episode_0031

The abandoned factory near the capital, Londinium.

“Leader.”

“Selena.”

Her voice, calling me calmly, was neither particularly emotional nor did it express exaggerated or excessive respect or fuss.

“As ordered, I’ve completed the infiltration investigation inside the Crystal Palace.”

“You did well.”

Thanks to that, conversing with her was relatively less burdensome.

“Is there anything in particular we need to pay attention to?”

“It depends on whom you set as the standard.”

The Dark Elf, Dark Moon Selena, said, her black hood pulled low.

Under the hood, pointed ears and skin as pale and dark as a corpse were faintly visible. Even without a breeze, her coat tails fluttered on their own, revealing an array of sharp blades stored within, scattering a chilling glint.

“At the very least, there’s nothing for the Leader to worry about. Separately from us, that is.”

“…I’d still like to hear it in advance.”

“From the Bretonna Empire’s side, the heads of the three great ducal families have personally arrived.”

The Empire’s three great ducal families.

At that name, I silently frowned.

The three most prominent ducal families and their heads in the Empire. —York of the White Flower, Lancaster of the Blazing Flame, and Cromwell of the Iron Blood.

Each one was a named NPC, boasting considerable power and influence even in the game.

“Besides that, Dreadnought-class airships and such are scheduled, but… since our target is the Holy Kingdom’s exhibit anyway, we probably don’t need to worry about that.”

Dreadnought-class airships. Hearing that name, I was reminded anew that this was a fantasy world.

And that we were just a small, elite organization of 12 people, while the opponents were nations.

“Starting with the Bretonna Empire, six participating nations are scheduled to hold ‘military exhibits’ for five days each, with a two-day preparation and rest period in between. The order for the remaining five nations, excluding the host country, doesn’t seem to be set yet.”

“Participating nations besides those three?”

On this continent, there were countless nations besides the three great powers.

From nations quietly biding their time and sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall [an idiom meaning to suffer hardships to strengthen one’s resolve for revenge or success], to places no different from a crumbling thatched hut claiming to still be open for business.

However, it was one thing for those nations to keep an eye on this World Expo and observe the political situation, and quite another to participate directly.

Because it was no different from them declaring their intent to participate in the power struggle between the Empire, the Holy Kingdom, and the Duchy.

And not just one or two, but three nations breaking their silence like that. It wasn’t some kind of 3+3 event.

“First, what’s noteworthy is the Northern Kingdom Alliance, and unusually, two exotic nations from the East have also expressed their intention to participate.”

“…Exotic nations from the East?”

“The Anatolia Empire and the Yin Kingdom.”

I had to suppress a curse from inadvertently escaping my lips.

Two unfamiliar nations from the East.

While there had been continuous foreshadowing and characters from those nations, this was the first time the region called ‘the East’ had overtly intervened in the center stage.

Just like a small-time company, they couldn’t even properly manage the stories of the first three nations, yet they’re expanding the scale haphazardly by adding unknown countries in subsequent series.

Nevertheless, there was no doubt that this was a part that connected directly to the core story in the game.

“…The scale is growing larger than I expected.”

“I agree.”

Selena nodded and continued.

“Especially, from the Yin Kingdom’s perspective, their reason for showing up all the way on the western edge of the continent is suspicious.”

“Do you have any guesses?”

“—Well, there can only be one reason, can’t there?”

The man who called himself the snake-eyed one, Silan of Saan, interjected, having appeared somehow.

Like a villain from an antagonist group, he suddenly appeared from behind the high steel beams of the abandoned factory, striking a pose. I don’t know why these guys like to suddenly appear from high places so much.

“They’re coveting it too, just like us.”

With eyes narrowed like a snake, their whites visible on three sides, he hid his unreadable intentions.

“What other justification would a nation from the ends of the earth have to legally move its military across the continent?”

Hearing those words, I thought.

The map hidden in the pointed to the same map, the ‘true map’ leading to the Mausoleum of Heroes.

And that map was precisely—the Holy Kingdom’s relic to be exhibited right here at the World Military Expo.

A map and a key leading to the heroes’ tomb.

It was the goal of our group, the 《Black Serpent》.

We would seize the relic from the exhibition hall and, based on the hidden map, reach the Mausoleum of Heroes. After that? That would be something to think about when the time came.

─Nothing would change.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but consider the possibility of change.

As Silan said, were we the only ones who knew the relic’s true identity and were targeting it?

For instance, would the Holy Kingdom, as the direct party involved, truly not know what was hidden within the relic they possessed?

We weren’t the only ones targeting the .

I had only recently realized the existence of the ‘Mausoleum of Heroes’. It wasn’t the same for them. Just like the Duchy and the Generalissimo.

