Chapter 134

A quest, appearing after such a long time.

But rather than feeling relief, Theo felt a chill down his spine.

‘It’s true—there’s no way a regressor like me and a seer could be compatible.’

A seer typically foresaw a fixed future, while a regressor like himself strove to change the future they knew.

They were fundamentally opposed, incapable of coexisting.

With Troyban as their current adversary,

if they managed to secure the seer, Theo couldn’t predict how the timeline might shift.

‘And, above all, I can’t even begin to guess what this Secrets of Time entails.’

Theo wondered if he might be able to uncover the mystery of this quest and the messages that seemed visible only to him among the other chosen ones.

Of course, to do so, he had to complete the quest.

The chase had begun.

* * *

“Hey! What the hell are you doing drawing that card?”

“Die.”

“Die.”

“Goddamn it!”

“Hahaha! Guess I’ll be feasting well this round too!”

At the base of a low mountain not far from Priamos,

a dozen or so mercenaries were gathered in a hunter’s cabin, sharing drinks and laughing uproariously.

Underneath the haze of tobacco smoke lay a pile of cards and betting money.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The winners laughed in satisfaction, while the losers vented their frustration by kicking the walls.

A young girl huddled in a corner flinched at each rise in their voices.

I’m scared… Mama…

Please… please, save me…

“Ned, one more round? Call?”

“Shit! Can’t you see I’m broke? At this rate, I’ll have to get an advance on my pay when we get back!”

“So, you’re out?”

“I said I’m out of money, damn it!”

The mercenary, Ned, cursed and sprang to his feet. He then spotted the girl still shivering in the corner and slammed his fist hard against the wall above her.

Bang!

The girl jerked her head up in shock.

Her unfocused eyes drifted in Ned’s direction.

The girl was blind.

“When the hell are they coming to pick up this brat? Didn’t they say they’d be here by now?”

“Hey, hey, don’t go taking out your anger on the poor kid. She can’t even see, for crying out loud. Isn’t that right, sweetheart? There, there.”

The girl buried her head back into her knees.

They were monsters.

The devils who had burned her village.

She hadn’t had a close relationship with the villagers.

They always called her mother filthy names, constantly discriminating against her.

Still, she hadn’t thought they deserved to die like that.

In moments like these, she bitterly resented her blindness.

If only the occasional ‘afterimages’ that haunted her would appear now to help her…

Once again, the scene was eerily quiet.

“Damn it! We need to get her out of here to make any money off this. Argh!”

“She’s a valuable asset. Don’t even think about touching her.”

“You think I’m an idiot? I know better than that!”

“Good, then.”

Ned crossed his arms, snorting with frustration. He kept glancing at his watch, clearly anxious to get his hands on some cash.

“Oh, what’s this? Want me to lend you some?”

“You’re just gonna slap some crazy interest on it, aren’t you?”

“This time, for the low, low rate of only 450% interest per day!”

“You damn thief.”

“Then forget it.”

“Hmph! Who said I wouldn’t take it?”

“Haha, that’s why I like you!”

In the end, Ned accepted the money his companion handed over, eagerly grabbing another hand of cards.

“So, about that…”

“About what?”

“Is it true what they say? That kid can see the fut—”

Smack!

The sound of a fresh card being laid on the table cut Ned off.

“It’s our mercenary group’s policy not to pry too deeply into a client’s orders. Haven’t forgotten that rule, have you?”

“Hey, hey, no need to glare at me like that. I was just curious.”

“I’ve seen plenty of people end up dead from a moment’s curiosity, friend,” replied the mercenary dealing the cards, his tone steady as he dealt out another one.

“Even if she could see the future, it won’t change the fact that you’re a sucker.”

“You little… This time, I’m gonna strip you down to your last stitch!”

“Go ahead. Do your worst, haha!”

The group’s laughter grew louder, and the card game resumed with renewed intensity.

Then, the girl who had been curled up in a corner suddenly raised her head.

Her strange behavior drew the mercenaries’ attention.

