The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-77

Glow…

Seol wasn’t transported right away.

He entered the darkness once more, in a situation where he had to choose between the options in front of him.

Chao’s request required him to go to a town far east of the Shade Canyon, the Expedition System naturally activated.

[[You arrive at a lifeless town. This place is called Twilight Town. They are a small community of slash-and-burn farmers. The smoke which rapidly rises from their chimneys is the only sign of life. You receive a proposition from them to rest here for a bit before leaving. What do you do?]

1. Accept their hospitality and unpack your belongings.

2. Check if you can replenish your food and water.

3. This is the first time you have ever been welcomed like this. Refuse their proposal but leave them with one of your items as a gift.

4. It’s suspicious. Not only are they not on guard, they’re openly welcoming an outsider. Leave the town immediately.

5. There’s no need to open that can of worms right now. Even if there aren’t many of them, there’s still over 10 of them. Since there’s a lot of able-bodied men as well, I shouldn’t act rashly. I should accept their proposal for now while observing the situation.

……]

‘Argh, what a shitty situation.’

Seol already ran into a few towns similar to this before.

Towns where modern conveniences hadn’t reached.

Nine times out of ten, Adventurers and outsiders were chased out of those kinds of cities. After all, they would have been pillaged a myriad of times before.

However, it was these towns that welcomed outsiders that Adventurers really had to be careful of.

‘For now, I should go with option 5.’

Seol wasn’t sure what unexpected misfortunes would happen to him if he chose option 4.

And since option 5 wasn’t all too different from option 4, he went with option 5.

Press…

As he pressed option 5, the option’s color changed and the other options disappeared.

Right after, he received a new message.

[That night, you witness a shocking scene.]

- God damn it! I knew this would happen LOL

- We got caught? We got caught? We got caught? We got caught? We got caught? We got caught? We got caught? We got caught? We got caught? We got caught? We got caught?

- These kinds of towns are always ominous!

The results were as expected.

The town was hiding a secret.

It was likely the secret would be revealed soon too.

And as Seol foresaw, more messages popped up.

[[“Eternal Life, Immortality! Eternal Life, Immortality! Eternal Life, Immortality!” You can hear their prayers from a hall deep inside the town. In the end, it was as you expected. The town’s residents were the cultists of a mysterious existence. You have secretly uncovered the truth, but you have yet to decide on what to do.]

1. The ominous feeling you had wasn’t wrong. You abandon your items and run. (You lose all of your belongings.)

2. They have not realized that you know their true identity. Stay here a bit longer to properly confirm what is going on.

3. [Required: Heretic Inquisitor] Anyone who worships an evil god must die. Behead every townsperson here and hang their heads at the town entrance!

4. Ask about their god during the day. You must not be afraid of knowing the truth. In fact, maybe they will welcome you if you know the truth.

……]

‘All of these options are ridiculous. They’re all way too risky.’

Option 1 wasn’t that risky, but it wasn’t worth considering at all. Option 3 required a different job entirely so only option 2 and 4 were left.

‘Option 4 could lead to an instant-death event so… only option 2 is left.’

Option 2 wasn’t particularly a better option either.

In fact, there was a good chance that this option would eventually lead to him fighting the townspeople. And since heretics like them only surrendered once they were dead, he would likely end up killing them even if he didn’t want to.

Press…

Regardless, that was something he had to think about later. For now, he chose option 2.

[Eventually, you are able to learn about everything that has happened in the town.]

[Mental fatigue accumulates.]

[You continuously have negative thoughts.]

[You are exposed to Abnormal Status: Distrust.]

Seol received a mental penalty, but it wasn’t too bad. After all, he was able to uncover the truth thanks to this.

[[Eternal Life, Immortality! Eternal Life, Immortality! The townspeople have been brutally killing the people visiting their town to offer them to their god as a sacrifice. You are in shock by their blatantly immoral actions that no human should take. What do you do?]

1. They have done something that no human should do. You burn all of them down.

2. Even if their actions are immoral, do you really have the right to punish them? You become silent.

3. Ask for compensation in order to keep this silent.

4. Report this to the lord of the closest city.

……]

Things have already progressed this far.

