——————
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
——————
Chapter 25
I took Jeanne to a Korean restaurant.
"Sir Seojun, there's pepper here."
Jeanne's eyes widened as she looked at the pepper shaker on the table.
"You've never had pepper before, have you?"
"I've only seen the bishop use it occasionally."
In the Middle Ages, pepper was a luxury item. People exchanged it as gifts, collected it like precious jewels, and stored it carefully. Nobles often used pepper to showcase their wealth to commoners.
Seeing pepper shakers on every table, Jeanne looked a little nervous.
"Did we come to an expensive place?"
"Yes, it's a bit pricey."
Jeanne’s reaction was so amusing that I felt like teasing her a little.
When the side dishes arrived kimchi, japchae, anchovies, and more Jeanne looked overwhelmed.
"…Sir Seojun, should we leave? I'm fine with just a piece of bread."
She was clearly startled by the sheer variety of dishes. Foreigners often found the number of side dishes in Korean restaurants surprising, but Jeanne's reaction was on another level.
Seeing that she might actually get up and leave, I quickly reassured her.
"It's okay. These are all common foods people eat every day."
"These are…?"
"Yes. You can eat as much as you want."
When I explained that pepper was an ordinary spice anyone could get, Jeanne puffed out her cheeks in mild annoyance. She had realized I had deliberately withheld the information just to tease her.
"But… you've already bought me clothes. Is it really okay for me to eat all this?"
"You can just help me out in return someday."
"If there's anything I can do, please tell me."
Once I framed it as a debt to be repaid, Jeanne finally seemed more at ease.
Before eating, she clasped her hands together and offered a prayer.
Of course, it was nothing like the long, elaborate prayers people used to say before meals those days.
Jeanne had never had the opportunity to learn to read, so she didn’t know much about the Bible. She simply closed her eyes for a brief moment, then looked up.
Watching me eat, Jeanne hesitantly picked up her spoon and took a bite of rice with soybean paste soup.
Honestly, I was a little nervous.
I had brought her here to introduce her to Korean food, but I had no idea whether she would actually like it.
After all, she was used to the lightly seasoned food of the Middle Ages.
"It's delicious!"
My worries were unnecessary.
Her eyes widened in delight as she chewed her food.
"This soup is salty but really tasty."
"It's called soybean paste soup."
She carefully scooped small portions of the soup with rice, the strong seasoning making her eat in small bites, but she never stopped.
"Oh, this is good too!"
From japchae to kimchi, spinach, and bulgogi; Jeanne ate everything without hesitation.
I was relieved that the food suited her taste.
‘She eats surprisingly well.’
Her small mouth moved delicately as she chewed, yet before I knew it, her bowl was empty.
It was a stark contrast to how she had eaten before.
Throughout the Hundred Years’ War, Jeanne had either fasted or eaten just enough to survive.
That must have been her as a saint.
But the real Jeanne was a girl who ate heartily, without being picky.
After finishing our meal, we wandered through the city without any particular destination.
The neon signs lighting up the streets, the cars speeding by, the people glued to their phones as they hurried along.
It was a familiar sight to me, but for Jeanne, everything was a new experience.
"Sir Seojun, look at that! It’s… coffee."
She pointed warily at a Dunkin’ Donuts advertisement featuring a large cup of coffee.
‘Right, coffee was once considered the devil’s drink.’
Back in her time, coffee was seen as an evil beverage consumed only by heretics.
She seemed amazed that something once deemed sinful was now being openly advertised on the streets.
"That drink was baptized by the Pope, Jeanne."
"Coffee was?"
"Apparently, he liked it so much he gave it his blessing."
In the 16th century, a pope, astonished that only heretics were enjoying such a delicious drink, found a way to justify drinking it himself by baptizing it.
And so, coffee became the first and only beverage to ever receive a formal blessing as food.
"It’s pretty good. Try some."
On a whim, I took her into Dunkin’ Donuts and ordered coffee and donuts.
Since it was cold outside, I got her a warm Americano.
"How is it?"
"I can see why it deserved a blessing."
