◈ Episode 156. What Bloomed (3)
The ripples from the London incident did not subside easily.
Above all, what the world focused on was Britain’s rapidly changed attitude.
Britain—a nation that, after the Great Cataclysm, had acted independently around Second Sun.
And Schreig, the guild master of that very Second Sun, had declared:
“From this point on, we will be participating in the holy war.”
That they would throw themselves into [The Unfinished Holy War (聖戰)].
Second Sun had close ties with the British government.
It was an announcement that could practically be regarded as Britain entering the war.
“To think even Second Sun would move.”
“At this rate, won’t Unification Under Heaven jump in too?”
“Say something that makes sense.”
“Come on, Director. Can’t I even joke? Anyway, what a sight.”
Aquaariu oak trees had bloomed along the streets of London.
These trees were surely the greatest contributor to changing that bleak and rigid Britain. No, if one had to be precise, perhaps Lee Hoyeol, who had sprouted such trees, was the greatest contributor?
“This has gone beyond the level of influence a mere player can have.”
Even setting aside Skal, who had insisted on maintaining his mystique.
One only had to look at Rox, who had held the second place in the rankings.
Rox’s fame as a player had been immense, but it was impossible for him to exert enough power to move a nation.
Lee Hoyeol, however, was different.
“What’s even more amazing is that he didn’t force it through with brute strength, but moved their hearts first!”
Indeed, it was a feat not lacking even if called the “Miracle of London.”
Of course, there was one more thing that became just as much of a topic as the Aquaariu oak trees. Though the sky was perfectly clear, people holding umbrellas could be seen here and there on the streets.
“This is the place, right? Where Lee Hoyeol took down the wraith!”
Hoyeol’s umbrella combat.
All over the streets, people could be seen raising umbrellas and imitating that famous scene. In truth, even calling it combat was generous—it had merely been one disciplined swing of an umbrella.
Thanks to that, there was no difficulty for ordinary citizens to imitate it.
The scene spread like a syndrome and was even reported on the news.
Yusra Kingdom.
Nam Taemin, who had been silently watching the screen, opened his mouth.
“……
Seriously, that’s no joke.”
A barbarian who swung a greatsword.
Nam Taemin knew better than anyone just how exhausting it was to face wraiths, against whom physical attacks did not work.
Likewise, the berserker Leonie’s impression was not much different.
“Did he coat the umbrella in mana or something? What is that?”
Seriously, what was it?
Watching the video of Hoyeol’s umbrella combat, they realized it all over again.
Even if they had grown stronger, the gap between Hoyeol and themselves had opened up to an unfathomable degree.
The magic spearman, Hisagi’s eyes gleamed sharply.
Fighting by wrapping mana around a blade was Hisagi’s specialty.
Thanks to that, he could recognize its characteristics better than anyone.
“I don’t believe he used mana.”
And so, the three people’s doubts deepened even further.
“Then is that umbrella actually a unique item or something?”
“Shit, say something that makes sense……”
“Hey, then does that eye Hoyeol showed us make sense?”
“……
That doesn’t make sense either, damn it.”
A presence approached the three of them.
From Frost to the Yusra Kingdom.
It was Harkon, who had moved to reorganize the Lionheart Knights.
“Ah. Commander Harkon, it’s been a while.”
Nam Taemin and Leonie had shared hardships with the Lionheart Knights while rebuilding the Yusra Kingdom. Hisagi, who had joined later, had also exchanged names with Harkon to some extent.
Thanks to that, Harkon asked without hesitation.
“It seems you were speaking of Sir Hoyeol.”
“Ah, have you perhaps heard the news?”
“If it is news of Sir, do you mean the dungeon rift?”
“As expected, rumors about Hoyeol were widespread even in Frost?”
There was no need to try to find out.
Sir Hoyeol had moved, cleared a rift, and performed brilliantly.
There were rumors that reached one’s ears even if one stayed still.
But wait a moment……?
Harkon’s gaze turned to the smartphone Nam Taemin was holding.
“……
Sir?”
Harkon’s sudden mutter.
Was this perhaps his first time seeing a smartphone?
Or had he been shocked by the umbrella combat, like them?
The three of them racked their brains in their own ways.
“This is!”
But one sees only as much as one knows.
None of them had the correct answer.
Because Harkon had truly been looking at something different from the three of them.
A long umbrella dyed as black as pitch.
And a silver spirit rising along that long umbrella.
There was no mistaking it.
“……
I see. So that is your own unique light, Sir?”
Harkon continued in a trembling voice.
“When on earth did you reach the realm of Sword Gang (劍罡)!”
……
Sword Gang?
They had no idea what he was suddenly talking about.
