Chapter 24 : Modern Exploration
by fnovelpia
“How did this happen?”
A blonde girl with snow-white skin looks around.
A doll-like girl with beautiful violet pupils.
Joan of Arc.
It was Jeanne.
The girl showed surprise at the changed scenery.
To her, it must have seemed as if she had been transported from the stake to a marketplace.
But it was too early to be shocked just yet.
“Jeosun, take a look outside.”
Jeanne’s violet eyes widened like a rabbit’s at the reflection in the glass window.
“My goodness, the metal things are moving.”
Her cute reaction made me smile.
Beyond the window where Jeanne was looking, a gray city filled with moving cars stretched out.
The ‘metal things’ she was referring to were automobiles.
“This is the world I live in. It seems you have been transported with me, Jeanne.”
“This place is…”
Jeanne looked out the window with curiosity.
“It’s completely different from France.”
“Simply put, this is the future.”
I explained the modern era to Jeanne in a way she could understand.
This world was six centuries—600 years—into the future from 15th-century France.
Though I couldn’t say it was exactly the same world, I left out that detail.
Just accepting that this was the future would already be overwhelming for Jeanne.
Explaining parallel universe theories on top of that would be excessive.
“Then, Jeosun, are you a person from the future?”
“You could say that.”
“Then I really came to the future with you.”
Jeanne seemed surprised but was also beginning to accept it.
After all, whenever she faced a life-threatening situation, I had always warned her in advance.
Still, I was just as shocked.
‘I never expected her to be transported with me.’
I had saved Jeanne, but I had never imagined she would follow me here.
In my past experiences with other worlds, artifacts had crossed over, but never a person.
‘Is history being distorted?’
The system referred to Jeanne as a “distorted one.”
Since she was supposed to have died at the stake, her survival had caused an error in history.
And so, history had expelled her as an anomaly.
As a result, I was unable to receive my reward, the “Banner of the Saints,” but it didn’t matter.
As long as Jeanne was safe, I could do without that banner.
Even without it, I already had two legendary artifacts.
As I smiled at Jeanne, who was marveling at the world around her, something happened.
[A new entry has been added.]
A system message appeared, and an unfamiliar catalog surfaced.
▶ Transcendent Catalog
==
Joan of Arc
“Transcendent?”
Curious, I opened Jeanne’s entry, revealing her details.
[Saved Maiden Joan of Arc]
[Rank: Legendary]
[Attribute: Holy]
[Current Duration: 6 hours]
[Re-summon Cooldown: 2 hours]
- The Saint of Salvation, Joan of Arc, is a Catholic saint who saved France during the Hundred Years’ War.
She was destined to perish in flames, but her fate was miraculously overturned.
Reading Jeanne’s status, my eyes widened in shock.
“Jeanne… is legendary?”
The Jeanne I knew was just an ordinary country girl who didn’t even know how to wield magic.
A simple girl who had been forced into sacrifice by the flag of the saint and a false stigmata.
But now, that same ordinary girl had become “legendary.”
It was shocking, but I could understand why.
In this world, even relics of famous figures possessed power.
Let alone Jeanne, who was not a relic but an actual person, and whose recognition was global.
Joan of Arc was known as a saint by almost everyone in the world.
The only saint with comparable recognition was the Virgin Mary.
As long as countless people remembered Joan of Arc as a saint and revered her as a hero, her power would never fade.
I had given up the saint’s flag, only to gain the saint herself.
But still—
“Holy attribute?”
Seeing Jeanne’s attribute, I tilted my head.
“Does that kind of attribute exist?”
I had heard of the light attribute, but never the holy attribute.
Feeling curious, I set aside my doubts for now.
I had to check on Jeanne’s condition first.
She had been imprisoned for so long and had just escaped the stake.
But my worries were unnecessary.
“Strangely, I feel full of energy.”
Jeanne, fascinated, moved her body around.
There was no sign of exhaustion from her time in captivity.
“Is it because she became legendary?”
It made sense, but there was still something I had to do.
“Let’s change your bandages first.”
I took out fresh bandages from my subspace backpack and removed the bloodied ones wrapped around Jeanne’s back.
And then, I was shocked.
“It’s completely clean.”
Her back was astonishingly smooth.
The stigmata hadn’t disappeared, but the deep wounds had become shallow, and her once-rough skin had turned soft and fair.
The scars had faded, leaving the stigmata looking more like a tattoo.
Just like the real “stigmata” that Saint Francis of Assisi was said to have borne.
“Is something wrong?”
