"Huuk... huuk..."
Near the peak of the western mountain in Akerandir.
Roan, breathing heavily, finally discovered the place he'd been searching for, just in time.
'How is it that I seem to spend more time climbing mountains than attending classes?'
It just happened to be a ridiculous situation where he couldn't tell if he had come to a holy school or joined a hiking academy!
Since it occurred to him, he decided to think about it for a moment.
'Do you spend more time hiking than attending class?'
'Yes.'
'Is hiking more beneficial than attending class?'
'Yes.'
'Thinking about all of this, it really does feel like a hiking school.'
Roan lightly accepted the thought and began his journey again.
Ahead of him lay the ruins of an old tower, most of it collapsed, with only the remnants of the first and half of the second floor still standing.
The tower was called "The Watchman's Nest."
It was a remnant from the days before Akerandir was built when monsters and enemies roamed this land.
Perhaps only Harden and a few professors knew about this place.
Creak —
Roan opened the door and stepped inside.
Dust rose thickly with every step he took.
Cobwebs swayed, and the insects that had gathered quickly scattered out of sight.
Inside, old iron furniture from the past still lay scattered around, but none of it seemed usable anymore.
'I don't need to check the first or second floors.'
Roan quickly moved his feet.
The first floor was a graveyard of miscellaneous junk, all scattered in similar positions.
But Roan didn't even glance at the other items as he made his way to a corner grave.
Thud — crash —
Without any hesitation on his part, he kicked the debris aside and began clearing away the objects.
Before long, the floor beneath was revealed.
Creak —
Feeling around the wooden floorboards, he found the handle to a secret door.
Below was an old wooden staircase, looking as though it could collapse at any moment that led downward.
'In the game, it didn't collapse…'
Roan cautiously placed his foot on the stairs.
Creak — creak —
The stairs wobbled precariously under his full weight but didn't break.
The stairs leading down into the basement were long and dark.
An ordinary person would have needed a torch or a glowing stone to light their way.
'This is where being a dark mage comes in handy.'
Roan was a dark mage who thrived in the shadows!
With his eyes imbued with dark magic, the darkness posed no obstacles to him.
How long had he been descending?
Tap —
To his utter surprise, the staircase led to a natural cave.
After walking a little further into the cave, a stone door appeared, flanked by sculptures of two goddesses on either side.
Though time had worn away much of the detail, Roan recognized their divine names.
'The Goddess of Sunset, Jay, and the Goddess of Dawn, Day.'
Though not widely known now, they had once been powerful twin goddesses worshipped by the citizens of the Watcher's Hill for several centuries after the founding of the Holy Empire.
Even today, they are symbolically positioned beneath the feet of Hiloa, the Sun Goddess.
Roan grabbed the door handle and channeled his magic.
In God and Devil, there was no distinction between magic and divine power when unlocking mechanisms, except in special cases.
Especially with ancient relics like this, it was even more so.
Judging by what he'd learned from Ulli's class, Roan's dark magic was often regarded as divine power.
As his magic flowed through the handle and into the door…
Ssssss —
Before the modern Hillon language and the magic circles, there was the ancient magical language, "Ashparun." The words written in Ashparun were covered in dust.
Wooooong —
At the same time, the false divine power lightly vibrated.
It had been a long time since Roan had seen these forgotten letters while they lay dormant!
A sense of awe from the power flowed through Roan.
'... You're not trying to pull something strange again, are you?'
But Roan coldly dismissed the awe of the power.
Wooooong —!
Whether the power trembled lightly or not, Roan paid no mind as he recited the incantation to open the door.
"What disappears behind the sunset is not the sun but the shadow, what revives at dawn is the claw of the citizens of the Watcher's Hill."
This was a motto handed down among the sentinels, and at the same time, a slogan.
The magic that spread across the door finally took the shape of the sun and the moon.
Rumble —
At the same time, the heavy stone door opened to the sides.
But inside was not a room, only the cave wall, just like elsewhere.
Roan nodded his head as if he had expected this all along.
"It appears it's still a bit early."
The secret door within the Watchmen's Nest only activates precisely at the end of the sunset when the sun disappears beyond the horizon.
Roan stood there, waiting for the door's activation.
Judging by the sun's position, he figured he wouldn't have to wait long.
Just as he expected, the moment the sun casting light over Akerandir fully disappeared beneath the horizon…
Ssssss —
A soft crimson glow, resembling the sunset, gently filled the cave and soon gathered inside the doorframe.
Before long, the interior transformed into a strange portal, radiating a warm light.
"I'd better hurry inside."
Since the portal only appears at the end of the sunset, it would close just as quickly.
Roan quickly stepped forward, closing his eyes for a moment.
***
When Roan opened his eyes again…
"Hmm..."
His surroundings were completely covered in crimson mist.
The mist was so thick that he couldn't even see an inch in front of him, nor his own feet.
This was the world of the "Sunset Hill," a dimension of illusions.
It was where the ancient sentinels and the priests who served Jay and Day rested.
Without needing to determine any particular direction, Roan began to walk straight ahead.
When searching for a path in Sunset Hill, no map was necessary.
One could simply walk in any direction.
"I've found it."
In the end, there was only one destination.
As the crimson mist gradually thinned, a low hill and a tower atop it began to appear through the fog.
He could tell the ruins in Akerandir's hills once looked like this in the past.
