Return of the Frozen Player

"You can go in through this door,” guided River.

"Wow, that\'s an amazing skill. Now don\'t call me Skayamon. Call him Rivermon instead." [1]

The door that River pulled out of his inventory was directly connected to his Moving House (B). Entering the house, the Watchguards looked at Specter with dumbfounded expressions.

"…Wait, are my eyes working right?”

“I-isn\'t he Specter-nim?"

"Sniff, I couldn\'t wash up so I smell, oh no!”

They were all big fans of Specter, so their responses were as expected. However, Skaya\'s eyes narrowed as she watched.

"…It\'s been a while since I felt this way," Skaya muttered.

It had been a long time since she had felt like a folding screen.

"Gasp! T-The archmage, too!?"

"Crazy, did she appear by magic?”

"She’s as good as we heard…”

"I didn\'t even feel the flow of magic…”

"I’ve been here from the beginning, though…” Sighing, Skaya approached them and checked their restraints.

"Would you be able to release it for us?”

Skaya nodded at River\'s request. "Well, there\'s a lot of complicated magic at cast here, but...” In an instant, she reverse-engineered and disassembled the magic in the restraints and tore them apart. "I\'m an archmage."

"Wow, thank you!"

"I feel a lot better now that I can feel magic.”

"Anyway, I never expected to see the 5 Heroes with my own eyes...”

They once again looked at Specter and the archmage, then they saw the man next to Arthur...

"If it’s blond hair, then perhaps?"

"...No way."

pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ "N-no, it could be, since Specter-nim and the archmage-nim are back…”

Gilberto nodded quietly at the oddly anticipating Watchguards. "I am Arthur\'s father. Be good friends with my child.”

“…!”

Arthur’s father meant that he was Gilberto Green! The Watchguards were overflowing with emotions as they saw the heroes they had only seen in books here in one place.

"It\'s really like a dream...”

"T-Then, the King of Destruction and the Sky Phoenix…?”

"They\'re not here," Arthur answered, and the Watchguards looked at him.

The moment they checked their wound-covered leader with a cast on one arm, their excitement subsided and was quickly replaced by shame.

"…I\'m sorry, Arthur."

"I wasn’t able to help Leader this time, either.”

"We were more like a burden… Damn it!"

"Don\'t blame yourself. The other party was strong. More than I expected... A lot more."

A self-deprecating smile loomed over Arthur\'s face. How could he not know their feelings?

‘I\'m just as weak.’

Arthur once again felt something through this incident—being weak was a sin. He felt it keenly.

‘I guess I was just a Player of that caliber after all.’

There was a time when he was full of confidence. He chased after the Squadron member without being caught for three years, so he thought that his skills must have improved. But it turned out that the entire thing had been an illusion all this time.

‘How am I different from a clown?’

Was this how Truman, the main character of The Truman Show, felt? The emptiness and resentment of being played at the hands of the fiends settled deep in his heart.

“It\'s a little hectic." As the Watchguards rose from their seats, River felt like his house was small. He spoke as he opened another entrance, "Shall we go to the hideout and talk? It\'s too tight here."

The Watchguards nodded at Arthur\'s suggestion. Arriving at the Watchguards\' hideout, Skaya pointed to the entrance with a shocked expression.

"W-wait, what is this? Who cast this magic?”

A magician Watchguard raised his hand timidly. "I did it, but..."

"Did you perhaps put fingerprint, iris, and biometric data recognition magic?"

"That is correct." The magician nodded confidently.

He was a magician who had received the privilege to enter the 4th floor of the magic tower. He was proud of his skills. But Skaya lost her mind at his level of security magic.

"What, are you living in 2019? If you\'re going to do this, why don\'t you just call the neighborhood key guy and install a door lock?"

The magician\'s shoulders shrank at her harsh criticism. Although there had been a spy named Jang Seon-Ho, his security system still didn’t manage to prevent the intrusion of the other fiends.

"Everyone else, grab your belongings."

At Specter’s order, which wasn’t really an order, the Watchguards rushed to move. Afterward, Specter approached Arthur and asked, "Do you have a hideout somewhere else? We need to shut this place down since it was discovered.”

"Uh… There is one on the side of the Wailing Mountains, but..."

It was a place famous for its rugged mountain range, and it was also a place where people would be hard-pressed to find your corpse if you died.

‘But it\'s not bad for a training camp...’

