“Starting tomorrow, I’ll begin teaching you. The process will be quite rigorous, you know.”
“I’m not afraid!”
“That’s excellent. Tomorrow, we’ll first assess your Holy Light Orb, then I’ll teach you a second magic.”
“What kind of magic?”
“Holy Sword Art. I prefer to call it Holy Sword.”
“Holy Sword? Holy Sword Art? It sounds incredibly powerful.”
“Doesn’t it? Then you’ll have to work hard, Jeanne.”
“I will work hard! I’ll definitely catch up to you, Brother, and fight alongside you!”
“I look forward to it, then.”
While they awaited their food, Yue Wu and Jeanne discussed their plans for the next day. They chatted and laughed, and Jeanne’s initial nervousness had completely faded.
Soon, the server arrived with their meals, placing them on the table before quietly departing.
****
However, not far from Yue Wu’s table, two noble adventurers, impeccably dressed in opulent attire, had overheard their conversation. As they listened to the content of their exchange, expressions of mockery and disdain involuntarily crept onto their faces.
“Brother Ed, did you hear that?”
A blonde girl with wavy hair, holding a steel fork, speared a piece of cut steak and ate it. After swallowing, she spoke to her companion.
“Indeed, I did. What utterly arrogant remarks, Scheffiel.”
The blonde young man picked up his wine glass, a sarcastic smile playing on his lips.
“Holy Sword Art? What a ridiculous magic. Brother Ed, you’ve read more books than I have; do you know of such a magic?”
Scheffiel also raised her wine glass, gently clinking it against Ed’s.
“I’ve never even heard of it. I doubt even the Dean or Vice Dean of our Fiore Academy would know.”
Ed shook his head, deliberately glancing toward Yue Wu’s table.
“Jeanne, you must eat more, or you won’t grow tall.”
Yue Wu, completely oblivious to Ed and Scheffiel’s conversation, pushed most of the food toward Jeanne.
“But I can’t finish it all. Brother, you need to eat more too. Don’t just lecture me.”
Jeanne looked at the abundance of food with a slight headache. While Yue Wu was right, she couldn’t possibly eat it all in one sitting, and he needed sustenance too. So, she pushed a significant portion back to him.
“Eh…”
Yue Wu only then realized that his current body was only seventeen years old. He wondered if he would still grow taller.
Their meal lasted less than half an hour. After leaving the restaurant, Yue Wu took Jeanne toward the shopping district. There, he purchased numerous items for her, all of which were solely for Jeanne, bought by Yue Wu’s forceful ‘tyranny,’ leaving her no room to refuse.
Fortunately, their new home already contained furniture left by the previous owner, saving Yue Wu from having to buy everything. Though he did acquire some new furniture and necessities, they were all intended for Jeanne’s use.
Upon returning home, the courtyard was filled with large and small boxes. Yue Wu could have easily stored these items in his Gate of Babylon, but he wanted to experience the simple joy of shopping with his ‘sister.’ So, he chose not to use his ability, instead hiring porters from the shops to transport everything, while he merely carried a few bags of clothes.
“Now, it’s my time.”
Yue Wu raised his hand and snapped his fingers. All the items purchased that evening, which had been placed in the courtyard, were instantly absorbed into his Gate of Babylon.
Thus, Yue Wu and Jeanne spent their second night in Sachsen City. Tonight, they were no longer guests at an inn, but had a home of their own. In her bedroom, Jeanne slept soundly, a sweet smile gracing her lips, hinting at the delightful dreams she was having.
“The third day has ended. Tomorrow will be a new day.”
‘Though it’s two years before the game, I recall the game’s official launch was in June of the year 610.’
‘That means there’s still over a year until the main plot begins: the demon invasion, which lasted over six years before being suppressed, followed by the Void breaking through the dimensional wall to invade the world, attempting to corrupt the world’s very foundation, the World Tree.’
‘Where is the World Tree? Does it still exist? I possess two magic staffs made from parts of the World Tree, and its core is embedded right in those staffs, along with a peculiar tome.’
‘Could the World Tree have vanished?’
After bathing, Yue Wu sat on the rooftop, enjoying the breeze and the night view, while reminiscing about the game’s storyline. He worried whether he could protect the world alone when the demon invasion inevitably began.
Forget the entire world; could he even protect a single town? Not to mention the demons, what about the Void, who were even more formidable? They were veritable killing machines in the game.
Though their appearance was undeniably insect-like, their attacks could easily pierce a dragon’s defenses. However, their own defenses weren’t particularly outstanding. Could he, alone, protect the World Tree from destruction? If the World Tree were to be destroyed, this world would truly be doomed.
