Chapter 367. Who Are You?
[Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo has begun a myth quest.]
The moment that message appeared, the first person on every player's mind?
Of course, it was Hoyeol.
“……A myth quest? Not a world quest?”
An unheard-of myth-grade quest! And the only one players could think of capable of pulling it off was Hoyeol.
Plus, amid that excessively long name, there was one familiar word.
“That's gotta be the Claudy from Claudy Territory, right?”
Yes, Claudy.
They'd just been in Claudy Territory, feeling the grandeur of that name firsthand.
Still, doubts lingered.
In Shining.
Dmitri spoke cautiously.
“……No, but is that really Lee Hoyeol?”
“What's the problem?”
He vented to Camilla, who snapped back curtly.
“Can't you see? The name itself is the problem!!”
Grandfell Claudi…… no, what was it again?
Even reciting the full name was no easy feat.
“Why would Hoyeol ditch a perfectly fine name for something ridiculous like that?”
Why ignore his own name for such an absurd one?
No matter how he racked his brain, Dmitri couldn't make sense of it.
“Especially that Romeo at the end! Is there a Juliet too or what? Anyway……!”
Rocks, who'd been silent, finally spoke.
“Well, I see it differently.”
“What is it, Rocks? Got some insight?!”
“Yeah. The chance that Grandfell isn't a player.”
“What?!”
Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo has begun a myth quest.
In reality, the world message protagonist would undoubtedly be a player. But this was the Arcana Continent.
A variable that couldn't be ignored.
Camilla nodded in agreement.
“Right~ NPCs used to pop up on the rankings all the time back in the day.”
“Arcana natives can take quests too. They just can't see the system messages. It's possible, but maybe too soon to be sure.”
“Ugh. This is frustrating.”
But among those possibilities, the highest probability was still Grandfell Claudi whatever—he was Hoyeol.
Dmitri's muscular forearm twitched.
“Fine, I'll step up and ask him, Rocks!”
Whether the Grandfell whatever from the world message was really his name, and if so, why he went by such a name, and what led to him being called that……!!
Dmitri suddenly tilted his head.
“Wait, if it's on the message, it's probably his own ID……”
Camilla shot him a glare.
“You really that confident?”
“……Why? As long as we keep it formal, what's the issue?”
“True. He's answered everything if we stick to formality.”
Shining's executives schemed a plan that would chill the subject himself to the bone.
But the Giant Alliance was lost in different worries.
In the Claudy mansion.
“This'll be a long haul for us.”
“Not your average hunt, sir.”
“Yeah. Our fate's just that twisted.”
Nam Taemin, Hisagi, the grumbling Leoni, and even Skal.
The four, already having set foot on the Arcana Continent as the vanguard, knew about the buffs all too well. No reason to rush out blindly.
Falling behind other players?
Hisagi reminded them once more.
“We must remember: levels are just numbers.”
Words long ago left by none other than Commander Lee Hoyeol.
The man himself had unavoidable circumstances, but……
Hisagi and the others couldn't know his inner turmoil.
So their interpretation naturally differed now.
Hisagi continued meaningfully.
“And we mustn't forget our mission.”
Unlike other players, the four had a specific assignment.
Now on the Arcana Continent, they couldn't overlook certain presences even more.
Nam Taemin crossed his arms and nodded.
“We gotta block 'em. The fallen dragons.”
Those who'd shone against the fallen dragon, Yunak Seus.
Experienced, in a way.
But the Giant Alliance had no illusions of taking down a dragon—let alone a demon-corrupted one—alone.
“Even basic dragon fear would crush our mental strength. Add demon status effects? Our guts were huge, huh?”
How had they even charged at Yunak Seus?
They admired themselves.
Leoni spoke to a pleased-looking Nam Taemin.
“So keep your heads straight. Even riding the Iron Castle Ho, if we run into one, it'll end in close-quarters like with Yunak Seus.”
Led by the Iron Castle Ho's dwarves, the Giant Alliance and Skal were tasked with prioritizing the hunt for fallen dragons alongside the forces Hoyeol had placed on the Arcana Continent.
Of course, the best way was elsewhere.
Nam Taemin suddenly clasped his hands and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Senior Bellie, we're cheering for you from the Arcana Continent too……!”
Bellie Yusia, the senior healing mage they'd already relied on once.
She was seeking a way to purify the evil fruit the fallen dragon had swallowed.
But they couldn't expect much.
From what they'd seen while getting treated at the Mage Tower.
Skal summed up coldly.
“It's futile hope now. Blind faith will only burden Senior Bellie more. Bearing responsibility isn't easy.”
“That's why we're keeping it between us. More importantly…… what responsibility are you carrying, Skal? No guild, yet you talk like you know everything?”
“Did I not speak of my lineage?”
“We're busy with our own Nam family matters. Not curious about your family drama. Bluntly, you're solo without a guild, while our burden is way……”
As always, the Giant Alliance ended in bickering.
But neither Hisagi nor Leoni stopped them.
No need.
The world message had appeared for them too, chatting warmly in one corner of the antique mansion.
Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo has begun a myth quest.
“……!!!”
In that instant, the four exchanged glances.
“This has to be Hoyeol…… no, the Commander, right?”
Their first impression matched other players'.
Hoyeol came to mind first, naturally.
But thanks to not leaving the mansion, they knew.
Hisagi's snake eyes widened twofold.
“No way. He was in the study just now, wasn't he?”
The click of heels echoing in their ears moments ago.
No matter how much Hoyeol, he couldn't start a myth quest from the study.