In fact, it was perfect.

"Give the coordinates to Skaya.”

"Okay..."

After a while, the Watchguards came over to the living room with all their luggage.

"We\'re all ready!"

"Let\'s see..."

Skaya checked their luggage one by one and confirmed no tracking magic was in place.

"They’re clean, so let\'s move to the hideout on the side of the Wailing Mountains."

"I-I will help you..."

When the magician from earlier volunteered to help, Skaya stared at him. "What\'s your name?"

"My name is Dollerson."

"Alright, Dol-Dol. I appreciate your goodwill, but…"

"It\'s not Dol-Dol…”

Skaya ignored what he said, and the moment she clapped her hands lightly, the crowd of over 30 was quickly moved to another place. "I\'m more comfortable doing it alone."

It was not an emotion-inducing scene for Seo Jun-Ho and Gilberto, but it was different for the others.

"W-wide Area Teleport…!”

"Her complexion hasn\'t changed a bit even after moving over thirty people.”

"Is this the power of the archmage-nim?"

Dol-Dol, no, Dollerson looked at Skaya with trembling eyes. He knew better than anyone that she was amazing. After all, Skaya Killiland, the archmage, was once called the greatest magician on Earth.

‘But it has been 26 years...’

She had never even been to the magic tower. On the other hand, he had entered the magic tower and trained there painstakingly.

Magic meant exploring knowledge that had been in use and established hundreds of years ago.

\'But even I can\'t use a Wide Area Teleport this cleanly...’

The amount of magic one had didn’t matter. It was a question of how good their magic control was and the depths of their understanding of magic.

‘I should put more effort into learning…’

While Dol-Dol’s desire to learn was ignited, Specter and Gilberto were looking around the new hideout.

"It\'s bigger than I thought…"

"The area is well divided…”

The hideout was in better shape than they thought. Specter pointed to a room, slightly poking Gilberto in the ribs.

"Take a rest first.”

"...Take care of the rest for me, then."

Gilberto entered the room, and Specter called Skaya, "Take a look at Gilbe."

"Yeah, leave it to me."

As Skaya followed him into the room, Specter turned his head. “Let\'s unpack and rest for a while. You all must be tired.”

"Oh, thank you."

"I will see you in a while, then."

Specter looked at the map of the hideout that a Watchguard gave him and thought for a while. The Frost Queen, who had been hiding until now, quietly opened her mouth, "Are you going to train them?"

"To a certain extent, yes…"

"Hmm, I think it is better for you to develop your strength first."

"I agree, so I won\'t hold on to them long. At most, 15 days?"

"…If it’s that short, is it any better than not doing it?"

"No, that\'s plenty."

Specter added with a deep smile, "You\'ll find out soon enough."

***

Knock, Knock.

Gilberto answered without even looking at the door, "It\'s open."

Skaya entered the room, nodded, and looked around. "The room is surprisingly well-organized. You could even stay here for a while."

"What\'s going on?"

When Gilberto asked while basked in cold sweat, Skaya smirked.

"It has been a while since I saw you, but you still know how to grumble…"

Gilberto sat with a nonchalant look while emitting a domineering vibe, but…

"It\'s obvious to us that you’re overdoing it."

Gilberto couldn\'t hide it from his comrades who had spent years with him. Gilberto laughed awkwardly and muttered, "Did Jun-Ho notice it?"

"He told me to come here first. Well, I would’ve come here even if he didn\'t tell me.”

Skaya took a wooden box out of her Inventory and retrieved a syringe from it.

"Why did you overdo it as soon as you woke up? I even had to recuperate when I just woke up."

"…Fiends were harassing Arthur.”

"That\'s why you get called a son-loving fool," Skaya said as she stuck the syringe into his forearm.

"So what? It’s a father\'s feelings after seeing his son all grown up."

“…”

Taking the Sap of Rejuvenation, Gilberto looked down at the floor with a much better complexion.

"He looks like me..."

"Well, he looks a little cuter than you."

"…He has some of his mother’s looks."

"Your wife must have been a beauty...”

Not even the 5 Heroes knew Arthur\'s mother. They only heard that she had been an ordinary person instead of a Player and that she had died giving birth to Arthur. Gilberto often spoke of her.

"I\'m confused, sorry for Arthur, and relieved that I wasn’t too late...”

After hearing her comrade\'s honest feelings, Skaya nodded quietly. “You know, I also felt that way when I came back, but I guess 26 years is a long time."

