Volume 5 Chapter 34 Journey
With Ginji leading as their guide, the group headed toward the headquarters of the Order of the Sealed Dragon.
Since there was no reason to delay, they decided to leave as soon as everyone was ready.
"So, this is the team."
The four of them—Horace, Ginji, Nousa, and Artia—were traveling together in a carriage.
"...Hehe, I have another subordinate in that country, but I left them behind because the information we had wasn't enough," Artia explained.
"I see."
In the eyes of the world, the Order of the Sealed Dragon is seen as a highly suspicious organization.
Across the vast continent, the Bloodline Nation and Theocracy Nation are growing, and adventurer guilds are spread everywhere, forming what's known as "human society." Beyond the western mountains, however, lie territories inhabited by demi-humans.
Human society is known for its unmatched harshness, with dragons sitting at the top of the hierarchy.
But humans developed sealing techniques to trap dragons and use some of their power.
These techniques are passed down by the Order of the Sealed Dragon, which works to keep demi-humans from threatening human society.
The true nature of the organization isn't publicly known, and even well-informed people know very little about it.
So, it's basically a mysterious organization, but there are clear levels of information—some things can be shared, while others must stay secret.
There's likely a department handling the secrets, and ordinary members like Robert and Ratis don't even know it exists.
Among those departments, Ginji and Artia, who are closer to the core, are involved in this mission.
They have other subordinates too, but those are probably less experienced for now.
"So, even within the secret department, there are different levels of knowledge."
"Right. Still, everything started moving after Gaspar Redless were kidnapped."
Ginji added.
"That's right. The Apostles of Shieldress. They said it when Zulane kidnapped Gaspar—that his goal is to drive your story forward," Artia said.
"It's Zulane."
"──Huh? Do you know him?"
At Horace's word, Ginji glanced at Artia, who nodded.
"A hundred years ago, I was a teacher at Sevenstar Academy."
Sevenstar Academy is the largest school in the Chaos Stone Dragonstone Kingdom.
Horace also taught there for two months and was amazed by the energy the students had.
"Ginji, a teacher?"
"Yeah. The year I started teaching, Zulane joined as a teacher too. He quit after a few years."
"Of course, Zulane has lived for a thousand years, so he was probably there for some mission," Artia added.
"..."
"Well, Sevenstar Academy back then was dangerous. I think it was my third year as a teacher when Eudynes enrolled... and things got intense after that," Ginji recalled.
"Speaking of which, Eudynes was an alumnus of that school," Artia added.
"Yeah. He was the troublemaker who gave Mister Sid and me a hard time and loved surprises," Ginji said.
"Sid was the homeroom teacher?" Nousa asked.
Eudynes formed the adventurer team 'Forever' a hundred years ago. He was also the leader of 'Key of Pharos,' an executive officer, and had completed his role as an Apostle of Arzent.
That's the current Sid, but he was a teacher a hundred years ago.
"Yeah, and the year after Eudynes joined, Sora and Remi enrolled. Eudynes became an adventurer right after graduating and worked solo for a while. A year later, Sora, Remi, and Mister Sid formed 'Forever,'" Ginji continued.
"...So that's how it happened," Nousa summarized.
"When Forever was formed, Zulane had already quit teaching, but I heard he was doing something near Dragonstone Kingdom. Looking back, it was probably covert activity," Ginji said.
Sevenstar Academy enrolls children from ages thirteen to eighteen.
If Eudynes formed the group a year after graduating, Ginji has been a teacher for about ten years.
"...Could Zulane's mission have been related to Eudynes?"
"It's highly possible. If it's limited to a hundred years ago, there's no one more talked about than Eudynes."
"His legend isn't as widespread these days, right?"
"His book, *The Adventurer's Tale*, covers most of it. He wrote several books, but that one made him famous overnight. Though, since it was banned, few copies remain."
"It was banned?"
"Yeah. He became a 'Court Adventurer,' and because of that, a country fell. Back then, there was a lot of smear campaigning against Eudynes."
Being an adventurer while serving the court comes with many drawbacks.
The most obvious is employing someone as a government official who people don't trust to prioritize the country's defense when needed.
Adventurers are just adventurers, belonging to nothing but the *Adventurers' Association*.
This makes it easy to move between countries but means they don't truly belong to any nation.
That was the classification, but Eudynes ended up belonging to one, and a country fell as a result.
"...I don't know what Zulane's mission was or what his intentions are now. But... well, I owe him personally. I'd like to settle that debt."
Ginji sighed, looking out the carriage window.
For him, it's a story from a hundred years ago.
But it's not the kind of story that fades with time—not for a man like that.
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