Chapter 227

Chapter 227. Tangled and Twisted Fates (4)

‘It seems small.’

As he looked at the footprint the size of his fingertip, he heard a faint sound of horse hooves in the distance.

Without turning back, Walter dove into the bushes.

Time passed, and eventually the source of the sound passed in front of Walter.

‘Is that…?’

It was a wagon similar to the one Walter had driven earlier that afternoon.

The wagon was driven by a single man sitting in the driver’s seat.

Walter realized that this was an opportunity.

‘Being hidden in the bushes was a stroke of luck.’

It wasn’t too difficult to latch onto the back of the suspicious wagon.

However, due to the tension, Walter failed to notice a small shadow trailing under the wagon.

The wagon continued its journey, carrying Walter along.

When it reached the place where Walter had stopped before, a blue light flickered from the wagon’s roof.

It was then that Walter became certain that a barrier magic had been cast nearby.

To pass through the barrier, one needs to accompany the one who cast it or carry a pass imbued with the same mana as the magic.

Upon checking the roof, it became clear.

‘There’s a pass embedded.’

Anything connected to this wagon could pass through the barrier.

‘They’ve gone to such lengths…’

This wasn’t just a simple kidnapping. It seemed the operation was larger than expected.

While Walter lay still, suppressing his anxiety, the wagon continued moving steadily.

Eventually, voices began to be heard.

Walter jumped off the wagon, lowering himself behind the bushes.

The wagon he had been riding turned left at a crossroads.

‘Huh?’

His lowered view gave him a momentary glimpse of something brownish at the juncture where the wagon’s body met the wheels, but the darkness made it unclear.

Walter was puzzled but cautiously pursued the direction the wagon disappeared.

Soon, he stumbled upon a large wooden enclosure.

In the cages were at least dozens of people crouched, counting the new arrivals, totaling around a hundred.

‘How could this be…?’

The thought that all these people were kidnapped made his stomach churn.

If he had turned a blind eye even once more…

‘I would have ended up ignoring all those people.’

Walter clenched his fist tightly as he lay flat on the ground.

But the momentary disturbance soon faded.

Walter’s eyes, which quivered slightly, now bore a resolute gleam.

No matter what, he was determined to rescue the people here.

Around the time he solidified his resolve, the driver, after moving everyone, boarded the wagon again.

Walter decided to follow that wagon.

‘I have to secure the pass.’

Without it, even if he rescued them, they couldn’t exit the barrier.

He moved stealthily, avoiding notice, utilizing the bushes for several minutes.

Walter arrived at a spot where seven wagons were gathered.

‘Just how many people have they brought here?’

The sheer scale of it was unfathomable, and it weighed heavily on him.

Despite feeling overwhelmed, Walter’s hands didn’t stop.

He retrieved a pass embedded in the wagon’s roof.

‘Better take one more in case I lose one.’

Right after he collected two passes.

“Ugh, how many more times do we have to do this?”

Coincidentally, he sensed someone approaching where the wagons were parked.

“The longer we do it, the better. The pay is good.”

“It’s not much. Had I known this would be a long-term job, I wouldn’t have come.”

“If you’re dissatisfied, tell the guild. Say you can’t do it anymore.”

“I should. We’ve been stuck in the mountains for months.”

Walter quickly crawled under a nearby wagon, his heart pounding wildly.

If they took the wagon from which he took the pass, it would be disastrous.

They would soon realize it was impossible to enter the barrier, and someone had stolen the pass.

The anxiety brought a cold sweat to his palms.

‘What’s the right move here?’

Should I silence them permanently? Or should I knock them unconscious and hide them?

The lack of experience led to hesitation.

Luckily, as Walter hesitated, the footsteps passed by and connected horses to the wagon further down.

Thud-thud, clatter.

Soon, the sound of horse hooves and wagon wheels gradually grew distant.

It seemed the newcomers took the wagon farthest from Walter.

Only then did Walter exhale the breath he’d been holding with all his might.

“Hahhh.”

Walter, having narrowly escaped another crisis, retraced his steps with the passes in hand.

Unlike before, there were more people roaming, forcing continual changes in direction.

As a result, he ended up somewhere entirely different than he intended.

It wasn’t what he planned, but he couldn’t turn back.

The scene before him was too shocking.

‘What’s that…?’

A huge pit, big enough to fit dozens of people at once, lay dug into the ground.

Within it, carts filled with large stones and dirt continually emerged.

Oddly, the ones moving these stones and dirt weren’t human.

Monsters that might have inhabited a corrupted area were digging the ground.

Walter was left frozen by the unexpected sight.

“…but, a new sacrifice has arrived!”

A voice suddenly struck Walter’s ears.

‘Sacrifice?’

Turning his gaze slightly beside the pit stood a man with striking red hair.

Beside him was a small woman, cloaked with a thick hood, bouncing around.

Clearly human, they were engaging in a conversation that Walter couldn’t comprehend.

