Open World (1)
It was a minor earthquake.
Although the table shook, none of the glasses fell over, and I didn't hear anything breaking.
Only the chips piled on the table collapsed.
"An earthquake?"
He was startled by the sudden natural phenomenon, but...
...the nobles inside returned to their usual selves and continued gambling as soon as the tremors stopped.
Except for one person.
"Hey, Confucius, where are you going?"
"I suddenly remembered something I have to do. I'll fold this round."The man flipped his cards over and left the table, taking only his chips.
And he took off his mask.
Although he enjoyed the concept of a gambling house where you could hide your identity with a mask...
'No matter how I think about it, that wasn't just an earthquake.'
Lee Baekho, who came out to the night street, sat down on the nearest bench and organized his thoughts.
Although the other nobles didn't seem to have heard it because of the noise inside, he clearly felt it.
The wave of energy that came from underground.
'It felt like a mixture of mana and divine power.'
He couldn't have been mistaken, as his Perception stat was high, and he had a talent for mana.
Then...
'They were talking about breaking the protective barrier, and they really did it.'
Lee Baekho soon reached the truth.
They were truly persistent bastards.
It wasn't a coincidence that they chose midnight, when the labyrinth opened, as the time to attack.
'...Empty house robbery...'
He didn't know the details since he was away from the royal palace. But Noark must have entered the labyrinth fully prepared.
They probably poured all their strength into it.
Without even imagining that their own tactic would be used against them.
'...If this goes well, those bastards down there might all die.'
It wasn't a positive situation for Lee Baekho.
He was even considering clearing the game with Noark if he had no other choice.
'Should I go down and help them?'
That thought briefly crossed his mind, but he chuckled and shook his head. It didn't suit his play style.
Actually, if it were this kind of situation...
'The royal palace must be empty now.'
Lee Baekho's lips curled up into a wide smile.
____________________
Jerome Saintred, the captain of the 1st Royal Knight Order.
A frown appeared between the brows of the protector of the royal family, the Knight of Light.
It was because of the news he had just received.
“The royal palace is under attack…?”
At first, he thought it was a counterattack from Noark.
But that didn’t make sense either.
They had been careful with security, gathering troops under the pretense of targeting the labyrinth and only revealing their true target, the Noark headquarters, two hours before departure.
And besides…
…the protective barrier had just been broken.
It meant that Noark didn’t have time to send enough forces to attack the royal palace.
“Have the orders to return been issued?”
“Not yet.”
“Then there’s no change in plans. We continue the expedition.”
Jerome led the army and quickly moved underground. And as time passed, he received news about the identity of the group that attacked the royal palace.
‘…I can’t believe it wasn’t a group.’
Only one person had dared to attack the royal palace.
He wondered if it was a solo act by the Ruin Scholar, whose threat level had recently been upgraded, but even that guess was wrong.
“Lee Baekho.”
Once a promising explorer, he was the one who caused that disaster after being revealed to be an evil spirit.
Of course, very few people knew about that disaster.
It was thoroughly covered up by the royal family, who valued his abilities, and he was given a new identity.
‘This is troublesome. How did he know? That even I would be away on an expedition?’
As far as he knew, Lee Baekho didn’t have any means of obtaining information. He used to communicate with an accomplice outside through the evil spirit gathering…
…but he was currently banned from the gathering.
It was also something the royal family had a hand in.
They subtly revealed Lee Baekho’s identity to the evil spirit called the GM, and when he didn’t ban him, they sent him to Noark and made him an enemy.
‘Then did he just guess?’
Jerome fell into deep thought.
He had heard that an earthquake occurred on the surface because of the aftermath of breaking the protective barrier…
…but there was one thing he couldn’t understand.
To deduce this situation from an earthquake?
That much was possible.
But acting on it was a different matter.
To gamble like that when he could be captured if his prediction was wrong?
‘…He would do that.’
Jerome couldn’t help but agree, even though it hurt his pride.
Lee Baekho was like a beast.
He would always bite his enemies if he had the chance, and he wouldn’t even hesitate to risk being bitten himself.
‘And at a time like this when the Rose Knight Captain position is vacant…’
Although he was worried about the situation on the surface, he hadn’t received orders to return yet.
Therefore, there was only one thing he had to do.
To fulfill his duty as a knight and carry out the King’s orders.
“We’ve arrived.”
The army passed through the underground labyrinth and reached the last gate to Noark.
A stone gate with dozens of ancient magic spells engraved on it.
It took them several hours just to break through this gate during the last subjugation.
“Fortunately, it seems like they haven’t fixed it properly yet. Begin.”
The mages started drawing a giant octagonal formation on the ground at Jerome’s order.
After some time…
Kwaaang!
…the magic circle emitted a bright light and shot a wave of pure mana towards the stone gate.
And…
Swaaaaaaaaa.
…the scenery of the underground city was revealed beyond the cloud of dust.
“Let’s go. It’s time to subjugate the evil rebels and restore peace to this city.”
Jerome drew the sword bestowed upon him by the King.
And he was the first to step forward.
“For the eternal prosperity of Lafdonia.”
There wasn’t a shred of hesitation in his steps.
____________________
The Dimensional Plaza, where the portal had closed.
But I lingered there for a while.
I thought I might be able to get some useful information from the knights.
But…
‘Tsk, I just wasted time.’
The knights didn’t even chat amongst themselves and disappeared as soon as the plaza was cleared.
Therefore, I also left.
I was planning to stop by a bar and hear what the other explorers thought about this, instead of going straight home.
‘Should I go to the bear-like man’s place?’
Hmm, that would be best.
First of all, it was a bar frequented by explorers.
