Chapter 62

Being quite late in the evening, it was dark. Even more so underwater. Still, Jae could obtain a clear view of what was under the lake thanks to Light Magic.

Really, being able to use magic freely again feels like a weight off my shoulders. No, could that be because of the magic enhancements? Well, either way, it’s a great thing to be able to use it.

Illuminating the wide sapphire lake into an almost milky hue, Jae pursed his lips as he scanned the whole area beneath the water.

...Really, there’s nothing?

He was looking for the entrance to a Dungeon, to no avail. Jae, now beginning to quash the submerged balls of concentrated white light, clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. Where is it, then...?”, he muttered. Initially, he was absolutely sure about it being beneath the lake, and even in the direct centre of it there appeared to be a peculiarly-shaped mound that reminded him of a pedestal.

In the end, however, the lake was barren.

“That’s strange... I can definitely sense a portal here... But, there’s nothing.”

The lake didn’t even contain any life within it such as fish or algae, either. And the Sins have all been silent ever since exiting the Wrath Dungeon, too, so they weren’t of any help whatsoever.

“...Always useless when I need it the most, huh. Well, there’s always...”

Turning around, what entered Jae’s view was Bailey’s lying down figure. By looking at the soft, natural rate of his chest rising and falling, it was easy to tell that he was sleeping. The boy was in the back of the SUV as it was currently the best place they had to rest. What Jae was thinking about was not Bailey, however.

If I sleep now... Would I meet him? He would know the secret behind this Dungeon, so maybe I could ask... No, let’s not do that. From now on, I can’t rely on him. I also can’t rely on other people too much. It’s my situation, my responsibility. If I can’t do something myself, I need to learn how.

He rotated again, his sharpened gaze sweeping across the darkened lake, obscured once again by the night’s darkness.

Waiting one second, then five, then thirty, Jae knew nothing was going to happen if he just continued staring mindlessly. He closed his eyes and silently covered his mouth and chin with his right hand.

Jae began to think.

...Perhaps... I might’ve been too hasty. Instead of immediately sending off Asik and the rest of them, I should’ve waited, at least for a bit. If I gathered more information or had thought to use more of their Evil Eyes before they left... No, it’s already happened. I can’t do anything about them anymore; I can’t go back in time and I can’t go and bring them back here.

Opening his eyes, the lake was just as still as before. He already knew it, but no changes had occurred.

Damn. Why am I stuck after such a short amount of time? This Dungeon... Wait. What if it isn’t a Dungeon? Would I just be waiting here for nothing? But it has to be. It feels exactly the same as all the previous ones... Ah, but could it still be something else? The Dungeon entrances are portals, so is this another portal? One that’s unrelated to the Sins?

When his thought’s reached that point, there was something that immediately sprung forth.

―Virtues? No way, right? I’m sure Virtues don’t have Dungeons...

“...”

He was convinced it wasn’t that, but the thought refused to leave his mind.

“...Fuck. It’s not it, though. There’s nothing there, so of course, it’s not true. It’s probably just this weird environment. Everything around here’s full of high-quality mana. Compared to everywhere else I’ve been in the world, it’s probably the place closest resembling the Pride Dungeon in terms of the quantity and quality of atmospheric mana.”

Actually, the resemblance is so close it’s creepy. It feels as though there’s a thin line between this place and there. If I had to pick out precisely what the difference is...

“...Breaking point.”

Jae muttered the words under his breath. He theorised that there existed a breaking point when it came to life and mana.

To start with, life can hold mana. The more mana it holds, and the higher quality that mana, the richer the life becomes. But when the mana becomes too much, it reaches a breaking point. Once the breaking point has been breached, life can no longer contain the mana within it and withers away.

That’s the difference between this place and the Pride Dungeon. This place, although hovering near it, has yet to cross the line―the breaking point.

That minor differential was the only thing separating this majestic, graceful slice of nature, and the overwhelming, ruthless wasteland that was the Pride Dungeon’s Outer Layer.

It was like two sides of a coin. Just like a flower that blooms and a flower that wilts―the only difference is that one flower received a tad too much water compared to the other.

This place is not only safe for humans because the quantity of mana has not reached the breaking point, but it has the effect of causing the surrounding nature to flourish.

That’s why the grass is so green. Why the water is so blue and so clear. It’s why the air cleanses the lungs of those who breathe it, and why the ground beneath Jae’s feet is so soft.

The only reason he hadn’t noticed was because of the thin mana barrier he permanently surrounds his body with. At first, he only kept it because the incredible quality of air he was so used to in the Pride Dungeon was suddenly gone, but it quickly became a habit.

But, when he disabled it and breathed the natural, mana-rich air for the first time in a while, it served to clear his mind.

...Alright.

