episode_0050

-Rat-clatter-clatter.

A carriage rolling down a quiet night road is noisy.

The road to Superbia.

Penny sat down and thought absently.

The secretary sitting in front of her had already fallen asleep, but she couldn’t sleep.

It’s been like this for a few days now.

I feel like I have insomnia.

‘… Ian.’

Penny calmly reviewed the information she had organized in Badenberg’s office.

Ian is Philip.

Assume this proposition is true.

What is the basis?

The most accurate thing is the testimony of the four members of the first hero party.

If it was the Philip he knew, it would be easy for Ian to intentionally hide his identity.

He must be a person with that level of ability.

Penny, what are you going to check?

Felix is that connection point.

Felix, Vivian, Ian.

The part where each character is connected.

If Ian were Philip.

What if Felix touched Vivian or Philip?

What if Philip didn’t hold back and showed his power?

It makes sense that Felix, who was doing fine, would be taken away by the military police.

If you think about it, it is strange that the military police sometimes saved the lives of common criminals instead of killing them.

That kind of after-processing is Ian’s way.

And to be able to directly intervene in the military police’s handling methods, it is only possible for someone at the level of Philip.

Penny saw Ian’s cruel treatment as an act of self-aggrandizement.

A fool with the power of the first party and the shadow of Philip on his back.

But if he is Philip… There must be a deep meaning to that too.

Are these alone enough to suggest that Ian is Philip?

I don’t know.

I can’t think of any other way.

Just, I am confident in my heart.

Ian is Philip, and Felix is the connection.

‘Ian… .’

Who are you?

Is it really Philip?

‘If you are Philip, what should I do? I am… .’

At a village we stopped by along the way, one more piece of news was delivered from the Manager’s Guild.

This was news from managers who participated in the McDerlin public exam.

There was nothing special.

The only thing that matters is that Helena, who had not received much attention at 30th place, suddenly rose to first place, and that they were unable to find any useful talent.

‘Seonghwa believers are doing useless things.’

Penny quickly lost interest.

The only thing on my mind was Ian.

*

The first warrior party was moving to a class A dungeon.

Inside the luxurious carriage, there was a faint and pleasant herbal scent.

Coincidentally, that was Sylvia’s favorite scent, and it was also a scent that Ian often wore.

It wasn’t intentional, I just kept the herbs in the best condition as air fresheners.

Sylvia was intoxicated by the scent and fell into memories with Ian.

“… … .”

There was an uncomfortable silence in the carriage with the four of them.

They weren’t always intimately flirting, but it wasn’t this awkward either.

The four of us became quite close in the few days immediately following Ian’s departure.

At the time, they only thought it was because they were really happy, but now the four of them know the basis for that exaggerated closeness.

Because it’s awkward.

I just struggled because I didn’t want to feel the empty space left by Ian.

However, Beatrice was a little different.

“The facial expressions are worth seeing.”

She said nervously and snorted.

“What are we going to do? Why on earth are they doing this?”

“… Shut up.”

Kylie spat out sharply, but Beatrice did not back down.

“The girl who stabbed an ordinary person because she wanted to see Ian is so proud of it?”

“What the fuck… .”

Kylie was furious and tried to grab him by the collar, but just sat down.

“Why? what? Don’t you do more?”

“Ha… . Say whatever you want.”

“If your mouth is unnecessarily harsh. Sylvia, that’s right… I didn’t expect anything.”

Sylvia, leaning her head against the carriage window, is looking outside blankly.

When I set out, I wrote something down diligently, and it seems like that started happening sometime ago.

It is questionable what the unfocused eyes are looking at.

“Aria. What happened? There’s no progress. Did Ian really not say a word?”

“Yes. He said it was no longer his job.”

“Huh… . Are you really gone now? I really want it. How difficult is it to say that? Or are you just upset that we kicked you out?”

“No… .”

Sylvia muttered.

“I thought you were out of your mind, but you weren’t?”

“It wasn’t Ian’s fault… .”

