PNB Chapter 1. There are still more good people in this other world.
Chapter 1. There are still more good people in this other world.
"Wow, that restaurant over there is so crowded, it looks really lively!"
"Snapped!"
The Winged Knight slapped the death row inmate Grimm to the ground:
"That's a funeral feast!"
……
"Oh my god, why didn't you say so earlier!"
Green got up, grumbling.
Can you blame him?
Who knew that in this strange other world, people would dress up in such colorful clothes and set up those flower sheds for a funeral? If you didn't know better, you'd think it was a street food stall!
"Hmph, you better behave yourself."
The winged knight escorting Grimm to the St. Petersburg prison said irritably:
"I don't know where you got the guts to assassinate the Holy Maiden. After the court's verdict is handed down, your death will be tomorrow at noon."
Hopefully, you'll still be in the mood for jokes then, but until then, you'd better stay in jail for a while.
Although Green disliked this knight, who was full of auspicious sayings, unfortunately, what he said was true.
Tomorrow at noon, Green will be beheaded in the market for assassinating a saintess of the Church of Holy Light, and he's become completely incoherent.
How exactly did things develop to this point?
Green tried to recall.
Alice is Grimm's childhood friend and adopted sister, as well as his beloved family and friend. They grew up together in an orphanage.
A year ago, he and Alice traveled to this other world called Terrera.
But Alice mysteriously disappeared not long after she traveled through time.
No matter how hard Green tried, he couldn't find any clues or traces about Alice, as if she had vanished into thin air.
Green hates the feeling of breaking a promise.
Green made the following promise:
"Alice, now that you recognize me as your godfather, I'll protect you for life!"
Unfortunately, Alice failed to recognize him as her adoptive father, so she settled for him as her adoptive brother.
Green is a man of his word; if he said he would protect Alice, then he absolutely would!
Therefore, during the seven or eight years Alice lived in the orphanage, no one dared to cause her any trouble.
80 isolated? Do you even know what a fist the size of a sandbag means, you bastard?
This promise still holds true in the other world.
So even though Alice seemed to have vanished into thin air, Grimm never gave up searching for her.
We must find it! We must find it! We absolutely must find it!
Why do you think I'm still single?
Isn't it all just to wait for Alice to come of age?
just kidding.
Although I'm reluctant to admit it, Alice is indeed smarter than me. With her extraordinary wisdom, which is no less than mine, she could probably survive even in this unfamiliar world.
If she had been there back then, I probably wouldn't have been treated as a refugee by those barbarians from the Western Continent and forcibly detained on the front lines to fight against the demons.
They were constantly wounded and died on the battlefield, only to get back up again.
It took Green a whole year to find an opportunity to escape from the quagmire of war while the warlords were drunk.
The war situation in the Western Continent is dire. If Alice were to go to the only place that borders the Western Continent after her disappearance, it would be the Southern Continent Empire, which is the only one with a relatively stable society.
So, after escaping the meat grinder-like battlefield, Green quietly climbed onto a cargo ship.
I experienced what it was like to trade goods in the medieval Delta on a cargo ship, and finally arrived at a city called St. Petersburg on the southern continent.
Not long after, Green learned some important news in the city—
"Two weeks ago, the legendary church saint, who was said to wear a light veil, had golden hair like a waterfall, and eyes as dazzling as stars, was received by the mayor."
According to Green's observation, the hair color of this group of otherworldly beings is generally brown and grayish-white, with a few nobles having black hair.
At least from the people he met, not one of them had blond hair.
The tavern adventurer described the church saintess as having cascading golden hair and eyes that shone like countless stars...
This perfectly matches Green's impression of Alice.
He always said that with Alice's intelligence, she would definitely thrive in another world!
That very night, Green sneaked into the city center and looked out the window of the villa where the saintess was being received.
The saint sat upright on the bed, reading the Bible.
She resembled Alice by about 90%, but compared to Alice, her eyes lacked that slyness of a little fox, and she was missing a small mole on her neck.
These details would be completely indistinguishable to Green unless he was very familiar with Alice's body.
If you didn't know better, you'd think this was Alice in cosplay.
