The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 2: Return (1) (Part 2)

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◆ A quest has arrived. ◆

—

A final message exploded across my view.

And then, bizarre text scrolled in front of me.

====
Wha^t& h@ppne$?!
Did# you w@ke↑ up?
Is s◘mething wr◎ng w^ith y★our bod※y?
Lo~ok cl♣oser and ch#eck y◎our surroun◇dings, p@layer!
Y⧫ou’ve b♠een glit◆ched into a w♤eird s▣ave zone!

Li▥fe is glitching! Li▥fe is glitching!
Wh@t kind of rid⧗iculous m♦ess is th◈is?!

Wh♡ s♥et this ugℓy l◆ayout?!
Wh@t did you d◎ to de◆serve th▤is?!
Y◎ou only committ◘ed…■■!

N◎o idea wh@t’s g◎ing ◈on, b✱ut y◎ou kn◎ow wh@t t◎ do.

First obje✧tive:
R◎each the v@illage n▣ow.
====

“…What the hell is this?”

Honestly, I didn’t understand a single thing it said.
The only part I could barely make sense of was the word that first popped up—[Quest].

Usually, a “quest” referred to a search mission given to knights or a long expedition.
At least, that’s what the word meant on the continent.
If it was used in the same context, this seemed like some kind of mission objective too…

“What exactly is it trying to say?”

I had no clue.
For a moment, I thought maybe it was a code used by the Allied Forces—

“But it’s not that.”

If it were, I would’ve understood it. After all, I was the Commander of Special Operations.

Under the Allied Forces Operations Command, I carried out special missions, intelligence gathering, analysis, and even counterintelligence activities.

Naturally, I was well-versed in the codes used by the Allied Forces.
So I can say with absolute certainty—this wasn’t one of them.

“Then… could it be the Empire’s encryption—”

—No, that didn’t make sense either.

Just as that thought crossed my mind—

—

◆Error: The player’s status contradicts the quest details.
◆Error: Player information has been modified.
◆Assigning new quest.
◆Loading……

—

“What now…?”

It was like this thing was beating the drum and blowing the trumpet all by itself.
Still, from the word [Loading], it seemed like something was underway.

After waiting for about five minutes…

—

◆Quest has been updated.

—

A new message popped up, followed by the quest details.

—

====

You woke up in a strange place!
But hmm?
Why doesn’t it feel that strange?

You rub your eyes and snap back to your senses—what the heck?!

You realize you’re on the Snowy Mountains of the North!
But wait a minute, the Snowy North?!
You were just in the southern jungle! So why are you here now?!

Is this the Emperor treating you with some sort of royal courtesy?
Or did he just throw you out into the snow?

No, more importantly… weren’t you dead?!

Your mind is in a scrambled mess!
You’ve become a complete idiot!
Why, you ask?

Because you haven’t even realized there’s something out there aiming to take your life at this very moment!

What happened and how isn’t important right now!!
First thing’s first—Survive!

====

—

“…What in the…”

I had no idea what was going on.
I really did feel like I’d turned into an idiot, just like the quest said.

But the quest clearly didn’t care about my feelings—it threw up another message without pause.

—

◆Tutorial Quest [What the Hell Is Going On?!] has begun.

==[What the Hell Is Going On?!]==
[Objective] – Survive
[Reward] – Inventory Unlocked
[Failure] – Death

—

The moment I finished reading the text that had appeared on its own—

KRAAAAH—!

A deafening roar slammed into my eardrums from one side.

—

A monstrous bellow, followed by the heavy pounding of massive footsteps.

I looked toward the sound—and there it was.
A massive creature, roughly two meters tall, was lumbering toward me.
And it was… drooling while staring straight at me.

“…An Ice Troll?”

A mutated variant of the trolls that lived in the North—the Ice Troll.

Due to its mutation, the Ice Troll was extremely rare.
It was one of those monsters you almost never saw in the wild anymore.

“But the Emperor had all of them hunted down, didn’t he?”

Trolls were known for their exceptional regenerative abilities.
Their blood was highly valuable, used as a key ingredient in various potions.

And Ice Trolls?
They possessed regeneration five times greater than normal trolls.
They had evolved that way to survive the brutal cold.

Naturally, potions made with Ice Troll blood were five times more effective.

The Emperor had every last Ice Troll captured and processed their blood into potions to supply his Imperial Army.
He even drove the Ice Trolls to extinction in the wild to prevent the Allied Forces from using them.

So, wild Ice Trolls were now nonexistent across the continent.
The only ones that remained were kept in the imperial research labs beneath the palace.

Even I, who was born in the North, had only ever seen an Ice Troll once in my life…

“…Wait. Don’t tell me.”

A memory flashed across my mind.

The first—and last—time I saw an Ice Troll.
It was nearly 15 years ago.

That was when the head of the House of Whitewolf, my father, passed away.

After the funeral, his will was read aloud.
And everything—the family, the territory, the title—was handed not to me, but to my younger sister.

I protested, but no one sided with me.

Everyone believed that the competent younger sister was more deserving of being the head of the house and the Lord of the County, rather than me, the good-for-nothing scoundrel who wasted his life on gambling and pleasure.

Just like that, I became the outcast.
I couldn’t take it anymore and left the family behind.

I wandered the snowy mountains for days.

And then…

KRAAAAH—!

That’s when I encountered an Ice Troll.

It was the one and only time I had ever seen one.

Even though it happened over 15 years ago, I remembered it vividly.
That was the turning point that changed my life completely.

So if this really is the snowy north where House Whitewolf is located…
And if that thing drooling at me really is an Ice Troll…

“…Then have I… gone back in time?”

That was the only conclusion I could come to.

Translatin_Otaku

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