I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 579

Santa and Rudolph appeared in the Central Plains. As news of this spread, the entire world went wild.

At first, everyone reacted with disbelief, but soon verification posts sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain.

Such a vast amount of evidence that there was no need to question its authenticity.

Title) You still don’t believe it after seeing this?

(Video 1 of Santa and Rudolph circling around the sky)

You see this and still don’t believe it?

You see this and STILL don’t believe it?!

How can you not believe Santa actually exists!

ㄴ That’s fake. I guarantee it.

ㄴ Who even are you?

ㄴ Jason living in Viscount Terenes territory of the Messiah Empire.

ㄴ So you’re just a random nobody lololol

ㄴ lololol

ㄴ lolololol

Title) Santa exists?

(Photo of a character grumping with arms crossed)

So what?

What am I supposed to do if Santa exists?

Is he gonna give a gift to a 30-year-old useless bum like me?

I think 10 billion gold would be enough for me.

ㄴ Dude, your greed is fucking obvious.

ㄴ OP) You gotta be honest so Santa feels good giving it to you.

ㄴ Sorry to break it to you, but Santa doesn’t give gifts to kids over 12.

ㄴ OP) How the hell do you know that?

ㄴ 12 years old or whatever, you really think he’d give it to a 30-year-old adult? lol

ㄴ OP) I’m 12 years old at heart.

ㄴ Are you a pedophile by any chance?

ㄴ OP) You fucking bitch

ㄴ lololololol

ㄴ lolololololol

ㄴ lolololololol

As Santa appeared, everyone was busy chattering away, but some people focused on something else.

Specifically, reactions regarding the Heavenly Demon, Yoo So-wol, who engaged in conversation as soon as Santa appeared.

As soon as she spotted Santa, she floated into the sky with an intrigued expression.

Though there seemed to be brief friction, she ended up coming face-to-face with Grylls right after.

Title) Is this person by any chance the Heavenly Demon?

(Video of Yoo So-wol doing something next to Santa)

I was recording video the whole time, is this person really the Heavenly Demon?

ㄴ Smart Demon) The only person in the Divine Cult capable of doing such a thing is the Heavenly Demon.

ㄴ Was the Heavenly Demon a mage?

ㄴ Smart Demon) No, there’s a martial technique called Void Flight that’s only possible for those at or above the Profound Realm. Think of it as a higher-grade upgrade of Void Stepping.

ㄴ But didn’t Heavenly Demon see Santa’s face?

ㄴ Looks like it?

ㄴ Besides that, isn’t she holding hands with someone?

Title) I think I hear another person’s voice

(A man’s voice echoing wistfully right before Santa departs)

Am I the only one who thinks that voice sounds like Grylls?

ㄴ Isn’t that Santa laughing?

ㄴ OP) Santa has an old man’s voice, yep.

ㄴ But what is he saying lol

ㄴ Isn’t he saying see you next time?

ㄴ Nah. If Grylls came outside, he would’ve turned on a broadcast.

ㄴ Ah. Thinking about it, true.

Because Santa had only visited the Heavenly Demon Cult so far, the testimonies were all over the place.

Claims that not only Santa but also Grylls was riding the sleigh.

Claims that the Heavenly Demon who flew into the sky held hands with Grylls.

Claims that the Heavenly Demon Yoo So-wol descended back to the ground and returned to the Heavenly Demon Palace with a shy expression, and so on.

Stories of unverified origin surged everywhere, but most were dismissed as wild rumors, leading people to redirect their focus to Santa.

Title) Breaking News! Breaking News! Santa appears in Changcheon!

(Video of Santa roaming the sky and dropping white snow)

Santa has appeared!

Title) Santa came to Ansan too

(Rough video of Santa)

Santa visited not only famous cities of the Central Plains, but also relatively lesser-known regions.

Santa scattered white snow as if offering blessings to the world.

And then Santa vanished. But that was only temporary; before long, he revealed himself in another nation.

