43. When Everything Froze (2)
Night fell.
Evening on the coast of Leviang was cold and utterly silent, and since Hong Biyeon had always liked cold weather to begin with, she pulled her outer coat tighter around herself and went for a walk at night.
Each time the knife-like wind brushed across her cheek, all stray thoughts seemed to die away.
Standing along the outer edge of the sharply descending walls, she looked out at the sea in the distance, glittering in the moonlight.
It was a beautiful sight.
Beautiful enough to make one wonder whether there could be any scene in the world lovelier than that.
Hong Biyeon held the scenery of the sea within those ruby-colored eyes, as though if she stared long enough, the frozen sea itself might melt away.
‘Your role is very simple.’
The words Queen Hong Seryu had spoken returned to her mind.
‘Take the Flame Spirit Flower into your body, and resonate with the Eternal Heart of Ice. That is the only thing you can do for this nation.’
She said it so easily.
There was no need to unravel the meaning at length.
It meant go there and die for the sake of the kingdom.
Claiming it was the duty of royalty to protect the people.
It was laughable beyond belief.
The fact that they had gone ahead with this while knowing full well how transparent their true intentions were meant they had also calculated that Hong Biyeon could never refuse.
Whoooosh…!
Her hair whipped in the wind.
The cold was so severe that her ears and nose felt almost numb.
“Oh my, little sister~ What are you doing out here at this hour~?”
As cruel as fate could be, she happened to run into Hong Si-hwa “by chance” while the latter was passing nearby.
Hong Biyeon looked at her in silence.
For some reason, Hong Si-hwa’s footsteps were as cheerful and lively as a child’s.
“Aren’t you cold? What if you catch a cold out here~?”
Royalty of Adolevit did not catch colds.
Not feeling that the remark was even worth answering, Hong Biyeon looked away, but Hong Si-hwa leaned her face into her line of sight.
“Your older sister is giving you advice, and you’re just going to ignore me~?”
“That’s enough. Please go inside.”
“So cold~”
Thinking it would only get more irritating if she stayed there longer, Hong Biyeon simply started walking away.
Her pleasant walk had been interrupted, but at this point she thought it would be better just to go sleep in peace.
“Little sister.”
But then, Hong Si-hwa suddenly dropped her voice and called to her, and Hong Biyeon halted in place.
“…What is it.”
“Why didn’t you refuse~?”
“What a strange question.”
She really was going to die.
All the life she had desperately worked so hard to build would collapse in a single instant.
Yes—if it had been the old Hong Biyeon, the one from before she entered Stella, perhaps she might have refused.
Because she would have been unable to let go of everything she had enjoyed, and everything she could have continued to enjoy.
Before all that…
Because she had been so terribly afraid of dying.
But now it was different.
Hong Biyeon looked directly into Hong Si-hwa’s eyes and said:
“I’m not like you.”
Receiving that gaze, a gaze that seemed to say it did not matter what kind of plan Hong Si-hwa was making or what she was thinking—
Hong Si-hwa pressed her lips together tightly.
“It’s cold, so I’ll be going now.”
Even as she watched the back of her younger sister walking away slowly but with all the composure in the world, Hong Si-hwa did not stop her in the end.
‘Hmm… she’s grown a lot.’
Why was it that, at this moment, the image of the long-dead Hong Erin suddenly came to mind?
“Jeez, what a pointless thought again.”
Hong Si-hwa shook her head and resumed walking with light steps.
No matter what happened, the choice had already been made, and what was going to happen next could no longer be stopped…
So now it was time to leave everything to fate.
‘If she dies here, then that was simply her fate from the beginning.’
Hong Biyeon would die before even reaching the age of twenty.
Just as her eldest sister had.
So even if she died now, all that would mean was that her destined death had merely been brought forward by about three years.
Nothing would truly change.
Black Matale.
Descendant of the legendary Pirate King who had once conquered all the seas of the world, and now the lord of the Heavenly Flame Ice Palace, sworn in loyalty to the House of Adolevit—
Up until now, he had never once defied the queen.
