Chapter 41: Ha…!

It had been so long since I’d seen my native script that I was filled with nostalgia, yet also trembling with anger.

‘Those bastards were completely insane.’

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there wasn’t a single sane person in the original novel’s comment section, except for me.

Even now, I frowned remembering how they shouted about some baseless weapon being the strongest while insulting Baldo, the pinnacle of swordsmanship, and the katana, the mightiest weapon.

I had no intention of defending that crazy author, but unlike me who was unfairly transmigrated, those lunatics deserved to be transmigrated.

‘…But this resolves many of my questions.’

The reason this world differed so greatly from the original novel I knew – it was the butterfly effect caused by other transmigrated individuals sent to the past, unlike me.

A figure named Ray von Pierre, who didn’t exist in the original, was revered as a sage and died in this forest, leading to its renaming as the Sage’s Forest.

Though not yet confirmed, a mercenary who became the founder of the von Grund family likely led to the birth of Jessica, the bun-haired noblewoman who didn’t exist in the original.

The next Sword Saint being female siblings rather than male, and the second prince becoming the fifth prince, were surely due to the influence of transmigrated individuals.

When I return, I should investigate history books in places like the library to determine how much has changed.

Some aspects remained unchanged, like Headmaster Marina. Knowing these consistencies could prove very helpful.

“Answer the question.”

“Huh?”

Lost in thought, I turned at the sudden voice behind me.

There stood the spirit, now an even more massive tree than when we first met, looking down at me.

“What do you mean by ‘from the same place’?”

Though I sensed no hostility, the subtly imperious tone suggested I couldn’t simply brush this off.

‘Should I just tell him?’

Truthfully, I had no real reason to hide it. This spirit wouldn’t go around blabbing that I was a human from another world, and even if it did, who would believe it?

If such a thing happened, people would simply think the spirit had gone senile and move on.

“Being from the same place means we were in the same world before coming here.”

“…Before coming here?”

Though explaining this accurately was a bit tricky, I tried to summarize it as simply as possible for him to understand.

After I finished, the spirit made an expression as if he would rub his face if he had hands, then slowly opened his eyes.

“…Honestly, it’s hard to believe.”

“But it explains everything, doesn’t it?”

“It does. And I know that if you were lying, you’d come up with something more credible.”

Having lived for an unimaginably long time and witnessed many incredible things, the spirit unexpectedly nodded in agreement.

“Sometimes… Pierre would often act as if he came from another world. I thought it was just the eccentricity common to geniuses.”

The spirit chuckled self-deprecatingly, never imagining it could actually be a human from another world.

“I… may not have known anything about Pierre.”

“Don’t worry about it too much. It’d be weirder if you’d guessed that. Hell, even my own mother in this world doesn’t know I’m transmigrated.”

“…Thank you for saying that. But what did Pierre write at the end?”

“Huh? Oh, this?”

[To those reading this, don’t get married. Why? f*ck you, just don’t do it, you bastards!!]

When I read aloud those ridiculous words carved on the tombstone, the spirit sighed deeply in exasperation.

More accurately, he made an expression as if sighing. Trees can’t actually sigh, after all.

“I suppose you won’t tell me what happened if I ask?”

“…I wasn’t planning to, but given the content of his last words, perhaps Pierre would want me to speak.”

“I can guess the gist. Go ahead and tell me.”

“To cut to the chase, Pierre was betrayed.”

By his family, or rather, those who were once his family. The spirit’s voice was deeply sorrowful as he began the tale.

All things in this world must come to an end, and Pierre’s adventures were no exception.

Though Pierre had spent half his life adventuring and amassing countless heroic tales, the time came for him to return home and seek stability in life.

Naturally, the first step towards stability was marriage.

Mixing blood to strengthen bonds and leaving heirs to continue the family line.

Unlike modern people for who marriage is a choice rather than a necessity, for nobles, marriage was not an option but an obligation.

Pierre, renowned as a sage, was the most eligible bachelor for nobles who valued honor and power.

A bride was quickly chosen, and the spirit recalled the wedding as so grand it remained memorable even now.

When the master who was always gallivanting about finally returned home, both vassals and subjects shed tears of joy, having only heard rumors of his exploits.