Jeanne asked, puzzled as I stared at her back.
“Does the stigmata hurt?”
“No… Now that you mention it, it doesn’t hurt at all. How is that possible?”
Jeanne also seemed to realize belatedly that she was completely fine, her eyes widening in surprise.
‘Looks like we don’t need bandages anymore.’
Still, just in case, I wiped Jeanne’s back and wrapped a fresh bandage around her.
If someone happened to see this “tattoo,” they might associate it with the stigmata.
‘Better safe than sorry.’
After changing Jeanne’s bandages, a new problem arose.
“Hmm.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Not exactly, but I think you should change clothes.”
Jeanne tilted her head in confusion, looking as angelic as ever, but her outfit was the issue.
She couldn’t just walk around modern society in the same clothes she had worn to her execution in the Middle Ages.
And since I wasn’t exactly an expert on women’s fashion, I called for backup.
─Why? I’m busy right now.
“I’ll give you some allowance, so come to my shop.”
─Right now?
“Yeah, right now.”
─Fine, I’ll be there soon!
The person I called for help was none other than my younger sister, Choi Seoyeon.
“Oppa, are you kidnapping people now?”
“If you keep talking nonsense, you’re not getting your allowance.”
“Who is she?”
Seoyeon whispered to me while eyeing Jeanne, who was sitting politely in the store.
“Her name is Jeanne. She’s a foreign hunter. The association asked me to take care of her.”
“Wow, she’s really pretty.”
Seoyeon didn’t seem to care about my excuse; she was too busy admiring Jeanne.
“Here’s my card. Help Jeanne pick out some clothes.”
“Okay, leave it to me.”
Her eyes sparkled dangerously, like someone eager to play dress-up with a doll.
“If you make her wear anything weird, no allowance for you.”
“Don’t worry. This is my specialty.”
Her confidence was oddly unsettling, but it would be fine.
She took after me, so she had good fashion sense.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Choi Seoyeon, Hunter Choi Jeosun’s younger sister.”
“Oh, so you’re his younger sister?”
Seoyeon tilted her head.
“If I wasn’t his sister, who did you think I was?”
“You two seem so close, I thought you might be his lover.”
Cough!
I cleared my throat at Jeanne’s innocent remark.
“Absolutely not, don’t worry. That will never happen, even if I die and come back to life.”
Seoyeon looked disgusted as she denied it, and Jeanne’s expression brightened slightly.
‘At least communication isn’t an issue.’
Jeanne was a 15th-century European who didn’t know Korean, but thankfully, she could understand Seoyeon just fine.
That meant she shared the language ability I received when traveling between worlds.
Still, just in case, I followed them to the mall.
“I’ll wait here. Go pick out some clothes.”
“Got it.”
As Seoyeon helped Jeanne shop for clothes, I sat at the entrance of the store, waiting.
After about ten minutes, Jeanne emerged from the fitting room.
“What do you think?”
She was wearing a pure white dress.
She looked just like an angel descending from heaven.
“Well? How is it?”
“You did great.”
I immediately transferred 300,000 won to Seoyeon.
“Yes! Oppa, I have something to do, so I’m heading out first!”
So she really was busy.
After Seoyeon rushed off, I turned back to Jeanne.
She kept adjusting her dress, as if she wasn’t used to it.
“Does it look strange?”
“It suits you perfectly.”
The white dress complemented Jeanne’s aura flawlessly.
Good thing I called Seoyeon—she really had an eye for fashion.
Speaking of which—
“Jeanne, aren’t you hungry?”
“Bread is enough for me.”
Even in the midst of war, Jeanne had survived on coarse black bread and watery soup.
It had become a habit for her to say things like that.
Because she had never eaten anything truly delicious before.
All the good food had gone straight into the mouth of that bastard Bishop of Cambrai.
‘Damn bastard.’
I regretted not beating him up more.
I should have knocked him out in the chapel when I had the chance.
“Forget that. Let’s go eat something delicious.”
“Delicious?”
“Yeah. This world has an incredibly advanced food culture.”
I decided the first thing I’d do was get Jeanne a proper meal.
She had probably gone an entire week without food while being interrogated by those corrupt bishops.
“What does ‘food culture’ mean?”
“It means the food here tastes amazing.”
Jeanne’s violet eyes sparkled like gemstones.
She swallowed hard, clearly trying not to show how excited she was.
I chuckled and took her hand.
“Let’s go.”
Samgyeopsal, kimchi, bulgogi, fried chicken…
I was going to introduce Jeanne to Korean food.
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