The scenery inside the room was that of a desolate desert village.
Not a single blade of grass could be found, and the village itself was lifeless and bleak.
Evan, who was watching this scene, was dumbfounded.
He was certain he had opened the door to his room, but now there was a desert spreading out beyond the threshold.
It felt as if it were somehow connected to the outside.
Or perhaps—
‘Is the space itself tangled? You sometimes see things like this in gates or dungeons…’
But those were truly rare cases.
Elisa, standing next to Evan, rubbed her eyes and looked again.
“Why is there an exit here, I wonder?”
Elisa also seemed quite flustered.
Evan slowly stepped forward and said to her,
“Let’s go for now. There’s no use staying here any longer. Either we head outside and request support from the Marquess, or we find another way.”
He wanted to search for Alan and Reynold right away, but escaping the trap came first.
Elisa nodded her head.
She herself couldn’t handle the level of magic placed upon the Mansion right now.
At best, she could only look for weak points.
To counteract the magic, she would need her father’s help.
While she was thinking this, Evan was already stepping outside.
The ground was cracked and brittle from drought.
The moment he stepped out, he immediately felt the air was distinctly different from the Mansion’s.
Dry, scorching air burned his throat as it entered.
“Does such a place exist within the Count Kerthen Household’s territory?”
Evan’s question was met with a puzzled expression from Elisa, who had followed after him.
“It’s completely dried up. If it were the south, I could understand a desert like this, but in the central region, there are hardly any at all…”
As she looked around, Elisa suddenly pointed behind them.
“The door we came through is gone.”
The path back to the Mansion had vanished.
It seemed the passage disappeared the moment they stepped outside.
“It’s all right. We’ve managed to get out, so let’s hurry back to the Count Kerthen Household. First, let’s figure out exactly where we are.”
“Yes.”
Evan and Elisa passed through the village entrance and moved deeper inside.
But there was not a hint of human presence.
It looked like an abandoned village.
“There’s nothing here at all.”
Shielding her eyes from the harsh sunlight with one hand, Elisa spoke to Evan.
Evan agreed with her.
“In any case, it’s such a barren place, it’s amazing anyone bothered to build a village this big. You could almost call it a small city.”
They hadn’t noticed it from the entrance, but as they walked further in, rows of buildings became apparent.
It was quite a sizable settlement.
The architectural style seemed a bit unusual too.
The overall structure was rectangular with low roofs. The height was barely twice Evan’s own, if that, but despite being abandoned, the exteriors looked immaculate—probably built to be sturdy.
“These buildings…”
Elisa, who had been walking through the deserted village street, approached a nearby structure.
“They’re covered by elaborate protective magic. It’s layered multiple times too. But… is all this really necessary…?”
Elisa tilted her head in puzzlement as she spoke.
She looked completely baffled.
Evan asked,
“Is there some problem?”
“No, it’s just… it’s so excessive. It’s as if they’ve thrown up a tremendous barrier to withstand external impact. The mana consumption would be massive… At this level, it’s practically war-grade.”
At Elisa’s words, Evan felt a sudden sense of discomfort about the village.
“War?”
“Yes. And the level of magic is at least Fifth Circle.”
Just then, as Evan was pondering,
“Hmm? I heard something, so I came out—who are you? I don’t recognize those faces.”
An old man with white hair emerged from a nearby building.
His frame was gaunt, and he looked hollow-cheeked.
He wore a white robe like a mage’s, but it was so old and tattered it was more like rags.
His eyes seemed haunted by suffering, filled with a deep despair.
He resembled the people who had survived catastrophes in the previous world.
‘What happened here?’
Shaking off his thoughts, Evan asked the old man,
“Hello. We’re lost—could you tell us where we are?”
The old man looked at Evan with the gaze one gives to someone strange.
“Lost, you say? Wanderers? Amazing that there are still survivors from the outside.”
“…Pardon? Survivors?”
“In this cursed world, it’s a miracle that outsiders like you have made it here unharmed. I can’t recall the last time I met someone from the outside.”
Evan gave a look of confusion.
He felt as if their words were somehow talking past each other.
“What do you mean…?”
“Tsk. What do I mean, you ask. Judging by your accent, you must’ve come down from the north to escape, but it’s pointless. There’s nothing left to find further south. The vagrants here all came up from the south as well.”
Evan glanced at Elisa, as if asking if she understood what was being said.
Elisa shook her head.
Evan spoke again.
“This is the central region? Which kingdom are we in, exactly?”
The old man frowned and replied,
“My goodness, even a year ago, visitors all asked the same question. Kingdom? Do you still cling to that delusion? Do you know how long it’s been since those vanished? Wake from your illusions of the past. If you thought you’d find such things further south, you’re sorely mistaken.”
Elisa, unable to hold back, argued with the old man,
“That’s ridiculous! There are plenty of thriving kingdoms in the central region. What are you talking about?”
The old man glared at Elisa with disapproval.
“Tsk! Still refusing to face reality…”
He made it clear he was annoyed.
