Chapter 45: Search – 2
The next morning.
It was breakfast ti, and a faint drowsiness lingered in the air.
It seed everyone had finally relaxed, having survived the Fourth Quest unscathed.
‘Originally, I would have been mixed in with them too.’
If I hadn’t seen the Future Diary.
Nom, nom.
Aina swallowed her potato soup and spoke.
“But anyway, what should we do starting today?”
“I think we should start by gathering more information about the ga. How about traveling around the other ruins across the continent?”
“Are those ruins also related to magic?”
“No, they’re not. But since those places are beyond the reach of most nations, there’s a chance that Magireta might have used them as ga locations in the past.”
I cut into their conversation.
“We should first look for Sernia.”
The room instantly fell silent.
Arlia straightened her posture and said,
“I see. I die again.”
“Huh? All I said was that we need to find Sernia.”
“Which ans you’ve seen the future again. And judging from the pattern so far, I’m usually the first to die, aren’t I?”
“Your Highness, you’ve finally learned to turn self-deprecation into humor.”
“I’m not exactly happy about it, though.”
Aina opened her mouth.
“Did you really see the future again?”
“Yes. And part of what Her Highness said was right. But to be precise—both you, Her Highness, and my brother are all slaughtered.”
“All of us? What on earth happens?”
“Ian has been resurrected.”
Everyone’s mouths dropped open.
Aina, in particular, slamd the table in agitation.
Soup splashed slightly from the force.
“But that guy died! No—he didn’t just die, he was completely eliminated!”
“What else could it be? Edgar must’ve brought him back.”
“……”
“He probably offered his own life in exchange. Now, we only need to kill him two more tis. No, counting his original life, maybe three.”
Arlia looked utterly exasperated.
Anyway, I briefly explained what I had seen in the Future Diary.
Berseum, who had been silently listening, finally spoke.
“Sernia, you say? Is that person strong enough to stand against Ian?”
“Most likely.”
“But that’s an unfamiliar na. If soone that powerful existed, their reputation would’ve spread across the continent by now.”
“Maybe a hermit who turned their back on the world. We’ll have to see for ourselves.”
Saying that, I took out a teleportation bead.
Everyone, realizing what I was about to do, hurriedly finished their als.
Once they stood up, I spoke.
“Is everyone ready?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll go first. I want to move near Sernia.”
And then, dizziness should have followed… but it didn’t.
Nothing happened.
I tapped the bead a few tis and repeated,
“I want to move near Sernia.”
“……There’s no response.”
“Right. Why is that?”
“Maybe you have to include the surna as well?”
That would be a problem.
Berseum examined the bead closely, then said,
“Maybe the phrase ‘near’ was too vague. Try saying ‘move to a spot ten ters south of Sernia.’”
I followed his suggestion—but still, nothing happened.
Did I really need to know her full na?
Or was there an error because there were too many people with the sa na on the continent?
Then Arlia gave a sharp conclusion.
“It might not be her real na.”
“Huh? Ah!”
“As Sir Berseum ntioned earlier, it’s strange for soone so powerful to be completely unknown. If she really lives in seclusion, perhaps ‘Sernia’ is a pseudonym she uses for that purpose.”
“That makes sense. Ugh… What should we do then?”
“Still, ‘Sernia’… hmm.”
Arlia crossed her arms, thinking deeply.
Then her face brightened.
“Ah, that’s who it was. I knew I’d seen that na sowhere.”
“Pardon?”
“Rember how I spent a while reading in the Tower of Knowledge?”
Indeed, she was right.
Before the Third Quest, the “Note Test,” began, we had spent an entire week devouring books from the first to the fifth floor.
Well—more precisely, she had.
“There was a short novel among them. The author was Sernia.”
“What? Soone strong enough to fight Ian published a book?”
“Yes. The writing was a little rough, but the emotional storytelling was truly moving.”
“……”
“The one I read was the first volu. There should’ve been a second, but it wasn’t in the Tower of Knowledge. I rember being disappointed.”
Then Berseum said,
“I just rembered. I have the second volu at my house.”
“Huh?”
“My daughter borrowed it from the library. She asked to return it for her… Wait a mont.”
Berseum went into his room and soon returned with a book.
The title read:
— A Love Beyond Reach. Author: Sernia Pentrum.
Aina comnted,
“That’s such a sentintal title. If she’s skilled enough to face Ian, she must be a swordswoman—maybe just soft-hearted.”
“You should read it, Aina. It’s a romance that’ll wring tears from your eyes.”
“No thanks. I’m not interested.”
“Ah, right. You were never fond of letters.”
“I ant I’m not interested in romance.”
Even while chatting with Aina, Arlia flipped through the pages rapidly.
In just three minutes, she had finished reading—no, morizing—the whole book.
With slightly reddened eyes, she brushed her lashes and murmured,
“What a beautiful story.”
“I’ll never get used to that speed.”
“Hm? Wait a mont.”
Arlia tilted her head, then suddenly began reading the book backwards—from the last page to the first.
Completely in reverse.
Just as I began to wonder what kind of eccentric act that was, she spoke.
“As I thought.”
“What is it?”
“This is a cipher.”
“Huh?”
“Hold on. Give a mont.”
Arlia asked for a pen and a blank notebook.
When Berseum handed them to her, she imdiately began writing at an astonishing speed.
