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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 52
Although the summoning slot had increased, unlike with Vanessa, the Transcendent didn’t appear right away.
Instead, a sleek, jet-black luxury car quietly pulled up near the general store.
It was such a high-end model that even passersby stopped in their tracks to stare.
The car bore the R&R emblem.
A Rolls-Royce.
And not just any model this one was a limited-edition Phantom Bespoke.
‘Wow, I wonder how much something like that costs.’
Whoever’s inside must be insanely rich.
As I was quietly admiring the vehicle, the driver’s side door opened and someone familiar stepped out.
“…Huh?”
My eyes widened at the sight of the familiar figure.
A sharp, pristine suit that mirrored her upright, disciplined nature. Eyes the color of deep lakes.
The woman who stepped out was Rachel.
As I watched, she walked straight up to the general store’s door and went inside.
“Mr. Seojun, I’ve come to escort you.”
“You’re early, Ms. Rachel.”
“I figured it would be better to head to the Gate with time to spare. If you have unfinished business, I can wait.”
“No, I was actually waiting for you.”
I had an appointment to meet Rachel today regarding the relic of Napoleon.
At that moment, Jeanne, hearing the door open, stepped out from inside.
“Welcome, Ms. Rachel.”
“It’s been a while, Ms. Jeanne.”
The two greeted each other warmly they’d already met before at the Toulon Gate.
Then Rachel turned to Vanessa.
“I’m Vanessa Walker.”
“I’m Rachel Bonaparte.”
“I heard you helped the benefactor.”
“If by Benefactor you mean…”
Rachel looked puzzled for a moment, but once she followed Vanessa’s gaze to me, she gave a small shake of her head.
“It wasn’t anything major.”
“I see.”
Vanessa smirked as she finished.
“Looking forward to working with you.”
“The pleasure is mine.”
Wait, since when did Vanessa greet people like that?
Coming from someone usually indifferent to everyone besides Jeanne and me, it was an unexpected reaction.
Not sure if it was a good reaction, though.
“Shall we all go, then? I’ll take you to the Gate.”
“Thank you. But, uh…”
I glanced at the inside pocket of Rachel’s black jacket, raising a brow.
Bzzzz—
Her phone had been vibrating non-stop for a while now.
“Shouldn’t you take that?”
“It’s nothing urgent.”
She took out the phone and declined the call. Just before we left the general store and got into the car.
“This is Rachel Bonaparte. I’ve answered the phone.”
—My Lady! How many times have I told you not to drive yourself when overseas?! And last night again you wore that outfit—!
Beep.
After ending the call, Rachel turned to me and said calmly,
“It’s nothing important. Please, get in.”
“Ah, right.”
Judging by how naturally she handled it, it wasn’t the first time something like that had happened.
I couldn’t understand the French on the call, but from the tone, it sounded like she’d been getting scolded.
“It was a lecture.”
Jeanne whispered quietly in my ear.
Thought so.
Looks like even the head of the Bonaparte clan gets nagged as well.
And strangely enough, I found a certain warmth in Rachel who always came across as so upright and proper because of it.
But more importantly…
‘This is insane.’
The moment I stepped into the car, the bright daytime outside felt like it had turned into night.
The ceiling above shimmered like a galaxy, and there was even a mini-fridge between the seats.
“We’ll be departing now.”
Rachel, now behind the wheel, smoothly started driving. For some reason, it felt like I was being chauffeured.
“I really need to buy myself a car later…”
Even if I’ve only got a license in name.
“Ms. Rachel.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“I heard the goal of today’s visit to the Gate is to retrieve one of Napoleon’s relics.”
“That’s correct. It’s believed that Napoleon’s bicorne is located in the Goblin King’s Hall.”
I already had a general idea of the mission from Rachel before we set off.
The objective was to retrieve a relic of Napoleon.
Of course, not every item once owned by a great historical figure was valuable.
The worth of a relic depended heavily on how much meaning its original owner had imbued into it.
You couldn’t compare an object someone had used for just a few days to one they’d used their entire life.
That was usually the case.
