Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: East Continent Intrigue
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East Continent.
>Rattle. Rattle.
The carriage pressed on toward its destination.
In the meantime, I was deep in meditation, hogging two seats all to myself.
The reason was simple.
-That Thief's Divine Territory thing... what the hell is it?
‘……Beats me.’
I had no clue either.
It was just the Thief's Extremity, a Gift that let me do pretty much anything a thief could.
The evolved form that came from it: Thief's Divine Territory.
It seemed way more impressive than I'd imagined.
‘Volkan fell for traps two in a row.’
And it hadn't even taken much time to set them up. Just a quick flick of the wrist.
If I could figure out how to really make use of this, things could change for real.
‘It even worked on that Volkan.’
The description had called it transcending the human realm into the divine.
If it was truly divine territory, then yeah, it could work on Volkan too.
‘……Under normal circumstances, honing just this one thing would be enough.’
But I had the system.
Even the stuff I couldn't use properly yet—if I kept grinding away at it, I'd get there eventually.
The things I was using would evolve on their own anyway.
‘For now.’
The key was mastering what I could use.
Those meditative days dragged on.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Magic Power increased by 1.] [Magic Power increased by 1.] [Magic Power increased by 1.] ... Just grinding away at training like this was honestly fun.
But I couldn't let myself get lost in it completely.
Cooking and the like? I could just order Cheongju to handle it all.
[Unfair. Demanding compensation.] ‘……Later.’
I mulled it over while deep in meditation.
The farther we got from the Cradle...
Mana density, or whatever you wanted to call it—it was thin out here, so training efficiency sucked.
‘……It's dropping to the point where I might as well just slack off.’
That bugged me a little.
-Think about why a city got built on top of a labyrinth. Not that weird.
The Holy Sword chimed in on my gripe.
‘……Gotta wrap up this Hero Tournament crap quick and head back.’
We arrived at the town.
“Long time no see a bustling city like this.”
“You've been through a lot.”
“Similar to that old Orc Hatchery, excluding [Cradle].”
“Orc Hatchery?”
“Ah, that super famous incident.”
Ermé broke out in a cold sweat and hurried off somewhere.
What the hell?
“The Orc Hatchery had two sites—like gathering women on the verge of giving birth for humans, isolation spots for delivery, and places to encourage breeding among the young males and females.”
“Oh.”
“But then... elves raided the place, orc males got mass-kidnapped or whatever... tons of withered orc dudes turned up, and poof, it vanished. Barely any traces left now.”
“……Oh.”
Elves... you good?
*
First thing upon hitting town: snag an inn.
“In a small city like this, the inns probably won't be great. What do we do?”
“I don't care. Anywhere decent.”
The Crown Prince answered the question that was obviously aimed at him, and Ermé's face stiffened just a bit.
“Ordering the toughest one, huh.”
“Decent prep should be fine. Worst case, I'll tag along.”
“Then let's go together.”
Volkan jumped in, and Rishiel spoke up.
“Then I'll take a stroll with Sir Diago.”
“Where to?”
“Me? Grab some ingredients.”
“Hmm, your cooking's tasty. Looking forward to it today.”
“……Too much hassle. Eat the inn food.”
“Can't you just tell your robot?”
At Diago's words, I glanced at Cheongju.
Cheongju crossed its legs into an X in protest.
[Refusal.] “……Just like its master.”
[Thanks for the praise.]
I handed Cheongju off to Ermé—told her to boss it around if she needed anything—then headed out solo.
My looks drew too much attention, so I threw on some robe-style clothes over top.
‘Kinda makes me want a hoodie or something.’
-You actually like wandering alone, huh?
‘Nah, more like a hobby—hit a new town, gotta check it out.’
Before getting dumped into this game world or whatever it was, I'd traveled all over the place like that.
Until I got too damn famous for it, anyway.
In the middle of my aimless sightseeing stroll, I spotted someone giving off a seriously weird vibe.
A guy? Nah... girl?
Black eyepatch. Whole body wrapped head to toe in bandages.
Long hair. Slim jaw, but weirdly tall—had me thinking dude at first.
‘Everything about 'em's ambiguous.’
That was the vibe.
Even weirder: despite this person right there, folks around seemed totally oblivious. Creepy atmosphere.
I averted my eyes quick.
-Spotted.
‘……No way. I barely glanced once.’
-Hiding that well, but catch a one-glance spot? Anyone'd notice.
‘……’
But the bandage mummy just shot me one look and kept going.
