Chapter 102
‘What? Ending Spoiler?’
Lloyd’s eyes widened.
It was a message he never expected.
He couldn’t believe it, so he checked the skill window two more times, reading carefully.
‘It’s real.’
The system never lies.
Lloyd had already gained countless benefits thanks to the Affection system and RP.
He calmly organized his thoughts.
Ending Spoiler.
Just from the skill name, he had a rough idea of what kind of skill it was.
‘Right. I’ve basically entered the world of a novel. But because of my actions, the story’s already changed a lot. And now it’s going to show me the future of that changed story? That’s exactly what I need right now.’
Come to think of it, that was true.
Originally, the Baron Frontera household should’ve been ruined by now in “The Iron-Blooded Knight.”
The baron and his wife, Lloyd, and Julian.
They all should’ve met miserable deaths.
But none of them had died.
The barony didn’t collapse.
Most of its debts were resolved, and it was thriving.
No one had died, either.
‘Same for Javier.’
If you went by the novel, Javier should still have been a top-level Sword Expert, not even having completed the Asrahan Heart Technique, just wandering on his adventures.
But now?
‘He’s already become a Swordmaster. He’s reached Triple Circle in the Asrahan Heart Technique and can use Confined Blasting at will.’
He’d advanced by years compared to the original.
At this rate, who knew how much stronger he’d get.
Maybe he’d even surpass the original, who reached Grandmaster and Hexa Circle.
‘Anyway, over the past year and a half, I’ve changed a lot of things here. All things I’ve done. It’s good. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any downsides.’
Naturally, there was a serious drawback.
The future was getting harder and harder to predict.
‘It’s because of me. My actions affect this world, and those effects twist and alter the novel’s cause and effect. Results completely different from the original story keep happening and piling up.’
So, more and more situations would unfold far from the original history.
That trend would only grow stronger going forward.
‘This was just like that.’
The attempted regicide.
In the original story, that event shouldn’t have happened for another two and a half years.
But now it happened much earlier.
He didn’t even know the reason yet.
No matter how much he thought about it, he had no guesses.
That was the problem.
‘It means the relative advantage I had in this world so far is disappearing.’
The monopoly and asymmetry of information.
Having knowledge no one else did.
All possible because he’d read “The Iron-Blooded Knight.”
To the people here, it looked like near-prophetic foresight.
But what if the situation here kept drifting away from the novel? If things kept moving further from the original?
‘Then prediction becomes impossible.’
He’d gradually lose his greatest weapon: information superiority.
Thinking about it, it was a real problem.
‘But just as I started to regret that, a skill that lets me foresee the future appears.’
Lloyd looked at the skill window again.
He checked the skill details.
Ding-dong.
[Skill Name: Ending Spoiler]
[Skill Grade: ???]
[Required CP: 20 (first use)]
[By consuming a certain amount of CP, you can take a brief peek at a portion of the ending scene that will unfold at the grand finale of the current story. It could be a happy ending or a sad ending.]
‘Just as I thought.’
It was as expected.
‘Then let’s give it a try.’
From here on, a glimpse of the future’s ending scene.
The thought of seeing it made his heart pound with excitement.
‘I hope it shows me a life where I grow old like a honeybee, just savoring the sweet stuff.’
A life without want.
A wife who’s a perfect match.
One son, one daughter.
Two dogs, maybe a cat too.
Wondering what to have for dinner.
Thinking about where to go for the summer family vacation.
That’s the biggest worry in life.
A life that slow and peaceful.
That’s the ending he wanted to glimpse.
‘And it’s also for insurance, just in case.’
He might spot some obstacle that could threaten his sweet honeybee life.
If he did, he’d prepare and deal with it right away.
So, with the feeling of buying a little insurance, Lloyd rolled his eyes to the skill window’s ‘Activate’ button.
Click.
[Do you want to use Ending Spoiler?]
[CP to Consume: 20 (first use)]
[Current CP: 22]
[YES / NO]
‘Of course, yes.’
Ding-dong.
[Ending Spoiler is being activated.]
[20 CP has been consumed.]
[Current CP: 2]
A series of messages related to skill activation popped up.
Then, it happened.
Tzzzzzz…!
Time around him froze.
The wind stopped blowing.
The grasshoppers flying by.
