“So what you mean is… the current king of Elrika Kingdom, is a servant of Chalian?”
“Yes, Ian. And he isn’t even a ‘human’.”
“What is he if not a human? An undead or asmodian?”
Ian asked Remus with a surprised look.
“Yes. He is an Asmodian. No, precisely he is a magical beast.”
“…?”
“The identity of the guy who is seated on the throne is almost exactly like a ‘doppelganger’.”
A new quest from Remus, the quest ‘Puppet of Elrika Kingdom’.
The content of the quest was simple.
By hiding behind the strength of Elrika, defeat the fake king and then place the real king, Remus on the throne.
There was only one precondition.
No one should be known that the king had been replaced.
The quest was to return the Elrika Kingdom to the rightful King, by replacing the one placed by Lich King.
And not to let the Lich King notice.
Ian was flustered and was scratching the back of his neck.
‘I don’t know, it isn’t easy to infiltrate the domain of Rataphel, how am I supposed to do that to the castle? Besides I need to take him along…’
Ian looked at Remus who had a comfortable face and sighed.
If he would use the manner similar to the one when infiltrated the Rataphel domain, then it wouldn’t be so impossible.
But rather than taking the difficulty and risk, it looked better to take some time and push in with the troops.
Ian complained to Remus.
“This is the secret book?”
“Of course.”
“The helpful assistant that was bound to help me with this secret book?”
Remus still responded to Ian with the same confident look.
“Surely, I can’t help but be sure. If I take back the throne without the Lich King not noticing, then it will be bloodless battle for the Lotus Kingdom.”
“No, it isn’t that… it’s too unrealistic to sneak in and kill in the doppelganger and then to put you in place. I think it will be more difficult than taking the whole war.”
Only then did Remus understood the dissatisfaction of Ian’s and opened his mouth,
“Oh, it is right to worry about.”
“Isn’t it a bit too carefree?”
“I need to be carefree. From what I know, your abilities are too great for the task.”
“…?”
Ian stared at Remus with a ridiculous expression.
Remus took a moment to speak.
“There is a secret passage to the castle in the northwest.”
“Secret… passage?”
Remus nodded his head and answered.
“Yes, secret passage. It is a path that only I know about.”
“Oh ho?”
Ian’s eyes were shining.
Because if there was a secret passage like Remus had mentioned, then the quest would be much easier than imagined.
‘That was why the difficulty wasn’t greater than S?’
Of course, the difficulty of an S didn’t mean easy, but until recently, only triple SSS grade quests have been in progress, and so the current quest seemed easier.
However, listening to the story of the secret passage, the level of difficulty seemed appropriate.
‘But what did he mean when he said my abilities were too great for the task?’
A question arose about what Remus had said.
And that question was solved quickly.
* * *
Swoosh-!
The sound of a stream water flowing.
To feel the water’s pressure, Jinsung was down in the bathtub.
“Uhm, paradise…”
The new house that he had moved in a few months ago was his favorite in many ways.
Because it was a newly-built apartment, it’s comfort wasn’t comparable with the other ones.
The bathroom, in particular, was truly unparalleled.
The freshwater flowed to Jinsung who only used the shower in his other home, this was like a feeling of going to the hot spring for every bath.
Soaking in hot water and lying still was nothing less than heaven.
“Ahm!”
An intense yawn came out of Ian’s mouth.
But in the meantime, the mind of Jinsung was filled with Kailan.
‘I’ll have to head to the Elrika castle once I log in. This time I don’t even have a party so I need to move right away.’
With his eyes closed, Jinsung recalled the conversation he had with Remus before logging out.
“Phoenix… you say? That is a very interesting thing.”
The defenders on the side of the Lotus were the God Dragon ‘Karceus’ and the Griffin ‘Pin’.
Likewise, each of the other kingdoms had more than one patron.
The same was the case for the Elrika Kingdom.
“The Guardian deity of our Elrika Kingdom is the legendary beast Phoenix.”
The guardian of the Elrika Kingdom was a beast Ian hadn’t seen yet.
With the flames that would never be extinguished till its heart still beats, the legendary beast ‘immortal’ one, was the guardian of the Elrika kingdom.
According to Remus, the phoenix was the one which guarded the secret passage.
At the end of the secret passage, one giant tree stood tall, and in the tree was a nest of Phoenix.
“Huh. Do we have to kill him to get there?”
“It doesn’t have to be like that. To kill a phoenix, that is something that one can’t do. The guy in the giant tree is probably a little younger than a year old.”
“Yeah? Then what am I supposed to do?”
“You need to get the heart of it.”
“The heart…?”
Ian who reminded the conversation with Remus began to organize the contents one after the other.
“Behind the giant tree is a door to the castle. But it is blocked by strong bonds. And to open those bonds, the flame bead is needed.”
“Flame bead? What is that?”
