safely and happily by my side. That's it."
This clumsy, arrogantly devoted bravado. But to the pitiful girl who'd lost everything, those words were a stronger salvation than any magic.
Seol-ah was utterly moved, covering her mouth with both hands as tears poured out.
"Hngh, waaah! Young Master!"
Her eyes already revered Asrion like a god. Receiving that blind gaze, Asrion felt a thrilling fullness as if he owned the world, the hero incarnate.
The next morning, as dawn broke, Asrion went down to the inn's first floor, sipping tea while watching the Black Snake Sect's hideout. They knew nothing of proper magic. The moment to strike was when their leader and key members gathered.
Launch a Fireball at them to take out the leader, then handle the ones charging in a group.
Bam!
Suddenly, the inn's heavy wooden door shattered into pieces. Black Snake Sect warriors burst in, radiating murderous intent and ripping through the morning peace. About twenty of them, wielding gleaming crescent blades.
Damn it!
Before Asrion could move, they'd already pinpointed this place. The scarred man at the front spat on the inn floor and bellowed.
"We know the Moon Shadow Sect heir, that little brat girl, is hiding in this inn! Hand her over now, or we'll turn this place into a bloodbath!"
At the bloodthirsty threat, the breakfast patrons inside screamed, diving or fleeing. In an instant, the first floor became a hellscape.
Asrion quietly set down his teacup. He had to eliminate these guys first.
Then, a terrified passerby hiding under a corner table shouted desperately.
"S-spare me! That girl? I saw with my own eyes yesterday—she went into the end room on the second floor with that silver-haired young master over there!"
The traitor's shrill cry echoed through the inn.
"What?"
The Black Snake warriors' murderous gazes locked onto Asrion. Several turned toward the stairs, raising their gleaming blades to charge up to the second floor.
No!
He couldn't let them reach Seol-ah. Asrion's heart raced. He'd originally planned to hit the clustered group, but in his panic, he shifted to blocking those heading her way.
Class ends in 5 minutes. Time to return to reality, everyone.
"……?"
Asrion's motion to cast magic froze rigidly in mid-air. In that instant, the massive inn and the bloodthirsty Black Snake warriors before his eyes began distorting grotesquely with static crackles.
"N-no! What are you doing?!"
Asrion's eyes widened in horror. The fireball forming in his hand fizzled out and scattered into the air. No matter how he tried to draw mana, the system had already completely locked him out.
"Not now! Stop it right now! If I don't go back, Seol-ah gets torn apart by those bastards' blades! Cancel it! Stop this damn thing!!!"
Asrion thrashed desperately, reaching toward the second-floor stairs. Before his eyes, the image of the Black Snake warriors charging up shattered with static.
Disconnecting.
"Seol-aaaahhh!!!"
Asrion's blood-curdling scream echoed through the martial world inn. But his vision had already gone completely black, sucked into an abyssal void.
"Haaack!"
In Professor Ashe's classroom in reality, Asrion—slumped in his chair in a sleep state—jolted awake with a scream that tore his eardrums. Gasping, he tumbled from his seat.
Looking around, the other Diamond Class students had already logged out, stretching and rising from their seats.
"Whoa! That was a blast last night!"
"The martial world was so cool! Wanna go back tomorrow!"
His classmates chattered happily, like kids fresh from an amusement park. But Asrion alone crawled on the floor, pale and drenched in cold sweat.
His mind replayed horrifically: the Black Snake thugs' gleaming blades charging up the stairs, Seol-ah's slender form about to be mercilessly shredded.
Seol-ah's dying. She's dying!
Asrion lost all reason. He sprang up and charged like a madman toward Rian, seated at the very back.
Rian was lost in thought. Vesperia and Ardelia were stretching beside him.
"Send me back! Send me back to that world right now!!!!"
Asrion slammed the desk, grabbing at Rian's collar in frenzy, tears streaming from his gray eyes.
"If I don't go, Seol-ah dies! Please send me back! I'll kill all those bastards, so open the door now!!!!"
The original sub-male lead wailed like a beast in desperate throes. Rian looked at his pathetic form with an indifferent expression.
"Can't. Gotta go to next class."
With that single sentence, Rian stood up from his seat.