The Foreigner on the Periphery

Schutan’s elite warrior Solada rarely looked in the mirror voluntarily after her his grew thick. 

This was because he felt disgusted by it. When he was little, he was comforted that his features were still taking shape. A remarkably large head for his age, a blunt nose, uneven scales, and a chin close to malocclusion, he believed, could change with age. However, when he finished his third sexual characteristic and entered adolescence, Solada couldn’t help but be frustrated. 

His reason was simple. His face, which would accompany him until his old age, was then completed, because, unfortunately, there was not much difference between him and before. 

Solada was ugly. Still, he did not lose hope. Solada, who decided to work hard instead of despair, wandered the outer world and worked as a mercenary, faithful to the virtues required of Stan men. There was no world that accepted Stan immigrants, but there was a lot of demand for short-term work visas and alien workers. In addition to these, the Stan men were cheap laborers for their abilities. In general, it was good value for money.

“Five? You’re a weapon master. Alright, here’s an offer from dimension #41-545. The contract period is 5 years, and the remuneration is about this. However, it is a condition that it is impossible to return to the home dimension until the contract period is over. How about it?” 

In addition, the prey was welcomed as a mercenary, hunter, and solver thanks to its tenacity to follow to the end of hell. Furthermore, Solada was a weapon master. Just as a troll weapon master played with a human weapon master, a Stan weapon master overwhelmed the majority of similar races. 

After stepping into the mercenary world, Solada worked tirelessly. In his opinion, the Weapon Master seemed to have favorable conditions. This was because wealth accumulation was relatively easy. “The criterion for determining the superiority of Stan men is property. What do women want who want to live the rest of their lives in peace, freed from the duty of giving birth to infertile eggs? You want to be rewarded for your hard work. With a luxurious life.” 

Producing gold was a major export, accounting for a significant portion of Guellaranco’s GDP. In that task, gloriously retired industrial warriors, mature women, had to prepare a dowry to please. ‘You have to make money. More money!’

However, he suffered from failure every year. Drop out, drop out, drop out. Women did not easily choose him, and Solada had to keep looking for the next opportunity. Still, he did not lose hope. His property, as entered in the subscription documents, increased each year. He was never short of providing women with a comfortable life. 

However, the results did not change. successive drop-outs. Decades passed and he began to feel nervous. ‘No way… No way?’ 

It couldn’t be. Would he end up falling behind?

‘Why? I am a weapon master Besides, I have a lot of wealth!’ 

From there, he soothed his rising anxiety with self-consuming labor. Solada worked harder than anyone else. The days of harsh labor continued. 

*** 

In Stan society, only a few women who had satisfied the strict conditions were recognized by the kingdom union for the right to marry, that was, to give birth to fertilized eggs. It was, as was widely known, a bloody competition. 

One would have to prove that they could produce high-quality unfertilized eggs by enduring the pain of tearing their flesh every day for a long time, and would have to be healthy in body and mind even after enduring that hellish time. Even in the midst of laying seedless eggs every day in a place isolated from men, it was a plus factor to stand out in activities other than childbirth. 

A woman who wanted to give birth had to be a perfect person. like a superman. In fact, it was a great thing to survive and remain sane until the age at which you were eligible to apply for marriage rights. Although never mentioned in the media here, the suicide rate of Stan women was unmatched by any race, class, or gender in the world. 

The women who managed to get their rights through the difficult barriers changed from those who were chosen to those who chose. The average age of successful women was around 150 years old. 

Therefore, if one were to look at the wedding customs of Stans, there would be an extreme age difference according to gender. It was mostly because they wanted a younger man as a mate. 

It was also because of that that Solada gave up further subscriptions on the day of his 100th birthday. Men of this age were not chosen as spouses. It was impossible no matter how rich and talented one was. 

‘Why! Why?! If it’s money, I’ve collected it. Over the past few decades, the days I’ve been able to relax and take a break have been less than a month. I scraped it like that. But why doesn’t anyone pick me up?!’ 

That day, he bought a bottle of hard liquor that he hadn’t even touched and emptied the whole because he found it was a waste of money. Sitting in front of the dining table and washbasin in a shabby one-room room, drunkenly and energetic, he suddenly raised his head. There was an object there that he hadn’t normally looked at consciously.

Indeed, after a long time, he looked in the mirror. The answer was there. 

