༺ Mag Mell, The Island of Treasures (1)༻
“…”
Around 2 weeks ago, was it? I was shocked by Marie’s work efficiency when I received the certificate of appointment for Grade 2 Justice of the Peace by post.
But what I certainly wasn’t expecting, was that today, I would be called to the city hall for a promotion and a word of gratitude for all my contribution to society.
What did I even do to earn a promotion? What? I arrested a bunch of criminals?
To make things worse, the criminals that were supposedly arrested by me were put on display like trophies for everyone to see. Were there no human rights in this country…?
“Uahhkk! Korin Lorrrrk! You damned personification of a hero of justiceeee!”
“Can’t believe you foresaw my evil plan and prevented it! Impressive! The justice of this country will surely last forever with you around!”
“…Why the heck are these guys here?”
The wanted criminals that could be arrested in ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱ when completing a quest line as a bounty hunter were there, screaming their guts out.
All of them were saying that they were caught by me.
Me? When did I do this?
“Congratulations, Korin! You’ll be a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace from today!”
I turned to the princess of the Potato Empire, who was probably the cause of all this. Looking at her giving me a steamed potato with a wide smile on her face after casting sugar on it, it was very difficult, or rather impossible to imagine all the things she must have done behind the curtains, but…
“Haa…”
“Hehe. Do you want some potatoes?”
“Maybe if you feed me.”
“Ahh~”
Ahh, whatever. I’ll just gratefully receive it.
“Kuhum.”
In any case, the reason I wanted to be a Justice of the Peace was because they had an undeniable authority. With just one license card that granted the emergency judging rights and the investigation authority, it was possible to temporarily have the power of the central government which was impossible for normal guardians.
Even though guardians might be incredibly strong, they were closer to mercenaries if anything.
Because they were considered wandering mercenaries under the mercenary group called the Alliance, they were separate from the central government and didn’t have much say but that wasn’t the case for JPs. Although it was common for guardians to become a Justice of the Peace, it was a status granted by the government with actual rights and authority.
For example, Lunia was in charge of maintaining the peace of the Eastern border and was also an invited instructor of the Royal Knights.
She had a proper status and role, meaning her authority far exceeded that of a normal mercenary.
Things would be different now that I was a JP. For example, Count Casseus, who possessed the castle that previously belonged to Sebancia Duke, would have told the player to capture the Sea Serpent and complete chores like dealing with the problems of the town before progressing with the quest, but if I was there as the Justice of the Peace, I could simply command him to cooperate with the public affair.
“Ehew~”
“Huh? Korin? What’s wrong?”
“No, I was just thinking… that Senior Marie, you’re like a big bucket of good fortune~.”
“R, really? I, I can give you more though. Are you interested in being a lord—”
“Stop! Senior! You need to control your pace! If you’re like that all the time, you could be thrown away after you give away everything you have!”
“Will you though?”
“No, like, I won’t but…”
Whatever the case, this lady needed a break.
“Next time, please talk to me first before you do something like this.”
“No!”
“Ehng?”
It was a very firm refusal. I was shocked for a bit, because of how rare it was for Marie to be so resolute with saying no.
“I want to… give before I think!”
“But why…”
“Hehe. It feels good to receive surprise gifts, right?”
Marie said with a bright smile on her face, but she seemed unwilling to back down.
“Let’s have some fun with just us two, and sleep together, okay?”
“…”
Fine. Whatever…
****
Inside the chairman’s office were Hua Ran, Alicia, Marie, and I.
“From today, you will be entering Mag Mell.”
The Treasury of the Danann,『Mag Mell』.
It was the place that contained the dormant treasures of the Danann, which the players could enter with their party members to continue Erin Danua’s legacy after her death.
But this time around, Erin Danua was still alive, meaning Valtazar’s subjects wouldn’t be able to enter Mag Mell.
“I have a question. What kind of place is Mag Mell?”
Alicia shot her hand up to ask a question. Because of all the preparations we needed to make after founding our Guardians Guild, we didn’t have much time to discuss Mag Mell, hence her question.
“Mag Mell contains the treasures of the distant mythical gods. In there… are the remnant thoughts and minds of the ones that used to be referred to as gods.”
Even though Master had inherited everything as the Queen of Paradise, it wasn’t like she directly owned all the treasures and items.
There were some like the 4 great treasures of the Danann, which were hidden in various secret lands. Master didn’t bother going around gathering all those treasures in order to respect the elders of the past.
Mag Mell, the Treasury of the Danann, was one such example.
“There, you are to find the items left behind by the gods… or receive their gifts. Not all of you might obtain one though.”
“Can’t we just grab it?”
“You will see once you get there. It’s not something I can help you with either.”
