"Lord Arthur, you haven’t slept in two days. You need to take a break."
"There is no time for that, Mary. I need to prepare as much as I can.”
Books lay scattered across the wooden floor like fallen leaves, dozens of thick tomes with cracked spines and yellowed pages. Maps covered the walls, overlapping charts and diagrams creating a tangled web of strategy and governance. Arthur sat hunched over his desk, fingers pressed to his temples, trying to absorb one more page, one more theory, one more tactic.
Candlelight flickered beside him, casting restless shadows across the room. He looked worn down. His usually sharp eyes had dulled, dark circles heavy beneath them. His tunic was wrinkled, the collar half unfastened, and a thin sheen of sweat clung to his brow. Scrolls lay open on every available surface: records of diplomatic successes, failed alliances, siege plans, taxation systems, and magic engineering notes. He was clearly combing through every piece of knowledge that might help him pass the trial.
"But my Lord, think of your health. What if…"
Before Mary could finish, Arthur cut her off.
"What if I don’t pass and run out of time? The assembly is approaching. This might be my last chance."
His voice rose as frustration crept in, but he managed to steady himself before continuing. He understood how unusual his class was, and the more unique the class, the longer the wait between trials had become. Normally, the next stage would begin after a day. For him, nearly three days had passed with no sign. If the delay stretched beyond six days, he feared he would lose the opportunity altogether.
"We need to leave soon. I cannot afford to stop now. Don't worry, the elixirs and stamina potions should carry me through. Once the trial is over, I'll get some proper sleep."
Mary remained silent, her eyes drifting to the empty bottles scattered across the desk. In theory, the magic within them would restore energy and calm the mind, mimicking the effects of rest. But such effects had limits. Without a high-level sleep resistance skill and a body conditioned to endure strain, the potions would eventually lose their effectiveness. Roland had both. Arthur did not.
"Is there something important? If not, then please let me be, Mary."
"Ah, yes. Here, Lord Arthur. These are notes from Sir Wayland regarding the trial. He asked me to give them to you."
Arthur took the packet of notes with trembling hands. His fingers were stained with ink and smudged with graphite from hours of scribbling annotations. The moment the parchment touched his palm, he felt a faint pulse and saw a rune emerge. The text began to glow with a bluish hue, and in that instant, the transfer of knowledge surged through him.
This was not the first time he had encountered this kind of spell, but he knew its use came with strict limitations. It only worked when the author inscribed the text in a precise way, constantly channeling mana into the parchment using a specialized quill and enchanted ink. His friend Roland still had scribe skills and had mastered this technique. Through these magical notes, Arthur could quickly grasp the underlying structure of the trial and discern the patterns that would help him uncover the traitor and secure victory.
"Fascinating..."
When the process ended, he emerged from the trance-like state. His fingers rested on the final page, trembling slightly as the last threads of Roland’s enchanted knowledge settled into his mind. Arthur blinked, trying to steady his breathing as the rush of information began to fade. The exhaustion he had been suppressing seemed to lift for a moment, but then his body gave in. He slumped forward against the desk.
Mary caught his head gently, as though she had been expecting this exact moment. The surge of knowledge had overwhelmed him, and though the information would remain with him, he would be forced to rest. It was a known side effect, one Mary had quietly hoped for.
"Rest well, my Lord. Once you wake, perhaps you will be one step closer to your goal."
She didn’t move him from the chair, afraid that any shift might wake him. Instead, she let him rest gently against the desk. Mary carefully draped a cloak over his shoulders, then began quietly gathering the scattered books from the floor. Many were filled with scribbled notes in Arthur’s hurried handwriting. Titles like ‘Diplomatic Webs of the Kingdom’, ‘Foundations of Farming in Mana-Rich Regions’, and ‘Tyrants, Traitors, and Tacticians’ spoke volumes about what he had been trying to learn.
Her gaze drifted to the wall behind him. There, the emblem of the Valerian household hung in pristine condition. When they first arrived in this small settlement that barely qualified as a city, she had hoped Arthur would find peace. She had believed, perhaps foolishly, that Albrook could offer him a quiet life, far from the ambitions and politics of his lineage. She had hoped he would forget about his brothers, just as they had forgotten about this place.
But the arrival of Roland had changed everything. In some quiet corner of her heart, she resented him for that. He had reignited Arthur’s dreams. Now Arthur stood at the heart of the very world he once tried to escape, learning to lead, to manipulate, and to conquer. All for a trial that would drag him deeper into the struggle he should have despised.
