Like darkness lifting to reveal a new dawn. Fresh news poured across the North in the form of newspapers.
The Daily, in particular, ran an unusually high volume of articles related to Sion, its paper and print blanketing every corner of the North and making people question their own eyes.
『Northern Nightmare "Red Fang" Annihilated.
The Inspectorate has announced the successful subjugation of the Red Fang, an organization responsible for the deaths of countless northern territory residents.
The role of House Karsen's third young lord, Sion Karsen, was instrumental in dismantling the criminal syndicate.
......(abridged)
What is remarkable is that the individual who provided the decisive lead for the operation and personally subdued the boss, Jeffren, was none other than Agent Sion Karsen, the third young lord of House Karsen.
Agents present at the scene testified that he dominated the flow of the battlefield and brought Jeffren—who had been modified with magical devices—to his knees.
-Daily, Charles.』
These newspapers found their way onto desks in the Inspectorate's Knight offices as well, and Rui Daiken read every article related to Sion Karsen.
Just days ago, articles like these would have made him grind his teeth. He'd assumed the half-wit Sion Karsen was manipulating public opinion.
But now?
He simply felt calm.
Because this wasn't fabricated propaganda. He'd seen it with his own two eyes—how could he not believe it? Besides, those testimonies had come from Bwindol and Bil.
"I really was wrong about him."
Rui Daiken ran his eyes across the dense print and allowed himself a moment of contrition.
And.
RUSTLE, RUSTLE.
He read the next paper.
『Failure, or sleeping dragon? The Sion Karsen we knew never existed.
We have long mocked him as "Karsen's half-wit." But his recent actions suggest that his persona was nothing less than a grand deception aimed at the world.
He first revealed himself starting with the Hashman brothers.
......
......
-Daily, Charles.』
He nodded along.
RUSTLE, RUSTLE. Next paper.
『Noblesse oblige, revealed.
Sion Karsen personally visited an orphanage on the outskirts of Seiren and donated a generous sum of 300 million zeni.
Contrary to rumors that he had squandered his fortune through debauchery, he expressed sincere concern, saying, "Please use it all for the children's futures."
......
......
-Daily, Charles.』
"That's possible. If it's him, that's entirely possible."
Rui Daiken murmured quietly and read the next paper.
『The Golden Star Tournament approaches.
Can Sion Karsen prove himself once again?
......(abridged)
The genius Knight Rui Daiken. The formidable favorite Silvia Maier. The rising star Sion Karsen. Who will win this Golden Star Tournament?
-Daily, Charles.』
He closed the paper.
And set it on his desk.
Rui Daiken thought of the Golden Star Tournament, soon to begin. Sion Karsen. If it were him, he'd fight through the prelims. And if they met in the main bracket? Could I beat him?
He wasn't confident.
He rose quietly from his chair and picked up his sword.
"I should go train."
To become a Knight worthy of facing the half-wit he'd dismissed all this time. Sion Karsen.
***
After the operation, I returned to my room and checked my condition.
There was a touch of fatigue, but compared to when I'd been rolling around for my life on dungeon floor one, it hardly qualified as tiredness.
In contrast, the harvest from this subjugation was definitive. Namely: re-establishing the name "Sion Karsen" in the eyes of exalted Knights.
In the ancient era. Before humanity was called the hegemon of the continent. Knights had been the saviors who protected humankind from demons and demonic beasts.
And that wasn't all.
When wars broke out between territories, they had called themselves humanity's sword, serving as one-man strategic weapons.
"A small ripple spreads."
First: a Special Investigation Unit composed of Knights. A sword to purify the rot within humanity.
"And creates a wave of change."
Second: the real sword of humanity, to stand against the demons hiding their claws.
'I have to win them over.'
By any means necessary.
After briefly recovering, I looked at the Sun Stones piled in the corner.
I'd hauled up 567 in my spare time.
Each one was comparable to a top-grade mana stone, priced at roughly 300 million zeni apiece.
But that was for a finger-joint-sized stone. Mine were different.
Sun Stone prices varied by color, size, and mana content, because the range and duration of warmth they provided differed accordingly.
The Sun Stones from the dungeon were fist-sized, and their mana content was extremely dense.
Easily capable of warming a twenty-meter radius, with a duration of five to ten years.
'I can't even begin to guess the price.'
So I needed someone who could sell them at fair value while properly managing supply and demand.
"......That's Brother and no one else."
Sid Karsen, the second son of House Karsen, walking the path of a businessman.
I opened the box intended for my brother. Inside were a letter and Sun Stones.
The letter contained ideas for a restaurant—not mine, but memories of a restaurant my brother would run in the future, jotted down as best I could recall.
'Brother. Start it early. And prove the value of Sun Stones.'
After that, I sat cross-legged on the floor. I steadied my breathing.
INHALE—
EXHALE—
I activated [Mana Detection] again—the same technique I'd tested during the operation. I channeled pure mana into my brain and recalled the sensations from the Red Fang stronghold.
THUMP— THUMP—
My heart began to beat again. The memories swirling through my mind arranged themselves in perfect order. And the Red Fang stronghold came back to me with vivid clarity.
The abandoned factory's layout. The entrance to the underground. The width and height of the staircase. The laboratory. The journal Jeffren had left behind.
THUMP, THUMP—
But it was so vivid it felt like I was actually there. No matter how pure the mana I'd used for detection, could it really be this lifelike?
