Chapter 1143: 130. Pioneer

Screams.

Roars.

Pleas.

Noisy voices echoed through the empty, silent valley.

He had clearly already decided to turn a blind eye, yet these voices were still like the sunlight beyond the wall, seeping in through every crack, irritating beyond measure.

Muen bent down and picked up the record book on the ground.

This was something Marcie had accidentally left behind just now when she retreated and fled. It was something she treated as a treasure.

Inside it was everything she had recorded.

Everything that was about to turn into the dust of history, everything utterly meaningless.

“I really am... at a time like this, what am I still doing?”

Muen laughed at himself, sneering at his own actions, feeling that he was asking for trouble.

Why keep thinking about something that could not be changed?

He had once personally burned a million souls with his own hands. Had he now become a weak person?

A tiny Annabawei was fundamentally insignificant to the entire world.

...But in the end, he still opened the record book.

“Year 337 of the Fog Calendar, Pioneer Terishu disappeared into the fog...”

“Year 357 of the Fog Calendar, Pioneer Nanrig died in battle against the evil believers...”

“Year 405 of the Fog Calendar, Pioneer Wales pushed the road forward by five kilometers... The following year, he was found dead in the fog.”

“Year 407 of the Fog Calendar...”

In the book, what was recorded was Pioneer after Pioneer, rushing toward that unknown Fog Wall like fools.

Then dying, or vanishing into the mist.

In the eyes of the people at that time, the black night was an absolute natural disaster that could not be rewritten. So their only path was to break through the fog.

But they had no idea how to break through the fog, no idea what lay beyond the fog, and no idea what the price of doing so would be.

They simply pioneered forward, pioneered, pioneered... even if all of it was meaningless.

“Looking at it now, what these guys did really was a little stupid.”

The unknown was the most terrifying existence in this world. They rushed into it one after another. If this was not stupidity, what was it?

Look. After rushing into the fog, they rushed at the Goddess. After rushing to the very end, they discovered that they themselves were actually sinners rejected by the world, without even the qualification to stand beneath the sunlight.

How laughable was that?

So stupid.

Muen continued flipping through it, page by page, until the latter half.

His hand suddenly paused slightly.

The handwriting in the latter half of the pages had already clearly become much neater, but only this entry still allowed one to see the writer’s excitement from the handwriting.

“Year 419 of the Fog Calendar, the future greatest Pioneer—Marcie Mace, was born into this world. She will most likely become the most dazzling existence in this world, and lead Annabawei into the light!”

Muen took a deep breath.

That girl had actually recorded even her own birth in it. Was she really so certain that she would become a true Pioneer, become a true hero?

A hero—how could that be so easy to become...

“Additional note...”

Muen’s gaze landed on the following question.

Judging from the handwriting, it had only been added recently.

“Not most likely, but definitely! Because the gentle traveler Mr. Muen will help me. With his help, I will definitely, definitely become the greatest Pioneer!”

“Remark: Black bread is very delicious. It is the most delicious thing in the world. Once Annabawei sees the light again, I must eat black bread every day!”

“...”

In the long silence, Muen thought for a moment, then took out a piece of black bread.

He took a light bite.

Was it delicious?

Of course it was not delicious.

Black bread was the kind of food that even Ariel, that completely non-picky eater, thought tasted bad. How could it possibly be delicious?

So stupid.

A single piece of black bread could coax her into being this happy.

Muen sneered and continued flipping through the record book. One familiar name or title after another began appearing before his eyes.

They were all Pioneers he had come into contact with recently.

They were exactly the same as their predecessors when it came to stupidity.

Only, their predecessors had foolishly rushed toward the fog, while they foolishly rushed toward the Goddess.

Like the old knight in a story, riding a thin, weak horse, charging toward a windmill he absolutely could not defeat.

In the end, for the sake of obtaining light, they personally buried themselves.

So stupid.

So stupid.

They really were so stupid...

Look, this was simply a place full of fools. That was why it had fallen into such a miserable ending. To have reached this point, they were not completely without fault either.

If only they had been a little smarter. If they had not foolishly longed for the outside, if they had not foolishly launched an attack on the Goddess, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) maybe they could have dragged out their meager lives for another hundred years.

In this regard, they were far inferior to him. Thinking carefully, actually, as early as that conversation with Theodore, he had already held some doubts about the essence of this place, including the division between the Goddess’s kindness and evil.

But he had been smart enough not to think deeply about it.

Because when facing a difficult riddle, people would always instinctively eliminate the option they least wanted to face.

Since he did not want to face it, why keep thinking about them?

Just like that Fog Wall. It stretched across the front, but if one did not stupidly barge into it, then was it not merely a wall?

They clearly could have survived in the darkness...

They clearly did not need to do such dangerous things...

It was only fate. As long as one submitted meekly to adversity, there was no need to suffer that much more pain.

Smart people could always live more easily...

Heh. Smart people.

“But am I really a fucking smart person?”

Muen suddenly cursed, strangely pulling up the corners of his mouth. His cheeks remained stiff, like a clown smiling eerily.

Damn it.

Was he smart?

Was he really smart?

Submitting meekly to fate. Kneeling before the unknown and begging for mercy.

Had he ever done these actions that he considered smart in his heart?

If he really were that smart, would he have suffered setbacks and hardships all the way here, stumbling and staggering until now?

