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“Wasn’t this a strategy game?”

Patriar, having removed Kiris, was being overtly radical and blatant.

He’s probably envisioning a scenario in which he personally captures the Dark Sorcerers and claims the throne for himself.

It was a flawless plan.

‘If I don’t make a move soon, it’ll all be over.’

His eagerness to eliminate Asmun and seize the throne was palpable.

Yet he was executing everything with such stealth that it was nearly impossible to glimpse its true nature.

At times like this, all that was needed was a reward.

Just then, a new quest was given, but by this point, the difficulty of all quests had skyrocketed, leaving Eden frantic.

‘Ah, the underground of the Imperial Palace…’

It’s obvious that security had tightened due to intruders; how on earth could one possibly enter such a place?

Let alone the hidden Secret Warehouse underground.

‘But I knew a day like this would come.’

The one needed for this quest was obvious. Someone who could navigate freely in and out of the Imperial Palace and assist Eden in wandering around.

Perhaps someone even more familiar with the layout than the royal family themselves.

“Chancellor! Can you help me?”

Eden sought out none other than Ibthan.

“……”

Ibthan stared blankly at Eden, who was grinning a bit too cheerfully, with an expression that said this was a little too shameless.

It felt like just a few days had passed since he’d seen her compiling the Bestiary, so her return was overly quick.

“…so you’re asking me to secretly guide you to the underground warehouse of the Imperial Palace?”

“Yes! I plan to create an excuse to visit again tonight, so I’d appreciate it if you could make that happen. I hope to outsmart the Priests as well.”

“……”

Ibthan’s expression was unreadable, making it hard to tell if he was contemplating accommodating her request or preparing to refuse.

Not only Jepar, but no one would act without a gain. Eden produced a card she had prepared for such occasions.

“There are shards of the Bestiary scattered within that underground warehouse. We need to find them.”

Upon hearing this, Ibthan’s eyebrows twitched.

“If the Chancellor doesn’t help, I’ll have no choice but to sneak into the palace at dawn. But with security as tight as it is, I’ll surely get caught. In the end, I would be punished for breaking and entering the Imperial Palace. Given the current state of affairs…”

“……”

“I suppose I won’t be able to avoid execution.”

At her increasingly shameless words, Ibthan sighed softly, almost incredulously.

As Eden stated, the security within the Imperial Palace had become exceedingly strict.

There had been two intrusions by Dark Sorcerers, with one being just after the execution of Kiris, who was associated with them, leading to suspicions that there were spies within the palace, making the atmosphere downright sinister.

At times like these, even a Saint could not escape severe punishment for doing such things.

And the woman before him…

‘She most definitely will sneak in.’

A complex light crossed Ibthan’s face, one who had thoroughly assessed Eden long ago. Eden smiled sweetly at him.

“I assume you don’t want me to be executed, do you?”

Ultimately, that night, Ibthan found himself taking on extra work.

Eden came up with an excuse that she needed to visit the Chancellor’s Office again for important matters related to the Bestiary and kept her promise to return.

Using the excuse of needing urgent information about the Monster, Eden and Ibthan evaded the Priests and headed underground.

Of course, they weren’t going to the place connected to the Monster research institute portal but to a deeper basement they hadn’t visited before.

“Thank you, Chancellor.”

Even with the affectionate gratitude, Ibthan couldn’t afford to relax. Whenever Eden acted like this, something major usually followed.

But now he wasn’t sure if Eden was the one causing trouble or solving it.

One thing was certain: he could no longer sit idly by while Eden faced execution.

“How can you be so sure that I know about the Secret Warehouse?”

“I’m sure of it, of course. You’re a genius, Chancellor!”

The tone sounded somewhat casual, yet it slowed Ibthan’s pace.

‘Huh?’

With the absence of his presence beside her, Eden quickly turned around. Ibthan had stopped a couple of steps back, staring at her blankly.

“What’s wrong?”

As Eden asked, Ibthan snapped back to reality and quickly looked away.

“Nothing.”

