Chapter 73
How long had I been cautiously tailing the person in the white robe?
Only now did I finally realize who he was.
None other than Adrian.
Just like before we departed, Adrian walked with a stiff, rigid expression, heading somewhere with purpose.
If it was really his first time visiting this place, then I suppose it made sense—he hesitated every time he reached a fork in the road, thinking for a long while before choosing a path.
And the more I followed him, the more questions filled my mind.
‘What in the world is he looking for in a place he doesn’t even know well?’
And on top of that, why did he have to sneak around, hiding from his companions?
Honestly, tailing someone is a classic trope you see all the time in story-driven RPGs.
Follow the NPC without being noticed to uncover a secret.
What an exciting turn of events, right?
But unless the game is one that truly centers around stealth and infiltration, the tailing mechanics are always extremely sloppy.
They’re the kind that make you think, ‘Seriously? You don’t notice me even when I’m following this blatantly?’
And the game I played up until the moment I died—Edaphosia—was exactly that kind of game.
It had a tailing quest or two, but they were absolutely not the main content, so they were hilariously basic.
But this is reality, not a game.
The NPCs who would never turn around no matter how close you followed now had their own will and moved like real people.
Adrian constantly checked his surroundings as he walked, making sure no one was following him.
Because of that, I almost got caught several times.
Holding my breath, hiding behind pillars—I thought my heart might explode at any moment.
‘Wait—why am I even hiding? Can’t I just walk up and ask him where he’s going?’
The thought hit me suddenly, and I really did consider abandoning this whole tailing business and revealing myself right then and there.
But…
‘If I do that, how am I supposed to explain the fact that I’ve been following him all the way here?’
Besides, it felt like a waste to give up after coming this far.
At this point I was determined—out of stubbornness if nothing else—to tail him to the end and uncover his purpose.
‘Let me show you the skills of a seasoned gamer.’
It wasn’t Edaphosia, but I had played plenty of games that were all about stealth, tailing, and assassination.
In one game, there was even a job class called the “sneak archer,” combining sneak with archer—literally walking in shadows and silently picking off enemies with arrows.
Oh, the satisfaction whenever an arrow landed on its target…
I replayed that game countless times just for that.
Thinking back to those sensations, I quieted my footsteps as much as possible and followed Adrian for who knows how long.
Then he finally stopped walking—he had reached his destination.
And then…
‘Huh? Isn’t this… the ruin the king mentioned earlier?’
The old stone buildings bore heavy marks of destruction—collapsed walls, scorch marks everywhere, and deep craters as if meteors had struck.
The traces of that devastating battle were still visible.
But why in the world had Adrian come here?
He stepped through broken rubble and headed deeper and deeper toward the heart of the ruin.
His movements were almost trance-like.
Even though just moments earlier he had been so cautious, checking multiple times to ensure no one was following—
Now he walked, stumbling, completely unaware that someone was watching him.
Finally, he reached the center of the ruins.
There was almost nothing left intact—everything destroyed as if a nuclear bomb had gone off.
At that spot…
Adrian collapsed to his knees.
And then—
‘…Is he… crying?’
He was crying.
Not loudly, not screaming—nothing like that.
But something was clearly tearing him apart inside.
He couldn’t even make a sound, just clenched his lips tightly, trembling all over as silent tears streamed down his face.
For a long time.
As if he had no strength even to blink.
Tears falling and falling from eyes opened so wide that red veins showed.
My mind was in chaos.
I wanted to comfort him somehow, to soothe that unfathomable sorrow.
Yet I couldn’t move a single step, as though his grief had infected me too.
Even though I had followed him all this way, I never imagined I would see something like this.
Honestly, if he had turned out to be a traitor and I’d caught him plotting with Ponerous’ followers, that would’ve been easier to accept.
At least it would’ve made sense.
But instead I got… this.
This vague, indescribably uncomfortable situation.
After crying in the ruins for who knows how long, Adrian clenched his fists as if making some sort of resolve and stood up.
Then he wiped away his tear-streaked face and began walking back the way he came.
So I ended up tailing him all the way back to the palace.
Not because I wanted to, but because I couldn’t return without risking him seeing me.
Everything had become so unclear.
If I had caught him doing something bad, at least I could confront him.
Even something simple—like sneaking off alone to eat delicious food without the rest of us—that would’ve been forgivable, even funny.
Adrian wasn’t the type to do that, but still—if it was something small, I could’ve teased him with a “Heh heh, I know what you did.”
But what about now?
I was sure I had witnessed something incredibly personal—something he didn’t want anyone to see.
But I couldn’t exactly approach him and say, “Hey, I saw you crying!”
After confirming he’d returned safely to his assigned palace quarters, I finally returned to my room where Lena was sleeping.
I sat down in my cozy armchair and reviewed everything I had just seen.
‘…Come to think of it, it’s not that strange that Adrian knows about that ruin.’
Unlike me—who had zero interest in the history of the Hero Order—Adrian worked as a librarian maintaining the historical archives.
So of course he would know about such a ruin in Ither.
And as the current chronicler recording the history of the Hero Order, it made sense that he might want to visit such a historically significant site at least once.
Plus, Adrian often expressed sorrow over the sacrifices of past Heroes chosen by the Goddess, and he’d told me many times to take care of myself.
If that’s the case… then maybe he was just emotionally moved by the tragic scene and cried—?
‘No, but even then, isn’t that too much?’
Adrian wasn’t the type to show emotions easily.
He didn’t cry readily nor express his feelings openly.
Someone like that suddenly shedding overwhelming tears for something that happened over a thousand years ago…?
Did that make any sense?
Now that I thought about it, he had been acting odd even before we departed.
His face pale, his expression stiff.
If he had cried over some unknown family trouble or misfortune…
‘No, it’s still weird!’
Why of all places did he choose that ruin—the site where the Goddess’ Hero defeated Ponerous’ incarnation—to cry his eyes out?
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t find an answer.
My mind kept looping back to the beginning, like a musical score repeating at a coda mark.
Frustrated, I clawed at my hair in silent agony.
That was when—
“…”
I locked eyes with my roommate, Lena, who was looking at me like I was crazy.
She had been lying on the bed asleep when I came in, too.
“Oh, hi, Lena? Did you sleep well?”
“…I woke up a while ago.”
She shrugged, baffled.
“Oh, really? Did I wake you? Sorry.”
“That’s not it. What are you thinking so hard about?”
Her curious question almost made me spill everything I’d seen tonight.
Two heads are better than one, right?
Even the hardest problems get solved more easily together.
But… I just couldn’t.
I couldn’t bring myself to say what I’d witnessed.
“…Mm, it’s nothing.”
Lena gave me a very suspicious look, but I only forced an awkward laugh and avoided her gaze.
Then she sat down beside me and asked:
“So, what did the king say? What kind of person is he?”
“Huh? The king?”
Her blunt question made me look at her blankly.
Even I wouldn’t address a foreign king so casually—but Lena, raised in a noble family of all things, just called him “the king” without a shred of honorific?
When I pointed that out, she snorted and shrugged.
“Why would I care? He’s not my king.”
“Well… I guess that’s true.”
People insult their own rulers behind their backs all the time—so calling a foreign king whatever she wanted wasn’t exactly a crime.
I paused, gathering my thoughts so I could answer her question.
