Chapter 18 - Episode 3. Silver Restraint (2)
Chapter 18: Episode 3. Silver Restraint (2)
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The 《Great Realm》 were called the “promised land of opportunity.”
Any Adapter who had spent enough time in this land knew how deceptive that phrase was.
The Great Realm promised no opportunities at all. Yet there was one thing the 《Great Realm》 did promise.
Death.
“So this is a place you can only reach by dying.”
Only then did Jaehwan think he understood why, after destroying the Tower of Nightmares, he had not gone to the 《Great Realm》 but instead fallen into 《Chaos》, the Trunk.
Had he possessed a body, he might have been able to leave directly for the 《Great Realm》.
But he had exited the Tower while it was still the Tutorial Game, without entering the Main Game. He had been in soul form. The 《Tree of Illusion》 had likely mistaken him for one of the dead and sent him here.
《Chaos》, the place where every soul that died on the battlefields of the 《Great Realm》 gathered.
Jaehwan looked at the naked people, souls without bodies.
They had escaped the Root and walked upon the land, only to return to the Trunk in the end.
Their eyes were dead. Perhaps they had yet to realize they themselves were dead.
“You could call this the ‘last chance’ the damned 《Great Realm》 give people.”
Mino spoke as she looked toward the Summoning Ground.
“If you die here too, it really is over. Souls that die in the Trunk disappear and become nutrients for the Tree of Illusion. There are no more chances after that.”
Jaehwan recalled the Red Foxes scattering into dust. By now, they had likely become part of that enormous tree.
“So the people here still have a chance?”
“For now.”
“There must be a way to regain their bodies.”
“The odds are incredibly slim, but if they can somehow survive...”
Her words sounded cruel.
Even after dying, they had to survive. It was a truly terrible world.
Mino’s eyes had grown dull as she watched the people.
...Was that why she had said she envied amnesia?
Mino must have reached Chaos through death as well. A memory of death she wished to forget. Jaehwan asking why she had come to Chaos was no different from asking why she had died.
As the light of the circular magic formation gradually faded, a large group of guards approached from the Dogae Bridge leading to the fortress.
“Another damn big haul of dead people. Come on, get to work!”
At the shout of a bearded man in a neat uniform, the soldiers dispersed in orderly fashion and helped the dead to their feet.
“Hey, snap out of it! You died because you were such pathetic weaklings!”
The vacant dead were led one by one by the guards toward the checkpoint beyond the Dogae Bridge. Managing the dead who arrived at the Summoning Ground appeared to be part of the guards’ job.
“Come on, put these on and line up over there.”
Under the guards’ direction, dozens of people formed ranks before the checkpoint. The bearded man stood atop a small platform in front of them.
He looked across the crowd and began to speak.
“By now, you must know where you are. Some of you may still be thinking, ‘No way.’ Unfortunately, it is exactly what you fear. You are really dead.”
It was a statement that killed those who had already died once.
“Many of you likely died in your first battle after entering the 《Great Realm》. Your guts burst open, your heads crushed beneath someone’s boot. You must have died miserable deaths, like insects.”
The people’s expressions changed at his words.
Probably because they were true.
“Is there anyone here who knows why they died?”
No one answered.
The bearded man fell silent as well. Instead, he took a cigarette from his pocket and quietly lit it. Acrid smoke unraveled through the air like a thread.
It gave everyone time to find their own reason.
Time to reach the same answer.
Women wrapped in rags trembled in the cold. Before long, the cigarette burned out. The bearded man flicked the butt to the ground and brutally crushed it beneath his boot.
One of the dead who had watched him spoke in a trembling voice.
“...Was it because I was weak?”
It was a voice that seemed to collapse beneath the weight of speaking those words aloud.
The bearded man spoke with a mocking smile.
“That is right. But to be more exact.”
His gaze rested on every person in the crowd.
“It was because you did not work hard enough.”
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
Every pair of eyes was filled with resentment.
It was understandable. Who among them had not worked hard? This was a world where those who did not strive could not even clear the Tower of Nightmares. Some even held their heads high as they glared at the bearded man.
“Those are the eyes of people in denial. But put your hands over your hearts and think. Have any of you ever truly worked yourselves to death? Truly, to death?”
Could those words ever cut so deeply?
“Now that you have experienced death, you know. You have died with your guts spilling out before your enemies’ blades, with your severed heads trampled underfoot, suffering humiliating abuse. You must understand what I mean when I say, ‘to death.’”
Groans and sobs rose from the crowd.
Vivid memories of death.
Confronting their own memories, the dead lowered their heads and clutched their shoulders. No one could look the bearded man in the face.
They could not refute him.
