Ch.469Money Paid Means No Theft

======[ Valkers ]======

“…I’ve been had.”

Valkers frowned as he felt the mental connection he had established with Fritz being severed.

The sensation of soaring through the air only to be slammed back to the ground. It was a familiar experience, but never a pleasant one no matter how many times it happened.

Though now wasn’t the time to be concerned about such discomfort.

“Hmm, looks like it failed. You were so confident, but things didn’t go well?”

“That woman… she’s not just a simple barbarian. She was smarter than I expected.”

“Smart, you say?”

“Yes. She saw through my trap with just a simple leading question, and realized the effect of my power with just a few jokes… it was absurd. The rumors about her barbaric exploits might as well be considered a disguise.”

Eljur, the former leader of the Council of Dream Utopia, picked up the wine glass on the table while looking at Valkers’ distorted expression.

It was an interesting sight. Even Eljur had never seen Valkers wear such a dismayed expression before.

‘He said he would use Stardolf’s subordinate to ambush that barbarian woman, but it seems he was discovered before he could even try. Well… it was an improvised plan, so failure isn’t surprising.’

Since he hadn’t expected the plan to succeed from the beginning, Eljur could remain calm upon hearing that things had gone awry.

Of course, what Valkers said next was enough to blow away that calmness entirely.

“…That’s not all. That woman even immediately identified who I was. It was completely incomprehensible… but she was absolutely certain about who I am and what I can do.”

How shocked he had been when she mentioned his real name without hesitation.

He was so stunned he forgot to maintain his composure.

“…What? No, how could she…?”

Eljur couldn’t hide his shock at those words either.

The time when Valkers’ infamy was at its peak was more than ten years ago.

After falling to become a Mane, he had joined her forces and operated in hiding, so they thought no one would notice unless he deliberately revealed himself.

“…I don’t know either. It’s inexplicable.”

Valkers furrowed his brows.

She couldn’t have deduced it from seeing his power.

Fewer than five people, including himself, knew the effect of his first power, “Alpha Male.”

Powers were truly like trump cards.

The fewer people who knew their effects, the better.

Especially since Valkers’ power had fairly clear countermeasures, he had never properly revealed his power to anyone.

He had even hidden his final power from Eljur, who was his ally.

‘How on earth did she figure it out…?’

Valkers burned the Mana Herb in his mouth while pondering how his identity had been discovered, but his doubts only deepened without yielding any answers.

If he had been caught by the Holy State’s Paladins or the Empire’s knights, he might have reluctantly understood.

They could have deduced his identity from the tattoo that appears on the forehead of those under mental control.

But how could a barbarian woman who had been stuck at the eastern edge until last year recognize the tattoo of someone who had disappeared ten years ago?

No matter how much he thought about it, it was impossible to understand.

“I thought the conflict in Arad was nearing its end… but now things might go wrong. And there’s nothing we can do from here.”

Valkers clicked his tongue as he exhaled a white sigh.

He had hoped that all of Arad’s citizens would rise up and be massacred by Astraea’s Paladins, and that the conflict between the Church of Kranus and the Church of Astraea, who had cooperated with the protesters, would intensify as well.

Just when things seemed to be progressing smoothly, everything went wrong within days of leaving Arad.

‘If only I had stayed there…’

He had left Arad for Arbil out of concern about being tracked by Astraea’s Paladins, but now it seemed too hasty.

If he had remained in Arad, he could have acted directly instead of using a weak puppet.

A direct confrontation would have been difficult, but with his power, he could have at least attempted to subdue her through a surprise attack.

From what he heard, she possessed Mana Resistance, but that alone wouldn’t be enough to block his second power, “Dark Conception.”

“…Between this and what happened in Holon, she’s quite the troublesome woman. Seeing as she knew your identity, was she targeting us back then too? I wish she would just die.”

Eljur moistened his throat with wine as he expressed his hatred and resentment toward Haschal.

After all, it was Haschal who had annihilated the Council of Dream Utopia, Eljur’s forces that had been slowly infiltrating Holon.

Who could have imagined such a thing happening during his brief absence?

It was infuriating just to think about it.

“Well… we can only hope that Astraea’s forces will fight well. It’s obvious that woman will clash with the Order’s judges.”

Valkers tapped the ash from his half-burned Mana Herb as he speculated about Arad’s future prospects.

