Chapter 102
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Unexpected Spoiler (2)
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‘What? Ending spoiler?’
Lloyd’s eyes went wide.
It was a message he hadn’t even dreamed of.
He couldn’t believe it, so he meticulously reread the skill window twice more.
‘It’s real.’
The system never lied.
Lloyd had already reaped countless benefits from the favorability system and RP.
He calmly sorted through his thoughts.
Ending spoiler.
Just the name gave him a rough idea of what kind of skill it was.
‘Yeah. I’m basically inside a novel. But my actions have already changed the story a ton. So it shows the future of this altered storyline? That’s exactly the feature I need right now.’
Thinking about it, that was spot on.
In the original *Iron-Blooded Knight*, the Frontera barony should’ve been done for by now.
The baron and his wife, Lloyd, even Julian.
They all should’ve met miserable ends.
But they hadn’t.
The baron’s family hadn’t fallen.
They’d paid off most of their debts and were thriving.
No one had died, of course.
‘Haviel’s the same.’
By the novel’s timeline, he’d still be adventuring as a top-tier Sword Expert, without mastering the Asrahan Heart Method.
But now?
‘He’s become a Swordmaster. The Asrahan Heart Method has reached the triple circle realm, letting him blast away with explosions left and right.’
His growth had been advanced by years.
If things kept going like this, who knew how much stronger the guy could get.
He might even surpass the original, where he’d reached Grand Master and hexa circle.
‘Anyway, over the past year and a half, I’ve changed a lot here. My doing. Good stuff. But it’s not without its downsides.’
Of course, there were serious drawbacks.
The future was getting harder and harder to predict.
‘It’s because of me. My actions affect this world, twisting the novel’s cause and effect. Completely different outcomes keep piling up.’
That led to situations drifting far from the original history.
And it would only get worse.
‘This time was like that.’
The queen’s assassination attempt.
By the original novel, that should’ve happened two and a half years from now.
Yet it had been pulled forward dramatically.
And they still didn’t even know the cause.
He’d racked his brain, but no solid guesses.
That was the problem.
‘My relative edge in this world is slipping away.’
Monopoly on information. Asymmetry.
Knowing things others didn’t.
Only possible because he’d read *Iron-Blooded Knight*.
To locals, his predictions seemed almost prophetic.
But if the world kept diverging from the novel?
If it kept drifting further?
‘Predictions become impossible.’
He’d gradually lose his biggest weapon: informational superiority.
It was a tricky spot.
‘And right when I’m starting to miss that edge, a skill pops up that lets me glimpse the future.’
Lloyd glanced back at the skill window.
He checked the details.
Ding-dong.
[Skill Name: Ending Spoiler]
[Skill Rank: ???]
[Required CP: 20 (1 use)]
[Consume a set amount of CP to peek at a snippet of the grand finale for the current storyline. It could be a happy ending... or a sad one.]
‘As I thought.’
Just like he’d figured.
‘Might as well test it out.’
The ending scene of the future ahead.
His heart raced at the thought.
‘Please let it be a life where I just suck honey like a bee and grow old peacefully.’
A life without want.
A wife who gets me.
One son, one daughter.
Two dogs, maybe a cat.
Pondering what to have for dinner.
Planning the summer family vacation.
That’s the peak of my worries.
A leisurely, peaceful old age.
He hoped to glimpse that kind of ending.
‘Plus, it’s insurance against any hidden reefs.’
There might be threats to that honeybee life.
If so, deal with them quick.
Like buying insurance, Lloyd rolled his eyes.
He selected ‘Execute’ at the bottom of the skill window.
Click.
[Use Ending Spoiler?]
[CP Cost: 20 (1 use)]
[Current CP: 22]
[YES / NO]
‘Of course yes.’
Ding-dong.
[Ending Spoiler activated.]
[20 CP consumed.]
[Current CP: 2]
Messages related to the skill scrolled up.
Right after.
Zzzzzz...!
Time around him stopped.
The blowing wind.
Flying grasshoppers.
Even falling early autumn leaves.
All froze midair like specimens.
‘What...’
The moment he thought that.
The space five steps ahead rippled.
It shimmered, split open.
A round, pure white passageway opened.
‘Portal?’
Seemed like it.
The inside was blindingly white, impossible to see.
But it rippled invitingly toward him.
Like a pond freshly milked from new cows.
‘Is it safe?’
A flicker of doubt.
But the system was always right.
He decided to trust it.
Took a step.
Reached out his hand.
Splash.
His fingertips created ripples on the milky surface.
The ripples spread. He pulled back gently. Smoothly. Step by step.
He walked in.
Soon, his vision flooded with light.
Fwaaash...!
Did he close and open his eyes?
Or was it a new scene unfolding?
If so, what was this bloodstained ground he was seeing?
‘What.’
Lloyd tried to widen his eyes.
But his body wouldn’t obey.
His mind willed it, but his eyes squinted instead.
And then, unbidden, a mutter escaped.
“That day... I should’ve come back as fast as I could.”
As fast as possible? Come back?
A voice thick with regret.
What did that mean?
What was this situation?
His mouth moved again.
“Then this wouldn’t have happened.”
Regret again.
Slowly, his head lifted.
Finally, the surroundings came into view.
A village in total ruins. Houses and trees torn apart. Corpses scattered everywhere. Crows gathering, drooling.
It hit him square in the eyes. Branded into his dreams like a hot iron.
‘What. What is this?’
Why was he seeing this in an ending spoiler?
As he thought that, a familiar sight caught his eye.
A road cutting through the ash heap of a village.
Straight as an arrow.
A highway.
Six meters wide.
The center bulged higher than the edges.
Covered meticulously with flat stones, each seventy centimeters to a side.
