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Bella and Helga walked and walked through the forest of paradise.

“Dirty. Dirty. Dirty.”

“Goodness. Princess, aren’t you being a bit too picky?”

Helga, who had finished showering and grooming at a nearby spring, used magic to trim her hair and even cut her nails and toenails. Then, changing back into her usual uniform, she returned to her original appearance.

Bella, who had watched the whole process from the side, shook her head with a disgusted expression.

“How long has it been since you last washed? How could you be so filthy?”

“It’s not filth, it’s mud.”

“Same difference. It’s gross.”

“Hahaha. You don’t know, Princess. Mud is actually great for the skin.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“You know how the southern warriors are famous for their good skin, right?”

“Huh? Well, yeah…”

“The secret is mud masks.”

“What?”

At the southern edge of the empire, there was a forest inhabited by brave female warriors. Their fame spread not because of their unique bravery, but because of their astonishing beauty. Their skin was said to be as smooth as a baby’s, making them the envy of many.

“Applying mud to your skin makes it smooth and firm.”

“Really…?”

“How do you think I’ve been maintaining my skin all this time without mud masks?”

Helga boasted proudly. Upon closer inspection, her skin did look surprisingly good for someone who lived in the wild. Thinking that, the mud around them started to seem useful.

“Hmm… So that’s why you’ve been covering yourself in mud all this time? Even when you showered earlier?”

“Well, that was actually filth.”

“What did you just say?”

“No, no. I was just suggesting that you try a mud mask too, Princess.”

Helga, laughing mischievously, subtly changed the subject.

“How’s the Count doing?”

“Of course. Everything’s running smoothly without you. In fact, it might be even easier without you.”

“Hahaha. You’re not good at lying, Princess.”

“Huh?”

“I want to thank you for putting up with my stubbornness first.”

Helga placed her hand on her chest and spoke.

“Back then, I really had no choice. I’ve always been by the Count’s side. I’ve never been apart from him, and when I had to send him to the ceiling of paradise, I thought my heart would break. But then, to be told to wait a year? I couldn’t bear it.”

Helga had guarded the forest of paradise, the land where her beloved man slept, through rain and snow. The toll of this was evident in her now thin frame. The once strong woman had changed, likely due to the hardships she endured over the past year.

Bella sighed.

“…Even if you hadn’t guarded it, our knights were protecting this forest.”

“True. Honestly, it’s not a forest teeming with monsters… but I just couldn’t help it. I needed to be close to the Count to feel at ease.”

“……”

Helga was that kind of woman. Stronger than anyone beside Tristan, but the most anxious when he wasn’t around.

“I want to apologize. As the Count’s loyal servant, I suddenly left my post, causing you a lot of trouble, didn’t I?”

“Huh? No? Not at all?”

“Come on. With Aslan and everything, there must have been a lot to manage.”

“Aslan manages just fine on his own…”

“You don’t have to sugarcoat it. I know it must have been tough without me.”

“No… Really…”

An awkward silence passed between them.

“…Haha… You’re really bad at jokes.”

“…It’s not a joke…”

“Krrr… Oh, no. That’s not it. Stop joking, Princess.”

“Were you just about to bark like a dog…?”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Yes, you were.”

“Dogs bark ‘woof woof.’ What you did was more like a wolf.”

“So you admit you barked like a wolf?”

“Ah, we’re going to be late. Let’s hurry.”

“We’re not late at all? Besides…”

“?”

Bella, checking the time left before their appointment, casually asked Helga.

“So, mud masks really work, huh?”

*

– Ship, Count…?!

Tristan was lying on the bed next to Jeong So-ra. Without hesitation, they rushed to him.

-Tristan! Wake up!

Bella called out desperately, but he didn’t wake up. Wendy, unable to stand it, tried to shake him awake.

Then she noticed.

-Why is the Count so… thin?

Tristan’s body was extremely emaciated. The once muscular frame was now just skin and bones. He hadn’t been like this when he disappeared into the ceiling of paradise…

-Tristan’s consciousness has merged with the World Tree.

It was Michaela who spoke.

-Even now, he’s working hard to sustain this world.

-To sustain this world…?

-You must have noticed. Tristan drove away the heroes. The fact that they, who could resurrect endlessly, became mere humans again is because Tristan sacrificed himself to save this world.

Self-sacrifice.

The weight of those words seemed to crush their hearts.

-He decided to become the pillar that supports this world.

Michaela pointed behind her. There stood the World Tree, towering into the sky. The center of the world. The tree said to spread magic throughout the world.

Tristan had become the World Tree as the price for saving this world.

-Tristan has entered eternal slumber.

-No! The Count is a, alive! He’s alive!

Wendy shook her head violently and placed her hand on Tristan’s chest. She felt his heartbeat.

-His heart is beating…! He’s breathing…! He’s not dead…!!

-Who said he was dead?

-Huh??

-I said he’s in eternal slumber, not dead.

-???

-He’s in an eternal sleep, not dead.

-Isn’t that the same…?

Wendy looked up with a tear-streaked face. She needed an explanation. Not just her, but Bella, Helga, and Blanshe all looked at Michaela with the same expression.

