The Ash Forest (1)

The gate was located in a forest.
The gloomy black and white forest swayed as if to push us away, and instead of leaves, there was ash on the ground.
The sky was covered by trees with bare branches.
I know this place.
‘It’s the Ash Forest.’
The Ash Forest was a forest in the southern part of the empire, and as its name suggests, it was a forest of trees that had burned and turned to ash.
Even though they had turned to ash, the trees were not dead.
They lived in their ashen state, blooming leaves, bearing flowers, and dropping fruits.
Up to this point, it’s just a slightly peculiar forest.
But there was one very important and dangerous thing.
‘Don’t lose your way.’
If you deviate from the set path, you’ll wander through the forest.
Then the missing person will wander the forest forever, desperately struggling to find food.
But there will be nothing.
Leaves, tree trunks, flowers, fruits…
Because it’s all ‘ash’.
Because it’s that kind of forest.
In the end, the missing person will either eat nothing or eat ash.
And then, in the end, they will die, clutching their hungry stomachs.
And right after.
All the surrounding trees, sensing the presence of a dying being, will burst into flames, burning the helpless missing person into ash.
They also turn the corpse into ash.
It is a forest where nothing remains.
But even here, there was one single sanctuary.
It was the cave in front of us.
‘Originally, I had to find this cave with magic too.’
I had been here a few times before, and it was a very grotesque forest.
Without magical abilities, you could never get out of this forest or head anywhere else.
For the record, in the case of this cave, you enter from the west, turn left at the bent tree, go straight at the straight tree, then left again, right, straight, right, straight…
Ugh.
As I was trembling from the horror, Sion reacted.
“Are you afraid?”
“No. That’s not it.”
I was just shuddering at this forest.
I deliberately walked with a bold face.
“Let’s go. For the record, there are no monster life reactions in this gate.”
The moment I decided to take the lead, I had no need to hide my magical abilities.
‘Though I don’t know why the southern forest of the empire came along with it.’
Theorizing and proving hypotheses can be done later.
We headed for the cave in front of us.
It was a cave that perfectly matched the one I had mapped out with my hands before.
Seeing it in person made it even more certain.
The four hundred and second formula among the thousand magic circles, unable to withstand the powerful mana, was deflected and scraped the cave wall.
Since there was no problem with the formula, it meant that the only problem was with the scroll on which the magic circle was drawn.
‘Of all things, the four hundred and second?’
That was the key magic circle responsible for the user’s safety and stability.
If that had malfunctioned, it was a miracle that she hadn’t been lost in the dimension and was thrown here.
Of course, it was a little bit my fault.
‘As I recall, I was a little drowsy when I made that…’
So the processing of the scroll must have been a little off.
I’ll have to apologize when I see Daisy.
It was a mistake I made when I was a human before I became a Constellation, so she’ll probably let it slide.
And I also had something to say.
That I had stayed up all night for two weeks while making it.
It was reasonable to have a slip-up.
As we were walking into the empty cave, Yeon Taeseon opened his mouth.
“By the way, Seonbaek.”
“Yeah.”
“Is there something here? You didn’t have to come.”
The way I was staring at the photo was also a bit strange.
Hearing that, I realized my mistake.
I didn’t explain!
‘But where should I start explaining?’
That I… changed the past?
That I saved a dead person?
That I took my friend out of some strange thing’s stomach?
‘Hmm. I don’t know.’
I decided to just explain it roughly.
“Actually, a week ago, at the gate.”
“Yeah.”
“I brought out a friend from my previous life.”
“…?”
“Because I made a little mistake? I think that friend is sleeping here instead of on Earth.”
For the record.
I have no talent for explaining.
Yeon Taeseon didn’t understand and made a slightly stupid face.
Honestly, it was very cute.
In between, Sion popped up.
“You’re saying your friend is here and you want to take her with you.”
“Yeah. That’s it.”
“That’s all I need to know. Do as you wish.”
Saying that he didn’t need the whole story, Sion followed behind me again.
Only Yeon Taeseon was a little dumbfounded.
“Brought out a friend from a gate…? Someone from inside a gate…?”
