【Hidden Event-Rescue Ria Heilin has begun.】
The Hidden Event-Rescue Ria Heilin could be initiated in the Rihelen District two days before the entrance ceremony.
The player had to save Ria Heilin from an attack in the middle of the night.
Success granted discounts at the Cosmo Trading Company and ensured Ria’s survival, reducing the difficulty of a major event in the middle of the story.
Ordinarily, completing it without a disguise offered several advantages.
But I had transmigrated into Van. Earning goodwill under his identity would be difficult, and I had cleared the event in disguise many times in the game.
So I had come wearing one.
There was one more problem.
Ria’s insight was so sharp that a few spoken words could reveal my identity.
For the duration of this event, I could not utter a single sentence.
Ria, still held against me, blinked as though she understood nothing.
I placed her in a sheltered corner of the street and patted her shoulder, signaling her to remain calm.
Then I turned toward the assassins rushing down from the building.
They slowed when they saw me shielding Ria with my wand raised.
Their posture was awkward, and they could not even maintain a proper formation.
I knew their true identity. They were not trained assassins, but city vagrants who had accepted money for the attack.
That was the only reason an event as large as raiding one of the Five Great Trading Companies could appear so early in the game.
I raised my mana to threaten them while using 【Dual Casting】 to write words of mana in front of Ria.
[Do you have a sword for self-defense?]
She hurriedly searched inside her clothes and handed me a dagger.
It was inadequate, but better than nothing.
With a wand in one hand and the dagger in the other, I faced the attackers.
Neither side moved.
Finally, their leader stepped forward.
“Who are—”
Before he could finish, I cast 【Tracing Fire】 directly at his face.
BOOM!
He barely avoided the explosion by throwing himself backward.
While everyone reeled from the sudden attack, I gripped the dagger properly and charged with 【Ignition】.
The foundation of magical combat was maintaining distance.
A mage calculated both the range at which their spells could reach the enemy and the space needed to evade retaliation, then preserved the balance between them.
I had no need to do that.
I rushed as if intending to stab the leader.
When he braced himself, I spun once and slid past him, driving the dagger into the abdomen of the assassin beside him.
STAB!
Only then did the others recover and attack.
I used 【Combustion】 to divert their blades. Whenever an opening appeared, I discharged 【Fire】 at point-blank range.
FWOOOSH!
Leaving their burning companion behind, the assassins continued charging.
I had played this event countless times. The patterns of these minor enemies were engraved into my memory.
I fired mana lines with 【Tracing Fire】 to break their combinations and slipped between their attacks.
At first, the assassins avoided the lines.
Once they saw that no explosion followed, they began ignoring them and focused on me.
Meanwhile, several attackers moved toward the undefended Ria.
When they drew close enough, I activated the Second-Circle earth spell 【Stone Edge】.
A magic circle I had placed around her flared to life, and stone spikes erupted from the ground.
The assassins struck by them were launched into the air.
Whenever the sight of a fallen ally caused the others to hesitate, my dagger pierced them without fail.
The ordinary attackers were manageable even with a short blade.
Their leader was another matter.
Unlike the others, whose swordsmanship was pathetic, he knew how to use his weapon and gradually forced me backward.
He had never been this difficult in the game.
Perhaps because this was reality, the timing of his attacks and the preparatory motions of his patterns differed subtly from what I remembered.
With assistance from 【Basic Swordsmanship】, I continued diverting his attacks through 【Combustion】 while firing mana lines with 【Tracing Fire】.
I had launched them steadily since the battle began. The entire area now resembled a spiderweb, but the assassins paid the lines no attention.
If I could break free of the leader’s pressure, I could end the battle immediately.
There was no opening.
The instant I thought that, Ria struck him with 【Wind Spear】 as though she had read my mind.
“Ghk……!”
I did not waste the opportunity. I kicked the leader away and escaped his reach.
He flew directly into the clustered assassins.
When all of them had gathered in a single place, I snapped my fingers and sent mana through the lines.
Naturally, the spell I activated was 【Tracing Fire】.
Flame raced through every overlapping line at once.
The explosions began before the assassins could react.
BOOOOM—!
A chain of massive detonations swallowed them.
Dozens of Tracing Fires, each approaching the power of the Third Circle, had activated simultaneously.
The resulting force could be called Fourth-Circle magic.
I hoped it was over, but no event-completion message appeared.