It was none other than the kingdom of the Dwarves, Mountain.

Dwarves enjoyed Christmas too, but they didn’t place much significance on it compared to other countries.

Title) Christmas?

Isn’t it just a day to drink lots of alcohol?

Legit don’t know

ㄴ Do you really only drink alcohol?

ㄴ OP) Drink alcohol with lover

ㄴ Okay. That’s enough then.

ㄴ What do you mean that’s enough lololol

ㄴ It’s absurd how these dwarf bastards start and end everything with booze lol

ㄴ It’s start and end with booze, man lololol

For them, it was simply a day to drink more alcohol than usual.

Unless they were adults with young children, other dwarves were busy getting smashed on alcohol.

Because Santa appearing didn’t magically cure their hangovers or boost their alcohol tolerance on that specific day.

Yes. They thought so right up until Santa scattered the white snow.

"By the way, why aren’t you getting drunk today? Normally you’d be passed out cold by now."

"Right? Why is that?"

However, as strange testimonies began popping up one after another, the situation flipped.

Alcohol feels best when one is comfortably tipsy right before total drunkenness.

But stopping drinking at that precise sweet spot isn’t easy.

As a result, becoming dead drunk was a common occurrence, and drunkards causing brawls during holidays when everyone rested happened frequently.

"Strangely, I’m not getting drunk."

"Hey. I’m too full to drink anymore."

"Wanna play board games instead?"

Surprisingly, dwarves stopped drinking not because they got blackout drunk, but because they were genuinely too full to drink more.

If it had been just one or two people, it would be one thing, but that phenomenon manifested across every dwarf in the regions where Santa scattered white snow.

Naturally, as this fact spread far and wide, they realized that Santa had bestowed a ’blessing’ in the truest sense.

"So what? My body already can’t get drunk anyway."

"Are you really sick or something? Go visit a hospital."Read the latest chapters at nоvelping.com.

"Whatever. I’ll just drink until I get drunk."

Of course, someone living somewhere poured out complaints because his body already couldn’t get drunk.

As the efficacy of the blessing, which hadn’t been obvious on the surface, revealed itself, interest in Santa exploded exponentially.

Subsequently, Santa visited Alvenheim, Setan, Wydd, the Iris Kingdom, Mephisto, and so forth.

He traveled across various nations, casting down white snow imbued with blessings.

Title) Sultan this crazy motherfucker

(Rough video of firing a ballista at Santa)

This crazy guy actually fired a ballista at Santa.

He pulled this shit claiming that Santa or whatever was violating their nation’s airspace.

Snow falling in Setan is rare as it is, and he just had to ruin the mood;;

ㄴ Wow. Is he actually insane? He pulled that shit on Santa?

ㄴ Because of that, the festival mood turned dead silent instantly. Nobody could enjoy the festival.

ㄴ At least approach closely like the Heavenly Demon;;

ㄴ Heard he planned to try something if he shot him down?

ㄴ Try what by shooting him down?

ㄴ IDK, but it’s certain the newly elected Sultan is a crazy bastard in many ways.

Title) Mephisto Live

(Photo 1 of sports players dragged out against their will)

(Photo 2 of sports players dragged out against their will)

(Video encouraging players to get hit by more snow)

(Video of tossing players in the air as a group to force snow onto them)

Effort being poured in to ensure blessings fall properly upon the players they root for.

ㄴ Damn, they’re pretty insane over there too;;

ㄴ I thought they’d shoot something like Setan, surprising.

ㄴ That’s Setan doing crazy shit, this is how it’s supposed to be, yep.

ㄴ In the first place, responding immediately like that is hard unless you hold colossal power like the Heavenly Demon.

ㄴ Heard recently Mephisto has internal strife while forming an agreement with Avalon?

ㄴ Santa Claus is here, no political talk pls

However, it wasn’t without problems.

If, instead of blessed snow, he had dropped bombs, it would have been extremely dangerous.

