143. The Dream Witch (1)
143. The Dream Witch (1)
- 1 -
"Come in. It's been a while, Jason."
"It's been a while, Seojieoseu."
As Talhan stepped inside and swept his gaze across the room, his eyes stopped at one spot.
On the face of the handsome young man sitting in the center.
'Tsk.'
The moment he saw that face, something twisted inside him.
There was no particular reason for it.
It was simply one of those inevitable feelings men got — something akin to jealousy when facing a good-looking 'enemy.'
Even though he knew it was 'fake,' it was still irritating.
'Strutting around looking like a damn gigolo.'
But that emotion did not surface.
It had become a well-practiced habit not to transmit the feelings felt by his 'main body' to his physical body.
Thanks to that, the guild master of the Kopjerin Information Guild was evaluated as 'his martial strength seems to have faded somewhat, but his abilities as an intelligence agent have improved.'
"I was surprised when you suddenly asked to meet, Seojieoseu."
"Hey, I just asked if we could have a drink together after so long."
"Ha."
Talhan sneered at the handsome young man's words.
He did not bother hiding it this time.
"We're not that friendly, are we."
Because 'Seojieoseu Datji' and 'Jason Colter' in front of him were not on close terms.
No, it was more accurate to say they were in a hostile relationship.
Both 'on the surface' and 'in reality.'
"What's wrong with building some rapport between people working in the same field? Come, have a seat and eat."
"I'm fine. I've already brought my own."
Talhan, borrowing the body of the Kopjerin Information Guild master, lifted his liquor bottle.
Being in a state between life and death, he did not get drunk, but it was foolish to drink alcohol offered by the Kopjerin branch chief of 'Gray Eye' anyway.
Even more so for someone in the intelligence business.
Even if the alcohol itself wasn't a problem, no one could know what magic or curses might be contained within.
"As thorough as ever, I see."
"You have to be well-prepared to survive a long time."
Talhan pulled out a chair and inspected the food on the table. He scanned it once with a detector, even pricking it with a silver awl.
Then he pulled out some high-quality jerky from his pocket and put it in his mouth.
"... Then why did you inspect it?"
"It's a habit."
Answering Seojieoseu's incredulous question brazenly, Talhan drank the wine straight from the bottle and took another bite of jerky.
As if to say he would at least observe the courtesy of a drinking companion.
"... Well, very well."
Speaking of business first would feel like conceding, but this meeting had been requested by Seojieoseu to begin with.
He raised both hands as if admitting defeat and opened his mouth, but Jason did not miss the overly 'natural' naturalness of that gesture.
'You sly old snake.'
Seojieoseu had the appearance of a young and handsome man, but that appearance and his estimated age did not match at all.
One of 'Gray Eye's' disciples, guessed to be an old monster in his eighties.
At least in his forties, if not older.
And Seojieoseu himself knew that his age had been exposed.
"The streets have been noisy lately."
The information merchant got down to business.
This meeting was a negotiation that came about because the 'Information Guild' was blocking the path of the 'information merchants,' and Gray Eye could not help but wonder why the guild was obstructing them.
Especially regarding information about the culprit in the nobleman's murder.
"Every time the cold wind blows, it carries ash with it, leaving the air unbearably gritty."
At Seojieoseu's words, Talhan indifferently tipped the wine bottle to his mouth again.
The red liquid sloshed, looking as if it contained blood.
'If that's the case, I suppose I'm drinking blood.'
Knowing that was actually close to the truth, the gritty taste lingered in his mouth even longer.
Recalling his own situation of having already had to devour thirty humans.
There was no guilt. It was merely a feeling close to self-reproach.
'Once this task is over, my master will surely reward me in earnest.'
Though his loyalty toward his master had been growing recently, his nature lay in selfishness and greed.
He was merely suppressing it with reverence for his great master, whom he believed would one day rule over all demons.
It meant that he and the recently deceased Alexis were not fundamentally different at heart.
Thus, expecting a reward was only natural.
"The old is burned away, and something new grows in its place — it's always been that way."
"But if the smell of blue blood seeps into it, the story changes."
Talhan set down the wine bottle and looked at Seojieoseu.
Beyond the wine glass he raised, gently curved eyes emitted a cold light.
"I am the head of the Information Guild. What we handle is information that harms humanity."
"Isn't that why it's strange? Because this matter looks like none of your business."
Silence flowed.
