＜Redacable＞ The anthill incident was brought to an end by the ‘Golden Children’ and the MAGIC Special Investigation Division who intervened a step too late.
The five thief guilds that dominated the empire suffered devastating damage and were scattered all over the place. An estimated 2,000 people have died.
The lord of ＜Redacable＞ was transferred to the Imperial Court by the ‘Golden Children’ on charges of neglecting such a huge black market.
─Isn’t this the plot of the Emperor’s Office?
─That’s right. I’m trying to get rid of the thieves’ guild.
The decisive reason why such rumors had no choice but to spread was that the unidentified person who perpetrated this massacre had completely disappeared.
The suspicion was further amplified in that the victims were limited to thieves’ guild members and those who illegally attended the black market.
After a day like that, blood and flesh on the floor rotted and maggots were infested.
In such a field of maggots, there was a person who took a good bite of an apple and browsed the ownerless stalls one by one.
Doran Slade, Chief of Magical League Special Operations Division.
‘Hmm, as expected, most of them jumped out.’
A woman yawned and approached Doran with her eyes wide open at the nervous impression.
“hey! I need to check something. All that remains are items of little value.”
“Tirinted, the basics of investigation are ‘why’ and ‘why’. It’s well worth looking into.”
The crows attacked this place faster than Doran expected… … why?
Is there something you want to save?
If that’s the case, I’d just quietly get some stuff and get out, but why did they create such a mess? Is it simply to attract attention? So why should it draw attention?
“By the way, the ant nest is over now. Now, the Imperial Office will dry the seed completely.”
“Is it really so?”
“Of course it is. What kind of guy is he?”
“Gwangryong has been controlling mankind very intelligently. You can tell just by looking at the existence of these ant nests that they have been left unattended.”
Doran picked up a maggot wriggling in the flesh of the pool of blood. It was placed on a shelf and covered with a wooden frame.
“Now, here are the maggots. What will happen if we leave it locked up like this?”
“What the hell is it to come up with a riddle that isn’t even a riddle? I will starve to death.”
“Perhaps it awakens new powers, breaks its neck, escapes, and harms the human world.”
Tyrinted glared at Doran with an expression of what kind of madman he saw.
Doran smiled and opened his throat, spat out the apple he was chewing next to it, and closed it again.
“The maggots can now live on these apple scraps. Now this is the human world.”
“what?”
“To not die, not to explode… … So it’s a world that’s being controlled in a very high-level way to keep the status quo.”
Cruel and inhumane entertainment, forbidden by the gods through the Bible and codified as a taboo by the Imperial Office, is gaining popularity all over the world.
Only the light dragon, Haraderi, who is said to have the power to look down on all things, naturally knows this but neglects it.
‘I don’t know what to wait for, so I don’t know why they put more emphasis on maintenance than improvement, but… … .’
Tirinthed, understanding Doran’s analogy, scratched his head angrily. There are no fools in the special affairs department.
“If you’re deliberately leaving it alone so that strange things don’t happen… … There will be a second ant nest somewhere else. The Imperial Court will leave it alone.”
“Exactly. After all, you are my subordinate.”
“hey! Who is your subordinate!”
As Doran avoided Tyrintid’s sharp punches, Lunen, a wizard with an impressive mustache, approached.
“Chief.”
“yes?”
“Let’s look at this.”
He picked up a page from the heavy file folder and handed it over.
It was a list of the personal information of the adventurers who were put into the security of ＜Reda Cavel＞, which was obtained through the cooperation of the Alliance (adventurer’s union).
Of course, no punishment is given to them. The Magic League had no intention of creating an uncomfortable relationship with the Alliance. I don’t know what the Imperial Court is like.
“You must have been in trouble. The genius Confucius really came and went.”
Doran’s eyes, which were always closed with a grinning smile, opened slightly.
[Rain Ludwig.]
Fortunately, I didn’t put his name on the death list… … If there had been an accident, I would have been unable to see the face of senior Kavan for the rest of my life.
Who would have imagined that if a 16-year-old aristocrat gave a little clue, he would come to the black market through the Alliance.
When they hear that they have to get a book from the black market, the noble children who grew up in the mansion get scared and give up or send an agent.
‘Ha, this is really a person.’
Doran stopped laughing.
But why are you so obsessed with Turaina’s book? Is it just the responsibility for the lost book? Or is there something else… … .
* * *
“How is Lane?”
In the suburbs of ＜Redacable＞, where countless shacks are densely packed like a maze, a woman with her face covered in a hood walks in.
On the hastily prepared bed, a black-haired boy lay wheezing. Even when I hear a familiar voice, I only wheeze in pain.
Sammy, a plump young man who was sitting next to him and was changing the handkerchief on his forehead, shook his head.
“He shows no signs of waking up. I think it’s very painful to see him talking in his sleep.”
As the woman pulled back her hood, the graceful features of an aristocrat appeared under the candlelight. She was Hirpien Dialle.
“Can’t the priest cure that?”
“The cancer poison has already been eliminated. But the pain that was eroded by cancer poison will remain… … . This is not something I can cure.”
Relaxation is the only answer. Hirpien smiled bitterly.
“They say we need to get out of the city before the investigation spreads further. I have to get out of here now. Would you like to say hello to Lane? We are all so grateful.”
“of course.”
“This is the payoff, and this is what Lane entrusted me with.”
Hirpien put down the money bag full of gold coins on the bedside table. It was five times more than the usual remuneration.
But what surprised Sammy was not the amount of the reward, but the title of the book next to it.
A book about Turaina… … Right now, the ‘golden children’ are confiscating all the tribes in sight all over the continent.
“Then hello, Lane… … . Thank you so much. Let’s meet again later with a healthy face. If you come to the archipelago to play, I’ll treat you like extreme poverty.”
Hirpien lightly kissed Lane’s cheek as if out of the blue.
Eh… … ?
Sammy looked at it blankly, and this time he kissed Sammy on the cheek and smiled.
“We archipelagos always kiss the cheek when we express our gratitude to the opposite s*x. It should be the highest level of appreciation.”
* * *
In the old temple, the stronghold of the Black Church, an ancient, insidious yogi drifted like myrrh smoke, and the incoming light was grotesquely refracted and distorted.
Food gain.
When a crow made of magic flew in, magic wriggled from the empty seat and one or two human figures appeared.
“I got hit 3 and 6.”
When the man standing in front of the stairs to the high throne opened his mouth, the human forms wriggling in the haze of magic reacted in their own way.
[Liveni? What kind of guy are you?]
[It wouldn’t be strange if he died anytime, but it’s a little hard to believe that Milech died.]
[What, you bastard?]
There are a total of eight seats in the shrine. The third and sixth thrones were vacant because Libeni and Milek had died.
Number 2 was the most violent, and Number 1 was the only one who didn’t say a word.
the man spoke again.
From noble mtl dot com
“Fortunately, I was able to get general information about the opponent by sending a crow before Number 6 died.”
[What do you say?]
“Rain, dangerous magic, urgently removed.”
Dangerous magic… … . If Millek, who judges everything coldly, judged that it was dangerous, it would be incredibly dangerous.
While everyone was agitated in their own emotions, number 5 opened its mouth.
[There are a total of thirteen wizards registered with the Alliance under the name of Rain, four of whom have already died and five of them are talking about something.]
Her consciousness is now in the temple, but her actual body was in the Alliance branch of a frontier city where fifty people were slaughtered and scattered on the ground.
To be precise, it is said that he is examining hundreds of documents at a time piled up like a mountain in his office.
“But the other four aren’t people who can point out that Milek is a dangerous person, are they?”
[Then did you hide some secret password behind the word lane?]
“Wait, there is one exception.”
As Number 5 fumbled through the papers, he flicked his hand, and a piece of paper that had just passed by from the pile of papers jumped out and flew right in front of his eyes.
“Rain Ludwig.”
The moment the name was recited, the eyebrows of No. 1, who had been silently closing their eyes in meditation, moved slightly.