He took a deep breath once again and looked forward, staring right at the centre of the lake. It was where the strange mound stretched and slightly peeked above the water from the floor.

Like this, Jae stared at it for a while.

One minute. Five. Even after fifteen, nothing out of the ordinary occurred. The lake, along with everything else in the surroundings, was dead silent.

...It is the middle of the night, after all. Of course, nothing strange would ever happen in the middle of nowhere at midnight, even in a fantasy world. There definitely is no Dungeon here.

With his mind set straight and no longer in a frantic rush, Jae turned around and began walking back over to the car-like vehicle.

He was just thinking about getting some rest when he suddenly noticed something occur behind him.

“A surge of mana? What’s this all of a sudden...?”

The first thing he did was check the lake. Unlike before, the water was not still. It was not so dark, either.

Ripples were centring around the spot in the middle of the lake, and the water glistened.

Before he knew it, the lake became a mirror, reflecting all that peered into it from above. This gleaming mirror was not the only phenomenon, though. Jae’s eyes darted to the ‘pedestal’ of earth in the centre of the lake.

The mirroring water swirled around the pedestal and began to rise above the surface of the lake. Despite the incredible, graceful movements of the water that were so fluid it seemed completely natural, the surface of the lake did not ripple whatsoever.

The rising water twisted and turned in the air to create a large arch above the pedestal. Once the two ends had connected in mid-air, it cascaded down the centre of the arch, like a waterfall, and soon, no gaps could be seen.

The arch of water, which had now been filled in, was radiating a dazzling silver effulgence, almost blindingly so in stark contrast to the pitch blackness of the nighttime surroundings―and now, it appeared just like what one would imagine a gate of Heaven to look like.

The one thing that could be compared was the silver luminosity of the full moon, but even that was severely lacking compared to this one-of-a-kind sight.

Jae didn’t blink during the entire process. He wouldn’t dare. He couldn’t afford to miss a single moment―no, if he blinked once, there was too much he might miss.

“...”

There were no thoughts to run through his mind. His head was empty, astounded by the event that occurred.

But then, this enchanting and absolutely fascinating occasion suddenly took a turn.

―Something appeared from within the gate.

There, stood an unknown, young-looking humanoid figure with a staggeringly beautiful yet androgynous appearance, bringing him back to his senses.

Jae knew at a glance.

This wasn’t a small fry that had abruptly appeared.

So, what was this gate? Who was this person? Such questions flickered through his mind at light speed, but there was no time to focus on them as they slowly opened their half-closed, pale eyelids, revealing two sanguine eyes.

Other than that ominous feature, Jae could tell that he was a man through his facial features and body structure, but that was all. He appeared to have slightly elongated ears and his long, snow-white hair was so elegantly tied back that it made him look shamefully good-looking.

His appearance, too, was something totally conspicuous―primarily light-coloured silken clothes, seemingly manufactured both with heavy usage of magic and by master clothiers. The price of it all was something that Jae couldn’t even dare to guess.

The first word that came to mind when he saw him was ‘Vampire’, but since Jae had never once heard of them existing in this world, he instantly forewent the thought.

Of course, as his presence was overwhelming, and as he suddenly appeared out of a gate from nowhere, Jae immediately judged that he was a dangerous person, and so attempted to identify him.

Skill「Envy」has been blocked

―Well, in the end, it was only an attempt, and no matter how many times he used it, the Soul State would not appear.

Upon his futile endeavour, the man looked at Jae with a curious and almost stupefied gaze.

Are you shitting me? Another guy who can use a soul-gazing technique...

Jae thought it was a complete scam―the fact that Envy couldn’t prevent others from seeing his Soul State. The next thought that occurred to him was that, perhaps, when he cleared the Envy Dungeon, he might acquire that ability. In any case, there wasn’t any time to waste.

Purely by looking at the guy could tell Jae that he was incredibly powerful. However, he didn’t think he was a threat. There was no hostility or bloodlust coming from him, and neither did he sense that the man would make any sudden movements. On the contrary, he looked like someone that preferred not to fight.

Still, Jae wouldn’t allow himself to be fooled by outer appearances. If this guy was only pretending to be friendly but turned out to be an enemy and attacked Bailey, he wouldn’t forgive himself.

Staring back at the man, Jae stood his ground. He didn’t move so as to not agitate the man in any way―with Bailey here, there was no choice but to avoid a fight at all costs.

Silently, as the man continued to look Jae right in the eyes, he began to walk forward. He walked quietly and steadily, one step at a time, across the surface of the lake.

As the man reached about the halfway point, the gate behind him quickly collapsed and the lake reverted to its original state. At that moment, Jae knew the chances of him returning through that gate was slim.

If that was the case, he would not only need to survive this encounter along with Bailey, but he would also need to ensure they didn’t leave on bad terms.

