“So what you mean is… the current king of Elrika Kingdom, is a servant of Chalian?”

“Yes, Ian . And he isn't even a 'human' . ”

“What is he if not a human? An undead or asmodian?”

Ian asked Remus with a surprised look .

“Yes . He is an Asmodian . No, precisely he is a magical beast . ”

“The ident.i.ty of the guy who is seated on the throne is almost exactly like a 'doppelganger' . ”

A new quest from Remus, the quest 'Puppet of Elrika Kingdom' .

The content of the quest was simple .

By hiding behind the strength of Elrika, defeat the fake king and then place the real king, Remus on the throne .

There was only one precondition .

No one should be known that the king had been replaced .

The quest was to return the Elrika Kingdom to the rightful King, by replacing the one placed by Lich King .

And not to let the Lich King notice .

Ian was fl.u.s.tered and was scratching the back of his neck .

'I don't know, it isn't easy to infiltrate the domain of Rataphel, how am I supposed to do that to the castle? Besides I need to take him along…'

Ian looked at Remus who had a comfortable face and sighed .

If he would use the manner similar to the one when infiltrated the Rataphel domain, then it wouldn't be so impossible .

But rather than taking the difficulty and risk, it looked better to take some time and push in with the troops .

Ian complained to Remus .

“This is the secret book?”

“Of course . ”

“The helpful a.s.sistant that was bound to help me with this secret book?”

Remus still responded to Ian with the same confident look .

“Surely, I can't help but be sure . If I take back the throne without the Lich King not noticing, then it will be bloodless battle for the Lotus Kingdom . ”

“No, it isn't that… it's too unrealistic to sneak in and kill in the doppelganger and then to put you in place . I think it will be more difficult than taking the whole war . ”

Only then did Remus understood the dissatisfaction of Ian's and opened his mouth,

“Oh, it is right to worry about . ”

“Isn't it a bit too carefree?”

“I need to be carefree . From what I know, your abilities are too great for the task . ”

Ian stared at Remus with a ridiculous expression .

Remus took a moment to speak .

“There is a secret pa.s.sage to the castle in the northwest . ”

“Secret… pa.s.sage?”

Remus nodded his head and answered .

“Yes, secret pa.s.sage . It is a path that only I know about . ”

“Oh ho?”

Ian's eyes were s.h.i.+ning .

Because if there was a secret pa.s.sage like Remus had mentioned, then the quest would be much easier than imagined .

'That was why the difficulty wasn't greater than S?'

Of course, the difficulty of an S didn't mean easy, but until recently, only triple SSS grade quests have been in progress, and so the current quest seemed easier .

However, listening to the story of the secret pa.s.sage, the level of difficulty seemed appropriate .

'But what did he mean when he said my abilities were too great for the task?'

A question arose about what Remus had said .

And that question was solved quickly .

Swoosh-!

The sound of a stream water flowing .

To feel the water's pressure, Jinsung was down in the bathtub .

“Uhm, paradise…”

The new house that he had moved in a few months ago was his favorite in many ways .

Because it was a newly-built apartment, it's comfort wasn't comparable with the other ones .

The bathroom, in particular, was truly unparalleled .

The freshwater flowed to Jinsung who only used the shower in his other home, this was like a feeling of going to the hot spring for every bath .

Soaking in hot water and lying still was nothing less than heaven .

“Ahm!”

An intense yawn came out of Ian's mouth .

But in the meantime, the mind of Jinsung was filled with Kailan .

'I'll have to head to the Elrika castle once I log in . This time I don't even have a party so I need to move right away . '

With his eyes closed, Jinsung recalled the conversation he had with Remus before logging out .

“Phoenix… you say? That is a very interesting thing . ”

The defenders on the side of the Lotus were the G.o.d Dragon 'Karceus' and the Griffin 'Pin' .

Likewise, each of the other kingdoms had more than one patron .

The same was the case for the Elrika Kingdom .

“The Guardian deity of our Elrika Kingdom is the legendary beast Phoenix . ”

The guardian of the Elrika Kingdom was a beast Ian hadn't seen yet .

With the flames that would never be extinguished till its heart still beats, the legendary beast 'immortal' one, was the guardian of the Elrika kingdom .

According to Remus, the phoenix was the one which guarded the secret pa.s.sage .

At the end of the secret pa.s.sage, one giant tree stood tall, and in the tree was a nest of Phoenix .

“Huh . Do we have to kill him to get there?”

“It doesn't have to be like that . To kill a phoenix, that is something that one can't do . The guy in the giant tree is probably a little younger than a year old . ”

“Yeah? Then what am I supposed to do?”

“You need to get the heart of it . ”

“The heart…?”

Ian who reminded the conversation with Remus began to organize the contents one after the other .

“Behind the giant tree is a door to the castle . But it is blocked by strong bonds . And to open those bonds, the flame bead is needed . ”

“Flame bead? What is that?”

