The morning after I nearly ended up as a cold corpse in the Duke of Embergreen’s estate, I was wandering through the worst slums in the imperial capital wearing only a robe and without a single escort.
‘This is terrifying.’
Honestly, it wasn’t like I wanted to co to a place like this alone.
But the place I was headed to now was one that a noble like couldn’t officially visit without raising eyebrows, so there was no way I could bring the justice-loving knights of the Count's household.
That didn’t an I could bring my personal maid Sasha, or Alfred, who was nearing retirent, into such a dangerous place either. Which is why I ended up in this ridiculous state.
If so thug tried to pick a fight with now, it’d be a huge pain.
‘No, I can’t let myself get scared over sothing like that.’
Even if I look like this, I’m still a white mage.
Sure, my confidence has been a bit shaken after what happened last ti, but either way, I should be more than capable of handling a simple fight.
So if soone mistakes for an insignificant boy and tries to approach, just a glimpse of using white magic should be enough to scare them off.
I don’t have much real combat experience, and ever since I regained mories of my past life, I’ve felt reluctant to fight people, so honestly, I’d really prefer if things didn’t escalate.
Step, step...
Anyway, as I was walking and thinking about all this, I suddenly heard footsteps behind .
Wondering if I was just being paranoid, I turned into an alley, but it seed like the people following weren’t doing it by accident.
‘So I really am about to get into a fight?’
My body tensed for a mont, but I was already ntally prepared. If it’s co to this, I might as well use it as a chance to get so combat practice.
“Hmm.”
“Tch.”
With that thought, I calmly circulated white magic through my body and turned my head—but the mont the guys saw , they suddenly stopped in their tracks and frowned.
Then, after scratching their heads awkwardly for a mont, they just passed by like nothing had happened.
“...Forget it for today.”
“If you’re on our side, show your mark properly, would you?”
“You kids these days...”
And not just those guys who had spoken to a mont ago—even the ones who had been watching with wary eyes from the roadside all started disappearing into nearby alleys like they were retreating.
‘So they weren’t just common thugs...?’
I’d assud this place was crawling with typical lowlives and let my guard down, but it turns out most of them were skilled enough to detect the faintest traces of my white magic. If they hadn’t been so cautious, I might’ve been the one in trouble.
‘I definitely need to bring a trustworthy escort next ti.’
Of course, that’s also one of the reasons I ca to this dangerous place today.
Because the broken-tier character I absolutely must obtain early on is in the slave market located at the heart of this area.
‘Let’s just hope the Emperor hasn’t gotten there first.’
That’s right. The character I’m trying to get my hands on is soone who, in most scenarios, becos the Emperor’s right hand and loyal knight.
In-ga, she’s called “the Emperor’s Hound,” and among players, she’s known as “the One-Hit Guillotine,” boasting absurdly high combat stats.
But it’s not just her combat prowess that stands out—her judgnt and ability to assess a situation are top-notch, too. That’s why she’s the character redia clashed with most often and remained on high alert against until she finally brought down the Emperor.
‘But soon, she’ll be my reliable bodyguard.’
Though I say that, to be honest, a thod to recruit her in-ga hadn’t been discovered for a long ti.
She’s a character with a backstory full of betrayal and deceit, and because the Emperor was the only one who ever offered her a hand when she was about to be sold off as a nobleman’s plaything, she gave her loyalty to him alone.
However, veteran players who experinted with countless builds to speedrun the ga eventually figured out how to recruit her.
‘And of course, I was the first one to discover it.’
Anyway, that thod involves recklessly charging into this gang-infested zone early on and outbidding the Emperor at the slave market.
Missing out on that slave ant you’d almost certainly incur the Emperor’s wrath, making it one of the riskiest actions in the ga—but because it also allowed you to recruit the character later as a mid-boss or ally, it beca sothing of a build in the community.
‘But that only applies to the ga tiline.’
Right now, I’m in a period that’s far earlier than even the ga’s prologue. So if I ti it just right, there’s a good chance I can get the character without provoking the Emperor’s wrath.
