[Aaron Side Story Episode 18]
3. First dream (2)
* * *
He opened his eyes.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing on a plain.
The vast plains extend beyond the horizon.
You probably won’t be able to reach the end of the plain no matter how many days you run.
With a strange certainty, he stepped out.
He had work to do.
getting stronger.
Memories from up until then are automatically put together.
As the memories accumulated and gathered, they became conscious, and gradually formed the ego called Aaron.
‘My name is Aaron Delcurd.’
he realized himself
Born in Taoni, summoned by the system.
His life is a chess piece in a game that is swayed by the existence of a master.
Aaron accepted the role.
to survive.
To see his one and only sister and family member Nina again.
And Aaron met his colleagues.
Fighting alongside them, I learned what a bond is.
“…”
But that was it.
Aaron couldn’t help them.
He lacked the qualities of a warrior.
I didn’t want to hold on to their ankles.
I wanted to prove my worth by being with my colleagues.
But it failed.
His immaturity put his colleagues in danger.
He wanted to get stronger, but he couldn’t go any further.
‘Belquist.’
Aaron remembered the man’s name.
The name of the man who gave her defeat.
He was summoned later than Aaron, but he grew up quickly and came right behind him.
said afterwards.
There is one person who cannot do his part.
It was for Aaron.
It was as it was said.
Aaron couldn’t resist.
In fact, Belquist has nothing to do with it.
Even if it wasn’t for him, it would happen someday.
being discouraged.
Aaron was fortunately summoned quickly and became the main member.
However, as the waiting room grew, it was natural for heroes with insufficient abilities to be eliminated from the main team.
‘It was my stubbornness.’
You should have given up there.
It’s not bad to accept your own incompetence and resign yourself to doing what you can.
Aren’t most people in the world like that?
A hero who was the leader of the Taoni language.
Han Israt also said it was natural.
Even if it wasn’t a battle, there were many things that could be helpful in the waiting room.
Instructor for example.
When it comes to the basic training of new members, Aaron’s talent is not lacking.
The weak have their own fight.
But Aaron refused.
Relying on Israt’s warmth, he insisted on wanting to become stronger.
The result is now.
‘They said there was a hero who was in a similar situation to me.’
He said that he became a strong man by overcoming his poor talent.
‘I want to know.’
how he got stronger
How many times have you surpassed the limits of your talent?
I wanted to be like him.
And someday, I wanted to stand side by side with my colleagues again.
‘let’s go.’
The portal that sent Aaron to this special dimension is gone.
There is no way back.
There is only progress.
So
Aaron walked and walked on the desolate plain.
“…”
There is a winding road in the plain.
Aaron made his way down the road.
The sense of time has become strange.
‘No, it’s different from the problem of sense of time.’
Is autumn the season of the plains?
Fallen leaves were falling from the sky.
It was strange.
For leaves to fall, there must be a tree above them.
But not even a single tree grew on the plain.
The fields just stretched out endlessly.
‘Where does it fall?’
But the brown leaves fall.
Somewhere beyond the distant sky.
There is not even a specific place.
Fallen leaves were falling all over the plains.
‘Besides…’
What should I call this phenomenon?
Aaron couldn’t answer quickly.
It is as if the leaves are fixed in the air.
As if time has stopped.
like painting a picture.
However, if you look closely, it is different. It was
about the slight
wriggling of a caterpillar, but the fallen leaves are moving.
in other words.
‘Time is passing slowly…’
The flow is too slow.
Therefore, it looks like a stopped world.
In such a world, Aaron’s existence, moving at his original speed, did not match the scenery very well.
Anyway, Aaron followed the path.
The passage of time was unknown.
I thought it was time to get hungry, but strangely, I wasn’t hungry at all.
“…ha.”
mysterious world.
Twilight is setting over the horizon of the plains.
Perhaps the twilight will go down and the night will never come.
Aaron could harbor such a strange conviction.
* * *
Shortly thereafter.
Aaron found a large cabin.
The winding road that started from the dimension door connects to the entrance of the cabin.
It meant that the cabin was the destination.
“Are you there?”
smart.
Aaron knocked on the door of the cabin.
The response came back soon.
“It is open.”
A stranger’s voice.
Aaron opened the door and entered the house.
As soon as you open the door, what you see is the cabin’s kitchen/dining room.
full of life
The young man sitting at the table turned around.
“Is it you? My motive this time.”
Confident look.
Age appeared to be in the early 20’s.
The young man, dressed in a lower class uniform from Niflheim, smiled as he sat down.
“Looks like you’re not from Niflheim? Where are you from?”
“Who are you?”
“Oh, I guess I should start with my introduction. I’m a sraagin What else do you need? You and I are in the same situation.”
“A similar situation…?”
“You came because you wanted to become stronger, you too.”
Aaron opened his eyes wide.
“Me too. I want to be strong. More than anyone. That’s why I came here.”
Aaron soon grasped the situation.
The man called himself a motive.
Then…
‘I wasn’t the only trainee.’
There seemed to be another hero
besides Aaron who chose this reckless way.
Come to think of it, Aaron didn’t tell me he was going alone.
It’s nothing strange.
It’s like being the first guest.
“In the past, there were a lot of trainees, but they all fell out. I’m different. I will do anything.”
Seragin’s eyes flashed with tenacity.
The greedy desire to become strong.
Aaron knows a man similar to that man.
It was Belquist, the culprit who dropped him to the 2nd party.
“so? Could it be that I will introduce myself and be done with it?”
“Aaron Delquard.”
