“This is the emblem of the Arrow of the Blue Sky. With this, you should be able to prove you’re a member of our faction.”

These were the emblems of Praon, their former rising star, and the members who had withdrawn from the faction today.

The emblems would lose their validity once processed through administrative channels, but with Yukantar’s administration, a little drinking money would be enough to keep them usable.

It was a method typically employed by factions operating in the shadows, but the Arrow of the Blue Sky was as good as ruined anyway—there was no need to be particular about methods.

Jingle-!

I pulled out a pouch I had prepared in advance and discreetly offered it.

“Payment for the emblems. There’s a little extra for your trouble.”

Freud accepted the pouch without any particular reluctance. It wasn’t an expensive transaction, but with the faction’s finances stretched thin, every coin counted.

“Thank you. We were just barely scraping by, as it happens.”

Freud’s expression brightened as he discreetly checked the pouch’s contents. It seemed to contain a bit more than he had expected.

As the conversation showed signs of winding down, Phil Kruger spoke in a low voice, looking at Chasey.

“Would you consider visiting us again when the opportunity arises?”

Chasey looked at me, and I gave a nod.

“Yes. I hope we can maintain a good partnership.”

For the Arrow of the Blue Sky, taking in a player was a windfall. Every member who had left the faction today, including Praon, couldn’t match the value of a single proper player.

‘Things went smoothly.’

Hidden behind a thick robe, I allowed myself a private smile of satisfaction.

Everything seemed to have resolved without a hitch, but beneath the surface, a great deal of groundwork had been laid.

From slipping money to Arrow of the Blue Sky members to urge their departure, to quietly spreading negative rumors through Jay.

Beyond that, numerous minor steps of groundwork had been laid, and Jay had done his part admirably throughout the process.

Creating the desired situation required a proportional amount of groundwork—whether on the battlefield or in reality, the principle was the same.

***

Seven days since arriving in Trivik.

At the meeting Chasey had arranged, I stared straight ahead, tense and alert.

An expressionless face. White hair reminiscent of pristine snow.

“We meet again, shieldbearer Lee Shin.”

“A pleasure.”

The 3-Cost Champion I had met in Luteran—Adjudicator Ariel—stood right before me.

The Hexagram that had been present in her eyes was nowhere to be found.

‘Does it come with an on-off switch?’

The Adjudicator’s special eyes seemed to function as a type of skill.

Ariel spoke first. Her tone was indifferent.

“So, you’re saying you’ve joined the same faction as Chasey?”

I could feel an overwhelming pressure radiating from her, and I couldn’t help but swallow hard.

I felt I had better choose my words carefully. A chill seeped from her tone.

To avoid getting swept up in her pace, I brought up my reason for seeking this meeting instead of answering directly.

“Answer me first. Did you catch the one who killed Hans?”

Our eyes met.

When no answer came immediately, I swallowed again, but Ariel nodded as though it were nothing of consequence.

“I have no obligation to report to you, but since Chasey asked, I’ll explain how the matter was handled. If this information were to leak to the outside, you would face appropriate punishment as well.”

“Understood. I’ll keep it confidential.”

Then she uttered something shocking.

“The culprit was a 3-Cost Assassin champion, Jake Spencer. I pursued the fugitive from Luteran to Artemis and carried out judgment.”

“Judgment… you mean…”

“He was already a wanted man. I determined there was no possibility of rehabilitation and executed him on the spot.”

Already dead?

Ariel spoke as though it were nothing—enough to make a mockery of me, who had fled all the way to Trivik out of fear of assassins.

The incident had erupted suddenly and concluded just as abruptly, without any room for my involvement.

‘Then is the revenge already over?’

I felt hollow.

‘It was resolved this easily?’

It was something I should have been glad about, but an emptiness suddenly washed over me.

‘What have I been doing all this time?’

Even if the Hardcore Assassin deck was trending and my alias was growing famous, it was an emptiness that could never be filled.

The Hardcore Assassin deck was just a deck I had learned through internet communities. It wasn’t something I had created myself.

Parading around with a deck built on someone else’s ideas and trial and error—I knew better than anyone that it wasn’t a reflection of my own pure ability.

People assumed that the figure named ‘Meta’ mentioned in the article was an outstanding player.

But hidden behind that name was a Bronze Tier player, a 1-Cost Shieldbearer.

Better than before, perhaps, but an endlessly pathetic calling card.

I had been thinking about it all wrong.

The calling card I should be presenting was neither that of a player nor a champion.

Feeding my fragile self-esteem by teaching Chasey about druid decks, or feeling a petty sense of pride as the Hardcore Assassin deck gained fame—all of it was pointless.

I was a gamer.

Even without any special effort, on the battlefield, I could become stronger and more outstanding than anyone else.

To prove my existence, the place I needed to be was not here—it was the battlefield.

Wasn’t aiming modestly for Silver Tier too comfortable a notion?

Wasn’t dismissing other players as mere Bronze Tier too narrow-minded?

‘Did I lose my sense of desperation once I could make a living?’

I felt a sudden flush of shame at having been satisfied with second place in the Placement Exam.

‘The place I belong is the battlefield—what was I so afraid of?’

Looking back, the single Irregular I had encountered during the Placement Exam was the root cause of my hesitation.

An opponent who had instilled the despair that no matter how much I poured into it, I could never win.

It had broken my brimming confidence and taken root deep within my heart as a Heart Demon^[note].

‘So, am I going to give up?’

No, I couldn’t.

