TL: Knight Errant
We’ve reached the end of the world.
We’ve seen so much along the way.
The greed of the nobles, the hatred of the fairies,
False gold and the swamp of death.
Back then, you and I were bound in a circle of blood.
Even in the midst of war, you were like a blooming flower.
With an extraordinary song, the story of Over the Fantasy begins.
Fluttering flags.
A Paladin commanding countless disciplined soldiers.
The Paladin, clad in dazzling golden plate armor, stood alone in front of the battlefield, eyes closed.
“Madam Darc, I will surely complete the mission and return.”
The messenger swore to the Paladin that he would definitely bring reinforcements from the Holy City.
They were the key elements that would decide the outcome of this war.
Booo-
The holy trumpet resonates.
Guardians of light marching for the victory of the holy war.
The Paladin must guard this place until their return.
The focus on the Paladin started to rise towards the sky.
Time flows rapidly.
The sky darkens and brightens repeatedly, and then the perspective descends back to the ground.
The newly shown perspective wasn’t where the Paladin stood.
Monsters appearing across the continent. And various class characters of players fighting them.
A Dual Swordsman, preparing to end the battle, charges forward on a horse.
The Dual Swordsman smiles as he clangs! his weapons against the Orc army.
“The time has come!”
The ground under the Dual Swordsman flips, and the screen turns upside down.
The Paladin in the holy war is shown again.
The once shining armor of the Paladin is now covered in blood.
Grrrr- The monsters rushing at full speed.
Right before the sharp teeth of the monsters and the Paladin’s sword clash-
OVER THE FANTASY
SECOND UPDATE
-COMING SOON-
* * *
The trailer video publicly released by Over the Fantasy for promotional purposes ahead of its new update.
The Death Knight in the Forgotten Temple that Dio is facing now is something that even he, a veteran player, is experiencing for the ‘first’ time.
As a veteran player like Dio, or rather only Dio, could deduce clues from the mere fact that it’s a ‘first’.
The clue being that the quest he’s facing is a new story added through the update.
The new story added is surely related to the trailer.
Before proceeding with the ‘Dialogue Phase,’ Dio recalled the trailer video in detail.
Not just recalling.
Dio, eagerly anticipating the update of OTF, had memorized every frame-changing scene in the video.
The place shown in the trailer.
This angle.
The gothic-style plate armor worn by the Paladin in the video had the same appearance as the Death Knight’s, just a different color.
Dio obtained hints from the OTF system and its related preview videos.
As Dio had confidently stated before, OTF never gives impossible, irrational missions.
[Acquire the Death Knight’s sword.]
And then.
[‘Dialogue Phase’ is activated.]
This hidden quest had no mention of fighting the Death Knight.
Finding the ‘hint’ hidden by the system is crucial.
The system recognized from the beginning that Dio had an item satisfying the hint.
Otherwise, this hidden quest wouldn’t have even been triggered.
“But it’s not the Class Change Scroll.”
The Class Change Scroll is merely one of the conditions to trigger the hidden quest.
Based on past experiences, if the Class Change Scroll was the way to clear it, it wouldn’t be so obviously indicated.
Then what else.
What items does Dio have in his inventory?
Which item could be both the condition to trigger and the solution to the quest?
The Purification Herb for hunting werewolves?
The Plague for the Ents of Dunville Forest?
No, something he acquired even before that.
The Imperial Medal.
The Imperial Medal is indeed an item related to the current situation.
The Imperial Medal, obtainable through a secondary character, is evidence of having seen the future through another character.
OTF would have prioritized preparations for new players entering the game.
“If the Death Knight appears in this hidden class change location, then…”
It means there must be a much easier way than just defeating the Death Knight.
Why?
Because the developers would have considered new and returning players.
Even if not a veteran player, users facing an unbeatable enemy should be able to realize that there is a ‘Dialogue Phase’.
The Dialogue Phase unfolds against the Death Knight in the Forgotten Temple.
The Imperial Medal, needed to enter this place, can be easily obtained even by non-veteran players.
Village general stores even sell fake Imperial Medals, and whether genuine or fake, the Death Knight wouldn’t care.
“No, it absolutely mustn’t matter.”
That’s how the developers intended it, so even low-level new players can proceed with the quest.
Having understood the developer’s intent, it’s time to focus on the trailer.
OTF likes to provide clues and hints in its trailers.
Then, the clue lies in the fact that the Death Knight, in her Paladin days, was waiting for the messenger, who had gone to call for reinforcements.
“The name of the Death Knight called at that time, Darc.”
The mention of the Death Knight’s name in the trailer is not just a MacGuffin.
