Hardcore Military Otaku

Carrying that pitch-black case, Lorenzo only returned home slowly after sunset. On the way, mist rose up, and the multicolored light filtering through the dense water droplets created a psychedelic effect that made one lose their focus.

After exchanging a brief greeting with Mrs. Fanrude, Lorenzo returned to his room and locked the door tight.

Lorenzo took out the only piece of intelligence he had obtained from the Underground Palace that night: a ledger. One of the main reasons Lorenzo had saved Eve back then was for this ledger. Since it had left the Underground Palace along with Eve and the small boat, it remained well-preserved, its handwriting clearly visible.

Human memory is unreliable. No matter how hard you try to commit something to mind, you may eventually forget it, and you won't even realize that the forgetting has occurred.

Therefore, no matter what kind of organization it is, it needs a ledger—a ledger that records expenses in detail. Even Sabo's gang was no exception.

His fingers slid over the entries, flipping back and forth. The things recorded were chaotic; it seemed the person in charge of the accounts wasn't very professional, as various expenditures were scribbled together without any pattern. Some transactions might have been more important, marked with strange symbols instead.

Lorenzo stared for a long time without finding any clues. After pondering for a moment, he calmly took out a cigarette rolled with Mandrake Herb. He thought that the eerie Spirit Sight might be able to help him, but Lorenzo also hesitated. His connection to the darkness had undoubtedly deepened significantly, and he was unsure what would happen if he consumed this herb now.

However... screw it. When in doubt, have a smoke.

Thinking this, Lorenzo lit the cigarette and opened the case he had brought back from the graveyard. There were more things inside than he had imagined; besides the blade, there were many bottles and jars.

He picked up the reassuring blade, its touch like holding cold frost. He took a deep breath, drawing the Medium's herb into his lungs, and stared at the ledger. Then, the entire world plunged into darkness.

The familiar sound of the tide rose again. The damp wind carried the scent of the ocean, and angry waves crashed against the shore, shattering into white foam against the rocks.

Lorenzo lowered his head, his expression rarely so grave.

Beneath his feet was soft earth, where withered yellow grass lay dead.

The environment was so clear and real that if Lorenzo's consciousness hadn't been sharp, he would have thought he had come to this unknown place in person.

The benefit was that he could see more clues through Spirit Sight; the disadvantage was that his connection to the darkness had deepened.

A ghostly green light ignited not far in front of him, like a burning green sun, or perhaps some enormous pupil staring at the world.

He looked up. It was the lighthouse Lorenzo kept seeing. At this moment, it stood right before him, its damp structure covered in moss and vines, the top of the tower emitting an ominous light. If nothing went wrong, the mysterious Sacred Coffin should be stored inside.

This was the source of everything.

After a brief moment of surprise, Lorenzo calmed down. He needed more clues. Inverwig was full of coastlines, and there were at least a hundred such lighthouses; he had to find a distinguishing feature to identify this one.

But just as he looked around, a hoarse voice rang out. A pitch-black shadow enveloped him. The monstrosity stood with its back to the green light, and warm breath, like that of a giant bear, surged from its bloody maw.

Lorenzo was not afraid. He had used Spirit Sight many times; although what he saw contained a portion of reality, most of it remained illusory, merely the result of the herb and that unknown power at work.

Therefore, one could say everything before him was an illusion, and only the clue was real. But just as he thought this, the shadow before him launched an attack. It was like swatting a fly in the air—a casual, simple swipe that smashed toward Lorenzo.

Instinct warned Lorenzo. Without thinking, he raised the blade in his hand and slashed at the illusory shadow. Warm blood splattered onto Lorenzo's face.

The sensation was so vivid—so real that every hair on Lorenzo's body could feel the blood brushing against his cheek, and electricity surged through every nerve.

Was this... real?

The shadow roared, its immense strength crashing against the blade. Sharp claws left a bloody gash on Lorenzo's arm. There was no time for Lorenzo to judge truth from falsehood; he immediately swung the blade again, but under his strike, the illusory shadow dissipated like ink. The entire dark world collapsed, and the familiar room reappeared before his eyes.

He remained in the posture of swinging his sword, but there was nothing in front of him.

Unknowingly, the tobacco had burned out, and the Spirit Sight had ended.

Lorenzo slumped into his chair, cold sweat dripping down. He placed the blade slowly on the table. After a long pause, pain radiated from his arm.

It was a shallow wound. On a whim, he wiped his face, and his palm came away stained with scarlet blood.

Everything seen through Spirit Sight was real. Just a moment ago, Lorenzo had fought the monster from within the vision.

This hadn't happened by accident; it had never occurred before.

He took a deep breath, and a terrifying conjecture rose in Lorenzo's heart.

