I'll Get Some Information First...
"I'll get some information first and come back."
"You're heading out?" Yenil asked. "Then won't you be exposed to the Cult threat you mentioned earlier?"
Yujun shook his head.
"I'll get it right here. The information."
"...What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. I'm going to stand here and see what I can pick up from the conversations drifting through the city."
"In a district this packed with players, you won't be able to tell the sounds apart."
"You think so? I feel like I can."
Yujun closed his eyes and gathered every sense in his body to a single point of focus. Down to the most trivial motions of the players around him, nothing escaped him. He meant to take his time and look carefully before he moved on, determined to rule out even the chance of letting a clue to the Cult slip past unnoticed.
It struck him anew. With his senses opened like this and the city laid out before him, he felt almost as if he had become a god. Put bluntly, it was not so different from what a god did. He was not gazing down from some far reach of the cosmos or from the God Realm; that was the only difference. To watch others from an all-seeing vantage came to much the same thing.
Right. The gods seem to sponsor certain players in all sorts of ways. Could there be Demon God Worshippers among them?
A sudden thought, but an important one. A god who sponsored Demon God Worshippers would, in all likelihood, be tied to the Demon God. He could not be certain, of course. Gods were not to be set on the same plane as players. They might aid Demon God Worshippers for nothing but sport, and their notions of good and evil might differ from his own.
In a way, Ner counts as my sponsor too, doesn't she...?
In truth, the inventory privilege alone was enough to say she had done a sponsor's part. It was nothing more than recompense for the fortune he had poured into the game, but he had always been grateful to Ner.
He began with the players nearest him. From the inn where he was staying, he could listen across a considerable radius all at once, and unlike before, pushing himself brought on no headache. The reach was as wide as a modest city, the sort of span that ought to have drained a staggering amount of mental strength, yet for him it was only a comfortable extension of the senses. Had he meant merely to skim, the range could have stretched dozens, even hundreds of times farther.
Yeah, I've completely lost it. Feels like I'm the only one running a cheat radar.
Knowledge was power, or so the saying went, and he meant to hold the whole of the Koruna Kingdom in his head.
Taverns first.
Whether human or of another race, there was scarcely a people that disliked drink, and once a proper measure of alcohol went down, even information that ought to be guarded could slip out on its own. These were players with exceptional bodies, of course, so that proper measure amounted to draining several barrels—but even so, nowhere beat a tavern for gathering information.
A tide of useless talk flooded in, and he tried to fish out whatever might prove useful. There was truly nothing.
Nothing but everyday chatter stuffed with bravado.
Had he chosen the wrong places? Having to sit through the war stories of players who amounted to nothing was no small ordeal. He could not filter them out, either. A word about the Cult might slip from someone's mouth at any moment, so he listened closely.
This is definitely the harder job. I'd rather fight tens of thousands head-on than keep doing this.
Enemies at least vanished once you cut them down. Sifting the worthwhile scraps from the mass of information pouring in through his hearing was grueling work. When he stood perfectly still with his eyes closed, cold sweat on his skin, Manuela grew anxious and could not keep still.
"Yenil. Isn't there something we can do to help?"
At Manuela's words, Yenil shook her head.
"He said he was gathering information. Unless we can interfere directly with Shin Yujun's mind, watching is the wisest course. If you are determined to help, then guard Shin Yujun. A barrier has been raised, but danger may remain."
"Got it...! So now it's my turn to protect him!"
As she said it, Paranet sighed inwardly and shook his head.
My lady. It is Master who is protecting us at this very moment.
He did not bother saying it aloud. Manuela was already glancing about with eyes bright with zeal, preparing a cast as though she might loose magic on the spot. To voice the thought would be no different from throwing cold water on a mood that had just brightened.
I have grown quite a bit myself.
One might say his sense for the room had sharpened. Paranet was moved by his own growth.
Master really ought to recognize this. He is concentrating now, so I shall keep quiet.
His mouth itched, but he held it in. For Master's sake.
CLACK!
"What is it now?"
Mah—a beastkin, and a branch head overseeing several branches—scowled at the door flung open hard enough to break.
"It's me."
"Regilon? What the hell are you doing here?"
Regilon. He too was a branch head of the Cult, standing at a rank much like Mah's, but what set him apart was that he dealt in information. It was fair to say no devotee in the Cult brought back as much intelligence as Regilon. He did not merely collect it well; he was so broadly learned that people said if Regilon did not know a thing, no one in the Cult did. For that reason, even Mah—notorious for his pride and arrogance—could not bring himself to treat Regilon carelessly.
"I've got something to pass on."
"Not a message. You came yourself. So it's important."
"You do know me well."
"What is it? Quit stalling and spit it out."
"Shin Yujun has left Heaven."
"...Hm."
Mah's head tilted. Shin Yujun was their chief enemy, so the information mattered—but why bring it to him, and why come in person with a face that grave?
