Chapter 128: The Fruit of the Ever Changing Flower

Two days later.

Past the borders of Mangul and Danyum, at a mountain path not far off from Deimerit.

"Something's strange," Jang-Wan muttered as she looked down at her Mangul army.

"Something is definitely wrong.”

Mangul’s army of 24,000 was still marching at night.

Among them, 8,000 were Kobolds, and being a nocturnal species, they were blessed with good night vision and a low need for sleep. To overcome their disadvantage of having small physiques and only being able to carry a small amount of things, they had to make use of their advantages, so they had no other choice but to march for longer.

"We'll arrive by tomorrow, but..."

Jang-Wan initially suspected only AR1026, but now both Crampus and Lunda seemed suspicious to her as well.

"Am I really being played by Choi Sung-Woon? Is it all just my imagination?"

Although the evidence she found for AR1026 being a traitor wasn’t enough, she believed Sung-Woon had done something, so she thought that was a good enough reason to look into it more.

"What was the problem?”

She judged that at least one of the two players would agree with her. Even though AR1026 was suspicious, she had no intention of intimidating her. By conducting a thorough investigation with the information she had, she could check if there were any parts that didn’t line up, and in that process, she could also find out if AR1026 really was suspicious, and if she was, to what extent.

“Even so, I know I wouldn’t be able to confirm that she’s completely innocent either.”

As long as AR1026 didn't make any major mistakes during battle, that would be enough to consider her innocent. One example would be AR1026 positioning her army in the rear during the siege surrounding Deimerit. If AR1026 really was a traitor and was in the back, no matter how many more soldiers the allies had compared to Sung-Woon, they would suffer a complete defeat as they would be attacked from the front and the back.

“I just wanted to say that if she didn’t make that kind of mistake, she would be good in my book…”

Jang-Wan recalled how she had behaved earlier. Because she had lost her cool, she hadn’t shown a very good side of herself to the companions who had trusted her until now.

“Perhaps cornering AR1026 like that was a mistake. And maybe that’s why there was opposition.”

Jang-Wan clicked her tongue.

“But there could be another possibility,” said Wisdom. “What if Choi Sung-Woon put so much effort in just to make someone misjudge one of us as a traitor?

That would make things more complicated, but it was a possibility. In that case, there would be no real traitor, and Sung-Woon had simply wanted them to believe that there was one among them. It did seem like the kind of thing Sung-Woon would do to gain an advantage while they doubted each other to identify the fake traitor.

"In a long-term war that might make sense, but what good would it do when a battle is on the horizon?”

Jang-Wan couldn’t easily understand that, and Wisdom agreed.

Wisdom seemed busy as he was helping his apostle level up while keeping the apostle a secret from the others, excluding Jang-Wan; he was also gathering more soldiers while strengthening the solidarity inside Asbestos. His first expeditionary force belatedly departed, but it seemed that he was planning on sending his second force around the same time as the other countries. And for those reasons, Jang-Wan wasn’t really able to resolve her suspicions through her conversation with Wisdom.

"Maybe it was only meant to create confusion."

Jang-Wan thought that would be a clumsy scheme that was unlike Sung-Woon.

"Or is it a distraction?"

If AR1026 wasn't really a traitor, Jang-Wan believed that Sung-Woon must be hiding an even bigger scheme.

"Yeah, maybe there already is a traitor."

Jang-Wan herself definitely wasn’t one. And out of everyone else, Wisdom was least likely to be a traitor. If Wisdom had been in contact with Sung-Woon, there would be no reason for him to put on an act. The pair could destroy the other nations if they announced their alliance and formulated a joint strategy. Wisdom’s power was that significant. And that was why Jang-Wan had sacrificed her priests and created an apostle for Wisdom.

