Chapter 86 - Was It a Saint Test or a Light Blade Test? (1)
Unlike the 8th-step Arsia quest reward I hadn't obtained yet, Blue Moon wasn't just some ordinary organization that ate and lived off simple assassination contracts.
They owned various businesses, and these could be broadly divided into four categories.
The first was the assassination and contract work business.
The second was an intelligence operation leveraging Chester's abilities as an Arsia manager.
The third was luxury hotels, resorts, and entertainment facilities like clubs and casinos anchored across the globe.
And the fourth was shipping and trade operations.
"Whoa, all these brands belong to Blue Moon?"
"Yes, that's correct."
No matter how I thought about it, Blue Moon's scale was beyond imagination.
They operated assassination and intelligence contracts under different names like separate guilds, covering the entire world without gaps.
Yet when I heard the name of the luxury hotels and resorts owned by Blue Moon, I was stunned.
It was a brand called Pacific. Over the past few years, it had grown like a dinosaur chain by aggressively acquiring and merging numerous hotels and resorts that shot up in rental fees.
Pacific wasn't listed on the stock market, but it owned over four thousand business locations worldwide, and the number of rooms in Pacific Hotels alone reached 700,000.
It wasn't ranked number one globally, but it was expected to have a market cap of around 50 trillion, placing it among the top five brands in the world.
Even the hotel I stayed at in the Holy Land belonged to Pacific, so I couldn't help but marvel.
"Pacific Hotels are impressive, but I never imagined that Samin Corporation and Republic Shipping would belong to Blue Moon too. They've been operating so openly."
Although not on the level of Pacific Hotels, Samin Corporation's trade company and Republic Shipping's shipping business were still no small players.
I could chalk up the contract work, intelligence, and accommodation/entertainment sectors, but shipping and trade struck me as an unexpected line of business.
Upon closer thought, however, it made sense—the synergies with Blue Moon's other operations weren't bad at all.
'It fits perfectly for smuggling and money laundering.'
For reference, none of them were honest businessmen.
As a global dark organization, they not only possessed massive hotel chains that provided stable income and safe bases, but also their own distribution networks and companies to manage them.
It was impossible not to be amazed by their scale anew.
Adding up the total value of all businesses owned by Blue Moon, it probably reached close to 100 trillion.
But Blue Moon's true value wasn't just the market caps of the companies they owned.
"All special-class members are Aura Masters, archmages, or top-tier spirit summoners."
That was because the humans inside were the greatest source of power.
"There are exactly eight special-class members. Three assassin-type Aura Masters, one general Aura Master, two archmages, and two top-tier spirit summoners."
Once I achieved 8-circle, it meant I'd have eight Aura Master-class disciples under me.
That was enough to topple even the royal family of Rhinehart Kingdom, considered a strong nation.
It truly felt like an organization meticulously built with full intent.
"Additionally, they have 1,200 high-ranking knights armed with Force Daggers, 450 Vanguards, and five Sky Fortresses."
"Impressive. They even own a military. Are the Sky Fortresses made by Duke Lucas?"
"No. They're standard Sky Fortresses manufactured by the Prius Republic. We acquired them while absorbing the three military mafias there."
In the Prius Republic, even mafias possessed Sky Fortresses? No matter how advanced the political system, it was astonishing that corrupt politicians could bring a nation to such ruin.
Through these, I might be able to offer substantial support to the revolutionary forces.
"How do you feel? Are you satisfied with Blue Moon?"
"There's no need to say more. Blue Moon is a group I can't even value."
I answered with a smile to George Bayson's question as the head of Blue Moon.
As a dark organization member, how could they have complaints when they possessed military strength rivaling top dukedoms?
'As expected, with a Duke Lucas-level figure, the scale of their information organization isn't something to joke about.'
I was grateful to Duke Lucas for preparing such an organization that was almost inseparable from nobility.
It was still an alliance stage, not yet mine, but my heart was at ease.
"For now, providing information and sending talents as needed would suffice. Is that possible?"
"Understood. I'll handle it that way."
Just like that, I easily secured Blue Moon's cooperation.
Given that this was the next-stage reward from such a magnificent organization, I couldn't help but feel good.
