Chapter 701: Different from intended (3)

"I didn't expect this."

Rosalyn had planned on meeting Choi Han to take care of the issue at Harris Village before starting with the nearest areas and going to find Cale, On, Hong, Raon, and Lock.

She didn't know what this test was aiming for, but she wanted to help out her friends who had been with her while she completed her goals until now.

'Young master Cale is not here?'

The orb was blue when they had entered. The test should be about 'sadness.'

"…Young master Cale was the center of all of our connections."

But if that Cale was not there?

"Is that sadness?"

Clopeh started to speak at that moment.

"It is nothing like sadness."

Choi Han and Rosalyn looked toward him.

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

Clopeh's white hair became messy because of the wind.

His green eyes flashed.

"This is despair."

Clopeh Sekka started to organize the thoughts and information he knew.

"I heard that young master Cale-nim faced despair in the sealed god's test?"

Clopeh's mind was working very well.

"This test that the first dispatched team is experiencing is different from the information his highness has learned. That is why we cannot say that the contents are the same sadness as we heard."

Choi Han and Cale had said that the information Alberu had brought was reliable, but, honestly speaking, the path that his great hero had trekked upon was more trustworthy.

Clopeh's green eyes were glowing oddly.

"…A world without young master Cale-nim. A world without a hero is only despair."

'…Crazy bastard.'

Cale slowly scowled as he watched.

'Man, he did seem smart from time to time.'

Cale pitied Clopeh a bit, wondering how he had ended up like this.

Choi Han nodded his head as if things finally made sense.

"It is the same."

"Choi Han, you experienced young master Cale's test with him, right?"

"Yeah. The environment was different, but the situation was similar. It was going back to the past and overcoming the despair within it."

Choi Han was organizing his thoughts while quietly sighing at the epiphany he had while looking at Clopeh. His eyes seemed extremely sharp.

"By the way, why did you come to Harris Village right away?"

Clopeh brushed aside the sharp gaze as if it was nothing.

"I cannot accept a world without my hero. I came to see if the young master-nim was here since I need to hurry up and take down this test."

Honestly speaking, he had come here to see if Choi Han was also not here since Cale was not here. Clopeh did not say that part out loud.

Choi Han looked at Rosalyn and Clopeh before speaking again.

"The White Star might show up here."

Rosalyn's eyes opened wide.

"The White Star? Was it like that originally?"

"Hoo hoo. A stupid villain is running wild as expected since the hero is not here."

Rosalyn looked at Clopeh with a cold gaze.

"Sir Clopeh, isn't this the time you were getting the Indomitable Alliance ready?"

The Indomitable Alliance of Northern Kingdoms. The war that Bears and Dwarves were involved in as well. The first place the Indomitable Alliance attacked was the Roan Kingdom's Henituse territory.

Clopeh's eyes moved from the others toward the sky.

"…I'm not sure. Timeline wise that is correct, but…"

The fact that he was leading this wyvern around meant that the Indomitable Alliance had been created. Rosalyn quietly observed Clopeh with a suspicious gaze.

"I can't tell whether you didn't check properly or if you ignored it on purpose."

"…Finding my hero was my first priority."

Clopeh spoke confidently.

Rosalyn wanted to tell him to stop with the hero stuff but held herself back while Choi Han wasn't even looking at Clopeh.

However, Clopeh calmly mumbled.

"I do have the thoughts of flipping everything over."

Flinch.

Rosalyn subconsciously flinched and looked at Clopeh.

"You're going to nullify the Indomitable Alliance?"

Clopeh put on an odd smile instead of responding. The smile made it seem as if he was going to cause a big incident.

'This might lead to a whole different kind of chaos.'

Rosalyn thought about the people who were here and got a headache for a different reason. Although he wasn't as bad as Clopeh, Commander Toonka was in this world as well.

Toonka was someone who might do something completely unexpected, even more so than Clopeh.

'There's nobody to control him if young master Cale isn't here!'

Rosalyn's expression became serious. Clopeh didn't notice and asked Choi Han.

"Why is the White Star coming here?"

"That bastard will attack Harris Village in three days. The reason is to get an ancient power."

"Ancient power?"

"Yes."

Choi Han gave a short explanation of the necessary details.

The White Star is suspected of coming to Harris Village to get an ancient power.

Of course, he did not explain what that ancient power is or anything about Cale's biological mother, the single-lifers, and other things like that.

Part of it was because he didn't dare to reveal such information without Cale here, but it was also because he could not trust Clopeh.

"Hooooo. He had a goal."

Rosalyn nodded her head as if it made sense now while Clopeh looked around.

"Then the White Star's side might be observing this area right now?"

