The beastkin kingdom of Safaria.
Located in the northeastern part of the Prima Continent, in a similar direction to the fairy city of Illinoer when viewed from human territory.
Yet the reason they had never experienced any major conflicts with the fairies was because Safaria’s territory was split evenly between forest and grassland regions.
Naturally, the beastkin tribes were divided into two groups.
The Forest Faction, which lived in the forests, and the Grassland Faction, which lived on the plains.
While both sides had their own share of hardships, few would deny that the Forest Faction had a harsher life.
Fortios, a male monkey beastkin, was a patrolman belonging to that Forest Faction.
Forests and caves were environments where all sorts of monsters easily flowed into, and if one wanted to live a civilized life in such places, the existence of patrolmen like him was indispensable.
It was a profession that came with considerable honor, so Fortios had taken no small amount of pride in his work.
Until just a moment ago, that is.
“S-Save me….”
“Guweeeek….”
It was hell.
The patrol unit Fortios belonged to was now floundering helplessly, all of them swallowed by something resembling a swamp.
This area was a path very familiar to the patrolmen, and there had been no sign of beasts or monsters either. That was why they hadn’t paid much attention while passing through.
‘Damn it, there was never a swamp in this spot……!’
Fortios felt both confusion and doubt at the same time. The sensation in his legs submerged in the swamp had already disappeared long ago. Suddenly, he and the other patrolmen were swallowed up to their heads by the writhing swamp.
“W-What is this…”
Paydon, a bird beastkin patrolman who had been flying nearby, turned deathly pale after witnessing the horrific sight.
“…I need to report this to the higher-ups.”
Paydon beat his wings.
Not long after, an investigation team was dispatched to determine the identity of the swamp. Several archaeologists came to a clear conclusion.
“It’s a Magitech Empire-era ruin. It doesn’t seem to be a fixed type, but a mobile one.”
“Hmm… So there are ruins that swallow people?”
“It’s not particularly strange. Ancient ruins come in extremely diverse forms, and quite a few of them deviate significantly from the norm.”
“I see. Then does that mean if we enter the ruin and retrieve the artifact from the deepest part, this abnormal phenomenon will stop as well?”
“Correct.”
After listening to the scholar, Basilios Wi Agelada, a black bull beastkin, clicked his tongue.
Although ancient ruins varied greatly in both form and style, they had one clear common point. The higher the difficulty of conquering them, the greater the reward they offered.
Naturally, among them were many artifacts that could bring national-level benefits.
The magic staff 『Rain Command Staff (S)』 stored in the deepest part of the ‘Altar of Floods’ could produce artificial rainfall containing fertilizer or disinfectant on the scale of an entire territory depending on how it was controlled. In the ruin called ‘Infinite Water Disaster,’ there were seeds of the 『World Tree (S+)』 that would grow into national treasure-grade elixirs every year once fully matured.
Although both artifacts had been damaged due to disputes between nations over ownership, no one else knew about the existence of this swamp yet.
“…A crisis is also an opportunity. Dangerous ruins come with rewards of equal magnitude. The artifact inside this ruin might greatly enrich the lives of the beastkin.”
Muttering to himself, he asked the scholar,
“Do you have any guesses about how to conquer it?”
“There are many records of similar ruin entrances being breached using spatial magic. The interiors were apparently structured similarly to other ruins without exception.”
“So the problem is solved as long as we break through the entrance.”
“Yes. However, it appears to be a ruin related to poison or medicine, so we will need means to deal with that.”
Some time later, an advance team set out to explore the interior of the ruin. It included an excellent spatial mage and an elder of the Snake Tribe who was well-versed in deadly poisons.
However, something unexpected occurred.
Even long after the scheduled return date had passed, not a single member of the advance team had come back.
The ‘Sea of Heavenly Eyes.’
A mobile ruin that was difficult to reach the deepest part of, even for a continent’s greatest-level powerhouse, if one didn’t know the proper method of conquest.
