Chapter 104
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Repayment
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Poisoned.
The moment he realized it himself.
Tricky acted immediately.
He tried to pull a knife from his coat and plunge it into the bartender's forehead.
A swift response, as expected of a high-ranking Awakened One and the master of the Thieves' Guild, but...
*Thud!*
Before he could even draw the knife.
Tricky fell, chair and all, as a stiffening sensation seized his entire body.
No matter how much he struggled to get up, he was met with the despair of not being able to move even a finger.
And in the throes of a bitter sense of betrayal, Tricky coughed up blood and spat out his words.
“You... you damn... traitor...! *Cough!*”
“A traitor? That's not something you should be saying.”
“What...!”
He'd made this man with no backing his second-in-command, raised him for over ten years.
As if betraying him wasn't enough, the bartender was spouting this nonsense. As Tricky glared at him...
Tricky froze stiff.
“You were the one who told the leader of the Dogwi-ryeon that the White-Masked Young Master would attack Soryujang, weren't you?”
“...!?”
Yes, that was right.
The White-Masked Young Master, who had originally moved like a phantom.
He had been toying with the Dogwi-ryeon one-sidedly.
The reason Lar Arga had been able to detect his movements and set an ambush at Soryujang...
...was because Tricky had used the guild's intelligence network against itself, predicting the White-Masked Young Master's movements and tipping them off.
There was just one problem.
How in the world did he know?
Only Tricky himself and the leaders of the Dogwi-ryeon knew that secret.
It was a fact that even his second-in-command, the bartender, could not and should not have known.
But...
“I can understand not following the guild's orders. The guild is, fundamentally, a horizontal organization.”
“I can also forgive you for unilaterally siding with the Dogwi-ryeon. That is within the scope of a branch master's authority.”
“—But leaking internal information and betraying the guild—that I cannot permit.”
Why was it?
The face he'd always seen.
The voice he'd always heard.
Amidst an overwhelming sense of unease and a chilling cold, Tricky's eyes widened.
Because he saw it.
The moment the bartender bent down and straightened up, he was holding...
—another bartender.
No, to be precise, the corpse of a bartender with a dagger in his forehead and the dead eyes of a rotten fish.
“The scenario is as follows.”
“Frightened by the prospect of getting caught in the war between Nakrang Fortress and the Dogwi-ryeon, you tried to secretly gather your assets and flee.”
“However, you were poisoned by your second-in-command, who discovered your plan, and you managed one final counterattack.”
“With this, the Thieves' Guild, seeking to avoid the fate of a commoner caught in the crossfire of nobles, will once again cooperate fully with the main guild.”
“Hmm, a fine scenario that no one will doubt, wouldn't you agree?”
“...!!!”
His complexion, which had turned dark from the poison, momentarily went pale.
It wasn't just because of the words.
With every phrase he uttered.
The constantly shifting manner of speech.
And the changing voice.
Finally gave him the realization he needed.
Of who the bartender who poisoned him... no, the person wearing the bartender's face, truly was.
“You... no, you are, surely...”
And so.
The expression that appeared on his face was terror.
A despair deeper and more wretched than when he was poisoned, born from the realization that he would never escape alive.
“Cheon, byeon...”
*Thump.*
Without even finishing his words.
Tricky's head slumped, and he coughed up a final gush of black blood instead.
A moment later, a change came over the bartender who had been staring down at him.
*Shhhh.*
The physique changed.
The face shifted.
The presence vanished.
And so, in just a few breaths.
Before enough time had passed to take even a few steps, the two bartenders were no longer there.
In their place were two corpses and the one who had made them.
Whether male.
Or female.
A slender figure whose gender was impossible to discern, a strange person with their face hidden by a white mask, was all that remained.
“...”
The reason a trivial guild, a union of the lower class, could still maintain itself as an organization compared to the power of the nobles.
The one who possesses a thousand faces.
And uses ten thousand methods of murder.
The greatest assassin in the City of Deformity, whose true identity is unknown to all...
The High Master of the Assassins' Guild.
The guild's executioner.
Cheonbyeonmanhwa, as always, vanished without a trace.
—To finish the request they had received.
***
Waryongjang.
After Dion became the lord.
And the dark elves moved in.
The small but vibrant domain had been bustling every day, without a single quiet moment.
But today, for the first time in a while, Waryongjang was submerged in silence.
It wasn't just because it was empty, with all the dark elves who had filled the □-shaped mansion, making Waryongjang their home, now gone.
It was because of the atmosphere flowing among those gathered at the entrance.
“Ugh, this is all Kael's fault.”
“If you had just given up sooner, Riya, I wouldn't have gone this far either.”
“...Are you so desperate to become the lord that you'd send your own son to his death, Chavera?”
“...That's not something you should be saying, Rea, you who are risking your only daughter's life because you don't want to lose the lordship.”
The grim-faced cousins of the kobold leader clan, who had missed their chance to back out while keeping an eye on each other.
And the dark faces of the Hara clan who came to see them off were only part of the picture.
Where am I?
Who am I?
...The Myoto tribe's young bard, who looked as if he had these questions written all over his face.
From the Vault Keeper in her straitjacket, looking pale and exhausted enough to collapse at any moment, to the slave soldiers whose eyes darted about nervously.
Everyone was gloomy.
But it was the dark elves who created the heaviest atmosphere of all.
They were not afraid.
Nor were they anxious.
Nor were they uneasy.
They were the ones who maintained a stoic silence.
But a shadow heavier than all the others combined was cast over their beautiful faces.
