WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?
[Translator – Aren]
◈ Chapter 355 The Left Eye That Remained Shut (3)
So that was why Weapon Master had been so hard to find.
I mean…sure, I’d thought it was a bit strange as well, but we’d barely had any contact, and we parted ways not long after meeting, so I never had the chance to really notice. This was pretty shocking…
"Then do you know where she lives?”
"Of course we do.”
"Hm. Are you from the same place, by any chance?”
"Ah no…We only know because she’s the only warrior who’s ever overcome the Glacier Trail 20 times.”
"...The Glacier Trail?”
Come to think of it, these guys… When I first realized they were here, I thought they’d be trouble, but now they were proving to be perfect sources of local information. Whenever something came up that we didn’t understand, we could immediately ask those guys.
"Um…We’re not supposed to tell people who aren’t from Norda about this……”
"Right, you’ve been through a lot, so you must be starved. Why not have one of these while you tell us?”
"......!"
The price of information wasn’t too high either. The moment I showed them a few snacks I’d brought along for myself, they looked about ready to sell their souls.
"Brother......."
"W-wait.”
"I-I’ll tell you.”
"Mister, you’re surprisingly good at persuading people……”
Still, if both sides benefited, wasn’t that enough? I concluded the transaction very peacefully.
"Ah, no. They look like they haven’t eaten properly in a while. If they eat something that full of nutrients while in that state, they’ll get sick.”
"Huh?"
"...I didn’t think that far ahead.”
“For now, let’s just make them some porridge. It’s about time for us to eat anyway.”
"Th-then what about this……?”
"Don’t worry, I won’t take it back. But it would be better to eat it later instead of right now. You wouldn’t want an upset stomach when you’re about to leave, right?"
Daniel did intervene halfway through, but things still ended peacefully. We didn’t take the food back from them, and we even said we’d give them some porridge on top of that. So I guess it was only natural.
We quickly swept and cleaned the long-abandoned hearth, then lit a fire.
"This is pretty interesting, though…The hearth is huge. What’s this space for? It looks big enough for someone to lie down in comfortably.”
"Ah, that…that’s a Holder.”
"Holder?”
"Uh, well…A Holder is a Holder… Ah, maybe it’s called that because it’s a place that holds fire. Yes, probably……”
"Aah."
Whatever the origin of the word, the locals roughly explained that it was less a cooking hearth and more like a heating stove you could also cook on.
They were carrying firewood made by chopping up furniture from other houses, since we told them to not just stand around and at least go gather some kindling.
"That wide, flat part over there is made for people to lie on. Usually the elders, children, or sick people in the household use it……”
However, at their explanation all our eyes turned in the same direction. “What’re you looking at?” We’d decided on who’d be lying on there as long as there were still embers burning inside the stove part.
"So, what exactly is the Glacier Trail?”
After we’d put the grumbling Meister on top of the warm stone, Deathbringer took the lead and whipped up a meal in no time.
As usual, Aerotelk went outside to eat what they had brought for themselves—they apparently had to stick to certain foods because of the experiment—and everyone else took their portions in one after the other.
Having contributed nothing except carrying firewood and setting the table, I spent my time sipping some water. And asking questions while I was at it.
The locals already had their mouths full of the bribes that ensured they couldn’t back down on our deal.
"Basically…something like a crevasse opens in midair, and monsters come pouring out of it…Something like that. It almost never disappears on its own, and I’ve heard you have to go inside and do something.”
In the end, unable to resist their appetites, they spilled everything while clutching their bowls of porridge. The first confession was the hardest, but everything after that just came pouring out.
“It doesn’t happen often, but whenever one appears, several warriors die dealing with it. That’s why every tribe living in Norda keeps watch for the Glacier Trail.”
“The Glacier Trail is a test that proves one is worthy to be a Great Warrior!”
“Gainir, I told you to stay quiet……!”
Though along the way, we did learn why one person had been doing all the talking for the group.
“Ahem. Those who pass the Glacier Trail are called Great Warriors, and in the past, some tribes deliberately sought the Trail out because the more Great Warriors a tribe had, the greater its influence became. That’s impossible now, though. Tribes no longer have the resources to raise warriors like that.”
“So that’s how it is. Honestly, what kind of sinister phenomenon is that supposed to be……”
“Erm, what exactly are these monsters? Are they different from Demons?”
“Yeeah, well… the warriors say they’re very different. We’ve never actually seen either Demons or the monsters from the Trail ourselves, so we don’t really know.”
“I see.”
Were those things similar to the Primordial Beasts or something? No, it sounds more like those Gates from gate-type fantasy novels, right?
With that pointless thought circling in my head, I forced down soup made from hardtack and dried vegetables. I need pepper. I suddenly missed that OXgi Pure Pepper that costs 5 thousand won for a 100g so damn much.