“Swift” would have been an understatent.
At first, we waited nearby, but after thirty minutes passed, everyone had settled into more comfortable positions.
Berseum washed the dishes, and Aina did so light cleaning around the house.
When they ca back to the table—
Arlia waved a sheet of paper with a satisfied smile.
“I’ve deciphered it all.”
“What was it?”
“The first volu of this novel that I read in the Tower of Knowledge—rember how I said it had too many commas between the sentences? How the writing felt awkward?”
“Yes.”
“But in the second volu, commas were placed only where they were absolutely necessary. That’s why I thought it might be a cipher.”
“……”
“The first volu was a novel that hid the decoding thod. And by using that thod to analyze the second volu, the code could be completed.”
She explained that if you added the number of letters before and after each comma in the first volu, that total would represent a page number in the second volu.
Then, the number of letters from the start of the sentence to the comma indicated which line on that page it referred to.
And the number of letters from the comma to the end of the sentence indicated which character on that line it pointed to.
“But we don’t have the first volu now. How are we supposed to—never mind.”
“I morized it, so it doesn’t matter.”
“I said never mind, but you just had to say it.”
“I may die easily, but at least I’m still useful.”
“You were really holding on to that one, weren’t you.”
Arlia casually handed over a sheet of paper.
“If we take only the commas that shouldn’t exist grammatically, and decode the second volu according to what I explained earlier… this is the sentence we get.”
— Quest. Ga. Survival. Pass. Elimination.
“If you can understand what these words refer to, please find Sernia of the Odmil Territory.”
A mont of silence passed.
Aina spoke up.
“Odmil… that’s not too far from here. About two days by carriage. Though with the teleportation bead, distance doesn’t really matter.”
“Seems we’ve found our next destination.”
“Are we leaving right away?”
I nodded to everyone and gripped the bead.
“Let’s go. This ti, let’s kill Ian for good.”
No matter how desperate Edgar might be, he wouldn’t sacrifice his own life again to bring Ian back.
By now, that bastard’s extra lives had to be running low.
And so, we moved to the Odmil Territory.
At that sa ti, as Mason’s party departed for the Odmil Territory—
Edgar and Ian were scouring the Deut Territory.
The brooch had enhanced more than just his physical abilities.
Ian’s naturally extraordinary sense for detecting energy had improved dramatically as well.
He still rembered the sound of Mason’s group’s breathing and movents from the Hide-and-Seek Quest.
Using that as a reference, they searched every corner of the Deut Territory, but found nothing.
“They’re gone. Nowhere to be found.”
“I see.”
“…My apologies.”
“Huh? Haha, why are you apologizing? You’ve done more than enough, Ian.”
Ian simply scratched his head.
It felt strange—apologizing to soone.
Strange, but… not unpleasant.
Edgar stroked his chin and said,
“Still, it seems Mason has already left this area.”
“It’s only been a night since the Fourth Quest ended.”
“Exactly. Which ans they’re moving with a purpose. Sothing they want to settle before the Fifth Quest begins.”
And what could that be?
For now, there was no way to know.
But a more pressing concern was…
‘That damned teleportation bead.’
The bead had no cooldown ti and no limit to the number of uses.
He should have obtained it.
He had to have secured it during the Third Quest.
‘I can’t let them keep running around with that convenient little thing forever.’
There was no other way.
He’d have to use a slightly unconventional thod.
Edgar entered a nearby inn and rented a room.
Ian followed quietly without asking any questions.
Once inside, when the surroundings fell silent, Edgar spoke.
“Magireta, sister.”
“You called?”
Ian nearly jumped out of his skin.
Magireta was lying flat on the bed.
She had even pulled the blanket over herself, with only her head sticking out.
“Wh-when did you get here?”
“From the start. Anyway, why did you call , Edgar?”
“Can’t you call your little brother too?”
“No. That’s gross.”
“What’s the difference between and Mason, exactly?”
Edgar shrugged, unbothered.
“Sis, Mason keeps running away.”
“Maybe he just had sothing to do.”
“Either way, what matters is that I can’t catch him. Can’t you give a teleportation bead too?”
“That was the first-place reward from the Third Quest. The Third Quest is over, and you weren’t first.”
A long, roundabout way of saying no.
As if expecting that answer, Edgar continued smoothly.
“Then at least give sothing that can disable that bead’s function. In advance.”
“……”
Magireta chuckled softly.
She lazily rose from the bed and approached Edgar, looking him straight in the eyes.
“Don’t abuse the hidden rules too much. You’re making things unfair for the other participants.”
“Mason seems to be keeping up just fine, though.”
“……”
“You’re too fair, sis. Though… that’s one of the things I like about you.”
“You’re making sick.”
“Ah, rejected again.”
Edgar Tyler had known it from the very beginning.
That he could pull a future first-place reward into the present.
It was one of the hidden rules—
A piece of overwhelming information that no other participant yet knew.
“There really is such an item, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then let take it on credit.”
“……”
“Co on. There’s a ‘credit’ system among the hidden rules, isn’t there?”
As Magireta had once personally told Mason, there were nurous hidden rules in this massive ga.
The “credit system” Edgar ntioned was one of them.
Since the concept of “trade” was already recognized, naturally, the rule of “credit” could exist as well.
—A participant may request a future first-place reward in advance.
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