“Here we go again.”

“We, we were the problem… .”

“Ugh.”

“Ian, I’m sorry… . Ian… .”

Sylvia, who was muttering, hugged her knees and began to cry.

“There are so many different things, really.”

Beatrice was also annoyed and leaned against the sofa-like carriage seat.

The only one who could communicate was Aria, but even Aria is not in her right mind these days.

‘But if we’re going to leave here, then there’s no point in kicking Ian out. Should I create my own force instead? .’

The carriage slowly slowed down.

It wasn’t time to arrive yet.

Beatrice and Aria looked outside to replace the entranced Sylvia and the indifferent Kylie.

“What’s going on?”

One of the scouts ahead hurriedly ran over.

“It is said that an acute dungeon has appeared nearby!”

There are times when previously unreported dungeons suddenly appear.

This is called an acute dungeon, and it grows faster than other dungeons.

In other words, the time until the monsters come out is short.

“… C grade? What should I do?”

These were Beatrice’s words.

“Yes… ?”

“Don’t you know who we are?”

“Ah… .”

“Are you telling us to just deal with grade C? If it’s grade C, isn’t that something that Badenberg can handle on its own?”

The level that separates temporary warriors from regular warriors is the C-grade dungeon.

The gap between D and C is much larger than the gap between C and B.

You can control access with the Badenberg standing army and wait for other warriors to join, but you will have to endure a huge loss of manpower.

“Well, there are a few farms nearby… .”

“This is absurd.”

Beatrice spat out as if there was nothing more to hear.

“Take care of it.”

Aria wasn’t particularly interested either.

Beatrice’s claim was not entirely wrong.

No matter how acute the dungeon was, it was rude to compare a C-grade dungeon to an A-grade dungeon.

Sending even the first party’s worth of manpower to a C-class dungeon is tantamount to a waste.

The scout lowered his head with a dejected look on his face.

Aside from being discouraged, he was a bit puzzled.

I know that the first warrior party is a very honorable group, but isn’t this far from honorable?

‘Could it be that the rumors floating around are true…? . No, let’s not think like this… .’

The scouts quickly gave up.

No matter how honorable it is, there is still something to be said for it.

How dare you give the first party a C-level dungeon… .

at that time.

“I’ll go.”

Sylvia stood up.

She had been lost in her memories with Ian, but the words ‘acute dungeon’ brought her back to reality.

Ian has never once refused this.

At first, the first party complied obediently, but after growing to a certain level, they showed signs of annoyance.

Although I have never refused it.

The first party had cleared several acute dungeons that were far below their level.

Ian’s goal was fame.

From his perspective, who knew about the second round of the first party, they were a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

As it turned out, it was built up in preparation for when they crashed in the future.

If you have shown an honorable attitude so far, there will be less repercussions.

In fact, the purpose of this was to make people truly respect and admire them.

If you show them that they can be worth it.

I thought the malice inside them might disappear.

Although the people I saw in the second episode were extremely evil, they had at least some faith.

Many of the strong men who ruled at that time were all villains, and among those villains, those four were the ones who had at least some room for rehabilitation.

At least among the strong men who did not enjoy killing, there was no one like those four.

The malice did not disappear; instead, it was suppressed.

That oppressed and twisted malice ultimately created the reality of Ian being expelled.

“Silvia, you… .”

“Silvia… .”

Even when Beatrice and Aria called, Sylvia didn’t care.

Kylie, who had been paying attention earlier, tried to pretend she wasn’t, closed her eyes, and maintained an unwavering posture.

“Silvia, you have no stake in this Class A magic stone?”

Beatrice informed.

Kylie, who had been silent, also reacted to those words.

“For the first time in a while, you are saying the right things.”

Sylvia paused for a moment, then answered coldly.

“Do whatever you want.”

Beatrice closed the carriage door without answering.

Just because Sylvia is missing doesn’t mean you can’t complete the A-level dungeon.

When Ian was there, there was a time when each person took charge of each A-level dungeon.

