177
Whoosh—!
Hanbit’s party, having completed the transfer, arrived in Temoshá in the eastern part of the Raven Kingdom.
The wind blowing from the steep cliffs was as sharp as ever.
“Black Dragon, are we continuing the quest as it is?”
Haneul, who had been taking in the scenery, came closer and asked.
Hanbit checked the quest information.
[Sub-Quest #4]
You have learned of the situation the king faces.
A breeding ground for crime spreading through the eastern continent.
You must infiltrate its center and assess the situation.
Objective: Return to Temoshá and begin the investigation.
Reward: Sub-Quest Settlement
*Episode 3 main quest is deactivated.
The already-deactivated episode and the one remaining sub-quest.
The objective itself was the ‘start of the investigation’ — but what Hanbit was targeting was different.
“Ah, you two haven’t heard the explanation?”
The twins, who had been together since the Tower of Vortex, hadn’t heard the plan for Temoshá.
Hanbit cut the stream audio and looked at the group.
“Before we start, let me go over things once more.”
He decided to pass along all the relevant information to the four of them.
“Episodes 3 and 4 in their original form involve completing requests from Guild Master Ashid Kaldif. Broadly speaking, it’s made up of chasing the fugitive murderer Ravok, and investigating the criminal organization.”
“And the goal was to catch Ravok and a few of the criminal organization’s leaders, right? Episode 5 is when an NPC called Zenith gathers the scattered forces and unites them. The more I say it out loud, the more hollow it sounds.”
Haneul, who had studied the available information, crossed her arms and expressed her dissatisfaction.
The phrase “hollow it sounds” was quite apt.
The key figures of the criminal and anti-government forces that regular players would have worked hard to round up were nothing more than shells.
“That’s exactly why I waited two weeks to fill that hollowness. We need to drag the ones who truly control the criminal organization and the anti-government forces out onto the stage. Once that happens, we can skip the unnecessary stages and move quickly to the final Episode 6.”
The method for skipping three episodes and reaching the end could be summed up as follows:
First: Through two weeks of neglect, the criminal organization’s growth rate accelerates dramatically. This forces the backers to send their real loyalists as administrators for management purposes.
Second: Head to the criminal organization’s stronghold and capture the unknown true leaders and key forces. In this process, provoke the backers.
Third: Feeling the crisis, the backers move their timeline up and surface. A conflict between the Raven king and the anti-government forces will follow. Hanbit will make his mark there and earn the qualification to become a survey team candidate.
“Roughly makes sense?”
“I’m completely on board!”
“The guidebook’s walkthrough was wrong again, it seems.”
“To think this is possible…”
“As expected of Black Dragon!”
At the conclusion of Hanbit’s explanation, the four each offered their own response.
He had summarized it this way for clarity, but in practice the flow was quite straightforward.
In the end, it all came down to fighting enemies and winning.
“Let’s go and see for ourselves.”
At this point, pushing forward and confirming things directly was more reliable.
Having made his decision, Hanbit walked into the city with everyone.
* * *
“Wh — what. You again?”
The Adventurers’ Guild in Temoshá.
The male clerk at the reception desk went wide-eyed the moment he saw Hanbit.
He had immediately recalled that this was the adventurer who had received a message from the Royal Guard.
“I’m not here to arrest anyone, so relax. Where’s the guild master?”
“Ashid? Ashid is probably dead…”
“He’ll be holed up somewhere in the criminal organization’s territory.”
Just then, a voice from a table in the corner cut in.
[Adventurer Bolt]
Bolt — a veteran adventurer and comrade of Guild Master Ashid Kaldif.
A large iron chain wrapped around one arm, his table had several maps spread open on it.
“Holed up? He’s dead, I’m telling you.”
The clerk made a baffled face.
But Bolt’s answer didn’t change.
“If Ashid had died, word would have come back in some form. That’s the kind of man he is.”
“What do you expect from someone who just has the guild master title? A man who’s never fought a proper battle in his life.”
The two opinions were completely at odds.
Bolt, who had known Ashid for a long time, and the clerk, who had only seen Ashid in Temoshá.
With each knowing a different side of the man, the gap in perception was inevitable.
Hanbit, watching the exchange, turned to Bolt.
“Criminal organization? Has an outline emerged?”
“It’s not just an outline. Those people have grown to a dangerously large size.”
A few days after Hanbit had left Temoshá.
The criminal forces of the east, which had only been showing signs of restlessness, had coalesced into a single group.
There had been a large number of criminals to begin with, but during the neglected period Zenith had likely appeared and pushed the unification rapidly forward.
“So what’s the current situation?”
“The search has been underway for several days, but it’s been moving in a direction that minimizes agitation of the criminal organization. There must be a reason Ashid went out to investigate alone.”
-He went alone?
-These guild masters sure love going undercover…
-Jinuk Ver. 2
-Wait, was Ashid capable of doing things all along?
-He was the reigning authority on workplace neglect.
-Neglect was the answer after all
The viewers reacted with puzzlement at Bolt’s words.
For players who had been through the episode, Ashid was nothing more than a helpless guild master.
Slide—
Hanbit stepped closer and leaned in slightly to look over the table.
Marked on it in green was the full scope of the search area covered so far.
‘Timing is perfect.’
The story of two weeks that would have unfolded naturally.
Since he never assumed 100% certainty, he had also needed a way to gauge the current situation.
One of those ways had been the progress of the adventurers’ search to find traces of Ashid.
“What happened with tracking down the escaped murderer? That was originally a request assigned to me.”
“Ravok hasn’t been caught yet. Circumstantially, he’s probably holed up in the criminal organization’s territory as well.”
The fugitive criminal, still uncaptured.
This, too, was a situation that fit the desired flow.
‘Right — this is where we go.’