"They're not."

Choi Han had looked around the nearby forest area on his way to the village.

"Not right now."

"But they might soon."

Clopeh motioned to the wyvern.

Piiiiiiiiii-

He blew on his flute and the wyvern shot up into the sky.

"I will give the wyvern an order. It will look for any reconnaissance teams."

Rosalyn thought to herself as she observed Clopeh quickly taking action.

'He's surprisingly helpful.'

Clopeh was acting more normally and rationally than she had expected, efficiently finding things he needed to do and doing them.

"Hoo hoo. The path of the hero's legend..."

Of course, she ignored what he had to say. Rosalyn counted her fingers as she spoke.

"We have some leeway if it is in three days, but we still need to move quickly."

They needed to protect the Harris Village villagers, take care of Arm, and face the White Star.

They had no time to rest.

'This me is weaker than the current me.'

Rosalyn from two years ago was lacking in many ways.

Choi Han started to speak at that moment.

"Mm. There is somewhere I need to teleport to first."

"Hmm? You need to go somewhere?"

"Yes."

Three days of time. The fact that he needed to fight alone. Choi Han had pushed something back for those reasons as well as the fact that he could not use magic.

However, it would be a different story with Rosalyn here.

"We need to go get On, Hong, and Raon."

"Ah."

Rosalyn gasped as if she didn't need any more explanations.

On and Hong would be in the slums worrying about their next meal.

Raon would be being tortured, loathing humans and living a difficult life.

He didn't know about the others, but he needed to get the children.

Rosalyn immediately reorganized her plan.

"Let's go get the children tonight. Then we can prepare for the battle against the White Star."

Going to get them at night would make it easier to avoid being seen.

"We will go to Raon-nim first and then go to get On and Hong. What do you think?"

They could go find On and Hong on their way back from getting Raon. It might take them a while to find On and Hong as they didn't know exactly where in the Henituse territory they would be in, but they could thoroughly search the Henituse territory to find them if they could not be located tonight.

Choi Han smiled brightly.

"Sounds good."

However, Clopeh tilted his head in confusion.

"Is there a need to go at night?"

"Excuse me?"

Clopeh looked at Rosalyn and Choi Han before touching his sword and commenting.

"Aren't we strong enough to go break things down? Is there a need to wrack our brains for the fight?"

"…We need to hide our identity-"

"Can't the future Magic Tower Master even use dye magic?"

"...."

Rosalyn became at a loss for words and nodded her head.

"I guess we can go right now."

"We sure can."

Rosalyn looked at the responding Clopeh with an odd gaze.

'He's quite aggressive.'

Clopeh was quite aggressive in rescuing Raon, On, and Hong.

It was odd since this world was an illusion and he wasn't that close to Raon, On, and Hong.

'It makes sense that Choi Han and I don't want to see Raon, On, and Hong like that even in an illusion, but…'

Rationally speaking, leaving the children like that was despair or sadness, so they needed to be saved in order to clear the test.

Rosalyn looked at Clopeh with a shocked gaze while Clopeh had a concerned smile.

"I'm sure that young master Cale-nim would have tried to go right away."

"Ah."

Rosalyn decided not to think very hard about this guy. Choi Han was already ignoring about 80% of what Clopeh was saying.

"Then let's just change our hair and eye colors and go."

Choi Han pointed toward the village as Rosalyn finished speaking.

"I'll be back after letting them know."

Choi Han walked over toward the people at the entrance who were looking at them.

"Choi Han, do you know them?"

They had been wary of Choi Han at first, but these people had accepted him as their own and let him feel warm affection once again. The people of Harris Village were extremely pure and warm people.

It was hard to imagine that they lived next to a dangerous place like the Forest of Darkness.

"Yes, sir. One of them is my friend while the other is… just someone I know."

"Really?"

The village people were thinking it was a bit odd that Choi Han, someone they thought was alone, suddenly had two people he knew and that they came to the village.

However, they remembered the medicinal herbs that had been in Choi Han's hands when he returned from the forest not too long ago. This young man was going into the dangerous forest to find medicinal herbs for them. Choi Han was doing that for their benefit.

"Then tell them to come inside. We need to report to the Chief and they should say hello."

"Mm. Can we come back in an hour?"

"Why?"

"We need to go somewhere for about an hour."

Another villager who watched Choi Han smiling innocently at them walked over to him and quietly asked.

"Umm, everything is okay, right?"

He was looking at Rosalyn and Clopeh suspiciously while inspecting Choi Han's expression.

"Yes, sir. Please don't worry."

Choi Han debated for a moment before adding on.

"I'm going to go get my siblings."