More importantly, there was the faded, pale gold quill pen she wore around her neck...
------
"Alice, your birthday is next month. What do you want?"
"Hmm... let me think... I've been wanting a quill pen lately, preferably a gold one."
"A quill pen? What do you need that for?"
"Elegance, do you even understand what elegance is? Just think about it, don't adults look so cool and ladylike when they wear quill pens around their necks? It makes them look very cultured..."
Forget it, I can't keep talking to someone as low-scoring as you, whose Mandarin is only 70 points.
"Get lost! So what if you got a low score? I just made a mistake on the last exam. Also, you should call me 'sworn brother,' don't be so disrespectful."
……
Green remembers it very clearly.
The saint who resembled Alice wore a quill pen on her chest with small characters inscribed in a language different from Thera.
Those are four Chinese characters:
To Alice.
Green was about to go in and ask how the quill he gave Alice ended up on the saintess when he was spotted by the patrolling knights outside and arrested as an assassin, without giving him a chance to explain.
Green was therefore charged with assassinating the saint and was to be beheaded at noon the next day.
Green frowned.
It's not that I'm afraid of being beheaded tomorrow at noon.
Getting your head chopped off is nothing special, just like eating or drinking.
He thought that Alice, who had been missing for so long, might be able to find a breakthrough through this saintess. He needed to find an opportunity to escape from prison and question this woman properly.
Along the way, Green saw several more food stalls and thought to himself that a lot of people had died recently.
"Click"
The rusty prison gates creaked and groaned.
We've arrived at St. Petersburg Prison.
Grimm was escorted into prison by the Winged Knights.
"Assassinating the Holy Maiden is a serious crime. You'd better stay in the deepest part."
The deepest part of the prison.
Most of the prisons were empty, with only two cells occupied.
A knight and an old man dressed as a wizard.
It's obvious that those locked up here have committed serious crimes like Green's that could cost them their lives.
They are all talented individuals.
The prisoners in the prison were all wearing anti-magic collars, so they didn't exude a terrifying aura as described in the novel.
The little knight leaned against the corner of the prison wall, looking exceptionally innocent.
The old wizard had a skull necklace around his neck and sunken eyes; he didn't look like a good person at all.
"boom--"
Green was locked in a cell.
The cellmate across the hall was that old wizard.
After the winged knight left, the old wizard revealed a mouthful of large yellow teeth, cackled a few times, and then said in a hoarse voice:
"Hey, newbie, what's your name? What did you do wrong?"
"Green, assassinate the saintess. Old man, go play somewhere else and don't bother me."
Green was busy studying the prison structure and thinking about how to escape.
So I just gave a few perfunctory replies.
The old wizard was speechless at his casual remark about "assassinating the saintess".
Saintesses from any church are all precious figures, possessing top-notch looks, talents, and intelligence.
Although he had some doubts, he had also heard the recent rumors about the Holy Light Church's Holy Maiden coming to St. Petersburg. The Holy Maiden's medical skills were superb, and she opened a clinic in the city, saving countless lives and becoming famous overnight.
"Good lad, you've got guts!"
After letting out a series of strange, clattering laughs, the old wizard asked mysteriously:
"Kid, do you want to escape?"
"prison Break?"
This coincides with Green's current thoughts.
After all, it would take a lot of time to find the saintess and get some answers after being beheaded.
So he nodded. "Of course I want to, Lao Dong... cough, do you have any plans?"
I don't know how long these two have been locked up here.
It's time to learn from the experienced veterans.
"Don't be in such a hurry, kid."
The old wizard pointed to the knight in the opposite cell and chuckled as he said:
"I discussed the prison break plan with him for a long time. Although we were 90% sure it would succeed, we would be finished if we were discovered."
So if you want to join us... hehehe, you'll have to give us some kind of 'pledge of allegiance' before we'll trust you.
The wizard's gaze was deep and unfathomable as he looked at Green's left hand through the iron bars.
Green realized that Old Deng wanted his hand!
"Okay, no problem!"
Green readily agreed.
With a "crack," Green snapped the tendons and bones of his left hand, tearing through the skin to reveal the bare white bone.
