Got a Gallery in the Wild

Winter was always cold, but this winter was especially freezing.

Last winter had arrived so suddenly that it had been difficult to endure, but this time they had prepared thoroughly, and even so, they were still in this situation.

More than the temperature, the real problem was the wind.

The so-called cutting wind blew frequently.

Every time it brushed against his cheeks, it felt as if a red-hot sword were slicing through his skin.

Because of that, he avoided going outside whenever possible.

Ludwig had warned him as well.

If someone moved around during such a cold winter, they consumed several times more energy.

After all, the human body expended an enormous amount of energy just to maintain the same body temperature.

“Is it good?”

“Hrmmm… Hrmmm.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

That was why he had roasted sweet potatoes.

He had harvested them precisely with this moment in mind.

Perhaps because they had also been grown in the Forest of Four Seasons, they were incredibly sweet.

Every bite of the golden flesh filled his mouth with a wonderfully sweet aroma and flavor.

They would have been perfect with a glass of milk.

But that was asking too much.

“Alright. You all eat too. They’re hot, so be careful.”

“Uo!”

“Kuong.”

He had roasted enough sweet potatoes to share with the animals in the brick house as well.

At first, they all complained about the heat, but once they had cooled a little, they happily started eating them.

“Are they good?”

“Mueong.”

The deer was no exception.

Its sweetness was different from that of the golden apple, and he devoured them enthusiastically.

The problem was that he liked them a little too much.

After they finished all the sweet potatoes, Lackey started searching the pot from every angle.

He even showed it to Grills after turning it upside down, with an expression that clearly said, “Isn’t there any more?”

“No. Deal with it.”

“More! I want more!”

“Kuooong.”

It wasn’t just Lackey.

Even Largo insisted that he give her more.

Even the deer pretended to be indifferent, though he was discreetly moving one of his front legs.

He had harvested quite a lot of sweet potatoes, but he couldn’t give them any more.

‘If they eat nothing but sweet potatoes, they’ll end up getting fat.’

He remembered once hearing that when someone had taken their pet to the veterinarian because it had gained weight, they had been told to stop feeding it so many sweet potatoes.

Most animals liked sweet potatoes, but the Forest of Four Seasons was different.

The animals here simply liked anything sweet.

If this kept up, even a bear would probably show up asking for roasted sweet potatoes.

“Well, I’m heading back. Behave yourselves.”

“Sweet potatoes! Sweet potatoes! Sweet potatoes!”

“Get lost, brat. You’re going to end up with a belly.”

After shaking off the clingy Lackey, he returned to the cave.

He had only gone there and back, but the cold was terrifying.

It wasn’t as if he had fallen into the middle of Siberia, so.

How could it possibly be this cold?

‘Now that I think about it, it didn’t rain much either.’

Last winter had arrived immediately after the rainy season.

This time had been different.

Maybe it could have been called autumn, but the weather had gradually grown colder until winter finally arrived.

If the weather improved, he might go outside for a while.

Though he would most likely only go out around noon.

Even preparing meals was becoming difficult.

“Peeep~”

“Tyran, you’re going to burn yourself like that.”

The spot in front of the fireplace had already been claimed by the Sloth and Tyran.

The Sloth had occupied that place from the beginning, but Tyran had joined him recently.

‘Now that I think about it, do dragons count as reptiles too?’

Most reptiles were cold-blooded animals.

Their body temperature depended on their surroundings.

Since almost no information existed about dragons, the question made him curious.

Someone might ask how it was possible that there was so little information when even Dragonslayers existed.

‘Because no one can study them.’

Forget about observing them.

The moment you entered their territory, you’d be greeted with a Breath.

There was no way to conduct research under those circumstances.

Even so, he had the impression that they were more similar to mammals than reptiles.

He patted Tyran on the head before turning around.

On the other side stood Cain’s statue, perfectly still.

‘It looks like the protests in Eldorado are finally coming to an end.’

That was what people were saying in the Gallery.

According to the posts, the Vatican had even gone so far as to mobilize the army to make an appeal.

But the contents of that appeal were as follows.

“All the protesters are under the Immortal King’s curse, although we still do not know the cause.”

Seeing that they had even mobilized the army, many protesters had begun wondering if it might actually be true.

Now, one person had entered the Vatican personally.

The protesters had naturally dispersed as well, though for the time being they had decided to wait and see what would happen.

