The Calm Before the Storm
The calm before the storm. While Argo was rampaging through the training grounds, a man watching from the upper seats showed interest.
"Who is that adventurer? He fights in quite an interesting way."
"Argo. He's a rookie active in the Edenberg territory."
At the man's question, Veil answered with a proud expression. At his explanation, the man's gaze fixed on Argo. He watched as Argo, after finishing his second match and waiting for the third, took out a mana potion from his inventory and drank it, his eyes gleaming.
"Subspace magic? No, is he utilizing a Mystery?"
"His abilities are fascinating in many ways, aren't they? Even I find them intriguing."
"With that level of skill, there's no way I wouldn't know about him."
"His active period is only a few months, but his growth rate is incredibly fast."
At Veil's words, the man easily guessed Argo's identity.
"The summoner who's been gaining fame in Edenberg recently?"
"Correct. In Edenberg now, the word 'summoner' essentially refers to Argo."
"Is he that famous?"
"It's because his combat style is unique in many ways. Adventurers who smash mountains with their bare hands are common, but one who fights leading summons and tamed monsters is fascinating, isn't it?"
The man nodded at Veil's words. Indeed, after seeing only familiar methods, one's gaze naturally turns to an adventurer who pioneers a new path. Knowing this fact, the man quickly understood.
"He's an interesting adventurer in many ways. I wonder what kind of performance he'll show when he reaches the front lines."
"You're already thinking that far?"
"Of course. What do you think is the reason the second son of Libertas made time to come here?"
"Well, if it weren't for that reason, there'd be no need for Iver hyung-nim to come here."
At the words of the man, Iver, the second son of the Libertas Grand Ducal family, Veil nodded this time. Since he also had expectations for Argo's future, he hadn't hidden his interest. Personally, since he was an adventurer whose future he anticipated, he planned to send a named request in the name of his family soon. Veil looked at Argo with satisfied eyes.
"A friend I'm confident will become a Master-class adventurer in the North someday."
"You rate him that highly?"
"He's a genius who reached Silver rank in just two months since becoming an adventurer. Including the siblings attending Orbis Academy, I'm half-convinced there are three future Master-class adventurers."
The position of Master-class adventurer isn't a limited seat, but at Veil's words expecting as many as three, the nobles nearby, including Iver, showed surprised expressions. Although Veil was a man who was extremely weak compared to the northern nobles, in exchange, he was a different kind of genius with tremendous business acumen and insight. Since someone of his caliber expected them to be future Master-class adventurers, it meant the probability was high, so the nobles' attention was focused.
"If they're that talented, they're worth sponsoring."
"There's no harm in forming a simple connection."
"If we get close, it wouldn't be bad to suggest a spar later, right?"
Though the intention was slightly odd, since it would help Argo anyway, Veil smiled satisfactorily. Watching Veil like that, Iver asked with a puzzled face.
"You're too hasty. With your personality, you would have prepared more carefully."
Revealing one's identity out of the blue and drawing out investment desire wasn't Veil's style. Pointing out that part, since he considered a more natural, secret, and most efficient method befitting his outstanding talent. Veil smiled softly and pointed out the part that Iver and the people at the front lines had hidden tightly.
"Haha. Hyung-nim, since the front lines are noisy, shouldn't those in the rear do their part?"
"What do you mean?"
At Veil's words, Iver played dumb, but it was useless. Having already grasped everything, he laughed mischievously and brought up the front lines' secret.
"The traces of a Named Monster were discovered at the front lines, weren't they?"
"......"
"The Mountain Dragon Magranas. That guy is still targeting the North, right?"
"....Haha. As expected, I can't hide anything from my little brother."
At the perfect hypothesis, Iver, who eventually raised the white flag, shook his head. It was good to be with his close younger brother, but sometimes it was embarrassing when he showed such a sharp side. Eventually giving up on hiding from Veil, Iver naturally deployed a mana barrier surrounding the two.
"It's not certain yet. The traces are nothing more than faint remnants, and above all, there's no definite evidence that he'll come down."
"My father said that guy will definitely come down again. He says the gaze of Magranas sometimes still comes to mind in his dreams."
Those who participated in the war seven years ago all said the same thing. Veil nodded at his words. As he said, the current situation in the North was quiet like the calm before the storm. Occasionally, emergencies occurred, but they were quickly resolved when neighboring territories joined forces, and no major incidents that would overturn a territory had occurred for over five years. On the contrary, ominous precursor phenomena were gradually being discovered at the front lines. To prepare for the great flow that would come soon, the North needed a lot of power.
Reading something in Iver's expression, Veil looked at him with slightly sunken eyes.
"So, how much time is left until the big incident breaks out?"
"Well... The scholars at the front lines are trying to figure it out as much as possible, but there's still a lot of uncertain information."
"Don't beat around the bush, just tell me the main point."
"At most five years? In the worst case, three years left."
