Ch.217Chapter 217 – The Masked Woman (1)

It had been a few days since Kei’s group arrived at the capital of Ferarius.

The holy knights of the Emiris Order and Zeolei Order, led by Kara, had now reached the border of Ferarius.

After searching for the heretic for several days and concluding they had lost track of them, she had quickly headed toward Ferarius.

With the mark she had received from Somnus in advance, she was in a position to enter immediately.

Still, she had reported the current situation before taking action, and since she was told that supplies, personnel reinforcements, and intelligence information would soon be sent through the warp gate, she had been waiting briefly near the border.

After some time had passed, a warp gate opened before her eyes, and as supplies and reinforcement troops arrived through it—

Kara wore an extremely displeased expression.

“Why are you here?”

“Am I somewhere I shouldn’t be?”

Kara was very displeased with Hakan looking down at her.

Looking at Kara, Hakan snickered and said:

“Perhaps you’re happy to see me?”

“…Go to hell.”

Kara immediately cursed at him.

If the nuns who assisted her or Somnus had been there, they would have stopped her or advised her not to use such vulgar language, but since they weren’t present, she could curse freely.

Still, she couldn’t just keep cursing forever, so she quickly composed herself and assessed the situation.

‘At least our hand has been strengthened.’

Thanks to Hakan bringing more holy knights as reinforcements, their fighting power had increased.

Hakan, in particular, was a recognized military force even in the New Kingdom.

She alone would have been enough to deal with the heretic, but considering the opponent had managed to evade her and escape, it wouldn’t hurt to be more thorough.

Of course, with more personnel, supplies would be an issue, but since they promised to send supplies periodically through the warp gate, she didn’t need to worry too much.

Looking at the situation alone, there were many favorable developments.

‘Though there are some concerns.’

Kara glared subtly at Hakan.

And Hakan, as if Kara didn’t matter to him at all, greeted another holy knight behind her.

“Sir Hakan! You’ve arrived!”

“Yes. You must have had a hard time following the Saint’s orders.”

His attitude was as if the Saint didn’t matter at all.

Considering the Saint’s position within the Order, this should have been impossible, but Hakan truly acted as if it were nothing.

In fact, not just Hakan, there were many people in the Order who treated her as if she were nothing…

‘…Yet I was the one who saved them.’

Seeing those she had treated previously greeting Hakan warmly while ignoring her made Kara feel dejected.

It wasn’t just them.

Before she knew it, most of the holy knights from the Emiris Order had gone to greet Hakan warmly, and soon only the Red Knights remained around her.

‘Why to Hakan…’

Unable to bear it any longer, she stomped on the ground once to vent her frustration.

Then Kara glanced at the Red Knights and said:

“…Why don’t you all stop standing around and go greet him too?”

Having vented her frustration but still feeling dejected, she spoke to the Red Knights with a prickly tone.

“……”

This time there was no response at all.

Kara sighed.

‘I’m asking for some kind of reaction.’

The members of the Red Knights simply moved according to orders.

They performed actions like eating and sleeping, but Kara had never seen them utter a single word in a day.

Having secretly hoped for some reaction, or even some comforting words, she felt increasingly lonely.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she began to signal to Hakan.

“…That’s enough, Hakan. We need to depart soon.”

“Right. But it seems you already know our destination? They gave me a lot of long-distance travel scrolls.”

As Hakan feigned innocence, asking if he could use them, Kara glared at him slightly and said:

“They’re meant to reduce travel time since their location is quite far.”

“Seems intelligence got lucky.”

Kara silently nodded.

“So, where are we going?”

“First, to the capital of Ferarius.”

Kara quietly glared beyond the border and said:

“We’ll continue tracking from there.”

She spoke with a frown, as if glaring at the distant heretic.

+

A few days after arriving in Ferarius.

In a room of the lodging being used as a conference room.

I sighed as I looked at the dwarf minister.

‘I underestimated them.’

Looking at the report given by the dwarf minister, I asked:

“…Is this all?”

“Yes. That’s all the records we have.”

The dwarf minister answered while slightly watching my reaction.

Toward such a dwarf…

I handed over a single sheet of paper and asked:

“So, the materials for holy relics need to be made from a special alloy created through alchemy, and then blessed by clergy.”