But Napoleon was different.
He was famously sentimental when it came to his possessions.
Even the most trivial of his belongings could register as Rare rank relics, because he deliberately assigned meaning to every item he used or gifted.
As a result, relics of Napoleon were everywhere practically countless in number.
You could almost say every object that came out of the House of Bonaparte was one of his relics.
But that just meant Napoleon had an exceptionally strong sense of self-worth.
So much so that his relics couldn’t be fully handled by anyone except Napoleon himself.
The problem was, if one of his relics ended up in the hands of an Abnormality and became corrupted, it could unleash a portion of its power.
And if the relic in question happened to be something Napoleon had truly cherished?
That would be a disaster.
That’s why Rachel was so adamant about retrieving the relic.
As for me, well she said I could keep it if we recovered it, so I figured why not tag along?
If it’s useful, I’ll use it. If not, I can always extract the relic’s magic into a Snowflower Stone.
After all, I was the only person in this world capable of fully awakening Napoleon’s relics.
This Gate’s relic… was the bicorne, wasn’t it?
[PR/N: A bicorne hat is a historical two-cornered hat, It is one of the 20 authenticated hats worn by Napoleon out of the 120 he was estimated to own during his reign.]
A sudden curiosity came to mind, and I asked Rachel,
“Napoleon’s bicornes… I heard there are quite a few of them. Do we know how many there actually are?”
“According to estimates from the main house, there are 326 in total.”
“Estimates?”
“Yes. There are likely more we haven’t discovered yet.”
“…Right.”
Is this guy the king of hats or something?
That brought back old memories of when I’d met Napoleon myself.
Even back then, he changed his hat constantly.
Every time he walked into the general store, he’d be wearing a new bicorne.
Some say he even used his hats in battle, throwing them to his subordinates as a way to boost morale.
For someone with that many relics, it was kind of wild that he gave me a rifle and assigned it so much, meaning it registered as a Legendary-rank item.
I guess… that’s worth being proud of?
My feelings about it were complicated.
“We’ve arrived.”
While I was lost in thought, we’d already reached Inwangsan, where the Gate was located.
We climbed the worn stone steps, emerging into a gloomy forest.
==
[Entering the Goblin King’s Hall.]
==
A dark forest, thick with ominous energy.
Pale-blue will-o’-the-wisps floated through the trees, flickering like ghostly dancers.
‘Yeah, you can tell this is a high-rank Gate just by the atmosphere.’
The Goblin King’s Hall was classified as an A-2 Gate.
A completely different level from the Gates I’d experienced before.
Maybe it was just me, but even the air felt heavy.
Thoom, thoom.
The forest shook slightly as a goblin emerged holding a metal club the size of a tree trunk.
It looked like an ogre, except for one problem.
It had two heads.
‘A twin-head ogre?’
But considering we were in Korea, ‘goblin’ probably fit better than ‘ogre’.
Now that I was paying attention it had three arms too.
“Grrr…”
Two sets of bloodshot eyes glared straight at us.
Then.
Swoosh—
One of its heads dropped to the ground before it could even react.
A moment later, its limbs and remaining head were cleanly severed.
“Let’s go.”
Rachel had already finished cleaning her blade, like she’d just swatted a fly.
As if it were some low-level mob.
“Ah yeah, right.”
I moved to follow her deeper into the woods.
But first might as well collect the magic.
─Snowflower Stone is absorbing mana.
As we went deeper, more goblins appeared, each more grotesque than the last some with too many limbs, others with mismatched heads.
And yet, I felt no tension.
Fwoooosh!
“Graaahhh!”
A goblin screamed, clutching its eyes after being struck by Jeanne’s light.
Slash—shhk—slash.
Rachel and Vanessa cut it down like overgrown weeds.
“Um, what should I be doing right now?”
“Benefactor, please handle any goblins that get past us.”
“Yeah, I think that’d be best.”
...The thing is, nothing’s getting past them.
─ Snowflower Stone is absorbing mana.
Floating in the air, the crystal eagerly sucked up the goblins’ residual mana.
