The Sword Maiden's Request
Laika — the Constellations' Game
Seoul, Gwanghwamun.
The Silver Knights headquarters, piercing the sky like a spear hurled at the heavens, still radiated its overwhelming presence. Baek Haram, returning to the main office after a long absence, headed straight for the HR team.
Unlike the combat divisions, bustling with hunters, the HR office was quiet and composed. Here, if nowhere else, paperwork — not the sword — was the weapon of choice.
“Oh! Mr. Haram, welcome back.”
“Everyone's been well, I hope?”
“Yes, sir. Same old work, same old days.”
After exchanging brief greetings with the staff, Haram walked straight toward the inner office. He had come to headquarters for one reason and one reason only: his direct superior, Yoon Se-jin, head of the Silver Knights HR team, had summoned him personally.
“He's inside, isn't he?”
“Yes, sir. He's been waiting for you.”
The moment Haram opened the door, a low, weighty voice filled the room.
“Come in.”
Yoon Se-jin wore a black suit fastened with a brooch bearing the Silver Knights crest. His broad, rugged face carried the gravity of a founding member, and his eyes were calm yet unshakably firm.
“It's been a while, Team Leader.”
It had been nearly a year since his last one-on-one with the man, so Haram couldn't help but feel a flutter of nerves.
“So, Haram. How does it feel, holding the same post for seven years straight?”
“Once you get used to it, it's comfortable. Very little changes on the Island, after all.”
Haram had served under Yoon Se-jin for almost his entire seven-year career, yet occasions like this — a private meeting — could be counted on one hand. Which was exactly why he felt tension and anticipation in equal measure. A instinct told him that some change was finally coming to a daily routine that had been peaceful, yes, but also faintly tedious.
“No doubt about it. That post of yours… I don't think anyone but you could hold it.”
“You flatter me, sir.”
And Haram's instinct proved remarkably accurate. No sooner had he taken his seat than Yoon Se-jin cut straight to the point.
“That's more or less why I called you in today.”
“Pardon? More or less…?”
“I mean there's no one but you who can do it.”
Se-jin took a light sip from his teacup, then slid the tablet resting on the table across toward Haram.
“A search request. Give it a read.”
At the word request, Haram's pupils widened slightly.
A request… you say?
It went without saying that every hunter guild took on all manner of requests tied to Gates, and fulfilling them for compensation was one of a guild's primary sources of income. But Silver Knights, indisputably the finest guild in South Korea, accepted anything but. Even handling only the difficult commissions that Silver Knights alone could resolve left them shorthanded.
Which meant that, ordinarily, very few of the requests that passed through Silver Knights were ones Haram could take on. After all, he was a mere Level 20, barred from ever setting foot beyond the Beginner's Island.
If it's a request only I can handle, then it has to be one on the Beginner's Island.
That thought only sharpened his interest. The Beginner's Island was the most peaceful, safest field inside any Gate. A commission that had to be carried out there — and yet important enough to warrant Silver Knights moving directly — what on earth could it be? He couldn't begin to imagine.
“……”
Haram leaned in and read the request, slowly and carefully, from top to bottom.
Region: Beginner's Island
Location: Dream Peak
Search Target: The Flag of Zerathus, the Jet-Black Judge
A flag of dark crimson bearing the emblem of a shadow demon woven in deep ink-black thread. Estimated to be an artifact of at least the 9T tier or higher.
Determined to be located at a specific point within the Dream Peak field. The coordinates are highly likely to be concealed behind a shadow-affinity mechanism.
The [Mirror of Truth] artifact is required to locate the target…
…section omitted…
* All confidential information obtained under this contract shall not be disclosed to any third party, nor used for any purpose outside the intent of this contract.
By the time Haram finished reading the entire document—
“……!”
His face had registered a shock more than twice as deep as when he'd first been told a request existed.
“The Zerathus… the one I know of, Team Leader?”
Zerathus, the Jet-Black Judge. That was the name given to the first boss monster of the 'Demonic Realm' field — a hunting ground whose conquest had only just begun.
“The very same.”
Zerathus was a boss so powerful that no one short of the highest-tier rankers could even attempt a fight against him. For Silver Knights to make a single attempt required assembling a party of their absolute elite and grinding through days and nights of brutal combat.
And yet an artifact connected to a boss like that was supposedly sitting on the Beginner's Island. It was only natural that Haram found it hard to believe.
“That's… incredible.”
Se-jin studied Haram's stunned expression for a moment, then let out a soft chuckle.
“I imagine you understand now why I called for you specifically?”
Haram nodded.
“Without question… I'm the right man for the job.”
“Then I'll take that as a yes, and entrust it to you in good faith.”
“Of course, sir.”
“Request whatever guild resources you need. Use them freely.”
“Thank you.”
“That's how important this mission is.”
“Understood, Team Leader.”
Haram felt his heart pound for the first time in a long while. He had never once imagined that a day would come when he'd be assigned a mission connected to the Demonic Realm.
Still, there was one thing he wanted to confirm.
“By the way, Team Leader…”
“Hm?”
“Might I ask… who the client is?”
At Haram's question, Se-jin smiled again. The reason behind it was plainly visible in the younger man's face.
