◈ Episode 507. Not a Bad Entry Procedure, China.
“Are you certain?”
“That bastard doesn’t have the makings for it.”
“A pity.”
The man added to Elsidore, who was smacking his lips.
“If I remember correctly, his name was Long Xingluo.”
He was Kinver, who had once made a name for himself as a Supernova.
A Supernova who had hunted players, not monsters.
And in the process, there had been people he kept running into.
Players belonging to Unification Under Heaven.
It was a widespread fact among players that Unification Under Heaven’s conduct was not much different from that of the Supernova. Thanks to that, Kinver had crossed paths with Long Xingluo, whose level had been similar to his own, time and again.
“There was nothing to gain from clashing with each other, so there was no conflict.”
Of course, he was not under any illusions.
“In any case, there’s no possibility of Unification Under Heaven’s revival.”
He had wondered, just in case.
Whether the remnants of Unification Under Heaven had blocked Hoyeol’s path.
Whether they needed to be trampled even more thoroughly.
“It must be some mighty someone who happened to seize Long Xingluo’s body. After all, everyone who’s been displayed as mosaic in the system messages so far has been someone extraordinary.”
Elsidore must have been thinking along similar lines.
Seeing as he had come straight here from the Yusra Kingdom.
Soon, Elsidore rose from his seat.
“If that’s not the case, then fine.”
“What, you’re leaving just like this?”
“Unlike trash like you, this body has many things to do.”
Guardian of the Garden of Dignity, Elsidore.
Because he had proven his pride,
the order banishing him had been lifted.
Yet unless there was some special incident like now,
Elsidore did not leave the Garden of Dignity.
Kinver asked.
“What the hell is in that garden that you’ve got so much to do? With your personality, you should be itching to move by now. If you’ve got time, why don’t you take a look around a Rift?”
“A Rift?”
“To be honest, it’s a Rift that’s burdensome for us to enter on our own.”
The instinct of a blood elf, an exalted belligerence.
Rationalization began inside Elsidore’s head.
It was the pride of a haughty elf at work.
Elsidore raised the corner of his mouth.
“In that case, beg me earnestly, trash.”
“……
What?”
“You said you needed this body’s help, did you not?”
“Ha.”
Kinver snorted in disbelief. But he did not feel particularly offended. What was there to be offended about when trash called each other trash?
“Fine, all right. I’d really appreciate it if you helped us, Elsidore. It’s a Rift with a recommended level of a whopping 900. To put it in a way that’s easy to understand… Yes, even in the Zero Mountains, it would be a rare level.”
“The Zero Mountains?”
But Elsidore’s nose rose sky-high, knowing no fear of the heavens.
“Tsk, so it is nothing more than my brother’s front yard.”
By brother, did he mean the dragon at the summit of the Zero Mountains?
At any rate, whether before or now, he was still an insufferable pointy-eared bastard.
Kinver let it pass with a faint laugh.
“Of course, Lord Trash Elf.”
Arrogance without regard for others.
Because of that, Elsidore’s emotions showed honestly on his face. Seeing Elsidore so clearly delighted, Kinver found him irritating, yet genuinely amusing.
“And yet you require this body’s help. It cannot be helped.”
“Knife-ear, tone it down, would you? You’re starting to really piss me off.”
“There is no such thing as moderation in my dictionary.”
However, the two’s banter did not last long.
“……!”
Elsidore abruptly stopped.
Even when facing a Rift in the 900-level range, not a trace of tension had been visible on Elsidore’s face, yet in that instant, it turned deathly pale.
“My regrets, trash.”
Whoooom.
Then he immediately turned and opened a portal back to the Yusra Kingdom. Kinver stared at Elsidore’s back with a grave expression. Then he flinched.‘……
Did something happen in the Yusra Kingdom?’If so, I can’t just stand by.
The Yusra Kingdom was effectively no different from Hoyeol’s territory.
If it was an incident severe enough to make Elsidore’s complexion change so drastically.‘I don’t know how much help someone like me will be, but.’Kinver did not hesitate.
“I’ll go with you too, Elsidore.”
“You will go with me?”
“Yes. Lead the way.”