"Then we should assume three years. In this field, the worst outcome always comes."
Having finished calculating in his head, Veil clicked his tongue briefly and stood up from his seat. With this, the purpose of participating in the academic festival was achieved. All that remained was to enjoy the academic festival like ordinary nobles and find scholars worth investing in for the future of the North and the family.
"I'd like to watch until the end if possible, but unfortunately, that's impossible."
This year, there are many interesting papers, so it won't be boring. If possible, he wanted to keep watching Argo's fiery performances, but since the break time was completely over, Veil looked at the training grounds with eyes full of regret and headed to the judging area.
To put it simply, he was defeated in the sixth match. Thanks to drinking mana potions like water, he managed to win up to the fifth match, but in the sixth match, due to the accumulated fatigue and the participants' levels having risen tremendously, he put up a good fight before losing.
Here, "put up a good fight" meant struggling to survive the intense interest of the eight Silver-class adventurers who came up just to catch him. Seeing them rush in droves to catch just one person, it seemed my combat style was quite fascinating.
"Ugh...! I feel like I'm going to throw up....!"
"You should have drunk the potions in moderation."
As I endured the nausea from the side effects of the mana potion, Neon clicked his tongue and patted my back. As Neon said, if I had drunk fewer mana potions, this wouldn't have happened, but then I wouldn't have been able to reach the sixth match. Since the essence of adventurers was a profession created for the weak to face the strong, even Iron and Bronze ranks couldn't be underestimated. Rather, because they knew they were weak, they analyzed us every match and brought countermeasures, making my heart chill.
"Argo, eat this. It's a stabilizer."
"Thanks."
After drinking the stabilizer Adela handed me, my stomach felt much better. As I let out a sigh of relief, Arash looked at me enviously.
"With this festival as the starting point, your name will spread widely in the North."
"Anyway, it's fame that will disappear if I don't keep proving myself."
"Still, having fame is a good thing."
Arash, envious of gaining fame like a true northerner, stuck out his tongue as he watched the training grounds where Silver ranks were starting to fight in earnest. If the training grounds weren't reinforced with alchemy and enhancement magic, the grand plaza would have been destroyed by their intense battles. No, even if reinforced with magic, if the participants hadn't controlled their strength appropriately while fighting, it would all have been destroyed. The level of battles unfolding was that high. They were so fast that ordinary people could barely see afterimages, but in my eyes, I could see everything about how they fought.
"It was worth getting stronger."
I recalled the time I sparred with Grid. It hadn't been long since I couldn't even capture the attacks he unleashed, mistaking Ikelos for a new type of monster, but already I had grown this much. It was refreshing in many ways.
While watching the matches of the unlimited training participants like the others, I checked the schedule with my companions.
"What should we do after the festival ends?"
"We should go back to our usual routine. Hunting monsters, completing requests, getting stronger."
"Neon's right. Since our activity period is short, we need to supplement our lacking parts too."
I agreed with Arash's words. Both I and my companions had deficiencies in equipment. After supplementing and checking those parts, we needed to move in a more perfected state. Since the tamed Laserdon also needed to fully digest the elixir and prepare the foundation to advance to the next stage, time for reorganization was definitely necessary.
"Then shall we take some time to reorganize for a while?"
"That's good. Especially Neon, complete the guild's mage training education course. It will raise your survivability."
"If I go there, they'll teach moving casting and various other things, right?"
"At least they'll bring your skills up to the average of northern mages."
At Arash's advice, Neon's eyes sparkled. As we came up to the North, the standards for mages had become quite distorted. In the North, moving casting, which was considered the standard for veterans, was seen as a basic technique that even novice mages could do, and mages who could chant spells in any situation were considered average, so he had been inwardly dissatisfied with his own skills, but now that he found a way to solve it, he showed motivation. Neon patted my shoulder with a reliable expression.
"Just wait three months. I'll come back as the North's best mage."
"I'll cheer you on."
I nodded with a strange expression at Neon's words. For some reason, I had a feeling that if Neon completely mastered moving casting, he would change jobs to a tanker instead of a mage. A perfect evasion tank and aggro handler, at that.
"Hahaha! If I just learn moving casting, I can use magic while running away to a safe place!"
However, I didn't voice that thought, thinking that a talented mage might get frustrated if I brought it up. There was already a track record, so I didn't trust it. As I swallowed my words inwardly, Adela, who was beside me, asked me with a puzzled face.
"Hey, even if Neon learns moving casting, will he be able to perform well as a mage?"
"It'll be tough. Even if a little dark mana is revealed, monsters will flip their eyes and rush in, right?"
"Hmm. I see."
At my explanation, Adela seemed to ponder something, then approached Neon, who was burning with motivation, and patted his shoulder to cheer him on.
"Neon. Hang in there. I'll always support you."
"Huh? Oh, well, thanks?"
At the sudden cheer, Neon made a puzzled expression, but soon thought that good was good and burned with motivation again.