"Hey, hey—the big brother with no shirt on—" Archduke Veil Nas called out to Tiadam. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"W-what?" Tiadam looked toward Veil Nas and saw a noble "young lady" who was both adorable and somewhat spoiled. Her oval face still carried a hint of childishness, her heterochromatic eyes shone like jewels, and her rose-petal lips were painted with pale lipstick.
"Big brother—" Veil Nas waved at Tiadam. "You're amazing—want to be my boyfriend?"
"Huh???" Veil Nas's words left Tiadam flattered and startled. After pausing for a moment, he glanced at the Forest Elves lying on the ground and realized that this noble young lady was anything but ordinary.
"Sorry, but I already have a girlfriend—" Tiadam picked up his clothes from the floor and called out to Veil Nas. "And I need to find my brother right now. Let's talk about this another day—"
"Is that so?" Veil Nas smiled strangely, then swayed as she stood atop the balcony railing. Beneath her dark gold gown was a layer of pale gauze, while her pink high heels gleamed with an unusual color beneath the banquet hall lights.
"Oh my—" Veil Nas deliberately fell from the balcony.
"Hey—" Tiadam rushed forward and caught Veil Nas as she fell from the second floor.
"What are you trying to do? Commit suicide?"
"Sir Hero... I wasn't trying to kill myself..." Veil Nas blushed, gently resting her head against Tiadam's chest. Then the man's throat bobbed...
"Lady Dilanna—" The two maids standing outside the banquet hall doors crossed their arms like guardian statues. "Greetings—"
"Has the descendant of the Hero arrived?" Dilanna asked from her wheelchair.
"He has—"
"Arrived—"
"The Archduke is—"
"Personally receiving him—"
Deanna was utterly helpless at the way the two maids spoke. She complained, "Could you two please consider other people a little? That kind of phrasing is really uncomfortable to listen to."
"Mm—" After looking at each other for two seconds, the two maids said, "We can—"
Deanna: "Uh..."
"Very well—since the Hero's descendant has arrived and the Archduke is receiving him, I shall not disturb you any longer..." Dilanna handed the golden spider hairpin in her arms to the two maids. "When everything is over, inform the Archduke that Lady Oyana has visited. Lady Oyana hopes the Archduke will keep this hairpin as a token of friendship between them."
"Yes—" The two maids knelt on one knee and accepted the spider hairpin Dilanna handed over.
A shooting star streaked across the pitch-black sky. The faithful knelt devoutly outside the church, lighting their prayer candles and chanting the blessings of the High God.
"May the High God protect us—may the High God protect us—our city and our homes will surely remain safe." The worshippers bowed their heads as they prayed. "I have seen mountains and rivers become ravines. I have seen rivers flow backward. All of this is the High God's wrath... The High God says one must not be greedy, for the greedy shall be burned; the High God says one must not steal, for thieves shall be drowned..."
"May the High God protect us—"
The chains inside the church were opened, and the priests and monks emerged leisurely from their private quarters. They held domed crosses and holy books in their hands—noble and sacred. Their white robes seemed dyed in milk, and beneath the faint candlelight, the priests appeared to possess extraordinary divine power as they shouted, "In the name of the High God, we are all newly delivered from disaster—"
"The priests—"
"The priests have appeared—"
"Everyone, look! The priests have brought us the High God's revelation—" The arrival of the priests stirred up the commoners kneeling in prayer at the foot of the church steps.
"The High God has bestowed divine will upon His Eminence Cardinal Labrador—" the priests' voices echoed through the empty church. "A Hero shall emerge from within Canfor! He was once a bandit, scum, and a pauper—"
The priests' voices were far closer to the High God than the prayers of the poor...
"But the High God forgave him—and bestowed upon him the supreme mission of driving back monsters—"
The Cardinal's hands were far closer to the High God than the faith of priests and monks...
"With a voice more beautiful than a bard's, the High God told His Eminence Cardinal Labrador the name of this Hero—"
"Tiadam—" The name of this bandit began echoing throughout all of Canfor.
"Like a string game..." Eliyi sat atop the towering city gate, watching the abnormalities both inside and outside Canfoer City.
Decayed, rotten undead monsters dragged their difficult steps toward Canfor. They clung in clumps to the Holy Wall like insect eggs, and their source was a filthy yellow-green swamp.
This place, which continuously incubated monsters, was less than a kilometer from Canfor. Leichina was immersed within it.
"Monster—"
"Monster—"
"Monster—"
The two words echoed endlessly through the deep swamp. Leichina kept his eyes tightly shut, curling himself into a ball. He could not believe, and did not want to believe, this reality.
"Fanafuna... where are you..." Leichina could feel the abnormality within himself. Those terrifying things were crawling out of his body. They had no emotions, no consciousness, and remained forever hungry. They hated every living thing, swearing to chew apart, bite to pieces, and swallow every person they saw.
"Fanafuna... where are you... where are you... I'm scared... I'm scared... scared of becoming something that terrifying—"
"Leichina—" Denolan jolted awake from his nightmare.
"Strange... why... did I dream of Leichina..." Denolan pressed a hand to his forehead, trying his best to recall the dream he had just experienced.
"That... felt so... real..." Denolan slowly rose from the floor. Around him were mirrors that had already been smashed to pieces.