Overcoming that kind of difficulty was precisely the charm of gaming. The very allure that had kept me hooked on this game for years, through days and weeks of relentless play.

The reason an ordinary college student like me had ultimately claimed the number one ranking was because I was madly obsessed with this game.

A laugh escaped me.

What had I been so afraid of?

Fighting tooth and nail to obtain the shieldbearer class and participate in the battlefield.

Teaching Hans the Hardcore Assassin deck, showing Chasey the Open Port Strategy—looking back, there hadn’t been any particular reason behind those actions either.

Unable to sense magic power, lacking Item combination formulas, having no connections, being chased by assassins.

Despite all those obstacles, I had never once considered giving up on the battlefield.

Why? Simply because it was fun.

That was the only reason.

Glint.

It was at that very moment that Ariel’s demeanor shifted dramatically.

Clench.

‘Keuk-‘

Something was constricting my body with tremendous force.

I struggled to turn my head and saw that a Blue Hexagram had materialized in Ariel’s eyes.

Fury flickered across her face—a dramatic shift in expression I had never seen from her before.

“What have you done?”

I was momentarily stunned. I hadn’t done anything.

Was she offended because I had been lost in thought and ignored her words?

My body began to tremble.

Cold sweat ran down my back.

‘Answer her!’

I tried to answer, but my mouth wouldn’t open. The pressure bearing down on my body was growing stronger by the second.

“Chasey…”

“…!”

Kuack-!

The moment I uttered Chasey’s name, the pressure crushing my body vanished.

My slowed blood began circulating rapidly once more, and my pale complexion was gradually returning to normal.

“Heok- Heok-“

I gasped for breath.

Hearing Chasey’s name, Ariel furrowed her brow. Since this was a meeting arranged by her younger half-sister, she couldn’t harm me.

Ariel issued a warning. The Hexagram in her eyes flared brightly once more.

“Do not stray from the righteous path^[note].”

I wanted to demand what she thought I had done, but the aura Ariel radiated was sharp enough to cut through my skin.

Struggling to catch my breath, I forced my mouth open.

“…What do you mean?”

My question only made Ariel’s tone grow colder.

“You clearly stated before that you were a champion who couldn’t sense mana. I must have been mistaken.”

Ariel closed her eyes briefly and opened them again. Her pupils had returned to normal.

A long silence followed.

Ariel spoke again. It was a somewhat unexpected question.

“Let me ask you something. How much do you know about Individuality?”

I couldn’t even begin to guess her intentions.

Ariel gazed quietly into my eyes. Feeling I should say something, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“A unique trait that a person possesses…? Isn’t that what it means?”

After finishing, I carefully observed Ariel’s expression, but there was no change whatsoever. She must have already regained complete control of her emotions.

As though nothing had happened at all.

Ariel, who had shown no reaction to my answer, spoke again. She was returning to the main topic.

“Jake Spencer’s true identity was the branch master of the Luteran Assassin Guild.”

“I see.”

Unable to determine what had angered her, I replied carefully so as not to provoke her further.

I let out a deep sigh inwardly.

Whatever her abilities, she was a thoroughly unpleasant person to converse with.

I hoped this would be the last time I ever met her. But as long as I was with Chasey, I would inevitably cross paths with her again.

Just thinking about the future made my head throb.

“I looked into it a little. Whether there were Assassin Guild members who sympathized with Jake Spencer’s crimes.”

“And were there?”

Being an Assassin champion didn’t automatically make someone a criminal.

The Assassin Guild simply had poor relations with the Holy Kingdom; in regions where the Holy Kingdom’s influence was weak, the Assassin Guild operated as a legitimate organization.

The fact that Chasey knew about the Box Formation indicated that Luteran fell within the Holy Kingdom’s sphere of influence, which meant it was a region where the Assassin Guild couldn’t operate openly.

Ariel continued without any change in expression.

“No. There was no one I needed to concern myself with.”

Then why bring it up?

I wanted to press her, but I had no choice but to quietly listen.

“However, there was someone you should be concerned about. A player named Yuki Beta who participated in the Einthoven Private battlefield. That Player’s movements matched yours exactly.”

Yuki Beta… Yuki?

The woman who had introduced herself as an archaeologist—was she actually an Assassin Guild member?

But she had only ever helped me and never caused me any harm.

I considered the possibility of a namesake, but the fact that she had followed the same movements as me meant it was indeed the Yuki I had met.

My mind was momentarily thrown into confusion. I should ask, just in case.

“Was Yuki also connected to Hans’s death?”

“… …”

Ariel fell silent.

It was not easy to read anything from Ariel’s expression.

After a brief pause, Ariel spoke again.

“According to the guild members’ testimony, the person Jake Spencer cherished most was none other than Yuki Beta. She participated in the Einthoven Private battlefield under his orders as well.”

Judging from her words, Yuki may or may not have been acting under Jake Spencer’s orders.

I listened quietly to Ariel’s words.

“She already had a few criminal records. I hesitated briefly. It wasn’t enough to warrant judgment.”

Even Adjudicators had established criteria, and as those who enforced discipline, they had to be strict with themselves as well.

Conducting judgment arbitrarily beyond those standards would be nothing short of an abuse of authority.

For matters of that degree, handing the case over to an Imperial Investigator was the natural course of action.

But at that point, a single variable emerged.

“It was Yuki Beta who revealed Jake Spencer’s location.”

My thoughts were tangled.

There must have been a reason she approached me. Yet after her message about arriving in the northern region, Yuki had never contacted me again.