46. Old Tale (10)
Today had been a truly strange day for Eizel.
After finishing lunch as usual, she had tried to secretly eat cake behind Head Maid Pesila’s back, only for the maids to catch her because of all days, they happened to be doing a full cleaning.
Then she had been secretly reading a comic book in her hidden spot, only for a cat to come barging in and make her scream, which got her caught again.
And on top of that, for some reason today of all days, she had suddenly wanted to play ball, so she had been playing by herself when it flew over the wall, and when she went out to retrieve it, of all things—
she ended up entangled in a special magic barrier and forgot the way back.
Then, while wandering through the forest with no choice, she ran into a terrifying wolf monster.
She had really… thought she was going to die.
How many times would a child of only seven ever have to experience the emotions of fear and despair under a threat to her life?
Her lips had turned blue, her whole body was trembling, and her heart was still pounding wildly, the terror not yet fully gone—
but even so, for now, she was able to calm herself a little.
The masked stranger.
She didn’t know his name, and she didn’t know his face. He was a complete stranger she had never seen before…
and yet, strangely enough, being with this person made her feel safe.
“…So, are you sure you’re actually going the right way?”
When Baek Yuseol, who was following behind her, asked, Eizel—who had been proudly leading the way home at the front—hurriedly nodded.
“I-I think this is the right way.”
“The ‘this way’ you said earlier was northeast, but the ‘this way’ you’re saying now is northwest. The direction changed.”
“T-That can’t be!”
Eizel rolled her eyes around in confusion.
She was sure she had come this way, so why was the direction different?
“…Sigh.”
Future Eizel was clever and good at everything, but it seemed there was no helping the fact that she had been a little fool as a child.
Then again, if a seven-year-old were too clever, that might be a little scary in its own way.
While Baek Yuseol was thinking about what to do with this situation, a message was sent through the Jikbakguri Glasses.
[Phenomenon analysis complete.]
[The magic “Wanderer’s Rule,” which reduces the sense of direction of living beings, has been installed throughout this forest.]
“What?”
He had no choice but to widen his eyes in disbelief.
He did possess knowledge from the glasses, but since he had also studied a fair amount of magic himself, he knew exactly how absurd that statement was.
“You’re saying magic has been cast over an entire forest this large…?”
Isn’t that completely insane?
Then a sudden thought struck him.
Wait…
A spell that lowers directional sense?
Magic.
Then that means it can be analyzed too, right?
[Your sensory stat greatly exceeds that barrier. Analysis is possible.]
[Search complete.]
After a moment, an effect appeared as though the forest were splitting apart and a road were opening clearly before him, and then a path rose into view.
“Oh… this is kind of…”
[Beginning route guidance.]
[Proceed straight for 7.3 km.]
[Then turn right.]
“…It’s a navigation system.”
Kind of ruins the atmosphere.
Anyway, now that finding the path was no longer a problem—
“Hey, whatever. Just follow me.”
“Huh?”
Up until just now, Baek Yuseol had been the one following behind, but when he suddenly strode to the front, Eizel hurried after him with a flustered expression.
“W-Wait! My father said that if an outsider enters this forest, they’ll lose their way.”
“You got lost too. Polite speech.”
“T-That’s because… I forgot the method Father told me…”
Well, that made sense.
At that age, things your father said were exactly the sort of thing you half-listened to and forgot.
She must never have concentrated properly on the method in the first place.
“But it’s really dangerous…”
Unlike Eizel, who was fidgeting anxiously, Baek Yuseol just kept striding forward.
Whenever a dangerous beast or monster showed up, he dealt with it in a single blow, and every time he did, Eizel’s eyes went wide.
“Waaah…”
He felt a strange kind of pride, like some older cousin showing off a game ID to a younger cousin, but then he was reminded yet again that this strength was not truly his own, only a fake.
And that left him with a faint sense of self-loathing.
…Once I get back to the present, I’m skipping meals and training nonstop.
How long had they wandered through the forest like that?
