PICK ME UP, ANOTHER LOBBY!

After briefly examining the ingredients Harl and her party just brought to the alchemy lab, I returned to my research table and continued my research.

Around half an hour later, I heard a knock at the entrance.

The magic hall doors slightly swung open.

Peering their head inside was a woman with flowing purplish hair.

It was Norn.

"Hi, there, Serafina! Mind if I bother you a bit?"

The halberd-wielding mercenary asked.

"No. Come in, Norn!"

I replied.

She immediately stepped into the hall. Her halberd was still hanging on her back.

In contrary to the bright smile on her face, dark blood was staining both her armor and weapon all over.

The woman was still fresh from battle.

"Whew! Those goblin riders sure knew how to put up a fight, huh!"

She said cheerfully as she threw her gaze around the expansive library.

Goblin riders.

Just as I thought, master sent Party 2 to the eighth floor.

"How did you guys do in there?"

I asked.

"No worries. Nobody died. Maddock and Luan got injured in the middle of the battle. But nothing that your awesome potions couldn't fix. Thanks, by the way!"

She said nonchalantly as she glossed over some books on the shelf.

It went without saying that Party 2 was also supplied with the intermediate health potions I made.

"So, what do you need from me?"

I asked again.

Norn suddenly pulled a chair from a table in the middle of the library and placed it right across me at the research table.

Whatever she would say to me, it would not be brief.

Her face turned rather serious from her usual gleeful self.

"You asked us to look for something worth noticing about the land the current floors were in, right?"

"I did. Did you guys find something? If it's about the western walls and the ruined buildings behind them, I already noticed."

Norn shook her head.

"It's not just about the walls. Though, I did come here because I saw the walls."

What else could Norn possibly tell us from what we already saw?

I waited for her to continue.

And had I expected she would say these next words, I would had waited by the rift for her to come out instead of returning to the magic hall earlier.

"I recognized the region on the eighth floor. I had been there before."

I could not help but to suddenly lean toward the mercenary.

"You've been there before?! What was the place?!"

"It's the border city of Loro. It sat at the—"

"—the Surga Pass which trailed along the northeastern coast of the empire."

I interrupted with a stiff face.

Norn raised her brows upon my words.

"Ah! So you've been to the region too, then?"

I shook my head.

"I only heard of it. City of Loro was one of the six gateways which connected Tsatu Empire to the eastern lands. Out of the six cities which sat at the eastern border, Loro was one of the two least fortified and least passed through due to the extreme terrains of the Surga Pass."

"Indeed. If you're going to the northeastern part of Dunia, it'd be much faster and sometimes cheaper to just use a ship along the northern coast rather than going through Loro. Heck, people sometimes forgot Loro existed and thought only ships can get you to that part of the continent."

"Which was why the city was easily felled by the monster invasion fifteen years ago. The city did not have proper defense compared to the rest of the border cities and reinforcement could not arrive in time due to how the city was situated deep in the Surga Pass."

From the books I read, the fall of Loro was one of the first major invasions successfully done by the monsters. And the first time humanity lost a skirmish in the great war against the end of the world. 

The first of many that would come after that.

By my recollection, I believed it was also goblins that invaded the city. And ogres as well. Thousands of each kind.

"How did you get to be in Loro in your past? The imperial army sealed Surga Pass after Loro fell."

I asked Norn.

"Though the pass was sealed, sometimes mercenaries enter it to kill monsters. Their body parts are valuable, you know. And once I had a crazy merchant who wanted to cross the pass."

"Crazy indeed."

"Right?! Anyway, the merchant said her items could not handle the ocean air so she could not take the ship. She also did not have enough money to ride one of those fancy flying ships nobles often used."

Norn said. She continued.

"But she needed to reach the Lantern City in the northeastern part of Dunia before the Serpent Festival. So she paid me and a dozen other mercenaries to escort her through the pass. Needless to say, we passed Loro on the way."

I nodded my head to her story.

"Which path did you use when crossing Loro? The mountain paths or the grand valley?"

"Are you kidding me? The valley, of course! Why would we climb the mountains? It was already hard enough to get past those steep rugged slopes to Surga Pass. No need to add more problems to our trip with monsters too."

"How about the city? Did you get a good look of the place?"

I asked again.

"We stayed a night there. I managed to explore around while doing my patrol shifts. Wished there was something we could take though. Everything was in ruins."

I pulled the drawer beside me and retrieved a blank paper and an inked pen from there.

While handing those items to Norn, I spoke to her.

"I need you to draw a map of the city."

"A map?"

"Just a rough sketch of the city's layout. How the city was segmented, what went where, and the locations of all the gates. Especially the gates."

After hearing my elaborate request, Norn nodded obediently and grabbed the paper and pen.

"When do you need the map?"

"Soon. Preferably before our climb to the ninth floor. I suspect master would be making us retry the eighth floor for the time being."

"Sure! I'll try to recall my experience during that job. I'll tell you if I remember something else."

Norn said as she left the magic hall.

I could not help but sigh on my chair after hearing what Norn just told me.

The region we were at was the city of Loro in Surga Pass.

A fallen city claimed by monsters.

It was not pleasant when I tried to guess what the Quintal Trial would be like on the tenth floor.