But this time, things were different.
“A calamity will come.”
Kneeling before the queen, Black Matale quietly intoned those words.
His low voice spread through the great royal audience chamber.
“…Is that all you have to say?”
“Please believe me, Your Majesty. The Black Cross must never be disturbed.”
“Hah. Are you really so frightened of some ghost sleeping in a mere pirate ship?”
At that insult toward his ancestors, anger flickered in Matale’s eyes, but he suppressed it at once.
Fortunately, because he had lowered his head in that instant, he was not caught.
“He… was once the man who ruled the sea. If the Progenitor Mage and the Twelve Disciples ruled the land, then it was said that Pirate King Black Belize ruled the sea. Do not disturb his spirit.”
“That was a thousand years ago. In the last hundred years alone, we have sent out seven separate expeditions, and that spirit never so much as twitched.”
“It is only sleeping for now. The spirit of the Pirate King is trapped in an eternal curse. It can never vanish!”
Boom!
The instant Matale raised his voice, the queen slammed her heel hard against the floor.
At once, the air exploded, and pillars of flame shot up all around the audience chamber.
“You dare raise your voice before the queen.”
“Do you not understand why I am trying this desperately to stop you? The reason our family remains loyal to the House of Adolevit is because you swore that one day the Sea of Leviang would be returned to us. This… is a violation of that covenant!”
“So?”
The queen spoke in a soft, gentle tone.
“And if a wretch like you disobeys my words, what changes?”
Matale swallowed his bitterness and lowered his head.
She was right.
The queen was an 8-Class mage, and her royal guard was composed of mages from 6-Class up to even 7-Class.
A military force so overwhelming it could truly be called that of a superpower.
Compared to that, Black Matale, who had lost the sea, possessed no power at all with which to oppose the House of Adolevit.
Even if they broke the covenant now…
There was no possible way for him to stop them.
“My ancestors… and the spirit of the Pirate King will be enraged.”
Even after he had spoken this far, the queen did not listen.
Black Matale shut his eyes tightly and accepted the despair.
‘If his soul is stirred to anger, calamity will come.’
It was a tale his grandfather had told him over and over when he was young.
‘Our ancestor Black Belize’s soul made a pact with the Incarnation of Ice.’
‘A pact?’
‘That the day he awakens once more, he will freeze this entire world.’
‘Then why doesn’t he do that now?’
‘Heh heh, who can say. Perhaps he is simply resting until the proper time comes. So remember this well. No matter what happens, you must never disturb the soul of our ancestor.’
Not every legend was false.
Black Matale understood that truth far too vividly, and so the reality that he could not stop the queen’s recklessness was agony to him.
“Is that all you have to say?”
“…It is.”
“I truly fail to understand why you are so sensitive over some old legend. A legend is only a legend. Present-day magic technology has advanced far beyond the past. Even if a dragon were to appear, we could hunt it. What is there to fear so much?”
“Your Majesty… knows nothing.”
“Very well. Still, one never knows, does one? The Flame Spirit Flower of Adolevit may actually melt the sea.”
The descendants of Black Belize were born with the Blessing of the Sea God, and endlessly longed for the sea.
But for more than a thousand years, not one of them had ever set sail.
Because of the special curse bound into their bloodline.
‘Until the Black Cross of the Pirate King awakens, no one may board a ship, and no one may go out to sea.’
Every ancestor who broke that rule…
Was swallowed by the calamity of the sea and died.
Without leaving even a body behind.
The pirates of the Black bloodline did nothing but live their entire lives praying for that eternally frozen sea to thaw once more—
and then fade away.
“That will be all. You may leave.”
Only long after the queen left the hall did Black Matale finally rise to his feet.
Then, looking up at the sky beyond the window… he let his head fall weakly.
‘…A calamity will come.’
The current queen was foolish and willful.
Though she was not truly fit to be king, she had become queen because she had been born with the most powerful blood of flame.
‘So in the end, all the laws our ancestors protected will be broken in my generation.’
