Cutting Out the Rot, Part 4
I headed down to the mansion's basement.
Beyond the dark, damp prison bars, I could see Hakun Durdamel.
His head had been hanging low, but when he saw me, he grinned and spoke.
"I've been waiting for you, young master."
"...You've been through a lot."
Clang!
The heavy iron cuffs fell to the floor.
Hakun Durdamel rubbed his wrists and slowly stood up.
Just how severely had he been tortured? His condition was too horrific for words.
Yet, he showed no sign of pain, maintaining a calm demeanor.
"Ugh...!"
Of course, no matter how hard he tried to act fine, his battered body refused to cooperate.
"Are you alright?"
"...Yes. I'm perfectly fine."
He stumbled.
I caught Hakun Durdamel as his legs gave out, supporting his weight.
Catching his breath for a moment, he turned his gaze toward the adjacent cell.
"Whew. By the way..."
Beyond the iron bars, Edmond Brickwood was visible.
The man stared blankly into space, his face a mask of utter despair. The very man who had ruled over this dungeon until moments ago was now helplessly locked inside it.
"What will happen to Guildmaster Brickwood now?"
I answered Hakun's question immediately.
"He will stand trial soon. He committed all kinds of corruption while sitting in the guildmaster's chair."
"...As expected."
A search of Brickwood's office had yielded mountains of evidence. Records detailing how he had sabotaged other merchant groups over the years, along with logs of his illegally amassed wealth. All of it had been handed over to Sikan Bauer.
The matter was immediately reported to the city councilors of Vertas, and a trial was scheduled to open shortly.
Hearing my explanation, Hakun Durdamel muttered with a bittersweet expression.
"Then the auction for the Sky Dragon's corpse will be delayed even further. With the eastern guildmaster's seat vacant, the entire administration will be paralyzed."
I let out a dry chuckle.
Leave it to a money-mad merchant to worry about the auction even in a situation like this.
I looked at Hakun Durdamel and spoke.
"Speaking of which, we've decided to entrust the position of eastern guildmaster to you for the time being."
"Pardon?"
"It was a decision made by the Inquisitor of Midtemple. It's only a temporary appointment, but it should be enough to run the auction without any issues."
"..."
Hakun Durdamel stared blankly, his mouth hanging open.
"Why... to someone like me...?"
There were plenty of reasons for the choice.
First, Durdamel was a highly capable merchant who had achieved top-tier status at a relatively young age. The information network he had built while crossing the Silk Road over a hundred times was one of the best in eastern Vertas.
Second, he had suffered immensely due to Brickwood's corruption. There was no better person to root out the rot and reform the guild.
And finally...
He was one of the few merchants who knew of the Holy Families' existence. This made him the perfect intermediary to maintain smooth relations with Midtemple.
In any case.
With this, the rotten flesh of Vertas had been excised. The free city would return to its proper track much earlier than in the original game. I smiled. Everything was going smoothly.
Now, it's time to move on to the next step...
—They say they are sending more people from headquarters.
What Adelia had said earlier flashed through my mind.
According to her, Midtemple was planning to send reinforcements to verify whether I was truly the 13th Sword Master.
There's nothing to worry about.
This was all part of my plan. The very reason I had claimed to be a Sword Master in the first place was to draw Midtemple's attention. There was a hidden piece that could only be obtained there.
Did they say it would take about a fortnight for the envoy from Midtemple to arrive?
A fortnight. I had no intention of sitting idly twiddling my thumbs during that time. Instead, I planned to use this window to grow stronger by maximizing the effects of the Earth Dragon's Heart I had acquired.
Of course, to do that...
Sikan Bauer.
...I absolutely needed his help.
"Sigh..."
Sikan Bauer let out a heavy sigh.
While the mysterious man named Gaon went to lock up Brickwood and his cohorts in the dungeon, Sikan had chosen to remain in the drawing room alone with Adelia.
He wanted to resolve the countless questions swirling in his head.
"Where have you been all this time, my lady?"
Adelia von Goldheart.
Her sudden departure from home had caused a massive uproar throughout the city. And for good reason—she was a descendant of the noblest bloodline among the members of the Goldheart Holy Family.
For someone who had spent her entire life protected inside a gilded cage to vanish with nothing but a single note, it was only natural that Midtemple had been thrown into utter chaos.
"No, putting that aside... for what reason did you leave home?"
"That is..."
Adelia hesitated.
She wanted to tell him the truth—that she had accidentally discovered the ugly secrets of her family and had fled in disillusionment. But she couldn't bring herself to say it outright, so she resorted to a lie.
"...I felt so suffocated by the wall blocking my progress over the past few years that I acted out in frustration. I am sorry for causing you concern."
Sikan Bauer sighed again, shaking his head.
With an exasperated expression, he muttered in a voice mixed with equal parts worry and relief.
"Even so, you shouldn't have just vanished with a single note. Do you have any idea how worried Sir Arwen and I were?"
