It reminded me of that time.

I remembered when Sir Geens attacked to kill me and the small bird opened up the ark to protect me.

“This……”

But this time, everything was completely different other than Percy’s appearance.

The golem, which had attempted to regenerate dozens of times already, floated in the air piece by piece as if time had stopped.

I was holding the still unconscious Duchess Blanquer and flying in the air while covered by her blood.

Dust fell from my body each time Percy flapped his wings.

However, everything in front of me was so full of light that I could not pay attention to anything else.

I squinted and looked at the ground. The first person I saw was Christelle.

She was looking down at her body with an extremely shocked look on her face.

Blue light was coming out of the main character’s body as she created a water drop.

– Paaaaat!

“Dame Christelle!”

Vice Captain Élisabeth ran over to her in shock.

The light coming out of Christelle pierced through the center of space in between the setting blood-like sun and the rising white moon.

Her two feet floated up from the ground and then slumped. The strange actions did not stop there.

– Ooooooong!

“……”

The Imperial Crown Prince’s Sword of Wisdom, which was releasing a light from its red jewel, shot a red light toward the heavens as if following Christelle.

Crown prince Cédric scowled and looked down at his sword.

The young Countess urgently caught Christelle but she seemed unconscious.

I stomped my foot to go down, but…

– Shaaaaa!

“Ugh!”

The jewel at the wing joint of the Ark of the Wind Deity shot out a light purple colored ray of light.

I staggered after being pushed back from the recoil.

Percy’s ray of light shot out brightly toward the same spot in the sky.

Last was the divine item of the east, the Sacred Bow of the Tree of Life.

– Wiiiiiiiiiiing••••••!

The green jewel at the center of the tree released a magnificent ray of light.

This emerald-colored ray of light shot out toward the same location as the other three divine items.

Four magical rays of light were gathering at the extremely tall and endless zenith in the sky.

This beautiful yet chilling sight was visible throughout the continent.

However, what happened next was something that everybody, including me, and perhaps even the author of QNW, would have never expected.

‘Thump.’

“Eek.”

My heart beat wildly. No, maybe it stopped.

I gasped as my heart suddenly tightened and my mind was turning white.

My stiff body repeatedly heated up as hot as lava before getting as cold as a glacier.

“Ha, ugh, oo……”

I placed a hand on my chest instead of my neck and flailed in pain.

I couldn’t breathe but my instincts were telling me this was different from suffocation.

It felt as if I was not supposed to be there, as if my soul was being repulsed by the world for not belonging here.

My jaw dropped from an instinctual fear of something being wrong and my lips were shaking.

The ark became perplexed at my flailing and flew lower. That was a relief.

– Plop!

“Eek!”

I placed Duchess Blanquer on the ground with shaking arms before slowly crawling away from her.

It didn’t matter where I ended up. This was an extremely dangerous development.

My instincts were telling me that I ended up as an extremely ominous existence.

I needed to go somewhere without people. Veins were visible on my temples and my eyes felt as if they would burst out.

“Ooo, ugh……”

“Your highness! Prince Jesse!”

Vice Captain Élisabeth, who was on the ground holding Christelle, shouted.

Her voice sounded extremely anxious.

I wanted to tell her that I was okay but I didn’t even have the strength to turn my head.

My hips felt weak and I felt as if I might fall at any moment. As I dangerously staggered…

– Tap

“Ugh……”

“What is it?”

My gaze was forced up.

My vision was blurry and I couldn’t see the man’s face very well, but I could tell his orange eyes that looked as if garnets had been embedded in there.

He pushed my chin up even higher with the tip of his scabbard.

My vision cleared up for a bit before becoming blurry again.

“State the issue.”

“……way.”

“Properly.”

“…un,awa……”

‘Tsk.’ He bent down and used rough movements to rummage through my bag.

Painkillers, other medicine, as well as numerous tools that I urgently packed all fell to the ground.

The crown prince peeked at my condition before picking up a magic tool flare.

He couldn’t just feed me any medicine so he probably thought that it would be faster to call for reinforcement.

