Ch.17659. Another World Aileutan (2)

“O great Colorless Sage. Do you have anything you wish to say to me?”

The lord bowed deeply to me with his hands clasped together in a very respectful manner.

He was a count of a kingdom, not some insignificant noble. Seeing a middle-aged man like him approach me with such humility caught me off guard for a moment.

‘More importantly, Colorless Sage…?’

I focused on the title he used to address me.

The first mention of the Colorless Key and the Sage came from the book of prophecy discovered in the ancient dungeon.

Although that prophecy was interpreted according to Arel’s will as a sacred text, being from the ancient dungeon, it was actually an ancient book created by the Cross Church of Ailetan.

If that was the case, it wouldn’t be strange for records or prophecies about the Sage to remain in Ailetan.

‘Well, I’ll know the details soon enough.’

I responded to him.

“I would like to speak with you, Lord. However, this current situation is somewhat difficult.”

“Ah, you speak the language of Ailetan… and even our Trellian tongue so fluently! Truly, you are the great Colorless Sage!”

The lord and the priest made the sign of the cross and kept bowing their heads.

‘It’s just the automatic translation from my earpiece.’

But there was nothing wrong with this situation.

As foreigners with many questions, this worked in our favor. With the lord approaching us so humbly, we could easily obtain a lot of information.

“Then I shall escort you and your companions! Please follow me!”

We moved to the lord’s mansion as he guided us.

Befitting a count’s residence, the facilities inside were quite good.

The small village where we first arrived looked as backward as medieval Europe, but the capital of this domain seemed developed enough to remind one of early modern Europe.

The assigned lodgings even had bathrooms, which pleased everyone in our group.

“There was no need to give us separate rooms…”

When everyone was assigned individual rooms, Yuri seemed disappointed. I whispered in her ear, away from the others.

“You can sneak into my room at night if you want.”

Yuri was flustered and blushed. But soon I could see the corners of her mouth turn up slightly in satisfaction.

However, she quickly returned to a sad expression.

Our camping-like life of the past few days had ended. Returning to reality meant she couldn’t help but be conscious of my remaining lifespan.

I reassured her.

“Don’t worry. The fact that prophecies about the Sage exist in present-day Ailetan is surely evidence that we can restore Arel’s power.”

“Yes… it has to be that way.”

After everyone spent some brief personal time, we gathered again in the reception room of the lord’s mansion.

The lord and the priest remained respectful to our group. They introduced themselves as Fritz and Folsen.

“I heard about the Sages directly from His Holiness the Pope in the capital.”

The content they shared matched the prophecy from the ancient dungeon.

Setanus, the red dragon who extinguished Arel’s divinity. And the prophecy that this apocalyptic evil god would resurrect to destroy the world.

And the only hope to stand against this evil god: the divine Sages.

Although Arel’s divinity had already disappeared in Ailetan, they said the content of this prophecy had been secretly passed down in the Cross Church of Ailetan for a long time.

The slight difference was:

In Ailetan’s prophecy, it was mentioned that Sages from another world would come during the time of the apocalypse.

Since our group was from another world from the Ailetanians’ perspective, their prophecy was surprisingly accurate.

And just like on Earth, the physical descriptions of each Sage were mentioned in the prophecy.

The moment they saw Yuri and Arini’s distinctively colored hair, they seemed convinced.

“And our world… Ailetan has already begun its apocalypse.”

It was similar to Earth, which had fallen into chaos due to the red lakes.

Massive numbers of monsters had devastated all of Ailetan. And a new heretical religion following the evil god had emerged and greatly increased its power.

“We call them the Inverse Cross Church.”

They said that the Kingdom of Trellia was also in great crisis because of these heretics.

Once called an empire for its vast size, the Kingdom of Trellia was now in decline. But even with its weakened national power, Trellia was still stronger than the Kingdom of Slavia.

“And the Principality of Slavia has long served as a barrier against monsters from the north of the Kingdom of Trellia. But now…”

It seemed that Trellia referred to the Kingdom of Slavia as a principality.

The north of the old empire was called the Demon King’s Country, a nation of monsters and heretics.

When Slavia, which had been blocking them, suddenly disappeared due to dimensional fusion, a great crisis inevitably came to the Kingdom of Trellia.

“The crisis continues even now. Recently, even the capital of the kingdom suffered a major invasion by heretics… the situation is truly desperate. At this rate, the kingdom must prepare even for its destruction.”

This gave us an understanding of the situation in Ailetan, especially the western continent.

‘Not much different from Earth.’

That explained why the two men were so respectful toward our group.

“But now that the great Sages have descended from the heavens! The Sages will surely restore the light of hope to us!”

Count Fritz spoke while Bishop Folsen continued to make the sign of the cross.

With the fate of their world at stake, it was not something to be taken lightly.

‘But Earth is in the same situation.’

Juan Soriano.

Our group couldn’t do anything about that apostle of the evil god.

‘Our power was insufficient.’

So we probably couldn’t immediately save Ailetan, which was in a crisis no less severe than Earth’s.

But I thought coldly.

‘Still, the fact that the Vatican’s divine manifestation, Arel’s gate, sent us here means there must be something we can do.’

We had to find that possibility here. For my sake and for my companions.

So I continued talking with Count Fritz for quite some time.

And in that conversation, I obtained unexpected information.

“Even the honorable banner of our Trellian Royal Knights, the White Knights… even the sacred White Tigris banner is now on the verge of breaking…”

“Wait. Did you say White Tigris?”