“That way of speaking is dirty and hard.”
“…”
“What happened? Aren’t you in a position to laugh and chat with each other? With this, all the riders have gathered this time…”
Sraagin said, looking out the window.
“Looks like you’re here?”
Aaron blinked.
The man noticed something, but Aaron felt nothing.
I had no choice but to follow Sraagin blankly as he walked out the door.
The back of the cabin we arrived at.
There was a good-sized gymnasium.
However, it is only at the level of putting a wooden fence on the boundary and putting several scarecrows at regular intervals.
A shabby gymnasium.
In the middle of such an empty lot, there was ‘him’.
“Haaam~.”
A sleepy gaze turned to the two of them.
Shabby clothes and a crooked posture.
There was not even a hint of motivation in the action of scratching his purple hair.
‘boy?’
I don’t know his exact age, but I could guess that he looked younger than Aaron.
From the outside, it seemed that he had nothing to say even if he treated him as a younger brother.
“What are you doing there? Come in, come in.”
A hint of annoyance bloomed in the boy’s expression and tone.
“Is it you? The owner of this cabin.”
Thragin also twitched his eyebrows, as if that appearance was unexpected.
“Yes, it is me. There’s no need to introduce myself, right? because you would have known Come in at once.”
The training ground fence gate is open.
Aaron and Thragin went into the Eunggeojuchum.
‘….’
is different from speculation.
Aaron had expected the appearance of a warrior trained like a sword.
A master of transcendental will that transcends the limits of talent.
But this look…
“I know, I know. That I look easy. What would you do? I didn’t want to end up like this either. Anyway, the two of you guys came this time, so this is it.”
The boy’s half-closed eyes quickly scanned the two.
And the boy said
“go back.”
“…?”
“I will open the dimensional door again. It will take a long time, but take a good rest. Think of it as a vacation. When the door opens, go home now.”
The boy yawned.
“Can’t that be?”
“hmm?”
“I can’t go back empty-handed. How did you get here?”
Sragyn stepped forward.
“I heard rumors that you are his rival.”
“That guy? Oh, the temperature. But what about rivals? is he my rival? What nonsense are you talking about?”
The boy waved his hand.
But Aaron had heard of such a story.
Lidigion, a 5-star hero treated as the swordsman of Niflheim.
There is an existence that the man recognized as his rival.
“It’s not even funny.”
The boy laughed like it was absurd.
Sraagin also smiled at the boy.
“Anyway, even if you try to send me back, it’s in vain. I came all the way here to devour you.”
“Swallow? me? oh wow that’s scary Are you too? Did you come to devour me, too?”
The boy’s gaze turned to Aaron.
Aaron hurriedly shook his head.
“Oh no. I came because I wanted to be strong.”
“Isn’t that what it is?”
Sraagin glared at Aaron.
Aaron also answered without losing.
“It is different. I have no impure intentions to swallow it.”
“You mean my intentions are impure?”
“Hmm, I didn’t mean to.”
Sraagin looked ahead again.
An ominous light flashed in his eyes.
“Anyway, I want to become stronger. Than a man called Lidigion. than their peers. More than anyone in this world. I came all the way here for that. I will repay the favor, so make me stronger.”
“…”
“I know it’s dangerous. Almost everyone who comes here dies. But you can’t become strong unless you take that level of risk. I was determined to do that. So will that man.”
So was Aaron.
Whatever the case, the two were desperate.
That’s why I took the risk and came here.
“Ah, there are troublesome guys again.”
The boy sighed.
“If I told you to go back and train normally, would you say no? If you’ve done it all He said he came here because there was no way.”
“You know me well.”
“But are you the first to come with such determination?”
“I don’t think so. It doesn’t matter. Can I do it?”
It was great confidence.
It must have been a different environment from Aaron.
Such self-confidence was the arrogance of a winner that could only be maintained by repeated efforts and steady victories.
‘…’
It was a world apart from Aaron, who had a hard time playing his role.
I have already tasted many failures.
I couldn’t bring myself to say that I was successful this time.
“How are you?”
Sraagin looked at Aaron and said.
“I… I’m just doing my best.”
“He’s a man with no ambition.”
Sraagin smirked.
“Ah, that’s okay. do it your way The training ground is here, so use it, and there are many empty rooms in the house, so choose accordingly. You know how to clean. You can’t eat.”
The boy resolved his stubbornness more easily than he thought.
Saying go back seemed like a simple rite of passage.
“Then I went…”
“Wait.”
Sraagin cut the boy off.
As he approached the boy, he fiddled with the sheath of his belt.
“Can’t you fight me just once?”
“why me?”
“I want to know. your strength.”
“hmm?”
“That man named Ridigion was strong. Tried dozens of times, but never got there. Even if you adjust your physical abilities to be the same as mine. Honestly… it was an insurmountable wall.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Because he is a genius.”
“You, who are called rivals, must be that strong.”
“Because it is not.”
“So, ask for sparring. I want to know my level.”
The boy looked at Sraagin with an expressionless expression.
“Just cheeky.”
“I apologize if my tone was arrogant.”
Thragin’s tone immediately changed.
“I want to be strong. Can I ask for a favor from me?”
Aaron couldn’t help but be surprised.
That Sraagin was a man with a strong sense of pride.
But in an instant, I threw away my pride.
just to get stronger.
“So, do you want to know the gap in technology? Do you want me to feel the same wall that Gion felt?”
“That’s right.”
“There’s nothing I can’t do.”
The boy chuckled.
Then, he kicked the wooden spear lying on the ground with his toe.