“Yes. That’s what the records state.”

I quietly asked the dwarf who answered nonchalantly:

“What about records of what this alloy is, or how to make it?”

“There are none.”

“Then is there any material that might give us a hint about how this metal was used?”

“Would there be such a thing?”

Yes.

This was all.

This was all the material the dwarves had regarding holy relics, specifically about their manufacturing method.

‘Fine, I’ll accept this since it’s a holy relic.’

Since it’s an artifact that’s been made since ancient times, there might be limited records.

Yes, I can accept that.

Quietly composing myself, I turned to the next page and asked:

“So, about the documents regarding places associated with the Evgenia Order…”

“It says there was one in the country.”

Looking at the minister who answered calmly, I quietly asked again:

“Where, in the past?”

“That’s unknown.”

I took another deep breath at the dwarf’s answer.

And finally, turning to the next page, I asked:

“…So, about the entry records for the alchemist our group inquired about…”

“Do you expect us to keep entry logs for outsiders for years? It would just fill up bookshelves.”

The dwarf minister’s answer made my head start to ache.

Unconsciously, I covered my face with both hands and lowered my head. Chris, who had been watching me cautiously, quietly said:

“I had heard they don’t keep good records, but…”

Indeed, I had heard about this beforehand.

Still, I had some hope.

‘I didn’t expect it to be this bad.’

The “records” this minister brought were just three sheets of paper.

Even those remaining papers weren’t about the requested content, but simply contained very concise reports stating that no such records existed.

‘I want to cry.’

I couldn’t help but think I had severely underestimated them.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“No, I don’t.”

I spoke quietly to the dwarf minister who was watching cautiously, holding back his anger.

There was no point in saying anything more here anyway.

As the dwarf minister left with a bow, Ive, who had been silent, quietly said:

“This is troublesome. To think even the dwarf royal palace has so few records.”

“It sounds like you think they have records at all.”

I quietly answered Ive’s comment while fluttering the three sheets of paper.

“I guess we’ll have to rely on other sources.”

Since arriving here, to obtain information as quickly and abundantly as possible, we had been conducting our own investigations.

Beatrice, who also worked as an information broker, and Asam, who could request records from the Magic Tower, plus with our decent number of people, we were able to gather information by asking around town for the past few days.

Originally, this information gathering was meant to be cross-referenced with the dwarves’ records, but…

‘Now this is all we can rely on.’

If we hadn’t done this, we would have been literally doomed.

With a slight increase in resentment toward the dwarves, I looked at Beatrice and asked:

“Beatrice.”

“Yes, about the information.”

Beatrice, who had some kind of stick in her mouth as a cigarette substitute, began to speak.

“First, there’s no information about holy relics. If anything, there’s information that the royal family might keep such records, but…”

“I’ve already seen all that. I’ve only learned how much dwarves hate keeping records.”

I spoke quietly, feeling dejected.

“Well, looking on the bright side, we could have had no leads at all, so I guess it’s better than nothing.”

Beatrice, who had been looking at me with sympathetic eyes, soon cleared her throat and said:

“There was no information about Sera’s grandmother either… but I did hear about a place associated with the Evgenia Order.”

“That’s fortunate. At least we got something.”

Sera said with a bitter expression.

Then Beatrice waved her hand in the air.

White magical lines appeared in the air, drawing a picture.

“It’s here.”

“This is…”

As I looked at the drawing, Beatrice smiled and said:

“Ferarius Volcano.”

“Volcano? Ferarius?”

“Yes. It’s a volcano that exists a bit away from Ferarius.”

Beatrice continued her explanation, adding that the country was named after this volcano.

“A place with terrifying heat, abundant metals, and occasionally rare metals are discovered. It’s nicknamed the heart of Ferarius.”

“Heart?”

“Yes. It’s said that the origin of minerals found here is either that volcano or the veins flowing from it. Many rare metals are found there too. And the hot springs heated by the volcano’s heat have been famous since ancient times.”

“Skip the hot springs.”

It was interesting information, but useless right now.

“Kei, you seem interested in hot springs?”

“…No, I’m not.”

