◈ Episode 512. Not a Pleasant Thing (1)
『Grandfell was not proud of his family’s wealth. 』
At the time, I think I wrote it roughly to emphasize the nobility of Grandfell, which does not boast of a family halo……. Looking back on it now, it is eerie.
‘So, where does this self-esteem come from?’
Because I think it’s a pure feeling of self-esteem.
‘You’re scary. Really.’
That’s admirable in a different way, Grandfell.
But if Grandfell wants to turn away from Claudie’s halo.
I, Lee Hoeol, can’t be expected to do the same, can I?
‘I’m in a position of regret.’
Claudi’s Abyss.
The name of the treasure trove of the Claudi family’s enormous wealth stuck in my throat, but I was undaunted.
fair price.
For what is most precious.
I stood tall and proud.
‘At least you have the right to look at the green tea bags.’
But.
‘……?’
Nothing?
The vast expanse of space is just empty!
Oops.
A thought flashed through my mind.
As I said, the Claudi Territory had collapsed once in the past.
‘……I wonder why it’s still intact.’
Grave robbers, whether in the real world or on the Arcana continent, have no respect for the dead. They’ll dig to the grave for money, and there’s nothing to fear from the destroyed Claudi.
‘Somehow, I said it was easy.’
With a single green tea bag.
I was going to eat Claudi’s treasures raw.
As if I deserved it.
‘I’m canceling the appointment, Grandfell. I’ll take the discounted green tea again…….’
I swallowed the bitter taste of cheap green tea in my mouth.
Grandfell’s voice slipped between my lips.
It was the order of the Claudi family, the patriarch.
“Show yourself before me.”
It was as natural as breathing in and out.
As if it were a matter of course, a knowledge that a patriarch should have.
There was nothing awkward about that line.
‘What’s hidden?’
It wasn’t stolen by evil grave robbers, was it……?
I muttered to myself, still in disbelief.
Grandfell’s steady voice continues.
“Call it collapse. Claudi is Claudi.”
Grandfell’s way of speaking.
To paraphrase its implications……. Even if it’s been destroyed. The implication is that no one dared to dig into Claudi’s territory in the face of Claudi’s power.
‘Wait.’
This isn’t just some overconfident bullshit…….
Wasn’t Claudi a hidden piece until I discovered it?
Moreover, the orders of Grandfell, the lord of the manor, were absolute.
‘So absolute that no one can defy them.’
Oh, my, I’ve forgotten, Hoyeol.
What kind of family is Claudi?
At least, that’s what I wrote down in my notebook.
‘It was so great that no one could surpass it.’
It was.
Dark history.
As I acknowledged that dark history.
[Claudi’s Abyss reveals its true nature.]
There was a flash before my eyes, and Claudi’s treasure trove was revealed.
Something cascading out of thin air.
Indeed, there were gold coins that rivaled the grains of sand on the beach, but I, Lee Hoyeol, was not fooled. Was this a belated imitation of the innocent Grandfell?
……No, of course not.
If I were so innocent, we’d all be drinking green tea and starving to death from malnutrition. The reason why I, Lee Hoyeol, could remain calm in the face of gold and silver treasures was simple.
‘What is this?’
Colorless.
The gold and silver treasure was supposed to be glittering with color, but it had no color.
[The Illusion of Pure Knowledge].
I, who had knowledge of all minerals.
I only recognized that the coins were made of gold.
‘In the eyes of others…….’
they could be mistaken for coins made of stone.
They had an ugly color.
For a moment, the back of my head twitched.
I guess the shock was as great as the expectation.
I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.
But our Grandfell.
“I told you so.”
Even in this situation, he scratches my inner thoughts.
“I told you that wealth and fame are just an illusion.”
……No, Grandfell.
You don’t have to set up a setting like this to make your words come true! Of course, it wasn’t Grandfell’s bullshit snout that caused the gold and silver coins to lose their shine.
Flickering vision.
I was seeing color in something other than gold coins.
It was a quest message.
[Hidden Quest: Revealing the Abyss]
The Claudi family has a secret.
A secret that no one has been able to uncover.
Until you realize the secret.
Until you realize the weight of it.
You will not be able to wield the Claudi halo.
-Witness the intact House Claudi. (Ongoing)
Claudi’s secret.
‘After all this time, I know most things.’
It’s just a bunch of settings I scribbled down.
But as I’ve said many times.
My dark history comes first, Claudi comes first.
At the point when it materialized beyond Grandfell and into the Claudi family.
I’m not so sure anymore.
Furthermore.
[Darkness Understanding: 70%]
I’ve only understood about 70% of Grandfell’s inner secrets after spending all day with him, so there must be at least one Claudi secret I don’t know.
But.
‘What’s the quest objective?’
The problem was the quest objective.
Where in the world is the “Intact House of Claudi”……!
One might ask me.
I thought the reversal magic had restored the Claudi territory to intact.
‘You’re welcome.’
The reversal magic was only able to restore a tiny fraction of Claudi’s territory. Besides, when it says intact, do you mean just the Claudi family?
Claudi.
You mean the power of House Claudi in the days when the Arcana continent trembled under its name when dragons racked their brains, elves envied it, and even the Empire feared it.
‘Of course.’
If it were me with added bubbles, Lee Hoyeol’s status.
I wonder if I can match the Claudi, I think to myself.
I shake my head furiously.
No matter how unfortunate my position is.
‘I have no intention of saying anything officially.’
I’m not going to say that I’m Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo, even if I’m dead……! It seems that Grandfell agrees with me.
“Greatness does not reveal itself.”
…… I am once again grateful for his picky taste.
Then again, one might ask.
Would you ever give up this gold and silver treasure of Claudi’s?
A glance.
‘That’s just nonsense.’
Amongst the neutral colors of the gold and silver coins.
