Chapter 2: The Scripture in the Basement (1)
This is dangerous.
If this continues, I'll die.
I have to get up—now!
Rattle.
"Hah!"
"Agh!"
"Eek!"
As I forced myself up, gasping for air, I saw children rushing out the door, the sound of their footsteps receding.
‘...What is wrong with these kids?’
My last memory was definitely of a board game cafe... or some other strange, similar space.
"Agh...!"
Attempting to retrieve that memory triggered a wave of physical and mental rejection. After barely suppressing the urge to vomit, I managed to pull myself together, and finally, my surroundings became clear.
"What is all this?"
The room was so dilapidated it went beyond mere 'old.' The ceiling, made of rotting and broken wood, was in a pitiful state, and the bed I was lying on wasn't much better. The thing covering me looked more like an animal hide than a blanket.
‘What is this smell... huh?’
Then my gaze fell on my hand.
"What is this?"
There was a strange, glowing green image on the back of my hand. Its overall shape was hexagonal, but the inside was filled with triangles. In the center triangle, the number 15 was written.
‘I've seen this somewhere before... Ah! It's a twenty-sided die!’
To my surprise, the image turned black after a moment, and the number vanished completely.
‘That definitely wasn't a figment of my imagination. It was green just a second ago.’
I tried waving my hand, but unlike before, the tattoo showed no change.
"Who did this to me..."
"You're awake, sir?"
As I grappled with my confusion, I heard the voice of a young girl I had never heard before.
‘A foreigner?’
Green eyes and blonde hair. It was clearly not dyed; it was a slightly messy dark blonde. Her clothes were strange, too. They looked like something commoners would wear in the Middle Ages—poor quality and visibly worn out.
‘Wait. Regardless of that, how can I understand what she’s saying?’
It wasn't Korean or English. It was a language entirely foreign to me, yet I didn't just understand the girl’s words naturally...
"Excuse me... where am I?"
...but I could also speak the language. I even felt like I would have no trouble reading or writing it. it was as natural as my mother tongue, as if the knowledge had simply been granted to me.
"This is the Tender Cottage Orphanage."
"...An orphanage?"
Seeing my confusion, the girl, who introduced herself as Thalia, explained.
"It's an orphanage located a short distance from the village. Don't you remember? Some children playing in the forest found you collapsed and brought you here."
"In the forest?"
Why was I in a forest?
"Yes, you were unconscious, so we put you here for the time being. The Matron even summoned a priest, but he said there was nothing particularly wrong with you. He said you probably collapsed from hunger in the forest?"
It wasn't easy to process what she was saying, but I began to understand. The mention of summoning a priest, and everything else, made it increasingly clear that this was not the world I lived in, but another world entirely.
‘It looks like the Renaissance. I feel like I’m watching a fantasy movie.’
Looking around reinforced that impression. There were no electrical outlets, no electric lights, no switches. Just a candelabra.
"Are you alright?"
Of course, I wasn't alright. But I couldn't say that, so I decided to make something up.
"Um, I think I’ve lost my memory."
"Oh, Life... you have no memories?"
Wait. What did that girl just say?
"Did you say 'Life'?"
"Yes? Don't tell me you don't remember Lord Life either?"
"...The Bringer of Light?"
"Of course, Lord Life is the One and Only, isn't He?"
I knew that name as well. The sole God of a religion that seemed similar to Abrahamic faiths, specifically one modeled after Christianity. Thalia spoke as if I had asked the most obvious question in the world, but that wasn't why I felt strange.
The reason was that this God appeared in the setting of the game Do-wol had created.
‘...No way.’
The final moments before I lost consciousness, the image on the back of my hand resembling a die, the medieval setting, and the Church of Life. Putting all the information together led to one unbelievable answer.
This was the world that served as the backdrop for «Systems», the game I had been playing with Do-wol.
"Um... are you really alright?"
"No, it’s nothing. So, where are we in 'Everlore'?"
"This is the 'Greenwest' region."
The fact that I naturally understood the place names we used in the game made me feel despairing again. I didn't know the exact location she was referring to, but the point was that I answered so simply. As if it were perfectly natural for this to be the continent of Everlore from the game.
"I don’t know if this will help, but we found this near where you collapsed, sir. It had a name written on it too."
"A name?"
"The Matron taught me how to read, you know! I think it was your name."
Thalia pulled something from under the bed. It was a rather crudely made bag. It looked more like a leather bundle of belongings than a proper bag. When I opened it cautiously, one item stood out among the various scraps. It was a book wrapped in the skin of an unknown creature.
"...It’s empty."
There was nothing written in the book, but strictly speaking, it wasn't completely empty. A single piece of paper that had been folded inside fell out.
"Ethnos...?"
A character sheet with the name 'Ethnos' written on it. It wasn't a name I had chosen. Of course, I didn't have to accept it as my name, but the little girl next to me was already calling me Ethnos.
"Your name is Ethnos, isn't it, sir?"
"I suppose so. Do you happen to have a mirror by any chance?"
"Mirrors are expensive... but we have this basin of water."
An expensive mirror? It seemed this dilapidated orphanage wasn't just worn down on the outside; it was actually struggling financially. Then again, perhaps mirrors were a genuine luxury in this era.