“The world… it’s turning blue.”

She seemed dazed, as if in a trance.

“All of you. You’ll be buried there. Without a trace left behind.”

“What the hell is she going on about?”

“There will be monsters everywhere… and the dead will rise over them. And… and…”

“Damn it! Enough with the nonsense!”

Just as Ned stood up, unable to hold back his irritation—

Boom!

The cabin wall exploded.

A torrent of dark energy poured in.

Shwish, shwish, shwish!

“Aaaagh!”

“Damn it!”

“We’re under attack!”

“Goddamn it! I was just about to hit the jackpot! You had to ruin it!”

“Are you crazy? Do you even care about that right now?”

The mercenaries flipped over the table, using it as a shield to brace for the onslaught of attacks.

Some of them moved swiftly to secure the girl’s safety.

Aside from Ned’s muttered complaints, they responded with remarkable coordination.

They were clearly not a ragtag bunch, but trained veterans.

The problem, however, was that—

“There you are.”

—the attackers were veterans far superior to them.

A shadow writhed in the dim light.

Then, a massive maw emerged suddenly from the darkness, snapping down on the legs of the mercenaries who’d been reaching for the girl.

“Argh!”

“W-what the hell is that? Where did this thing come fr—!”

Umbra’s overwhelming, unnatural appearance threw them into utter chaos.

“No, no! My payday!”

“You lunatic! Where are you going?”

Ned clutched his sword and rushed toward the girl in desperation.

His assigned role in an emergency was to buy time so that Team Two could evacuate the girl to another location.

But now he was broke, and after losing his hand in the game, he was drowning in debt—there was no way he could focus on his mission.

Better to grab the girl and run! He could pocket the reward himself if he escaped alone… it’d be perfect…

Boom!

But Ned’s thoughts didn’t last long.

A thunderous crash erupted as a dazzling, golden light blazed in front of him.

The world will turn yellow.

The words the girl had muttered earlier flickered in his mind.

You’ll all be buried there. Without a trace left behind.

The nonsense he’d brushed off as mere babble had become reality.

“So she really could see the future…!”

His vision was filled with blinding yellow.

And that was the end of his thoughts.

Lightning crashed down, piercing through the roof, slicing Ned cleanly in half, and incinerating him. The lightning strike scattered fragments of intense heat and electrical energy outward in a fan-shaped blast.

The entire area, save for the girl, was engulfed in a scorching inferno, blasting away over half the mercenaries.

Through the shattered wall, Theo and his team charged in, smashing through any cover the mercenaries had tried to use.

The simultaneous attacks from both sides instantly shattered the mercenaries’ defenses, trapping them all in a deadly ambush.

“You’re safe now. Don’t worry.”

It was in this moment that Theo rescued the girl.

A solid chest.

A warmth even greater than his voice.

Though the girl didn’t know who he was, she felt a strange, unfamiliar sense of peace for the first time.

* * *

The girl dreamed.

You are a precious, special child, Cassandra. Never forget that, no matter what.

Her mother had often held her close and whispered those words.

At the time, she hadn’t understood.

What did it mean?

But it hadn’t mattered.

Living in a village with her mother, her friends, and the villagers—she’d been so happy.

Not being able to see?

It hadn’t been much of a bother.

The only minor inconvenience was…

She occasionally had what she called -dreams.-

-Did you have another dream?-

-Yep!-

-What did you see this time?-

-A really handsome big brother appeared!-

-A big brother?-

-Yeah, a super-duper handsome one! He put me on something weird and zoomed! We flew up into the sky!-

Sometimes, she didn’t mind having such -dreams.- After all, when she dreamed, it was the only time she could -see- anything at all.

Though most of the time, she disliked these dreams—probably because they were usually nightmares.

Like the one she’d had just before dawn today.

-Mom… are you awake?-

-Oh, my daughter had another strange “dream,” didn’t she?-

-Yeah… but in the dream, you and everyone in the village, they… they…!-

Even though she dismissed it as just a silly dream, she couldn’t bring herself to mention that she’d seen her mother and the villagers getting hurt.

