Chapter 273: Road to the Mana Pool

After arriving in this world, Qiu Nuoya had been taken in and protected by Igor and Viktor almost immediately, allowing him to enjoy his new life here. But what would have happened to him if those two had not taken him in back then?

Still, there was no end to wondering about parallel worlds like that. All right, enough. He should stop thinking about it before he went any further down that rabbit hole.

"Hey, Nuoya..."

"Hm? What is it?"

"If a child who was supposed to be born never came into existence because of a time loop, what would happen?"

"Huh? Um, I guess the future would change? If that child was supposed to accomplish something significant in the future, like inventing some new and useful device, then its invention might be delayed. In the worst case, it might never be invented at all. But there’s also a common trope where history ultimately converges toward a predetermined course. So even if that child never existed, the future might change in such a way that someone else would eventually invent the same thing..."

At Qiu Nuoya’s answer, Viktor immediately furrowed his brow.

Had Qiu Nuoya said something to upset him? Seeing Viktor look so openly displeased made Qiu Nuoya feel as though he had said something wrong, but he couldn’t recall saying anything that warranted such a reaction.

"Nuoya..."

"Hm?"

"Do you believe that every person’s life and destiny are predetermined from the very beginning?"

"Huh? Um... How did you come to that conclusion?"

"You just said that history tends to converge toward a predetermined course. That makes it sound as though you believe the future will always move in a fixed direction and that no matter how hard people struggle, they cannot change it."

Ah, so that was what Viktor meant. No, no, that wasn’t it at all.

"That’s just my own speculation. I have no idea what would actually happen. To prove something like that, we’d have to transcend time and space itself, so there’s no way for me to prove my theory. All I meant was that stories often use that kind of premise. That’s all!"

Viktor seemed satisfied with Qiu Nuoya’s explanation, but Igor appeared to be deep in thought about something.

"Igor, is something wrong? Is there something bothering you?"

"No... It’s nothing."

Igor shook his head as though he had suddenly snapped out of his thoughts, but his expression hardly looked like that of someone who thought nothing was wrong.

"This is everything I knew that I had kept hidden from you... Do you really believe a story like mine?"

"I believe you. Igor isn’t the kind of person who would lie about something like this."

"I agree. After all, if someone asked what you could possibly gain by telling such an absurd lie, I would have to say there is nothing to be gained at all."

"You two..."

Igor clenched the fist resting on the table, his expression looking as though he might burst into tears.

"Now that we’ve established that, the first thing you need to do is tell us everything you know about the shortest route to the mana pool. Where each monster appears, where any traps are located, and anything else that might cause trouble. I thought we’d gotten ourselves tangled up in a troublesome affair, but this might turn out to be a surprisingly easy dungeon to conquer."

Well, to put it simply, this was like starting a new game with all his previous stats and experience intact. Igor already had all the information about what lay ahead stored in his mind. That didn’t mean everything would go smoothly, of course, but knowing at least something from the beginning was a completely different experience from venturing into the unknown without any information at all.

Igor answered Viktor’s questions calmly and without hesitation. His responses were so smooth that Qiu Nuoya couldn’t help but feel that Igor really did know what he was talking about.

"Most of the monsters were Rank A, but now that we’ve managed to defeat even Imoogi without much trouble, I don’t think they’ll give us too much trouble. The only exception was the dragon at the mana pool. We couldn’t do a thing against it, so I have no idea how strong it really is. But this time, we have Qiu Nuoya and the others, who can understand dragon language. I think we might be able to work something out after all."

"You’re jumping to conclusions too quickly. We cannot rule out the possibility that the dragon is a dungeon-born monster."

"Huh...? Ah, right..."

Dungeon-born monsters were a different matter. As a tamer, Qiu Nuoya could tame monsters, but that ability did not necessarily apply to creatures born inside dungeons.

Dungeon-born monsters lacked intelligence and reason. They were beings outside the natural cycle of life, created solely for combat.

Such monsters were born from dungeon cores and existed only to protect their dungeons. If that dragon really was a dungeon-born monster, then no matter how much Qiu Nuoya tried to speak to it, there was little chance it would respond.

"Of course, if the person there really is Qiu Tailang, and that dragon is his tamed monster, then the situation would be different."

The only way to find out was to go there and see for themselves.

Was Qiu Tailang really there, just as Igor and Cassian, the Minister of General Affairs, had said? And was he still alive, waiting for Viktor?

What kind of person was Qiu Tailang? Qiu Nuoya felt a little curious and wanted to meet him, yet at the same time, he desperately hoped he wouldn’t have to. The conflicting emotions burned in his chest.

More precisely, he didn’t want Qiu Tailang to meet Viktor.

Qiu Nuoya had no choice but to admit that he was just as jealous as Viktor, if not more so. Knowing that this was wrong, he silently swallowed down his feelings before they could take hold of him.