But rankers were not rankers for nothing.
They had instincts built up through countless experiences.
Sword Gang must be the name of the ability that had taken down the wraith with an umbrella.
The three of them asked with sparkling eyes.
“Commander Harkon, may we ask what this Sword Gang is?”
*
The office of the Magic Tower.
“Failed. Bensch William.”
What awakened me, who was being tormented by the duties of the chief as usual, was a vibration.
The smartphone at my thigh kept ringing without rest.
I knew without checking.
It was definitely those objects of love and hatred.
……
I sincerely wanted to ignore it.
But there was no way this damned etiquette would allow me to ignore a message.
The accumulated group chat messages came to mind.
Needless to say, I had no desire to even mention the enemy who had saved me as “Infinitely Deep Darkness.” Likewise, I looked at No. 2’s messages with my eyes as unfocused as possible.
But……
Eldest Sister, even you can’t do this to me, seriously!
There was a video posted in the group chat.
It was Arang.
More precisely, my one and only niece holding a pink umbrella.
I could endure it if everyone in the world went around swinging umbrellas. I had no justification to control them, after all.
But I did not want to see my one and only niece being stained by my dark history……!
“Indeed, what a splendid posture.”
Don’t seriously evaluate Arang, Grandfel.
Of course, the video wasn’t all there was.
Even if they were enemies, they were still blood.
At the end of their teasing, they all ended up asking how I was doing.
“Though the nuance is a bit much.”
It seemed they had also heard about the holy war quest.
They asked if I had gone from acting alone to working together with friends.
Still, they said they felt more at ease than before, now that I had friends.
“There is no need for concern.”
Of course, according to etiquette, I had no choice but to send a courteous reply.
Let’s end it here.
If I exchanged any more words with those enemies,
my mental strength, Lee Hoyeol’s mental strength, would not hold out.
I turned my eyes back to my work.
[Quest: The Unfinished Holy War (聖戰)]
From the Arcana Continent to reality.
The holy war against the demons has not yet ended.
At the end of this war, there will be neither reward nor spoils.
What remains is only pride.
Prove your own pride.
Unlike other players,
my holy war quest did not have the objective, “Prove your worth in the corresponding region.” To be honest, I was not exactly in a position to be evaluated by someone else.
Of course, the players’ quests were still in progress.
Murmur, murmur—
The noise coming from outside the office door was proof of that.
They were players who had flocked here to prove their worth to the Magic Tower.
Mage-type players seemed slightly excited.
Aside from me and Jesse Heinness, there were no players who held positions in the Magic Tower.
“They must think of it as an opportunity.”
If they proved their worth and were acknowledged,
not only could they enter the Magic Tower and receive a position,
they could also receive the Magic Tower’s knowledge.
It was understandable that they would have expectations.
However.
“The standards will be strict.”
This was not just anything, but a holy war quest in which we would face demons on a completely different level from before. It meant that player ability and a high level were absolutely required.
Even so, they should consider it a blessing in disguise.
“What if I had stepped up and said I would evaluate them?”
Experienced mages of the Magic Tower were only the beginning.
Just as I had done to Bensch William,
was I not the one who, depending on the situation, would even reject senior mages one after another?
That was why I had genuinely been worried. If I took charge of evaluating the players as well, wouldn’t the unfortunate situation arise where not a single one could enter the Magic Tower?
“What a pity.”
Pity, my ass.
You need to be grateful in all things, Grandfel.
Most of all, if you reach your hand even into evaluations, I’ll really die. I’ll die.
—Train your weakened body. (Repeat) ▲
● Run 40 km (In progress)
● Push-ups 3,000 times (In progress)
● Pull-ups 2,000 times (In progress)
● Burpees 1,000 times (Success)
……
I mean I’ll seriously die of exhaustion.
After investing stats into [Strength] and [Agility],
the requirements of my class quest had risen sharply.
The numbers alone were enough to make me dizzy.
Of course, I could not show even the slightest sign of it.
I merely recited calmly.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
And yet my [Strength] stat was not even one hundred, hardly enough to be called great power. In any case, starting with the class quest, it meant I had more than enough to do besides evaluations.
Bzzzt—
All of a sudden, the smartphone vibrated once more.
This time, it was a call.
Had that enemy, Lee Yerim, finally gone so far as to attack my mind with words now? I suspected that right away, but embarrassingly, it was not her. It was Nam Taemin, whom I had been meaning to contact anyway.
“I am listening.”
……
Can’t you just say hello
like a normal person?
Would thorns grow in your mouth if you did?
This was why I wanted to avoid calls whenever possible.
Fortunately, Nam Taemin reacted as if it were nothing.
—“Huff. Huff. Hoyeol, is now a good time?”