I see items that look too good to be true.
Normally, just looking at them would have brought up an information window.
But not until I complete the quest.
‘Think, Hoyeol, think.’
Yes.
To get those things.
I needed the desperation to pull out all the tricks I had.
It’s a moment to think on my feet.
‘We don’t have much time.’
Only a week.
Not to forget the time limit.
But there was one thing that stuck with me.
My thoughts turned to the Spacetime Social Hall, a space of consciousness that is relatively free from the flow of time. Specifically, the top floor of the Spacetime Social Hall.
‘…… Request from the top floor of the Spacetime Social Hall!’
A mythic quest that can travel back and forth between the present and the past?
I had already interfered in the past once and changed reality.
If only I could witness Claudi in the right era.
I wonder if this quest could be eaten raw……?
‘All I have to do is witness it.’
You’re not dead yet, my nag!
If it was a spacetime quest, I could be free from the temporal constraints of a week. In that sense, I did not hesitate and immediately entered the Spacetime Social Hall.
[Enters the consciousness, ‘Spacetime Social Hall’].
I smoothed my clothes with an unpleasant touch.
“It’s a series of things I don’t feel like doing.”
Another rant from our Grandfell.
Still, thank you, Grandfell.
You’ve been so stubborn for me.
‘Well, I guess that’s why…….’
Of course, it must be because of the top-quality green tea that was promised.
*
Spacetime Social Hall.
“It’s strange to look at, this place.”
Nam Taemin, Hisagi, and Leonie.
After entering the Anomaly Realm and passing the Transcendentals’ qualification test, the three met at the Spacetime Social Hall as promised. Of course, even in a place of such distinction, there was no shortage of tempers.
Bam.
Leonie slumped down on the table and let out an exasperated sigh.
“I can’t believe I have to face you all here too.”
“I’m more than happy to, Miss Leonie.”
“Kugh.”
“Hey, are you crazy? Why are you spitting out that expensive thing?!”
Hisagi’s feeling that I have not easily gotten used to.
Leonie spewed out the life water she had taken from Nam Taemin.
Taemin was disgusted by the sight.
It was inevitable, wasn’t it?
“These are my hard-earned gold coins!”
“What are you doing?”
“You can’t spoil a berserker. I felt sorry for you when you came back from fighting and turned into a green onion kimchi, so I bought you one, and you spit it out? I won’t allow you. Next time, never……”
“What’s the green onion kimchi again?”
“Oh, you only pretend not to understand when it’s like this.”
A large dog and a Chihuahua growl.
It wasn’t as if they’d chartered the Spacetime Social Hall.
Coincidentally, there were only three people in the social hall right now.
Hisagi’s snake eyes took in the situation soberly.
“No wonder the Arcana continent is in turmoil.”
The influence of the rampaging Commander-in-Chief.
It was safe to say that the Arcana Continent was in upheaval because of him.
It was a place of consciousness where the flow of time was slow.
“You don’t want to miss a single moment, I know that.”
Hisagi bit his lip.
“I feel the same way.”
“What are you talking about earlier?”
“Dude, you took a sip, too. Why are you acting like you don’t know?”
Hisagi coughed, then spoke.
“Tamin-kun, Ms. Leonie. You mustn’t overlook the reason we’ve gathered in such an urgent situation. Have you all found the Great Sage, Rise. His last trace.”
“You’re talking back…….”
“It’s all for the sake of our Commander-in-Chief.”
“…….”
The Barbarian and the Berserker, at the mention of their names.
The two temper tantrums stopped snarling.
They immediately rattled off the information they had gathered.
“We found traces of a great monster rampage to the southwest, but nothing that could be called the Great Sage, and the mage says there were no magic marks or anything…….”
“Me neither.”
“Me neither.”
“How come you haven’t heard anything from the spirits?”
A mage and apprentice mage in the Magic Tower.
Of the three, Hisagi was the only one who could speak to the spirits. In fact, ever since the spirits in their natural state had become visible, Hisagi had tried talking to them.
However.
“Otherwise, I did ask the Senior Mage of the Magic Tower Spirit School, Feiyan Lot, if the spirits had any further news about the Great Sage, but he reported that even the Spirit Kings hadn’t heard anything about his whereabouts.”
So, not much, after all.
Nam Taemin sighed at the loosened tension.
Then, I glanced at the social gathering place.
“I heard he disappeared without a trace. Just in case, I came to see you…….”
As a Great Sage and a Transcendent, he should have been able to enter this social hall. So they entered with one last expectation. But as you can see, the Spacetime Social Hall was empty except for them.
Nam Taemin shrugged.
“Well, I guess we should dismiss and make another appointment.”
Time passes slowly.
I didn’t feel comfortable spending time in such a luxurious place. Neither did Hisagi and Leonie. The three of them were about to leave the social hall.
“Leonie, next time, you should really buy it.”
“What? I’d rather eat the liver of a flea.”
“There is no flea as bold as you, neither in reality nor on the Arcana continent.”
As they exchanged venomous words, their vision flickered.
“!!!”
[Consciousness, the atmosphere of the ‘Spacetime Social Hall’ changed drastically.]
It was an unfamiliar message.
And a strange production.
A melody began to play in their ears.
~♩♬♩♬♬♪~~
I’m not very musically inclined.
I can’t be more specific than that.
It was overly sweet and grand.
It was so sweet and grandiose that I could feel it in my gut.
“……Who, who is that?”
The Spacetime Social Hall was playing a tune for a great “someone” about to enter. And they were right. A message flashed before the three of them.
[VVIP enters the Spacetime Social Hall].
“V, VVIP……?!”
.
.
.
Hey, is anyone listening?
Because it seems like the great VVIP is going to die from the burden.
Please turn that song off, please……!!!