It was hard to see through the heavy downpour in the dark. However, Chi-Woo could tell that there were about seven or eight people surrounding him. Every single one of them was wearing a dark robe with their hoods pressed down to conceal their faces. After a momentary silence, the one who was holding Ru Hiana spoke.
“Are you guys the new heroes who came this time?” The person had a low, husky voice. “Since the most recent ones were from the sixth recruitment…I guess you’re from the seventh recruitment.” It seemed the person knew their identities.
“Who are you?” the long-headed man asked quickly but calmly.
“Ah, I’m right then. How lucky. I found four at once.” The woman sounded quite relieved.
“Can we take your refusal to tell us your identities to mean that you are our enemies?”
“Aren’t you quite the impatient one?” another robed figure said snarkily, prompting ripples of chuckles from his other companions.
“Hm. I’m a guard captain of a group of wanderers who had either lost or were chased away from their hometown. Is that enough for a first-meeting introduction?”
“You’re an original inhabitant of Liber?” The long-headed man cast his doubts. “You know of our existences despite that. Does it mean you’ve also met the previous recruitments before?”
“You sure are sharp. But I guess there’s no way a great hero would be a half-wit.” The robed figure’s voice had a hint of mockery.
“What happened to the previous recruitments? Are they still alive?”
“That could be a long story or a short story depending on how you think of it,” the captain answered. After a pause, the captain lifted one shoulder and said, “If you want to hear more, follow me.”
“Follow you guys? Where to?” the other hero, who had been listening quietly, asked. “Why are you asking us to follow?”
“Our group’s seer wants to meet you.”
“A seer?”
“Our group leader. She’s the one who makes decisions for our activities. It’s thanks to her that we got to meet you in the middle of this night.” The captain continued, “She told us that a group of heroes from the seventh recruitment would be wandering around in a high place, so we should secure the safety of at least one more person. And I’m just carrying out her command.” In other words, the captain was telling them that she was simply following orders, and they should carry the rest of the conversation with the seer. Then the captain added, “I know you all are wondering about many things and must be really confused right now, but as someone who knows the situation here better than you, I advise you all to prioritize leaving this place as fast as possible.”
The hero Chi-Woo didn’t know said with annoyance, “My gosh. We can’t just trust these people and follow them, can we?”
“Then you’re welcome to stay behind,” the captain said assuredly in response to the hero’s grumbling.
“What?”
“I won’t pressure you. I don’t want to drag someone who is so suspicious of us by force, either.” The captain’s voice was resolute and without anger. It almost seemed like she had already accepted their responses or given up on changing them. Then she said, “I have a general idea of who you are and why you have come to this complete hellhole. I don’t want to fight those who have come to our aid. At the same time, I don’t want to be seen as a suspicious figure, either.”
Then the captain said more threateningly, “Since you four are probably not the only ones who have come to this place, I hope you will make your decision quickly. Are you going to trust and follow us, or are you staying behind? We can’t wait for long.” It seemed that the captain would look for other heroes instead if they refused to follow him.
“Can I just ask you one thing?” Chi-Woo, who had been listening patiently, spoke up. He turned to Ru Hiana and asked, “Why did you do that to her?”
“Hm…I suppose I should explain that clearly.” The captain spoke in a surprisingly relaxed voice. “I know this is a bad look, but it couldn’t be helped. I’m not letting her get us all killed.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Has none of you met that guy yet?”
The hero who wasn’t the long-headed man gulped. It seemed he knew what the captain was talking about.
“It’s the same for the other areas. There’s a really dangerous being roaming around this place. Since we’re not near their nest, and the noises we made were muffled by the heavy downpour of rain. Though, we were able to find you all. If it hadn’t rained, we wouldn’t have come out to look for you all regardless of what the seer said.”
‘A really dangerous being…are they talking about that?’ Chi-Woo recalled what had happened right after he landed on this planet and shuddered. Then he announced, “Let’s follow them.”
“Good. It’s not a fancy place, but it would at least let you escape the rain,” the captain said, satisfied. Then she turned to the other two. “What about you?”
“I will also go,” the long-headed man said without further pondering after side-eyeing Chi-Woo.
“…You too?” the other hero said, clearly displeased about the situation.
“That leaves you. What are you going to do?” the captain asked. “Again, we won’t take you by force. We may also leave this woman behind if you wish, but you must only release her after we leave the area.”
