Hyper Luck

It was clear that two players who were a wizard and an archer teleported here.

According to the people called ‘Detectors’ who were Information Guild members who specialized in chasing after non-physical traces,

It was said that a very coercive mana movement was detected in Lundebarun 7 days ago. 

The movement of mana was weak, but it contained two other sources of mana, and they explained that they were the Kellion and Sharan we were looking for.

“It seems that they have teleported inside the White Tower after all, but...”

“Are you saying that there’s no way for us to enter the White Tower?”

“That is correct.”

A huge beastkin with buffalo horns on his forehead sighed, expressing his helplessness.

Khea's hair fluttered in the wind blowing out of his huge nose.

“The Information Guild cannot legally intervene, since the White Tower is clearly the ‘property of wizards’.”

As soon as the man with buffalo horns finished talking, Zaire, standing next to him, added a comment.

“It’s the same concept as the Sanctuary for Sworders.’

“The only way to enter the White Tower is to pass the wizard’s examination. And this is the clearest answer that we, the Information Guild, could give. I am sorry to say that I cannot help you any further than this.”

The giant beastkin hurriedly got up from his seat and left after a farewell.

A moment later, Zaire sat on the leather chair that the beastkin had been sitting on without any hesitation, and placed his feet on top of the table in front of the seat.

“The height of the White Tower is 8,000m. It is said that each of the bricks on the outer wall, the size of the palm of my hand, has more than 240 spells on it. In other words, no one knows what could possibly be inside it.”

After saying that, Zaire pulled his feet that he placed on the table toward him and poked his head forward toward me and Khea.

“However, there’s still a way.”

“Really?”

At my question, Zaire took a small coin from the table and flipped it high with his thumb.

“There’s nothing you can’t do with money. If you wanted to enter the White Tower, which only wizards can enter, then all you have to do is simply hire a wizard that can do that. Maybe the wizard could even take you into the White Tower with him.”

“I heard that the wizards have very high egos. Do you think it’d be possible to persuade them with money?”

Zaire started to laugh with a low voice at my question.

“How many wizards do you think are out there who are starving because they are penniless? I can assure you that there are at least more than the people who are currently in this building. No matter how good of a wizard they are, they cannot be free from hunger. Only ‘money’ can solve their hunger. Some with ideals would disagree, but unfortunately, this is the reality.”

As I listened to his prolix explanation, I looked at the ceiling after I realized that the coin he had flipped hadn’t reached the ground yet.

The coin that had been thrown by Zaire was neatly embedded in the high ceiling without a single crack around the embedded coin.

When I dropped my gaze to look at Zaire again, he pointed at the ceiling with his finger.

“Money has much more ability than magic. Obviously, that would mean wizards can be used with money also.”

“Do you think the stubborn and prim wizards would accept the quest discarding their ideology?”

Khea asked as she crossed her legs.

Zaire answered without a single twitch in his facial expression, as he kept his smiling face and his eyes closed.

“This seems to be something I could teach you. ‘Keep this in mind. The last thing you need for ideology is money.’ Only those who are sated can craft an ideology and achieve it.

The Asparagan Empire wasn’t built only on an ideology. Just take a look at Bing Caravan and you will get the idea. That a country without a central government can be operated systematically only with ‘money’ in unparalleled quality.”

I couldn’t reply to his remark.

I wanted to say something back, but what he said was clearly the truth.

And that applied in the world I lived in also.

However, Khea had a different look in her eyes than I.

She looked at Zaire and started to speak without a single stutter.

“You seem to have a different opinion than me. Money is nothing more than just a medium. It’s only an article made to express various emotions conveniently. It's a long time ago, but there was a time when I had to starve for 9 days. Because of the discrimination and persecution received for the blood that flows within me. My friends around my age were all captured and were sold to the brothel as slaves.”

As her words continued, Zaire's head began to bow more toward her.

