Chapter 124
Chapter 124
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Unexpected Companion
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“You…… how are you here?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Woojin was at a loss for words, staring at her as she turned the question back on him.
“……Huh?”
Only now did she seem to take in the scenery, blinking her large eyes and tilting her head.
“Where…… is this place?”
It seemed she had no idea about her own situation either.
Woojin wore a troubled expression, unsure how to explain it to her.
“It’s another world.”
“……”
Her eyes still looked at him like he was speaking nonsense.
“……Did you maybe have a drink?”
It felt like the gentlest question she could come up with after racking her brain.
“Wait, what about Luen?! Where is she?! She was engulfed in flames……! Luen!!”
She hurriedly scanned the surroundings, searching for Luen. But in the desolate ruins, there was no sign of her.
Originally, you shouldn’t be here either……
Woojin couldn’t quite grasp why she had come to this other world with him.
Game items can be brought to the other world, but……
Was Setsuna being treated like an item?
At that moment, Woojin remembered [Kelduan’s Egg].
In a situation where he couldn’t use the [Adventurer’s Bag], the egg was larger than the basic pouch currently at his waist.
“……Huh?”
But in that instant, Woojin couldn’t help being surprised.
Strapped to his waist was, astonishingly, the [Adventurer’s Bag] he couldn’t use due to its level restriction.
Click—.
As he unbuckled it, light flowed over the bag’s opening like a hologram, revealing the contents inside.
So there are no level restrictions in this other world……
It was a new discovery.
Then maybe I can use this again too.
Woojin re-equipped the [Trinity Belt] from inside the bag.
“Ahem—.”
He wasn’t sure about the changes, but at least it was equipped now.
I can’t see the stat changes, but in the game, I wouldn’t have been able to equip it at all.
He patted the belt lightly.
“Do you remember anything from what happened earlier?”
“Hmm…… There was suddenly an explosion around us. I definitely smelled gunpowder. Someone must have fired a bombardment.”
Bombardment…… Was it an attack from the Dalus Kingdom?
The remaining kingdom in the Antarian Federation.
The Dalus Kingdom was more advanced in magitech than the other two.
That was the only possibility that came to mind……
The problem was the timing—it was too soon.
Even accounting for the time I spent traveling from Tekan to the lake, Sir Aswell is probably still in Esten.
Dalus launching a preemptive strike before Tekan and Esten even started war?
But even if so, why bombard the lake inside the forest instead of encircling the outer edges of the Great Forest?
This is weird……
Woojin couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling, but there was nothing he could figure out in the current situation.
He had no choice but to find a way back as quickly as possible.
“When those flames erupted everywhere, we suddenly moved to a black space. And…… when I opened my eyes, we were here?”
Black space……
Woojin mulled over her words.
The black space Setsuna described was the place called the [Summoned Beast’s Space].
The [Summoned Beast’s Space] is like a waiting room where summoned beasts stay when the contracted summoner dismisses the summon.
There were two cases where a summoned beast would remain in the [Summoned Beast’s Space].
The first was for classes like druids or spirit mages who contracted multiple summoned beasts.
Even if there were many contracted beasts, the number that could be summoned simultaneously was limited, so the rest stayed in the [Summoned Beast’s Space].
The second is when the summoner logs out.
If the summoner wasn’t in the game, the summon would forcibly end, unlike mercenaries.
He figured it was the latter case.
After the forced dismissal, she had crossed over to this other world with him.
“Logout, huh.”
But there was still something that didn’t add up.
Until now, coming to the other world had clearly been tied to logging out.
But this time?
A sudden bombardment had forced the transfer.
……Did I die?
The kingdom’s magitech cannons definitely had some powerful enough to kill him in one hit.
If he had died in the game from that bombardment and come here……
But if death is linked to dimensional transfer, why didn’t it happen when I died in the goblin nest?
Questions still swirled in his mind.
“Tch, this isn’t like someone forcibly sending me to the other world or anything……”
No matter how much he thought about it, no answers came, so Woojin sighed and muttered to himself amid his tangled thoughts.
“But…… strangely, it feels comfortable here.”
“Huh? What does?”
Woojin, lost in thought, lifted his head at Setsuna’s words.
“I’m not sure exactly, but…… my movements feel freer, and my body is much more at ease. And the atmosphere here…… it’s like coming home, I guess? Heh.”
She smiled awkwardly, as if even she found it odd.
Home…… Yeah, that makes sense.
It had started as the game item [Sage’s Stone], but after it was destroyed, the local Luen revived it with magic into the [Stone of Illusion].
From Setsuna’s perspective, this place—not the game—is where she was truly created.
Unlike Woojin, who came from the game world to the other world, she was a being from the other world pulled into the game.
So it made sense that her body felt more comfortable. She had gone from virtual to fully realized in reality.
“Setsuna.”
“Yes?”
