Chapter 56: Suspiciously… (1)
SsPazMy conferment into Grade 1 Knight was met with an extremely negative response. An ultrahigh-speed promotion from temporary Grade 5 to Grade 1 in just one semester was both ridiculous and unprecedented.b6j4nvC
mXKA guardian’s strength relied heavily on innate talent.pza1K
FTMpFThe common belief was that students entering the Academy as Grade 5 were all ungifted, and only those above Grade 3 were considered talented with a decent future waiting ahead of them.oWSZP8
2ZqEZxbIt was rare for even those Grade 3 students to reach Grade 1 in their lives, and yet I had suddenly gone up from Grade 5, the ungifted students, to Grade 1, so it was natural for people to strongly disagree.0cyKc
GI5ye– How is this even possible?XKnIOi
BptwA9– This doesn’t make sense.BTaYkX9
R8HETb– Korin Lork is the guy that fought against Ms. Lunia during the interim exam right?naxh0
86pR2– But even so, it should be impossible for him to become Grade 1 in an instant just from that. We never had anything like this happen before!Pgiy
4clkHonestly, complaints like this were bound to be raised even if I had been promoted to semi-Grade 1.WBvarye
KPMWhatever the case, I was a knight who had perfectly cleared the grade assessment for a semi-Grade 1, assisted with dealing with the King of Iron Mountain, and had dealt with the traitor, Fermack Daman, one-on-one.CJt
BX6snAll the professors that were aware of these restricted pieces of information seemed convinced by my promotion, and that puzzled the students and other professors even more.ToK
FcZSJH“Wow~. Mr. Korin. That’s great.”tne
ljG00L5Alicia said in surprise while watching me walk down the stage. She wouldn’t have expected me to go straight to Grade 1 in one go either.eCKWY
u6JuKrd“I thought you would be semi-Grade 1. Is it because of ‘that’?”rGc
9ndZShe asked while secretly implying about Fermack’s incident.ahxzuA
zaD“That one is a secret. Officially, this promotion to Grade 1 is because of the King of Iron Mountain incident.”1uNn1Dy
spw7My Master Erin and Lady Josephine appeared to be hoping to hide Fermack’s betrayal for the time being. It was partially to slow down the speed of the news of his death reaching Valtazar, but it was also to prevent chaos from breaking out.xd9t
lsQRWQBecause of that, the only higher-ups that knew about Fermack Daman’s betrayal were Erin Danua, Lady Josephine, and lastly, Dina Grandeia, the president of the Southern Guardian Alliance.RWZ
PHUSWith the agreement of those three people, I was able to go straight to Grade 1 even though I was supposed to stop at semi-Grade 1.UaxL
X25tcOFThe thing of most importance was the right of a Grade 1 guardian – this was the most important one.oOQ
j6SMThe right of a Grade 1 guardian was something that was only available in the 3rd year in the game, and even in the last iteration, it was something we barely laid our hands on in the 2nd year.Axsr
QgehFUIt was something that would have a great impact on the future.cLV
V4P8FAfter all, the members of my guardians guild will make me have more influence inside the Alliance.U6F2z
v9j‘It will be perfect if Marie can join as well.’zuh
UIgywTIf the semi-Unique Grade mage, Marie, or the successor candidate of the Arden family, Alicia, were to join my guild, even the Alliance headquarters wouldn’t be able to ignore my words.aRsr
XLSeZyThat would translate to authority, and more authority meant that there would be more things I could do in the future.Ujdzq2a
0OXlThat will allow me to lay my hands on power that was unthinkable for mere students to have.jLegKvo
bCprFtEven when taking in the ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱ and the last iteration into consideration, this was the first time that the player’s social power had gone up this early.7gq
rviV‘For now, I guess I need to contact those three first.’b5lpoUK
IZ9IdkRenya, the waitress of a bar,0IPBw
qX5And the wolf siblings; Ren and Ron.NYQ9RR