She didn’t want him caught in the succession battle. She feared that in pursuing it, he would become no different from the nobles he had once stood apart from. But these were thoughts she could never voice aloud. Her role was not to question his path. Her duty was to protect him. That had always been her purpose. She was his maid, and she would help him achieve the goal he had set for himself.
*****
“He is giving his all.”
Roland glanced at the sleeping Arthur, his form a small screen within his helmet. While he at first didn’t want to include runic cameras into his chambers, they decided to put them in as a safety measure as the possibility of assasination attempts was high. The entire mansion was filled with runic sensors and detectors.
At the moment, no assassin had made it through, though several had attempted. Most were tier two killers who never stood a chance. It was clear their enemies were testing defenses, measuring their strength. Despite capturing every intruder, none of them revealed any useful information about who had sent them. Now that Arthur’s fame was growing, stronger enemies were likely to appear. Reducing their defensive measures would be foolish.
"He’s on day three. Mine took ten when I awakened the Overlord class. I wonder how rare his is."
His AI helper Sebastian had analyzed the possible patterns within the trial and Roland had taken the time to record them in a specialized notebook. Yet, the trial had not restarted, and if it was a class of his level, it could take ten days or more to reset. From an outsider’s perspective, the test didn’t appear as difficult as the Overlord trial, but he couldn’t be sure. Nevertheless, it seemed to be more challenging than what Robert and Lucille had experienced, as theirs had restarted after three days for Lucille and a half day later for Robert.
"Well, the longer the better. I still need time to finish setting up this relay station."
Roland stood in what looked like an underground tunnel, though he wasn’t truly alone. The walls around him glowed faintly with embedded light runes. They pulsed in a slow rhythm, conserving energy while providing guidance for the workers who would arrive later.
He was deep within the dungeon tunnels, continuing his exploration. Thick bundles of black and silver cabling now lined the walls, soon to stretch through the entire network if all went according to plan. While his primary objective was to locate the origin point of the monsters, what they believed to be the super dungeon, there was something else he was searching for.
There were several things about this place that bothered him. One of them was how it had remained untouched by human hands and undiscovered until now. The depth below the surface was almost too precise, sitting just beyond the detection range of even the most experienced casters. Not even the highest quality magical tools could have revealed the tunnels, which were saturated with mana. He had only managed to locate them because of the proximity to the second, unfinished dungeon. Still, he suspected that others might have discovered this place as well, and that was something he needed to confirm.
"That should do it. Once the dwarves arrive, they can dig through and connect it to the city. We will have a secure escape tunnel back to Albrook."
For now, he was positioned directly beneath Aldbourne. The tunnel leading upward had collapsed, but that would not be a problem for their dwarven miners. In the future, this location could become even more important. They might install an underground train station here, which could help people move across the island more easily. The island still lacked a proper, fully functional railway above ground, and this might serve as the first step toward solving that.
“Now then, it might be here if my theory is right…”
He connected the relay station, which resembled a rectangle covered with runes, to one of the main cables that had already been laid out by one of his spider golems. Several of the golems were still working nearby. One of the main units carried a long cable stored inside a compartment in its back, appearing to be attached to a roller. However, the real secret lay within a rune that compressed the entire length of the cable into a compact space using spatial magic.
Once unrolled, the cable would be fastened to the tunnel walls by another golem. The walls were dense and highly resistant to drilling, so instead of bolting the cable in place, they had decided to use a specialized adhesive for now. When the dwarven craftsmen arrived, they would reinforce the structure using more refined and permanent techniques.
The relay, which resembled a box covered in glowing runes, was placed off to the side and connected to a thick cluster of cables. Once it was active, the signal in the area was significantly boosted, giving him a clear view of everything happening throughout the tunnel system. The first thing that caught his attention was the presence of several mineral pockets, but none appeared valuable enough to justify full-scale mining operations.
Still, something else stood out. Something worth investigating.
"It’s not far from here."
He turned and walked toward the vehicle he had arrived in. It was not the large armored transport he had previously used to break through waves of monsters. This time, he had chosen something smaller, a sleeker machine that resembled an enhanced version of his runic bike.
The third thing that would catch anyone’s eye was the set of wide black tires. They were made from the same rubber-like substance used in his other armored vehicle, though shaped into a thinner, more agile form. The design suited underground maneuvering, with its most distinctive feature being the two-tire configuration.
