Chapter 478: The Darkness of the Guild
"The grudge dates back five hundred years... They are naless because they did not leave their nas in history. Betting their clan on surpassing the Holy Sword - that's the backstory, huh?"
"That's right. But, the plan to bring the Underworld God closer to the Holy Sword was not proposed by the Naless clan."
"What!?"
If only they had the Holy Sword...
They challenged the Hero with that in mind.
To humanity, who struggled against the Demon King's offensive, the Hero was their only hope.
To challenge that Hero is tantamount to challenging humanity.
That's why their na was erased from history.
From there, they tried to surpass the Holy Sword to counter the Hero.
If it's not that kind of story, it becos complicated.
It ans that a third party's will has intervened.
"The Underworld God Plan. The man who first ca up with the idea to create a magic sword surpassing the Holy Sword using the growing demonic sword, the Underworld God, was Anacleto Linares. He was a man who fought as part of the Hero's party five hundred years ago and he is my grandfather."
For a mont, the amount of information was overwhelming.
Anacleto.
I knew that na.
He was the magician of the Hero's party that fought alongside the first generation Brave of Amsberg and after the war, he beca the guild master of the Adventurer's Guild. He was the one who created the current way of the adventurers.
Unquestionably, he lived five hundred years ago.
He is her grandfather?
"Anacleto was a person who saw the Demon King's power up close. That's why he overly prepared for the devil's counterattack. In contrast to the Hero choosing to pass down his blood and the Holy Sword, Anacleto chose two things: prolonging his life and the preservation of other forces. The preservation of forces was achieved in the form of SS-class adventurers, and his life extension was also successful."
The ancient magical era.
The human lifespan seed to be longer than it is now. At least, that's what the literature suggests.
Considering that, human life extension currently would be possible.
But there are limits even to that.
"By continuing every possible life extension thod, Anacleto and his newborn son lived on for more than three hundred years. The life extension thod they arrived at was to stay in a special barrier set up at a singularity point for half a day or more. But for Anacleto, it was a failure. What Anacleto desired was to retain his power at its peak. Gradually, Anacleto's power was fading. So Anacleto changed his policy, similar to the Amsbergs."
"A way to pass on his powers to future generations, huh? But it's unbelievable. A human who has lived for three hundred years was able to retain reproductive ability."
Reproductive ability is a primal instinct of species.
If life extension is successful, this instinct is unnecessary.
Unnecessary instincts typically degenerate.
"For Anacleto, it was a gamble. However, the attempt was successful. His son fell in love with a woman, and they had a child. A beautiful miracle born of love. That is ."
"Don't say that about yourself."
"It's true. In the end, both of Anacleto's thods were successful. I'm not a magician, but I beca an SS-class adventurer, and the system of SS-class adventurers in the Adventurer's Guild is also functioning. But, not everything is good."
Linares sighed heavily.
Anacleto had taken two strategies.
The life extension resulted in Linares' birth so it can be considered a success. At least, it wasn't in vain.
The other goal was the preservation of the other forces besides the Hero.
The system of SS-class adventurers is a suitable system for protecting the outliers.
But, who would be the leading outlier at that point five hundred years ago...
"Anacleto gave the Underworld God to the ancestors of the Naless, who were at the ti being persecuted as enemies of mankind. He gave them a mission to surpass the Holy Sword through generations. He thought that their talent would be needed when the Demons might invade again. It also served as insurance in case the Holy Sword couldn't be used."
"So relying on a single genius and a single weapon is dangerous... Great Magician Anacleto. He definitely was one of the magicians I respected."
"Throw away your respect. He was a man who did everything he could out of fear of the devil's counterattack. He did many inhumane things. It may have been tolerated back then. If you use the excuse of doing it for the sake of humanity, you can do anything. The culmination of that darkness is the current Naless."
While it sounds good to say he gave them a purpose to live, he rely used them.
He bound the clan of the Naless for five hundred years. It's probably close to a curse.
"To surpass the Holy Sword, the clan of the Naless, who had been strengthening the Underworld God, eventually started to strengthen their own blood. They assimilated all kinds of blood, just like the Adrasia royal family."
