The Root of All Evil, the Academy
"Veil, sir, what brings you all the way here?"
"I was bored."
"?"
"Kidding. I came to take a short break from work."
The sudden appearance of the administrator of the Edenberg estate left me unable to hide my surprise. When a guild employee guided me to the branch manager's office, I'd wondered what the matter could be, but I never imagined the person who had posted the named request would show up in person. I'd assumed they'd just send some written compliments and call it a day.
It must have shown on my face, because Veil offered an explanation.
"You might not know this, but if we picked the rising star adventurer in the North right now, you and your party would take first place."
"I had no idea."
"It's not every day you meet a rookie who's making waves. Of course I had to come myself."
As he spoke with a mischievous grin, the wolf beastman standing beside Veil nodded his head so vigorously I thought it might fall off.
"Damn right! We're meeting our rookie. How could we just send a lousy letter!"
The branch manager of the Edenberg Adventurer Guild, Vergo, declared with a perfectly straight face. Lounging in the branch manager's personal chair and crunching away on snacks, he looked every bit the idle slacker. Yet for all his carefree appearance, the man was one of the North's foremost powerhouses. There were precious few people who could talk back to him—excluding the Grand Duke of Libertas, of course. His very existence served as a natural deterrent; central nobles practically shook at the mere mention of his name.
"My hands were free on the way here, so I brought some cake."
"Whoa! Isn't that the limited-edition cake from Eden Dessert that people say is impossible to get? The owner there has such a stubborn streak that even a count would get rejected if he asked for a custom one. How on earth did you manage it?"
"My subordinates suffered more than I did. They lined up from dawn, so everyone's exhausted."
"Getting up at dawn to stand in line is exhausting for me too."
Just how well did these two get along? Watching them trade casual banter while sharing cake, I found myself wondering why they'd really come while absently eating the slice assigned to me. It was delicious enough to live up to its reputation as Edenberg's most popular limited-edition dessert—almost beautiful in its perfection.
Adela had apparently already devoured hers, because she was now staring at Neon's portion with open longing. Neon fended her off with one hand while fiercely guarding his cake. I observed their little struggle while waiting for the conversation to wrap up.
Veil, noticing my expression, finally ended the small talk and got to the point.
"As you know, the North maintains quite a close relationship with the South."
"It's honestly surprising, considering the distance."
"True. The teleport gates we use in the modern era aren't all-powerful, after all."
"Unlike the ancient gates that could take you anywhere another gate existed, modern ones function more like tunnels—they can only connect to specific predetermined destinations."
I nodded along with their exchange. Just as they said, the distance between North and South was absurdly vast. Even using the shortest teleport route, the journey took a full month. Yet relations between the two regions remained warm. If anything, they were probably the closest of all five regions.
"It seems the South has developed a new weapon this time."
"A new weapon? Why the sudden interest?"
"They want to test it in the North."
One only had to look at the magic engineering cannons possessed by northern nobles to understand. Assets the South officially designated as strategic and guarded with extreme secrecy were practically commonplace up here. The meaningful look on my face must have been obvious.
"The North wouldn't have accepted such a request without getting something in return. There must be some internal negotiations going on, right?"
"This is exactly why talking with smart people is so refreshing."
Veil's lack of denial told me everything. No matter how friendly the North and South were, they wouldn't conduct weapons testing in such a distant location without good reason. The high-ranking officials from both sides had probably met in secret to discuss something important, using the weapons test as a convenient cover. Revealing the true purpose would only invite interference from countless annoying parties.
That line of thought led to another question. What exactly was happening that required a meeting between the North and South? It clearly wasn't some ordinary matter. I was still debating whether to ask when Vergo casually dropped a bombshell.
"It's nothing too complicated. We've been seeing unusual activity on the front lines lately."
"Unusual activity on the front lines...?"
"Looks like a Named Monster is about to stir."
His tone was so casual—like someone wondering whether to have steak for lunch—that it took my brain a moment to process what he'd actually said.
"Ah, I see... WHAT?!"
"Bwahaha! Why are you so shocked?"
