They said a Fifth Great Master had been newly born.
That he possessed the ability to surpass the Hall of Myth and destroy Mysteries.
That he was a true monster who might even surpass the White King!
… But rumors are always distorted.
“Right. He is someone who carries the possibility of killing me.”
“…!”
Yet the White King admitted it without reservation.
It was the first time Aria had ever seen him use the phrase “someone who can kill me,” so she could not help but be rather shocked.
Did that mean the rumors were true?
“If you get to meet the Fifth Great Master, you will come to like him.”
His tone was strange.
Come to like him?
Was there any reason she had to like the Fifth Great Master?
“Surely not?”
Aria frowned.
“I am not interested.”
“You will have to take an interest.”
“…”
“The Fifth Great Master is currently the master of the Abyss Labyrinth, so once matters there are settled, you will be able to meet him. I will arrange the meeting.”
Her ominous premonition had not been wrong.
The White King was trying to offer her to that man called the Fifth Great Master, that King of Crows.
Once decided, the White King’s word was absolute.
It was because she hated that that Aria had holed herself up on the Mountain of Trainees.
“… There is someone I have in my heart.”
“Forget him.”
“He is a stronger man than Raktusha. … He saved me from Raktusha, and he might even be able to control the four evils.”
If what she had seen was true, then he was undoubtedly a Sword God who surpassed Raktusha.
He had cleaved the Trainee’s Monument in a single stroke.
Above all, he had passed the book left behind by the Sword Immortal. Just as written in the book, he had cut the monument and possessed the qualification to control the most ominous sword, Baal of the four evils.
As expected, when the story of the four evils came up, the White King’s ears pricked up.
“In that case, bring him. I will have to see with my own eyes.”
He meant he would personally weigh the skills of the Fifth Great Master and that man against each other.
And if he truly could control Baal of the four evils, it would be an enormous matter.
If it were true, he might possess a value that surpassed the Fifth Great Master.
Aria spoke with resolve.
“Before that, I will awaken the Northern Sky Sword.”
“… The Northern Sky Sword?”
The Northern Sky Sword was a sword of unknown origin sealed in the north.
It was so dangerous and powerful that the White King had personally sealed it away.
“If I wish to draw his interest, I too need to become stronger.”
“That is sophistry.”
“It is the truth.”
Aria did not back down an inch.
She had realized she had been a frog in a well.
There are many geniuses in the world.
Geniuses who surpass geniuses, true prodigies.
To stand before them, one could not fear any challenge.
“A man stronger than Raktusha, who can even control the four evils, huh.”
He knew it was sophistry, but it was also true the idea piqued his interest.
Besides, once it had become certain that the Black King was targeting him, the White King could not simply sit still.
He was already making preparations, but the more moves he had, the better.
“I would like to meet him once.”
***
Damn it.
My mouth tasted bitter, but there was no other way.
Having failed to uncover Phantom’s identity or kidnap the White King’s daughter, all that remained for Master was the top-class auction being held in the Empire.
“Amazing.”
As they entered Darkan’s territory, which was hosting the auction, the sight was truly breathtaking.
He had heard many times that it was a renowned household of swordsmanship, but from before the warp gate itself, countless works of art were lined up everywhere.
The buildings were so enormous.
He felt he might be overwhelmed by the beauty of the architecture alone.
Even the soldiers guarding the warp gate looked anything but ordinary.
“Should I have come in something even more extravagant?”
“Is it even possible to come in anything more extravagant than this?”
Black Jade answered Master’s words.
Half resigned, Black Jade had followed along to support Master.
Master had brought along the eight-horse carriage of pure gold that the emperor rode in secret, and straightened his back proudly.
‘… This is where it really begins.’
He had to draw as much attention as possible, and make contact with the nobles of the Empire.
The carriages scattered around them could not outshine his.
Some of them were probably people invited to the top-class auction.
It was clear they had come early to gather information before the auction opened in Darkan’s territory.
“Among the players, we are the first to participate, right?”
“… Shut up.”
“Ah, are we not supposed to say that word here?”
This was the Empire.
The Empire openly despised players.
There was a possibility that the reaper church had taken root somewhere in the Empire.
If they did not want to get marked and killed for nothing, they had to watch their mouths.
“Still, this is impressive. If a territory of a family under the Empire is at this level, what must the imperial family be like?”
