◈ Episode 424. A Story I Don’t Know (2)[Class Quest: The Akshan Civil War]
The deserters of Akshan.
They have hidden themselves in Forgotten Ones’ Canyon, counted among the most dangerous places on the Arcana Continent. Enter Forgotten Ones’ Canyon and recover the Akshan relics stolen by the deserters of Akshan.
-Enter Forgotten Ones’ Canyon. (In Progress)‘A civil war, and desertion…….’……
Yeah, now you people finally smell a little human.
Back in the early days of the Arcana Continent.
The Akshan demon hunters I remembered were people in whom you couldn’t find a shred of humanity. You could tell just from the physical training quests that players had quit while grinding their teeth.‘Back then, there weren’t even any rewards.’Even on days they didn’t go demon hunting, every last one of them shut themselves up in the Akshan base and trained all day long. Please don’t ask me what’s wrong with training on a day off.‘Back in my day, you see.’The Arcana Continent now and the Arcana Continent back then are completely different, okay? It was before the Demon World had been updated, so demons weren’t running rampant and making trouble like they are now. Akshan spent more days sucking their thumbs than anything else.
In other words, almost every day was a day off, and they spent every day doing nothing but physical training.‘How did you endure that, Hoyeol? Seriously.’That damned living-and-dying-for-style nonsense……!
I don’t know about anything else, but my tastes really were as unchanging as a pine tree.
Closing the quest message, I murmured.
“One grows through trial and error.”
That’s right. Fighting makes you grow.
Of course, the Akshan seniors had all been dignified adults.
In any case, maybe because it was the first bit of humanity those seniors had shown.
It felt sudden, yet deep down, I was glad.‘That aside.’A civil war.
It seems there really was a major internal conflict.
Naturally, I wondered what the cause had been.
Let’s see. I carefully searched my memories, but……. Of course nothing came to mind. In real time, this was something from well over ten years ago. In Arcana Continent time, precisely four times that.
They say even rivers and mountains change in ten years.‘I can’t even begin to guess.’In the end, while progressing through the class quest.
I would have no choice but to find out slowly.
In that sense, I couldn’t let down my guard.『One of the most dangerous places on the Arcana Continent』As if the recommended level approaching 1,000 wasn’t enough, I had thought an ominous energy was swirling around……. And now even the system message, which never lied, was warning me. Grandfel might be carefree, but Hoyeol, you must not be careless.
Shrrng—So, from the mouth of the canyon, I raised my beloved sword, Gwicheol, for the first time in a while.
But Gwicheol’s voice, which I hadn’t heard in some time.
Showed an uncommon reaction from the very start.
-The stench of blood is overwhelming, Master.
You use the utmost honorifics with Grandfel.
But with me, you speak in something halfway polite, Gwicheol.
However, I also understood that feeling completely.
Rather than feeling hurt by the discrimination, I got straight to the point.
“Do not lower your guard.”
-Of course. My master.
“There is no grave without its story.”
Of course, I spoke in Grandfel’s way.
“Yet this place is all the more alien because it has none.”
I looked at the finger of the right hand with which I held Gwicheol aloft.[Refined Araxitas Ring][Restriction: Lv.500][Effect: Can detect suitable mana.]
Senior mage of black magic, Matis Dean Karl.
It was a magic tool capable of detecting suitable mana that I had borrowed from him. The dark spirit, Diend, was a mass of suitable mana.
I’d thought it might help, even a little, in finding his whereabouts.
But the fact that the gem hadn’t turned black in the slightest meant that in this place, thick with the smell of blood, there was no past or background. That made it all the more dangerous.
Gwicheol’s voice sank.
-They committed such meaningless slaughter that not even a story remains? Truly displeasing, my master. It seems there is no one on this land worthy of being called a swordsman.
I could be certain that, at the very least, our seniors wouldn’t have committed such atrocities. I still didn’t know what discord had made them desert Akshan, but…….‘Slaughter? Impossible.’Putting aside their personalities, they were all demon hunters, weren’t they?
A class with nothing to boast of except when hunting demons.
In a place as perilous as this, enough for the smell of blood to hang in the air.
It meant the seniors had no ability to harm anyone!
But the question remained.‘Why did they flee to a place like this, of all places?’Well, I’d have to enter even if only to answer that question.
Needless to say, [Natural Enemy Relationship]
did not activate. Which meant that, from here on, I had to handle a place with a recommended level of a whopping one thousand entirely with my own abilities.