"Don't tell me..."
"...How did you know?"
"Have you ever seen me explain? Just take it as given."
No one knew how Regilon came by his information, because he had kept the method an absolute secret. Whatever the circumstances, he never disclosed how he gathered intelligence. Either he possessed some cheat of an ability, or he secretly ran a small, elite intelligence guild.
"Why's he coming here?"
"Don't know. I can't read the bastard's mind."
"He didn't come because he knows what's going on here, did he?"
"Hard to say. I'd bet he did."
"Based on what?"
"My gut. And he has never once moved without a purpose."
"So Shin Yujun's goal this time is to stop our plan."
"The odds of that are absurdly high."
"Of all times..."
"Mah. He comes because it is of all times. Don't write Shin Yujun off as some brat who's only strong. That bastard's got dozens of old snakes coiled up in his gut."
Mah had in fact taken Shin Yujun for nothing more than a brat with strength to spare, and Regilon's words left him speechless. After a long silence, he spoke.
"What's the chance it's just coincidence? I heard he came to this kingdom last time too."
"Well, that's why I can't be certain either. He put down the plague in the Kingdom of Sitahel on his own and found out the Koruna Kingdom was behind it. He might have simply remembered and shown up. But that isn't the point, is it? Shin Yujun didn't come to help the Koruna Kingdom, so he'll be in the way one way or another."
"Where is Shin Yujun now? Is he alone?"
"He won't be alone. Same as always—that witch, some mage no one can identify, and that summon called Paranet. As for where, even I don't know."
"You don't know? You said you knew he'd come to the Koruna Kingdom."
At that, Regilon gave a bitter smile.
"He changed his appearance. You know he's good at disguises."
"That wasn't a disguise. Wasn't it on the level of a dragon's Polymorph?"
"Different path. Same result."
"Oh, right—Shin Yujun's got company. We just find them, don't we?"
"I thought so too. He put up a barrier, and after that they vanished without a trace. He must have finished changing his companions' appearances in there and then cast spatial movement magic."
"W-wait. He changed the others' looks too? Is that even possible?"
"It is. He isn't truly using Polymorph. He's only applying illusion magic with ridiculous precision. Still, distorting not one appearance but several would burn through mana like nothing else. Keeping that up would be hard even for a real dragon."
A hopeful color returned to Mah's face.
"So that means we can find the bastard soon?"
"Hm..."
Regilon's answer was lukewarm.
"I'd like that too, but don't raise your hopes too high."
"Why not this time?"
"Shin Yujun is outlandish, but he's clever. You think he'd change appearances without a plan, without even calculating the mana cost? He'll have something ready. An item, an ability, or just raw stats."
"Come on... You said even a dragon would struggle."
"A dragon would. But Shin Yujun isn't a dragon, is he?"
"...Huh?"
Mah went blank for a moment, then his eyes flew wide.
"Are you saying that bastard is better than a dragon?"
"Where illusion magic is concerned? Don't take it seriously. Hear it as a joke. Dragons differ from one to the next, and I've never actually seen one."
"So? What now? We find Shin Yujun and kill him?"
"I only came to deliver the information. The rest is yours to handle."
"That's pretty damn irresponsible. You know I can't handle this alone."
"Then join forces."
"If he ruins the plan we laid in the Koruna Kingdom, His Eminence the Cardinal is going to be furious."
"I've already requested support, obviously. I simply won't be part of it."
"You really do act the coward."
"Do I look like someone who fears death? You know the Cult's loss would be no small thing if I died a pointless death at Shin Yujun's hands. If I said I'd join, the Cult—no, His Eminence himself—would step in and stop me."
"Tsk..."
Regilon was right, so there was nothing to say.
"So you really came just to pass on the information?"
"Yeah. Be ready. Getting hit when you don't even know why ruins the mood."
"Thanks for the information. I'll handle it myself."
"Good. I'd rather it ended with you, if it can. Shin Yujun is no ordinary nuisance."
"Ah, right. Before I go, one piece of good news."
"Good news? You're not about to pull another one of those weird word games, are you?"
"What do you take me for. The support I requested earlier? Coordination is coming."
"Coordination? Isn't that the little outfit Branch Head Ji Gyutae runs?"
"That's the one."
"What use are they? Use your head. You really think Coordination can stand against Shin Yujun right now?"
There was not a single flaw in what Mah said, and Regilon laughed.
"The Coordination of before, sure. But Ji Gyutae has finally decided to draw the blade he's been saving. Most of Coordination's members have received the Grace."
"The Grace... Humans do get a great deal out of the Grace, I'll give you that."
Only then did Mah's face brighten.
"That's not the end of it. It seems Branch Head Ji Gyutae carried out the flesh augmentation himself. They say quite a few died in the process, but what matters is that it gave birth to warriors several times stronger."