Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Blue (1)
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1.
Edelstein.
Adventurers who came to this place were first astonished by Edelstein's sheer size.
It was called a city, but its scale was monstrous enough to rival even a small nation.
Next, they were amazed by the cleanliness of this massive city.
It was hard to find even a scrap of trash on the perfectly paved roads!
After that, what surprised them was the friendliness.
The citizens of Edelstein always wore smiling faces and showed indescribable kindness even to complete strangers.
As a result, most adventurers left with fond memories of Edelstein's citizens and didn't cause any major trouble there.
But as always, there were those who stirred up problems.
Occasionally, adventurers would cause a ruckus in Edelstein.
And those adventurers soon vanished from sight.
That was when everyone realized.
"Black Wing's ears and eyes are everywhere in Edelstein."
The cleanliness of Edelstein and the goodness of its citizens were just acts performed under Black Wing's surveillance.
The moment adventurers realized this, they felt an indescribable terror.
At the same time, they understood.
"It's a truly suffocating place."
Why the Resistance fought so desperately to reclaim their freedom.
In any case, in such an Edelstein, it was impossible for newcomers to hide their identities.
"We have to eat our meals in secret."
That was why El Pam's party spent their days holed up in the basement of a building whose location no one knew, eating food secretly delivered by the Cross Hunters.
"Be grateful you can at least eat in secret."
In truth, even that was possible only because the Cross Hunters had secured the space for them.
For ordinary adventurers, sneaking in and hiding like this was impossible from the start.
"If we had come alone, we would've been caught by Black Wing long ago."
Moreover, El Pam's party was in a position that drew attention from all sides—and they were being hunted.
If even a hint of their presence leaked out, Black Wing would never let them be.
In other words, operating in Edelstein meant moving while completely concealing their presence as the basic rule.
"No matter how I think about it, this feels bad."
It was then.
Creak!
The door opened, and a man appeared.
"Boss!"
It was El Pam.
"How did it go?"
Having returned from his meeting with Cheki, he answered his comrades' questions without hesitation.
"We've taken the commission."
"A commission? The Mystic Gate raid?"
"Yes."
No one was surprised by that answer.
It was what El Pam's party did best, after all.
"How many people?"
"Nineteen."
"Pardon?"
But at El Pam's follow-up words, everyone wore blank expressions.
"Ah."
Then Dibo smiled and replied.
"A 190-man one? For a second, I thought you said nineteen for us."
At that smile, El Pam narrowed his eyes.
"190 and 19 are completely different, yet you mistook it. How strange."
Only then did everyone realize that El Pam had brought back a commission for a 19-man Mystic Gate raid.
And they all widened their eyes in shock.
To be precise, they were furious.
"What the hell? Do they think we're a joke?"
El Pam's party consisted of the very adventurers who had conquered the currently most difficult Green-grade Mystic Gate.
They couldn't reveal it yet, but they'd even taken down Zakum in the abandoned mine.
And now they were offering a mere 19-man Mystic Gate commission?
This was no different from the Resistance openly looking down on El Pam!
"They think highly of us."
"Right, they think highly of us! Wait, Boss? What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. They think highly of us."
But at El Pam's next words, everyone quickly realized.
"Boss, don't tell me?"
"Yes, it's blue."
That what El Pam had brought wasn't a Green-grade, but a Blue-grade 19-man Mystic Gate raid.
At that moment, every member of El Pam's party froze solid.
It was understandable.
Blue-grade!
A place only adventurers below 6th Circle could enter—essentially the stage for 6th Circle adventurers.
It was a distant stage.
At the current point, where even 5th Circle adventurers were rare, the total number of 6th Circle adventurers across the entire Maple World barely exceeded a thousand.
"Boss, there's hardly any proper information on Blue-grade."
Naturally, there was virtually no information on Blue-grade gates.
It wasn't that no raids had succeeded.
On the contrary, at this point, Blue-grade was the Mystic Gate being tackled most intensively.
The lives of 6th Circle adventurers were more valuable than anything, so raids received overwhelming support.
In the case of the Goldrich Merchant Group, they even told adventurers tackling Blue-grade gates to take whatever items they wanted from Goldrich's warehouse.
With such tremendous support, the details of those raids were treated as top secret.
Information on monsters obtained inside, items, and the characteristics of Blue-grade Mystic Gates was handled more preciously than Legendary-grade items.
"It's too dangerous."
At a time when information was life itself, knowing nothing was a fatal flaw.
Of course, El Pam was different.
He had plenty of information.
In fact, at this point, what puzzled El Pam was the intent behind assigning them this Mystic Gate raid.
'The Resistance has researched Mystic Gates themselves.'
To begin with, the Resistance—specifically Edelstein's citizens—had a slightly different mindset from adventurers.
While adventurers focused on what lay beyond the Mystic Gates, the Resistance focused on the gates themselves.
And they analyzed them.
The structure of the Mystic Gates.