2LyLeaving aside Renya the waitress, the wolf siblings were related to the hostile group acting in secret inside Merkarva City, so I had to deal with them before the festival.cGK50H0
jq6BpV“It’s a holiday now. What are you guys going to do?”h7a
GrS6ap4After the ceremony, most of the students were leaving the stadium while the freshmen acquaintances gathered in one place.CeI
RtSjj“Earn money.”PpmY
OMCDFirst to reply was Dorron. That was exactly what one would expect from him.x71ny
osRIBO“I… am going to go to the lands of other druids. We have kept in touch with few of our kindreds after all.”1FV
ctLYuel, who had lost her homeland from the demonic beasts, appeared to be planning on looking for other druids.oSY
9sKy“I’m going home.”zZi9LX
FKCF0“I applied for an internship at the Tower of Mages this holiday.”I2W
bMdJaeger was heading home while Lark was doing an internship at the Tower. I heard that was tough though…k7Y
A6d229Q“I’ll be going to the west… Apparently they’re planning on demolishing an old castle. It will be the best place to make a new core…”7NI1FM1
YXrfEIt seemed that Kranel would be leaving for some golem materials. Judging from how gloomy he looked, one might think he was the type to stay holed up in his room at home, but he was more diligent than what one would expect.eMu
Ed3b“I think I have to return home. Grandpa… was looking for me.”VNyD
YHOFNext up was Alicia. So she was going back to the Arden family, huh… Well, now that Lunia Arden proclaimed that she wouldn’t touch Alicia, she shouldn’t go through anything dangerous at home.si26Kl
iG8EF“Well, good luck.”KRw
F6s“Where are you going to go, Mr. Korin? Will you be going back home?”jEuJ
ZVk“No.”vlLZv
JoctNJIn the last iteration, I returned home this holiday by relying on Korin Lork’s memories, and found out that no one was home.pXygY
IPsRu“Apparently, they’re going on a family trip. Without me.”MH7vM
zLKbLk4“Oh…”QlNgk
6CeDue to postal errors, the letter arrived 3 days after the beginning of the holiday in the last iteration, which was why I had to suffer for no reason.NPV
nTZsa6Y“…I see.”TcX
m3aKyF1When I told her that I wouldn’t be going back to my hometown, Alicia started fidgeting her fingers and lowered her head before raising an offer.VZpjaEV
dUyStK“I, in that case. Would you… like to come with me?”8a1sT
B9e“Me? To your house?”1vq
T5szh“I, it’s scary to go by myself…”ArPfna
6xzN0“Ah~”b00VgT
EksIt was reasonable for her to be scared.Xv9w
qqK8l7Nothing happened back in the game, so there shouldn’t be any problems, but I could understand why Alicia would be so frightened.sShgZ
xItS“Unfortunately, I have things to do in the South, so I don’t think I can.”23od
JtHfL“Uhh… the South?”tUiEYsW
6NeAI0A“Let’s go there together next time. I do want to visit the East when I have time.”QQk5d
PhXAlicia’s household was in the east. It wasn’t in another continent, but it was still quite far from the south.OhXHo
LN6kb3m“Why do you have to go to the South?”RbQEOx
B8yz“There’s a place I have to go to, because someone told me to check that place out.”vncN6
30UvTZSebancia Duke, whom I met at the Great Library at the start of semester, told me to have a look at the office in his castle.67P
9MAThis holiday should be the best time to have a visit.MyhW
WtMtDF“Korriiiinn~!”0LwYEr2
c5Bx3MMarie shouted while running to me from a distance. It seemed that she was finally done bidding farewell to her friends.tQWmnAQ
vKRhh“Senior Marie. Congratulations on your promotion to semi-Unique Grade.”ZmXTByS
YPagliW“Congratulations on your Grade 1 promotion too, Korin! If it’s you, you’ll easily be able to go up even more!”5mU
K6BhfWearing a bright smile on her face, Marie handed me some potato chips as a celebration. She still had more potatoes, it seemed…OZG
VlwjU“By the way, Korin. Are you going to the South?”qCvai2n
5lU“Did you hear that?”qIa3cR
wGA“B, by chance of course!”7TVQC
4M1tWeren’t we a bit far for it to be by chance? Was it because of her physical traits as a vampire?DWnZdR
tliv3e“Let’s go together then!”INhq
UUnNEwg“Together?”6zQ7
