Episode 75
075. Wanted to See Your Face Once
It was Moiran’s voice. It held not fear of death, but a desperate will to protect something. golden hand had witnessed the final moments of countless heroes. Their voices were always that firm.
“……Probability of success?”
“0.1%? Or maybe even lower.”
“You still plan to go?”
“Yes.”
A short exchange. But golden hand asked no more. He rose and began retrieving materials sealed in the deepest part of his workshop.
“Time?”
“Maximum 10 hours. I need time to infiltrate as well.”
“……Tight. Still, let’s give it a shot.”
That day, the sound of a hammer echoed throughout the night from golden hand’s forge located in the deepest part of Bastion. It was the sound of hammering that sang of Bastion’s hope. golden hand poured all his skills, knowledge, and soul into the work.
[Nightspider Queen’s Final Spool] – Absorbed light and held darkness.
[Ghost-shadow Drifting in the Abyss] – Distorted the flow of magic, making detection impossible.
[Silent Bat’s Wing Leather] – A soundless bat that devoured all sound of the wearer.
All of Geumson’s top-grade materials went into it. They intertwined, gradually taking shape.
Finally, just before dawn, in the deepest darkness, the work was completed. In golden hand’s hand was a set of clothes. They looked less like clothes and more like living shadows.
[Shadow-Weaver’s Shroud]
The moment it was made, it was delivered to Moiran. And the radio crackled once more.
Sizzle-
Zzzzzt-
“Shroud… that’s a well-chosen name. It won’t be unworthy as my final attire.”
She changed into it without hesitation. The moment she put it on, her figure faded as if seeping into the surrounding darkness.
“Mr. Golden Hand.”
“……Yes.”
“I wanted to see your face once… but it seems I won’t get to. If I return, I’ll tell you then. My thanks… and I’ll tell you my real name too. No one knows it.”
Her voice, relaxed because she had resolved to face her end. It wasn’t the smile of the infamous ‘Black Widow,’ but just the smile of a human, Moiran. With those words, she vanished into the darkness without a trace. Only silence lingered in golden hand’s workshop.
A few hours later…
Kwaaaaaaaaa-!
The entire fortress shook as if from an earthquake. The fortress wasn’t under attack. A massive mushroom cloud blooming from the top of the Obsidian Spire shook all of Bastion.
And golden hand never got to hear the words of thanks from Black Widow Moiran—no, from the hero Moran.
Zzzzt-
Zzzzzzt-
Only the sound of the unresponsive radio filled Geumson’s workshop.
A hero who saved hundreds of thousands of lives. But no one remembered her name. Her sacrifice was classified top secret; people only knew that the Abyssal Legion self-destructed due to an ‘unexplained explosion.’
Only golden handd and a few top officials remembered the truth of that day. And now, Geumson was the only one who remembered Moran’s final voice as she walked into death with a smile, wearing the ‘Shroud’ he had crafted.
‘Compared to back then… she’s bright now.’
golden hand remembered Moiran from the Age of Ruin. But the Moiran he met in 《Lepione》 seemed a bit different. A cheerfulness felt because she hadn’t yet experienced the Age of Ruin.
‘But… is it right to interfere with Moiran?’
A sudden doubt arose. For Moiran to be active later, he shouldn’t interfere with whatever quest she was undertaking now. That would hinder her growth. However…
‘She probably failed. Considering I can’t remember it.’
It was true that she destroyed and caused chaos in several 《Repion》 cities later on. But that was in the latter part of 《Lepione》. Not now. Moreover, he had never heard of Aertos being destroyed. Aertos remained a prestigious magic city until the end. Whatever her intention, it seemed she wouldn’t achieve it in Aertos.
‘In that case… I should prevent the disturbance.’
The great magician of fantasy, Jeong Ha-rin. Her master, Astrid. That was all that was known.
Golden Hand didn’t know how or where Jeong Ha-rin met Astrid. From the start, Jeong Ha-rin had only one conversation partner—her illusion, her brother Jeong Ha-joon.
Also, nothing was known about Astrid other than that she took Jeong Ha-rin as a disciple. No other player had been reported to have taken Astrid as a master.
In other words, Astrid was somewhere in this city. If he missed this chance, he wouldn’t know where to meet her. So, Aertos must remain peaceful. At least until he met Astrid.