Then he resumed his hurried steps, quickly passing Eden.

Thank goodness the basement was dark, making it hard to see faces. It was becoming increasingly difficult to hide the fact that Eden’s single comment could change his expression so drastically.

‘This is madness…’

What on earth did the term ‘genius’ even mean…

“Are you okay?”

Ibthan quickly returned to her side, avoiding Eden’s curious gaze while he answered.

“I’m fine.”

Still, Eden’s inquisitive glance lingered. Ibthan stubbornly gazed straight ahead while adeptly steering the conversation away.

“If I help with this, you shouldn’t ever think of sneaking into the palace again. The situation is much more serious than you realize, Saint.”

Fortunately, the worried look faded, and the topic switched in an instant.

“Ah! Speaking of which, what happened to the Dark Sorcerer captured at the banquet?”

“His Highness Patriar is investigating. I doubt he’ll easily divulge the mastermind.”

At his words, Eden’s face appeared utterly bewildered.

Patriar was investigating the mastermind!

‘That lunatic!’

But she couldn’t disagree with the assertion that the situation was more dire than she had anticipated.

The fact that the Emperor had entrusted investigation powers to Patriar indicated a deep level of trust in him.

Moreover, since Lydia, an important witness, was being protected by Patriar, there was nothing left for Eden to pursue.

‘Asmun and I struggled for months only for it to vanish like that…’

She needed to remain calm, but Eden felt an uncontrollable urgency. It seemed like a reward was necessary to calm this anxiety. Patriar was truly a challenging opponent.

She wished quests would pop up all at once like they did previously.

“This way.”

Eden strode along a maze-like corridor under Ibthan’s guidance. As Ibthan nimbly navigated through the maze, a large door came into view in front of them.

Ibthan placed his palm in the center of the door. To her surprise, the heavy iron door slid open on its own.

“This is a place only royals and the current Chancellor may enter. The other royals, excluding the Emperor, probably don’t even know this place exists.”

With that explanation, Ibthan turned to Eden with a stern face, as if to convey that she should never dream of entering this place again.

Eden pretended not to understand and smiled brightly.

“I see.”

Choosing Ibthan as a companion for this quest turned out to be a brilliant decision.

Following Ibthan, Eden quickly stepped into the warehouse, and the sight before her froze her in place.

“As you can see, it would take much longer than a day to look around here. I’ve organized it several times, but I couldn’t find the Bestiary.”

True to Ibthan’s words, the warehouse was excessively vast and filled with all sorts of clutter. It seemed like it would take at least a day, if not a month, to find what one wanted.

‘This is frustrating.’

Eden took a deep breath and began to explore the warehouse slowly. She could feel Ibthan following closely beside her.

“Have you really searched this entire place?”

“I’ve been looking for four years in my spare time. However, I haven’t seen anything like shards of the Bestiary.”

His tone held no trace of the struggles or pains from those four years, sounding completely indifferent.

Eden clicked her tongue inwardly.

‘What a tough cookie…’

His consistency was so very characteristic of Ibthan that it almost made her feel a sense of respect for him.

“Then there’s one answer.”

Eden said with a clear voice, continuing to survey her surroundings.

“There has to be a place leading to another space somewhere in here.”

At that, Ibthan’s eyebrows subtly furrowed.

“Are you suggesting there’s even a portal?”

“That’s possible. Or…”

Eden spun around wildly, realizing that it was impossible to thoroughly check this enormous warehouse. This implied there might surely be another mechanism inside.

And if it was part of a game system…

Ting!

Eden caught the alert sound ringing in her keen ears and immediately turned her head.

Finally spotting what she wanted, Eden dashed forward, her eyes sparkling.

“…are you saying this is a portal?”

Ibthan, who had slowly followed behind her, inquired dryly.

Before Eden stood an old and worn-out cabinet. But what Eden saw was a transparent window that only her eyes could perceive, not visible to Ibthan.

『If you wish to enter the most sinister and secretive space inside the Imperial Palace, place ‘Wisdom’ inside the cabinet.』

 

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