No, right?

If he changed places and imagined himself born in Annabawei from childhood, facing the Fog Wall that blocked the way forward, would he choose to do nothing and let the despairing black night swallow him?

He would not, right...

He would not do any of it. Because he... was also always called a fool and an idiot by others.

Rustle, rustle...

The record book was quickly flipped to the end.

There, he saw the information on the new record.

“Year 425 of the Fog Calendar, the foreign traveler Muen Campbell became a Pioneer.”

“Damn it, he was actually faster than me? But it doesn’t matter. The most outstanding Pioneer, the hero who saves Annabawei, will still only be me!”

“Go for it! Marcie, you definitely won’t lose to him!”

Time seemed to flow backward.

Everything seemed to return to that night when the two of them had let out long sighs.

The girl, who had not even become a Trainee yet, patted her chest. Her eyes flashed with light bright enough to illuminate the black night as she said to him, “I want to become the most outstanding Pioneer!”

Question: what is a Pioneer?

Answer: one who pioneers unknown lands and searches for the path out that must surely exist.

Where was Annabawei’s path out?

Not in the black night, but in the unknown fog.

But how could one find that path out within the fog?

...Step into it.

Step into it like a fool.

Even if one clearly knew it might be a dead end that could not be walked through, even if one clearly knew this was a story as laughable as an old knight challenging a windmill, even if one clearly knew that what awaited them was not necessarily a beautiful result.

But if you did not try, how would you know?

...

Muen took out a sheet of parchment.

The parchment Theodore had given him.

The symbol of Annabawei’s bravest, noblest, most glorious...

Pioneer.

Now, in Muen’s eyes... this was purely a certificate proving one was a fool.

At that time, he had actually stupidly accepted it. He really had been brainwashed by Marcie, who shouted every day about how great Pioneers were.

As though venting his anger, Muen stuffed the bread in his hand into his stomach in two or three bites.

One piece of bread was not enough. Muen took out another thing...

A mud cake.

The mud cake he had taken from Marcie before, but had only tasted a small bite of.

This time, he forcefully stuffed the mud cake into his mouth, chewed it hard, then swallowed it hard.

It tasted bad. It really tasted so bad.

But for the people here, this was one of the few ways they could fill their stomachs.

And now, he was full too.

It was time to work.

Now, with the proof of the parchment, he was no longer simply a traveler. For the time being, he counted as one of this place’s people. He counted as a Pioneer.

He was going to walk into...

The Fog Wall that belonged to him.

...

...

Heaven and earth were both silent.

Whether screams, anger, or pleas, none of them existed anymore.

Because that slender palm, like jade, was about to fall.

Space visibly began to twist.

Everyone could no longer make even the slightest sound. They felt fear from their souls, as if an invisible large hand had gripped their necks, leaving them unable to put up even the tiniest resistance.

Marcie silently closed her eyes.

It was over.

Even though she had once made so many bold declarations, even though she had made so many efforts, in the end... she still had not been able to become the hero who led Annabawei out of darkness.

She was too weak.

Not enough to rewrite... this sorrowful fate...

Heroes, in Annabawei, in this place where there were only sinners, fundamentally did not exist...

“Wait.”

Like sunlight once again illuminating the black night.

A familiar voice broke the cold dead silence.

Marcie abruptly opened her eyes. She thought that, in her near-death state, she had somehow produced a hallucination.

That was not a hallucination.

Sunlight fell over golden hair, reflecting it until it was incomparably dazzling. The blond man stood there, as though he were the incarnation of light, and toward her... toward the people of Annabawei, he revealed a smile.

It was a familiar, gentle, reassuring smile.

“Please wait.”

Muen’s gaze swept over Marcie, swept over Alan, swept over the Goddess... swept over Annabawei’s Pioneers.

Finally, it landed on Miss Dragon’s back.

Her long hair swayed lightly, and one could faintly see the smooth back behind the thorn-patterned long dress, but that majestic aura stood like a mountain, making it impossible for the slightest distracting thought to arise.

As Muen opened his mouth, Hamreign actually stopped her hand.

“What is it?”

She asked coldly,

“Do you want to help? I said, you do not need to do these things now. Your work was only to help me find them through Eternal Clock. The rest, I can do myself.”

“No, that is not what I mean.”

Muen scratched his head, organizing words that were not easy to organize.

...Actually, there was nothing easy or difficult to organize. In the end, it was only that one meaning. However he said it, it would be the same.

“Then I will say it directly.”

Muen took a deep breath.

“Miss Dragon... could you let them go?”

“...”

In an instant.

Heaven and earth changed color.

The air pressure instantly dropped so low it was like the coming of a storm. Even the sunlight shining on people’s bodies suddenly became cold enough to pierce bone.

Hamreign slowly turned around. Her face was still blurred, making it impossible to see clearly, but only those molten-gold dragon pupils radiated a majesty that seemed as though it would crush everything.

“What did you say? Say that again?”

His skin was stinging.

His legs were going weak.

His soul was trembling.

The deathly ringing in his mind sounded like an air raid siren.

Every strand of Muen’s hair was pulling at his scalp, frantically telling him...

Run. Run.

However, at this moment, Muen was still smiling.

“I said... Miss Dragon... could you let them go... let all of Annabawei go?”