Chapter 26

“What about the items?”

“We left them in front of the villa. And the official document you mentioned has also been sent to the imperial family.”

Yian nodded slightly.

The lavender bundle he had sent contained potions he had specially prepared for Shin Yuri, who would suffer more fatigue than usual due to her lowered rank.

“What’s the imperial family’s reaction?”

At his words, the informant grew cautious.

The official document he had sent was none other than one regarding the swordsmanship tournament.

To progress the Imperial Family Restraint Quest, it was a request for cooperation in selecting a holy knight from among the tournament participants in exchange for providing healers to the swordsmanship tournament.

Of course, it was something already discussed with Shin Jae-heon.

However, such quest-related matters had to be handled in a way that left traces in this world to count as cleared, not through chat.

Since he couldn’t attack the imperial family just for the Imperial Family Restraint Quest, he planned to progress it by securing a knight of equal caliber… and used that as an excuse to persuade Shin Jae-heon.

“……”

Yian’s expression hardened slightly.

He had told a lie uncharacteristic of him. Or perhaps it wasn’t entirely a lie.

1% falsehood mixed into 99% truth. And 99% sincerity blended with 1% pretense.

He was thinking of Shin Yuri.

If she became a holy knight, instead of facing threats in that perilously dangerous mansion, she could stay with him in a safe place.

Even if she, with her lowered rank, faced danger, as long as he—an S-rank healer with the Pope’s skill bonuses—was by her side, her life would never be at risk.

If she became a holy knight.

He had heard that this swordsmanship tournament would include not only the heirs of each family but also those meeting other conditions.

But the only one Yian wanted was Shin Yuri.

Of course, as a noble of Carman currently, there might be some backlash if she returned straight to the Xian Church, but it wasn’t unprecedented.

Regardless of the relationship between the Xian Church and the Carman imperial family, it was the largest religion in the country anyway.

That was when he was thinking such thoughts.

“Your Holiness, however.”

The reporter cautiously spoke up. Yian lifted his gaze.

“There was one more person who left an item in front of the villa.”

Yian’s eyes widened.

Only four people in this world knew the villa’s location.

Excluding the two who lived there, it was just him and one other.

Yian’s eyes narrowed.

“……I see.”

He dismissed the informant with a hand gesture and looked at the party window.

Tap, tap. He drummed on the desk as his increasingly complicated mind sought him out.

After a long silence, he clamped his mouth into a straight line.

“It’s bothering me.”

What he uttered aloud was something Shin Jae-heon had said not long ago.

Back then, he too had felt uneasy about someone like Shin Jae-heon.

But not now.

Shin Jae-heon was bothering him. Strangely so.

“Someone else left an item in front of the villa?”

At around the same time, Shin Jae-heon heard similar news. His knight bowed politely.

“Yes. Shall I look into which side they’re from?”

“No.”

Shin Jae-heon raised his hand to stop his loyal knight.

There was no benefit to him investigating.

It would be troublesome if the people of this world learned that both the Pope and the Emperor were paying attention to the same person.

“Forget about it.”

With those words, Shin Jae-heon gestured for him to leave.

Thud…

No matter how quietly the door was closed, it couldn’t escape an S-rank’s sensitive hearing.

Shin Jae-heon watched the massive door shut, then set down the pen he was holding.

He pulled out the official document that had arrived not long ago.

Ariensa Xian Demar. The name Hunter Yian had received in this dungeon.

Below it was already stamped with his approval. With his own hand.

He stroked his chin.

“It’s strange, isn’t it.”

His gut, which had been pleasant even up to the moment he stamped it, now twisted like this.

He narrowed his eyes.

Suddenly recalling the earlier chat, he pulled up the chat window.

He could almost hear Shin Yuri’s voice. When does rank awakening happen?

He spotted the chat where he had casually slipped into informal speech. He leaned back in his chair.

Shin Yuri’s reply was there.

She seemed sincere, but Shin Jae-heon knew.

It wasn’t enough.

After he replied like that, Shin Yuri hadn’t responded.

Was she trying to think of a reason why she absolutely had to rank up?

When lost in thought, she tended to go quiet.

He could easily imagine her dark brown hair falling down, lips pouted, chin resting on her hand.

Not only did she go silent when thinking, but she also ignored her surroundings.

Thanks to that, Shin Jae-heon could gaze at her freely in those moments.

Scratch.

The tip of his pen sketched the image in his mind onto the paper.

One autumn day before entering the gate, at a cafe’s round table, her with one arm propped up, lost in thought.

He even remembered the single maple leaf drifting behind her that day.

The pen tip paused while depicting her long, slightly downcast eyelashes.

There was what he had said earlier. Shin Jae-heon’s paused pen tip moved again.

“‘Like me.'”

A desperate wish to stand by your side, like I had.

He murmured the words he wrote beside the drawing as he looked at the Shin Yuri he had sketched.

It was famous even among hunters and ordinary people alike that he had a talent for drawing.

But no matter how much others praised it as well-drawn, he could never be satisfied.

As his eyes met hers in the drawing, a strange heat boiled in his heart. His insides burned hot, like swallowing lava.

It was a fervor he hadn’t realized when they were always together.

“Ah.”

And he wasn’t too young or foolish to not recognize what that heat was.

He simply couldn’t believe it.

Click.

He couldn’t bring himself to crumple his own drawing, so he folded the paper and shoved it into a drawer. No matter how he drew her, the Shin Yuri he created always fell short.

He wanted to see the real thing.

He missed her.

Finally, the day of the swordsmanship tournament dawned.

With heirs from each family participating and the Emperor hosting personally, the scale was massive.

Invited to this colosseum the size of several soccer fields stitched together, I heard the bizarre news that it had been built in just one month.

In short, they threw money at it?

But it wouldn’t do to hold the imperial family’s first event to show off their prestige in some half-collapsed, cramped space.

“Heir of the Pourlang family, Senia de Pourlang, identity confirmed. You may enter.”

This colosseum building was excessively vast, with designated lodging even for the tournament participants.

Since most participants were heirs from each family, the lodging was said to be luxurious too. No worries about crappy accommodations.

“You…!”

The problem came when So Yeri Hunter behind me tried to enter.

She came wearing flashy magic tower robes without hiding her Clona Eisen identity.

Naturally, the imperial knight who saw her face tensed up.

“What brings you here?”

Since the magic tower and imperial family were also in a rivalry, his reaction was understandable.

But our mild-mannered Clona Eisen—whose jaws of terror… no, invincible maw had been unintentionally sealed—simply smiled brightly.

“Even mages sometimes want to see such lively events.”

She held up her magic tower identity badge.

“Is there an imperial order barring magic tower members from entry, by any chance?”

“N-No, there isn’t.”

I’d learned on the way here that the position of Magic Tower Master was treated on par with a duke household head.

Naturally, a mere knight couldn’t block Clona Eisen.

“Ma-Magic Tower Master Clona Eisen. Identity confirmed. You may enter.”

She would be escorted to the spectator lodging.

Of course, just the escort.

So Yeri Hunter, using her clone skill, sent the clone to the spectator lodging and stealthily brought her main body to my side.

Of course, changed into clothes from her hunter inventory that had nothing to do with the magic tower.

“It’s been a while since I saw the clone skill.”

I quietly said to So Yeri Hunter, who naturally fell in behind me.

Her skill was different in purpose from my afterimage skill, which temporarily dazzled the eyes.

Anyone with good eyesight could tell my afterimage was fake.

Whether they could see or dodge it was another matter. It clearly meant for attack.

But So Yeri Hunter’s clone skill was different.

It couldn’t attack at all, but unless they were the same party member or had a special skill, no one could detect her clone as fake.

“It’s been a while for me too.”

So Yeri Hunter stretched languidly with a relaxed face.

Then, suddenly, her eyes went wide.

“Whoa, that guy’s expression is priceless.”

“Who?”

Where was she looking?

Seeing her glance toward one corner, she must be sharing vision with her clone.

No way for me to see it.

For my curious self, So Yeri Hunter gladly described it.

“Kikal. He had the face of someone finding a maggot in his rice.”

“Ooh.”

Good thing I missed it.

“Come to think of it, that guy’s rank is probably fake too.”

Did I mention this?

I must not have, being too distracted the night we left the mansion. So Yeri Hunter blinked.

“Not A-rank?”

“Yeah. He won too easily. And besides.”

I pointed above my head.

“It doesn’t make sense for an A-rank to eat enhancers until red name and still not take down a single E-rank. For an A-rank, he didn’t even see my afterimage.”

“Ooh…”

So Yeri Hunter’s eyes sparkled.

“I’ll use incapacitation skill when there’s a chance.”

She winked with a mischievous grin.

“Nice.”

Her incapacitation skill sharply suppressed effects of drugs like enhancers.

It was originally for reducing aftereffects when I or Shin Jae-heon ate enhancers until red name, but this time would be different.

If what Kikal ate wasn’t top-rank dungeon-made enhancers but just regular ones, the effect might not just be suppressed—it could wear off completely.

Then his real rank would show.

“Anyway… I don’t think there’s any chance I won’t make top ranks.”

I stretched.

On the way here, most heirs I saw were C-rank or below.

Me, stuck between these pathetic D and C-ranks—no matter how much stats they outclassed me in, no way I’d lose.

I shrugged.

With S-rank experience, it’d be embarrassing not to win among these kids.

But separately from that, I had a clear reason to take 1st place.

I scrolled up the hunter chat.

It was from the night I left the mansion.

Shin Jae-heon seemed convinced I’d win already when he said that. A smirk escaped me.

That was as far as I read when a voice echoed throughout the colosseum.