Chapter 37: The King’s Faction and the Fisher Knight

“Who dares to invade my sanctuary!”

Kugugugugu!

The ground trembled in the boss room.

As usual, the moment Mongoose entered the boss room, he started causing a ruckus.

Watching Mongoose’s usual entrance line, Revan thought,

‘Sigh, I can’t believe I have to help such a dumbass.’

At times like this, Revan was reminded that he wasn’t living in just any world, but playing the “Warlord” game.

When Mongoose appeared, Revan summoned a cube and showed it to him, just like before.

As expected, Mongoose exaggerated his reaction and acted surprised once again.

“A cube? Could it be that you are a War Mage?”

Exactly the same reaction, word for word.

Revan casually responded,

“Yeah.”

After that, things went smoothly.

Mongoose told the story of how he became a bookworm and asked Revan to help him take revenge on Ratel.

[You have heard the full story of Bookworm Mongoose.]

[He asks for your help in his revenge.]

[Mongoose has no one else to ask but you.]

[Do you accept?]

“I accept.”

[Proposal accepted.]

[‘The Wraith of the Lich’ quest completed.]

[Quest rewards granted.]

[Experience points gained.]

As soon as he accepted the quest, messages flooded in saying the epic quest was complete.

At the same time, Mongoose’s attitude softened.

“Thank you, War Mage. If my revenge succeeds, I will never forget the favor you have done for me.”

“Of course.”

“You are now my comrade sharing the same cause. From this moment on, all beings in this place will never attack you, and I will always be here waiting for you. So, tell me, what is your name?”

“Revan.”

“Revan! What a splendid name. It’s a name destined for great success. Then, to my new comrade, I will give the first step of a plan I’ve long nurtured.”

[You have obtained the Book of Wisdom.]

‘Book of Wisdom?’

Just after Revan received the Book of Wisdom, Mongoose explained.

“This is the Book of Wisdom passed down through generations of the Passna royal family. Simply put, it’s like a diary kept by successive kings.”

“But?”

“The Book of Wisdom is a national treasure in terms of its value. Since I have it now, the current king must be desperately searching for it. Of course, I didn’t steal it; I just found it here by chance. So you should deliver it to the king and build rapport with him first.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

“Of course! You might not know the situation in the Passna royal family, but currently, the royal court is split into two factions: the King’s faction and the New Queen’s faction. And Ratel belongs to the New Queen’s faction. To properly punish Ratel, the power of the King, who leads the opposing faction, is absolutely necessary.”

“I see. So the goal is to build favor with the King while returning this book, making him indebted to you.”

“That’s right. You must become close with the King no matter what. I already have the evidence to prove Ratel’s guilt.”

“May I ask what kind of evidence?”

“I have a secret ledger created when he embezzled the treasury. It contains not only Ratel’s name but also those of others.”

“That’s enough.”

More thorough than I expected.

Revan felt a pang of sympathy for Mongoose, who was framed despite being well-prepared.

‘This is why you can’t be weak.’

Even if you’re innocent, without power, you become the criminal.

Revan deeply realized the terrifying power of authority through Mongoose’s story.

Mongoose sincerely pleaded,

“Then I will trust only you.”

Right after Mongoose finished speaking,

[‘Library Rift’ is set as a safe zone until Mongoose’s revenge is complete.]

[You cannot kill Mongoose until his revenge is finished.]

[Dungeon solo clear achieved.]

[All monsters in the dungeon have been defeated.]

[Additional experience gained.]

[Level up.]

The notification of clearing the dungeon appeared immediately after Mongoose’s story ended.

This meant there was no further dialogue to progress.

But something felt off.

Although Revan received the quest item and details from Mongoose, none of the notifications pertained to that quest.

‘What is this, a bug?’

He tried talking to Mongoose again just in case, but each time Mongoose only repeated his plea.

At that moment, a new epic cube flashed in Revan’s mind.

‘Could it be?’

With a doubtful heart, Revan started solving the new epic cube he had received as a quest reward.

[You have successfully solved Rubik’s Epic Cube.]

[An epic quest has been triggered.]

Pabatt!

[Make Friends with the King]

-Grade: Epic, Special, Unique, Chain.

-Conditions: Achieve over 70% favorability with Passna’s King, NPC Ebergran, to aid Mongoose’s revenge.

-Rewards: Rubik’s Epic Cube, Rubik’s Skill Cube Fragment, Rubik’s Treasure Cube Fragment.

As expected, the next quest was officially triggered.

‘Epic quests only trigger through cubes, it seems.’

A fact previously unknown.

Reading the quest details, Revan nodded thoughtfully.

‘Hmm, the point isn’t returning the Book of Wisdom but making friends with the King.’

In other words, the quest can be completed without necessarily returning the book, as long as you build enough favor.

But if that happened, there’d be no reason for the King to punish Ratel.