Though everyone assumed he was Santa, the possibility that he might not actually be Santa also existed.

"So you are asking me to verify it?"

"Yes. That is correct."

"I’m not a mage, how am I supposed to verify that?"

"His Majesty has specially issued a crystal orb equipped with flight magic."

And the person to carry out the command related to that appeared. It was Ash.

Normally, Christmas or whatever, she would have lounged comfortably at home. Moreover, since other family members usually went out to enjoy the festival, she would have relished her freedom remaining home alone.

On top of that, she had been out of her mind looking after no fewer than four nieces and nephews in the morning, making rest even more desperately needed.

"Can’t you ask an imperial palace mage instead of me? Don’t tell me they went on vacation just because it’s Christmas?"

"Because His Majesty instructed that, if possible, you should also converse with the individual presumed to be Santa..."

Hearing up to that point, Ash waved her hand to show she understood.

Given Arnold’s personality, he wouldn’t have issued such an order.

Instead, the subordinate who received the order had probably exaggerated it slightly. She didn’t even need to look to know.

Having once served as a soldier and been subjected to all sorts of political machinations, she could be certain of it.

’Just how desperate are they to show results?’

Well, it worked out since she was bored anyway. She took the crystal orb since she had something she wanted to check out as well.

Ash decided to wait until Santa arrived in the capital of the Messiah Empire.

Looking out the window, even though the sun had set and evening had fallen, it was brightly lit. Being a festival, countless night lights bloomed.

Inside every house beyond, lovers were probably cozying up skin to skin. Truly enviable.

’There’s a reason so many babies are born in late October or early November.’

Thinking so, Ash logged into the Gallery. It was filled with nothing but Santa talk.

However, what mattered to her was not Santa, but Grylls. Surprisingly, there was no post uploaded directly by Grylls.

Knowing Grylls, he would have posted something in this situation without hesitation. But no matter how much she searched, there were no posts written today.

’Come to think of it, someone said earlier that Grylls was on the sleigh too.’

On top of that, there were witness testimonies claiming that after the Heavenly Demon approached the sleigh, she held hands with him.

If it were Grylls, it was entirely plausible, but she wanted to verify it.

If she met Grylls riding on the sleigh... what should she do? Ash pondered.

’It would be best to at least greet him, right?’

Grylls still didn’t have the faintest clue that Ash was Sword Matstar.

She had playfully sent a photo of her figure last time, but since it didn’t include her face, he wouldn’t have been able to recognize her.

There were countless people with great figures in the world; how could he figure it out with just that?

Nor could she wear the outfit she wore back then. No matter how strong Ash was, wearing revealing clothes in such freezing weather was no different from asking to freeze to death.

’Still, did that human Heavenly Demon really hold hands with him?’

Actually, what bothered her more than anything was the rumor that the Heavenly Demon actually held hands with Grylls.

She couldn’t be certain if the fixed handle Heavenly Demon and the real-life Heavenly Demon were the same person, but if she showed enough intimacy to hold hands, the probability naturally shot up.

Even without that, the user handle Heavenly Demon had harbored a subtle interest in Grylls from the very start.

Whether it was feelings toward a benefactor or something beyond, there was no way to confirm.

’First, it’s best to verify if it’s true.’

Ash could never give up on Grylls. Grylls had said so before too.

While the Heavenly Demon was special, he viewed Ash with even greater significance because she had directly saved his life.

He even went so far as to say he would take her post whenever it was her turn for night watch duty.

To Ash, a former soldier, those words were practically a confession. Her mindset dictated that no one could say such a thing unless they liked her.

Of course, since it was a conversation held in the Gallery, it might have been a joke.

’Who told you to flirt like that anyway?’

She truly hoped Grylls would be on Santa’s sleigh.

As she quietly put on winter clothes and prepared.

Ttal-lang— ttal-lang—

A clear bell chime echoed all the way inside the mansion. Ash quickly identified the nature of that sound.

