episode_0132

Aka Aima secured by Laia and the Metal Sight Office.

She decided to detain him right away.

Of course, since she was not a normal person but a Cyclops, it seemed like she wouldn’t be able to go to a normal place.

“Hmm… Well, isn’t there a better way?”

“I think it would be better to secure a separate, suitable building and install a stationmaster.”

Stationmaster… Now that I think about it, I also have Rivian Tech under my command!

“Ah, then I guess I should ask the manager.”

“I’ll contact you.”

Libyan Tech, a subcontractor to Tetra, which is developing a five-stage force field.

They are the ones who helped me when I first came to Magusfall. They also had a connection with the manager who had been turned into a gargoyle by a strange crown.

“It’s still a prototype, but it should be enough to contain Aima.”

“I think it’s rather excessive.”

“Hey, but you should be careful. And from Tetra Love Libyan Tech’s perspective, they’re also gathering experimental data against Cyclops, right?”

“Hmm.”

Lund thought there was a point and did not argue further.

Sylvia contacted Rivian Tech.

First of all, they said they needed some time to think.

“That’s right.”

“Well, then tell them to discuss it amongst themselves. We can wait.”

Sylvia relayed almost exactly what I said to the person on the other end of the terminal screen.

“Then what should I do until then?”

“For now, Ms. Leia and the Metal Sight Office are guarding it.”

“Really? Then I guess there’s no need to worry.”

Fortunately, at least the bare minimum of preparation was in place.

So that I don’t have to check things here and there and make decisions.

“…So that’s all you have to say for now?”

“No, there’s still one left.”

Lund undoes his transformation and returns to his original form.

Then he approached Sylvia and me and shoved the terminal in front of us.

“Huh?”

“Shh, be quiet.”

I listened with bated breath as Lund spoke.

“Your family is already in our hands.”

“…이 개새끼들이 진짜!”

Two different voices.

The voice heard later is Aka Aima’s, and the voice heard first is likely that of the guy behind this incident.

The conversation between the two continued.

Then, there was a part where I felt a strange sense of foreboding.

“Yes, that’s right. Without your family, what’s the point of your future life?”

“….”

It’s not just this section.

I felt like the word ‘family’ was mentioned particularly often.

And then there’s the low-pitched voice that starts to feel odd as you keep listening to it.

“….”

“Chris?”

“Huh? Why?”

“Do you have any idea?”

***

Hehe.

It seemed impossible to lie in front of Sylvia.

Or are my emotions just showing on my face?

I’m not that easy of a woman… person!

“I’m not sure, but I have a feeling it might be.”

“What does that mean?”

Really? It’s a bit strange even when I say it like that.

“First of all, in my opinion….”

As I paused, Sylvia and Lund looked at me and said nothing.

“First of all, I think that Aima’s actions are one of the guys who will benefit if we fight against Lidocaine and the other side.”

This has been mentioned several times before.

“I think the scope is too broad.”

“Among them all!”

As soon as Lund finished speaking, he shouted.

“The wise man of the north?”

“….”

“Chris, I don’t think that’s likely.”

As expected.

When Lund heard my answer, he said nothing, and Sylvia immediately expressed her negative opinion.

That’s understandable, since the Northern Sage and the Second Rank have a cooperative relationship.

But could there be an eternal alliance in this city?

In terms of things outside of the game, the Sage of the North and the 2nd place were representative NPCs who were treated as ‘master craftsmen’ among Dream City users.

In the second case, Lund appears as one of the heroines, and in the case of the Sage of the North, his adopted daughter appears as one of the heroines.

Despite these similarities, however.

Both of them were based in the northern part of Magusfall, so they were engaged in a rather sharp power struggle.

At first glance, the wise man of the North may seem to have the advantage, but the runner-up is a vampire who has lived for over a thousand years.

‘It would be easier to cooperate than to try to catch them by force.’

Not all wise men of all time have been favorable to the second place.

Nevertheless, the fact that the second place is still intact hints at one truth: control of the North is impossible without the cooperation of the second place.

I shared my guesses about the forces behind this with Chris and Lund.

First, the wise men of the North are among those who stand to gain the most from this slander.

Second, the voice of the power behind the family is particularly prominent in the recording.

“I don’t know about the first one, but the second one seems a bit ambiguous.”

“That wise man over there is a bit peculiar.”

The Sage of the North, he is a renowned magician.

Compared to the second place, it’s a trivial amount of time… but he’s also an old monster who has lived for nearly 100 years.

He used to control the strong people he had in his sights, subordinating them to the scope of his manipulation skills, as if he were manipulating them like scarecrows.

‘…I just gave you too much affection.’

A tendency that is not usually seen in cases of this type of manipulative behavior.

The wise men of the North regarded the strong men under their control as their children, forming a group that was like a kind of family.

The problem was that the so-called ‘children’ he controlled had no free will.

They speak like humans and act in ways that reflect the years they have lived…

In essence, it was a puppet of the author who claimed to be his father.

***

‘But the guy in the recording seems to be quite good at talking…’

It was highly likely that he was the child of a wise man of some rank.

Of course, it wasn’t different just because the level was high.

They only move according to what the wise man says, and although they may show glimpses of free will in the process, the fact remains that they are ultimately just puppets who will die at the command of the wise man.

A powerful figure in the northern part of the city who treats numerous strong people like puppets.

How nice it would have been if it had ended there.

The wise man of the North was not satisfied with that. He took in the strong men as his children.

At some point, it became his most important mission to give them free will again.

It was like a hopeless voyage toward a dream that would never come true.

Just like Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who was obsessed with immortality, or Ilseong, who never gave up on finding his master.

I was lost in thought for a moment, so I gave them the necessary explanation.

A voice obsessed with the concept of family, the biggest beneficiary if things go as planned.

There are two possibilities, and I would say that the sage from the north is the culprit.

“Hmm….”

Actually, there was one more reason why I thought so.

Among the countless branches of Dream City.

There are several quarters where the Northern Sage tries to eliminate the second place.

The main reason was that the wise man needed a second power to accomplish his mission.

However, this part could not be properly explained to Sylvia and Lund.

“I can’t be sure, but it’s okay to leave open the possibility.”

“Right?!”

It wasn’t the result I was hoping for, but it wasn’t bad.

First of all, the fact that it emerged as a strong case was important.

“Well, I’ll look into that too.”

Lund also said he would use his intelligence resources to launch additional investigations.

When Lund moves, Solas moves, and so do the representatives of the other anti-Ridocan forces.

“Ah, and first, I think it would be better to contact 1st and 5th. They can prove that Aima’s information was manipulated by the power behind this recording. ”

“For the 5th place… I’ll do it.”

Sylvia said she would take 5th place first.

Well, it would be easier than taking on the number one ranking of problem solvers.

In addition, it was a bit odd that Lund was in charge of the 5th place, a former saint.

“Sylvia, wait a minute.”

Before contacting number 6, I shared number 5’s contact information with Sylvia.

As soon as that was over, I called number 6.

‘Take it. Take it.’

….

….

It may be short for some, but it was a very long time for me. It felt like a few minutes had already passed.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Oh, this time I got it in one go.”

It’s so great?!

“Please tell the number one person.”

“What? Again?”

“Why else would I have a reason to call you?”

“….”

It was a clear fact, even though they were comrades who had captured King Gordius together.

“So what?”

“Tell the information source who told the first place that the second place was trying to become a wise man was threatened by someone and gave false information.”

“…Really? You were fooled by something like that?”

6th place was something that I couldn’t understand at all.

“Did that one-eyed lady think it was okay to fool her older sister in the first place?”

“Looks like his family was taken hostage and threatened.”

“No matter what, it’s like that!”

It seems to me that there is sufficient reason for this.

My family was in immediate danger and it didn’t matter whether I lied or not.

“And if #1 asks for evidence, tell him that I have a recording of the conversation between Aima and the guy who threatened Aima. If he wants, I can go and listen to it for him.”

“…Okay. I’ll just say it like that for now.”

6th place also seems overwhelmed as he tries to follow the truth that he suddenly learned.

***

My work is done.

But the call between Sylvia and the fifth person was still ongoing.

Lund and I were quietly waiting for the call to end… when suddenly my phone started vibrating.

“Huh, what is it?”

Did you already get the number 1 response?

Perhaps he is a conspiracy theorist and cannot stand seeing his conspiracy theories being disproved!

“…No?”

The name that appeared on the terminal screen was David.

“Yeah, David. Why?”

David started by revealing that he was currently in an office on the second floor of the hideout building.

“Yeah, yeah. So?”

“We have a request coming up.”

“Request? What kind of request?”

Ohhh… This was a proper request that came to me after I became 10th in the problem solver rankings.

Perhaps as my reputation has risen, the difficulty of the requests has also increased.

Even though I and my 3rd platoon vampire subordinates don’t know.

Sylvia and the 1st Platoon began to wonder if they could handle the increased difficulty.

‘Should I just take this opportunity to turn Sylvia into a vampire too?’

There was also a way to make them vampires without making them my subjects.

Because I can’t take Sylvia, who is like a mother to me, as my subordinate.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Huh? Yeah! Yeah! I’m listening.”

While I was looking away for a moment, David was shouting here and there.

“So what’s the request?”

“…Politician assassination.”

“What.”

Lund, who was next to me, showed interest in my reaction.

No, that’s not important right now! You’re suddenly asking us to do something like that?

By the way, if it’s an assassination of a politician, it’s clearly black.

It was an illegal request.

Well, our Blue Heart Office is a black office, so we don’t hide things like this.

“So who is that politician?”

“I don’t think you know his name. He’s a pro-vampire politician who works with the Lidocaine Association.”

“…?”

Even the request smelled very strongly of something aimed at the Lidocaine Association.

The dark intention of somehow trying to sow discord between the Lidocaine Association and us… annoyed me.

“Let me talk about it first.”

I can’t decide on my own.

No matter how dangerous it was, an opportunity was an opportunity! I needed to consult with Sylvia.

Even if Lund doesn’t know, Sylvia was the director of our office.