The hero closed his mouth. After clicking his tongue, he raised both hands and said, “Smack. I guess I have no choice.”
“That’s decided then. As for this woman…” The captain glanced at her. Eyes blood-shot, Ru Hiana tried to speak under her binds.
“Please bring her with us,” the long-headed man requested. “Regardless of her situation, she’s our companion with the same goal. I know you’re reluctant, but we can’t leave her like this.”
“We can’t have her making a ruckus in the place we are going to.”
“I will try talking to her.”
“Hm…Fine. But I will keep her in this state until we arrive there,” the captain said and turned around.
The rain poured down with no sign of stopping. Chi-Woo’s clothes were soaked to his underwear, but he hoped the rain would pour down harder. This was because the captain had told him the sound of rain was raising their chance of survival by at least a bit. Besides that, the destination was further than he expected. He was sure that quite some time had passed now, but the captain continued walking.
‘Urgh, ouch.’ He had been walking so much that his groin was hurting.
“We have arrived,” finally, the captain announced. A light appeared from a distance, and stars faintly sparkled in the night sky. They had arrived at the wanderers’ campsite. However, Chi-Woo was shocked when he saw the place. He had expected their camp to be the size of at least a small village, but there were only about six or seven tents. He wasn’t expecting some European village site; however, the camp was so shabby that even the long-headed man was slightly surprised. The other hero didn’t even hide his astonishment.
“Seems our humble camp doesn’t meet our esteemed guests’ standards. Considering the situation, we can’t offer you much, but you all would at least be able to escape the rain.” The captain chuckled after seeing the heroes’ reactions. As they approached the camp, one of the guards hurriedly rushed toward them.
“You’ve come back, ma’am.”
“Yeah, as you can clearly see. Who told you that you could leave your post?”
“That’s not—”
Huuuuuu—Ump!
At that moment, a scream burst out. It sounded like their mouth was quickly blocked before they could scream longer. Now that Chi-Woo thought about it, the inside of the place seemed chaotic even though it was deep in the night.
“What is it?” the captain asked sharply.
“There’s some trouble. Once again, Lady Hawa…”
Chi-Woo and the others couldn’t hear them clearly because they were talking in hushed tones. At the guard’s statement, the captain clicked her tongue. “I’ll go there soon. But first, you guys follow me.” The captain immediately went in and crossed the camp with great speed. They passed through small and decrepit tents and went into a tent that was relatively big compared to the others. The inside of the tent was dark, but two torches lit up the area.
“Rest for now. I’ll bring the seer soon,” the captain replied curtly and untied the rope and mouthpiece restraining Ru Hiana.
“You…!” As soon as she was freed, Ru Hiana ferociously glared at the captain and was about to shout when—
Swish.
Ru Hiana froze with her mouth open. She felt a cold sensation on her neck. A blade with a blue glint was pressed to her neck. “Don’t yell.” The captain’s voice was emotionless. “Even if this camp is impoverished and shabby, I’m still the captain here.” While staring at Ru Hiana’s trembling mouth, she continued, “Even though all of you might not really care about what happens to this camp—I am willing to do anything to protect it.”
Ru Hiana tightly closed her mouth, and the captain smirked. “Since it seems like some of my words are getting through to you, I’ll give you one piece of advice. I won’t stop you if you quietly go out of this camp, but before you go, you should at least meet the seer. She’s a lot kinder and more knowledgeable than me.” The captain withdrew her dagger. “The rain is coming down strongly, so it would be okay if all of you just talk quietly. Even then, don’t make any loud noises if you don’t want to start running in all directions at the dead of night.” Then the captain said she’d return soon and hurriedly went outside.
The tent became quiet.
“Why don’t you rest for now?” The long-headed man started a conversation with Ru Hiana, who was sitting in a daze. “We don’t know anything right now. If we gain more information, we might come up with some solutions. It’s always a good idea to rest beforehand to prepare for the future.”
Even though he made his suggestions with a soft tone, Ru Hiana showed no reaction. However, since she wasn’t acting rashly, the long-headed man sat down and didn’t pressure her to reply. Chi-Woo also put down his wet bag and sat down on it.
