◈ Episode 336. Write Greatly (3)
A twenty-member advance party.
According to a fair and strict procedure.
A selection process announced to the whole world.
News regarding it was more than enough to excite not only the players, but also the Arcanians who had fallen into reality.
“Senior Bangrit, have you heard? The news!”
The Magic Tower’s Floating Garden.
Senior of Pyromancy.
Bensh William drew everyone’s attention.
“……
What’s gotten into him?”
Perhaps because of the lofty position of senior mage.
The skilled mages, apprentices, and players who did not know his true nature were drawn in by Bensh’s flame-like, flamboyant appearance and began murmuring among themselves. Thanks to that, the one feeling embarrassed was the man seated across from him: Bangrit Tom, Senior of Pure Magic.
A voice rang low, almost like a whisper.
“Of course I’ve heard. You’re talking about the advance party, aren’t you?”
“That’s right. The time has finally come. It may be improper to say this, but honestly, haven’t you been itching for it? Perhaps because I got an ambiguous taste of mana, this heat in my heart……!”
It was obvious the conversation was going to drag on.
Bangrit first steadied his breathing.
“Phew.”
Senior Bensh truly was a consistent man.
How was it that he never strayed even an inch from expectations when he opened his mouth?
Bangrit nodded soullessly.
“Yes. I can sympathize, if only very slightly. If leaving the tower had been completely forbidden, that would be one thing. But being permitted to manifest defensive magic does feel rather like tasting seawater one drop at a time.”
A mage—and especially a mage who had risen to the position of senior in the Magic Tower—could not possibly express the depth of his longing for magic.
As the metaphor suggested, an ambiguous manifestation of magic only served to stir up the temper one had worked so hard to forget.
However, there was such a thing as moderation.
‘But you go far beyond moderation, don’t you?!’
Bensh had gone far beyond moderation.
Good heavens.
All so he could have a little fun himself.
“This time, surely we’ll be able to get our hands on them, won’t we?”
Magic tools.
And not just any magic tools, but magic tools for the decisive battle—who in the world would reach for those? Bangrit did not know much about Bensh’s private life, but he could be certain of one thing.
“Senior Bensh. Um……. If it’s not rude, may I ask about the family structure of the William family? My guess is that you, Senior Bensh, are the youngest child—perhaps even the eighth son or so…….”
“Why are you suddenly asking about my family out of nowhere? And calling me the eighth son and the youngest? I, Bensh William, am the eldest son of the William family.”
“……
Pardon?”
Senior Bensh was the eldest son?
I am deeply worried for the future of the William family……!
Bangrit, who was of commoner birth, found himself worrying about the future of a noble family for the first time in his life. But he soon shook his head. No matter what, he could not say such a thing out loud.
Whether or not he knew of Bangrit’s complicated feelings,
Bensh swept his gaze once around the Floating Garden.
Then he lowered his voice and whispered.
“What matters more than my family affairs, Senior Bangrit, is this. The twenty-member advance party—no matter how I look at it, isn’t that an arrangement Chief Lee prepared for us?”
“Hm? An arrangement?”
“No, first lower your voice.”
As if lowering their decibels were not enough,
the two seniors huddled down until their heads were almost touching.
The sight only drew more eyes to them,
yet the parties involved continued speaking without realizing it.
“Why do you think it’s twenty people, of all numbers?”
“Well, because it’s an advance party. They wouldn’t need a large number…….”
“Even if it is an advance party, still. According to Chief Lee, the Arcana Continent remains in chaos. When it comes to allies, the more you have, the less you lose. So why exactly twenty? That’s what I’m saying!”
“Hmm, perhaps there’s some unavoidable circumstance…….”
“Good grief. How can you be this slow on the uptake?”
Bensh clicked his tongue.
Then he subtly lifted his head,
checked their surroundings once more, and whispered again.
“It matches perfectly, doesn’t it? The number of senior mages!”
I, Bensh William.
Though I could not say my relationship with Chief Lee Hoyeol was close,
I had exchanged more written correspondence with Chief Lee than any other mage in the Magic Tower—
—thanks to the tower-leave applications and access device usage permission requests that were rejected day after day—
and through that, I had learned something.
“Chief Lee is a straightforward man, yet he absolutely never reveals his true intentions. The reason he continues to reject me as well—Senior Bangrit, you too suspect that there is some profound meaning behind it that I am unaware of, don’t you?”
