episode_0029

Morning rises.

Only then did I return to the original tavern.

As I entered the tavern, Mul was sprawled out, snoring with his mouth wide open.

He had fallen into a deep slumber from drinking heavily the night before, oblivious to anyone carrying him.

After moving him inside and covering him with a blanket, I left the shop.

Just then, my communicator buzzed.

“Have you found it?”

Honestly, I thought it would take longer, but he managed to locate it quickly.

I met Soojeong in a secluded place.

“Did you find him?”

[Yes, sir! We found him right away!]

“…I see.”

Although the form of address seemed odd, I let it slide for now.

What mattered now wasn’t the form of address.

“So, where is he?”

[That’s the thing… We’ve encountered a slight issue.]

A grave tone in Soojeong’s voice.

It seemed like he was debating whether to speak about it or not.

“Just tell me.”

[Well! We did find the person you asked us to find, but it’s a bit dangerous.]

Soojeong cautiously spoke as if gauging my reaction.

Thinking he might feel ignored, I chuckled and asked, “Why is that?”

[After you disappeared without a trace, a new faction suddenly appeared. They seem to be managing the underworld forces. The leader of that faction hasn’t shown themselves yet, sparking various rumors. There’s a rumor that the leader of this new faction is a high-ranking noble!]

“In short, dangerous individuals are watching over him. Is that it?”

[That’s correct. No matter how strong you are, it’s risky…]

“Good.”

[Excuse me?]

To the puzzled Soojeong, I replied once more.

“I said it’s good. Since he seems to be connected to the reason I’m here, might as well uproot everything.”

Especially if they are high-ranking nobles, the range of possibilities narrows significantly, which could actually work in our favor.

However, to my surprise, Soojeong panicked and said, “[H-High-ranking nobles, perhaps! Even if you’re powerful, dealing with high-ranking nobles is different!]”

“Hmm…”

He wasn’t ignoring me; he genuinely seemed concerned.

It was about the possibility of inadvertently provoking high-ranking nobles.

From my perspective, even if they were high-ranking nobles, it didn’t resonate much.

But considering the standards of non-nobles, it would indeed be unwise to provoke high-ranking nobles.

Even a lowly viscount has a vast gap between commoners.

Let alone fighting against a faction that could potentially include high-ranking nobles?

‘Normally, such thoughts are impossible.’

No matter how strong one is.

People don’t pick fights with high-ranking nobles.

High-ranking nobles may not have the same level of strength as powerful individuals, but they possess the power and wealth to control such individuals.

They might even have knights or mages under their command.

Who would dare to fight them all?

Naturally, there was no one who could.

However, what Soojeong overlooked was that I held enough power and position to challenge high-ranking nobles.

From Soojeong’s perspective, I was simply a powerful individual, not a noble, so his reaction was understandable.

“It’s fine. I have ways to deal with it. Just tell me his location.”

[…]

Soojeong still seemed hesitant.

A few days had passed since we met, and I couldn’t understand why there was so much concern about me, but I let it go. There are all sorts of crazy people in this world, so why wouldn’t there be someone like that?

However, I didn’t like staying silent any longer, so I spoke a bit more forcefully.

“I’ll say this one last time. Where is he?”

“[He’s in Zone 3. It seems like he’s moving through multiple zones.]”

“Is that so.”

Zone 3.

Contrary to my initial thoughts that he would be within the reach of outlaws, he was completely out of their grasp.

“If it’s Zone 3, things might get a bit tricky.”

If he were in the outlaws’ territory, they would search every nook and cranny, but it was different for Zone 3.

Fate City itself was divided into several zones, and considering the size of each zone, finding him was practically impossible.

But that was when you didn’t know the exact location.

Now was different.

“Now that I know he’s in Zone 3, I should also know his exact location.”

“There’s a place operating secretly in Zone 3. He’s probably there.”

“The coordinates?”

“We’ll send someone to the location where your brother is.”

“My current location is a rundown bar in Zone 1. I’ll wait there.”

“We’ll send someone immediately. And sir, please be careful.”

“Got it.”

With that, the communication with Sujeong was cut off.

I pondered Ilcheon’s words.

“Be careful…”

How long had it been since I heard those words?