“How long until it’s done?”

“Two more times! Just two more times, and it’ll break!”

What’s supposed to break?

Walter approached the duo, swallowing nervously.

“Tell me how long we have to wait.”

“I’ve reinforced the magic circle! If sacrifices come in like now, it’ll be done in three days!”

Upon hearing her excited words, Walter’s steps halted.

‘Magic circle and sacrifices.’

The connection of these terms hinted at an understanding of what was happening here.

‘Black magic…?’

Magic that employs external mana, requiring life force to unleash power several times stronger than conventional magic. The Order strictly prohibited it.

It was known to have severe side effects, damaging the implementer’s mental faculties.

With all this—the monsters, black magic, and large-scale kidnappings—Walter realized this was beyond what he could handle.

Count Borman, the lord, was surely in on it.

‘I need to head to the temple.’

And report it to a temple unconnected to Santorna.

Walter reached this clear conclusion while the pair continued their conversation.

“It’s a welcomed outcome. You can take responsibility for your words, right?”

“Of course! What do you take me for?!”

“If it’ll indeed be done in three days, then we should kill that rat now.”

“Hmm?”

As the hooded woman questioned, a massive surge of mana was felt.

Walter’s reaction, moving away immediately, was almost simultaneous.

Boom-!

The man’s magic surged towards Walter’s location, smashing the surrounding area with a dark blue force.

“Krrhk!”

Having barely avoided it, Walter rolled and stood up.

Without looking back, he started to run.

The previous attack…

‘The sword’s mana had condensed.’

A skillful adversary capable of compressing mana and forming it sharply like glass.

The smoother and more transparent the mana clinging to the sword, the stronger it becomes.

The magic on the sword swept clean around where Walter had stood just moments ago.

This was not an enemy Walter could handle with his skills.

“I’ll handle him; you focus on your work.”

“Okay! I’ll work!”

Recognizing the chaser on his tail, Walter altered his direction.

Now was not the time to think about the kidnapped victims.

Surviving this ordeal to inform the temple was his only focus.

He sprinted toward the closest edge of the barrier.

Fortunately, with the passes in hand, there were no issues breaking through the barrier.

However, the gap between him and the pursuer was shrinking.

Continuously drawing near from the left was yet another presence.

“Damn!”

Despite the darkness, the chances of it being an enemy were high.

There weren’t likely any others wishing to target him here.

Walter unsheathed his sword, aware he couldn’t avoid a fight.

His focus turned to the presence approaching from the side.

They were closing in faster than those from behind.

Walter intended to launch a preemptive strike against the new pursuer.

As he prepared his attack, a red butterfly flitted in the bushes.

‘Red…?’

Not blue, but red?

‘That means…’

Without fail, the familiar symbol floated above the person emerging from the shadowed trees.

The face of the rapidly approaching figure was one Walter knew well.

“Uh…?”

Just as Walter uttered the faintest sound, the person he hadn’t seen for months murmured softly.

“Duck.”

The voice, a lingering memory, had visited him from time to time.

Walter dropped flat to the ground without a second thought.

Swish-!

A black object sliced through the darkness just above his head.

* * *

The moment I spotted Walter, I gave Rice Cake my orders.

– Follow him as discreetly and from as far a distance as possible.

Rice Cake abandoned visual tracking, relying instead on Walter’s scent.

During this unplanned pursuit, countless thoughts ran through my mind.

If that fool, after being cast out from the Bennett family, was involved in something unsavory…

Or perhaps if, harboring resentment, he colluded with the traitors…

‘Should I kill, or should I not?’

Of course, it was a problem with an obvious answer.

Had any of my worst assumptions been true, there would have been no reason to spare Walter.

‘Rationally, that’s correct.’

Yet I felt relief realizing Walter wasn’t significantly tied to the events around Santorna.

This differed from the cold, calculated logic I applied when dealing with Mayak.

It seemed I still clung to the ties I made in Bihar.

‘A machine without feelings might be better.’

Understanding that effort and results don’t always align didn’t curb my complex feelings.

Throughout this, Walter discovered the barrier.

What I witnessed through Rice Cake during Walter’s infiltration was a complete mess.

Standing idle for over ten minutes because of a blocked trail, unaware of an approaching wagon.

Moving without understanding the internal structure or the scale of the guards.

Hastily grabbing the pass without considering leaving a trace.

Fixating on avoiding detection, losing his sense of direction entirely.

It was precariously reckless from start to finish.

Luckily, Walter had a fair share of fortune.

It allowed me, positioned in the back, to notice that the passes were in the wagons.

Through Rice Cake, I alerted him to the presence of the wagon.

‘Lucky, indeed.’

Without that, Walter wouldn’t have penetrated the barrier and would’ve been discovered.

Though that fortune eventually ran dry, leaving him pursued.

Bam-!

The pursuer, trailing Walter closely, deflected the spear I had thrown.

Damned system