At that moment. I felt something in my heart—alien yet familiar. What is this? A contradictory sensation, both strange and somehow recognizable.
THUMP— THUMP—
"......Ah."
It hit me. A kind of mana I'd experienced only once.
What I felt in my heart was the divinity of Lumen Chronos. For whatever reason, it had coiled itself inside my heart.
But thanks to that divinity, I could perfectly reproduce everything I'd perceived through Mana Detection.
When I focused on Jeffren's journal—
RUSTLE—
The pages turned, and the contents became visible. From Jeffren's thirst for vengeance to the details about the Black Eagle, a massive thieves' guild that had pretended to cooperate with him before turning their backs.
I focused on Jeffren's body next. I could see the mana engine implanted inside him. I dissected it piece by piece. The structure was visible. I couldn't understand it, but I could draw it.
In other words, I could pull up any scene I'd perceived through Mana Detection whenever I wanted.
"......This is beyond anything I imagined."
I needed to practice keeping Mana Detection active at all times.
More tasks added to the pile. But I'd accomplish every one. That's why I came back.
As I continued surveying the scene through Mana Detection, I saw the captured hostages.
Most of the men were dead. The women had survived—but their ruined lives and the suffering of their families were clear as day.
HISSSS.
I deactivated Mana Detection and called Roman. Despite the late hour, he approached with a bright face. Somehow, he'd been in good spirits lately.
"Roman. Let's donate Sun Stones to the hospital where the Red Fang's victims are staying. And let's look into what else we can do for the victims and their families."
Roman was truly stunned.
And then he beamed.
"Yes! Young Master!"
"Ah, and please deliver this box to Brother Sid."
"Yes! Young Master!"
My eardrums are going to burst.
***
One week later.
Sid Karsen invested the capital he'd accumulated through various ventures and opened a restaurant of unprecedented scale in the heart of Seiren.
The name: Shabu Every Day.
It was different from the start—nothing like the ordinary taverns that reeked of dark, dank alcohol.
The interior was finished with bright lighting and warm wood tones, achieving both cleanliness and sophistication at once. In particular, the mild indoor temperature—a stark contrast to the brutal blizzard raging outside the windows—made anyone who entered feel as though they'd come to a southern resort.
Each table was fitted with a magical engineering stove that could bring broth to a boil without a wisp of smoke, and guests could take various vegetables and meats from the Self-serve bar, place them in the broth, and cook them to eat.
Sid Karsen surveyed the affluent northerners who filled every seat.
There hadn't been a single day since opening that wasn't sold out—business was a massive success.
The reason all of this was possible in the brutal cold of the North was......
Sion Karsen.
His younger brother.
'The Sun Stones really do work.'
Sid Karsen recalled the day he'd received the box from Sion.
Or, to be precise, the moment he'd opened it.
That magical sight of the chilly air around him warming to something cozy.
Exactly as Sion had intended, sales channels for Sun Stones aimed at Northern nobles were already taking shape in Sid Karsen's mind.
"And the restaurant concept is brilliant, too."
When his brother had walked into Igwen Luna and brought up business, Sid had genuinely thought he'd lost his mind.
But Sion had caught Yan Hashman that very day. As if to say the weak Sion Karsen was gone for good.
And then. He'd subjugated the entire Red Fang. And that wasn't all—now he appeared in the newspaper practically every other day.
Sid Karsen picked up the paper lying in a corner of the kitchen.
『A touch warmer than his sword: Sion Karsen wipes the tears of the victims.
For those miraculously rescued from the criminal syndicate's lair, one more miracle arrived.
Sion Karsen announced that he would personally cover all follow-up costs for every rescued hostage—including hospital fees and psychological treatment—out of his own pocket.
......(abridged)
Sion Karsen donated Sun Stones to the hospitals and treatment centers where victims were recovering.
A gesture to ensure they could heal in even slightly warmer conditions.
One medical professional expressed awe, stating that without his intervention, even the survivors would have given up on life in despair.』
Of course, not every article was favorable.
There were criticisms that the Inspectorate's subjugation without trial had been excessive.
Accusations asking what they'd been doing while victims were suffering.
And plenty of articles claiming Sion Karsen had merely watched from the sidelines, and that the Inspectorate was giving false testimony to prop him up.
Sid Karsen frowned at those articles but nodded at the same time.
"It's only natural they don't believe it."
Of course. Given what Sion Karsen had been doing for the past twenty years, who would believe he'd suddenly changed this much overnight?
But.
Testimonies from everyone present at Igwen Luna that day kept pouring out. Inspectorate Knights stepped forward to testify. Victims and their families came out to set the record straight.
Public opinion was shifting. Slowly. Very slowly.
Then, one day, as the days kept passing.
The Golden Star Tournament schedule appeared in the territorial bulletin.
『Golden Star Tournament — Main Bracket.
*Venue:
Northern capital, Seiren.
Arena Kaiseus.
*Date & Time:
August 21st, 2:00 PM.』
The public's interest was singular: What would Sion Karsen show at this Golden Star Tournament?
The Golden Star Tournament was already an event akin to a festival for the northern capital Seiren, so public interest ran high—and Sion Karsen's actions had only added fuel to the fire.
Sid Karsen closed the paper and muttered.
"VIP seats. ......There should be some left, right?"