Chapter 95 : Chapter 95
Chapter 95
The <Future Diary> had changed.
The King had decided to go with me to the Wasteland of Ruin to meet the Giants.
And the schedule was to depart tomorrow.
‘I don’t know what variable I created, but in any case, it seems a future where I go to the Wasteland of Ruin tomorrow has been created because of some choice I made.’
I didn’t know what variable I had created, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.
The important thing right now was that we were departing for the Wasteland of Ruin tomorrow.
‘Why are we going in such a hurry?’
Of course, I had no problem with going to the Wasteland of Ruin tomorrow. In fact, it was a good thing. The sooner I could meet the Giants, the sooner I could build a rapport with them.
Nevertheless, what I was curious about was that Jereuth himself had proposed the urgent schedule of departing tomorrow.
‘Given Jereuth’s personality, I would think he’d want me to rest more.’
Hmm… Did some urgent situation arise? But if such an urgent situation had occurred, it would have been mentioned in the <Future Diary>. If it was a future related to me.
I didn’t know.
As I was mulling over various things.
—Knock, knock.
—Your Highness, it is Jereuth. My apologies for the late hour, but may I enter?
As foretold in the <Future Diary>, Jereuth came to my room. He must have come to tell me that we would be departing for the Wasteland of Ruin tomorrow.
Although I knew he would say such a thing, I still had something to ask.
‘I have to ask why he’s suggesting we leave tomorrow. If there’s some important situation I don’t know about, I need to know too.’
“Yes, come in.”
At my answer, Jereuth opened the door and entered.
But Jereuth’s expression was a little strange.
It was his usual solemn expression, but it was, how should I put it, a little more rigid.
‘…Did he really get into a fistfight with the King?’
***
Jereuth, who entered my room.
After giving me a formal greeting, he got straight to the point.
“Your Highness. I have something to tell you regarding the schedule for your trip to the Wasteland of Ruin.”
“You mean the schedule for going to the Giant village.”
“That is correct. This may be sudden, but as quickly as possible…. How about departing tomorrow?”
Since I already knew from the <Future Diary> that Jereuth would say that, it didn’t feel that sudden.
“It’s not sudden. If you’ve made such a schedule, Commander, there must be a good reason for it.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Jereuth, perhaps not expecting me to accept so calmly, sounded rather flustered.
“And as you mentioned, Your Highness, Philip wishes to accompany you on this journey. Would that be alright?”
From here on was the part I was also curious about.
“Yes, that’s fine. But in your view, Commander, did Father seem healthy enough to come along?”
“Yes. Philip—no, the ‘King’ appears to be quite well. Enough to be able to travel.”
If Jereuth said so, then it must be so.
“Commander. Did Father happen to tell you why he insisted on coming along?”
“Hmm… Yes. There were a few reasons. First, the King said he wanted to spend time with you as a father. Since he hasn’t been able to spend time with you until now, he wants to.”
It was a simpler reason than I had thought.
‘He wants to spend time with his son… is that it.’
It goes without saying, but I didn’t have a son.
And I didn’t have many memories with my real father, the one in the Republic of Korea. So, honestly, I didn’t really know what ‘a father and son spending time together’ meant.
Still, I nodded. Maybe I would realize its importance if I had a son later.
“What about the other reasons?”
“The King said he would conquer the Minotaur’s dungeon himself. Along with his old comrade, the Giant elder, ‘Barut,’ and me. To do that, he has to go to the Giant settlement—”
“Wa, wait a minute.”
This was not a story I could listen to lightly.
“Father said he would conquer the Minotaur’s dungeon himself? Not just accompany us to the Giant village?”
“That is correct.”
The King had decided to enter the dungeon?
‘Is that why my ending changed to a blank?’
“For Father to go into the dungeon himself…. I knew he was healthier than I thought, but I didn’t know he was well enough to enter a dungeon. If the dungeon conquest is successful, I think Father could take care of internal affairs again.”
I spoke with a genuinely happy heart. Because if the King was healthy and could handle internal affairs, it would greatly reduce my burden.
Of course, if the King regained power, I wouldn’t be able to reign as the supreme authority like I was now. But even considering that, having someone above me to take ‘responsibility’ was a definite comfort.
“……Your Highness. In that dungeon, the King will-.”
