Dinner in Felicia's mansion was as usual, very delicious. Victor had not expected a dish made in the medieval times to even be edible in the modern times. But he had guessed wrong. Since this world had magic, he could also set aside his concerns for hygiene and such. This world probably had some sort of healing magic to heal him if he got sick. Besides, looking at the wealth owned by Felicia and the amount of servants she had, the food was probably being cooked in hygienic conditions.

Putting aside the quality of the food, Victor was in good mood, atleast the best he had ever been in since he got isekaie'd. As for why, well it was of course due to the news he had gotten earlier this day. It was an opportunity to go back home.

While he did think he could have accepted living in this world (with many difficulties, of course), he would much prefer going back to his own instead. Since, Crass had stated that the great spirit couldn't grant every wish in the world, there was only a chance that his wish of going back would be fulfilled. Victor did think how this sounded like a scam, but he still had hope. Enough to motivate him to prepare for the journey as much as possible to maximise the probability of success.

He was ready to get his hopes betrayed rather than to lose it and be left with nothing. 

As for the journey, Felicia and Crass had assured him that the preparations for it would be handled by them. Currently though, they were sitting in the dinner room alongside Victor.

Victor: "So, about what we talked about earlier..........."

Felicia: "Ah! Don't worry, Victor. We will take care of all the required preparations. You can just sit back and relax."

Victor tried to initiate conversation with the master and knight duo to try to inquire about some things. Both of them appeared to be suprised upon hearing Victor's sudden utterance. This was probably due to the fact that for the past few days, Victor had either decided to eat alone or eaten at the dinner table in complete silence. So, suprised by his question, Felicia responded enthusiastically with grand gestures.

Victor himself was aware how strange he seemed right now, but since he needed to co-operate with these people for the upcoming journey, he would need to socialise with them sooner or later. 

'So, might as well do it now.'

But small talk wasn't the only thing he wanted to talk about right now.

Victor: "That's all well and good. But, I just had some questions."

Felicia: "Questions? Feel free to ask then. We will answer to the best of our abilities."

'How do I exactly phrase this??'

Victor: "So........ how does this wishing system exactly work?"

'Wishing system? Really? Is this some kind of gacha game?'

After Victor asked the question, Felicia adorned a confused expression. Tilting her head she looked at Crass passing him the metaphorical baton.

Crass: "Let me answer that for you. It is quite simple, you see. Whoever climbs a mountain in that specific month would get one wish from the spirit."

Raising his eyebrows, Victor asked.

Victor: "Only one?"

Crass: "I assume you have read the folktale 'The Man who Conquered the Twin Peaks '?"

Victor nodded.

Crass: "That makes it easier to explain. In the story, it is stated that Talhand got three wishes from the great spirit, but this contradicts every other account of someone meeting the great spirit. Everyone else who were able to climb the mountains only got one wish. So we have to assume that we also will only get one wish."

Victor: "Per person or one wish for the entire group."

Crass: "As stated in the records, one wish per person."

Victor: "That's......"

'Good'

It seemed like Crass also did not know the specifics of the system and was likely reciting what was given in historical records.

For the 'one wish per person ' Victor thought that it would be three instead of one. Come to think of it, in the story he had read out of Talhand's three wishes, two of them were still unknown. Assuming that Talhand himself stated that he got three wishes, there exists three possibilities. Either in Talhand's first wish he also stated that every subsequent climber would only be granted one wish instead of one or he also only got one wish and lied abou getting three.

'But those seem unlikely ' Victor thought.

The last possibility was that the spirit just made up that condition as it went. This one seemed the most plausible since it was the spirit who decided that 'once every decade in a specific month ' shenanigans. But without a more concrete source of information, Victor could not come to a conclusion.

Putting that aside there were still a few things left to ask.

Victor: "Aside from Talhand, who were the other people to climb the Twin Peaks?"

Crass: "Talhand was the first one who managed to do it about 300 years ago. After him only three others have succeeded. 

100 years after Talhand, a man named Holt was able to conquer them. His reason for the climb was to save his dying mother and father.

It is said that a bunch of thieves had ransacked his home and also caused harm to his mother and father and kidnapped his sister. When Holt had returned home, he immediately set out again to find help through the knights upon seeing the condition of his home. Unfortunately the local knights did not give him any attention. Seeing that they were dealing with a notorious gang, they did not deem a peasant's pleas worthy enough to pick a fight with the gang, thus violating the principles of the knights.

Devastated by the lack of help, Holt was left with no money to treat his mother and father and didn't have the strength required to save his sister. He was cornered. That's when he heard about the great spirit above the mountain who could grant wishes. As a last resort, he sold all his property and house to buy supplies for climbing and go ask the spirit for help.

He carried his mother and father who were in a near-death state due to their injuries in baskets. Attaching the baskets to a carrying stick he carried them until he had scaled both the mountains. Once Holt was in front of the great spirit, the spirit healed his mother upto perfect health for her wish.

