Chapter 17: Gustav’s Plead

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Meng Yang stood there, stunned. He did not know when the female archer, Phoenix, had come up beside him. She was still dressed in her previous hooded outfit, a longbow in her hand, a quiver slung across her back.

“I could have shot its eyes, but there were too many people in the settlement, I couldn’t provoke it. This is the fallen City of Despair, we can only struggle to survive.” Phoenix explained calmly, letting him know why she could not aim at the crucial points during the saw-toothed tiger’s surprise attack.

Meng Yang could see clearly that with the saw-toothed tiger’s size, if it was seriously enraged, it could have slaughtered all 30 to 50 of the elderly, women, and children in this fortress.

Out of everyone in this fortress, himself included, the only person that posed a threat to the saw-toothed tiger was Phoenix. So other than the first feathered arrow she had fired to hit the saw-toothed tiger, the rest of the arrows that she had fired were only done so to scare it.

“Did you purposely come over here to find me?” Meng Yang glanced at the female archer, Phoenix, and asked.

Phoenix shook her head slightly, her expression was cold and unchanging. She only said nonchalantly, “Teacher wants to see you, follow me!”

“How’s Gustav?”

Meng Yang asked, but the female archer in front of him just ignored him.

They walked through a few narrow alleyways. Along the way, Meng Yang could see many women, children, and elderly people huddled up on the streets, tired and weak. They all looked miserable.

Very soon, the two arrived at a simple wooden house. The middle-aged woman named Hera from before emerged from the house.

“Teacher, he…” Phoenix glanced at Hera, asking calmly.

The middle-aged woman shook her head, her tone slightly solemn. “I healed his wounds with my Power of Nature, but Mr. Gustav has reached the end of his journey.”

“I know.” The female archer nodded, her expression was still calm. She left immediately after she spoke.

The middle-aged woman watched as Phoenix left, unaffected. Instead, she forced a smile at Meng Yang. “Mr. Gustav is waiting for you.”

When she finished speaking, she turned to leave too.

“Is the old man going to die?”

Meng Yang felt a slight panic rising in his chest. Gustav is the first person he had known in this alternate world. The time they had spent together was short, but they had faced life and death together.

Upon hearing this abrupt news, especially combined with the incident of the saw-toothed tiger, Meng Yang could not help but feel a sudden surge of conflicting emotions.

Meng Yang inhaled, then slowly walked into the wooden house.

There was barely any furniture in the wooden house. On a considerably clean bed, Gustav was leaning against a wooden pillow. When he saw Meng Yang, he forced a faint smile, and slowly spoke,

“I just heard that the saw-toothed tiger had attacked. I don’t know if you were shocked, but…this is our world!”

Meng Yang furrowed his brows and sat down on the short stool next to the window in front of Gustav. He always thought that there were other meanings hidden in this old man’s words.

 “I’m dying…I know you have some things you want to ask me.” Gustav coughed a few times and raised his head to look at Meng Yang, an odd look in his eyes. “You’re not from the East Land.”

Meng Yang was slightly stunned. He did not why Gustav would suddenly say that. In fact, he did not know anything about the East Land or the Land of the Forgotten. He only came up with his cover story based on what Gustav had told him to avoid exposing his identity as a transmigrator.

“I think you’ve already guessed it.”

Gustav sat up with some difficulty, a somewhat apologetic smile spreading across his wizened face. “Yes, you thought right. I was the one who brought you to this world, outlander.

“Like what I said before, I’m not a summoner. I just accidentally obtained a great summoner’s gear. But when the dimensional abyss was sealed off, the summoner’s gear had become useless.

“After the City of Despair was destroyed, I gathered the few remaining people here, hoping that they could avoid death in the wilderness. But it was difficult to survive in this world. Until that day when I was captured by the pig-headed monster, and in sheer desperation, I had finally tried to use Summoning Pixie to summon an unknown existence into this world.”

“So, I came?” Meng Yang asked, his voice shaking.

“Yes, you came.” Gustav nodded and replied, “At first, I felt hopeless, thinking that I had just summoned an ordinary human being from another dimension. But you truly are different.”

“So you were the one who gave me the summoning orb?” Meng Yang asked again.

“That was me.” Gustav nodded slightly. “But now the Summoning Pixie belongs to you. The Summoning Pixie used to be one of the City of Despair’s summoner’s gear. I was just borrowing its powers to activate a random summon. So there’s no contract between you and me.”

“I knew there was something off about you!”

Meng Yang stood up abruptly, running his hands through his hair. He had always had his doubts about Gustav.

Ever since he had inexplicably crossed into this alternate world, he had not stopped thinking about his problems. The moment he arrived in this world. He had ended up in the pig-headed monster’s cave, with an old man beside him who was facing the same dilemma. Then, he coincidentally managed to obtain a Summoning Pixie that could summon people from his world.

This was all too much of a coincidence!

Moreover, Meng Yang could almost feel the shift in Gustav’s attitude.

When the old man first met him, he looked hopeless. However, when he saw him activate the Summoning Pixie and summoned players to defeat the pig-headed monster, it was as if a spark of hope had ignited within him.

Other than that, Gustav was way too nonchalant about the performance of the players that had been summoned to help, he was not curious about them at all.

Meng Yang now understood that with everything that had happened, the old man had been watching from the sidelines.

“Then, can I return to my world?”

Meng Yang was silent for a moment. After he had digested what Gustav had said, he suddenly raised his head and looked at Gustav, his gaze boring into the old man’s wizened face as he asked.

“I don’t know.” Gustav shook his head. “I’m not a summoner, I’m just an ordinary person that spent a lot of time running and hiding. I know some things that the others don’t, but everything that had to do with your arrival was by chance. I just activated the Summoning Pixie, then…”

“You don’t know?!” Meng Yang was furious. If it was not for Gustav’s miserable appearance, he might have grabbed him and throttled him.

Gustav looked at Meng Yang’s furious expression, and a look of helplessness appeared on his face. His cloudy eyes stared at Meng Yang, and he slowly opened his mouth and said, “Meng Yang, your Excellency, I’m sorry I brought you into this world of despair!”

It was unusual for him to call Meng Yang by his name, and with an honorary title, no less. He continued, “I’m about to die. I don’t know what your world is like, but I hope you can help me save the people living in this world. Here, it’s too tough for these humans to survive.”

“What?” Meng Yang was stunned but quickly snapped out of his daze. “Old man, this is a double-kidnapping of morals and survivability. Why would I promise you anything?!”

“It’s not easy to survive,” Gustav said, repeating the words that he always said. Meng Yang became silent.

After pondering for a moment, Meng Yang looked at Gustav, and slowly opened his mouth to say, “You know I’m from another world, and so were the people that I summoned.”

Gustav smiled sadly as if he knew what Meng Yang wanted to say, and some radiance had returned to his expression. “No matter how bad it is, it won’t be worse than this, will it?”

Meng Yang smiled bitterly as if understanding the old man’s thinking.

Ever since Meng Yang had crossed into this world and summoned players to save him, he had been slightly reluctant to let the others know that the people he had summoned were from another world. However, the old man before him did not seem to share such concerns, all he wanted was to hope for someone to rescue this world, and allow those desperate people in the City of Despair to continue living on.

Looking at the last hopeful look in Gustav’s eyes, Meng Yang took a small step backward, complicated emotions swirling inside him, unable to speak.