------------------
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
------------------
Chapter 04: Underground Arena (3)
It happened eleven years ago.
Back when I was just a newbie with only a year of Lost Elder experience under my belt.
One day, an NPC gave me a quest.
『…Undying One, please—you're our only hope. There’s no other hero capable of taking on this task.』
Ding—!
〔A new quest has been added.〕
━━━━━━━━━━━━
【Quest Log】
NEW! Assassinate “Karayan, Guildmaster of the Ruins Merchant Guild”
━━━━━━━━━━━━
That was the request: to assassinate Karayan, the head of the Ruins Merchant Guild.
“Oh, a new quest!”
Back then, I had no idea what kind of organization the Ruins Merchant Guild was.
All I really knew was that they ran the Underground Arena.
So, with a light heart—and partly to get revenge for my tutorial death—I set out to kill Karayan.
“Ha, damn it… why is this so hard?”
But despite starting the quest in good spirits, I quickly found out just how brutally difficult it was.
I’ve said it before: the Underground Arena is inescapable once you’re in.
Which meant, inversely, it was also insanely hard for a player to infiltrate from the outside.
Getting past the high-level guards stationed everywhere and reaching Karayan—who was hiding at the arena’s highest level—was no easy feat.
“Alright. Let’s see who gives up first.”
Click, click.
Of course, being as stubborn as I am, I refused to give up on that godforsaken quest.
After hundreds of tries, I finally managed to sneak my way into one of the core facilities.
When I eventually faced off against the final boss of the Karayan assassination quest, “Shadow Knight Loren,” I spent days studying his mechanics, attack patterns, and gimmicks.
And after all that effort—
『Stab—!』
…I finally took him down.
And drove my sword into the heart of Karayan, who sat masked and motionless on his chair.
〔Quest Complete: “Assassinate Karayan, Guildmaster of the Ruins Merchant Guild.”〕
“Haah… finally cleared it…”
It took exactly two weeks to complete that quest.
As the reward screen popped up and I claimed my loot, I smiled in satisfaction.
Felt like I’d been properly rewarded for my suffering.
“Now, what should I do next?”
A few days passed.
And I completely forgot about Karayan.
I got swept up in other content the game had to offer, and he never crossed my mind again—
Until…
“Huh?”
…I saw Karayan, alive and well, hosting an illegal auction.
“The hell? Why is he still alive?!”
At first, I thought it was a bug.
No way the NPC I killed could just casually be walking around like nothing happened.
But when I brought it up with other players, they dismissed that idea.
[StrawberryLatte]: Come on, no way Loel has bugs. That game’s flawless.
[Kongi’sDad]: Agreed.
“Hmm…”
Yeah.
They had a point. Loel was one of the most polished games out there.
Anyone who’d played even an hour of it could attest to that.
So instead of chalking it up to a bug, I reconsidered— Maybe there was some hidden lore behind it all.
Click.
I dropped my current quests and decided to investigate Karayan and the Ruins Merchant Guild once more.
“Huh?”
Not long after, I noticed something shocking: Every time Karayan appeared in public, his build under the robe looked slightly different.
It wasn’t until years later that I finally uncovered the truth: Karayan’s “real identity.”
That’s right.
Karayan disguised himself as a maid in daily life.
Who the hell would expect the almighty Guildmaster of the Ruins Merchant Guild to dress as a servant?
It was a simple trick—playing on the blind spot of expectations.
“The darkest place is right under the lamp,” as they say.
‘But cute little tricks like that don’t work on me.’
After all, I was a grizzled veteran who’d sunk twelve years into this game.
Sssss—
The cold air that circulated the uppermost floor.
Everyone in the room was staring at me with guarded eyes.
Some were slowly inching their hands toward their hips, ready to draw weapons at a moment’s notice.
“……”
All the staff here were over Level 60—every one of them superhuman.
Among them was even Shadow Knight Loren, one of Loel’s most infamous named NPCs.
‘Compared to that, I…’
I gave my MP bar a quick glance.
〔MP: 0 / 1〕
Still at zero.
Because my mana recovery stat was only 1, it took an eternity to regenerate even a single point.
And to make things worse, I didn’t even have a weapon in hand.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
【Soul of the Swordmaster】
(Unusable)
━━━━━━━━━━━━
…Naturally, the skill couldn’t be used.
“……”
A hair-trigger moment—one wrong move and my life could be over.
Surrounded by high-level enemies, in this absolute crisis, all I had was this pitiful body with average stats barely at 1.
And yet, the reason I could maintain this bold, brazen attitude…
There was only one.
‘I killed Barbar, the Human Butcher, in a single strike.’
Of course, behind that feat was the support of the 12-star skill 【Soul of the Swordmaster】…
‘…But they don’t know that.’
And that was the very weakness I intended to exploit to the fullest.
I deliberately projected confidence, making myself appear as overwhelmingly strong as possible.
