Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Chapter 23. Ariant Kingdom (3)
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071
6.
The Gapor Merchant Group's ship departing from the port city of Lith was enjoying a voyage more peaceful than ever before.
“No pirates, no monsters.”
“Talk about good luck.”
Even the captain and crew were amazed.
However, the adventurers aboard didn’t look so pleased.
The reason was simple.
“Ugh, blegh!”
Seasickness.
It was hardly surprising.
Many of the adventurers hailed from Victoria Island and had little to no experience on ships.
At best, they’d been on short trips.
By contrast, the journey from Lith Harbor to Jedah, the port city in the Ariant Kingdom, took an average of fifteen days—sometimes longer.
It was an entirely different ordeal.
Nor was it just the Victoria Island natives.
“How’s your stomach?”
“Not good.”
“Figured as much. It’s nothing like Elnas.”
“What good is your hometown? Even the Ariant guys are puking.”
A fair number of adventurers from Elnas and Ariant were suffering from seasickness too.
Neither place involved much sailing.
Of course, there were exceptions.
“Tch, you’re all so weak, struggling over a little seasickness.”
The pirate Miner wasn’t just fine—he was more lively than he’d been inside the Mystic Gate.
“But why are you totally okay?”
“Got a problem with that?”
Interestingly, none of El Pam’s party members, including Miner, were seasick.
“Dibo, you been on a ship before?”
“First time.”
“Then why no seasickness? Kiri, you?”
“I’ve been on a few times.”
“A few? That’s it? What about Ralph?”
“Never in my life.”
“Really?”
“Why ride one? You have to pay.”
Even Miner found that strange.
“Weird. Normally by now, you’d have fed your breakfast to the fish. What’s up?”
He’d rarely seen anyone with no experience who was this resistant to seasickness.
Only one person wasn’t surprised.
El Pam had expected it.
‘They’ve been trained just as intended.’
Thanks to him.
‘Their adaptability has become exceptional.’
El Pam hadn’t just dragged his companions into Mystic Gates to clear them.
Clearing them was easy. If that was the only goal, he could’ve just recruited whoever he needed each time.
Even now, if clearance was all that mattered, he could gather top 4th Circle adventurers and be done.
Yet he’d assembled these companions.
For the distant future, when he’d need ones he could truly trust.
Naturally, he’d tempered them repeatedly.
Whether they knew it or not.
He’d thrown them into countless battles, turning those fields into training grounds.
That was why they weren’t seasick now.
They’d gained extraordinary adaptability, adjusting instantly to new environments.
‘Even I didn’t expect them to keep up this well.’
Truthfully, their growth exceeded El Pam’s expectations.
‘Kiri’s especially impressive.’
He’d seen Dibo, Miner, and Ralph’s abilities firsthand.
But Kiri was a surprise.
‘Not that I’m complaining.’
A pleasant surprise, from El Pam’s perspective.
Of course, he didn’t smile about it.
He couldn’t.
‘The road ahead will only get worse.’
Having witnessed the future, El Pam couldn’t smile at the spectacles awaiting them.
“Land ho!”
Then it appeared before El Pam’s eyes.
“It’s Jedah! Port City Jedah!”
The massive port city of Jedah, backed by a vast golden desert.
7.
The Nihal Desert was enormous.
As such, it was home to countless port cities.
In fact, the Nihal Desert was bound to have even more.
“The Nihal Desert is huge. And dangerous. Nothing like Victoria Island. Crossing it on foot is suicide. Ships are the smart way.”
Most travel relied on vessels.
That was why the Nihal Desert’s port cities thrived.
“And among all those ports, Jedah is the most prosperous.”
Jedah stood above them all.
“Lith Harbor’s a joke compared to Jedah.”
Its grandeur surpassed any imagination.
“My god.”
El Pam’s companions, Dibo included, gaped in awe for good reason.
“That’s a city? Not a kingdom?”
Liths wasn’t small, but Jedah defied comparison.
“My god.”
It hit them like frogs in a well glimpsing the wide world.
Everyone marveled at Jedah’s majesty.
El Pam was different.
He felt no awe at Jedah’s splendor.
It wasn’t because he’d seen it before.
He remembered.
‘That place crumbled.’
The moment the majestic port city of Jedah fell.
‘Before Hontail.’
The three-headed dragon’s breath had reduced it to ruin.
No resistance.
‘One breath, and it was gone.’
Vanished like a mirage in the Nihal Desert.
A surreal sight—and before it, countless adventurers lost the will to live.
‘All survivors fled.’
No one challenged Hontail after witnessing Jedah’s destruction.
‘Except me.’
El Pam alone had faced it, even after seeing the devastation.
As the Last Adventurer.
And died.
As that memory surfaced, a man caught El Pam’s eye.
“Hey! Are you El Pam’s party, sent by the Gapor Merchant Group?”
A young man.
Tanned skin, barely past twenty.