Whenever Santa appeared, many people said the same thing in unison. A bell chime that reached one’s ears no matter how noisy the surroundings were.

The chime echoing from the sky drew everyone’s attention.

Hearing the chimes, Ash stepped outside immediately. She did not forget to bring her sword, just in case.

Stepping out, cold suited for a harsh winter blasted against her. White puffs of breath blooming with every breath were a bonus.

[Ho! Ho-ho! Merry Christmas!]

The moment she stepped out, Santa was circling around in the sky, scattering white snow.

Her body froze briefly at the surreal situation she had only seen in the Gallery, but Ash quickly sprang into motion.

In the past, she would have used a crystal orb inscribed with flight magic. But things were different now.

Having reached the Grand Master realm, floating her body using mana was child’s play.

Hwi-i-i-ing—

Luckily, the wind wasn’t blowing hard today. Thinking so, Ash drew close to Santa.

The closer she got, the more subtly her heart fluttered.

It was none other than Santa. Santa, whom Ash also firmly believed in when she was young.

As she grew older, crushed by the wall of reality, she had no choice but to let go of her childlike innocence naturally.

’If he’s real Santa, I should ask him to let me marry a good man.’

A mind blended with innocence and greed. Yet, strictly speaking, it was closer to childlike wonder.

Waiting for the prince on a white horse that often appeared in fairy tales, so to speak.

Though she was already fully grown and strong enough to need no prince’s protection, she still held slight expectations.

"Ho! Ho-ho! A pure-hearted adult has arrived!"Follow the newest chapters on nоvelping.com.

As if perceiving Ash’s heart, Santa laughed boisterously and shouted.

Slightly taken aback by that shout, Ash examined Santa thoroughly.

He looked exactly like Santa from picture books. As if a fairy tale had turned into reality.

"Hey, someone’s out there? Isn’t she cold?"

"I feel like I’ve seen that face somewhere."

And the voices. Strangely familiar voices.

However, before she could assess, Ash quietly approached the sleigh.

Unlike the Heavenly Demon who exerted a threat, because she displayed zero hostility, Santa didn’t resist either.

"Eut-cha."

"Huh?"

Thus, Ash even boarded the sleigh.

Grylls, who was riding atop it, couldn’t help but be thoroughly bewildered.

Naturally, because Ash was the first person from the outside to actually board the sleigh.

"Hn-mm~"

"Uh... who are you?"

She wondered if it was really him, and he actually was riding the sleigh. While Grylls was flustered, Ash stared intently at his face.

Although his face looked plain like a Central Plains native, the bridge of his nose—the most crucial feature for a man—was very sharp.

That alone made him pass with flying colors, but his eyes were large and his jawline was sleek.

Overall, an appearance that could be called a plain yet handsome man.

Yet despite such plainness, it was a face one could never forget once seen.

’Not bad at all? He looks different from what I saw on video?’

The real person looked much better than what she occasionally caught on live streams.

Some people were notoriously unphotogenic, and Grylls seemed to be one of them.

Furthermore, he was surviving in the wild and couldn’t even groom himself, yet he looked this good.

Even in the eyes of Ash, who had seen countless handsome men, he easily passed.

’Not greasy, nor does he look washed out. How fascinating.’

It was a face she fell deeper into the more she looked. And it was fascinating.

Seeing him tense up like a puppy backed into a corner right now, yet he was rough like a fighting dog when actually in battle.

He was already quite likable in the Gallery, but facing him in person made her feelings grow even deeper.

"...Ash?"

Just in time, Ludwig beside Grylls identified Ash’s identity.

She was already young, but looking like she was in her early 20s caused him to be momentarily confused.

He only recognized her right away thanks to her breathtaking beauty.

"Ash? The Ash I know?"

Grylls couldn’t help but be startled by the appearance of Ash, famous as a Sword Master.

He thought she was pretty even when seeing photos or videos, but meeting her in person was on another level.