3gUaSSa“My house is also in the South! So why not!”DpP
2lnStWell, if we were going the same way…hfYlEF
ZeF“Well, I guess there’s no reason not to.”SFN
j5uZsv1Like that, it was decided that my trip to the South this time around will be with Marie as a company.4VzUa
4fit4RB“Oh right, Yuel. Can you do me a favor?”PzhbR
WmXK“You have something to ask of me? What a surprise. What is it?”zz11gJW
KnM5T“Yeah. If you happen to meet other druids, can you ask around for a place called ‘Findias’? It’ll be great if you can also look for a druid called ‘Uzkias’.”tZy
0KmR“…I will try.”S9tMq
MvaFindias.dinA
9a01The place that concealed the sun, Claiomh Solais, under the protection of the druid, Uzkias. As long as I could lay my hands on that item which was one of the 4 great treasures, I would be able to ruin Tates Valtazar’s plans by a lot.IjsRi
i5s‘Golden Mandrake. It might go easier than expected if I use this.’8Cd9CzE
NK6AMUIt was crushed during the fight against Fermack but it was alright, because I could still use the Golden Mandrake in another way.7RzA9Z
Ox3****Fy5Xrpz
oqEERAfter the ceremony, I bid farewell to my friends and headed off with Marie.3kaj
fKhFQZSSoon, we arrived at the station for magic carriages heading to the southern cities from Merkarva Academy and were met with countless carriages.JcSC
PAvAThe carriages of this world were completely different from the horse carriages that were used in Europe during the medieval times.mLIrpj
7bCsThese large transportation devices that moved with the power of a mana crystal had 12 specially crafted wheels that were each 1 meter thick, and were as tall as 7 meters. It was about as big as two triple-decker buses put together.G53
xVoJwIt was a widely-used transportation method in the game that allowed fast travel between cities while keeping a fantasy-feel to it.wZaqaT
wjXz38u“Korin! I got the food!”1gcNR
6g8Marie said while bringing the giveaway meals from the 1st floor of the carriage. The meal itself wasn’t too bad even though the carriage was quite bumpy at times.tGIVxc3
0ThAfter 4 hours, we arrived at a ‘carriage platform’ which was similar to a service center.MlygT4
i7Jt“We are departing again in one hour, right? I heard they were selling udons at the platform. Do you want to try that out?”bRMjvS9
kGo“Shall we?”O8e
etPWnBWe were returning to the magic carriage after a light meal when I found new passengers boarding the carriage.39B
uvpT5k“New passengers, please head up to the back seats of the 2nd floor.”Cmqs
npqThey were customers who were changing carriages in the middle.HT6
UVqD“Excuse me~”F3MPO3g
yR4rA0W“Carriage coming through.”nRzJkm
uuxQThe new passengers made their way through the carriage to their designated seats. They looked like nimble men.iT0waU5
Hv5j6X“Oh no…”P1cMQG
pCkRQdI heaved a sigh after seeing them, and Marie asked a question with a tilted head after seeing that.cbD8Fg1
e2bU“Is there something wrong?”LqD7NG
V07UOT“No it’s nothing. It would take 9 hours for us to reach the next platform, right? How about you get some sleep first, Senior?”Yfl
81ExikD“Maybe I should.”xTJyup
1qDiu9jBecause the carriage doesn’t stop even at night, we had to sleep in the moving carriage. Something was going to happen on the way, so sleeping now was better than sleeping later.94AXEmw
rwGjfAfter sleeping for about 4 hours, I woke up and felt something leaning on my shoulder.4qry
YNd6SHw– Hnn~spIxX7
XsQ2It was Marie.7GSjnlu
dTqX6yJMarie was resting her head on my shoulder, while letting out a soft breath in her sleep.J7rhVhq
9dX“Doggo.”ZLrv40d
OEHIIn response to my call, a large blood dog revealed itself from Marie’s shadow. Other passengers would have been frightened if they saw him, but it was in the middle of the night with most of them asleep, and the lights were also off, and it thus didn’t cause any chaos.9kNs
IhgbsCI“Let’s get rid of some flies before your mom wakes up.”FQHkfBY
AfGy“Woof?”tiW
Wcw5XCA****rEbxWb
XbOx– Rattle rattle7hQSjd
8aPPkTHearing the wheels of the carriage that had been running across the road for hours, Jackie opened his eyes.V055