“When the ashen pebbles on the floor started to look like a loaf of bread, I was convinced. That people can even devour pebbles when they’re hungry isn’t just an exaggeration. Then I met a girl who was in the same situation as me. Her chest was as bare as the skeleton of a ship lost in the depths of the sea, and her cheeks were like a tidal wave drawn into the depths of the sea. In her hand was a very small piece of bread.”

I stayed still and listened to a piece of her past she had to go through.

While grieving at the horror of the discrimination she had been subjected to.

“And by gods, she had beautiful violet eyes even though she was starved. It sparkled like the stars in the night sky. That girl split the bread into two pieces with her shaking hands. And she handed a piece to me, who was drooling like a dog.”

Her vivid stories of the past began to leave sorrows in my head.

“I felt a bond for the first time ever. As I watched the miraculous sight of the bread being split in two in her hungry hands. These feelings, such as compassion, ideology, and fellowship, can never be bought with money. One can only act like they bought it with money.”

Khea closed her two eyes for a moment.

She continued her speech as she opened her eyes, never ceasing the soft smile on her face.

“But Zaire, what you said is partially true. We don’t know how it feels to be the starving wizard. We haven’t spent enough time with that person, nor do we have the fellowship like the one I had with that starving girl. That is why we have to pretend like we’ve bought his emotion with money. But we can’t be saying that we bought that person's ideology with money.”

Then without any gestures, she just finished speaking with a soft smile.

Zaire jumped up from her seat after listening to her speech.

Then his eyelids began to slowly rise.

His pupil, embossed with various characters that are hard to see as a human pupil, had many sides like a crafted jewel.

There seemed to be a hint of sadness in those terrifying eyes.

“Now then, shall we head off to patronize? Especially since today, we’ve learned that we can’t buy ideology with money. The expression, starving wizard, doesn’t quite fit either. Let us go find a ‘wizard looking for work’.”

His speech and demeanor had softened considerably. I was very impressed as soon as I saw his attitude.

Then I looked at Khea quietly. She slowly turned her head to look at me as she felt my gaze.

I carefully nodded my head at her, and she responded with a wide smile on her face.

As we headed out of the secret room, the counter filled with countless NPCs and players caught my eye.

Many people were moving busily.

Some with frowned faces, and some with a smile on their faces. It was getting harder to distinguish between players and NPCs.

As long as there weren’t clearly distinguishable external features.

“It might’ve been safe while we were on the Street of Letters and Street of Magic Merchants, but now you will have to cover your entire body with the robes.”

Zaire stopped walking for a moment and pulled out two brown robes from somewhere that I wasn’t aware of.

“Is something happening?”

Zaire continued to talk even after I asked him a question as he covered my body with the robe himself.

“The Street of Letters and Street of Magic Merchants are protected by local powers, but the other streets are unprotected, as the ‘racists’ or the ‘Lid Tel’ often appear.”

Hearing his explanation, my entire body was covered except the eyes, and it was as if I was wearing a burka.

Khea also appeared with her entire body covered in the robe, and as soon as I saw that a tension rushed through my body in nervousness.

I could feel my mouth getting dry as I realized that I’ll be running into the ‘Lid Tel’ which is the organization formed after the death of Lidornn in order to continue his legacy.

“Now then, this way please.”

We carefully walked through the street as we followed Zaire’s lead.

A countless amount of vehicles passed by us, and I could start hearing more voices from people.

And finally, when we reached the bigger street,

“Drive the players out!”

“Kick them out! Kick them out!’

“This world belongs to us!”

“Belongs to us! Belongs to us!”

People holding the flag of the Black Griffin, the symbol of the cavalry led by Lidornn, were protesting fiercely.

Their actions seemed very similar to the riot in the real world, so it didn’t feel very out of place for me.

Thinking that I had become a target of hatred in an instant, I felt deeply how disgusting and horrific the prejudice that Khea went through until now.

“The scale of Lid Tel is getting bigger at a very fast rate. According to the stats collected by the Information Guild, it is said that at least over 3 million people had joined the Lid Tel.”

