◈ Episode 531. The Proxies (3)
This was, unexpectedly……
“Worth listening to.”
Maybe I’d found my calling late in life?
“It really cleared the air.”……
Seriously, should I try learning magic even now?
I mean, they said magic wasn’t a skill.
Even a simple-minded berserker should be able to learn at least one spell, right?
Leonie was letting her imagination run wild.
The one who dragged her back to reality
was Jesse, walking beside her.
“That was the first time I’d ever seen a proof like that.”
“Huh? The first time?”
Was his name Matisse Dean Karl?
For a first-timer, the man had looked far too natural.
First of all, that composure that overwhelmed the entire room.
It was no joke, that feeling.
“That just shows how angry he was.”
“Angry, huh? What, that’s what it was?”
I don’t know that guy’s personality or anything.
But it was fair to say Matisse’s reaction toward the press corps had been bristling with hostility. In any case, the effect was incredible. So many cameras and reporters had entered the Magic Tower’s Crystal Hall, and yet.
Tap, tap.
“How is it that not a single article came out?”
Unable to believe it,
Leonie kept fiddling with her smartphone.
Looking at Leonie, the Tower Master inside the pointed hat spoke.
—So your world truly did not know.
I thought anyone with a head on their shoulders would be able to figure it out.
It was a world of adventurers that had been saved by Chief Lee several times. No, dozens of times. Then that meant it could also be destroyed several times, dozens of times, by a change of heart from Chief Lee.
—I thought they were acting that way even while knowing that fact.
Should I call this fortunate?
—I never thought the day would come when I would feel relieved by ignorance.
In that sense, Senior Matisse, you are a kind man.
You even know how to carry out a proof at the level of your audience.
If I were the Tower Master, I would immediately recommend you as an elder mage.
Keep you at my side and work you hard for years to……
Jesse cut off the pointed hat’s words.
“Even so, we have to keep watching.”
“Watch again? No matter what, back-to-back lectures are a bit……”
“To see whether everyone truly understood after this proof.”
“……
Oh, that’s what you meant?”
At Jesse’s words, the Tower Master flinched.
—Jesse, no matter what, surely they cannot be that foolish……
Can they?
He had been about to say that.
But when he looked back through his memories, it seemed they really could.
Jesse revived the Tower Master’s memory.
“Do you know, Ms. Leonie? How many times Shining’s guild house has been attacked since Rocks left Shining?”
“Beats me. There weren’t any articles.”
Tap-tap-tap.
She quickly searched it up, but no articles related to Shining had been updated.
What that meant was simple. Shining, which had lost Rocks and a considerable number of its guild members, had fallen behind the ranker group to the point that it no longer even appeared in the media.
Leonie replied, catching on.
“Seeing as Camilla isn’t following you around…… I guess they’re still being attacked? About five times? No, seven?”
Jesse gave a different unit.
“No. It’s already surpassed one hundred.”
“Wh-what? Over a hundred?!”
Wait a second.
That meant that even while Jeju Island was burning under Paimon’s curse. Even at the very moment when, quite literally, humanity had almost gone extinct. Those bastards called players were drooling over Shining’s guild house and carrying out attacks……?
Leonie shuddered.
“This is seriously making me hate humanity. Those bastards are something else, huh? Jesse, they should know you rejoined Shining, right? You revealed it in an interview.”
Jesse nodded.
“That is why I can’t let my guard down.”
The mass media.
For now, they had shut their mouths and were not releasing the footage filmed in the Magic Tower. But once time passed and today’s memory faded, they were people who could change their stance at any moment.
And that was not all.
In the Crystal Hall’s audience, there had been countless players. Not only players who did not belong to the Holy War Alliance, but also plenty who had only registered their names with half-hearted resolve.
Jesse continued meaningfully.
“Moths drawn to flames exist everywhere.”
That was why the two of them were hurrying their steps.
Before long, Jesse and Leonie stood in front of the Magic Tower’s portal.
