BAD ENDING: Northern Grand Duchess Sonya's New Life 1/5
BAD ENDING: Northern Grand Duchess Sonya's New Life 1/5
The northern mountain range where the eternal snow never melts.
As the eldest daughter of such a Northern Archduke and a proud grand warrior,
Sonya—who was also a top-tier knight—silently scattered the campfire that had burned down to charcoal.
While she rummaged through the cooled ashes, snowflakes callously drifted down onto her thick blonde hair.
Of course, Sonya's gaze was fixed not on the ashes that used to be a campfire, but on the alien existence sitting across from her.
"So... who exactly are you?"
Sonya, the Northern Archduchess.
Sonya's voice was as refreshing as the winter wind, but it was just as cold.
If you were to ask how cold... enough to draw her sword at any given moment.
The recipient of the question was an unidentified stranger.
As if he had starved for days, he had an extremely gaunt silhouette, and rags wrapped around his entire body... or rather, not rags.
'The opponent is wearing what looks like an ordinary traveler's robe.'
It felt so convincing that the stranger's unilateral claim of being stranded in the middle of this harsh snowy mountain almost sounded like the truth.
When Sonya first spotted this figure vigorously waving his hand from afar and cautiously approached him,
Sonya's hand had instinctively gripped the hilt of the steel sword at her waist without her even realizing it.
Naturally, that wasn't the case right now.
Because Sonya's hand was slightly away from her sword.
There were several reasons why she had lowered her guard.
Above all, her instinct as a warrior who inherited the rough blood of the North whispered to Sonya.
Even considering that she was a bit taller than most people?
The stranger was a whole head shorter than her, and that rag-like piece of cloth was all he had on.
She could list all sorts of reasons if she wanted to, but well...
He looked completely harmless, and even if he wasn't, he seemed like someone she could easily overpower at any time.
'Something is... a bit unique, though...'
The stranger, who sat thankfully in front of the campfire Sonya had made for him, pulled off his robe to signal that she shouldn't be on guard.
Thanks to the disappearance of that old, rough, tattered, and torn piece of cloth...?
The contours of his body were revealed in full detail.
"...!"
Sonya's body froze up again.
Reflexively, she almost turned toward her greatsword, which was leaning against the pure white birch tree behind her.
'Calm down, Sonya! The opponent hasn't shown any weapons, right?!'
Sonya, the Archduchess of the North, barely succeeded in suppressing her bursting combat instinct with reason.
The opponent's attire revealed underneath.
The clothing that wrapped his entire body from neck to toe was a smooth, glossy dark blue.
'Are... these... really... clothes...?'
A full-body suit made of a material that perfectly revealed the contours of his body—what should she say, it looked extremely smooth.
Although the campfire had burned out by now, whenever its light hit the surface, it had reflected a mysterious glow like a lake in the dead of night.
Holding the light like a living film of oil and shimmering faintly, the material of the clothes certainly didn't look like leather or cloth, did it?
So, it naturally didn't seem like an ordinary material.
'Is he a wandering noble?'
Thin white lines endlessly drew sharp geometric patterns on the unfamiliar surface of the clothing, so perhaps he was a mage.
A thick metal bracelet, from whose surface a cool silver light subtly emanated, was clasped around one of his wrists.
And on his shoulders hung a tightly secured backpack made of an unknown black material.
Well. Whether he was a noble from the Kingdom, a secret envoy sent from the Empire, or really just a lost noble pilgrim, it didn't matter.
In the one in a million... no, the one in a billion chance.
Even if he really was a mage trying to pull something off, this proud warrior-cum-knight-cum-Northern Archduchess Sonya could solve it with a single punch.
Was it because he noticed Sonya's subtle shift in demeanor?
"I am indeed a traveler, Young Lady-nim."
A bizarre accent she was hearing for the first time.
The pronunciation of each and every word was beyond clear—it was crisp—yet she couldn't read the temperature of any emotion contained within them at all.
It might be extremely rude to the stranger, but... mm...
It felt strangely jarring, as if a well-trained parrot were mimicking human speech.
Or perhaps a stage actor reading a pre-written script like a novel.
Kkulkeok.
Sonya swallowed hard.
Warriors of the North take pride in exposing bare skin even amid severe cold.
Toughening the skin and developing resistance to the cold were essential training for survival.
Yet this person in front of her was bundled up from head to toe as if he had taken a direct hit from a Blue Dragon's breath.
Was he a mage who had engraved a black magic curse on his skin?
'I don't feel... any mana reaction.'
No flow of mana could be felt at all.
Only a cold, inorganic, unidentified aura hovered about him.
The problem was that no matter how much she pondered what it could be, she kept arriving at the conclusion that there was nothing there.
"...No matter how much I think about it, that's attire I've never seen before. Where on earth did you come from?"
A question heavily laced with sharp vigilance.
Did the stranger only then realize how much confusion he was causing her...?
He let out a very faint sigh.
"It's understandable that you'd be surprised. After all, from your... Young Lady-nim Sonya's perspective... this appearance must look truly 'fascinating'."
A subtle sense of contempt was mixed into the stranger's words.
Like a civilized person observing the culture of uncivilized natives.
The stranger lightly brushed the metal bracelet strapped to his wrist.
'???'
At that moment, Sonya doubted her own eyes.
