Extra in a Romance Fantasy - Chapter 192



192 – The King (4)

“…….”

Upon hearing Beluid’s words, I was left speechless.

‘Me… the reincarnation of Ferdion?’

When I first heard those words, the thought that came to mind was denial.

It couldn’t be true.

There’s no way that could be.

However, I didn’t voice my denial.

There were a few things that made sense if I assumed Beluid’s words were true.

For instance, the fact that the hero’s sword chose me.

It is said that the hero’s sword did not reveal its true power in anyone’s hands after Ferdion’s death.

Yet, the hero’s sword sought me out on its own and lent me its strength.

At the time, I thought it was merely a weapon that chose its user, but what if it was more than that?

What if it willingly lent me its power because I am the reincarnation of Ferdion?

Moreover, there were other reasons that flitted through my mind.

“Hm… thinking that way, it’s not so hard to understand that guy’s absurd talent.”

As Ethan suddenly muttered, my strange talent could also be sufficiently explained if I assumed I was the reincarnation of Ferdion.

Though it feels odd to say it myself, my talent surpasses standards in many ways.

Ethan, who is called the most talented among the Ten Blades, and the Sword Saint, the strongest warrior on the continent, both deemed my talent to be of an unfathomable level.

“Hero Ferdion was said to possess the greatest talent of humanity.”

Hero Ferdion left behind countless legends.

And in the process, he demonstrated an astonishing rate of growth.

Seeing that bizarrely rapid growth, people of later generations remarked upon it.

Hero Ferdion was a man with the greatest talent in the history of humanity.

…Of course, even so, there are certainly aspects of my growth rate that defy explanation.

I can confidently say that my growth rate is distinctly faster than that of Ferdion as described in the legends.

However, even that can be explained to some extent.

Mu-woo does not only train the body, but also the mind.

And the mind is, in essence, the soul.

As one’s level of mastery increases, the body grows stronger, and simultaneously, the soul also develops.

In the early stages of martial training, the growth of the soul may be minimal, but as one’s mastery progresses, that growth deepens, and when one becomes a master of martial arts, their soul possesses a weight that is on a different dimension from that of an ordinary person.

But what if I truly am the reincarnation of Ferdion?

What if my soul is Ferdion’s soul?

If even half of the legends surrounding the hero Ferdion are true, then my level of mastery would surpass that of any martial artist in this generation, and naturally, the probability of my soul possessing an extraordinary caliber would be high.

Then, it would also explain my alien growth rate.

If it is a matter of my level of mastery keeping pace with the caliber of my soul.

And finally, the sense of incongruity I felt during my time on Earth.

I was always alone during my more than 20 years of living on Earth.

I’m not saying that I was an orphan.

I lived on Earth for over 20 years without forming a special relationship with anyone.

Even though I worked and socialized like everyone else.

One could simply dismiss it as a matter of personality, but at that time, I was feeling it.

The awkwardness.

In forming relationships with those around me.

In living among others.

Back then, I thought it was just my personality, but strangely, since I opened my eyes in this world, that awkwardness has vanished like a lie.

What if that awkwardness was the discomfort my soul felt?

What if it was the awkwardness of living in a place that was not originally my own world?

If I think that way, it makes sense.

Since those thoughts immediately sprang to mind, I could not deny Beluid’s words.

Rather, there was a part of me that was inwardly nodding in agreement.

Thus.

Standing there, unable to say a word.

“Do you believe it now? Ferdion.”

A voice laced with a faint smile reached my ears.

Turning my head in that direction, I saw the face of a man looking at me with a smile.

“Hmm. No, should I call you by a different name now? Either way, I’ll call you as you wish. The name Ferdion is familiar to me, after all.”

“…….”

At those words, I did not respond immediately.

I simply gazed quietly at the man.

“…Let’s say I am indeed the reincarnation of Ferdion. Then why does ‘he’ know me?”

I directed my question once more at Beluid.

I had an inkling of the man’s true identity.

The man, Beluid, was the ‘king’ he had described just before the ‘gate’ opened.

No, even if that explanation had not been given, I would have recognized the man’s identity right away.

I had encountered a similar being twice before.

Indeed, a ‘demon.’

The overwhelming presence exuded by the man bore a resemblance to the presence of the ‘demon’ I had faced at the lake and the hero’s tomb.

Though the essence itself was different, that overwhelming aura, which seemed capable of crushing even the soul merely by existing, was strikingly similar to the presence of the ‘demon’ I had felt back then.

Even when I pushed my senses to their limits, I could not gauge the extent of that power.

Though he appeared in human form and spoke human words, the being before me was undoubtedly a monster.

A monstrous entity that could, if it wished, easily bring about the destruction of the world.

Yet, this monster seemed to react as if it knew me, as if it knew Ferdion.

I demanded an answer from Beluid.

If he knew my identity, then he would likely know the answer as well.

However.

“Are you starting to piece it together?”

At the sudden words of the man, I found myself at a loss for words.

“…….”

I didn’t say much, but it was as he said.

I had posed a question, yet I had an inkling of the answer.

When I thought of the man knowing the ‘king’ and the words the cult leader had spoken while looking at me, only one possibility came to mind.

“Well, if you need certainty, I’ll let you know.”

The man, who had been looking at me with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes, spoke again.

“That’s because you and I have met in the past.”

He presented the answer I had anticipated.

“Long, long ago, I first set foot in this world through the ‘gate.’ Along with my creations.”

With a gaze reminiscent of recalling something, he continued speaking.

“It was a power that humanity, this world, could not dare to bear. If I set my mind to it, I could have extinguished every human in this world in just a few days. Yet… in the end, humanity avoided destruction.”

The man’s red eyes glimmered mischievously.

“Thanks to you, Ferdion.”

“…….”

I stared silently at the man’s face for a moment before casting my gaze toward Beluid.

“…What he says is true.”

And upon receiving my gaze, Beluid nodded in affirmation.

“Your previous incarnation, the hero Ferdion, fought alongside his companions, and after a desperate struggle, he succeeded in driving the ‘King of Monsters’ from this world and sealing the ‘Gate’.”

However.

“As a price for that, the hero Ferdion lost his life.”

“…….”

Indeed, Beluid’s response was almost exactly what I had anticipated.

I was inwardly nodding in agreement.

“That’s a bit strange.”

Ethan interjected into the conversation.

“If such an event occurred in the past, there should be some record of it, yet I’ve never heard a single mention related to it. If the hero’s party was mobilized, and even more so, if the hero Ferdion died in battle, there should at least be some reference to it.”

Ethan’s question was valid.

The hero Ferdion is a legendary figure.

Even his trivial episodes have been passed down as stories to this day.

Yet, there is no record, no mention at all, of the battle in which he met his death.

That was undoubtedly peculiar.

In response to Ethan’s question.

“That’s due to the ‘constraint’… in other words, the ‘prohibition’,”

Beluid replied.

It was a somewhat brief and concise answer, but.

“…Indeed, is that also the work of that b*stard?”

Ethan seemed to understand a lot from that short answer, shifting his gaze to glance at the man.

Ethan probably could not read the man’s essence.

If I couldn’t grasp it, there was no way Ethan could.

However, even if he couldn’t gauge the extent of that power, Ethan would have immediately realized that the man was, quite literally, a transcendent being.

Adding to that the explanation given by Beluid, it would be easy to surmise that the man before him was an utterly nonsensical entity capable of committing such acts.

“……”

Beluid did not provide any particular answer to that question.

Yet, that in itself was an answer.

In response, Ethan shook his head in disbelief.

“You placed a taboo on humanity, on the world? What an absurd monster you are….”

In that voice, tinged with disgust.

The man merely offered a meaningful smile.

As I quietly observed that series of exchanges.

“…What is that novel?”

I asked Beluid again.

With this situation, I wanted to resolve all the questions swirling in my mind.

At first, I had thought this world was the world of the novel.

It wasn’t strange to think so, given that the characters from the novel appeared just as they were, and the background, history, and place names were all the same.

However, as time passed, my thoughts began to shift gradually.

