Chapter 165
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: Undercover (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Lord Lloyd, we have a serious problem.”
“What?”
Haviel opened his mouth with a grave expression.
Behind him, the faint glow of a worn-out fluorescent light at midnight.
Lloyd sat up on the creaky single bed.
He rubbed his sleep-crusted eyes and asked,
“What’s going on?”
“The boarding house rent is going to fall short.”
“……Huh?”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
His sleepiness vanished in an instant.
He lifted his head.
What he saw was the rundown interior of a cheap boarding house room.
Haviel stood there against the backdrop of those dingy, stained wallpapers.
It was a surreal sight.
At that moment, Haviel’s expression grew even more serious as he spoke.
“And starting today, the convenience store triangle kimbap is going up to a hundred thousand won each.”
“Hey. What are you even talking about right now?”
“I’m not joking. It’s a government policy. The UN just announced it as an official major issue. Especially the Jeonju bibimbap flavor you like the most—it’s going up to a hundred and fifty thousand won.”
“Hey? Are you in your right mind? Hey, listen?”
“I’m perfectly sane. It’s all because of that guy.”
Haviel pointed seriously behind him.
That was when it happened.
Click.
The rickety door swung open, and a man in dark clothes stepped into the cramped boarding house room.
It was the philanthropist from earlier that day, Mr. Cannavaro.
“Nice to meet you. New boarding house manager.”
“……Pardon?”
“I heard your rent’s going to be late this month, so you’ll need to vacate the room.”
“No, that’s not—”
“And your grades are a bit short, so no scholarship either. Kahahaha!”
“W-Wait a second?”
What the hell was going on?
He was flustered.
And scared.
Why was he in a boarding house?
Why were Haviel and Cannavaro looking at him like that?
What about everything that had happened so far? Frontera Territory? Him? Lloyd Frontera?
A chill ran down his spine.
‘No, no! Wait! No!’
He shouted desperately.
This couldn’t be real.
No law in the world would allow this.
He wanted to argue, to beg, to yell.
But no sound came out of his mouth.
It was like being trapped in a nightmare, pinned down by sleep paralysis, unable to make a peep.
If not for the hand that suddenly reached out and shook his shoulder at that moment, he might have stayed that way.
“Lord Lloyd?”
“……Uh, mmph!”
“Are you alright?”
“……!”
Lloyd’s eyes snapped open.
He bolted upright.
The luxury bed didn’t even creak.
Instead of the dim fluorescent light and yellowed wallpaper, he saw flickering candlelight and an opulent room.
And in that soft glow, the Iron-Blooded Knight holding a candlestick.
“H-Haviel?”
“Yes, it’s me. Are you okay?”
“I……”
“You must have had a nightmare. You were pinned down.”
“……”
Crazy. It was just a stupid dream. A really vicious one, too.
Lloyd let out a sigh of relief.
It was brutal for a dumb dream.
Uncannily realistic.
Thinking back on it made his teeth chatter.
He shook his head vigorously to shake off the lingering drowsiness and the bad dream’s aftertaste.
“Anyway. When did you get here?”
“Just now. I have something to report.”
“You’re not about to tell me the triangle kimbap prices went up, are you?”
“……What’s triangle kimbap?”
“What you said in my dream just now.”
“Did you see me in your dream?”
“Yeah.”
“Is that why you were pinned down?”
“Yeah.”
“……”
“Anyway. What did you want to tell me?”
“It’s about Cannavaro.”
“Something suspicious?”
“Better to see for yourself than hear it explained.”
Haviel untied the bundle on his back.
Four pieces of clothing emerged from inside.
One fairly thick outer garment.
Three comfortable inner tops to wear underneath.
Different colors and styles, but they all shared one thing in common.
The embroidered dragon-headed Death God emblem.
“Where did these come from? Don’t tell me you stole them from Cannavaro’s house?”
“No.”
Haviel shook his head.
“I bought them at the market.”
“What?”
What did he mean?
Haviel continued.
“It started after we left here this afternoon. As you instructed, I investigated from the ration station inside the gate where Cannavaro was, all the way to his mansion. I even observed him disguised as an ordinary passerby.”
“Did you cover your face?”
“Yes. Roughly.”
“And?”
