Chapter 252 – Side Story 1 – Young Traveler (1)

Seventeen years had passed since the hero defeated the Demon King.

The Empire, which had lost half its territory, had now almost recovered its former strength, and other countries seemed to have forgotten the time when the Demon King existed.

Now, everyone was busy fighting among themselves.

Moreover, the Empire, which should have been mediating these conflicts, was distracted by something else and paying no attention to other countries.

Perhaps because of this, in the eastern part of the continent—the area east of the Empire’s wall that had been swept through by the Demon King’s army—things still hadn’t returned to their former state.

No one remembered the former countries anymore, and everyone was engaged in a survival competition, gathered in their respective domains, cities, and villages.

Of course, their competitors weren’t other domains or villages, but the undead scattered by the Demon King’s army.

And the village the boy was looking at now also had such undead wandering around.

“This village hasn’t been cleared either. We should be close to the knight’s domain by now. I wonder if the rumors I heard were exaggerated?”

A boy was lying on a hill overlooking the ruined village.

The boy was squinting at the village below, seemingly bothered by the sunlight.

With murky brown hair and a thin build, the boy appeared to be in his mid to late teens.

Despite his age, the boy was well-equipped.

He wore worn but usable leather armor, carried a decent sword, and had a large backpack strapped to his back.

This would have been the proper appearance of a traveler, but the problem was that this wasn’t a place suitable for traveling.

This was the eastern part of the continent, which had become a lawless zone after the Demon King’s army swept through over a decade ago.

Yet, there was no one visible around the boy with his modest equipment.

The boy was traveling alone.

The boy clicked his tongue softly as he looked at the village where undead were wandering.

He had rushed over when he spotted a village after a long time, but this one was no different.

His food was running low, water was scarce, and every village he encountered was in this state, so he couldn’t help but worry.

“Even so, I can’t turn back. I have to keep moving.”

The boy gave up on entering the village and continued eastward.

He had been walking like this for many days already.

He was on a journey to find the knight’s domain he had heard about in rumors.

It had been half a month since he secretly crossed the Empire’s wall and continued walking like this, avoiding the undead.

It was difficult and dangerous, but the boy couldn’t turn back.

“I’ll be able to find it. A place famous enough for rumors to reach the Imperial capital can’t be a lie.”

The boy sighed as he watched the sun setting behind the mountains.

Perhaps because the hot sun was setting, the boy’s pace quickened.

Night would fall soon, but the boy only hastened his steps.

Whether he believed in his luck, or thought that undead would reduce their activities at night, was unclear, but his pace grew faster as darkness fell.

However, it seemed the boy’s luck had run out.

Growl.

An undead appeared in front of the boy as he was walking in the darkness.

Unlike the dead and skeletons that gathered in villages, perhaps remembering their lives, this was an undead that roamed the forests and fields alone.

What appeared before the boy’s eyes was an undead monster resembling a wolf.

“Could it be that there are monster-type undead in this area too?”

As the mutilated monster undead blocked his path, the boy bit his lip while gripping his sword.

The boy hadn’t expected monster undead to appear.

A monster undead resembling a wolf, growling and dripping black blood.

While the boy’s hand couldn’t draw his sword, his eyes moved quickly, searching for an escape route.

As he was looking for an opportunity, he heard a sound from behind.

Growl.

Another undead.

He had thought the monster undead would be alone, but it wasn’t.

Escape seemed impossible.

“Can I get out of this alive?”

The boy muttered gloomily, glaring at the undead in front of him with a darkened face.

The two undead monsters slowly circled around the boy.

Monsters that continued to behave as they did when alive, even after becoming undead.

Just as the monster was about to pounce, the boy was preparing to draw his sword, ready to get hurt.

That’s when a voice came from the darkness.

“Over here, undead.”

A heavy voice, but still young like the boy’s. However, this voice carried mana.

The undead that were about to attack the boy quickly turned their bodies at the voice filled with mana.

At that moment, a figure appeared before the undead.

A knight wearing a breastplate, or rather, a boy who was a bit too young to be called a knight.

Of course, the newcomer was much larger than the boy, but his face still had some baby fat.

However, the boy didn’t have time to examine the newcomer’s face.

This was because the armored man immediately began fighting the monster undead with the sword and shield in his hands.

Though it was a dark night, the mana infused in the sword created beautiful lines visible even in the darkness.

However, those seemingly beautiful lines mercilessly drew rotten blood from the undead’s body.

With just a few swings of the sword, one of the monster undead’s legs was severed, and intestines spilled from its side, but being undead, its movements didn’t change despite the injuries.

Because of this, the knight-like boy couldn’t pay attention to the other undead that was a bit further away.

Growl!

The other undead, which had been quiet, leaped out of the darkness to attack the man from behind.

“Watch out!”

The boy shouted, but the man couldn’t turn around.

Whoosh!

Instead, a sudden burst of flames engulfed the attacking undead.

