The D-Rank Guild Master of the No. 1 Guild

On the other hand, Shemarin continued to speak softly, not the least bit winded even while sprinting.

“Hmm, I don’t mind as long as we’re not last, but Muraul doesn’t think that way. Neither do the others.”

Muraul. From what I remember seeing in the PK arena, he had a rare unique ability called ‘Life Absorption’ and was quite impressive in both basic stats and intelligence.

I recall his scarred lips muttering curses at me, as if to warn me off.

“They’re all men who willingly knelt before me. So if my boys want something… I have an obligation to get it for them.”

So, Shemarin herself might not want it, but since her guild members do, ultimately, she’s aiming to defeat our guild and take first place?

“And the first-generation round was just a warm-up for us.”

Seeing my serious expression, Shemarin added even more teasingly, making me break into a cold sweat inside.

‘…When will our training ban be lifted?’

Maintaining the top spot both individually and as a guild wouldn’t be easy. The withdrawal symptoms from the training ban I thought I’d overcome seemed to be resurfacing.

“Wait, we’re being tailed?”

Shemarin suddenly muttered.

Tailed? Is this some kind of event the system threw in to hinder players?

Shemarin grabbed my arm and started darting through narrow alleys in a zigzag pattern, running like lightning.

“You’re slow… Should I carry you?”

“Go ahead.”

As soon as I agreed, she lifted me by my back and knees.

Being carried by another guild leader didn’t hurt my pride at all; it was quite comfortable.

Sure enough, with her basic stat of A+, her senses and physical abilities were beyond human. I hadn’t even noticed we were being followed.

Riding the Shemarin taxi with my hair blowing in the wind, we soon arrived in front of the inn marked ‘Dreamlike.’

With Shemarin’s insane speed, we easily lost any tails.

Finding the secret letter in the inn was also a piece of cake with two top intellects working together.

Thus, Shemarin and I successfully secured the secret letter at the inn.

Now we just had to hope the other guild leaders completed their missions and gathered safely at the banquet hall…

Our joint mission… it went well, right?

Mission 1: Forge the secret letter.

Mission 2: Train 50 soldiers.

Mission 3: Find the five-colored crystal spheres.

These three tasks should come together nicely at the banquet, enabling us to carry out the grand plan, right?

“I trust you, Blance. And I trust you, Aleon.”

Even if just one person from the team puts in the effort, we’ll get results somehow.

I don’t have much faith in Lesia and Yudirei.

Lesia might get distracted and fail, and Yudirei seems more likely to cause a ‘murder case in the magic tower’ than focus on the mission.

As long as Aleon isn’t the victim, it should be fine.

As I muttered solemnly, the maid Shemarin standing next to me rolled her eyes, amused.

* * *

Group 3: Aleon/Yudirei

The blue light, ignited by magic, illuminated the dark corridors of the magic tower brightly.

“Ah!”

A man with brilliantly blue hair, wearing a conical hat, suddenly let out a cry of triumph.

Dust puffed off his body as he sprang up from where he had been crouched in a gloomy corner of the hallway.

“I found it!”

In his hand was a jewel the size of his fist, glistening brightly.

This had to be the ‘five-colored crystal sphere’ mentioned by the system.

The sphere, radiating an array of colorful lights, emitted a distinctly otherworldly aura.

Aleon carefully placed the sphere in his pocket, thinking,

‘Now I have something to show Rudel at the banquet.’

“Kyah!”

At that moment, a shrill scream echoed from beyond the corridor.

“What happened?”

Aleon quickly grabbed his hat, which was about to fall off, and dashed forward. At the end of the hallway, apprentice wizards were trembling in fear.

“Oh my god, Maya…?!”

As he approached, he saw a bloody mess that was barely recognizable as a body.

Aleon gasped and turned his head away, swallowing a groan.

From what the apprentice wizards had said earlier, it seemed that the corpse before him was the very wizard who had recently gone missing.

‘A murder in the tower of scholars who seek truth and power, and the victim is a young apprentice!’

While Aleon seethed with anger inwardly, the apprentices whispered anxiously among themselves. The precarious situation was driving them to one conclusion.

‘Since the new tower master took over… something’s been off.’

‘You’re not the only one who feels that way, right?’

‘Me too.’

‘When I close my eyes, I have nightmares, and I keep seeing visions of the ground under her cute feet soaked in blood.’

One apprentice briefly entertained a thought, only to quickly dismiss it.

‘Could it be that Tower Master Yudirei… secretly killed Maya? Now that I think about it, Maya was last seen doing an errand for the tower master.’

But the apprentices couldn’t easily share their suspicions with the senior wizards or take any action.