Before long, the man stepped onto land. Now that he got a better look, Jae could tell that the man wasn’t quite as physically strong as he was, but his mana capacity was insanely high.

...There’s no way it’s as high as mine, though, right?

Jae’s current total MP was over 730,000. There shouldn’t be any humanoid creature alive with more mana than him, with the only exception being legendary or mythical beasts like the Scylla or Dragons like Aphy.

No matter the case, Jae was confident. Even if he couldn’t use「Mark of Death」to dominate the opponent, he couldn’t imagine himself losing―especially after acquiring [MAX]-level Wrath. Just as he thought a fight was about to break out, the man interrupted his train of thought with a few words.

“⍑ᒷꖎꖎ𝙹. ∴⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ ↸╎↸ ||𝙹⚍ ꖎᒷᔑ∷リ?”

Words of gibberish that Jae didn’t understand, that is.

“...Excuse me?”

“? Oh, you are speak Seroina? My bad.”

Jae was taken aback slightly. Clearly, the man, who spoke with broken grammar, was being polite?

“...I can speak Seronian, Asphalian, and a bit of Laquadan. Whatever is comfortable for you, I’ll use that.”

Of course, Jae didn’t mention the fact he could also speak Goblin and with ‘Small Lizards’, as well as the fact he could use telepathy.

“I see. Then, do you mind speaking in the Demon tongue? Sorry, it’s my second best language.”

From then on, the man spoke Asphalian. Seeing that he was genuinely nice, Jae became curious.

“No, it’s alright. I feel more comfortable speaking this language than Seronian anyway. So, what language were you speaking before?”

“Oh, that was Kalpsh, the language the humans in the Empire speak. I assumed you were from there because just north of this place is the Empire’s territory.”

“Ah. By the way...”

“Yes?”

“...What is this place? You just came out of that gate.”

“Oh. Sorry, but that goes against the rules and the code of conduct, so I can’t tell you.”

What? Rules? Code of conduct? That’s stupid. If you don’t want to tell me, just say so.

Jae wasn’t convinced about the so-called rules, but he could let it slide. If it wasn’t related to the Dungeons, then he didn’t care what the lake or that gate was about.

If it’s just a guy like this, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll wait for morning and we’ll set off.

Planning as such, Jae thought the conversation didn’t matter anymore. However, the man continued talking.

“Anyway. It’s nice to meet you, Jae Kang. My name is Azariah Menashe Ceczalet Iosueue Ruhnj, but of course, you may call me as you wish.”

He then smiled warmly.

“You have a wonderful name, by the way.”

...What the fuck?

“Oh, thank you. Your name’s also cool, Azariah.”

It’s bloody long, isn’t it? Mine is two syllables in comparison.

“It’s quite an unusual name, though; I’ve never heard anything quite like it before. It’s intriguing. If you don’t mind my asking, where do you hail from?”

Oh, mine is the unusual one, hm? Are you sure about that?

“I’d rather not give that kind of information away, sorry.”

“Oh, no, it’s quite alright! It’s rather shameful of me to ask, considering that I myself cannot tell you of my origins. If only I weren’t bound by this dreadful code of conduct...”

“It’s fine, so don’t worry about it.”

“Yes, once again, I’m sorry. You have my gratitude, Jae, for your graceful kindness and generosity. I do also apologise for peeking without first gaining your permission. I know that most would get furious upon being subjected to such discourtesy, but you seem to not be bringing it up...”

“Hm? No, it’s fine.”

Is that to do with looking at my Soul State? Why would he apologise if he was going to do it anyway? Whatever.

“Thank you for your magnanimity.”

What’s with this guy?

“You don’t need to thank me every time. I left it because you wouldn’t answer me even if I asked anyway, so there was no point.”

“Ah. Well. That’s the unfortunate truth. Sorry. I cannot tell you that. In return, I will not ask you how you can use a Spirit technique.”

Well, isn’t that nice?

After some more useless chatter like that, dawn was beginning to break. As the odd sun ray penetrated through the dense sea of leaves, Azariah turned towards the eastern source. To Jae, it merely appeared as though he were gazing at the rising sun, but he realised that wasn’t the case when he glanced at his face.

Why does he look... so sad?

The solemn Azariah, as if to answer Jae’s question, slowly opened his mouth as an almost silent mutter came out.

“......She’s alive...”

“...”

Eventually, he turned back to Jae and slightly bowed his head.

“I apologise, but I have something of utmost importance I need to get on with. It was great meeting you, Jae Kang. Your name will never be forgotten by this Azariah Menashe Ceczalet Iosueue Ruhnj. I do hold my deepest hopes that you will hold the same courtesy for me.”

You expect me to remember something like that, you insane bastard?

