#192
Settler (3)
“...Come to think of it, I did bring up something like that before, didn’t I? Heh heh. Back then, you seemed to think I was joking.”
Chehai, who had stiffened for a moment, soon gave a hearty laugh and shook his head.
As if he had never been flustered at all, composure quickly returned to his face, and even a faint smile of reminiscence lingered there.
“...I’m sorry for speaking of your story to others without permission. But I swear I never did so lightly. This is that important. It may be of great help in dealing with the Immortal King.”
“Hmm? The Immortal King...”
“The people here are everyone I told. I beg you, Chehai. Please answer honestly.”
At Jios’s words, filled with sincerity, Chehai’s gaze turned once more to the people in the drawing room.
He might now be living quietly, looking after children like this, but once, he too had built a reputation for himself on blood-soaked battlefields.
Naturally, it was not particularly difficult for him to read the aura of the strong that flowed subtly from them.
‘A death squad formed to confront the Immortal King head-on... was it?’
Starting with the saint of the Main God Church, whose fame had been spreading far and wide lately, there was a fierce-looking barbarian who did not seem particularly good for children’s emotional development, a young girl who looked about the same age as the older children at the orphanage, and...
His gaze lingered briefly on Hesperon.
As if wondering whether he had misunderstood something.
‘...A third-rate mage? No, that can’t be. Then is he an assassin concealing his aura? I see, that’s more convincing. Impressive skill.’
But just as he was trying to convince himself of that on his own,
Hesperon, having sensed his gaze, smiled broadly and stepped forward again.
“It seems a bit difficult for you to answer, so shall I introduce myself again first? I’m an Awakened from Korea on Earth, Ha Seunghun!”
Then he began introducing himself once more as if it were nothing at all.
“I’m planning to use the name Hesperon in Auterica, though. Or you can just call me Heron! I think it’s been a little over two months since I came here. Hahaha!”
Flustered by that sudden action, Chehai only blinked, then looked around again at those gathered in the drawing room.
The hero’s party continued to look at him with serious expressions.
“Haa—.”
It seemed this was no longer a situation he could dodge.
He let out a light sigh and slowly opened his mouth.
“Korea? Korea, is it... Yes, I think I’ve heard of it. They said Korean-made cars were quite good, didn’t they?”
In truth, it was a statement acknowledging his own origin.
At that, Jios’s eyes lit up, and he nodded heavily before leaning slightly toward him.
“As expected, Chehai, you were from the same dimension as Heron.”
“Yes. I don’t know if that young man knows of it, but I came from Ethiopia.”
“Ah! I know it. It’s a country in Africa, right? Next to Somalia.”
“Oh? You’re quite well-informed. Hearing the name of those damned bastards after so long is... strangely nice. What a subtle feeling.”
Ethiopia, located in eastern Africa.
It was a country unimaginably far from Korea, but since they did have diplomatic relations of a sort, it was not a completely unfamiliar country.
It was also fairly well known to people as the birthplace of coffee.
“...As for how long it’s been since I came here. Well, I don’t remember exactly.”
Then, after pausing for a moment and stroking his beard as he pondered something, he soon nodded and spoke again.
“For now, it seems to have been well over thirty years. Though it wouldn’t be as much as forty.”
“...I see. That is quite a long time.”
Jios merely nodded in admiration.
But to the other otherworlders here aside from him, this was not something they could take lightly.
‘Oh, more than thirty years?’
In fact, if one could adapt to the world they were transferred to to some extent, it went without saying that the longer one stayed there, the greater the benefit.
Even if one stayed for thirty years, as in Chehai’s case, only about three years would pass on Earth. And if one decided to settle down completely, wouldn’t one’s lifespan effectively increase tenfold thanks to aging according to Earth’s time?
On top of that, if the growth correction granted only in the other world was added, it would be possible to devote oneself to training for several decades and return as a monster.
And if danger arose along the way, one could flee back before that happened.
‘But on Earth, there’s no one who’s come back after staying more than twenty years.’
It was not merely that such people were unknown; there truly had not been a single one thus far.
And the reason was probably...
“Um, Mr. Chehai? There’s one thing I’d like to ask first.”
Hesperon carefully spoke to the black man whose beard had turned white and whose face had begun to crease with wrinkles—who clearly appeared to have entered old age.
“By any chance, can you use the system right now?”