And even if I do get caught, the Emperor is currently using as a counter to redia. Given his personality, there’s a good chance he’ll just turn a blind eye.
Still, I’m moving as discreetly as possible just in case, but even if sothing does happen, this is an ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) opportunity with way more to gain than to lose—I can’t afford to miss it.
‘Which ans, it’s about ti to start paying attention up ahead.’
The entrance to the slave market I’m looking for should be just ahead. That place is several tis more dangerous than the streets I just passed through, so I can’t afford to lower my guard for even a second.
‘Just do it like I did in the ga. Just like I did then.’
***
The imperial capital, often called the Land Where the Sun Never Sets, had another side. The Lutein underworld.
“Is anyone there?”
“...A guest?”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
At the entrance of its most secretive and hidden zone, a man nad Rian—who had been tending to the stove—was startled by a sudden voice. Instinctively, he grabbed the window panel and peeked outside.
“Moon’s shadow.”
“Three silver coins.”
“Hm, so you are a guest.”
At the quiet response that followed, he blinked the sleep from his eyes, scratched his head, and straightened his posture.
“Wait, what did you just say?”
His eyes widened in shock.
‘It’s not even ti to receive regular guests yet...’
In truth, the slave market he managed had only opened its doors the day before. And even then, only to VIPs directly involved in the business—guests among guests.
So of course, it was impossible for this visitor to be soone he recognized, and they shouldn't have needed a passphrase in the first place.
‘Wasn’t I the one who sent the passphrase to headquarters?’
Moreover, the password just given by the guest was one Rian had barely managed to think up after racking his brains for sothing aningful and impressive. He hadn’t even sent it to headquarters yet, which ant no one else should know it.
“What seems to be the matter?”
Naturally, if Whitney—his informant—had heard that, he might’ve flinched. But being entirely unaware of such internal details, Whitney simply tilted his head with a calm expression and asked,
“Is there a problem?”
By that point, sweat was already beading on Rian’s forehead.
‘This guy... he’s one of us.’
After years of scraping by in this line of work, Rian had developed a knack for reading people at a glance. He could size up most folks just by looking at them.
And the young man now smiling eerily in front of him couldn’t be categorized as just a ‘VIP.’
Judging by the aura he exuded and the mind-reading trick he’d just pulled, it was far more likely he belonged to the sa kind of shadows Rian himself was tied to—soone steeped in endless darkness.
But if he were truly one of their own, there’d be no reason to show up at the slave market like this. And if he were just a private individual, there’d be even less reason. After all, those bound to the shadows had no need for living toys or entertainnt.
Which ant he was clearly moving on behalf of soone else.
So then—who had the power to send such a figure in secret, with full knowledge of the slave market’s operations, without ever exchanging a word with its manager?
‘No way... Could those ridiculous rumors have been true?’
In Rian’s mind, there was only one person in the entire Empire—perhaps even the whole continent—capable of such a thing.
The Emperor. The ruler of the continent’s sole unified empire. A man widely considered the most powerful figure in history.
Lately, rumors had begun to circulate that the so-called Emperor’s Shadow—his hand in the underworld—was starting to stir in secret.
‘Then could this guy really be...?’
It was such an unlikely possibility that even Rian himself considered it a baseless rumor, but faced with the eerie smile and unnatural presence of the man before him, it was hard not to imagine the worst.
After all, while his own organization did have ties to many powerful nobles and spanned across the Empire, being able to run sothing this dark so openly in the heart of the capital was another matter entirely.
But if it were all being orchestrated under the hand of the Empire’s most exalted figure?
‘No. Don’t dig any deeper.’
Though Rian had followed his quick thinking down that train of thought in re seconds, he quickly shook his head and erased it from his mind.
He’d seen plenty of people vanish without a trace after running their mouths about things they shouldn’t have.
“Please, co inside.”
So instead, he simply did his job as a middle manager, forced a pleasant smile, and threw open the door behind him.
