◈ Episode 267. This Is Something History Will Highly Regard (2)
[Legend, materializing “Black Dark Dragon Lee Hoyeol.”]
Antonium.
I could see the Black Dark Dragon cutting across the skies above it.
I would have to figure out the exact effects and limits of the Legend system going forward. ‘At a glance, there’s nothing to fault.’ A legend grows stronger the farther and wider it resounds.
It is only natural that its effect would be amplified in the place where the legend began.
After all, it was a legend that had been officially acknowledged and spread from the Emperor’s own mouth.
In Antonium, where the Emperor resided, the Black Dark Dragon’s power and size could only increase further. Thus, the Black Dark Dragon in the sky was even more enormous than the last time it had materialized.
Especially its two wings, which were particularly large, flapping like that…
It truly looked like this damn jacket draped over my shoulders, so I could not exactly feel at ease. And if you asked why I had activated Legend, the reason was simple. ‘Could there ever be such a thing as a modest entrance in Grandfel’s dictionary?’
Of course, there was another reason.
I needed to dampen the spirits of the surrounding demons.
Besides, the Empire could not remain crouched down forever.
“Lie there as you are, without being an eyesore.”
How heartbroken would Harkon be if he saw this?
For Harkon, who would one day visit Antonium,
I needed to discipline the demons in advance.
“W-wait!”
As I approached the city gate, a guard who had been distracted by the Black Dark Dragon flinched.
I understood his confusion.
For a traveler wandering the devastated Arcana Continent…
My attire was not merely neat, but practically extravagant.
Perhaps thinking me a noble,
he spoke to me politely despite the suspicion filling his voice.
“……May I ask your affiliation and identity?”
But is there really a need for us to introduce ourselves?
In truth, more than that,
I merely hoped the situation would never come
where I had to declare with my own mouth, I am the Black Dark Dragon…
If I say that, some curious someone will surely ask again.
If you did not wish to reveal your identity, could you not simply have opened a portal inside the walls of Antonium? Truly, that can only be a question asked by someone ignorant of Grandfel’s love for procedure.
“I will understand with generosity.”
Though I had communicated with the Emperor through Hiel and Chainwalker,
this was the first time I would actually meet him face-to-face.
Besides, would that upright pride of his be pleased
to enter Antonium by a side road called a portal, leaving the main gate aside?
This, too, was my unavoidable fate.
Had they finally gotten a grip on themselves?
The complexions of the guards who looked at me properly began to change rapidly.
“N-no way……!!”
That is right.
That no way is the no way you think it is.
Still, thanks to having made such a flashy scene,
I was grateful that I could skip the self-introduction.
The moment I swallowed a sigh of relief,
a booming shout rang out.
“It’s the Black Dark Dragooooon!!”
Oh no.
“The Black Dark Dragon has come to Antonium!!”
I had overlooked it.
A legend
does not cease to resound simply because I keep my mouth shut…!!
That was only the beginning.
[You have entered the imperial capital, Antonium.]
Even when Arcana was a game, Antonium had been unfamiliar to me. Of course it had. There needed to be some point of contact. My memories of those days consisted entirely of being stuck in Akshan, tucked away in a corner of the continent, suffering through endless grinding quests.
And so I overlooked something once again.
It is huge!
Since it was the imperial capital, it was only natural that it was far larger than the great city of Frost. Above all, Antonium had fallen neither to demons nor to the rebels.
Though it could not compare to the past,
it was enough to make me wonder whether I had wandered into the game world of those days. ‘……Except for one thing.’
Click—
As I advanced under escort, gazes began to concentrate on me.
Yes, because the materialization of the Black Dark Dragon had been dispelled.
It was only natural that the gazes that had lost their destination would turn to me. I could hear murmured conversations.
“Which house is that noble from?”
“……He seems like someone really high-ranking, doesn’t he?”
“Could he be of the imperial family?”
“You mean a grand duke? But I’ve never seen a face like that before……”
As expected, this damned outfit is a problem wherever I go.
As if being mistaken for a noble were not enough, now imperial family?
My face burned so much I could not raise my head.
Still, it was a relief. ‘It doesn’t seem to have spread too far.’
