Chapter 3 : Gravestone

-Thud.

As I took another step forward, the warm sunlight began to burn my body.

“Ah…”

It felt good.
My body started burning from the extremities, but it was bearable.

A far more important sensation filled my heart.

It really is the sun.

I could see a forest of concrete buildings.
Asphalt, shattered from the recent battle, was melting into tar.

Looking at the sky with my enhanced vision, I saw constellations hidden by the sun.
The shapes of the constellations were quite different from those in the Land of Prosperity.

*(TL Note: ‘Land of Prosperity’ seems to be a name or description for Agathe’s former world, the game world.)*

The Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Orion.
Constellations with familiar names.
The stars I once gazed upon while looking up at the night sky emitted faint light even under the blazing sun.

And…

What else was there?
I’ve forgotten.

I counted a few more stars before turning my head away.
There was no need to dredge up things buried in my subconscious over long years right now.

Already.
There were too many memories rapidly surfacing.

Memories of this land I stood upon.
Memories I cherished, promising myself I would return, but at some point, wished I could forget, now tormented me.

“…Stop right there. Monster.”

Just then, a woman with her hair tied in a ponytail blocked my path.

“…”

Thanks to the flood of memories, I could understand her words clearly.

Monster.

Yes, anyone would probably see me as a monster right now.
My body has become half-spiritual; objectively speaking, I’ve deviated far from being human.

She looked quite strong.
Strong enough to be considered a decent soldier, perhaps.
Has Earth changed this much while I was gone?

Or perhaps this wasn’t the Earth I knew?

I didn’t know.
For now, I decided to focus on the person before me.
That would be polite.

Is she nervous?
She has knives floating all around but isn’t attacking yet.

It’s been a while since I met someone from my homeland.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t properly greet the people I saved earlier, but maybe I should try talking this time.

“…Hello.”

“Wh-Wait a second.”

The woman’s mouth fell open, showing slight surprise.
But, perhaps being a veteran, she didn’t lower her guard towards me even as she asked a question.

“Who are you? This is our land.”

Is she trying to gather information?
It didn’t matter either way.

In fact, I enjoyed it.
The hostility wasn’t pleasant, but it had been so long since I’d had a conversation with someone.

“My name is Agathe. And you are?”

“…What?”

Her confusion deepened.
Her reactions were good; I somehow felt she might be an interesting person.

I smiled slightly and continued.
The smile came surprisingly easily.

How long has it been since I last smiled?
I hope it doesn’t look too strange.

“What’s your name?”

The woman before me seemed to ponder for a moment before answering.

“Han Sol. Grade 5 Civil Servant of the Republic of Korea’s Meteorological Administration and A-rank Hunter, Han Sol.”

Hmm.
Is she the type to show off?

Still, thanks to her, I learned a lot.
This place is indeed Korea, and it’s a Korea that has changed strangely somehow.

Putting aside the odd job title of ‘Hunter,’ does the Meteorological Administration handle things like this nowadays?

Han Sol slightly lessened her hostility and asked me a question.

“Who are you? You’re not speaking German, but Korean. Are you perhaps a Returnee?”

“…”

This time, it was my turn to be surprised.

Returnee.

There were others besides me?

“Returnee… Yes. I suppose I am.”

Han Sol let out a sigh of relief at my words.
She really was tense.
I have no intention of harming her, though.

“Phew. That’s fortunate. It seems we won’t have to fight. Actually, I just received a report. It seems you saved the Hunters on site…”

You could have told me a bit sooner.

Han Sol grumbled under her breath.

“Han Sol, there’s something I want to ask.”

There are so many things I want to ask.
Is this really the homeland I know, what exactly was the phenomenon I experienced, and who are the others who experienced the same thing as me?

And.
What will happen to the world I was in?

“It will be difficult to answer everything right here. Please understand, Returnee. No, Citizen.”

“…You won’t kill me?”

What makes her trust me enough to welcome me so readily?
Such suspicion arose.
I also needed to secure a promise regarding my second homeland beyond the Gate.

Han Sol seemed lost for words for a moment.
She quickly gathered herself and replied, though.

“Uh. Hmm. For now, even though the country is in chaos, we don’t randomly kill innocent citizens. Ah, you don’t need to worry about the citizenship part. Returnees can register for citizenship even without identity verification.”

It’s a better world than I thought.
Even the fact that a civil servant uses polite language towards a citizen.

Perhaps things haven’t changed that much after all.

“Aren’t I dangerous? A Boss Monster. I heard someone call me that.”

“…Statistics on Returnees are very scarce, so I can’t say for sure. But so far, Returnees we could communicate with have generally shown moderate tendencies. And above all…”

Han Sol bowed her head slightly towards me and continued.