Their destination was the Kingdom of Yusra.
Whoooom.
The unexpected proof had made time tight, but rules were, by nature, meant to be strict. They were going to attend the previously scheduled Holy War Alliance meeting.
Leonie bit her lip.
“Let’s watch, then. Who starts showing signs of stabbing us in the back.”...
Was this for real?
“……
No, if that bastard does this, what does that make me?”
Leonie could not look Jesse properly in the eye.
She had no choice.
A player who had effectively been part of the great alliance and had acted alongside them.
Skal.
That bastard had not attended.
Nam Taemin.
And Hisagi.
“……”
“……”
Unlike usual,
the reaction of those two, who said nothing at all,
made the gravity of the situation sink in even more.
Right on time.
Yusra’s king, Hakuna, opened his mouth.
“There are many empty seats today.”
Skal was only the beginning. The guild master of Bohemian, the strongest among the pure European guilds, Guyver, was nowhere to be seen either. The same went for the executives who would have attended in his place.
Leonie ground her teeth.
“……
They’re disgracing all of Europe, those crazy bastards.”
A subtle current was forming within the Holy War Alliance.*
“The early bird finds the food.”
A shameless slip of the tongue announced the morning.
“However, I shall skip breakfast today.”
10 a.m.
It was by no means a time that could be called early.
How long had it been since I had overslept like this?
Even so, our dear Lord Granfell did not admit it easily.
“It is intermittent fasting.”
Seriously, getting prideful over the strangest things. ……
In any case, it had been a long time since I’d slept as though I had passed out. It seemed my body really had reached its limit. A quest message flickered in the corner of my vision. ‘Considering I even skipped my physical training quest.’ Of course, the effect of [Blessing of the First World Tree] was still incredible. It was no different from offsetting, with just a single day of deep sleep, a condition that would have left anyone else needing months of treatment in a hospital. ‘But I can’t just be happy about it.’ Because I felt ashamed. ‘……
I wonder if everyone’s all right?’ The scenery of the special room of the Healing School in the Magic Tower came to mind.
Bangrit Tom.
Bensch William.
Curtain Reble.
Maia Daian.
As if the senior mages who needed at least two to three months of intensive healing weren’t enough, there were also the former Shadow Mercenaries—now Akshan’s new recruits—Kichi and the members. ‘If I were happy even after seeing them in that state, I’d have no conscience.’ This time, I couldn’t even blame Granfell. ‘It all happened because I went and misunderstood things on my own.’
Status abnormality, [Blackening], activated.
I’d done something that would take ages just to clean up afterward, hadn’t I?
Speaking of cleaning up afterward.
I couldn’t tell you how awkward it had been when I talked to my eldest sister on the phone. ‘Never mind how embarrassing it was to call her elder sister……’ For some reason,
my sisters only told me they were cheering me on and that I should hang in there? What on earth had they seen? Just what had the image of me broadcast on TV looked like for my sisters—even my mortal enemy—to say things like that? ‘……
Honestly, I’m really scared to watch it back.’ But if there was a record, I had to look back on it. During [Blackening], I had been buried and floating within Granfell’s infinitely deep darkness. I had only inferred the whole situation afterward by looking at the results and the suitable mana traces. I did not know the details. ‘I need to check the course of the battle with Paimon too.’ Of course, I was not the one who defeated Paimon.
It had been Baal’s gigantic forearm, which suddenly appeared.
That was exactly why I needed to confirm it even more. ‘Baal. In the end, he’s an existence I’ll have to hunt.’
Let’s see.
As though straightening my clothes,
after arranging the bedding with sharp, precise corners,
I reached toward my smartphone.
That was when it happened.
“There is an order to everything.”……
No, I was just going to check for a moment. What’s wrong with that?
“One must not forget a prior engagement.”
By prior engagement, are you talking about that green tea, by any chance?
