After leaving the A rank party, I aim for the deep part of the labyrinth with my former students
A campsite not far from the "Old Capital Jo-Koco."
We arrived there just before sunset and decided to set up camp and enter the city the following day during daylight.
We were a bit wary of entering the city at night.
Over the three days leading up to this point, we had several encounters with monsters.
Three during the day and one at night. All of them were of otherworldly origin, which increasingly made us frown at how abnormal the situation was.
There were two abnormalities we noticed.
First, the monsters.
It's strange enough that monsters are roaming around what's supposed to be a relatively safe road, but the fact that all of them are of otherworldly origin is even stranger.
According to the distribution of monsters we researched beforehand, this area should be home to large running birds called Epiolnis, Grassland Wolves, and giant horned armored beasts called Rhino Colossuses. Yet we haven't seen any of them.
This is just my personal opinion, but I suspect we're essentially experiencing an "Overflow."
Whether they crawled out of a dungeon or appeared from somewhere like Finis did doesn't matter much.
The fact is, monsters bearing the aura of the "Achromatic Darkness" are walking around openly. That strongly suggests the possibility of an "Overflow."
At the same time, it's baffling why the Edright Republic is allowing this to happen.
Even if it isn't a nation like Welmeria, known as the kingdom of adventurers, any country with a dungeon would understand how dangerous an Overflow—or worse, a resulting "Stampede"—can be.
Despite the state of emergency, we haven't noticed any sign of countermeasures on the way here.
Normally, one would expect far more caution.
Even if they had ill feelings toward the region of "Old Capital Jo-Koco," would they really leave a domestic dungeon disaster unchecked?
"Thinking again, are you, Sensei?"
Silk’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I’d tried not to get lost in thought too often in front of the others, but it seems the bad habit crept in again.
"We’ll arrive at 'Old Capital Jo-Koco' tomorrow."
She tossed a thick branch into the campfire and sat beside me.
"Yeah. If things are this abnormal in the surrounding area, I wonder if the city itself is alright."
"According to the livestreams, it's relatively stable, but..."
There are some civilians broadcasting the situation in "Old Capital Jo-Koco," and we’ve been keeping an eye on them. But things feel a bit too off to call it peaceful.
Most streams show what looks like a “tower” and damage caused by rampaging monsters, but none of them offer concrete information.
The mere fact that monsters have appeared inside the city is already a major red flag.
"We haven’t seen any sign of Marina either."
"Not only that—the 'Seventh Cult' hasn’t shown up in the livestreams at all."
"You don’t think..."
"I can’t say for sure, but it’s possible the people making those streams are connected to them."
Besides the footage Rain first found, most of the videos showing inside "Old Capital Jo-Koco" were by overly enthusiastic young people.
The content made light of the situation, with no sense of seriousness.
Given the sheer number of monsters that appeared and ran rampant, the damage must have been significant.
Yet the only streams being broadcast lack any trace of gravity.
It almost feels like something inconvenient is being hidden...
"This is giving me a bad feeling. Like we’re being manipulated—or deceived."
"I feel the same. I believe we should proceed with caution."
"If it comes to it, I’m counting on you and Biblión. I just can’t seem to get in sync."
The truth slipped from my lips.
"Me too... I keep thinking: if only Marina were here."
"Yeah. We need Marina’s optimism right now."
I chuckled softly, picturing her face.
No matter how grim the situation, Marina would smile like the sun and lift everyone’s spirits. She was the mood maker of "Clover."
She could be a bit impulsive at times, but for someone like me who tends to overthink, it was a helpful balance.
That’s why I need her by my side... or so I thought, like a child, as my mind drifted back to the tower and figure I saw in the video.
If that really was Marina—why was she with the "Seventh Cult"?
More importantly, what is the "Seventh Cult"?
What is their connection to the appearance of that tower?
And what is the connection between that tower and the otherworldly monsters?
"Hey, Silk."