It was enough time for plenty of things to change.

"Yeah, it\'s a long time. It’s enough to… change a person\'s body and mind."

Gilberto turned his head slightly. Within Skaya\'s slightly lowered gaze, there were strange emotions. It was an expression as if she were recalling someone.

"Did you have your heart broken?"

"No!"

Pat!

Skaya mercilessly hit the patient on the back and roughly pulled the syringe out.

"Ugh."

"The treatment’s almost done! Get well on your own now!"

When Skaya huffed and puffed out of the room, Gilberto murmured, blinking, “Some things just don’t change…”

Her personality didn’t change even after 26 years.

***

Specter went to Arthur\'s room.

Knock, knock.

"Can I come in for a minute?”

When he knocked on the door, Arthur, who was sitting on the bed with his head lowered, jumped up to receive him.

"Oh, come on in."

It still felt awkward. There were times when Arthur called him either Specter or Uncle.

"Sit down, sit down..."

Seo Jun-Ho told Arthur to sit down, pulled up a chair for himself, and sat down before looking at Arthur. "You look worried."

"It\'s just... There’s bound to be a lot."

Arthur’s faith in himself was broken. He didn’t even know what to do in the future anymore. He was bound to be confused about what to do since he was the leader of a group.

"Arthur..."

Specter saw through his feelings. He could see Gilberto from 29 years ago in Arthur.

"You know what your father, my friend, Gilberto\'s nickname is, right?”

"…the Gray Envoy?"

"Not that..."

"America’s Treasure.”

"Yes…"

Gilberto had a wide variety of skills. Therefore, after he had become one of the 5 Heroes, he had received the nickname ‘America’s Treasure.’

"But he once had a terrible nickname..."

"…You mean the Trashcan. I personally hate that nickname."

Arthur made a grim face at his father’s horrible nickname. At the same time, he looked at the Specter. There must be a reason why Specter suddenly brought this up.

"The bottom of the bottom. Gilberto entered Gates while enduring the Players\' scorn and contempt."

"…Why did he go so far?”

"It\'s because of you..."

“…!”

Arthur\'s eyes shook like a sailboat that met waves.

"He had a small life to take responsibility for. And at that time, there wasn\'t much legal system in place for Players to do anything other than hunting."

"…I didn\'t know that."

He had no idea why his father lived his life as a Player. Arthur clenched his fists when he heard what Seo Jun-Ho said.

"There is no ship in the world that hasn’t met waves. It\'s just the difference between being stranded by the waves or overcoming the waves."

"…My father overcame it.”

"He overcame it bravely. As a result, he was called one of the 5 Heroes and became one of the strongest Players on Earth."

Arthur\'s head cleared up. Specter, his uncle, was teaching him, using his own father’s story.

\'For Players who have something to protect... Does he mean it’s a waste of time to be in a slump?\'

Arthur looked up. He had the eyes of someone looking ahead, not behind.

"I heard it was Uncle who dug my father out of the mud."

"Mmm-mmm, I trained Gilbe."

Arthur suddenly stood up, knelt on the floor, and bowed.

"Please teach me, too!"

"...Hmm? It’ll be hard, though…” said Specter, crossing his legs.

"I\'m confident in overcoming any training."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"By the way, why don\'t you give that opportunity to your comrades too rather than just becoming stronger by yourself?”

"…Are you saying that you will give the other Watchguards a chance to be trained?"

"Well, if they don’t want it, it can\'t be helped…"

"No way!"

Arthur raised his head and cried out. “I will make each and every one of them listen, even if I have to whip them into it!”

It was Specter’s teachings. Would there really be an idiot who wouldn’t want a chance that you couldn’t even buy with thousands of gold? Of course, if there was such an idiot, they should be scolded and forced to learn.

"Really?" Specter nodded slowly. Beyond the mask, the corners of his mouth were rising. "Just so you know, this is not something I suggested…"

"Of course, I asked first."

"Well, I respect your choice. But if your Dad stops you...”

"I\'ll persuade him."

"Good, very good. Perfect." Specter clapped with a satisfied look.

Everything went as planned.

1. These nicknames are combining their names with Doraemon, a kid’s anime character, that has a 4D front pocket that can produce a bunch of random things. And Doraemon also has the "Anywhere Door," which lets him go anywhere ba dum tss ☜