But when it came to doing the same thing for his father, the spirit replied that it couldn't do it. It couldn't bring back people from the dead. Holt's father had unfortunately passed away in his journey up the mountains. He had died in the last stretch of the journey due to the injuries inflicted by the thugs.

Devastated by the loss, Holt's mind was overtaken by rage and hatred. He couldn't believe that all his efforts were now going to go in vain. But the spirit remained him that he still had his one wish. After a while, he pointed a finger to his village. Pointing his finger to his home village where the gang's hideout was also located he asked the spirit.........."

Victor: "What did he ask for?"

Crass: "To kill everyone there except for his sister. For his wish, Holt had asked to kill the knights who didn't help him, to kill the villagers who only looked at him with pity and above all else to kill the thieves who had put him in this situation in the first place.

In accordance with Holt's wishes the spirit fired off a beam of light at the village, consequently destroying everything. Everyone in the village was decimated by the attack and the village was reduced to a crater. Only one survivor was left, that being Holt's sister. She alone survived the attack that destroyed the rest of the village."

Victor gulped.

Victor: "Well that......... certainly was heavy."

Victor had not expected for this to go the way it went. He had thought that it would also be light hearted like Talhand's story but this one was filled with loss, anger, vengeance and hatred.

'So that's why this was not in the children's book.'

Victor wondered if Holt had regretted his actions. As Victor saw it in that moment Holt wasn't thinking logically and was overtaken by rage which led him to choose an extreme option. 

But this story also arised several questions like.

Victor: "How did his sister survive the attack?"

Crass: "The spirit could apparently attack selectively. That means that it could choose who to hurt or not hurt when he launched the attack."

"Selective attacks, huh? That..... how would that even work?' Victor wondered.

But he felt that it was no use thinking about it since the answer would just be 'magic'.

Victor: "But how was a peasant able to climb the mountain?"

Crass: "Through sheer willpower or atleast that's what the stories say. Sorry, not much is know about Holt."

Victor: "Ahhh! Okay. No problem."

That didn't really answer his question but if Crass did not know then nothing could be done about. He was also thinking how Crass himself thought about the knights in Holt's story. If he was any different from the ones in the story he would surely feel shameful for the behaviour his predecessors showed.

But putting Holt aside.

Victor: "Hmmm..... who were the other two people to achieve this?"

Crass: "The next two cases actually happened at the same time. Ad it turns out, to call upon the spirit ith had built shrines at the very top of both the mountains. If a person is able to visit both the shrines only then will the spirit descend."

Victor: "I assume there is more to it?"

Crass: "Yes. As it was proved by the following case, it two people were to visit the shrines simultaneously, then also the spirit would descend."

Victor's eyes widened upon hearing this. Till now, he hadn't really thought about how the great spirit itself got summoned. He just thought that the spirit was just resting there 24/7 but this makes things a lot easier. This lessened the dangers posed by the mountains since separate teams could be sent out to deal with both the mountains separately.

Victor: "That's huge!! Is there anything more?"

Crass: "Yes. The challengers this time were a group of knights appointed by the kingdom. There were the twin brothers Roenheim and Vohenheim as well as the former vice captain Gustav."

Victor: "And what was there purpose for attempting the climb?"

Crass: "That............. i-is a secret kept by the kingdom."

To Victor's question, Crass hesitated only giving a half answer. The statements 'Secret kept by the kingdom ' and 'Crass knowing the secret because he is (likely) a high ranking knight ' were not mutually exclusive. Victor could see that much. It was obvious to him that Crass was hiding something. 

Victor: "Okay. That's fine. What else?"

Crass: "Well since much of it is classified, I can only share two more things. First, the challenges posed by the two mountains are different depending on which one you climb. The aforementioned knights described them as a test of mind and a test of 'strength'. Secondly, the most troubling condition is that your wish has to be selfish. You can't cause the benefit of another person with your wish. That is also why you are unfortunately required to go to the mountains if you want to return home."

Victor: "Hmmm. No problem. Thank you for the information. I will think abou this later. If I have any questions, can I ask you though?"

Crass: " Unfortunately, I have to help in the preparations for the journey so may I not be always available. But I'll make sure to leave you with some credible history records. That way you answer your questions yourselves!"

Getting up from seat, Victor replied.

Victor: " Ok. Thank!"

With a wave Victor exited the dinner room and retired for the night.

Chapter  4: Conversation over Dinner

Phase 1: Introductions

Arc 1: Climb

Author's Notes

Hey readers👋. How are you doing. It's Christmas today (atleast at the time of writing this) so think of this chapter as sort of Christmas gift from me (even if it doesn't fit the vibe). Speaking of chapters I have been very inconsistent in terms of that but i can guarantee you there would be at least one more chapter before 2026. Once the first phase ends I would upload a lot more consistently. Speaking of this phase should have anywhere from 8 to 15 chapters. So to give me motivation do write comments about your thoughts on the chapter.

Merry Christmas