"..."
"It is a miracle you are safe. If anything had happened to you, my lady..."
Sikan trailed off, shuddering at the thought, before continuing.
"Please, it is time to return to the family."
"I refuse."
"...?"
"I cannot go back now. I still have things left to do."
Sikan paused, staring at Adelia in disbelief.
Why? Her expression was resolute, as if her mind was completely made up. Sikan couldn't help but be startled by this stubbornness, a side of Adelia he had never seen before.
"Is it because of that man, 'Gaon'?"
"...Yes,"
Adelia nodded.
"He is the master I serve. It has only been about a fortnight, but I have learned so much from him."
"Learned so much..."
Sikan Bauer narrowed his eyes, as if evaluating her.
"...?"
The next moment, Sikan's jaw dropped in sheer disbelief.
"W-what in the world..."
A shiver ran down his spine.
"You broke through that thick wall. You've made a massive leap in growth."
"Yes."
"How could this be... I knew you were talented, my lady, but I estimated it would take at least ten more years to reach your current level..."
Adelia gave a brief reply.
"It is entirely thanks to Sir Gaon's teachings."
"..."
Gaon.
Hearing that name again, Sikan fell silent. A man who exuded no presence whatsoever, yet claimed to be the 13th Sword Master. A figure who had won Adelia's absolute trust in less than a fortnight. How on earth was he supposed to make sense of this enigmatic individual?
"Sir Bauer,"
Adelia spoke up again.
"Sir Gaon is undoubtedly a true seeker of the sword. I have witnessed his deeds with my own eyes, and that is my conclusion—"
"No."
Sikan Bauer shook his head.
"The Council has not approved him yet."
"But..."
"Protocol is protocol, my lady,"
Sikan said firmly.
"You know as well as I do that the title of Sword Master is only granted to those who have officially passed Midtemple's trial."
"..."
Adelia could not refute him. Sikan was entirely correct. The twelve Sword Masters who had attained the rank of seeker over hundreds, perhaps thousands of years—even if countless records had been lost to time, the fact that they had all undergone Midtemple's trial remained an undisputed truth.
"Nothing has been verified about him yet. Blindly trusting him could lead to unforeseen dangers."
"..."
"Therefore, until the Council's approval is granted, I earnestly implore you to treat him with caution—"
Knock, knock.
Right at that moment, a knock sounded from outside the drawing room. Interrupted, Sikan Bauer sighed deeply and opened the door.
"Sorry to interrupt your conversation."
Gaon stood at the door. Beside him was a muscular, bald merchant with a swollen face.
Gaon, wearing a dry expression, spoke.
"Sikan Bauer. I need your help."
In the untamed wilderness shrouded in darkness, where only the howling of beasts and the biting wind echoed, a man gasped for breath.
Scattered around him were the wreckage of a shattered carriage and the brutally mangled corpses of his companions.
"P-please, spare me! What did we even do wrong?!"
The man cried out in desperation. An employee of Durdamel's Golden Merchant Group, he had simply come to retrieve goods under his master's orders. He had never imagined he would face such a horrific situation.
"Fuck! Why are you doing this?! We're just employees of the merchant group! We've never done anything to cross you!"
The sole surviving employee shrieked in terror. But it was futile. The heavy footsteps of a massive figure approaching through the darkness only drew closer.
"Get away! Get away from me...!"
Whoosh!
Squelch!
The man swung his sword frantically. With a sickening sound of tearing flesh, the giant body collapsed limply to the ground.
Yet, far from feeling relieved, the man fell into deeper despair. For they had already 'killed' this monster more than ten times.
Crack, snap, squelch!
With a gruesome sound, the giant's neck began to regenerate. Severed flesh, blood vessels, and vertebrae squirmed, knitting back together.
"H-heeeek...!"
Witnessing this, the man's legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground.
"F-fuck! What do you want?! Why are you attacking us?! Just tell me why, goddammit!"
The man screamed hysterically.
The giant paused, his mouth twitching.
"Dark blue hair... golden eyes... pale skin..."
A deep, low voice rumbled from between lips that reeked of decay. The giant's voice dripped with a mad obsession.
"I am looking... for that rat..."
"...!"
The employee's eyes widened. Dark blue hair? Golden eyes? Pale skin? A face suddenly flashed in his mind. The man named Gaon, who had visited their headquarters a few days ago alongside their battered guildmaster.
"T-that guy! You mean the skinny, fierce-looking man?!"
"..."
"I—I know him! Right now, he's in Vertas with our guildmaster—"
Crunch!
The giant's axe crushed the man's head. Looking down at the rapidly cooling corpse, the giant grinned.
"...Vertas."
Thud, thud, thud.
Under the pitch-black night sky, the Human Butcher, Barba, slowly began to move.
Squish, squish.
With every heavy step he took, dark, stagnant blood pooled beneath his feet.