NOVEL WEB Chapter 135
Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: Doodle
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< Chapter 135: Sixteen Years Old (5) >
‘A world surrounded by death? The wheel of a clock? The dead?’
Theo’s mind raced.
Each phrase was difficult to grasp, but one phrase in particular stood out to him.
The wheel of a clock.
‘Could it be connected to the
Quests often linked hints to future events in just this manner.
‘Especially since the quest isn’t over yet.’
Moreover, the term ‘wheel’ brought something immediately to mind.
– The tarot card he had seen in his past life.
Why was he suddenly recalling the first card: the
The fact that the quest hadn’t ended even after securing Cassandra hinted that Theo had missed something crucial.
He wondered if there was something wrong with Cassandra, but fortunately, he saw no signs that the Red-White Mercenaries had caused her any harm.
「She does have a wild imagination, but… unless there’s actually something strange going on… Well, HQ will handle it.」
After all, their orders were simply to escort Cassandra.
Their only duty was to get her to the destination, leaving everything else for the higher-ups to manage.
「Still, keep an eye on the girl, and if you find out anything unusual, share it with us.」
「Yes, understood.」
Selperd left Cassandra in Theo’s care and turned his attention to Arin and Ray.
“By the way, these guys were supposed to make contact with us two hours ago, weren’t they?”
“Right, but they haven’t shown up at all, so either there was a mistake in their plans, or they sensed something was off.”
Selperd nodded in agreement with Arin’s response.
“Exactly. It’s probably better for us to disappear before any reinforcements arrive.”
“Good idea. I didn’t feel comfortable staying here anyway.”
They were, after all, still in Troyban territory.
The last thing the group wanted was to get caught up by Troyban’s forces.
Whoosh!
Soon, three wyverns took to the sky, their wings beating powerfully.
Ray and Arin rode one wyvern together, while Cassandra and Theo mounted another.
Being the lightest, Selperd took on the role of watching their surroundings, staying vigilant.
Their destination was the
Located on the border between Troyban and Ragnar territory, it was currently home to a unit of Ragnar’s forces.
So, you really planned on sneaking up on us when our guard was down, Selperd scoffed, glancing back at the Troyban swordsmen who appeared too late, shouting furiously from the ground as they grew smaller and smaller in the distance.
He felt completely relieved.
Meanwhile—
‘The heat still hasn’t left her body.’
Theo kept a close watch on Cassandra’s condition.
The girl, a small blind child who seemed hardly older than ten, had a slight frame. Although she was destined to become an empress in the near future, Theo couldn’t help but feel a lingering concern for her.
“Caw!”
Umbra squawked, as if asking what he was worried about.
“It’s nothing,” Theo replied, chuckling as he patted the back of Umbra’s neck.
He decided to set aside his worries until they reached their destination.
Just as he was trying to organize his thoughts, Cassandra stirred in her sleep.
“Mom…”
Was she dreaming?
“I… flying… above the clouds…”
Theo instinctively looked around.
Indeed, clouds were drifting by just beside them.
‘Come to think of it, isn’t it said that the Prophecies of the Sorceress Empress often manifest through dreams? So then…’
Could she be having a prophetic dream?
As this thought crossed his mind, he noticed Cassandra’s eyelids trembling.
“Are you awake?” he asked gently.
“Where… am I?”
Cassandra’s expression filled with fear again.
Unlike the relief she’d felt when Theo had first rescued her, she now seemed to realize she was being taken somewhere unfamiliar by strangers once again.
Theo wanted to reassure her as much as he could.
“We’re in the sky.”
“The sky…?” Her face showed a peculiar mix of disbelief and curiosity.
Not a carriage or a train, but the sky?
She noticed the wind tousling her hair and realized the scent of the air was distinctly different from anything she’d smelled before.
‘A dream.’
It reminded her of a strange dream she’d had before, of riding on the back of a monstrous creature, soaring through the sky.
“Yeah. Clouds are passing by right next to us. Do you want to try touching one?”
Recalling her sleepy mumbling about the “clouds,” Theo gently guided the conversation in that direction.
Luckily, Cassandra, being nine years old, seemed naturally drawn to this idea.
Touch a cloud?
How?
She knew about clouds, of course—those fluffy cotton-like things floating in the blue sky, far beyond anyone’s reach, no matter how high they jumped.
If her neighbor, Old Halbert, had said something like this, she would’ve dismissed it as a joke.
But coming from the person who had saved her, she felt an odd sense of trust, as if she really could touch it.
So, summoning her courage, she stretched out her hand to the side.
Her fingers brushed against something.
Something cool and ticklish.
“How was it? You touched it just now.”
“I… did?”
She had thought it would feel soft, like it did in her ‘dream.’
But the sensation was nothing like she had imagined. It felt completely different.
She didn’t think Theo was lying or playing a trick on her.
He didn’t seem like the type, nor did he have any reason to.
“Do you want to touch it again?”
Cassandra nodded, reaching out in the direction Theo indicated.
Again, she felt a similar sensation. But this time, it was as if something delicate and faint had shattered at her fingertips.
For a while, Cassandra dwelled on that feeling.
– Don’t let yourself be troubled too much by ‘dreams.’
She remembered her mother’s comforting words, spoken as she cradled Cassandra, who often fell ill with fever after her visions.
– No matter what you see, the real world is much wider and more vivid than your visions. One day, you’ll meet someone who will take you to see that world.