Regardless of his reaction, for some reason his voice sounded like he was about to run out of breath.
My curiosity did not last long.
Because Nam Taemin immediately continued.
—“I’m sorry to ask so suddenly, but does something called Sword Gang really exist?!”
……
Sword Gang (劍罡)?
At those words, I could sense it.
He was receiving physical training from Harkon.
Now this was welcome news.
“Indeed.”
As expected, it would be unfair if I were the only one suffering through physical training.
*
“Sword Gang is a realm so far beyond you that you cannot even dare to covet it. Before that, there is another mountain known as sword qi, and you must absolutely reach its summit first.”
Harkon continued.
“To awaken such sword qi, one needs a body worthy of it.”
To build such a body, run!
Nam Taemin was on the phone with Hoyeol.
As soon as Nam Taemin ended the call, Leonie asked.
“……
What did he say. No, what did he say?”
Please say there’s no such thing as Sword Gang.
Please say Harkon was spouting nonsense.
“This is a different kind of stamina drain from combat.”
Her lungs were screaming.
It was so painful that curses she had quit using threatened to burst out again.
But to her dismay.
Shake, shake—
Nam Taemin shook his head, his face pale.
“……
Commander Harkon was right. He said he did it.”
“This kind of thing? For real?!”
“Miss Leonie, there is no longer any room for excuses.”
A solemn resolve settled over Hisagi’s face.
Nam Taemin was the same.
At first, they had wondered if Harkon was joking.
After all, Sword Gang?
They had never heard of or seen such a skill in Arcana.
“If Hoyeol-san says Sword Gang and sword qi exist, then they exist.”
But apparently, they did.
“If Hoyeol trained his body too, we have to follow.”
Are they insane fanatics or what?
While Leonie clicked her tongue at the two men’s madness,
the two men gritted their teeth and ran forward.
Damn it, I don’t understand, but I can’t fall behind.
To think there would come a day when I missed rifts.
Leonie gritted her teeth and moved her legs.
By the way……
“Hey, Nam Taemin! But what was that about AAU?!”
……
Ding—
Park Minjae checked the sender of the message.
[Nam Taemin].
Gaon, the greatest guild in South Korea.
It was only natural that its guild master, Nam Taemin, was acquainted with the head of AAU’s South Korean branch. However, it was rare for Nam Taemin’s side to contact him first.
“Let’s see.”
Glance.
Park Minjae’s gaze turned toward the calendar.
No matter how he looked at it, there was no scheduled event. If it were official business, that would be one thing, but they were not close enough to exchange messages privately. Soon, Park Minjae checked the message and blinked.
Because he couldn’t believe it.
“……
What?!”
Even after looking again, he couldn’t believe the contents.
Only after rereading the message several times
could he finally accept what it said.
[Player Lee Hoyeol. Requesting attendance at AAU meeting.]
Lee Hoyeol was going to attend an AAU meeting……!
All this time, at AAU’s South Korean branch.
No, leaving the branch aside, how much had AAU courted Lee Hoyeol?
But Lee Hoyeol had never responded even once.
That was why everyone had long since given up.
And yet that Lee Hoyeol of all people
had expressed his intention to make contact through him first.
“Okay. Absolutely okay!”
There was no need to coordinate the schedules of each AAU branch.
Was now the time to worry about things like time differences?
The one with the leverage would always be Lee Hoyeol.
Those without it could only comply.
Park Minjae hurriedly sent a reply.
“W-what on earth is going on?”
He suppressed his swelling heart only briefly.
Suddenly, formality and etiquette came to Park Minjae’s mind.
Crash!
Park Minjae urgently dashed out of the branch head’s office.
Unluckily, the person he ran into was none other than Seong Hyeonjun.
Park Minjae asked Seong Hyeonjun directly.
“Hey, Hyeonjun. I’ve still shed some of that old-man vibe, haven’t I?”
“……
Pardon? Ah, yes. Of course?”
“Right? But no matter how comfortable I am, take your hands out of your pockets……”
*
With the massive update called the Demon King Battle scheduled now,
I absolutely refused to get caught up in unnecessary incidents.
In that sense, I could not allow something like the London incident to happen again.
As I said, it was necessary to examine the faces of AAU.
But before that.
The office of the Yusra Kingdom.
I swept a cold gaze over the documents placed on the desk.
The purpose of the documents was a request for an interview.
I knew the submitter of the documents well, both in the past and now.
The number one player in the rankings, Skal.
But the procedure was wrong.
“Failed. Skal.”
One infinitely deep something-or-other was already more than enough.
First, you owe me an apology for spreading another of my epithets—
Evil Dragon Hunter—
throughout the world…….