“Ahem, so you knew. ...It has been quite some time since I became unable to use it.”
This was precisely the reason those who stayed in another world longer than a certain limit were called “settlers.”
Since they could not use the system, they could not open the Karma Shop, and naturally, they could no longer return to Earth, forced to live out the rest of their lives in the other world.
“Mm, so it seems it was true. There are things known here and there on Earth as well, you see. Of course, since all of it was only passed along indirectly, it’s hard to verify the truth, so the reliability isn’t high.”
That was why now, facing someone directly involved, was a good opportunity to acquire proper information.
If the public reason for coming to him was the hope that they might find a useful means to deal with the Immortal King,
then the real intention was to obtain more varied information about the system and Awakened through a settler.
‘No matter what you do, information is the greatest weapon. To use what I have efficiently, the more information I have, the better.’
Moreover, wasn’t he himself an existence that could be called an irregular within the system in many ways?
In such a situation, it was only natural that he needed to pay even more attention than others.
“Lord Chehai, pardon me, but may we ask you for a more detailed explanation? We may be able to obtain an important clue even from a trivial story. If you would do that, it would be of great help not only to Lord Heron, but to us as well.”
For the sake of smooth information gathering, Heinrich, the saint with the highest authority in this place, personally made the request to him.
With Jios and the others joining in and repeatedly urging him as well...
“Heh heh, well, at this point it’s all in the past, so it doesn’t matter. Though I don’t know how much help this will be.”
In the end, Chehai had no choice but to raise both hands and begin telling his story.
After pondering for a moment where he should begin, he started with a light cough and soon began briefly explaining his past.
“Ahem, that young man Heron may or may not know this, but the hometown where I lived was not a very good place to live.”
Even Korea, which in the past had boasted public order counted among the best in the world, had turned into a mess.
There was no need to say more about the circumstances of Ethiopia, located in Africa.
The government was struggling merely to defend the capital, Addis Ababa, and naturally, its control over the provinces could only fall.
After that, all kinds of criminal organizations naturally began sprouting up like mushrooms after rain, growing their forces...
And Chehai, too, lost his family in that process and became an orphan with no one in the world.
Of course, in that place, it was nothing particularly special—merely an ordinary misfortune that could be seen anywhere.
“But in that chaos, the means by which a child could survive were limited.”
The method he chose was to become an errand boy for the criminal organization that was no different from his enemy and beg for their mercy.
In that way, for over ten years, he became a member of that organization while thinking only of survival.
But then a sudden change came to his daily life...
It began when, at a little over twenty years old, he was chosen by the system and awakened.
“Heh heh heh. But the ability I newly gained just had to be one that wouldn’t let me sit still.”
Chehai, continuing his story, let out a quiet hollow laugh.
The unique skill he had awakened was “Phase Refraction.”
It was a useful ability that allowed him to twist and manipulate localized areas of space.
And with nothing left to lose, he used the twenty-four hours granted to him very efficiently.
By cleanly blowing away the executives of the criminal organization he had belonged to.
That organization, which was close to being a regional warlord faction, had not only guns but also a considerable number of bombs stored away, and Chehai’s ability was perfectly suited to stealing them and using them for terrorism.
Simply put, it was an act commonly called “pre-transfer awakened terrorism.”
“Well, back then, my proficiency was low and I lacked time, so I only managed to get rid of a few of the bastards above me. After that, I moved to a quiet place amid the confusion, and before long, I was able to flee to Auterica.”
In truth, from that point on, he had already given up on returning to Earth.
Even if he returned now, he would only face retaliation from the remaining members of the organization.
Afterward, having become a mercenary in this world, he lived quite a tumultuous life in his own way.
Since he had never intended to go back in the first place, he invested every bit of karma he gathered into strengthening himself, and in that way, he was able to survive for well over ten years with all his limbs intact.
“Then I happened to stop by this village and hit it off with my wife. I had plenty of money saved up by then anyway, so there was no problem getting married.”
“Huh? Mr. Chehai, you were married?”
“Then did you think I lived alone all the way to this age?”
He responded bluntly to Hesperon, who asked back in surprise.
And Jios, who had been quietly watching the scene, murmured softly as the corners of his mouth twitched faintly.
“...You and I met in this village too. Back then, I thought you were around my age.”
