Khan glanced at the middle-aged man groaning on the ground and frowned. Although the bulky man rolling next to him was a face he did not recognize, the middle-aged man was unmistakable. No matter how he looked at it, the face was identical to the revolutionary army’s leader seen through the monitor.
‘But why is he here like this?’
The Georges Principality was stuck between the Argon Kingdom and the Empire. Its most notable features were its excessively large land area compared to its population and capabilities, and its unstable succession structure.
In the end, the Principality replaced the suddenly deceased king with the arrogant yet somewhat legitimate First Prince. However, the First Prince, who held the throne unsuitable for him, ruled with ruthless tyranny, whipping the populace. The citizens of the Principality, who had already suffered under the previous king, were furious and eventually sparked a revolution.
A vast landmass, uncontrollable by the Principality’s power, was the backdrop for this. The fact that both the Argon Kingdom and the Empire did not absorb the lands freed from the Principality’s control showed that the land was utterly worthless.
‘The revolutionary army utilized the vast territory for guerrilla warfare. Many of the early quests involved assisting in guerrilla warfare.’
At this point, anyone could infer the storyline of the second act. The second act was about ending the civil war in the Georges Principality as early as possible. The hidden condition was the more the sacrifices were minimized, the greater the rewards.
Khan had long concluded that, no matter how the civil war unfolded, it would not affect the major flow of events. In other words, it was an episode that typically highlighted the protagonist’s virtuous and heroic aspects in a fantasy work.
“Are you ignoring me right now?”
At that moment, a stream of aura surged toward Khan’s face.
Clang!
But Aries, holding a black shield, lightly deflected the aura.
“Heh. You blocked it? You have some tricks up your sleeve?”
Seeing the small girl deflect his aura like a gentle breeze, the knight smirked. However, he couldn’t hide the wariness in his eyes.
‘Who are they?’
A girl who seemed barely twenty had deflected his aura with one hand. While the shield she held was certainly a rare item, it was impossible for an ordinary girl to deflect a knight’s aura with just that.
Suspicion replaced the sticky desire. He realized belatedly that the group was not ordinary.
There was a pretty girl holding a shield, an exceptionally beautiful woman with violet hair, a spear-wielding woman who looked like a mercenary, a young man who exuded elegance, and a seemingly insignificant bald man. Lastly…
‘Gray skin… A barbarian?’
The composition was incomprehensible. Having a barbarian known for their fierceness among them already pointed to an extraordinary group.
The knight made his decision.
‘Run away!’
The meat shields were converging towards him. If he could stall for time and use them as bait, he could escape…
“My liege, I will catch him.”
“Do as you will. I need to check those lying over there.”
“Understood.”
Overhearing the conversation between the spear-wielding woman and the barbarian, the knight’s face twisted in anger. No matter how outnumbered he was, this was excessively humiliating. He resolved that even if he had to run—
‘I will at least scar that pretty face…’
“What a fool.”
The knight was startled by a voice that seemed to whisper right into his ear. He tried to activate his aura and move but was too late. The opponent’s speed was too fast. He missed it in the brief moment of negligence.
‘Dammit…!’
It was too close for a halberd, a heavy weapon. But that was fine. A knight’s body was itself a weapon, and with added aura, even a punch could pierce through rock!
With aura gathered in his fist, he punched as fast as an arrow shot from a bow. Considering the opponent was a spearman, the knight had taken the advantageous position.
‘I will smash that pretty face!’
As expected, the spearman clumsily covered her face with her left arm. The knight was confident. His fist would soon destroy both her arm and face entirely.
Clang.
But reality was ruthlessly cold.
“A shield?”
‘An artifact…!’
A blue barrier suddenly appeared from the spearman’s left hand and blocked his punch. The spearman merely took a few steps back to recover. No, it positioned her in an optimal range to thrust her spear.
Danger. He spread his aura over his armor by instinct.
And that was his final mistake.
The ‘Yorun’s Spear’ struck the knight’s aura with a resounding impact. The power that Maya Eldrett had steadily stored from her training duels with Leo over the past few days unleashed in an explosive torrent. The shock penetrated the knight’s helmet and rattled his head. For anyone else, such an impact would have burst their head.
Thud.
The knight’s body collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
“Huff, huff.”
Maya Eldrett breathed heavily.
The exhaustion from the swift acceleration provided by Eleh’s Wind Boots seeped into her body, and the metallic taste of blood lingered in her mouth.
Heh.
Despite the pain, she found it oddly delightful and smiled.
‘I won…!’
A mere mercenary, who could only boast among common thugs, had defeated a knight. Though the superior equipment certainly played a part, Maya’s skill in using it effectively had undeniably grown.
