Ch.11Sword Saint Kiel (2)

……The main quest already?

Even though it’s just a clue, this was too fast. No matter how much I tried to recall, there had never been a case where I got involved with the main quest this quickly.

[Main Quest]

– Clue #1 – Acquired

– Clue #2 – Not Acquired

.

.

.

– Clue #15 – Not Acquired

– You can check the details.

There were fifteen clues in total.

Hmm, that’s quite an explicit number. I get the feeling that one will unlock each time I meet a main NPC.

Olivia clicked on the first clue.

After a moment, a brief message appeared before her eyes.

[Clue #1]

[Memory of Imperial Year 992.]

– You can access Kiel’s memory once.

– You can access the memory by placing your hand on the head of a subdued opponent.

992? What was I doing in 992?

Olivia recalled what Glacia had said.

It’s currently Imperial Year 987. So 992 would be five years from now.

But I can’t remember what I did.

I can somewhat recall major events like graduating from the Academy, but even those are all jumbled up.

‘No choice then.’

“…What are you doing!”

Kiel shook his head violently to remove Olivia’s hand. He must have realized she wasn’t simply trying to kill him.

But that doesn’t change anything.

When she placed her hand on Kiel’s head again, a message appeared.

[Accessing memory of Imperial Year 992.]

– Time limit: 5 minutes

5 minutes, huh.

It seems I won’t be getting an explanation in message form, but rather I’ll have to enter the memory directly to find out.

A moment later, her consciousness flickered.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in an unfamiliar forest. But something felt familiar. Trees that seemed to touch the sky, the sound of insects all around…

“…Euran.”

The magical realm responsible for wood, and the Great Forest where the elven kingdom is located.

After a moment, a message appeared.

[Olivia]

Level: 78

Class: Advanced Glacier Mage

Title: Trusted One, Academy Valedictorian.

[The hourglass begins to move.]

– Time remaining: 4 minutes 59 seconds.

It seemed she had inherited the stats from her previous playthrough.

Her class was merely Advanced Mage, not Grandmaster, and she hadn’t even learned lightning magic.

‘Even the ice magic I do have has terrible proficiency.’

Ice mages get different titles before their class name depending on their proficiency.

Novice mages are called Cold, intermediate mages are Frost, advanced mages are Glacier, and finally, grandmasters have the title Bitter Cold.

“You’re awake?”

A familiar voice came from behind her. A black-haired swordsman stood there with a smile on his face.

“Kiel?”

“I guess I was too noisy. Sorry, Olivia.”

“…”

Olivia’s jaw dropped as she watched Kiel respond with a smile.

‘S-status window.’

[Kiel Rothschild]

– Level 88

– Affinity 50

His level was 88, up 5 from five years ago.

Considering he was just an NPC, not a user, it was remarkable growth.

But that wasn’t what she needed to pay attention to.

His affinity was positive 50, not negative 50. That level was beyond friendship—it was at the level of a trusted comrade.

It was hard to get her bearings when someone who had been radiating hostility as if about to tear out her throat was now smiling and grinning.

‘This is crazy.’

Olivia shook her head from side to side to regain her composure. Even as she did this, the hourglass continued to drain.

Whatever the case, the fact that she needed to find a clue in this memory remained unchanged.

The Great Forest quest was one that could be completed with Sword Master Kiel.

Olivia searched through the message window to find the quest list buried in the constraints.

[Euran Great Forest – In Search of Ancient Magic]

– Progress: Completed

– Reward: 1 type of ancient ice magic

[Your current proficiency is insufficient to learn this!]

It seems this was a point after the quest had already been completed.

Indeed, an affinity of 50 isn’t something you achieve after just a few battles.

You’d have to fight together for months in the Great Forest to reach that level.

“Kiel.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you hiding anything?”

“What do you mean?”

“Anything at all.”

Kiel stroked his chin, deep in thought. After a moment, he shook his head and said:

“I don’t know. But why are you suddenly asking that?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Olivia clicked her tongue.

She knew Kiel’s personality better than anyone.

He was a nobleman who didn’t discriminate against people, a true knight who protected the weak.

Kiel’s only flaw was that he often left his family home despite being the head of the household.

‘And that he has no interest in women.’