"Siblings? Blood-related?"

"They are not blood-related but I consider them as if they are my blood-related siblings."

"Haaa."

Cale let out a deep sigh while watching Choi Han. It was because Choi Han's face was so full of conviction.

Choi Han discussed a few things with the villagers before heading back to Clopeh and Rosalyn.

"We can head over now."

"Okay."

Rosalyn moved farther away from the village to a spot where they could not be seen. She confirmed that nobody was near them before extending her hands out.

Ooooooong-

The mana in the air vibrated and a magic circle started to appear underneath their feet.

"Choi Han, do you remember the location of that mountain?"

"One second."

Clopeh took a paper out of his pocket.

"Here is a map."

"…It's a map of the Roan Kingdom?"

"We needed to have at least this much prepared for the Indomitable Alliance to invade."

"Wow."

Rosalyn shook her head while confirming the location of the mountain Choi Han pointed at on Clopeh's map.

"Then we will head there right away."

Ooooooooong-

The teleportation magic circle shined even brighter as the rumbling continued.

"Hmm?"

Rosalyn suddenly flinched.

"What is it?"

"…It's nothing."

She soon fixed her expression and activated the magic circle.

The teleportation for the three of them started and she watched the scenery change around her as she recalled the reason she had flinched just now.

'This is weird.'

Mana had become twisted on one part of the magic circle the moment she activated it.

However, that twist in mana had soon disappeared, making Rosalyn ignore it for now.

Paaaat-.

There was a strand of light and Choi Han, Rosalyn, and Clopeh disappeared.

"Mm."

Cale had an odd smile on his face after being left alone.

"This is weird."

Cale had stood on top of Rosalyn's teleportation magic circle a moment ago. It was to check something.

'Will magic work?'

Cale was currently like a ghost. That was why material objects and human bodies could not be touched.

'But magic is a bit different?'

Cale had felt mana brushing past him while standing on the teleportation magic circle. Rosalyn must have created the teleportation magic circle for only the three of them as the spell didn't include Cale, but there was definitely some kind of twist in mana.

That was why Cale had quickly gotten out of the teleportation magic circle, worried that the spell would fail. He then watched the three of them leave.

'There may be a way.'

He felt as if he just learned the smallest of clues that would allow him to communicate with the others.

"But it is disappointing."

He was disappointed that he could not see them rescue Raon, On, and Hong, but he was not worried. Choi Han and Rosalyn would take care of it without any problems.

"Mm."

Cale had an odd smile on his face as he started walking. He was headed toward the Forest of Darkness.

"I should try something too."

Now that he got this clue… Cale was headed into the Forest of Darkness. To be more specific, he was headed toward the Super Rock Villa.

* * *

Paaaat-!

In the middle of the day… On a mountain that was giving off the vibe of spring in March…

A strand of light and three people appeared in the middle of this mountain.

Rosalyn, Choi Han, and Clopeh.

They appeared in the mountain with Viscount Tolz's villa.

It was the place with the cave where Cale had rescued Raon.

Choi Han opened his eyes now that they arrived at the place where they once had rescued Raon in the middle of the night.

It was the first place he had ever rescued something. Choi Han's pupils were shaking as he looked.

"…Huh?"

"…Hmm?"

"…Oh."

Choi Han, Rosalyn, and Clopeh all showed different reactions. However, they all looked anxious.

Clack, clack.

Rosalyn subconsciously started speaking while seeing something white moving.

"…Bones?"

This place was a mess.

It was a mess with people and skeleton monsters.

At the center of that chaos… Someone whose body was completely covered in a black robe turned toward them.

"Huh?"

Mary's voice sounded anxious, unlike her usual self.

***

S, s, seven hundred!

My goodness, this is your author Yu Ryeo Han, who is writing an author’s note for chapter 700.

I’m sure you are tired of hearing this, but I never imagined in my wildest dreams to write this long.

As you probably also know, I am planning on eating meat today to celebrate. I plan on eating a lot of other things as well.

I am excited! Hahahaha!

I know I say this every time, but I can’t help but say it over and over.

Thank you for being with me until here.

I am able to continue writing without getting tired or feeling lonely thanks to all of you.

Please continue to take good care of me.

The current story is Part 1.

And part 1, mm… Will probably end within this calendar year? ;O; That is my intention, and I have always had a plan, but… Well, that’s the plan for now.

I am currently working on a paperback and a single volume version of the book, but it will probably be a while since I tend to work pretty slowly.

It was spring when I wrote the author’s note for three years of writing but it is already summer now.

I hope you have cool and relaxing days.

Thank you very much.

– Sincerely, Yu Ryeo Han

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]