Crampus also had a low chance of being a traitor. Initially, she had also suspected Crampus because he handed Deimerit over ridiculously easily, but after giving it more thought, she realized that it wasn’t really a point for suspicion. Had Jang-Wan been in his shoes, she believed she was likely to make the same mistake while stating that she was making the best decision she could. But unlike what Crampus thought, she believed that he had simply gotten unlucky rather than losing to Sung-Woon’s strategy.

However, Lunda didn’t have a high chance of being a traitor either.

"Don’t they barely have any contact?"

Although Red Fruit and Black Scale shared a border, the area was a wilderness. Many merchants preferred traversing through Danyum even if it meant they had to pay more taxes. Still, it was rather suspicious that there had been such a lack of contact between them.

"Shall we consider the possibility? Is there absolutely no chance that Lunda is a traitor?"

There was no reason to make such an assumption. There was a possibility that they had formed a secret alliance for various reasons.

Even Jang-Wan herself had a direct relationship with Sung-Woon; more specifically, they knew each other outside the game. The only difference was that Jang-Wan knew Sung-Woon’s ID, Nebula, while Sung-Woon didn’t know her ID, Jang-Wan.

"What problem would arise if Lunda is a traitor?"

Jang-Wan felt dizzy at the thought.

"Could it be a big problem?"

Jang-Wan recalled what had happened after she accused AR1026. Lunda said that if Jang-Wan really believed AR1026 was dangerous, she would monitor AR1026 with her army. Since both armies were scheduled to join forces right before the battle, they would just be coming together earlier, so there wasn’t anything strange about that. And Lunda also said that she would gladly leave if AR1026 was able to clear her suspicion. Thus, Red Fruit’s army of 20,000 and Golden Eye’s army of 18,000 were now together. Additionally, Crampus’s smaller rebellion army of 2000 had also joined that group.

If Lunda was a traitor, she could raid both armies.

“But…”

Jang-Wan had a hard time picturing that. Aside from Lunda having a low chance of being a traitor, it didn’t seem like her being one would cause that much of a problem. While Lunda was sticking close to AR1026 to monitor her, the opposite was also true.

“If Lunda acts, AR and Crampus will too.”

Of course, things would get dangerous if Black Scale also made a move, but there was a decisive factor preventing that from happening.

“A person’s faith doesn’t change overnight.”

If Bountiful Harvest, the god of Red Fruit and the Renards, or Lunda, ordered her priest to kill someone in Black Scale, they would gladly do it. However, if Lunda ordered her priest to kill anyone of Golden Eye, they would be somewhat confused because Golden Eye was an ally country. Moreover, if Lunda ordered any one of her followers that wasn’t a priest to kill a soldier of Golden Eye and not Black Scale, that person would be even more confused. Because that would be an act of betraying an ally right before war. There would be chaos among the soldiers. They would agonize over whether they should listen to their god and betray their allies, or go against God’s words to protect their allies.

That was what controlling an entity entailed in The Lost World. Each of them had their own will. If the gods’ will more or less aligned with the will of the people, they would move as the god desired, but if the god ignored their will, then nothing would go the god’s way. If a god gave a revelation, there would be those who listened, but there would also be those who became confused or actively went against it.

“Well, there are some exceptions.”

Jang-Wan thought of Wisdom and his apostle.

Jang-Wan focused on her work to ease his worries. There were still things to be done before the war.

***

‘The view of the world must always be adaptable.’

When Lunda first saw this sentence, she had thought it was a bit of a grandiose title for the game strategy forum. But of course, it did intrigue her and made her click on the post. Despite the meaningful title, Lunda couldn’t help but laugh after seeing the content. The post discussed how betrayal in The Lost World could bring one closer to victory, as well as the efforts required to execute such betrayal. The comments on the post were polarizing, with about half of them insulting the poster’s strategies, while the other half defended and supported the player. And the post was buried without receiving proper recognition. Lunda, too, quickly forgot about the post and moved on.

However, she once found herself in a position that was difficult to define as good or bad in a match of The Lost World. She started in the center of the continent without any significant resources, and ended up caught between several powerful countries.

