The Contaminated City of Faisalmer

The desert city of Faisalmer.

A low, humming drone filled the air—and two figures stepped out of the desert warp, a place no outsider ever approached.

One was Aria. The other…

"Do I… really need to follow you all the way out here?"

Aria spoke with complete honesty, addressing the Fifth Lord, Randolph. She simply could not understand why she was needed for the conquest of Faisalmer.

"As long as the Northern Sky Ice Sword remains contracted to you, there's no other choice, caw."

Through the father and daughter's blunder, what Randolph had truly wanted was the Northern Sky Ice Sword. He had intended to unravel the secrets of that ego sword. But the Northern Sky Ice Sword had already finished its contract with Aria. If she strayed more than a set distance from it, she would die.

In the end, Randolph had added the conquest of Faisalmer as a condition and brought Aria along with him.

"So don't concern yourself with it, caw. You're nothing more than a sword stand, caw."

"…"

And of all things, her role wasn't even that of the sword or the scabbard—just a stand. The phrasing grated on her far more than she cared to admit.

The desert city of Faisalmer.

After that incident, the White King had not taken a single step outside the White King's Hall. The residents of Kramdel and the other Lords had fallen silent as well. What they had witnessed was something of an entirely different order from the half-told stories that had only ever been passed around by word of mouth.

Even so, there were always those who whispered among themselves.

"So the rumors about the Fifth Lord…"

"They were all true."

"Mm. I still can't quite believe what I saw."

In truth, no one had ever actually seen the Fifth Lord's combat strength. All they knew was that he had achieved, in the Hall of Mysteries, a feat even the White King had never managed; that he had slain Ahram, the King of the Dead; and that he had claimed the Abyss Labyrinth for himself. Whether those were accomplishments the Fifth ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lord had wrought with his own hands, or inflated legends built on someone else's help, no one had ever had the chance to verify.

Plenty of people had dismissed the Fifth Lord's myth as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠empty, fantastical nonsense.

And yet…

Even so.

"…He took the White King's attack."

"He didn't just take it. For a single moment, he clearly bound him."

They had seen it with their own eyes—the White King's strike deflected, the White King restrained, and then the leisurely delivery of a few pointed "pointers" on top of it. How many beings in the world could show that kind of composure against the White King himself? Did any even exist?

And more astonishing still—

"To think the White King would apologize."

"…Isn't that a first?"

There was no precedent for the White King behaving that way. And for good reason: the White King was the true master of Kramdel. For a king to bow his head in his own kingdom, before his own subjects, was no small matter.

At that point, even the monsters of Kramdel found themselves forced to take the Fifth Lord seriously.

"We may need to throw in with the Fifth Lord."

"If I'd known it would come to this, I would have lined up behind him ages ago."

"It's not too late. The other Lords are already preparing for war. Depending on whose side you take, this could be a chance to rack up enormous merit."

The Lords' movements were anything but ordinary. The Death King had vanished, and the rest were gearing up for war. Follow the right one, and you could earn dazzling achievements. It was a perfect opportunity for a rise in station.

Even reaching administrator rank in Kramdel came with endless benefits. And if you became a Lord?

"If a Fifth Lord has appeared, there's no law saying a Sixth or Seventh can't show up too."

Become a Lord, and you joined Kramdel's ruling class—the equivalent, among humans, of entering the royal family itself. Countless monsters were hoping to become the next Lord.

But the other Lords' factions were already saturated. There was no room left in their solid ranks.

Whoever attaches themselves to the Fifth Lord first wins.

I'm not handing that spot to anyone else!

The monsters' thoughts were more or less the same. If war was coming, talent would be needed. Stick close to the Fifth Lord who had forced the White King to yield, and victory was all but guaranteed. Build merit at his side, and you might even aim for a Lord's seat yourself.

Thinking that, countless beings set out in search of the Fifth Lord—

"…He's gone?"

"He already left?"

The Fifth Lord, Randolph, was no longer in Kramdel. He had departed even faster than the other Lords—without any preparation at all, taking only Aria with him.

The Fifth Lord Randolph had left—together with Aria, his own daughter.

Inside the White King's Hall, the White King sat upon cold marble, lost in thought.

—I want that sword, caw.

When asked what he desired, the Fifth Lord had answered without a moment's hesitation: the Northern Sky Ice Sword.

The Northern Sky Ice Sword was one of the weapons long sealed in the North—so dangerous and so powerful that the White King managed it personally. Yet even the White King did not know the sword's origin: when it had been forged, or why it had been sealed in the North at all.

One thing, however, was certain. Every one of those weapons, the Northern Sky Ice Sword included, held secrets that transcended the mortal world.

Those weapons even raised the Lords' levels.

Once he realized the Black King was targeting him, the White King had unlocked the sealed armory. Distributing weapons befitting the Lords had elevated their very rank by a full tier. Mere weapons had raised their fundamental grade. The White King knew full well how absurd that was.

And the Northern Sky Ice Sword was the deepest of them all.

In that sealed armory, the weapon that had lain in the darkest, deepest place was the Northern Sky Ice Sword—sealed alone, far from the others. The Fifth Lord's insight in choosing that sword without a second's deliberation was enough to inspire genuine admiration.

That was when a voice broke through his thoughts.

"Are you… truly all right?"

Gungi had come. The White King slowly opened his eyes.

"What is there not to be all right about?"