And strikingly handsome, drawing every gaze.
“I’m Cesar from the Gapor Merchant Group’s Ariant Kingdom branch. Pleased to meet you!”
He bowed deeply to El Pam’s party, who reacted.
“Uh, I’m Dibo. Damn, you’re handsome.”
“Thank you!”
“But are you here alone?”
At Dibo’s follow-up, Cesar smiled.
“The Ariant branch is still small... Anyway, let me guide you to the branch. Follow me.”
El Pam’s party had no objections.
‘It’s brand new, probably.’
‘Ariant’s nothing like Liths. Setting up a branch is pouring water into a leaky jar.’
‘The Gapor guys are overreaching. They’ll go bust.’
They’d all been pessimistic about Gapor’s Ariant expansion from the start.
Not out of disdain for Gapor.
Expanding to the massive Ossyria Continent—especially Ariant Kingdom at its heart—was every Liths merchant group’s dream.
Many had tried early on.
Only the Goldrich Merchant Group had gained a foothold.
Two alone questioned it.
‘Smells like money. Something’s up.’
One was Ralph.
The other, naturally, El Pam.
El Pam’s eyes had gone cold.
‘This is interesting.’
He knew.
‘The one calling himself Cesar is none other than Third Prince Kashan, son of Abdullah VIII.’
No mistaking that handsome face.
No doubt either.
‘He’s more ambitious for the throne than anyone.’
Unlike rumors of his obscurity, Kashan was frantically maneuvering for the crown.
Using Gapor to seize Lith Harbor proved his bold action.
‘Still, coming personally in disguise to meet Yellow-grade raiders?’
Yet this meant something special had arisen.
No loss for El Pam.
‘An opportunity.’
Impress here, and he’d catch Third Prince Kashan’s eye.
No need to reveal he knew Kashan yet.
El Pam kept his expression neutral.
Soon, El Pam’s party reached a modest building in Jedah.
Utterly ordinary.
Unbefitting Gapor’s name.
‘Yeah, nothing special.’
No one questioned it.
They understood and entered, soon meeting him.
“I’m Salaman, branch chief of the Gapor Merchant Group’s Ariant branch. Pleased to meet you.”
A rugged man in his mid-forties with tanned skin, Salaman.
His speech matched his face—blunt.
“No beating around the bush.”
Straight to it.
“Gapor sent you. Said to put you to good use. Sent your titles too.”
He laid out his true thoughts.
“But I don’t buy it.”
His companions bristled, Dibo included.
They hadn’t come willingly.
El Pam had led them here; they had zero plans or prep for Ariant.
And this was the welcome? Dismissal?
“We don’t recognize feats from Victoria Island alone in Ariant.”
That was Ariant’s way.
El Pam didn’t protest.
“You said you hate long talks. Get to the point.”
They hadn’t come to whine.
“Prove your skills. To my eyes.”
The crux.
“There’s a Mystic Gate.”
Best test: raid a Mystic Gate.
“Yellow grade. Max entrants: 28. Wounds: 3.”
El Pam’s party tilted their heads at the details.
‘That’s it?’
Not easy.
A wounded Yellow gate meant tough, no matter what.
“Solo raid.”
Another condition, another head tilt.
‘Just a 28-man gate?’
Far from simple.
Wounded or not, demanding a five-man party solo a 28-man gate?
Most adventurers would spit and walk out.
But El Pam’s party was different.
They’d recently cleared a 300-man Mystic Gate.
Luck or not, escaping marked them as exceptional.
This proposal could only sound like:
‘They think we’re a joke?’
‘Ignoring all our titles.’
‘Who does this punk think he is, dissing Golden Eye Miner?’
‘No bounty? Worst.’
Disrespect.
Denying every title earned back home.
Titles were life-and-death badges to adventurers.
But El Pam differed.
He barely registered Salaman’s words. No weight to them.
No need.
‘Third Prince Kashan wants adventurers.’
Salaman wasn’t the one demanding proof—Kashan was.
And the level Kashan sought wasn’t ordinary.
Salaman’s key point was one thing.
“So, what’s the time limit?”
His companions were stunned.
Time limits were unspoken taboos in Mystic Gate raids.
Take as long as needed; just survive—that was the norm.
A time limit?
Unexpected.
Even Salaman was surprised.
‘How’d he know?’
His intent read.
Snapping to it, he glanced at Cesar—Third Prince Kashan—behind him, then spoke.
“One week. Finish in that.”
“What?”
Dibo objected.
“Mystic Gates exist where you must survive a week for the exit to appear!”
Everyone knew gates where luck meant over a week!
“Luck is skill.”
Dibo shut up, looking to El Pam.
The decision was his.
“One week. That all?”
“Yes.”
“Not thrilled. Change the terms.”
El Pam proposed to Salaman.
“Terms? Too hard?”
El Pam smiled faintly.
“For every day under a week, pay 10 million mesos.”