"Yo—good morning, friend." Eliyi came from the side with the door.
Bright yellow sunlight shone upon the mirror shards, lighting up the entire space. The light-blue door had a golden handle, and within those shattered mirrors, another face seemed to be lurking.
"How did you sleep last night?" Eliyi tossed Denolan the Twin Lantern he had bought earlier.
"I feel like... I slept terribly..." Denolan caught the Twin Lantern and walked out of the room filled with broken glass. "Yesterday, Archmage Dilanna locked me in this room... and never came back afterward..."
"I don't know whether my business deal went through..." Denolan rubbed his eyes, but the exhaustion refused to fade. "Could it be that the Archmage doesn't want to do business with us..."
"Tiadam already settled the business for us, so you don't need to worry." Eliyi spoke with some pride. "As for you... being trapped in this room was Dilanna's test for you."
"A test... what test?" Denolan was completely confused. "Was it a test related to the business?"
"Your powers of association are really terrible. There are other things that can be tested besides business." Eliyi leaned against the back of the door. "The door behind me is called the Chaos Mirror. The space within it is a tool specifically used to test a human's magical talent."
"Testing magical talent?!" A light flashed in Denolan's eyes. "Then the Archmage tested my magical talent because—"
"She wanted to see whether your magical talent was good enough for her to take you as an apprentice..." Eliyi opened the Chaos Mirror's door again, and the space within returned to how it had been before.
"The mirror space inside was created by Dilanna in imitation of the Elemental Wonderland of the magical city Mitilous. Through those mirrors, one can learn which origin is most compatible with them. The time you take to pass through the mirror space represents the amount of magic you can obtain from that origin, and magical capacity is what people call spell strength."
"Oh~" Denolan nodded as if he understood.
"Generally, the greater someone's spell strength, the less time they need to pass through the mirror space." Eliyi closed the Chaos Mirror. "Conversely, the longer they take to pass through it, the weaker their spell strength is."
"But... I slept in there all night..."
"Then rest assured—after all, most people can't use magic, so there's no need to feel inferior." Eliyi patted Denolan on the shoulder in comfort. "But most of the people you deal with later will be mages... You should be careful."
Denolan: "Eh..."
"There may also be some high-ranking demons or witches and the like..." Eliyi said with sincere eyes.
Denolan: "Then I..."
"Enough with the 'I'... Your task now is to find Tiadam. He's in the banquet hall and should be more or less awake by now—" Eliyi turned his back.
"Then where are you going? Aren't you coming with me to find Tiadam?" Denolan asked.
"I have something to discuss with the owner of this estate. After you find Tiadam, I may need to trouble you to carry him back."
"What happened to Tiadam... Why do I need to carry him? Don't tell me!!!" Denolan's heart went cold, and he could not help imagining the worst.
"You'll know when you see him in person. After all, 1v51 is the work of a real man." Eliyi turned and left.
"A real man..." After hearing Eliyi's words, Denolan immediately realized that those Forest Elves from last night were not kind.
"Those Forest Elves hate humans... and they're skilled in magic..." Recalling the appearance of those elves from last night made Denolan tremble. "They had such cute faces, yet such terrifying eyes. Those eyes... those eyes looked like they wanted to kill... every human..."
"Could Tiadam have already been killed by them..." Denolan began analyzing on his own. "No... no... Mr. Eliyi came over, which should mean the Forest Elves have reached a consensus with Eliyi after showing themselves. Since they reached a consensus, Tiadam, as Eliyi's subordinate, should still be alive..."
"But 1v51 means..." Denolan suddenly understood. "It must be... it must be... Tiadam must have covered his friend's retreat, facing fifty alone, and then some representative among the Forest Elves admired his courage and invited Mr. Eliyi, the man behind it all, to discuss the Dragonblood Gem."
"Yes—it must be that!" Denolan felt that he was getting closer and closer to the truth. "That so-called Archmage Dilanna is merely a puppet of the Forest Elves. The person truly establishing a cooperative relationship with us must be some important figure among the Forest Elves."
"If that's the case... then Tiadam really... you've worked hard..." Denolan wiped the tears from his eyes. He could vaguely sense how much Tiadam had sacrificed for this cooperation. "Thank you. Whether you've lost an arm or leg, or been crippled, I... I'll definitely carry you back! I'll definitely hire the best witch and buy the best healing scrolls to treat your wounds. Wait for me—Tiadam, my good brother!"
Nolan returned to the banquet hall according to the route he remembered. Before opening the doors, he took a deep breath.
"Whew—judging by those Forest Elves yesterday, Tiadam must have been beaten half to death by now. Maybe it's even worse! Shit and piss everywhere, his guts spilling out..." Denolan imagined Tiadam's tragic state so he would be mentally prepared for any sudden situation after opening the door.
"Tiadam—Tiadam, I'm here to save you—" Denolan shouted as he threw open the hall doors.
"Then thanks, brother—" Tiadam replied to Denolan's kindness as he lay sprawled in the middle of the Forest Elves. "Last night was really exhausting."
Holy light surrounded the red-haired man, his face was covered in lip prints, and the scent of Nanstone Grass constantly filled the air.
"1v51... so that's... what it meant..."
"Denolan, my legs are numb. Please carry me for part of the way back to the inn."
"Oh... o-okay..."
Before you continue