I told you. We still haven’t overcome the limits of reversal magic. Let’s postpone that promise for a bit, until we overcome the limits of reversal magic and reverse Jeju Island’s green tea fields. ‘Didn’t we agree on that?’ Seriously, holding grudges……!
Has he not forgotten the wish I said I’d grant him?
What kind of wish are you planning to make, Granfell?
The moment I flinched,
Granfell dispelled the misunderstanding.
“It will not be too late to confirm it in hell.”……
Ah.
I had overlooked it.
The day I went to hell was already tomorrow, wasn’t it? ‘Because I passed out while cleaning up after everything……’ I had not yet finished all my preparations.
Before it got any later,
I would have to stop by the Garnet Hall and bring back at least a few magical tools for the decisive battle. ‘Honestly, as for me.’
The legacy of Gabriel, Akshan’s only named NPC. [Chain of Lucifer the Penitent]
I had already obtained a considerable item like that. But this expedition to hell was not one I would be going on alone.
The player, Kinver.
The elf, Elsidore.
And lastly, the Romantic Explorer, Lorenzk. ‘I don’t have to worry about Elsidore.’ But hell could be dangerous for Lorenzk and Kinver.
Especially since hell was where you faced
the karma you had accumulated, was it not? ‘If he was a named one even among the Supernovas, that says it all.’ I would have to stop by not only for magical tools, but also the Kingdom of Yusra to gather usable equipment and consumables. For no other reason than that they had declared they would accompany me all the way to hell, solely for my sake. ‘If something comes in, something should go out.’
You have a point there, Granfell.
Since I acknowledged that, you should yield just one thing too.
Let me check just one article.
No matter what, the pursuit of the strange and wondrous—
I shouldn’t be neglecting what’s going on in the world, should I?
Slide.
I stealthily picked up my smartphone and checked.
But……
Why was it this quiet? ‘It’s not like I’m being self-conscious.’ I had been certain articles about me would be overflowing. Yet somehow, it was hardly any different from usual. Was it because we overcame Paimon’s attack without much of a crisis?
As if. ‘Everyone was freaking out when they saw me, I’m telling you.’ On top of that, this level of silence was severe.
There were definitely articles saying Jeju Island had been restored by reversal magic…… But there were no articles about how Jeju Island had ended up in that state in the first place.
To be precise. ‘There are no articles about only those few hours.’ Just as I found it strange, the netizens seemed puzzled too.
I tapped the main article and checked the comments.
Then the reactions popped up.
Only after reading through all of them did I get an idea of the reason. ‘What happened while I was unconscious?!’
A proof in the Magic Tower! ‘And by Matisse, at that……?’ I could understand how the sparks had flown to the Magic Tower, to Matisse. The only one who could answer about suitable mana, about my [Blackening],
was Marcelo Matisse.
So I had already prepared myself.
Chief Lee Hoyeol has blackened……!!
Even if Marcelo Matisse announced it, I would gladly accept it.
That was how prepared I had been when I passed out in bed.
But a proof?
And the media from countries all over the world had been present for that proof?
And yet.
—No, did they all coordinate this or what? Why aren’t there any related articles?!
—I told you, right? That anonymous bastard was lying lol
—Maybe they got warned for spouting brain-dead fan theories?? lol
It was this quiet.
“It must have been a truly excellent proof, Matisse.”
No, no matter how important a prior engagement is,
this isn’t something you can just gloss over, okay?
But despite my pleading, my body headed toward the desk.
It lifted the quill pen.
Scribble.──────I will visit the Garnet Hall soon.──────Keeping it brief and to the point.
I conveyed the words to Kiko Armin, the senior of the Enchantment School……
Wait, I can see the letters appearing on the parchment.
But what is this now? ‘I’m busy, so why is it so long and detailed?’ Yet it was also etiquette not to simply pass over words written with such sincerity. I read through all the words that appeared. And I understood the entire situation with complete accuracy.……
Wait a second.
Terminally ill?
Who?
Me?!!