Scanning the map, Hanbit fixed his destination in his mind.
Where and how to infiltrate was already clear.
‘….Why is this here?’
His gaze, moving across the surrounding terrain, stopped at something.
The northeastern sector, which should have been entirely shaded green.
A fingernail-sized patch of it was marked in red.
Hanbit looked at Bolt and asked.
“Why is only this one area a different color?”
“That’s a place where the investigation wasn’t possible.”
“Wasn’t possible?”
The answer was strange.
The surrounding mountain terrain of Temoshá was rugged — but the marked area wasn’t unreasonable for a team to investigate.
“What exactly happened?”
“A barrier scattering white light particles blocked all approach and detection. The mages and technicians who came along said they couldn’t figure out the reason.”
“…White light particles? Don’t tell me — white?”
“Knew that one. Yes. Purely white light.”
Hearing the answer, Hanbit’s expression grew slightly serious.
Things happening differently from his other-world experience were no longer surprising.
But depending on the cause of the variable, it wasn’t something that could be passed over lightly.
‘The Holy Nation again.’
A barrier scattering white light particles.
This was one of the unique spells that only certain devotees within the Holy Nation could use.
He already knew they were involved behind the scenes — but both the timing and the action were somehow off.
“We’ll look for Ashid.”
“Don’t. As I said earlier, disturbing the criminal organization carelessly could put Ashid in danger.”
“It’ll be fine. We absolutely won’t be detected.”
“…You’re quite confident. Fancying yourself the hero who saved the city?”
Bolt recalled the widely known exploits of the adventurer Black Dragon.
He deliberated for a moment, then slowly rose from his seat.
“I’ll come along.”
* * *
Whoosh—
A dense forest spread across the northeast of Temoshá.
Hanbit’s party pushed through the rugged terrain and brought their running feet to a stop.
“That’s the place marked in red.”
Bolt pointed toward the area behind a large tree.
Watching him, Hanbit kept his guard up and moved closer.
Rustle—
Throughout the forest ahead, white light particles were glimmering in spots.
As expected — that was the Holy Nation’s magic.
Grrrowl—
Just then, Cheonho, perched on his shoulder, bared its small teeth and growled.
Something unsettling had been sensed.
“There’s something over there that feels… off.”
Haneul, standing beside him, murmured while looking ahead.
A sharp instinct, as always.
Hanbit shifted his gaze to the orange-haired boy standing behind him, staff in hand.
“Noeul, could you use Path of Light?”
“Yes!”
Noeul nodded and stepped one pace forward.
Gripping his staff, he closed his eyes and focused.
Flash—!
A golden line erupted with a burst of light and surged forward.
Slide—
It passed lightly through the barrier and went inside.
Possible only because it was a spirit’s power — and light-attribute at that.
Fwish—
The golden line circling the interior drove downward into the ground.
And a short while later—
“Huh?”
Noeul, who had kept his eyes closed, let out a puzzled sound.
“What is it?”
“There’s a space underground, and I can see one person.”
“A person? How many?”
“Just one, but… it doesn’t seem to be a player.”
He added that using Path of Light gave him a rough ability to distinguish.
A person who wasn’t a player.
In RP, that designation went by the name NPC.
The problem was that Hanbit didn’t know of any figure who would be likely to appear in a space like this.
‘I’ll need to go in.’
Agitating the criminal organization this early wasn’t ideal, but there were plenty of response options.
Right now, the priority was confirming who this mysterious person was.
Ding—
Just then, an alert rang in his ear.
Hanbit turned his gaze and checked the message that had arrived.
‘Yeonwoo?’
A notification that had come at a somewhat out-of-the-blue moment.
He immediately checked the contents.
「Hyung, the chairman of Japan’s Nio Group made contact. I was planning to turn away anything like this, but I couldn’t this time. It’s a case that’s been well-known for quite a while.」
‘A well-known case?’
Japan’s Nio Group was familiar to Hanbit as well.
It was one of the top companies by name — the kind that appeared regularly even if you were blankly watching the morning news.
「What kind of case?」
「He’s looking for his daughter who got trapped in the game… I heard it was known all over the world, and yet no clues have been found in two years. It sounds like he was also at the mercy of Adventurer A’s misconduct. If it’s alright with you, would you be willing to speak with him, even tomorrow?」
‘….Trapped in the game?’
It was a story so bizarre it was almost absurd.
But Hanbit’s own situation wasn’t exactly normal either, which made it hard to dismiss as nonsense.
Could this be another matter entangled with the other world and the goddess?
Especially if Adventurer A had been pulling his schemes — that pushed it close to near-certainty.
「Leave the number. I’ll call.」
「I figured you would. Sending it right now!」
Hanbit closed the message window and drew his sword.
Whoosh—!
A gale surging around the blade.
Hanbit sharpened its form and kicked off.
Fwish—!
The sword drawn across the surface of the barrier carved a light arc.
The transparent view wavered and scattered.
“What is…”
Bolt, who had been staring blankly ahead, went wide-eyed.
It was probably his first time witnessing consecutive uses of spirit power.
Step—
Hanbit moved into the open space and crouched low.
As the others followed inside, he extended his arm and pressed his palm to the ground.
Whooom—
Light particles in the air gathered with a clear resonance.
As the view was tinged with radiance immediately after, the sensation of transfer wrapped around his body.
Fwoosh—
With a shift in light levels, they arrived somewhere underground.
A comfortable warmth with light particles drifting through the air.
At the center stood a girl in a white ritual robe.
Long black hair swaying with an otherworldly feel.
“Huh?”
The girl, who had been turning her head, spotted the crowd that had arrived.
A peculiar sensation flew toward Hanbit as their eyes met.
His gaze naturally drifted to the name tag above her head.
[Unnamed Holy Nation Devotee]
