Chapter 308
Returning to a little earlier, to the beginning of Day 9.
Train.
People began appearing one by one in the city of magic engineering and trains.
Most had arrived the previous day, logged out, and were now logging back in as participants.
And three minutes later.
Participants who had booked transportation, logged out, and then arrived in Train by boarding it immediately also began to appear.
The shop did not open right away. It did not operate at full capacity.
“I heard it opens in ten minutes. I went to the workshop and had it confirmed.”
“I figured as much, so I haven’t taken a single step away from the plaza.”
“Hahaha.”
Even though they had all expected it, they had gathered early.
Sharing information at times like this was important.
“Have you been collecting points well?”
“The Train quest was too stingy. I spent the whole day outside and still managed to gather quite a lot.”
“I’m jealous.”
“Huh? I think I saw you in the Great Forest, Lord Yon. Did you earn a lot?”
“Heh heh. Just enough.”
“Just enough? Sounds like the hunting went well. Haha.”
The person who answered the question about whether hunting had gone well with a hearty laugh was Yon.
It wasn’t just enough.
Thanks to his good luck, he had been able to earn a large number of points over a little more than a day.
But even so, it was still insufficient unless Seojun helped him.
He had started at a disadvantage, after all, with everything already stolen from him.
The key was—
‘What kind of items will appear in the shop?’
As it happened, the conversation among those gathered immediately turned to that subject.
“There’s probably a low chance the items will be first come, first served.”
“Most likely. The NPC specifically added that there was no need to line up in advance.”
“They didn’t create any differences in access, either.”
“Couldn’t they just be ordinary consumables?”
“Selling runes early couldn’t possibly be the price, could it?”
Runes could be purchased cheaply from the mysterious merchant who appeared unexpectedly during the latter half.
There were ways to buy them at high prices before then.
Since runes were one of the best methods of improving one’s abilities, it was a fairly decent privilege.
“But if you think that’s the reason they held us here for days… it’s a little disappointing, isn’t it?”
Someone said that.
And everyone present agreed.
What use was there in buying runes now when they could eventually be purchased cheaply?
Normally, runes were needed when there was some benefit to be gained from killing someone immediately, but this was not such a situation.
Probably.
“Since there’s a mastermind, buying runes wouldn’t be such a bad idea. For survival.”
“Is the mastermind thing certain?”
“Exactly. But where is Lord Kael? I don’t see him.”
At the mention of the mastermind, Seojun naturally came to mind.
Not because Seojun was the mastermind, but because he had once been accused of being one.
And he was in first place. There was no way he wouldn’t come up in the conversation.
“Has anyone heard any information about yesterday’s shop from Lord Kael? Lord Yon?”
Yon had, of course, heard about it.
Items that cost 300 points.
The condition required merely to enter was taking first place in a quest that lasted several days, and buying an item required 300 points.
For an ordinary participant, that meant paying their entire fortune.
‘The performance was insane.’
If one could get inside, it was more than worth the price.
But if they had to complete an additional quest just to enter and buy the items, it was somewhat ambiguous.
As he was lost in thought, Rachel, who had been quietly sitting beside him, poked Yon in the side.
“Ah.”
Everyone nearby was looking at him.
Should he tell them or not?
They were cooperating, and Seojun wasn’t the mastermind anyway. Wouldn’t it be fine to tell them what items were there?
After thinking for a brief moment, Yon reached a conclusion.
When in doubt, don’t do it.
It was the essence of social life he had learned while being beaten by Seojun.
“I do know, but it would be difficult to talk about it.”
Even if they looked at him somewhat suspiciously, they would all understand.
They nodded and continued the conversation.
“They did mention that something new could be created using the materials.”
“Did they?”
“Wasn’t that just the users’ speculation?”
“Even so, it couldn’t be runes.”
“If only the person who took first place can see the new things, and we can only buy things that already existed, it’s a little anticlimactic.”
Time passed, and one minute before the shop opened, they moved to the workshop.
Then—
The shop opened for the roughly ten participants who had taken part in the quest at least once.
* * *
Divine Sword frowned.
The person sitting in the seat ahead of him kept shaking his leg.
If they had met in an examination hall, he would have been a villain who deserved to be struck hard on the back of the head.
Of course, anyone could shake their leg.
But people who continued shaking it so excessively that it became irritating were definitely villains.
“Hey, Yasuo.”
“Yes, Lord Divine Sword. But could you call me by my surname?”
Divine Sword casually ignored the other man’s words.
He wanted to call him whatever was convenient.
“Stop shaking it.”
Yamada Yasuo was Japanese, and felt awkward when someone who wasn’t close to him called him by his given name.
“I’m sorry.”
“I understand why, but keep it to a reasonable level.”
“Yes.”
And the conversation ended.
The train had now entered a tunnel.
The scenery rushing past them suddenly changed into a dark chamber, and Divine Sword turned his gaze from the window to the front.
Yamada’s face was tense.
Divine Sword sighed, and Yamada asked,
“Do you think they’ll believe us?”
“Believe what?”
“That he’s the mastermind. I went to the ruins and checked for myself. I saw him kill them, and I saw him strip them of their belongings. And…”
The Mountain of Transcendence.
It was one of the central mountain ranges, said to be home to the incarnation of a transcendent being who guarded or watched over their continent.
For that reason, it was safe to assume that most of the ruins there were related to this incarnation.
“And?”
