Arcane Sniper

Chapter 981

“Phew… The skill truly was impressive. They can’t even recognize me here.”

Leeha reached the second floor of a building within Gaza City and deactivated his skill.

Despite being certain that in such a place his skill might get nullified, it seemed impossible even here.

‘Would they have stopped me if I did something malicious?’

It was only natural for Leeha to wonder this. This place was not for typical NPCs. On the ‘first floor’, a massive number of users occupied the tables, with NPCs busily catering to their needs. However, the second floor was a completely different realm.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Madam~?”

The place was used as the office of Fibiel Kingdom’s official NPC Intelligence guild! It housed NPCs authorized to operate outside Middle Earth’s systems.

Even if they appeared to perform simple tasks, it implied they possessed the capability to be by ‘Madam Ju’s’ side. Certainly, some could comprehend terms like level, achievement, grade, and logout.

If someone came seeking the head of the Gaza City branch of the Holy Grail, it was standard procedure for them to ask Ju about any prearranged meetings or consent before guiding the visitor.

Yet, here was Leeha, reaching the door of the second-floor office without any interference.

“Goodness! How did you…?”

Ignoring all usual protocols, Leeha marched directly inside, eliciting such a response.

As he saw Ju, who had not entirely brushed off her confusion from glancing at the staircase leading from the first floor, Leeha felt genuinely pleased.

“Well… I’ve been through quite a bit. Do you have a moment?”

Leeha playfully raised his eyebrows, subtly showcasing his enhanced capabilities. Ju inadvertently nodded, ushering Leeha inside her office.

Only after closing the door and guiding him to the sofa did her expression return to normal. Considering her usual poker face, it was evident she had experienced significant shock.

“Our Lord of the City, incomparable to before, isn’t it? Though, I must say, the power you displayed during the Tiamat War was incredibly impressive to me.”

“Haha, of course. Seems like the Holy Grail’s intel remains top-notch. While what I did during the Tiamat episode is immensely famous—”

“We have been aware ever since the large mana supplier was being constructed. That is our role, after all. By the way, leaving us to collaborate with Minis’s secret police felt rather cold.”

“What? Madam knows about—”

“The matter regarding the Council of the Nine Cardinals. It would have been nice if we established a rapport with Master Kay. Handing it over to Minis’s secret police… that’s disappointing, truly.”

Now, it was Leeha’s turn to look slightly taken aback. How was it that she already knew about an event that hadn’t even happened 12 hours ago?

Ju displayed a subtle smile while looking at Leeha’s face. He mirrored her smile in response.

Exchanging gestures to display resilience to one another. It confirmed that the relationship between Leeha and the Holy Grail had enough merit to continue in the future.

“Ha, haha. I’ve been expanding my connections a bit myself. Naturally, it was something our Madam would be aware of.”

“Indeed. But for happenings in the Old Continent and the western New Continent, you can trust us.”

Hearing this, Leeha nodded. This was part of why he had come here today.

“Then, may I ask you something?”

“Certainly, given our Lord’s contributions, the Holy Grail is about to open its fourth branch. You’re more than welcome to.”

“Alright. Could you find out about the tendencies of the Chromatic Dragons?”

“Hmm… instead of specifying a particular dragon or hue, if you’re looking for general trends, maybe…”

“Yes. The Chromatic Dragons won’t remain idle. With Onyx gone, they too will likely seek to elect a new elder. Dragons, despite their strong individualistic natures, inherently require a leader.”

Was it because he had heard the story of Bahamut from Kurpke?

Leeha had become focused on the position of the “leader” among dragons. They possessed not just strength.

As symbolic beings, they were creatures that proposed the direction for their entire dragon species!

Wasn’t the public’s interest on the broadcast about Bailephus, Alexander’s partner dragon, possibly becoming a Bahamut precisely for this reason?

Therefore, Leeha needed to know.

In order to gauge the future conditions of dragons with color.

“Specifically, is there talk about chromatic dragons, or is there a set location and time if such a position has already been established?”

“Is it possible to know such details?”

Ju responded to Leeha, taking a sip of coffee.

“One of the main tasks of Fibiel’s Intelligence guild is building relationships with chromatic dragons.”

“Yeah? But most chromatic dragons are in Minis.”

“Exactly.”

“Yeah? What’s exact― oh, ah?”

Leeha looked at Ju with a face that seemed as if he had been hit with a sudden realization.

The Holy Grail was strictly speaking the Intelligence guild of “Fibiel!”

Moreover, it was directly affiliated with the royal palace, akin to an institution directly under the king.

Then, one of the scenarios they had to prepare for was what?

It had to be the war between Fibiel and Minis after the 「Sacred Alliance」 established a new order.

What if they could incorporate some chromatic dragons into Fibiel’s forces and conduct guerrilla warfare across Minis!?

“What about the management of metal dragons, on the contrary?”

There would also be considerations for activities similar to those conducted in Minis.

Ju did not offer a direct answer to Leeha’s question.

