Chapter 120

Chapter 120

Where Is the King?

Delgrad, a city belonging to the small kingdom of Altarix in the southern part of the continent.

After arriving at this destination and getting out of the carriages one after another, the students followed guidance and moved in a line.

Standing alone in a desert no different from wasteland, this city was sometimes called the City of Mirage by bards in a rather romantic tone.

The streets where various races mingled were breathing heavily. Smoke of unknown origin that stung the nose, and the desert’s scorching heat.

Although there was no need for him to avoid them, Shady was running freely here and there, dodging the legs of people passing through the street.

He became quite uncomfortable whenever he entered a cramped space like a carriage.

Was a spirit ultimately still a spirit?

Perhaps Shady was now learning about the world of humans for the first time.

Even if he was a spirit who had once had a master, that master would have been a demon.

Over there, on top of a rattling carriage, the corpse... no, the remains of an otherworld species were loaded and passing through the street.

Eisel, walking beside me, looked that way, and her steps came to a sudden stop.

I stopped along with her and tilted my head.

Soon, Ishmir, who had been following behind us, reacted to Eisel’s gaze.

“If an otherworld species is large, it sells for a high price. The light and hard metals of another world are popular, you see. Besides that, they are one of the main research materials for magical engineering... and if it is a form no one has seen before, its value goes even higher. Even if not, if you just talk well to magical engineers about how strangely they moved, they get fascinated and come running. Well, in many ways, they are admirable creatures.”

As if she had earned a great deal of money from otherworld species, Ishmir made a circle with her index finger and thumb, the sign for money, and smiled faintly.

Since the woman once called Ishmir of Greed had settled here, just as she said, the value of otherworld species was considerable.

A city where machinery and fantasy coexist.

That was the sentence that best described Delgrad.

That did not mean it possessed a level of technology like the modern age, absolutely not. But because this was a world with magic, it had somehow blended together.

“In some ways, should I say there are inventions with technology superior to the modern age?”

In the game, items collectively called the “Otherworld Series” could be obtained here.

Either by buying them, or receiving them as quest rewards.

I remembered that there were quite a few efficient and unique items, but I did not especially need them now. They were not the kind of high-performance things one might call “final equipment” in an RPG game.

Judging by the fact that Eisel showed no particular reaction despite Ishmir’s kind explanation, it seemed her interest had not been in how the otherworld species were processed.

She was merely staring at it.

Soon, she took her eyes off the otherworld species and looked at me.

I moved my feet.

Eisel was still impossible to grasp.

I was deliberately trying not to read her thoughts, not to judge them.

Whatever truth might lurk within, I felt it would not help with saving her.

Meanwhile, Sierra had been comparing the Ishmir in her memories with the one before her ever since meeting her.

[ Her love of money is still the same... ]

I had known Ishmir had a connection with Sierra, but even I did not know the details of what had happened between the two.

In the game, Ishmir only mentioned Purple Moon as an old friend.

“I should ask once when I have time this time.”

It was hard to predict what emotions a reunion after death would bring, so it would be best to ask carefully.

I had already thought about going to meet Sierra’s acquaintance, but since it seemed we would meet her here, I had not gone out of my way to make time and seek her acquaintance out.

“Even if I went to meet her first, I would not know what to say.”

As I walked while thinking these idle thoughts, we arrived at the true destination before I knew it.

The students ahead each let out exclamations of admiration. Soon, we had entered the Windless family estate.

At the students’ exclamations, Lucia’s cheeks reddened for no reason, and she smiled brightly.

At the entrance to the estate, a bluish statue, the symbol of the Windless family, was showing off its majesty.

They said it was the first family head, but since he was such an ancient person, even I did not know who he was.

Soon, the dozens of students who entered the mansion met Sicily Windless, who would be a great help during this field trip.

Beside Sicily, her husband, Isaac Windless, a magical engineer also called the foremost authority on magical engineering, was sending everyone a gentle smile.

Their marriage had also become the reason Delgrad came to lead magical engineering.

After that, the students were guided by servants and went to a large hall to eat.

The instructors and Ishmir followed Sicily and Isaac to another space inside the mansion.

While eating, I was speaking with the group members with whom I would be hunting otherworld species this time.

The group members were the people who had ridden in the carriage with me earlier. Eisel, Yuri, Amon, and Lucia.

This time, the groups were composed of people whose levels were similar to one another. Depending on the group, the difficulty of the otherworld species they would face would also differ.

Then a question might arise.

Amon aside, why was Lucia in the group?