“No matter how much you deny it, it’s useless. Kingdoms? What era do you think this is, still going on about kingdoms? The ones you’re looking for don’t exist. This is the last village of vagrants and the End of the World. There’s nowhere left to run. And I’ll warn you: if you value your lives, don’t even think about heading south. It’s already fallen. The central region—all gone except for this place. Understand?”
Elisa bit her lip, holding back her anger at the clear lack of communication.
Evan watched her from the side, lost in thought.
‘What’s going on?’
Listening to the old man’s ominous words, he felt a growing sense of unease.
The knowledge this man possessed was vastly different from what they knew of the world.
Was the old man out of his mind, or had they ended up in the wrong place entirely?
Evan considered several possibilities, but the latter seemed more likely.
If this was a Mansion prepared by Elresel, it made sense.
‘Did we not come outside after all? If the room on the second floor of the Mansion was a space connected to another world…’
Evan’s expression turned grim.
He felt he needed to share his thoughts with Elisa.
He asked the old man,
“May I ask your name?”
“Marlak. I lead the southern vagrants and serve as the village chief here.”
“Sir Marlak, would you excuse us for a moment? The two of us need to discuss our situation.”
“Go ahead. When you’re done, I have things to say as well.”
Marlak readily agreed.
Evan led Elisa away to where Marlak’s voice wouldn’t carry.
Elisa, sounding slightly dissatisfied, said to Evan,
“There’s something off about him. He keeps insisting there are no kingdoms, that the south has fallen…”
“No, Lady. Please, hear me out for a moment.”
“Yes?”
“I thought it over while we were talking with Marlak. I don’t think he’s lying. Considering the path we took from the Mansion, isn’t it stranger otherwise?”
Elisa’s eyes widened in surprise.
“W-wait a minute. If what he says is true, you mean—we’ve come to another world?”
She kept her voice low so Marlak wouldn’t hear.
“No matter how distorted space is, that should be impossible.”
“Still, you never know. Just a moment…”
Evan nodded and quietly turned away, activating his Insight.
He checked Marlak’s status window.
- Disposition: Good
Race: Human - Gender: Male
- Affinity: 15%
- Potential Ability: @%&^
- Skills: @#%@#%
*Currently viewing memories.
Evan’s eyes narrowed.
‘…Something’s wrong with the status window.’
Everything except the basic information was garbled.
He had never seen this before.
And at the end, even though he hadn’t accessed Marlak’s memories, it indicated that memory viewing was in progress.
‘What’s going on?’
No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t figure it out.
Turning back to Elisa, Evan said,
“My lady, for now, let’s play along with Marlak and gather information. I don’t see any other option at the moment. We know almost nothing about this world yet. Let’s try to find out more through him and search for a way to escape.”
Elisa gazed into Evan’s blue eyes and nodded.
“Yes, that sounds best. In the meantime, I’ll use detection magic to search for any clues in this place.”
Having reached an agreement, Evan led Elisa back to Marlak.
Marlak spoke first.
“Have you sorted out your thoughts? Then I’ll let you decide what you want to do next.”
“Decide?”
Marlak nodded, looking toward the village.
“You can stay in this village, or keep going your own way. Choose one. Of course, if you want to die, I won’t stop you from heading south.”
Evan had one question about Marlak’s offer.
“What about the other villagers? Is it all right to let outsiders like us in so easily?”
“Don’t worry about that. In a world like this, what’s the point of keeping anything for yourself? With death looming, we’re just trying to survive a little longer. Besides, we’re short on young workers. We could use a few more hands. Ah, and you’ll see the villagers soon enough.”
At last, Evan understood why Marlak had approached them so kindly.
“If we stay, you expect us to contribute as labor in exchange.”
“That’s right. Nothing’s free.”
“Very well. My name is Evan, and this is my fiancée, Elisa.”
Accepting the offer, Evan introduced himself and Elisa.
Marlak’s face brightened.
“Glad to have you. Let’s get along, fellow survivors at the End of the World, Evan.”
The moment he finished speaking, a message window popped up before Evan’s eyes.
– Progress of viewing Elresel’s memory has reached 13%.
‘What…?’
Evan stared at the message in surprise.
Viewing Elresel’s memory.
That alone was enough for Evan to make a guess.
‘Could it be? Is this inside Elresel’s memory?’
Evan recalled the contents of Record 20 of the Last World on the Mansion’s first floor.
‘A generation that gazed at the End of the World. The unfortunate ones who witnessed the world’s final days.’
Evan’s eyes began to shine.
He felt as though he was finally starting to unravel the mystery.
“Ah, then I should introduce you to the villagers. It seems today’s meeting is over,” Marlak said, starting to walk.
He headed toward the clearing at the center of the village.
There, a bell the size of a person’s head was hanging.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Marlak picked up a stick near the bell and gently struck it.
A moment later, people began emerging one by one from the village buildings.
“Chief, is the meeting over already?”
“Oh, maybe I can move a little today.”
They were all gaunt, haggard villagers.
Evan clicked his tongue as he looked at them, then his eyes widened in shock.
‘What the… those guys—’
Alan and Reynold were among the villagers.
They too looked as worn out as the rest.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.