“But why is that supposed to be kept a secret from anyone who isn’t from Norda?”
Meister, who had been warming his back on top of the hearth, cut in. It was the part all of us had been wondering about.
"Whether they’re Demons or something else, if they threatened mankind, you could get all the support you wanted. Especially since the Northern Front would be in extreme danger if Norda were to fall.”
"Uh……”
Apparently the three locals had never thought about that. A bit of awkwardness surged up beneath the northerners’ characteristic blank expressions.
"Because we often raid people……?”
"Listen to this criminal showing shame.”
If the Glacier Trail was really that dangerous, plenty of people would say that dealing with the immediate crisis mattered more than whether they liked the raiders or not. Give them food and tell them to keep handling the problem themselves like they always had. There would definitely be plenty of people willing to take that approach.
"Are people in Norda stupid? You’re losing warriors dealing with those monsters, and then you hide all the things you did?”
That was the most important part.
The moment this became known, there would be fewer people saying stuff like, “Why the hell do those bastards insist on living on that cursed land and raiding everyone like parasites?” The Glacier Trail would give them a legitimate reason for refusing to abandon that cursed land.
"No matter how much you suffer, to ordinary people you’re still just raiders. Criminals they have no reason to sympathize with. So why the hell would you hide the one thing that could give you an excuse? Are you idiots?”
If they properly forced an excuse like “We’re sorry about the raiding. We just didn’t have enough time to become self-sufficient with all that going on.” it probably wouldn't be impossible to get people to let it slide. The problem was that they’d kept it among themselves and said nothing.
“Erm, we don’t really know much about things like that. It’s a custom passed down from our ancestors, so we never even considered questioning it.”
“...Damn, is every place in this world just crawling with suckers, or something? This is driving me insane.”
Meister hit his chest, seeming genuinely frustrated.
“Well, you know? There might have been circumstances they couldn’t avoid.”
“What? Defending them because they’re the same kind as you?”
Daniel, who had brought in snow to melt to give the horses some water, silently packed some of it into a ball.
-Thud!
“Agh!”
The snowball flew over the hearth and struck Meister right in the face.
“A perfect arch.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“...You bastards?”
Meister furiously clenched his fist, but neither Daniel nor I cared in the slightest. Daniel might have been in some slight danger if Meister caught him by surprise, but if we were prepared, we were the ones who’d win if it came to it.
"Argh, if I were just a little stronger.”
"Would strength really be your only problem?”
"........."
Ah, speaking of strength. Lee Jang-hwa was another bastard who liked talking up a huge game but couldn’t throw a pinch for shit. He’d even lost to Park Seon-rim after betting who’d get a better score on a punch machine……
I smiled faintly as I remembered my friends for the first time in a while. Maybe it was because I had hope that I could go back to them, but thinking of them no longer hurt quite as much. I just…missed them a lot.
"So she really passed that Glacier Trail 20 times?”
"Yeeah."
Anyway, it was time to get back to the main point.
I pulled my thoughts back from where they’d strayed to and resumed asking about Berserk. There wasn’t much else. Since we didn’t even know exactly what the Glacier Trail was, being told she’d passed it 20 times didn’t really mean anything to us.
In other words, we couldn’t be shocked by it and therefore couldn’t treat it as especially important.
“Then which tribe does she belong to?”
What mattered to us, or me, to be precise, was something else entirely. Where was she right now?
The local answer without having to think much.
"She should belong to the Moonshadow Tribe led by Wise Virgir.”
"Where are they?"
"Hmm, northwest from here, I think. Near Conquest, a fifth peak of the Eternal Sanctuary.”
"Eternal Sanctuary?”
"That’s what we call the highest mountain in this land and the surrounding region.”
He added that on a really clear day, if you climbed somewhere high enough and looked north, you could sometimes see it. That made me frown instantly.
"...The Eternal Sanctuary is close to this place?”
"Of course not.”
The local denied it, saying that even if you walked straight there without stopping at any village, it would still take about 20 days.
In other words, if we assumed a marching pace of 20km a day, the distance between here and that mountain was a staggering 400km. Sure, that was a simple calculation that ignored any variables, but it was like seeing a mountain in Seoul from Busan or even Jeju Island.
Just how tall did a mountain have to be to be visible even from here? A chill ran down my spine.
"...Um, excuse me. If we want to reach the end of the world, do we have to cross that Eternal Sanctuary?”
Maybe he’d picked up on the same unease I had, because Deathbringer hurriedly asked.
"Did you just say… the end of the world?”
"Why would you go there? Are you trying to die?”
