—It was more than a thousand years ago.
The moment my Master’s mouth began to speak this way, the scenery changed. The scene changed to a small village in a thickly overgrown forest, which I was looking at from above, and my figure also disappeared.
It seems that a monologue video is playing. This video appears to have been designed to accompany my Master’s narration.
In the old days, the village was home to the four sages of Lestina, including Master, Giltoa, and Magdalene, who was not recognized as a sage by the state but was also part of the founder generation, and more than a dozen other friends.
Life was calm and peaceful, and everyone got along well. The quintet of Tefana, Giltoa, Magdalene, Anzelora, and Clifeus often spent time together, working, studying, and playing.
Magdalene-san has been wearing a mask, but her voice isn’t husky. She wears a mask simply because she is shy.
Her phony, old-woman-like manner of speaking is still there, and it seems to mask her embarrassment. There is a scene when Giltoa is about to remove her mask, and Magdalene returns to her normal self, saying, “Stop it!”
Giltoa says, “It doesn’t matter. You have a pretty face.” It seems the two are more than friends and less than lovers.
But as time passes, the village residents embrace their ideals. This tendency is evident in the five close friends.
There is Tefana, who is inspired by a traveller visiting the village and wants to experience other cultures; Anzelora, who wants to hone their strength; Clifeus, who has gradually grown to avoid interaction with others because he feels uneasy among his increasingly divided friends; and Giltoa, who has aspirations to see more of the world.
Some of the other residents were more radical than the others, insisting that they should exclude strangers and merge with other villages to gain more power.
The relationships in the village are becoming increasingly strained.
Despite these differences of opinion, they loved and respected each other. To avoid irrevocable conflicts, they choose to separate themselves from their friends.
One by one, the village began to disintegrate naturally.
There was only one person who objected to the separation. That person was Magdalene.
“No way! I don’t want you to go! Don’t go! Tefana! Anze! Clifeus…!”
Forgetting her persona, she desperately holds back her friends trying to leave the village. Her beautiful voice becomes hoarse from shouting.
Ultimately, Giltoa and Magdalene are the only two residents left in the village.
Giltoa thinks staying here alone isn’t a good idea and wants to broaden their insight. So he asks Magdalene to go on a journey with him, but she stubbornly refuses.
“I will stay here. I will protect our hometown. I’ll stay here so everyone always has a place to return to.”
Faced with an unshakable resolve, Giltoa gave up on having Magdalene accompany him.
“Whenever you change your mind, come to me,” he said. With that, he departed.
With each passing day, Magdala devoted herself to tending to the vegetable gardens, repairing the houses, and working hard to manage the village. She believed that one day, everyone would return.
Because of her efforts, the village’s scenery has remained almost unchanged over the years. However, none of her friends returned.
Sometimes, she feels crushed by loneliness and disappointment but isn’t discouraged.
—It doesn’t matter how many decades… or even hundreds of years from now. There may come a time when your friend suddenly misses the old days. There might come a time when they want to go back to those days. When that happens, she hopes there will be a place where they can return to.
—I will be everyone’s home.
But one day, something unusual happened.
A catastrophe.
It was a natural disaster that brought chaos to the world and was later referred to as ‘The Great Disaster. Suddenly, many stars fell all over the land.
When Magdalene woke up to the thundering roar, she saw a red light shining through the window, even though it was the middle of the night. When she went outside, flames were rising everywhere in the village.
She tried to extinguish the fire in a panic, but nothing she could do would help. Houses, vegetable gardens, and forests where they have worked, studied, and played together are easily burnt.
Magdalene stood in the middle of the village, a bucket of water slipping from her hand.
The flames covered her weeping figure, and the next moment, a blinding flash of light flickered across her vision.
The next thing I know, Master Tefana stands before me, her eyes downcast. The monologue video ends, and the scenery returns to the Sick Forest area.
My heart is beating very loudly.