*** 

After that, Solada was never dispatched to outer space.

‘Hey! Solada! Are you really going to do this? It’s already been over a year since you haven’t worked, right? For a great talent like you to rot that ability is a loss at the level of the race…’ 

He had then begun to shout drunkenly to the head of the recruitment agency who came to his house. ‘Damn it, stop talking nonsense and get out of here!’ 

‘What… What?! What did you just say?’ 

‘The loss of the race? I don’t work anymore. Should I keep working like a slave for someone’s good?’ 

He swallowed the next words. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get married anyway, and he wouldn’t be able to have children anyway. ‘Now I’m going to live by spending money. I’m going to live for myself now!’ 

The declaration was considered shocking. It was because it was not something that would come out of the mouth of an exemplary Stan man.

Men should be thrifty and frugal. He must be sincere. He must be persistent. They would have to constantly earn foreign currency in other worlds and keep it as savings. Instead of the talent boasting the exorbitant exchange rate, the currency of the trading partner world. 

One would never know when they would be able to get married, so it was better to keep saving until that day was to come. Summarizing this long sentence in Stan style, a man must be manly. ‘Hey, are you going to touch the regular installment savings? But that would be tied up with wedding funds…’ 

‘Damn it! I went to the bank today and broke everything. Not to mention the interest, even the cancellation fee! crazy chicks. How many men die of old age without being able to use it properly and having no offspring to inherit?! Revelry!’ 

And Solada was not alone. He started hanging out with older men who made the same decision. This was to fill the void he turned to alcohol and drugs. After giving up marriage and childbirth, there were so many things to enjoy in the world. 

The reason Solada didn’t even give up on dating was because such a concept Ishtan didn’t have it in the first place. In this society where unmarried women and unmarried men live in isolated places, he grew older as he went back and forth to prison again and again for trivial accidents, misbehavior, and insults to the royal family. He never stopped behaving in spite of it. Read the most updated version of this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at Novel Multiverse – “NovelMultiverse dot com”

Everyone wanted recognition and attention. When these needs were not met, they would feel deeply frustrated, and their hopelessness often led to disregard for social norms. He justified that he was a person who could meet society’s ‘standards’, so that meant he can do all sorts of mean things. 

For Solada, the criterion, the measure of success, was marriage. It didn’t matter how much money was saved. he felt it He said he was no longer an elite. Because of this, he decided to live solely for peripheral pleasure in a society that regarded waste and debauchery as the height of immorality and did not regard those who do not work as human beings. 

From there, he grew less afraid of the criticism around him. 

*** 

‘Solada, this is your last chance. If one more accident happens in the capital, the royal family won’t let you go. Loudly insulting the princesses in public… was a huge mistake. It’s just that I’ve been recognized for my merits so far.’ 

After countless prison terms, Solada was released from prison, and the manpower agency director with whom he had an old relationship came to visit. ‘Leave the capital for the time being. I have prepared a shelter for you. It’s a cottage on a rural waterfront. Get away from his alcohol and drugs and cool his head there.’ 

Because of this, Solada boarded a train heading to the outskirts of the kingdom of Stan. The house the warden prepared there was treated as an unidentified historical site even during the tribal war 800 years ago. However, after going through a war and changing owners several times, most of the things that made up the huge ruins were sold on the black market, and now it seemed that only shabby fragments remained. The interior furnishings and ornaments, as well as the pillars and bricks, are valuable because the previous owners and robbers sold them off in the first place, and now there was only one house with no historical value that has been expanded by later generations. 

Recalling that explanation, Solada muttered to himself. ‘It’s just like me. An abandoned house with only useless rags left… an abandoned house that no one is looking for.’ 

While Solada stared blankly at the scenery outside, the train entered the tunnel and it was dark outside the window. The windows, which seemed to be painted black, reflected the light and illuminated the room clearly. It was like a mirror made of black glass. 

From there, an old Stan man appeared on the blackened surface. Looking through the glass, he looked terribly depressed and helpless. Solada let his curse run through his teeth and looked away from him. 

*** 

“My God… God… My God…!” 

In a forest adjacent to the seashore. There were people gathered there whose relationship could not be easily guessed without background knowledge. There were a total of four people in the party, half of whom were in a state of confusion. 