Crack!

The undead screamed within the flames.

Simultaneously, the man beheaded the undead he had been facing.

The undead fell, spraying congealed blood.

The man also cut off the head of the undead that had been trying to roll and extinguish the flames.

At this sudden conclusion, the boy stared at the man with a blank face.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah. Yes. Thank you.”

The man’s words followed.

The boy quickly bowed his head.

By the remaining flames, he could confirm that the knight-like man was indeed around the boy’s age.

But the boy couldn’t relax.

Someone his age with such skills.

Though not a knight, the boy’s good night vision allowed him to somewhat gauge the armored man’s abilities.

He clearly had skills comparable to the knights the boy had seen before.

To have knight-like skills at that age.

He couldn’t possibly be an ordinary person. Moreover, the man had black hair, something the boy had never seen before.

His facial features also seemed a bit different.

He wasn’t as handsome as the elf race the boy had seen once, but his face was somewhat peculiar… As the boy stared without realizing it, the man twitched his eyes and asked:

“Where are you headed, traveler?”

At the man’s words, the boy snapped back to reality and hastily answered.

“Huh? I’m on my way to a place called the knight’s domain.”

At the boy’s words, the man nodded as if it were obvious.

“Of course, there’s nowhere else to go from here. If you follow this path northeast for a few hours, you’ll reach the domain’s gate. I’ve cleared most of the undead around this path, so it shouldn’t be dangerous.”

“Is that so? Thank you.”

The boy quickly bowed his head again.

Saving his life and clearing his path ahead—this deserved more than just a few thanks.

However, the boy could only scratch his head at the man’s subsequent question.

“But moving at night like this, you’re quite bold.”

“Haha. Staying in one place too long is also dangerous…”

“That’s true. Still, moving alone at night is dangerous. I’d like to accompany you if I didn’t have other business, but unfortunately, I have matters to attend to.”

The boy was about to wave his hands, not having expected even that much, but before he could, a small voice came from the man’s direction.

[…Why aren’t you coming? My magic didn’t miss, did it?]

It was a small female voice, as if whispering, or rather, a voice that seemed to echo in the mind.

“It didn’t miss. But using this magic in a real situation was dangerous.”

The boy hadn’t misheard. The man answered the voice the boy had heard.

[Huh? Why? The magic that combines spatial magic with fire magic formula to launch from a distance was a properly tested magic, wasn’t it?]

When he concentrated, the woman’s voice became clearer.

The voice resonating in his mind was that of a young woman, a girl around the boy’s age.

“There was another person here. That person almost got hit.”

However, the boy pretended not to hear the female voice.

Listening to the conversation between the man and woman, it was clear the woman was a mage.

If she was a mage, then the voice echoing in his mind was being transmitted by magic.

The boy knew well.

That in such situations, it was best to pretend not to know.

[Oh, that person was alive? Oh dear, I made a mistake.]

“Yes. You made a mistake.”

[I’ll be more careful. If I were closer, I would have apologized myself. Please apologize on my behalf.]

When the voice ended, the man apologized to the boy.

“You almost got hit by magic. The lady who cast the spell apologizes. If you show this card to any soldier when you reach the domain, they will provide you with any help you need. If you wish, you can also look for me as written there.”

What the man gave to the boy as he spoke was a stiff piece of paper with pictures and letters on it.

The boy looked at the paper with a puzzled face and then quickly shook his head.

“No. I was just a bit surprised, but I wasn’t in any danger. The magic didn’t even come close.”

“No. You were in danger. You should understand that. And you should say the same if you meet the lady later. That’s the only way I can control that troublemaker.”

At the man’s words, spoken with fire in his eyes, the boy could only nod.

The man looked at the boy once more with a troubled expression, then prepared to leap toward the west, the direction the boy had come from.

Before doing so, the man asked the boy:

“Since we’ve met by fate, may I know your name?”

Faced with the question from the obviously extraordinary young knight, the boy opened his mouth with a troubled expression.

“Vlad. I don’t have a family name. I’m a commoner.”

“Ah, don’t worry. I’m not a noble either.”

At the man’s words, Vlad laughed inwardly.

Even if not a noble, a knight was worlds apart from a commoner boy like him.

Unaware of Vlad’s inner laughter, the man told his own name before leaving.

“I’m Choi Seowoo. Choi is my family name, and Seowoo is my given name. I have a family name, but I’m still a commoner.”

With those words, the man ran off to the west.

The boy Vlad stared at the west where the man had departed.

“What a strange name.”

It was a naming format he had never heard before.

Though it was an unusual name, Vlad shrugged it off, clearing the name from his mind.

The man might be helpful later, but the name was useless for now.

Vlad turned and began walking in the direction the man had indicated.

It was still dark night, but Vlad didn’t worry. The man had said he had cleared everything.

And so, Vlad headed toward the knight’s domain, the domain that former hero Egger was rumored to have newly established.