Even the early autumn leaves that were falling.
Everything stopped in midair, as if preserved.
‘What….’
Just as he thought that—
The space five steps in front of him wavered.
It shimmered, then split open.
A round, pure white passage opened.
‘A portal?’
It certainly looked that way.
He couldn’t see inside, everything was white.
But it wavered as if beckoning him to come in.
It was like a pond freshly filled with milk.
‘Will it be okay?’
He hesitated for a moment.
But the system was always right.
He decided to trust it.
He stepped forward.
Reached out his hand.
Splash.
His fingertips made ripples on the milky surface.
The ripples spread. He drew his hand back. Gently. As if being led. Step by step. He walked inside.
And then, his vision was filled with a flash.
Fwaaa…!
Did he blink, or did a new scene unfold before his eyes?
If so, what was this ground covered in bloodstains he was seeing?
‘What…’
Lloyd tried to open his eyes wide.
But his body wouldn’t move as he wanted.
His mind wanted to widen his eyes, but his body only grimaced tightly.
On top of that, he even let out a mutter that wasn’t of his own will.
“At that time… I should’ve come back as soon as possible.”
As soon as possible? Come back?
It was a voice full of regret.
What was that supposed to mean?
What was this situation?
His mouth moved again.
“If I had, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Once more, a voice brimming with remorse.
Slowly, the head began to lift.
Only then did the surrounding scene come into focus.
It was a village in ruins. Houses and trees had been torn apart and devoured. Corpses were scattered everywhere. Crows, drooling, gathered around. It all unfolded before his eyes, burning itself into his mind like a brand.
‘What… What is this?’
Why was he seeing this scene through the Ending Spoiler?
As he wondered, suddenly a familiar sight caught his eye.
A road running through the ashen village.
It stretched straight ahead.
A road.
Six meters wide.
Its center raised higher than the edges.
It was paved tightly with flat stones, each seventy centimeters across.
On the edge of the road, there were drainage ditches fifty centimeters wide and twenty centimeters deep.
Beyond those, solid, three-meter-wide sidewalks bordered both sides of the road.
He looked closer.
Somehow, it was familiar.
Right.
The Appian Road.
Modeled after an old Roman road.
Ppodong dug with all his might, the engineering corps packed it down.
People doubted, tilted their heads in suspicion.
Sometimes they shot suspicious glances.
But he kept digging, packing, building.
Eventually, everyone acknowledged it.
But why?
Those people who’d nodded back then.
The many who’d applauded him.
Why were they now lying dead all over the place?
The tavern owner, killed while fleeing.
The engineer, devoured while fighting back.
So many people, killed screaming.
That meant this was…
‘Frontera Estate? This is…?’
A chill ran down his spine. He couldn’t believe it.
But at that moment—
Buuuuuu-!
A bizarre roar sounded from the distant sky.
He turned and looked up.
Black clouds covered the sky.
They were coming fast.
No, not clouds.
Ordinary moisture droplets don’t have compound eyes or wings.
“Lord Lloyd, get back. Hurry.”
A voice blocked his way.
Javier’s back.
Even that figure was quickly swallowed by darkness.
A mass like storm clouds blocked out the sky. The sun disappeared. Darkness swallowed everything. Within it, tens of thousands of pairs of compound eyes approached rapidly. A storm of beating wings.
“…!”
What did Javier shout in those last moments?
He couldn’t tell.
Fwaa—!
A flash filled his vision.
He instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.
“……”
Chirrr, chirr.
Under the night air brushing his skin, the peaceful sound of grasshoppers came.
He listened, then slowly opened his eyes.
The palace’s garden behind his lodgings came into view.
No more ruins, no corpses.
Lloyd found himself pressing both hands to his knees.
“…Whew.”
Cold sweat dripped down his forehead.
His arms were covered in goosebumps.
His teeth clenched on their own.
“What did I just see?”
It was definitely called the Ending Spoiler.
It said it would show a brief glimpse of the ending this scenario would reach, if things continued as they were.
It definitely did that.
‘But if things keep going this way, that’s the ending I’ll get?’
He’d finally paid off all the barony’s debts.
He finally had the conditions for a peaceful, comfortable life.
He was just about to return to the barony.
‘And that barony ends up a heap of ash?’