Naturally. The tower master was the deity of this tower, and compared to her, they were mere fireflies.

Even if their suspicions about the tower master were true, how could they dare to speak out and survive?

At this moment, someone among them shouted in a loud, resonant voice.

“How could such a heinous act happen… Fear not! Now that I know, I will protect you all! And I will find the culprit behind this terrible crime!”

The once gloomy corridor suddenly felt filled with a bright, refreshing atmosphere. The apprentices all turned to look. They felt an almost magnetic pull toward the man in the worn clothes standing before them, their pupils contracting sharply. 

In unison, they all had the same thought: this man with the blue hair was different. He possessed an innate grandeur that couldn’t be confined to the role of a mere apprentice wizard.

One of them finally snapped out of his trance, breaking the tense silence with a trembling voice. 

“Aleon, you’re the new guy who joined yesterday… and you dare to say such things.”

The blue-haired saint flinched.

‘Oh no.’

He realized he should have stayed quiet and unassuming, fitting his role as an apprentice. He should not have revealed his charismatic aura, but seeing Maya’s corpse had caused him to lose control.

“Anyway, I will report this to the superiors! You all should rest somewhere else to avoid getting emotionally scarred and to preserve the crime scene!”

Aleon hastily made an excuse and left the area.

“……”

All the dozen or so eyes in the room followed the saint’s retreating figure.

“Do you remember what the crow perched on the spire shouted when we were cleaning the top of the tower yesterday?” one apprentice mentioned cautiously. 

A talking crow was undoubtedly an ominous sign, so they all remembered its words exactly.

‘The current tower master is a fake!’

‘One day, the true master will return to reclaim their place…’

Whether it was due to being enchanted by Aleon’s aura or succumbing to the latent weakness in their hearts, the apprentices’ expressions began to change one by one.

“Aleon.”

One apprentice whispered his name, and soon, a murmur spread among them like a contagion.

“Aleon.”

“Our savior.”

“The one to save the tower.”

“No one else.”

“We must follow him.”

Their eyes began to gleam with an inexplicable, feverish light.

* * *

Group 2: Lesia/Blance

Snow fell heavily at the northern grand duke’s castle.

Usually, the heat of the training knights would prevent any snow from settling in the training ground, but with their leader away, their spirits were significantly dampened.

“Where did Captain Blance go?”

“I heard he went to meet the Grand Duke…”

“But that was yesterday.”

The knights, now idling and chatting amongst themselves, were filled with confusion.

“So, the captain has been missing since yesterday?”

“How could a man as tough as nails go missing? He must be in an important meeting in the reception room.”

“Alright, but what about our training?”

Mission 2: Train 50 soldiers.

While the clueless knights were either sleeping or playing poker, making the most of their unexpected break, Captain Blance had followed his temporary superior, Grand Duke Lesia, down to the castle’s basement.

‘I’ll keep humoring her while trying to uncover the Anawing guild leader’s weaknesses.’

Blance found it amusing how she naively suggested they speak informally and become friends, not realizing his ulterior motives.

“I’ve found a great place. You’ll be amazed when you see it,” Lesia said, bouncing down the basement stairs and throwing open the door to a storeroom.

…And about two hours later,

“Hahaha!”

The basement of the Grand Duke’s castle echoed with Lesia’s hearty laughter.

Lesia, with her feet propped diagonally on the table, lifted her glass toward her companion, her face flushed.

Drunkenness made it the perfect time to extract confidential information. Lesia had practically walked into Blance’s trap.

“……”

But Blance, for some reason, remained silent, merely gulping down wine straight from the bottle.

His attire started to become increasingly disheveled.

The storeroom Lesia had proudly revealed turned out to be the Grand Duke’s wine cellar.

“You sure can hold your liquor, old man.”

Lesia’s face alternated between cheerful blurriness and sharp clarity as she chatted away, caught up in the moment.

Meanwhile, the older man, fully intoxicated, had completely abandoned his ‘mission’ and was now entirely focused on indulging in the finest wines.

Blance, known as the guild master of “Bluemonday,” who usually had a demeanor as indifferent as desert sand, was a strategic mind who also happened to be a connoisseur of alcohol. One could say he had sold his soul to the bottle at this moment.

“My friend Shia can’t handle her drink. It’s good to meet a fellow drinker who understands the romance of it all!”

“Quiet….”

His own voice sounded slurred and heavy with drink.

He realized something was obstructing his vision and dismissed the status window that had been hovering in front of him.

Mission 2: Train 50 soldiers.

The mission alert window flew off into the distance.

Time until the banquet continued to slip away unnoticed.