As she pursued neutral diplomacy, she recalled the strategy post about betrayal she had seen before. She imitated a few builds and ultimately succeeded. She even managed to achieve an alliance victory in the end. And thanks to that experience, she was able to raise her win rate in The Lost World.

In the current game, Lunda followed the same build step by step. Red Fruit started with the Renards. With the appearance of a fox and a curious nature, Renards walked on two legs and had a lean build. They believed in the god called Bountiful Harvest, who had been known as Fruition God in the past.

Mangyul didn’t seem any different from all the other gods. They protected the main species of the country, gave them Blessings, and occasionally performed Miracles. Therefore, no one considered Red Fruit to be significantly different from the other nations; it was rather deemed as the most middle-of-the-road country.

If Night Sky of Black Scale favored bold and intelligent individuals, and Binding God of Asbestos favored violent and majestic individuals, Red Fruit seemed to prefer regular folks. The priests serving Bountiful Harvest were delicate and even somewhat timid, which was evident in how slow they made their decisions. In particular, the characteristic could be observed in the general public of Red Fruit and their overall national policies. To the other countries, that was just the way Red Fruit was.

For example, if Red Fruit had to make a path and had to choose between a fast and dangerous one and a slow and long one, they would make both. At a glance, it would seem like they were extraordinarily competent, but that wasn’t the case. Even when not having an immediate path resulted in wheat and crops rotting and people starving, they would accept the losses to create both paths. And the losses didn’t necessarily lead to gains in the future since there wasn’t always a need for both kinds of paths.

Such national characteristics, or characteristics of the people, also existed symbolically. In Red Fruit, there was a flower called Ever Changing Flower. It was simply a fragrant purple flower, and its petals could be brewed into a tea with mind-clearing effect. But the important part of it was the plant’s fruit.

Any citizen of Red Fruit or a believer of Bountiful Harvest would carry around a fruit of the Ever Changing Flower, which was the size of a thumb. It was said that the fruit was more delicious than anything else. However, there weren't many who had tasted it.

It took years for the fruit to grow from the flowers, and it took a few more for the fruit to become ripe enough to eat. The problem was that nobody knew how many years it would take, so they couldn’t determine when the fruit should be peeled. The fruit always emitted a fragrant smell, so people usually peeled it too soon and got a half-ripe fruit, or they peeled it too late and had to throw it away.

Since there was no way to tell its ripeness based on its appearance, people had to rely on luck. Therefore, when facing an important matter, the people of Red Fruit would peel the fruit they carried around to see if the matter would bring them fortune or misfortune, and also to help them make decisions during important times. Such a practice was done at even the national level by the priests.

‘If the fruit is ripe, then it will rain this afternoon, and if it’s rotten, it will be clear.’

This was called Oracle, and the priests of Red Fruit often received revelations and made decisions based on it. In Red Fruit, it was obvious that one should follow the revelations.

Tobe Volco was an old Renard general of Red Fruit. He awoke from his sleep while gasping for air. It was immediately after he had received a revelation.

“...Everything we know is wrong?”

Tobe took out the fruit of the Ever Changing Flower from his inner pocket. Having been peeled, it was ripe inside.

Tobe was about to taste the fruit without thinking when he put it back into his pocket. Then, he woke his adjutant and made an order.

“Do you have the fruit of Ever Changing Flower?”

“Huh? Yes.”

“Take it out.”

As expected, the adjutant’s fruit was also peeled. And it was perfectly ripe.

Tobe then said to the adjutant as they gulped, “Do you know what the Oracle of the war is today?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Go check.”

The adjutant hurriedly went to the priests and confirmed the Oracle.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

If the fruit is not ripe, protect your allies. If it is ripe, betray them.

Tobe checked all the fruits the soldiers had. All of them were ripe.

In the middle of the night, Red Fruit’s army moved quietly.