Ch.129129. Heroic Folktale

Everyone was stunned by the sudden appearance of the ancient hero, staring blankly at the sight, but this didn’t last long.

“Everyone, help that person!”

“Yes!”

Though Teresia(?) was literally shredding the monsters and piling up their corpses like a tower, they could see in her eyes that she was becoming slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of monsters.

“Please step aside, Lady Teresia!”

“I don’t know who you are, but alright!”

Following their request, Teresia stepped back momentarily, and immediately after, they began dealing with the monsters head-on, starting with fire from a shortened plasma cannon from the heavy weapons unit.

From a distance, they pounded the monsters with plasma cannon fire, while those that approached were handled by mercenaries whose close-combat prowess lived up to their reputation.

Hela Milson swung her spear wrapped in lightning and frost wildly to block the monsters’ approach, while the Wolf Guardians calmly dispatched the monsters one by one with shields and axes. Meanwhile, Yon was slicing monsters to pieces using three blades—Psychic Claws—protruding from the back of his hand.

Though the quality of the monsters was questionable, their numbers were overwhelming, making this a situation where the remnants of the mercenary group with their superior numbers could excel. Thus, they were able to dispatch all the monsters before long.

And immediately after, Yon, who had just detached a severed monster head from his Psychic Claw, seemed to tidy himself up before—

“I am honored to meet the great ancient hero, Lady Teresia.”

Not even trying to hide his excitement, he offered his most respectful greeting to Teresia, who had been watching their battle from behind, attempting to imitate the etiquette of his old homeland that he barely remembered.

But Teresia’s reaction to his greeting was somewhat strange.

“…Huh? Ancient?”

“Yes, Lady Teresia, you established our mercenary guild over 2,000 years ago before disappearing… Could it be that…?”

As he asked with a hint of suspicion about what had suddenly occurred to him, Teresia, immediately understanding his implication, spoke with a somewhat deflated expression.

“Yeah. That’s right. The disappearance was probably when my personal craft got caught in that psychic storm… When I opened my eyes, I was here. It wasn’t that long ago. About… a little over a week.”

As Teresia glibly explained how she had been swept up in a space-time related psychic storm and suddenly found herself here, she suddenly seemed to feel somewhat uncomfortable with the gaze of those intimidating hulks staring at her.

“Um… so how is the mercenary guild now… No, more importantly, who are you?”

Unable to bear it any longer, she asked with an uncharacteristically cautious attitude, and these remnants of the mercenary group, who felt as if they had met their idolized hero, no longer even attempted to hide their excitement as they explained themselves with all their might.

They explained that they were captains of a mercenary group affiliated with the guild she had established, and that it was now 2,000 years since her time, as well as the reason they had arrived here.

While Teresia had been feeling the respect in his voice and found it a bit burdensome, her expression suddenly turned serious when she heard the reason they had arrived on this planet.

“Excuse me, Yon?”

“Yes, Lady Teresia. Is there a problem?”

“When you arrived here… I mean, what year was it when you were on the ship?”

“It was 8712 AD. But why are you asking that…?”

Looking at the puzzled Yon, Teresia closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath, then reached into the air and pulled out something—a kind of poster.

“Here, take a look at this. I found it after arriving on this planet.”

Surprisingly, the poster Teresia handed over had:

[■ear 10,000 Commemoration ■■lebra■ion]

[Enjoy at Alpha Cen■■ri!]

Though it was badly worn with most of the ink peeled off, the clear number “10,000” remained on the old poster.

In other words, not only Teresia but also these eight “Winter Wolves” had crossed time.

“…I see.”

Naturally, this shocking fact was enough to break Yon’s mind, which had been barely holding on until now.

They had been attacked by enemies while going on vacation, separated from the subordinates whose lives they had entrusted to each other, and on top of that, they had forcibly crossed at least 1,300 years to arrive in this era.

Until now, he had been escaping reality through a sense of responsibility and the joy of meeting a hero from the past, but recalling that the cause of all this was their desire to reach the resort planet faster with his subordinates, he finally became completely mentally exhausted.

“Just… let me be alone for a while…”

“Sure, no problem. Take all the time you need.”

Teresia, who had roughly predicted the situation from his reaction, stepped aside, and just as Yon was about to trudge away—

Stagger—thud!

Yon collapsed right there on the spot.

※ ※ ※

How much time had passed since he collapsed like that?

“Ugh, ugh…”

As Yon, whose mind and body had somewhat stabilized, opened his eyes and raised his body with a groan that sounded like he was dying, his eyes fell upon a shabby log cabin.

“You’re lucky. Are you conscious?”

“La-Lady Teresia…?”

He also noticed Teresia sitting in a corner of the cabin, fiddling with something in her hands, wearing what appeared to be wolf skin over her bodysuit.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Where… is this?”

“A village where the refugees I protect on this planet live.”

Hearing this, Yon listened carefully and could hear faint but natural sounds of people going about their lives.

Children’s laughter, the sound of flowing water and burning fire, girls chattering, and even the sound of someone chopping firewood with an axe.

It was the kind of sound he used to hear when he occasionally came down to stay in his hometown village on his mother planet.

“I see… yes.”

But for him, this had the opposite effect.

Reminded of the scenery from those days that he would probably never return to, he sat down dejectedly.

The aftermath of losing everything he had built over a lifetime due to a moment’s mistake had transformed a man once called a planet’s savior into such a pitiful and pathetic figure.

And finding this sight too painful to watch, Teresia, imitating a ‘heroic’ demeanor contrary to her spontaneous, interest-driven, selfish nature, said:

“Yon, your name is Yon, right?”

“…Yes, Lady Teresia.”

“Good, Yon. I’m planning to go find my personal craft now.”

“Personal craft… you say?”

He knew what a personal craft was. When referring to the mercenary Teresia’s personal craft, it meant the Titan Armor, a bipedal war machine.

That war machine, used in ancient Earth, had mostly been retired due to its extremely low efficiency compared to tanks and the decline in manufacturing technology, with only a small portion being used for industrial purposes. However, the story changed when Teresia ‘discovered’ it.

Her personal craft, which she discovered deep underground while exploring the ruins of an ancient civilization that had once taken root in this land, changed the paradigm with its incredible mobility that seemed impossible for its size and its very high psychic conductivity.

Of course, when it was revealed that this high performance was possible because the frame, which could be considered the skeleton of the machine, was entirely made of psychic knight material, the trend quickly faded.

“Yes. According to the locator, it exists on this planet, but I have no way to find it. So… I’d like you to lend me your strength.”

“Me…?”

“I’d like your comrades to protect this village. I’m a bit uneasy by myself, you see.”

Even though she could probably find it perfectly well on her own, Teresia directly proposed this to boost his morale.

The ancient hero, the hero he admired, was proposing that they go together to find the weapon she once used but had now lost.

It seemed like a scenario straight out of a cheap internet novel, but it was enough to reignite the rusted engine in his heart.

“I’ll accompany you. I’ll be ready right away…”

“Meet me at the village entrance.”

“Yes!”

Teresia looked at him with satisfaction as he answered, then opened the door of the log cabin and left. Yon, too, steeled his resolve and began to put on his stripped equipment that was scattered around.

The passion he thought he had lost was ignited once again.