I Entered a Gacha Game That Had Been Abandoned for 10 Years chapter 150

150 – Return (2)

[Too bad, if you had waited a bit longer, it would have been over. What a pity, really.]

Loria’s voice echoed clearly in his ear, and the world came to a halt.

As if pausing the world by pressing the ESC key in a game, everything froze.

The Hero King, who was smiling as if he couldn’t believe himself, froze like a statue, and the many people outside the terrace froze in that place.

[Oh, really. Should I have forcibly stopped it around the middle?]

Loria’s voice continued to resonate.

As if indifferent in this suspended world.

[Well, if I had forcibly stopped it, you would have noticed… In the end, it was inevitable after meeting the merchant and obtaining the potion, right~]

She was muttering to herself, blaming her mistake, but at the same time, consoling herself as if it couldn’t be helped.

As Kim Hyun-woo, the only one aware of this paused world, was about to utter ‘What-‘.

Crack-!

In front of Kim Hyun-woo, the world began to split.

To be more precise, it was as if the space in front of Kim Hyun-woo started to shatter like glass.

Crack-!

As the world shattered, revealing a glimpse inside the shattered pieces, a delicate hand emerged, grabbing onto the broken fragments and beginning to crawl out.

And then.

“Anyway, I’m terribly sorry about that.”

A girl appeared in front of Kim Hyun-woo, uttering the word “sorry” multiple times from before until now.

With blond twin braids, yet sporting pastel-toned blue hues within, she repeated the word “sorry” as if it were a habit, all the while smiling.

Her mischievous, playful smile.

“You-“

Kim Hyun-woo found himself opening his mouth, surprised at his own actions.

Unlike before, this time, although his body remained frozen, he could speak, thanks to the new ability to open his mouth.

“Who are you?”

“Loria, right? You know, right? Loria, who has faithfully served as your aide. Well, strictly speaking, not an aide, just played a prank when the notification popped up.”

Observing her chuckling smile, Kim Hyun-woo spoke.

“Who are you?”

“Loria, you say?”

“…You know I’m not referring to that.”

As Kim Hyun-woo fixed his expression, trying to understand the current situation as much as possible, Loria, smiling as if finding his confusion amusing, shrugged lightly after pondering for a moment.

“Well, since you’ve been caught, let me explain. I am someone who definitely wishes for your demise. Ah~ I regret it; if I had control from the start when you first arrived and sent the letter, I could have killed you right away without all this hassle. Just gave you a bit more leeway for no reason- well-“

Looking at Kim Hyun-woo, Loria continued.

“If I hadn’t given you that leeway, you wouldn’t have been able to summon me anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

While focusing on her words and trying to grasp the current situation based on the clues she provided, Kim Hyun-woo was pondering.

“Anyway, dragging it out to this extent, I’ve done what I needed to do.”

She chuckled, seemingly quite satisfied with the current situation.

“It was a bit risky, but I’ve managed to buy time and finished all preparations during this period. Plus, I’ve acquired a decent body.”

With those words, she raised her hand into the air.

Crackle-!

The world began to shatter like a lie.

Feeling a strange sense of overwhelming pressure as if the entire world were breaking, Kim Hyun-woo watched as the girl who had caused all this mischief smiled mischievously.

“Because of our contract, I won’t kill you. Well, I can’t exactly, but…”

With that, she added.

“Well then, let’s meet again next time.”

Loria pushed herself into the void she had destroyed.

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And so, the moment Loria, who had just been speaking moments ago, entered the empty void.

Crash-!

“!”

Kim Hyun-woo could hear the voice of the Hero King, who was embracing him, thanking him continuously.

####

A little while later.

Still unsteady from not fully recovering, Kim Hyun-woo offered the original room that the former girl used to the Hero King, instructing her to rest first.

Soon after the Hero King left the study, Kim Hyun-woo called out her name.

“…Loria.”

Of course, there was no response.

“Youngji Chang.”

—-

Youngji Lartania.

Territory Development: 5012

Territorial Residents

[Humans: 39244]

Secondary Buildings

[Arcane Engineering Research Institute]

-Subsidiary Buildings-

[Engineering Advancement Center] [Under construction] 10%

[Arcane Weapon Research Lab] [Under construction] 0%

[Arcane Refinery] [Under construction] 5%

Owned Buildings

[Lord’s Castle LV4] [Under construction] 0%

[City Wall LV5]

[Residential Area LV5]

[Blacksmith LV5]

[Barracks LV5]

[Tavern LV5]

[Market LV5]

[Lumber Mill LV5]

[Restaurant LV5]

[Tannery LV5]

[Stone Masonry LV5]

[Trade Post LV5]

[Secondary City Wall LV5]

[Inn LV5]

[Administrative District LV5]

[Paved Road LV5]

External Buildings

[Mercenary Guild LV1]

[Wizard’s Tower Branch LV1]

[Blacksmith Guild Branch LV1]

Military Forces

-Regular Soldiers: 1000

-Swordsmen: 500

-Guards: 700

-Squire: 200

When he opened his mouth, the realm window immediately came to mind.