But right now, I’m just being careful because of the problem of skill decline.

“Let’s go.”

The carriage moved away along the original path.

Silvia honestly envied Beatrice.

How can I be so cool-headed?

He wouldn’t be able to do that in his entire life.

Then I stopped being jealous again.

Beatrice did not have that deep of a relationship with Ian.

The reason she was having such a hard time was because she had a deep relationship with Ian.

“Thank you… . Are you really okay?”

The scout looked at Sylvia’s complexion.

It’s not that it’s not, but these days, there are ugly rumors centered around the first party.

There are several, but one of them is about Sylvia.

This rumor, which is somewhat trivial but interesting compared to the others, is that Sylvia confessed to someone and then got dumped.

A counter argument ensued as to who would dare kick Sylvia.

There was also a counterargument as to whether it made sense for Sylvia to confess to someone.

Sylvia’s behavior recently was that of a broken woman.

Her hair is matted, her eyes are always swollen from crying every night, and the whites of her eyes are red.

He looked slightly haggard, as if he hadn’t been able to sleep, and his sunken eyes gave off a decadent look.

Sylvia instructed with a cold gaze.

“Please guide me.”

“Yes, yes… ! thank you… !”

The scouts did not stop talking the entire time they were ahead.

“I was really anxious. Actually, I’m from a village around there. haha… . I know the first party members are busy, and I apologize for making them uncomfortable by asking for an unnecessary favor.”

He was trying to cheer Sylvia up by showing gratitude and apology as much as possible, but Sylvia was uncomfortable with that.

At some point he said:

“From here, go straight.”

“Go straight? Then I will go alone now. Please follow the first party.”

“Yes? Ha, but… .”

Sylvia didn’t answer.

When the wand of the thousand-year-old tree hit the ground, a straight ice road appeared ahead.

Sylvia climbed there, sliding forward on the ice.

It was so fast that there was no chance for the scouts to catch it.

Sylvia put down her hat that seemed to fly off and rode on the ice road.

‘Ian… .’

I remember the first time I intervened in an acute dungeon.

At that time, she was tired after completing the dungeon once and wanted to rest, but Ian was urging her so much that she had no choice.

At the time, it was an E-class acute dungeon that Sylvia could complete with her eyes closed.

When Sylvia came out with the magic stone from the dungeon, all the villagers near the dungeon gathered and thanked her with cheers.

It was my first time receiving such hospitality since I was not yet famous.

Sylvia, who was young and not yet obsessed with Ian, was looking at the scene blankly when Ian tapped her on the back.

‘Did you do well?’

What did you reply then… .

I think I just answered bluntly because I was embarrassed for no reason.

‘… It’s worth it.’

‘good job. ‘Thank you for listening.’

‘… ‘Yeah, whatever.’

Cheers from people experiencing it for the first time.

I still vividly remember the scenery of that day and Ian’s hand.

‘Ian, I’m going to save people like I did back then…’ . So, please call me Sylvie again and praise me… .’

*

After fainting and waking up after a day of rest, all of Helena’s skills improved dramatically.

Healing and burning were above average, and protection exceeded Ian’s expectations.

Ian’s guess that he had a mental problem was proven to be correct.

“Wow! Ian niiim-!”

Helena was so happy with her growth that she rushed at Ian with all her might and threw herself at him.

“Why are you suddenly running… . Breathe!”

Ian held his breath for a moment and accepted the thrust.

If I avoided it, Helena seemed like she would fly far away.

-thud!

“I did it-!”

“… There will be no need to be afraid from now on. Well done.”

“That’s right! Thanks to Ian! Thank you!”

Whether Vivian and Kati were watching or not, Helena was so excited that she ran around holding Ian in her arms.

Ian, who had resisted Helena’s thrust with his whole body, was confident.

I’ve become much stronger than before.

‘Now Helena can be safely sent into the next dungeon.’

Although I was embarrassed by the sudden attack, I did not hold back on praising it because it was a good thing.