No matter how great the Empire was, a guard could not manifest telepathy. Thanks to that, even though he had shouted, it seemed his cry had not fully carried through Antonium, which must have already been in an uproar over the Black Dark Dragon.
However, as I said before, this was only the beginning.
Thud—
Something fell to the ground.
Clatter—
And I heard it rolling.
“Ah, uh?”
Where the sound had come from, there were people staring straight at me. No matter how I looked at those eyes, they seemed to have realized my identity at once. If there were people in Antonium who knew me…
As expected, it could only be “them.”
That’s right, Dreadsen.
While staying aboard the Iron Castle, they must have heard plenty about me from Hiel and Diend. By the way… It seems they described me well. ‘Seeing as they recognized me the moment they saw me.’
I opened my mouth.
“Have you grown accustomed to life in Antonium?”
“……?!”
“Survivors of Dreadsen.”
“A-as expected……!!!”
Only after I spoke did they seem to gain certainty.
Without even thinking to pick up the object they had dropped, their eyes welled with tears.
In truth, if you looked at it one way, I had certainly saved Dreadsen.
So I could understand that reaction…
“O infinitely deep darkness!”
Of all the countless epithets, why that one…?
There are so many people watching and listening here…!
It was an epithet that had already spread sufficiently through the Emperor,
but the shock of hearing it directly could not even be compared to hearing it secondhand.
I looked toward Antonium’s main castle, rising tall in the distance. ‘Let’s see……’
Amid such immense attention and welcome,
it would take me several full hours of walking to reach the main castle.
I was seriously worried.
Would I be able to endure until then without dying of shame…?
*
Antonium is vast.
For that reason, imperial mages were stationed at regular intervals to quickly relay news. A word without legs was faster than a horse, and telepathy was faster than a word without legs.
However, at this moment,
the imperial mages had fallen into confusion.
They had no choice.
—I told you, I know?!
They had witnessed it clearly with their own two eyes just moments ago.
A dragon so enormous it seemed to completely cover Antonium
had cut across the sky, then vanished beyond the clouds.
They had noticed it even without needing to hear it through telepathy.
—So it has to be the Black Dark Dragon! A dragon like that!
On the day torrential rain poured down upon the Arcana Continent,
these were mages who had witnessed more than ten dragons.
Because they had points of comparison, they could be certain.
A dragon that enormous
was surely the Black Dark Dragon those dragons had roared about.
—That Black Dark Dragon has appeared!
—I told you, I saw it too!
—Damn it, this is so frustrating I could die!
—Frustrating? I’m the one who’s more frustrated!
Everyone in Antonium must have witnessed that Black Dark Dragon.
His Majesty would naturally already know as well.
Why should they expend mana on news that was hardly unusual?
But the mage’s doubts did not last long.
The street suddenly grew noisy.
The mage who had been snapping back through telepathy flinched.
Attire that seemed strangely unfamiliar for an Arcanian.
An overwhelming amount of mana brushing against his skin.
Such a being had appeared together with the Black Dark Dragon…?
“Wait a moment……”
They were not talking about that Black Dark Dragon, but this Black Dark Dragon!
“No, then explain it properly!”
But this was no time to grumble. He had to inform His Majesty of this news as quickly as possible. If he could send telepathy directly to Mage Nash, who would be at the imperial palace, nothing could be better.
“How I resent my meager mana.”
But his manifestation ability was far too lacking for that.
In the end, he sent telepathy to the mage nearest the main castle.
Yet what came back, for some reason,
was a familiar question.
—What is the reason for sending such an obvious statement through telepathy?
That’s right.
There were such unavoidable circumstances.
Because of them, Hoyeol walked through the streets of Antonium drawing crowds, receiving all kinds of welcomes, and hearing numerous epithets before finally reaching the main castle…
*
They say that sometimes extreme experiences are, in fact, helpful.
I was feeling the truth of those words.
No matter how shameful something is, a person does not die from it…! ‘Thank you, everyone, for making me realize that……’
To think that the few hours after setting foot in Antonium would drain me more than tangling with the Primordial Evil. I had braced myself, but it truly had not been an easy journey.
However, it was not over yet.