After saying that, she started writing our names on the board.
“The first ones to enter will be you four, Korin, Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran. The other guardians will enter eventually, but you will be going first. Are you ready?”
“Woah, so I’m going with Mr. Korin?”
“It shouldn’t be too difficult with Korin around.”
“…”
The three of them turned their eyes to me with trust.
That’s… not how it works though.
“Now! Let’s get moving! Clara?”
“Yes, Chairman.”
Lady Josephine took us yet again to another dimension. We were familiar with the process because we had been training in the Shadow Paradise for the past few weeks but this time, our destination was different.
The place we arrived in wasn’t the flat and barren wasteland of gloom that we were used to.
“Huh? Light?”
“Ugh, this is too bright…!”
As always, there was no sun in this world.
There were dark clouds in the sky but the surroundings were bright – a seemingly paradoxical sight at a glance.
The ocean waves were in turmoil while the treasures and gems scattered around were giving off light to brighten up the world around them.
“It really is an island of… treasures.”
“To think there was a place like this…”
“…”
Island of Treasures, Mag Mell; a complete paradise and one of the fragments of Tir na Nog. The master of this place… wasn’t Erin.
“I will wait for you guys here. You need to proceed deeper into the island, and ‘they’ will come out to greet you.”
In the last iteration, it was Lady Josephine doing the explanation but this time, it was from Master. Just like what Lady Josephine said in the last iteration, Master gave the same warning as she sent us off on the sandy shore with churning waves in the background.
“You must never… never be intoxicated with happiness.”
………
……
…
As we went deeper into Mag Mell, the Island of Treasures, the layer of fog that seeped out from the center of the island turned thicker and thicker.
“Ugh… Mr. Korin. This place gives me goosebumps!”
“M, me too…”
Unlike me, who had seen this place in the game and the last iteration, Alicia and Marie seemed frightened as they each wrapped their arms around mine.
Weren’t they a lot stronger than me without my Precept activated though? Frankly speaking, I was the weakest one here without Claiomh Solais and yet here they were, relying on me instead of themselves…
“…”
Hua Ran, who had been marching forward with large strides with no fear thanks to her overwhelming defense, suddenly turned around and threw me a glance. When forming a party with Hua Ran, she tended to be the vanguard and that was the same this time around.
“It’s scary.”
“Huh?”
“Scary.”
You have the most indifferent look in the world on your face. What do you even mean?
“Sca… Ran says she’s scared.”
“Ah, I see…”
That made sense; their feelings might be different despite sharing the same body.
But both of my arms were occupied already because of Alicia and Marie…
“Nn? In that case, Miss Hua Ran, you can hold Senior Marie’s hand!”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Alicia grabbed Hua Ran, who had a befuddled look on her face, and placed her hand on top of Marie’s.
“…”
“…”
“If we all hold hands like this, I’m sure it won’t be scary!”
We were walking forward hand-in-hand in groups of two when Alicia grumbled a complaint while shivering from the cold mist.
“Ugh… I hate this spooky feeling…”
“I’ve never seen you have a problem with demonic spirits though?”
“Cutting demonic spirits is one thing. I just don’t like this kind of atmosphere!”
“Well… Anyway, you can’t treat the spirits here like demonic spirits.”
“Mr. Korin, do you… know something about this place?” Alicia asked.
“This is the resting abode of the gods. Technically, it’s closer to an assembly of the remnant minds of gods, but you get the point.”
Rather than ghosts and demonic spirits, it was most accurate to see this as the place that contained the ‘history of gods’.
Just like how humans went to heaven or hell after death, gods remained behind at Mag Mell upon death. They did exist here, but it was more correct to say that their existence had been recorded down here, instead of saying that they were alive.
At least that was the impression I received when I saw the Danann in Mag Mell in the last iteration.
“At the start, we have to work together as a team but each and every one of us needs to work hard as well.”
The method of obtaining a treasure from Mag Mell was simple.
Roam around the island with three party members and meet one of the Danann of this place. They would give trials or ask questions in stages, and the number of people that could take the next trial depended on how many were able to survive the previous one.
For example, if 1 person failed at Stage 1, only 3 people were allowed to attend Stage 2 onwards.
“It’s important to pass the first trial. Not only does it have the lowest difficulty, but it also affects the difficulty of the next stage. It gets harder if more people fail Stage 1.”
“Really?”
Because of that, the old-timers of the game tended to immediately load the previous game data and start over if the other characters apart from the player failed their trials. If the player failed the trial, they would be immediately kicked out of Mag Mell, but if the non-playable characters failed the trial, then that increased the overall difficulty of the next trials.
That was why the players aimed for 100% perfection with Stage 1, and looked to start over if two or more failed Stage 2.
