Ch.17559. Another World: Aileutan (1)

Still early morning.

The group was walking along the outskirts of the forest they had entered through the gate.

The forest was vast, requiring several days to traverse. But finally, the party discovered traces of civilization.

“There’s a village beyond there.”

At my words, the three stopped. For people who had fallen into another world without any supplies, everyone looked surprisingly fine.

With Yuri being highly skilled at hunting, obtaining food wasn’t an issue.

Moreover, Yuri was proficient not only in hunting but also in various survival skills.

The others had also learned basic survival skills at Ains.

There were certainly monsters in the forest, but they posed little threat to our group.

‘There were even S-rank magical beasts here and there. But with our current party…’

If ranked, this forest would be classified as a high-grade restricted area. But for the elite members of Flame who had defeated Seomun-yeom, a villain who transcended even SS-rank…

So the past few days felt less like traversing dangerous terrain and more like a private camping trip for the four of us.

‘Though… it was somewhat embarrassing camping.’

All three wanted me every night. I too no longer had any intention of hiding my feelings or putting on pretenses.

To prevent fights between the three, I secretly met with each one at night. Naturally, there were times when we shared the same bedding.

They all must have noticed to some extent. From what I could tell, there seemed to be an unspoken acceptance.

‘Even though I’m near death, is it okay to be this promiscuous?’

In truth, if this were Earth rather than Ailetan, I wouldn’t have had the stamina for such nights.

But in Ailetan, where the power of the Divine Beasts had strengthened, my physical condition was surprisingly good.

Even with that divine power, repairing my damaged mana heart would be impossible. Still, at this rate, obtaining Epitheus shouldn’t be a problem.

‘Though brief, training was also possible.’

The monsters filling the forest actually proved helpful.

The multi-element resonance compression spell taught to me by Secretary General Choi Seung-hoon.

That spell, combined with the special power of the Divine Beast, was now demonstrating power beyond the theoretical limits of magic.

Even elite teams from major corporate guilds had to invest significant time and resources to tackle S-rank monsters.

But now, I could instantly reduce S-rank monsters to ashes with the Vermilion Bird’s fire.

‘If I weren’t dying, world domination might have been possible.’

With such an absurd thought, I surveyed the surroundings. Meanwhile, the village visible in the distance had drawn closer.

The group cautiously concealed themselves.

Since the small drone linked to my in-ear device was still functioning, I launched it to observe the village.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

Soso quickly asked, noticing my expression.

“It seems something’s happened to that village.”

It resembled a European rural village rather than a modern city. The place was burning.

Here and there, monsters like orcs and goblins could be seen. And people were being killed by them.

“Then we must hurry…”

At Yuri’s words, everyone looked at me. We still knew very little about Ailetan.

Since Earth and Ailetan had partially merged, some information was known, but that information was already over 30 years old.

‘Neither Yuri nor Soso are natives of Ailetan, but from Earth.’

But there wasn’t much to worry about. Few could stand against our group now.

I didn’t think there would be someone as powerful as Juan Soriano in such a small village.

‘Anyway, to gather information, we need to meet Ailetanians directly.’

And in any world, monsters were never allies of humans.

As Flame’s operator, I gave instructions to the three.

“Let’s hurry and save that village.”

Everyone nodded. The group rushed toward the village in unison.

***

The village was in chaos.

Being on the forest outskirts, there were no high-ranking S-class monsters like those our group had encountered, but dozens of A-rank or higher monsters were present.

‘There seem to be guards matching the monsters in number, but…’

However, the guards’ skill level appeared inadequate. By the time our group entered the village, they were already being slaughtered one-sidedly.

“!@# !@# @!#$$! ##@$!!”

But the tide quickly turned.

The monsters that had been carrying out the one-sided massacre soon found themselves in the opposite position.

This was because our group, upon entering the village, eliminated all the monsters.

“Nothing special.”

Soso lightly flicked the blood from his shadow blade into the air.

Then he sheathed the sword back into its scabbard.

“Looks like I won’t even need to step in.”

As Arini said, just a brief movement from Yuri and Soso had annihilated the monsters.

Naturally, no special operation was needed.

The villagers and guards, who had been facing certain death moments ago but suddenly found themselves alive, wore expressions of bewilderment.

“%^@#$!! @#$$!! %$%^&…!!”

They kept shouting at us, but we couldn’t understand their words.

‘Definite proof this is Ailetan.’

The in-ear device was still working. The fact that the in-ear device, capable of interpreting any language from civilized regions, wasn’t functioning meant this was indeed another world.

The villagers seemed relieved, but they still kept a cautious distance from our group.

‘Our attire must be unfamiliar to them.’

Yuri was wearing her usual office attire. Soso was dressed in traditional Muguk clothing, but this village seemed to be inhabited by western Ailetanians.

‘They might be closer to Yuri’s Slavian Kingdom.’

The villagers resembled Europeans, so that thought wasn’t wrong.

But shortly after, someone who appeared to be the captain of the guards and a representative of the villagers approached our group.

They bowed respectfully.

“@$#$@#%!!! $%#$%!!”

Though I couldn’t understand, they seemed to be expressing gratitude for saving them.

They then addressed Arini, whose attire as a nun was relatively comprehensible, but Arini had no knowledge of Ailetan language.

At that moment, everyone in our group looked at Yuri.

“Um… I only know Slavian, not other Ailetan languages! I can hear some words, but I really don’t understand what they’re saying…”

Yuri, uncharacteristically flustered, replied.