Having declared occupation of the city and forcibly suppressed the conflict in Arad, she alone would have to bear the backlash that would arise.

She would have to fight alone until the Church of Astraea finally yielded.

And do so while trying not to kill, but only spare lives.

“Even for a superhuman who destroyed the Church of Grimnir, whether she can win fighting that way… we’ll have to wait and see.”

“Hmm. I never imagined I’d be cheering for those Astraea bastards. The world is truly interesting.”

Eljur put down his empty glass with a smirk.

======[ Haschal ]======

After gathering wooden pieces scattered throughout the alley to neatly burn Fritz’s corpse, I turned around and headed back toward the plaza.

I didn’t know where Valkers was trying to take me, but it was certainly a trap.

I had no desire to go looking for it.

I’d had more than enough experience with how troublesome mages’ traps could be a few days ago.

Having smoked my last cigarette, I briefly stopped at a darkened general store on my way back to the plaza.

I had searched Fritz’s pockets but found nothing.

The general store showed signs of having been looted during the city’s chaos.

The door and window frames were broken, and the interior was a mess as if a storm had swept through.

Fortunately, a small warehouse inside had been spared thanks to its iron door.

The door was dented and scratched in places, but intact.

– Crack!

I inserted my left hand between the door gaps, grabbed the iron door, and tore it off completely.

The steel hinges screamed as the heavy iron door was pulled out whole.

The interior of the warehouse was a bit dusty but looked cozier than expected.

Various small items were stacked on regularly arranged shelves, and a faint mint scent mingled with the leather and wood smells in the air.

This is better than I expected.

I had planned to just grab some cigarettes and leave, but this place seemed good enough to rest until morning.

After leaning the torn door against the frame, I moved several shelves to create a temporary barricade.

Anyone targeting me wouldn’t be stopped by such obstacles, but they would at least make noise trying to break through.

As long as I didn’t fall into a deep sleep, I could wake up at the sound.

After blocking the entrance, I gathered all the cigarettes from the warehouse and left a gold coin in their place.

This made it a fair trade rather than looting. I was even paying about three times the market value.

I spread a blanket I found in the corner on the floor and lay down. Immediately, the drowsiness I had been suppressing rushed in all at once, weighing down my eyelids.

…I must have accumulated quite a bit of fatigue without realizing it.

Well, I did cover in three days a distance that would normally take more than ten days.

I closed my eyes and gradually let go of consciousness.

During the day, a mountain of concerns had piled up… but unfortunately, my brain wasn’t working anymore.

My mind had reached its limit.

…Let’s think about it after getting some sleep.

—-

Perhaps because I had recalled Valkers’ name, my dreams that night were particularly violent.

Millia with half-lidded eyes, embracing a bronze-colored fetus and smiling.

And Evian, with his arm around her shoulder, laughing frivolously. What a terrible nightmare.

It must certainly be Menes playing tricks.

He had been quiet for a while, but was he trying to play pranks again?

Maybe I really should pull down a pillar from Menes’ cathedral.

—-

Five hours later.

As the morning sun rose high, illuminating the snow-covered city and signaling the passing of dawn, I woke up.

The heavy snow that had been falling all night had stopped, and the vast sky was clear blue without a single cloud.

If not for the temperature lowered by the snow, it could have been called perfect weather.

Time to head out.

After having breakfast of dried fruits and jerky in the warehouse, I packed the cigarettes I had taken and the neatly folded blanket into my bag and left the general store.

I felt a bit guilty about completely removing the warehouse door… but I had placed it back against the doorframe properly, so the warehouse shouldn’t get robbed.

It would take at least a knight-level person to move that solid iron door.

Outside the general store, it was quiet.

Perhaps thanks to the snow piles that had accumulated up to knee height, absorbing all miscellaneous sounds.

The cityscape before me was hard to believe as the same place where fierce battles had been raging until yesterday.

Rather, it felt like viewing ancient ruins that had perished in the flow of time.

The debris of buildings scattered everywhere wore new white roofs, and the absence of people or even small animals gave it a serene feeling.

Regardless of the circumstances, the scenery itself could be called magnificent.

After washing my face with melted snow, even the slight drowsiness that remained quickly disappeared.

I wiped my wet face with the hem of my clothes, took out a cigarette, put it in my mouth, and walked.

Toward the cathedral with the golden roof visible in the distance.

My fatigue was gone and my stomach was full, so my physical condition was perfect.

Just right for a good fight.