“Umm… Korin. Can I ask something?”
Turning around, I saw Hua Ran and Marie looking our way after letting go of each other’s hands. Weren’t you guys scared?
“What’s that thing you’ve been carrying the whole time?”
“You mean this?”
With a grin, I showed off the basket on my back.
“Huhu. This is what will let us meet the gods we want.”
This place was where you received trials from gods, and each of these trials were different and it depended on the characteristics, personality, and mythology of the random god you encountered.
That was why the ‘items that were related to the gods’ were important.
It was because the gods showed more intrigue at the ones that carried around items that were related to themselves. The thing I was carrying behind me was none other than the [Head of the Hundred-legged Four-headed monster, Mata], which was beaten to death by the great King of Gods, Dagda.
By the way, the trials given by Dagda were along the lines of, ‘Go catch some of this,’ and ‘Cook some delicious food,’ so he was very well known among the forums for being the easiest god.
“Huhuhuhu…”
Marie, Hua Ran, and Alicia… All of them were superhumans with exceptional combat power. They would easily be able to pass Dagda’s first trial…!
After advancing through the island for who knows how long, the mist suddenly turned incomparably thick as it covered our sight.
The three girls were confused but I had been expecting this to happen the whole time.
What came next would be a 1-on-1 encounter with Dagda. Even though that old man had a fiery temperament, he was a generous one so this was going to be great!
-Diding~!
From within the thick layer of fog that concealed the three girls, the melody of a beautiful instrument started to flow into my ears.
“An instrument?”
Dagda, that old man, did own a harp. After all, his third trial was about retrieving the harp that was stolen by the giants.
Lulu~lu Lala~
The clear and beautiful voice that followed the instrument was so sweet and wonderful that it could bewitch any living being, and yet it also contained the saddest melody… Huh? Wait, this wasn’t the voice of Old Man Dagda, was it?
“…”
I walked forward under the guidance of the melody as the voice and the instrument became clearer over time. Soon, the fog dissipated, revealing a golden harp with a beautiful luster.
“Fuckkkk…”
“Welcome, visitor. A hero who has come for a trial. I am Mac Ind Og… The son of youth and the God of Love, Oengus.”
It wasn’t Dagda.
The beautiful youth with fancy blonde hair looked at me with a smile.
“Why…”
“That monster head you have with you. It’s actually a trophy of my father and a present which he had given us siblings. Aiya~. It brought back good memories, you see.”
Why would you give something like that as a gift to your son? Was he a psychopath? I guess he had too many children because of his adulterous personality.
How can a man leave aside his lifelong partner and have affairs left and right?
In any case, I had taken the Mata’s head in order to meet Dagda, but if Dagda had given the heads to his children as a gift… it wasn’t strange for the children to also show interest in these heads, but…
‘Huu… it’s alright. It’s a little different from what I had planned, but things have never gone well for me anyway. Plans are there to be broken, right?’
Regardless, it was true that I was a bit concerned. A trial of the God of Love… what kind of trial was this god called Oengus going to give out?
I had no idea because there was no such god called Oengus that appeared in the game in the first place. There were only five gods including Dagda that came out in the game, but that was clearly no longer the case.
“Anyway! The fact that you have come here means that young Danann of Justice, the Goddess of Heroes has sent you here, yes? I’m sure you are aware, but we do not readily give treasures that could turn normal people into heroes.”
“…Haa. I am aware. What trial are you going to give us?”
“Simply put, it’s a contest between you and the three beautiful ladies.”
“Sorry?”
It was hard to tell what exactly the content of the trial was going to be, but all the mythological gods were like this. Dagda was the only exception that did not beat around the bush, and the other gods that came out in the game all spoke of gibberish that confused the player.
“Haa, but if it’s those three…”
Objectively speaking, those girls were a lot better than me. It might be difficult for all three of them to pass but… Maybe two of them could pass at least.
Honestly, I had a feeling that all of them would succeed except for Alicia.
“Ah, looks like my explanation wasn’t enough. The main figure of this trial is not me, but you.”
“Huh?”
“You would lose your memories for a bit but… Well, I wish you all the best.”
“Hnn?”
-Diring~
The harp played once as my vision started to fade.
The main figure of the trial is me? What did that even mean?
Time flew by.
After who knows how long, my vision turned clear again, revealing Oengus and the dumbstruck look on his face.
“…Young man. You are quite the man.”
“Ugh… What do you mean by that?”
“You have passed the first trial. I certainly wasn’t expecting such overwhelming results. You have truly enlightened this me, the Danann of Love.”
“Passed? What have I even done to…”
“By the way, the three girls have failed. Aiya~ that was a complete defeat on their part.”
“…What?”