As a result, the Resistance had created several pieces of equipment usable inside Mystic Gates.
'It wasn't now, but later they even invented walkie-talkies.'
One prime example was the walkie-talkie that allowed communication with the outside from within a Mystic Gate.
It was an astonishing invention.
If those who entered first could relay information via walkie-talkie, the raid success rate would skyrocket.
Of course, that was a later development, but regardless, the Resistance had created various tools usable in Mystic Gates.
Their understanding of Mystic Gates was on another level.
For such a Resistance to entrust a Mystic Gate raid to other adventurers?
'It's a test.'
It was merely a process to verify El Pam's party's capabilities—nothing more, nothing less.
That made it even more puzzling.
The Resistance could raid Mystic Gates better than any group, so why test El Pam's party?
El Pam had one answer for that.
'They have an urgent reason to raid a Blue-grade gate right now.'
2.
One of Edelstein's parks.
The scenery there appeared more peaceful than anywhere else.
Adults had settled in various spots, reading books or enjoying picnics, while young children ran around freely.
Among them was someone in a teddy bear costume handing out balloons to the playing children.
A sight that would naturally bring a smile to anyone's face.
"Did the talk with El Pam's party go well, Cheki?"
"The discussion went smoothly. But whether El Pam's party will accept is another matter."
"It's Blue-grade, after all. It won't be easy."
But the conversation between the man in the teddy bear costume and someone who appeared to be a child's parent was anything but peaceful.
"A party of five 5th Circle adventurers. A 19-man Blue-grade Mystic Gate will look like hell to them."
"Probably."
It was a conversation between Resistance members.
Not just any members, but executive Cheki and one of the members.
"I just don't understand why we're testing them. Don't we have enough members to raid it ourselves?"
At his subordinate's question, Cheki handed a balloon to a child and said.
"We have enough for a raid."
"Then why?"
"If we had enough time. But right now, we're desperately short on time."
Their conversation was gravely serious.
"Because Black Wing will move soon."
Currently, Black Wing showed no major movements.
To be precise, they had no reason to.
From Black Wing's perspective, having perfectly seized Edelstein, they just needed to continue as before.
But if they moved?
For the Resistance, it was a nerve-wracking situation!
Moreover, the Resistance knew.
"The leader changed."
They knew the reason for their move.
"Gelimer."
And the new leader was none other than the mad scientist Gelimer.
A man who treated human lives—not to mention everyone except himself—as playthings for his research!
For such a man to become Black Wing's leader?
"He won't stay idle. From now on, he'll use every citizen of Edelstein as guinea pigs for his own research."
That meant Edelstein was becoming his massive laboratory.
And that was just the beginning.
"Ossia Continent will be next."
Gelimer's ambitions would never stop at Edelstein.
That was why the Resistance was moving so aggressively at this point.
So his subordinate was puzzled.
"Shouldn't we stop the Mystic Gate raids instead?"
With such a serious war looming, they were raiding Mystic Gates?
Of course, beyond the Mystic Gates lay Legendary-grade items that could greatly strengthen the Resistance.
That was why the Resistance had been frantically raiding them until now.
But in a situation where headcount mattered most, wasn't caution the right answer?
"You're right. Sigmund thought the same."
Until they learned Gelimer had dealt with Black Wing's leader and taken over.
"That was the plan until we found him."
But everything changed because of one person.
"Wingmaster Orca."
Black Wing's leader and one of the Black Mage's legion commanders, Orca!
"I-Is that true? You captured the Wingmaster?"
"Yes."
The moment the Resistance secured the woman they thought had been betrayed and killed by Gelimer, everything changed.
"Her condition is the worst."
Of course, when they found Wingmaster Orca, her state was as good as dead.
"The worst how?"
"She's still in a coma. She could die any moment."
They were barely keeping her alive, but she still hadn't regained consciousness.
"If she's in a coma, we haven't gotten any information yet, right?"
Up to here, it wasn't a reason to raid Mystic Gates.
"Instead, with Mage Master Heinz's help, we used the mirror he prepared to enter her inner world while she slept."
"Her inner world?"
"The world containing the information she holds. In a way, it's more effective than interrogation. And by exploring that inner world, we obtained some information."
"Ah!"
But the Resistance had found that reason after all.
"We learned the locations of Mystic Gates hiding Legendary items."
A way to increase their chances in the war against Black Wing.
That was why.
"With war so close, we need top talents to secure them."
They were testing El Pam's party.
"Will El Pam's party accept?"
Of course, whether El Pam's party took the test was another matter.
Any sensible adventurer would refuse.
For 5th Circle adventurers to aim for Blue-grade was overstepping their bounds.
But Cheki wasn't worried about that.
Far from it—he stated with certainty.
"We'll get a reply soon. They'll say no."
"No?"
"Wise adventurers don't court death."
And as Cheki predicted, the reply came.
"They'll do it?"
El Pam's party had accepted the commission.