-Ah, for you humans, it might seem that way. So…

Michaela scratched her head and tried to continue explaining. But before she could, another voice interrupted.

-Michaela. Do you know how to bring my brother back to his original body?

It was Jeong So-ra.

*

“I didn’t know the Count had a sister…”

“I was really surprised too. When Jeong So-ra said she created our world…”

Wendy and Blanshe reminisced about that day.

-The man you know as Tristan… is my brother, Jeong Ji-hwan.

-What…?

-What I’m about to tell you is going to be a very long story.

In front of the bewildered women, Jeong So-ra continued her explanation.

From how this world was created, to the fact that Jeong Ji-hwan had possessed Tristan, and that he had experienced over 500 regressions… She told them everything that the people of this world hadn’t known.

The life story of a man who had possessed another world. A story of countless failures and relentless challenges. A story that might have been dismissed as mere fantasy.

But they believed Jeong So-ra. Because they knew what kind of man Tristan was.

“It’s kind of embarrassing to say that… I’m just a writer…”

“No, Michaela said it too. If it weren’t for So-ra, we wouldn’t exist.”

“That’s not wrong…”

Jeong So-ra scratched her cheek. It felt awkward to have the characters from her work looking at her with admiration.

Especially under Wendy’s innocent gaze, she felt a strange sense of guilt.

Noticing the scenery passing by outside the carriage, Jeong So-ra quickly changed the subject.

“Ah, over there… It was almost ruins back then, but it’s been restored quite a bit.”

“Ah, yes!”

The village, destroyed and burned in the war, was in the midst of reconstruction. Most of those carrying pillars and stacking bricks were prisoners with confirmed sentences… players who had invaded this world.

They were being used as labor to rebuild the world as part of their punishment. From their perspective, they might have thought this world was just a game, so they might feel wronged. But many of them had crossed the line.

Players who had committed unnecessary massacres and caused great harm could not escape severe punishment. In the outside world, they would have been executed, but here they were reduced to slaves of the empire. Slaves in name, but in reality, they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

At first, there was considerable backlash, but as the extent of their crimes was revealed by the survivors, the complaints died down.

The World Union recognized the Meikhael Empire as a new nation. An empire filled with magic and unknown resources, it was a place they had to establish diplomatic relations with. They couldn’t afford to protect mere criminals and risk offending the empire.

Thus, those abandoned by their own countries were all being used as labor to rebuild this world.

“The castle you see over there is almost fully restored. Once that castle is done, all the castles in the capital will be restored. The villages and castles outside the capital are also being restored, and we expect to have everything back to normal by the end of the year.”

Blanshe explained the current situation to Jeong So-ra as if giving a briefing. As if to show the original creator that the world she had made was doing well.

“Even if we restore everything to its former state, the pain of the war won’t disappear… But that’s a task for the survivors.”

“I see…”

“Yes. There’s nothing for you to worry about, So-ra.”

“Y, yes… So-ra, we’re really fine…”

“Blanshe… Wendy…”

Jeong So-ra smiled bitterly. Now she was being cared for by the characters she had created.

In place of the busy Bella and Helga, Blanshe and Wendy visited Jeong So-ra whenever they had time. They cheered her on during her rehabilitation and kept her company. For that, she felt an indescribable gratitude towards them.

“Thank you, everyone. Now, if only my brother would wake up.”

“I miss the Count…”

“He would think the same.”

Jeong So-ra hugged Wendy and patted her back.

“So-ra. Do you think Michaela has woken the Count?”

“Well… Today is the day Michaela told us to come to paradise… So maybe we’ll find out something today.”

– Whether it’s possible or not, I won’t know until I try. But if we do… It will probably take at least a year.

That’s what Michaela had said when asked if she could wake him up. And exactly one year later, today, they were all going to meet Tristan.

The Day of Promise.

Jeong So-ra had been working hard on her rehabilitation with the goal of being discharged today. She had put in tremendous effort to regain the use of her stiff body. All to meet her brother. To show him she was fine, she endured even the most grueling training.

And so, Jeong So-ra was able to walk on her own two feet again.

“Ah, we’re here.”

The carriage stopped. Opening the door, the vast expanse of the forest of paradise came into view.

Thanks to Park Se-hee giving them a ride, they arrived earlier than the appointed time. So, there was no one in front of the forest.

Or so they thought. For ordinary people, that is.

“Huh? Miss?”

“Gasp!?!”

Blanshe’s sharp senses didn’t miss the shadow hiding in the forest grass.

“Have you arrived already? Why are you there?”

“W, wait! Don’t come over!”

“Come on. I told you Blanshe would notice. Just give up and come out.”

“No! I said I’m not coming out! Ahhh?!”

“Hoho…”

Helga forcibly pulled out a woman who hurriedly covered her face. But with Helga holding one hand, she couldn’t cover her face with the other.

Of course, even if she had used both hands, Jeong So-ra and Wendy would have recognized her.

“Bella…?”

“Ughhh… Please pretend you didn’t see me…”

For some reason, Bella had mud smeared on her face.

 

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