Blood splattered onto Green's face, and he laughed as he tossed his left hand through the gap in the cell into the old wizard's arms.
The thoughtful person asked:
"Is just one left hand enough? What about the other organs?"
The old wizard stared, stunned, at his bloodied left hand in his arms.
"Eat?"
Green looked at the old wizard with gratitude.
Unexpectedly, this old man was willing to help me escape from prison with just his left hand.
Under the cold prison lights, Green grinned, his lips stained with blood.
There are still more good people in this other world.
Such sentiments.
Before long, new granulation tissue began to slowly grow from Green's broken left hand, and blood vessels, nerves, and bone proliferated at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Ten minutes later, a brand new left hand appeared.
Green moved around a bit and quickly adapted.
"Are you a Knight Proficiency User?"
The old wizard shook his head as he looked at this bizarre scene.
wrong.
Green was also wearing a magic-suppressing collar.
Generally speaking, no one can use magic or supernatural abilities while wearing a magic-blocking collar.
The old wizard knew perfectly well that the researchers who had developed this thing were the most meticulous scholars in the academy, and there was no way there could have been any mistakes.
Green answered:
"I'm just an ordinary person with a relatively strong ability to recover."
Ok.
As for superhuman beings...
Green wants to be one too, but you understand, he can't.
To become an extraordinary individual, one must first master three level 3 skills to choose a profession.
There was simply no time for Green to hone his skills on the battlefield. He had only mastered the [Basic Combat Skills], [Basic Training Skills], and [Basic Long-Distance Running Skills] to level 2, at which point he was proficient.
Grimm doesn't have much talent in magic either; he's only learned one spell so far.
"Ha, an ordinary person?"
The old wizard thought to himself, "They're kidding me."
What ordinary person would have nothing better to do than assassinate a saintess?
Do you eat fried dough sticks?
Green didn't bother to explain.
He raised his hand and looked at the strange runes on his right palm.
"Alice, what are you drawing?"
"Command Seals! Have you forgotten that anime we secretly watched last night called Fate? Those characters who possess Command Seals are incredibly powerful."
"Huh? Byd, I was worried you'd be caught watching TV by the caregiver last night, so I kept watch over you all night. You weren't really watching over me at all, were you?"
"Oh dear, I forgot! Next time I'll keep watch for you while you go watch anime!"
"Don't be angry, Grin. I'm giving you this Command Spell. I created it; it's called the Undead Command Spell. It will surely keep you safe and sound forever!"
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Alice's words echoed in my ears.
The strange runes in Grimm's right hand were exactly the same as the Command Seal that Alice had drawn years ago, which was called "Undead".
The Command Seal appeared in Grimm's palm on the day Alice disappeared.
No matter what kind of injury he suffers, his body will recover over time.
And it's just like training.
The more times the same area is injured, the faster the flesh and nerves will recover and regenerate.
The only drawback is that the sensation of pain is still present.
The reason Green was able to break his left hand without batting an eye was simply because he had experienced this level of pain many times before, and it was already within his tolerance range.
Even now, Green still doesn't understand why this Command Seal appeared.
However, if I had known this earlier, I would have had Alice add the phrase "cannot feel pain" when designing the Command Spell's power.
Green still remembers the first time he went to the battlefield, his left hand was cut off by a monster.
At that time, he thought that this was all there was to his life.
As a result, his left hand grew back within a day.
She recovered completely, with no signs of rejection or discomfort.
He recalled that the most serious injury he suffered was when his head was severed by a headless horseman.
After lying dead on the battlefield for half a year, it took Green's head to grow back.
After fighting those damn monsters in the Western Continent for a year, Grimm had injuries all over his body.
Therefore, Green's body was constantly being reorganized.
Just like training, muscles get stronger through continuous remodeling.
Green's physical abilities are now far beyond those of ordinary people, but he's not entirely sure just how strong they are.
However, they certainly cannot compare to those high-level superhumans.
The old wizard said, "Alright, you pass! Hehehehe... With this left hand as fuel, we should be able to escape successfully by tomorrow night."
