380. Lies Within Truth
380. Lies Within Truth
***
Just as the hologram in the center vanished, new holograms appeared one after another.
*
————
The Ersia Continent is in desperate straits!
*This is a quest reward that can only be received after checking the raid reward.
Since the subjugation of Zervallua has been completed, the reward can now be received.
[Reward: Ersia Continent. Creation of absolute favorability with the Grandelia Empire and acquisition of a 'Treasure']
『Receive Reward』
————
*
Sua and Yujeong, who had been exchanging glances, spoke up in turn.
"...Right!"
"The quest suddenly popped up at the end yesterday. I'd completely forgotten about it too."
At their words, Serin felt complicated.
The Grandelia Empire.
The Ersia Continent.
All of it felt like traces pointing to the Black Ark she had experienced.
"Since it's a quest we all received, we should be able to check the reward together. You don't mind if I check it, right?"
When Sua spoke again, Yujeong and Serin nodded.
And so, as Sua checked the reward, a pure white light burst forth, different from when they had checked the raid reward before, dyeing the entire space white.
Ding-a-ling-a-ling!
A wave of pure white light seized their vision, and the moment the white light faded, a single tiny potion sat right before them.
A small bottle like a blue jewel. And within it, golden liquid filled to about half.
The moment she saw it, Serin unconsciously clenched her hand.
'Imperial Elixir...'
She recognized what it was just from its appearance.
And as if to prove it, a detailed hologram seized her vision.
*
————
Birua Imperial Elixir.
The one and only imperial household of the Ersia Continent. One of only seven elixirs passed down through the Birua Imperial House.
Description: Cures all status effects and current illnesses, and slightly extends the lifespan of the one who drinks it.
(It is known as the elixir closest to immortality among all existing elixirs!)
*Elixir Effects
[All stats +9%]
[Cures all status effects and illnesses currently held (Ignores all special conditions and circumstances required for treatment)]
(Once consumed, the stat increase effect cannot be obtained again from the same elixir.)
- Cannot be listed on the Auction House.
- The Birua Imperial Elixir cannot be sold at any vendor.
- If gifted to the imperial house of another empire, an incomparable 'enormous reward' can be obtained.
- Ownership of the elixir can be transferred only 'once'.
————
*
Looking at the hologram, it was exactly identical, down to the last letter, to the description of the elixir I had obtained in Black Ark.
"Wow......"
"This... isn't this the highest-tier effect among all elixirs that have appeared so far? A 9% stat increase..."
Had the two of them received the same elixir as me? They were holding bottles that looked like blue jewels and letting out exclamations of admiration.
Watching that, I too looked at the small bottle in my hand and couldn't help but feel a strange emotion.
—Cecilia.
Because among all the countless treasures she possessed, this was the one treasure that could not be compared to anything else.
It cured all illnesses and even extended the lifespan of its drinker. What other elixir could dare claim the same effect?
As far as I remembered, there should have been only one bottle left. And now it had been given to me and to each of the other two as well.
It was as if yesterday's raid had not been a lie.
No, beyond the Zervallua raid, it felt as though the bonds I had formed in Black Ark were vividly showing me their presence.
"Isn't this a bigger reward than the raid reward itself?"
As Sua stared blankly at the blue bottle and spoke, Yujeong nodded repeatedly.
"Even by value alone, it's at least four billion silver coins? No, you can't even get this anywhere else to begin with. It's basically worth whatever you ask... It said the reward would include a treasure, and at this level, I think it really can be called a treasure."
Hearing that, I smiled faintly.
'A real treasure, huh.'
It was certainly an elixir that could be called a true treasure.
In fact, among the empire's countless treasures, this Imperial Elixir was what was called a treasure.
Having personally drunk the elixir before, I felt even stranger.
Because I had never imagined I would obtain it again.
No matter how much special interest Cecilia had shown in me, she had never handed this elixir to me again.
Because only once during our journey, when I thought I had reached death, she had used this elixir on me.
As I was blankly recalling the past, I felt one peculiar thing.
When we entered Phase 4 of yesterday's raid, the stream had ended with a notification that the imperial palace was a space where broadcasting was impossible.
That vaguely suggested that the imperial palace—and by extension, the Grandelia Empire itself—stood above the system. Even a Great Hero alone was an existence capable of interfering with the system, and the empire was one that had such Great Heroes as its stars.
To think that Cecilia, the emperor of that empire, was beneath the system seemed rather absurd.
The idea that the system had arbitrarily given out an elixir she possessed as a reward was equally nonsensical.
Then in the end, wasn't it that Cecilia had personally handed it over?
Just as my thoughts continued, I stopped at Sua's gaze fixed on me. When I quietly met her eyes, Sua smiled brightly and spoke.