Bangrit quietly closed his eyes.
Poor Senior Bensh.
You’ve broken down as far as a person can break.
Your defense mechanism has finally shown itself.
Out of pity, he even nodded for him.
“That same intention is contained in the number twenty. He will select the senior mages of the Magic Tower, who are more reliable than anyone—including myself—as the advance party……!”
Only then did Bangrit feel he understood why Bensh had whispered so secretly.
Senior Bensh seemed to believe that the advance party had already been decided as the senior mages, and that the screening was merely being conducted as a formality so the others would not be discouraged.
Even his assumptions were so very like Senior Bensh.
“Um……. Senior Bensh, I’m sorry to interrupt.”
“Yes, go ahead!”
“If all the senior mages are selected for the advance party, that would mean Chief—by which I mean Chief Marcelo—would not be included among the twenty, wouldn’t it?”
“……
Pardon?”
He had completely forgotten. Chief Marcelo!
Bensh experienced Chief Marcelo’s greatness every day through theoretical magic. Since he could not refute Bangrit’s words, Bensh awkwardly changed his tune.
“I see. Regrettable, but one person will have no choice but to be excluded…….”
“And do you think Elder Yugweed will simply sit still?”
“Y-Yugweed-nim?”
“And if we leave out the Tower Master, he would feel slighted as well. If we speak purely of magical achievement, they stand in positions so distant that we seniors cannot even compare.”
“…….”
One, two, three.
As Bensh folded down his fingers, he asked just in case.
“Then, if only those three are excluded……?”
“And we must not forget Lady Mary, a pure-blooded magical race and a descendant of twilight. She wields magic at a level we cannot even perceive. In addition, there is the adventurer called the Archmage, Jesse Heinness…….”
“Th-then five?”
This was far too different from what he had expected.
Cold sweat gradually began pooling on Bensh’s hands and feet.
But Bangrit did not stop.
“Considering our exchange with the Empire, Sir Harkon of the Lionheart Knights cannot be left out either. Ah, and shouldn’t we include adventurers as well? You know, things we cannot see from our perspective may look different from an adventurer’s point of view.”
“Hah.”
Thanks to that, Bensh’s face twisted more and more.
The anxiety he had nearly forgotten began to resurface.
That ominous premonition that there would be no place for him this time either…….
Thud!
In the end, Bensh shot up from his seat.
“I’m sorry, Senior Bangrit. Something urgent has come to mind.”
“Hm? All of a sudden?”
“In any case, that’s how it is!”
Bangrit was no exception.
From now on, everyone was a competitor.
I, Bensh William.
I will do my utmost to be counted among the twenty fingers.
Bensh immediately left the Floating Garden and headed to his office.
Scratch—
Then he picked up his quill pen and began writing on parchment.
“To our beloved pride of the Magic Tower, Chief Lee Hoyeol…….”
Somehow, it seemed he had once again buttoned the very first button wrong.
*
Near the uppermost layer of the Zero Mountains.
I looked at Jesse and Mary.
While feeling grateful for the time difference between the Arcana Continent and reality, I also got chills.
In the end, I faithfully kept to that damned procedure again, didn’t I?
‘Even I think it’s impressive. Truly impressive.’
It wasn’t self-praise.
I wanted to relax my shoulders a little,
but as always, my neck stood ramrod straight.
Thanks to that, Jesse and Mary came into view at a glance.
[Frostfang Hog: Lv.700]
Not one, but a herd.
They were monsters Jesse, who had not yet reached level 600, could not handle. Even if she put forward the unique skill of the [Archmage], common sense said she could not overcome that gap.
However, Jesse was growing.
Sss—
Faintly, from Jesse’s body, purple light.
Particles of twilight mana scattered.
They were no more than dandelion seeds drifting on the wind.
Compared to Mary, of course, and even compared to me, they were exceedingly faint.
‘……
That’s no joke, is it?’
But I was genuinely impressed.
To think she could handle twilight mana without any cringe-worthy settings, without using any tricks. As expected, legitimacy was not called legitimacy for nothing. Of course, my mouth was still utterly detestable.
“You, too, are steadily moving forward.”
When, in this situation, I was at most a translator and observer.
Please don’t evaluate her as if you’re something special, Grandfell.
‘In any case.’
If twilight mana was added, Jesse alone could probably deal with five or six level-700 monsters. As expected, my estimate had not been wrong.
