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  The room was spacious.

  Gold decorated the white walls, reflecting the soft light that illuminated the luxurious furniture. The air was clean, carrying a subtle and pleasant fragrance.

  It was the meeting room of the five elven elders of Eldoria.

  In the past, those five elves had been known as great heroes.

  Centuries ago, they were the ones who defeated a celestial dragon that had established a dictatorship over the elven race. This happened before the great union between the races.

  At that time, humans, elves, dwarves, and monsters lived in a constant cold war.

  Even today, that union was still recent—and monsters continued to be the most excluded from it, since they had no real civilization. The result was the current system of power: the three great powers.

  It was common for each race to have its own representatives.

  Human, elven, and dwarven heroes were, at the same time, political figures and weapons of war.

  The first to speak was a tall elf with white hair. He wore battlewear of the same color, along with a golden bracelet on his wrist. His eyes conveyed commitment… mixed with a slight boredom.

  His name was Digal.

  "Could someone explain to me what the hell is going on?" he asked, resting his chin on his hands.

  "The court wants to investigate the human territory. It seems something strange fell into the ocean, near Valoria."

  "You mean the Sea of Mist. It's the main travel route to get here."

  The replies came from Aldegar and Lillotto.

  Aldegar was a young-looking man with black hair.

  Lillotto was a woman with purple hair who wore a strange sleep mask over her eyes.

  The three of them were the oldest in the room. All of them were more than five hundred years old.

  In fact, there was a fourth veteran… but he had not arrived yet.

  "Are you kidding me?" Riroto grumbled. "What is it now? Does this have something to do with that damned artifact again?"

  He looked visibly irritated.

  Riroto was the youngest among them, not even two hundred years old. He had taken the place of a fallen hero.

  His golden hair and red eyes were his most striking features.

  "You know everything revolves around that," Digal replied calmly. "But we can't cause an uproar. There are probably spies in our territory as well. There's not much we can do."

  "We've been searching for years!" Riroto snapped. "And so far nothing! We don't even know the form of that artifact."

  He crossed his arms.

  "Wouldn't it be easier to look for Arachno? The thing that created the artifacts surely knows where they are. If the artifact isn't already with her."

  "That's not how it works."

  The response came immediately from Lillotto.

  "Arachno, the Sword of God, only follows the one who will be called the King of Heroes. It's been more than eight hundred years since anyone reached that title after Crono."

  She rested her chin on her hands.

  "In other words… Arachno will not allow herself to be found so easily."

  Digal sighed.

  "In short: the court believes that what fell into the Sea of Mist is related to the artifact. But since every nation is searching for it… we can't simply inform Ignaris."

  "And how do we know Valoria doesn't already know?" Riroto asked.

  Lillotto answered.

  Her subordinates had detected an unusual interference in Valoria's teleportation network.

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  Riroto, a specialist in magical technology, quickly connected the dots.

  "Something massive was being concealed," Lillotto explained. "Probably a gigantic rift, maybe something like a pocket dimension."

  She folded her hands.

  "Large-scale spatial manipulation. Enough mana to fry every teleportation system in a kingdom the size of Valoria."

  "That's impossible," Aldegar said. "No one could maintain something like that for long."

  "You're correct."

  Lillotto nodded.

  "But it would be possible with technology… as long as there was enough energy."

  She paused briefly.

  "At minimum, the mana of fifty million people to sustain it for a year."

  The room fell silent.

  "Only a portion of that energy reached Valoria," she continued. "The rest dispersed upward and downward into the ocean."

  She shrugged.

  "The abyssal monsters have probably already devoured whatever mana remained, so I doubt they've found it yet—or bothered to investigate."

  Digal ran a hand through his hair, clearly tired.

  For someone from the old guard like him, the world's technological progress was difficult to keep up with. Unlike Lillotto.

  "This is already too complicated for me," he muttered. "Investigating something in the deep layers of the ocean won't be easy…"

  He looked at Lillotto.

  "I suppose this falls to you."

  She simply nodded.

  "I'll find a safe way for us to descend. Abyssal creatures rarely rise to the upper layers, so there may still be useful traces of mana."

  She tilted her head slightly.

  "I'll look for something in the development sector. We can't waste mana in an unknown environment."

  "So that's it…" Riroto murmured.

  He looked around.

  "Where is that damn Gyu? I refuse to believe he can skip these meetings while I'm forced to come."

  "He probably got delayed doing something stupid," Aldegar said.

  "He's a barbarian," Lillotto added. "He probably got drunk last night."

  Digal let out an amused sigh.

  Gyu, Lillotto, and he were the oldest in the group.

