Clock Tower and Lighthouse

Linsey chose to accept Red Moon's suggestion.

He also knew that keeping himself tense all the time was no good, so he set out soon afterward.

However, this trip to town was not purely for relaxation.

On the road to town, he jogged all the way, pulling the small handcart the Carpenter had lent him behind him.

After this strenuous run, Linsey's Experience Bar for Constitution rose a little more.

His Agility, which had already been progressing well, also broke through.

Agility: 3 → Agility: 4

The increase in Agility was more immediately noticeable than the increase in Constitution.

Linsey's traveling speed immediately increased, and his body felt lighter as well.

That put him in a good mood.

By the time he arrived in town, the sky had already begun to darken.

Linsey did indeed see children around his own age.

But those children... were playing hide-and-seek.

With Linsey's mental age, he simply could not bring himself to shamelessly bully children.

"Games? This isn't the kind of game I want to play."

"Even a round of Spider Solitaire would be better than this."

Linsey scratched his head.

He was already considering making himself a deck of cards and playing small games like FreeCell.

He would probably never again have the chance to play the video games he had loved in his previous life.

But perhaps simple things like these could ease some of his longing.

Linsey watched the children play happily for a while, while he himself had nothing.

It left a bitter taste in his heart.

So he simply dragged the handcart toward the Carpenter's home, intending to return it first.

Knock, knock, knock—

Linsey knocked on the door, and the Carpenter uncle in rough cloth garments immediately opened it for him.

"Little brother, it's you!"

The Carpenter looked pleasantly surprised when he saw Linsey.

Anyone would be satisfied when the person they had helped kept their promise and took the matter seriously.

"How is Red Moon Lady? Is she well?"

Linsey returned his smile. "She's in good spirits. She even guided me in repairing the cemetery fence today."

But upon hearing this, the Carpenter's face went pale, guilt and regret filling his eyes.

"Ah, it's all my fault!"

"That fence broke down. I should have been the one to repair it."

"But the last few times I went to fix it, Red Moon Lady always wanted to pay me. I was too embarrassed to accept. I never expected that after declining several times, it would end up like this!"

After regretting it, the Carpenter wanted to make amends.

The Nun's godson happened to be standing before him, so he came up with an idea and intended to keep Linsey for dinner.

"Kid, the food's just finished cooking. Come have something with me."

Linsey shook his head. "No, I already ate tonight, and I still need to go home in a while."

"Home... that's nice. Going home."

A trace of nostalgia appeared in the Carpenter's eyes.

Hidden Borderlands had awakened ones stationed there, but before teleportation abilities failed, even more ordinary people had moved here from elsewhere.

The Carpenter uncle was one of them.

Linsey's simple reply naturally reminded him of his hometown.

But after the worlds had been completely cut off, there was no way to deal with that homesickness.

Linsey had yet to realize this.

After returning the handcart to the Carpenter, he said goodbye and returned to town, his gaze wandering around.

"Entertainment... what kind of entertainment can I find?"

Linsey was somewhat at a loss.

He began wandering aimlessly through town.

The town in Hidden Borderlands was several times larger than Anville Village.

He continued along the gravel path, passed through a small plaza, and saw a bluestone statue. It depicted a cloaked man holding a climbing staff, with a confident and cheerful expression.

The details of the statue had been polished exquisitely, as if telling a piece of history from the past.

Linsey stepped closer and saw a name written on the statue's base.

Great Explorer - Polo Weil

"Great Explorer..."

For a statue to be erected in a place like Hidden Borderlands, its owner was surely no ordinary figure.

Linsey continued weaving through the town.

The novelty of arriving somewhere unfamiliar had yet to fade, so he did not feel bored.

In this manner, he gradually reached the westernmost edge of the town, where his attention was drawn to a gray-white tower.

It was the tallest building in town, an ancient Clock Tower.

Time had faded the color from its stone walls, but that only lent it a distinctive sense of age. At every hour, the great bell atop the Clock Tower would ring the appropriate number of times, its resonant sound echoing through the entire town.

Drawn in by it, Linsey walked over.