Regardless of whichever option Seol chose now, it was impossible to get out of this without damage.

‘If so…’

Then the correct option was to do whatever his heart told him to.

Press…

Seol pressed on option 1.

And after a few seconds, more messages came up.

[There is no longer anyone living in this town.]

[The townspeople, as they were dying, left this behind as their will:]

[‘The apostle is coming. In the end, death comes for you too.’]

[Karen is exposed to Abnormal Status: Nightmares.]

[Fatigue accumulates.]

[You have acquired Necklace of Distorted Faith.]

‘Fuu… with this, was I able to just barely prevent it?’

If the penalty was only this much, the situation was handled fairly well.

It was a bit worrisome that Karen was the one who received a penalty but since Seol was able to acquire an item as well, this wasn’t the worst possible scenario.

Even so…

[Oh no. The man’s words were true. As Karen was hesitating, strange creatures appeared from all over the mountain. As you were running away from them, you discovered a river with a strong current. Now, the time has come to make a decision.]

1. A current this strong could bring you all the way downstream. Well, that is if you can swim.

2. Fight with your back to the waters. However, Karen might not be able to participate.

3. [Required: A light-related skill] Use the power of the light to prevent them from approaching you.

4. [Required: A frost-related skill] Attempt to cross the river and freeze the waters when they try to cross it so they can’t follow you.

……]

‘Damn it, this is awful.’

Option 1 was the plain option and since the other options were impossible to choose, it was close to a gamble.

‘I know how to swim, but… I guess I have no choice.’

Seol pressed option 1.

He saw a message.

[You swam like crazy, but in the end, you lost consciousness in the strong current. You don’t know where you are or how you were able to escape from the danger, but what you do know is that you have inhaled a lot of water. After losing consciousness multiple times, you were able to escape from the strong currents.]

Splaaaash…

The black world around Seol broke down and his body was flipped over like he was drunk.

‘I can’t… I can’t breathe…!’

Seol was in pain.

“Cough… Cough… Cough…”

Seol coughed up a lot of water. Seol continuously spat out water, more than the amount of water he drank in the past week.

“Gasp… Gasp… This fucking…”

[You arrive at an unknown location.]

[The accumulated fatigue makes your body feel heavy.]

[Your clothes are soaked. You must warm yourself up.]

[You are exposed to Abnormal Status: Hypothermia.]

[You are mentally in a corner. There is a chance that you will be exposed to another Abnormal Status.]

[It has been 7 days and 12 hours.]

‘Damn it, it’s been a week?’

It was a consequence of the Long Distance Adventure.

This horrible result was often why Adventurers took Adventures in nearby areas or Linked Adventures.

‘What about my Adventure? Did I come here properly?’

Shadow Summon was unable to be used.

Seol felt like a ball of wet cotton. He couldn’t do anything.

Rustle…

He felt a presence.

Seol was unsure he would be able to defeat an opponent like this.

“E-Excuse me?”

“Gasp… Gasp…”

“A-Are you alright?”

A woman, who looked roughly around the same age as Seol, appeared from the bush.

Judging by how she had a basket around her wrist, there was a good chance that she was in the forest to harvest herbs or mushrooms.

Regardless, Seol was simply thankful that she wasn’t a danger to him.

“My body… My body is…”

“W-Wait here for just a moment! I’ll bring someone!”

Thud!

And like that, Seol lost consciousness.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

Blink.

Blink… Blink…

Seol opened his eyes.

He was lying on a bed which had a musty smell to it.

“Urgh… What is this.”

- He’s fucked… I can see why Long Distance Adventures are dangerous now.

- What the hell was that last town?

- More importantly, what was the shit that chased them?

- Karen! What happened to Karen?

“Karen.”

“......”

Seol continuously called for Karen who he knew was in his Shadow Space.

After a few seconds, Karen slowly revealed herself.

Karen, wearing the red dress that he bought for her, was summoned next to Seol’s bed.

