Chapter 59 – Human? (5)
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Chapter 59 – Human? (5)
Ketal reacted to those words.
“The Forbidden Lands?”
“Yes. A place beyond human cognition. A distorted place. The abominations there can certainly exhibit such anomalies.”
Elene spoke with a face full of certainty.
Ketal pondered.
‘Is this why the quest appeared?’
The quest window that had appeared suddenly after being dormant since he came outside.
Was it related to the Forbidden Lands?
But Aaron spoke with a bitter smile.
“That is impossible, Princess. I’ve told you this before.”
He spoke as if to gently correct her.
“The existence of the Forbidden Lands cannot appear in this world.”
“Hmm?”
Ketal reacted again.
He asked with a curious expression.
“What do you mean they cannot appear? Is it some kind of divine decree?”
“No. It’s not that. The Great Ones thoroughly exclude the beings of the Forbidden Lands as entities of malice.”
Aaron spoke with a calm face as if stating a simple fact.
“It’s simple. The beings of the Forbidden Lands have never once appeared outside. Not since the birth of the Forbidden Lands long ago.”
“Ah.”
Ketal muttered as if understanding.
“It’s a hypothesis based on experience and history.”
“Those beings are so alien and powerful that there would be no reason for them not to come out if they could. But there has never been a record of the Forbidden Lands’s existence appearing. It’s a reasonable hypothesis. Moreover, there’s evidence that supports this theory.”
“Evidence?”
“An ancient emperor’s story.”
“Aha.”
Ketal nodded.
“I know. You mean the old emperor who challenged the White Snowfield and was defeated?”
“Yes. Barely escaping the snowfield, he spoke of the beings that existed there.”
A white snake devouring icebergs.
A white bear causing earthquakes.
A hideous rat polluting the ocean.
And he said,
The most dangerous thing in the White Snowfield was not those monsters.
It was humans.
Gray barbarians with scars on their chests.
“How they survive is unknown, but there are humans in the White Snowfield. If they could come out, wouldn’t they have already come out and influenced the world? The warm continent is far more livable than the freezing snowfield.”
“That’s true.”
Ketal agreed without much comment.
Listening to the story, Elene suddenly seemed to remember something and looked at Ketal.
“Ketal, you have gray hair too, don’t you?”
“…Come to think of it.”
A gray-haired barbarian.
The scar on the chest couldn’t be confirmed, but otherwise, he matched the characteristics of the barbarians in the emperor’s legend.
Ketal smiled and changed the subject.
“By the way, hearing the story makes me curious about something.”
It was a curiosity he had since he came out and heard that there were many Forbidden Lands.
“The emperor conquered the continent, right? Did he conquer other Forbidden Lands besides the White Snowfield?”
When Ketal was in the White Snowfield, he thought the Forbidden Lands referred only to the White Snowfield.
But after coming outside, he found that there were quite a few Forbidden Lands.
Naturally, such a question arose.
“No.”
Aaron shook his head.
“The White Snowfield is one of the oldest Forbidden Lands. Most of the existing Forbidden Lands didn’t exist during the emperor’s time.”
“Oh?”
Ketal’s eyes sparkled with interest.
“Do Forbidden Lands newly occur?”
“Yes.”
“And the reason for that is unknown.”
“If it were known, they would have artificially created Forbidden Lands in enemy nations. No one knows. In fact, there was a kingdom that perished because the Forbidden Lands appeared in their royal capital.”
Aaron spoke lightly and continued.
“There were only a few Forbidden Lands during the emperor’s time.”
It wasn’t just the White Snowfield.
Forbidden Lands like the deep sea where primates lived and the edge of the world existed.
“But they were too difficult to approach. On the other hand, the White Snowfield was in the center of the continent, so he probably thought to deal with the nearest one first.”
“That was the backstory, huh.”
Ketal stroked his chin, intrigued.
“Anyway… there are many Forbidden Lands, and they’ve existed for a very long time. But no one, not even the barbarians of the White Snowfield, has ever come out. It’s assumed that the beings of the Forbidden Lands are bound by some law that prevents them from coming out. This is the common hypothesis.”
“But Aaron, you know. The world has been strange recently.”
“That…”
Aaron couldn’t argue against Elene’s words.
The world was distorting.
In a direction entirely different from before.
Strange rumors were coming from all sorts of places.
Even if only one-tenth of those rumors were true, there was a definite distortion.
“Are you saying that the distortion mentioned by the Princess also affected the Forbidden Lands?”
“It’s possible. Then wouldn’t the distortion that swallowed the kingdom also be explained?”
“That… well, yes.”
Aaron fell silent.
Ketal murmured,
“Are terrible things coming out? That’s not good.”
Tower Master unknowingly looked at Ketal.
Ketal’s expression was very serious.
Whatever he was about to say, he closed his mouth quietly.
“Then, is that the anomaly of the Forbidden Lands?”
“…There is a possibility. It cannot be denied.”
“Hmm.”
Besides the White Snowfield, there were other Forbidden Lands.
Ketal tilted his head.
‘It’s something different.’
* * *
What covered their kingdom could be the presence of the Forbidden Lands.