The instructors must have put her in after understanding the desert’s characteristics. It was not for nothing that the Windless family, which handled wind magic, dominated this desert.

Wind has much greater power in the sand-filled desert. If you told the people of Delgrad as they left their homes, “There is a lot of wind today,” every one of them would shudder, wrap themselves tightly in clothing, and only then go outside.

The power held by sandy winds and sandstorms was truly fierce. In the game as well, wind magic’s power had actually doubled in desert terrain.

Likewise, Amon’s earth magic should become quite powerful too.

So their levels could be seen as matching.

“The only key is where Lucia fires her magic...”

Still, unlike before, I was not greatly worried.

After all, I had grown to a level where I could cover whatever “incredible thing” Lucia did now.

“Ishmir will likely become our group’s temporary instructor too.”

On this journey, students would leave the instructors’ arms, and desert warriors who hunted otherworld species would be assigned to each group as temporary instructors to teach them while they fought.

Among them, Ishmir was in charge of the highest-level group.

And that group was none other than ours.

Perhaps because of that, in the game too, the condition for meeting Ishmir as a temporary instructor was to have enough combat power to place within the top five of the class.

From the player’s perspective, that condition was fairly loose, so most players could be said to meet Ishmir.

Ishmir was a character with quite a lot of demand.

Despite not being especially young, she had an appearance that did not look old. Above all, there were many people who passionately liked her muscles.

Moreover, the fact that she was still single was effective. Among them, there was a minority opinion that it was unfortunate she was single, but I did not know about that.

“...And among otherworld species, humanoids are said to speak...! Though I have never heard it myself. Isn’t that fascinating? Hehe.”

Lucia, who had been enthusiastically explaining the otherworld species for several minutes, even forgetting to eat.

“They speak?”

Yuri asked, stopping in the middle of cutting steak.

“Yes, but unlike goblins, they do not speak the common language of the continent... They say it is a language hard to understand. Miss Ishmir said it seems to be the language of another world.”

The language of another world.

In the game, the lines of humanoid otherworld species had been represented as incomprehensible, like alien speech.

For reference, this language I spoke, which was called the continent’s common language, was neither English nor Korean.

Even so, perhaps because my common sense had been altered when I fell into this world, I could use it fluently without any difficulty.

“Though I cannot pretend to recognize letters.”

Reading letters also felt no more uncomfortable than reading my mother tongue.

“Another world, huh...”

I remembered that users had debated intensely about what kind of place the world called the other world might be.

Unfortunately, since there had been no way to approach the ancient ruins that seemed deeply connected to the other world... it had been quite a frustrating situation.

It was not related enough to call it a main thread of the story, so it did not hinder game progression at all, but curiosity was curiosity.

Around the time conversation about the language of another world was going back and forth over the table, the instructors and warriors who would become temporary instructors entered the hall where the students were eating.

Soon, Edward, representing the instructors, snapped his fingers with a sharp click and gathered everyone’s attention.

“Students, I apologize for interrupting your meal, but may I have your attention for a moment?”

Once the eyes of everyone in the hall gathered on Edward, he politely indicated the warriors beside him with his palm and opened his mouth.

“These are the desert warriors who will become Innocence Academy’s temporary instructors this time, helping you students and teaching you how to hunt otherworld species. Let us welcome them all with a great round of applause.”

Following Edward’s introduction, applause rang through the hall.

The warriors each carried various weapons and wore various outfits. Since Sicily was such a meticulous person, perhaps she had selected the warriors to match the students’ groups.

Among them, Ishmir could be seen smiling brightly at Lucia.

Soon, at Edward’s words asking the temporary instructors to go to the tables of their assigned groups, they moved toward their respective tables.

Ishmir naturally approached our group’s table and sat in the final empty seat.

“So Miss Ishmir was our group’s temporary instructor...!”

Lucia said in an excited voice, her eyes sparkling.

Had she already forgotten Ishmir’s misconduct in the carriage earlier?

...No matter what, that was probably not it.

Perhaps Lucia felt reassured because she knew Ishmir’s martial strength well.

“Yeah, somehow that is how things turned out. They say chance becomes fate... anyway, I will be counting on you for the next few days.”

Because her right eye was covered by an eyepatch, Ishmir gave a half-wink and patted my shoulder.

It was clearly a very light motion, yet Ishmir’s hand stung quite a bit.

Soon, the servants prepared meals for the warriors, and Ishmir also joined the meal.

“You kids eat expensive things, huh...”

