As befits its nickname “The City of Beginners”, Origin City once again saw countless people pass through its gates this year.
Merchants flocked in to seize the opportunity, and adventurers gathered in search of party members, eager to take on fresh challenges suited to the newly reset season.
Alongside them came others with a variety of goals and with so much activity, it was inevitable that incidents followed one after another.
“This damn early-season rush tires me out every time.”
Count Mordenain, the ruler of the city, wore a weary expression as he busily processed the constant stream of paperwork.
Late into the evening…
Trying to unwind from the day’s fatigue with a glass of wine, he gazed out at the cityscape that was so brightly lit it hardly felt like night.
Hoo—hoo—
Bird calls echoed from nearby.
With a deepening frown, Count Mordenain opened the balcony door leading to the terrace.
“You could’ve just come in through the front. No need to sneak around like this.”
“Hohoho. For an old man like me, the procedure to meet someone like you is far too troublesome.”
Hoo—hoo—
A man perched casually on the terrace railing turned his head toward the count with hands cupped as he whistled like a bird.
It was none other than Aden who was once hailed as the Empire’s Blade and also known as the Sword Soul.
“I wasn’t told you’d be coming down here. To what do we owe the pleasure?”
Aden had never been fond of Blackout and had left it the moment he retired.
He’d since spent his days wandering the Empire’s remote regions, quietly indulging in his hobbies. So what had brought him back now?
“His Majesty is in a difficult position. I figured, just once, I should drag this old body out to help.”
“Hmm… Don’t tell me you’re planning to return for good?”
“You really ought to retake your listening comprehension test at the Imperial Academy. Just this once. I’ll step in only this time.”
“Ugh, my apologies. I haven’t been back on the surface long myself.”
Perhaps it was the lingering tension from the nerve-wracking meetings with the nobles up top, but Mordenain had trouble taking Aden’s words at face value.
“Tsk, tsk. I told you not to overdo it.”
“……”
As if wanting to slow down would actually make it possible.
The role of a count was never one to be taken lightly.
So Count Mordenain casually dismissed Aden’s words and continued speaking.
“If you’ve come in person, does that mean the ones who approached Lady Beneth have taken refuge in Blackout?”
At the count’s words, Aden nodded without resistance.
“Then what can I do to assist you?”
“I don’t think I’ll need much help just yet. Just let me know the moment you find any trace of them.”
“Then may I ask why you came all the way here…?”
“It’s because of the White Whale Mercenary Corps.”
“You have business with them?”
“Not exactly… To be honest, let me just ask directly. You’re planning to use them as your blade, aren’t you?”
“…Yes.”
Of course, he had no intention of treating them like mere tools.
After all, the mercenary corps included a discarded member of the imperial family, and their leader was no ordinary person.
He figured if he tossed them some food and gave them a little shake now and then, it would be enough.
“Tsk, tsk. That kind of soft thinking is nowhere near enough.”
“…Do you have something in mind, then?”
“If you want to wield them like a sword, you need to treat them like one. What are you doing, carrying them around like some precious treasure?”
“Well…”
At the Sword Soul’s words, the count was reminded of being scolded by his father when he was young.
From his point of view, he had done his best, only to be told once the lid was off that it wasn’t nearly good enough.
“The Imperial Family has its stance to consider. If I support them too openly, you know very well how the aristocrats might react…”
“Which is exactly why you have to use the right methods.”
“In my opinion, they’re like wildflowers. Rather than the Imperial Family raising them directly, shouldn’t we just clear the pests around them and let them grow on their own?”
“That’s not wrong. But it’s only half right.”
“……”
Sensing there was no point in arguing further, the count decided to just ask plainly.
“Do you have another idea, Sir Aden?”
“Yes. If you spray poison to get rid of pests, won’t the beneficial insects flee too? That’s why you need to use the right approach.”
The more a blade is tempered, the sharper it becomes. In the same way, Aden had come with a method.
“The Tower of the Ancients. Let’s give that to them.”
“Wait, isn’t that something you can’t just find, even if you want to… Hold on. Don’t tell me….you’ve already found it?!”
“That’s right. I found it.”
“No way… How many floors did you get through in that short time?!”
“It’s been a while, so it brought back old memories. I got carried away exploring here and there, and I found it.”
“……”
The Tower of the Ancients was one of those places that countless people searched for every season.
Because its location reset randomly each time the season restarted, even high-ranking adventurers would react like they’d won the lottery when they happened to find it.
“I was thinking of sending them there.”
“…Where is it?”
“Fifth level. The Sandstorm Dunes.”
“You really found it in the middle of nowhere.”
What kind of memories did he have buried in that desert to bother searching such a place?
The higher one climbed in the Tower of the Ancients, the greater the rewards became, making it a place people scoured with obsessive determination.
“You intend to hand it over to the White Whale Mercenary Corps?”
“It’s only right. You know, don’t you? How furious Lady Beneth was over the plot to assassinate Prince Javier.”