"Wh-what is wrong with my hair?"
My reflection in the water was nothing short of baffling. It wasn't the face I knew, and my hair, which had grown long, was a bright, vivid red.
"...Hmph."
I plucked a single strand of hair, but it was red all the way to the root. The faint hope that all this was an elaborate prank was crushed mercilessly.
"What in the world is going on..."
"Do you really not remember anything?"
Thalia asked, stealing a glance at me, aware that it was impolite but unable to suppress her budding curiosity.
"No, but thanks to you, I've understood a few things."
"Really? That’s a relief. So many strange things have happened lately, I was surprised when you appeared too."
Still, she continued to call me 'sir.' I was reaching an age where I could be called that, which was exactly why I didn't want to be. But there was something else that bothered me more.
"Strange things?"
Of course, there were many things I needed to know. I had a mountain of things to understand, but my intuition told me I couldn't let this piece of information slip away.
‘If I’ve really fallen into the world of «Systems», it’s bound to start with me getting caught up in some kind of incident.’
Though whether such a rule would apply to me now was anyone’s guess.
"...The Matron told me to keep it a secret."
Despite her words, she seemed eager to tell me. In the end, it was only after I promised several times to keep the secret that I was able to hear the story.
"The Matron said it’s an absolute secret. She said it’s important for us, so we have to keep it quiet. But no matter how much I think about it, it’s just so strange."
"What’s strange?"
"A priest came by one day. That alone was unusual, but on that day, he left a box in our care. He told us to hide it in the basement."
"He did something suspicious like that in front of you kids?"
Thalia shook her head.
"The Matron and the priest don't know, but the walls here are so old that if you listen closely, you can hear conversations from other rooms. So..."
"You eavesdropped."
Thalia nodded and continued.
"The priest said he was transporting an important scripture and needed a place to hide it. So he left the box with us, saying he would leave it here where no one would know."
"Are there any paladins or combat-trained priests here?"
"No. That’s why I don't understand."
Indeed...
No matter how secretly you hide something, even for a short time, it's only natural to place at least some guards. The more I heard the story, the more things didn't make sense. It felt like a crucial piece was missing or out of place...
Rattle.
‘Huh? The dice...’
Something changed on the back of my hand. The shape of the tattoo shifted, and this time, the die showed the number 9. The tattoo glowed red and then vanished. Nothing else happened.
‘Why did it roll suddenly? And it seems it was a failure, at that.’
In TRPGs, you roll dice for various situations. Do-wol’s «Systems» used a simpler dice rule system. You rolled a die for specific actions or judgments, primarily using a twenty-sided die. A roll of 11 or higher was a 'success,' and 10 or lower was a 'failure.'
‘So far, I've only seen a normal success and a failure. So... there must be critical successes and critical failures as well.’
If the maximum value, 20, appeared, it was a 'critical success,' which triggered an additional positive outcome. If the minimum value, 1, appeared, it was a 'critical failure,' which triggered an additional negative outcome.
‘But why doesn't it activate when I want it to? Is there a condition?’
No matter how many times I tried, I couldn't figure out how to do it. But even a failure like this wasn't entirely useless.
‘The dice rolled when I woke up, too. That means some kind of check was performed. I don't know what I was dreaming about, but given how agitated I felt, could I have been on the verge of taking mental damage?’
It helps me understand the situation. It’s like when you roll a die to hear something in a dark cave; even if you fail the check, you are alerted to the fact that 'something is about to happen,' and you can be on guard.
‘Am I the only one who can hear the dice? This child might know something... No. If I'm the only one with this dice tattoo, things might get complicated.’
"Sir?"
"Sorry, it’s just such a strange story, I was lost in thought."
If I could have rolled the dice now, I might have understood something, but unfortunately, I couldn't. It wasn't like they rolled at my command anyway, and there was a penalty for repeatedly rolling the dice for the same action.
"Please, go on."
"So, it’s strange that they would entrust a scripture to a place like this..."
"A place like this? You said this is an orphanage, didn't you?"
Wait, didn't she say earlier that it was unnatural for a priest to visit? The dice roll had failed, but with the knowledge I possessed, I was able to understand the source of the unease I felt earlier.
"Is it possible... that there isn't a single priest here?"
"...Yes."
Just like medieval monasteries, the temples of the Church of Life served as orphanages, protecting homeless children. Therefore, there should be priests of the Church of Life, or at least paladins to guard the temple.
"This isn't an ordinary orphanage, is it?"
"...That’s right. And we aren't just ordinary orphans, either."
Thalia spoke, her eyes tinged with a hint of sadness.
"The truth is, we are children who haven't been baptized. This is a place that protects children like us."
I thought it was poorly equipped even for an orphanage. So that was why.
"The reason the Matron agreed to look after that scripture... is that she was promised that if she kept it safe, we would all be allowed to be baptized."
Rattle.
The dice rolled again. This time, 19. It glowed green, indicating a success. A successful roll allows you to recall relevant knowledge and connect it to the current situation—a so-called knowledge check. And thanks to the dice, which continue to roll without any intervention from me, I found the answer immediately.
Unfortunately, that answer was the very thing I had thought of and wanted to deny.
"This is insane... This isn't just a simple scripture, is it?"
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