She thought she saw faint characters of light floating onto the surface of the bracelet before disappearing.
"I have traveled through countless 'worlds' until now. Interestingly, it seems that the only sentient beings with perception here are you, the 'humans.' Is that correct?"
"Th-That is... true... but..."
A strange way of speaking.
His manner of speech was also full of incongruity.
What should she call it... How could she describe it accurately...?
Really like a stage actor standing on a stage?
Would it be accurate to say he was reading exaggerated lines off an already fully structured script...
Even so, Sonya calmly waited for his next words.
The phrase 'countless worlds' made Sonya's heart flutter slightly.
Knowledge is power.
To Sonya, who had spent most of her life in the North and had virtually never left the fiefdom, this stranger was no different from a living book containing unknown knowledge.
"The Northern region, is it... In that case, what is the situation in other regions? I heard that tension flows between the Central Kingdom and the Southern Empire."
Sonya brought up stories of the widest world she knew.
The stranger snorted.
"Ah."
A short sigh.
It was a sound he intentionally made to correct a misunderstanding.
"I wasn't talking about other regions of this 'world.' I meant literally other worlds. Other dimensions. Other star systems."
The intuition of a cold Northern warrior whispered to Sonya that his absurd words were absolute truth, without a shred of falsehood.
"You see, I am not from this world."
"Wh-Wh-What?! No. This isn't right! Are you a demon, then? No... what on earth are you...?!"
In an instant, Sonya's rationality snapped.
Sonya leaped like lightning and drew the greatsword behind her back.
With the screeching sound of steel slicing through the freezing air, the vivid blue blade stopped right in front of the stranger's neck.
Sonya didn't even bat an eye.
On the contrary, it was the stranger who panicked.
'Mm... no. At this level, far from a knight, is he even below ordinary people?'
Seeing how he couldn't react, his level and physical abilities were far below those of Sonya, the Archduchess of the North.
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down! Of course not! I'm... I'm just a scientist!"
"Scien... tist? I've never even heard of such a profession! No, I mean... I haven't?!"
Scien??tist? Resear??cher?
Unfamiliar words she was hearing for the first time.
Sonya grimaced and withdrew her sword.
She did not take her hand off the hilt.
The embers of suspicion began to burn fiercely once more.
"Oh... my goodness. Sometimes the ignorance of this barbaric medieval fantasy world is really... unbearable..."
The stranger muttered quietly to himself in a language she couldn't understand.
And at this moment.
Supposing that a die deciding choices truly existed.
Something important was decided.
If a high number had rolled, and if Sonya had understood its meaning, she might have chopped off his head on the spot.
But with a low number rolled, the oblivious Archduchess of the North merely waited quietly for his next explanation.
"I am an inventor, an explorer, and a scientist. It is my job to navigate between those lights you call stars and explore the wonders of the universe."
The explanation was lengthy and difficult to comprehend.
Perhaps it was a story that could have been summarized by the expression 'sci-fi genre,' but...
For Sonya, the Archduchess of the North to whom such a thing was inapplicable, she could only clearly make out and understand a single fact.
She didn't know what the universe was, but...?
That this person was a being who traveled between the stars of the sky.
Sonya was unconsciously captivated by the absurd story.
"Then... how is this world? Ah... um... how is it... in your eyes?"
Sonya asked for an evaluation of her hometown, her world.
And in return... came a facial expression as if he had been forced to chew tasteless food.
"I can't say it's bad, but I certainly can't call it special either."
"Swords and magic, knights and kingdoms. Settings like these are one of the most cliché commonplaces in the universe. To a point of boredom."
The stranger touched a nerve in Sonya's pride.
Therefore, he immediately added another word.
"However, just one thing: the 'physical specs' of the living beings here, especially you humans, are quite interesting."
"You are vastly larger, tougher, and far superior in environmental adaptability compared to entities in other similar civilized spheres."
"You are truly excellent 'raw materials.'"
'Raw materials...?'
Sonya did not understand the ominous meaning of the word 'raw materials.'
Sonya changed the subject and asked why the stranger was camping alone in such severe cold.
"I would like to hear more of your story. How did you come to be here?"
"Very well. I have plenty of time anyway."
The stranger fiddled with his metal bracelet once again.
From the bracelet made purely of metal, a very subtle high-frequency sound—inaudible to human ears—flowed out.
It was a signal to precisely scan the surrounding environment and the biological sample right before his eyes.
[Scan Start]
[Target: Native intelligent entity designated as 'Sonya.' Female type.]
[Biological Analysis: Height 182cm. Weight 75kg (estimated). Muscle Density: 178% compared to standard human. Bone Density: 210%.]
[Neural Reaction Speed: Grade A+. Hormone Levels: Stable. Special Notes: Physical optimization and reflex development due to high-level combat training. Mental resistance potential value: Unmeasurable. Expected to be extremely high.]
[Value Evaluation as a Resource: Top Tier. Expecting performance efficiency over 300% compared to standard models upon modification into a combat unit.]
[Particularly, due to high mental resistance, significant resource consumption is anticipated during the initial 'synchronization' process; however, upon success, extreme stability and loyalty can be secured. A perfect 'body vessel.']
Sonya listened attentively to the stranger's story, without dreaming for a moment that her body and mind were being analyzed piece by piece by invisible technology...
For that was the story of the Northern Archduchess who had failed to roll her dice well.