Events that were not in the novel started to occur, and groups that did not exist in the story began to emerge.

Initially, I thought that these changes were due to my presence as a variable, but there were things that could not be explained by that alone.

For example, the existence of the “Order.”

The “Order” does not appear in the original novel.

It does not show up until the story of the original ends, and it is not even mentioned at all.

Yet, in this world, the “Order” exists prominently.

At that point, I felt a sense of unease.

It was hard to simply brush it off as something that was just not described.

If the “Order” had existed in the original, the story could not have unfolded in that way.

Considering the strength and power of the “Order,” Mary and the male lead would ultimately have been unable to prevent the war.

From the moment I became aware of the “Order,” a question took root in my heart, and as time passed, and as I became more entangled with the “Order,” that question grew larger.

And now, at this moment, I have come to realize.

This world is not the world of the novel.

With this realization, a single question naturally arises.

So, what exactly was the novel I saw? That question lingered.

Given the circumstances, it was impossible for the novel not to be connected to Beluid.

I looked at Beluid with eyes demanding an answer.

Then he said,

“That novel was a means to find you.”

Beluid replied with a stiff expression.

“A means…?”

“Yes. I knew that you had been reincarnated in that world… in other words, ‘Earth.’ However, I had no way of knowing exactly where or as whom you existed. So, I serialized that novel on ‘Earth’ to find you.”

“…Then what about the content? It can’t just be a haphazard scribble, can it?”

The novel depicts a story set in the future, based on this world, one that has yet to unfold.

At the point where I already knew this world was not the world of the novel, it was only natural that the content of the story and the actual flow would differ. However, there was something that weighed on my mind, making it hard to simply brush it aside.

That was the fact that the personalities and traits of the characters described in the novel were incredibly intricate.

The protagonist, Merina, and the male leads who could be considered the main characters.

Their portrayals in the novel were eerily identical to what I had actually seen.

Moreover, the story itself was too well-crafted.

It was as if someone had witnessed those events unfold and transcribed them verbatim.

I was convinced.

From noble mtl dot com

That novel could not simply be a product of imagination.

Thinking this, I asked,

“That is ‘possibility.’”

Beluid calmly revealed the truth.

“‘Possibility’…?”

As I narrowed my eyes, Beluid looked straight at me and nodded.

“Yes, possibility. A future that was supposed to unfold had the ‘Order’ not intervened.”

“…….”

At that answer, my eyes narrowed even further.

One possibility flashed through my mind.

Soon, I opened my mouth to ask,

“…Are you the ‘Connected One,’ Headmaster?”

Seeing the future.

—

That is something that generally should not be possible.

However, there are those for whom it is.

They are the ‘Connected Ones.’

Those who are linked to the ‘Source,’ the center of this world, the ‘Connected Ones’ can glimpse the future through their connection to the Source.

If Beluid is one of those ‘Connected Ones,’ then everything makes sense.

To my question, Beluid widened his eyes.

“…I didn’t know you were aware of that much.”

He spoke in a voice that seemed surprised.

But that surprise did not last long.

“…However, that is not the case. I am not a ‘Connected One.’ It was not I who saw the future.”

Quickly regaining his composure, Beluid slowly shook his head.

At his words and actions, I slightly furrowed my brow.

It was because I had read the hidden meaning in that sentence.

Beluid said that it was ‘not me’ who saw the future.

That statement pointed to something.

The existence of someone other than Beluid.

The presence of a ‘Connected One’ who intervened in this series of events.

Having deciphered that, I had no choice but to ask.

“…Then, who saw the future?”

Who is the ‘Connected One’?

Who is it that glimpsed the future?

Who exactly is the one that cooperated in bringing me to this world?

“That is….”

Beluid was about to provide an answer.

“Now, let’s put the small talk to rest.”

Suddenly, a man interrupted and cut off Beluid’s words.

I turned my gaze to the man.

“I was getting a bit bored waiting, you see.”

The man said this with a smile.

“I think I’ve given you enough time to resolve your doubts…”

The smile on the man’s face deepened.

“Now, let’s share a reunion after hundreds of years.”