Great Sage Rise.
He accepted the invitation and thought back to old memories.
Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo....
It was certain.
"...Claudi last patriarch."
Although we've never met, I recognize the face.
『Pandora's Attic』
The hideout of a wise man who could see into the future.
Grandfell's face has often appeared in the dust that rises from the attic. Kiiiig… Rise has found a dusty hiding place. It had been a long time since he'd been there.
"I hope this old man is senile."
In the future that the dust of the attic revealed, Claudi was annihilated. It was fate, a great current that even the great Claudi could not resist.
Claudi's patriarch, Grandfell, was no exception.
Swoosh!
With a sweep of his arm, the dust in the attic rose.
'It's still a damn sight.'
No matter how many times I've glimpsed a terrible future and tried to change it, I can't defy fate. I hate feeling helpless, and I swore I'd never set foot in Pandora's attic again.
Rise to rationalize.
"I'm just curious about the past."
I don't want to look into the future anymore.
I just wanted to look back on my blurry memories.
He just wanted to confirm again whether Claudi's patriarch, Grandfell, had died in the future he had witnessed in the past. Soon, Rise began to tremble.
"...There is no doubt about it."
Nobility trampled.
It was the same as before.
At this point, Grandfell should have died a horrible death.
It was the fate he was born with.
And yet.
His gaze once again met the invitation in his hand.
"Who dares to call himself Grandfell?"
The title of Grand Sage is a ironic one. He cannot show off his prowess like an Archmage, nor can he command a continent like a Sword Saint.
They simply know more than others.
That vast knowledge is not enough to win something. You can't save anyone. He could simply watch the passage of time unfold as it was meant to.
That was all the Grand Sage could do.
Because.
"I am deeply offended."
Rise was unhappy.
Even if he didn't know who was impersonating Claudi the Last.
It reminded him of his own helplessness, which he had tried so hard to ignore.
With a snap.
Rise pointed his staff like a cane.
Then he drew on his magic and manifested a portal.
'Claudi's name is never taken lightly.'
The target coordinates were Claudi's estate.
After all, I had visited it in the distant past. Manifesting the portal wasn't too difficult. The cluster of magical light dispersed, and Rise looked up.
"Well, well. That must have been an invitation from the youngest patriarch of the Claudi family, Lord Grandfell....."
He locked eyes with the man who claimed to be Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.
I muttered without realizing it.
"...Who are you?"
An inimitable dignity.
Hair shining silver.
A man who had defied fate.
*
I can't help but be impressed.
'... Are you related to our Grandfell?'
Apparently you're tired of being old....
I can't help but think he's encountered Grandfell before.
'So what am I supposed to say here?'
This is the most ambiguous situation I've ever encountered.
I can't explain the specific situation.
How the setting of a middle-aged man with a chunibyou was realized on the Arcana continent. It's always the iron skin that shines through when things get tricky.
"Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo."
Even if you don't know why.
I've vowed to carry that dark history.
I say it proudly.
"I trust you have a good reason for asking my name, even though I hold Claudi's invitation, and you may tell it to me."
No, you're actually questioning him.
It's a natural attitude.
It's the kind of pride that doesn't back down, no matter who the opponent is.
Especially on home territory.
In the family mansion, the waistline is bound to be even stiffer.
The old man pauses at my words.
"Huu."
Then he looks at me again.
seueug─
Then he bows respectfully.
"I've been confronted with a situation that is beyond this old man's comprehension, and I'm afraid I've done you a great disservice, Claudi."
Like I said, nothing is off limits.
A situation that was beyond comprehension....
As I mulled it over, the old man introduced himself.
"I, Rise, an old man no longer worthy of the title of Great Sage, greet the new patriarch of Claudi's family, Lord Grandfell, for the first time."
Great Sage, Rise.
Well, at least that title isn't out of the ordinary, so you're as important as the rest of us. I'm glad we're meeting for the first time, by the way.
'We must have known each other.'
There's a limit to how shameless we can be.
"Your hair is noticeably shorter."
It's nice to know that you're aware of Grandfell's long hair....
even if it was the first time I'd seen it in person.
He seemed to know what Grandfell looked like.
"And you're not too shabby either."
My heart sank when he asked me who I was.
The rest of the conversation was no different than anyone else's. It was then that I realized why Rise had asked such a rude question.
"I never thought you were alive."
The title of Great Sage was not for nothing.
He could see the future.
I was wondering how I could use it.
Rise shakes his head.
"No. Now I can't be confident in even my humble foresight, now that Lord Grandfell has overcome his fate and is alive and well."
Well...?
'There might be some room to think about that.'
The setting that I, Lee Hoyeol, scribbled and the Claudi family realized on the continent.
In fact, it's gotten to the point where I'm not sure what my priorities are anymore, just thinking about it makes me dizzy.
'Still.'
Deep down, I'm hoping for one thing. I hope that the settings I wrote down were not what drove Claudi to extinction. If it's because of me, then there's no shame in Grandfell.
It would be a pain in the ass to take the fall.