“You want to know whether the client can be trusted, yes?”
“It's not quite that, but…”
“It's fine. If the client's credentials were shaky, your effort would be wasted entirely — a little curiosity is only natural.”
Se-jin drew a single business card from inside his jacket and set it down on the table in front of Haram with a soft tap.
“Well then. I trust that answers your question.”
[VARGA]
[Chae Yu-hyun]
[The Sword Maiden]
The moment Haram verified the card, he had no choice but to bow his head again. A swordsman counted among the top three in the nation, and a supreme ranker placed within the top thirty of the world player rankings. When the client was the Sword Maiden, Chae Yu-hyun, the only strange thing would be not to trust her.
Pretty Boy had fought well.
Which is to say, he'd performed far better than I'd expected. The tension had worn off him, and he'd gotten a bit talkative… but whatever. That was fine. Way better than being a troll. As long as he did the work, this much was easy to tolerate.
“Mr. Dave! Are you truly all right?!”
I told you, I'm fine.
“I can help out even more!”
I said you don't need to, seriously.
The Constellations had a point. Having just fought alongside him for the first time, I had no choice but to revise my earlier assessment. From the outside, I'd pegged him as a reasonably gifted hunter hopeful… but apparently he was a cut above that.
A weirdo, huh.
That… is a compliment, right?
The Dryads we were fighting now were tricky monsters that continuously summoned plant-form minions. Which meant the role I'd assigned Leo in this battle was destroying the 'spores' — the pre-transformation stage of those minions.
Dryads normally scattered spores across the field every time their skill cooldown came around. If the spores weren't destroyed within ten seconds, they evolved into seriously troublesome plant-type monsters. So while I handled the Dryads' main bodies, Leo took on the job of wiping them out.
Shwing—!
Moonwarden Spore has been destroyed.
Moonwarden Spore has been destroyed.
And our Pretty Boy was executing the task I'd given him with genuinely pristine form — despite this clearly being his first time facing a Dryad.
What's more, his skill is still evolving.
The further the waves progressed, the more Leo's swordsmanship kept improving. Hmm. Potential like that… should I scoop him up and raise him a little?
Honestly, I was tempted. Party dungeons were inevitably going to keep coming up in the future, and if I meant to stay in the hunter business, it really wouldn't hurt to have one reliable party member in reserve…
“By the way, Mr. Dave, you're truly incredible.”
“Hm?”
“You've cleared out nearly all those Dryads on your own!”
On top of everything else, he seemed like a good kid. No — maybe "earnest" fit better than "good."
“I have no idea why this dungeon's waves are like this, but if it weren't for you, Mr. Dave, it really could have been a disaster.”
So the kid doesn't suspect for a second that I triggered this hidden mechanic on purpose.
That was the sense I got — a bit dense around the edges, in a way. Then again, by first-playthrough newbie standards, I supposed it was only natural that his thinking wouldn't stretch that far. And either way, there was no particular need to tell him. No sense manufacturing awkward situations that would require tedious explanations, right?
“Don't mention it. You carried your weight, Leo — you made my job easy.”
Haah.
I knew I shouldn't rise to bait like this.
Regardless of the Constellations' idle chatter, Leo was, without question, a solid party member. So once the dungeon run wrapped up, friend request first — that was the plan. My viewer count had roughly doubled since Leo showed up, after all.
Apparently Leo had turned his own stream on too, but for whatever reason, the Constellations seemed to prefer observing Leo from my stream's point of view. Something about how you could appreciate Pretty Boy's exploits better this way, supposedly.
For the record, Leo's streaming channel had zero viewers before he met me.
Pfft. Not even close.
That's a stretch, gentlemen.
If that kid had ranker-tier talent, wouldn't that make me a top ranker?
Caught up in thoughts like these, swinging my sword hard alongside Leo, I found the second phase's monster wave finally nearing its end before I knew it.
Ding—!
All Moonwarden Dryads, spirits of forest and moonlight, have been eliminated.
All party members remain alive.
Time remaining: 7 minutes
The main monster wave has ended.
Elite monsters will appear shortly.
With the main wave cleared, all that remained was the elite wave to finish off phase two. And after that — the finale. The passage connecting to the hidden dungeon would open within the phase-three field.
Which meant we couldn't simply plan to survive for seven more minutes and call it a clear. Obliterating the elite wave before those seven minutes ran out was the final condition required to open the hidden dungeon.
Hold on.
Something's off here.
Murvess, minion of Ibrasyl? THE Murvess… the one I know??
Well, this… exceeded my expectations a little, didn't it?
WHUMP—!
GOOOOAAAR—!!
Amid a thunderous roar, a portal writhed at the center of the plaza, and a monstrous beast with a massive skeletal frame slowly emerged from within.
Whew.
What on earth are you doing here?
KEEEIIIEEEK—!
The instant I met the creature's roar head-on, a wave of dizziness washed over me. As far as I knew, there was exactly one set of conditions under which Murvess could appear here: only if this place's 'Rift' had never once been opened.
Hmm.
Which means…
So that means I really am the first person on the Earth server to have pulled off this hidden mechanic, huh?