Nothing lasts forever. That includes countries that seem as though they could never fall. Countless nations have risen and fallen throughout history, and their legacies have often been inherited or wiped out entirely. Wherever people live, conflicts large and small arise. As those cracks widen, collapse eventually follows.

This world was no different. Countless kingdoms and empires had existed, then disappeared. I wasn't particularly interested in history, but since this was another world, I couldn't help being a little curious.

└Wild Grylls: I'm back. What does that writing say?

└Allfather: Oh! There you are! You've discovered an extraordinary record, Grylls!

└Wild Grylls: Is it that big a deal?

└Allfather: I've only deciphered half that page so far, but it's a record from the Vulcan Kingdom itself! Don't you realize how incredible that is?

└Wild Grylls: Nope.

└Hey, you said you could do arithmetic. Doesn't that mean you had a basic education?

└You had a basic education and don't know the Vulcan Kingdom?

└Wild Grylls: I keep telling you I came from another world.

Educated or not, the only historical countries I knew were things like Joseon, Goryeo, Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje. Broaden the scope a little, and there were Mongolia, Nazi Germany, Britain, and so on. Go a bit further, and I could add Rome, but that was it. I wasn't much of a history buff.

'And what little I do know, I found while poking around online.'

Some countries had a particularly large number of memes about them. Britain was a prime example. There was the meme about Britain being a nation of assholes: whenever something happened in the world, blame Britain and you'd usually be right. They really had committed all manner of atrocities, but one country made even that nation of assholes look like small fry. Nazi Germany, which treated mass murder as an industry. The ultimate in insanity.

That was about the extent of my knowledge. I knew nothing about this world's history.

└Wild Grylls: So the Vulcan Kingdom was pretty badass, I take it?

└Allfather: Hoho. I feel like firing off a Meteor right this instant.

└Wild Grylls: Sorry?

└Allfather: It wasn't simply a "badass kingdom." It was a kingdom that reached the pinnacle of magic, particularly necromancy.

└And it was the birthplace of the Undying King.

└All the records vanished when it fell, and yet here they are sitting in the Forest of Four Seasons lol.

└But why did this person go to the Forest of Four Seasons? I'm curious.

History buffs started commenting one after another. Knowing nothing about the subject, I couldn't make heads or tails of it. I considered looking it up, but I didn't want to miss the conversation.

'I don't even know who the Undying King is.'

All I remembered was that Kadir, the Mage King, had defeated him. Beyond that, I knew nothing. I'd never felt any particular need to know.

└Wild Grylls: I have no idea what any of this means. Basically, there used to be a powerful country, and it fell because of the Undying King, right?

└Allfather: More or less.

└Wild Grylls: And the Mage King defeated the Undying King.

└Allfather: That is also correct.

└Wild Grylls: Then when did the Vulcan Kingdom fall?

└Allfather: Roughly thirty years ago.

└Things were crazy back then. Everyone fleeing, total chaos.

└My dad was a paladin. We got a notice saying he'd been killed in action.

└Hang in there.

└Wasn't the previous Hero there too?

└From what I know, the previous Hero's heroic sacrifice was what let Kadir defeat him.

Thirty years wasn't very long ago. The effects were bound to linger strongly. Even World War II had been about a hundred years ago. The Korean War, the worst war in Korean history, had been much more recent: eighty years ago.

In effect, the current generation had suffered at the Undying King's hands. He would still be a source of immense terror to people.

└Wild Grylls: Did the Undying King wipe out the country or something?

└Allfather: He turned every one of its citizens into undead. It was the worst incident in history, one that nearly swallowed the world whole.

└That one incident made the Holy Kingdom strictly ban necromancy.

└Didn't they go beyond banning it and classify it as heresy outright?

└Less heresy and more just declaring them evil. It's a shame, though. Necromancy was great as a substitute for labor.

└It was always controversial. The Central Plains banned necromancy from the start. Said it was disrespectful to the dead.