"So it was indeed..."
"That's part of the reason why the current young Naless ca to . She wanted my blood as she was trying to evoke emotions."
"Why didn't you stop it?"
Linares clearly showed disgust.
That makes sense.
Linares claid that she was a beautiful miracle of love.
She was proud that love had created her.
For Linares, the Naless clan who sent a child to her for the reason of wanting her blood would be unacceptable.
"Do you think I have the right to stop it? I am Anacleto's granddaughter. You might say I am the root cause of their current situation."
"What about the guild? What were they doing?"
"Unfortunately, the guild is also bound by Anacleto's will. The details were not passed down, but a certain phrase has always been told to the guild master. 'Support the owner of the Underworld God to the utmost.' That's why the guild is having trouble handling the Naless."
"How ridiculous... So they've been protecting and hiding the Naless all this ti? Are you saying it's not a problem to expose the people to danger for the sake of strengthening the Underworld God?"
For the people. If this is underestimated, there's no point in the existence of the guild.
"Until now, the Naless have kept to the bare minimum line. They've never crossed the basic principle "for the people". It was the previous generation that started to run wild. Or to be precise, it started six years ago."
"Six years ago? What happened?"
"The prodigy of the Amsberg family, Elna von Armsberg managed to summon the Holy Sword at the tender age of twelve. The reincarnation of the hero. An ideal opponent to avenge their disgrace, and a sufficient opponent to determine that the bloodline was not diluted. From there, the previous generation of Naless started to panic... Unable to watch this, the parents of the current generation Naless beca fodder for the Underworld God. From there... nobody could stop it."
At the unexpected ntion of Elna, I was rendered speechless.
It's not Elna's fault.
But her imnse power unintentionally caused a tragedy.
"The previous generation of Naless then beca reckless. They installed the current generation in their place and poured all their efforts into strengthening the Underworld God. All for the decisive battle against Elna von Armsberg."
"Even though the presence of demons has been confird, that doesn't change anything? If they clash now, the demons will benefit."
"The ans have already beco the goal. Originally, it was a battle to regain their na, but now the clan's ans of surpassing the hero and the Holy Sword have beco the goal. Even if they beco enemies of humanity again, they're likely to want a decisive battle as the clan's long-cherished wish."
"The problem is that the Naless are part of humanity's fighting force. Even if we defeat them with SS-class adventurers, we won't co out unscathed. Even if we manage to restrain them with several people, we can't handle everything else. No matter what we do, it will only result in losses for humanity."
Clyde said, clutching his head.
If it was certain that no more demons would appear, we might be able to take action, but there is a high possibility that demons will appear again.
Therefore...
"As the Adventurer's Guild, we won't take aggressive action against the Naless until the threat of demons has subsided. As long as we can prevent a decisive battle with Elna von Armsberg, that's fine. And ideally... we'd like them to fight the demons to a standstill."
"I see... and you think that would satisfy and the Empire?"
I understood the thought process.
I understood the background.
I even understood that the tragedy of the Naless clan and the difficulty in stopping it.
But that doesn't an I'll stay silent.
"I'm not asking you to look the other way for free. I'll put a stop to the Naless. No matter how much the previous generation ran wild, the current Naless is my disciple. She should be likely to listen to ."
Saying this, Linares stood up from the sofa.
Then she placed her hand on the wall behind Clyde.
Then, a part of the wall opened, and a small box appeared.
She handed it to .
"What's this?"
"One of the Four Holy Treasures, the Sacred Ring: Sun Mirage Vesta. It was used by Anacleto in the past. I'll give it to you. In exchange, please back down this ti."
When I opened the box, there was a glowing ring inside.
Whether I keep quiet about this matter to the Empire or not.
That's the crux of the matter. As long as I keep quiet, it can be managed.
As a bargaining chip for that, she brought out one of the Four Holy Treasures. Depending on the user and how it's used, it could turn a weak country into a powerful one.
I have to admit, it's beyond my expectations.
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