“… This is why I can’t stand our castle lord.”

She said this casually, but she was smiling.

If that was a euphemistic way of expressing how she disliked the castle lord for being overly perceptive, it meant that Leeha’s observation was correct.

Leeha nodded with a satisfied face.

To have that precise information about chromatic dragons was enough for Leeha; everything else was secondary.

“Very well. Then, I will rely on you for intelligence.”

“Leave it to me.”

“And… this is more of a casual question than an investigation.”

“The Demon King’s Fragment?”

As Ju repeated the question, Leeha couldn’t help but smile wryly. He found himself curious about the extent of NPC capabilities.

“Hehe… Rather than an Intelligence guild, shouldn’t you establish a fortune-telling guild?”

“If there are a few major issues dealt with on the continent today, it’s obvious that our castle lord with his wide range of interests can’t just sit back and watch.”

Leeha listened to Ju and asked straightforwardly.

“Then tell me. Now that all three of the Demon King’s Fragments have awakened… what happens next? What significant changes should we expect compared to before?”

Pyrot-Cocri itself had expressed confidence to that extent.

This was what Leeha wondered about.

Ju put down her coffee cup. Her expression turned quite serious.

Leeha heard many stories from him.

“The biggest difference is the environment, huh. Well, back then, the Old Continent was everything.”

Leeha had been scrolling through the official website of Middle Earth.

The 2nd Human-Demon War was a history that had passed. Though it wasn’t detailed, the overall flow of the world view was all recorded on the website, wasn’t it?

It had been several hours since he had logged out after hearing the story from Ju of the Holy Grail.

He wasn’t sure whether to consider the information he had heard useful or useless—it just left Leeha feeling troubled.

『It says when all the Demon King’s Fragments are gathered, there is no limit to their power. It took the collective might of the entire continent’s “Heroes’ Descendants” to barely oppose them… Even then, they managed to expel them with difficulty, if you remember that. To be precise, we did not kill them, nor did we seal them. They simply hid themselves, promising a better future.』

“That’s correct. The pursuit to the New Continent failed, and we couldn’t pose a real threat to the Demon King’s Fragment entities. They just postponed their actions for a clearer time. Luger woke them up, leading the gears to turn again…”

This meant the present moment had arrived.

When Luger awakened Le, it was within the expected timeframe of Goople.

But afterward?

Ghibrid awakened faster than expected, and Pyrot-Cocri even woke sooner.

That was the very part Leeha had hoped for.

If the Demon King’s Fragments had been awakened sooner than expected, then there might be a possibility that they hadn’t accumulated enough power yet, he hoped.

『If they hadn’t gathered enough power, they wouldn’t have awakened… Luger included similar details in the report to the Ezwen Papal Office. Oh, didn’t you hear? Luger seems to be close with our Lord. The Demon King’s Fragments don’t awaken just by pounding on them. They can only come out when they break their own seal with determination, as Luger reported.』

That was already a hopeless expectation that even Ju denied.

After contemplating Ju’s words for a long time, Leeha finally understood her completely.

What Luger reported to the Papal Office?

While it was unclear how detailed it was, if the Intelligence Guild or the Papal Office knew about it, it could only mean one thing.

‘That must have been mentioned in Luger’s achievements.’

Ultimately, the Demon King’s Fragments had already accumulated enough power to some extent and waited for players to come and awaken them—such was the “setting.”

From the developers’ perspective, players awakening the Demon King’s Fragments early only meant that the players hadn’t grown sufficiently; suggesting the Fragments awakened in a weakened state was impossible within the “setting.”

“Sigh… Even that gave me a headache, and now saying they’ll be even stronger than during the 2nd Human-Demon War—it’s insane. Is this the final content or something? There’s no other hell like this!”

Moreover, the Demon King’s Fragments had definitively improved from before.

『During the 2nd Human-Demon War, the resources used by Bluebeard’s monster corps, Ghibrid’s chimera corps, and Pyrot-Cocri’s undead army all came from the Lope continent. And where they currently are… our Lord knows better.』

The eastern part of the New Continent, an area where teleportation doesn’t work.

Although Leeha had been as far as the eastern end, Saur Land, it was hard to say he truly knew the east.

To be precise, even Fernand hadn’t fully explored it yet.

‘If it weren’t for Fernand, we wouldn’t even be at this stage, would we? Discovering Laputa in the sky was a huge luck.’

In short, the route that the “Sacred Alliance” could use in the eastern part of the New Continent is as thin as a silk thread.

And the area where that single silk thread is placed is broader than a football field, even when estimating low.

In this context, only knowing and using a silk thread’s width in such a vast area is tantamount to saying they know nothing.

There, the Demon King’s Fragments would create their army. And it would be based on new monsters that no player had yet identified.

“Is the new war going to involve facing stronger enemies than before, without heroes’ descendants on our side?”

That couldn’t be.

Despite the high level of current active players, future battles would demand even greater strength.

Fortunately, there was a way forward.