Emerging from the room, Ha-yeon saw Claire.

It seemed she hadn’t gone to the party and was waiting for me.

“Were you waiting for me?”

Stretching the tight collar with one hand, I asked, and Claire replied.

“Yes, I thought you might fall asleep again. I was going to come in after two minutes.”

“….”

What if I had been changing?

Well… we’re close, so it wouldn’t matter, would it?

“Then let’s hurry.”

At those words, Claire turned and started walking.

Since I didn’t know where the party was, I decided to just follow her.

After walking down several long corridors and flights of stairs, we arrived at the party hall’s door.

It wasn’t as grand as a banquet hall in a noble family’s mansion, but it was still quite splendid, befitting the prestigious Knight Order.

“Let’s go in quickly.”

Following Claire, who had already entered, Ha-yeon stepped into the party hall.

Inside, there were long wooden tables and chairs lined with Knight Order members.

And…

‘Looks delicious…’

The tables were laden with various foods.

Considering the medieval setting of this world, it was a feast.

There was high-quality Monster meat, oozing with juices, and herbs rumored to be medicinal tonics were just casually placed around.

“To celebrate the Knight Commander’s return!”

Everyone raised their glasses, filled with beer and wine, and shouted. Ha-yeon flinched slightly but smiled and waved.

She sat in the central seat at the table, which seemed to be her place, and gave permission to eat. The others devoured the food ravenously.

Are they beasts or people?

Still, feeling a strange sense of familiarity despite having only met them recently, she smiled faintly and asked Lapis, who was sitting next to her, while eating the food in front of her.

“Lapis.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know anyone named Elin or Veronica?”

She was being called Knight Commander, so it wasn’t obvious, but seeing that her name from the other world wasn’t showing up, it probably hadn’t changed.

If they had come to this world, these people would know them.

Thinking that, she asked him, and Lapis replied as if it were obvious.

“Of course, I know them. Elin Maiasa is the owner of the most wealthy merchant guild in the Empire, and Veronica is the young lady of our Marquis family.”

“…..”

…This is more complicated than I thought.

Elin, whose name I don’t even know yet, is the owner of the most wealthy merchant guild in this country, which I’m guessing is a great empire.

Veronica is the young lady of the House of Seilun, which I’ve only heard about.

‘I might be able to meet Veronica somehow.’

How should I meet Elin?

Since Veronica is a noble lady, she must be inside that mansion I saw before.

I need a reason to enter that mansion, but if she’s been investigating, she’ll know that Ha-yeon is the Knight Commander, so sending a letter should be enough.

But I don’t even know where Elin is, so I feel lost.

Crunch.

Thinking that, she bit into the meat.

Around the time the party atmosphere reached its peak.

A Knight Order member approached Ha-yeon and said cautiously.

“Knight Commander, the owner of the Pernian Merchant Guild is waiting outside.”

The guild leader?

Could it be Elin?

I didn’t know the exact name of the guild she led, but Elin was the only one who came to mind when I heard that, so I should probably go see.

“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

Putting her coat back on, which she had taken off, Ha-yeon left the party hall and headed to the reception room in the Knight Order building.

It felt strange to do this in the middle of a party, but I came here to clear the Dungeon, not to enjoy a party.

Leaving the Knight Order member who had come with her to return to the party hall, she opened the door to the reception room and saw.

“It’s Elin, after all.”

It hadn’t been that long, but it felt like ages since I had seen Elin.

As she said that and sat in the chair opposite Elin, Elin spoke.

“Where have you been? It’s so hard to trace your mana circulation. It was so hard to find you.”

Mana circulation?

Is my mana connected to her?

“You know the bracelet I gave you last time?”

“Ah.”

Hearing that, I looked at the bracelet on my wrist, but I didn’t really see it.

“It’s for tracking, it’s easy to get separated inside high-grade gates. I tried to find you right away, but even inside a gate, the mana connection was too difficult.”

I have a guess.

Probably because I was in the Divine Beast’s domain, that strange space that was practically a gate inside a gate, the Trial Grounds.

“I was in a strange space.”

Elin just nodded, acting as if she understood to some extent.

“I’ve heard about the Divine Beast. You probably moved there at that time.”

“More importantly, do you know where Raven is now? As a guild leader, you probably know where Veronica is…”

“Raven is in our guild right now.”

In Elin’s guild?

What role does she have? A bodyguard or something?

“Dragon Knight.”

“…….?”

What?

“Dragon Knight, you know, the dragon.”

“Wow……”

She’s on a completely different scale.

Is the role of someone in the top 10 something different?

I roughly know how great a dragon is in this world, and I don’t know what a Dragon Knight is, but if you have the title of Dragon, you’re probably not ordinary.

“I’ve been investigating, and it seems that a Dragon Knight is someone who has a contract with a dragon. There’s only one in a generation, so every country tries to make them their ally.”

She’s amazing, as expected.

She’s completely different from me, who is just the Knight Commander of a noble family, even if it’s a large one.

“Still, it’s not like I’m just an ordinary citizen A, right?”

Elin smiled slightly at Ha-yeon, who had a slightly tired expression.

Well… let’s think positively.

In the first place, this territory seems to be the most important place in this Dungeon.

Being the Knight Commander here must be pretty high up.

“More importantly, I found out where the Dungeon boss is.”

At her words, the relaxed atmosphere tensed up again.

The Dungeon boss.

I had no idea where he was, so I had to listen to her.

“The location is inside a cave in the mountains near here. His name is…”

Elin sighed as she said that.

“The first Black Wizard, Gail Logar.”

…..?

“A person?”

“Yeah, a person.”

It sounded more like a person’s name than a monster’s.

“In cases like this, where the level is high, the boss can be a person. In the first place, the only conditions for becoming a boss are to be in contact with the ley lines and have a certain level of strength, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a person.”

That was true.

As far as we know, the condition for becoming a boss is not whether it’s a monster or a person, but simply to be directly connected to the ley lines of the Dungeon and have overwhelmingly strong power there.

“…Even if we know the location, we can’t attack right away.”

We don’t have enough power.

There’s no way we can kill a super-high-level Dungeon boss with just two S-ranks.

I need to find Fallen and Kaede, and also establish contact with Veronica.

If I have them, the Knight Order members I can command, and the knights of the family that Veronica can lead, we might be able to kill him.

Thinking that, Ha-yeon asked about Kaede’s whereabouts, which she still had no idea about.

“Do you know where Kaede is?”

“She’s probably in the Dark Guild.”

Dark Guild?

“There’s a Dark Guild that operates in the underworld in this world, and Kaede is a executive in the largest organization.”

“Ha….”

She also has a very important role.

I chuckled, thinking about the power of the S-ranks.

And watching her was a contradictory being, both high and fallen.

The being’s surroundings were covered in darkness, and there was no sign of any existence.

There was nothing but ’emptiness’, so you could only know that this place existed because of the very faint, subtle, and beautiful light that he emitted.

“Is that girl his successor?”

Her scarred body showed how many years she had lived and how high she had risen, but apart from that, her appearance was undeniably that of a peerless beauty.

She reached out her hand to the sky.

“How long have I waited for this?”

With those words, her golden eyes flashed.

Those beautiful and chilling eyes were directed at the darkness, where an ordinary person would see nothing.

After a while, an alien purple System window appeared there, different from the screen she had been watching.

It showed a monster in a cave.

A monster trapped in a curtain of darkness.

Watching that monster, she used a skill.

[Skill, ‘Incantation (EX)’ is activated.]

“My young being.”

The time has come.

Rise from the darkness that surrounds you and tear apart the enemies that block me.

The darkness moved.