-Headed Cradle way.
‘Empire reinforcements leak?’
Hunting in the labyrinth had stalled out, so they'd called in direct backup from the Empire, or so I'd heard.
‘For something that big.’
Volkan being here was a head-scratcher, but he'd griped about it being important Hero stuff and got dragged along anyway.
-Presences popping up all over. At least two on Volkan's level.
‘……That many?’
-That Black Madness Duke was minimum five... Empire's packing that kinda heat, huh.
The Holy Sword went quiet after that.
For a bit, as I headed back to the inn, I caught a bizarre scene.
‘……Elf, orc, and dwarf?’
City's vibe screamed human-heavy, but way more other races than expected.
Except, eavesdropping closer... didn't sound like it.
“What, a walking stump?”
“Weaponless stump's got muscle-heads running?”
“Even the brain's muscle—sorry 'bout that. Might as well snag your weapons while I'm at it...”
“Elf! Elves incoming!”
“Tch, yo stump—truce for now! No choice, temporary alliance, just this once!”
“No, fuck that! Why the hell are elves crashing the Hero Candidate Comp?! Sorry, but I ain't forgiven you for jacking our weapons yet!”
“Minor crap later... incoming!”
“…….”
Orc and dwarf teamed up, and from outside, an elf clicked her tongue and smacked her lips.
She scanned around with snake-like predator eyes.
Then locked onto me and froze.
“……Hoo, sturdy male specimen here.”
“Hey, you dazed human over there! Get over here!”
“Hurry it up! Human or not, I ain't watching you get gobbled by those bitches!”
Orc and dwarf waved me over.
I headed their way, eyeing the elves.
All-female crew.
One stood out big time.
-That one's got chops.
Holy Sword tossed out rare praise.
A woman caught my eye.
Silver hair, blue eyes. Kinda pouty, haughty vibe.
Classic elf long ears, striking looks.
She stared at me with a blank gaze.
“No way... how's he that gorgeous?”
She muttered in a daze, eyes on me.
What? Did she see through my robed face or something?
‘……Ah, thief.’
Could tell at a glance.
After snagging Thief's Extremity, I'd picked up on all the tells—the habits, footsteps—of thieves and archers inside the Cradle.
Lots of tells pop out once you know what to look for.
And yeah, she was high-level as a thief.
‘……Still leagues below me, though.’
This side was straight-up running a con.
-Leagues below... level gap's not even that big. Nothing special.
Holy Sword eyed the elf and snorted.
Obviously.
What was Thief's Extremity?
Awakening every peak a thief could reach.
If we'd met back then, maybe. But now? I'd even unlocked the Divine Territory.
Long story short.
‘Thief fights? Total waste.’
Nothing to gain.
I tugged my hood low over the elf's gaze.
Back in the day, maybe. But no interest wasting time on scrubs now.
“You... pretty face is right up my alley...”
“Not my type.”
“Ha? Got some bite, huh. Means you're worth the face value.”
Elf's eyes narrowed to slits, then shifted to amused as she eyed me.
“But hear my name, and the story changes.”
“Name?”
Like a name's gonna move the needle.
I gave the elf a bored look.
“I'm Seraphina. Of the Duskveil family.”
“……?”
“……?”
I tilted my head; the elf girl did the exact same.
“Hoh, you don't know?”
“No clue who that is...”
I'd memorized all the names of clan masters making waves lately. Never hearing of her meant she wasn't making any.
Standouts or rising stars.
Ermé had compiled the whole list.
Her take wasn't gospel.
But this one was borderline for even making the cut.
‘Confidence like that... at her level?’
Weirded me out, but that smug face was too much to ignore.
“You might not know, but I'm the top promising Thief Hero candidate among the women. Be nice to me from here on out.”
“Why would I?”
“Hehe, yeah, face value. Don't sweat it. With looks like yours, once I snag Hero, I'll take you in.”
Big dreams.
-Not even thinking about who hands out the rice cakes... gonna choke hard shoving 'em down her throat...
Holy Sword tsked in pity.
“Remember it. Seraphina Duskveil's waiting for you.”
“That human... tagged by her of all people...”
“Empire's got their genius-slayer Sword Hero locked. Elves have Seraphina. Yeah... poise screams different league...”
Orc and dwarf shuddered in terror.
Eyes on me full of pity.
I was a little shocked.
‘……Puts her on the genius slayer's level? The kid?’
Soyeonhwa... that once-in-a-millennium prodigy.
Guess she was a rising-star radar...