Chapter 21
The Primordial Pillars, shattered, their balance broken.
The final line drawn by the Elves.
A zone untouched by light, the border where primordial chaos begins.
That is Kalmash.
The fundamental culprit behind Blackmore becoming a Magical Boundary.
Thus, this journey required extra caution.
Even knowing the original story, a moment's carelessness could lead directly to death.
Thorough preparation was necessary.
First of all.
“Rudine.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Rudine Carlyle.
My reliable escort and Mind’s Eye charger(?)—I needed her.
And the cowardly fox.
“Adina, you come too.”
“Me? Why?”
“Should I call Rudine?”
“…”
I’d rather tell her to stay home, but I needed her this time.
To avoid getting lost in the chaos-ridden Kalmash, I absolutely needed her racial trait, Spirit Eye.
Now, fully prepared.
Balkan clicked his tongue and unfolded the Scroll that allowed teleportation to Headquarters.
“Please place your hand on the Scroll.”
*Fwoosh—*
A wave of light erupted from the Scroll, tearing through space.
“…We have arrived.”
We arrived at Headquarters in an instant.
****
And now.
“Oh, you’re here? It’s been a while.”
Great Lord Arkan, strolling through the plaza, greeted me with her characteristic innocent smile.
She glanced at me and my companions, then shifted her gaze to the White-Haired Clan member, Adina.
Wearing a smile of interest.
“What brings you here? With so many guests in tow, no less.”
“I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor?”
As she stared intently, Adina hid behind me as if terrified.
Amused by her unique reaction, Arkan chuckled and turned her attention back to me.
“A White-Haired Clan member… It's been a while since I’ve seen one of the Sacred Beast clan. Well, alright. A favor, you said? Let’s hear it. I’m a little curious what a human like you could possibly want. Haha.”
Straight to the point, huh?
I answered her question without hesitation.
“I need to cross the Border.”
“By the Border, you mean Kalmash?”
“Yes.”
Outwardly, I faced Arkan calmly, but inwardly, I was conflicted.
The only Passage to Kalmash was in the Great Lord’s Territory, and crossing it required permission from its owner, her.
When Balkan first told me this, I was speechless.
It’s simply asking for passage, but crossing the Border is no trivial matter.
Entering it was practically the same as going to die.
It wouldn’t look good, moving so haphazardly without a proper procession.
“Cross the Border? The four of you?”
“Yes.”
“Haha, are you out of your mind?”
The Great Lord let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Do you even know what’s beyond the Border?”
“I know.”
“Oh? You've been beyond the Border before?”
“No, I haven’t, but…”
“…What?”
My words might have seemed contradictory, but they weren’t wrong.
I knew about what lay beyond the Border because I'd read the original story, but I'd never been there myself.
She, capable of discerning lies, should be able to tell that I wasn't lying.
“This is troublesome.”
The Great Lord let out a deep sigh.
An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment, followed by a low voice.
“Well, opening the Passage isn’t that difficult… but there are rules in the organization, you know? I'm the Leader of that organization.”
“What’s the point?”
“We already reached an agreement at the Monarch Council to close that Passage. Unanimously, at that. Now, if I were to open a closed Passage for a single human, wouldn’t there be backlash?”
“If you, the Great Lord, opened it yourself, there wouldn’t be any complaints.”
“True. But why should I? Is there any reason why I should bother with such a hassle?”
A matter of cost-benefit analysis, is it?
Well, she wasn’t wrong.
The woman before me was Great Lord Arkan.
One of the Six Heavens of the Continent, a transcendent powerhouse whose might touched the heavens.
I momentarily forgot that such a being was quietly living, bound by her title of Great Lord.
She wasn’t someone who would simply grant a favor upon request.
But I couldn’t back down either.
While I wasted time here, Elfriede was being swallowed by Chaos.
So, I thought.
If there’s no reason for her to bother, then I'll create one.
“As you said, there's no reason for you to help me.”
I stared at her with an impassive face and spoke.
“But I promise you this.”
The more one approaches transcendence, the more numb they become to the world's stimuli.
Arkan was no exception.
Everything in this world was utterly boring to her.
But there was a latent desire within her—an endless yearning for something to break her boredom.
Therefore.
“If you open the Passage, it’ll be interesting.”
It was a short statement, but those words were enough to shake Arkan’s heart.
“…Interesting?”
The Great Lord narrowed her eyes.
A gaze that seemed to pierce through intentions was fixed on Luke.
“Are you confident?”
“Yeah.”
“My standards are pretty high, you know?”
“I guarantee it. It’ll be more than worth the minor inconvenience. You’ll definitely regret it if you refuse my offer.”
I could be certain.
Elfriede Trivia.
If she saw ‘that’ sealed within the body of the Seed of the End, she would inevitably be intrigued.
So, what I was saying now wasn’t a bluff, but the truth.
Pure truth stemming from future information.
And the Great Lord would know.
That every word I uttered without any inflection was never a lie.
After her Insight Eye had confirmed it numerous times.
“Haha.”
She grinned.
And, the answer she gave in a naive voice was.
“Alright, I’ll open the Passage.”
****
The First Lord's Territory.
The location of Headquarters, the heart of the Lord Council, and the only area within Blackmore resembling a city.
Since only the First Lord’s Territory, among the five Lord's Territories, is located within Blackmore, no one except a few executives knows the exact location of Headquarters.
And even within the First Lord's Territory, if you go to the western edge, the final Border of the city reveals itself, and that is the Passage that allows one to cross the Border.
The entrance to the Passage is sealed by the Primordial Pillars erected by the Elves, and now, aside from the protagonist of the original story, only Arkan could Open it.
And now.
Guided by Arkan, we moved endlessly towards the western edge of the First Lord's Territory. The density of the buildings gradually decreased as we moved away from the city center, replaced by empty lots and wasteland.
After walking for who knows how long…
‘We’re here.’
Something massive began to appear in the distance.
Visible beyond the thick fog was a gigantic pillar that seemed to pierce the sky.
Two main pillars guarded each side, and a lintel stretched across the top, completing the form of a gate.
As we walked closer, the appearance of the gate became clearer. The pillars, standing tall towards the sky, were all black, with unknown symbols carved on their surfaces.
Rudine’s eyes had turned red at some point as she stared at the pillars.
It was the aftereffect of Opening her Red Eyes.
“Luke.”
“What?”
“Those pillars…”
The world seen through Red Eyes was simple.
The distinction between the living and the non-living.
But the sight that caught her eye was…
“They’re alive.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Arkan raised her hand.
The moment her carefully extended right hand touched the surface of a pillar…
“!!!”
*Swooooosh!*
Waves of Mana ceaselessly radiated outwards, centered on Arkan.
As if taking that signal as a command, the symbols carved on the surface of the pillars scattered Black Light.
The black shimmering haze leaking from the symbols swirled like a raging current. It filled the space between the pillars, weaving together to form a massive Passage.
“Holy… shit…”
Adina trembled, her ears drooping. Hiding behind Luke, she crouched and mumbled about how fierce the energy was and how she shouldn’t have come along.
*Clang! Screech!*
Suddenly, chains sprang forth, weaving themselves together like they had a will of their own, wrapping around the pillars. A putrid stench, like rotting corpses, began to permeate the air.
“Ugh, ugh…”
Adina trembled even more.
Rudine was still staring at the Passage with her Red Eyes Opened.
“Haa.”
Arkan let out a short sigh and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. As she withdrew the Mana waves, the black torrent filling the space between the pillars faded. As it faded, something began to become visible—a desolate land stretching endlessly beneath a lightless sky.
The identity of this place…
“…Kalmash.”
We had finally arrived.