#250
The capital of the Ganghwan Realm, Drasha.
Hah—
Cecily Granwood stepped out of the royal castle at the center, letting out a deep sigh.
‘What on Earth is he up to now…’
Just hours ago, her colleague Harris had shown some unexpected behavior, causing her quite the headache.
He had requested an abrupt leave from his duty of diligently guarding the World Tree, as was expected of him during an emergency.
While it wasn’t particularly unusual for one to take a break…
Others among the High Elves had encouraged him to rest without much fuss, understanding that everyone needs their own time, regardless of their position.
The issue wasn’t that he wanted a little time off, but that he announced he was going somewhere entirely outside the Elven Kingdom, to a location unknown.
‘…He didn’t say where he was going, but it sure doesn’t seem like the Enamel Continent.’
Naturally, Cecily and the other High Elves tried to dissuade him.
How could they let one of the Elven Kingdom’s few symbolic figures, an important individual who had risen to the top as a powerful force, go off alone to a place that could pose any kind of threat?
But he was surprisingly adamant, much more than usual, forcing them to back down.
‘Now that the threats like Lycanthropes have been dealt with and preparations are in place, it’s not like his absence will cause any issues.’
Thus, a time was agreed upon: exactly ten days.
Harris promised to return within that time frame and had just departed through a forest path to who-knows-where.
“I hope nothing happens…”
While she didn’t think such a strong individual would easily come to harm, the current state of the world was so grim that her worries were only natural.
Wouldn’t it be better if he just loitered around and enjoyed some sunbathing like usual?
Walking along with such thoughts, she discovered someone looking around near the tree hill where Harris loved to loaf about.
‘Huh? Shapiron…?’
An elven girl with flowing blue hair, elegantly dressed, was shaking a snack basket in her hand, constantly glancing around.
It was Shafiron Silvesty, the daughter of Laforey.
They had naturally developed a certain camaraderie since participating in the delegation together and having similar ages.
‘Oh! Don’t tell me…’
She had often seen the two hanging out together, usually sitting beside Harris, munching snacks or poking fun at each other.
So, it was only natural to assume Harris had informed her he was leaving beforehand…
But it appeared that he had left without saying a word to her either.
‘No, what was the rush?!’
Frozen for a moment, Cecily found herself making eye contact with a pair of blue eyes that were just as surprised.
With her eyes wide open, Shapiron bowed her head slightly.
Seeing such innocence only made Cecily’s heart feel heavier.
“Hah— if only he would return…”
With a sigh, Cecily slowly walked toward her, vowing to have a talk with Harris when he came back.
*
Danger level: extremely high, survival first.
In such a dangerous world, it was foolish to send just any avatar.
Sure, with Summoning Release, they probably wouldn’t die easily, but all the trial and error was simply a waste, wasn’t it?
‘To accurately assess the local information and ensure safety, force is essential. With overwhelming power, there’s no need to toil from scratch!’
Hans was busy recovering and conducting research in the Undying Castle, while Heinz II was preoccupied managing both worlds.
Heinrich, too, was under the spotlight of the entire continent, and Harley still had plenty of tasks left in the south.
‘In the end, it seems Harris is the only one with time on his hands.’
Of course, even Harris couldn’t be gone for long, and he needed to prepare a foothold before returning to the Elven Kingdom.
The time given to him was about 10 days.
That should be enough to achieve his primary goals.
In a remote area of the Ganghwan Realm.
In the middle of a deserted mountain range.
Whoosh— Hah—
“This place is Ganghwan Realm… Not bad at all.”
Harris took a deep breath as he set foot in this new world, nodding in approval.
While not as pure as Auterica, it was a breath of fresh air compared to Earth’s polluted atmosphere.
‘It’s not just the pollution; the presence of energy in the world creates a massive difference.’
In this mysterious wasteland, where not a speck of energy was mingled with the air— unlike Earth, the air in the Ganghwan Realm was continuously circulating with the world’s unique energy, purifying its miasma.
‘This must be Qi. It feels peculiar.’
Being a natural-born High Elf and a powerful individual who had reached transcendence, he could feel the differences.
Not only was the energy different, but the composition of the air was also distinctly different from either Auterica or Earth.
‘Experiencing it firsthand is fascinating. What exactly is an Awakened One to be unaffected by such different environments?’
Independence from the laws of each dimension and the ability to maintain one’s unique properties within such environments— it seemed too contrived to have developed without reason.
Hmm.
The golden-haired, green-eyed elf prince tilted his head, stroking his chin before shaking his head.
It wasn’t the time to ponder such mysteries of the world.
‘What matters now is that the experiment was successful.’
Thanks to this, he had achieved the second feat of “Returning to Earth” that strengthened the “Dimensional Teleportation Circle Summon.”
Previously, it allowed him to teleport every 10 days in this world, but now it was down to 5 days flat.
‘It grants the ability to return to places you’ve visited in this world.’
And that was the key to how Harris was able to cross into the Ganghwan Realm.
By extracting vivid memory information of places Salma had visited, combined with Hans’s research.
‘This is where Salma has passed, huh?’