“Yes, I do…”
Convincing Beneth not to summon the White Whale Mercenary Corps for direct questioning had been no small task.
Thinking back on it, they’d narrowly avoided disaster.
“Those people shielded the Imperial Family from a storm of blood in advance. But if we repay that with gold and jewels, it’ll only stir up chaos among the others.”
“Hence the Tower of the Ancients.”
“Exactly.”
Though the count had been skeptical at first, he gradually came around to Aden’s way of thinking.
From a cost-benefit perspective, this was a rare opportunity.
Yeah. That’s a reward more than worth giving.
Then, suddenly, the count felt a sense of unease.
Sure, Aden had always been generous when it came to nurturing talent and if they were hard-working prodigies he paid even more attention to them, but…
Would he really go out of his way to come to me in person over this?
Though the count and Aden weren’t distant, someone of Aden’s stature had no reason to come ask for his approval directly.
“Would you mind if I asked a question?”
“I can guess what it is. You’re wondering if this is His Majesty’s intention, aren’t you?”
As someone who wandered the world, Aden had a sharp intuition.
The count gave a simple nod.
“Yes.”
“Well… maybe it’s his age catching up with him, but he seems to think of his youngest more often these days.”
Strictly speaking, Javier wasn’t younger than Aiden, but the count let that slide.
“Besides, he seems quite interested in that mage as well.”
“I see.”
And why not? The count himself had been keeping a close eye on that mage.
It was only natural for His Majesty to be intrigued too.
A skilled mage with no affiliations, let alone one who was also cooperative with the Imperial family, was incredibly hard to come by.
“In that case, I’ll pass the information along.”
“Good. Tell them to make thorough preparations. The Tower of Ancients may be called the land of opportunity, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy place.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
With that, Aden took a bottle of wine from the count’s room and departed, while the count immediately began preparing a letter.
It was the day before Jun was to have a cheerful drinking session with the mercenary group.
***
Naturally, Jun couldn’t hide his surprise when he answered the count’s summons and arrived in the Origin City.
“The Tower of Ancients?”
Among players in the game, it was also known as the Tower of Trials. It was a structure with an appearance rate so low that it was nearly impossible to encounter.
“Unless you’re insanely lucky, there’s no way you’d find it this quickly.”
Back when he was still “Lee Jung-jun”, even at the very end of the game, it took an enormous, fully operational information network just to maybe locate it.
Of course, the rewards were just as incredible…
“But since it usually only appears in the final stages of the game, it wasn’t exactly a must-do.”
That’s why Jun hadn’t particularly considered it as part of his plans.
“But there’s no downside to going. In the game, the rewards only felt mediocre because players already had top-tier gear by then. For us right now, it’s perfect.”
Plus, the Tower of Ancients would be the ideal opportunity to objectively gauge the limits of their current strength.
“So… I was thinking it might be a good idea for you all to go there.”
“Thank you for sharing such incredible information with us.”
“No need to thank me. You’ve already done so much for the Imperial family.”
Indeed.
The sweet rewards of the Imperial name were hard to resist.
“However, I think we still have a few things to prepare before we can leave.”
“There’s no need to rush. It’s a remote place anyway. I’ll make sure it stays managed on my end, so just let me know whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you.”
An unexpected opportunity had appeared.
Jun hadn’t imagined he’d come face-to-face with the Tower of Ancients, the very thing he thought he might only see in the far-off endgame.
And the same was true for his companions.
“Th-The Tower of Ancients?”
“Wait. You got your hands on that? Just what have you been doing out there to land something like this?”
As Aiden and Eleanor expressed their pure admiration, Maya tilted her head in confusion.
“What’s this Tower of Ancients thing?”
Unlike the other two, who had at least some knowledge about Blackout, Maya knew nothing about it.
“Put simply, it’s a tower where we can have our skills objectively evaluated.”
“A test? So, what do we get if we go?”
“The rewards are pretty decent, and more importantly, there’s no real downside. That’s the best part.”
“So it’s easy?”
“Calling it easy… might be a stretch.”
The better the results, the better the rewards. Keeping that in mind, a fair amount of preparation was clearly needed.
Still, since it wasn’t related to the Erroders, it didn’t seem likely to grab Maya’s interest…
“Well, sounds good to me.”
“What? That’s unexpected. I thought you’d snap back again, asking if this was another difficult mission.”
“I didn’t complain because the missions were hard. I got upset because you said they wouldn’t be hard, and then they suddenly were.”
“….…”
It was like thinking you’d finished all your homework and playing without a care, only to find out there was a whole extra assignment you didn’t know about.
I should probably stop saying missions will be easy from now on.
Jun, a fellow victim of circumstance, found it deeply unfair, but what could he do?
His big mouth had played just as much of a part in this as his misfortune, so he quietly accepted reality.
“Senior…”
“Don’t look at me like that.”
Aiden’s expression made Jun’s stomach churn even more, so he looked away for no particular reason.
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