Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Hack Found
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Abyss, who had taken a seat, removed his hood. He scanned Rachel and her group.
“By the way, what an odd combination. Evelyn and the current Baron Emporus.”
“Spare us the chit-chat.”
Rachel cut him off before he could say more.
Judging by his tone, he knew that Evelyn had killed Paris Emporus.
‘Just what information doesn’t he know?’
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say he had a grasp on virtually everything—except for what would happen in the future.
And yet, despite that power, he hadn’t been able to overcome Paris Emporus.
“Thanks to Mother, we took out one pesky foe.”
“Is that so?”
He hadn’t named anyone, but Rachel had brought it up with the intent of saying they’d helped him, so he should cooperate in return. Yet he responded ambiguously.
Abyss pulled a cigar from his pocket, sliced off the end with a knife, and lit it. A thin haze of smoke rose upward, but surprisingly, the scent wasn’t pungent.
Rachel’s stomach churned, however.
“You must have a lot of questions, but the one who told me how to contact you was you. Of course, you won’t remember.”
Abyss furrowed his brow.
“What’s with that look?”
When Rachel asked, he removed the cigar from his mouth. He rubbed his furrowed brow with his finger and unfolded it.
“You can see my expression?”
“With my eyes wide open right in front of you, what wouldn’t I see?”
Rachel couldn’t comprehend his question. Then she turned to Deyner.
“Hey, can you see that guy’s face?”
“Of course I can… Huh? Why’s it blurry?”
“It’s not obscured by smoke or anything, so why’s it blurry… Wait, perception impairment magic?”
Rachel uttered the term that suddenly came to mind mid-sentence.
It was said there were many mages in ancient times, but in the present era, mages had become beings from stories.
After the Demon King appeared about a thousand years ago, the nature of mana that enabled magic changed. As a result, mages lost the ability to use magic and gradually vanished.
In modern times, magic could only be cast by the owners of magic artifacts or a rare few who had preserved the lineage from ancient times.
Very few people knew this information, and Rachel only did because she had played the game.
“Most people don’t even think of it as magic.”
Abyss said as he exhaled smoke. Rachel opened her mouth to dismiss it casually, then covered it with her hand.
‘I almost gave that guy information.’
Rachel’s stance was generally to share information with allies. But there was one fact she intended to keep hidden.
‘That I’m not the real Rachel.’
She still hadn’t figured out if this was a world inside the game or if she had been summoned and possessed into a real existing world via the game.
However, she had resolved to live as Rachel.
The message window she saw upon first waking here had the words: Witch of the 13th Month.
This world, like Earth, had only twelve months.
The 13th month didn’t exist, so in this otherworld, “13th month” was a substitute phrase for “nonexistent.”
In other words, the Witch of the 13th Month was a nonexistent witch. Thus, the real Rachel could be considered nonexistent.
In the world where Rachel had vanished, she decided to live as Rachel, and for that reason, she resolved not to reveal to anyone that she wasn’t Rachel.
But if she answered poorly to Abyss probing the source of her information, she might expose herself as an outsider from another world.
Rachel lowered her hand, inwardly deciding she couldn’t let her guard down around Abyss.
“I know your abilities, so don’t try any tricks. You know full well my words are true, right?”
At Rachel’s words, he placed the cigar back in his mouth this time.
“Is this guy really going to help us?”
Chris, who had been watching the situation, asked Rachel. Abyss crossed his arms, exhaled smoke, and glanced over Chris.
“I only sell information. I don’t personally help anyone.”
“That depends on the person. You and I had a certain level of trust between us.”
It was more convenient than expected that the other could detect lies. Rachel spoke only the truth without further explanation.
At that, Abyss’s eyebrow twitched faintly.
Her words were true, but this was the first time he had met Rachel today.
“Had. It’s definitely the first time I’ve seen that young lady.”
He didn’t doubt his ability in the slightest, so he tried to discern the truth from her words.
“I’ll explain that later. You’ll understand once you hear it. Anyway, as for the request: Brother Chris is fighting Uncle Sari. I’d like you to help Brother Chris win.”
“I never said I’d help.”
Rachel tried to gloss over it, but Abyss tapped the ash off his cigar in response.
The gray ash didn’t scatter far; it fell slowly to the floor like dust soaking into water.
But Rachel wasn’t one to back down easily.
“Brother needs information to fight Uncle. To that end, we’ll provide you with our side’s information.”
“Not interested.”
In the end, Chris grabbed Rachel’s shoulder and pulled her back.
“Rachel, no need to beg someone acting like that.”
Rachel clicked her tongue at Chris, who was standing on pride without any alternatives. She shook off his hand and looked at Abyss.
“I’ll share the information we’ve obtained this time onward continuously.”
Abyss’s thick eyebrows twitched without a word.
Seeing his attitude trying to grasp the intent behind her words, Rachel crossed her arms.
“Is there any need to share information obtained once continuously onward?”
“You idiot. I thought you’d be smart since you handle information.”
Rachel twirled a strand of her golden hair hanging below her shoulders as she retorted.
She said that, but it wasn’t sincere. Most people wouldn’t think of regression.
Regression via checkpoint was similar to save and load in a game. And such save and load functions were possible only for the protagonist.