"Then I'll wrap up the project-related matters here. Nothing after this will be recorded or anything like that."
With Sua's words, spoken as if informing me, Yujeong too turned her shining eyes toward me.
I slowly exhaled.
It felt like what was coming had finally arrived.
***
Afterward, Sua and Yujeong each began to voice their questions to Serin.
How she knew Arianne and Belua, the two called stars.
Why she was called a grand duke.
What on earth was the mysterious display she had shown while wielding a sword.
How she even knew about Zervallua's trait of gluttony, and so on...
As the two of them continued to raise question after question, Serin looked at them and calmly began to speak.
She began by saying that the origin of all of it was a single hidden quest—that she had progressed through the 'Ersia Continent Hidden Quest', which had not yet been revealed in Another World.
And so Serin calmly continued speaking, and the process was filled with content that was uniformly hard to believe.
An explanation that it was a hidden quest, a long-term quest spanning several months. And that she had become a member of the Grandelia Empire, passed through countless battlefields, and had various experiences.
Serin's gradually lengthening words sounded like a grand epic at first listen. Sua and Yujeong found themselves drawn in as if listening to a story. And so they did not interrupt Serin or raise questions midway.
Because Serin was continuing her explanation with an expression more serious than ever before. They couldn't bring themselves to interrupt her.
This side of Serin, speaking at such length, was rare and something they had never seen before.
Her calm yet earnest demeanor as she continued speaking had something about it that kept the two women from raising any objection.
And so Serin's slightly different story within Black Ark was fascinating.
Even if one tried to dismiss it as something made up or an excuse, her words were uniformly vivid, as if she had actually experienced them, and because such a story existed, all of yesterday's situations were falling into place.
...
"So. That's why they called me a grand duke. Belua especially was someone I had a connection with."
As Serin slowly finished her long story, Sua and Yujeong both looked at her with wonder.
They wondered how she could speak so calmly after going through such a quest, and while they didn't doubt her, they also couldn't fully believe her.
In fact, even though Serin had spoken at such length, the two of them realized that she had only summarized the key points. So they were all the more puzzled.
They couldn't grasp just how massive a hidden quest she had undertaken.
There were certainly thousands upon thousands of hidden quests in Another World.
Among them, there were not a few cases of players progressing through quests alone in special spaces completely cut off from the outside. But even so, the idea that she had progressed through a quest alone for a long period on a continent that had never been revealed at all, as Serin described, was unheard of to the two of them.
"Everything does line up. I really don't doubt you, Serin. I believe everything you just said... but I can't deny it's amazing."
"You said you obtained the Divine Blood back then too, and that's why those techniques are possible... I can understand that, but the scale is so huge... I honestly feel like I'm dreaming."
Sua and Yujeong, having shared their impressions of the long story, still hadn't fully accepted it all.
And watching that, Serin said nothing in particular.
She had mixed lies into the truth, and in that process there had been complete truths but also complete fabrications. She hadn't expected them to accept everything.
And so, as Serin calmly watched them, the shock Sua felt was incomparably greater than Yujeong's.
'There was a hidden quest like this...'
She had practically devoted her life to Another World. She had thought she knew every known special quest. Of course, she had assumed there were hidden quests she still didn't know or that hadn't been revealed.
But still, to think there was a hidden quest of this massive scale. It was shocking.
It felt like a different game. As if Serin had been alone in another world.
Serin had clearly progressed through a hidden quest related to the Grandelia Empire—that is, the Ersia Continent—and in that process had obtained the Divine Blood and even the title of Grand Duke.
But because the Ersia Continent had not been revealed in Another World, she hadn't been able to disclose it.
Serin's long explanation all felt like fiction. And yet, strangely, it all made sense.
'Because there's no other way to explain it.'
The specialness required to obtain the Divine Blood. The way existences like Great Heroes had treated Serin so specially. And even how she had gained the princess's trust so quickly after meeting her in Phase 4.
All of it fit perfectly. At this point, doubting Serin felt stranger than believing her.
"......I'm jealous."
At the end of those thoughts, those words slipped out before I knew it.
The moment I said it, I thought I shouldn't have, but I couldn't deny the emotion filling my chest right now.
"Hm?"
Serin looked at me, momentarily surprised by my words. But even facing her, I couldn't hide my feelings.
"I'm just so jealous. Didn't Another World feel like reality to you, Serin? If I had progressed through a hidden quest like that alone for months and months, I can't even imagine what it would feel like..."
Just imagining it, how happy it would be. My heart kept pounding.
Because that was truly the Another World experience I had dreamed of, the experience I had wanted to have.
I looked at Serin with those thoughts.
"...Really?"
Somehow, Serin's faint smile looked strangely bitter.