The Foreigner on the Periphery

“Welcome! Solada-sama, I’ve been waiting for you. It is an honor to finally meet you!” 

Solada got off at the train station in the countryside. He greeted his opponent in a polite manner. “My name is Gulesch. I heard the word from Lord Dakbara. Starting today, I will serve you at the mansion.” 

Dakbara was the name of the manpower introduction center that prepared the hideout. Solada was surprised. What he expected before coming was the days of secluding himself in an empty mansion and self-reflection. However, he had been given a servant? And he was surprised once more by the following words that were spoken. “Aside from me, other employees are waiting for Solada-sama in the mansion.”

There were even more? As they rode from the station to the waterfront mansion, Gulesch uttered flattery with obvious intent. “I have heard of the fame. One of the best weapon masters in the country, who made revolutionary contributions to each dimension he was dispatched to! I’m really envious. Solada is truly a manly Stan. Unlike half-pennies like me.” 

There then came laughing and talking nonsense. To Solada’s ears, that sounded like sarcastic remarks. Since you were born as a man, isn’t it everyone’s dream to be active as a warrior and sweep foreign currency? Instead of doing something trivial like me. In that sense, I really envy you.” 

At this point, Solada wanted to change the topic. “Is this town always like this? The fog.” 

“Yes. It’s a scenery that can’t be seen in the capital city, right? Since it is a seaside town, the sea fog repeatedly gathers and disperses as it pleases. On a day like this, you can’t even tell if someone walks in front of you just a few meters away. Well, we have arrived. Mr. Solada.” 

While Gulesch was dragging his luggage, the gatekeeper opened the gate. Then, the employees waiting inside all bowed in unison. Gulesch spoke once more in a cheerful tone. “Actually, we only got here a few days ago. It was a mansion that had been vacated for a long time, so I swept and cleaned while waiting for the new owner. Oh, and speaking of which, you missed a very rare spectacle by one day. If you had come yesterday, you would have seen it with us.” 

To this, Solada replied dryly. “What?” 

Heading to the bedroom, he just wanted to take a dip in the water and wash away the travel poison. Perhaps unaware that the other party was barely listening, Gulesch kept talking. “A very strange thing happened at sea last night. It was just as foggy then as it is now. It was night, so visibility was messed up, but I couldn’t miss it.” 

At this point, he was honestly a bit curious, but Solada, tired ahead, didn’t respond. Gulesch continued his explanation enthusiastically. “Oh my God, I’ve never seen lightning that big. I could see through the fog. But is it rare? Lightning usually flashes here and there, doesn’t it strike and fall out of control? But the lightning continued to sizzle in one place. It’s like they’re pulling each other relentlessly. How many seconds did it boil like that? Suddenly hot! and the light spread. Then there!” Gulesch, who was walking earlier, jerked. He turned his head. It seemed like a gesture to stimulate tension and curiosity, but Solada was reluctant. 

The servant then spoke without losing his expression. “…There was a black star floating there!” 

Right after he was released from prison, it was fortunate that Solada’s brain was in pristine condition. If he had any drugs or alcohol left, he might have put a punch in his chin to stop talking and shut up. Instead, Solada then asked insincerely. “A black star?” 

“Yes! It was a black star. Ordinary stars twinkle as they pierce the black sky with pointed lights. But that star was different. It was a star that revealed itself by darkening the sky full of flashes. And it was far more massive than any other star. Some say it looked like a starfish with a lot of spiky tentacles… but to me, it was more like a star!” 

Bullshit. Approaching his bedroom, another Solada tried to defeat his zealous servant with this overkill. However, his attempt failed, this time from an external factor.

—! 

It was a mogol-like scream from one of the other servants.

*** 

It was the first time he had seen Ha Eun-seong make this kind of expression after meeting Minjun. He, who had left a point of margin no matter what he faced, now recalled the light of astonishment on his face. He took half a breath, forgot to exhale again, and became stiff as a stone statue. 

He felt fear being contagious. What could have happened to make him that way? 