Here, in this place, lay a world completely different from the one she had glimpsed in her dreams.
“Mom…”
But, longing for her mother’s embrace—a warmth she would never feel again—Cassandra couldn’t hold back her tears, which trickled down her cheeks.
Theo, about to console Cassandra, suddenly noticed a faint blue light emanating from her.
Paahhh—
‘What’s this?’
It was the same light that appeared whenever a quest guidance triggered.
He stumbled slightly as his vision abruptly shifted.
「Skill: Hatchling Synchronization」 has forcibly activated, allowing you to glimpse part of the future seen by Cassandra, the Prophet.
Whoosh!
‘What is this?’
A vast plain stretched before him.
Wilted flower petals, stained with mud and dust, lay scattered across the ground, as though a flower garden had once stood here. Wisps of black haze drifted ominously over the petals.
Ssshhh—
Simultaneously, dead bodies buried in the ground began to rise, one by one, as if pulled by invisible strings, like puppets dangling on threads.
At the center of this foreboding scene stood a lone figure cloaked in shadows.
The figure, obscured by darkness, made it impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman. They slowly turned to face Theo.
The moment their eyes met—
Flash!
The figure’s eyes burst into a bright light, and the vision shattered.
‘Who was that?’
The blue light indicated it was somehow connected to Theo, but he couldn’t pinpoint anything concrete.
If someone was commanding the dead, it was likely a necromancer or voodoo practitioner. However, even as he sifted through memories from his previous life, he couldn’t recall anyone who might be linked to such a scene.
‘It must also be connected to the fact that the quest isn’t over yet.’
How was he supposed to decipher this hint?
The problem was—
‘Something about it felt familiar.’
Even though he hadn’t clearly seen the face of the being whose eyes had met his, there was an uncanny familiarity in its presence.
Just as he was caught in this unsolvable loop of thoughts—
“You… saw my dream?”
Cassandra spoke with a dazed expression.
Even with her eyes closed, it felt as though she was looking directly at Theo.
“You’re the first person to see it with me! Wow! That’s amazing!”
Cassandra seemed inexplicably delighted.
She was probably thrilled to have someone to share the secret she had silently struggled with alone.
Whether he should laugh or not, Theo managed an awkward smile.
* * *
The place Theo’s group had departed.
In the half-destroyed cabin, a man wearing a wooden mask entered, his right arm clasped behind his back.
With every step he took, his empty left sleeve fluttered like a banner.
His name was ‘Arkt.’
A figure whose name meant the number ‘8’ in an ancient tongue.
One of the nine Retainers Troyban prided itself on.
「You idiot—you lost the target right in front of your eyes?」
“Th-that is…! They launched a surprise attack…! We… we were vastly outnumbered…”
Otan, the head of the Red-White Mercenaries, was pale as he tried desperately to piece together an excuse.
Step—
“We’re just a… a humble m-mer-mercenary group! We don’t s-stand a ch-chance against Ragnar’s e-elite…”
Step—
“So please… show some mercy…”
Step—
No matter what excuses he made, Arkt’s steps did not falter.
With each step closer, Otan’s face grew paler, his voice trembling more and more.
If things went on like this, he would surely die.
With that thought, he threw out a final, desperate plea.
“A-and! The, the ‘Blue Crane Corps’ that… that was supposed to arrive by the appointed time… they didn’t show either…!”
Snap!
Arkt was now standing directly before Otan.
The gaze from behind his mask was so sharp that Otan’s mind went blank, a sheet of white.
「So it’s our fault?」
“N-no, not like that… I’m only asking that you c-consider this, to a degree!”
「The Upsurging Dragon—the one who’s been persistently on our trail—delayed us a little, and you knew that. And yet, you dare make such an excuse?」
Upsurging Dragon.
When he learned that one of Ragnar’s most esteemed elders had left the North, he’d been utterly stunned.
It was entirely due to that incident that he’d lost his left arm.
Over half of the Blue Crane Corps had perished as well.
“T-that’s…!”
「You were barely delayed by two or three hours. And yet, here you are, stretching out that kind of excuse, when this isn’t even Ragnar’s territory but the Eastern Region’s front yard?」
“S-spare me…!”
「Moreover, what angers me most.」
Arkt unclasped his hands from behind his back, raising one in a sharp edge.
“Please!”
「Of all people to lose the child to—how could you stupidly let Ragnar take her while you were gambling away, without a care in the world.」
Slash!
Splat—
Otan’s head, frozen with a look of terror, rolled onto the ground.
Thud!
Arkt stomped on it, crushing it completely.
「From today on, I better not hear the name Red-White Mercenaries again.」
“Yes, sir.”
The subordinate who’d been waiting disappeared without a trace.
With that, the final fate of the Red-White Mercenaries, who had even dreamed of glory under a new master, was sealed.
「No matter what, we must see the
Arkt clasped his hands behind his back once more, muttering quietly.
「So, make sure to bring her back.」
The Blue Crane Corps.
Like their name, the “Blue Devils” who reigned as grim reapers of the battlefield bowed their heads, then soared into the air all at once.
Arkt looked up in silence at the direction in which his subordinates had vanished.
The celestial energy flowing through the blue sky was slowly shifting.
「Of all times for things to go wrong.」
Gnash!
The grinding of his teeth was the only sound that conveyed his menacing intent.