I desperately denied Ive’s words as she looked at me with a slightly suggestive expression.

Really, I’m not interested.

Really.

As I continued to deny it, Beatrice glanced at me slightly and quietly continued:

“…Anyway, that’s about it. It seems we’ll have to go to the volcano.”

“Is entry there free?”

“The villages around the volcano are accessible, but beyond that, no.”

Beatrice added:

“I heard the area near the volcano is dangerous due to many monsters. So normally, entry is restricted.”

Normally restricted.

That means it’s possible to enter when it’s not “normal.”

“Can we enter with permission?”

Beatrice nodded.

“With permission from the dwarf royal family, you can enter.”

“I see.”

“I heard they manage it quite neurotically, but we should be able to manage somehow.”

I nodded at Beatrice’s words.

The dwarf royal family had recognized us as state guests.

More precisely, it was because of someone who saw us as guests, but from another perspective, that someone was like our backing in this situation.

There was honestly no reason not to use this advantage.

‘But the other two issues are still a problem.’

Sera’s grandmother and my holy relic.

I wanted to solve them together while searching for the seal, but it seemed difficult.

‘Should I try to gather more information as much as possible?’

But that would waste a lot of time again.

‘Isn’t there some way?’

Sera’s grandmother and repairing the holy relic.

I wanted to do both somehow…

“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”

“Yes… Wait, what?!”

I turned around at the sudden voice to find Lorona looking at me.

“It’s been a while.”

“…What brings you here?”

I asked, slightly on guard, and Lorona smiled and said:

“You don’t need to look at me like that.”

“Would you please state your business?”

My head was already aching from the dwarves’ pathetic record-keeping.

Fortunately, seeming to understand the situation, Lorona smiled and said:

“I have an invitation for all of you.”

“An invitation?”

“Yes. An invitation.”

Lorona smiled fiercely and said:

“My master wishes to see all of you.”

After Lorona finished speaking, I quietly asked:

“All of us?”

“Yes. Every single one of you. You’ve been summoned to Ferarius Volcano.”

“The volcano?”

That was exactly where we were planning to go.

But I didn’t expect to be called there by them.

Lorona smiled and said:

“Considering what I just overheard, I think this won’t be bad news for you all.”

I wanted to ask how long she had been listening, but I held back.

She had probably heard everything.

‘Lorona’s master.’

From what I could sense, Lorona was a dragon.

That meant her master was at least a dragon as well.

“Do you know the exact reason for this summons?”

“My master did not inform me of the reason. Even if I knew, he would hide it from me.”

Lorona smiled and said:

“So please prepare immediately and head to the volcano.”

“Immediately?”

“Yes, immediately.”

Lorona smiled and said:

“Why so urgent…”

“It seems my master wants to see your face quickly.”

Lorona smiled and said:

“In this Ferarius, my master’s orders are almost absolute. Please don’t refuse.”

“……”

Her master seemed more tyrannical than I had thought.

I looked at Ive, and she quietly nodded.

“We have sufficient supplies.”

“So we don’t have to worry about provisions.”

At least we wouldn’t need to rush around preparing supplies.

“Then, I need to know the location.”

If we didn’t know the location, we obviously couldn’t go.

So I looked at Lorona, and she nodded and said:

“A guide will be provided.”

“A guide? You’re not coming?”

“Well, I need to go ahead, you see.”

Lorona smiled meaningfully and said:

“The guide will also be your escort. Don’t worry about the fee. That person has their own weaknesses that my master knows about.”

That master seems to have a bad personality.

I wonder what would happen if we refused.

“By the way, you don’t actually have the option to refuse. The escort is also your monitor.”

“Damn it.”

So the answer was predetermined from the start.

Lorona looked at me with a victorious smile and then looked at the door and said:

“Come in.”

As soon as Lorona finished speaking, the door behind her creaked open.

“I was about to get tired of waiting.”

A beautiful voice tinged with irritation was the first to echo in the room.

Blue hair tied in twin tails draped over her shoulders, a delicate jawline.

An overall well-balanced physique.

And a white mask covering her eyes.

The color of her eyes was not visible because of the mask.

“How long were you planning to keep me waiting?”

The masked woman quietly spoke while fingering the sword strapped to her back.