At that moment, Chester, who had appeared via hologram, extended his hand toward me.
div style="text-align:centerborder:3px solid #00219bpadding:25pxbox-shadow:0 0 20px #00219b,inset 0 0 20px rgba(0,33,155,0.2)background:linear-gradient(135deg,#000 0%,#0a0a1a 50%,#000 100%)border-radius:8pxmargin-bottom:20pxposition:relative"> div style="color:#4d9ffffont-size:26pxfont-weight:boldtext-transform:uppercasemargin-bottom:15pxtext-shadow:0 0 15px #00219bletter-spacing:3px">⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙/div> div style="color:#e0e0e0font-size:18pxborder-top:2px solid #00219bpadding-top:15pxline-height:1.8"> p>[Ticket has arrived.]/p> /div> div style="position:absolutebottom:0left:0right:0height:2pxbackground:linear-gradient(90deg,transparent,#00219b,transparent)"__GT>/div> /div>
And a message popped up on my terminal.
I looked at Chester with an expression of "what's this?"
[It is a membership card that allows entry into all accommodation establishments owned by Blue Moon. Presenting it allows you to always use the top-floor penthouse without undergoing any identity verification process.]
"Oh, that's great. Thank you."
Pacific Hotels existed everywhere in the world, so it was quite a useful gift.
Meanwhile, Chester's gaze briefly turned toward Arsia.
[Arsia.]
"Yes."
Arsia's emerald eyes, quietly eating snacks beside me, turned toward Chester.
[No, it's nothing.]
Yet something seemed about to slip out, but he stopped himself.
Naturally, I tilted my head, and Chester disappeared with his greeting, saying the matter was now concluded.
"What was that?"
It might have been a trivial action, but an artificial personality wouldn't do something meaningless.
So I looked at Arsia, and she shrugged her shoulders, as if wondering what the issue was.
After feeling so good until now, I had to feel a tinge of unease at his meaningless action.
'It doesn't matter.'
If it were something truly important, he wouldn't have stayed silent.
I thought nothing of it and extended my hand to the head of Blue Moon.
"I'll see you again sometime."
"Yes, please take care of me from now on."
It was merely a cooperative relationship, yet the head of Blue Moon behaved as if he was fully my subordinate.
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As the first round of the Saint Candidate Contest neared its conclusion.
"Oh, you've succeeded?"
I received a handed-over item from someone at the Pacific Hotel penthouse in the Holy Land and let out an exclamation of amazement.
"It took longer than I thought. Sorry for the delay."
"No. I didn't expect the ancient holy relic to be easily repaired."
The person I met at Pacific Hotel was none other than the master engineer and black half-dwarf Coby Ventri from the Holy Land. The item he handed over was the hilt of the holy sword I had entrusted for repair, made during the Myth Era.
The object had always been kept impeccably maintained, but after passing through his hands, it was as good as new.
It featured an iridescent gold body unique to orichalcum, with bizarre holy magic circles etched upon it, and a crimson holy bloodstone embedded at the top serving as the highlight—a wonderfully ornate mace.
But what mattered most wasn't the clean exterior.
Whether this long-standing relic functioned properly.
I gripped it tightly and asked Coby.
"How do you use this?"
"You just need to pour in any kind of energy—Aura, mana, holy power, spirit power, and so on."
It was an extremely simple method of use.
Without hesitation, I poured mana into the white mace.
Then—
-Pat! Wheeeeeing!
A blade of light materialized, accompanied by its signature sound.
'Star WarX?'
It reminded me of the light blade from the movie where the protagonist said the famous line "I am your father."
"Oh, it's wonderful."
Stirred by the childish design, I kept exclaiming in amazement, and even Coby, who had already confirmed it was working, observed the relic's operation with keen interest.
I swung the blade in various directions.
Since this wasn't a real blade with edges but a light-formed sword, swinging it in any direction simply required touching the target, and it would cut it down.
"Whoa, the cutting power is amazing!"
"Haa, haa! Your Lordship! My blood! My blood!"
This seemed like something one shouldn't swing carelessly before getting used to it.
I had nearly committed suicide by swinging it wildly while trying to pose, slicing my own belly.
"I didn't realize I had been cut."
"Aaaah! He's after me!"
Coby's panicked shout.
I felt my body go limp, blood gushing wildly, and collapsed to the floor.
At that moment, Arsia, who had been occupying one side of the room, strode over to me.
She opened my inventory at will and, preparing for the worst, pulled out a custom potion mixed with one drop of high potion and elixir, then poured it over my belly.
Bubbles began to rise from my stomach, and the pain gradually vanished.
"I almost died."
As I sprang up from my seat, Coby staggered and tumbled backward, while Arsia shook her head and snatched the relic from my hand, stowing it in my inventory.
