Chapter 204: Who Do You Think You Are?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 204: Who Do You Think You Are?
“I was showing respect.”
Unbelievable.
It was, quite literally, an absurd thing to say.
“You were... showing respect...?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
This was coming from the person who had arrived last to the meeting and had behaved most disrespectfully, his gear clattering noisily as he took his seat.
“I believe a detailed explanation is in order. Simply saying you were ‘showing respect’ doesn't quite translate.”
“It is an etiquette I learned from the master who taught me the sword. It is called the Knight’s Oath—a posture used to show respect to an opponent before a fight.”
“The Knight’s Oath...?”
Naturally, everyone in the conference room wore a puzzled expression. A knighthood was not something easily obtained, and no one recalled hearing of any modern-day knights who practiced such a custom.
While it was common for knights to show courtesy before a duel, there was no record of a specific ritual known as the ‘Knight’s Oath.’
As questions filled everyone’s minds, a voice rang out from the observation team’s side.
“May I say something?”
The speaker was Soles Getia. Despite his title as part of the ‘Warrior Clan from across the Myers River,’ he was the leader of the Mayerbridge Union—a clan that, today, was a melting pot of people from various backgrounds.
However, he was the sole legitimate descendant who carried the near-pure blood of the warrior clans from beyond the Myers River.
“Ah, Soles Getia. You are a fine warrior. Do you happen to have any information regarding this ‘Knight’s Oath’?”
Soles Getia himself didn't know much about the oath specifically, but he had one suspicion. It involved a warrior clan that lived long ago in the northern polar regions, in the lands beyond the latitude line now known as the ‘Crystal Curtain.’
Unlike the modern ‘clan,’ the people of the northern polar regions back then lived in three distinct tribes. This was an anecdote from the Thunderstorm Tribe, who lived in the most extreme reaches of the Crystal Curtain—a region where snow and storms raged year-round and outsiders were strictly barred.
“Approximately seven hundred years ago, a Labyrinth Opening occurred in the northern Crystal Curtain that the three warrior tribes could not stop, even with their combined strength.”
Nowadays, the Explorer’s Guild travels across the surface world to identify new labyrinths and decide whether to open or seal them based on population density and accessibility.
But seven hundred years ago, barely a century had passed since the discovery of the first labyrinth.
Naturally, the warriors of the Crystal Curtain, who shunned outsiders, knew nothing of labyrinths. They referred to the occasional opening of small labyrinths and the subsequent outpouring of monsters as the ‘Trial of the War God,’ and they would subjugate them together.
When a Labyrinth Opening occurred that the Frost Needle Tribe, the Steel Claw Tribe, and the smallest but most elite Thunderstorm Tribe could not contain, they abandoned their homes and began to migrate south.
Because the opening happened in such an extreme polar region, and because the terrain inside the Crystal Curtain was so rugged and plagued by perpetual blizzards, the monsters pouring out of the labyrinth couldn't expand their territory. Most ended up starving to death within a certain range or killing each other.
“There is a record of an unknown knight appearing and requesting duels with the warriors.”
“A knight from a labyrinth? How is that possible?”
“It was likely a Living Mail, a type of necro-type monster.”
“Is there any record of it speaking?”
“There is.”
“Then it must have been a high-ranking monster...”
Before the warrior clans migrated south and the prohibition on entering the Crystal Curtain was lifted, that land had no name. It was a region that people only began calling ‘Stellika’ about three hundred years ago.
“Stellika...!”
“Do you know something, Explorer Aven?”
“It’s... no, nothing. Please continue.”
Yoo Eon remembered that name. It was the location Iris had mentioned—the place where the labyrinth she emerged from had opened.
“The records state that the nameless knight, clad in full-body armor, spent about three years relentlessly engaging in one-on-one duels with every warrior from the three tribes.”
It was an ancient, eerie chronicle: a knight who sought out warriors every morning for a duel and vanished like a ghost before nightfall. It was said he never killed his opponents, and he was never defeated.