└The dead, my ass. The living have to live.

└Fuck, you wanna farm with nothing but your bare hands? Having a necromancer in the village made life so much easier.

└Necromancers are creepy. Who knows what they'll do?

└That's prejudice. Casting spells on corpses to find the cause of death was necromancy too.

└Wild Grylls: Holy shit, that's possible?

└Allfather: It remains an unsolved problem. But perhaps the books you've found will provide the answer.

I still didn't really get it. It all sounded like someone else's problem. Had being cooped up in the Forest of Four Seasons dulled my sense of reality? Or perhaps it was because this was a forum. It didn't really hit home. The Vulcan Kingdom, the Undying King, whatever—none of it meant anything to me.

└Wild Grylls: I'll photograph every page and upload them. Could you decipher them? Please focus on how this person survived in the forest rather than the history.

└Allfather: Oh, my! Thank you so much! How can I ever repay this honor...!

└Wild Grylls: Just tell me the survival-related parts. That's all I need.

As I'd said before, survival came first. I turned the pages, photographing them one by one. Uploading all of this to the forum would take time. That was why I'd hurried back.

'Should I just give them to Allfather?'

I wondered how long uploading everything would take, but decided to do it anyway. Smart as Allfather was, he might have trouble deciphering it. Posting it publicly would at least let me get relatively objective information. If someone proved a great help, I was willing to give them a mature mandrake.

'I'll ignore the anonymous users.'

Of course, all sorts of people gathered here, so I planned to ignore anonymous users as much as possible. They might come up with some bizarre translation and just confuse things.

'Still, I'll give the books to Allfather.'

Regardless of posting them on the forum, I intended to give him the books. Keeping them myself served no purpose, and he was the most trustworthy person for the job. Scholarly value or whatever else they had, survival information was my priority.

'This person was pretty incredible too. Struggling to stay alive and still keeping a journal.'

While photographing the books, I turned toward the sack of bones. What sort of person had doggedly survived this hellish forest and even kept a diary? Hoping the journals contained some useful tips, I carefully photographed every page. They were remarkably well preserved for their age, with almost no illegible characters.

'Oh. What plant is this?'

The first pages were mostly packed with text, but as I moved on to the other books, I found illustrations too. Some looked like they might help me survive: drawings of various plants and animals, sketches of particular places, and so forth. This was exactly what I needed right now, so I took extra care photographing them.

"Ugh, my neck."

I'd spent most of the afternoon just photographing books. Even so, it had taken relatively little time, since I didn't need to hold anything like a camera in one hand. All I had to do was turn the pages and take pictures with my eyes. The image quality was good, so the lettering wouldn't get distorted. My eyesight determined the resolution. I had good eyes. Therefore, high resolution.

'Time to upload all of it.'

I uploaded the contents of the books I'd photographed to the forum. Why go to all this trouble? Wouldn't leaving it to Allfather be easier? I'd said it was to get objective information, but some people probably still wouldn't understand. Strangely enough, I just felt that this was what I ought to do.

'I'll post each volume separately so they're easy to tell apart.'

There was no limit to the number of photos you could upload to the forum. But using the forum wasn't free of mana costs, so there was a limit in that sense. Each upload consumed a small amount of mana. The more photos you added, or the longer the video, the more it consumed.

First Volume of the Books I Found

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the book's contents)

⋮

(Photo of the book's final page)

Just uploading the whole book.

Anyone who deciphers survival-related information gets one mature mandrake. Consider yourselves informed.

FYI, I'm only listening to registered users. More books coming later.

I posted exactly that, then uploaded all the other books. It was just mindless labor, but finishing it gave me an odd sense of accomplishment. Having looked through all the contents, I sent Allfather a trade request. He accepted in less than three seconds.

Hello, Allfather.

Have you seen my post?

Allfather

I'm reading it with a raging erection right now.

Uh...

He was always like this. Best to let it slide. If I got all awkward about it, I might end up being the only weirdo here.