“Why…”

“Wh-what happened?”

“Do you… not remember?”

“My memories are…”

Crackle… Crackle…

A panorama of what happened during the Long Distance Adventure flashed in Seol’s head.

- AAAAAAARGH!

- F-Fire…. My body’s on fire…

- The apostle shall punish you! You…

Sweat poured down Seol’s face in an instant like he had remembered something horrible.

“Gasp… Gasp… Gasp…”

“We burned down a town.”

“It was a town of cultists… Gasp… Fuu…”

“Yeah, why did something like that have to happen?”

“...Is it painful?”

Karen’s face looked dark.

“Do you feel guilty?”

“Guilty? Not really. It’s more like… disappointment?”

Seol believed that Karen felt guilt for killing the townspeople, but that wasn’t the case.

“Why… Because of something so ridiculous… do people have to die?”

“Karen.”

“I know that times have changed. But nothing has changed at all. It’s the exact same as it was back when Montra was around.”

Karen looked like she was about to cry.

“The world is still so cruel. I… I… Why did I come back? To see things like that?”

“......”

“I just… don’t know anymore. Don’t worry about me though.”

Karen was still a newbie when it came to accompanying Seol on his Adventures.

Though she was a skilled veteran, it was clear that she was confused by the world she had to relearn.

As Karen was silent, Jamad spoke from the Shadow Space.

“Hm… Well first, why don’t we find out where we are?”

“Jamad?”

“I kept an eye open in case something happened again, but I think we’re in that human female’s town right now.”

It seemed like Jamad had been paying attention to keep Seol safe.

Seol was relieved that Jamad had been cautious despite the fact that he had been unconscious.

“Someone’s coming.”

Creak…

The door opened. The woman Seol met by the river was standing there.

“Kyaaaa!’

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

“Wh-who are you?”

“Me? Are you talking about me?”

“The only person I don’t know here is you, elf—Miss Elf.”

The woman was clearly shocked that Karen had shown up in an unexpected place.

Karen quickly made up an excuse.

“Uh… So… Ah… I-I am…”

“A thief?”

“A thief?! No! I-I’m… this guy’s party member…?”

“Party member? D-Don’t lie to me! He was alone when I discovered him!”

“We were separated for a while because of some circumstances. Please calm down.”

“R-Really?”

The woman looked to Seol to confirm the facts.

Seol quickly nodded his head.

“Phew… I thought it was going to be like that again… Oh no! Please forgive my rude actions!”

“It’s alright, I would have been shocked too, uh… Miss human.”

“My name is Sarah. You can just call me Sarah, Miss Elf. By the way, you are really pretty.”

“What? Hahaha! Did you hear that? Master, did you hear that?!”

“Master…?”

“Ah, I mean… Snowman, my close party member.”

Karen stepped back and introduced Seol like she was introducing a work friend, and Seol asked Sarah a question.

“Sarah, my name is Snowman. Could you please tell me where I am?”

“Ah, I forgot to tell you. Snowman, this is Wet Fog Town, a place north of Audenin. It was named Wet Fog Town because of the wet fog that appears every morning near the lake!”

- TMI…

- So basically it’s Los Angeles…?

- Sarah’s kind of cute lol

Seol’s eyes grew cold for a second, but he quickly smiled again to not let anyone see his true feelings.

“I see. Sarah, do you mind leaving the room for a second? I need to change.”

“O-Of course! Take your time, I’ll be w-waiting outside!”

Thud!

“Ah!”

It seemed like she accidentally hit her forehead on the door while closing it.

- 10/10.

- Perfect. I’m leaving the stream right now to draw fanart of her.

- LMFAOOOOOO She really is a scatterbrain.

After confirming that she left, Seol pulled out Chao’s scroll from his inventory.

“...It seems like we came to the right place.”

The first sentence of the scroll started like this:

- East of the Shade Canyon, there is a town called Wet Fog Town located north of Audenin, a major city in the south. Go there.

[You begin your next Adventure.]

[Your 12th Adventure is starting.]