It was a heavy turn of events and a realistic retelling that surprised me. Oh, it’s heartbreaking.
“The stars were falling not only on the village where Magdalene was but everywhere in the world, causing tsunamis and earthquakes, so there was chaos everywhere. We were all in different places, and we were all affected to a lesser or greater extent. But we all thought the same thing. What concerned us most was each other’s safety. That is why me, Giltoa, Clifeus, and Anze rallied to our hometown. The hometown that Magdalene protects… ironically enough….”
Then, the flashback begins again.
The scene is in the forest before the village, where Tefana, Giltoa, Clifeus, and Anzelora meet.
They were prepared for some misery, but they were relieved to see the village. Their hometown had been spared from the catastrophe.
They were surprised that the village’s houses, workshops, and vegetable gardens looked almost the same as they had in the past.
Magdalene had worked hard to take care of them…. It didn’t take long for everyone to come to this conclusion, and the four of us searched for Magdalene with our hearts filled with emotion.
Naturally, a question came to my mind as a spectator: “What was that?”
Even though we know that Magdalene was there to protect the village scenery, the village wasn’t spared from the catastrophe. Based on the previous images, it should have been engulfed in flames and burnt to the ground.
My doubts aside, the drama continues.
They found Magdalene collapsed in the center of the village.
The four of them rushed to her at once, shaking her and trying to wake her, but her eyelids were stubbornly closed, and she didn’t respond.
Her clothes were scorched here and there, and her body was covered with soot, which was unnatural in this peaceful scene. Her breath was faint, but not a twitch, and her limbs were scrawny.
—Magdalene…, you committed a ‘Taboo’ to protect this tiny village….
Giltoa muttered, and a shiver ran through everyone.
According to Master’s narration that played next, Magdalene had a special power called [Soul Crushing Might], a secret of critical high skill.
The short explanation is that it is ‘the ability to materialize knowledge’ and is said to be nearly all-powerful. But the cost of this ability is sacrificing one’s past and future.
She had become so attached to her hometown and friends’ memories that it is hard to believe that she would have chosen to let go of her memories. Magdalene decided to lose her future.
It’s like borrowing energy in advance. That is why she is now sleeping copiously, without regard to her body becoming weaker.
Looking at the contrast between this unchanged village and the changed Magdalene, it isn’t hard to imagine that it took her tremendous energy to protect her ideals.
The sleep won’t be broken for some time, even after years, decades, or even centuries.
******
[Kimakura Utopia. Talk Room (Official)・Expedition Quests Discussion]
[C4cow]
I’ve been boosting my agility to almost triple my normal level, but I don’t feel like my movement is fast at all
Is it a bug?
[Lingling]
The agility on the status affects the cooldown time and evasion rate, not the actual agility
If you want to increase physical speed, you should get a skill like Flash
[C4cow]
Seriously…
So, is using a vehicle the only way to shorten travel time on the road when going on an expedition?
[Anonymous]
Isn’t it unusual to be able to increase the movement speed on the road with that kind of stats?
RPG newbie?
[Madness]
No, it’s more of a Maizpolis thing where that perception is the norm. Oops, someone is here
[Kuma-tan]
Ah (sympathy
[Itachi]
I’ll put this up here
Endurance: the so-called vigor. It decreases with damage from monsters and traps, and when it reaches zero, the game is over.
Stamina: energy required to use skills.
Strength: affects self-defense abilities, some skills’ power, and whether or not items can be equipped.
Concentration: affects power and skills success rate.
Agility: affects skill cooldown time and evasion rate against monsters’ attacks and traps.
Technology: affects the quality of the items produced and gathered, depending on the job skills.
Efficiency: affects production costs and gathering efficiency based on job skills.
Idea: affects the effect of Miracle Creation.
Affection: ??? (This is predicted to affect Miracle Creation’s success rate and luck.
[Kuruna ＠ Comeback]
Well done
[Yuuhei]
How dependable