“The red beads are something that a Phoenix can make once a lifetime.”
“Hm…?”
“The Phoenix presents the Flame Beads only to the master that he accepts worthy.”
“The master of the phoenix, is it you the king of the Erika Kingdom?”
“My phoenix isn’t in the world. Chalian had already destroyed it.”
“That… so. Then the guy who is in the secret passage…?”
The Phoenix which Remus had raised was already taken down by the hands of Chalian.
But the egg, which remained in its nest, woke up while Remus was caught.
In order to be recognized as a master of the Phoenix, a non-summoner had to meet eyes with it—right after he breaks through the egg.
However, the guy in the nest woke up alone, so the only one who gets acceptance from him can be the one who can tame and summon him.
“So… You told me not a difficult task for my ability.”
“Yeah. To be precise, you’re an excellent summoner. You are a summoner who tamed a God Dragon, I believe that a Phoenix can be tamed.”
“That, well…”
The secret passage to the Elrika Castle, was in fact created by Remus when he ever came across an emergency to escape.
Because of this, only Remus who had the flame beads could only pass the barrier.
Of course, when the phoenix, which Remus owned had disappeared—the flame beads were already lost, which was why he couldn’t pass through the enchantment which he designed.
“If you defeat the phoenix, the enchantment can be forced to open.”
“How?”
“If the heart is taken and broke, then it is possible.”
“…”
“But if that happens, the guards who defend the castle will notice such intrusion.”
“I’ll have to tame the Phoenix.”
Swooah-!
Summing up all his thoughts, Jinsung rose from the bathtub.
He wasn’t sure if the rank of the Phoenix was legendary or myth, but meeting the one with the title ‘God Bird’ was a chance he wasn’t willing to meet.
A familiar voice came for Jinsung from the living room, as he was about to enter the capsule room after getting dressed.
“Jinsung-ah, eat your food and then play.”
For ten years with his parents, it seemed like a nagging pain.
But now it was a voice that could never be seen as nagging.
“Huhu, okay Harin-ah. What’s the menu?”
Because the food made by Harin was enough to put off the game.
* * *
The entrance of the secret passage that Remus constructed in a place that was easy to enter.
The location itself was inside the Elrika kingdom, but the portal connected to the entrance was connected to the adjacent kingdom, ‘Paulus Kingdom’.
The Paulus Kingdom wasn’t a territory that was hostile towards Lotus, which made it easy for Ian to locate the location of the portal.
‘Surely after the Lich King episode gets done, the next was going to the Paulus kingdom.’
As soon as the footstep fell on the ground after the episode, he was going to declare the war on Paulus kingdom right away, but now, the Paulus kingdom wasn’t in a bad relationship with Lotus.
Kaemik territory—a small baron land located outside the Paulus kingdom.
Remus, who took Ian to a small hut outside the estate, spoke to him.
“Inside the secret passage, a lot of powerful monsters will come at you.”
At the unexpected turn of events from Remus, Ian was a bit shocked.
“Uh? To a secret passage made for evacuation. Why would you release the monster?”
Remus replied like it was a needed thing to be done.
“If one had the flame bead, no monsters in the aisle would attack.”
“Hm…?”
“The monsters in the passage area are all the monsters with flame attribute. Monsters with flame attributes don’t attack the phoenix.”
Ian was interested in it.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Not entirely precise, but unless it was a higher-ranking one than the phoenix.”
“Then they will be aware of the ‘flame bead’ item from the ‘Phoenix’?”
“I’m not entirely sure, won’t it be like that?”
“Well.”
“But that doesn’t mean that if you have the flame bead then you won’t be attacked at all.”
“Huh? What is that supposed to mean?”
“Even having the Flame bead in possession, it will be hostile if it is attacked first.”
“Ah, that is understandable.”
Ian wasn’t paying much attention to the flame bead.
He was only interested in the summon called ‘Phoenix’.
After listening to the explanation given by Remus about the ‘flame bead’, it didn’t seem like just another ordinary item.
‘This, is this an item that would be incredibly useful when entering a dungeon of flame attribute?’
High-level dungeon which hasn’t been discovered yet, obviously composed of flame attribute monsters over the level of 400.
If the flame bead was in possession in those places, hunting in those dungeons would be peaceful.
This would have a great impact on the dungeon’s difficulty than anyone could expect.
‘Nice, what’s the secret dungeon, should I see it for myself?’
When he opened the door, a small portal with a burning red color opened.
The eyes of Ian and Remus met each other, and Remus opened his mouth after a nod.
“You can enter the portal. You go in and then I’ll follow you.”
As soon as Remus was done, Ian stepped forward without hesitation, and the portal sucked in Ian right after.
A line of system message emerged in Ian’s view, which temporarily turned black.
Tring-!
[Entered ‘Remus Secret Passage’ dungeon.]
