The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 139

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 139
Chapter 139
The next day.
I, along with everyone from the Simmons Trading Company and the Steel Claw Mercenary Band, prepared to depart from the Red Beast Fortress.
“Sage Mir, do you really have to leave right away?”
“If you’re not in a rush, you could stay a bit longer!”
“Tonight, I’ll hunt a buffalo and prepare a whole roasted feast for you!”
The soldiers approached me with reluctance, but
“I’ll visit again next time.”
“You absolutely must come back!”
“You promised!”
Honestly, there was nothing more to gain from the Red Beast Fortress.
I had already defeated the Red Beast God.
Because of that, all the monsters worth hunting in the surrounding area had vanished.
The Ruined Plains were being fully searched by scout patrols, so there seemed to be no need for me to venture out further.
Most importantly.
‘I have much to do.’
I still needed to collect payment from Simons.
I had to find a dwarf and have the ‘Red Beast God’s Apostle Hide’ processed.
And before the evil gods, who grow stronger with each passing day, fully recover their power, I needed to find and defeat them.
Moreover.
‘The Second World Tournament will be held in a few months, they said.’
The Second World Tournament, to be held in a few months.
I wanted to participate if possible.
However, unlike Korea’s Second Crown, which divides matches by level, the World Tournament doesn’t do that, so I needed to raise my level as much as possible before then.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
“Thank you so much! Mir!”
“Because of you, we were able to protect the Red Beast Fortress!”
“If it weren’t for you, we would already be in the afterlife!”
“Thank you!”
After exchanging final farewells, I stepped out from the entrance of the Red Beast Fortress.
If I were traveling alone, it would be different, but leading a carriage would take considerable time just to reach Labelt.
Still, since I had registered as an escort mercenary and come here, it felt awkward to abandon the carriage and leave, so I intended to go with them.
“Keeeeeeee—!”
A familiar monster’s cry echoed from the sky.
The cry of a wyvern.
To be precise.
‘A White Wyvern?’
The White Wyvern Knights.
It was the cry of the alpha beast that the Knight Commander himself rode.
As expected, when I looked up.
“What’s with the wyvern?”
“A White Wyvern? Isn’t that the Empire’s wyvern?”
“That’s right! Look, the Imperial seal is carved into it! It’s the White Wyvern Knights!”
“But why are they coming now?”
“Did they hear our request for reinforcements?”
“If that were the case, they should have come long ago! And if it were reinforcements, there’s no way only one would show up, right?”
“True enough.”
I watched as the White Wyvern Knights’ wyvern flew toward us.
The soldiers recognized it too, murmuring among themselves.
In truth, the soldiers’ feelings toward the White Wyvern Knights were far from welcoming.
When Red Beast Fortress was in danger.
Despite all those requests for reinforcements, the Imperial Knights never showed their faces—wasn’t that the truth?
“Screeeee—!”
Regardless.
The wyvern landed confidently right in front of me.
Given that it appeared to be the alpha specimen, the knight who descended from it was, naturally.
“Mir! Or rather, I should say Mir the Sub-Marquis. It’s been a while.”
“It has been a while, Knight Commander.”
The Knight Commander of the White Wyvern Knights.
It was Drackin Antonius.
With his arrival, Lionheart Marquis walked out as Red Beast Fortress’s representative.
“Knight Commander Antonius, what brings you here?”
“Marquis Lionheart, I’ve heard the reports. His Majesty holds your achievements in high regard.”
“Had it not been for Sub-Marquis Mir, Red Beast Fortress would have fallen.”
“Please, there’s no need to praise me so highly. A Knight Commander, after all, is merely an expendable tool moving at the Empire’s command, is he not?”
With the Knight Commander responding thus, the Marquis could raise no further objections.
Indeed, it wasn’t as though the Knight Commander had refused to aid Red Beast Fortress out of reluctance.