We didn’t get the answer we wanted right away. Instead, they were even more horrified by where we were trying to go. It was the strongest reaction they'd shown so far—aside from when their lives were on the line.
"I’ve heard it lies beyond the Eternal Sanctuary, but…why in the world are you going there? If you’re looking for a place to die, there are plenty of better places to do that here.”
"...Is it really that bad?”
"Of course."
When the Inquisitor asked with some reluctance, all three locals nodded at once. An overwhelming yes.
"It isn’t even clear whether the end of the world actually exists, and the land beyond the Eternal Sanctuary is a land of death. Even Great Warriors refuse to go there. I don’t know why you’re aiming to go to the end of the world, but perhaps you should reconsider while you still can.”
"Hmm…But we have to go.”
"I see. Then let me give you a warning. Only five people in all of history have ever set foot on the frozen lands beyond the Eternal Sanctuary and return alive.”
"So five people succeeded.”
"If that’s how you want to see it, then I have nothing more to say……”
But his attempt to dissuade us only gave our Queen of Optimism, the Inquisitor, more confidence. The man who had accidentally ended up giving us hope furrowed his brows. His gaze seemed to say, “How am I supposed to stop them?”
"I should also mention that those five were the greatest Great Warriors of their eras, and not five that emerged in our current era. Only five emerged across several different eras.”
"Ah…across several eras?”
"Yes."
"...Erm, ironwall. Don’t you think this is something we should reconsider a bit more?”
At least that warning managed to instill some caution in them. Deathbringer, the weakest among us, was the first to bristle.
"Then has no one in the current era gone beyond it?”
The Inquisitor looked thoughtful, but she still didn't seem like she wanted to give up. Ignoring Deathbringer, she pressed for more information.
"That’s…not it. If the rumors I heard are correct, Berserk of this generation has also been beyond the Eternal Sactuary. I don’t know whether she reached the actual end of the world, though.”
"Berserk went there and came back?”
What? Then maybe we could manage it too. Berserk was billions of light-years removed from an ordinary person, sure…but the same was kind of true for us as well. To be precise, for me and the Inquisitor.
"Then that’s fine. Please give us the rest of the information."
"Hmm......."
Come to think of it, this might mean the Inquisitor would ask Berserk to travel with us temporarily. Whether or not she was an official guide, having someone with experience in the party would make a big difference.
Considering Berserk’s personality, there was no chance she’d refuse. Besides, it wasn’t as though she’d left the party on bad terms.
"What do you think?”
"What?"
"If she really has been there, it would be easier to ask her to join us temporarily.”
"Ah, that’s true. But……”
While the local hesitated, I quietly asked the Inquisitor. She started to subtly watch my reaction as well. I didn’t have to speculate much about what she was thinking.
It would take time to ask Berserk what kind of weapons she needed and then prepare one suited to her. And if Berserk wanted to join us in that time……
"Since we’ve come this far, we might as well see the end of the world before we leave.”
"Adventurer……!”
We’d grown pretty attached to each other, and things between us had improved. Extending things a little longer shouldn’t be a problem.
Besides, back on Earth there were people willing to stake money and their lives just to climb Mount Everest. In that case, wouldn't it be a little disappointing for me to just leave like this? Since I’d already ended up in another world anyway, shouldn’t I look around as much as possible so I wouldn't have any regrets?
To begin with, the end of the world was somewhere I’d have wanted to visit at least once even if it had nothing to do with this party. I mean, wasn’t that name just way too cool? Come on, it’s the “End of the World.”
As a gamer who’d hop around however I could just to reach the highest point on a map, there was no way I could pass up on going to a place with such a cool name. If the environment and circumstances allowed it, I definitely wanted to stop by.
"You really, really plan to go?”
"Yes. It’s our mission.”
"It will be incredibly dangerous……”
"Thank you for your concern. But we won’t go back on our decision. If you want to help us, please tell us anything else you know about the end of the world.”
Anyway, the locals couldn’t hide their shock at the Inquisitor's polite explanation. All the more because her tone made it very clear that she wasn’t someone whose mind could be changed by anyone.
"Understood. I’ll tell you everything I know.”
If someone couldn’t be stopped, then it was better to at least provide information that might improve their odds of survival.
The locals seemed to have reached the same conclusion and told us everything they knew. It was information we never would have obtained if we hadn’t captured them alive.
"......?"
"Adventure? Aren’t you going to sleep?”
And later, after all those conversations were over and everyone except those on watch duty was getting ready for bed.
I sat up at the presence I could feel from far away. Creak. The cold air flowing in through the open door wasn’t much different from opening a refrigerator on a summer night. Enjoying the coolness, I stuck my head outside.
"...Vermilion Bird?”
Far off in the southern sky, I could see the Vermilion Bird’s flames. Flames that would carry us far away.
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