“Well then, I must be on my way. I sincerely hope for a second meeting with you before I return to this place in the near future. I give my respects to your God. Then, goodbye for now.”

“Huh? Wait, wait! Hold on a second there. What do you mean?”

“Pardon? Oh, deepest apologies. Are you no longer religious?”

“...What?”

“Your soul describes you as an Apostle, Jae Kang. As such, I presumed you were religious. I apologise if I was mistaken with that assumption.”

Apostle...?

“It was my mistake. In that case, I will forget about that. Once again, I apologise. Hopefully, we can meet again.”

That was the last thing spoken by Azariah before he walked away. Once he reached the trees, his appearance disappeared entirely, along with both his presence and his mana.

“...What the hell...?”

Jae was only able to move again after Azariah left. He couldn’t forget about what the mysterious man said just before, however.

Apostle... It says Apostle of Sin on my Soul State... I completely forgot. Fuck, I’m an idiot. Even Nazar told me that before, and I saw it every time I used it on myself before, so how did I forget...?

He felt extremely embarrassed, but it wasn’t too much of an issue since Azariah wasn’t a bad guy. On the contrary, Jae thought he was way too nice and polite. Combine it with his looks and he could pull any number of partners he wanted, be it man, woman, or otherwise.

...Seriously, what a guy. He didn’t even mention the ‘of Sin’ part. Does he even know about that stuff...? I also wonder what that was about.

He recalled the scene of Azariah’s almost melancholic expression. It looked to contain a mix of great emotions―sadness, pain, relief, happiness, and duty, all combined into one face.

The words he uttered at that time, ‘she’s alive’―Jae wondered what it could mean.

“......Well, it’s none of my business. It’s almost morning, so Bailey should be up soon. If not, I’ll wake him up. After all...”

Jae slightly rotated his face to look north.

“―We’ve gotta head out bright and early if we want to make it to the Empire in time.”

A month has passed since the encounter with Azariah.

Jae stood on top of a hill donning a dull, worn-out adventurer’s outfit and a dirty cloak. Beside him stood Bailey in similar attire. They both had two sheaths each attached to their bodies with sturdy mythril swords in them.

Well, Jae’s contained a dagger and a greatsword, whilst Bailey’s contained two longswords.

They were clothes and weapons purchased three and a half weeks ago when the two first arrived in an Imperial town. They needed new clothes since the old ones were already worn and heavily damaged.

Right now, they were trying not to draw attention to themselves as much as possible, so they acted like ordinary adventurers.

But, the time where they would be able to reveal themselves was drawing near.

“...Master, how long do we have to wait? No one is going to show up.”

“Bailey, stop complaining. Once they see the reward, anyone will come.”

“It’s an A-rank request. Why would anyone show up?”

“There are two things adventurers want. The first is money, and the second is fame. An A-rank request fulfils both of those.”

“Master... The request is to take down a Dragon. We can do it by ourselves, so why do we need to party with random people who are weaker than us?”

“Bailey, I’ve said this before, but don’t call something like that a ‘Dragon’, okay? Anyway, it’s because we’re only C-rank at the moment. C-ranks going for an A-rank quest is a classic move, alright? We look just like stereotypes who think they can do everything. Once we do this request, we’ll rank up to B. Then, we can take more subjugation quests and rank up to A.”

“...I don’t understand. Master, being an adventurer doesn’t feel like what I imagined it to be.”

“It’s because you didn’t get the experience of growing as an adventurer. You started it when you were already strong enough to be a veteran, so it’s understandable why everything feels lacking. In the first place, if we could just take missions of our real level, we wouldn’t still be here.”

“Why are we here, Master. You still haven’t fully explained it yet.”

“I need a proper identity. You, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Bailey. At the moment, what do we call ourselves when we meet new people?”

“Um... Our names? You are Rena’s dad, and I’m... Your pupil.”

“Right. Well, what if we need to go somewhere that requires authority? We won’t be able to get there without using force.”

“Why can’t we use force?”

“Because using force creates enemies. I already have enough enemies. I don’t need any more.”

“...Okay. So we need to be high-rank adventurers in order to get an identity?”

“Yes. They told us at the guild, remember? ‘A guild card serves as official ID in almost every country in the world’. If you have one, you are not required to show your Status.”

“Oh! That’s useful!”

“Of course it is. Still, I didn’t think ranking up would take this long. A month and we’re still C-rank. God. I hate having to party up with random guys in order to take down one monster. I wish Asphal had Adventurer Guilds. Should I ask Leila to implement them?”

...No, on second thought, that’s probably a bad idea.

“Ah!! Master! I see people approaching!”

“Hm? Oh! See? What did I tell you? I knew people would accept the request eventually.”

This was the story behind how the two ‘Prodigious Rookie’ adventurers, Jang and Bang, came into existence.