Then he shrugged his shoulders.

“Of course, we’re only talking about the people who directly joined them. It is speculated that there are millions of people who implicitly avoid the players because of the Lid Tel.”

He continued as if it was no big deal.

“Hey! You two! Why are you covered in robes? Are you hiding something from us? Is that it?”

A huge man suddenly appeared blocking our way in the midst of his talk.

At this, 

“Please move aside. We are from the Information Guild.”

The man took a slight step back as Zaire in the lead intimidated him.

Then he realized that there were many people watching him and took a step in front again.

“I ain’t buying that! I’m gonna have to take those robes off of’em!”

“I have warned you already. Do not block us nor lay a single finger on us. I am the Inquisitor Zaire of the Information Guild.”

The man didn’t stop despite Zaire’s intimidation.

From the fact that he couldn’t detect the heinous killing intention coming from Zaire, I could speculate he was no more than just a normal person.

If he was skilled enough to feel Zaire’s killing intention, then he would know that it was his best interest to avoid this situation.

“Let’s take a look...”

It happened the moment he finished his words.

Bam!

The sound rang out after a belated moment.

The man was sent flying to the wall, but the sound reached our ears a moment after he had already hit the wall.

We attracted everyone’s attention toward us, and the man could barely twitch his fingers with bubbles in his mouth.

The one thing clear from this situation is that Zaire had overwhelmed the man bigger than him. And this was an act that added more credibility to the self-introduction that Zaire had mentioned earlier. Therefore, the attention we had gathered from the people around us had scattered in a moment as if they were running away.

“Let us move in haste.”

“Yes.”

Zaire’s footsteps started to get faster after the incident.

By uncovering the camouflage disguised as a wall, pressing bricks in a specific area in a maze-like alley, or secretly rotating a round switch, we headed to a more secret street without hesitation.

***

And as we were moving, Zaire’s crystal ball started to make a loud ring.

And in the crystal ball,

[Henchman Leadon]

A phrase appeared.

“Leadon! I hope to hear something from you.”

At this, a dull voice began to resound from beyond the crystal ball.

“About three people in the wizard's residence were struggling to get a job! They have to be very out of money.”

“Alright. First, you need to analyze their behavior patterns. You may use the ‘Eye of Gorgos’ under my name! Find their place of residence!”

“Understood!”

Khea talked to Zaire as soon as the call ended.

“Thank you for helping us this far.”

“I told you already, no? This is all to repay the debt that the Information Guild owes you two. But of course, this one is for the valuable lesson I learned from you.”

Zaire hurriedly began to move as soon as he finished talking.

After navigating through the maze-like alley for a while, the alarm started sounding from the crystal ball of Zaire.

“Leadon! Have you finished?”

At Zaire’s question, a brief silence continued.

“Leadon?”

A very trembling voice whispered from the crystal ball.

“A S... Sworder... No, uh... A man called the Master came to visit the Information Guild...!”

“What? You need to talk louder. What are you saying?”

Leadon answered Zaire’s question as he even chattered his teeth.

“I... I don’t know... As soon as that man... Entered the Information Guild... Everyone inside... Just collapsed... W... Wait!”

Then the rustling noise of Leadon's urgent movement could be heard clearly from beyond the crystal ball.

After a moment, his rough breathing could be heard from the call.

“I... I can do what they want. I can understand what they’re saying from the outside...!”

“What are they...”

“Shh...!!”

Leadon interrupted before Zaire could finish his words.

And a moment later,

“Master... of Lowsvan...”

Muttered from the crystal ball. Then a loud rattling sound began to be heard from beyond the crystal ball.

And the sound of even breathing came from the crystal ball.

“Leadon?”

Unanswered, the breathing continued.

Soon from beyond the crystal ball,

A very unfamiliar voice could be heard.

It was as if rusty cutlery was scraped against a rough grindstone, a voice calm enough to sharpen your nerves.

“I am looking for the two Sworders from Asparagan. The names are... Mose and Khea.”