Her playful remark made me chuckle, but then I decided to bring up something I had been holding back.
"Jeanne, you probably won’t be able to go back home."
"…I had a feeling."
"Are you not sad about it?"
"Even if I went back, wouldn’t I just end up on the pyre again?"
She said it like a joke, but deep down, she knew the truth.
France had abandoned her.
Even knowing that her homeland had cast her aside, she accepted reality with quiet dignity.
She almost seemed relieved free from the burden of being a saint.
"Seojun, what are those things everyone is holding?"
"They’re called smartphones. With them, you can communicate with people all over the world."
"Like letters?"
"Similar, but they do much more. You can even see each other’s faces while talking."
"That’s amazing."
She was trying her best to adapt to this new world, eagerly absorbing everything on her first day.
She kept asking me questions, and I did my best to explain everything in a way she could understand.
Of all the things I told her, what amazed her the most was the advancement of science.
"Humans have traveled to the moon?"
"Not just the moon. We’re also exploring the Sun and other stars."
"The Sun…"
With a donut in her mouth, her violet eyes widened like a rabbit's. It was adorable.
"There are even machines that fly in the sky."
"They don’t fall?"
"Sometimes accidents happen, but most of the time, they’re safe."
Even though she hadn’t asked, I kept talking about modern civilization, unable to stop myself.
There was something oddly satisfying about watching her reactions.
After all, even people born in this era were still amazed by how far technology had come AI replacing humans and all.
From the perspective of a 15th century European, modern civilization must have sounded like something from another world.
Over the next few days, I introduced Jeanne to many modern civilisations.
We rode public transport, visited the aquarium, and saw the Coex.
Before we knew it, the daytime streets had turned into evening.
‘Where is the last place you want to go?’
The cinema, the forest of buildings at Gangnam Station. There were so many places I hadn't seen yet.
The modern world was full of attractions.
But.......
‘I want to go to a place where history is written.’
Jeanne wanted to go to a place where the history of the past was recorded, not modern civilization.
She wanted to see history that was relevant to her.
‘Then we should go to the library.’
I took her to the large library at COEX.
Joan of Arc was such a famous figure that it was easy to find records about her.
"……."
Jeanne silently read through the history that followed her death.
Her expression was far from bright.
The fates of those connected to her were nothing one could call fortunate, not even as a lie.
Gilles de Rais, her most devoted knight, lost his mind after her execution and turned to dark sorcery. The Duke of Alençon, her benefactor and comrade-in-arms, was stripped of his lands, sentenced to death, and perished in prison.
The rest of their stories were just as tragic.
"So, this is how it all ended."
Watching her quietly reflect on the past, I asked,
"Do you want to visit France?"
"I'm curious, but it's okay."
Jeanne closed the history book and returned it to the shelf, as if signaling that her role in that chapter was over.
Then, she turned to me with a bright smile.
"As long as I can help you now, that's enough for me."
***
As the sun set and we returned to the shop, Jeanne suddenly dissolved into light.
Thud—
The plastic bag of groceries she had been carrying dropped to the floor, landing with an empty sound.
And then, the status window appeared.
[Jeanne D’ Arc's materialization time has ended.]
[Re-summon cooldown: 02:00]
"……."
Just as relics brought from another world could not remain permanently in this one, neither could Jeanne.
She was a being cast out from her own world, belonging nowhere.
Could this truly be called "salvation"?
[As the Connector's mana increases, the re-summon time will decrease.]
Hmm.
"I need to get stronger."
So that two hours would become one.
One hour would become thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes would shrink to one minute, then to a second.
And then, eventually, she would never disappear at all…
I had found my goal.
And as if in response to my determination.
==
Napoleon’s Rifle (1)
[Toulon Gate]
—Exterminate the beast that has taken over Toulon Harbor.
[Difficulty: B]
[Status: Unstable]
[Clear Condition: Napoleon’s Rifle]
[Reward: Summon Reset Ticket]
==
Napoleon’s Rifle had issued a quest.
[PR/N: There’s a character illustration of Jeanne in this chapter.]
——————
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
——————
