Chuck-.

As Ian reached the entrance of the imperial palace, two guards blocked the front.

“For what reason did you come here?”

Ian was momentarily taken aback.

This was because he had never gone into the Luspel Empire’s Imperial Palace even before resetting his character.

‘Hm… I don’t even have a certificate or something like that to show them, so what should I do?’

Ian who momentarily thought about it, said what first came to mind.

“I am the Summoner prophet, Ian. At the word that his Majesty the Emperor was looking for me, I came to see him.”

Using the most courteous words he could, as it would become difficult if he even dropped the guards’ Affinity towards him by speaking in a c.o.c.ky way.

On the other hand, the guards, who heard Ian’s words, slightly tilted their heads as they scratched the back of them.

“Please wait a moment. I’ll go ask the Guard Commander.”

“Alright, I will wait.”

One of the two guards walked into the castle gate with fast footsteps and disappeared off to somewhere.

And shortly after, a man hastily ran out from inside.

Behind him was the guard that had just gone in.

“Oh, I see the prophet has come. I didn’t tell the guards beforehand, so I have made a discourteous mistake.”

It seemed the man was the Commander for the guards protecting the castle gate.

At the unexpectedly kind(?) treatment, Ian did not know where to put himself.

While playing Kailran, this was the first time he had seen an NPC showing such politeness before he could pile up some Affinity with them.

‘Hm… What is this? Are they reacting like this because of the king’s quest?’

Truthfully, from the perspective of the mere guards, it was obvious that they shouldn’t be at ease as it was a guest that the king was looking for, but Ian didn’t realize that.

“No, well… It’s alright. I can go in then, right?”

The Guard Commander nodded their head hastily.

“Of course, Ian. I will show you the way inside.”

As the Guard Commander took the lead, the castle gates that were firmly shut opened, and Ian slowly followed in.

‘But I wonder what lv is that Guard Commander?’

Vigilante leader Lapierre, who gave the Goblin Camping Ground Quest, was around mid-lv 90s.

Ian, who was suddenly curious, slightly looked at the Guard Commander’s information.

Maolin

Lv: 115.

Duty: Guard Commander.

Aside from his level and duty, all his information was put on private, but with just those, Ian’s eyes widened.

‘What the, why is the level of a Guard Commander that guards a castle in the outskirts 115? The number 1 level ranker probably hasn’t even hit 120 yet…’

Ian was taken aback.

This was because he thought that his level would be similar to vigilante leader Lapierre at the most.

‘Let’s see here, then I wonder what level the guards are.’

Ian, who checked the guards’ information, was even more dumbfounded.

This was because the guards that followed behind Ian were each lv 104 and 107.

‘Ha, I think I now know the reason why the top-ranking guilds couldn’t even dare touch the Colonar Continent bases despite their incredible power.’

In the case that you irritated an Empire, where the mere guards were lv 100, it seemed that a whole guild would be obliterated.

Thinking of it this way, the Lotus guild occupying a base through this northern expedition felt even more valuable.

‘I’ll have to level up fast and help them with broadening the base’s domain.’

While Ian thought of this and that, the party was getting closer and closer to the imperial palace.

Crupia Snow Mountain’s highest peak, Karon Peak.

A man, who held in either hand weapons that looked like sharply bent daggers, was fighting an Ice Troll alone.

Roar-!

The troll let out a horrible shriek, and swung its enormous club towards the man.

Bang-!

However, the troll’s large club couldn’t even touch the lower ends of the man’s clothes and only turned an innocent boulder into dust.

However, when looking closely, the troll that the man was facing was not a normal Ice Troll.

The troll, which was about 1.5 times bigger than a normal Ice Troll and was carrying a large club emitting a blue frost, was a Heroic-rank monster and was the Boss-rank monster of Karon Peak, the ‘Ice Troll Warrior’.

Ta-tat-.

As if toying with the troll with incredibly light footwork, the man poured out all of his attack and dug into the nearest points of the troll in an instant.

However, as if the troll was waiting for that, with the other hand that was not holding the club, he grasped onto the shoulder blade of the man.

No, it looked like he grasped it.

Slip-.

Momentarily, the man’s body disappeared into the air like a mirage. The troll, who was taken aback at that, instantaneously became defenseless, and the man showed himself behind the troll before it realized.

“Just die already.”

His two daggers that emitted a sharp energy sliced through the troll’s back.