When Baek Yuseol, who had been leading, suddenly stopped, Eizel asked in confusion.
“Is there some kind of problem? …sir?”
“Looks like your friends are here.”
“Huh?”
Soon after, the bushes parted, and a squad of magic knights in blue uniforms appeared.
The crest of the Morf Grand Ducal House.
Recognizing their identity at a glance, Baek Yuseol smiled faintly.
“…Reveal your identity.”
A man who seemed to be the highest-ranking among them stepped forward and spoke while pointing his wand at him.
Baek Yuseol lowered his own wand and pointed at Eizel with his thumb.
“She said she was lost, so I was just bringing her back home.”
As if asking whether that was really true, the knight looked toward Eizel, and she hurriedly nodded.
“It-It’s true. He even defeated all the monsters too!”
“…I see. My lady, please come over here.”
At the knight’s words, Eizel scampered over to him.
But the fact that she had testified on his behalf did not mean the questioning was over.
“Then I’ll ask again. Reveal your identity.”
“Baek Seolgi.”
“…That’s the name of a rice cake.”
“That’s exactly why I hate rice cake.”
The knight frowned and was about to press him further, but Eizel tugged at his sleeve and stopped him.
“Don’t do that! He really did help me!”
“But, my lady. This is Morfran Forest, a place no one may enter unless they are of the Morf Grand Ducal bloodline. Outsiders cannot enter here by ordinary means. Which means we must determine how exactly he got in here, and uncover the circumstances—”
“I’m telling Father on you!”
“Ugh…”
There it was.
The unbeatable move.
The eldest daughter of the Grand Ducal House saying, “I’m telling Father,” was at minimum an SSS-rank skill, not something a mere knight could dare withstand.
Still… so this place really was that kind of place.
He should have realized it the moment Eizel casually called it “our front yard.”
A restricted area closed to outsiders.
Looks like getting a free meal here is probably off the table.
Still, well.
He had stopped little Eizel from suffering a screaming death in the past, so maybe he had already done what needed doing here.
“I took a wrong turn. If you show me the way out, I’ll disappear immediately.”
Baek Yuseol said so because he thought there was nothing to gain from getting further entangled with Eizel, and from the knights’ point of view, it would probably be better if he simply vanished.
But then—
“Wait a moment.”
A heavy voice echoed through the forest.
Step! Step!
Every member of the magic knight order instantly turned around and dropped to one knee before someone.
…Damn.
Baek Yuseol broke into a cold sweat as he looked at the man who had come all the way into this forest.
Blue eyes exactly like Eizel’s.
Brown hair that looked nothing like hers.
The very being whom the female protagonist who upheld an entire world had always trusted and relied on in his memory.
Isaac Morf.
That legendary figure had now appeared right before his eyes.
“I hear you saved my daughter in the forest?”
His tone was light, but to those listening, it did not feel light in the slightest.
Even his voice was imbued with mana—an overwhelming level of mastery.
Though history recorded him as no more than an 8-Class mage, if only, just maybe… if he had lived a little longer, he might even have reached 9-Class.
That was the sort of immense mana pressure he gave off.
He’s a terrifying Ahjussi…
The sheer weight of the mana spilling from him was so extraordinary that even though he had come close, Baek Yuseol had not sensed him at all.
No—more precisely, he had been sensing that mana from far before Isaac even drew near, and simply had not realized that the mana belonged to Isaac Morf.
If I fight that Ahjussi, I’m dead.
Isaac glanced at Baek Yuseol, then spread his arms toward his daughter with a warm smile.
“My little girl, I hear you got lost in the forest?”
“Daddyyyy!”
Eizel threw herself at him.
At this point, Baek Yuseol was starting to feel uneasy.
His instincts were warning him that it would be best to leave this place as soon as possible.
“It’s rewarding just to see a father and daughter reunited. I’ll be taking my leave now.”
“Hmm? Haha, no, no. You are the benefactor who saved my daughter. How could I possibly send you away like this? As it happens, it’s nearly dinnertime. At least let me treat you to a meal.”