If one were to look closely, there was a fainting dragon. A dragon that fell to the ground with its pupils undone. Looking at the breath, the breath was still attached, but the vitality was gradually fading. 

He deserved it. This was because the body that was not controlled by the spirit had no choice but to cool down in the end. Right now, that dragon body didn’t have a soul holding the initiative. 

In addition to this, there was another woman who fainted. Her other two, attached to her consciousness, surrounded her and took care of her. They were a pale-skinned race with three eyes and a man who appeared to be human, respectively. the black-haired man asked. “How?” 

The priest, who was holding Dell’s hand and closed his eyes as if concentrating, spoke. “Sorry. Although it is said to be small as it is now, since it was originally huge enough to cover an island, the vessel of life force seems enormous.” 

It meant that this was the limit for Yuntus’ power. Hearing those words, Minjun looked at his ex-wife with a dark expression. Dell was in a stupor, his tentacles quivering. Now, she was neither in perfect human form nor in her 6km radius. 

‘It means that even Polymorph couldn’t do it perfectly.’ 

He heard a strange animal cry in his ears as he was lost in thought. The density of the atmosphere was also subtly different from where they were yesterday. Even though it was daytime, the two moons hung vaguely in the sky, and a damp moisture that was unpleasant for humans was wrapped around their skin. A small bird spread its four wings and jumped between the profuse flowering trees. 

Minjun then remembered a princess who was arrested for plotting a crime on Earth a few months ago. It was a Stan, who was said to have died while being transported to the Committee Headquarters. Minjun was now facing the landscape she had described. The dimension jump itself was successful.

His party was now in another world. A neighboring dimension that could be reached with just one leap from Earth. ‘It was good up to that point.’ 

During the jump, Dell’s condition deteriorated rapidly. It was something Minjun could not understand. ‘It’s a leap that even the old dragons endured, so why couldn’t Endelion? Where did it go wrong?’ 

The place where they first appeared across dimensions was ten kilometers above sea level, and at that moment, Dell, who had lost consciousness, showed signs of falling slowly. Had she hit the ground as she was, catastrophe would have occurred. 

And so, she desperately cast a polymorph spell. It seemed that she originally tried to transform into a human, but due to her mind going back and forth, the ending was a bit incomplete. After she managed to finish her chant, she passed out. As a result…

“Oh God···!” 

Dell repeated her words through her quivering lips. She was desperate and weak. From there, Yuntus carefully put down her hand to release her divine power. The pitiful mutter came soon after. “Since then, you have been constantly searching for God. The Endelion race seems to be really faithful.” 

“…” 

Knowing that the meaning and usage of that sentence had changed to an abusive language over the long years. Seeing him continue to swear even in a coma, it must have been really difficult. 

Yuntus whispered to Dell as if she was pathetic. “I don’t know what kind of god you believe in, but… I hope that your faith responds to your heart and restores peace.” 

“…Tentacle, entwined!” 

It was then… 

“Cool!” The dragon by her side awoke. The spirit returned coughing and giggling several more times before going out of the body and reporting what it saw to Minjun. “I found it. As I went in the direction you said, there was a really big mansion-like place facing the sea.” 

Hearing this, Minjun was relieved. “Yeah, it couldn’t have disappeared.” 

However, soon after, he realized that there was something strange about the ghost’s words. “Wait for a sec. A mansion?” Why? 

“Yes. The surroundings are all empty and there is only one house there, right?” 

It all proved to be incomprehensible. But there was no time to dwell on the question. Instead of continuing to leave Dell out in the open air like now, Minjun thought he needed to go to a proper place to take care of him. 

“Let’s move first.” 

Roaring! A shadow emanated from his body and enveloped Dell. 

Minjun wove it like a rope, tied it to his ex-wife, and put it on her back. Then Yuntus also brought several coffins, stacked on top of each other, and carried them on his back. ‘Hmm, this is difficult.’

Minjun soon realized the problem. The tentacles of Dell’s lower body, which had been carried on his back, drooped and dragged to the ground. From there, he solved the problem quickly. 

Shih! The shadow moved like a hand, tying Dell’s tentacles together like a knot. Then her lower body was rounded and neatly arranged like her side of the head. 

From there, Minjun spoke once more. “Let’s go.” 

In a distraught voice, Dell muttered painfully. “Tentacles that entwine the stars…!”