“Heh heh heh. For a few years after that, Jios, you actually looked older than me, didn’t you? Hmm, now that I think of it, I should talk about that.”
Chehai, who had been laughing lowly while stroking his beard, turned his gaze back to Hesperon and continued in a low voice, his tone far more serious than before.
“It was probably when about twenty years had passed since I came to Auterica. One day, I could instinctively feel it. If I did not return to Earth immediately, I would never be able to go back again.”
But as he had never even considered returning in the first place and had no karma in his possession, he forcibly ignored that instinct.
And then.
“Not long after that... I became unable to use the system.”
And the changes did not end there.
Immediately after the system disappeared, rapid aging came upon him.
As if all the years that had been deferred until then had arrived at once.
Even after passing forty, he had still maintained the appearance of a man in his twenties, but afterward, in the span of about one year, he took on the appearance of a middle-aged man who looked even older than his actual age.
“Of course, even in that situation, fortunately, my other abilities and stats still remained. As if bewitched, I began digging into my unique skill. I hadn’t even realized it myself, but the sense of loss from the system being forcibly taken away was greater than I expected.”
However.
Another ten or so years passed like that.
When more than thirty years had passed since he was transferred to the other world—
He lost every ability he had as an Awakened.
Not only his unique skill, “Phase Refraction,” but also all the other small skills he had gathered and even the stats he had strengthened by investing karma.
“......”
“......”
Having spoken that far, Chehai slowly closed his eyes.
When he shut his mouth, a silence arrived in an instant, and only faint sounds of breathing echoed softly inside the drawing room.
‘Not only the system and shop, but even the restriction on aging disappeared, and later even skills and stats?’
At this point, though he had not said it separately, it had to be assumed that he had even lost the “growth correction” in the other world.
All the benefits he had as an Awakened had vanished, and he had literally settled in this world... becoming no different from a native.
‘Could it be that the karma was forcibly recovered?’
Normally, one would return the system and shop when returning to Earth through the Karma Shop’s “Return.”
But that did not mean anyone had ever heard of even skills and stats being reset...
‘So this is the difference between a returnee and a settler. I’ve gained some good information.’
This was information he had never even heard of on Earth.
As Hesperon slowly nodded, satisfied with such a tidy profit—
“Still, it’s not as though you gained nothing at all.”
Chehai, who had opened the eyes he had closed at some point, looked over at him and smiled broadly.
Then, slowly raising one hand,
he swung it through empty air.
Crack—
“Urgh?”
At the same time, Hesperon clutched his back and leapt in place.
It was a technique he had already seen several times through Geos.
It was unmistakably the unique skill Chehai had spoken of, 「Phase Refraction」.
“…Didn’t you just say your ability had disappeared…?”
“Of course, my unique skill did disappear. This is my secret art, created by studying it and tying it to aura manipulation.”
Of course, it was incomparably inferior to when he had possessed 「Phase Refraction」, but its usefulness had already been proven by Geos several times over. It was a profound technique.
After all, it allowed a pure aura user who had not even reached transcendence to attack across space.
‘To think that was something he created by analyzing his own unique skill…’
“You said it hasn’t been long since you obtained your unique skill, correct?”
“Y-yes…”
“There is something I came to realize after using my ability for over thirty years, and then digging into it like a madman for more than ten years after the system disappeared.”
Perhaps because Hesperon had just witnessed how remarkable he was, each and every one of his words now carried even more weight than before.
Hesperon clasped his hands together respectfully and listened closely to him.
The same was true of Isea, who was sitting in a chair on one side of the reception room.
Though she pretended otherwise, she was pricking up her ears diligently, concentrating hard so as not to miss a single word.
“A unique skill is not an ability granted at random. In one way or another, it is deeply connected to the person in question. The problem is that no one knows exactly how… not even the person themselves.”
Having said that, he soon lifted the corners of his mouth and showed a magnificent smile.
“Since our abilities are different, I don’t know how much help I’ll be. But for now, I’ll start by teaching you the basic know-how step by step. It likely won’t be too bad. Hahaha.”
Chehai burst into confident laughter.
For some reason, it seemed as if a halo shone behind his back, one at a level Hesperon had never even seen from Heinrich.
***
And only one day after receiving his teachings.
《The unique skill has grown and bloomed with new potential. The number of avatars you can possess has increased.》
It was the moment his unique skill grew without going through the Karma Shop.