“…I’m not particularly hungry.”
“Is that so? Then would you at least honor us with your presence at the table? If I let you go like this, I feel as though I would regret it for the rest of my life.”
This was unmistakable.
He had no intention of simply letting him go.
If he refused here…
he would probably be dragged there by force.
It was better to go along with him now, while he was still showing goodwill.
“Understood. Then I’ll attend, at least.”
“Excellent! Then I’ll have them prepare Princess’s favorite Havrimu potato salad especially for tonight!”
“Yaaay~!”
Little Eizel acting spoiled.
Isaac, who seemed so ordinary that it was hard to believe he was the Grand Duke of Morf.
Why did every single one of these moments feel so unreal?
And there was one more thing.
Why, while going backward through time, had he ended up returning to exactly ten years ago—
and why, of all people, had he ended up meeting these two?
The Morf Grand Duke of ten years ago…
One of the great incidents that even Baek Yuseol, who cared little for story, knew about.
The darkening of the Morf Grand Duke.
And betrayal.
It seemed…
he had gotten caught up in the exact period when that incident would occur.
The meal itself was surprisingly modest for the table of a Grand Duke.
Well, to call it modest was not quite right, because it was certainly far more impressive than what most nobles enjoyed—
but compared to the meal he had once seen at the Adolevit royal family’s table, the scale was much smaller.
Then again, a meal shared by just a father and daughter did not need to be extravagant every day.
Apparently, on ordinary days, he handled meals simply in his private office, so perhaps tonight was special enough to count as a banquet in itself.
“Nom.”
“Our Princess gets food all over her mouth again.”
“Don’t call me Princess!”
Every time the word “Princess” came up, Eizel would glance sideways at Baek Yuseol, clearly embarrassed by the title.
“You used to like it before…”
Isaac put on a wounded expression, then smiled again as he wiped Havrimu sauce from Eizel’s cheek.
From what he understood, it was a sauce made from Havrimu mushrooms, which were somewhat similar to truffles on Earth.
The smell was so strong that just sitting there watching others eat it was almost enough to drive him mad.
But he could not let himself be tempted by the dinner and remove the mask.
“Are you really not going to eat?”
“Yes. I have circumstances.”
“Hm, what sort of circumstances prevent you from eating? Could it be that you have circumstances in which you cannot remove your mask?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
It was so obvious even a child could have noticed, so there was no need to lie about it.
“If that is the case, then very well. I will not force your mask off. I have no intention of threatening the benefactor who saved my daughter. However… I cannot help being curious about you. If there are parts you are able to tell me, would you mind speaking of them?”
He had heard that Morfran Forest was sealed off with a special magical barrier so thoroughly that no one could casually enter it.
It was not because some great treasure was hidden within, but because a ferocious magical beast slept there.
It had been sealed for over a hundred years by now, so it had grown quiet, and because of that the vigilance had grown lax enough that no one noticed when Eizel entered the forest.
Since it had not been an intrusion from outside but from within the estate itself, that made it even more understandable.
Of course, the guards on duty had probably lost their jobs over Eizel’s little accident by now.
“Hmm… you mean about myself.”
“That’s right.”
What should he say?
He obviously couldn’t say he came from the future.
But saying he was still a student also felt a little troublesome.
“I’m just… a wandering adventurer with no fixed destination.”
The most common, easiest to disguise, and hardest identity to pin down.
Adventurer.
In other words, a drifter.
Or unemployed.
Or homeless.
“An adventurer. A profession brimming with romance.”
“Thank you.”
“I hear from my daughter that you cut down a Sharp Wolf in a single strike.”
“Yes.”
“A sword, then… I have seen many mercenaries who use swords, but I have never once in my life seen anyone perform such a feat as hunting a Sharp Wolf with a single blow.”
Of course he hadn’t.
That was simple common sense.
Ordinary swords could not properly cut through the hide of a monster covered in mana. Baek Yuseol himself could only do it because of Mana Leakage Body.