Only after dying did they finally realize it.
They had never once, in their entire lives, worked themselves to death.
“You are fortunate. You have been given one more chance to strive here. Well, you are only souls for now.”
Chance.
At that word, several people raised their heads.
“There is only one thing you need to know here. If you die again, you will really die. So there is only one thing you must do here. Survive, somehow. Then survive again.”
To survive.
“Live, and strive again and again. Sharpen your blades. Build your strength. Wait and wait until your chance comes.”
Grow stronger and wait.
“One day, a miracle will come. I guarantee it. Those who strive will surely leave the Tree of Illusion. So strive. To take revenge on the enemies who killed you. To tear them apart, humiliate them, and crush them beneath your feet. That is all I have to say.”
That was the end of the speech.
The naked people looked up with blank eyes. The guards who had watched in silence gave soulless applause, then began leading the dead toward the large checkpoint one by one.
“Men to that side, women to this side. Follow along.”
The guards approached the bearded man as he stepped down from the platform.
“That was an excellent speech.”
“As expected of the assistant.”
The bearded man, called the assistant, accepted a drink of water from the guards and muttered, “Excellent, my ass.”
He looked tired of it.
Since being assigned to the northern checkpoint, he had repeated that same speech more than a hundred times.
Survive somehow.
You did not strive hard enough.
Grow strong and seek revenge.
They were all good words.
Good words, but...
The bearded man knew.
Good words here were nothing but lies.
None of them would ever leave for the 《Great Realm》 again.
Most would die during their first hunt, just as they had in the 《Great Realm》. The lucky ones who survived would remain here as residents and spend the rest of their lives barely hanging on.
Just like him.
Then someone spoke.
“James, you really know how to run your mouth. I thought that tongue was only good for picking up women.”
The bearded man, James, narrowed his eyes.
A man and woman stood near the front of the checkpoint. The woman, in particular, drew his attention. She wore a black robe that covered her entire body, and her hair was crimson.
He could not possibly have forgotten a beauty like that...
“Have you forgotten me already, ‘ordinary’ James?”
Something flashed through James’s mind.
Then the woman’s appearance changed in an instant.
Long black hair. Eyes that sparkled like starlight. White cheeks that seemed to have stolen their color from the early dawn.
Delight spread across James’s face.
“...Well, look who it is. Mino of 「Black Forest Hall」.”
Mino’s face hardened, and she immediately changed her appearance again.
“Do not say it so loudly unless you want to die.”
Jaehwan looked back and forth between Mino and the guard called James. They seemed to know each other.
“I heard you were promoted to the checkpoint chief’s assistant.”
“That is why I get to give speeches like this.”
As if he had never been solemn, James’s face was filled with mischief. His gaze swept quickly over Mino’s body, as though he were about to begin an inspection.
Mino’s expression stiffened.
“Yeah, very impressive. I have waited long enough listening to your ‘noble speech,’ so could you let us in already?”
“What brings you to the northern checkpoint? Do you not usually use a different one?”
“I happened to take this route.”
James chuckled. Mino pressed her fingers to her temple, as though she did not want to explain herself any further.
“I do not need to prove anything, do I? It is not like you do not know my face.”
Proof.
Jaehwan stared at Mino’s profile at the strange weight of that word. Feeling his gaze, Mino sighed and spoke with her lips.
[You have forgotten how to prove your identity too, right? Or have you never done it before?]
Jaehwan nodded. Mino’s Push reached him again.
[Everyone entering the fortress must undergo an identity verification procedure. Usually, people call up their information windows through the 《System》 to verify who they are... You can do at least that much, right?]
Of course he could not. He had never done it before.
No, there was a bigger problem than that.
Jaehwan currently could not use the 《System》 at all.
From the moment he reached the state of 「Selflessness」 after escaping the 《Tower of Nightmares》, Jaehwan had been unable to use any part of the 《System》, including his inventory and status window.
Assistant James spoke at that moment.
“Mino.”
“Yeah?”
“I am sorry, but the situation has changed.”
“...What situation?”
“The regulations changed recently. Anyone entering the fortress must present identification papers.”
“Identification papers?”
Identification papers?
Mino’s gaze drifted into empty air for a moment.
“You do not mean those outdated papers we used long ago?”
“Those ones.”
“Why? We stopped needing them after the System errors in 《Chaos》 were fixed.”
“I heard from the inner fortress that System malfunctions have become frequent again.”
Mino recalled how her 「Precision Scan」 skill had failed. She had thought it was just a skill malfunction, but perhaps that had been related too.
“Anyway, many people have been unable to display their information windows properly because of System anomalies. So every fortress in 《Chaos》 will use identification papers for identity verification until further notice.”