"I mean the Fifth Lord. Is it really fine to leave him as he is?"

The White King gave a short, dry laugh.

"Since when do you sound like Dae-to-ryong?"

Gungi and Dae-to-ryong were complete opposites in temperament. Gungi was cautious; Dae-to-ryong was hot-blooded. Their opinions had never aligned—yet today, for some reason, they were saying the exact same thing.

Even under the teasing tone, Gungi answered with gravity.

"He is a dangerous man."

"Dangerous, yes. Thoroughly ominous as well."

The White King nodded once in agreement. From his perspective, the Fifth Lord had always been an infinitely ominous presence—and now he was settling into place as a genuine element of danger.

"Even if I was not in my true form, the Dragon Ascension did not work on him. It seems he can evade every attack except those of a specific attribute."

It had been the first time they had truly crossed hands. And yet none of the White King's strikes had landed. The Fifth Lord was not invincible—but he clearly possessed a skill with an ignore effect.

Gungi spoke in a somewhat startled tone.

"…Does Your Majesty's grade not pierce every attribute without exception?"

Of course it did. The White King's grade penetrated all defenses, attributes and resistances alike. How, then, could anyone simply slip past such an attack?

"In the ordinary case, you would be correct."

"Then… the Fifth Lord's attribute is not ordinary?"

"For example: when the light attribute transcends, it becomes Radiance. Conversely—do you know what darkness becomes when it transcends?"

"…I do not."

Light was light, darkness was darkness. That there could be something beyond either—Gungi, at least, had never seen it.

As if he had expected that answer, the White King smiled faintly.

"The deepest darkness. The Fifth Lord is a being of the Abyss."

"…!!!"

Gungi's pupils shook violently.

The deepest darkness—the Abyss. That unidentified land existing beneath the floating continents of the sky. The Fifth Lord had emerged from the darkness that had once swallowed the primordial world.

Of course, Kramdel had monsters that had come from the Abyss as well. But those creatures had, at best, dipped a toe into its waters. The Fifth Lord, on the other hand…

"I always wondered where a being like the Fifth Lord could have come from. That curiosity is now resolved. The Abyss—and more than that."

The White King continued with an almost unburdened expression.

"He is clearly a being from inside the Gate."

"'Inside the Gate'… what is that?"

It was an expression Gungi had never heard. But the White King only shrugged one shoulder.

If the Fifth Lord truly came from inside the Gate, then this may actually be a blessing in disguise.

If the White King's judgment was correct, misfortune had turned to fortune. By taking the Northern Sky Ice Sword, he had taken Aria with him as well. Keep them together long enough, and the progress of their relationship was as plain as day.

That ominous presence. And the moment the White King's hand had passed clean through the Fifth Lord's body—

The White King had shuddered—and been certain.

One who inherits the Holy Blood. Bearer of Sacred Blood.

"What are you doing, sword stand, caw."

"Don't… call me that… khk!"

Aria swallowed the breath rising in her throat and gasped for air. The desert city of Faisalmer—once a place where barbarians had run wild under the Desert Queen's rule. Returning after so long, it was nothing like before.

"Heretics!"

"Kill them! Kill them!"

The barbarians who spotted us lost their minds as one, eyes bloodshot as they charged. The problem was their numbers—considerable—and their levels, higher than expected.

It's contaminated.

I recognized the cause at once. This city—this desert—had been contaminated. People standing on contaminated ground were driven into madness. They would draw out every last scrap of their physical power, only to burn through their lives not long after and die.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Isabella.

After the Desert Queen's death, Isabella had set out to reclaim the desert city. I had wondered for a long time why there had been no word from her—never imagining something like this was unfolding.

Then what had become of Isabella?

And that was not all.

Main Quest 8 had begun.

A contaminated city. It was an element that appeared from time to time as the game progressed—contamination sources that could poison an entire city existed in this world in all sorts of forms. Main Quest 8's purpose was to eliminate those sources from such a city.

Contamination sources usually numbered between five and ten per city, and removing even one of them completed the quest.

The reason contamination sources appear has never been clearly established in the story. Curses of some kind, or the continents rising into the sky—speculation runs wild, but nothing more.

No player knew the true cause. Even marshaling all the knowledge of Pangenia changed nothing. It was an entirely different phenomenon from warps rupturing and sinking into the Abyss.

"Kill them!"

"Burn them all!"

The frenzied barbarians were hurling themselves at Aria from every side. She was fighting hard in the middle of that press. I watched the scene from a distance, idly stroking my chin.

The problem is the timing. Why did it have to become contaminated now?

Of course, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠contamination sources appeared without warning. Once their numbers grew large enough, the entire city became contaminated. A city's ruler had to watch not only the warps, but also take the utmost care in removing contamination sources.

Let's see. After the Desert Queen's death, the city went unmanaged?

If one had to name a cause, that would be a major one. The Desert Queen, who had held the city in complete thrall, had died in the Abyss Labyrinth. Under those circumstances, the city's problems were never going to resolve themselves. The contamination sources had likely been left to multiply unchecked.

"For the Queen!"

"Wipe out the heretics!"

…And yet those words the barbarians were spouting bothered me.

For the Queen?

I had definitely killed the Desert Queen. Had a new queen appeared in the meantime? And the contaminated were following her?

A queen of the contaminated.

Don't tell me…

A quiet unease settled in my chest. That queen they were talking about… surely it wasn't Isabella.