Chapter 53: Welcome to Orario
The following day, Yumesaki brought Reinhard to Orario, choosing a secluded alleyway as their landing spot to keep a low profile.
The exact moment they set foot in this world, Reinhard felt an immediate sense of wrongness.
His hand instinctively shifted, pressing against the hilt of his sword.
A stray breeze swept through from the unfamiliar streets and intersecting alleys, carrying the distinct scent of cooked food, rusted iron, and sharp spices. The sunlight looked right, the temperature felt right, and the solid texture of the stone pavement beneath his boots felt completely real.
Yet, this was not a land that existed anywhere in his knowledge.
It wasn't Lugnica, it wasn't Kararagi, it wasn't Vollachia—it wasn't even one of the nations lying beyond the Great Waterfall.
"You feel it already?" Yumesaki asked with a smile, looking over at the heavily guarded Sword Saint.
"I do. Every single Divine Protection in my body... they're all gone."
Reinhard's voice remained calm, and he slowly released his grip on the sword's hilt.
The Divine Protection of the Sword Saint was a blessing bestowed upon him by the world itself. Beyond that, the Divine Protection of Evasion, the Divine Protection of Arrow, the Divine Protection of the Phoenix... dozens of these blessings had layered over his body, forging a living myth that no ordinary human could ever hope to reach.
But now, every last one of them had vanished, as though cleanly stripped away by an invisible hand.
The sensation didn't hurt, nor did it itch, but it was far more jarring than any physical wound. It felt like an ordinary person suddenly losing their sense of touch and hearing. The world around him remained the same world, but his connection to it had been severed.
"This... isn't my world, is it?" Reinhard asked.
Yumesaki clapped his hands in genuine praise. "As expected of the Sword Saint, you catch on fast. Come on, let's talk while we walk."
Reinhard nodded and followed closely behind Yumesaki.
Stepping out of the alley brought them onto one of Orario's main thoroughfares. Reinhard walked alongside Yumesaki into the bright sunlight, taking in the sight of the city for the first time.
The vast majority of the pedestrians on the street carried weapons—longswords, greatswords, broadaxes, double-edged axes, staves. The sheer variety was absurdly high.
Even the racial makeup of the crowd was chaotic beyond belief.
There were humans, beastmen, dwarves, elves, and even several races he couldn't begin to name, all rubbing shoulders in the thick crowd. They wore armor forged in completely different cultural styles.
In a way, it was somewhat similar to his own world, but there were distinct differences. After all, his kingdom didn't have this many civilians openly wielding weapons. Just a single glance at these people told him that each one was a seasoned warrior who had survived hundreds of battles.
Yumesaki explained as they walked:
"The races in this world are far more diverse than what you're used to back home. Humans, beastmen, dwarves, elves, prums, amazons... theoretically, just about any intelligent race can be found here. Oh, right—there are gods, too."
"Gods?"
"Yeah, genuine gods."
Yumesaki stopped near a fountain, turning around and opening his arms wide as if presenting the entire city. "Welcome to Orario, Reinhard."
"Orario?" Reinhard raised an eyebrow.
"That's right. See that towering structure over there? That's the Tower of Babel. Beneath it lies the Dungeon, a subterranean labyrinth that spawns an endless supply of monsters. That's why this place is commonly known as the Labyrinth City."
Reinhard asked out of curiosity, "And what about the gods?"
"Well, they got bored of their lives in the Upper World. So, they descended into the mortal realm, sealed away their Arcanum, and chose to live among humans as ordinary people. They form Familias, recruit adventurers, and send them to explore the Dungeon. That's the basic framework of this world."
Yumesaki paused there, letting Reinhard digest the information.
Reinhard stood silent for a few moments, organizing the details in his mind before raising the most crucial question:
"Why must the gods seal away their Arcanum?"
"Because gods are simply too powerful. If they don't seal their Arcanum, they could easily bring catastrophic disaster to humanity, or even the world itself. They came down to experience mortal life, not to destroy it. Therefore, any god who descends must lock away their Arcanum and cannot use any divine authority. If they break that rule, they get sent straight back to the Upper World."
Yumesaki continued, "By the way, many of these gods are incredibly old—most are around several hundred million years old. Spending that eternity in the Upper World made their existence there unbearably dull. Because of that, once a god tastes mortal life, very few ever want to go back. So, they willingly play by the rules, seal their Arcanum, and live here just like anyone else."
Reinhard couldn't help but offer a bitter smile. "Several hundred million years... that is a truly staggering number."
Whether his own world had even existed for that long was a complete mystery. He never would have guessed that gods lived for hundreds of millions of years. It was hard to fathom. But then again, they were gods; that lifespan alone was enough to leave anyone stunned.
Yumesaki went on, "Of course, even with their Arcanum sealed, their essence is still divine. They don't age, they don't die, and they can use their own blood to bestow Falna upon the adventurers in their Familia."
