Chapter 252 - Open World (1)

It was a faint tremor. The table shuddered, but none of the cups tipped over, nor was there any sound of something breaking. At most, a stack of chips on the table toppled.

“An earthquake?”

Their surprise at the unexpected natural phenomenon lasted only a moment. Once the shaking stopped, the nobles inside returned to their gambling as usual.

All except one.

“My young lord, where are you going?”

“I just remembered something I need to do. I'll fold this hand.”

The man laid his cards facedown, gathered only his chips, and went outside. Then he removed his mask. The idea of a gambling house where patrons could enjoy themselves anonymously behind masks was quite entertaining, but...

'No matter how I look at it, that wasn't an ordinary earthquake.'

Out on the nighttime street, Lee Baekho sat on the first bench he spotted and quietly collected his thoughts. The other nobles seemed not to have heard it over the noise inside, but he had clearly sensed it: an immense wave of energy coming from underground.

'It felt like a mix of mana and Divine Power.'

He wasn't a mage, but his Energy Perception stat was high, and he had considerable talent for mana as well. There was no way he had been mistaken.

In that case...

'They kept going on about smashing the protective barrier. So they really did break it and invade.'

It didn't take Lee Baekho long to reach the truth. They really were ruthless bastards. Choosing to act around midnight, when the Labyrinth opened, couldn't have been a coincidence.

'Raiding an empty house, huh...'

He had left the royal family's service, so he didn't know the details. Still, Noark's forces would have entered the Labyrinth thoroughly prepared. They had probably committed every bit of strength they could muster, never imagining they would be repaid with the very same tactic they had used.

'... At this rate, every bastard down there might get killed.'

That wasn't a positive development for Lee Baekho. He had even been considering clearing the game with the people of Noark if he truly ran out of options later.

'I've got nothing else to do. Should I go down and help?'

The thought crossed his mind, but he shook his head with a chuckle. No, that wasn't his play style.

Something like this, on the other hand...

'The royal palace should be empty right now too, shouldn't it?'

A wide grin soon spread across Lee Baekho's face.

* * *

Jerome Saintred, Commander of the First Royal Knight Order.

An uncharacteristically deep furrow creased the brow of the royal family's guardian, the man known as the Knight of Light. It was because of the news he had just received.

“The royal palace is under attack...?”

At first, he thought it was a counterattack from Noark. But that made no sense either. They had been meticulous about security, assembling their forces under the pretense of marching into the Labyrinth and only revealing their true target—Noark's main stronghold—two hours before departure.

Besides, the protective barrier had only just fallen. There hadn't been enough time for a force capable of striking the palace to slip out.

“Have we been ordered to return?”

“Not yet, sir.”

“Then the plan remains unchanged. We continue our advance.”

Jerome swiftly led the army down beneath the sewers. As time passed, word also arrived about the group that had attacked the palace.

'... To think it wasn't a group at all.'

Only one man had dared attack the royal palace. Jerome wondered if it was the work of the Scholar of Destruction, whose threat level had recently been raised, but even that prediction proved wrong.

“Lee Baekho.”

Once an explorer of unparalleled promise, he had brought about that catastrophe after being exposed as an evil spirit. Of course, very few knew of that catastrophe. In its mercy, the royal family had deemed his abilities too valuable to waste and thoroughly covered it up, granting him a new identity as well.

'This is troublesome. How did he find out? How did he know even I would be away on the campaign?'

As far as Jerome knew, Lee Baekho currently had no means of obtaining information. He had once communicated with outside collaborators through the evil spirits' gathering, but he was now banished from it.

That, too, had been the royal family's doing. They had discreetly leaked Lee Baekho's identity to the evil spirit called GM. When GM still showed no sign of banishing him, they had sent Lee Baekho to Noark and made enemies of the two.

'Then did he simply figure it out on his own?'

Jerome sank into thought. He had heard that destroying the protective barrier had caused an earthquake on the surface, but one thing still didn't make sense.