“Even with a fine magic sword, at best one would expect maybe a 2-risk beast, or 3-risk if done cooperatively. That is the level street mercenaries usually hunt.”
“That’s right.”
“But the monster you killed was a dangerous 5-risk beast. Even veteran magical warriors would have to hunt it with the utmost caution.”
Ah, now he understood the point of the question.
“And besides that… there is something strange about you. Ordinary mages always release at least a faint amount of mana from their bodies. I possess a special ability that allows me to detect that.”
He didn’t know Isaac Morf had something like that.
There was almost no record about him even in the Jikbakguri Glasses.
“But I cannot sense any mana from you at all. It is as though… you are separate from the world itself. And even the mysterious aura surrounding you—I cannot tell what it is.”
By now, Isaac Morf had set down his fork and knife. With his chin resting lightly on clasped fingers, he gazed at Baek Yuseol in silence.
“What exactly are you?”
What should he say here?
There was only one answer.
“As I said, I’m an adventurer.”
“I see. Very well.”
He nodded as if he had organized his thoughts, then turned to Eizel with a soft smile.
“Princess, are you done eating?”
“Mhm. I wanna go to my room.”
“Call Maid Pesila.”
Eizel gave him a sideways glance, then left the dining room together with Maid Pesila.
Even as she went, she kept looking back at him, as if something about him remained on her mind.
“Now then, with my daughter gone… allow me to make one straightforward request.”
A request from Isaac Morf.
Sensing the weight in the atmosphere, Baek Yuseol’s expression stiffened as he nodded.
“First, I should say this.”
After a short silence, the words came.
“I will not live long.”
“…What?”
The line was so abrupt that for a moment he was left speechless.
“No, what do you mean…?”
“I ask you to forgive me for not being able to tell you the reason. But this request is sincere. I will not be able to protect my daughter for long. In fact, if I keep her by my side, I may end up harming her myself. And when that time comes…”
Isaac Morf, Grand Duke of Morf, looked him straight in the eyes and said,
“Could you protect my daughter, if only for a short while? Until she is able to stand on her own… no, no. Even if all that remains is her life—just that would be enough…”
The request was abrupt, absurd, and utterly out of the blue, but Baek Yuseol neither reacted nor interrupted. He simply listened in silence.
“Do you know why I would make such a request to a complete outsider whose face and identity I do not even know?”
He thought about it briefly.
But he didn’t know.
“…Because I’m that desperate.”
It seemed Isaac Morf had already known the fate that awaited him.
That was why he was trying to prepare like this.
Baek Yuseol lowered his gaze because he could not bear to meet those sorrowful eyes directly.
“I can determine a person’s character simply by speaking with them. You are odd and willful, but you do not have a bad heart. If anything… I would say you are righteous.”
Letting out a sigh, Isaac rose from his seat and looked toward the wall.
There hung a family portrait of himself with his one and only daughter, and his wife, who had long since returned to the heavens.
“That is why I ask this of you. If you refuse, then there is nothing to be done, but…”
“I’ll do it.”
He had tried as much as possible not to get entangled with his future ties.
And yet…
was it truly coincidence that he had been deliberately dropped into the exact time period when such a great incident would occur, and had then met Eizel and Isaac Morf of all people?
Or was it fate?
He believed in neither coincidence nor fate.
Even so, anyone who could refuse in a situation like this would have to be someone with neither blood nor tears.
“…Thank you. Truly.”
Isaac gave a short nod, then stared blankly at the picture frame.
And while doing so, he murmured something in a small voice, almost as though casting a spell.
“It can’t be helped. It can’t be helped. But… even for the sake of the greater good, I cannot sacrifice my daughter…”
Those words were not meant for Baek Yuseol.
They were meant not for another man, but for Isaac Morf himself.
He was hypnotizing himself.
What could possibly frighten even Isaac Morf enough to make a man like him tremble and self-brainwash in that way?
Perhaps if Baek Yuseol had known nothing, he would have felt differently.
But because he knew at least a little about Isaac Morf, his chest grew heavy.
Most likely…
there was nothing he could do.