“When a new quest appeared for us after we returned, there was no way I couldn’t believe it. In the end, though, there’s no evidence. Evidence.”
[Salvation]
==
An evil being targeting the world is obscuring someone’s field of vision.
Objective: Gather clues and remove the obstruction
Reward: Varies depending on the duration
==
It could hardly be called anything but ambiguous, but they had already found clues.
They had been arranged in the ruins from the beginning.
And the clues they had found said this:
Close a certain number of passageways.
How? And what passageways?
They had many questions, but they knew at least one passageway.
Train.
The moment they arrived in Train, the two of them ran to Creset’s workshop.
Fortunately, they had also learned that the mastermind could not kill other people at will—which left the question of why he had been able to do so last time—but that eased their fears of another massacre.
‘Right. It’d be strange if there weren’t some restrictions. Even four people would have a hard time defeating him.’
Otherwise, they would simply be cut down before they could prepare.
“Let’s hurry.”
“Yes. But I wonder what the item is.”
“I hope it isn’t something that bastard can use well.”
“Lord Kael should be there, right?”
“Probably. He’s probably hiding among the people, laughing and chatting amiably. With his claws hidden.”
Creset’s workshop was an invincible zone.
Therefore, they had to settle things inside. They had to persuade him.
‘This time, with that bastard Yasuo here, they’ll believe us.’
Divine Sword once again found himself hating Seojun. The thought that he was despicable refused to leave his mind.
How could someone live like that?
If he was the mastermind, he should have been hiding.
There was still a question that remained unanswered. When he and Taesan had been killed, Seojun had apparently been outside plundering their materials.
‘Ah, thinking about it makes me even angrier.’
Now it was time to meet Seojun.
“Let’s go persuade them.”
“Yes. No matter how well he talks and how skillfully he incites people, he won’t be able to escape. Let’s tell him to take just one hit.”
They entered the workshop.
Inside, they encountered the ten participants chattering away.
Seojun was not there.
* * *
“So he really is the mastermind? Big Brother?”
Yon approached Divine Sword in confusion.
Divine Sword’s neck, traumatized by having been beaten by Yon in reality, shrank like a turtle’s.
Yamada Yasuo appeared between them and stopped Yon.
“Please calm down. It’s true. I confirmed it myself. Really.”
“No…”
Yon’s face looked deeply bewildered.
Divine Sword clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘That man was conned just as badly as I was.’
In a way, the shock had to be even greater.
“Then what about the attack when Divine Sword’s storage was robbed? That doesn’t make sense.”
Rachel asked a sharp question, and Divine Sword answered simply.
“I don’t know. But that bastard being the mastermind is one hundred percent certain.”
“Hmm…”
“Let’s confirm it. No, the other three who remained at the time also died, and there are witnesses besides me. Isn’t this a serious matter? It makes even less sense that I killed them all and recruited him.”
Divine Sword was not excited.
In truth, he wouldn’t have minded dying just like this. The only things that had half-dragged him along in his state of despair were Yamada Yasuo and his lingering desire for revenge.
And that attitude came across to the participants as sincerity.
Even if such despair were an act, it was convincing enough to deserve applause and belief.
“So what do you want us to do? Confirm it? That Kael isn’t even here right now.”
“He’ll come here eventually.”
“We don’t know when that’ll be.”
“I know. He’ll come today, at least.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“That bastard is diligent. After causing a huge mess somewhere, he’ll definitely show up here leisurely, strolling along as if nothing happened. I give him two hours.”
“What’s with that confidence?”
Rachel was dumbfounded.
“Big Brother being the mastermind… Considering his personality and abilities, it would be hard to find a participant better suited for it. But Big Brother being the mastermind… No… No…”
Seeing Yon’s mind break down, all the participants present fell solemn for a moment before raising their heads.
Bernard spoke.
“Can we really afford to waste an entire day? Hmm. Can we? We might be able to. Hey, Divine Sword. And Yasuo.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Have you seen the items in the shop?”
“No.”
“The rewards are potions that restore a percentage of your health and elixirs that grant an effect for a brief period. The prices are reasonable, too.”
“Hmm…”
“They’d be effective against that bastard Kael.”
“Right. So if we’re going to catch him—”
“We have to catch him before he enters the shop. Absolutely. Otherwise, the next fight will drag on endlessly.”
“I’ll wait here. In front of this place. I think that’s what we have to do.”
Bernard also didn’t think Seojun would postpone checking the shop until the next day.
And if Seojun really was the mastermind, they absolutely could not let him use the shop.
Divine Sword asked,
“How long will the shop remain open?”
“Until the next round tomorrow.”
“Then if we confirm that he’s the mastermind today, let’s set up a barrier until tomorrow.”
“Fine. That is, if we confirm that he’s the mastermind.”
Gerd of Germany, who had remained silent, sneered.
Gerd did not believe Seojun was the mastermind, but he decided to follow the majority opinion and wait together in front of the shop.
And Seojun, whose whereabouts had been unknown, really did appear in Train before even two hours had passed.
“Hey, Kael!”
“Big Brother!”
“Take just one hit. Just one.”
“You really aren’t the mastermind, right?”
The participants blocked Seojun in front of the shop.
‘Look at that refreshed expression. He must’ve gone and caused a huge mess somewhere again.’
This time, things really wouldn’t go however you wanted, Kael.
Divine Sword smiled inwardly from behind the participants.
Chapter 309
24.03.12