“…”

Kim Hyun-woo stared at the realm window for a while, then calmly recalled what Loria had said earlier.

In fact, it wasn’t difficult for him to make deductions on his own.

If Kim Hyun-woo had heard Loria’s story without any information, he would have been bewildered, but he had already heard some stories from the Blue Merchant and the Red Merchant.

“Even though I don’t know where Loria is, it seems like an extension of that story.”

However, Kim Hyun-woo continued to ponder because there were still a few unresolved questions in her words.

“Control rights and contracts, contracts…”

Kim Hyun-woo muttered unknowingly.

Loria had brought up contract-related stories several times when talking to him, showing a disappointed reaction.

What exactly was that contract?

After pondering for a while, Kim Hyun-woo let out a deep sigh and realized that he needed information to make progress in his deductions.

Therefore, instead of speculating, he began to think about the realm penalties that arise when recruiting heroes this time.

“Realm penalties… Did Loria raise them intentionally to buy time?”

Since Arteil originally had realm penalties based on the hero’s nature and relationships, Kim Hyun-woo firmly believed in the realm penalties that had been appearing before his eyes.

But what if that realm penalty was just something Loria manipulated?

And if receiving a hero posed no problem?

“I need to confirm this.”

After hesitating for a moment, Kim Hyun-woo got up from his seat.

…This was a problem that could be experimented with.

##

Initially watching with a truly relaxed mind to see how Hero King would treat Kim Hyun-woo, Merilda and Lin were gradually becoming anxious.

“…”

“…”

Well, that was to be expected since Hero King hadn’t come out of the Lord’s Castle until very late.

Merilda and Lin had thought by now they would have been in a similar situation as themselves, but contrary to their expectations, Hero King, or rather Shaul, stayed for a very long time, causing their pupils to tremble slightly.

At that moment.

“!”

Hero King emerged from Kim Hyun-woo’s room.

At the same time, seeing Shaul crying, Merilda and Lin, despite their former comrade shedding tears, breathed a sigh of relief.

“Phew-“

“Haah…”

Yes, of course, it couldn’t be… How could the demons do what even I couldn’t – and so on, thinking such thoughts, Merilda and Lin’s expressions seemed truly relieved.

“…”

“…”

However, after Merilda and Lin, Giral and Lorelle’s expressions, who had been watching them, became slightly subtle, but ultimately, seeing Shaul cry, the two who had been tense moments ago stuck their hips to the ground as if they had let out a sigh of relief.

“…Still, we should offer some comfort to someone who’s crying, right?”

“That seems appropriate.”

As Merilda and Lin hid their dark emotions and conversed,

“Wha…?”

The conversation between the two came to an abrupt halt.

The reason was simply that where Charlotte was heading was not towards the Lord’s Castle.

“??”

Therefore, the two who felt puzzled soon realized that Charlotte was moving not towards the original bed but somewhere else, after some time had passed.

“Huh…………?”

“????????”

Merilda and Lynn could see it.

The Hero King was not leaving the Lord’s Castle; instead, he was entering the room on the third floor where the heroes stayed.

At that moment, Merilda and Lynn’s mental state exploded, leaving them with a helpless expression.

“This, this is… unbelievable…”

“It cannot be… this… impossible…”

At some point, tears started welling up in her eyes.

“…Master? There’s a message from the king.”

Just a while ago, Loriel, who had been quiet, opened her mouth quietly as she watched the red magical barrier of silence resonate.

However, seeing Lynn not respond at all, Loriel reluctantly raised the magical barrier to inform of the absence of the master.

[…Loriel?]

“Yes.”

“Could the Lord of Darkness be there?”

“The master is currently unavailable to receive messages.”

“Is that so? This is a big problem.”

“What’s going on?”

“It seems the Lord of Lartania wishes to meet the Lord of Darkness.”

“Is that true!?”

Following Shasha’s words, Lynn, who had been on the verge of tears just a moment ago, quickly pressed her face against the magical barrier.

“Oh, uh… If possible, I would like to meet him soon.”

Shasha spoke with a bewildered expression.

Lynn, seemingly forgetting her tears from just a moment ago, began to smile faintly.

“He…hehehe…heehee…”

“Ch… Chief…?”

Merilda broke down.

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