His connection to the darkness had deepened—deepened to the point where Lorenzo could briefly and truly linger in that world during Spirit Sight.

This was not good news. Just as he had told Eve, you live in the same world as dark creatures, but neither side can observe the other. Now, Lorenzo could see them, and they could see Lorenzo too.

"Damn it all..."

Lorenzo cursed casually. After a moment of thought, he placed the blade from earlier beside him, trying to gain some sense of security.

It was a standard-issue weapon of the Demon Hunter Order, forged from alloy and plated with holy silver. It was a lethal weapon against demons, and because its shape resembled a long nail, it was jokingly called a Nail Sword.

Initially, Lorenzo had used a Cane Sword largely because its appearance was very similar to this weapon. Aside from the weight and the significantly lower lethality against demons, everything else was about the same.

"Lorenzo! What are you doing!"

Mrs. Fanrude's sharp voice rang out from downstairs. Only then did Lorenzo realize that his frantic sword swing had knocked over the bookcase, and the noise had caught Mrs. Fanrude's attention.

"I tripped, it's nothing!"

Lorenzo shouted back. Mrs. Fanrude was already so old; it was better not to let her get involved with demons or anything of the sort.

He stood the bookcase back up. Looking at the books scattered across the floor, Lorenzo didn't have the heart to tidy them up. He sat back down, and his gaze suddenly caught the ledger. The thick pages had flipped to a new entry, and fresh red blood stained it.

Lorenzo seemed to have discovered something. He saw that the blood had dyed one of the transactions red.

It was an address. Lorenzo pulled out his map, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find the address mentioned in the transaction.

He froze for a moment. Lorenzo remembered that with Inverwig's astonishing rate of expansion, the city-states within its territory changed every day; his map was no longer current.

Seeming to think of something, Lorenzo grabbed the ledger and strode out of his room, heading downstairs. Mrs. Fanrude was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper. Seeing Lorenzo so flustered, she took off her thick reading glasses.

"Did you trip and knock your brains out?"

"No, I'm looking for something."

Lorenzo replied, then stood in the center of the living room before a massive map. On the yellowed parchment, mountains and cities were etched in ink, detailing every piece of information across the entire territory of Inverwig; even hidden locations were marked with symbols.

It was a military map from the era of the Glorious War. It recorded far more detail than Lorenzo's own map, and as for its relevance, one could even find the reserve resources the Inverwig military had buried underground at the time, along with records of cities that no longer existed.

This item should have been locked away in a military warehouse, but when Mrs. Fanrude retired, no one knew how she had managed to smuggle this large map out, only for her to hang it brazenly in her living room.

She claimed that this map commemorated her military career far better than any medal of honor. Sometimes, while sitting with her in the living room, Mrs. Fanrude would point to various lands on the map and boast to Lorenzo, "See that? Everything from here to here was conquered by me."

"What are you looking for?"

"An address."

Lorenzo's gaze scanned back and forth along the coastal waters on the map.

It was a shipping transaction. Sabo had transported a massive amount of food to a small town called Ende. There were countless small towns throughout Inverwig, but in his Spirit Sight, Lorenzo had seen a lighthouse, which narrowed the scope down to coastal towns. Yet, even so, he could not find it.

"It's not here..."

After searching for a long time, Lorenzo failed to find the town on the map. Just then, Mrs. Fanrude walked over.

"Ende?"

Wearing her thick reading glasses, Mrs. Fanrude squinted.

"Is this the town you're looking for?"

"Yes, a coastal town, but it's not on the map..."

"Coastal? Of course it isn't."

Hearing the word "coastal," Mrs. Fanrude immediately provided the answer.

"It isn't? Why?"

Lorenzo turned his head, confused by her statement.

"Because of the Glorious War. We were separated from Gaunalo by the White Tide Strait. During that century-long war, the fleets of both sides clashed countless times. Coastal towns were long ago converted into military bases or relocated inland. It wasn't until the Glorious War ended over a decade ago that the population began to trickle back to the coastal regions."

Mrs. Fanrude was a veteran of the war; she understood this far better than Lorenzo.

Her withered finger slid across the map as she spoke.

"Military maps must be used in conjunction with a codebook. We usually used symbols and numbers to represent a location so that even if the map fell into enemy hands, they wouldn't be able to read it without the book. Look at those triangular symbols; they represent places that were once towns."

There were no city names, only rows of triangular symbols with numerical suffixes along the coast.

Looking at Mrs. Fanrude, Lorenzo thought for a moment and asked tentatively.

"Ma'am, which town do you think would need to be supplied with food from the outside?"

"You mean a supply line?"

"I suppose so..."

According to the transaction records, Sabo had invested a large sum of money to transport food to this mysterious town of Ende, dispatched directly from Raindona Port, headed toward that location of unknown status.