At the foot of the main entrance beneath the Clock Tower, two guards sat on the steps, joking and chatting with one another.

By pure coincidence, they were the very guards who had wanted to take Linsey away that morning.

Now that they met again, they no longer had the panic they had shown when facing the Nun that morning. Instead, they waved to Linsey with ingratiating smiles.

"Little brother, you're here."

"Congratulations on becoming Red Moon Lady's godson!"

Linsey was also happy to chat with them and learn more about this place.

"Thank you. I'm also happy to follow Nun."

"But I'm a little curious. Everyone in town seems to respect my Godmother very much?"

The guard answered directly, "Of course!"

"Whether they're awakened ones or ordinary people, Red Moon Lady handles the dead of every household with the same earnest attitude and makes no distinctions. She is someone worthy of respect!"

Linsey then asked about the Clock Tower before him. "Why was this Clock Tower built at the edge of town?"

"Wouldn't a building for telling the time be more suitable in the center of town?"

Hearing Linsey's question, the fatter guard smiled and pointed west. "Little brother, do you know what lies farther that way?"

Linsey looked west.

The sky stretched to the unreachable horizon, dyed into a curtain of orange-red by the lingering glow of the setting sun.

But below that, there was neither forest nor town.

"The end of the world?"

"That's right." The fat guard nodded, then pointed at the Clock Tower. "You see it as a Clock Tower because you're facing the town. But on the side facing the end of the world, it is actually a lighthouse."

"Whenever night falls or the weather turns bad, the yellow gemstone on top lights up and guides the important figures who may return at any time."

Linsey continued asking, "I heard that quite a few powerful awakened ones wanted to search for the world that exists on the other side."

"Perhaps, but that was over a hundred years ago."

Linsey had thought the guards would hold awakened ones in great reverence, but their actual views were quite different.

After the fat guard complained, the thinner one even began grumbling. "Exactly! I don't even know what the point of guarding this place is anymore. It's even made it impossible for us to go home. No matter how powerful the Dragon Beast is, there's only one of it. It can't watch over an entire Black Mountain World. With Lord Anrui here, can't we find a way to sneak across?"

As the guards complained, Linsey turned his gaze toward the distance.

That was the border of Hidden Borderlands, the end of the entire known universe—the Great Hollow at the westernmost edge of the distant frontier.

An indescribable impulse rose within Linsey.

It was humanity's curiosity toward the unknown.

He seemed to feel that beyond this hollow lay not a hopeless abyss of nothingness, but truly another world.

One hundred and twenty years ago.

Powerful awakened ones from different worlds had set out from here, never to return.

What exactly had held them there and kept them from coming back?

Terrifying danger, immense temptation, or some major event.

Or even death? Linsey remained at the lighthouse Clock Tower for a long time.

Even after the guards left, he did not leave. Instead, he continued standing there, gazing into the sky.

In that tranquility, his heart finally relaxed completely.

Not until night was about to fall.

Linsey left the Clock Tower and ran back to the church.

By the time he returned home, panting and with another segment of Experience Points gained, the sky had completely darkened, and the white moon could be seen rising in the east.

"Nun, I'm back."

Linsey had thought this day would be full of excitement.

But in truth, nothing dangerous had happened. It had simply passed in a fulfilling yet ordinary way.

Until, before the lights were put out for sleep, Red Moon finished praying in the cemetery and called Linsey before her, delivering the day's final instruction.

"Linsey, after you finish learning writing with me tomorrow morning, you need to go to Lord's Manor."

Linsey did not know about the conversation in the chapel that afternoon.

Hearing this, he instinctively assumed the Lord still intended to cause trouble, and his heart tensed.

"Is this Lord still going to make a move against me? Does that mean you'll have a serious conflict with him?"

Red Moon shook her head and explained the arrangement. "There is no conflict."

"Hidden Borderlands has great difficulty replenishing its awakened ones, so he will teach you some useful things and try to set you on the path of war. Others will teach you afterward as well."

From Red Moon's words, it sounded as though this were merely a competition between Lord Anrui and the other awakened ones in town.

She did not mention at all that she had secured this opportunity for Linsey.

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