Jereuth stopped mid-sentence and just stared at me. He looked like he was lost in some thought.
“Father will, in that dungeon?”
“……It is nothing, Your Highness.”
Jereuth replied in a strange and ambiguous manner. It was an answer uncharacteristic of Jereuth.
“Then, Your Highness, I will proceed with the preparations assuming you will depart tomorrow.”
Jereuth brought up the schedule again as if to change the subject.
I didn't really mind departing for the Wasteland of Ruin tomorrow. I would be a bit tired, but that was fine.
‘Still, before I give a definite answer, I need to check the <Future Diary>. If the diary says it’s fine to leave tomorrow without any special preparations, then I can go, but if it foresees some problem, I need to prepare for it before I go.’
As I was thinking, Jereuth added another word first.
“By the way, Your Highness. I think it would be best if the knights and soldiers do not accompany us on this journey.”
“Does that mean… just me, you, and Father will be going?”
“That is correct. Philip said he wants to spend time with Your Highness without caring about the eyes of others as much as possible. And he also said that way he could teach you his swordsmanship with a relaxed mind.”
“Hmm… I see.”
“Yes. And in the unlikely event that something happens, I will protect Your Highness with my life, so you do not need to worry.”
Jereuth said something full of loyalty that could have come out of a textbook.
However, I couldn’t help but be concerned about the fact that it would be ‘just me, the King, and Jereuth.’
‘Jereuth could probably overcome most dangers without much difficulty. The King is also well, so he’ll be helpful in a crisis. Still… going without an escort is a bit concerning.’
I didn’t know if my worries were unfounded or not.
There was only one way to find out, the <Future Diary>.
Organizing my thoughts, I spoke to Jereuth.
“Commander, for now, please go back and prepare for our departure.”
“Should I understand that as you giving permission to depart tomorrow?”
“For now. I will give you a definite answer tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow morning… I understand.”
Jereuth nodded and finished his words.
“I apologize for asking you to leave the royal palace again tomorrow when you have just returned from Misty Port today, Your Highness.”
“Not at all. It’s because Father said he wanted to go on a trip together as soon as possible.”
“……”
“I am really fine. And as I said earlier, I’m genuinely happy that Father is healthy.”
Even though I said I was genuinely happy.
Jereuth could not easily relax his rigid expression.
As if there was something he couldn’t tell me.
“……Yes. I also think it’s a relief that the King is healthy.”
***
Wasteland of Ruin.
As the name suggests, it is a ‘land where life is difficult,’ and it refers to the desert area in the northwest of the peninsula kingdom, the Plank Kingdom.
Beyond the Wasteland of Ruin to the northwest lies the Angla Empire.
The Wasteland of Ruin had long served to protect the weak Plank Kingdom from the powerful Angla Empire.
From the Angla Empire’s perspective, there was no reason to cross the difficult-to-traverse desert and the land of the Giants, a race incomparably stronger than humans, albeit small in number, to attack the Plank Kingdom.
As an aside, on the continent to the northeast of the Plank Kingdom lies the Osius Kingdom, and between them is an elven forest area called the ‘Foothill's Rest.’
That forest, like the Wasteland of Ruin, had served to protect the Plank Kingdom from the Osius Kingdom.
The Foothill’s Rest is also an unknown space to humans. This is because the elves who make the Foothill’s Rest their home fundamentally exclude humans and do not let intruders leave alive.
Nevertheless, slave hunters frequently enter the Foothill's Rest to kidnap elves. This is because selling an elf slave, especially a young one, can earn enough money to buy a title in any decent kingdom or empire. They are aiming for a windfall.
But for the past several decades, not a single slave hunter who entered the Foothill’s Rest has returned alive. Nevertheless, elves do occasionally appear for sale in the continent’s slave markets, but those were ‘elves ignorant of the ways of the world’ who had unknowingly come out of the Foothill’s Rest long ago.
Anyway-.
Thus, the Wasteland of Ruin was known to humans as a ‘dangerous place.’ A place filled only with the blood and sweat of Giants, and the bodily fluids of monsters, where the weak would die without even being able to scream if they entered.
And for that reason, when the Plank Kingdom’s army crossed the Wasteland of Ruin to join the allied forces of humanity in the war against the demons, all the armies of the continent were surprised. How surprising must it have been for them to have crossed that terrifying desert.
However, contrary to human common sense, the reality might be a little different.
The Wasteland of Ruin is, after all, a place where life exists, so for those who live there, it is just an ordinary daily life.
Even the sandstorms and dust that always spread across the wasteland, making it difficult to see an inch ahead, and the sandstorms.
***
“Hey, Grondar, you bastard! Aren’t you coming back right now?!”
Barut. The elder of the Giants and a former companion of King Philip and Jereuth, raised his fist high and shouted at his son—‘Grondar.’
However, Grondar, who had just turned ten this year, had run out of the house and was running away from his father with all his might.
“Ah, I don’t want to! I’m going on a journey too!! I want to see the big castles that humans build and things like their farming!!”
“This bastard… Hey! What kind of journey are you going on!! A ten-year-old brat!!!”
“I had my coming-of-age ceremony, so what’s wrong with it! And you said you went on adventures all the time when you were young, Father!”
“Who told you that!!”
“Mom did!!”
“……”
“She said you wanted to marry some elf but lost to a human and came back to the village crying!”
“I lost to a human?! Hey, brat, that’s not it!! The reason I came back to the village was… Anyway, aren’t you coming back right now?!”
“It’s not? Then was it because you were ugly? Since the rumor is that I look like you, it’s obvious what you must have looked like when you were young!!”
“That, that bastard…! Ah, my poor neck.”
Barut clutched the back of his neck at the sight of his son, Grondar, running away from home. His blood pressure had risen.
Regardless of what his father did, Grondar raised the backpack he was wearing high and shook it.
“I’ll make good use of your bag, Father! Human technology is indeed amazing! It’s still sturdy even after being cooped up in the storage for over 20 years!!”
“That bastard, how did he even find that backpack……”
That backpack was the one Barut had used when he traveled in the past. A backpack made with human technology.
And that backpack was the culprit that had sparked his son’s interest in the human world.
Grondar, who was cleaning the storage, had accidentally discovered Barut’s backpack and was amazed by the backpack, which was made with stitching that was incomparably finer than that of a Giant’s bag.
Grondar, who had been curious since he was young, naturally asked his wife about the origin of the backpack, and his wife had told him her old stories with the intention of teasing him. The story of how he had adventured in the lands of humans with a few companions when he was a bachelor.
His wife’s story might have been meant to tease him, but that story made Grondar’s curiosity explode.
As a result, today, as soon as Grondar turned ten and had his coming-of-age ceremony, he was setting off on an unplanned adventure to the human kingdom, the ‘Plank Kingdom.’
“Hey! You’ll be eaten by monsters?! If you go far, much stronger guys than the ones near the village will appear!!”
Barut even tried to threaten his son as a last resort, but.
—Whose son do you think I am to be eaten by monsters!! I won’t die!
“That one really……”
—And I haven’t seen any monsters around lately! It’s fine, so don’t you worry!!
Indeed, like a young man of ten, his son seemed to be ignorant of the world and had nothing to fear.
“Hoo……”
His son, who had run away like an arrow beyond the wasteland.
When his son’s figure disappeared, obscured by the desert dust, Barut let out a sigh.
From behind Barut, his wife spoke.
“Don’t worry too much. The fortune-telling says he’ll be back in three or four months.”
At the voice of his wife, the best fortune-teller and the most beautiful woman among the Giants, he turned around.
—That she was the best fortune-teller was self-acknowledged and publicly recognized, but that she was the most beautiful woman was not publicly recognized.—
“He’ll be back in three or four months? That kid?”
“Yes. But it says he won’t be alone when he returns. Hmm……”
Barut’s wife looked carefully at the fortune-telling stones held in her hand and added.
“It says ‘the friend Grondar’s father envies the most,’ ‘the friend Grondar’s father respects the most but still has lingering bitter feelings for,’ and… ‘Grondar’s human friend’ will come with him?”
The wife who had told the fortune tilted her head and spoke.
But the moment he heard those words, two people came to Grondar’s mind.
‘……The friend I envy the most is Philip. The friend I respect the most but have lingering bitter feelings for is Jereuth.’
The remaining one, ‘Grondar’s human friend,’ who was that?
Barut was lost in thought.