The Sanctuary of Palga
"Let's do that."
Palga.
Yet the name known to the world was the Eight Houses Knights.
It was the strongest knight order led by Raiga, a name that represented the Empire itself. Most people, however, had no idea what the "Palga" in the order's name actually meant, or even whether such a family existed at all. No one knew that the Palga family was sealed within the Sanctuary of Honor.
I had heard the stories of the guardians who protected the Sanctuary of Honor a few times—monsters so powerful that even ordinary Transcendents could not so much as present their name cards.
I had thought they were linked to some unrevealed Hidden Quest.
There had been endless speculation about their true identities, yet no one had ever managed to uncover them. People could only guess that the content had not yet been updated, or that their identities would be revealed only after certain conditions were met. I had regarded the guardians of the Sanctuary of Honor as a branch of some still-unrevealed Hidden Quest, and I was half right and half wrong.
No one had ever expected that they would be the Palga.
Among the players, then, I would be the first—the first to know that the sanctuary's guardian force was in fact the Palga, and that they were connected to Raiga.
Moreover...
...A human riding the clouds.
An old man who appeared astride a white cloud. The moment he arrived, a chill raced down my spine. It was not merely because of his presence or the strength of his mana, nor simply because he rode a cloud like Sun Wukong's Somersault Cloud. That was unusual enough, yet the aura radiating from the old man was far greater still—as if I stood before the raw force of nature itself.
I nodded inwardly.
If immortals existed, they would look exactly like that.
It was the first time I had ever seen a human so densely saturated with the energy of nature. He felt even more nature-attuned than the dryads.
"Do you know where this place is, that you dare raise a ruckus here, Raiga?"
The cloud-riding old man spoke with solemn gravity, yet his tone was unmistakably contemptuous toward Raiga.
"You ask if I know where this place is?"
A smile touched Raiga's lips. He continued in a dry, flat voice.
"The place of which I am master. The place I abandoned. Yet the place I will now reclaim!"
He declared that he would take back the Palga.
The old man's eyes hardened.
"...From the beginning you were never the master of this place. For the same reason you cannot abandon it, nor can you reclaim it. The sealing of the Palga was our choice."
"Even a passing dog would laugh at that."
Tsk.
Raiga clicked his tongue. What family in the world would choose to seal itself of its own free will? There was no house that would take down the signboard bearing its name and elect to be forgotten by the world. It had been forced upon them by the previous master of the Palga—Raiga's own master. These people were merely consoling themselves by calling it "their own choice."
The old man shook his head.
"Begone. There is no place for you to stand here."
"First Elder. I told you clearly. I will reclaim it."
"...You insist on draining the cup of punishment to the dregs."
The old man called First Elder swept his hand once through the air.
Then—
Whoooooosh!
KRAAAAAASH!
Gales howled in from every direction. Dozens, then hundreds of strands of wind slammed into Raiga and instantly swelled into a full typhoon. At the same moment a barrier etched itself across the sky, sealing Raiga inside together with the storm. The compressed air pressure and raging winds within that barrier were powerful enough to grind everything inside it down to the cellular level.
"Can you withstand pressure strong enough to reduce steel to dust?"
The First Elder spoke softly. Trapped inside that barrier, even a dragon's hard scales would be shredded. A human's thin skin would be ground away in an instant, flesh torn clean from bone. Wrapping oneself in mana to resist would be useless. Before the vast power of nature it was only a matter of time.
"If you apologize and turn back even now..."
I will send you off unharmed—that was what the First Elder was about to say when a strange light suddenly flashed in his eyes.
Slash!
Crack!
...The barrier split in a single clean line, and Raiga walked out slowly—without a single scratch, utterly unscathed.
"...!"
Shock and raw astonishment filled the First Elder's eyes. Humans could never defeat nature. They could not cut the "grain" of nature.
And yet—
"A pathetic 'grain,' this is."
Raiga had cut it. As naturally as breathing, he had snipped it clean through. Then he walked slowly toward the First Elder.
In that instant—
"Stop...!"
The First Elder cried out urgently. Was the warning meant for the approaching Raiga? It was not. His gaze was fixed further back. The guardian who had protected the sanctuary—the one who had severed the neck of the man who drew steel toward the Holy Grail—had drawn his blade toward Raiga.
But—
Thud!
Before the man could even finish drawing, he collapsed. An invisible sword had pierced his vital point.
The First Elder's face changed.
"Heart Sword...?"
A formless blade. He had recognized the attack of a formless Heart Sword—a realm even the previous master of the Palga had never reached. It meant Raiga had surpassed his own master.
"...My mercy is finished."
Raiga spoke like a god of death. Expressionless, he simply commanded.
"Inform everyone. That your master has returned."
Your master has returned—so bow your heads of your own accord.
Beyond the far edge of the sanctuary, past the invisible barrier, another world unfolded.
Towering cliffs. A mysterious land where waterfalls poured and mist hung thick. And a single pavilion built atop the cliff. Around the pavilion marked with the crest of the Palga, countless monstrous life-forms coexisted.
...Every last one of them is a rare spiritual beast.
A five-colored snake, a golden toad, a turtle gleaming with golden light, a spider with a human face, a massive carp that radiated crimson light—every one of them was a spiritual beast that appeared in Pangenia only with vanishingly low probability. Lumps of spiritual energy so precious that the mere appearance of a single one would spark a war. The inner cores of such beasts possessed outstanding mana-enhancing effects and could not be bought for any price. Spiritual beasts I myself had almost never even glimpsed were scattered here like common weeds.
You have entered the ‘Sanctuary of Palga (???)’.