Fwoosh—!
Had the twilight mana particles acted as a catalyst?
The flames swirled even more violently.
So that was the power of a hidden class walking the royal road.
She had not even opened a Circle yet, and that was the level of destructive power.
That was a late-game monster. If that wasn’t a late-game monster, what was?
Watching her made me want to take back the careless claim that Demon Hunter was a late-game monster.
‘No, this isn’t the time.’
Watching Jesse grow terrifyingly fast with the wind at her back snapped me back to my senses. I had to become stronger in my own way too. In order not to sink. Just as I had done until now, it meant I had to desperately make use of anything and everything I could.
Slide—
The place my gaze turned was none other than the Dawn Jacket fixed to my shoulders. To be precise, it was [Neutral Parasitic Creature Envy], quietly attached to my chest.
Blackening.
The suitable mana that had flowed out as if to swallow the continent.
Envy, which had absorbed that darkness in abundance at my command.
I checked Envy’s condition.
[Current Envy Satiety - 100%]
[Envy is digesting the absorbed “suitable mana.”]
[Digesting - 99.1/100% until generation of new unique effect]
Let’s see.
Roughly calculating, it seemed the digestion would finish around the time today’s Archmage lesson ended. Once digestion was complete, Envy would awaken a unique effect according to the target it had absorbed…….
‘Then perhaps it’ll be a unique effect related to black magic.’
Whatever it was, it was worth looking forward to.
No matter how endlessly dark the suitable mana flowing from Grandfell’s past was, Envy was a legendary-grade item. This time, surely I could expect it to live up to its grade.
‘Now I just have to wait quietly?’
Of course, I had the thoroughness to not waste even one second of passing time.
What I took out was my smartphone.
The justification was that I must not neglect my research into curiosities, but…….
‘Honestly, I was inwardly curious.’
The advance party of twenty.
The public reaction, including that of the players, to the specific number was far from ordinary. Above all, it seemed they were somehow even more excited than I was about the confrontational structure between me, Raymond Sean, and Cheonha Tongil.
-No;; seriously what is this? Weren’t there originally 10 access devices?
-Wasn’t it one found by Lee Hoyeol and seven by Cheontong?
-I told you, didn’t I? lololol the access device isn’t the answer
-If you don’t know, just shout Homen ㄷㄷㄷㄷ
The players had come to know that the access devices were nothing more than Raymond Sean’s deception. On top of that, my declaration of the advance party this time had dealt the decisive blow.
It would not be strange for the dissatisfaction that had been suppressed all this time to burst out.
-Cheontong bastards got what they deserved lolololololololol
-Fr, feels like their karma’s finally catching up?
-I heard they failed the cave raid too? lololol
The reaction toward Cheonha Tongil, which had committed atrocities no less severe, was also sharp. Posts updating in real time refreshed so quickly that they were hard to take in.
“As expected, you are not easy to deal with, curiosity.”
As always,
the moment I was making an overly grand excuse,
I flinched.
-Isn’t that obvious? Getting properly schooled by Lee Hoyeol—
-Fr lol
-No, it doesn’t end there
-??? What do you mean it doesn’t end there
-A player showed up who beats up Cheontong just as satisfyingly as Hoyeol-nim
Oho.
If that was true, even I was interested news.
They say the enemy of my enemy is my ally, so there was nothing bad about maintaining a good relationship, right?
However, at the following comment, my mind went blank.
-Have you players heard of someone named Romeo?
……
Wait a second.
D-d-d-did.
Did you just say Romeo?!
[Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
Of all things, the most embarrassing stain among them.
Why was that popping up there?!!
...
Arcana Continent Chronicle Auction House.
In order to guarantee anonymity,
seller and buyer.
Only part of each other’s ID is shared between them.
That’s right.
The cause of the situation was the presence of an ID that anonymity could not fully conceal.
To be precise, it was the number of characters in the ID.
A member of the Explorers’ League.
NetTuber player.
Park Hwigang rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
[High-Grade Elixir of Vitality]
[Winning Bid: 709,999,999 won]
[Seller: Hwi]
“S-someone bought this with instant purchase?!”
Who on earth…….
No, who might you be?
What noble person bought it at this price!!
Park Hwigang immediately checked the buyer’s ID.
Then he tilted his head.
Because even as a fragment, that powerful name had appeared.
[Buyer: Romeo]
“Romeo……? Is that naming sense for real?”