The Second Salvation Myth of a Retired Regressed Hero

+++

Grgrgrgrgrumble…

The heavy, massive door slowly opened, and a golden radiance spilled forth from the gap.

The sword that had served its purpose clattered to the ground, shattered. Doyun tossed the hilt, the only remaining part, into a corner of the cavern.

‘Tsk. I need to acquire a decent sword quickly.’

Clack, clack. Doyun’s footsteps echoed through the vast chamber.

He raised his gaze towards the golden mountain filling the chamber.

‘Quite a lot.’

The piles of stacked gold coins and jewels glistened brilliantly, reflecting the light from the luminous ore embedded in the walls.

‘Brings back memories.’

Enoch’s legacy was distributed across various locations throughout the continent. This was the vault storing immediately spendable wealth like gold, silver, and jewels.

In fact, even Doyun didn’t know the precise amount of money contained here. He could only estimate the gold coins alone easily exceeded 100,000.

A century ago, Enoch had been renowned as the alliance’s strongest hero as well as the continent’s most formidable profiteer.

With each reincarnation cycle, his future knowledge accumulated, making it child’s play to amass fortunes.

And the result was the golden mountain before him.

But Doyun paid no heed to the sight, striding directly towards the innermost cavern.

‘Found it.’

There, a single ring lay meticulously preserved on an ornate display pedestal, treated completely differently from the casually scattered piles of coins and jewels.

Doyun opened the display case and picked up the item.

A ring composed of a jet-black gemstone and pristine white band, exuding a distinct aura that made it seem quite special at a glance.

The obsidian gem embedded in it possessed a paradoxical depth of darkness that seemed to absorb surrounding light yet with glassy translucence revealing its core.

The milky-white band reflected an opalescent sheen with a resilience akin to the finest artisan’s most painstaking woven fabric.

The obsidian gem was the Nebula, harboring an unprecedented power over space itself and the mystical ability to self-calculate its complex formulae.

The milky-white band was the Skull Diamond, renowned as the continent’s rarest ore, capable of completely absorbing most external forces and energies.

‘Not just its performance, but its beauty never fails to impress, no matter how many times I see it.’

Among the scant spatial items Enoch had possessed, the Nebula boasted the highest performance and convenience.

Spatial items were already exorbitantly priced due to their extreme rarity. The highest-tier Nebula was an item worth an entire kingdom without exaggeration.

‘It was wise to leave this here in preparation for urgently needing large sums.’

Doyun slipped the Nebula onto his left index finger, briefly admiring its radiant luster.

‘Speaking of which, I wonder what those dragons who provided this are up to… Hm?’

As Doyun leisurely examined the Nebula, a system window suddenly manifested before him.

[Nebula]
The Nebula is a gemstone that witnessed the birth and end of a stellar nebula, containing the ether’s power to govern space and the ether’s wisdom to decipher it. Currently fused with the Skull Diamond through draconic power, its aesthetic value is beyond measure.
The Nebula grants its wearer a tiny corner of the infinite realms. The user need not exert any effort to open a portal to that space, as the Nebula’s innate wisdom calculates the complex spatial formulae. Only the will to open a portal and a minuscule amount of mana is required.
Additionally, the Nebula provides an Etch of Ownership feature. Items etched can be returned to the Nebula’s space whenever the user desires.
(Etch of Ownership: 0 / 12)

‘…What’s this?’

The system window was clearly displaying information about the Nebula. This must be the ‘Item Description’ feature he had learned at the Cradle.

But item descriptions required an appraisal scroll or the Appraisal skill to access, neither of which Doyun possessed.

‘…Ah, could it be?’

[Seventh Sense]. It seemed to be an effect of that skill.

Originally, it had merely allowed sensing the approximate value of antiques and treasures through heightened intuition. But with the skill’s enhancement, it seemed to have gained the ability to view item descriptions too.

‘The skill system is truly convenient.’

Doyun marveled once again at the system’s capabilities before turning around to gather the mountainous piles of coins.

Since there was a maximum capacity limit, he couldn’t take everything. But he could at least bring enough to greatly contribute to the World Tree.

‘It’s full.’

After filling the Nebula’s space with gold and jewels, Doyun exited the cavern and operated the mechanism to reseal the entrance, leaving no trace.

But then, he abruptly stopped and turned to look northward – the opposite direction from the city.

“…”

Doyun turned away again, walking towards the city at a slightly quicker pace than before.

+++

Creak-

“Ah, Doyun!”

Sophie, who had been waiting for Doyun in the inn room, welcomed him with a bright smile as soon as the door opened.

“Sophie.”

“Yes?”

Strangely, Sophie immediately responded to him with a sense of urgency in his tone.

“Is there currently a place in Skeletonia where a rainbow has manifested?”