bHoJLOops!tK5
2fPNVJHe was supposed to pretend to be asleep but ended up actually falling asleep. But a question appeared in his mind – his partner Rock should have woken him up when it was time… Was he also sleeping?LlTUBwZ
ERP“Rock… Rock?”spxD
FkGiqaHe wasn’t here – the partner that was supposed to be sitting next to him was gone. Maybe he was in the bathroom?jKv7
BZ5EJzOStanding up from his seat, Jackie went around the carriage looking for his disappeared partner but couldn’t find him.YKoNyIO
MGcWhat? Where did this idiot go?KS3JG
aMnbwGJackie turned to his pocket watch, and noticed it was already about time. Even though Rock was nowhere to be seen, he still had to send the signal by himself.FKCfP
EZyHe immediately headed to the corner-most seat, opened the window, and turned on his magic flashlight.JiAf
nwMc1SnHe repeatedly turned it on and off.potAt
YFFLike that, he sent the signal a few times, but nothing happened.dTt
YjT“What? Isn’t this the right place?”J3jGK
DYtBDrThe carriage was already speeding through an empty plain with nothing but nature surrounding them. If they quickly stole everything inside and crushed the wheels, it would take 2 days for news to reach the nearby public security officers.YJcgw
TEmRight. Jackie was a member of carriage thieves. His job was to board the carriage and pretend to be a passenger before sending a signal to his buddies outside.LVt8i
lRAz“Like, fuck… What is going on?”muz
PpgIJUThere were problems with the plan. One was that his partner, Rock, was nowhere to be seen, and the other was that his buddies, that were supposed to be following carefully from behind, weren’t responding to his signs.a29
67rBOzE“These retards. They didn’t fall asleep or anything right?”4DY5gvQ
7S0pqEIt was actually quite convincing because he was also sleeping until just then. But…nU8V0
aC5sp“Nope. They were drinking coffee and were all wide awake.”aiSW
itP7iE2“Huahk…!”8F0arH
obW2By the time he perceived the sudden voice, his neck was already being grabbed by someone.7I7U
6FPq– Swish!r4M
avd0plWithout even having the time to scream, Jackie was pulled outside the carriage through the window. After getting off the carriage in the blink of an eye, he stared at the one holding onto his neck.thwxUz
OwwIZv“Hello?”lRM39Tb
zxU1In the barren land of darkness, the voice of the man under the moonlight resembled the howling voice of a wolf.VruM
Vz09bM“W, who are you?”lOs
2mEm“What do you mean who? Of course I’m a Sir Knight, who’s here to catch bad thieves.”yNOYj6z
UX2cNy“K, knight! Hukk! W, wait! Sir! I, it’s a misunderstanding!”JZK
d6G“Misunderstanding my ass. I’ve seen your faces in the last iteration as well.”4xh
lyD“W, what do you…”1P6Qh
4YoNYIt was then. A humanoid figure was dragging something with a growl. Upon a closer inspection, Jackie realized that more than twenty men were all tied up and being dragged by a red demonic beast.dS6
0v8w7They were most certainly his buddies. Rock, who had disappeared from the carriage, was also in the mix.Aqp
Uv0Kugj“D, demonic beast?!”q9uK
9Kr1b4f“It’s a familiar. Don’t worry about it.”D6YgwJ
laASiUThe man with a wild atmosphere kicked Jackie by his chin and made him faint, and tied him together with the carriage thieves before telling the red beast.HcZ
pKa“Tie these guys up and put this signboard next to them. Security officers will pick them up on the way when they find them.”F5zxaYB
jwv5– Woof!LeUjM
HgJpO“Ah, I’m so sleepy. Why do I have to do this in the middle of the night?”r2X1
xYE7After a yawn, the boy dashed forward and immediately caught up with the distant carriage.CjfQvYW
fKQo8T………HsW0HSe
bcHO……mdka
tng4…yRywtm8
IiuWhen the morning sunlight began shining through the curtains of the window, Marie gave a big stretch and raised herself up.16xw
hb7bjbw“Kyaaahuu~~!”v3s
25r1qAjIt had been a while since she last stayed on a seat for this long, so her body was very sluggish even after a sleep, and her shoulder was in more pain than usual.6lAFr
