The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 185

After the short conversation with the head of the family, Raven was assigned a guest room with the words that she would be staying in the mansion for a while.

Perhaps because she couldn't adapt well to the suddenly changed environment, everything was uncomfortable, but she didn't say that she wanted to go back to the warehouse.

Because she knew all too well from her past experiences that even if she said it, they wouldn't listen to her.

And even if it was a little uncomfortable, it was better to be inside the mansion now.

Because it was easier to get information in a room in the mansion than in a warehouse that was separated as an annex.

Woong-

Raven sat on the bed, closed her eyes, and focused, raising her magic power.

Then, after a while, Raven's shadow flickered, and a piece of shadow the size of a fist fell from it.

Raven carefully moved the fallen piece of shadow.

Since she already knew where to get good information, the shadow quickly moved towards a luxurious room, avoiding people's eyes.

"Oppa, I heard that crow is being mobilized for a mission, is that true?"

"Yes, I heard it today too, and it seems to be true."

There, twins with pure white hair and golden pupils were talking.

Raven felt her chest flutter slightly as she looked at her half-siblings, but she took a deep breath and quietly suppressed it.

Because now was the time to focus on finding out what purpose the head of the family had called her for and gathering even a little more information to prepare for it.

The twins, who usually liked to chat about the events happening inside and outside the family, had been a good source of information for Raven, along with the chatty maids.

'They're talking about today's matter.'

Raven focused on the sound coming through her shadow.

"Why call that dirty crow when you could just send the two of us?"

"I guess we have to think that the situation and conditions were just right. The temple requested a person who could take on this mission, and the crow fit the bill perfectly."

"What, what were the conditions?"

"LV. 5… in other words, a mage who has just reached the 5th circle, that was the condition the temple wanted from our family."

"What?"

The girl was surprised to hear the boy's words.

And so was Raven.

Because although she had expected that they were watching her, she hadn't known that they were observing her in such detail as to notice her achievement of just having reached a new level.

"That shame of the family has become a 5th circle mage? I'm still only at the 2nd circle."

"Well, even if she's a dirty mongrel, I guess the family's blood doesn't go anywhere."

At those words, a self-deprecating smile appeared on Raven's face.

She felt nauseous at their hypocrisy, who usually treated her as an object for the family or a dirty mongrel who defiled their blood, but now said that the family's blood was flowing in her.

"But there are many mages in the family who have just reached the 5th circle. Even if it's the temple's word, there's no need to use a person with the family's blood, so why is it like this this time?"

"Certainly, normally they would have sent one of the family members. But this time, the situation is not so light."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"It means that this time, it wasn't an order that the temple decided and gave on its own."

The boy's voice was trembling slightly, as if he were nervous even to put his thoughts into words.

"I heard that the divine child himself gave the word."

"The, the divine child?! He woke up?"

"Yes, they say he fell asleep again after leaving a single word, but he definitely woke up."

"Th, then does that mean this mission is a mission that the great sun himself ordered?!"

"Hoo, yes."

The boy nodded his head slightly.

"Thanks to that, the temple is also in a state of extreme tension. Anyway, do you understand why they're sending a person with the family's blood?"

"If it's the divine child's word, we certainly have to show that we don't ignore it."

"Yes, and it seems they're considering using that in case of an emergency."

"I see."

The boy patted the girl's head as if she were praiseworthy.

"Perhaps because it's the divine child's order, it seems that influential candidates who were fighting for succession in the Leviathan and Behemoth families are being deployed."

"So they're thinking of taking this as an opportunity and becoming the next head of the family's influential candidate at once."

"Yes, unlike us, where the eldest brother has already been confirmed as the successor, they don't have a next head of the family yet."

The girl thought for a moment and then said.

"Is it okay to send the crow to a place like that? It seems she'll be knocked out by the head of the family candidates right away and won't be able to achieve any merit."

"It doesn't matter. That's what the head of the family wants."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means that the crow is a disposable piece."

Kuuk-

At those words, Raven felt something pierce her chest again.

"We've decided to give up on achieving merit in this mission and create a stage where the other two families can focus only on each other. And in return, we've received a price from the two families. And…"

"And dispose of that crow at the same time?"

"Yes, that's right."

They giggled, and Raven quietly listened to their laughter.

"The head of the family is amazing. There's no loss, only gain."

"Right, and we get to dispose of the cumbersome crow as a bonus. Now that the successor has been decided, she's just a nuisance."

"On top of that, since it's another dimension, there will be no one who knows about the Ziz family, so she won't tarnish the family's name."

Tuk-

"I see…"

Raven withdrew her magic and muttered in a low voice.

With the two's conversation, Raven understood the whole flow of events.

The use for her that the head of the family had spoken of when he had seen her as a child.

That it had been decided, and the moment for her to be used had come.

Raven quietly accepted reality, received the basic information needed for the mission, received various equipment from the temple, and arrived on Earth using a dungeon.

Although she had arrived, Raven had no motivation.

Even though it was the first sky she had faced after leaving the birdcage, Raven's eyes still seemed to see the iron chains that bound her.

That's why Raven quietly made her nest and lived, holding her breath.

While she was spending her days without any purpose.

"Hoo, I almost had what I had my eye on snatched away right in front of me."

Lee Shin came to find Raven.

At first, she was only wary of the unidentified person who had come to find her, but Raven naturally became curious about Lee Shin.

Because unlike her, who had been raised in oppression and had now given up on everything, Lee Shin was shining, insisting on the path he wanted.