When he explained the entire situation to Ludwig, the response he received was.

Title: What is this man talking about?

WildGrills

(Video of Ludwig saying something.)

I explained the situation in Eldorado to him, and he laughed before saying this. Can anyone translate it?

ㄴ HeavenlyDemon) Judging by the tone alone, it sounds like an insult.

ㄴ Swordmaster) It sounds like he’s insulting them to me too.

ㄴ DwarfPassingBy) At first glance, it looks like he said, “Stop talking nonsense!” Hahaha.

ㄴ SunForEver) I don’t know the language of the Holy Kingdom, but I can guarantee he insulted them.

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) He said something like, “What a load of nonsense!”

ㄴ WildGrills) That’s what I figured. Hahaha.

It was more or less that.

After all, insults were a universal language.

Especially for Ludwig, who had even been purged by the Vatican.

There was no way he would trust them.

Even so, the protesters were still clinging to a small glimmer of hope.

It seemed that the army being mobilized had influenced them quite a bit.

‘At least the army didn’t attack them directly.’

A tragedy like that would have left an indelible scar for the rest of their lives.

In any case, it seemed he could forget about Eldorado for a while.

Of course, if something else happened, he’d pay attention again.

Title: What ridiculous nonsense.

NecromancyIsLove

(Photo of the inside of a refrigerator.)

They’re saying my curse is still working?

If that were true, I would have already ordered someone to get me out of this cramped, freezing place.

It’s ridiculous that the Vatican claims my curse is still alive when I’m the one who’s dead.

ㄴ And who is this guy supposed to be?

ㄴ This guy roleplays as the Immortal King. The funny part is that he actually sounds like he’s speaking from the Immortal King’s point of view. Hahaha.

ㄴ How the hell did he take a picture from inside the refrigerator?

ㄴ If the real Immortal King still had the power to cast curses, the first thing he would’ve done was resurrect himself. Hahaha.

There were posts like that as well.

Even if the curse turned out to be real, rebuilding trust would take an extremely long time.

The aftermath of the Immortal King Incident had far exceeded anything he had imagined.

Though, to begin with, he had never wanted any of this to happen.

‘Honestly, it doesn’t really affect me that much.’

For now, all he had to do was spend the winter beside the warm fireplace.

And eat from time to time.

After checking the time, he stepped outside.

It was time to take some food out of the storage.

“Uok?!”

“……”

Just as he was about to leave, he ran into a thief.

A white gorilla was sneaking around with both arms full of sweet potatoes.

The shameless bastard hadn’t expected him to come out and froze completely in place, his eyes wide open.

“…Sigh.”

Yeah, yeah.

Eat as much as you want.

Grills simply waved his hand, as if telling him to do whatever he wanted.

Seeing that, Lackey also glanced sideways to assess the situation before immediately sprinting toward the brick house.

— Uho! Uhoho!

— Kuong!

Cheers could be heard from inside the brick house.

Were they really that good?

Grills chuckled softly and looked up at the sky.

‘The sky’s pretty gray.’

It looks like it’ll start snowing soon.

***

A day had passed since Hans entered the Vatican as the representative.

Perhaps the inspection was taking a long time, because the Vatican still hadn’t given any response.

Hans’s family, growing more anxious by the hour, went to ask about him, but they received exactly the same answer.

“We’re still examining him. Please wait.”

In the end, they had no choice but to return empty-handed.

Seeing that, some of Eldorado’s citizens insisted that they should resume the protests, while others believed it would be better to wait a little longer.

After all, even thirty years later, traces of the Immortal King could still be found everywhere.

Especially in the Kingdom of Vulcan, where the undead were still running rampant.

From ordinary ghouls and skeletons to Death Knights and Liches.

Even the royal palace remained impossible to reclaim, completely overrun by vengeful spirits.

“What the hell are those bastards doing? How long does it take to lift a curse?”

With no progress after an entire day, Reis let out her frustration.

Asella felt exactly the same and nodded.

No matter how difficult a purification might be, a single day was more than enough.

And this was the Pope.

It was well known that the Pope’s holy power was comparable to the Hero’s.

Even so, there was still no news.

Something smelled very wrong.

People say that no news is good news, but in a situation like this, it was the complete opposite.

“…I have to go.”

“Will you be alright going alone?”

When Asella stood up, Reis asked with a worried expression.

Since she wasn’t confident in her infiltration skills, the most sensible option was to let Asella go alone.