My loose tongue reminded me of that fact.
“Harmonious.”
Do not evaluate someone else’s home as you please from the entrance, Grandfel.
And the Emperor’s imperial palace, at that!
Still, to think a day like this would come in my life.
Even setting aside the pitiful class called demon hunter, when Arcana was merely a game, the level of the players themselves had been low. There had been no way for us to form a point of contact with the Empire.
Even more so after the Cataclysm.
Even I had never imagined that I would be able to come and go between the Arcana Continent and reality like this. I certainly had not thought I would end up saving the Empire.
Thanks to that, it struck me belatedly.
“So it was true……”
The moment I saw the Emperor rise from his throne upon seeing me,
a realistic problem came to mind.
Yes, other players would have agonized here. ‘How should I open with my first words?’
After all, even the great Jesse Heinness had said so.
—“I was incredibly self-conscious then, too!”
She had worried over whether she might make a slip of the tongue before the Emperor.
Though it would not compare to me,
I think I understand why Jesse, who was not the type to mind others’ gazes, said such a thing. ‘The pressure is no joke.’
It was excessively splendid.
The imperial palace serving as the Emperor’s backdrop was extraordinarily magnificent.
Of course, such grandeur would not work on me at all. Setting aside Grandfel’s aesthetic sense, the Yusra Golden Palace was more magnificent than this, not less.
So my concern could only be slightly different from the other players’.
Then, how should I address the Emperor?
After all, I had naturally spoken informally even to Eunaxus and Argentress, beings higher than an emperor. Naturally, I did not expect polite speech to come out. ‘Above all, considering the Claudi setting……’
It was to the point that it would be better to simply keep my mouth shut.
However, my worries were unfounded.
Because the Emperor spoke first.
“It is an honor to meet the legend.”
……Somehow, the retainers looked more surprised than I did.
I had not expected the Emperor to treat me with such extreme courtesy.
It was no wonder the retainers froze.
That said, it was not incomprehensible.
Even without Claudi’s halo, the [Reputation] I had accumulated must have been no ordinary amount. Enough that, if the Empire had been intact, I would have been treated as an honored guest in any city I visited. ‘……Still, I can’t help feeling conscious of their gazes.’
This is where I must once again exercise the appropriate wisdom of a working adult.
Above all, I had no intention of getting deeply entangled with the Empire.
As I said, my hands are already more than full enough. ‘Just reconstructing the Claudi territory is troubling enough.’
The thought of taking on the Empire too?
It might sound regrettable, but I have none whatsoever!
Therefore, the Empire’s authority must remain with the Emperor at all times.
The Emperor must maintain dignity befitting an Emperor.
That said, I could not break Grandfel’s pride and utter polite speech… ‘At least when there are several people present.’
Let us avoid a situation where I naturally talk down to the Emperor.
For that, it would be best to get straight to the point.
I had grasped the surrounding situation while crossing the Arcana Continent. ‘There’s enough time.’
There was still leeway until the day I was supposed to meet Kichi.
So I did not delay.
I immediately continued speaking to the Emperor.
“Let us leave private conversation for later.”
“Is there, perhaps, something urgent?”
“You know it as well, do you not?”
If he was the Emperor, the head of the Empire, he must naturally have been agonizing over it, right?
The cities near Antonium that had been reclaimed from the demons’ grip.
How on earth were they to be restored? ‘Thanks to unintentionally reaping the benefits of the Claudi halo.’
I had mana to spare.
Besides, the target of that search was minerals, was it not?
Since the days when I had not even had something as simple as a castle wall to my name,
I had been capable of raising them skillfully.
So there was no need to worry any longer.
Especially you there, the gentleman who looks like a mage. ‘Somehow, your face seems to resemble someone……’
I will take care of everything, including the [Main Quest].
So rest comfortably for once.
It means do not even think of taking a single step out of the imperial palace.
*
The Magic Tower.
“Aaaaaachoo!”
The senior of fire magic, Bensch William, sneezed.
……Is someone talking about me?
His ears had been itching for some time.
But focus, Bensch William.
“From now on, it’s relentless competition. Competition with the adventurers……!”
The news reaching the Magic Tower recently had been anything but ordinary.