Therefore, to build rapport with the King and punish Ratel, Revan must deliver the Book of Wisdom to the King himself and tell him Mongoose’s story, as requested.

The goal was clear.

However, a small problem arose in the process.

‘But how do I even meet the King?’

You can’t just meet the King.

That’s why he’s the King.

Also, farming enough merit points to get a royal audience was out of the question—it required an unimaginably high amount.

After some thought, Revan got a hint from what Mongoose had said.

‘Right. Even if I can’t meet the King, I could meet people from the King’s faction and deliver the message.’

So from now on, Revan’s task was to investigate the people of Passna’s King, the close aides of Ebergran.

Revan immediately opened the information trading window at the auction house, but

‘Nothing?’

Unfortunately, most of the information on Passna in the info trading window was about quest walkthroughs or dungeon data.

But that was expected.

Who would care about the political structure of a failing kingdom when they’re busy leveling up?

So Revan boldly exited the game and decided to gather materials offline.

‘I’ll have to dig through the official site and WarTube a bit.’

Resolved, Revan logged off and sat at his computer to start searching.

Sungwoo’s choice was right.

The Warlord official site and WarTube were full of miscellaneous info on Passna that couldn’t be found in the info trading window.

Especially the videos about Passna’s history made by history geeks were a great help.

After finishing his research, Sungwoo left a casual comment.

“This is a mess.”

A mess.

Was there a better word to describe the current state of Passna’s royal family?

Apparently not.

The videos showed that the real power in Passna wasn’t the King but the New Queen.

‘I thought the power balance would be even, but no way—the King is practically a puppet.’

The current King, Ebergran, lost his mother at birth and his father before turning ten due to illness.

Because of this, the remarried New Queen began regency in place of the young King.

Her regency lasted so long that most royal power concentrated in her hands.

‘No wonder Ratel sided with the New Queen. But even if Ratel’s crimes are revealed, I doubt he’ll get anything more than a slap on the wrist.’

Most nobles sided with the New Queen.

On the other hand, those loyal to the young King were limited to the King’s personal guard, the Royal Knights, and the Red Lion Knights.

Revan clicked his tongue at the size difference between the two factions.

‘Ah, whatever. I guess I’ll have to rely on that Mongoose guy.’

Revan decided not to complicate things.

He just needed to quietly take advantage of the fight between whales.

‘The important thing is the quest.’

Having identified the King Ebergran’s faction members, Revan stood up to log back into the game.

“Excuse me.”

“Hmm? You again? Why do you want to go to the library this time?”

“No, not the library today. I wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it? If I can answer, I’ll tell you.”

Back in the game, Revan sought out none other than the palace gatekeeper who had once taken bribes from him.

The reason was simple.

‘No one knows palace affairs better than the gatekeeper.’

Rumors spread equally in high and low places.

Of course, it would be better to ask a palace maid, but since Revan couldn’t enter their quarters, the gatekeeper was the next best choice.

Revan asked,

“I saw on the way to the library that some wore armor with a red lion emblem, and others didn’t. What’s the difference?”

“Red lion? That must be the Red Lion Knights.”

“Red Lion Knights?”

“Yeah. They’re the King’s personal knights. Simply put, the King’s elite guard.”

“Oh, then since they’re the King’s guards, they must be powerful even inside the palace, right?”

“Not necessarily.”

“Why not?”

“That is….”

Revan pressed again.

The soldier began to answer but quickly shook his head.

“No, no. I almost said something I shouldn’t have. Forget it! Don’t be curious about that, and don’t try to find out.”

“Ah, come on. Please tell me. I’m curious.”

“No way, I can’t!”

The gatekeeper looked stern.

What a temper.

But he was just a gatekeeper after all.

Revan took a few gold coins from his pocket and handed them over.

Then, like a vending machine, the gatekeeper started spilling information.

“Alright, just this once. If I hadn’t lost money in yesterday’s bet… Normally, as the King’s personal knights, they should be powerful, but sadly, our King has no real power.”

“No power?”

“The King’s authority is held by the New Queen, the Queen Dowager.”

“So the King’s just a figurehead?”

“Something like that.”

“That’s unusual. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to just kill the King and have the Dowager become King directly?”

“That could happen, but as long as Sir Leon is alive, that will never happen. Oh, by the way, Sir Leon is the leader of the Red Lion Knights.”

“Is he powerful?”

“He’s a legendary knight famous since the time of the previous King. You could say he practically protects the current King.”

“A knight who guards the King… cool. He must be handsome too, right?”

“Definitely. Of all the knights I’ve seen, he’s the most charismatic. If you’re curious, go to Lake Baldern at dusk. I hear he goes fishing there every day at that time.”

Hearing the gatekeeper’s last words, Revan smiled.

Because this was exactly the information he needed.

After nodding respectfully to the gatekeeper, Revan hurried toward Lake Baldern.

(Serialization) The Wizard Does Not Hide His Power