Chapter 125

'Can I slip past quietly?'

He had no intention of going out of his way to cause trouble with them. The corpses troubled him, but these weren't living captives like Goun had been... Nor was this a case where he had to avenge someone.

Having dug a large pit, the men began pushing the corpses out of the wagon and into it, one by one.

“Damn it... The world may be falling apart, but how can people slaughter other people like this...? There are few enough of us left as it is...”

“Everyone's just trying to survive, aren't they? The bastards killing people... and us burying the dead...”

“It's a goddamn world we live in.”

'So they aren't the killers?'

Listening to their conversation, Woojin began to wonder. Why were they burying the bodies?

He tightened his grip on his sword's hilt and thought for a moment.

'I'm still missing too much information. I know next to nothing about the central continent in particular.'

Camilla had sent him back without warning from Ratan's laboratory. How much time had passed since then? What state was humanity in? And what was this “map” they had mentioned...?

'A map that circulated some time ago.'

If it really offered a way to reach the island of the Northern Wall, it could be a decisive clue for his ongoing World Quest, Golden Paradise.

“...”

After a moment's deliberation, Woojin slowly stood.

'Setsuna. Stay in my pocket.'

She nodded and hid inside his clothes.

“... Wh-who's there?!”

As Woojin emerged from behind the rubble, the men burying the corpses started in alarm and grabbed the swords they had left on the ground. Two of the three drew their blades, while the third backed away. That meant those two were the ones who could fight, at least, but...

'Even their stances aren't much to look at.'

Their eyes and shoulders were trembling like leaves, too. They didn't seem to be Collectors. Anyone who made a living by the sword wouldn't have left it lying on the ground in the first place.

“I'm not looking for trouble. I was heading for the mountains behind here when I heard voices and came over.”

SMACK! SMACK-SMACK!

“Voices? Good grief, that's why I told you idiots to keep quiet!”

The man who had backed away shouted, smacking the other two on the backs of their heads.

“Oh, come on. You were chattering away just as happily...”

“Exactly. Why the hell are you giving us shit?”

“You little...! Sh-shut up!”

Apparently older than the other two, the man who had retreated responded to their grumbling by petulantly kicking their backsides with his short legs.

“I'm Marshel. How about we both lower our swords? If you don't intend to fight, that is.”

The man who sheathed his sword first addressed Woojin.

“I'm Khan.”

“This is Tarun, and that's Master Rex, our caravan leader.”

“I'm Khan.”

“Ahem. Yes, good to meet you.”

The man, who had already hidden himself some distance away, answered with a wave.

“We have work to finish. If you'd like to talk, I'd prefer to let Tarun keep his sword out.”

“That's fine.”

“It's a dangerous world. We can lose sight of our surroundings while we work.”

Whether he was naturally meticulous or simply used to situations like this, Marshel quickly took charge.

“And we'd both be better off keeping our distance, wouldn't we?”

Woojin nodded and moved a little farther away. It was a reasonable precaution when neither side trusted the other.

“What are those bodies?”

“We took a job. I hope you won't get the wrong idea. We transport goods from town to town. Burying corpses like this isn't our usual business.”

Rex spoke while watching Woojin's reaction.

“These people lived in a town called Brown Crow, a little way from here.”

“Brown Crow...?”

Woojin knew that name well. It was the Labyrinth Tower's nineteenth town, home to the [White Tavern].

“... So there are still people living on the central continent.”

“Of course. We're people too, aren't we? The world may have fallen, but there are actually quite a few people living here.”

“Can you really call this living? It's not living unless you can live like a human being...”

Marshel had already emptied an entire wagon of corpses into the pit and begun covering them with earth.

“You fool. Do you think joining the resistance means you'll live like a human being? You'll get eaten by demons just the same. Even that Lion King or whatever he's called lost battle after battle and finally fled to some faraway place nobody's ever heard of.”

Rex spat on the ground, his tone disapproving.

“It'd still be better than groveling to those demon bastards. Fucking hell...”

“Tsk, tsk. I went to all the trouble of giving you a way to scrape by... You don't know how good you've got it.”

“Does the island of the Northern Wall really exist?” Woojin asked quietly.

“We wouldn't know. There was quite a stir once about the Lion King building a stronghold to fight the demons... But we're stuck here, unable to get out.”

“... You can't get out?”

“Ah, were you born after the Day of Abandonment? I suppose children born after the portal was destroyed wouldn't know the outside world.”

The Day of Abandonment. Marshel explained that it meant the day the portal connecting the central continent and the Dark Forest had been destroyed. The two continents had been cut off from each other ever since.

'I guess it's a good thing I didn't try going to the Dark Forest...'

Woojin sighed softly, realizing he might have wasted his time if he'd gone looking for Camilla.

“It's already been thirty years since the portal was destroyed, after all.”

'... Thirty years?'

But something didn't quite add up. Raoul had told him the final suicide squad had tackled the ninety-ninth floor twenty years ago. The Labyrinth Tower could only be climbed from the central continent. That meant a raid team had still been here twenty years ago...

'How did the raid team reach the central continent? Had they really been living here for decades, cut off from everyone else?'

It didn't make sense. Woojin cautiously asked them a question.

“Didn't the tower collapse twenty years ago? I heard the final suicide squad tackled the ninety-ninth floor then, leaving only the last floor as a floating castle.”

“Hm? What are you talking about? The tower collapsed fifty years ago. I still vividly remember watching it collapse with a bang the moment the final suicide squad tackled the ninety-ninth floor.”

“Oh, come on. You were seven back then...”