Creak!
Nam Taemin shoved back his chair and stood.
“I'll go check.”
“What, acting like the boss now?”
“Wait. Me too……!”
Of course, the other three weren't the type to just wait.
In the end, all four cautiously opened the door and headed to Hoyeol's study.
And they faced it.
Screech!
The door swung open boldly.
“Perfect timing.”
“……!”
Hoyeol, as expected, in the study.
At that point, the four thought:
Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo.
He might not be Hoyeol.
Maybe some Claudy family member who wasn't Hoyeol.
But they couldn't ask outright.
……Wait, does formality cover family matters?
Not just for formality.
“Regrettably, I cannot join you this time either. Yet I trust you. Even in my absence, you can face the fallen dragons.”
“Thank you, but…… if it's not rude, may we ask why? If it's urgent……”
“A family matter I can no longer overlook.”
“!”
One word from Hoyeol turned speculation to certainty.
Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo was a Claudy family member, not Hoyeol.
He'd seen the message of him undertaking the myth quest, so he could no longer ignore it.
No great family lacks complications. Like ours……
Good we didn't ask.
He'll handle it calmly, as always.
So the four didn't ask.
Beyond not asking, after Hoyeol left the mansion, they earnestly instructed their Giant Alliance guildmates.
“Absolutely, absolutely do not ask the Commander about Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo. Spread it to all players if possible……”
“Huh? Why?”
“Seems like a really complicated backstory.”
“Wasn't that Romeo whatever on the message the Commander?!”
“Obviously not. We confirmed he didn't leave the study when the message popped. We were right next door. Anyway, details I don't know, but keep it formal, got it?”
Ah, Nam Taemin added as he instructed.
“And common sense: would the Commander pick an ID like that himself?”
*
The Spacetime Salon is a place with a flow of time distinct from the Arcana Continent and reality.
Above all, a space of consciousness.
Me in the Claudy mansion study, exiting the study? Naturally.
Screech!
So when I opened the study door and faced Nam Taemin's group.
A whirlwind of thoughts hit me.
They're not the type to seek me in the study without reason.
So they must've seen it. My full name……!
Oh no.
The shame I'd desperately guarded.
The pride of a working adult.
My black history was about to be laid bare for all.
Damn pride……!
Without that damn pride, I could've brushed it off.
But if they asked if the Grandfell in the message was me, I'd have to say yes.
Because I'd accepted this lineage, this black history.
Yet, for some reason.
The four didn't ask.
Pondering as I strolled the mansion……
They must've misunderstood my last words?
—“A family matter I can no longer overlook.”
Family matter.
Unless they mistook Grandfell and me for separate people……
They wouldn't hold back questions entirely.
If so, I could only be grateful.
For the overwhelming myth quest.
But escaping the crisis of my black history exposed didn't bring great joy.
The pressure was too immense for unbridled celebration.
Alone in the mansion, I murmured.
“Does this mean the first button was fastened wrong?”
……Not that I had any room to talk, jacket unbuttoned and slung over my shoulders instead of fastened.
What the myth quest revealed: the Arcana Continent was far more of a mess than imagined.
To the point repair without rewriting history is impossible.
Interfering in the past to alter the present—that was the myth quest.
Why such a quest existed?
The continent had flaws unsustainable without changing the past.
That thought summoned a curse unbidden.
The curse, Darkness Understanding.
That curse had let me interfere in Grandfell's past to change the present.
……Is this continent someone's black history too?
As I tried bonding over black history.
This damn mouth reminded me not to forget the core.
The family circumstances I could no longer overlook.
“No more mercy.”
Myth quest.
In the past, I'd learned the full story of the incident.
And unwittingly resolved it.
The mysteries from that past Darkness Understanding encounter.
“That day, I had already shown my final mercy.”
The day Claudy was exterminated.
—“I hate you, Grandfell.”
The silver-haired man who'd declared hatred for Grandfell and led Claudy to annihilation.
Why his pupils were pitch black.
Why Predator-Prey Relationship activated before him.
Performing my first myth quest, I'd learned clearly.
So I could no longer overlook it.
This tied not just Claudy family pride, but Akshan's pride too.
Thus, I murmured meaningfully.
“Isn't that right?”
Nameless Claudy.
……No.
I shouldn't call him Claudy anymore.
“Pride of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
The Seven Deadly Sins weren't uninvolved in Claudy's annihilation.
Nameless Claudy.
Pride of the Seven Deadly Sins lurked in that man's soul.
So my task from now was simple.
“By any means, I will hunt you.”
I summoned it.
Akshan itself.
Akshan's guardian, specialized in demon tracking.
Akshan's Guardian
Summons Akshan's spirit beast, the Akshan wolf.
“Hunt.”
……More importantly, no one's eavesdropping on this embarrassing name, right?
With the full name even popping in a message, what am I quibbling over?
I resigned and finished.
“Tempest over the Horizon.”
Damn, a small commotion rose from the mansion's lower floor.
“Th-that's an Akshan wolf!”
“Is Lee Hoyeol moving too?”
“More than that, he just said Tempest over the Horizon……!!”
If you can't avoid it, enjoy it, Hoyeol.
No, enjoying black history is too much……
Then be even more shameless.
Don't forget, always composure.
I descended the stairs with a poker face.
Click!
Struck first.
“No need to eavesdrop.”
“……!!!”
“If you have questions, ask boldly.”
……No, shameless is fine.
But this is.
Too blatantly shameless?
“If you believe yourself worthy.”
Please consider the aftermath too……!!