Goblin Knight - Chapter 299



Only Noblemtl

EP.299 Time Problem (7)

After the morning dawns.

As they emerged from the nameless forest along the Silk Road, Blanc felt that even though it was daylight, his visibility in all directions was poor as if there was a thick fog.

“Anyway, no matter what Miss Ella tries to instigate you from now on, you should clearly understand that there is absolutely no problem with my aesthetic sense, and rather, it is her sense that is a hundred years behind the times. – Master? Why are you suddenly like this?”

“No… I just feel like the surroundings are a bit hazy. Is it fog? But I don’t feel any moisture.”

“That’s right. It doesn’t look like a cloud of dust or sand.”

Even if Blanc was like that, it was rare for Annelly not to be able to give a clear answer.

And in Blanc’s experience, the possibilities in these cases are broadly divided into two.

Or maybe there is some wondrous natural phenomenon that even Annelly didn’t know about.

Or maybe something magical is happening again, preparing to bring the incident before them.

“Either way, it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious. Glass slippers, is there still no change in the guidance? If yes, answer once, if no, answer twice.”

“It’s only once. I’ll give you a warning in advance.”

“… … Trasha, proceed quietly.”

– Kreung.

Blanc held tightly to his two undrawn swords as he listened to Annelie whispering some kind of spell beside the carriage.

On the one hand, I thought, ‘If something was going to happen, I wish it had happened after Ella’s homework was done,’ but… when has an event ever waited for them?

Maybe what’s waiting for me ahead will give me a clue to solving the problem.

With that in mind, the group cautiously advanced toward the thick wall of fog.

But after a while, Blanc went beyond the wall of fog and was momentarily overwhelmed by the sight that was completely different from what he had been worried about.

There was no unknown, powerful monster spewing smoky fog waiting for them. It was just a scene that had been there for a long time.

But it wasn’t a wondrous natural landscape. When he first saw the sea, he had been fascinated by its vastness and sparkle, but this time it wasn’t its beauty that overwhelmed him.

The reason why even Annelly, who was not afraid when standing in front of a dragon, was momentarily speechless was a feeling of rejection bordering on fear.

The whole world was shaking except for the area around the road.

“What is this… … .”

Blanc muttered involuntarily at the strange sight he had never seen before.

It was different from the shaking sea and the rainbow-colored spread of oil that met water. This ripple lacked that kind of liveliness.

The whole world would turn colorless and then regain color repeatedly, and sometimes a black puddle would spread across the air, then something like bright, grass-colored letters would fill the puddle and return it to its original state.

A blurry apparition appeared where there was nothing, with a crackling sound, and moved to the road in an instant before disappearing into a square shape.

– Kick!? Kick, squeak, squeak… … !

Trasha, who was closest to the unknown welcome, looked at Blanc with a face almost in tears.

Unfortunately, Blanc, who had to say ‘let’s go back’, was still overwhelmed by the sights here.

The last place Blanc’s eyes turned was beyond all the commotion, a forest of tall, gray-white tin trees that seemed to pierce the sky.

Even if they had been in the forest until just before, they would not have been visible if they had risen so high.

As we crossed the wall of fog, it felt like we had entered another world.

And Blanc knew what these areas were called.

“The… rippling… earth… .”

It wasn’t the first time I had seen the rippling land with my own eyes.

After the incident on the ship where two criminals, including the executioner, had their heads blown off, I had been sick of seeing it next to the Silk Road on the way to Remen City.

But at that time, it was just a gray-white, square, broken cluster.

A shell that remained there without the slightest movement, as if everything there was dead.

In Annely’s words, remnants.

But what they are seeing now is… … .

“… … Ever since I first heard that story, I’ve wondered why this place is called the shimmering land. I’m sure there were other stories out there.”

“But once you see it in person… you’ll realize that nothing is as worthy of its name.”

“That is indeed so.”

Blanc said, suppressing the instinctive alarm that told him to go back immediately.

A land where something that makes up the world is wrong.

What I saw last time was just a shell, but this time it’s different. What’s creating this ripple is still there inside.

Going in there… is it really the right choice?

“… … The direction of the glass slipper has not changed yet. What will you do, Master?”

“Fuck. Annelie, tell me what you think. I can only think of a negative answer right now.”

“Unfortunately, I am like that too. Even for me, this is the first time I have come this close to the swaying land. I have concluded that I must quickly turn back while the Silk Road is still under my protection.”

“… … .”

Trasha was nodding her head in vehement agreement with Annely’s words.

With this, the only reason I have to go inside Guuuuuut is the glass slipper’s sidewalk… You’ve been really good so far, but still… … .