The story was sorted out.
But that didn’t change anything.
They had to keep moving forward.
The remaining distance was roughly about three days’ worth.
They hastened their steps, and the attacks from the knights continued.
“Return the Princess!”
“Go find her yourself.”
Ketal swung his axe.
The heads and bodies of the knights separated.
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Since they would come back to life anyway, there was no need to hesitate further.
Passing by the corpses, Elene muttered,
“…I remember that face. Killed him three times with this.”
“They’ve always come back unscathed.”
“These damned monsters. They dare to mimic faces I know, devour memories, and swallow our kingdom…!”
Elene’s eyes flashed with anger.
She ground her teeth.
“They must have planned to devour our kingdom unnoticed, quietly building power to spread across the continent. But we won’t let that happen.”
The princess of a fallen kingdom spoke with determination.
“Well…”
And Ketal smiled strangely.
“It doesn’t seem as simple as that.”
“Yes?”
“They are not human. That much is certain. So, what is their purpose?”
“To swallow the Lutein Kingdom and gain power, reaching out to the continent…?”
“It doesn’t seem as straightforward as that.”
Swoosh!
Arrows flew.
Ketal casually waved his hand to deflect them.
“They are trying to stop us, but they are not trying to kill you.”
Arrows and blades.
All were aimed at Ketal.
Not once were Elene and Aaron targeted.
“They really should have killed you if their goal was to swallow the kingdom. But there was no sign of such intention.”
“That… That could be because they haven’t been exposed yet and are feigning ignorance.”
“That possibility exists, too.”
Ketal affirmed.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
“Ah.”
Ketal grabbed Elene’s arm.
Elene’s face turned red.
At that moment, the knights rushed out.
“You!”
“Die!”
They swung their swords at Ketal.
And Ketal pulled Elene towards him, shielding her with his body.
The knights’ swords were aimed at Elene.
“Huh?”
“What the!”
The knights recoiled and swung their swords.
In their movements, there was a strong determination not to harm the princess.
“Die!”
“You! Cowardly…!”
Thud.
The knights fell, splattering blood.
“…You, you!”
Aaron, who had been watching silently, shouted.
“How dare you use the princess as a shield!”
“That part I apologize for. But it was necessary to confirm.”
They confirmed that they didn’t want to kill the princess.
Ketal shrugged.
“If it were a feint, there would be no reason to turn away swords in a situation like just now. They really don’t want to kill you.”
“…Huh?”
“If their goal was to swallow your kingdom, there would have been plenty of opportunities to kill you over the past year. But they didn’t.”
Instead, loose surveillance helped the princess successfully escape.
Confusion spread across Elene’s face.
“Huh, huh?”
“And that’s not the only strange thing. They are attacking us guerrilla-style.”
Even if they all rush in, it doesn’t make them a match.
So, it’s more reasonable to wear them down guerrilla-style and aim for the last blow.
It’s a rational approach.
“But it’s only rational for humans. Why would these immortal monsters divide and attack? It would make more sense to rush in all at once, block the path, and resurrect again.”
But that’s not the only strange thing.
It’s nighttime now.
They settled down and took a rest.
Ketal spoke while cooking.
“They don’t attack at night.”
“…Well, they need rest too.”
“Monsters need rest?”
If they were human, it would make sense.
They were moving at a fast pace.
The knights were wearing heavy gear, making it very difficult to catch up.
So, it was natural for the knights to rest at night too.
But these were monsters.
Something that would resurrect even if killed, mimicking humans.
There was no reason for them to follow human logic and morals.
“They don’t behave as monsters. They adhere to rules as if they were humans.”
“….”
Elene and Aaron fell silent.
Certainly, that was strange.
Upon reflection, they could have easily subdued Elene and Aaron and thrown them into prison at any time.
Since even the kingdom had changed like them, there was nothing to fear.
But they didn’t.
They didn’t even try to stop them from calling for a mage to identify their identity.
“It seems like returning to such simple thinking isn’t the solution.”
Ketal looked at Elene and asked,
“Do you know exactly what they want?”
“…No.”
Knowing that they had turned into monsters, she had never spoken to them.
Of course not. She wasn’t stupid enough to shout out her identity to monsters mimicking humans.
“In that case, my task is simple. Just wait for a moment.”
With that, Ketal’s body disappeared.
For a moment, the two were bewildered.
“…Wait a minute.”
Aaron’s face stiffened.
One possibility flashed through his mind.
Could it be?
And his ominous suspicion was correct.
“Aaaargh! Barbarian! What are you doing!”
Ketal returned.
But he wasn’t alone.
In his hand, he held one of the knights.
“K-Ketal?”
“Princess?”
The knight looked surprised as he glanced at Elene.
Elene stepped back in shock.
“You both stayed in the same kingdom and didn’t even talk to each other. It’s unfortunate to be hostile to each other without knowing what the other wants.”
“You! What are you doing!”
Aaron shouted in horror.
The Tower Master chuckled.
‘This guy is crazy.’
Ketal chuckled.
“How about having a sincere conversation between humans and monsters for once?”
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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