  And Gyu carried that crown proudly.

  "He just likes challenges," Digal said. "Let's be honest, he would never chang—"

  The door opened.

  Everyone immediately looked toward it, expecting Gyu to have finally arrived.

  But what they saw was something much worse.

  A young elf with blue hair stepped into the room. At his waist hung a katana with a sheath of the same blue color. His battlewear resembled a gray kimono with white and bluish waves.

  His face, hair, and clothes were completely soaked in blood.

  Even so, he wore a calm expression. Almost gentle.

  "Hey there. The great heroes. It's an honor to meet you."

  He looked around the room with curiosity.

  "I'm glad to see my teammates are healthy and well."

  Riroto was the first to react. He stood up abruptly and pulled a golden spear from his [Inventory].

  "I don't know who you are, but you'd better start explaining how you got in here."

  Lillotto stood right after him, gripping her staff. Aldegar raised his bow. Digal summoned two daggers.

  The four great heroes were ready to attack at the slightest sign of hostility.

  "Oh! How nice! Those are your weapons!"

  The young man's eyes sparkled for a moment, but soon he tilted his head thoughtfully, analyzing each of them.

  "Strange… they don't look that strong."

  He frowned slightly.

  "Have their unique skills already disappeared? Did you… lose your purposes?"

  "Answer." Riroto's voice grew colder. "Who are you, and how did you get in here?"

  The young man smiled.

  Then he threw something onto the floor.

  The object rolled slowly across the luxurious floor, stopping right in front of them.

  It was Gyu's severed head.

  His eyes were still open, frozen in agony.

  "You bast—"

  Riroto stopped mid-sentence.

  A cut appeared across his throat.

  There was no sound.

  Not even a movement.

  Instinctively he jumped backward, pressing his hand against the wound. The cut wasn't deep, but it had been too fast.

  He hadn't seen the sword leave its sheath.

  'How did he cut me from that distance?!'

  "My name is ádilo Ludwig."

  The young man spoke calmly, as if nothing had happened.

  "I'm just an elf who hasn't even reached one hundred years yet… but who lives for a great desire."

  He took a folded paper from his pocket and opened it.

  "According to Hero Law No. 7… anyone who defeats an active servant in a recognized duel may assume their position."

  He raised the document.

  "A contract signed by Gyu himself."

  Lillotto, Aldegar, and Digal immediately recognized the seal and the signature.

  They lowered their weapons.

  It was legitimate.

  "Now…" ádilo continued, folding the paper again.

  "Do you want to know what my great dream is?"

  Riroto raised his spear again, furious.

  "To hell with that! You didn't have to kill him! There's no way we can accept someone like you as a hero!"

  He stopped when he noticed the silence behind him.

  The other three were no longer in fighting stances.

  "Hey!"

  "Sorry, Riroto," Lillotto said. "But it's the law. We can't ignore it."

  "You have to be kidding me!" he replied indignantly. "Just look at this guy! He's completely insane!"

  "You're hurting my feelings, old man."

  Riroto moved in an instant. His spear vanished.

  He grabbed ádilo by the collar with one hand and held his arm with the other, preventing him from reaching his sword.

  "Listen here, kid. Being a hero isn't a joke. Do you even know what you're getting into?"

  ádilo smiled.

  "I do. It means living as a weapon of war inside a government."

  He answered with a strangely sincere joy in his voice.

  "Being used for centuries to spread misery… while people call it salvation."

  He sighed, almost enchanted by the idea.

  "Isn't it wonderful? If a war breaks out now… I'll finally be able to cut down as many as I want."

  "You—"

  ádilo suddenly headbutted Riroto.

  The impact forced him to step back, holding his nose as it began to bleed.

  ádilo then drew his sword.

  The blue blade reflected the light of the room as he held it vertically in front of his face.

  "Be careful," he said calmly.

  "It would be a shame if the five great heroes became just four."

  Riroto summoned his spear again.

  But before Riroto could respond, several soldiers wearing white military uniforms rushed into the room.

  An older man hurried forward, positioning himself in front of ádilo.

  "Lord Ludwig! Please stop this! You've already dirtied the entire floor bringing Lord Gyu's head all the way here!"

  ádilo looked at him with mild annoyance.

  Then he sighed.

  He sheathed the katana.

  "Alright… maybe I exaggerated a little with my entrance."

  Aldegar stepped forward.

  "Welcome… I guess."

  Digal sighed.

  "Since we've already started… I suppose we should finish the meeting."

  Lillotto agreed with a nod.

  Riroto, however, was far from accepting it.

  He stored his spear.

  Then he left the room without saying a single word.

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