‘This can’t be!’

The investigation was already complete.

This Shin—a 1-Cost champion with no notable background or past record.

His first trace began at the shieldbearer Guild located in the Luteran region.

In this world, having an unknown origin was common enough that it wasn’t worth particular attention.

A crime targeting a wealthy civilian or player.

And the fact that his background was similar to the criminals she had encountered so far was certainly worth considering.

It was slightly odd that he had reported it himself, but sure enough.

The investigation revealed that he had deposited ten gold coins into his own account.

Estimated damages of 1,000 shillings. Even that alone put the incident on a different scale from the recent cases.

Theft of an Item combination formula?

This was the first such incident in the Luteran region.

As a rookie investigator, she brimmed with anticipation.

‘If I solve this case with my own hands…’

Imperial Investigator Johanna.

This was a case that could serve as the crucial foundation for blossoming the dream she so desperately desired—becoming an Adjudicator.

That was why this couldn’t be happening.

“A player… what do you mean?”

She had thought she caught the suspect red-handed.

But a player?

“W-what does that matter? The evidence is already sufficient.”

A flustered expression.

Her composure shattered.

Driven by ambition, she had been fixated solely on arresting the suspect before her, as if the fact that he was a player wasn’t even worth considering.

“Disputes between players wouldn’t fall under an Imperial Investigator’s jurisdiction, would they?”

“B-but…!”

The sharp words, piercing through her expectations, left her speechless.

She had the suspect cornered.

And what an opportunity this was!

She tried to force words out.

But she couldn’t easily string them together.

‘What should I do?’

Because, as he said, disputes between players were beyond what she, as an Imperial Investigator, could handle.

The one with the authority to mediate and pass judgment on such matters was an Adjudicator.

Tap-!

“Good work. I’ll take it from here.”

‘It’s over…’

3-Cost champion, Adjudicator Ariel.

At her appearance, Johanna had no choice but to hang her head.

+

‘Who is she?’

The Imperial Investigator wore a hollow, vacant expression as though her soul had left her.

Beyond her stood a woman with snow-white hair and an intellectual aura.

At first glance, she could have been mistaken for a scholar.

But.

“Player Lee Shin.”

‘Dangerous.’

I couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.

She felt like something beyond the category of human.

My first impression of the first 3-Cost champion I had ever faced, Adjudicator Ariel, was…

“Are you the one who killed player Hans?”

A ruthless predator.

***

I had once been curious about something.

“What? Why are all the shieldbearers in the guild 1-cost? Well…”

The reason why the shieldbearer Guild I belonged to had only 1-Cost champions.

“A 2-Cost champion wouldn’t stay in a backwater like this, would they?”

Retired Hans was an exception, but a champion reaching 2-Cost status signified quite a lot.

Most champions remained at the 1-Cost limit.

In truth, becoming a champion alone required a certain degree of talent.

Yet cruelly, there were individual differences even in a champion’s talent.

Only those with greater talent than others could overcome the wall of 2-cost.

The method to raise a champion’s cost was both difficult and simple.

Mana Efficiency.

It was only possible by exceeding a certain threshold of Mana Efficiency, and only champions with sufficient Mana Efficiency to break free from the 1-Cost restriction could finally earn the title of 2-cost.

Of course, not all 2-Cost champions were stronger than 1-Cost champions.

The prime example of this was the ‘Named champion.’

Possessing 3-star skills, they held power that couldn’t be defined by conventional rankings, capable of overwhelming champions of any cost even from their 1-Cost days.

The true meaning of “champion” used in the battlefield referred exclusively to them.

Setting aside such exceptions, a champion’s cost was a measure of their ability.

A 2-Cost could simply be considered a promising talent with a bright future.

Then, what about the next tier, 3-Cost and beyond?

They were treated as bona fide “powerhouses” with enough strength to interfere even with players.

“Answer me. Player Lee Shin.”

Like Adjudicator Ariel.

‘Her eyes…!’

The woman who appeared following Imperial Investigator Johanna looked extraordinary at first glance.

Her eyes, containing a blue-glowing hexagram, turned toward me, and within them lay a peculiar power that seemed to pierce through everything I was.

A skill?

It was on a completely different level from what I had seen in the battlefield.

Unlike the battlefield, where only limited power could be used, reality had no such restriction.

It meant she could unleash her full power.

But I didn’t avert my gaze from her eyes, and opening my heavy, reluctant mouth, I was able to speak the truth.

“…No, I am not.”

“…!”

The first to react to those words was none other than Imperial Investigator Johanna.

She scowled as if to say “don’t lie.”

But whether she was afraid of the person standing before her, she couldn’t bring herself to voice it.

“… …”

A brief silence.

The woman stared at me intensely, frozen like a corpse.