The old wizard sized up Green, whose left hand, which had been tossed into his arms, had somehow disappeared.
He introduced himself as follows:
"Before we discuss the jailbreak plan, let's introduce ourselves."
"Kid, you can call me Walker. Professional wizards are children of the Golden Tree. As long as you believe in the Golden Tree, we're friends."
Then he pointed to the knight in the cell across the hall, who had remained silent from beginning to end, as if he were asleep.
"Kid, don't be fooled by his seemingly asleep appearance; he's actually practicing his skills."
In St. Petersburg, you really can't find another knight as skilled as him.
"That strong?"
Green felt that the knight who was leaning against the corner without moving suddenly became unfathomable.
Hearing the two talking, the knight started snoring.
Green: "...But he seems to be really sleeping."
The old wizard: "...Hey, wake up!"
The knight remained unmoved.
The old wizard cried out, "There are minotaurs here! There are minotaurs!"
The knight abruptly stood up, his expression menacing: "Where? Where are the minotaurs?"
Green: "??"
Is this knight really that powerful? He suspected that the wizard Old Deng had just been lying to him.
"Stop looking for minotaurs," the old wizard said. "We have new people joining our plans."
Upon hearing this, the knight angrily replied, "I understand. As long as he's not a minotaur, I have no objections."
The old wizard readily agreed and looked at Green:
"This guy is a pure-hearted war god. When he was imprisoned, he kept shouting that he had only killed a minotaur to rid the people of a menace. As for his name, I don't know it either. You can call him the Minotaur Slayer Knight."
Green asked in confusion, "Bull-slaying knights? The kind that specialize in slaughtering minotaurs? Or from slaughterhouses?"
"Not this minotaur."
The old wizard shook his head:
"As for the reason he went to prison... it's said that he used to be a knight in the guard of an earl's household. When he got up to use the toilet in the middle of the night, he found the earl's son trying to rape the countess, so he killed the earl's son with a single sword stroke."
"In the end, I didn't get any benefits and was even accused by the Countess:"
The mother and son were enjoying a peaceful stroll in the back garden when the son was suddenly attacked and killed by a passing bull-slaughtering knight. He was eventually sent to this prison by the count.
Upon hearing this, Green exclaimed, "Good heavens! So this is the Bull Slayer Knight!"
Everyone else talks about their pure love, but this bull-slaughtering knight, seeing the count's son wanting to go back to his starting point, would really chop down any bulls he sees.
Hagibut, you really are a bull-slaughtering knight.
The old wizard commented, "What a fool! It's obvious that the count and his mother were in a consensual relationship; it has nothing to do with him."
The Bull-Slaying Knight scoffed:
"Ha, you old man, you have the nerve to talk to me like that? I heard from the prison guards that you're a super smuggler who can smoke forty kilograms of tobacco a day. You're a heinous criminal and should have been beheaded long ago."
Upon hearing this, Green exclaimed, "Wow, I didn't realize Old Deng was such a pro!"
The addictive power of tobacco leaves is stronger than any medicine in the world he came from; it is absolutely illegal.
When fighting in the Western Continent, the army would be given tobacco leaves or the tobacco leaves would be crushed and mixed into the food.
This way, when they go into battle, they can be highly alert, block out some pain sensations, and increase the combat power of the line-filling baby.
Green had been deeply poisoned by it before, and finally couldn't take it anymore. He shredded his brain with a knife, almost dying from the pain, before he recovered.
This old wizard looks withered and thin, yet he can actually inhale forty kilograms a day.
The old wizard retorted, "Boy, don't listen to his nonsense. I simply sacrificed tobacco leaves to the fragments of the Golden Ancestral Tree."
After a friendly exchange, we finally got to the main topic.
"Alright, now let's talk about the prison break plan."
The old wizard said solemnly:
"The defenses in St. Petersburg prison are very strong. Before the magic-blocking collars became widespread, one of the ways to prevent prisoners from escaping was to destroy magic circuits."
"Destroying magic circuits is a fatal blow to mages, but not to those superhumans who rely on physical strength."
"There were cases of superhumans who broke free of their handcuffs and tried to force their way out of the prison, only to be shot to death."
