Taming Master Chapter 451:
“So what you mean is… the current king of Elrika Kingdom, is a servant of Chalian?”
“Yes, Ian . And he isn’t even a ‘human’ . ”
“What is he if not a human? An undead or asmodian?”
Ian asked Remus with a surprised look .
“Yes . He is an Asmodian . No, precisely he is a magical beast . ”
“…?”
“The identity of the guy who is seated on the throne is almost exactly like a ‘doppelganger’ . ”
A new quest from Remus, the quest ‘Puppet of Elrika Kingdom’ .
The content of the quest was simple .
By hiding behind the strength of Elrika, defeat the fake king and then place the real king, Remus on the throne .
There was only one precondition .
No one should be known that the king had been replaced .
The quest was to return the Elrika Kingdom to the rightful King, by replacing the one placed by Lich King .
And not to let the Lich King notice .
Ian was flustered and was scratching the back of his neck .
‘I don’t know, it isn’t easy to infiltrate the domain of Rataphel, how am I supposed to do that to the castle? Besides I need to take him along…’
Ian looked at Remus who had a comfortable face and sighed .
If he would use the manner similar to the one when infiltrated the Rataphel domain, then it wouldn’t be so impossible .
But rather than taking the difficulty and risk, it looked better to take some time and push in with the troops .
Ian complained to Remus .
“This is the secret book?”
“Of course . ”
“The helpful assistant that was bound to help me with this secret book?”
Remus still responded to Ian with the same confident look .
“Surely, I can’t help but be sure . If I take back the throne without the Lich King not noticing, then it will be bloodless battle for the Lotus Kingdom . ”
“No, it isn’t that… it’s too unrealistic to sneak in and kill in the doppelganger and then to put you in place . I think it will be more difficult than taking the whole war . ”
Only then did Remus understood the dissatisfaction of Ian’s and opened his mouth,
“Oh, it is right to worry about . ”
“Isn’t it a bit too carefree?”
“I need to be carefree . From what I know, your abilities are too great for the task . ”
“…?”
Ian stared at Remus with a ridiculous expression .
Remus took a moment to speak .
“There is a secret passage to the castle in the northwest . ”
“Secret… passage?”
Remus nodded his head and answered .
“Yes, secret passage . It is a path that only I know about . ”
“Oh ho?”
Ian’s eyes were shining .
Because if there was a secret passage like Remus had mentioned, then the quest would be much easier than imagined .
‘That was why the difficulty wasn’t greater than S?’
Of course, the difficulty of an S didn’t mean easy, but until recently, only triple SSS grade quests have been in progress, and so the current quest seemed easier .
However, listening to the story of the secret passage, the level of difficulty seemed appropriate .
‘But what did he mean when he said my abilities were too great for the task?’
A question arose about what Remus had said .
And that question was solved quickly .
* * *
Swoosh-!
The sound of a stream water flowing .
To feel the water’s pressure, Jinsung was down in the bathtub .
“Uhm, paradise…”
The new house that he had moved in a few months ago was his favorite in many ways .
Because it was a newly-built apartment, it’s comfort wasn’t comparable with the other ones .
The bathroom, in particular, was truly unparalleled .
The freshwater flowed to Jinsung who only used the shower in his other home, this was like a feeling of going to the hot spring for every bath .
Soaking in hot water and lying still was nothing less than heaven .
“Ahm!”
An intense yawn came out of Ian’s mouth .
But in the meantime, the mind of Jinsung was filled with Kailan .
‘I’ll have to head to the Elrika castle once I log in . This time I don’t even have a party so I need to move right away . ’
With his eyes closed, Jinsung recalled the conversation he had with Remus before logging out .
“Phoenix… you say? That is a very interesting thing . ”
The defenders on the side of the Lotus were the God Dragon ‘Karceus’ and the Griffin ‘Pin’ .
Likewise, each of the other kingdoms had more than one patron .
The same was the case for the Elrika Kingdom .
“The Guardian deity of our Elrika Kingdom is the legendary beast Phoenix . ”
The guardian of the Elrika Kingdom was a beast Ian hadn’t seen yet .
With the flames that would never be extinguished till its heart still beats, the legendary beast ‘immortal’ one, was the guardian of the Elrika kingdom .
According to Remus, the phoenix was the one which guarded the secret passage .
At the end of the secret passage, one giant tree stood tall, and in the tree was a nest of Phoenix .
“Huh . Do we have to kill him to get there?”
“It doesn’t have to be like that . To kill a phoenix, that is something that one can’t do . The guy in the giant tree is probably a little younger than a year old . ”
“Yeah? Then what am I supposed to do?”
“You need to get the heart of it . ”
“The heart…?”
Ian who reminded the conversation with Remus began to organize the contents one after the other .
“Behind the giant tree is a door to the castle . But it is blocked by strong bonds . And to open those bonds, the flame bead is needed . ”
“Flame bead? What is that?”