I felt as though the hexagram within her pupils was constricting around me.

How much time passed like that, I couldn’t tell.

She slowly closed her eyes.

When her eyes opened again, they had returned to normal.

“…I see. Understood.”

She stepped back cleanly, as if dispelling all suspicion.

“Lady Adjudicator…!”

As if unable to accept this, Johanna gathered the courage to speak up, but.

Flinch.

“Imperial Investigator Johanna. This case has moved beyond your jurisdiction.”

Her icy gaze forced Johanna to retreat.

“Let’s go.”

With that question as her final word, she departed without a trace of hesitation.

“… …”

Johanna shot me a sidelong glare before having no choice but to follow her with heavy steps.

Because a conclusion once reached by an Adjudicator could not be overturned.

“…”

Silence finally descended.

Hans’s house, with only the dried, caked bloodstains remaining.

And so, I was left alone.

‘Exhausting.’

Hans’s sudden death, the player qualification.

Unlike the battlefield, reality always defied my predictions.

Today’s incident was no exception.

Catching my breath, I recalled what had just transpired.

***

“… …!”

The moment I stood before the door, the stench of blood hit my nose.

The source of that coppery scent lay just beyond this door.

I violently wrenched open the locked door.

Boom-!

Contrary to what he had said yesterday, Hans hadn’t shown up at our lunch meeting place or visited the guild.

Given the dwarf’s nature of valuing commitments, this meant something had happened.

So I had come to Hans’s house myself.

What I found there was none other than Hans’s corpse.

A gruesomely mutilated corpse.

There were signs of torture, as if someone had tried to extract something from him.

Meanwhile, the surrounding furniture was neatly arranged, which meant Hans hadn’t been able to put up much of a fight.

‘But he was a 2-Cost champion…!’

Though he had retired long ago, Hans was a former 2-Cost champion.

For someone like him to have been unable to resist meant a champion of even greater caliber had been involved.

‘They tampered with his Device too.’

A large wound around his wrist.

That was where the Device used to identify players was located.

Were they after the Item combination formula?

Item combination formulas could only be exchanged through Devices, and it appeared the wounds on Hans’s body had multiplied during the forced exchange process.

‘…It might not have been just that.’

But I sensed there was more to the story, some hidden motive.

Knowing Hans’s personality, he wasn’t the type to risk his life resisting over something like an Item combination formula.

If he were that greedy, he wouldn’t have so readily handed over 1,000 shillings.

He had endured to protect something beyond the Item combination formula.

‘Then could it be…’

One thought surfaced at that moment.

“Information…!”

The one thing a dwarf like him would stake his life to protect was exactly that.

The “promise” he made to never share the information I had given him with anyone.

Champions experience countless deaths through the battlefield. Perhaps that was why.

Even seeing Hans’s death, I wasn’t as sad as I expected.

‘Who was it?’

But I was curious.

About who had killed Hans.

Vengeance?

Did I think a 1-Cost champion like me had the power to take revenge?

If anything, they might come for me first to eliminate a witness.

‘I’m screwed.’

No, it was bound to happen.

Hans might have kept the secret to his dying breath.

But it wouldn’t be difficult to deduce that I was the source of that information.

It would be easy to figure out that the source was among those Hans was close to.

The most recent person Hans had met was… none other than me.

It was self-evident that I would be their first target.

‘They might be nearby.’

I couldn’t act rashly.

The one who killed Hans. That person could be watching the surroundings.

Having an Imperial Investigator handle the case was actually a safer situation for me.

Even if I were falsely accused for now, an investigation would prove I wasn’t the culprit.

So I forced my trembling hands to steady themselves and tried to operate my Device to file a report.

But then.

Ding-

A strange screen appeared on my Device.

[You have been logged out. Would you like to log in again?]

The player qualification that could be purchased for 500 gold.

In what form did that qualification actually exist?

The answer became clear through Hans’s death.

As if possessed, I pressed the ‘Yes’ button.

[Connection unavailable. Searching for available devices.]

Flash-!

From Hans’s wrist. Light flowed from the destroyed Device toward mine.

[Synchronizing…]

A game is not reality.

But the person playing the game was, indeed, the real me.

Then, in a world where the game had become reality, what was I now?

None other than a ‘Player.’

[An available ID has been found.]

[Updating…]

At first, I thought I had entered the game world I used to play.

But I had to abandon that thought almost immediately.

Because there were far too many differences between the battlefield and the game I had played to consider them the same.

So I had no choice but to reach a conclusion.

That this world was another world that merely imitated a game.

[Update complete!]

But I was wrong.

Today, I was able to grasp the truth.

This wasn’t simply a world similar to a game.

In the process, countless things had changed…

It was the future world.

[A new season has begun!]

[Tier: Unranked]