He had simply passed by Red Beast Fortress unavoidably while following the Empire’s orders.
The Marquis’s grievance should be directed not at the Knight Commander, but at the Empire’s commanders who had assigned Red Beast Fortress a low priority.
“I was informed that the battle had ended. Why have you come? And alone, at that.”
“Because of that very report.”
The Knight Commander turned his head toward me as he spoke.
“His Majesty the Emperor has commanded that Sub-Marquis Mir be brought before him.”
* * *
I climbed up behind the Knight Commander.
“Screeeee—!”
The White Wyvern cried out powerfully, flapping its wings.
This was only my second time riding this creature.
Perhaps because of that, it felt far more stable than before.
“Mir, please be careful on your journey!”
“I hope we meet again next time!”
“Farewell!”
Below, the soldiers of Red Beast Fortress and
“Wahaha! See you later, Mir!”
the Steel Claw Mercenary Band led by Jackal waved their farewells.
“If you visit us again, I’ll purchase anything at the highest price and sell at the lowest! Please come by anytime!”
The merchants in the carriage, including Robert, waved their hands at me.
As the wyvern climbed higher, their figures grew smaller and smaller, and once the wyvern had soared to great heights and began moving toward the city of Labelt,
“I saw the footage. Quite impressive. I never imagined such a monster would appear at Red Beast Fortress.”
“There was footage?”
“All critical imperial locations, including the barrier at Red Beast Fortress, have recording artifacts installed. Reports are based on that footage.”
Recording artifacts, then.
Now that I thought about it, I remembered seeing an artifact connected to a mana stone installed at the end of the barrier.
Since the situation was urgent at the time, I hadn’t paid it much attention, assuming it wasn’t a defensive weapon.
That must have been the recording artifact.
“I’ve heard tales of the Red Lion legend myself. I always thought it was merely legend, but I never imagined such a monster actually existed.”
“That wasn’t its true form.”
“Not its true form?”
“I hadn’t even recovered half my power. If Red Beast Fortress had fallen and I continued advancing while hunting, it would have grown at least twice as strong as what was captured on film.”
“My goodness. How do you know such a thing?”
“…I read it in historical texts.”
“Historical texts? Well, now that the Red Lion legend has been proven real, it’s hardly surprising that books containing accounts of the Red Lion still exist.”
The Empire seemed to lack detailed information about the Red Lion and evil gods.
Though the wyvern’s flight was swift, it would still take considerable time to reach Labelt.
With time to spare, I decided to ask about the things that puzzled me.
“Even before the Red Lion appeared, Red Beast Fortress seemed to be in a precarious state. Why wasn’t reinforcement sent?”
When I had arrived, Red Beast Fortress was lacking in both resources and personnel.
How desperate must they have been to resort to borrowing the strength of a mere mercenary band?
Especially since Red Beast Fortress should be a critical stronghold for the Empire.
I couldn’t understand why such an important place had been left in such a state.
“You’ve heard that war is still raging actively at the Empire’s borders, haven’t you?”
The Empire’s goal is to unify the continent.
They pursue peaceful policies as well, but those nations that refuse to join are inevitably met with war, or so I’ve heard.
As a result, wars continue endlessly at the borders.
But
“Hasn’t that always been the case until now?”
That wasn’t a valid excuse.
The Empire being at war wasn’t a recent development.
It’s been that way all along, so how could they suddenly claim they couldn’t reinforce Red Beast Fortress because of war?
The Knight Commander nodded and continued.
“Indeed. War has always been this way. However, the situation is gradually shifting.”
“How has it changed?”
“The most pressing issue remains the monsters.”
The Knight Commander spoke with a grave expression.
“Not only have monsters grown stronger overall, but powerful mutants are beginning to emerge.”
“Mutants?”
“We still don’t know their true nature with certainty. We only know they are far more formidable than ordinary monsters.”
Monsters that had suddenly grown stronger.
And mutants.