“As is usual for wealthy estates, parts of his mansion had magical security barriers, but I could survey the rest. I could keep watching Cannavaro’s actions, too. However……”
“However?”
“I couldn’t find a single suspicious action from Cannavaro all half-day. No, it was the opposite.”
“The opposite?”
Haviel’s expression grew subtle at the question.
“His actions were filled only with goodwill and good deeds. He seemed like the kindest person I’ve ever seen.”
“After just half a day?”
“Of course, it wasn’t a long time. But after finishing at the ration station, he went home and nursed patients. Patients whose bodies were rotting from disease.”
“And?”
“He meticulously wiped the pus oozing from their entire bodies all half-day, without wrinkling his nose once.”
Haviel carefully recounted what he had witnessed.
It was still vivid in his mind.
That wasn’t something an ordinary person could do.
How many people in the world would willingly do that for a complete stranger, not even family or friend?
How many could do it all day without showing fatigue, never losing their benevolent smile?
“I was impressed. And I felt conflicted about my own petty behavior, tailing and investigating such a fine man. That’s when I found it.”
“Found what?”
“Among the patients he was caring for, some were wearing clothes with this emblem.”
“And?”
“Pretending to be a volunteer, I approached to change bandages and struck up a conversation. During chit-chat, I casually mentioned how cool the emblem on the clothes was. The patient said it was just clothes sold at the market.”
“At the market?”
“Yes.”
Haviel glanced at the clothes.
“It’s true. Some merchants were selling them.”
“So you bought them all?”
“No. Just some. There were at least dozens at the market. The emblem is that common.”
“Whew.”
Lloyd sighed deeply.
An emblem on market clothes, commonplace.
That changed things.
He furrowed his brow and racked his brains.
‘Dragon-headed Death God emblem—a market bestseller? Wild. But Cannavaro’s definitely the leader of the black mages here.’
As in the novel Iron-Blooded Knight.
It was certain enough not to need denial.
So he couldn’t back off here.
The investigation had to continue.
‘No guarantee he’ll act exactly like in the novel. He’ll likely show different moves. Blocking only by the plot could backfire.’
Know the enemy, and you’ll win every battle.
The more this went on, the more he needed to scrutinize the enemy’s every move.
Down to the number of forks in his house, the color of his underwear—gather all intel.
Once he found proof?
Clear evidence Cannavaro was plotting something evil?
He’d inform Namaran Count immediately.
The count would arrest him.
With that plan in mind, Lloyd said,
“So, Haviel, you’re not thinking of quitting the investigation, right?”
“Of course……”
“No. Keep going.”
“But Lord Lloyd.”
“I have a feeling. There’s definitely something.”
“……”
“You don’t trust me?”
“Yes.”
“You answer quick only when it suits you?”
“You’re imagining things.”
“I’m not.”
“……”
“Trust me a bit. I get it’s not fun tailing someone, but this is just in case.”
“You mean the off-chance?”
“Yeah. If my hunch is right, it won’t hurt our territory.”
It was true.
Stopping the Namaran incident, of course.
And maybe uncovering a future hidden threat.
“So it’s an order. Keep investigating.”
“Usually, at times like this, people appeal to emotions with heartfelt pleas instead of orders.”
“Why would I?”
“……”
“I know you’ll obey an order, so why bother with tiring persuasion or begging?”
“……”
“Just do it.”
“Sigh. Shouldn’t have woken you.”
“Let me stay pinned down?”
“Of course.”
Tsking his tongue, Haviel stood.
“Then I’ll be off.”
Before the words finished,
Haviel vanished like the wind.
All that remained: the candlestick he left, the now-open window, and fluttering curtains.
Lloyd couldn’t help but click his tongue in admiration.
‘Swordmasters are on another level.’
He’d reached mid Expert himself.
Yet he hadn’t sensed Haviel’s movements properly.
Hadn’t even registered his disappearance.
So no worries about the task he’d assigned.
‘Then I’ll handle my own work in the meantime.’
Lloyd closed the open window and sat at the desk in his lodging.
Leave the black mage tracking to Haviel for now.
He’d prepare the construction given by Namaran Count.
With that thought, he opened his Design skill.
♣
A few days passed.
Lloyd had fleshed out his plans for this construction.
