"The trial is over. Or rather, your farce has ended."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    There was a deep sense of contempt in the Dark Elf''s voice. It wasn''t directed at just one person but at all the leaders gathered there. Among those, there was only one exception, the single person who had earned her approval.


    "The city will go to the one who has passed the trial. He is the only one deserving of being the lord. Unlike the rest of you, who are unworthy."


    "Wait! This doesn''t count!"


    One of the leaders shouted out. Though he screamed into the empty air, it was clear the trial administrator would be able to hear him. Yet, the Dark Elf ignored his protests and continued speaking.


    "Those who have failed will not return to the ck Tower. You''ll be scattered and left to find other ces to settle. I''ll mark the location of the nearest vige for you. Once you establish roots there, the citizens will transfer automatically, so don''t worry about that."


    "…!"


    The faces of the other leaders turned pale. They had thought that if they failed, they could just go back to the ck Tower and try again in another city. They hadn''t expected that failure meant they''d be permanently excluded from thepetition.


    A mixture of shock and frustration welled up among the leaders, and the Dark Elf''s mocking tone cut through the silence once more.


    "What, are you unhappy? But the best cities have already been imed. The rest are just scraps. It doesn''t matter which vige you pick; there won''t be much difference."


    "You can''t be serious…!"


    "It would be wise to hurry. While the nearest vige isn''t far, you won''t want to run into monsters at night, will you?"


    The Dark Elf''s voice carried a smirk as she offered this warning. The leaders, who had been shaking their fists at the sky in rage, froze. They had forgotten—this was not a safe zone. There might not be monsters now, but there was no telling what would appear once night fell.


    "That''s all I have to say. The victor and his faction may enter the city. The rest of you should find your own viges. As a final favor, I''ll transport you to the main road in front of the castle to make it easier for you to leave. Consider it a gift."


    With those final words, all the yers were enveloped in a white light.


    When the light faded, they found themselves standing on therge road surrounding the towering castle. The only faction missing was Justin''s, the dark-robed sorcerer and hispanions.


    "This is such crap…!"


    One of the leaders, his face flushed with anger, spat out curses. This so-called kindness was clearly meant to mock them. They had been left to stand in awe of the grand castle and city they could never im, a petty reminder of their failure.


    "Screw this! I''m not leaving like this!"


    A voice rang out. The speaker was none other than Eric, who had earlier fled after seeing the mountain of corpses.


    "What? Are we supposed to pick up scraps? This is a joke! I wouldn''t have left the vige if I''d known it''de to this!"


    "…What exactly do you n to do, then?" Emily, frowning in irritation, snapped at him. With the city already lost, thest thing she wanted was to hear someone whining about it.


    But Eric didn''t flinch at her words and instead shouted even louder.


    "Obviously, we''re going to storm the city! Take it by force!"


    "What?"


    "A siege, I''m saying! We climb those walls and attack!"


    "…"


    The other leaders all looked at him like he had gone insane. A siege? Withoutdders or siege weapons, how were they supposed to pull that off?


    Eric, noticing their skepticism, began exining his n more calmly.


    "Look at those walls! There are gaps we can use to climb up. No, we don''t havedders, but it''s still doable!"


    "Shut up. Climb those walls and get ughtered in the process? Are you out of your mind?"


    "But they don''t know we''reing, right? If we''re careful, we can all climb up without them noticing. Once we''re over the wall, what could they possibly do to stop us?"


    "…!"


    It wasn''t apletely ridiculous idea, and the leaders started to exchange uncertain nces. After all, the system didn''t automatically warn defenders of an attack on a city. It was up to them to notice the threat. Right now, Justin''s group was likely celebrating inside, oblivious to anything happening on the walls.


    Seeing their reactions, Eric grew more confident and raised his voice.


    "Let''s form an alliance! We''ll decide who gets to ruleter. For now, let''s focus on driving them out of the city…"


    Rumble.


    "What the hell!?"


    Eric''s speech was cut short by a sudden tremor. An earthquake? No, it couldn''t be—there had never been natural disasters like that in this world. But it wasn''t long before they realized the shaking wasn''ting from the ground—it was the castle walls.


    With a deep groan, the walls began to shift and transform.


    "What the hell…!"


    The walls that had just been normal moments ago now rumbled and began reshaping themselves, growing taller and more imposing by the second. It was like the entire castle was being melted down and reforged before their eyes. The leaders watched in stunned silence as the walls expanded, the gaps they had been nning to climb closing up and disappearing entirely.


    "…"


    When the transformation stopped, the new walls were nearly double the height of the original ones. Before, a fall from the top might have just broken bones, but now, it would surely be fatal. And there wasn''t a single foothold left—they were perfectly smooth, impossible to climb withoutdders or specialized equipment.


    "Well…we''re screwed."


    The sentiment came from one of the leaders, but it summed up what everyone was feeling.


    One by one, the leaders began shaking their heads and turning away from the castle.


    "I''m done. If you want to try a siege, do it on your own."


    "Yeah, count me out. There''s no way to get through that now."


    "Damn it, nothing ever goes right…"


    "…"


    What had been the start of a potential revolt crumbled instantly. Even Eric, the loudest proponent of the siege, quietly withdrew with the others.


    In the end, only one group remained: Emily''s faction.


    One of her followers approached, hesitantly.


    "Sister…shouldn''t we leave too?"


    "No."


    "What?"


    "I''m not going anywhere. I''m done with this."


    While her followers looked at her in confusion, Emily sighed deeply.


    "Until now, we''ve been lucky to survive. But after seeing all this, I get it. We''re just barely clinging to the upper-middle ranks. If we keep going, we''ll eventually get swallowed up by one of the stronger groups."