0Wj“Uunn?”R1Jeozx
JPSnShoulder pain was nothing new, so she was about to ignore it, but for some reason, her right shoulder was heavier than usual, as if something was resting on it.dF6eiyQ
h8x“Aht…!”nlwm
iYVO3UdTurning to the side, Marie realized that it was Korin. The boy was leaning his head on her shoulder in his sleep, without even knowing that it was already morning.ZDAz
kgXeyP‘S, should I wake him up?!’wsXK
WTQIkWait a second. Is there… a reason to bother waking him up?45Tz1C
9ccBFPThe boy’s everyday life was as arduous as a farmer leaving for the farm everyday. Building stamina, practicing spearmanship, and researching at the Great Library – it was very rare for him to have any day off.Xi1i
szLJSvThe reason she invited him to her house after hearing that he was heading south this time around was because she wanted to give him a nice holiday at her house.XmT
as20KSo was it correct to wake someone like that up when they were in such a deep sleep?7GDFuA
QPTTS‘No! Mhmm! Of course not! So what if my shoulders hurt a little!?’vIKon
YcBfWith her wondrously ethical standards, Marie decided to sacrifice her shoulder for the benefit of another person. There was not a single ulterior motive behind it. Yes. It was a generous consideration on her part with not even 1 millimeter of ulterior motives!suBj
B2S83iB– Thump thump!rHXy8wO
CSDFbEven though her heart was beating out loud, she decided to ignore it.hge1y
RWPRJMoving her trembling eyes, she looked at Korin’s hairs that were touching her cheek. It was very disheveled because it was morning but… wait, disheveled?zPI
3BizA‘Hutt! I didn’t get to wash today!’Rb18ti
ukEIQThat was the inevitable downside of long-distance travels with a magic carriage. Unless you were to get off in the middle on one of the platforms, there was no way you could have the luxury to wash your hair or take a shower.5H88SD
TCY4Of course, that was something that applied to all the passengers inside the carriage including Korin Lork.y3FJ9Ol
9qVVJHowever, it was a huge problem for the girl who was deeply in love, and was a problem that she couldn’t compromise with.Yty
AAr“D, Doggo…”zhupqcf
OZ0vKIn response to the hurried voice of the girl, a large blood dog showed itself from her shadow.RJ1
OYPZAlK– Woof!As06Hs
kCrr0“S, shhh! B, be quiet! What if he wakes up…!”FE6cWH
utp– …Woof.qo67SH
Jw966L“C, can you go to my bag over there… and get a brightening cream, and some perfume? And for the perfume… g, give me one that’s a bit thicker than usual!”hgsAifR
xt6gMarie tried to reach for her bag, but quickly pulled her hand back after hearing Korin go, ‘Mhmm’ as if he was about to wake up.Srkz
V2sf– Doggo. Hurry up!dGSZ7D
4wSaInstead, she sent a desperate gaze at Doggo.4N3xUr9
jvQfcd– Woof!2YFDC
5gSae2USeeing his mother, Doggo couldn’t help but shake his head.eZyYm39
Cli4lNI– Doggo. You! How can you say something so mean?!xTPJK
Q4NThe girl’s voice was so soft that her complaint was buried by the background noise.lDoyR5k
374lar****O7J
cgxlvFBy the time we were at the second platform, I opened my eyes and saw several other people that were also waking up from their sleep.Ui5dA
qQCp4n“Ah, Korin. You woke up.”zbzRe
BEbC“Oh… Was I leaning on your shoulder? I’m sorry.”UnEhl
aSS4H7“N, no! It’s okay! That’s nothing, so you don’t have to worry about it!”IjD
Wk0“Well… thank you.”RCed28
YyOdCIt seemed that she was such a nice girl, that she didn’t even know how to say ‘No’. I had to be more careful from now on.B2ai
4Nbwv– Sniff3CaJ
jbcGom“…Huh? Senior, are you wearing perfume?”9hbFUa
kgXVUet“Hmmmm? W, wat do you mean??”gqFUdBW
66NSL0“I think you smell a bit different today…”xMe8
PwhUqD“O, oh, y, you don’t know it, huh! T, this is the smell of potatoes! If you have enough potatoes, your body will start to have this scent!”UhL
0lsSv……Isn’t that way too fake no matter how you see it?fTJ6Hn8
mVborf“Sure. If you say so.”71rBG
NoEYPVN“‘If you say so?’ Korin? D, do you think I’m lying?”SELn
Xuo“No no~. Of course not~.”UWxU7uf