He shut his eyes tightly and clenched his fist.
He had no intention of running away.
If that was how fate would have it…
Then he would protect everything from the center of the calamity itself.
Because that was the only final courtesy the last descendant of Black Belize could offer.
“This can’t be…!”
I trembled with the fork still in my hand.
“It’s even more expensive than Stella…?”
A city more expensive than Stella, where food already had a ridiculously high average price per meal, actually existed?
Was this a city of nobles?
Or had the value of currency simply become completely broken?
Back when I played Aiter World Online, characters hadn’t actually needed to eat, so I had never paid attention to details this trivial and had never known why things were like this.
“…Hey, kid. How expensive is it that you’re looking that miserable?”
“It’s five hundred credits more expensive than Stella. Does that make any sense?”
“It’s only five hundred credits…”
The passing mercenary snorted in disbelief and walked off.
Lisbond Port Branch, Mercenary Office.
A thousand years ago, in the distant past, the enormous port of Lisbond had served as the heart connecting the whole world.
But as of now, it had long since lost that function.
Yet after the sea froze, mysterious monsters and dungeons began to appear, and this place became sacred ground for adventurers and mercenaries, so the mercenary office here was actually rather well-developed and the building looked quite polished.
The palace servants of the royal family had been granted the right to stay in a small annex attached to the Heavenly Flame Ice Palace, but the reason I had come all the way here to eat instead was different.
‘While the royal house is carrying out its part of the plan, I should be doing my own part too.’
The moment Hong Biyeon, with the Flame Spirit Flower contained within her body, went into the heart of the whirlpool, the spirit of Black Belize, long asleep within legend, would awaken.
There was also one absurd aspect to all this.
If events in this place unfolded smoothly, then the player would be happily enjoying an ordinary academy summer vacation event—
and then abruptly hit a [Bad End].
It was such a ridiculous development you could only spam question marks at the screen.
Just when things were finally starting to progress a little with Ma Yuseong and Hae Wonryang and you were thinking of raising affection levels, suddenly the world got covered in ice.
It wasn’t something that happened often.
It was such a rare event that perhaps only one player out of tens of thousands would ever experience it, so it never became a major topic of discussion…
And naturally, I happened to be one of those players.
‘Back then, it was fun.’
At the time, I used absolutely every method and means available to me to resolve this situation.
An endless summer vacation.
Repeating a world where everyone died over and over again…
Until at last, I managed to prevent the ending where the world froze because of Hong Biyeon.
Back then, it wasn’t because I wanted to save her.
It was because I wanted to protect my game data.
But now, that no longer mattered.
Thanks to that, I knew about one hidden piece that no one else did.
“Hoo…”
But honestly, this is a little scary.
If I mess this up, I really will die.
There are two bad-ending flags in this episode.
Either the Incarnation of Fire sleeping within the Flame Spirit Flower goes berserk and the Kingdom of Adolevit is consumed in flames—
or the Incarnation of Ice sleeping in the pirate ship goes berserk and the world is covered in ice.
There seemed to be no dream and no hope anywhere in sight…
But still, as long as things went according to plan, that would be enough.
‘Sigh… what’s the worst that can happen? I die?’
It was a little frightening, but if not me, then there was no one else who could do it.
So this was something I absolutely had to do.
That resolve was why I could move without hesitation.
After finishing my meal, I climbed up onto the table.
“Huh? What’s with that kid?”
“Oh, a Stella student?”
“Never seen him before.”
After drawing all the mercenaries’ attention to myself, I shouted:
“Hidden dungeon discovered in the Whirling Ice Valley! First twenty people only! Recruiting mercenaries! Arms and legs attached, internal organs intact preferred!”
Of course, that didn’t mean…
I had any intention of solving everything with my own two hands.
Sometimes, isn’t it better to con a few people a little and make them do the work so you can take the easier road?
Sometimes in novels or comics, the protagonist always has this habit of trying to solve everything alone…
But I’m not the protagonist, so I honestly can’t be bothered with that kind of nonsense.
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