Since it used other living beings as energy to sustain its activities, leaving it alone would result in massive casualties. I remembered it appearing around this time and becoming a long-standing headache for Safaria.
If I waited, news would eventually reach me.
That aside, there was one more matter I needed to handle.
“Restinel, Melkina. When the time comes, I want to enter the Machine God City. If you detect a signal from that guy Drydrel, attempt communication immediately.”
Understood.
Near the headquarters of the Alpanium Library, there was a hidden city ruled by the Machine God Tribe member Drydrel. And there stood the tallest structure on the Prima Continent — the ‘Tower of the God of Combat.’
It was a stage-like tower consisting of a total of 99 floors, where increasingly powerful automatons appeared the higher one climbed.
Only one companion was allowed to enter with you. In the original story, Epio had climbed up to the 70th floor while paired with Lei. One of the tools needed to face the Five Heroes had been the reward from the 70th floor.
After Part 3, the protagonist’s party never visited the Tower of the God of Combat again, so it was unknown what kind of opponents or rewards awaited on the higher floors.
Some readers had jokingly guessed that the 99th floor reward might be the mythical weapon whose name alone was known, 『Inseilsom (EX)』, but there was no way such a terrifying item would be inside a tower run by a single Machine God Tribe member.
Aside from the Tower of the God of Combat rewards, there was one other thing that bothered me. For unknown reasons, Drydrel was collecting the cores of his hibernating kin. To that end, he was cooperating with the Alpanium Library.
Considering that he was one of the Machine God Tribe members who had been active the longest alongside the Machine Emperor Rutlemis, it probably wasn’t for a trivial reason.
Either way, there were likely quite a few MacGuffins with relatively low numbers waiting there.
After Aiden’s private meeting with the Emperor.
Time flew by quickly.
December 986.
The beastkin kingdom of Safaria publicly revealed the existence of a certain ruin. Its name, revealed through the sacred artifact of the Church of Utility, was the ‘Sea of Heavenly Eyes’ — a mobile ruin filled with extreme poison.
Clans and adventurers from all over the continent set out to conquer the ruin, but not a single one of them returned safely.
January 987.
Ebel Stroke, the ‘Heavy Sword,’ officially announced his retirement. The Church of Struggle accepted this and announced that the results would be reflected when selecting the next member of the Continent’s Twelve Heroes.
April 987.
With its finances, reputation, and position perfectly established, the Blispiel Clan focused solely on growth. Many of its still-young clan members quickly made names for themselves.
Around this time, the mobile city of Talos approached the vicinity of Elanore.
“It’s time to participate in the black market.”
There were also items I wanted to purchase.
“Oppa, let’s hurry up and go!”
Clara said with sparkling eyes. Led by this girl who had thrown a tantrum about wanting to go sightseeing, all the clan members who had been at the house came out to the black market for an outing.
It was now very close to the start of the original story.
There had been one black market-related episode in Part 1, so most important items would probably only appear as merchandise around the middle of next year.
However, there was one item that could only be obtained during this specific period.
“Oppa~ What are you here to buy today?”
“Elixirs and various ornaments.”
Even though I answered indifferently, Clara smiled brightly. Being with this girl naturally lifted my own mood as well.
I looked at the group and said,
“Kurt, Lei. If you see any decent equipment, bring it back. Here’s the money.”
“Understood, Master.”
“Got it, Aiden hyung.”
“And Linia. Go check out the Alpanium Library branch and the elixir shops.”
“Understood, Master.”
Although she wasn’t at my level when it came to ‘appraisal,’ Linia had been generously fed A-grade elixirs over time. Her eye for choosing elixirs had improved considerably.
After sending the three of them off, we headed to an antique-looking jewelry store. ‘Eltis’ — the same name I had seen in the setting materials.
“Welcome, guests.”
“Not me. This guy says he wants to pick out a gift for a girl.”
I pointed at Epio.
He had a confused expression on his face.