If this world was inside a game, then Rachel was the protagonist. No one except Rachel could easily conceive of regression.
However, Abyss suddenly flinched, then quickly resumed his immobile posture.
‘What was that?’
He stubbed out the cigar he’d been smoking on the table and tapped his earlobe with his index finger.
Rachel felt queasy again. Then she spotted a pink gem earring on his earlobe, hidden by his indigo hair.
“Found the core.”
Rachel tilted her head at his words, ignoring him.
‘What core?’
The only core that came to mind was a game hack—the illicit program run to gain an advantage in games.
As Rachel puzzled over it, Evelyn raised her sword. The blade was aimed at Abyss’s throat.
“What did you do?”
Evelyn said in a low voice. Rachel started to stop her but held back. There was a reason she was acting this way suddenly.
Something related to the family’s safety, perhaps.
Rachel’s guess was spot on. The door behind the tavern counter opened, and out came the pink-haired woman she’d seen in the 16th loop, along with five or six burly men.
“Boss!”
They called to Abyss and tried to approach by leaping over the counter.
Evelyn swiftly hoisted Abyss’s body, pinned him down on the floor, and subdued him.
“Stop!”
Straddling his torso, she sealed both his hands with her left and pressed the sword to his throat with her right, threatening as she shouted.
“Get off the boss!”
“You lot take one more step, and you’ll see this one’s blood.”
Rachel couldn’t understand why the atmosphere had shifted so abruptly.
For now, she stood and questioned Abyss while warily eyeing Abyss’s men who had risen and the newly arrived ones.
“Honestly, I don’t want to turn against you guys. So what’s this core that makes your people come rushing out like this?”
“Pretending not to know?”
“What?”
“Boss, you in danger? What’re you babbling about in that state? Is that girl the core?”
The pink-haired woman took a step forward as she watched Rachel and Abyss converse.
At that, Evelyn’s sword moved slightly. A red line traced across Abyss’s throat, and blood beaded up.
“Step back. No tricks.”
Evelyn warned the approaching pink-haired woman. At the same time, she signaled her family to stick close to her.
“And what’s this core you’re calling her? Why are you saying my daughter is the core… Don’t move.”
Evelyn flung a coin. A man sneaking up from beside the table was struck and collapsed.
To show those ignoring her warning, Evelyn pressed the sword closer to Abyss’s throat. Abyss swallowed as the wound on his neck deepened from before.
“Everyone, do as this woman says. I really might die.”
Abyss said, blood trickling. But Rachel recalled what they carried and wagged her finger.
“Such exaggeration. Mother, they have Healing Potions, so if they try to attack us, just cut their throats.”
She didn’t truly mean to cut throats. But Evelyn would take it seriously. Abyss would know her words were false.
“Even after I’ve shown such friendly intent, if you act like this, there’s no dealing with it.”
Evelyn gave a curt reply to Rachel, who shrugged.
“If you say so, then I will.”
Abyss seemed to realize provoking Evelyn further was dangerous and repeated himself.
“For now, fall back.”
“But what if you get killed!”
“They want my help. If we can talk it out, they won’t kill me, so fall back for now.”
“Got it.”
Following the exchange between Abyss and the pink-haired woman, they retreated toward the shop wall. As the distance opened, the three men finally seemed able to breathe, sighing in relief.
Rachel clicked her tongue, not at young Deyner, but at Henri and Chris’s attitudes.
“So, what’s the core?”
Evelyn parted her lips. Internally bothered by them calling Rachel the core, she asked about that first.
“I’ll answer that.”
The response came from the pink-haired woman. Sitting on the counter with legs crossed, she spoke.
“First, let me introduce myself. My name is Hapi. I’m a mana appraiser.”
“ Mana appraiser?”
It was a term Deyner muttered, unfamiliar to all of Rachel’s group.
“Simply put, I have the ability to analyze mana.”
The concept of mana had largely faded, so few knew of it. Only the erudite Henri, who had read various texts, recalled something about magic and asked.
“Then, are you a mage?”
“No, different from a mage. You know those ancient artifacts that occasionally circulate on the market?”
Henri and Chris nodded.
Ancient relics unearthed sometimes included artifacts capable of magic. Most went to the royal family, but some were sold on the market for high prices.
“When first excavated, no one usually knows how to use these artifacts, right? They experiment in various ways to figure it out, but I can read the mana in the artifacts to appraise their usage or functions.”
“Is that real?”
Chris grew excited at her words.
Normally, even if an artifact was unearthed, people didn’t realize it was one.
Even once identified, confirming its functions cost a fortune.
Moreover, some were consumables that vanished during testing.
But with Hapi’s ability, they could immediately verify overlooked artifacts and learn their functions. It was a money-making skill, and Chris’s eyes sparkled.
“But is your introduction necessary to explain the core?”
“Yes. I need you to know just how sensitive I am to mana.”
Rachel tilted her head sideways at Hapi’s answer.
“To the point: time is rewinding.”
“What?”
While everyone else looked puzzled, only Rachel flinched.
‘How did she know?’
“We’ve named the cause of that time rewinding the core, and we’ve been searching for it!”