The other hero let out a very deep sigh. “Seriously, what kind of situation is this…”
Chi-Woo stared at the hero who was looking around while complaining. Chi-Woo hadn’t been able to get a clear look of his face since it was dark outside, and the hero had been staying in the back, but now that Chi-Woo was able to get a better look, the hero did seem familiar to him. The man had short black hair and black eyes. He looked a bit rough and had the face of a thug who’d smoke a cigarette while holding an ice cream cone in a local convenience store. Unlike the long-headed man, he looked ordinary. He didn’t even look like a foreigner to Chi-Woo.
The man smacked his lips and quietly sat next to Chi-Woo. “Hey, bro.” Even though they’ve barely met, he called Chi-Woo ‘bro’ in a friendly manner. “I’m asking this just in case, but are you from Planet Glaze? Cause you look like you’re the same species as me.”
“No, I’m not.” Chi-Woo shook his head. He had thought they looked alike, but it was the first time he heard of Planet Glaze.
“Ah, as expected. Figured as much. In this enormous galaxy, it’s hard to meet a friend from back home. Unless it’s an exception like Earth. Where are you from then?”
Chi-Woo was slightly caught off guard when the man mentioned Earth. What did he mean by exception? Holding the thought, Chi-Woo replied, “Well, you know, very far…even if I tell you the name, you probably won’t know.”
“Oh man, it’s not even a big secret to reveal your Planet’s name,” the man complained and extended his hand. “Anyway, since we’ve been brought together despite the odds, why don’t we exchange names? I’m Eval Sevaru.”
‘A unique name’, Chi-Woo thought as he held Sevaru’s hand.
“The number of worlds I’ve saved is about two, and…anyway, what about you, bro?”
It seemed that heroes categorized themselves by the number of worlds they saved. Chi-Woo replied, “It’s not an important name. Please just call me according to your preference.”
“Ah~ Wow, why is this bro so cold?” Eval Sevaru grumbled. “Your Planet is a secret~ Your name is also a secret~ Are you one of the 12 Families or something? Hmm?”
He hit right on the mark. Chi-Woo tried to hide his emotions and gave a flat smile.
“Just leave it. Everyone has their own circumstances.” The long-headed man intervened. Eval Sevaru snorted.
“What about you, Mr. Spiky Head?”
“I’m Zelit.”
Chi-Woo had almost laughed at ‘Mr. Spiky Head’; hearing the name ‘Zelit’ gave him an even harder time holding in his amusement.
‘Is he a Zealot?[1]’ This had actually been Chi-Woo’s first thought when he saw the long-headed man.
‘That was dangerous.’ Chi-Woo had almost laughed at a person’s name; there was no greater social faux pas than that.
Eval Sevaru looked strangely at Chi-Woo, who suddenly began breathing in and out in a controlled manner. Then he lied down with a careless attitude and said, “Ah, man. This is the first time I regretted joining a mission as soon as I arrived. That being we’re running away from can’t be some sort of low-level monster here, right? If they are, we’re really fucked.” He let out a deep sigh. “But I guess even if they’re not, we’re still fucked. I never heard about a World that sprouted out mid-level bosses from the very beginning.”
Eval Sevaru grumbled and blinked two times. A hologram appeared above his eyes. He tapped the hologram and let out a humorless chuckle. “Wow. Look at the user information. I’m basically crawling on the floor. My stats are so low.”
Chi-Woo perked up at the mention of user information.
“Even though we aren’t getting any support…this is still a bit too…I really should have trained my body…” Eval Sevaru’s words no longer reached Chi-Woo’s ears.
Words like system window and stats were common in novels and games about “otherworlds”.
‘Then, what’s my status like?’ Chi-Woo could not help but be curious given the situation. He looked down at his left wrist. ‘How do I turn this on?’
If he asked the other heroes here, they’d find out that he was a non-hero, so he tapped his wrist with his thumb the way he saw Giant Fist do before.
Flash!
He was startled when a hologram suddenly flashed in front of his eyes. He gulped and looked at his hologram. After a short moment, he nodded.
‘Ah. That’s why…’ He now understood why Laguel had told him that he would quickly adjust to the hologram function if he was from Earth. Chi-Woo felt like he was looking at his phone. Rather, there seemed to be fewer functions in the hologram than his phone. Even though there were many things he wanted to try pressing, he first clicked on the human-shaped emoticon with the word ‘user information’ on it. Then the hologram’s screen changed.
1. Zealot from Starcraft ☜