If it had been the old me.‘I would’ve made every possible fuss, real or not.’But to simply whine endlessly.
I had still built up quite a lot while struggling desperately.
Just looking at the total sum of stats, which Grandfel considered nothing more than numbers, made that clear.[Stats]
Strength: 200 / Agility: 194 / Magic Power: 877 / Luck: 16 / Aesthetic Sense: High / Tenacity: 10 / Charm: PresentStrength, Agility, Magic Power.
Adding only the main stats, they easily surpassed one thousand.
On top of that, my Magic Power in particular was on a different “level.”
Even so, I did not grow arrogant.
Compared to other classes, it was shabby beyond belief.
One look at my skill window was enough to make any confidence I had vanish.‘Don’t forget. Know your place.’While I was making that resolution, Gwicheol spoke to me.
-My master, you need not be considerate of me.……
I’m not being considerate. This is my full strength, Gwicheol.
Because there was no malice in those words, they stung all the more.
Ahem. Just as I awkwardly swallowed a cough.
A message suddenly appeared.[You have entered the sacred ground of shadows, “Forgotten Ones’ Canyon.”]
Forgotten Ones’ Canyon.
It seemed I had somehow entered the interior of the canyon from its mouth.
Indeed, it was a place as extraordinary as its recommended level suggested.
Grandfel’s fastidious mouth delivered its evaluation.
“Interesting.”
No matter how interesting or impressive something was, he would never easily acknowledge it, so I had said that calmly. But just now……. What sort of phenomenon had occurred? Keeping my head held stiffly upright, I moved only my pupils slightly and looked up.‘From the top of the canyon down to the bottom…….’Had I moved hundreds of meters in just a few steps?
If it had been magic, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
Portals could take you to an entirely different world, and teleportation could carry you hundreds of kilometers.
It wasn’t magic.
If so.‘Is it some kind of rule that applies only to this place?’A [Labyrinth] or a [Dungeon].
Just as fields possessed their own unique rules. Perhaps this canyon, too, operated under rules that could not be discerned through Arcana’s common sense alone.
This would have been troublesome……?‘If I didn’t have the Last Adventurer, that is.’It would be no surprise if I died in a strange land.
But because I had something to rely on.
I walked forward confidently.
“Pray that my interest does not cool.”
Good.
You really ran your mouth well there, Grandfel.
I couldn’t afford to whine.
Not only was I chasing Diend’s whereabouts.
I was in no position to be picky right now.
The weakest among the Demon Kings of the Ten Thrones.
I was in a situation where boss mobs no less formidable than the demon race swarming the Demon World and the Demon World’s lich, Discus, could come squeezing the life out of me at any moment.
Had it been provoked by my decision?
Click.
No sooner had I taken a step.
Sssss.
Than “something” surged up from the bottom of the canyon.
I didn’t know whether it was misfortune or fortune.
But thanks to the message, I could identify it.[The sacred ground’s guardian, “Apostle of the Shadow God,” appears.]……
Insane.
With an iron mask, I calmly watched its entrance scene.
But inside, I was burning to ash.
After all, for an appearance message to appear in a space with a recommended level of one thousand.‘Apostle of the Shadow God? What kind of mob is that?’Just as I was lamenting inwardly.
“!”
An apostle clad head to toe in black armor.
Whoosh.
It split that instant into even finer instants and lunged at me. [Natural Enemy Relationship]
had not activated, and since I had not wrapped myself in mana, my physical abilities were not being supplemented. I was defenseless.
Slash—!
It was coming.
To cut off my breath in a single strike.
A dagger flew toward the nape of my neck.……
This isn’t whining. I really might die here.*The underworld.
The orcs of Orc Auction moved busily.
“No wonder things felt like they were floating over our heads.”
“I don’t care whether they’re aiming for the Empire or not, but does it have to be now? No, in an age when it’s hard enough for everyone to make a living, what the hell is this……. Anyway, you’ve got to hand it to humans when it comes to loving fights.”
“By the way, Lord Ulrich will make sure we get our night shift pay, right?”
Kichi let out a hollow laugh as she watched those orcs.
Whatever else might be true.
The orcs were more rational and sociable than Rockid.
“Ha.”
A sigh slipped out.
Kichi reclined fully against the back of her chair.
Enough that her head tilted all the way back.
Enough that her short black hair swayed.
Even so, the tension tickling the nape of her neck did not fade.