Tracking the whereabouts of the vanished heroes and the protagonists from previous works must have been the motivation for many factions in this world to secretly operate long before.

Yet the Holy Kingdom displayed the relic, which everyone was targeting, at an event where the core military forces of other nations gathered.

At that point, a possibility inadvertently surfaced in my mind.

“…The Holy Kingdom must also have been aware of that fact beforehand.”

“Well, it’s definitely a trap with 100% certainty.”

Silan shrugged. Selena also remained silent, giving an unspoken affirmation.

A brief silence descended.

“Nothing will change.”

I spoke at the end of the stillness.

“We will obtain the map leading to the Mausoleum of Heroes… the relic. ─No matter what it takes.”

Right now, I needed to know the whereabouts of the vanished heroes.

Even if it was just to learn the whereabouts of the protagonists from the previous nineteen works that had accumulated over time. Their whereabouts would provide some kind of answer to my current situation. Or a new clue, either way.

“Yeah, that’s it in the end! There’s no use thinking too complicated!”

At that moment, a wolf-headed werewolf appeared in the abandoned factory and shouted.

“Who cares! Forget infiltration and investigation, let’s just go take it now! Huh? Leader!”

“Unfortunately, the military forces of the participating nations at the expo are ‘jointly’ protected by a peace treaty.”

Hearing that, Selena replied as if dumbfounded.

“You’re not planning to enter a place where everyone is united for the event preparations, are you?”

“Haha, if we did that, a true Continental Allied Army might really be formed!”

Silan laughed slyly. I didn’t laugh. No, I couldn’t laugh.

“What do you know of me?” “《The World’s Enemy》.” “My father referred to Sir Rain as such.”

That day, Ergo’s words to me came to mind. Even without that, 《Black Serpent》 and I were already enemies of the world.

Amidst all this, how would it be perceived if we revealed ourselves and ran wild on this international stage where the continent’s great powers and nations converged?

At that moment, a silhouette hanging upside down from the ceiling, wrapped in bat wings, stirred.

“Yawn, what is it…”

With that, bat wings unfolded, and a girl in a blood-red dress appeared from beneath them.

“Has the meeting still not ended? I’m starving, should I go get some late-night snack?”

“Oh, late-night snack! Alice too! I want to eat!”

“Wanna go together?”

“Yeah! Let’s go, let’s go!”

Then, Alice, who had been dozing off sitting on a bent steel beam, suddenly lifted her head and shouted.

“Hehe, good. This big sister will suck the blood, and then Alice can eat what’s left. How about it?”

“Ugh! Alice doesn’t like dry stuff!”

“She’s so fussy. What’s so different just because some blood is sucked?”

“Blood is important! Alice likes it rare!”

As the vampire and shadow creature amicably conversed about food, I turned my head as if it were none of my business.

There was a Dark Elf assassin and a werewolf who looked ready to rampage at any moment, and also the man with snake-like, chilling eyes.

Additionally, on the cold floor of the abandoned factory, a wooden puppet lay sprawled like a marionette with its strings cut.

Apart from the wooden puppet, Ergo, whose appearance was indistinguishable from a human, lay on an operating table, undergoing maintenance by Golden Mirror.

Further beside them, a little witch sat huddled alone, playing with a twig, and a smiling man silently stood guard by her side.

He was literally the smiling man.

Up to this point, including me, there were a total of 11 people.

Lastly, Aria and Freya were performing separate missions, as if entrusted to Selena.

“We’ve returned, Lord Rain!”

“—Leader-nim.”

And they had just returned from their mission.

Finally, thirteen people.

“Did you find out the relic’s true identity?”

“Oh ho ho, of course! To this girl, Lord Rain’s command is absolute above all else! I would accomplish it even if it meant exchanging a thousand lives!”

“The relic’s true identity is, with high probability, presumed to be the Star Spear of Longinus.”

“—.”

I silently continued listening to Aria’s report.

“I saw Sir Roland, the Captain of the Royal Holy Knights, the Divine Spear, holding it himself.”

It wasn’t a very pleasant report to hear. Though I had somewhat expected it.

Divine Spear Roland, the Holy Kingdom’s proudest and strongest named powerful individual.

“You did well, Aria. Freya.”

“Ah, oh, h-! Ah, um…!”

At those words, Freya suddenly trembled and couldn’t continue speaking. Thinking she might urgently need the restroom, I calmly asked again.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… I got a little carried away, ashamed to say…”

“…”

An answer I’d rather not have known came back.

It was not a very pleasant thing to hear in a grand gathering of all of 《Black Serpent》.