There’s a 3rd-tier monster ‘Wandering Ghost’ appearing after the third class change.
Among the Empire’s quests, there was one to catch this ghost.
Completing the quest rewards an Imperial Medal, and the acquired medal can be used in various ways.
It can be exchanged for other items, or used as a consumable to summon scarecrow soldiers.
However, since the performance of such uses was not impressive, it was often used as an accessory.
‘I suspected that the Paladin would appear from the moment I saw the murals and statues.’
Since the Death Knight is the same character as the Paladin, it shouldn’t matter much.
‘If the Wandering Ghost is the messenger, and the Death Knight is the Paladin, then this Imperial Medal… No, I am that very messenger!’
With confident eyes, Dio spoke to the Death Knight.
“Madam Darc! I have just arrived, having completed the mission.”
[…….]
The Death Knight simply looked at Dio without saying a word.
A prolonged silence.
In the seemingly endless quiet, Dio started sweating coldly.
The Death Knight, who seemed to be waiting for something, finally spoke.
[……You’ve worked hard.]
Dio, who was nervous about having made a mistake, relaxed at the Death Knight’s first words.
“Good. She recognizes me as an ally.”
Having successfully entered the Dialogue Phase, Dio watched the Death Knight, who was placing his hand on his shoulder.
[Many years have passed.]
[We have lost, and we have lost our god.]
The Death Knight began to smoothly tell her story.
Dio focused on the Death Knight’s words, thinking he might find clues about the unknown world changed by the update.
[The wait was eternal.]
[Rangbolt, Fonte, Chris… and… many comrades were lost.]
[And… we lost ■■■■.]
“What? I can’t hear because of the noise!”
Dio strained his ears even more due to the noise intentionally hiding the voice.
[I became unable to leave the promised land.]
[The enemies attacked us with a weapon called corruption…]
[We had to cut down our comrades with our swords.]
[Even the salvation we endlessly waited for in the circle of blood, we were beginning to forget.]
The Death Knight placed his sword on Dio’s shoulder.
“Ugh!?”
Dio, unable to withstand the sudden influx of energy and the resulting pain, fell to his knees.
[But.]
The Death Knight remained indifferent, whether Dio was in pain or not.
He simply tapped Dio’s head and shoulder with the flat of his sword, continuing to speak as if conducting a ritual.
[You have awakened the hope that I had forgotten.]
[Oh divine warrior. Take up the sword.]
[We have not rotted in defeat.]
[We just paused in a long wait.]
[I, the first sword of the Holy Kingdom, ‘Adelia Darc,’ command you.]
[Announce our return to the world.]
[■■ do it. Our ■■■■.]
Once again, the last words are hidden by noise.
[You have discovered that the Death Knight is ‘Adelia Darc,’ the first Paladin of the ancient Holy Kingdom, Hailiscaite.]
[You have satisfied the second wish of the Paladin.]
“What!? Adelia Darc? Darc is not a name but a surname?”
Dio could not hide his astonishment at the system’s revelation.
This person is the first Paladin of the ancient Holy Kingdom?
Yes, that’s plausible. Clara said the lyrics on the mural were in ancient language.
But the second wish?
“Does it mean that waiting for reinforcements is not the top priority?”
Dio’s eyes shook.
The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom.
Waiting for support.
What else did I miss?
Dio had deduced the ‘story’ from the trailer until now.
Only through the scenes and song lyrics.
“Wait, the lyrics?”
Dio, realizing something, recalled the ‘song’ that marked the start of the trailer once again.
The ‘lyrics’ that followed the sentences written on the mural.
The trailer, where visuals and music were inseparable.
Dio started to recall only the song, removing the scenes from his memory.
Storytelling is not just through visuals.
Traditionally, ‘song’ was the medium to convey grand stories.
– Even in war, you were like a blooming flower.
From this, it could be inferred that the song in the video was about longing for someone.
At that time, Dio didn’t think deeply about it.
But now, Dio began to search for something he missed in the song he heard back then.
‘If the medal is the second method, does that mean the first method is also something I currently possess?’
Dio formed a hypothesis here.
It was certain that the protagonist in the video was the Death Knight.
What if the ‘person’ who sang the song was also the Death Knight?
What if she was longing not just for the messenger but for a specific ‘person’ among the soldiers who were sent as messenger?
‘That person is not alive now. Then… Do I possess something left by that person? What could it be?’
Dio thought sequentially once again.
There was only one thing.
A specific ‘item’ he had picked up along with the Imperial Medal was…
‘It was the Mercenary Badge!’