It couldn't be helped.
They were elves.
They had wandered aimlessly through Odobaekryeong.
Even in Somaseong, where they had finally settled, they were an inferior race, forced to suffer contempt, poverty, and starvation in the lowest levels.
But after they came to stay at Waryongjang, their lives changed.
No starvation.
No persecution or discrimination.
No harassment or exploitation.
The peaceful life they gained, safely protected by their lord and cared for by their wise chieftain, made them realize something.
For them.
Waryongjang was already their home.
An irreplaceable place.
And yet, they not only had to leave that home, even if temporarily.
The fact that today might be the last time they saw their lord, their chieftain, and their home was enough to fill them with sorrow.
That was why.
The voice of the boy, who alone remained nonchalant amidst it all, could not help but feel out of place.
“Hmm, feels like we're at a funeral.”
“...In the sense that it's a pre-funeral, you're not wrong.”
“I didn't realize you were planning to die, you braggart. If you're going to kill yourself, could you at least brief the next envoy beforehand?”
“If I die, I don't think there will be a need for a briefing, would there?”
“Isn't that a bit irresponsible? As a guild envoy, you should have some sense of responsibility.”
“Responsibility...?”
Naru and many others were at a loss for words.
It would be one thing if it were someone else.
But for the boy who was dragging his people's home, his vassals, and even his slaves into a deathtrap on his own whim to be talking about responsibility...
His shamelessness was so astounding it was beyond impressive; it was simply dumbfounding.
As if noticing their gazes.
Dion narrowed his eyes.
“What, do I look like I lack responsibility?”
“No, well, it's just...”
Naru, whose pupils were trembling, unable to either confirm or deny, and the rest of the party who furtively looked away.
After slowly looking them over.
Dion let out a smirk.
“Everyone, raise your heads.”
“...”
“And look closely, and remember.”
“...?”
“We are not going to our deaths. We are simply leaving for a while, in order to return.”
No matter how dangerous a 3-star Labyrinth was, no matter if it was a living hell that could swallow even a fortress with a Transcendent Awakened One.
That was the story of those who failed.
He would not fail.
He would surely return.
So they shouldn't worry needlessly, but simply do their jobs and wait.
Watching the boy speak so calmly, their expressions grew even more complicated.
Empty promises were easy for anyone to make.
In fact, in the distant past.
When the Seven Calamities appeared, countless people had boasted they would stop them.
Most of them had ultimately failed and died, and even more had simply run away.
“...Will you truly, absolutely return?”
She couldn't have been unaware of that fact.
Was it because she needed hope to cling to, however futile, that she dared to ask?
Or was it because she had seen her lord's actions up to now and harbored some kind of expectation?
Looking at the dark elf who had asked for reasons she probably didn't even understand herself.
Dion smiled warmly and said.
“If you can't trust me, then trust Arsha.”
“...”
“At least Arsha doesn't doubt my promise.”
As if even answering would be sacrilege.
Watching the elegant dark elf gently bow her head behind Dion, they finally closed their eyes in silence.
No matter how reckless this expedition was.
And no matter how foolish.
If the chieftain who had led them for over hundreds of years believed in him, then they too would follow Dion without doubt.
“Then I'm leaving the domain in your hands while I'm gone, Parsha.”
“Spare me your useless worries and just come back safely.”
...Well, with one exception.
It wasn't that there were no exceptions.
Seeing Parsha speak in a voice even colder than usual, Dion smirked and turned around.
“Bokdeong-ah, let's go.”
The Lycan girl, who, even in this heavy atmosphere, had been sitting at Dion's feet, nonchalantly scratching her neck with her foot.
Orr Kai reacted immediately.
“Awooooooo!”
*Rumble...*
The moment she shot to her feet, threw back her head, and howled at the top of her lungs.
A vibration began.
The tethers were released.
The drawbridge was raised.
And from beneath the vibrating mansion, a giant, six-eyed, six-legged serpent slowly raised its head.
Waryongjang's Divine Beast, the Basilisk, began to slowly pull away from Nakrang Fortress, following its contractor's will.
As Dion watched the dark elves and Parsha who remained at Nakrang Fortress, a voice reached his ears.
“Are you truly certain this is alright?”
“Who knows?”
“...”
“Well, honestly, if it were just us, I couldn't guarantee a 100% safe return, but...”
Dion turned his head.
And looked at the witch, whose eyes were covered by a blindfold, a woman of ominous beauty.
He finished his sentence leisurely while looking at Pandora.
“This time, we have you, Pandora.”
“...It would be best not to rely on me too much.”
“Don't worry. I have no intention of using you as anything more than an insurance policy.”
Perhaps because she didn't believe his answer.
Dion smirked at Pandora, who had fallen silent.
Considering her life up to this point, it would have been strange for her to believe him, but Dion truly had no intention of borrowing Pandora's power unless absolutely necessary.
He knew just how dangerous her power was.
Partly from his experience in his second life, but...
“We're going there for some hellish training. If we get help, it wouldn't be training, would it?”
“...”
“Well, that would be its own kind of leveling up, I suppose. But that'll happen automatically after we've wandered the brink of death a few times.”
After a few near-death experiences, everyone would figure out how to use their classes and talents.
Watching the boy speak with a beaming smile, Pandora fell silent for a different reason than before.
While the rest of the party shivered from an inexplicable chill.
And so, Waryongjang left Nakrang Fortress and vanished into the depths of the Labyrinth.
And...
About ten days later.
—The war between Nakrang Fortress and the Dogwi-ryeon officially began.