So Raven, out of curiosity about Lee Shin, looked for an opportunity and used the jewel.

There, Raven experienced Lee Shin's life.

When he received his parents' love, he smiled brightly as if he had the whole world, and when he saw his parents leave in front of him, he cried his heart out.

It was Raven's emotion, but it wasn't just her emotion, but also Lee Shin's emotion, which even he himself hadn't noticed, was mixed in.

After experiencing Lee Shin's life even a little, Raven thought to herself without realizing it.

"I want to be family with a person like this."

Beolkeok-

The moment Raven let those words out of her mouth, looking at her own memories, she woke up from her sleep.

"Huh, what? Did I wake you up?"

When she opened her eyes, Lee Shin was standing in front of the door, holding the doorknob.

"No, oppa."

Raven said that and rubbed her eyes slightly.

Outside the window, the sun that had been in the middle of the sky was slowly setting in the west, and a delicious smell was flowing from the open door.

Kkoreureuk-

Perhaps because she smelled it, hunger came over her, and her stomach cried out for food.

"Ugh…"

Embarrassed, Raven lowered her head, and Lee Shin chuckled and said.

"I wanted to feed you something delicious, but the situation is what it is, so I just made something. So even if it's not delicious, just bear with it and eat."

Lee Shin said that and held out one hand to Raven, as if telling her to get up quickly.

Raven stared blankly at Lee Shin's hand that was extended towards her.

At that, Lee Shin wiggled his fingertips as if telling her to hurry up and grab it, and only then did Raven smile slightly and take his hand.

Kkwak-

"If you've stood up, let go now."

"Just a little more."

"…I've taken in a very clingy kid."

Even while saying that with an annoyed tone, Lee Shin did not let go of Raven's hand as she had said.

"Let's eat a simple meal and go out. We need to buy the things you'll need while you're here, and if we have time… it wouldn't be bad to go play somewhere."

The warmth transmitted through their clasped hands was warm.

◎ ◎ ◎

Nyamnyam-

"So there are a total of three people who came from the world called Carnia, including you?"

"Yes, oppa."

At Raven's answer, Irehgue muttered with interest.

-Carnia, a new world completely different from this one…

"That's right."

At Irehgue's muttering, Raven nodded her head slightly.

The current Raven, after receiving Lee Shin's permission, was able to see Irehgue through his mind and even hear his voice.

At first, when Lee Shin heard Raven's words, he had wondered if there was a need to do this, but at Irehgue's words and threats that he wanted a new conversation partner, Lee Shin had no choice but to nod his head and accept the role of a relay.

"Well, the topic of a new world is extremely interesting, but I'm more interested in the gods."

-Gaia… certainly, that side seems to be interesting too.

Gaia, the guardian god who was born at the same time as civilization and protects the planet from all crises.

Lee Shin smiled as he thought of that transcendent being.

"Unlike her old-fashioned name, she seems to be a god with quite a bit of sense. To think she would prepare people for such an attack with the method of a virtual reality game and the means of a status window."

Although it was just a deduction based on the information he had obtained through Raven's memories, Lee Shin was convinced that it was Gaia who had created the virtual reality game and spread it on Earth, and who had created the system and gifted it to them.

"It was certainly amazing. We attacked and absorbed several planets before, but there was no planet that used such a method."

"Huh? We tried to eat other planets before?"

"Yes, I know that 7 planets have already been absorbed."

At Raven's words, Lee Shin let out a small exclamation of admiration.

-Then how did the other planets usually move?

"Uhm, from what I've heard, they usually create a hero and give them power, or they use the method of creating dungeons."

"Huh? Dungeons were also Gaia's work?"

At Lee Shin's words, Raven nodded her head, munching on a sausage.

"Yes, what the temple does is just to send a piece of a dimension containing monsters to Earth to enrich the planet's magic power to make it easier to absorb, and to make it easier to throw the fragments of the dimension."

"Then if Gaia hadn't intervened, there would have been no dungeons."

-And if there were no dungeons, the moment the fragments of the dimension were sent to Earth, a horde of monsters would have poured into the world as if a dungeon break had occurred.

"Yes, that's right."

At Raven's words, Lee Shin was slightly surprised that a being called a god was trying so hard in many ways.

And he noticed.

Whose work it was to turn back the hands of the clock in the ruined past, turn back the planet's time, and send Cheon Yuhwa back to the past.

-The Earth before the regression must have also been absorbed by Carnia or on the verge of being absorbed, just like the other worlds.

'The latter is probably more likely than the former. And Gaia, who was pushed to the very end, eventually turned back the time of the Earth.'

Woomulwoomul-

'Hoping for a miracle, she chose one person, Cheon Yuhwa, from the future world as a hero and sent her to the past.'

Lee Shin recalled the name of the person he had thought of when he had heard the word 'hero'.

He did not consider the possibility that someone else was the hero.

Because if that were the case, the hero would have been one of Gaia's arrangements that had existed since the last world, like the game or the status window dungeon, but Cheon Yuhwa didn't seem to know about the existence of a hero.

In other words, the hero was a new arrangement that had been placed with the regression, and the person with the highest possibility of being the hero was Cheon Yuhwa, who remembered the future Earth.

Irehgue, who had thought the same, also nodded his head slightly without any particular agitation.

'By the way, I can't understand.'

-Indeed, I was also wondering about that.

Irehgue said, as if he couldn't understand.

-Why is the one called the great sun moving so passively, unlike Gaia, who is moving desperately?