Well, marrying Kiel, who had a severe case of wanderlust, would probably mean a lifetime of loneliness until death. Maybe Kiel knew that and that’s why he hadn’t married.

Stopping her musings, Olivia got up.

“I’m going to look around for a bit.”

“There’s nothing around here though?”

“I’ll just go and come back.”

Leaving behind a puzzled Kiel, she entered the forest.

Three minutes passed like that.

Olivia lay face down on the ground, unable to hide her despair.

‘What kind of clue is this supposed to be?’

She had tried to go deep into the Great Forest, but was blocked by an invisible wall. After following the wall for a while, she returned to where she had started.

She quickly figured out the cause.

This was inside Kiel’s memory.

The invisible wall was the boundary of the scenery Kiel remembered.

The trees that lost their color as they got farther from view were proof of that.

“Haah…”

This wasn’t anything like a clue. It was just showing a memory.

[Time remaining: 1 minute 00 seconds]

What exactly was she supposed to do?

What was the point of reviving old memories?

Kiel, who had been quietly watching Olivia sigh repeatedly, approached and asked:

“Is something wrong?”

“…There is a problem. A big one.”

“Can you tell me what it is?”

Olivia shook her head at his words. How could she explain when she didn’t even know what the problem was?

She didn’t understand why this situation was a clue, or what she was supposed to find.

As Olivia kept her mouth shut, Kiel spoke in a somewhat upset tone:

“I thought I was trusted, you know.”

“I did trust you.”

Olivia said in a cold tone.

[Time remaining: 10 seconds]

The hourglass was racing toward its end. Having to return without any results was devastating.

“…Does that mean you don’t trust me now?”

What’s with him all of a sudden?

“It’s a different issue from trust.”

“Isn’t it all the same in the end?”

Olivia saw Kiel making a sad face. And she also saw the sand grains falling toward the ground, and the world turning gray from the edges.

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

[Clue #1 viewing time has ended.]

With those words, the memory crumbled into dust and disappeared.

*****

Olivia opened her eyes. Kiel, his entire body frozen, was glaring at her with fierce eyes.

Honestly, she preferred this to receiving a man’s meaningful gaze.

“…So you’ve returned too?”

Olivia felt a strange sense of déjà vu from Kiel’s cold tone. She knew that Kiel had regressed.

But Kiel didn’t know that.

‘It’s probably because I’m too strong right now.’

Even after grinding hard at the Academy for a year, level 30 is the most you can achieve.

But Olivia’s current level was 100.

This wasn’t strength one could obtain simply by regressing.

Originally, ‘Olivia’ at this point was level 1. It’s no wonder Kiel is mistaken.

‘…I think I might be able to deceive him if I play this right.’

This was exactly why Olivia had avoided contact with main NPCs.

For fear of being caught having regressed.

Technically it wasn’t regression but possession, but knowing the future made it essentially the same.

But seeing Kiel’s reaction changed her mind.

‘I just need to make sure he doesn’t find out I know the future!’

Olivia’s thoughts accelerated. The Grandmaster’s brain quickly found an answer.

The required materials: a bit of acting skill.

“You keep saying ‘you’ this and ‘you’ that… Do you know me?”

“What do you mean…”

“No matter how I think about it, this is the first time I’ve seen you?”

And a thick face.

Kiel tried to say something, but Olivia had no intention of giving him the chance.

“Is it right to speak informally to someone you’re meeting for the first time? If you don’t want to die, you should at least pretend to beg for your life. Wasn’t attacking me out of nowhere enough? Seriously, I’m speechless.”

“…”

Whether Kiel believed this or not wasn’t important.

What mattered was planting the seed of doubt.

Kiel’s confused face was proof of that.

“…Are you trying to deceive us again? Did you think we would fall for such an act?”

A sharp rebuttal.

But he couldn’t hide the trace of doubt in the corner of his eye.

At this rate, it would be an easy victory…

That’s when it happened.

A dark shadow fell over Kiel’s face.

“…You were always like this.”

The emotion contained there couldn’t be described with the word ‘anger’ alone.

“You deceived us at every turn, betrayed our trust.”

Uh…

Um, well…

Cold sweat beaded and ran down her back.

“And now, you want me to believe you again?”

“…”

I’m fucked.