“Listen carefully from now on. I’m not entirely sure how you ended up here, but……”
Woojin gazed at her and spoke in a low voice.
“If you’re going to keep going through this with me, there are things you need to know.”
“What kind of things?”
Woojin told her about everything he had been through.
The time he was trapped in the game.
His family vanishing.
His farewell to Raoul in this world.
And finally, Luen’s situation.
“Master……”
“Waaah…… Master!! I had no idea you’d been through all this!!”
Her expressions shifted constantly as she listened—crying one moment, laughing the next—and it was quite a sight.
“I’ll stay with you from now on! I’m not going anywhere! Waaah!!”
Woojin chuckled softly as Setsuna clung fiercely to the back of his neck.
“Well…… whatever the reason. At least I’m not alone this time.”
He gently brushed her small head with his fingers.
Having someone who would believe his unbelievable story brought a sense of stability.
“First, we need to find a way back.”
“Yes!!”
Perhaps thanks to the conversation with her.
Woojin’s impatient heart settled calmly.
“Setsuna. Can you use your abilities?”
“My abilities?”
Woojin recalled how, when he first arrived in the other world, it had been hard to get a feel for using skills.
Shaaa—!!!
A pure white orb immediately appeared above Setsuna’s hand.
“……No problem.”
Is it because she’s an NPC? Or maybe I was just inexperienced.
Woojin gave an awkward smile as he watched her use the skill effortlessly.
We’re out of potions too……
In a situation where anything could happen.
Thankfully, her learning recovery magic upon leveling up was a stroke of luck.
“Where should we go?”
A way back.
At her question, Woojin once again pondered how he had returned during his two previous trips to the other world.
The black mage’s magic circle.
And Camilla’s kick.
Thinking of the kick made his chest ache for some reason.
Hmm……
There didn’t seem to be any clear connection between the two methods.
That’s why, if he came here again, he had planned to compare it to previous times……
No time to think step by step.
He didn’t even know if Luen was in the [Black Space] or not.
His heart grew urgent.
The black magic circle activated, and Sarbandin entered my body.
“……Huh?”
Something flashed through Woojin’s mind in that moment.
Wasn’t it Sarbandin that sent me back to the game, not the magic circle?
A divine beast with the power of a god.
And Camilla was also a divine beast called a primal spirit.
In two seemingly unrelated situations, the only possible link was that.
The power of a primal spirit…… might be able to send me back to the game.
Camilla came to mind first.
But reaching the one under the lake in the ice cave near Baekhwagok would take too much time.
There was no guarantee the dimensional gate was still intact…… and even if he walked, he didn’t know if there was a land route from the central continent to the Dark Forest.
A primal spirit in the central continent.
Bubble…… bubble……
The lake where Kelduan had lived was right in front of him, but with the bubbling and stench, it didn’t seem likely he was still alive there.
Even if I hatched the egg……
Hatching would take decades more.
All that was left was Fenril’s nest.
But recalling what Irurin had said, the Fenril here had long been hunted by Aswell.
He had awakened his ultimate technique by hunting it.
“Is there no way……”
That was when it hit him.
Woojin realized there was one more primal spirit.
……Pensir?
Before the bombardment, there had definitely been a notification about Pensir’s recovery.
But that was in the game, and now it was 50 years later.
He wasn’t sure if Pensir was still alive, but it was his last hope.
In the game, they had formed a contract, after all.
If he’s alive, could our bond carry over here?
If so, he might sense if Pensir was still surviving.
“Ngh—.”
He focused his mind, but it wasn’t easy.
Setsuna suddenly seemed impressive for using skills so instantly.
“……Guess we have no choice but to go check ourselves.”
He bit his lip lightly and let out a low sigh.
“Let’s head to Fenril’s nest.”
Hoping to find some trace there, Woojin started walking.
“Shh—.”
Woojin raised his index finger to his lips, and Setsuna nodded in understanding.
“This is some shady business.”
“Should we check out that North Wall Island or whatever?”
“Going somewhere we don’t even know……”
“Why not? We’ve got that old map floating around.”
“Ugh, you naive fool. You believe that map? They say it’s a demon nest now. Quit yapping and get back to work.”
Voices drifted over.
Woojin hid behind a collapsed pile of debris and quietly observed ahead.
I was trying to slip by quietly……
The place they were now was Baldoa, the capital of Tekan and home to the Vallan family—a mid-tier city.
Fenril’s nest was on the opposite side of the Great Forest, behind Baldoa in the mountain range called the Gray Veil.
This won’t be easy.
Woojin frowned as he eyed them.
A wagon visible behind them.
It was filled with corpses.
“Come on, hurry up and bury them!”
Faces still retaining some life.
Clearly, they hadn’t been dead long.
There were three of them.
Outnumbered.
If they spotted him, who knew what they’d do.
Clack—.
Woojin subtly pushed the sword hilt forward with his thumb for a quick draw.
This was a world where you killed or were killed.
He hadn’t forgotten that.