"Using this item appears to require considerable training."
"Y-yes."
But last time, how on earth did you even open my inventory?
I rose while feeling dazed, supported by Arsia's arm.
"Perfect. Thank you for properly repairing it."
"Are you alright? You lost a lot of blood."
"Haha, of course. This is nothing to me."
"In that case, it's fortunate... but"
It had actually been the greatest threat to my life since reincarnating from Rondel and Anna's poisoning attempt.
"Here is the promised payment."
"Thank you. If you ever need my help, please contact me. Repairing the holy sword with my own hands was truly a wonderful experience."
"Yes, I understand."
After Coby left and Arsia dragged me to the bed, I retrieved the holy sword from my inventory and read its information.
[Please name the holy sword.]
"Huh?"
Before I could read the information, a notification like the one above floated onto my Mankyung.
So I simply mentioned the name without thinking.
"Excalibur?"
[Name has been assigned to the unnamed holy sword: Excalibur.]
As a Earthling, the holy sword was naturally called Excalibur.
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[Holy Sword Excalibur / Holy Relic]
- It manifests all kinds of energies—Aura, mana, holy power, spirit power, etc.—into a Holy Blade.
- The Holy Blade structurally resembles an Aura Blade but possesses the spirit of Parma, delivering even stronger damage to enemies of death-attribute or immortality-attribute.
- By channeling a large amount of energy like Force, it can release the Holy Blade.
- Material: Orichalcum (350g), Holy Bloodstone (32g)
Reading the information of the holy sword left me with a very satisfied expression.
Now it was clear this wasn't just a sword form, but functionally quite different from a Force Sword.
Moreover, it could release a single strike of Aura Blade level, making it a treasure that would greatly diversify my combat patterns.
'Parma the Baron was an ungrateful tree.'
I recalled the viscount who had become a sacrifice in a territorial war and offered a prayer of gratitude.
Now I had to figure out how to make the most of this in Ibril's contest.
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After one month of the Saint Candidate Contest's first round came to an end.
I stood before the mercenary guild of the Jordy Kingdom, holding a bouquet of flowers to present to Ibril.
But...
"Ibril-nim!"
The mercenaries were tearfully urging Ibril to become the saint, creating a comic scene that made it hard to approach.
I wore an exhausted expression at the overly emotional reaction of the burly men grabbing a girl, while Ibril herself awkwardly smiled, clearly displeased.
"I'll work hard!"
"I'll cheer for you!"
The Saint Candidates who had gotten along well with the other mercenaries during the first round were only Ibril, our ally Judy Esther, and the rising dark horse Princess Sia Lin.
These three didn't mind using sacred magic on others.
Even setting aside Ibril and Esther's commoner origins, the noble candidates looked down on the mercenaries, but the way Princess Sia Lin of the royal family acted casually was surprising.
Given the cultural differences, it was understandable, but she didn't harbor the attitude of looking down on commoners simply because of her status.
As a result, her personality spread, and by the end of the first round, she had surged to fourth place in viewership ratings, surpassing Lady Francis.
Even I, who was sponsoring Ibril, saw my gaze turning toward Sia Lin Princess—how much more so for the other viewers.
Well, Lady Francis with her steel mentality probably didn't care, but watching the dark horse rise made me doubt the Saint Contest would flow smoothly.
"You've worked hard."
Finally handing flowers to Ibril, who had distanced herself from the mercenaries, she accepted them with a gentle smile.
"I hope I can live up to your expectations, my lord."
"You've been doing very well."
"Hehe."
The first Saint Candidate Contest had two scores: official and unofficial.
Official scores measured the number of achievements from working as mercenaries according to the assigned tasks.
In this area, Arsia had taken second place thanks to support from her fellow party members, the mages.
First place went to High Elf Grace, who was basically a machine that only did quests without smiling, so there was no way to beat her.
For mercenary achievements, second place was Ibril, third was Lady Evelyn of the Francis Duchy, who had assembled the empire's top talents into a party, fourth was Judy Esther, and fifth was Princess Sia Lin.
Unlike official scores, the unofficial score that couldn't be ignored was viewership ratings.
Ibril widened the gap with second place to a double score and claimed an overwhelming first place.
Second place in viewership was Judy Esther, third was High Elf Grace, fourth was Princess Sia Lin, and fifth was Lady Evelyn Francis.
From the perspective of Ibril, a commoner who had just been doing convenience store part-time jobs a few months ago, it had been a very successful start.