And then—
“Ancestor! Catch this one, please!”
Rachel tossed me a goblin of my own to train with.
“Grrrr, grrrhhh—”
Ugh, this one looks kinda pitiful…
The goblin Rachel sent my way only had one arm left.
It even looked a little hunched, like it was barely standing.
Still, it’s decently strong.
I didn’t let my guard down and approached quietly with Shadow Step.
“GRAHH!”
It swung its only remaining arm at me, but I dodged smoothly.
Thud!
With the Twin Dragon Sword, I pierced its chest and finished it cleanly.
Dodge, strike, there was a satisfying rhythm to it.
After that, Rachel kept sending over disabled goblins one at a time.
‘Is… is this power-leveling?’
It kind of felt like she was just letting me get the last hits.
I had a moment of doubt, wondering if this was really okay.
‘...Meh. Why not.’
Good training is good training.
Besides, this was a high-tier Gate, and the experience was solid.
The mana gains weren’t bad either.
─ Snowflower Stone is absorbing mana.
In the distance, a goblin wearing a bicorne one of Napoleon’s was charging at us, fury in its eyes.
***
“Ancestor, thank you for your hard work.”
“Benefactor, great job.”
“Seojun, you did well.”
“Not sure I did much, honestly. You three carried everything.”
It felt weird getting thanked when I barely did anything.
“That’s not true, Ancestor. Your movements were smoother than when we started.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You’ve definitely improved.”
“Your Shadow Step’s come a long way. If you keep at it like this, you’ll keep leveling up in no time.”
...Huh.
All we did was clear one Gate.
I wasn’t totally convinced, but since all three of them said it, maybe I had gotten better.
Although… The way they kept telling me to stay in the back while praising me was a bit suspicious.
Trying to ignore that feeling, I picked up the bicorne we’d recovered from the Gate.
─ Recognized: Napoleon’s Rifle and Napoleon’s 168th Bicorne.
==
[Napoleon’s Bicorne (168th)]
[Rank: Rare]
A bicorne bestowed by Napoleon to his personal barber, Constantin, after a particularly satisfying haircut.
Wearing it seems to instill a strange sense of courage on the battlefield.
==
‘This is totally a troll item.’
Now I understood why that goblin wearing the bicorne hadn’t tried to run even with its limbs cut off.
But still.
“Are you sure I can have this?”
“If you want it, you may take it. As long as it doesn’t fall into the hands of the grotesque.”
With Rachel’s permission, I pressed the bicorne against the Snowflower Stone and began the mana absorption.
Wummmm—wummmm—
The crystal vibrated as it drank the energy from the hat.
‘Looks like the color’s gotten darker.’
A bit more and I might be able to embed this into a relic slot.
Of course… I’d have to increase my slot count first.
“Thank you, Rachel.”
“I’m glad it was of use to you.”
Rachel smiled faintly.
“Then where shall we head for the next Gate?”
“…There’s more?”
“Yes. We've confirmed 38 Napoleon relics here in Korea alone.”
Is she the relic queen or something?
I was dumbfounded, but honestly I wasn’t complaining.
All I had to do was keep absorbing mana.
With that, our group returned to the shop via Rachel’s vehicle.
“Until next time.”
“You worked hard.”
Rachel gave a polite bow and got into the driver’s seat.
Vrooooom──
I watched the car vanish into the distance, then turned and opened the door to the shop.
But.
“…Hm?”
Inside the general store, which should’ve been locked, stood a man I didn’t recognize.
‘A thief?’
He was a tall, muscular man with bronzed skin and a thick, hulking frame.
“Benefactor, get behind me.”
Vanessa stepped in front of me, eyes sharp and cold as ice, warily watching the man.
“Ah, pardon me, I didn’t see the shopkeeper, so I was merely looking around.”
The man raised his head.
Amber eyes piercing and wild, like those of a beast locked onto mine.
And as they did, a phrase popped into my head.
─You have encountered a Transcendent from a failed timeline.
The man I had mistaken for a thief was actually a Transcendent who had come to my store.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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