Following Khan and experiencing life-and-death situations repeatedly…
‘I can become stronger.’
Maya believed this truth without a doubt.
***
While Maya reveled in her growth,
“Hold on, I’ll treat you first.”
Leo assessed Welt, the middle-aged man with graying hair, who had sustained deep sword wounds, and began to manifest his holy power. The injuries were severe enough that Welt would surely bleed out without intervention. Fortunately, they had two paladins on their side. Though not as specialized in healing as a priest, they were more than adequate for emergency medical care.
‘While Aries could completely heal him…’
“…?”
Sensing Khan’s sudden gaze, Aries, who had been staring blankly into the distance, turned her head to meet his eyes.
“It’s nothing. Just keep dazing off.”
“… I wasn’t dazing off.”
Sure, if you say so.
Khan casually brushed off Aries’ excuse, and the group decided to wait until Welt regained consciousness.
‘Completely healing him can wait until we clear up all our questions.’
“There were a lot of them gathering around, so I chased them away,” Ludmilla, who had been fidgeting with her fingers since discovering Welt, approached them.
‘Having a mage with us is quite handy in many ways.’
Ludmilla had joined their group purely out of a thirst for knowledge after leaving her family and secluding herself in the Reversed Cross Forest. Having previously hunted an ogre together, she had proven her compatibility with the team. Because she used spells that deviated from the norm, her versatility allowed her to handle most situations. There was no reason for Khan to refuse her voluntary inclusion, so he readily accepted.
“So, is this the person you were looking for?”
“Yes. I believe he is the key to taking us to the ruins of the mage.”
“Hmm. Is that so?”
Despite Khan’s baseless and uncertain answer, Ludmilla didn’t question him further. Instead, she pointed at the bulky figure sprawled out next to Welt with her fingertip.
“And him?”
Grrrrk─.
Conveniently, the bulky man regained consciousness and lifted his head. He immediately began looking around as if searching for something, uninterested in the unfamiliar faces surrounding him.
“Old man!”
Upon spotting Welt, the man stumbled his way over. Even though his body was not yet fully recovered, he managed to pick himself up quickly and hugged Welt tightly, who was still receiving Leo’s healing.
“Old man! Wake up! Old man Welt!”
“I have stopped the bleeding with healing magic, but he is not entirely out of danger yet.”
Gulp.
Leo’s calming voice seemed to help the startled giant regain his composure, prompting him to finally direct his gaze toward Leo and the rest of the group. His look resembled that of a wounded mother animal protecting her young.
‘Who is this guy?’
It was clear they weren’t ordinary acquaintances. In the main quest, ‘Revolutionary Army Leader Welt’ never had such a character by his side. Not even once across numerous iterations.
‘Could he be a connection forged only in this iteration?’
The head of the revolutionary army, which was divided against the regular army and the principality, being caught by the regular army while fleeing without a proper escort already meant the quest had deviated significantly.
‘After all, this is a world where the player who was supposed to intervene never appeared….’
Seeing someone unfamiliar by his side wasn’t something to be overly surprised about.
But something felt off.
And that uneasiness was coming from the giant himself.
‘Did I miss something? Perhaps a character I don’t remember because I skipped parts of the story?’
There’s no way I would have missed someone truly important. Moreover, the sense of unease wasn’t that overwhelming.
‘No matter what, it won’t hurt to remember him.’
With that thought, Khan sorted out his thoughts and gestured towards Welt with a nod.
“I’d like to have a brief conversation. With the gentleman lying over there.”
“Who are you……?”
“Hey. Be aware of your situation first.”
Cutting off the growling giant’s words, Ludmilla’s soft but sharp reprimand followed.
“No matter who we are, the fact that we saved you and him doesn’t change. More importantly, who do you think holds the power over your life and death right now?”
“……Who are you?”
“Well, I suppose that’s just enough to pass.”
With a few words, Ludmilla tamed the wounded beast, her eyes winking as if to say, “Handle the rest yourself.”
Khan, feeling grateful for skipping the troublesome process, crouched down to meet the giant’s eye level.
‘When dealing with a sulking person, it’s best to talk while smiling and making eye contact.’
Recalling his sister’s advice from when she tried to reconcile him with his sulking nephew, whom he had mercilessly defeated in a game before the nephew had even hit puberty.
“Let’s start our conversation step by step, starting with who you are.”
But Khan didn’t remember something important.
“Threats don’t work on me!”
Even back then, when he had a kind appearance, he had scared his nephew to tears instead of reconciling with him.
“I, I am Mad Dog Eson! Kill me if you must! But I will never betray my comrades!”
This guy…. When did I ever threaten him?