“Excuse me? Listen, you little punk. A seven-year-old can remember things perfectly well!”

Rex huffed, his nostrils flaring at Tarun's teasing. The two kept trading jokes, but Woojin heard none of it.

'The tower collapsed fifty years ago...?'

That meant a full thirty more years had passed since his previous visit to this other world.

THUMP. THUMP.

He tried to calm himself, but his heart raced wildly at the shocking revelation.

“Then... is there no way to contact the Dark Forest?”

“It's not completely impossible. There is a way, though for now it's close to impossible.”

Woojin frowned slightly, wondering if the man was playing word games.

“I hear the elven army is constructing a new magic circle where the portal used to be. Once it's finished, they say it'll reconnect the central continent and the Dark Forest...”

The corners of Rex's mouth turned down.

“But do you think those demon bastards will just sit back and watch? Apparently, all hell's breaking loose over there because of it.”

“... The elven army?”

“That's right. The forces led by the Queen of the Elves are the only ones still fighting the demons on this continent.”

At that moment, Woojin remembered what Ruen had said.

[“Hmm... I'm not sure. I looked more mature? And I was fighting monsters I'd never seen before. There was an elven army behind me, too...”]

Those unfamiliar monsters she'd seen might have been the demons now controlling the continent. And there was even an elven army fighting them.

'Could Ruen... really have seen this other world?'

He still couldn't be certain of anything, but the more Rex told him, the more an inexplicable unease welled up inside him.

'When I came to this world the second time, she was struggling just to gather the scattered elves...'

Now she'd raised an army to fight the demons. A great deal must have happened in those thirty years.

'... You did it.'

Woojin couldn't help feeling proud.

“If only that Lion King fellow would leave his island and help them... Tsk, tsk. But what can you do when the rift between humans and elves is still so deep?”

“They all dug their own graves. Anyway, stop talking and hurry up and bury the rest of the bodies!”

The aftermath of the War of Spirit Suppression apparently still lingered here.

'If elves and humans had joined forces... would things have turned out a little differently?'

Things weren't much different in the game, either. It wasn't just players using mercenaries as meat shields; even NPCs were deeply prejudiced against other races.

'I can understand why the Fairy Queen said she wanted harmony between humans and the other races.'

Even with the world on the brink of destruction, they still couldn't cooperate.

“Come on, it's not entirely like that. I hear there's an incredibly powerful mage in the elven army. Whew, this is exhausting. Boss, put your back into it.”

“Making your caravan leader work... You rotten bastard.”

They were digging another pit beside the buried corpses when Marshel chided him. Rex muttered sulkily in response.

“Tarun, get over here and dig!”

“... I'm keeping watch.”

“To hell with keeping watch... I'll drop dead first, you brat. If our friend here wanted us dead, he'd have killed us ages ago.”

“...”

Looking less than pleased, Tarun handed Rex his sword and picked up a shovel.

“Whew. Come to think of it, they did say there was a mage. What was the name again...?”

Rex promptly perched on the rubble and wiped away his sweat.

“An archmage named Irurin!”

At Marshel's shout, Woojin clenched his fist without realizing it.

'You're still alive...'

Even if thirty whole years had passed, that was enough. And an archmage, no less. Woojin felt strange, as though he'd just heard how much his daughter had grown.

“This should be about good enough, shouldn't it?”

The two finished digging the pit in no time. Tarun climbed out with an impassive expression and began moving the corpses piled in the wagon. Their sword stances might have been sloppy, but they seemed strong, shouldering the limp bodies with ease.

“Yes, let's finish up and get out of here. Nothing good will come of staying in a place like this too long.”

Rex took an old, dented bowl and a large bottle from the travel bag beside him.

“Ahh!”

He poured water from the bottle into the bowl, drank deeply, and called to the other two.

“Come have a drink when you're done!”

Then he poured another serving and offered it to Woojin.

“Would you like some too? It may not look like much, but I did a fair bit of legwork to get this water. The lake around here is so badly polluted that water's hard to come by.”

The bowl was old and dented, but the water inside was remarkably clean.

“Come now. It must be fate that brought us together like this.”

Rex pressed the bowl into Woojin's hand.

“...”

Just then, Woojin felt a poke against his chest and looked down.

Setsuna was gesturing at him from inside his pocket. He glanced at Rex, then discreetly turned away.

'...What?' he asked with his eyes.

'They said the portal was destroyed and they were cut off!' Setsuna mouthed silently up at him.

'Then how do they know so much about what's happening outside?'

At that moment, Woojin's gaze wavered.

“Go on, drink up,” Rex urged him again.

The clear water in the bowl. Ironically, it looked so ordinary that it felt out of place.

“Whew.”

Tarun pushed the last corpse out of the wagon and into the pit.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and drink, then give us the bowl so we can have some too.”

Their work finished, all three men turned their attention to Woojin in a peculiar way.

“I'm not particularly thirsty.”

SPLASH...

Woojin tipped the bowl.

“H-hey!”

“That precious water...! What the hell are you doing?!”

As Setsuna had pointed out, the Dark Forest and the central continent had been cut off from each other for a full thirty years. Under those circumstances, where could these men possibly have heard such news? They even knew details like the name of a mage in the faraway elven army. Who had told them?

There was only one kind of being that could travel between here and the outside world.

Demons.

HISSS...!

Astonishingly, the seemingly ordinary water gave off pure white smoke the moment it touched the ground.

SHUNK!

Without a moment's hesitation, Woojin drove his sword straight into the throat of Rex, who sat beside him.