“The red beads are something that a Phoenix can make once a lifetime . ”

“Hm…?”

“The Phoenix presents the Flame Beads only to the master that he accepts worthy . ”

“The master of the phoenix, is it you the king of the Erika Kingdom?”

“My phoenix isn't in the world . Chalian had already destroyed it . ”

“That… so . Then the guy who is in the secret pa.s.sage…?”

The Phoenix which Remus had raised was already taken down by the hands of Chalian .

But the egg, which remained in its nest, woke up while Remus was caught .

In order to be recognized as a master of the Phoenix, a non-summoner had to meet eyes with it—right after he breaks through the egg .

However, the guy in the nest woke up alone, so the only one who gets acceptance from him can be the one who can tame and summon him .

“So… You told me not a difficult task for my ability . ”

“Yeah . To be precise, you're an excellent summoner . You are a summoner who tamed a G.o.d Dragon, I believe that a Phoenix can be tamed . ”

“That, well…”

The secret pa.s.sage to the Elrika Castle, was in fact created by Remus when he ever came across an emergency to escape .

Because of this, only Remus who had the flame beads could only pa.s.s the barrier .

Of course, when the phoenix, which Remus owned had disappeared—the flame beads were already lost, which was why he couldn't pa.s.s through the enchantment which he designed .

“If you defeat the phoenix, the enchantment can be forced to open . ”

“How?”

“If the heart is taken and broke, then it is possible . ”

“But if that happens, the guards who defend the castle will notice such intrusion . ”

“I'll have to tame the Phoenix . ”

Swooah-!

Summing up all his thoughts, Jinsung rose from the bathtub .

He wasn't sure if the rank of the Phoenix was legendary or myth, but meeting the one with the t.i.tle 'G.o.d Bird' was a chance he wasn't willing to meet .

A familiar voice came for Jinsung from the living room, as he was about to enter the capsule room after getting dressed .

“Jinsung-ah, eat your food and then play . ”

For ten years with his parents, it seemed like a nagging pain .

But now it was a voice that could never be seen as nagging .

“Huhu, okay Harin-ah . What's the menu?”

Because the food made by Harin was enough to put off the game .

The entrance of the secret pa.s.sage that Remus constructed in a place that was easy to enter .

The location itself was inside the Elrika kingdom, but the portal connected to the entrance was connected to the adjacent kingdom, 'Paulus Kingdom' .

The Paulus Kingdom wasn't a territory that was hostile towards Lotus, which made it easy for Ian to locate the location of the portal .

'Surely after the Lich King episode gets done, the next was going to the Paulus kingdom . '

As soon as the footstep fell on the ground after the episode, he was going to declare the war on Paulus kingdom right away, but now, the Paulus kingdom wasn't in a bad relations.h.i.+p with Lotus .

Kaemik territory—a small baron land located outside the Paulus kingdom .

Remus, who took Ian to a small hut outside the estate, spoke to him .

“Inside the secret pa.s.sage, a lot of powerful monsters will come at you . ”

At the unexpected turn of events from Remus, Ian was a bit shocked .

“Uh? To a secret pa.s.sage made for evacuation . Why would you release the monster?”

Remus replied like it was a needed thing to be done .

“If one had the flame bead, no monsters in the aisle would attack . ”

“Hm…?”

“The monsters in the pa.s.sage area are all the monsters with flame attribute . Monsters with flame attributes don't attack the phoenix . ”

Ian was interested in it .

“Oh, yeah?”

“Not entirely precise, but unless it was a higher-ranking one than the phoenix . ”

“Then they will be aware of the 'flame bead' item from the 'Phoenix'?”

“I'm not entirely sure, won't it be like that?”

“Well . ”

“But that doesn't mean that if you have the flame bead then you won't be attacked at all . ”

“Huh? What is that supposed to mean?”

“Even having the Flame bead in possession, it will be hostile if it is attacked first . ”

“Ah, that is understandable . ”

Ian wasn't paying much attention to the flame bead .

He was only interested in the summon called 'Phoenix' .

After listening to the explanation given by Remus about the 'flame bead', it didn't seem like just another ordinary item .

'This, is this an item that would be incredibly useful when entering a dungeon of flame attribute?'

High-level dungeon which hasn't been discovered yet, obviously composed of flame attribute monsters over the level of 400 .

If the flame bead was in possession in those places, hunting in those dungeons would be peaceful .

This would have a great impact on the dungeon's difficulty than anyone could expect .

'Nice, what's the secret dungeon, should I see it for myself?'

When he opened the door, a small portal with a burning red color opened .

The eyes of Ian and Remus met each other, and Remus opened his mouth after a nod .

“You can enter the portal . You go in and then I'll follow you . ”

As soon as Remus was done, Ian stepped forward without hesitation, and the portal sucked in Ian right after .

A line of system message emerged in Ian's view, which temporarily turned black .

Tring-!

[Entered 'Remus Secret Pa.s.sage' dungeon . ]