“Ah, yes. There seem to be around three locations in Skeletonia.”

“Which one is closest to our guild?”

“A rainbow has appeared near the Cradle.”

Doyun nodded.

“Sophie, return through there first.”

“Huh? By myself?”

Sophie tilted her head in surprise at his unexpected words.

Doyun gave a perfunctory excuse about having an errand from the Guild Master that required him to remain here a while longer.

“But if I’m not here, you won’t be able to return either. The rainbow here has already vanished, so I can’t come retrieve you again…”

“The Headmaster who sent me here has arranged a way back. To begin with, this place and Skeletonia are practically neighbor nations. I’ll return shortly too, so don’t worry.”

“Ah… I see…”

Though nodding, Sophie felt a vague sense of unease prickling her intuition, even if Doyun’s words weren’t wrong.

“Um… Alright. Then I’ll go on ahead.”

But she didn’t press the matter. As Doyun said, she might face trouble if she didn’t return now.

Besides, her intuition wasn’t as keen as Doyun’s. Naturally, she hadn’t sensed the disturbance to the north.

It was just a vague, inexplicable unease she felt.

“Please be careful on your way back.”

Sophie used [Rainbow Flight] towards the Cradle’s vicinity, her body starting to glow white.

As her feet began vanishing, Doyun waved and said softly,

“Please tell the Guild Master not to worry about me.”

“Hm?”

Before Sophie could ask what he meant, she had fully disappeared.

“…”

After silently watching the spot where Sophie had vanished, Doyun hurriedly exited the inn towards the streets.

+++

In the Skeletonian World Tree branch guild master’s office.

There, Millaine was clearing the stacks of documents piled atop her desk. At this season, her workload was truly mountainous.

Knock knock.

“Millaine, may I enter?”

The secretary’s hands even held another stack of documents.

“You work hard.”

The secretary smiled politely upon seeing Millaine’s appearance.

Without looking towards the door, Millaine sighed wearily as she continued scribbling nonstop with her pen.

“Haa… just leave them there.”

“Understood. Keep up the hard work.”

“…”

After the secretary left and the door closed, Millaine kept moving her pen without pause.

In the midst of this, one of the communication crystals in her office flickered and rang.

“…Hm? Ah, the… What the…!”

Confirming the crystal’s type, she ruffled her hair frantically.

Millaine’s office had several communication crystals – a summons crystal connected to the Master’s chamber, a report crystal used by the secretary, and more.

And the one that had just rung was the Royal Emergency Summons crystal.

Used only in emergencies while disregarding all other protocols, it permitted direct urgent contact with the World Tree.

In other words, it only rang in extremely troubling situations.

“Oh, shi…! No, I won’t answer it!”

She kicked underneath her desk, burying her face in her arms atop it. But the crystal persisted, continuing to ring disruptively.

Knock knock.

“Millaine. That ringing crystal is the Royal Emergency…”

“Aaaahh!! I was about to answer it!”

Millaine stood up shouting, heading towards the crystal. The secretary’s faint smile outside was clearly visible – an exasperating woman indeed.

“My condolences. I’ll bring some de-stressing chocolate.”

“…Thank you.”

…Exasperating, but also quite considerate.

In the end, Millaine answered the crystal with a sullen expression. Light emanated from it, projecting the Royal Liaison’s visage.

“Yes, I’m here.”

-[Millaine. We request reinforcements.]

“Hm? Reinforcements?”

Millaine’s expression instantly hardened.

With grave solemnity, she lent her ear to the Liaison’s words.

+++

Thump thump thump thump thump.

Eloah, reviewing documents in the Master’s chamber, frowned at the hurried footsteps rapidly approaching from outside.

Soon, Millaine burst through the door like she intended to break it down.

“Master!!”

“You’ll bring the house down, calm down a little… What’s the big rush?”

As always before Millaine, Eloah started shaking her head in an easygoing manner before stopping abruptly.

Millaine’s expression was grave – clearly, a major incident had occurred.

“Our treasure! Our treasure!!”

“…Pardon?”

“Ah, no… Di, Disciple Han Doyun! Where did Disciple Han Doyun go!?”

“Disciple Han Doyun?”

After briefly tilting her head, Eloah answered Millaine’s question.

“He said a border city in Lockenmeyer’s demon realm, I think. Why?”

“Aaaaaahhhh!!!”

Millaine shrieked, tearing at her hair. Eloah recoiled in shock at her reaction.

“Why, why are you reacting like that!?”

“Reinforcements! We need to dispatch reinforcements right now! Our guild’s elite members!”

Millaine rushed over, grabbing Eloah’s shoulders and shaking her.

“War has broken out! In the Lockenmeyer border city where our treasure is!”

“…What?”

“The Demon Lord’s forces have ambushed the city our treasure is in right now!!”

Eloah’s face drained of color.