Elsidore did not stop him.
So Kinver followed Elsidore into the portal. He left a single word behind for the players in China, the former members of Unification Under Heaven and now members of the Holy War Allied Forces.
“Postpone entering the Rift until I return.”
He opened his eyes beyond the cluster of portal light.
“……?”
And then he saw it.
“Elsidore.”
The blood elf who possessed overwhelming might.
The haughty Elsidore, who had not even feared the heavens,
was cowering before a certain existence.
That was right.‘It was Him.’
While inspecting the flowers of the garden, He spoke.
“I shall ask you.”
“……?!”
Don’t tell me, has He found out?
Everything about how we subdued Unification Under Heaven in China?
Kinver regretted it.
Damn it, this is why trash should live like trash.‘……
I shouldn’t have pointlessly tried to stay loyal to that knife-ear.’If he had known it would turn out like this, he would never have followed.
However, regardless of his swallowed lamentation,
that person’s words and actions were simply lofty and elegant.
A slender, jade-like hand moved gracefully.
At the tips of those fingers was a single flower.
It was a flower as red as blood.
“I ask for your impression of this flower.”
An impression of a flower, all of a sudden……?
At the conversation that made his tension feel meaningless,
Kinver was bewildered.‘……
What is this situation?’But the reversal did not end there.
Because Elsidore, whom he had thought would likewise have relaxed,
instead grew even more serious.
Even the mighty Elsidore stammered at the sight of that flower.
“……
What on earth are you thinking?”*
What am I thinking?‘I’m thinking of going to hell.’The reason I had suddenly come to the Garden of Dignity? Simple. Because what I needed in order to enter hell was this flower I was holding, the [Sangsa Flower Grown from Blood].
Then an exclamation burst out.
“Well now, that’s mighty impressive.”
Right? You have no idea how carefully I’ve been tending it.
“It’s a paradise on earth if ever there was one.”
Even to a Romantic Explorer, who could be said to have wandered all over the Arcana Continent, the Garden of Dignity seemed astonishing. Lorentsk looked around the garden, his earthy exclamations contrasting with his youthful face.‘You’re asking who he is, aren’t you?’Elsidore seemed to be asking me his identity with his eyes.
“He is a companion for this journey.”
But maybe because I explained it too simply in the Granfell style of speech?
“A companion……”
For some reason, the tension in Elsidore’s eyes did not fade. Even so, this body was not the type to grandly explain someone else’s fame, not even his own.
Besides.‘Lorentsk isn’t what’s important right now.’I shifted my gaze.[Sangsa Flower Grown from Blood][Grade: Unknown][Restriction: Unknown][Effect: Unknown][Description: This is not a flower of this world.]
I had thought its blood-red color was ominous enough, and sure enough, its description was no less ominous than its appearance. Why, they had said it had been stored in the deepest part of the Explorer’s League warehouse, hadn’t they……?‘They weren’t just trying to scare me for nothing.’This is not a flower of this world.
Just as that one-line description stated.
Even I, who had acquired knowledge of every plant that existed on the Arcana Continent through the [Pentagram of Pure Knowledge],
could not see through the flower’s effects.
From beyond the elixir herbs came Lorentsk’s voice.
“You seem to know after all, eh? As expected, I thought an elf would know about that flower! There were footprints unique to elves left at the place where I harvested that flower!”
Footprints unique to elves.‘I use that footwork from time to time as well.’The elf-specific footwork that blends into nature is not something just anyone can easily imitate. But in any case, your eye is incredible, Lorentsk. It seems the title of Romantic Explorer wasn’t given to you for nothing.
“…….”
However, Elsidore could not easily open his mouth.
Lorentsk, who had approached before we knew it, asked Elsidore.
His pure eyes sparkled, devoid of any malice.
“There was certainly blood pooled all over that place. That is why I named it the ‘Sangsa Flower Grown from Blood.’ It was a flower I had never seen before in my life, so I named it as I pleased.”
So the reason its name at least appeared in the information window was thanks to Lorentsk.
However, the one thing that bothered me
was the source of the blood that had pooled in that place.‘It was probably back then.’The High Elf and leader of the elves. In other words, the stormy period when Agentress had once confessed to me that he had cut down every human on the Arcana Continent who displeased him.