Though I hadn’t witnessed them directly, I could roughly discern their identity.
[ From this moment onward, ‘Remnants of Great Evil’ will begin appearing across the continent of Second. ]
A System Message that had surfaced after I defeated the Black Worm God.
That message had clearly stated that ‘Remnants of Great Evil’ would appear.
And I had encountered Remnants of Great Evil back in First.
‘Mutant monsters influenced by evil gods.’
A type of named monster, if you will.
Monsters that had awakened or been strengthened by receiving the power of an evil god.
Having received the power of a god itself, Remnants of Great Evil became incomparably more formidable than ordinary monsters.
If such monsters were appearing everywhere, they would certainly pose a grave threat.
Especially.
“Such monsters have appeared everywhere. Not only on the battlefield, but even in the residential areas where the Empire’s citizens live.”
If such monsters were appearing in ordinary residential districts?
It would have become a far more serious danger than imagined.
If citizens were being devoured by Remnants of Great Evil right now, it made some sense that the Red Beast Fortress would be deprioritized.
“It’s not just monsters. The aquatic beings in the south—their scales have turned white, they’ve lost their reason, and grown stronger, pushing back the Empire’s frontlines.”
Aquatic beings with scales turned white.
The moment I heard those words, I could discern which evil god was at work.
‘The White Aquatic God.’
White scales and the aquatic race itself.
It was undoubtedly connected to the White Aquatic God.
And that wasn’t all.
“All manner of anomalies are occurring across the continent. As a result, our entire Knight Order is constantly traversing the continent without rest.”
From what the Knight Commander told me, Remnants of Great Evil were truly affecting every corner of the continent.
Each one was a grave matter.
It was a situation where they couldn’t afford to focus on the Red Beast Fortress.
“Perhaps the reason His Majesty summoned you so urgently was to request assistance alongside acknowledging your achievement.”
It seemed the influence of the evil gods was spreading across the continent far faster than anticipated.
* * *
Indeed, the Knight Commander’s speed was extraordinary.
The Red Beast Fortress had felt so distant when I traveled there by carriage.
Yet I had traversed from that fortress to Labelt in mere moments.
I had assumed that since I’d been summoned by the Emperor, I would wait in my quarters until granted an audience with him, just as before.
“Follow me.”
Celia, the Emperor’s direct Guard Captain, had come to fetch me immediately.
The Butler who accompanied her likewise informed me of the proper protocols.
[ Damascus Kingdom Official Uniform ]
I donned the same formal uniform I had worn during my previous audience with the Emperor.
Not long after.
“Please enter.”
The doors to the Audience Chamber opened.
Drakeon Baltika, the twenty-second Emperor of the Baltika Empire, revealed himself.
The Emperor sat upon his throne with an air of commanding dignity.
“Mir, Baron-in-waiting. I thought we might meet again before long, but I confess I did not anticipate our reunion would come so swiftly.”
He welcomed me graciously.
“Raise your head. One of sufficient merit need not bow so low.”
“Understood.”
At his word, I straightened without hesitation.
I noticed Celia, the Guard Captain beside me, shift slightly, but what of it?
The Emperor’s words took precedence over the Guard Captain’s expectations.
As I met the gaze of the Baltika Empire’s Emperor.
“Before we proceed to substantive matters, I must first commend your remarkable achievements.”
The Emperor tapped the armrest of his throne thoughtfully.
At that signal, an attendant who had been holding something stepped forward and presented it to me.
Its nature was.
‘A seal of rank?’
“In recognition of your extraordinary achievements—defending the Red Beast Fortress for the Empire and vanquishing a monster that posed a grave threat to our realm—I hereby bestow upon you, Mir, the rank of Marquis of the Empire.”
It was the seal that proved one’s status as a Marquis of the Empire.
Less than a month after receiving the rank of Baron-in-waiting, I had now been granted the true rank of Marquis of the Empire.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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