Episode 0-a. The Advancer (1)
Time flows on.
Three years pass in the blink of an eye, and in that span, countless things change.
The empire fades into the background like a stage curtain drawn shut, and a traveler presses forward along the long path illuminated by guiding lights.
Even knowing full well that the world shows no mercy, this traveler steps ahead anyway.
In a word, he is weak. He possesses not a single shred of talent.
The sword of a Sword Saint would tear him to ribbons with its mere afterimage.
A flick of a Grand Mage's finger would summon lightning that reduces him to ash.
The halberd of a beastman chieftain.
The breath of a dragon.
The arrows of elves, the fangs of ogres.
The hammers of dwarves, the stardust of fairies.
All these forces will strive relentlessly to shatter his journey.
And he will tumble helplessly amid the charges of countless heroes.
But.
Even so, he advances.
Undeterred by any of it, he simply presses on.
He flails desperately, pathetically toward his goal.
Some will mock him, others will pity him.
But such things mean nothing in stopping him.
To reach his goal, he will surely push through every obstacle and step forward once more.
And so the story flows onward.
May your journey touch the light.
May you surmount that towering wall and seize the ending.
May the ink spread once more.
We await that moment.
Guardian of the gray, wanderer of the world.
Advance.
Toward the new □□.
The snow is blinding white.
White flakes drift down—plop, plop—piling up until the world slowly turns white around you.
That was the landscape of the snow mountains.
These peaks, blanketed in snow year-round, were painted entirely white. No matter how you craned your neck, there was no other scenery to be found.
Everything smeared into pure white, as if the world's filth had been washed clean away.
Gazing blankly at it like that could even calm a troubled mind.
That was the impression from afar, at least.
But tell that to someone actually trudging through it, and he'd spit a curse right back at you.
A landscape of nothing but white meant no landmarks—easy to lose your way.
You might strut out confident you knew the path, only to tumble into a drift and lose all sense of direction.
Then you'd think, Maybe I should mark my trail somehow—but as I'd said, snow fell every day in these mountains, burying any traces before long.
And so the fool—I—trekked deep into the snowfields before spotting something and muttering aloud.
"Ah... finally found it."
Amid the endless white, I'd spied something slightly different and whispered to myself.
"What? What'd you find? You really got the sun flower?"
From behind me came a thrilled voice, assuming we'd nabbed our target at last.
But.
I couldn't even turn around, just murmuring softly again.
"...Nah, a cave."
Not the sun flower we'd come to this snowy hell for, but a cave that might finally thaw our frozen bodies after days of wandering.
"Ugh... I thought we could head back at last. Tori... I think Ain oppa's trying to freeze us to death."
"If Ain oppa wanted us dead, he wouldn't have saved us in the first place, you dummy. Ugh... but if I die first, make sure you grab my body."
Despite my telling them to stay put, the two brats had tailed me anyway, their voices ringing shrill in my ears.
"...Told you to stay back at the inn like good kids."
Lips pursed, I just trudged toward the cave.
Warmth.
Crackle-crackle—the campfire's red glow danced gently in eyes starved of color after days of white.
As our bodies began to thaw in that scene, the chattering voices piped up again.
"Ain hyung, that quack doctor uncle's totally out to kill us."
"Yeah. Even if Ain oppa kept us locked up eating nothing but steamed buns for over a year, sending us into the snow mountains for sun flowers has to be some shady plot."
"...Should I head back out? Why so chatty all of a sudden."
True to their twin nature, they huddled together, identical faces twisted in complaints about some quack doctor.
Pouting like they were miffed, they scooted closer to the fire to stop their shivering.
Then their eyes met, they nodded in unison, turned to me with beaming grins.
They'd realized opening those little mouths again might send me back out scouting—they clamped them shut and just smiled wide.
In that brief silence.
Crackle-crackle—the fire popped loudly, while snow whipped fiercely beyond the cave mouth.
Memories surfaced.
Staring vacantly into the flames like this always dragged them up from the depths, filling my head.
It had been three years since I set out on this journey.
I'd left the empire for the duchy, registered as an adventurer there, and spent over a year building my record.
A total newbie with zero achievements couldn't just dive into the world willy-nilly, so I'd grinded quests in the duchy to climb ranks as high as possible.
Some places I aimed for flat-out barred low-rank adventurers.
And my plans? Far from smooth sailing.
All my efforts from childhood had only lifted talentless me to "average" at best.
Unlike the empire's peaceful vistas, the duchy's adventurer mecca treated me like a nobody.
No matter how I struggled and thrashed, I hit my limits hard.
After over a year, my rank hadn't even scraped mid-tier.
No one took me on as a teammate, so I wandered solo, scraping by on crappy gigs.
I tumbled time and again, tempted to quit.
Any normal person would've hit that wall and called it quits.
But I dragged my knees back up and pushed on.
Short on strength? I'd hit the dojo, swinging a sword till I dropped.
Short on cash? I'd hawk goods like a merchant.
No party inviting me? I'd make my own.
My goal loomed too far for mere curiosity.
This wasn't some idle jaunt.
There was a woman back in the empire, waiting—I wanted her happier.
So I advanced, advanced, kept advancing.
Bloody knees or not, I'd spring back up and stride toward that light.
Three years later, looking back, I'd hit mid-rank adventurer.
The sneers dwindled—slowly, surely. My swordplay edged past average, at least.
Cash flowed enough to get by.
And I'd gathered comrades.
Not your typical bonds, but comrades nonetheless.
The twin siblings chattering before me now.
A couple oddballs waiting back in the city.
Bit by bit, I was making progress.
And.
As these thoughts swirled.
I unconsciously fished out two orbs from my pocket, rolling them in my palm—clack-clack.
After three years, the bracelet on my wrist showed no sign of fraying—I stared blankly at it.
Is she doing okay?
Not struggling too much without me?
What if something happened?
Mom, Dad, and Rendo uncle are watching over her, right?
As always, my reminiscing spiraled to her—the woman left in the empire—and I clacked the orbs together.
Now a habit, I kept at it endlessly.
"...Tori, Ain hyung's at it again. Bet he'll go a full hour like this."
"Yaki... shh. Stir him up and we're scouting again—your fault."
The siblings' whispers buzzed in my ears.
But the thoughts rolled on till the embers finally winked out—pop.
Like that.
Clack-clack—the orbs kept chiming through the cave.