From the direction of the tower, as if sensing Roan's approach, a voice shouted out.
Though there was nothing around, the solemn voice echoed, as if carried by the wind.
"Living one! How did you come to this place?"
"As the sunset descends, I, Roan Darc, pay my respects to the sentinel of Jay, who watches over the world."
Roan bowed respectfully first.
There were many ways to enter the tower, but building a friendly rapport made things smoother both going in and after entering.
The voice wasn't just that of a single sentinel.
It was the collective voice of countless sentinels resting in this dimension, as well as the will of the tower itself.
A proper greeting could go a long way.
'I went through a lot of trouble researching ancient religious greetings, but it's all paying off now.'
Though it might sound a bit complicated, the meaning wasn't hard to grasp.
For instance, Roan's greeting could be interpreted as: I'm Roan Darc. Don't bother me and just open the door, okay?
Soon, the tower's voice returned, now softened.
"A polite visitor! Darc, state your purpose!"
"I've come to collect a shard of the gods that is no longer needed by the sentinels. After all, Jay and Day must continue watching over the world, even beyond the sunset and dawn."
In other words, 'I'm simply here to pick up something useless, so please cooperate.'
"A shard of the gods... Darc, to claim it, you will face a difficult trial. Are you prepared?"
'I'm not just going to give it to you, so if you're scared, you might as well leave.'
"I am ready, as is fitting to serve the sun."
'I'll handle it myself, so just open the door already.'
"Very well. Enter, visitor!"
Creak —
The small door at the base of the tower creaked open with the sound of its hinges.
Although the interior of the tower belonged to Sunset Hill, it was essentially a separate space.
Jay and Day, who oversee sunset and dawn, also have a deep connection with time.
Inside the tower, the past, future, and present were all intertwined.
Unlike the outside, where wandering aimlessly would still lead you to the tower, here, one could easily become lost in the flow of time forever if not careful.
The interior was cleaner and more spacious than expected.
The corridor leading deeper into the tower was divided into three parts: the left, the center, and the right, each in a different color.
Along with the outer voice, many voices were whispering around Roan.
─ Look at that... a living person…
─ They call him Darc…
─ Darc...? Who is that...?
These were the voices of the souls resting here.
"The left leads to the past, the center to the present, and the right to the future. Keep that in mind."
"Understood."
Roan nodded to the tower's voice, already familiar with this fact.
Furthermore, as one went deeper into the tower, the concepts of left, center, and right could shift without notice.
Without staying alert, one could easily become trapped in the cracks of time, lost forever.
Roan slowly began walking down the central corridor.
"The shard of the gods is in the Garden of Dawn."
Once again, the tower's voice echoed.
At the same time, Roan felt a faint sense of unease overcome him.
'Things have definitely shifted.'
He had thought he was walking straight down the center, but to do so, he would have had to stick to the opposite side of the left, along the wall of the center.
This was what it meant when the concept of left, center, and right got reversed.
When Roan noticed the strangeness and refocused, he halted just before his foot landed in the left corridor.
─ Oh, he avoided slipping into the past…
─ At least he knows the basics…
The voices murmured around him.
Several more times, the concepts almost shifted again, but Roan expertly corrected his course each time.
'This is more annoying than in the game.'
In the game, it was a simple stage where you only needed to follow the colors.
Soon, the neat corridor came to an end, and dense foliage began to grow around him.
He was on the path to the Garden of Dawn.
As he pushed through the bushes, two riders suddenly appeared from the opposite direction: a knight and two squires.
"Hey there, traveler. I'm searching for my bride, the most beautiful in the world. Do you know which way to go?"
This was the bride-seeker, Geopold von Esteria, a figure from about 1,500 years ago.
"I'm telling you, we should go left, sir knight!"
"No, it's right!"
His two squires were arguing fiercely.
Roan calmly replied, "Turn around and go back the way you came."
"Oh, indeed! Thank you, traveler! Let's go!"
The knight immediately turned his horse and went back the way they had come.
Geopold would eventually save his homeland, which was under attack by enemies, and fall in love with the lord's daughter.
It was the tale of "Geopold and the Wise Traveler."
─ Oh, what a wise friend…
─ Could he have known the old story...?
In order to reach the Garden of Dawn, one must reenact several famous events from the past, just like this.
If you got them wrong or ignored them, you'd end up wandering in the forest for much longer.
"My lord is trying to kill me! What should I do?"
"The king's power comes not from the heavens, but from his subjects and people. A ruler who kills a loyal servant is not fit to rule."
"… So that's how it is, then…"
This was the Hero King, Crothodin.
"Hoho, how fascinating! How does this torch burn for so long?"
"I crushed the yellow stone from the open fields and mixed it with the white stone from that cave."
"Oh! Thank you!"
The Inventor King, Ello, and others.
As Roan continued to reenact several historical scenes accurately, the voices of the tower began to change bit by bit.
─ Is he really... a living person...?
─ I don't even know that myself…
By this point, many more voices than before were swirling around Roan.
Of course, Roan couldn't really relate to their words.
'Isn't this just basic knowledge?'
Still, he couldn't help but feel a bit of satisfaction.
Unlike choosing options from behind a monitor, here he could witness historical figures in person and reenact their moments directly.
'This is the true joy of possession!'
Furthermore, hearing the reactions from the voices made Roan's shoulders subtly rise with pride.