“Walker, Tia. Keep an eye on the surroundings.”
“Worker! Worker!”
— Tiat!
golden hand crouched and reached his hand toward the broken magic circuit. His eyes shone more serious and sharp than ever before. Sorry, but it seemed he had to thwart Moiran’s plan.
“Sun’s Right Hand.”
Pure heat blooming from golden hand’s palm began to gently melt and reconnect the severed magic lines. His hand movements, aided by the ‘Divine Dexterity’ skill, were too fast and precise to be seen.
Sssssss-
With a fine spark, the circuit, which had turned dark red, regained its clear, blue light.
[Successfully restored the ‘magic Circuit’.]
[Proficiency in ‘Divine Dexterity’ skill increased.]
[Proficiency in ‘Insight of the Flow’ skill increased.]
“Good, let’s go to the next location!”
Having found damaged magic relay stations throughout the city, golden hand used ‘Intuition of Resolve’ to grasp the original form of the scraped-away circuits. Then, in an instant, he restored the original circuits without an inch of error. Geumson’s concentration was at its peak.
[Successfully restored the ‘Magic Circuit’.]
[Proficiency in ‘Intuition of Resolve’ skill increased.]
[Due to the effect of the ‘Concentration’ stat, work success rate increases by 10%.]
The time taken to repair the second relay tower after the first was a mere 10 minutes. Without even time to wipe his sweat, Geumson headed to the next point of destruction indicated by Insight of the Flow.
The third was a backup power device hidden underground in the city’s central library. The fourth was a magic purification device connected to the mage guild’s drinking water supply system.
Like a surgeon operating on a patient named ‘Aertos,’ Geumson erased the traces of destruction hidden throughout the city one by one. Moreover, he understood the existing inefficient structures and, adding his knowledge, redesigned the circuits into more stable and efficient ones.
[This repair method defies common sense! The system records your actions.]
[Divine power imbues the circuits restored by the effect of ‘Sun’s Right Hand’.]
[Achievement: The City’s Hidden Doctor]
[First to restore 10 or more of a city’s core infrastructure facilities.]
[The system pays respect to your unseen, sublime devotion.]
Effect 1: Divine Power stat permanently increases by 50.
Effect 2: Gain the ‘City Return’ ability, allowing instant teleportation to a designated location within the city once per day.
[Fame increased by 500.]
‘City Return!’
golden hand’s eyes lit up at the unexpected achievement effect. City Return was a type of escape skill. It allowed safe escape to a designated city when encountering a dungeon or a difficult monster. Originally, one needed to use ‘Return Stones’ or ‘Return Scrolls’—like the shadow kid had done last time.
However, they were not only quite expensive but also hard to find on the market, as they were monopolized by large guilds or big-shot players in 《Lepyon》. But now, he no longer needed to search for them.
‘Return… I got a very useful skill.’
Geumson set the coordinates to his current location with a satisfied expression and continued the repair work. As time passed, the unstable turbulence of magic enveloping the city gradually subsided. The city’s fountain water jets surged more powerfully than before, and the street’s magic streetlamps emitted brighter light.
“Strange? The magic supply has been unstable lately… why is it suddenly so stable?”
“You’re right. The magic is flowing refreshingly… wait, wasn’t it originally like this?”
The residents of Aertos were completely unaware of the identity of the invisible hand saving their city.
Meanwhile, in a shabby inn on the city outskirts.
Moiran couldn’t shake off an uneasy feeling.
‘Strange… I definitely ruined everything perfectly, so why is it so quiet?’
According to Moiran’s plan, by now, magic accidents large and small should have been erupting all over the city, starting chaos. But the city was eerily peaceful.
Getting up from her seat, Moiran looked out the window. The cityscape remained peaceful. It was incomprehensible.
“Could it be… did someone catch on to my plan? No, that can’t be.”
Moiran shook her head. Her acts of sabotage were cunning and secretive enough that even Aertos’s greatest wizards wouldn’t easily notice. Restoring them was even more impossible. Then, one person came to mind.
Golden hands.
‘…Golden hands? Could that man have…?’
A single possibility flashed through her mind. But she soon chuckled and dismissed the thought.
“Ah, what does a blacksmith know? An uneducated hammer-wielder who doesn’t even know the basic structure of magic circuits, tampering with my perfect work? That’s impossible.”