The fear that it might actually happen held her back.

-That must’ve been so scary.-

-Yeah. Can you hold me?-

-Oh dear, you’re still such a baby. But don’t worry, Cassandra. You don’t need to let these -dreams- trouble you so much.-

Whenever she had a nightmare, her mother would hold Cassandra close, reassuring her.

-Whatever you may see, this world is far bigger and more vibrant than anything in your dreams. Someday, you’ll find a friend who’ll take you to explore that world.-

Her mother’s embrace was so warm that Cassandra would drift back to sleep in peace.

But back then, she hadn’t known.

That -dream- would eventually come true.

And the man she saw so often in her dreams had finally appeared.

-You’re safe now. Don’t worry.-

The man who used to fly her around on the back of strange creatures in her dreams—

he was standing right in front of her.

“Are you alright?”

When she cautiously regained consciousness,

the voice she’d heard before echoed softly nearby.

* * *

“That—that—that’s a m-m-monster!”

“Is that all you know how to say?”

“I swear! So please, just let me—!”

Selperd, unimpressed, silenced the trembling mercenary with a swift strike to his neck.

-Thwack!-

-Thud!-

“Talking about seeing death and summoning curses—what on earth was he blabbering about?”

Selperd scratched the back of his head in annoyance.

He’d tried interrogating them, hoping to learn something useful, but only ended up feeling irritated.

-Creak—-

Selperd stormed out, slamming the door, and spotted Theo seated outside with the -target- lying across his lap.

“Well, well. When did you two get so close?”

Could blind people sense when someone was handsome? The thought struck him as oddly curious.

“She just fell asleep a moment ago. She must have been exhausted.”

“Guess that makes sense. Poor thing.”

“So, did you find out anything useful?”

At Arin’s question, Selperd nodded grimly.

“These guys… they were from the -Red-White Mercenaries.-”

“The -Gathering of the Hidden Dragons,- then?”

“Yeah.”

The -Red-White Mercenaries.-

Originally a vassal group loyal to Ragnar, they’d switched allegiances to Troyban at the onset of the Northern War.

“They had a reputation for being ruthless, so I know Winterer had been discussing sanctions against them… but this time, they’ve crossed the line—way over the line.”

“I agree. How people wearing human faces can commit such atrocities, I can’t understand.”

Theo gently stroked Cassandra’s head as she slept soundly, his eyes narrowing.

During the entire pursuit to this location,

they had witnessed one horror after another.

Not only were there signs of looting, but traces of massacres were evident everywhere.

A mass grave had even been found not far from here.

He could only imagine the anguish Cassandra had endured—losing her family and friends overnight to become an orphan because of these people.

Theo’s chest tightened as memories of his past life resurfaced, of the day he’d lost his family.

“Those traitors have only grown more vicious. Someday, they’ll have to be wiped out completely.”

Grinding his teeth, Selperd turned his gaze toward Cassandra.

“But… that girl, hmm.”

“What’s on your mind?” Theo asked.

“Did you notice anything… unusual about her?”

Theo’s eyes darkened as he guessed what Selperd might be getting at.

Selperd lowered his voice into a mental transmission, apparently cautious that Cassandra might overhear.

-Here’s the thing—hah! Those mercenaries were all muttering something strange. They kept saying that the girl was cursed, that’s why they all died.-

-Future vision!- Theo thought.

It seemed that Selperd, unaware of Cassandra’s true nature, was uncertain about how to interpret the information he’d gathered.

Feigning ignorance, Theo probed further.

「Did they mention why they thought so?」

「They said… she’d seen them die before it happened. Not sure what to make of that.」

-Hmm. Did they say anything else that stood out?」

“Yeah, there was one more thing, but it was so bizarre…”

Scratching the back of his head, Selperd continued.

「They said that a king would appear over a world covered in death, and if he reversed the wheels of the clock, all the dead would rise and walk again.」

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