The imperial family, huh.
He could not even imagine it.
But if he could only reach the imperial family, he would be able to make up for all his losses and climb even higher.
Even so, the golden eight-horse carriage seemed to stand out quite a bit here as well.
The carriage moved slowly, receiving the gazes of the imperial citizens all at once.
‘Stare all you like. It cost thirty million gold to prepare this carriage.’
Of course, that thirty million gold had been reclaimed from Black Jade.
At any rate, basking in all the stares, Master’s nose was high in the air.
“W-what, what is that?”
“Hydragon?”
“How can a monster be coming through the warp…!”
At that moment, the area around the warp gate grew noisy again.
When he turned his head, a gigantic monster had crossed through the warp.
… It was impossible.
The warp leading into the Empire was monitored and overseen thoroughly.
Powerful imperial knights personally guarded it.
And a monster had passed through that and ridden the warp here?
Even giving way a hundred times, it was something that should never happen.
“That’s not an ordinary Hydragon.”
“… It is a Hydragon summoned by a Hydragon’s Soul.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
A Hydragon’s Soul!
Wasn’t that the very thing Gracia had been searching for all over Pangaenia and Earth?
But he was certain.
It had horns, but a Hydragon that felt so completely natural could only be an entity summoned with a Hydragon’s Soul.
Who on earth?
What kind of lunatic had summoned a Hydragon’s Soul and brought it into Darkan’s territory?
No one in their right mind would summon a Hydragon and hitch a carriage to its back to come here.
“Stop!”
“Halt!”
Even more surprising was the soldiers’ attitude.
In a situation where it would not be strange to attack at once, they were acting as if they knew something.
Soon, a man stepped down from the carriage.
“‘Skull Crusher’…?”
“Isn’t that a weapon exclusively for the giant race?”
The weapon the man held looked particularly familiar.
Skull Crusher.
It was most definitely the sword wielded by the greatest warrior of the giant race.
A weapon made exclusively for the giant race was being wielded by someone who looked human.
“And what is that black goat helm? His fashion is something else.”
Black Jade muttered.
He did not know what the helm was.
But it was clear he was a powerful warrior wielding Skull Crusher, a weapon meant only for the giant race.
How should he put it, his appearance was overwhelming.
He wore a black goat mask and held a greatsword over three meters long in one hand.
He was not even wearing a top.
A perfectly wild stallion of a body. It was enough to make one’s mind go blank.
“It took us thirty minutes just to pass through. Are they really going to let that thing through?”
“… They won’t, surely.”
No matter how you looked at him, he was not human.
He had to be something wearing a human skin.
A transformed giant, maybe.
Naturally, there was no way the Empire would accept such an unidentified person.
Even they, armed with invitations, had taken thirty minutes to pass the identity check.
Yet he had brought a Hydragon into the imperial city?
There was no way they would overlook that.
“Pass!”
“Please, go through!”
“… What.”
Black Jade was dumbfounded.
The moment he pulled out a single sheet of paper from his breast, he was let through at once.
Without any verification procedure or measures at all.
The carriage pulled by the Hydragon entered the city freely.
Drawing every gaze around it.
Martial Strength
“It seems they did not find us particularly suspicious.”
Hudson, having left the warp gate behind, let out a sigh of relief.
He had been worrying constantly about what they would do if, by any chance, they could not get through.
Seeing Hudson’s attitude, I gave a short laugh and spoke.
“Don’t worry. We slipped through perfectly.”
The fact that they let us pass the moment we showed the invitation meant the lord of Darkan had personally approved it.
It was clear they regarded Hudson as someone connected to the White King.
Having gotten this far, there would no longer be any grounds to catch them on within the territory.
“By the way, are you really fine with me as your escort?”
“It is fine, so drop the honorifics.”
“… How could I dare.”
“The one invited to Darkan’s territory is you. Being your escort is enough for me.”
“I-I will try.”
It was something he had to get used to.
After all, I was only here as Hudson’s escort.
“…… Um.”
It was then.
A sudden voice cut in from inside the carriage.
When I turned my head, a man with both hands gripping a spear was scratching his cheek awkwardly, eyes blinking blankly.
“H-here, this is the Empire, right? Is it really okay for me to have come along?”
Spear master Valte!
He was an alt character I had picked up on the Mountain of Trainees.