Heavenly Demon Yoo So-wol was also a case of being unphotogenic, but Ash seemed even more so.

"But why would someone like her...?"

Just as he was bewildered by Ash’s sudden appearance, Ash quietly leaned her face in.

Grylls flinched at the slightly overwhelming approach, but Ash paid it no mind and whispered in his ear.

"Sword Matstar."

Ash revealed her own fixed forum handle directly.

Normally, he wouldn’t have understood due to the language barrier, but the Gallery had one distinct feature.

Slang and proper nouns retained their exact phonetic pronunciation.

In other words, even if "Sword Matstar" sounded slightly different, it was easily recognizable.

"Sword... Matstar...? Uh? Uh-oh? Really?"

Naturally, Grylls couldn’t help but widen his eyes round.

After all, the person he wanted to meet most once he got outside was Ash.

Not only had she directly saved Grylls’s life, but she was also someone who bestowed unconditional goodwill upon him.

"R-Really Sword Matstar? For real? You really Sword Matstar?"

"Unfortunately, I can’t understand what you’re saying."

Ash shrugged her shoulders. The language barrier was disappointing at times like this.

Grylls realized this belatedly and hurriedly pleaded with Ludwig.

"Ludwig-ssi. By any chance, do you know how to speak the Messiah Empire language?"

"I can only speak simple greetings."

He wanted to converse somehow, but unfortunately there was no proper way. Even gesturing wildly yielded the same result.

"Ho! Ho-ho! Time to leave now, good friend!"

In the meantime, it seemed Santa had finished scattering snow over the entire capital of the Messiah Empire.

Hearing those words, Ash stared at Grylls. He looked desperate to converse somehow.

He was so thoroughly rough in battle, yet seeing him like this, he was cute like a younger guy.

’Come to think of it, they said he held hands with the Heavenly Demon?’

Whether out of jealousy, or because she felt it was futile unless it was this person.

Ash flashed a smile capable of stirring any man’s heart, then slowly brought her face close.

And.

Jjok!

The lips she had granted to no one else, she granted to Grylls.

Not a sticky kiss, but a light peck. Yet the sensation was felt vividly nonetheless.

If anything, because her realm had elevated, it felt all the more vivid. Grylls wore a dazed expression at her peck.

"Uh...?"

"You said it before, right? That strong women aren’t burdensome."

Ash said so and flashed a mischievous smile.

Grylls wanted to say something as well, but his lips couldn’t part easily.

Instead, he merely touched his lips gently with his hand, trying to discern whether it was real.

At his truly naive reaction, Ash chuckled pik-. Soon, waving her hand, she perched herself on the sleigh’s railing.

"See you next time then~"

Waving her hand, Ash offered her final greeting and leapt down from the sleigh.

At the same time, Santa snapped the reins vigorously, guiding the Rudolphs.

Traveling at high speed, they vanished in no time. Yet the snow continued to fall steadily.

Hwi-i-ing—

A moment later, Ash floated smoothly back to the mansion using Void Flight.

The mansion’s servants glanced at her, but soon went inside to attend to their duties.

Thus Ash returned to her bedroom. Without even taking off her clothes, she threw her body straight onto the bed.

And then....

"Kyaaaaah!"

As if she didn’t know what to do with herself, she squirmed and rolled back and forth while clutching the blanket.

The sound was so loud it echoed through the entire mansion.

Moreover, it wasn’t just once; every now and then, she let out cute little screams.

Naturally, from her mother’s perspective, she couldn’t help but think: ’Has she finally lost her mind?’

"Do you know why my daughter is acting like that?"

"I am not entirely sure, but... she stepped outside the mansion for a bit."

"Is that so? And?"

"I don’t know if it was due to the cold, but she returned with a face far redder than usual."

"Oh my goodness? Really? Ho-ho-ho."

Of course, upon hearing the servant’s testimony, she decided to leave her alone for today.