Roaaar-!

The troll let out a horrible shriek full of pain.

And the man didn’t let that moment slip by.

“Hah-!”

Along with a short shout of concentration, his daggers began to absorb a smoke-like black energy.

And the daggers that had absorbed all the smoke, they turned into a pitch-black colour that seemed as if it wouldn’t reflect even a bit of light and dug into the troll’s heart.

Pook-!

The complexion of the Ice Troll Warrior, who allowed the final attack, began to darken and die.

And the black energy from the daggers that were lodged into the troll’s heart exploded out in every direction.

At the end of that, the troll’s body turned into a grey light slowly disappeared.

“Whew, the one thing he really had was being able to take blows incredibly well.”

The man, who collected the items from the troll’s corpse, wiped the sweat that rolled down his forehead and mumbled.

“Will it take about another quarter of a day to hit lv 50 now?”

Surprisingly, the man, who caught the lv 65 ‘Ice Troll Warrior’, was lv 49.

And his cla.s.s was the new cla.s.s ‘a.s.sa.s.sin’.

“I’m only lv 49… But you’re saying that there’s already a new cla.s.s user that hit lv 50 a couple days ago, right?”

One corner of his mouth slightly rolled up.

“And on top of that, a Summoner… Hoho, I’m looking forward to it.”

The man fixed his hold on his daggers and began to slowly move.

“Since there’s still around four days until the arena opens, I could probably relax a little.”

He stopped in front of a steep cliff that looked like it was cut.

And surprisingly, he threw his body towards the lower end of the cliff.

It was at that moment.

Hwa-reu-reuk-.

The man’s body turned into the form of a black hawk and leisurely flew between the peaks before disappearing.

“Oh, so you are Ian.”

Ian, who met King Celias, was immensely nervous.

As all of the king’s information was put on private, he couldn’t find out what level he was, but just standing in front of him he felt tremendously overpowered.

‘I imagined a grey-haired, old grandpa, but he’s really young.’

Rather than an image of a king, King Celias, who at first glance looked like he was in his early 30s, had more of a similar feeling to an iron-willed ruler.

“Yes, sir. I heard that you were looking for me…”

Before Ian’s words even finished, Celias responded.

“That’s right. When I heard the news that someone as remarkably talented as yourself was in the Luspel Empire, how could I have not looked for you?”

Ian responded with a bitter expression.

“Is, is that so.”

And a system message popped up in Ian’s view.

He had simply just met the king, but his Fame had increased by 1250 in an instant.

‘As expected, Empire Quests are different.’

While Ian was inwardly in awe, King Celias’ words continued.

“I find it very promising that a higher level Summoner appeared in our Luspel Empire before the Kaimon Empire.”

The king lifted his cup of tea and took a sip, while Ian silently waited for his next words.

“That’s because I’ve been waiting for a capable Summoner since long ago.”

Ian asked back before he even realized.

“Why?”

At Ian’s informal way of speaking, the royal knight that was next to the king glared fiercely.

“You, how dare you think it’s safe to speak so shortly!”

Ian momentarily flinched.

‘Euh, I should have been more careful…’

He glanced carefully at the king, but fortunately, he didn’t have on a bad expression.

“Haha, h.e.l.laim. It’s alright, it’s alright. Is he not an adventurer that doesn’t know the etiquette of the imperial family?”

“But…”

“No buts, I said it was alright.”

As the king held him back, the royal knight had on a displeased expression as he returned to his original spot.

‘Whew, what a relief.’

Ian felt relieved as he calmed his surprised heart.

‘Even if he swung that bayonet around, I would probably die in one hit.’

Ian’s gaze momentarily stayed on the royal knight’s bayonet.

Just from the looks of it, it was a high-grade weapon that emitted dignity.

Ian, who snapped back to reality, slightly dipped his head towards Celias.

“Because I didn’t know the proper etiquette… I apologize.”

Celias looked at him with a warm smile and shook his head.

“No, it’s alright.”

And after momentarily taking a breath, his words continued.

“Anyways, I will tell you the reason why I was waiting for a capable Summoner to come.”

Ian listened attentively to the king’s words with an incredibly courteous(?) posture.

“Ian, do you happen to know what the emblem of Luspel Empire is?”

Ian momentarily thought about it before nodding his head.