“Fuck.”

After much deliberation, Blanc decided to take the rabbit’s foot out of his pocket.

It’s funny how only a day has passed since the debate over whether or not rabbit feet should be used, and I’m already writing about it, but what do I know?

I could always face a formidable enemy while preparing to die, but I didn’t want to do something so obvious that I would die.

“Let’s see what you think about this.”

Blanc grabbed the rabbit’s foot and held it out toward the ground.

Just like last time, I fervently hope that the golden path leads somewhere other than inside.

But the moment a brilliant light burst out from the rabbit’s foot, something no one expected happened.

What appeared this time was not a golden light, but rather golden illusions that flickered and swayed.

Two apparitions of human figures, distorted beyond recognition, but clearly of the size of a child and the height of an adult male.

“what…….”

Before the group could even react.

The illusions from the rabbit’s feet began to move and make sounds.

The first thing I said was a small welcome.

– Insolent… thing! How dare… … … you… … speak… to… me!

– you…….

The smaller one is a young girl’s voice, the larger one is a man’s voice.

Didn’t Rabbit’s Foot say that it had skipped through time? So this is a story from the distant future? But why at this time?

The rabbit’s foot rippled without answering the question.

– … I can really understand… why is that… … .

– … … is a person… … because… … .

The welcome did not continue unabated.

It seems as if time passes by at an incredibly fast pace, but occasionally it returns to normal speed and lets out a voice that is difficult to understand.

– Why? Why must it be so… … … that I can… … !

– … … That’s it. I… … I know… …

A girl shouting in a hoarse voice as if she couldn’t understand, and a man who seemed to have difficulty even speaking.

After a long time, the image changed to that of a man on one knee, gasping for breath in pain, and a girl crying beside him.

– … … time! Must… you… … young… gi… … !

– … … … … … … … … … .

In the end, the ending was that one man’s welcome disappeared after spitting out inaudible words.

After a while.

As if filling the place of the lost golden illusions, the rabbit’s foot painted the Silk Road in gold, indicating the way forward.

It was inside the rippling ground.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Blanc and Annely were both left speechless.

There was so much to think about.

The glass slippers led them to the shimmering land, and what were the phantoms that suddenly appeared from the rabbit’s foot, and what were they saying?

Just thinking about Ella’s homework right now was killing me, and I wondered if there were just too many difficult problems.

Still, there was only one answer that had to be given immediately.

“… … In the end, do you think the path has been decided?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Blanc and Annelie looked into the rippling earth with faces that seemed to be seeing the most trembling thing in the world.

I hate going there so much I want to die.

No matter how much the Silk Road protects them from those ripples, if anything goes wrong, it’s not just death that’s the problem, it’s like their souls will be swallowed up by those ripples.

But there is no other way –

– Booooooooooooo──!!

“……ok?”

When Blanc tried to step into the ground with the feeling of chewing on a gallbladder.

Suddenly a loud horn sound was heard behind me.

It wasn’t that close, but it wasn’t that far either. The reason I hadn’t noticed its approach yet was probably because the fog was blocking my perception.

But, wondering what on earth was that horn sound, Blanc turned his head.

“───!!!”

Blanc had to lower his face in horror at the sight of the giant arrow looming before his eyes.

Kagakak!! The arrow passed by him, scraping the crown of his helmet.

“Master!?”

“Annelli, get down! It’s the enemy!!”

– Krrrrrr… … !

Trasha, who realized the enemy belatedly, puffed up the hair on his entire body and looked beyond the fog behind him.

Blanc also drew his silver sword and shield and prepared for defense, but his mind couldn’t help but feel dizzy.

The power of that arrow just now and the number of enemies emerging from the fog are unusual.

They are not like a gang of thieves. There is no way such people would enter the rippling land.

So where the hell is it? Are the executors of the church already following them? Or the Empire? Or-

“Wait a minute, that’s… … .”

“Master? What do you see!?”

“……okay.”

Blanc answered quietly, gritting his teeth.

Among the cavalry charging forward, raising clouds of dust, there were those with human upper bodies attached where the heads of their horses should have been.

One by one, green monsters much taller than knights on horseback appeared, and women were seen flying through the sky on bird’s wings.

And on the front.

– That’s what I told you.

Even though it was still too far away for him to hear, she looked straight at him and whispered.

Yaul, a dog holding a horn in one hand-

– 애국자는 전부 개새끼들이라고.

“That- that son of a bitch──!!”

For some reason, it wasn’t the sect or the empire that pursued them first.

The remaining demon forces were monsters of the Federation.