Of course, Lena, who was close to me, often said to be careful, but hearing it from someone I had only known for a day felt different.

Normally, it might have sounded like empty words, but considering their actions during this day, it didn’t feel empty at all.

“Life truly is unpredictable.”

Although this encounter would likely be the end of our connection, they were worth remembering as companions to cherish memories with in the future.

I decided to live on without forgetting them.

***

When the person Ilcheon sent arrived here, after hearing the location and description of the guy from the person Ilcheon sent, I wasted no time and headed straight there. I hurried, fearing he might have fled.

As a result, I could find the guy with the same description.

Without hesitation, I grabbed his head and slammed it against the wall.

Thud!

“What the!”

“What are you doing!”

Despite the sudden situation, those around me rushed to stop me.

They seemed quite strong, but to me, they were nothing more than obstacles.

Without much movement, I manipulated magic to slit their throats.

Then, holding the dazed guy’s head against the wall, I lifted it up again.

“I didn’t use much force, so get up quickly. If you don’t want to spend a long time alone with me in this secluded place, then move.”

Fear filled the guy’s face.

Being an ordinary person, I controlled my strength, but still, he was in shock, with blood trickling down his head. Yet, more than the physical pain, fear dominated him as he asked me in a trembling voice.

“W-why are you doing this to me…”

“Why? Well, I’m interested in what’s behind you. If you cooperate and tell me everything nicely, I might spare your life.”

If the guy had cooperated and told me everything he knew, I would have gladly spared him.

But as always, these kinds of people never gave out useful information.

“I, I don’t understand what you’re saying…”

As if feigning ignorance, but I could tell.

The fear in his eyes wasn’t directed solely at me.

When he uttered those words just now, the fear wasn’t aimed at me; it was directed towards someone unknown.

‘Is it that terrifying?’

It wasn’t that he was unable to speak.

I probed his body with magic to see if there was any restraint, but I couldn’t find a trace of it.

So even without any restraints, he was lying.

How great must the fear of that presence be for him not to speak when his life is in immediate danger?

I became curious about who exactly it could be.

“You won’t tell me?”

“I-I’m sorry… I really don’t know who it is.”

“Sigh…”

This complicates things a bit.

In the face of the fear of death, being human tends to become meaningless.

Having a desire to live and not wanting to die is inherent to human nature.

Therefore, in the face of death, one usually spills information.

But having a fear greater than death was futile.

One might wonder if there exists a fear greater than death.

Surprisingly, it did exist.

Because this is the kind of world it is.

A fear greater than the fear of death.

An overwhelming fear that makes death feel like rest.

‘And he’s capable of instilling such fear.’

I initially thought of him as just some insignificant troublemaker.

But I had to change that perception.

Judging by his appearance, he was definitely not just some random troublemaker.

‘Maybe.’

He could be a third party.

Although not present in the original work, I recently realized something crucial.

One should refer to the original work but not blindly adhere to it.

From the moment I possessed Kariel, the original story became virtually indistinguishable from a fictional tale.

While I tried to follow a similar trajectory to the original Kariel, it had completely transformed, so there was no rule against the emergence of a third party.

‘I need to deal with this first.’

He couldn’t provide any information anyway.

Keeping him alive would serve no purpose.

I was about to extract information forcefully, but suddenly a dark aura emanated from him.

I quickly distanced myself from him and assessed the situation.

‘Magic.’

It was magic.

However, it was incomparable to anything I had encountered so far.

‘Who is this?’

Even Beltran didn’t possess such magic.

No, comparing the magic emanating from him to what Beltran had would be disrespectful; it was impossible to make such a comparison.

‘A magic surpassing even that of a high-ranking officer under the Demon King…?’

Could that be possible?

No, it must be possible since it exists.

Starting from the Demon King, who is inherently unreasonable, it’s almost comical to scrutinize such matters.

“Who are you exactly?”

I recalled how I ended up here.

Starting from the sudden appearance of the bandit I thought I had eliminated.

To the process of finding the person watching over him.

Though I didn’t expect the person watching over him to be a demon.

What became certain through this was that my master’s death was definitely not merely due to a bandit attack.

Suppressing the rising anger, I said,

“It’s time to reveal yourself.”

At my words, the magic continuously emanating from him swiftly transformed, taking on a singular form.