“……
They must have come. Those things.”
Thanks to Ulrich, she had learned of the situation on the surface.
The Emperor of the Empire had died, and adventurers had begun returning to the Arcana Continent in earnest, he had said. If even the adventurers had returned, there was no reason the Shadow Mercenary Corps couldn’t set foot on the Arcana Continent.
“They’ll definitely try to catch me and make me pay.”
Especially Rockid, that bastard.
Thinking he’d found an excuse, if he ran into her, he would charge at her with everything he had.
Of course, what Kichi feared was not a clash with Rockid.
The person himself would fly into a rage, but.
Rockid was not a threatening existence to Kichi.
Yes, what Kichi feared.
What weighed down on her shoulders and neck.
Was the weight of her past mistakes.
“…….”
Slide.
Kichi’s gaze turned toward the neatly arranged table.
A jewel box.
She reached for the jewel box containing the hair of the young lady of House Claudi.
Ulrich had added this when handing over the jewel box.
-“As expected, it seems you need it more than I do, Kichi.”
If even that greedy orc had yielded it to her.
Then the sins the Shadow Mercenary Corps had committed against House Claudi must be that grave.
But don’t misunderstand, Ulrich.
It’s not that I’m afraid of paying for my sins.
“Nothing good will come of knowing this crap.”
The judgment of Claudi was something she, as the former commander, had to bear in full.
Kichi did not want the sparks to fly to her members.
They had finally washed their hands of the underworld and regained stability.‘I don’t want to drag you into this.’She didn’t want them to live hidden in the shadows again.
“……
As if. You people won’t listen anyway.”
But now, she was no commander or anything else.
To hell with giving orders.
It meant she was in a position where she had to run from summary execution as a deserter.
“……
I’m restless. Should I open another bottle.”……
Another bottle?
She had already emptied six by herself.
The orc bartender flinched at Kichi’s mutter.
……
Twitch.
Under the magic lamps illuminating Orc Auction.
Kichi’s shadow twitched.
None of the surrounding orcs noticed the change.
Only Kichi herself, the person concerned, noticed.
Because she, too, was one of the “Apostles of the Shadow God.”
Kichi’s eyes sank.‘……
An apostle has awakened.’What those words meant was simple.‘Someone has entered the sacred ground.’The sacred ground, Forgotten Ones’ Canyon.
“Someone” who was not a member of the Shadow Mercenary Corps had entered that place.
She couldn’t easily think of who that being might be.
It was only natural.
No stories remained in Forgotten Ones’ Canyon.
Because the Shadow God did not wish it.
Therefore, Forgotten Ones’ Canyon.
The very existence at the bottom of the canyon.
It was only natural that the people of the Arcana Continent did not know of it, and yet.
Kichi muttered.
“Whoever it is.”
Well, there was no need to worry much.
The Apostle of the Shadow God possessed power that was alien beyond measure. An apostle’s strength in battle against people surpassed imagination, and above all else, even if it died, it would not die.
No, to be precise.
“……
Even if we want to die, we can’t die as we please.”
The corner of Kichi’s mouth rose bitterly.
“Because we’re monsters who incurred a god’s hatred.”...
Damn it.
It’s strong.
It has an ability so absurd it makes my head hurt.
But I couldn’t show even the slightest hint of it.
The moment I started whining here.
Wouldn’t Gwicheol, which I held in my hand, be disappointed in my full strength?‘It might even realize the truth about Grandfel.’That’s right.
Even to keep my dark history from being exposed, I gripped Gwicheol properly. I scraped together even my [Tenacity]
and faced the thing called an Apostle of the Shadow God.
It was truly a desperate resistance.
Yet there was not the slightest change in my loose tongue or posture.
I spoke to the apostle as it revived.
“My interest is cooling.”
But you see, this isn’t entirely bluff either.『Grandfel’s talent was not limited to just one thing.
A brilliant mind was a given.
His innate magical talent was such that he could imitate most magic simply by seeing it.
And beyond that, he even possessed physical potential no less impressive.』Until I knocked down the revived apostle again.
The time it took was gradually growing shorter.
So I shamelessly said.
“Put in more effort.”
Now, show me anything.
A secret technique, a sure-kill move—anything is welcome.
I told you, didn’t I?
I’m in no position to be picky.
Even in a sudden trial, I must grow.
So come.
“Can you not display a more elegant swordsmanship?”
I’ll learn every last skill you have!