‘Seriously, I just did what I usually do and it worked?’
Of course, Whitney had no idea about any of this. He simply walked inside, proud of how calmly he’d handled the situation.
“Yes. I’m certain.”
And surprisingly, for once, it wasn’t just his imagination.
“...Whitney Ringaarden. That’s him, Your Majesty.”
From deep within the alley, still hidden among the heavy shadows, soone quietly reported what they had just witnessed—having been outpaced by Whitney.
***
At that very mont—
In the prison beneath the slave market, a cold dampness hung in the air.
“Hey, Number 167.”
A single girl remained there, left behind after the VIPs had already co and gone. At the sudden voice from beyond the bars, she slowly raised her head.
“Scrap food, brat.”
What was thrown before her was a bowl filled with sothing worse than dog food. She glanced at it briefly, then calmly looked away. Her silence was answered by a sneering voice that echoed through the underground.
“Don’t act so high and mighty.”
“......”
“Still think you’re a noble, don’t you?”
At those words, the girl’s blank eyes flickered with a brief spark of fire—but the mont the guard’s hand moved toward the baton at his waist, it extinguished just as quickly.
“We classified you as rchandise, and all you did was turn out defective, draining our resources and wasting legal protection.”
Gaining confidence from her submissiveness, the guard sneered even more, his voice soaked in mockery.
“Still, consider yourself lucky. If you’d been classified as lowborn, you’d have been soiled long ago.”
“Who knows, though. Among the general buyers coming in soon, there are always bloated pigs with too much money. Maybe, if you play your cards right with that pretty face, you could end up higher than a queen. Live a second life, perhaps?”
But as the girl showed no response, the guard clicked his tongue in irritation. He raised his baton high in the air as if to strike.
“You’ve been ignoring this whole— Hm.”
The black sigil etched into his hand gave off a faint burn. Smacking his lips, he lowered the baton and turned around.
“Damn brat.”
And then, silence.
‘How... did it co to this.’
In that stillness, the girl stared at the ground for a long while, and tears slowly began to pool in her eyes.
‘I only wanted... to wield a sword again.’
Her entire life had been devoted to the sword. And now, not only was the blade taken from her—just as the guard had said—she was nothing more than a noble’s discarded toy, waiting to be sold.
‘Why...?’
She had let go of hope long ago.
Just the day before, people who had once stood on the sa level as her had co and gone, throwing disdainful glances as they appraised her.
None of them had even tried to bid on her. As if to mock her foolishness, they passed by with pitiful comnts and nothing more.
It was the mont her pride as a noble and her honor as a swordswoman had been utterly denied.
“Kh... ugh...”
Tears began to fall from her eyes, striking the cold stone floor, as she clasped her trembling hands—hands that no longer had any strength left.
She felt as if she could die then and there. But the brand of a slave etched into her shoulder denied her even that final dignity.
‘Just once... before I die...’
Her body had long grown weak from not drinking at night, and she was nearing her limit. But right before death, they would just force-feed her like a dog, shoving food into her mouth. Resistance ant nothing now.
‘Will I... ever hold a sword again?’
Trapped in that unending abyss of despair, her vision fading and her will crumbling, she didn’t even bother to steady herself. And it was in that very mont that she muttered those words silently in her heart—
“Lunelle Misthylene.”
A voice she had never heard before—chilling enough to make her spine freeze—echoed through the cell.
“I’ll take this one.”
Realizing the voice had spoken her na, the girl mustered the last of her strength and slowly lifted her head.
“You’re exactly my type.”
She saw a boy about her age, with a smile so chilling that if she’d still had her sword, she might have drawn it by reflex.
‘At least he’s not so bloated bastard...’
The thought crossed her mind for an instant—and she hated herself for it. Deeply.
She quietly closed her eyes.
“I look forward to working with you, Miss Lunelle.”
‘No... maybe that would’ve been better, actually.’
And with a final thought that Whitney would have found very disappointing, her consciousness flicked out like a dying fla.
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