‘As I thought before, forced piles and anchors are the way.’
The sandstone cliffs holding up this city.
Reinforcing just the surface wouldn’t cut it.
He needed to drive piles and anchors deep into the bedrock for solid support.
But that posed a problem.
‘I need to make anchors.’
Anchors to drill into countless holes in the cliff face and embed in the bedrock.
Not just rebar jammed in.
Logs or bamboo? No way.
He needed modern-style anchors.
‘Only then will they grip the inner walls of the holes securely. Proper fixation transmits force from bedrock to surface, preventing the cliff from collapsing.’
That’s why.
After finishing some designs, Lloyd went to Namaran Count.
“Please introduce me to the best blacksmith in this city.”
“A blacksmith?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd explained his construction outline and anchors.
Especially for anchors, he showed pre-drawn blueprints.
“This is essential for the construction. I’ll need a skilled blacksmith’s help.”
“To make these anchors?”
“Yes.”
His anchor design was close to Korea’s site-used ‘wedge lock bolt.’
How it worked……
‘A long cylindrical rod with a large nut at the end. Push the rod into the hole drilled to bedrock. Turn the nut at the end? The nut digs into the rod, expanding its outer surface. The thickened rod grips the hole’s inner wall tight.’
A magic rod that thickens as you turn the nut.
‘Anyway, to make it, the nut needs precise screw threads.’
Spiral grooves like screws.
Only a skilled blacksmith could craft them to spec.
‘Can’t call Elder Kogidus.’
The dwarf blacksmiths were hammering ironwork for the Honeybee Apartments today. Dragging them here would be too much.
“That’s why. I need this city’s best blacksmith. Otherwise, construction fails. Failed construction means the cliffs crumble to dust. Crumbling cliffs make you sad, Lord Count. Your sadness tanks my happiness index, right?”
“Heh heh? Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“That’d be something to see.”
“What do you say?”
“Of course I’ll introduce you. Our city’s top blacksmith.”
“Thank you.”
“We’ve signed the contract—no need for thanks. I’ll tell the administrator; go with him.”
Chuckling heartily, Lloyd left the office.
Waiting in the hall, the count’s administrator soon arrived. Following him, they left the mansion, passed through the city streets. Under ordinary early autumn sun, amid ordinary citizens.
Lloyd scanned everywhere carefully.
‘Gather any clue, even one.’
Was Haviel doing well?
He hadn’t returned in days.
Had he dug up Cannavaro’s dirt?
Thinking that, passing the central square with the administrator—
“Whew. They say the ration station’s been chaos with crowds lately, and it’s true.”
The administrator ahead quipped.
Indeed, the square’s ration station had far more people than before.
Lloyd asked curiously,
“More refugees?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Then what?”
“I heard a stunning beauty started volunteering at the station recently.”
“A beauty……you say?”
Lloyd tilted his head.
Perhaps due to his reaction.
The administrator spat excitedly, face lit up.
“I haven’t seen her myself. But the rumors say she’s a peerless beauty. So pure her beauty makes heavenly stars and galaxies jealous. Sigh. That’s why even non-refugees flock there.”
“To gawk at her?”
“Why not.”
The administrator shrugged.
Then eyed him slyly.
“While we’re at it, why not pause and take a peek? If you’re not too busy, young lord……”
“……”
What to do.
Lloyd felt curious.
Curious about the beauty the administrator raved about?
No.
‘Might be a clue linked to the black mages.’
At this point where Namaran’s crisis loomed, a peerless beauty appears.
Not in the novel Iron-Blooded Knight.
Something fishy.
Lloyd nodded.
“Fine. Let’s take a look.”
The administrator’s mouth stretched ear-to-ear.
They plunged into the ration station crowd.
Channeling Seoul subway Shin-do-rim rush hour memories—shoulder-shoving infiltration, hip-wriggling space-making—they deployed every trick.
After some grunting effort, they broke through.
The ration station came into full view.
All eyes converged there.
A beauty stood.
Plainest of aprons.
But her eyes sparkled like morning stars.
Her pure silver straight hair flowed like a galaxy.
That dazzling peerless beauty holding a ladle was none other than……
‘Haviel?’
Lloyd nearly poked his eye out with the finger rubbing it.