TNG Vol. 20 Chapter 1 Part 1
CHAPTER 1
Shin and his team were contacted by Berett Kilmar, a subordinate of ‘Golden Merchant’ Reed, one of the Rokuten, and headed for the Grandmost Mountains to stop Reed’s masterpiece, a doll.
In the Grandmost Mountains, which was said to be the dwelling place of the gods, Shin and his team had a battle with two gods, but they fought them off and secured the doll.
Shin told the half-destroyed doll, which was still struggling to prove its existence, the name ‘Welberad,’ which Reed had told him. By telling him that he had not abandoned the doll, Welberad regained his composure.
𑁋
“If you need any materials to repair the exterior, contact me. I’ll send it to you right away.”
Owl, the all-purpose doll, nodded in response to Shin’s words.
“Thank you. If you need anything, please feel free to contact us. We will do everything we can to help you.”
Owl and his colleagues were to repair the tattered Welberad’s exterior using the facilities at Miraltrea.
Shin could have done it, but he was reluctant to take up any more time.
Shin thought that since they had already told Hades they would go to her after they were done with Welberad.
Shin and the others could move on to their next destination with peace of mind, knowing that Berett would take care of the town at the foot of the mountains.
“See you then.”
As Shin said this, Owl, Berett, and the others, bowing their heads, disappeared, and lush trees appeared before them.
Shin and his group had been teleported to where the Moon Shrine was previously located near the Bayreuth Kingdom. They used 【 Hiding】 so that they would not be seen when they teleported.
“There are some guards here. It must have been quite a while since the Moon Shrine disappeared.”
When Shin was previously teleported to this location, it had not been long since the Moon Shrine had disappeared, and many people seemed to be spy agents or surveillance.
At that time, Schnee’s well-being, the acting owner of “Moon Shrine,” had not yet been confirmed, so it was probably inevitable. But now, despite her well-being being known, they still haven’t stopped monitoring because Schnee is a High Elf, a long-lived species. It seems that it is still too early to say for sure that she will not return. Schnee had informed them that it is important to wait patiently because long-lived species can be gone for several years, just like a trip of a few weeks for short-lived species.
However, since there were no plans to return the Moon Shrine to this location, he felt that monitoring it would be futile, but there was no reason to bother telling them. Shin just said good luck in his mind and left the place.
The group headed to a guild in Bayreuth Kingdom. There, they would gather information about the dungeon where Hades was said to be.
Shin had been to Wraith Plains before, but had no idea where the entrance to the dungeon might be.
The other members didn’t seem to know either, so Shin thought he’d ask if the guild had any information. If they don’t have any information, he’ll have no choice but to head to the plains and look for it.
“It kind of reminds me of when I came here.”
Shin suddenly mentioned this on the way to the guild.
When Shin showed the gatekeeper his letter of introduction, the guard was surprised, which was nostalgic.
He still remembered the face of the gatekeeper who guided him to the guild, but he could not find him.
He walked from the gate to the guild, stealing glances from people on the street. Yuzuha, the Element Tail, was riding on Shin’s shoulder in her little fox mode.
Shin was somewhat reminiscent of when he used to attract attention by putting Yuzuha on his head. Although nowadays, he was rather more subdued, as all the members of the group attracted more attention than Yuzuha.
Since he moved by teleportation and then walked, his carriage was in the item box. So, Kagerou, the Divine Beast Gruefago, hid in the shadow of his partner, Tiera, the elf.
The group entered the guild and headed straight for the reception desk.
The receptionist did not seem to have changed, and there was Celica, who took care of the registration, and Els, an acquaintance of Tiera’s.
“Mr. Shin! It’s been a while. Are you coming back?”
“It’s been a long time. I have something to do here.”
Although he had not spent much time in Bayreuth, Celica seemed to remember Shin. It had been quite a while since Shin had been teleported from the royal castle to the Sacred Place, but she was still smiling at him as usual. Meanwhile, Els was happy to be reunited with Tiera.
“I hadn’t seen you at all since I heard you were summoned to the royal castle, so I was wondering what happened to you. But I’ve heard various rumors about you, so I knew you were safe.”
“I didn’t expect it either, so it was tough. More than that, I’m worried about what kind of rumors are being spread.”
The ‘Great Flood’s’ monsters in the fortress city of Balmel must have been well known. Rionne, the second princess of Bayreuth Kingdom, was also involved in the event. If the princess of their own country had participated in the battle, they would want to know what had happened then.