Anyway, I'd like to donate the books I found, I guess?

Whatever you call it, I want to give them to you.

Allfather

What! Such precious books...!

Are you certain you can give them to me?

I can't store them properly, and I can't decipher them either.

Just let me know right away if there's anything about survival.

Allfather

That is easy enough.

Isn't there anything you'd like to know about the Vulcan Kingdom or the Undying King?

He's just a king who raised an army of skeletons and started a war, right?

Allfather

Hoho. That summary is so perfect, I'm at a loss for words.

You're simply not interested, are you?

I've got enough problems of my own.

Allfather

I see. Very well.

I'll tell you how this person survived.

Thank you.

Oh, can I ask one more thing first?

Allfather

Go ahead.

I'd like to know this person's name.

I wanted to know the name, at least. Having a name or not made a big difference. Fortunately, it seemed the name was written on the first page, because Allfather answered immediately.

Allfather

The Vulcan Kingdom's last scribe, Lais Kraone.

The name is Lais Kraone.

Lais Kraone.

Got it.

With the books handed over to Allfather, only one thing remained: burying the skeleton in the sack somewhere sunny. I picked up a shovel, a hammer, and the sack of bones and headed out.

'A cross... No. I'll use a stone instead of a cross.'

Combining a cross with a traditional memorial rite? What kind of hybrid was that? Better to find a reasonably flat stone and plant it in the ground.

THUNK! THUNK!

I began digging with the shovel. I made an elongated grave just large enough to fit the entire skeleton. All that remained was to place the skeleton from the sack inside and cover it with earth.

'Strange how all the bones are still connected.'

The skeleton kept its shape, like a model in a science classroom. In other words, the bones remained connected when they should normally have come apart. I didn't know enough about the subject to say whether this was normal, but it wasn't a bad thing. I laid the skeleton gently in the grave, then covered it with soil.

THUNK! CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

Next, I planted a flat stone at the head of the grave, hammering it in so it would stay firmly in place. The preparations were complete. I bought a reasonably priced bottle of liquor from the auction house. It was liquor from the Central Plains, incidentally. Its Eastern style was at least familiar to me. Pouring beer over the grave just... wasn't my style.

TRICKLE...

I poured liquor over the cross and the grave to soothe the spirit, then bowed twice. It was a little clumsy, but it would suffice as a show of respect. Respect mattered, not formalities. That was what I believed.

'Oh, right. The name.'

I'd forgotten to inscribe the name on the stone. That could have been a serious oversight. I tipped the stone at the head of the grave onto its back, then bought ink and a brush from the auction house and carefully wrote on it. In Hangul, naturally. Hangul was all I knew.

Here Lies Lais Kraone, the Last Scribe of the Vulcan Kingdom.

That should do for the inscription. I waited for the ink to dry, then set the stone back in place over the grave.

I'd finished paying my respects to the dead. All that remained was to include the deceased's belongings... but there was no need. I hadn't touched the pendant the skeleton had worn around its neck to the very end. I'd buried it as it was. In other words, this peculiar little funeral was over.

I turned to head back to the cave, but just then—

["Thank you."]

A rather eerie voice sounded behind me. At the same moment, a chill made my hair stand on end. Startled out of my wits, I hurriedly looked back at the grave.

And...

"..."

There was nothing. So little, in fact, that I could almost believe I'd imagined the voice. Only silence and the grave where I'd just performed the memorial rite greeted me.

'... Am I seriously hearing things now?'

I rubbed my face with both hands and returned to the cave. Had I already run low on energy, even after eating that eel?

'I'll take a nap.'

For some reason, my body felt utterly exhausted.

* * *

While Grylls was napping...

└Hey. If I've deciphered this right, it's going to cause an uproar.

└Why? What's in it?

└It says the Holy Kingdom massacred the Vulcan Kingdom's people to create the Undying King...

└???

└What the fuck is that supposed to mean??

└The Holy Kingdom? But why the hell would they?