Finally, after deceiving both himself and the world, he succeeded in bending causality by visiting the locations left behind in Salma’s memories as if having been there himself.
“Well then, shall we start the proper local investigation…?”
Harris glanced around at the surrounding trees and forest with a faint smile.
All of it was filled with unfamiliar flora and odd vegetation, but the refreshing energy they exuded was more than enough to satisfy him, who possessed “Nature Affinity.”
This much was…
“Come forth, Pascal.”
Whiiiii—
His spirits would now be able to frolic around comfortably.
*
Near Jangsa City in Honnam Province, on the Yanghyeong Mountain.
“Phew, damn it. Business is tanking again today.”
“What can we do? The situation is what it is. How many idiots would be brave enough to run around with the country crumbling?”
“Is this really the time for such nonchalance? At this rate, we’re all going to starve to death! Shouldn’t we move somewhere else?”
“Even the boss seems to be thinking about where to relocate. I heard Sohochaye couldn’t take it anymore and has moved out already.”
At the mountain road they had to pass through lay a group of five or six bandits, huddled together in discussion.
Claiming to be the heroes who would chastise this corrupt world— but let’s be honest, they were just bandits.
“Oh, hey. Is there still no signal near the entrance? The boss will be furious if today’s yet another failure.”
“None. Seems like it’ll be another dud today.”
Sigh, “These days, there’s no trade. I really wish a moneybags would just fall from the sky.”
Hehe— “If you’re going to joke around, then just shut up, alright? On such a fine day— huh?”
Just then, an unexpected situation crashed down upon them, who were supposed to be keeping the peace of the mountain.
Whooosh?! What, what is that? It’s coming this way…!
Staring blankly at the sky, one bandit, spotting something, shrieked, and soon the rest followed suit, lifting their heads one by one—
Woooooosh—!
Suddenly, amidst a strong gust of wind—
“Ooh, a person has been spotted.”
A figure plummeted from the sky.
With an oddly soothing voice that made you feel lethargic.
And the moment they laid eyes on him, a shared thought spread among the bandits.
‘…Is that really a person?’
They couldn’t help but wonder.
While they could somewhat accept the blond hair and green eyes, because color folks were rare but not nonexistent on this land…
‘Is that a person we’re looking at? Moreover, those eyes…!’
‘Y-yo-kai?!’
Yet every other feature was well beyond what they could comprehend.
A flawlessly sculpted beautiful face, ears perked up on either side, and the star-shaped pupils nestled within his green eyes.
He was even gliding downward, surrounded by a substance that took the form of wind!
No matter how open-minded they were, accepting such a spectacle was outright impossible.
“……”
“……”
The bandits exchanged glances, each silently seeking advice from one another in this strange situation.
In truth, however, their course of action had already been predetermined.
“Oh my~! What brings you to this humble place, Sir Hero?”
The bandit with a particularly large dot on his nose was the first to plunge to the ground, crying out woefully.
“Such an esteemed guest visiting us lowly folk…”
“W-wha, if you wish for something, please ask…”
“My aging mother is waiting just for me…”
Following suit, the other bandits hurriedly pressed their heads to the ground.
Survivor instincts kicking in, they read the room quickly.
They weren’t about to make the insane mistake of talking back to one who could manipulate wind and descended from the sky!
“Well, now, you seem to be quick on the uptake.”
Perhaps he found their reactions pleasing, for Harris, the visitor from the sky, nodded with satisfaction.
From the very first encounter with the locals of this world, he felt no need to resort to excessive measures.
‘Most importantly, I didn’t expect “Xenoglossy” would be so useful here. I thought it would be a bust, but it turned out to be lucky, huh?’
As he started conversing with them, he could naturally sense what they were saying.
Every language he understood was being filtered through “Xenoglossy.”
It seemed the automatic translation feature of the system applied only to the first dimension he officially entered, and no services were provided for dimensions he had barged into uninvited.
‘If I hadn’t had this, I would have wasted time dragging Hans here and learning a new language!’
Given the circumstances, Harris found himself getting drawn back into the allure of “Random Additional Skill Acquisition,” the one he’d been given.
Though the hefty sum of 500,000 points remained a significant hurdle…
‘N-no, let’s not think about that now.’
While the temptation of the lottery itched at him, it was time to focus on the present situation.
“First off, will you guide me to your base, please?”
In fact, he had detected the nearby hideout of the bandits long before arriving there.
He simply approached them first since they were closer.
This was merely a formality.
“Uh… may I ask why you have come to such a humble place…”
“Oh come on! You’re really something! …Hehe, of course! Follow me! I’ll show you the fastest and most comfortable way!”
Noticing the subtle tension in his tone as a friend attempted to question him, the bandit with the large dot quickly took the leadership role, guiding him.
He had nearly felt offended, but it was rather fortunate that it hadn’t escalated.
For them.
And of course, it was common sense.
Thus, led to their hideout, Harris quickly took control over all the bandits and began his intense information-gathering session.
This all occurred just an hour after the mystical powerhouse, “Harris,” made his debut in this world.