I wore a blank, emotionless expression—like I couldn’t care less about the rabble in front of me.
‘A bluff, essentially.’
Fortunately, my bluff seemed to be working.
The tense, stiff expressions on the faces of the staff watching me were proof enough.
“Who are you?”
Before long, the true Karayan—disguised as a maid—spoke up cautiously.
“How do you know my identity? No, more importantly… why did you come all the way to the Underground Arena?”
Without a second of hesitation, I gave the response I’d prepared in advance.
“This isn’t the kind of conversation you have with too many ears listening.”
“…Pardon?”
Karayan widened her eyes.
“Are you requesting a private meeting with me?”
I simply nodded.
The response from the Ruins Merchant Guild came instantly.
“Absolutely not, Master!”
A voice rang out behind me.
The man wearing the eagle mask—who had been pretending to be Karayan until now—stood up in alarm, his voice shaking.
“What if he tries something when you're alone—?!”
Swish.
Karayan raised one hand.
The gesture to be silent immediately shut the masked man up.
After staring at me with a blank expression for a while, Karayan spoke again in a low voice.
“My subordinate is right.”
“……”
“Meeting you alone is too dangerous. Especially if you really are the one who killed Barbar, the Human Butcher, in a single strike.”
Her voice was laced with tension.
“So prove it to me. Prove that you won’t harm me if we’re alone.”
I nearly scoffed inwardly.
Prove I wouldn’t harm her while we were alone? What kind of absurd demand was that?
No matter what I said, if Karayan decided not to believe me, that would be the end of it.
‘Of course, I do have a surefire way to change her mind…’
But that card would stay hidden for just a little longer.
For now, what mattered most was maintaining dominance.
Controlling the conversation was more crucial than anything in a situation like this.
“Prove it, huh…”
I let out a quiet laugh.
A calculated, composed sneer.
“I believe I’ve already proven enough.”
“…What?”
“You’re not great at picking up on nuance, are you?”
Karayan frowned slightly, clearly confused.
But I pressed on in a calm, steady voice.
“If I’d wanted to harm you, I would’ve already killed everyone in this room.”
“…!”
“…!”
Flinch—
As soon as the words—practically a threat—left my lips, everyone in the room tensed up.
The air turned heavy, like it could snap under the pressure.
‘…Looks like that landed.’
Of course, in reality, I was just bluffing with everything I had.
In my current state, I probably couldn’t even beat Karayan, let alone Shadow Knight Loren, the strongest one here.
‘But like I said—they don’t know that.’
And even if the words were hollow…
If they were coming from the one who slayed Barbar in a single blow, then…
“……”
“……”
“……”
…No one in this room would dare dismiss my warning.
‘Well, guess that’s enough posturing for now.’
With the initiative fully in my hands, I figured it was time to play the card I’d prepared.
Karayan of the Ruins Merchant Guild.
According to the game’s lore, she had been searching for someone for a very long time.
When she was a child, wandering aimlessly through the wild, undeveloped regions infested with monsters—unable to settle in any city—
—She and her father were saved from the brink of death by a mysterious traveler.
Swish—!
A robed figure appeared and cleaved the monstrous beast threatening them in a single stroke.
『You alright, little miss?』
『Ah… Aah…』
That moment was burned into young Karayan’s memory.
From that day forward, she devoted her life to finding her unknown savior and repaying the debt.
But it wasn’t an easy task.
His face had been hidden under a robe, and even his voice faded with time, becoming harder and harder to recall.
‘Of course, I’m not the benefactor Karayan is looking for.’
But…
That didn’t mean I couldn’t make use of the information I knew.
“Lea.”
“…!”
“Lea de Karayan.”
Flinch—
Karayan’s eyes went wide.
A reaction of overwhelming shock.
A far cry from her previously emotionless mask.
“H-How do you know my name…?”
Lea de Karayan.
Her full name—a fact known only to a select few:
Karayan herself.
Her parents.
Her unknown savior.
And lastly…
『My name’s not “little miss,” mister.』
『I’m Lea de Karayan.』
『I may just be a nobody roaming the wildlands right now, but ten years from now, I’ll be a major player in this world.』
『So if you ever need help, come find me. I’ll repay this debt, no matter what.』
…And of course, someone like me—who had played the game for twelve years and memorized every important NPC story—also knew it.
“Think carefully, Karayan.”
“……”
“Why would the person who once saved you and your father come back now just to harm you?”
Yes.
I wasn’t her savior.
But there was no rule that said I couldn’t pretend to be.
‘And since there’s no risk of being exposed, all the more reason to do so.’
According to the game’s story, the man Karayan was looking for was already dead at this point in the timeline.
There was no downside to impersonating him.
‘Sorry, pal…’
…But I’ll gladly take credit for the deeds of a dead man.
After all, if I’ve been unfairly dragged into this game world, I’ll do whatever it takes to survive.
------------------
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
------------------