“Of all times...”
This had become troublesome.
Mino grumbled inwardly, then looked toward Jaehwan.
[Come to think of it, your identification papers...]
Jaehwan looked calmly at Mino.
[...Of course you do not have any.]
“...”
[Trust me. I will show you what to do in situations like this.]
Mino let out a small sigh and spoke.
“James.”
“Hm?”
“I am sorry, but I left my identification papers behind. Could we let it slide with this instead? It is not like we met yesterday. Making such a fuss over one sheet of paper is too much.”
Mino grinned and placed something in James’s hand.
It was a pouch filled with white powder.
James’s eyes changed.
“Good stuff. Which beast’s horn is this?”
“A Two-Horned Beast.”
“Looks like business has been treating you well lately, Mino.”
James smiled as he opened the pouch. He dipped his little finger into the powder, touched it to his tongue, and looked satisfied. Slipping the pouch into his clothes, he glanced toward Jaehwan.
“Is this guy your Ally?”
“Yeah.”
“What is he to you?”
“It is not like that, he is just...”
“Hm?”
James’s eyes changed again at Mino’s evasive answer. Mino quickly gestured at Jaehwan, urging him to pass through before things became complicated.
But as Jaehwan tried to walk past James, James grabbed his shoulder.
“You seem suspicious. You will have to show your identification papers.”
Mino frowned and snapped, “Wait, I already took care of his share too.”
“That is not enough.”
“What? It is not a One-Horned Beast horn, it is a Two-Horned Beast horn...”
The smile vanished from Mino’s face the moment she saw James’s hardened expression.
He was serious.
...Why?
She did not know. Perhaps he simply disliked the look of Jaehwan. Perhaps Mino had made some mistake. Or perhaps their luck was simply bad.
One thing was certain. If she did not give in now, there might never be another chance.
Mino quickly smoothed her expression, grabbed James, and spoke.
“James, what is wrong with you? It is not like this is our first deal. He is my Companion, so...”
A calm voice cut through Mino’s efforts.
“I do not have identification papers.”
James’s eyebrows rose at the composed tone.
“Then you cannot enter.”
“Is it impossible without them?”
The other guards had begun gathering around them, wearing expressions that said they had found something interesting. Mino backed away in alarm as the situation rapidly grew worse.
“Of course it is impossible. We cannot verify who you are.”
“Why do I need another object to prove that I am myself?”
“Well, would you look at this guy?”
The guards loosened their shoulders threateningly, gripping their weapons as though they had finally found a chance to use them.
As the situation took an odd turn, Mino quickly used Push on Jaehwan.
[Being stubborn is not going to solve this. They are the fortress guards. You understand what that means, right?]
No matter how strong Jaehwan was, he could not cause trouble with the guards. That would mean making an enemy of an entire fortress.
[...If you keep being so uncooperative, I will not be able to help you either.]
Mino spoke as though trying to frighten him.
No matter how strong a single Adapter was, 《Chaos》 was not a place where one could survive on personal Combat Power alone.
She might be weaker than Jaehwan in battle, but she had lived in 《Chaos》 far longer than he had.
[The guards are different from mercenary groups like the Red Fox Clan. I will find a way to deal with this, so step back...]
Fortunately, the problem was not serious yet. It was not as though they had broken some major rule. If all that stood in their way was a scrap of identification paper, Mino might still be able to settle things.
That was when Jaehwan’s bearing changed.
His left foot shifted slightly backward. The height of his shoulders subtly changed.
Only Mino, with her sensitive nerves, could notice it.
If he put his hand on the hilt now...
...No way?
Mino quickly used Push.
[Wait! You are not, right?]
Her voice was urgent.
[No! That is not what you are thinking! I know you are strong! But if you kill those guards, you will become wanted!]
Yet Jaehwan’s expression did not change in the slightest.
Mino bit her lip.
[No matter how strong you are, you cannot stand against this entire fortress! Do you know what that means?]
Jaehwan’s bearing did not change.
The foolish guards still had no idea, but Jaehwan’s presence was so overwhelming from that tiny movement alone that Mino could almost see a vision.
A vision of him slaughtering everyone here, then walking on in silence.
Yesterday’s nightmare returned to her.
That terrifying Stab that had burned an entire forest.
Mino realized she had made a tremendous miscalculation.
This man was not only strong. He was someone unbound by the laws of this world.
No one had told her so, yet she could feel it in every part of her body.
He would draw his sword in the end.
He would cut down every guard here, and if necessary, stand against the entire fortress.
Whether he could actually do it was not particularly important to him.
He was someone who had lived that way his entire life, and would keep living that way.
Mino’s face turned pale.
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