𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑: 𝐎𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐝 (3)

Ả̉𝑑𝙫ả̉𝙣𝐜ẻ̉𝙙  𝐶𝚑𝑎𝑝𝚝𝚎𝐫𝚜  𝘬𝑜-𝕗𝑖.𝘤𝕠m̉/𝚊𝐰𝕖𝕓s𝚝ᴏ𝕣𝐢𝐞s  𝐩𝕒𝘵𝐫𝑒𝘰𝕟.𝚌𝘰𝙢/𝐀𝚠𝐞𝐛𝐬ᴛ𝙤𝕣𝑖ẻ̉𝙨  

After four days of being on the run, Oswald finally reached Flare Village, the most remote and isolated outpost of the Winchester Nation.

Flare Village is a village located in the Great Mountains that separates the Imperial Empire and the Kingdom of Britannia. Since it is not often visited by outsiders, Oswald was met with wary eyes.

However, due to its location, it was home to a Mercenary Guild and the village’s outskirts were patrolled by mercenaries.

“Halt.”

Oswald was stopped and he presented his identification.

“Wi. . .Winchester?”

“May I pass?”

“Yes, enter. Welcome, Oswald-nim.”

Upon arriving in Flare Village, Oswald headed straight to the only inn in the village to wash away his fatigue and eat a proper meal for the first time in a long time. He quickly filled his stomach with hot soup, bacon, omelet, and baguettes.

“Whew. . .”

He felt more alive after drinking a pint of ale.

After finishing his meal, Oswald handed the young attendant a 5-copper tip and headed outside.

He went to the back entrance of Flare Village, towards the mountains, and took out the Winchester V10 from the box. He then put his bag back in his magic backpack and slowly climbed up the mountain path.

‘𝘛𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. . .’

Although there was no path, there were traces of what was once a path if one looked closely. Following the area where the grass was not as long, he came across a stone statue in the shape of a phoenix.

The statue was covered in moss and vines, showing that it had not been maintained for a long time.

Oswald took out his field shovel and began to dig the ground beneath it.

After digging about a knee deep, he heard a “clunk” and found the top of a box. He continued to dig around the perimeter of the box and pulled it out. He opened it to find a golden bracelet inside.

“I found it.”

Phoenix’s Bracelet.

[𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱’𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭][𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨]

[𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱. 𝐈𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬.]

“Whew. . .”

He immediately put the bracelet on his left arm and it automatically shrank to fit him perfectly.

[𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 ‘𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭’ 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.]

[𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐋𝐯.𝟏]

[𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝. 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝, 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐫.]

“Okay, now. . .I need to go get the cursed Plague Grimoire.”

Plague Chaos Dungeon, one of the outposts created by the Plague Demon, one of the Five Great Evil Gods of Chaos, to invade this world, Century.

Since it was a dungeon that had not yet been discovered, the Chaos Invasion Defense (CID) had not yet raided it.

‘𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘺. . .𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩. . .’

The CID had demonic power meters and observatories to monitor the encroachment of Chaos. The observatories were converted from floating islands and allowed them to observe demonic power across the continent from the sky.

Of course, unlike satellites, they could not observe from very high altitudes, so they had to travel around the continent to observe.

Currently, there were a total of five of these floating observatory islands, and it took a month to patrol the entire territory of the three continents in Century, which was why it took time to be discovered.

The Plague Chaos Dungeon was located within the Chronos Papacy within the Imperial Empire. To be more precise, it was in the outskirts of Vatican City, a 3-day journey from Winchester Nation by magical steam locomotive.

‘5 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 3 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘝𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺, 1 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 2 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 11 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭?’

Oswald immediately checked his assets and set aside enough money for the duration of his trip.

“It should be enough.”

Once he obtained the Plague Grimoire, he planned to register as a mercenary in the Mercenary Guild and take on simple requests while heading north. That was where the heart of the Troll King was.

Just as Oswald was roughly planning his next move and leaving the village!

Tiring!

[‘𝐎𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝.]

[‘𝐎𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫’, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐬, 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚 ‘𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨’-𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭. 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚, 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 ‘𝐎𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫’.]

[𝐑𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝: 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝟏,𝟎𝟎𝟎𝐏]

‘𝘖𝘩? 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴?’

He changed his fate and received Fate Points as a reward. He could somewhat understand how the mechanism worked.

After 5 days, Oswald returned to Winchester City. A carriage with the Winchester family crest passed by, but. . .it did not notice Oswald, who had the hood of his raincoat pulled down.

The only people who could have such a mark on their carriage were the direct descendants of the family, namely the Earl, the head of the family, and his eldest son, Lewis, his second daughter, Natalia, and the Earl’s wife, Aizena.

‘𝘑𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦. . .𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢.’

Natalia, like her mother, Aizena, was very fond of her youngest brother, Oswald. Perhaps Oswald’s crookedness was due to the fact that Aizena and Natalia had always spoiled him.

Natalia was currently married a margrave of the neighboring province.

‘𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘺.’

Oswald, who had arrived at Winchester Station, immediately went to the ticket counter to buy a ticket.

“One second-class ticket to Vatican City.”

Unlike before, Oswald bought a second-class ticket. He had tried riding in third class, but. . .although he had talked about the military at the beginning, to be honest, it was not a place where people could live.

Oswald paid 1 gold and moved to the second-class compartment. . .The second-class compartment had four rooms per compartment, with partitions and doors.

Fortunately, the room he was assigned to was empty. . .Oswald wished that it would stay that way.

However, his wish was shattered as soon as a day passed. This was because a fellow passenger had finally boarded the room. The problem was. . .

“. . . . . .”

“. . . . . .”