He had never said anything like that.
“Epio-nim?! For whom?!”
“………”
However, Clara and Visanya stared at him with slightly stiff expressions. It was as if question marks had appeared above Epio’s head.
“…Me? A gift? Is that so?”
“I’ll guide you.”
The three of them were awkwardly led away by the politely bowing staff member. While watching them with a grin, I looked around the store.
At that moment, Chesa tugged on my collar.
“Aiden, this.”
“Hmm….”
When I turned around, there were ten rings, each set with differently colored gemstones, though they all looked similar in design. Because they had traces of wear in places, they gave off an antique-like feeling.
『Luminous Ring · Red Stone (B)』
『Luminous Ring · Blue Stone (B)』
……
『Luminous Ring · Colorless Stone (B)』
- Spell: 〈Sephrism〉
These were the items I had come to the black market to obtain today. While I was quietly observing the rings, the owner at the counter approached.
“Are you interested in the product?”
“Yes. It’s unusual that there are ten of them as a set. Are they meant to be worn on all ten fingers?”
“We don’t know their exact purpose either. We only assume they were made by a remarkable craftsman because they contain mana.”
Being able to casually craft B-rank accessories was certainly impressive by ordinary standards. However, it wasn’t enough to satisfy my current standards.
But that didn’t matter. The value that could be derived from these rings was far more important than the rings themselves.
“I’ll take all of them.”
“Thank you. That will be ten platinum coins.”
After entering the bedroom, I turned off the lights and slipped the luminous rings onto my fingers. In the original history, these rings had a different owner.
‘Lombisk of the Deadly Poison Pouch.’
He was the villain I had personally found most impressive during Part 1, when there had been many minor enemies. At the time of his appearance, his level was 37, yet he had managed to assassinate a quasi-Twelve Heroes-level opponent who was a full five levels higher through a surprise attack.
This was thanks to the fact that he possessed an S-grade trait, which was rare for an early-stage character.
『Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity (S)』.
Thanks to this ultimate poison resistance trait, he could freely handle poisons that could endanger even the user’s own life if mishandled even slightly.
However, there had been a hint in the main story that Lombisk had acquired this trait after the fact.
A passage mentioned that until a few years prior, he had used a rather ordinary fighting style, but had suddenly changed into a bold type who handled poison.
It was unclear exactly how it happened, but it meant he had gained resistance to poison through an elixir or some kind of opportunity. While flipping through the settings, I was able to roughly guess the path. It was highly likely that the accessory he possessed, the 『Luminous Ring · Colorless Stone (B)』, was involved.
During his first appearance, Lombisk had shown up selling the other nine rings except for the colorless one. It was to raise funds to invest in a force called the ‘Dicor Dark Trading Company.’
He had also said something along the lines of, ‘I’ve already gotten everything I could out of these rings in the past year, so I should sell them all except for one as a lucky charm…’
Now I had obtained the chance to verify the facts.
I activated the spell contained within the rings.
〈Sephrism〉 — ten consecutive activations.
Wiiing! All ten rings lit up.
The light clusters, which had no value on their own, overlapped and drew something. It was none other than a map of the western part of the Prima Continent.
“…Aiden, look at that.”
Chesa pointed somewhere on the map.
A single dot was blinking there.
[MacGuffin No.620 / Source of Deadly Poison has been recovered.]
[Achievement Points + 250]
“As expected. So there’s either an elixir at the location marked by the dot, or at least a clue to one.”
〈Sephrism〉 was a simple visual spell. It was normally a magic used for stage effects in plays, but when enchanted onto an object, it had the advantage of being able to maintain the shape of the emitted light exactly as the user desired for a long time. That advantage could be utilized in this way.
Chesa asked,
“Judging by the location, it seems quite far. What do you want to do?”
“We’re going right away, of course.”
A chuckle escaped me.
If my guess regarding Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity had been wrong, it would have been quite troublesome. Fortunately, I could proceed with Plan A.