Slavian Kingdom, once part of Ailetan. Even Yuri, who was from Slavia, was at a loss, so everyone fell silent.

‘If we can’t communicate like this, our purpose in coming to Ailetan…’

The group’s objective was to find the power of the remaining Divine Beast, the White Tiger, and head to the sacred spear Epitheus.

But I soon found a solution.

‘The version of the in-ear device I’m using…’

The in-ear device was the pinnacle of human engineering. And Earth’s linguists wouldn’t have remained idle for 30 years.

They must have been studying the various languages of Ailetan that merged through dimensional fusion.

Language settings for countries not normally used might be possible with the in-ear device.

‘There it is.’

[Advanced Settings – Language Extension (Ailetan)]

After changing the in-ear device settings, the villagers’ words began to translate naturally.

“We can’t understand what they’re saying. And their attire is completely unfamiliar…”

In response to a guard’s comment, an elderly village chief hastily replied.

“Wait. I’ve seen people wearing such unique clothes before. Definitely people from another world who came to Ailetan 30 years ago…”

As they said, parts of Earth must have dimensionally merged with Ailetan. The elderly chief seemed to recognize our attire.

“But they’re different from ordinary otherworlders! These people saved our lives!”

“And they’re incredibly strong. They easily dealt with powerful magical beasts that we couldn’t even face…”

“C-could they be Arel’s apostles?”

“Arel’s apostles? T-that might be it. No, it must be! They handled monsters that even the Count’s knights couldn’t capture so easily… They’re definitely not like us!”

“Arel… Oh Arel! These people have directly shown us the grace of the great god!”

They were hastily drawing their own conclusions.

‘This could go on endlessly.’

Now that I could understand them, there was no need to remain silent. I spoke through the in-ear device’s translation function.

“Please calm down. Would you mind having a brief conversation with us?”

At that moment, the villagers startled and looked at me. After calming my equally surprised companions, I moved to sit with the villagers.

***

The place our group had entered was a small village belonging to the territory of Lisen.

After receiving a simple meal and very polite expressions of gratitude in the village, our group moved to the castle where the lord of Lisen resided, accompanied by the captain of the guards.

“This village is too small to properly host great people like yourselves! So I’ll guide you to the lord!”

The guard captain named Hant led us.

‘There are no cars in Ailetan. I suppose that’s to be expected.’

Even though Earth people had crossed over through dimensional fusion, they were probably not numerous compared to the entire population of Ailetan. And unlike the Ailetanians on Earth who had integrated well with Earth people, the Earth people who crossed over to Ailetan seemed to have struggled to adapt to this world.

“Unlike you apostles, they couldn’t properly use mana.”

As a result, they died easily, unable to adapt to the mana concentration here, which was completely different from Earth.

‘Then the traces of Earth people we saw in that forest…’

We had seen countless ruins and remains of the dead.

So it seems the scientific civilization of Earth didn’t properly merge with Ailetan.

Of course, there were some Earth survivors, but they didn’t seem to be mainstream like the Ailetanians on Earth.

I listened to this information from Guard Captain Hant as we traveled together by carriage.

‘Uncomfortable.’

Naturally, it couldn’t compare to a car. But as I rode, I got somewhat used to it.

After traveling by carriage for three hours, our group finally arrived at the capital of Lisen territory.

It was a city incomparably larger than the village we first arrived at. But compared to Korean cities, it still felt rural.

“This place seems to be Arns Castle. And geographically, it belongs to the Kingdom of Trellia.”

“Trellia Kingdom. You mean the place once called an empire?”

Yuri nodded at Soso’s words.

“Yes. I’ve studied Ailetan history separately. I heard that the Slavian Kingdom was once part of the Trellian Empire.”

Ailetan. Trellia was once a vast empire that ruled the western continent.

But even before the dimensional fusion, Trellia had already declined, barely maintaining its status as a kingdom.

“Still, I understand it serves as a spiritual pillar in the western continent of Ailetan.”

Then our group had come to the right place.

The lord of this Lisen territory was said to be a count. So he must be a nobleman with some standing in the Trellian Kingdom.

‘He should know the political situation in Isrand well.’

I heard from Guard Captain Hant in the carriage.

Just as Earth entered an era of great chaos with gates opening after the dimensional fusion, Ailetan too experienced significant turmoil 30 years ago with a rapid increase in monsters.

‘That chaos continues even now, he said.’

And amidst that chaos, there would surely be clues to finding the power of the White Tiger.

“Hant Bauman. Deputy Captain of Lisen’s 5th Guard. I sent a messenger ahead, so entry permission should have been granted!”

The carriage soon arrived at the lord’s mansion.

When our group arrived, all the soldiers guarding the mansion were surprised.

“S-so they have arrived. Please wait a moment!”

And shortly after, people came to personally greet our group.

They too looked very surprised upon seeing us.

“Y-you really came! The very people mentioned in the oracle…!!”

“Without a doubt! They are the sages from the east!”

“Finally… finally they… My goodness!”

The person who appeared to be the lord and someone who looked like a high priest from the local monastery.

“Why are they acting like this?”

Soso asked in a bewildered voice as he got out of the carriage. As all four members of our group disembarked, the lord hurriedly exclaimed.

“They are Arel’s apostles! Everyone bow and show proper respect!”

At the lord’s words, everyone around hastily prostrated themselves. Yuri, Soso, and even Arini wore embarrassed expressions.

Then Arini said.

“They must have been desperately waiting for us.”

I agreed with her assessment. After nearly ten minutes of such greetings, I walked directly to the lord.

The startled lord again showed his respect and spoke.