The runic bike emitted a quiet, steady buzzing. Its sound was unlike the roar of a combustion engine, more of a low, resonant purr. The frame, forged from dark metal alloys, was entirely black and reinforced with multiple enchantments. As soon as Roland mounted the seat, the runes etched into the frame began to glow with a reddish hue. The machine had an angular design like its four-wheeled predecessor, and it bore thick armor to contain the powerful engine within.
Roland swung his leg over the saddle and flicked a small switch beneath the left handle. A ripple of light spread across the bike’s frame as it fully activated. The front lights, shaped like pale-blue orbs, lit the tunnel ahead with a soft glow. Without making more noise than an electric scooter, he accelerated forward.
Guided by the coordinates on his mapping device, he reached the source of the strange readings within moments.
"A fork."
It was exactly that. The path to the left led deeper into Theodore’s lands, while the right veered toward another settlement. The tunnels differed in size, with the left being noticeably wider. That made sense, as it was the main route to the central city of the region, while the right path likely served smaller towns. But Roland's interest was not in either direction. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the area between the two tunnels. That was where the strange signals were coming from.
He dismounted his bike and walked toward the central point between the diverging paths. His boots clicked softly against the stone floor, each step echoing faintly in the silence. The pale-blue lights from his runic machine bathed the area in a cold glow as he began his search.
At first, the space seemed unremarkable. Crumbling rocks and disturbed soil covered the ground, suggesting nothing more than natural decay. But after a few minutes of careful inspection, he noticed something unusual. A strange rock formation, dark in color and oddly cylindrical in shape, stood out from the rest.
"Sebastian. Log this location."
He gave the command without hesitation, marking the site as significant. Though the object in his hand appeared ordinary, it supported his growing suspicion. The tunnels might not have been entirely natural. This find could point to deliberate interference, possibly even proof that someone or something had influenced their formation and affected the dungeon.
"There seems to be a point of entry."
He raised his head, following the beam of his bike's lights as they cast their glow upward. With the help of his armor, he rose into the air, slowly hovering toward the ceiling. There, he found what he was looking for. One section of the rock above was noticeably softer, the texture and density different from the surrounding stone. The space was narrow, but just wide enough for a cylindrical object to have been forced through.
"It must have passed through here a long time ago and remained within."
The walls of the tunnel had been solidified by the natural flow of mana and the influence of the dungeon itself. For this specific spot to remain softer than the rest, it could only mean that something had been lodged there for a long period, preventing the dungeon from fully forming around it. Now that the dungeon break had been stopped, the object had likely been damaged or dislodged, either by the sheer chaos of monsters flooding out or perhaps by intentional design.
"That confirms one, but I’ll need to find more to be certain."
For now, he turned away from the rubble, the rod-shaped obsidian object held carefully in his gloved hand. It felt cold and inert. The initial readings were weak, offering little insight, but he suspected that with enough samples and proper analysis, especially once he could drill into the core of one, a clearer picture would emerge.
Back at the runic bike, a soft pulse of light radiated from one of its side panels. A compartment opened smoothly, revealing a spatial container inside. He placed the object within, and it vanished into storage.
"Now then... if my theory is correct, I should find more of these at other junctions between major settlements."
He folded his arms and waited. The lights on the bike shifted, casting out a projection into the air above him. A detailed map of Dragnis Island appeared, overlaid with the network of underground tunnels he had managed to chart so far. A glowing red dot marked his current location, and his eyes moved across the display to the next promising site—a fork near the main city where Theodore Valerian was stationed. It was a place he intended to investigate thoroughly, both for what it might reveal and for what it could become in the days ahead.
As the map flickered and realigned itself, Roland leaned forward and studied the projected routes. He mounted the runic bike again, his fingers gliding across the panel between the handlebars. In addition to the speedometer, the display showed energy levels and included its own tracking and mapping system.
The engine hummed quietly to life, and the bike rolled forward into the darkness ahead. These tunnels had not yet been explored by his golems, and their untouched silence pressed in around him. Within seconds, the soft light behind him was swallowed by the pitch-black expanse. Only the glowing rune-trail beneath his tires offered a trace of his presence.
As he moved deeper, the air became heavier. Dust particles drifted slowly through the beams of his front lights, carried by faint currents. Traces of mana still lingered in the atmosphere, faint but undeniable. This was a place never meant to be seen, yet he pressed on, determined to explore every corner he could before the assembly began. Time was slipping away, as it always did, but he refused to let that stop him. He had to uncover the truth.
193