“Yes. You might not know about the Tigris. It is a very fierce and large beast from the northern lands.”

That description was undoubtedly of a tiger. He continued.

“And the animal symbolizing the Royal Knights is the sacred white Tigris. That’s why we call these knights the White Knights…”

At that moment, I had an intuition.

‘The Royal Knights. They must be connected to the last divine beast.’

The power of the divine beast I needed to obtain last—it was undoubtedly related to the White Tiger.

With this, my destination became clear.

After talking with the count for a while longer, our group headed toward the capital of Trellia the next day.

***

Luenz, the capital of the Kingdom of Trellia.

Various parts of the capital were burning.

The White Knights, the sharpest swords protecting the kingdom, were engaged in fierce battle in the center of the capital.

“We must hold them back with our lives! We cannot surrender Luenz, where the royal palace and the great temple stand, to those monsters! Hold your swords until death!”

“Cut the throats of these damned heretics!”

Aura Swords blazed along their blades.

Although their reputation was so great that it was said no monster could tarnish the white breastplates of the White Knights…

In reality, their breastplates were so tattered that one could hardly discern their original color.

The corpses of knights were visible throughout the streets of the capital.

Nevertheless, the knights raised their swords with burning determination, but soon another knight’s head was severed by an ogre’s massive axe blade.

“Max! Damn it! How dare this filthy monster kill our comrade!!”

A knight cried out in anguish, but soon his arm too was severed by the ogre’s axe.

High Knight Ruhels, who was leading the knights, gritted his teeth.

‘At this rate, we have no chance of winning. If these monsters overcome us, the kingdom is finished.’

Their numbers weren’t that great. Fifty heretic knights and 250 monster soldiers following them.

But even the White Knights, who skillfully used Aura, struggled to face them. Unfortunately, the attack came when the captain of the Royal Knights and the elite forces were away from the capital.

‘Those must be their elites too…’

It seemed like a tactic to break the morale of the king, who had pledged to fight to the death rather than surrender.

If such one-sided slaughter took place in the center of the capital, public opinion would quickly shift toward surrender.

‘Arel, is this truly… the end of Trellia’s fate?’

Not just Trellia.

If Trellia, the strongest power in western Ailetan, fell to the heretic army, there would be no hope anywhere on the continent.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-

Meanwhile, a red ogre tried to cut the throat of one of his subordinates again.

“Trier!”

Ruhels desperately blocked the path to protect his subordinate. Ruhels’ sword collided with the ogre’s axe, creating a harsh sound.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-

When its attack was blocked, the ogre screamed.

GRAAAAARGH-

But soon the creature began to smile maliciously. It was clearly a smile of contempt toward Ruhels.

CLANG- CLANG- CLANG-

The creature swung its axe repeatedly without hesitation.

Ruhels was barely able to block the axe infused with red demonic energy. He was furious to the point where his whole body trembled.

He was clearly at a disadvantage.

‘Even I, a High Knight, cannot handle a single monster soldier…’

This was completely different from the monsters they had faced before.

Although now reduced to a kingdom, Trellia had survived through hundreds of years of history in Ailetan because it had endured countless wars.

The White Knights, too, had constantly gained battle experience at the frontlines of the kingdom rather than remaining in the capital.

Ruhels was also a renowned knight in the kingdom. Yet, he had to prepare for death against just one ogre.

‘Has the time of the apocalypse… truly come?’

Despair filled his heart.

CLANG-

He barely blocked one strike, creating the maximum Aura Sword he could to counter the ogre.

Yet he was barely managing to withstand the creature’s attacks. The moment his mana was completely depleted, he would meet his death.

And that moment came sooner than expected.

SWISH-

The sound of the axe blade cutting through the air was chilling. He couldn’t react to the attack.

‘Is this the end…’

He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut. But Ruhels kept his eyes wide open, glaring at the ogre until the end.

‘At least until the moment of death, my pride as a knight…’

And at that very moment when he sensed death…

BOOM-

Surprisingly, the ogre’s axe blade did not reach his neck.

Instead, he heard something explode.

‘What happened? Did its head explode?’

Ruhels froze for a moment. But soon the smoke from the explosion cleared, and he saw someone.

“Are you alright?”

It was a young man he had never seen before.

‘Black hair?’

A man with black hair, rarely seen in Trellia.

His attire was completely different from Trellian clothing. But Ruhels instinctively felt:

‘This man. He is undoubtedly powerful. But how can such a young man be so strong…’

He looked to be only in his early twenties. Seeing the great flames explode, he was clearly a mage.

But Ruhels hadn’t even properly seen the spell being cast.

‘Even I, a High Knight… couldn’t see the spell being cast for such an attack…’

That fact sent chills down his spine.

But Ruhels regained his composure. This young man was his savior.

‘I should quickly express my gratitude…’

Ruhels opened his mouth.

“Thank you for saving me…”

But the man was gone. No, he had already moved far away.

“H-how can a mage move faster than a knight?”

And a moment later, Ruhels was left with his mouth agape.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-

The blue-white flames created by the young man instantly turned ten ogres to ash.

And soon three young women, apparently his companions, stood beside him. These companions didn’t even seem surprised by the man’s prowess.

It was truly a strength that couldn’t be considered human.

“That man… no, that person is like an apostle of god…”

Ruhels unconsciously made the sign of the cross toward the man.