Deducing the situation from the earthquake? That was entirely possible. But acting on it was another matter altogether. If his prediction was wrong, he could be captured again. Would he really take such a gamble?

'... He would.'

It wounded his pride, but Jerome had to accept it. Lee Baekho was like a wild beast. Given an opening, he would always sink his teeth into an enemy, undeterred by the risk of being bitten himself.

'And at a time when the position of commander of the Rose Knight Order is vacant, of all things...'

He was concerned about the situation aboveground, but the order to return had yet to come. Thus, there was only one thing for him to do: fulfill his duty as a knight and carry out the royal family's command.

“We've arrived.”

Having passed through the underground maze, the army finally reached the last obstacle on the way to Noark: a stone gate imbued with dozens of ancient spells. Hadn't it taken hours just to destroy this gate during the previous subjugation campaign?

“Fortunately, it seems they haven't managed to repair it properly yet. Begin.”

At Jerome's command, the mage corps began drawing an enormous eight-pointed magic circle on the floor.

How much time passed after that?

BOOOOOM!

The magic circle scattered brilliant light and fired a wave of pure mana at the stone gate.

Then...

As the dust swirled away, the underground city came into view once more.

“Come, let us go. It is time to crush these wicked rebels and restore stability and peace to this city.”

Jerome drew the treasured sword bestowed upon him by the king. Then he stepped through ahead of everyone else.

“For the eternal prosperity of Raphdonia.”

There was not a trace of hesitation in his stride.

* * *

The portal in the Dimensional Plaza had closed, but I lingered there for a good while afterward. I figured those knights might let slip some useful information.

But...

'Tsk. What a waste of time.'

The knights didn't engage in even idle chatter, and they disappeared somewhere as soon as the plaza had been cleared. So I gave up and left as well. Rather than heading straight home, I planned to stop at a tavern and hear what other explorers thought about all this.

'Might as well go to Mister Bear's place.'

Yeah, that seemed best. Explorers frequented the place, for one thing. And unlike the partitioned booths and private rooms popular these days, its layout was perfect for eavesdropping.

He'd definitely get angry if I said that to his face, though.

“Oh, Jandel. What brings you here at this hour? Without Misha, too.”

“I was out anyway and got a little bored. You look pretty busy today, so don't mind me. I'll have a quiet drink in a corner and leave.”

“... Couldn't you just ask me to join you? If it's you asking, my wife will surely say yes.”

That was Mister Bear's request when I arrived at the tavern. He had spotted an opportunity to slack off.

Didn't he feel bad for his wife? She was about to give birth.

“I'd rather have some peace and quiet alone today.”

“... If that's what you want. Shall I pick out some food and drink for you?”

“Ah, I'd appreciate it.”

I sat at an empty table and waited a little. Soon, Mister Bear brought me a spread made up entirely of meat. The drink, incidentally, was the house specialty: salted mead.

'It tasted really strange at first, but it goes down surprisingly easily once you get used to it.'

Anyway, that wasn't what I had come here for. Sipping my drink and keeping my ears open, I listened to the explorers and ordinary townsfolk around me. As one might expect in a tavern, where rumors spread quickly, most conversations concerned the army the royal family had assembled.

'Nothing worth picking up.'

The royal family had deliberately spread false rumors. They were clearly afraid of Noark. Nothing but empty information sourced straight from people's imaginations.

Well, I hadn't expected Round Table-quality intelligence from a tavern, so I wasn't disappointed. My aim had only been to gauge public opinion in the first place.

'These days, it's not just explorers who think poorly of the royal family. Ordinary citizens do too.'

After that, I tuned them out and sorted through my thoughts over a drink.

How long had it been? Perhaps work had eased up, because Mister Bear came over and sat across from me.

“Jandel, what do you think?”

“About the army?”

“Yes. You've got incredible instincts when it comes to this sort of thing.”

After considering it briefly, I shared my theory that the army might currently be raiding an empty house. Nothing was certain yet, after all. I wanted the opinion of a veteran explorer like Mister Bear.

“... I see. So that's what that earthquake was.”

“You believe me?”

“Isn't that far more plausible? More than that nonsense about the royal family being afraid of Noark, anyway.”

Perhaps because he had once been inside the royal treasury, Mister Bear was quick to accept it. He knew the royal family's reserves of strength were far greater than he had imagined.

“... Maybe we'll be able to enter the Labyrinth next time.”

Mister Bear soon voiced his hope that this cold war might end far sooner than expected. He also expressed concern about the city's economy.

“Jandel, if that's the case, shouldn't we spend our cash now instead of saving it? Once the Labyrinth situation stabilizes, prices will return to normal.”

I was a little moved by that. Was it because he was a veteran explorer with a family to look after? Aynar and Misha tended not to think about this sort of thing at all.

“Wait and see for now. We should have a clearer picture by tomorrow anyway.”

“Right. I was getting ahead of myself.”

After that, we moved on to other subjects, drinking together and chatting about this and that.

That was when it happened.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

An alarm bell rang outside. It was the first time I had heard it in over a year of living in this city. It hadn't rung even when my carriage exploded and GM and Lee Baekho wreaked havoc.

But it was ringing now?

CLOMP, CLOMP, CLOMP.

I hurried outside and saw City Watch guards running in the same direction, their boots pounding the ground. I stopped one at random and asked what was happening. At first, he said he couldn't tell a civilian, but the moment I revealed my status, his attitude changed completely.

“My name is Bjorn, son of Jandel. I am a recognized noble, granted a baronetcy by the royal family. Now answer me. What's going on?”

“... W-we don't really know either, sir. We were simply ordered to reinforce Carnon. From what the others have been saying, there seems to be a major fire.”

A major fire in the capital, Carnon, at a time like this...

'It can't be a coincidence.'

Then had those bastards from Noark invaded? Hard to say. I didn't know. But it was possible. If they had discovered the royal family's plan to raid their undefended home in advance, they could have chosen a fight to mutual annihilation as their strategy.

'Ha. Can't those royal bastards do anything right?'

As I stood there sighing, Mister Bear spoke from beside me.

“A fire in the capital... This doesn't sound like anything ordinary. I wonder if Raven is all right.”

Huh? Raven? Why bring her up all of a sudden?

'Oh, right. She said she was staying near the palace while she studied magic.'

... Fuck.

I had been fine until now, but the moment I realized that, my heart began pounding. An ominous premonition surged through me. These feelings almost never proved wrong, which made my anxiety all the worse.

“I just hope it's nothing more than a fire—”

“Avman, I'm heading out.”

“Where could you possibly be going at a time like this? Listen to me, Jandel. The best thing to do right now is stay home.”

Mister Bear grabbed me as I rose to leave.

But...

“Don't worry. I'll find her and bring her back soon.”

“Then I'll come with—”

“What are you talking about? You need to stay with your wife.”

I told Mister Bear to close up shop and take his wife to our house. Misha and the others would be worried about me too, so I needed to get word to them. Besides, having the team all together would put my mind at ease.

“... Be careful.”

After parting ways with Mister Bear, I climbed onto the roof of a military carriage bound for the capital, Carnon. The soldiers inside kicked up a fuss, but they all fell silent once I identified myself.

How much time passed?

“Baronet Jandel! We're approaching Carnon!”

The carriage soon reached its destination. I froze involuntarily.

“...”

Though it was the middle of the night, the sky was crimson. The tall, meticulously maintained walls were stained with black ash, and acrid smoke hung all around like fog.

And from beyond those searing flames, as well as outside them, desperate howls and screams rose in an overlapping chorus.

'Fuck. What the hell happened here?'

Carnon, the city of nobles, was burning.