Morning in Arkan City did not run as calmly as usual. Even before the sun had fully risen across the horizon, the Adventurer's Guild Hall was already filled with adventurers, city guard forces, down to several mages who looked serious-faced. The atmosphere which was usually bustling with discussions of the mission market was now suddenly filled with anxious whispers and various wild speculations in every corner of the room.The pressing atmosphere felt increasingly dense on the upper floor, precisely inside the Guild's internal meeting room. The Guild Master sat enclosed in a heavy silence while tapping his index finger onto the surface of the oak wooden table."I want to hear the tactical report once again," he said, breaking the room's silence.An old mage standing near the large territory map nodded his head slowly. "That mysterious aura manifested last night, Master. Its fluctuation was clearly recorded by the detection artifact.""How strong was the scale?" asked the Vice Guild M

The journey toward the northern border territory turned out to take a much longer time than their initial estimation. Initially Aldric and Darius chose to walk leaving the gates of Arkan City, but after traveling for several exhausting hours under the scorching sun, they decided to rent a merchant horse carriage. Coincidentally, the wooden carriage was traveling without a full load toward the same direction, so the driver did not mind accepting silver coins from them."Are we still far from the border location, Darius?" asked Aldric, who sat in a relaxed position inside the gently swaying carriage compartment."It will take at least another half a day to reach the frontline post, Master," answered Darius, who sat opposite him while occasionally checking the tightness of his new sword's binding.Aldric let out a long breath from behind his mask while sighing softly. "The transportation system in this world is truly slow and inefficient."Darius could only form a thin smile hearing his

The smell of wet soil and decay instantly stung the sense of smell as soon as Aldric and Darius stepped past the boundary line of the northern gate barricade. A thin fog crept between the density of black-trunked trees, hiding the strange border forest vegetation. The atmosphere outside this dividing wall felt many times quieter, as if every living creature inside it were holding its breath behind the darkness of the bushes.Different from the expectations of the guarding soldiers who thought they would directly run fast hunting targets for gold coins, Aldric instead stopped his steps precisely a few meters after that large wooden gate closed tightly. He stood still on top of the pathway, folding both of his arms in front of his chest, and cast his gaze around with a highly casual gesture, as if enjoying the afternoon scenery.Darius, who walked behind him, automatically also stopped his steps. His right hand still tightly held the handle of the new sword at his waist, while his pair

Meanwhile, dozens of kilometers behind the position of the two of them, the atmosphere inside Arkan City had still not fully recovered from the massive tension that occurred last night. The Adventurer's Guild Building appeared extraordinarily busy since dawn broke. The administrative staff moved quickly organizing the logistics report for refugee handling, while the adventurers in the lower hall kept anxiously whispering regarding the city's emergency status that had not been lifted. On the upper floor of the building, a silence instead gripped the main office with a highly dense intensity.Roland Blackthorne sat alone behind his large wooden desk which was filled with a messy pile of tactical report papers and magical sensor documents. The authoritative old man leaned his tired back against the chair, yet his pair of eyes which were laden with combat experience were not focused on the writing in the documents in front of him at all. The fingers of his wrinkled hand tapped the surface

Darius's breath sounded ragged and heavy, echoing amidst the silence of the damp border forest. His body leaned forward with both knees trembling violently. His leather armor had been torn in several parts, leaving lines of scratch wounds that continuously seeped fresh blood. Beneath his feet, the corpse of a Grave Wolf (D-Rank) lay stiff with a neck that was almost severed due to his forced slash.Darius's right hand gripped the handle of his new sword so tightly, so tightly that his knuckles turned white, withholding the tremble so that the weapon would not slip from his grasp. For the first time since he was freed from the chains of slavery, he had successfully plucked away the life of a monster with his own strength.Aldric stood calmly on top of a large boulder not far from there. His pair of eyes behind the flat mask observed the monster's corpse and Darius's condition alternately, assessing the final result of that independent battle."Poor," Aldric said in a flat, expressionle