This was because right behind the throne that the king was sitting in, a large embroidered animal immediately caught his eyes.

“Isn’t it the Griffin?”

The Luspel Empire’s emblem was the Griffin.

The Griffin was a legendary animal that had a head, wings and front legs that resembled a valiant eagle, while the tan-coloured body and back legs were of the form of a lion.

“Good, good. There are a lot that don’t know, but it looks like you know well.”

While looking at King Celias, who had on a satisfied smile, Ian was dumbfounded.

‘Aren’t you an idiot if you don’t know, when it’s so prominently drawn in the back over there?’

However, he wasn’t as stupid to make the same mistake of letting those words out of his mouth.

“Anyways, I will continue on with the story.”

The king’s words continued.

“About half a year ago, the royal court sent a delegation of royal knights to cross the s.h.i.+kar Desert.”

s.h.i.+kar Desert was a desert region that was in the centre of Colonar Continent.

Between the users, the place was also called the Land of Death.

The reason why it was called the Land of Death was simple.

This was because the average level of the monsters that appeared in s.h.i.+kar Desert were over 130.

It was to the point where any user couldn’t dare go into s.h.i.+kar Desert yet.

Celias, who momentarily took a breath, opened his mouth again.

“However, then, h.e.l.laim, the captain leading the delegation of knights, discovered a nest of Griffins in the centre of the Desert.”

Ian, who heard those words, was taken aback.

‘What? The Griffin was a monster that actually existed?’

Separate from Ian’s shock, Celias’ words continued.

“The delegation of knights used all their power and in the end of fighting the Griffins, they were able to kill them and got its egg.”

Ian gulped down air without him realizing.

‘Holy, they even won…’

s.h.i.+kar Desert, also known as the Land of Death, and the legendary monster that was discovered in there.

As the delegation of knights had caught the Griffin, which would have surely had unbelievable fighting power even without Ian seeing it with his own two eyes, he was able to realize the force of the Empire delegation of knights.

“I want to hatch the Griffin, which is our Luspel Empire’s emblem, and raise it in the inner garden of the imperial palace…”

Ian thought to himself.

‘The king is not in his right mind. Why would you raise a monster like that inside the imperial palace?’

Ian slowly began to feel nervous about what quest was about to come up.

“Despite having been over half a year, the Griffin egg has yet to hatch.”

Celias, who lifted his teacup and took another sip, gazed at Ian and opened his mouth.

“I was hoping you could find a way to hatch this Griffin egg. How about it, would you give it a try?”

As soon as the story about the Griffin egg came out, it was a quest content that he was already expecting a little.

Ian wore a tearful expression.

‘No, but, how am I supposed to know that? I’ve never even seen anything like a Familiar’s egg before.’

However, whether Ian was fl.u.s.tered or not, the quest notification popped up in front of his eyes without doubt.

Ring-.

The Empire delegation of knights of King Celias were said to have found a Griffin’s egg half a year ago in the centre of s.h.i.+kar Desert.

The delegation of knights brought the Griffin’s egg to the imperial family, and King Celias wants to raise the Empire emblem, the Griffin, within the imperial family.

However, n.o.body knows as of yet how to hatch the Griffin’s egg.

King Celias is hoping that you, an exceptional Summoner, will be able to hatch the Griffin’s egg for him.

Quest Difficulty Level: –

Quest Condition: None.

Time Limit: Unknown.

Reward – one of the summoning skill books in the imperial palace’s library.

If you reject the quest, your Affinity with King Celias will drop. (If you do not have any Affinity, your Hostility will go up.)

As he read the quest content, Ian’s complexion started to darken.

‘Ha… It’s not like I’m a Griffin mom, how do they expect me to hatch this egg?’

It was a mind-shattering quest where he didn’t even have a sense of where and how to start.

‘On top of that, it’s not even that there’s no time limit, but rather, it’s unknown? What exactly is unknown mean?’

The fact that he couldn’t find out when the quest’s time limit ended made Ian more nervous.

It meant that even if he failed the quest right now, it wouldn’t be a weird thing.

However, there was no need to reject the quest because of that.

This was because there was no difference in whether his Affinity with the king and his Fame dropped from rejecting the quest or failing the quest anyways.

If that was the case, he needed to at least take it.

“Yes, I will give it a try.”

The system message that popped up in front of Ian’s eyes.

‘Whew…’

Ian let out a deep sigh inside