‘Once he wakes up, his country is gone, his family is gone, his relatives are gone, and all his property is gone… Unless it’s a major accident that’s not realistically possible, what would that man be so shocked about?’ 

Meanwhile, at that moment, Minjun… ‘Damn it, where’s everyone gone?’ 

He was frozen by the unexpected loss. After Ha Eun-seong arrived at the place where he had instructed, he saw a different scene from his memory. There was only one mansion on a desolate land like a ghost horse. It was absurd. Looking around, there were traces of the existence of a huge earth in the distant past. People living in modern times would probably call this place a historic site.

‘How could it be like this? I prepared thoroughly.’ 

When Princess Stan, whom he met on Earth a few months ago, described the beautiful nature of Gelangco for about 10 minutes, he let out in one ear. This was because he was not interested at all. He didn’t know what was going to happen next. But now Minjun knew. 

He was not the first to come here. He had already been there in the very distant past. ‘Where have you all gone? How did you break the barrier?’ 

The surroundings were thick with sea fog, and it was difficult for an ordinary person to distinguish the topography, but his fierce gaze pierced it and observed everything. And the moment his gaze reached his mansion. ‘Right. There is only one house left. It was expanded like a non-trivial building, but it’s camouflage.’ 

Then what about the rest? It was then… 

Hwareuk! “Uh, huh?! Agent! Agent!” 

The dragon, who had already been burned once, became frightened and walked away. Minjun’s agitation must have been great, and the shadow that was tying Dell behind his back was shaking out of control. It was impossible to control that thing in monster form. Unlike then, what was pulled out now was the source that formed that monster. It was kind of like a raw liquid. 

‘Shh! Calm down. Stop it.’ 

Roar! The pile of tentacles that had been neatly tied up like chimneys came loose and began wriggling again. ‘I am quiet. Right.” Read the most updated version of this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at Novel Multiverse – “NovelMultiverse dot com”

And instead, he pulled a long leather strap from his hem. It was a magical tool used to subdue criminals. When force was applied, the string wriggled like a creature and tied the tentacles behind its back. However, he couldn’t tie it perfectly and beautifully like the shadow, so a few strands came out. Minjun left it as it was for the time being. “Let’s go over there.” 

His attention was directed exclusively to the mansion. Before moving further, he checked the status of the party one last time. outfit, ok. Polymorph, okay. Everyone changed their appearance, and Yuntus even polymorphed into a human. Everyone transformed perfectly like that, but there was one exception. 

Wiggle! A few strands of tentacles from the leash wriggled behind his back. Thanks to this, Minjun became a Medusa-like figure who poured his hair restorer onto his back. ‘Dell…’

 Until the last inspection of her, the magic within her body was in a messy tangled state. The body, already hardened in an incomplete state, bounced off the polymorphs memorized by others. In the end, Dell was in a state where she couldn’t get out of her half-human, half-tentacle state for a while. And so, Minjun came up with a plausible story to explain the situation. 

“Uh? Who is there?” As they approached the mansion, Schutan, who was guarding the gate, felt a presence and asked. As Ha Eun-seong spied on, the place was not empty. The moment Minjun tried to answer in a common language…

“Huh, huh?!” 

The gatekeeper of Solada’s mansion saw the shadow through the fog and felt the scales all over his body tremble. The unidentified party consisted of a total of three, two of which appeared to be ordinary human silhouettes. A large number of people lived in this kingdom as well. The problem was the one who took the lead in walking among them. The gatekeeper swore he had never seen a creature like that before. Shadow skeletons in the fog looked human-like. 

However, according to common sense, humans had only one head. In addition to the normal position of the head, the author had a relatively small head attached to the left shoulder.

The more shocking image was the ‘things’ wriggling behind it. Wriggling in the mist, they reminded him of a thick snake. That one with two heads and a thick snake hanging on its back was… definitely… 

The gatekeeper screamed. “Mah… It’s a devil!”