Elsidore opened his mouth with difficulty.
“I have no excuse regarding the sins of my kin.”
Of course, since I had forgiven everything already,
I had no intention of bringing up the issue to Elsidore. Yes, who in the world has no sins? Even I, Lee Hoyeol, am still suffering because of the karma I piled up back then.
Therefore, I opened my mouth.
“The past is merely the past.”
“……!!”
“What matters is not betraying the pride you have proven.”
As always, it was just pride talk I had uttered as if it were nothing.
Yet not only did Elsidore flinch,
the reaction of the man behind Elsidore was not much different.‘Who is he? I can’t see his face properly.’Well, if he was someone moving around with Elsidore, it was not something I needed to concern myself with. Whoever he was, if he harbored foolish thoughts, Elsidore’s sword would be the only thing that took his breath away.‘In any case, this makes things complicated.’Lorentsk had said it.
-“Do you know the most effective method when exploring the unknown, Commander-in-Chief? It is to feel it with your body. That is why I savored it to the fullest. The scent of that sangsa flower!”
That was right.
The way to approach hell was to inhale the fragrance of this [Sangsa Flower Grown from Blood]
to the point of fully taking it in. Why, I had even consumed miraculous elixirs simultaneously that might have sent me across the Yellow Springs with just one.
The scent of a single flower like this?
What was the big deal? I had thought so, deep down.
Until I heard the explanation that followed.
-“As you can guess from the fact that I have only one sangsa flower left, it was not easy. To the living, hell is not a space of consciousness, but a world that truly exists!”
Taking in the scent of the sangsa flower and entering hell was not the end.
What kind of world hell was,
there was no way to know until one entered it personally.‘Including the time difference, we have no information at all.’In other words.‘In the end, we have no choice but to charge in blind.’To meet our Akshan seniors in hell, we had to be prepared for a brutal ordeal.‘Even Lorentsk gave up at the threshold.’Trials worse than the fires of hell might be waiting.
Therefore, one flower was not enough.
After all.‘How could I possibly go to such a hell alone?’At least one more flower……!
At the very least, we needed Lorentsk’s share. That was why I had wondered whether an elf might know where sangsa flowers grew. I had come to the Garden of Dignity in search of Elsidore, an elf.‘But he’s awfully quiet.’Judging from his reaction, it would be best not to get my hopes up too much.
Lorentsk seemed to have roughly realized it too.
His small shoulders shrugged.
“This is unfortunate, but it cannot be helped.”
“Do you perhaps require more sangsa flowers?”
“I do.”
Lorentsk answered immediately in my stead.
“As you must have guessed, our destination is hell.”
“……!!”
Elsidore’s pupils widened once again.
Leaving Elsidore behind, I set my mind working.
Let’s see, even if Elsidore doesn’t know, wouldn’t Agentress know?‘It would be something from an extremely long time ago, though.’Still, perhaps he might have about one flower.
If it was not on the Arcana Continent,
then if we thoroughly searched Sisley, the homeland of the elves, perhaps at least one flower……
“I will soon pluck the sangsa flowers you require.”……
Hm?
Elsidore suddenly spoke.
He would pluck them? The sangsa flowers that grow from soil soaked in vast quantities of blood.
Where was he planning to obtain them?
Wait, surely not?‘Is he planning to spill blood for the sake of the sangsa flowers?’As if I, as if Granfell, would gladly welcome such a thing……!
Did my shock reach him?
Elsidore shook his head and said,
“I swear upon the World Tree, upon the name of Mother.”……
What did you say you’d stake?
“I have no intention whatsoever of spilling new blood.”
An elf swearing upon the World Tree?
If he went that far, I had to at least pretend to believe him. In any case, if he was not planning to see blood, I could hear what he had in mind. I silently listened to Elsidore’s words.
And then I thought.……
Elsidore, you don’t have an ordinary personality either, do you?
Yes, Elsidore had boldly set a condition before me.
“In exchange, allow me to accompany you.”
With an endlessly solemn expression.
“Even if it is to the bottom of hell, I will follow you.”