Talhan deliberately chewed the jerky for a long time.
Pretending to be sparing with his words.
"The price."
He had once moved for justice, but now he was one of the heads of the 'Heralds' who strove to protect and prosper his own kind.
He still possessed honor and a sense of justice, but he had become infinitely more flexible.
So his demeanor of seeking payment was only natural.
"We must offer you something good, of course, most certainly."
'Done.'
Seojieoseu smiled inwardly.
Because he had learned well from 'Jason in life' that this reaction from Jason meant the deal was on.
"You may have heard of it. Recently, there was a merchant from the west."
Seojieoseu's eyes moved minutely.
Toward the upper left.
Talhan did not miss that movement.
It was the movement of eyes rummaging through memory.
Though it was a tiny movement that an ordinary person would find hard to notice.
"That merchant... now that I think of it."
"Yes. You must know. They say he was playing near the origin point on the night the ash wind arose. The interesting thing is..."
"He vanished after that."
He had figured they would have grasped that much.
That merchant was actually the owner of a burnt corpse inside the mansion instead of 'Alexis,' but someone unfamiliar with the situation would likely assume he committed some crime and quickly disappeared.
"Interesting. A merchant, you say."
Tap.
Seojieoseu's finger tapped the wine glass.
Talhan chuckled and spoke.
He had to at least pick up on this much.
"Just instruct me plainly. We're here to deal."
"Ah, my apologies. It's our style."
"Well... it's merely street hearsay. As you know, collecting such things is our job."
"Of course."
The merchant was real, but the trading company he supposedly belonged to and everything else were fabrications.
This was a trap.
To confirm where and to whom the eye socket containing the information broker 'Gray Eye' was attached.
"But it's insufficient. For someone like you, it would be normal to know what that merchant came to do as well."
"That would get expensive."
"We've made preparations worthy of it."
"Hmm."
After pretending to think for a moment, Talhan shook his head.
He was going to reveal that 'the culprit was the young lady of the western border count' anyway, but he needed to seem greedy here.
"It will be difficult with just anything. You must have already guessed that there is a reason we concealed this information."
"Dear me..."
Smiling as if troubled, Seojieoseu eventually brought out the price he had prepared himself.
"It is said that Arpina, who disappeared into the northern demon realm, has reappeared. Because of this, our organization has recently begun cracking down on its members."
That was something of considerable value both to Jason and to Talhan.
"... The Dream Witch..."
"Yes."
Talhan's mouth twisted.
That name was shocking enough, and it was something he knew well even without borrowing the Information Guild master's knowledge.
After all, it was the name of one of the seven murderers famous across the continent.
"That she has returned means..."
"It means Dantalion released her for some reason. Perhaps because he learned it would harm humans."
That she had returned was practically a signal that the Information Guild must also begin cracking down on its personnel.
That must be why he presented it as major intelligence.
But for Talhan, that alone was insufficient.
And the same went for Jason.
"Where is she moving?"
"Here. They say she is coming to the central region."
"... Truly major intelligence. Thank you."
Perhaps because this intelligence was too significant even for Seojieoseu to feign composure, his face hardened as well.
Jason's face also stiffened solidly.
"You're most welcome. Now may I hear the story?"
"Of course. Recently, a young lady in the west bought an enormous amount of silk... though she had originally been scheduled to enter a monastery. Perhaps it was a message that she had taken an interest in someone..."
Leaking information about Mikaela, who was scheduled to disappear and reappear, Talhan licked his lips inwardly.
A sweet and bitter taste lingered simultaneously on the tip of his tongue.
'I came to carry out my master's orders, and an excellent offering for my master has rolled right in.'
The Dream Witch, Arpina, was a powerful figure estimated to have reached at least high rank.
If she came to this central region and began her activities, the dungeon would also have to proceed with great tension.
- 2 -
"It is done now, great master."
"You have worked hard, Kamellia."
The mental measures for the elite-class mercenaries Daniel had brought were finished.
This time, instead of handling it myself, I borrowed their abilities. I wanted to learn the power possessed by the Alraune who had come to reside in my dungeon.
"Not at all, it was nothing."
"It's better to greatly inflate your achievements. It is my duty to appraise them correctly."
"Then reducing your labor would also be the duty of a subject, would it not?"
"That is quite an admirable thing to say."
"Thank you."
Red Camellia, whom I initially thought was a rose — 'Kamellia' — appeared to be the most powerful of the five Alraune.