PJSWu“Ughh…!”nCQW
ltai8MZI smiled before changing the topic.rBR
oDE“Huu~. Finally time to get some fresh air.”pTe
w8ZThe first platform that we got off at was like a service center that you would often see on highways, whereas this platform had a small village surrounding it.MjvHn
brHMl6People who gathered to sell food and items to passengers and technicians that were here to look after the carriages gathered one by one and eventually formed a small village.9Y59r
NFgl9“Feeling a bit hungry now. Should we go have some food?”MLTW
GN6D“I know some good places!”WbBDD
vTY“Have you been here often?”0LE
2E4“This place is our transfer station, after all!”v5ieu3x
O15i“A transfer station?”tyUM
tgudDD7This place was sitting at the entrance of the southern plains. ‘Transfer’ was, therefore, quite a strange word because all the carriages going through this place had to stop by the biggest city of the South, Reff City, which took another 8 hours on the carriage.eXHrN
mGdApvs“If you see over~ there, there’s the transfer station that we are going to use!”AX14
RZDsMKMarie was pointing at an empty plot of land that was managed by tens of workers busily walking around. Something different, I guess, would be… that there were wyverns tied in place.8w9eQff
QZO8“Is that a wyvern landing zone?”6uzkI0o
TH3“Nn! We’ll be heading straight home on a wyvern.”BDZ
Iskz00“Ahh~ I see.”teRc1
buiXeWyverns were a transportation method that I’ve used quite often, even back in the last iteration. It was tremendously faster than carriages and was just a strictly better method for moving across plains in the undeveloped countryside.NObvUM
3JIHowever, the cost of hiring a wyvern rider was incredibly expensive, so we couldn’t use it very often. If we were moving around as a party, we had to hire 2~3 wyvern riders at once, and that was way too costly.VDobZa
DATNtThere was a time when we had to solve an extremely urgent situation and had to hire a squad of 12 wyverns to take all our party members across and… damn, even that Mr. Park was appalled by the price of it.m79ND
dFNsu“How much is it here? A one-way trip is like 30 silver coins, right?”CUMMZT
IU3eFNF“Nn? Nope! My family will be sending us a wyvern! Because I always catch one here!”s9z7
FPf“Wow…”di9v5l
fk5GHer family possessed a wyvern? Looking back, Marie was from a family of farmers. I’ve heard how some rich farmers that had an enormous plot of land used wyverns to water the crops.UCN
g2m0e5That was how to water crops like a badass – using wyverns.yCbw5Lc
DZY3sAz“Senior Marie. You said you were from a family of farmers, right?”OdTMN
Ze8“Nn. What about it?”mSIKK
j4Z2“Since you also have a wyvern, I assume you own a large piece of land. Is that correct?”DoIO4
YsjWxK7“Hmm… It is quite big.”ZtB0xtN
mxgr7WeShe scratched her cheek in embarrassment. Since she wasn’t the type to usually boast about being rich, she seemed shy about bragging about her wealth.UdO9v
csN1“Please excuse me if this is disrespectful, but how big is your land? I heard how people watered the crops using wyverns, but it sounded like a story from another world to me.”Jv5G
JjhzDP9“Umm… I don’t know exactly though. Maybe about 2 million?”uup1B
o6XWdyG2 million? Wow~. That’s crazy. I was living in a house that was less than 50 square meters back when I was on Earth though.bM9h1q
tl5“2 million square meters? …That’s ridiculous.”ABgeB3
YLbQ8B02 million square meters… it was such an unfathomably enormous plot of land that I couldn’t even imagine how big it was. It seemed that Marie was incredibly rich.kzVEK
tDKiyXI“2 million square meters? Uhh… the unit is a bit different.”mD7
y1j“Hnn?”wHP9V
S3tHU3o“It’s not square meters… It’s hectares.”LJaJe1
xYMR“……Hnnn?”3gg7Y
za6jdO“2 million hectares.”d7d1nc
DUfNM2So…B1BXvx
WOZRfrZRoughly 20,000,000,000 square meters.2s6r
tzPWhile my mind was going in circles from that absurd set of numbers, a squad of wyverns were approaching the landing zone from a distance.rPpdgU
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