‘Hahahahaha!!’

Pierre, who rarely laughed except when talking about the rapier, showed a smile on this day.

It’s a bit bitter to say this about a story already destined for ruin, but it seems Pierre fell in love with his bride at first sight.

Even while cursing her as a wicked woman, the spirit had to admit her beauty.

The 20 years of marriage that followed were incredibly happy times for Pierre, at least in the eyes of the spirit who was always by his side.

But perhaps because he had always been wandering about and never truly built a deep relationship with anyone, or maybe due to using a trash weapon like the rapier, Pierre utterly failed to recognize when he needed to indulge his wife’s whims.

Blinded by love, Pierre acquiesced to most of his wife’s demands.

The spirit even mentioned that rumors circulated in the mansion that the true master of the Pierre household was the mistress.

Though endlessly generous to his wife, even Pierre couldn’t overlook what happened next.

On a night when rain poured down like a waterfall, as if foretelling the impending tragedy, Pierre returned to the mansion earlier than expected from exterminating a nearby magic beast.

And then…

‘D-darling…?!’

As anyone could predict by this point, what Pierre witnessed in his bedroom was his wife rolling about in bed with a knight from her family’s household.

When people encounter an unbelievable sight, their minds naturally freeze.

This held true even for Pierre, a swordsman on par with the Sword Saint.

After what felt like an eternity, when Pierre finally came to his senses…

‘Aaaaaargh!!!!’

The entire mansion shook with the aura and mana emanating from a warrior beyond human limits.

The knight who had been tumbling in bed abandoned Pierre’s wife and leapt out the window alone, desperate to save his own skin.

But Pierre wouldn’t let him escape. In an instant, a thrust pierced the knight’s knee, bringing him down.

As the knight collapsed, Pierre approached slowly, as if to instill terror.

Ignoring his wife’s protestations about misunderstandings, Pierre raised his rapier to end the knight’s life… but that blade never swung down towards the knight.

‘M-my lord!!’

The one who stepped forward to block him wasn’t his wife beside him, but Pierre’s daughter who had rushed to the bedroom upon sensing the aura reverberating through the mansion.

Pierre’s daughter, barely 20 years old, addressed him not as “Father” as usual, but as “My lord” as she pleaded:

‘P-please spare my father!! We’ll leave this mansion… We’ll never return here again! Please, for old times’ sake…!!’

The daughter knew. She knew that the man who had given her life was not Pierre, but that knight.

Soon after, as Pierre’s wife joined in begging alongside her, Pierre’s mind finally shattered.

Those he thought were family were not family at all. In this vast mansion, he alone was not family.

When he came to his senses, Pierre found himself atop Lobo. Sensing its master’s feelings, Lobo had begun running without a word needed from Pierre.

It ran and ran, continuing until it finally reached this forest, far removed from Pierre’s mansion.

Having eaten and drunk nothing during the long journey deep into the forest, Pierre dismounted from Lobo’s back and pondered.

Why had his daughter tried to protect her real father there? If she had simply kept quiet, she could have continued being Pierre’s daughter.

Did she think she would be next after Pierre killed the knight and his wife?

Or did she want to protect her real father even at the cost of her own life?

He didn’t know. Even Pierre, called a sage, could no longer find the answer.

The curiosity that had welled up in his chest disappeared, replaced by regret.

If he hadn’t returned home and continued adventuring, none of this would have happened.

No, even if he had returned home, if he just hadn’t married, he wouldn’t have experienced such sorrow.

After days of neither eating nor drinking, shedding only tears, Pierre naturally collapsed to the ground.

And before dying, for the sake of men who might suffer the same fate, he carelessly left those last words in his native tongue on the earth.

“Thus, Pierre fell and died in this spot, and Lobo, resonating with its dying master’s anguish, became a magic beast.”

“F*ck!! Those bastards…!!!”

Unable to contain my rage after hearing the whole story, I shouted at Pierre’s gravestone.

“Ha…! Motherf*cking Ponpon hyung[1]!!”

Really? F*ck!!!

[1. uhmm this is definitely a name from something… In namu wiki, the name has been used for many things but for one, it was a derogatory term to mock spouses who don’t have any say in the household. One who does all the ‘dish-washing’ ]