Yue Wu extended his right hand, and the staff named ‘Fulcrum of the World’ materialized. With a flick of his left wrist, ‘Cosmic Truth’ floated into his grasp. The Fulcrum of the World was inlaid with a World Tree core, which pulsed with a faint, pure white glow under the moonlight.
‘I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve been set up.’
After retracting his staffs and the tome, Yue Wu felt utterly drained. He lay on the rooftop, gazing up at the moon in the night sky and the myriad stars.
‘I never thought I’d live to see such a sky full of stars.’
This was the first time since his transmigration that Yue Wu had calmly observed the night sky of this world. Such a sight was impossible in his original reality, where the march of time had caused so much beauty to gradually disappear from everyone’s eyes.
‘No more thinking. Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.’
Yue Wu stood up, stretched his back while enjoying the evening breeze, and then returned to his room, collapsing directly onto the bed.
****
Time flowed into the next morning, the fourth day since Yue Wu’s transmigration. This day, Yue Wu, uncharacteristically, didn’t wake up, instead sleeping soundly on his stomach.
His bedroom door had been left ajar, and his blanket lay discarded, causing Jeanne to worry when she awoke early. She eventually covered him, closed the door, and then quietly left the house after eating breakfast.
Jeanne’s first task for the day was to practice her magic at the training grounds. Sachsen City boasted a training facility, situated on the city’s outskirts, far from the bustling center. Though it was called a training ground, it resembled a cultivation tower more closely.
Entry to the cultivation tower required a fee, which wasn’t exorbitant for adventurers: one silver coin for a full day, or fifty copper coins for less than half a day. While fifty copper coins might not seem like much, for an ordinary family, it represented three to four days of expenses. For those living in more severe poverty, it could be their entire monthly living cost.
“You all look so pitiable. You must not have eaten properly for days, have you?”
On her way to the cultivation tower, Jeanne encountered several skinny children staring hungrily at patrons eating and drinking inside a tavern. With a kind heart, she took out some of the pocket money Yue Wu had given her, handing each child a silver coin so they could buy food.
The children were immensely grateful to Jeanne, thanking her profusely before scurrying into an alleyway.
‘Brother was right. There is no absolute fairness or justice in this world, only ugly contrasts and greedy desires.’
‘Just as the God of Light once said, ‘Where there is light, there is also darkness.”
‘The light in this world is so faint. I wonder if Brother thinks the same?’
Jeanne jogged along the road, observing the town’s disparities. In this border town of the kingdom, wealth and poverty were starkly contrasted: the rich were excessively wealthy, and the poor were desperately impoverished.
Leaving the city center, she saw that the outer areas weren’t just pockets of poverty, but rather the uniform condition of the entire periphery. It was as if the town was divided into two worlds: the affluent nobles residing in the center, and the impoverished common folk living on the outskirts.
‘This place needs salvation and liberation.’
Jeanne longed to help the ordinary people crushed by reality before her eyes, but her individual capabilities were utterly limited; she couldn’t possibly help them all.
‘Perhaps this is what Brother wanted me to see?’
Jeanne had always wondered why Yue Wu chose to live in the expensive city center instead of the cheaper outskirts. After this realization today, combined with the ‘Chastisement’ emblem Yue Wu had given her yesterday, it suddenly seemed clear: he wanted her to recognize the world’s injustices and to chastise these so-called injustices, liberating true fairness and justice.
If Yue Wu had known Jeanne’s thoughts, he would likely have been utterly bewildered. He had no intention of making Jeanne understand anything profound; he simply wanted her to have a better life, free from hardship. The emblem was given to Jeanne because, in the game, she was a Knight instructor, and the emblem itself had belonged to the Knight Uncle of his former guild. That was the sole reason he gave it to her, not to genuinely task her with chastising injustice or anything of the sort.
Thus, Jeanne’s ideas were entirely her own conjectures. However, one thing Yue Wu had unknowingly gotten right: his appearance had not disrupted the main plot’s development. Instead, it had slightly accelerated Jeanne’s growth.
Yue Wu’s presence had brought about several changes: the village originally destined to become a death trap no longer existed; the original Priest class had been split into Sage and Priestess classes, eliminating the Priest profession entirely; Fingol Forest had been rekindled, bolstering the defenses of the ruin entrance; and finally, Jeanne’s growth had been hastened.
Despite these alterations, Yue Wu’s appearance had not triggered a butterfly effect on the two main plotlines—the demon invasion and the Void’s assault—nor had it significantly advanced them. The sole remaining variable was the unknown whereabouts of the World Tree. Therefore, it could be said that Yue Wu’s presence had indeed brought about minor changes to the world, but without shaking the fundamental roots of the main storyline, which was, fortunately, cause for celebration.