"Falna? What is that?" Reinhard could tell this was no simple matter.
Yumesaki bought a few skewers from a roadside stall, handing a couple to Reinhard as they kept walking. "Falna is a growth system. It allows ordinary people to gain extraordinary power through combat. Generally speaking, anyone can grow stronger by fighting, but no one can ever quantify exactly *how much* they've grown. You understand that concept, right?"
Reinhard nodded. He understood it perfectly. He trained day after day, noting that he became stronger with each passing day. But as for the specifics of how much stronger he had gotten, he never truly knew; he just knew that he had progressed.
"Right," Yumesaki said, taking a bite. "But Falna makes that growth data visible. How much you grew today, and in what specific area, can be seen at a single glance. To put it simply, the Falna a god gives to their Familia members essentially digitizes and visualizes their combat experience. Through Falna, an adventurer's capabilities are divided into dimensions like Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic. Every stat starts at zero and steadily increases through battle."
Reinhard was amazed. Visualizing data like that felt like an outright cheat. With those numbers available, a person could see exactly where they were lacking, direct their training to fix it, and achieve a perfect balance—or even become an all-rounder. It truly was a divine blessing, far outstripping anything he had imagined.
"But speaking of which, does this kind of growth have a limit?" Reinhard asked.
Yumesaki caught the question, gave a slight smile, and replied, "Of course it does. When growth hits a certain threshold, it stops. That's what they call a bottleneck. But the gods figured out a way past that a long time ago: High Achievement."
Before Reinhard could ask, Yumesaki explained, "A High Achievement is a monumental feat. It doesn't matter if it's positive or negative; the full definition is an accomplishment that even the gods themselves find extraordinary. It doesn't always have to be a battle, either. It could be forging a legendary weapon, researching a strange new invention, things like that. Long story short, once you hit a High Achievement, you break through the bottleneck and increase your Status Level."
"With every Level Up, your overall abilities undergo a massive qualitative leap. Right now, the strongest adventurer in Orario is Level 7—Ottar, the Forbidden One of the Freya Familia. Oh, actually, he just got thrashed by Esdeath a little while ago, so he's probably still recovering from his wounds."
Reinhard raised an eyebrow slightly. "Esdeath... is that the maid you mentioned? The one claimed to be the strongest in the Empire?"
"Yep, that's her."
As they spoke, Yumesaki came to a halt, and Reinhard looked up.
The Tower of Babel loomed right before his eyes. Seeing it up close made its overwhelming presence much more visceral. The structure was so massive it didn't look like anything humans could build. The whitish-gray stone radiated a solemn gleam under the sun, its surface heavily weathered by the passage of time.
The lowest level of the tower served as the entrance to the Dungeon.
Yumesaki shoved both hands into his pockets, his tone casual, like a tour guide introducing a local attraction. "Floors one through twelve are the Upper Floors. The monsters are relatively weak, so ordinary adventurers can handle them. Floors thirteen through twenty-four are the Middle Floors. The difficulty spikes there, requiring a Familia with a decent amount of power to go deeper. From floor twenty-five downward, you're looking at the Deep Floors. The terrain is complex, the monsters are brutal, and only top-tier adventurers survive. As for the very bottom... nobody knows where it ends. The Dungeon is alive; it keeps growing."
"Alive?" That completely upended Reinhard's understanding of the world. A labyrinth that was actually a living organism?
"Yeah, the Dungeon is a living thing," Yumesaki repeated, emphasizing his words. "It breathes, it gets angry, and it reacts to intruders. If a god enters the Dungeon, it goes into a frenzy. If an adventurer breaks its rules, it unleashes monsters far beyond that floor's normal rank. At the same time, it's the absolute deepest mystery of this world. To this day, no one knows what's hidden at the very bottom. Maybe the gods know, but they aren't talking."
Reinhard listened quietly. The wind caught his flame-red hair, brushing it across his face. Through the gaps between the strands, his sky-blue eyes reflected the massive silhouette of the Tower of Babel.
This world was far more interesting than he had expected. Gods, adventurers, Falna, the Dungeon, monsters, High Achievements... If things were different, he might have wanted to stay here for a while, make a few good friends, hunt monsters every day, level up, and live a free, casual life.
Unfortunately, he couldn't.
Because he was Reinhard. He belonged to the family of the Sword Saint, he was the contemporary Sword Saint, and he was a knight among knights. He had his own life, and he had things he was duty-bound to protect. Because of that, he could only ever be a passerby in this world.
"By the way, where is this Esdeath you spoke of?" Reinhard asked. He wanted to finish this battle as quickly as possible so he could return, find Felt, and push forward with the Royal Selection to help Lugnica return to normal. He couldn't afford to worry about anything else.
"Right there," Yumesaki said, pointing into the distance.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
70 Power Stone = 1 Bonus Chapter (Up to 5 bonus chapters per week).
Read ahead and support the story on Patreon: patreon.com/FaaanzKun
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —