The following evening.

After finishing my university classes and part-time job, eating dinner, and helping clean up afterward, I logged into CRO.

The Ash-Crowned Dragon raid instance had already been closed.

However, parts of the battlefield had apparently been incorporated into the normal version of the Lost Hills.

The temporary camp, supply station, and reward exchange that had been there yesterday were all gone.

According to a post I’d seen on the official forums before logging in, the scorched grasslands and the gouged hillsides still remained.

The unofficial forums, meanwhile, were full of discussions about how expensive the materials for upgrading Ash-Crowned Dragon equipment had become, along with speculation about Astrega’s next livestream.

I headed toward the northern side of the Royal Capital’s Central Plaza.

The official announcement had said that a victory monument for the Ash-Crowned Dragon campaign had been erected there.

The crowd had finally started to thin out.

Even so, several players still stood in front of the newly built stone monument.

At the center of the monument was an inscription.

[Ash-Crowned Dragon Graum Subjugation Campaign — Victory Record]

Below it were the names of the player who had claimed the World Last Attack, the top contributors, and the highest-ranking clans.

Fastest Clear Battlefield: First Battlefield

World Last Attack: Player *** (Astra Regalia)

MVP (Highest Contribution): Player ***

Top Contributing Clan: Astra Regalia — and others

…

Naturally, the names of every participant weren’t engraved there.

“Astrega really is incredible.”

“Did you see the World Last Attack weapon?”

“Yeah! The effects are insanely flashy. It looks awesome!”

The players gathered around the monument chatted excitedly.

The atmosphere was completely different from the abandoned battlefield I’d visited yesterday.

The exhilaration of victory still lingered here.

I slowly lowered my gaze toward the bottom of the monument.

Then I stopped breathing.

At the very bottom—

Far smaller than the names of the ranking players, almost like a decorative footnote, was a single line.

The names of the Seventh Supply Unit, who defended the supply route during the Ash-Crowned Dragon campaign, are recorded here.

Roy.

Marlow.

Eda.

Lutz.

Nora.

Seil.

“…They’re here.”

The words escaped my lips in a whisper.

The names I’d found yesterday among the scorched hills had been preserved on the monument in the royal capital.

That was all.

Just that.

They gave no experience.

No equipment.

No reward worth bragging about.

Yet simply seeing those names engraved beneath the monument made yesterday’s battlefield feel like more than just an empty place.

A nearby player tilted their head.

“Huh? What’s this? A supply unit…?”

“Wait, that was a thing?”

“Are those NPC names?”

“I don’t remember any supply unit during the Ash-Crowned Dragon event.”

Several players leaned closer to examine the bottom of the monument.

They probably hadn’t seen yesterday’s world announcement.

One of them even took a screenshot.

I quietly stepped away.

For some reason, my heart was pounding strangely.

The names I’d found yesterday now remained on the monument in the royal capital.

And now complete strangers were looking at them.

That supply soldier’s voice.

Those scorched identification tags.

The gray wind sweeping across the battlefield…

They had all been preserved somewhere.

I opened my menu.

Deep inside my inventory was the Seventh Supply Unit Roster from the Ash Campaign.

When I selected it, I noticed the description had changed slightly since yesterday.

[Ash Campaign — Seventh Supply Unit Roster]

Category: Record

Rarity: World Unique

Effect: Displays potential connections to related records.

Description: A supply unit roster discovered during the withdrawal phase following the defeat of the Ash-Crowned Dragon Graum.

The names hidden beneath the glory of victory are preserved here.

Notes: Recorded on the Royal Capital Victory Monument.

“…It changed…?”

A new section had appeared beneath it.

One I didn’t recognize.

Related Records:

[Belka Village — Old Wooden Bridge] — Undiscovered

“…What’s this?”

Belka Village.

It was the village where I’d first begun my journey in CRO.

The elderly herbalist who had taught me how to gather medicinal plants.

The blacksmith who had forged my very first dagger.

The forest where I’d spent Level 3 desperately running away from wolves.

I even remembered the old bridge outside the village.

This roster had come from the Ash-Crowned Dragon campaign’s afterstory quest.

Why would it connect to the Hume starting village?

I had no idea.

But after seeing the names of the Seventh Supply Unit engraved beneath the monument, I couldn’t believe this was just a coincidence.

The plaza was still filled with conversations about Astrega.

The World Last Attack weapon.

The clan’s next livestream.

The market price of Ash-Crowned Dragon materials.

Which equipment players should craft first.

All of those were important topics in CRO.

For almost everyone gathered in the plaza, those were probably the things that truly mattered.

Yet deep within my inventory…

That roster quietly continued to glow.