At the edges, drainage ditches fifty centimeters wide and twenty deep.
Beyond them, three-meter-wide sidewalks, firmly packed, on both sides.
He looked closer.
It felt familiar.
Right.
The Appian Way.
Inspired by ancient Roman roads.
Podong dug tirelessly, the Engineering Corps packed it down.
Even when people doubted, tilted their heads.
Cast suspicious glances.
They dug, packed, built steadfastly.
Finally earning everyone’s approval.
But why?
The people who’d nodded back then.
The crowds who’d applauded him.
Why were they lying dead everywhere?
The tavern owner, caught fleeing.
Engineering Corps members, torn apart fighting back.
Countless screams fading.
So this was...
‘Frontera Barony? Here?’
Chills ran down his spine. Unbelievable.
And then.
Bwooooooom-!
A grotesque roar from the distant sky.
He turned his head. Looked there.
Black clouds blanketing the sky.
Rushing this way fast.
No, not clouds.
Water droplets didn’t have compound eyes and wings.
“Lord Lloyd, get away! Hurry!”
A voice blocking his front.
Haviel’s back.
Even that figure quickly drowned in darkness.
The sky blotted out by cloud-like forms. Sun engulfed. Darkness swallowing all directions. From within, tens of thousands of compound eyes approaching rapidly. Wings beating like a storm.
“...!”
Did Haviel shout something at the last moment?
He couldn’t tell.
Fwaaash...!
His vision flooded with light again.
He squeezed his eyes shut instinctively.
“...”
Chirp, chirp.
Under the night air caressing his skin, peaceful grasshopper sounds returned.
He savored them as he slowly opened his eyes.
The palace lodging’s rear garden came into view.
No more ruins. No scattered corpses.
Lloyd braced his hands on his knees without thinking.
“...Hoo.”
Cold sweat poured down his forehead.
Goosebumps covered his arms.
His teeth ground together.
“What did I just see?”
It was definitely called Ending Spoiler.
A glimpse of the ending moment, assuming the current scenario played out unchanged.
That’s what it showed.
Exactly.
‘But if things keep going like this, that’s the ending I get?’
He’d finally paid off the usury on the barony.
Conditions were right for a peaceful, leisurely life.
All that was left was heading back to the barony.
‘And it turns into that pathetic ash heap?’
Unbelievable.
Some trick?
The thought crossed his mind.
But Lloyd shook his head hard.
‘No, it’s not a lie.’
He’d succeeded so far thanks to favorability and RP systems.
Doubting the skill just because it showed something bad?
Ignoring it, no prep?
‘Then I might really end up like that.’
At minimum, prepare.
Even if it was fake.
Prep cost nothing.
Right now, prevent that shitty ending he’d glimpsed.
First step: analyze.
‘Alright, let’s recap what I saw.’
Lloyd took a deep breath first.
Calmed his pounding chest.
His eyes gradually regained composure.
‘First, location. Definitely Frontera Barony. The Appian Way in the ruins proves it.’
So, timeframe?
‘Not far off.’
The ending scene he glimpsed and lived briefly.
His voice in it sounded just like now.
Not aged or changed.
Haviel’s last glimpse looked young too.
Same as now.
‘Even his outfit was the travel clothes from coming to the capital.’
So, maybe right when they return to the barony this time.
It felt almost certain.
‘Next, what caused the disaster.’
Lloyd recalled the final scene.
The cloud-like mass blotting the sky.
Tens of thousands of compound eyes.
Storm-like wingbeats.
He’d seen it clearly.
An assault by hundreds of thousands of giant locusts, each seventy centimeters long.
‘Damn. Financial crisis over, now physical crisis?’
He’d hustled for a year and a half, earning money.
Finally cleared the barony’s massive debts.
Yet a physical threat before enjoying that peace.
Infuriating.
Like barely surviving the IMF by tightening belts, only for war to break out.
‘Like hell I’ll lose my honey pot that easy!’
The barony was his lifetime honey jar.
A precious savings account, pension, life insurance he’d nurtured like gold.
Couldn’t lose it like this.
If he did?
The outcome was obvious.
The queen would express regrets and condolences, then summon him to the capital with nowhere to go. Use him as a loyal retainer—no, summoned beast.
Work him to death.
Just like his army days as the sergeant major’s summon.
He hated that.
Lloyd shot to his feet.
‘Come to think of it, that line bugs me most.’
From the ending: “That day... I should’ve come back as fast as I could.”
Maybe “that day” was “right now.”
Lloyd’s steps quickened.
Late night, midnight—didn’t matter.
He headed straight to the palace.
Passed the Thorn Knight Order standing in for the Royal Guard, no problem.
He’d saved the queen himself.
Showed his status, free pass.
“I have urgent news for Her Majesty the Queen.”
Maybe his tense tone helped.
He was escorted to her office in moments.
“Come in.”
Her reply came before he could state his business.
The door opened.
The queen sat at a desk buried in papers.
Probably reviewing the assassination investigation.
She turned a weary expression and gaze his way.
“Lloyd Frontera, is it? What business at this late hour?”
Her eyes asked if he had info on the assassination.
Lloyd wiped away his bitter smile.
Replaced it with a serious, solemn look.
Time to rush back to the territory.
But rushing blindly without prep would be disastrous.
‘So I need support. The best support possible right now.’
To get support from the high and mighty, dangle the right bait.
With that, Lloyd spoke in feigned tension.
“Your Majesty. I, Lloyd Frontera, dare to report: soon, a catastrophe will engulf Frontera Barony, Creemo region, and the eastern border in flames.”
“What?”
The queen’s head tilted.
Her brows furrowed slightly.
The bait had landed perfectly.
Confident, Lloyd opened his mouth.