Ishmir, who had always lived with the mindset that food only needed to contain enough nutrients to move the body, put a bite of steak into her mouth and said that.

Soon, Lucia asked her a question.

It was a question following from the conversation we had been having a moment ago.

“By the way, Instructor Ishmir, I have one question...!”

Ishmir had told them to roughly call her teacher because she had not remembered the phrase “temporary instructor,” but after Edward’s explanation just now, her title was immediately changed.

“What?”

“We were talking about what you told me before regarding the language of the other world. Do you perhaps still remember? Back then, I think you clearly pronounced the otherworld language for me, but I cannot remember...”

At Lucia’s polite question, clearly separating public and private, Ishmir, who had been cutting her steak, opened her mouth with an indifferent expression.

“Ah, that? Yeah. Unlike beast-types, humanoid otherworld species keep muttering while they fight. I do not understand a single word of what they say, but anyway, they mutter so much that it gets really annoying.”

“Could they be communicating with each other?”

Yuri, who had been listening closely to Ishmir’s voice, asked.

“Mm, even when there are no other otherworld species nearby, they keep muttering... so probably not.”

“...Then is there any chance it is the language of demons?”

At Amon’s question, which came after a pause, Ishmir waved the fork in her hand through the air.

“No, it is not that. I did participate in the war, and I have personally heard the language of demons, so I can say that for certain. Still... there is exactly one thing I can pronounce. There is one phrase those things always say the same way right before they die. Well, I suppose it might be something like their final words. What do you think, should I let you hear even that?”

Ishmir tilted her head and looked at us.

“She will let us hear the language of another world?”

In the game, it had definitely been audio full of noise, so how could she pronounce it?

Everyone at the table nodded in affirmation at Ishmir’s proposal.

I decided to listen quietly.

Sierra also seemed curious about this and was listening carefully.

Soon, Ishmir opened her mouth and pronounced the “language of another world” quite fluently.

“...Something like that? I have heard it so many times that it stuck in my ears.”

““Ooh...””

Those at the table marveled at Ishmir’s fluent pronunciation. Since they had never heard it before, they probably could not even distinguish whether that was fluent, but for now, they clapped.

I also clapped softly while hiding my awkwardness. However, my face hardened, and I could not smile.

“They called it the language of another world...”

To me, it was a language more familiar than anything.

If I had not misheard, what Ishmir had just said was definitely “English.”

Now I felt I knew where the other world was.

The useless debates users had held on the community were settled by Ishmir’s single sentence.

If I directly translated the English Ishmir had uttered...

“...Where is the king?”

Since she said it was spoken right before death, at least they were probably not asking where the king of Altarix Kingdom, to which Delgrad belonged, was.

Did those things I had thought were nothing but killing machines have a king too?

Even I had never seen robots like that, strangely shaped and meant to kill people.

To begin with, the modern Earth I had lived on did not have the technological power to create such... “artificial intelligence killing machines.”

...At least, as far as I, an ordinary civilian, knew.

“Something connected to me...”

...No, surely not.

But I could not be certain.

For one thing, I was an Earthling, and I could understand English.

No matter how dimensions had twisted, perhaps I should assume that there might be another Earthling from the future besides me.

“A king, huh...”

The uneasy feeling that suddenly sprouted in my heart did not seem as though it would vanish easily.

***

“Amon, are you asleep already?”

I asked Amon, who was lying on the bed and snoring loudly, a question that would not receive an answer.

I used every sense to check Amon’s condition.

Judging by his steady breathing, he did not seem likely to wake for a while.

During this desert field trip, we would live by groups. In our group, Amon and I were the only men, so it was just the two of us separately.

In another room nearby, there would be Ishmir, Lucia, Yuri, and Eisel.

While lying on the bed, I hid my body inside the shadows.

Not long afterward, the place where I emerged from the shadows and set foot was the rooftop of the lodging.

The night view of Delgrad entered my sight at once.

“Eisel is still in the room...”

Through Perception, I examined Eisel, and perhaps because she ended up sharing a room with Ishmir, she was not showing any special movement despite being a regressor.

Even if it was the first day, it would be a shame to let the night pass as it was.

The newly emerged problem regarding the other world... should be postponed for now, since there was some distance from Delgrad to the ancient ruins.

In any case, once we went out into the desert to catch otherworld species, we would naturally grow closer to the ruins.

What I would do tonight was simple cleanup of the surroundings.

Nothing more than cleaning that should be done in advance, before someone stepped on trash, fell, and suffered trouble.