 *** 

Hearing the scream, Solada hurriedly ran to the gate before he could unpack his luggage. He was the first to reach him, even after a long period of imprisonment and a life of drugs and alcohol. It was a response worthy of a once-renowned weapon master. And Solada witnessed a strange being at the place pointed out by the astonished servant. The first thing that came to his mind was… ‘Chimera?!’ 

It appeared to be an illusion. He didn’t see it again. Normal Schutan’s eyesight was no different from that of a human, but the weapon master’s physical ability was different. ‘The man is carrying someone else on his back.’ 

However, the appearance of the woman on his back was unusual. he was worried Anyway, for the time being, the owner of the mansion was Solada. It was up to him to decide how to respond.

“Don’t come any closer and stop there.” The people in the fog did as they were told. Among them, the man carrying the woman spoke. “Please help.” 

After a moment of silence, Solada spoke without any tension. “…That woman, what the hell did she do?” 

There came a woman with tentacles instead of legs. The man answered as if it was an expected question. “As you can see, the condition is not very good. I came here while looking for a place to rest for a while.” 

“I asked what happened to you.” 

“I fell for a terrible trick. It is magic.” 

“Magic?!” 

So, she was originally a perfectly fine human woman. Solada, who has been through a lot of battles, immediately came up with a certain word. “Curse! Have you been cursed?” 

“Yes, it is.” 

“Then the culprit must be…!”

The weapon master’s gaze then pierced the fog and touched on the man’s expression. He bit his lips hard and shook his head as if he was very angry. His eyes were burning with the zeal of revenge. “As you can guess. An evil warlock casts such a terrifying curse…” 

“Warlock!” Solada shouted like thunder. Servants stumbled or kicked their butts at the sound of a loud bang. 

A black magician! Those who preyed on normal people inflicted pain and squeezed blood, are criminals on most levels. Solada, who played an active role as an alien mercenary, was well aware of their viciousness and shuddered just thinking about it. In his opinion, black magicians were evil things that were born as humans but should not be classified as human beings. “Those things that wouldn’t be enough even if you pulled out the entire spine and stuck it between the buttock bones, are roaming around?!” 

Yelling like that, he looked at the servant. Gulesch waved his hand, saying he didn’t know that he had only been here for a few days. ‘Damn it, I’ll have to look around sometime. I came down to self-respect, but I can’t stretch out and sleep with a guy like that in my front yard!’ 

The resentment he had built up against the warlock during his mercenary days was immeasurably deep. Suspicion towards them gradually faded. He couldn’t have imagined that he had deliberately staged such a curse. 

If one wanted to imitate an injured person, there would be much more common sense and plausible ways. A curse that turned the lower half of his body into tentacles was a horrific thing that only a psychopath could imagine. He asked one last time. “What relationship?” 

The truth sometimes required too much explanation. Minjun knew what a much simpler and more intuitive answer would be. “This is my wife.” 

At this, Solada’s eyebrows twitched. He stayed silent for a while. “How did you get involved with black magic love?” 

“I was trying to kidnap Jecheo and use her as a sacrifice, but when we were counterattacked, I ran away and applied this terrible curse as a last resort…” 

“Other wizards don’t know, but it’s possible for a black mage. Bastards that would not be enough even if you kill them with raw fish!” 

“You’re right. They are miscellaneous things that shouldn’t be traded in the world.” 

The conversation was cut off again and Minjun looked at Schutan. He intended to enter the mansion unconditionally. However, he did not want to exterminate or forcefully drive out those innocent natives. It reminded him of things in the past. It wasn’t even a position to make concessions to. 

From there, he quietly waited for Solada’s answer. His choices would then change a lot. Now, what was one going to do? The answer? 

“Hmm.” Solada directed his gaze to the husband and wife in turn. Those two men had obtained a relationship that he had worked hard for all his life, but which had not come to fruition: a successful marriage. Solada replied. “It’s not okay to throw away a man who is struggling with a sick wife. Come in.” 

At this, Minjun smiled faintly. In Solada’s eyes, it was a smile of relief. “Thank you. By the way… I hope you don’t mind, but I have one more request. I think I should cook some porridge for the wife, so could I use the kitchen?”