He looked a little confused, but with my disastrous explanation skills, telling him twice would only add to the confusion, so I decided to shut up.
After walking for some time,
I saw a stone door with a huge scratch on it.
As expected, there were phrases written in the ancient Barak language.

[Only those who wait can awaken the sleep.]
And below it, there was even a groove to put mana into.
The two of them couldn’t read the ancient Barak language, so they had no choice but to watch my actions quietly.
It didn’t seem very dangerous, and since I was also strong, they were watching with a displeased expression, though.
I gathered snow-white mana on my fingertip and poured it into the groove.
Kuuung…
The stone wall opened with a heavy sound.
It only opened enough for one person to barely pass through, so I had to widen the gap a little with my magic.
Because Yeon Taeseon’s chest was stuck in the opening.
“Pfft…”
“Don’t laugh.”
Anyway, after that brief incident, we stood in a huge cavity.
There was nothing special inside.
Just a coffin that could hold one person.
“This is a bit…”
“It feels bad.”
Doesn’t it feel like we’ve broken into someone’s tomb?
But my friend isn’t dead.
‘…She’s not dead, right?’
My conscience was pricked a little because of the mistake with the scroll.
And since it was supposed to ensure the user’s safety, I quickly ran over and opened the lid of the stone coffin with gravity magic, just in case.
A brilliant golden light was visible. There Lied a familiar person, although as a man, I could see the resemblance with his past self
His hair, which looked as if it had been woven from golden threads, scattered gently in the wind.
A sharp yet gentle impression… His snow-white skin was stained with blood and soot, but his appearance was not tarnished at all.
If he were to open her closed eyes, I would see the familiar vermilion eyes.
I suddenly realized.
‘My standards have gotten higher because of him, haven’t they?’
Well, with someone who looks like this visiting three times a week, how could my standards not get higher.
As I was looking at his face for a moment, Yeon Taeseon said with a dissatisfied tone.
“Stop being so obsessed with faces…”
“Then should I be obsessed with chests?”
Yeon Taeseon shut up.
It was my victory.
Hmm.
I was troubled, looking at my unconscious friend.
I had come looking for him, but now I didn’t know how to wake him up from here.
‘I even sent a contract request.’
If he’s sleeping like this, he can’t see anything, can she?
Waking him up with the Word of Power feels like I’m a mother waking him up on a weekend.
And it’s not that urgent.
So I decided to use a servant.
“Sion.”
“Yes.”
“Lift him.”
“…Yes.”
He seemed a little dissatisfied, but it must have been my imagination, right?
Sion fumbled and picked up Daisy.
Yeon Taeseon, who had been looking around for a moment, paused.
“Seonbaek.”
“Why?”
“Is it true that there are no life reactions here?”
“There are no monsters…”
Before I could rebuke him for asking such a thing, something strange was caught in my mana detection.
When I quickly turned around, the door we had come through was gone.
“I said there are no monsters.”
“There aren’t.”
“Then what is that?”
Instead of a door, a huge stone coffin was standing vertically, greeting us.
I opened my Sun’s Eye a little wider.
A subtle and ominous starlight was enveloping the stone coffin.
I’ve seen this starlight before.
“It’s a ruin.”
“The Crow’s Ruins?”
“That guy has intervened.”
But it was a question.
He had no cards left.
And there wasn’t even a person here, let alone a Crow guild member who had secretly entered.
‘Then what is that, standing there with his starlight?’
Just then, the lid of the quietly standing stone coffin began to open slowly.
Kugugugu…
The inside was slowly revealed.
Two hands neatly folded on its chest.
A black hood stained with blood.
The crest of the White Magic Tower embedded near its heart.
Familiar lavender-colored hair.
That face, was a face that both of them had seen before.
“That guy is…”
“Who is that?”
“You wouldn’t know him. He’s the vice-tower head of the Magic Tower who framed and killed Lee Seonbaek.”
Lilac, with the form of a corpse, greeted us.
Black eyes opened.
“Wow, I can recognize you at a glance even though your appearance has changed.”
The voice of the one I had once cherished the most echoed.
“Hello, White Calamity-nim?”