My stomach was churning but I still gasped and shook my head. ‘Hey idiot, that’s not it……”

“U…… Gasp.”

“Jesse. Louder.”

“G, get lost……!”

Beeeeeeeeeep! My ears were ringing. Something came up from my stomach.

Everything turned completely white and…

– Baaaaaaaang!

“Sadie!”

A golden light burst out of my body. The young Countess’s shouting became faint.

*

– Clang!

“Wake up, Hervé.”

Frédérique Riester had a tired smile on her face as she brushed her hair back.

The holy sword in her right hand, Durandal, was showing off its nimble appearance.

It was just another afternoon at the Riester Imperial Palace.

The interior training ground, which had shed all of its dirt and scars to be remade last June, was to the Empress’s liking.

There was that annoying issue of her punk of a son and the little Sarnez girl half destroying the training ground, but she was satisfied because a luxurious onyx couch and silver table was brought in here after the renovations were finished.

Aurélie frowned but pretended not to see.

“Ugh, your Majesty…… May I please have one minute to comply with that Imperial Decree?”

“You sure love to exaggerate. I will give you five seconds.”

“Ugh.”

The Captain of the Imperial Guard, who was currently slammed against a corner of the training ground groaning, could not go against his master’s order and struggled to lift his body up.

Hervé Duhem was one of the Empire’s greatest mages who was confident about his large physique and quick speed, but unfortunately, he was no match for the Empress.

In fact, her being willing to spar with him like this was an extreme honor and one of the few opportunities for him to grow stronger.

“Frédérique, go easy on him. What if Hervé gets too hurt to get off the bed for a while?”

“Then I will have to protect the Palace. That punk, Élisabeth, isn’t here either right now.”

‘Ooooooooong!’ Her sword master’s aura gathered at the tip of Durandal’s blade.

The Empress shrugged her shoulders and Aurélie shook her head as if she knew she couldn’t stop her.

She took a sip of coffee before starting to speak again.

“The children still haven’t contacted us. Didn’t they say that they were coming back today?”

“They must have gotten too distracted with the dancing.”

“That might be true. Cédric is very good at the waltz.”

“I taught him.”

The Empress, who didn’t even know the definition of being humble, smiled as she answered.

Hervé laughed out loud before he received her sharp gaze.

The Cardinal truly couldn’t hold back a smile this time.

It was fun waiting for the children who went to all corners of the Empire to cause trouble, save others, and grow.

However, resting with her long friend and soulmate was just as fun.

Lately, every day seemed quite peaceful and warm.

“Should we go to the regional portal to greet the kids?”

– Slam!

Someone disrespectfully slammed the training ground door open and entered.

The Empress and the Captain of the Imperial Guard’s gazes moved at the same time.

The Cardinal’s beige-colored eyes opened wide. The person was surprisingly the Chief of Staff, Laura.

There was only one other time in the past few decades that Laura had acted like this.

That day, Frédérique and Aurélie had lost the most important man in their lives.

“Laura? What happened?”

The Cardinal urgently stood up.

Click! She was so anxious that she spilled her hot coffee but she could not pay any attention to it.

Frédérique quickly approached her, grabbed her wrist, and clicked her tongue.

Laura showed her respects and broke her silence.

“Your Majesty, we received an urgent message from Sir Johann Geens. A golem has appeared on the east side of the Empire. In the Blanquer Duchy…… A golem is running wild right now.”

“What?”

“His Royal Highness and the others are working with Duchess Blanquer to fight against it, but the message says that it is not easy to take down as Dungeon 1 had opened right before it showed up.”

“……”

Anxiety could be seen in her cherry-colored eyes. This was unbelievable news.

The last time the appearance of a golem was recorded was 500, no, almost 600 years ago.

She was extremely shocked and bewildered but still made a quick judgment.

That was the most important duty of a ruler.

“Make an emergency summon for the Chambre des pairs. If the Pair de Riester themselves are currently absent from the Imperial Capital, make their heir participate. Send 3,000 soldiers and thirty knights at Grade 5 or higher to the Duchy immediately. Have them wait at the boundary of the territory until the Duchess requests for their assistance.”