But this wasn’t just anywhere.

It was the Vatican.

It would undoubtedly be heavily guarded.

“Don’t worry. I know the Vatican’s layout perfectly. I also know all of its blind spots.”

“Blind spots? And how do you know that?”

“When I was little, I spent all my time exploring the place.”

Asella had grown up in the Vatican since childhood.

After all, she had been chosen as the Hero.

Although she had ultimately been branded a traitor because of the prophecy, that no longer mattered.

Reis had no choice but to let her go.

In the current situation, accompanying her would only slow her down.

“Still, be careful. And no matter what happens, keep yourself under control.”

“…”

“Even if you get angry, keep yourself under control. If you make a scene in there, you’ll only be doing them a favor.”

Hearing Reis’s realistic advice, Asella slowly nodded.

She had no idea what she would find inside, so it was better to prepare herself mentally.

“I’ll check the interrogation rooms first.”

“Alright.”

With that, Asella pulled her hood even lower.

Then, instead of heading toward the Vatican’s main entrance, she made her way to a section of the wall where security was relatively weaker.

The wall easily exceeded five meters in height, but that posed no problem for Asella.

Tap! Tap!

Pushing off the wall with her feet as though defying gravity, Asella climbed it.

After crossing over as lightly as a bird, she immediately concealed her presence.

‘The guards will be changing shifts soon. I have to take advantage of that moment.’

Thanks to her extraordinary memory, she knew the Vatican’s guard schedules perfectly.

As she quietly circled the grounds while avoiding every watchful eye, she found the opportunity she had been waiting for.

‘The interrogation rooms are underground. There’s only one official entrance, but…’

There was another.

A ventilation shaft installed specifically to ventilate the interrogation rooms.

After making sure no one was nearby, Asella removed the grate.

An ordinary person would never have been able to move it.

But she was the Hero.

It required no effort at all.

Of course, she didn’t forget to put the grate back into place so no one would notice it had been removed.

Creeeak.

After crawling through the ventilation shaft, she reached the framework supporting the underground level.

From there, she looked down.

The interrogation rooms were lit almost entirely by torches.

Because of that, the upper area remained completely dark.

It would be extremely difficult for anyone to discover her.

‘Just as Reis said they’ll never imagine I came here.’

As the old proverb of the Central Continent said, it was darkest beneath the lamp.

No one would imagine that the Hero had returned to the capital while being hunted.

It was simply impossible.

Holding her breath, Asella began moving across the beams in search of Hans.

She felt like a real thief.

It was also the perfect moment for her extraordinary sense of balance to shine.

As she searched through the gloomy interrogation rooms, she looked for Hans.

— %$#%$!

The interrogation chambers were enormous.

However, there was one place that was especially noisy.

By instinct, Asella realized Hans was there and proceeded with extreme caution.

‘Since it’s a room, I can’t see anything from above.’

In the end, she had no choice but to land silently on the roof above the interrogation room.

She would have preferred to sneak inside, but several Paladins were guarding the entrance.

Even so, she still had one option.

She silently extended her mana.

She allowed it to spread throughout the entire room and used that connection to sense the movements inside.

It was one of the techniques Ludwig had taught her.

A skill that, like Aura Blade, depended greatly on talent.

Once her mana had covered the entire room, she slowly pressed her ear closer.

She could predict movements through her mana, but she still needed to listen with her own ears.

— I… will never say that. Why would I?

— Come now, Mr. Fruit Seller. If you simply admit it, everything will become much easier. Just say you were one of the Immortal King’s subordinates and that we solved the problem.

…What were they talking about?

The contents of the conversation were so shocking that Asella blinked several times.

But it didn’t end there.

Because then Hans’s furious roar echoed through the room.

— And you still think the Goddess will forgive you?! The real Demon Kings are you! You’re the ones who created the Demon King!

The man who appeared to be an inquisitor let out a mocking laugh before speaking to someone else.

— Hey. Start again.

— Yes.

— Let me go…!! Grrghhh…!!

Asella felt every drop of blood in her body turn cold.

Now she understood what was happening inside that interrogation room.

And what they were doing to the kind and cheerful Uncle Hans.

For the first time in her life.

She cursed the talent the heavens had given her.

‘Ah…’

Eldorado.

The sanctuary founded by the Goddess Aris herself, and humanity’s greatest pride.

‘How… how could they…?’

The Demon King.

Was right there.