It was truly the land of immortals—a place I had never seen before. I had set foot in an unknown realm that not a single player had ever reached.
Creeeak!
Following the First Elder's guidance we arrived at the pavilion, and its massive doors opened of their own accord. Beyond them stood seven old men and one young man. The old men were the Eight Elders, including the First Elder. Every one of them possessed a natural, elemental appearance—riding clouds of fire, clouds of water, and the like. The remaining young man standing on two feet, however, was someone I could not identify.
From the center of the elders the young man greeted Raiga with a leisurely smile.
"It has been forty years, Raiga."
"Grand Elder. It has been a long time."
The young man was the Grand Elder—the highest among them, the one who led all the elders, the actual master currently ruling the Palga family.
"That little child has already grown so much."
The Grand Elder smiled. A faint tension flickered in Raiga's eyes as he regarded him. The other elders were one thing, but the Grand Elder alone seemed difficult even for Raiga.
...He was certainly different. I could perceive nothing—nothing visible, nothing felt. Yet one fact was clear: despite his appearance he was not young. If he had seen Raiga forty years ago, he was at least that old or older.
"Well. Since we have a guest after so long, we should at least share a cup of tea."
"I did not return to drink tea at my leisure, Grand Elder."
"Huhu. Do not be so hasty."
Unlike the Grand Elder's smile, the expressions of the other elders were far from pleasant—eyes full of open contempt. The Grand Elder waved his hand.
In an instant—
Whoosh!
The background changed. Before I knew it a large table stood before us. Wooden chairs accompanied it, and tea was neatly arranged upon the tabletop. The Grand Elder sipped and spoke.
"Hmm. There must be a reason you sought out the Palga after forty years. Let us hear it."
"...You already know, don't you?"
"To become the true master of the Palga? Don't. You have little time left for that, do you not?"
"..."
Raiga furrowed his brow. Even though he was doing his utmost not to show it, the Grand Elder had instantly discerned his condition. The Grand Elder continued.
"Your master also failed to overcome the death of the 5th Gate. And just as you have now, he brought a child before me—a young boy who was nothing but skin and bones."
The Grand Elder's eyes turned to me. It was a look that said he knew exactly why Raiga had brought me as well.
"The child was a slave. Even so, in order to confirm his qualifications at the true Sanctuary of Honor that exists within the sanctuary, he took you there against everyone's opposition."
"..."
"Yes. Unfortunately the sanctuary rejected you. Since you had killed people—your masters—several times from a young age, it may have been only natural."
"...Shut up."
Anger rose on Raiga's face, yet the Grand Elder paid it no mind.
"We did not choose the sealing because we feared your master. A human's time is short in any case. His was even shorter, so there was no need to fear."
"So because you refuse to acknowledge me, you continue to choose the sealing?"
"You ask the obvious. Raiga, we do not regard one rejected by the sanctuary as the true master of the Palga."
"Then I shall wipe you all out and create it anew."
Hoooooo!
A dense aura rose from Raiga's entire body. In the next breath he leveled a Heart Sword at the Grand Elder's throat.
"A Heart Sword... yet it is still a little shallow."
The Grand Elder reached out and grasped the Heart Sword. Its direction reversed. The will contained within the formless blade shifted—toward Raiga. Then the Grand Elder slowly opened his mouth.
"To face me you would need to open the 5th Gate rather than such a shallow Heart Sword. But if you open it again, you will die on the spot."
"It does not matter. I have no need for a Palga that does not acknowledge me."
"Hmm. Even your master never made an enemy of me..."
A hair-trigger situation. A tension so sharp that blades could fly at any moment.
Grin!
Then, suddenly, the Grand Elder smiled.
"Then let us do this. Raiga—you will have your qualifications confirmed by the sanctuary once more."
In that instant Raiga's pupils trembled faintly.
"...Reconfirmation was possible?"
"Of course it is possible. The result almost never changes, yet it is not entirely nonexistent."
Thud!
In a flash Raiga's killing intent vanished. He himself had wanted reconfirmation from the sanctuary. Though he had been rejected in childhood for lacking honor, that memory of rejection had followed him like a shackle ever since.
...But now it might be different. With the honor he had built over a lifetime, it might be possible. He had already been rejected once; he had nothing more to lose.
"Of course, there is one condition."
"What condition?"
"That child must receive it together with you."
The Grand Elder's eyes turned to me.
"Both of you will have your qualifications confirmed—whether you are beings fit to be masters of the Palga. If both of you are accepted, then I will lift the sealing and place the Palga in your arms."
"And if we are not accepted?"
"It will be a regrettable matter."
"..."
Raiga fell silent, weighing the words. The possibility of asking the sanctuary for qualifications once more was an enormous temptation. Yet for both of them to be honorably accepted was nearly impossible. Moreover the Grand Elder himself had said the result almost never changed. In that case... it might be better not to attempt it at all. It might be better to smash everything according to the original plan.
"Let's do that."
"...!"
A voice rang out without warning. Every gaze shifted toward the completely unexpected speaker. There stood Hyun—the fellow who had not uttered a single word until now. He had seemed overwhelmed by the pressure, yet—
"I will have my qualifications confirmed. Whether I am a being fit for the Palga. Is that not why we came to this shabby place after forty years, Master?"
"...Shabby place?"
"What did that bastard just say—!"
The elders erupted in protest. Raiga was inwardly flustered—not because of the word "shabby."
Master...?
The word "Master." He was hearing it for the first time.
Whether he knew it or not, the fellow instead smiled brightly and looked straight at the Grand Elder with complete confidence—meeting those two eyes without a single flicker of hesitation.