“As you command. And one more thing, your Majesty.”

“There’s more?”

The Empress looked at her right hand woman.

Frédérique finally realized that Laura’s wheat-colored hair had a few strands sticking out and that her sincere gaze was shaking so much.

The Chief of Staff continued to speak in a shaking voice.

“Outside, on the eastern sky…… Something has happened. You need to come out and take a look, your Majesty.”

“What the hell……”

The Empress scowled and started walking. The Cardinal and the Captain of the Imperial Guard followed behind her.

Tang! Frédérique basically kicked the training ground door open and stepped out.

“……Fuck.”

She then swore. The entire Imperial Palace was chaotic.

She could see someone fainted on the ground.

Everybody was looking at something with shock and fear that nobody even turned to see that the Empress had arrived.

Frédérique glared at the eastern sky that the gardeners, attendants, royal servants, and soldiers were all staring at with blank gazes on their faces.

She was certain that everything outside the palace was crazy right now.

“Laura.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“Send the soldiers into alert immediately. Contact Admiral Corleone as well.”

She sounded as if she was ready to chew someone out. Aurélie closed her eyes.

She then mumbled the name of her one and only student.

*

Blood!

“Baarf. Cough cough! Cough! Barf……”

Blood continued to pour out of my mouth nonstop. The fishy, salty, and disgusting taste filled my tongue and cheeks.

It was scary and dreadful but the thing that gave me the chills was that I couldn’t even remember how long I had been doing this for.

Plop. Holy stones fell like hail from my ripped shirt.

I blankly stared at the stones in the puddle of blood and coughed again.

“Cough cough! Baaarf, haaaa.”

– Shaaaaaaaaaaaa……

The holy stones started absorbing the blood.

I couldn’t help but be surprised despite trying to catch my breath.

The holy stones sucked up my blood as if they were sponges and as if my red blood was like a water of life.

I got chills and moved back out of reflex. I could feel the rough ground as they pushed against the dirt.

Cough. For better or worse, it felt as if my bleeding and coughing was slowing down.

“Haaa, mmph……”

I barely held myself back from barfing again and looked around.

The light was not there anymore. I could feel the ark on my back.

I could see Duchess Blanquer, who was still on the ground just as I left her, as well as the crown prince who was unconscious under a tree.

On the other side were the unconscious Christelle and Vice Captain Élisabeth……

– Booboboboooooooooom••••••

It sounded as if there was an earthquake in the sky.

I jerked my head up to see if there were any flying demonic beasts.

I needed to open my Holy Land to protect every-

“……What is that?”

I blankly mumbled.

It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.

The spot where the four rays of light had gathered was quickly growing in size.

The dot soon became a screen before that almost instantly became a large hole.

It looked as if some dangerous extraterrestrial creatures or a UFO would come through it.

The warning about not knowing what would happen when four divine items gathered together filled my head again.

‘No, I can’t even tell after looking at it. I can’t even tell if my body is normal. What the hell is going……’

“Huff. Huu.”

It was hard to breathe. My fingertips were shaking. I stood up as if I was possessed by something.

The thing that appeared through the large hole in the sky……

“Our house…… That’s our veranda.”

– Flap!

My two legs floated up. I felt everything go blurry as I flew higher.

It was something I could not mistakenly identify.

The place where the grass doll that Eunseo grew in middle school was planted in a pot.

The place where my brother would place a fishing chair and blow bubbles while coming up with ideas for the next chapter of his wuxia novel…

I reached out with both hands like a crazy person.

– Flap, flap!

This was an exit to go back home.

“Eunseo.”

– Pow!

A strong shock struck my body. I couldn’t even groan.

Chhh, rustle! I brutally fell into a soft pile of maple leaves.

I could smell the thick stench of blood and the fragrance of flowers. I could also hear the man breathing heavily.

The man who slammed against me with his body to break a wing, was looking down at me with a gaze full of anger and a sense of betrayal.

His orange eyes were the last things I saw as I became unconscious.

“Sorry……”

‘I wasn’t trying to hurt you.’ I whispered to him. Then everything became dark.

—
Translator’s Comments

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