Besides, Schnee’s participation in the war must have been conspicuous, and Shin’s nickname, “the Slashing Hammer,” was also widely known. It would not be surprising if rumors and information were spreading other than the ‘Flood’.
“It seems like you’re doing well enough to be worthy of your A-rank status. I thought you were a bit out of the ordinary when you first came to the guild, but it was better than I expected. I see that you are now working together as a party.”
Celica’s gaze turned to the members behind Shin.
Except for Tiera and Shibaid, the other members had changed their eyes and hair color with disguise items. The reason for this was that with so many members in the group, there was a possibility that some would recognize them as Shin’s support characters.
Schnee and Shibaid have made a name for themselves through their past deeds.
However, for former players and long-lived species who have been alive since before the “Dusk of Majesty,” they’d have a strong impression that they were Shin’s support characters.
It would be fine if each of them were alone, but now almost everyone was gathered together. Furthermore, the leader was a person named Shin. It was not difficult to associate Shin as a player at this point.
In the game era of THE NEW GATE, especially since the Death Game began, Shin’s name has become more widely known than he was aware of.
It was the same even if one were not a player. For long-lived species, 500 years was just a short time ago, so those who’d notice would also recognize Shin.
But shouldn’t such measures have been taken earlier? Shin couldn’t argue with that.
“There are a lot more beautiful people here, Mr. Shin.”
“I don’t deny it, but Baid is a man, you know?”
Shin said to Celica, who was smiling, while looking at Shibaid.
Shibaid himself was not in disguise, but he used an alias instead of his real name. Although there were many Dragnil named after the former Dragon King, there were very few who had the exact same name. So Shibaid had a guild card to operate as just an adventurer of Dragnil, not an adventurer known as the former Dragon King. His name was Baid, only the second half of his name, and his adventurer rank was A.
“If it weren’t for Mr. Baid, people would have thought it was Mr. Shin’s harem party.”
“…I suppose.”
In fact, there were parties like that.
Except for Shin and Shibaid, all the other women in the room were beautiful. The fact that Shin and Shibaid were there meant that no one was going to mess with them, but they still attracted the attention of the entire guild. If Shibaid had not been there, it is easy to imagine that the murderous glances would have been focused on Shin.
“I apologize if I have caused any inconvenience to you. However, please be very careful. Troubles among high-level adventurers can cause more damage than those of average people.”
Adventurer’s parties are often made up of people of the same gender.
No matter what race you are, there is always a love affair or a falling out, and parties that break up due to such problems are a fact of life.
Shin had heard that it was not uncommon for parties to break up or for people to leave or be kicked out, although some parties successfully resolve their problems and continue, and some relationships are based on nothing more than profit and loss.
Apparently, there were also one-man parties in which other members supported one talented person, but Shin and the others spoke in a manner that made it clear that this was not the case.
In fact, Celica continued, there had been an incident in which a part of the wall surrounding the city was damaged due to trouble among the Chosen Ones.
“I don’t think it’s anything like that, but I’ll be careful.”
Shin’s partner has been decided to be Schnee, so there was no such thing as… with the other members.
However, Shin was a little unsure whether he should mention it here, so he nodded anyway and continued the conversation.
“Well, that’s that. I came to the guild today to ask you something about the Wraith Plains. It seems that you can’t enter deep inside unless you’re A-rank or above, but if there’s a restriction, that means you have reasonable information, right?”
In the past, Shin, along with Sister Rashia and her companion Wilhelm, who had inherited the church, ventured into the depths of the Wraith Plains. He remembered a zone where dangerous high-level monsters appeared, separated by an invisible wall.
He forgot whether the country or the guild set it up, but the guild must have had something to do with it, since it was restricted by adventurer rank.
The reason Shin stopped by the guild house in Bayreuth Kingdom instead of heading straight for Wraith Plains was that he thought he might be able to ask for such information.
In addition, since he did not know the location of the entrance to the dungeon in Wraith Plains, he thought he would ask for it on the way there.
“You are asking for information?”
“Yes, I am. Are there any restrictions?”
Shin asked Celica if there were any restrictions based on adventurer rank, or if there was a need for permission from another organization, such as the country.
“No, but I can’t talk about it here. I’ll bring you some materials, so please go to the back room.”
Apparently, this was not a topic that could be discussed in the lobby, where some of the new adventurers were also present. Since there were likely to be people listening in, Shin had no objections.