“You saved five people. As a fellow Hunter, I express my gratitude.”

“…”

My anxiety hasn’t disappeared.

Mistrust towards people and a sense of responsibility for the world I left behind still remained.

However…

Still, I wanted to try trusting her.

If I can’t even trust someone like her, wouldn’t returning have been meaningless?

How did I manage to survive that hell and come back?
If there’s no peace even in my returned homeland, I might as well just give up my body and die.

“Alright. Should I just follow you for now?”

When I asked, tilting my head, Han Sol affirmed.

“Yes. First, you’ll likely have to wait a bit due to procedures. I apologize, but there might be diseases… or something transmitted from beyond the Gate.”

I readily nodded.

It was a rational judgment.
In fact, my clothes were probably teeming with all sorts of diseases and curses.

It wasn’t a matter of my body being dirty.
It’s because my very essence has changed significantly from that of a human.
Enough that an ordinary person’s life would be in danger just by touching my body.

Since I had some time now.
There was something I needed to take care of beforehand.
I just came out thinking it wasn’t a big deal, but it seemed like it might take a little while.

As the Ruler of the Land of Prosperity, I should finish what needs to be done before leaving.

“Wait just a moment. I’ll be right back.”

-Swoosh.

Completely shifting my body into a spiritual form, I lightly flew back inside the Gate.
It was time to do the cleaning I had put off for a while.

***

A lone woman hovered in the sky, haughtily looking down.

Deep blue eyes that seemed to pull one in.
The beautiful woman with dull silver hair aimed her gun towards the ground.

“…When did so many crawl out again?”

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out.
With each random shot, monsters larger than buildings fell.

For her, slaughter had long become simple repetitive work.
Due to the nature of the Magic Bullets, it took a little while, but since it was a one-sided attack, it was very easy.

Considering Agathe’s stature, she could kill them all even in close combat rather than from afar, but she simply fired the gun dispassionately, as if cleaning up trash.

The power of the Magic Marksman, who had lost her loved ones, was just this immense.

A few minutes later, Agathe descended into the royal castle, closed her eyes slightly, and stood before a single gravestone.

She had turned this entire castle into a graveyard for just one person, and for the past several years, she had single-handedly protected the graveyard from monsters attempting to desecrate the body of the deceased.

The gravestone read: ‘Unblessed One. Caspar.’

Reaching out a slender hand to touch the stone, she let a single tear fall onto the grave.

“…Farewell for now. I’ll be back after a short trip.”

***

As Agathe temporarily left, Han Sol urgently made a direct call to the Hunter Association President.

“…President?”

– Ah. Han Sol, is that you?

The Hunter Association.

A unique system found only in Korea.
It was the result of the government somewhat successfully controlling Hunters.
In most countries, Hunters either took over the state leadership entirely or operated in corporate forms.

Also, the Hunter Association President was one of only two S-rank Hunters in Korea.
He was also the Hunter responsible for the S-rank Gate on Jeju Island, ‘Seocheon Flower Garden’.
*(TL Note: Seocheon Flower Garden (서천꽃밭) literally translates to “Western Heaven Flower Garden” and is a paradise-like afterlife realm in some Korean shamanistic myths and folktales. Its use as a Gate name suggests a connection to mythology or the afterlife.)*

Therefore… he was needed to suppress a potential rampage by the Returnee, just in case.

Han Sol didn’t consider the possibility of the Returnee being vastly stronger than the Hunter Association President.
Because if that were the case, it would be meaningless anyway.

“Someone presumed to be a Returnee has been discovered at the A-rank Gate that just appeared.”

The President seemed slightly surprised, paused for a moment, then asked Han Sol.

– Hmm. The scientists will be pleased. More opportunities to study Gates. So, what did you say the Gate’s concept was?

Han Sol, lacking the talent for explanation, pondered. How should she explain it? The Hunter Association President was quite old. Would he understand?

“It’s a game. A Soulslike popular about 10 years ago… Hmm. You can think of it as a mix of dystopia and fantasy.”

‘Ah.’

Feeling the need for additional explanation, Han Sol added details about Agathe.

“…And. She seemed quite mentally unstable. Not a bad person, but severe PTSD symptoms were visible.”

It wasn’t the usual level Hunters suffered from; it seemed serious enough for her to keep spacing out mid-conversation.

– Right. Seocheon Flower Garden seems quite stable too, so perhaps I’ll take a stroll to Seoul after a long time. Heh. She sounds like a pitiful friend; I hope there won’t be any need for conflict.

Han Sol agreed.

As Returnees often were…

Agathe seemed like an incredibly pitiable person.

And.
Honestly, if the two of them clashed, she had no confidence she would survive being caught in the middle.

Flying through the sky while firing guaranteed-hit Magic Bullets.
How could anyone block that?