Swordmeister of Rome

"If I start from the conclusion, no one on the Ra-Sian Continent has confirmed the existence of the Don-Nasian Continent."

"Hmm…"

"However, there was an instance where people who lived there came over. They don't call it Don-Nasian nor do they call our continent Ra-Sian, but we'll use those names to make things easier to understand."

"I see."

It seemed to make sense if people who lived there came over.

"That's where the story begins."

There was a man who lived in Don-Nasian.

The land was vast and all kinds of monsters and races lived together. It was full of dangers and also full of mystery. The people of Don-Nasian marked the dangerous places and forbid others from entering those places. Nonetheless, there were fools who did not care. They gathered people to adventure into those forbidden places.

The place they entered was different from what they expected.

It was dangerous, and the only one who survived in the end was that man.

However, it was much less dangerous than he expected. After he passed by the dangerous territories, he expected to find treasures of the new world.

He was disappointed.

The new land was vast. It was smaller than his world, but it was still huge as it took him a few hundred years to explore the entire place. But there was nothing. After taking a few hundred years to visit all parts of the land, he only found some monkeys and some other races. Even they were too weak compared to those who existed in his world. All of these new races would not even last a day back in his world.

He realized that the reason for such weakness was the forbidden entrance. These lands were forbidden by the beings that had placed guards to prevent entry. However, they did not care about the lands inside so there were no predators that would kill the weak beings.

The man found an old kingdom, but it was destroyed and people who lived there had disappeared. It was only filled with some monkeys who seemed to be slaves. The man was disappointed. He gave up and tried to return to his homeland. It was dangerous, but if he avoided those Kal-Guls, it would be okay.

As he tried to return, he felt powerful energies coming from three places.

One was from the Great Forest.

One was from a mountain he dubbed Sky Mountain.

And the last one was from the south sea, which he called the Great Southern Sea.

The energies exploded, seeming to celebrate the birth of three great beings, sweeping through the entire continent.

The man was filled with despair. He realized how he was able to pass through the forbidden area and why he hadn't seen the guards of those places.

The three had all been asleep at the same time in order to evolve. That was why he was able to get in.

Now it was over, and the three beings had returned to their places.

One at the sea.

One at Sky Mountain.

One at the Great Forest.

It meant the man had lost all possible routes to return back to his land.

"And so… that's how I was trapped here. You can't imagine how broken I was at that time."

Sian and Stiel were shocked to hear the last part. Sian asked Lagaope, "You… are the man in the story?"

"Yes. I was foolish, but I don't regret the choice I made."

"But… I mean, how old were you then?"

The guards that Lagaope mentioned must have meant Chrona who defended the forest, Dragona who guarded Sky Mountain, and Liona who patrolled the sea. And that was why Sian couldn't understand. According to Nekra's memory, Chrona had evolved thousands of years ago. It meant Lagaope had been there at that time.

"I gave up on keeping track, but it's probably been more than two or three thousand years."

"…Are all the people on that continent immortal?"

Sian still couldn't understand. If Lagaope had trained for that long, he should be stronger than Stiel. Yet, Lagaope was much weaker.

"No way. It's only because of the priest's blessing I received before I came here. I got it just in case my trip was extended… but I didn't know it would be this long."

"The blessing…?"

"It puts the person out of time's control. That way, you can't get old, but you can't become strong either. You're basically hiding from the world. However, you still can die from getting beat up."

Lagaope answered casually, but Stiel couldn't believe what he had just said. There were priests here, but their power wasn't that strong.

"But that's not important. There's more."

"Oh, okay. Please continue."

The man tried hard to return back to his home; however, it was impossible. The man, because of his noble blood, attracted Harijans wherever he went. As he fought them off, even stronger ones came for him. If that continued, it would eventually attract the attention of the guards.

The man lost all hope. There was no escaping alone.

<…Alone?>

It was then that a brilliant idea struck him.

If he couldn't do it alone, he could gather friends. Even if it was impossible to return with his friends, at least he wouldn't be lonely. In fact, the man's life was becoming unbearable because of loneliness.

He then proceeded to prepare a grand scheme.

A plan that would create his kind that might take him hundreds or thousands of years.

"I did try different things with various races… but the monkeys were the best fit."

"Monkeys?"

"I told you… those who lived here. I think they were slaves but they lost their masters. They were stupid and weak but were really similar to us humans. I figured as such since they looked really similar to us."

"Oh."

They weren't actual monkeys. He just called them that to separate them from humans.

"That's why I chose them. But it felt so miserable to think that I had to put up with them."

"I see."

Stiel curiously asked, "So, did you succeed?"

"Of course I did."

"That's great! So where are those monkeys now?" Sian asked.

Lagaope looked at him blankly.

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you say you succeeded? Where are those monkeys that didn't become humans?"

Lagaope laughed.

"Oh. Haha, I guess my explanation wasn't enough. The chance of becoming a human is really low. There are a bunch of monkeys who couldn't become humans that spread across the continent. It's all due to my care. Haha."

"…Huh?"

Sian soon realized what he meant.