He couldn’t believe it.
He started to wonder if it was some kind of trick.
But Lloyd shook his head sharply.
‘No, it can’t be a lie.’
He’d prospered this far thanks to the Affection and RP systems.
But what if he doubted the skill’s effect just because it showed something negative?
If he let his guard down like that?
‘Then I might really end up like what I just saw.’
At the very least, he needed to prepare.
Even if it was a lie.
It wouldn’t hurt to be ready.
For now, what he needed most was to prevent that wretched ending.
So the very first thing he had to do was analyze.
‘Alright, let’s review what I just saw.’
First, Lloyd took a deep breath.
He calmed his pounding heart.
His eyes slowly regained their composure.
‘First, the place. It was definitely the Frontera Barony. The Appian Road I saw among the ruins proves it.’
What about the timing?
‘It was the near future.’
The ending scene he’d just glimpsed and experienced.
His voice in that ending was no different from now.
He hadn’t aged or changed.
And Javier, who he barely glimpsed at the end, was the same.
He still looked as young as he did now.
‘He was even wearing the same traveling clothes from the trip to the capital.’
So, was this what would happen when he returned to the barony?
It felt likely.
He was nearly certain.
‘Next, what caused the disaster.’
Lloyd recalled the scene at the very end of the Ending Spoiler.
The thing like dark clouds covering the sky.
Tens of thousands of compound eyes.
The sound of a storm’s wings.
He saw it clearly.
A swarm of giant locusts, each seventy centimeters long.
‘Damn. So after the financial crisis comes a physical crisis.’
He’d run around for a year and a half, working hard for money.
Finally, he’d paid off the barony’s huge debt.
And now, just when he was about to enjoy peace, a physical disaster.
It was infuriating.
It was like finally surviving an economic crisis only for the country to plunge into war.
‘Did they think I’d lose my honey pot that easily!’
The barony was his lifelong honey pot.
His precious insurance, savings account, and pension—all lovingly cultivated.
He couldn’t just lose it like that.
If he did?
The result was obvious.
The queen would express regret and sympathy, and with nowhere else to go, he’d be summoned to the capital.
She would work him like a diligent servant—or rather, as if he were her summoned beast.
He’d spend the rest of his life working, just like back in the army, when he became the quartermaster’s errand boy.
He hated that idea.
Lloyd jumped to his feet.
‘Come to think of it, that line is what bothers me most.’
He recalled his own monologue from the Ending Spoiler—saying he should have come back sooner.
He started to think that the “then” he mentioned might be “now.”
Lloyd’s pace quickened.
He didn’t care that it was late at night, or that it was past midnight.
He headed straight for the palace.
He was stopped and questioned by the Thorn Knights now guarding in place of the royal guards, but that didn’t matter.
He was the one who had saved the queen.
As soon as he revealed his identity, it was a free pass.
“I have an urgent report for Her Majesty the Queen.”
Maybe it was the tension in his voice.
He was immediately escorted to the queen’s office.
“Come in.”
Her answer came as soon as he announced his business.
The door opened.
The queen sat at a desk piled high with documents.
She was probably reviewing the investigation results about the regicide attempt.
She looked over at him, fatigue clear on her face and in her eyes.
“Lloyd Frontera. What business do you have with me at this late hour?”
Was she asking if he had any new information about the incident?
Lloyd quickly wiped away his wry smile.
Instead, he put on a serious, earnest expression.
Now was the moment to hurry back to his estate.
But if he rushed back without proper preparation, it would only end in disaster.
‘That’s why I need support. The highest level of support I can get in this situation.’
If you want support from someone high up, you need to bait the hook just right.
With that in mind, Lloyd spoke in a deliberately tense voice.
“Your Majesty. I, Lloyd Frontera, humbly report that a catastrophic disaster is likely to strike the Cremona region—including Frontera Barony and the eastern border area—in the very near future.”
“What?”
The queen tilted her head, her eyebrows knitting slightly.
The bait was set perfectly.
Confident, Lloyd began to speak.
* * * * * *
(T/N: Still not back to a regular upload schedule, but I’ll be uploading at least 5 chapters per series every week, in order based on the most recent series I picked up. No fixed days yet, but I’ll keep the bulk uploads coming as best as I can!)