And it didn’t have any partitions or private rooms, so it was perfect for eavesdropping.
Although he would definitely be angry if I said that to his face.
“Oh, Yandel, what brings you here at this hour? Without Misha?”
“I was just bored since I was out. Don’t mind me, you seem busy today. I’ll just drink quietly in a corner.”
“…Can’t you just call me? I’m sure my wife would be okay with it if you asked.”
The bear-like man, who I met at the bar, seemed to be looking for an excuse to slack off and made that request.
Geez, doesn’t he feel sorry for his pregnant wife?
“I want to be alone today.”
“…If that’s what you want. I’ll just bring you some snacks and drinks, right?”
“Ah, thank you.”
The bear-like man soon brought me a table full of meat dishes.
For reference, the alcohol was the bar’s signature, salted honey mead.
‘It tasted really strange at first, but it goes down smoothly once you get used to it.’
Anyway, that wasn’t my main goal for coming here.
I listened closely as I sipped my drink, and I could hear the conversations of the surrounding explorers and ordinary citizens.
As expected of a bar where rumors spread quickly, most of the talk was about the army the royal family was forming.
‘There’s nothing worth listening to.’
That the royal family intentionally spread false rumors.
That they were definitely afraid of Noark.
They were all baseless information, with their brains as the source.
Well, I wasn’t expecting to hear information from the Round Table at a bar, so I wasn’t disappointed.
My goal was just to gauge public opinion.
‘These days, even the citizens, not just the explorers, don’t have a good impression of the royal family.’
I then closed my ears and organized my thoughts, drinking.
And after some time…
…the bear-like man approached me and sat down, as if he had some free time.
“Yandel, what do you think?”
“About the army?”
“Yeah, you have great intuition in these aspects.”
I hesitated for a moment and then shared my guess that the army might be ‘robbing an empty house’ right now.
After all, I wasn’t sure yet.
I was curious about the opinion of the bear-like man, who was a veteran explorer.
“…So that earthquake earlier was because of that?”
“Do you believe it?”
“Isn’t that more plausible than that nonsense about the royal family being afraid of Noark?”
The bear-like man was quick to understand, perhaps because he had been to the royal family’s treasury once. He knew that the royal family’s hidden strength was much greater than he had imagined.
“…Maybe we’ll be able to enter the labyrinth next time.”
The bear-like man then expressed his hope that this cold war might end sooner than expected.
And he was also worried about the city’s economic problems.
“Yandel, if this continues, shouldn’t we use the cash we’ve saved instead of hoarding it? The prices will return to normal once the labyrinth is stabilized.”
I was a bit touched by his words.
Was it because he was a veteran explorer with a family to protect?
Ainar and Misha didn’t seem to think about these things at all.
“Just wait and see. We’ll know what’s going on tomorrow.”
“Right, I was being impatient.”
We then changed the subject and chatted about various things, drinking together.
That’s when…
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
…alarm bells rang from outside.
It was my first time experiencing this in over a year of living in this city. The alarm bells didn’t even ring when my carriage exploded and the GM and Lee Baekho caused chaos.
But they were ringing now?
Clank, clank, clank.
I hurriedly went outside, and I saw guards from the Public Safety Department running towards one place, their boots clanging.
I grabbed a random guard and asked what was going on.
Although he said he couldn’t tell a civilian…
…he immediately changed his attitude when I revealed my identity.
“My name is Bjorn, son of Yandel. I’m a noble who was bestowed the title of Viscount by the royal family. So answer me. What’s going on?”
“…We, we don’t know either. We were just ordered to go to Karnon for support. I heard from my colleagues that there’s a big fire.”
A large fire in Karnon, the Imperial City, at this time…
‘There’s no way it’s a coincidence.’
Then don’t tell me those Noark bastards invaded?
Well, I didn’t know.
But it was possible.
If they knew about the royal family’s plan to rob their empty house, they could have used this kind of strategy.
‘Ha, the royal family can’t do anything properly.’
That’s when, as I was sighing…
…the bear-like man spoke.
“A fire in the Imperial City, it doesn’t seem like an ordinary incident… I wonder if Raven is okay.”
Huh? Raven?
Why is she suddenly being mentioned?
‘Ah, she’s staying near the royal palace to learn magic.’
…Damn it.
I felt my heart pounding as soon as I realized it.
An ominous premonition washed over me.
This kind of premonition rarely failed, so my anxiety was even greater.
“I hope it’s just an ordinary fire—”
“Avman, I’ll be going now.”
“Where are you going in this situation? Yandel, listen to me. It’s best to just stay home in times like this.”
The bear-like man grabbed me as I got up from my seat.
But…
“Don’t worry, I’ll find her and bring her back soon.”
“Then I’ll come with—”
“What are you talking about? You have to stay with your wife.”
I told the bear-like man to close the bar and go to my house with his wife.
Misha would also be worried.
I had to at least tell them what was going on.
And I felt reassured knowing that all my teammates were together.
“…Be careful.”
I then parted ways with the bear-like man and climbed onto the roof of a military carriage heading towards Karnon, the Imperial City.
Although the soldiers inside made a fuss…
…they all quieted down when I revealed my identity.
And after some time…
“Viscount Yandel! We’re almost at Karnon!”
…the carriage arrived at its destination.
My body froze involuntarily.
“…….”
The sky was red, even though it was the middle of the night.
The tall, well-maintained walls were stained with black soot, and the air was filled with acrid smoke.
And…
…screams and roars mixed together, coming from beyond the flames or outside the fire.
‘Crazy, what the hell happened?’
Karnon, the city of nobles, was burning.
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