For a full two years he had done nothing but swing his spear in the Domain of Chaos Trainees, with all his limits raised to the maximum.
It would have been a waste to discard a character that had succeeded in blossoming outer energy.
“It will be a good experience.”
Hudson answered as if it were nothing.
Hudson also knew that Valte was my alt character.
Just like Isaac and Isabella.
“A-a good experience? Will I be of any help?”
Watching Valte trembling like crazy, I turned my gaze and met Hudson’s eyes.
‘He’s a greenhorn.’
‘He is a greenhorn indeed.’
It seemed the spear master character was quite shy.
I shrugged my shoulders.
【Lv. 10】
Amazingly, spear master Valte was level 10.
When all the limits were removed, his true level had appeared.
He had gone up to the Mountain of Trainees at level 7, and the fact that he was now 10 meant he had accumulated considerable experience over those two years.
Had sparring every day with the White King’s daughter helped?
He himself seemed completely unaware that it was the White King’s daughter who had tormented him.
“M-my pathetic skills won’t be a burden, will they…”
“You are excellent.”
“N-no. How could someone like me be…”
Valte had absolutely no idea of his own worth.
A spear master who had blossomed outer energy at level 10.
He was practically a prospective transcendent, with overwhelming potential to consume a star and transcend.
If anyone realized Valte’s potential, they would try to take him away at any cost.
With his grit that refused to give up, he was truly a late-blooming genius.
‘He ended up with this personality because he spent two years knowing nothing but defeat.’
It seemed being beaten up by Aria every time had made him timid.
Of course, the decisive reason was that I had abandoned him.
If I had not left him neglected, this would not have happened.
‘I feel like I keep running into characters who are all missing a screw somewhere.’
When I played Pangaenia, I had raised many characters as experiments.
At least several hundred characters had been left unattended, and Valte had simply been one of them.
Isabella, Isaac, Valte… Ironically, it felt like I kept meeting the very characters I had left alone because each had some flaw.
Yet there was no news at all from the characters I had poured my heart into raising.
I had poured stars into Wilhelm, but that did not mean other characters had not transcended either.
‘Pollack Roe Conan, the fisherman who catches people, Descent of the Thunder God.’
The successor character who inherited Pollack Roe Conan, the Grandmaster of Swordsmanship I had painstakingly raised with ten thousand Soul Points.
Pollack Roe Conan.
Where was that guy now?
‘The fisherman who catches people’ was an angler who could even catch Myeoreo, the lord of the sea.
‘Descent of the Thunder God’ was an archmage of lightning…
They were empty shells now, all their good items stripped away and given to Wilhelm, but as transcended beings, they had been powerful alts with outstanding abilities.
Where had they all gone?
‘Did they die?’
If they were alive, they were the kind of characters who would make news of themselves reach me somehow.
With there being no word of them at all, it really felt like they might have died.
“Valte. Do not talk back to the lord’s words. If the lord says you are excellent, then you are excellent. Repeat after me. I am excellent.”
“Y-yes. I am excellent.”
“Good. You must never forget the grace the lord has given you.”
“I-I will not forget.”
Hudson began straightening out Valte’s discipline.
It was to remind him once again that it had been me who helped him blossom outer energy, something Valte himself was aware of.
Soon, Hudson halted the carriage and looked at me.
“Lord. I am getting hungry, shall we eat first?”
“Where is this?”
“It is the most expensive restaurant in Darkan’s territory. They say only the Empire’s nobles or the rulers of cities use it.”
“Let us go in.”
I nodded.
There was still quite some time left until the top-class auction.
They had arrived early to scout out Darkan’s territory.
For the sake of the top-class auction, the Empire’s nobles and the rulers of other cities would have flocked into Darkan’s territory.
He could not miss this chance to observe them in advance.
“Darkan’s Afternoon.”
The entire four-story building was being used as a restaurant.
Just as Hudson had said, countless colorful carriages were lined up in front.
Imperial nobles and invited rulers of cities.
They were the ones dining here.
“Hydragon?”
“… What is that.”
“It looks like it pulled a carriage here.”
“So the Hydragon is a horse now? Did the territory actually allow that?”
Even without any decoration, the Hydragon alone was more than enough to draw attention.
Even those eating at tables outside the building turned to look this way.
Whether they did or not, we leisurely made our way into Darkan’s Afternoon.
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