Moreover, I, Lee Hoyeol.
I'm the one who declared that I'd take responsibility with all the pride of an adult.
I won't be able to get away with it.
By the way....
'Let's cut to the chase.'
My reasons for throwing the banquet and extending Claudi's invitation are clear.
We are now faced with an immeasurable and enormous obstacle called a bad omen.
I need to secure my forces on the Arcana continent, and I need to secure the Holy War Alliance, so I don't want to break the good mood.
I forced myself to speak.
"My reason for inviting you is simple."
In truth, I think they all knew it.
Demons wiping out a continent?
Just as Agentress had thought nothing of it.
To some, it might not be a big deal.
But the threat of the Rift makes no one immune.
"The Magic Tower, the Frost, the Ancient Kingdom, the Zero Mountains. Do you have any idea where those who have disappeared from the Arcana continent are at this very moment?"
"...?"
"I know of the threat."
"...!!!"
Yes, I do.
I am complicated and tangled up.
The idea was to loosen the shackles of the leading figure.
An occasion for him?
There's not enough time to sway the big guys by making them realize their pride, so trust me on this one, Grandfell. You see, men move fast when their lives are threatened.
So I cut to the chase from the start.
Gathered.
I looked at each one in turn and said.
"Perhaps the next place to disappear after the Zero Mountains will be the Dune Clan's territory. Maybe it will be the territory at the Diamond Top. Perhaps the Great Sage will become a teacher on the Arcana Continent."
Glup─
I can hear you gulp.
This is why experience is so important, isn't it?
This is the chief of the Magic Tower.
It's a preliminary examination for a regular conference, or a lecture on reversal magic, or something.
It's times like these that spewing venom comes in handy.....
"The question is whether you have the confidence to handle it all."
.
.
.
Claudi's banquet was over.
Great Sage Rise let out a small laugh.
So soon after his appearance, he sprang into action.
"Indeed, you are Claudi's patriarch."
Rise recalled the faces of those who had gathered.
"They are truly unique people."
It was his eyes that had grown wider with age. As far as he could tell, none of those who had accepted Claudi's invitation harbored a black heart.
But.
"It must take time to blend in."
Because each one of them is a powerful force that shakes the continent.
It will take quite a bit of time and effort to recognize each other.
But Rise wasn't concerned.
"Of course, it won't be a problem for you."
Claudi's last words.
It was a pleasure to speak with Grandfell.
For Rise, an adventurer who couldn't foresee the future even with 『Pandora's Attic』, they are beings outside the standard. Who would have thought that Lord Granfell was rallying together the forces that had disappeared from the world of adventurers and the Arcana Continent?
"Thanks to you, the old man's mind became clearer."
Past, present, future.
There is no peace in a mind that knows too much. Rise liked it when people talked about things he didn't understand, because it allowed him to put aside his complicated thoughts and get lost in the moment.
But maybe that's the problem.
" ...That's why I couldn't bear to tell you."
I wasn't trying to hide it.
And yet, somehow.
Rise's mouth moved with effort.
"Forgive my rudeness, Lord Grandfell."
Perhaps age has made me more sensitive.
Claudi's patriarch return to the Arcana continent in a noble fashion.
Grandfell's appearance only reflected wistfully in Rise's eyes.
"Perhaps it's just an old man's senility."
His lordship had already overcome his fate.
But Rise did not want to subject Grandfell to the same pain he had suffered. After all, you're carrying a heavy burden, not only on the Arcana continent, but in a world of adventurers who say even dragons are too much for you.
So.
"I don't want to burden you anymore."
Rise looked at Claudi's territory and spoke coldly.
"I hope you think so, too. Pride."
*
Time is relative.
Someone on the Arcana continent would think that quite a bit of time had passed, but the reality was not so favorable.
-Excalibur, Goddess, Great Evil, lol…
-But that's just one day's worth of work hahahahaha.
-Heavenly Unity I'd be remiss if I didn't include them too hahaha.
That's right.
The process of an illusion becoming a legend.
At this moment, it was still going smoothly.
If it had been normal, there wouldn't have been much of a disruption to the process.
-No, it's already Thursday;;;;
-If we make it through tomorrow, it'll be the weekendaaaaaaa
-Players get weekends? The world is better~~~.
-Relatively speaking, when I was a newbie, I played on weekends for fear of missing a rift.
-There was no such thing as zero mountain range when I was a newbie....
Thursday.
Normally, this is the day when regular updates are announced.
However, after the huge content update of the Zero Mountains, the regular updates stopped for a while, but there were no complaints.
-It would take a decade to bite into the Zero Mountains alone?
-There are over 100,000 caves alone.
-And that doesn't mean there are no rifts.
Tiing─
"What? Senior, what's on the homepage?"
Thankfully, the player and the world didn't get excited about the notification.
But it was an illusion.
Arcana's official website.
A regular update that must have been uploaded by Raymond Sean.
It was real, from the title.
And the Arcana continent.
It was enough to shake both worlds.