“The growth is tremendous. It’s brass grade since it’s been less than a month since I registered.”
[Brass grade? It’s a bit less trash among trash. Are you kidding me right now, aang? Could Liveni have been beaten by a guy like that?]
[If it is Ludwig, is that genius Confucius?]
“Even though you were called that, I heard you took the position of chief cadet in the Golden Generation of this ＜Deleiten＞?”
Then number 7 snorted as if it were interesting.
[Heng, did you hide your powers when you were young? The young guy read a lot of novels.]
Number 2, who had been patiently listening to the story, once again roared.
[Hey, no matter how senior you are, do you think Libeni would have been beaten by such a first-year rat? Think about it, you fools.]
Then number 1, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth quietly.
[Due to Libeni’s personality, there’s a chance she died while being careless. Above all, he was too lazy. Maybe I received something called a heavenly punishment.]
[what?]
Like No. 2 and No. 3, No. 1 did not have a bad relationship with the radicals who enjoyed killing, so they were at a hostile level. Number 5 spoke quickly before a fight broke out between the two.
“I can catch the rest and try to figure it out, but this Lane Ludwig is a problem. It is not uncommon to kidnap the heir of the Madose family in ＜Delayten＞.”
[No, change your thinking. We also have number 1 at school, so won’t it make things a lot easier?]
I said that 4 times. She was a woman with an exceptionally playful voice.
[Valensidis, even if he’s the real master Millek said, he’s no match for you. Disguise yourself as an accidental death and kill him.]
Then everyone’s eyes turned to number one.
The eyes of the woman sitting on the throne.
His expression was hidden by the old hat that was deeply worn down, but his overwhelming presence was so strong that even a child could recognize it.
“Get rid of anything that could get in your way, Valen.”
Number 1, who had received that overwhelming energy head-on for a long time, finally bowed his head and expressed his will of submission.
[…] … I’ll keep an eye on it carefully, and if it’s identified as a person who has been to ＜Reda Cable＞, I’ll handle it quietly, Master.]
When the woman let out smoke from a smoking pipe to signal the end of the meeting, the figures swayed one by one and disappeared.
‘Liveni… … A child I created through human body transformation.’
I’ve been tutoring since I was a baby until I became a witch, but strangely, I didn’t feel any emotions.
Because you didn’t give me love in the first place? No, because no matter what happens, you shouldn’t cry. It’s been a long time since I cut out the emotion of sadness from my heart.
The woman didn’t cry. Not once since the day I broke up with that person, the day before the unbearably harsh summer ended 300 years ago.
It wasn’t because he was a disciple of Friede, the priestess of the Fire Dragon, and it wasn’t because he himself once performed the noble role of a priestess.
– Sabu, please take me too. I will fight with you. Let me go with you, please… … .
Only, just only, because of the words that person left behind while crying and clinging to you like that, putting your hat on your head.
– Wizards don’t cry. Others look down on you.
I’ll be right back, so I’ll be waiting with Pippi,” she added, then her master left.
and did not come back
Even today, 300 years later.
The hat he had given her had become a keepsake.
There was not a single day that I did not live for Him. If you haven’t woken up yet, it’s clear that some part of the magic is wrong… … .
After studying both magic and witchcraft for two hundred years, I came to a point to make up for the flaws of the Master’s Subclass.
– Impossible.
However, the Balaur denied her research results. Only the light dragon Haraderi, the leader of the Emperor’s Office, revealed the will of denial at once.
– Even if you can melt the ice that grips the body, you can’t melt the cold that holds the soul, because this is the realm of the gods.
Wouldn’t that be something you’d know if you did it? If your soul is trapped inside and you can’t get it out, if it’s still wandering in the cold… … .
The woman put the pipe she had inherited from her teacher, Friede, in her mouth and filled her mouth with the smoke.
Then, caressing the master’s hat gloomily, he let out a long breath toward the starry night sky beyond the crack in the ceiling.
‘It’s not long now. Now, there really isn’t much left.’