"Hmm... probably here."

Mrs. Fanrude pointed her finger to the very edge of the map, on the western side of the island of Inverwig. The west had not yet been developed by Inverwig, and there were barely any railways.

"Due to the war, Inverwig kept a tight grip on areas bordering neighboring countries, with the exception of the north and west. To our north is the northern sea; if the enemy wanted to attack, they would have to take a long detour and endure the Ice Sea's floating ice and those Viking pirates. To the west is an endless ocean, and since our main cities are concentrated in the center, they would only be eating grass if they landed there."

"So, it has to be this area—far from the main cities, no ports, not even fishing boats pass through. It cannot be self-sufficient and requires outside supplies."

"Then why not the north?"

Lorenzo was still somewhat uncertain.

Mrs. Fanrude rolled her eyes at Lorenzo and said.

"What a child of the new era. You've never known hardship. The north of Inverwig is covered in ice and snow year-round. Before the advent of the new steam engines, the permafrost there was impossible to develop, let alone build towns upon. And with the expansion of Raindona Port in recent years, the north has no development value."

Listening to Mrs. Fanrude, Lorenzo nodded, his gaze focusing on the west of Inverwig. There, the triangular symbols were not dense; just as Mrs. Fanrude had said, Inverwig had not developed much of the west. The symbols grew sparser as they moved westward until they vanished.

Suddenly, a symbol caught Lorenzo's eye. It was a symbol that appeared off the land, a small town built within the sea.

"Ma'am, do you know what this is?"

It clearly had the triangular symbol representing a town, yet it was in the sea. This was a military map; Lorenzo didn't think this was some mistake caused by a cartographer's slip of the hand.

"Hmm... probably some town swallowed by the sea. That's quite common. Sometimes the water level rises along the coast, flooding the low-lying land, but it reappears when the tide goes out. That must be why the symbol is there."

"Is that so..."

It was a strange feeling. Lorenzo had been unable to pinpoint the location of Ende earlier, but after hearing Mrs. Fanrude explain all of this, he was suddenly certain that this was the place.

He suddenly remembered what Shrike had said to him at the beginning.

Intuition...

The Sacred Coffin was luring him forward, pulling at his intuition to pursue it.

"Are you planning on going on a trip?" Mrs. Fanrude looked at Lorenzo with curiosity. The west could be considered a no-man's-land.

"I suppose so."

Lorenzo replied.

"Hmm... then I recommend you take this line."

Mrs. Fanrude said, pointing to a dashed line running through the west, which was a railway.

"This was a military route. At first, everyone thought we wouldn't win the Glorious War, and the higher-ups prepared to retreat to the west to continue the resistance after the southern coast fell. But as you know, we drove the enemy out of Old Dunling and won the war, so the construction of that railway was halted.

However, in recent years, someone developed some kind of western tourism project and restarted the line. I think you should find it useful."

After finishing, Mrs. Fanrude sat back on the sofa and continued reading her newspaper. After a moment of thought, she added.

"Lorenzo, there are still plenty of weapons in the basement. If they haven't gotten damp, feel free to take them. They're all military-grade; the quality is certainly better than what those profiteers in the Lower District sell."

Lorenzo, who had just been about to head up the stairs, stumbled upon hearing this.

"What are you saying?"

"Hmm? You think I'd believe your nonsense?"

Mrs. Fanrude raised her head to look at Lorenzo, her cloudy eyes seemingly able to pierce straight through to his heart.

"Tourism? You, going on a vacation? Who would believe that! It was Shrike who introduced you to live here in the first place! Compared to tourism, you're going there to kill someone, aren't you!"

Lorenzo had always thought he had hidden himself well in front of Mrs. Fanrude, but who would have thought this shrewd old lady had seen through him all along.

"No... more importantly... military-grade?"

Lorenzo was a bit dazed. In other words, he had been living on top of an arms depot for six years without ever knowing it.

The atmosphere was somewhat awkward, and Mrs. Fanrude began to grumble.

"What's wrong? The medals I've earned could cover an entire wall, yet my monthly pension is so meager. What's wrong with me swiping a few crates of military supplies to sell?"

This old lady was beyond mere eccentricity... Lorenzo had seen people fleece the state before, but he had never seen anyone do it with such righteous indignation.

"I thought I could make a lot of money, but as soon as they heard it was military-grade, those aggressive monsters and demons in the Lower District didn't dare to touch it. So, it's just been sitting there ever since."

Rolling her eyes, Mrs. Fanrude finally added.

"Oh, and Lorenzo, let's get this straight: if you die out there, I'm selling the stuff in that room to cover your rent."

Lorenzo's face darkened. This damn old lady...