"Anyone would be shocked! Who in their right mind wouldn't be surprised after hearing that?!"
I practically snapped at him in my panic, but Vergo only laughed more cheerfully. His complete nonchalance somehow helped calm me down. At that moment, Luna, who had been quietly sipping tea nearby, let out a deep sigh.
"I told you to explain things step by step. Instead you just dumped everything on him from the start."
"No matter how you explain it, the shock remains the same."
"But the time it takes to accept and understand is different, isn't it?"
"I'll leave the cleanup to you."
"......"
Luna answered by slapping a talisman on Vergo's forehead and triggering a burst of lightning, then turned to us with a bright smile. The sight of sparks dancing across Vergo's body was certainly striking, but I deliberately kept my eyes fixed on Luna. I had a feeling that looking away would earn me the same treatment.
"Anyway, while testing the new weapon on the front lines, the nobles from both the North and South will hold their meeting."
"So they're planning to call for reinforcements to stop the Named Monster."
"Exactly. Seven years ago, Magranas suddenly descended without warning. This time we've detected the precursor signs, so we need to prepare properly."
I rubbed my chin, processing Luna's words. Northerners might be obsessed with honor and glory, but they weren't suicidal about it. When there was a clear way to minimize casualties, refusing reinforcements out of pride wasn't honorable—it was just stupid. After suffering heavy losses in the previous attack, their determination to handle this Named Monster with minimal damage was clear.
"But why did you call us, Nunim?"
"The request we want to give you involves escorting the Southerners. It came down through the Central region."
"Shouldn't that be left to the security forces and knight orders instead of us?"
"They'll be going too. However, this time they're planning a proper test of the new weapons, which means the South is bringing quite a large number of them."
Quite a large number. From Luna's words, the reason I'd been summoned wasn't hard to guess.
"You're planning to use my inventory."
"Correct. Transporting that many items would take too long otherwise. So they want to store everything in your inventory and bring it that way."
"It's not a difficult job."
I shrugged. When the Mystery had chosen me and I'd awakened my ability, I'd given them a rough explanation of what it could do. It seemed they'd remembered that explanation and decided to make use of it now.
From my perspective, there was nothing to complain about. The more people who knew I possessed useful abilities, the higher the chance I'd receive important requests like this.
"Can I look forward to the reward?"
"Don't worry about compensation. The North isn't foolish enough to pinch pennies when the region's future is at stake."
"Besides, hiring you is still cheaper than the cost of transporting those new weapons, right?"
"Vergo's right. If the information from the South is accurate, bringing those weapons must have cost a fortune."
I nodded unconsciously at their words, then froze. Wait. So they hadn't called me because I was some amazing rookie—they'd called me to save on transportation costs?
When I gave them a suspicious look, both men subtly averted their eyes, clearly having caught my meaning. Luna, watching them with clear disdain, finished her tea and addressed us.
"We'll depart from Edenberg for the Central region in a few days. The Central region is quite chaotic lately, with all sorts of organizations becoming active. Be careful."
"Don't worry. Unless they're complete idiots, they won't attack an escort team full of the North's finest."
After all, it wasn't like the Academy would be involved. With only Northerners and Southerners present, what would a shadowy organization hope to gain? From what I'd heard, the escort force was going to be quite large, and the South would surely send substantial military strength. The resulting escort team would be massive.
Targeting a group crawling with high-ranking knights? They'd be better off robbing a great noble's warehouse for funds. No matter how tempting the new weapons might be, those organizations weren't stupid enough to throw themselves into the flames like moths. If they were that foolish, the Empire would have crushed them long ago.
I smiled with complete confidence. Seeing my expression, the others finally looked relieved.
"Oh, one more thing. It seems Academy students will be dispatched as escorts. The various Central nations are apparently uneasy about letting such a powerful force pass through their territory, so they'll be using the students as monitors."
"Perfect. Time to prepare for battle."
"Huh?"
The moment I heard Luna's words, I became absolutely certain that combat was inevitable and immediately shifted my mindset. Since the Academy—the root of all evil—was getting involved, a fight was simply unavoidable.