“The red beads are something that a Phoenix can make once a lifetime . ”
“Hm…?”
“The Phoenix presents the Flame Beads only to the master that he accepts worthy . ”
“The master of the phoenix, is it you the king of the Erika Kingdom?”
“My phoenix isn’t in the world . Chalian had already destroyed it . ”
“That… so . Then the guy who is in the secret passage…?”
The Phoenix which Remus had raised was already taken down by the hands of Chalian .
But the egg, which remained in its nest, woke up while Remus was caught .
In order to be recognized as a master of the Phoenix, a non-summoner had to meet eyes with it—right after he breaks through the egg .
However, the guy in the nest woke up alone, so the only one who gets acceptance from him can be the one who can tame and summon him .
“So… You told me not a difficult task for my ability . ”
“Yeah . To be precise, you’re an excellent summoner . You are a summoner who tamed a God Dragon, I believe that a Phoenix can be tamed . ”
“That, well…”
The secret passage to the Elrika Castle, was in fact created by Remus when he ever came across an emergency to escape .
Because of this, only Remus who had the flame beads could only pass the barrier .
Of course, when the phoenix, which Remus owned had disappeared—the flame beads were already lost, which was why he couldn’t pass through the enchantment which he designed .
“If you defeat the phoenix, the enchantment can be forced to open . ”
“How?”
“If the heart is taken and broke, then it is possible . ”
“…”
“But if that happens, the guards who defend the castle will notice such intrusion . ”
“I’ll have to tame the Phoenix . ”
Swooah-!
Summing up all his thoughts, Jinsung rose from the bathtub .
He wasn’t sure if the rank of the Phoenix was legendary or myth, but meeting the one with the title ‘God Bird’ was a chance he wasn’t willing to meet .
A familiar voice came for Jinsung from the living room, as he was about to enter the capsule room after getting dressed .
“Jinsung-ah, eat your food and then play . ”
For ten years with his parents, it seemed like a nagging pain .
But now it was a voice that could never be seen as nagging .
“Huhu, okay Harin-ah . What’s the menu?”
Because the food made by Harin was enough to put off the game .
* * *
The entrance of the secret passage that Remus constructed in a place that was easy to enter .
The location itself was inside the Elrika kingdom, but the portal connected to the entrance was connected to the adjacent kingdom, ‘Paulus Kingdom’ .
The Paulus Kingdom wasn’t a territory that was hostile towards Lotus, which made it easy for Ian to locate the location of the portal .
‘Surely after the Lich King episode gets done, the next was going to the Paulus kingdom . ’
As soon as the footstep fell on the ground after the episode, he was going to declare the war on Paulus kingdom right away, but now, the Paulus kingdom wasn’t in a bad relationship with Lotus .
Kaemik territory—a small baron land located outside the Paulus kingdom .
Remus, who took Ian to a small hut outside the estate, spoke to him .
“Inside the secret passage, a lot of powerful monsters will come at you . ”
At the unexpected turn of events from Remus, Ian was a bit shocked .
“Uh? To a secret passage made for evacuation . Why would you release the monster?”
Remus replied like it was a needed thing to be done .
“If one had the flame bead, no monsters in the aisle would attack . ”
“Hm…?”
“The monsters in the passage area are all the monsters with flame attribute . Monsters with flame attributes don’t attack the phoenix . ”
Ian was interested in it .
“Oh, yeah?”
“Not entirely precise, but unless it was a higher-ranking one than the phoenix . ”
“Then they will be aware of the ‘flame bead’ item from the ‘Phoenix’?”
“I’m not entirely sure, won’t it be like that?”
“Well . ”
“But that doesn’t mean that if you have the flame bead then you won’t be attacked at all . ”
“Huh? What is that supposed to mean?”
“Even having the Flame bead in possession, it will be hostile if it is attacked first . ”
“Ah, that is understandable . ”
Ian wasn’t paying much attention to the flame bead .
He was only interested in the summon called ‘Phoenix’ .
After listening to the explanation given by Remus about the ‘flame bead’, it didn’t seem like just another ordinary item .
‘This, is this an item that would be incredibly useful when entering a dungeon of flame attribute?’
High-level dungeon which hasn’t been discovered yet, obviously composed of flame attribute monsters over the level of 400 .
If the flame bead was in possession in those places, hunting in those dungeons would be peaceful .
This would have a great impact on the dungeon’s difficulty than anyone could expect .
‘Nice, what’s the secret dungeon, should I see it for myself?’
When he opened the door, a small portal with a burning red color opened .
The eyes of Ian and Remus met each other, and Remus opened his mouth after a nod .
“You can enter the portal . You go in and then I’ll follow you . ”
As soon as Remus was done, Ian stepped forward without hesitation, and the portal sucked in Ian right after .
A line of system message emerged in Ian’s view, which temporarily turned black .
Tring-!
[Entered ‘Remus Secret Passage’ dungeon . ]