Surviving on the Northern Front with Gukbap

The Reunion He Never Wanted

To be honest, I had constantly agonized all the way here.

Should I assassinate that rabbit beastkin while he couldn't even resist,

or—

'Should I extract information from him before killing him?'

To save the battalion commander immediately, I needed to kill the rabbit beastkin right away,

but thinking of the future, there were too many things I needed to ask.

'From the source of that cursed artifact, to the beastkin's excessive obsession with the spirit stone quarry.'

Now that I knew the Granfen spirit stone quarry was related to outsiders, I couldn't just let it go.

For the future, I had to gather even the smallest bit of information.

That's why I was torn up to the last moment on how I should kill him,

but once I heard Legion's information, my dilemma came to an end.

'If that rabbit bastard is from the Magic Tower of Fire, things are different.'

Of course, it'd be a lie to say I wasn't curious about the relationship between Plerine and that guy,

but there was something much more significant.

It was—

'There might be a connection between the Tower Master of Fire and the suspicious outsider.'

Originally, in the game, the 'Fragment of the Firmament' was succeeded by the Tower Master of Fire.

Unless the player character actively intervened, the Fragment of the Firmament always belonged to the Tower Master.

Naturally, the acquisition difficulty was brutally high.

But for such a top-rank OOPArts to be—

'—used as a creation medium for the anomalous minor Demon Realm that opened in the spirit stone quarry?'

It didn't add up at all—a seriously foul stench.

So, I'd been meaning to investigate the Magic Tower of Fire eventually, and the opportunity came sooner than expected.

In the end, I decided to crush the rabbit beastkin's face instead of killing him.

"First, take a hit."

Crack!

I even felt relieved at landing a clean hit.

The rabbit beastkin failed to react at all to my attack.

I'd worried for a moment that he might be on par or even stronger than me—

'At this level, I can finish him off whenever I want!'

Just as I was feeling fortunate,

the rabbit beastkin's body, struck by my fist, shot through the air,

limply plummeting toward the ground, head first at that.

At this height, it would be more than enough to kill someone—

—or so I thought, watching his body approach the ground, when—

Boom!

A disconcerting explosion sounded not beneath but behind me.

"!!"

From the trunk of a tree, a thorny branch was surging toward me.

But from this thin branch, I couldn't move sideways—dodging would be hard.

I was about to strike it down with Black Vein,

but an ominous sensation made me leap back—

and sure enough, thorns sprouted from the branch I'd been standing on.

'Damn it.'

If I'd hesitated even another second, my foot would have been punctured.

Thanking the Fragment of the Firmament, I rolled my eyeballs to search for the rabbit beastkin.

As expected, he'd been faking unconsciousness;

now, he was fleeing in the opposite direction at full speed.

Tatataat!

'Tch. I let my guard down.'

Annoyance surged as I realized I'd been fooled,

but the situation was still not bad.

Because—

'The difference between him and me is crystal clear.'

Not everyone from the Magic Tower of Fire used fire magic.

Their magic allocation depended on talent,

and the ones with the lowest talent—like this guy—learned tree-attribute magic.

That was mainly to serve as kindling to boost fire magic's potency—

'He's a doormat mage from the Tower of Fire!'

Though "doormat mage" wasn't an official term,

it was a phrase I'd popularized in the community, similar to calling special variant monsters "leaders". Hmm.

Anyway,

'That rabbit bastard is as good as mine!'

Before I knew it, the corners of my mouth curled upward,

but branches began stabbing toward me from all directions.

Let's see, there are five of them, judging by their thickness and trajectory—

'So, he's a 4-circle mage.'

As a hardcore gamer, my frontal lobe quickly analyzed and calculated the situation,

and orders shot through my central nervous system.

Tick-tock.

After overlaying a grid across the rabbit beastkin's entire back,

I infused the overflowing mana from my body and swung my left hand.

"Deploy."

Nash, wreathed in blue flames, flew forward—

Sseeeeeeeaaaak!

The short sword whistled so fast even I was surprised, and the rabbit beastkin looked back in alarm.

"!!"

He hastily stopped and thrust out his wand; thorns sprang up at his feet—

but they stopped at roughly the length of a palm.

Thunk!

A blue light pierced straight through the center of his abdomen.

"Khk!"

Blood streamed from the rabbit beastkin's mouth.

I thought to myself that perhaps I shouldn't have used the enchanted effect on Nash as I landed on the ground.

Tap.

At the same time, the rabbit beastkin dropped to his knees and collapsed.

Thwack! Thwack!

Using his wand, he slapped his own thighs, a shadow falling over his face.

"Damn it! To a mere outsider human!"

I'd aimed precisely at the center of his waist—his spine.

From now on, he'd live out his days paralyzed from the waist down.

Not that he'd have that many days left.

"S-Stop!"

He choked out, thrusting his wand at me with tears in his eyes.

But no thorns shot my way—

"I'll tell you everything, just please stop!"

This rabbit's quick wits were impressive.

He'd figured out not only that he couldn't beat me even if he used magic,

but also that I wasn't likely to kill him immediately after that strike.

But—

'You didn't account for my grudge against you.'

Squelch!

My Black Vein gouged out his left eyeball.

"Gyaaaah!!"

As he writhed in agony, I kicked him over onto his back and said,

"Shut your mouth."

"Kh...um...!"

"If you try to be clever, you'll die instantly. If you want to survive as a cripple, answer immediately. Got it?"

He barely swallowed his groans and nodded rapidly and deeply.

I began, confirming the fear of death across his face.

"What's the current name of the Tower Master of Fire?"

"... Crimson Rose."

Seok.

I mercilessly sliced off his right hand.

The point was not to give him any time to think.

"Khhmp!"

"Do you think I'm asking for the hereditary Tower Master's title?"

"S-Syndralis!"

A name I'd never heard before.

It didn't seem to be any named NPC from my memories.

"He succeeded Ignazal?"

When I mentioned the former Master's real name, the rabbit beastkin hesitated,

then nodded after a beat.

Of course, every Tower Master was known by an alias, and their real name was a top-secret setting, but—

'That's an odd overreaction.'

It had been about forty years since the outsider appeared in this world.

If there were another outsider from Earth like me, surely they'd know about Ignazal—

'?!'

Suddenly, his face began to turn horribly pale.

"N-No. No!!"

The rabbit beastkin shook like a power drill.

Didn't seem like it was fear of me—

"Please, spare me just this once...!!"

Sensing a strange aura from his left chest, I immediately backed off.

And then—

Chulphudeok.

With a stifled bursting sound, the upper half of the rabbit beastkin's body slumped forward.

I approached slowly and nudged his body over with my foot to see his face.

From his left chest, blood was spreading as if his heart had exploded.

'Damn it.'

He'd died before I even got to the real questions.

His last words made it clear—this wasn't suicide.

'Could someone be nearby?!'

I immediately checked the surroundings,

but there was no suspicious presence.

Worried there might be an eavesdropping device, I searched the rabbit's corpse.

'Nothing.'

Whether that was a relief or not, there was nothing suspicious.

So, it looked like it was a magic or curse—

"Haa."

There was nothing like this among the skills on my database list.

Which meant it was very likely the caster's unique magic,

and therefore—

'This must be the work of the Tower Master of Fire.'

I couldn't say for certain, but judging from the flow, the odds were high.

All my conversation with the rabbit beastkin had been about the Tower Master,

yet the Tower Master managed to blow up his heart with a method I couldn't detect.

'How much did the Tower Master witness?'

The Tower Master might have already become aware of my presence.

That's why they'd killed the rabbit beastkin to silence him.

Of course, there was another possibility:

'It might be a curse that automatically activates if you divulge secrets about the Tower.'

But my instincts kept urging me to expect the worst.

So far, whenever I'd imagined the worst, reality always turned out even worse.

"... Shit."

A curse slipped out of my mouth on its own.

Just entertaining the worst-case scenarios was almost unbearable.

Just maybe—

no matter how unlikely—

'The Tower Master of Fire might come after me in some form.'

If the Tower Master had witnessed all my actions,

and even saw the enchanted magic Plerine had put on Nash—

then it was entirely plausible.

'Stupid Ian, I told you to stop triggering flags!'

I shook my head forcefully to shake off this foreboding thought.

After all, these were just my own paranoid speculations.

Nothing was certain.

For now, I needed to focus on finishing the operation cleanly.

'I'll deal with future problems in the future.'

Steeling my nerves, I cut off the rabbit beastkin's ear instead of his head.

Normally, officers' achievements are measured by enemy head count,

but in this case, a rabbit ear would suffice.

'Moreover, the battalion commander's curse should be gone by now.'

Recalling this, I focused my manascope toward our garrison.

It was a little unclear,

but the battalion commander appeared to be alive.

Fortunately, I'd wrapped things up before three sixes in a row came up.

"Haa. Thank goodness."

I let out a sigh of relief, but only for a moment—

Ppooooooo—

The sound of a horn echoed from the beastkin garrison.

I quickly turned my head and looked toward their camp,

where a rat beastkin was dashing straight toward me.

But I wasn't remotely startled or flustered.

Because that short rat beastkin was a familiar face.

"You're safe, Captain!"

It was Legion, who had safely escaped from the garrison.

My lips almost curled upward in relief,

but her next words made my hair stand on end again.

"The beastkin are about to launch a full offensive. There's no time!"

*

While Ian barely managed to kill Squire Schutmann and the rabbit beastkin Aishdin and was returning to the garrison,

the Happiness Gukbap in the distant village of Granfen was packed with customers.

"One beef bone soup and one seolleongtang here!"

Harper was managing the money and directing the staff;

in the kitchen, Dunbell was simmering rice and broth;

out in the hall, Naba and Clara were serving customer after customer;

as every employee worked themselves ragged—

"!!"

One person suddenly stopped moving.

She was wiping a table, then froze, like a doll with a missing battery.

With a bewildered look, she murmured softly.

"... Boss."

Plerine, who had always maintained a smile while working, now had a twisted face.

She tossed her dishcloth aside and dashed out of the shop at lightning speed,

trying to feel every trace of the enchanted magic she had cast.

"No, how could...?"

She couldn't hide her shock.

Not only had she never revealed how to activate the magic,

she'd repeatedly told him never to use it no matter what.

'What in the world is happening?'

A chilling premonition crept up Plerine's spine.

She bit her lower lip anxiously.

Should she go see her boss right now?

No, even if she did, would she already be too late?

Lost in these thoughts—

"!!"

A group of guards caught her eye as they approached from afar,

and for a moment, Plerine gasped for breath.

Among the group, limping as he walked, was a man she recognized immediately.

He was swathed in bandages from head to toe.

Chak. Chak. Chak.

As the soldiers' steps drew near,

tears trickled down from under Plerine's blindfold.

But neither the guards—nor the now-former Company Commander Devanne, who stood before her—could know what Plerine was feeling.