As if to prove why, the leader burst through the smoke.
“You son of a bitch……!”
I had expected this.
With a light backstep, I avoided his attack.
KRA-BOOM!
His sword struck where I had stood and carved a crater into the street.
He wrenched it free and glared at me, apparently having lost all reason.
“I’ll kill you!”
As he advanced, I activated the 【Aqua】 spell I had planted moments earlier.
Water erupted from the ground and launched him into the air.
I cast 【Fall Delay】 to slow his descent.
“What is this?!”
Unless canceled or overwritten, only the caster could regulate Fall Delay’s speed.
I reduced his descent to its minimum and aimed my wand.
Using 【Dual Casting】, I maintained 【Fall Delay】 and cast 【Fire】.
FWOOOOOSH!
The magic circle at the tip of my wand released flame like a flamethrower.
Only after the leader’s entire body had been charred black and he lost consciousness did he finally touch the ground.
【Hidden Event-Rescue Ria Heilin has ended.】
【Level increased to 12.】
【The proficiency of the skills used has increased further.】
【Ria Heilin’s Favorability has greatly increased.】
I dismissed the system window and approached Ria.
She wore a slightly dazed expression. I wrote another question in mana.
[Are you injured?]
Ria lowered her head.
Then she looked up at me and asked shyly, “Th-Thank you for saving me. Is there…… anything I can do to repay you?”
As planned, Ria had offered me a reward.
It was certainly according to plan, but……
Something was wrong with her.
Her cheeks were faintly red. She stared up at me, and her eyes trembled almost imperceptibly.
She looked exactly like a girl falling in love.
I had never seen this reaction in the game……
***
Under Ria’s direction, the aftermath of the attack on the Cosmo Trading Company was resolved quickly.
Public Security Knights of the Imperial Knight Order arrived in response to the nighttime disturbance and took statements.
Ria introduced me as a mercenary she had hired.
The knights then transported the assassins I had subdued into custody.
Nearly all the employees inside the building had narrowly survived.
Apparently, the attackers had incapacitated them quickly and moved straight toward Ria.
Ria immediately sent the most seriously injured employees to a clinic. Those without critical wounds were treated with the company’s own potions.
An arrow had pierced Ria’s arm, but she completed her own treatment by applying a potion and wrapping the wound in bandages.
Most of the immediate problems were solved in little time, and I was once again guided to the company’s reception room.
As before, Ria and I sat opposite one another on the guest sofas while her secretary served tea.
This tea possessed a softer, more luxurious fragrance than the one I had received earlier.
“It is the finest tea I have received as a gift recently. Please try it……”
She lowered her head shyly and glanced up at me.
The behavior was deeply unfamiliar.
She truly looked as though she had fallen in love, but because she was Ria, I could not trust it.
Her skills were still immature, but she had spent her entire childhood balancing herself amid schemes and deception.
If she trusted someone instantly or displayed all her emotions after a single encounter, it would either be a contradiction in her character or an act.
Reality could not suffer a character-setting error.
Therefore, it had to be an act……
As I tried to deduce her objective, Ria suddenly looked as if she had realized something and apologized.
“I’m sorry! You’re wearing a mask because you wish to conceal your identity, yet I offered you tea without thinking……”
That hardly required an apology.
I waved to show that it did not matter. Ria smiled.
“Then, as I said earlier, I wish to reward you. Tell me whatever you desire, and I will acquire it as quickly as possible!”
……I still could not adjust to this.
Think carefully.
I could not tell whether Ria’s behavior was performance or sincerity.
But whatever her reason, she had offered to treat me well. Could I not simply use that to my advantage?
Then again, exploiting her however I pleased would make me the kind of bastard who manipulated a woman’s feelings.
I decided to exercise restraint.
I wrote a list of the items I currently needed in a notebook and handed it to her.
Our fingers brushed during the exchange.
“Ah!”
Ria recoiled as if struck by static electricity and dropped the notebook.
“I-I’m sorry……”
If this was an act, it was astonishingly good.
If it was sincere…… I did not know what to say.
Ria retrieved the notebook and slowly reviewed the list.
Then she spoke brightly.
“We can provide all of this immediately—!”
She abruptly stopped, raised the notebook to hide half her face, and continued.
“A-All of it may be difficult at present…… How about taking some now and receiving the remainder later?”
……I truly had no idea what she was doing.
I abandoned the attempt to determine whether her behavior was genuine and answered.