While the other Alraune were busy charming their first assigned mercenaries, she alone had finished one and was already casting magic on a second mercenary.
'Still, the others aren't that lacking, either.'
"You're late..."
"Phew... exhausted..."
Though they were slower than Kamellia, they had all finished their tasks and come out while she was attempting to charm her second mercenary.
Now I only needed to plant a single seed upon the collapsed mental state of each and then take the measure.
The seed was loyalty, and the measure was transformation into powerful monsters.
With this, my control over Daniel's monster-hunting mercenary group, the 'Twilight Hunters,' was 'almost' complete.
"All of you, tell me your names."
"Yes! Great master!"
They called me 'great master.'
Meaning the master of their queen, Nirvana.
The feeling was... slightly peculiar.
Because it was a word that sounded similar in nuance to 'princess,' a term used for a princess or female lord in this world's language.
"Kamellia, Hwaiteu, Nepenthes, Beoteo, Jeideu. You have all done well. It was impressive."
The names of the Red Camellia, White Rose, Nepenthes, Venus flytrap (butterwort), and Jade Vine Alraune respectively.
The intuitiveness of their names was also evidence that the Alraune population was small.
Such intuitive naming was only possible when there were no duplicates.
"I witnessed all of your abilities clearly. They are quite remarkable."
Each of them was an Alraune possessing power around the middle of the elite class and individuals regarded as Nirvana's successor candidates.
In my opinion, the only time Nirvana would push work onto a successor would be when she grew too annoyed to run the group anymore...
But still, a successor was a successor.
They possessed strength worthy of that title.
However, they were not without flaws...
"With these children, they should be able to handle the task I entrust to them now."
"Is it as I mentioned? Fufu."
"..."
Nirvana smiled languidly, folding the corners of her eyes, and the gazes of the Alraune watching her flared slightly upward.
She was standing very close to me, and the other Alraune were jealous of that.
'Obsessed with beauty and charm abilities...'
In other words, they were beings with a considerable desire to devour me 'metaphorically.'
'Ha.'
"Nepenthes. Jeideu."
"Yes! Great master!"
The two Alraune who came forward with ringing replies were scantily clad, though not as much as their leader Nirvana.
They were practically only covering what must be covered.
Though their skin color was heteromorphic rather than a fair flesh tone, that did nothing to reduce their provocativeness.
If that skin color were truly that strange, the mercenaries would not have been charmed so easily.
"You two will assist Kamaya in completing a single task."
"Do you mean the Harpy Queen?"
"The Harpy Queen... huehueh, she looked delicious..."
"Hey, focus."
Jeideu was polite, and Nepenthes was gloomy.
The troublesome part was that their inner selves were not necessarily the same as their outward appearances.
It was only a difference in degree; both were looking at me with eyes filled with lust.
'It doesn't matter.'
As long as they did their job properly, I did not care how they looked at me.
If they were not going to become my allies or come under my rule and had been looking at me like that, I would have taken other measures.
"Yes. It is a simple task — just bringing back one human."
"If it's that kind of thing, we are specialists... heuheh..."
"May I ask what kind of human?"
"It's a noble."
"A noble... we can't eat them, can we...? They're so tasty... or we could turn them into one of us..."
At Nepenthes' question, I smiled, and Jade Vine quickly caught on to the meaning of the smile.
"Ah! Understood! We shall certainly bring him back intact!"
"Heu-eh... what a shame..."
Jeideu led Nepenthes away, bowing over and over before she disappeared.
Seeing that, it honestly made me feel slightly uneasy.
"Will they be able to handle it?"
"Do not worry, master. They may look like that, but they are greedy children, so they know how to endure for the sake of their greatest desire, you see."
"... That's quite reassuring."
"You're too kind."
Nirvana's triumphant smile, still filled with her usual seductiveness, caught my eye, but I simply nodded.
If she, whom I had observed for a long time, said so, then it must be true.
If not, I could simply impose 'punishment.'
'Now, as for this...'
"Mure. I leave it in your hands."
"Of course, just say the word, my lady."
After sending the Alraune away, I decided to review my abilities once more before beginning the operation in earnest.
I had at least a few days' time for that.
The time to move in earnest had not yet arrived.
"I'm looking forward to it."
Because magic that allowed me to see an entirely new world was something far more difficult, yet far more enjoyable, than I had ever imagined.