Finally, after three years, the prophecy in the legends came true: when the warriors were in peril, a warrior possessing Divine Beast Power emerged from the Thunderstorm Tribe, overcame the crisis, and unified the tribes.
“It is recorded that the knight passed on the ‘Knight’s Oath’ to that divine warrior—the first and last person to defeat him—before departing.”
“Hmm...”
To the others, it sounded like a vague fairy tale. But to Yoo Eon, who possessed information they didn't, both the warrior Soles Getia mentioned and the Labyrinth Opening that occurred there were familiar subjects.
“It’s... probably correct.”
“What do you mean by that?”
When Yoo Eon, who had been listening silently, finally spoke, Atreus questioned him.
“Sir Getia. Do you happen to know anything about that knight’s whereabouts? Or perhaps his appearance?”
“There are no records other than that he was a knight in full-body armor who held a massive sword and shield in his hands. Since he appeared alongside a Labyrinth Opening, he must have been a monster.”
At Soles Getia’s words, Rubia, who had been standing quietly nearby, let out a startled sound and pointed at Yoo Eon.
“Wait, a giant sword and shield...?”
“...Indeed.”
Delbaheim realized it as well from the story. Yoo Eon had always used such equipment, but his proficiency with the sword and shield had improved with suspicious suddenness.
“Aven, are you perhaps...?”
The eyes of everyone in the room, including the high-ranking officials, turned toward Yoo Eon. Even Adelaide Margarita, who had been leaning against the wall listening, was staring at him.
“...I believe that’s correct.”
“What happened to that monster?! Where on earth did you meet it?!”
“He is already dead. And as you suspected, he was a necro-type monster that came to the surface through the Labyrinth Opening in the Stellika region.”
“Then, then...!”
“I don’t know anything beyond that.”
Of course, he did know. He knew about the Labyrinth Opening in Stellika, the source of the Knight Lord Hersha’s Mana Core, and even the person who had possessed it. But he couldn't say.
He couldn't publicly announce to everyone that a Stratum Lord-class monster from a labyrinth was currently inside Calax.
“Didn't you say you received teachings?”
“...Yes.”
“How did you receive teachings from a dead monster?”
Margarita asked the question that had been bothering her. Since this part involved Yoo Eon’s skill, he contemplated for a long moment before providing an answer.
“I absorbed his Mana Core.”
Based on the ability he had just demonstrated, several of the powerful individuals in the room realized that Yoo Eon could directly absorb the Mana Cores of living creatures.
With the mana of a living monster surging through his body, it was impossible not to notice.
However, they couldn't read the mana precisely; they could only tell that the Mana Cores of numerous monsters were intertwined within him.
“And what is the source of that Mana Core?”
“...It just happened. That’s how I got it.”
“A vague answer.”
Margarita pushed off the wall, approached Yoo Eon, and asked again.
“What is the source?”
“Are you threatening me right now?”
“Is that how it sounds? I am merely asking a question.”
“Why do you need that answer?”
“Because doubts must be resolved. This is the Guild Headquarters, and we need to update our information regarding things that emerge from the labyrinths.”
Her tone was distinctly overbearing. Margarita’s eyes flashed as she looked through Yoo Eon.
What the Guild Headquarters feared most was an imbalance of information.
It wasn't about the imbalance between individual explorers. There was no reason or need for everyone to share information equally. Each explorer had a limit to the floors they could reach, and information beyond that was useless to them.
To prevent the situation where countless explorers ‘died because they didn't know’ about the labyrinth, the Guild Headquarters had put in a great deal of effort through their high-ranking explorers.
Even if they had become a secular organization seeking profit today, their original founding goal was the dissemination of all information for the safe exploration of labyrinths.
“Even if this information is made public, no one can utilize it.”
“That is not for you to judge.”
“I can judge because I know. No one can benefit from this information.”
“Is that so? Not even me?”
Margarita’s final words were delivered with a deadpan expression. An orange wave of mana erupted from her body—a pressure so intense it overwhelmed many in the room.
Facing this, Yoo Eon stood up from his seat and spoke.
“Who do you think you are?”