[I need the Mid-Grade Stealth and Voice Alteration Magic Stones now. I will return for the rest in one month.]
“O-One month seems rather far away……”
[I have no other free time.]
“A-And by then, I’ll be at Iris Academy……!”
[That makes no difference. I will find you there.]
Ria answered with a prim expression.
“Then we shall do that……”
Once the matter was decided, she summoned her secretary and requested part of the listed merchandise.
The secretary returned with a case of Magic Stones, several potions, and three swords.
I used the system window to verify every item’s authenticity and effects.
I had clearly requested mid-grade stones, but the case contained six high-grade stones of each kind.
The swords were classified as Rare, yet their attack power and durability fell only slightly short of the Hero grade above them.
Whether her behavior was sincere or false, she was unquestionably trying to treat me well.
[I will pay for these now and settle the remaining balance when I collect the other goods.]
“No, no! That won’t be necessary. You saved my life. I should give you at least this much for free!”
Receiving items of this value for nothing would make me uncomfortable.
[I will pay. Name a price.]
“Th-Then give me only three gold coins! I refuse to accept anything more.”
Buying goods of this quality for three gold coins amounted to a discount of roughly ninety percent.
Even a shopkeeper driven insane would never hold a sale like this.
My conscience pricked me, but Ria clearly had no intention of yielding. I handed her three gold coins.
After gathering the items, I moved toward the window.
Ria urgently called after me.
“W-Wait! Please take this!”
She handed me a pendant bearing the symbol of the Cosmo Trading Company.
“It has no special power, but if you show it the next time we meet, I can assist you immediately without any complicated procedures!”
[Understood.]
“A-And may I ask your name?”
A name……
When playing Spell Breaker in disguise, there had been no need to choose one.
The character was treated only as a mysterious man.
But I had considered what I would call myself if the moment ever came.
I tore a page from the notebook, wrote the name I had chosen, and sent it floating toward her.
Ria caught it and read aloud.
“Kim Se-hyeon…… What an unusual name.”
In the Azerum Empire, it certainly was.
It was my real name.
Choosing it as my alias was a vow.
I, Kim Se-hyeon, would save Reina Serenia without fail.
Saving Ria and preparing these items were merely steps toward that goal.
Ria gazed at the paper, then tucked it carefully into her clothes.
“I will remember it.”
She offered me an elegant farewell.
“Goodbye, Lord Kim Se-hyeon. I look forward to our reunion.”
With her send-off behind me, I leaped into the night sky.
***
After Van departed, Ria Heilin hummed and settled into the principal seat of the reception area.
She sat sideways upon the single-person sofa like a princess held in a prince’s arms.
Removing her notebook, she flipped rapidly to the section containing Van Astraea’s personal information.
A photograph produced through Photographic Magic had been attached to the page.
Ria covered the nose and mouth in the image with her fingers.
She smiled with certainty.
‘Without question. That man was Van Astraea.’
In truth, Ria had discovered his identity from the moment he saved her.
She had seen only his build and half his face, but for her, that was enough.
‘The attack was painful, but extraordinary fortune came rolling in with it.’
Ria was not the sort of person who rewarded someone merely because they had saved her life.
Just as Van had predicted, she would have doubted him repeatedly, wondering whether he was an enemy or merely trying to win her favor.
But the moment she realized Kim Se-hyeon was Van Astraea, she had deliberately played the part of a shy young girl.
The battle had also confirmed something else.
Van Astraea was hiding far more than she had imagined.
Contrary to every report, he could wield all four basic elements. He possessed enough strength to fight more than a dozen assassins at once, and his swordsmanship was anything but ordinary.
Somehow, he had even appeared at the exact moment she was attacked and in mortal danger.
At first, only the fact that he concealed something had mattered.
Now she wanted to know what he was hiding.
No—she had become curious about the man named Van Astraea himself.
She wanted to possess him.
Once Ria reached such a conclusion, she never stopped.
Ria Heilin was greed incarnate, a woman who could not rest until everything she desired belonged to her.
‘He was uncomfortable when I showered him with kindness. Now I know how to approach him in the future.’
Ria stared through the window from which Van Astraea—or rather, Kim Se-hyeon—had departed and imagined their next meeting.
Her fantasy resembled that of a young girl in love.
The smile that appeared at its conclusion, however, was unmistakably the smile of a greedy merchant.