After firearms were developed and popularized by academics, they became standard equipment for prison guards. It's unrealistic to expect superhumans of the old days to force their way into prisons now.
Green agrees.
After all, a gun is faster than a gun seven paces away.
Within seven steps, a gun is still faster.
Before a superhuman ignites their destiny, even setting aside superhuman abilities, their physical strength alone is still insufficient to withstand firearms bullets enhanced by magic.
"A direct assault is not advisable, so we must find another way."
The old wizard continued:
"I've already investigated thoroughly. This prison's sewer system is connected to the city center's sewer system. If we can find a chance to sneak into the sewers, we'll have succeeded halfway."
"Once we evade the magical detectors in the prison sewers and those two monster guards, we'll be able to escape successfully."
"And you don't need to worry about how to get into the sewers. When the time comes, I will use magic to teleport you into the sewers."
"Magic?" Green looked at the magic-suppressing collar around the old wizard's neck.
The old wizard raised his head proudly: "Of course it's not ordinary magic. The magic-suppressing collar blocked my magical circuits, so I relied on the residual power of the Golden Ancestral Tree fragment!"
Golden Ancestral Tree.
It is said that the world was once inhabited by the children of the Golden Ancestral Tree.
But with the appearance of the Demon King, the sun sank into the abyss, the Golden Tree was shattered, and the world was plunged into mist and eternal darkness.
This situation continued until the legendary first hero appeared.
Those who still believe in the Golden Ancestral Tree are likely followers of the Ancestral Tree sect who are trying to recreate the Golden Ancestral Tree.
Old Wizard:
"Something has happened in St. Petersburg recently; the death toll has increased, and the aura of the dead is much stronger than before. I'm using it to nourish this fragment of the Golden Ancestral Tree on my body. I should be able to cast the teleportation spell by tomorrow night."
Green asked in confusion, "If they used teleportation magic, why did they teleport us to the sewers?"
The old wizard's lips twitched: "You think I don't want to? Casting teleportation magic to the prison sewers is already my limit."
"Alright," Green continued, "However, I'm being taken to be beheaded tomorrow at noon, so I can't wait until tomorrow night. Is there any way to speed up the casting of your spell?"
The old wizard pondered:
"Of course. Besides the aura of the dead, it can also be used as firewood, otherwise I wouldn't have wanted your left hand..."
No, actually he never wanted Green's left hand in the first place; he just thought he looked fair and delicate and didn't seem like someone who would assassinate the saintess.
The "pledge of allegiance" was meant to inquire about his valuable possessions, hoping to collect an initiation fee from him.
After all, those who are locked up here must have some ability to hide things.
Who knew that this kid would break off his left hand and throw it over?
"However, even if your extraordinary profession is special, you can't regenerate your flesh and blood in a short time, right? If you want to cast a teleportation spell before noon tomorrow, you'll need at least 10 of your left hands as kindling."
The old wizard shook his head.
As far as he knew, among all the extraordinary professions, only the knight profession, which had obtained the Destiny Certificate and ignited its destiny, could consume its essence and blood in a short period of time to continuously regenerate severed limbs, thus resolving its high medical debts and becoming extremely powerful.
In his view, the fact that Green was able to be arrested and imprisoned meant that he was definitely not a superhuman who would ignite his destiny.
What?
What if Green could do it?
"Pfft"
Don't make your Walker Brother laugh.
It seems there's no other way.
There were three people on the scene, and when they all gathered together, there were only three pairs of hands.
Even if they have legs, how will a bunch of people missing arms and legs escape when they are transported to the sewers?
Green tilted his head:
"You mean, you want ten left hands?"
The old wizard sighed, "Yes, a full ten left hands... It seems you can't escape your fate of death after all. What a pity."
"You old man, you really know how to say auspicious things."
Green scoffed:
"I thought it would take much more. This is less than the number of times Alice got killed and had her defense broken by the Ice Hound in the starting graveyard when she played Dark Souls 3."
What kind of abstract language is this guy babbling about?
The old wizard couldn't understand, and slowly dialed out:
"?"