"What is it, Sensei?"
"I’m going to try to piece things together. Help me organize my thoughts."
"Of course."
She nodded solemnly, and I gave a small nod in return before speaking.
"If we try to link everything together... this 'Seventh Cult' may be far larger than we imagined."
"Yes, I’ve been thinking the same. Maybe it's some kind of secret society?"
The Edright Republic's predecessor, the Edright Kingdom, had a long history.
It’s not out of the question.
"Supposing this secret society has existed since the days of the Edright Kingdom—why are they showing themselves now?"
"To ‘transform the world,’ right? That’s what they said."
Jamie sat down in front of me and answered.
"Even if Silk is the sub-leader, wouldn’t it be nice to include me too?"
"Sorry. I was hoping to have a little help organizing my thoughts."
"Then even more reason to include more people. So? What’s the theory?"
Prompted by Jamie, I continued formulating my ideas out loud.
"This ‘world transformation’... or so-called truth—do you think it has something to do with the tower?"
"I can’t say for certain, but given the circumstances, I don’t think it’s unrelated."
"I agree. But can something like the tower—this 'Achromatic Darkness'—really be controlled by human hands?"
"That’s the question, isn’t it?"
That possibility raised another question:
"Why now?"
If this really was their doing, then what they were trying to achieve was a man-made Overflow—exposing the dungeon to the surface and guiding it to release its contents.
"If they can really pull that off, then why choose this exact moment?"
"Wait a second..."
"What’s wrong?"
"Could it be… no, maybe I’m overthinking this—but were they waiting for this moment? Or were they trying to create it?"
Jamie tilted her head at my soliloquy.
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it. Isn’t it strange? Things like the [Medallion of Incarnation] Simon had, or the [Bracelet of Concealment] you were carrying—where did those dangerous artifacts even come from? They were supplied by the Salas Trading Company, sure, but that’s a huge organization. Getting ahold of things like that in secret should be incredibly difficult."
In actual testimony, it was said they were bought on the black market, but would it really be that easy to acquire so many dangerous items, even there?
Any deal that big would have drawn attention no matter what.
Yet despite the guild and Benwood’s investigations, the supply routes remained unknown.
"Same goes for the Ilwen Pearlwood incident."
"Yes. He possessed an artifact that could activate a dungeon with similar properties to the 'World Tree'—to the tower. And the dagger Saisaria had was the same type as the one Simon Berkley had."
"So they came from the same source…?!"
Jamie looked shocked. I nodded.
"I think we can’t rule out that possibility. And if all of it was planned ahead of time, meant to shake the very foundations of this world…?"
"Hold on. That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? It could all be coincidence."
"I get that. This is just speculation, assuming the 'Seventh Order' is at the center of all this."
But this line of thinking does make the current events easier to reconcile.
If the "Seventh Order" had been secretly stirring things behind the scenes related to the Achromatic Darkness and the tower, and if the current instability spreading through the world was their doing, then stepping out into the spotlight now would make perfect sense.
If their plan is to shake dungeons containing [Abyss Gates] and thin the dimensional boundaries of this world, all to manipulate the tower and bring about the "end of the world’s transformation"—then this timing fits.
"Let’s keep it in mind as a possibility. We shouldn’t let speculation become bias, though."
"Yeah. Maybe I’m overthinking it."
I gave Silk a small smile to ease her concern.
Even I didn’t think I was entirely right.
Getting caught up in forced speculation can dull your objective view.
I had to be careful.
As I took a sip of now-lukewarm tea, I heard the hurried clatter of the carriage door flying open.
Rain, still in her nightclothes and barefoot, came running with a panicked look on her face.
Seeing her nearly tumble into the fire, I stood up and caught her.
"What’s wrong, Rain?"
"It’s Marina! She’s on a livestream!"
On the [Tablet] Rain thrust toward us, a red-haired girl—Marina—was clearly visible.
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