Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: The Thief Emerges
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“Parasite, how long are you gonna stay like that?”
Sein said to Cecil.
At that, Cecil—who had been like an emotionless doll up until now—finally reacted.
“That’s why I can’t stand kids. Wanna get squeezed?”
Cecil puffed out her cheeks at Sein’s words.
“What the hell are….”
Everyone was stunned by their banter, as if the two of them were the only ones there.
“Enough playing around. I could make sure you never chew on bones again for the rest of your life.”
That was the moment.
“Pfft.”
The girl’s eyes changed as she filled her cheeks with air.
Spurt!
A fountain of blood erupted.
“……?”
No one could easily grasp what had just happened.
But they had to realize it.
Shimmer.
The beautiful girl charging right at them was swinging two honed daggers.
But noticing it too late came at a cost.
Spurt!
Losing their precious head.
“Wha—...!”
Their panic was brief. As elites with experience, they hurriedly cast holy barriers.
“Idiots.”
Sein clicked his tongue at the sight.
“Forgot who you’re dealing with?”
Clang—!
The moment Cecil’s dagger touched it, the holy barrier shattered to pieces.
The saint and saintess’s holy power was purer and stronger than anything.
Something manifested with the same holy power could crush it through sheer force.
Slash!
Cecil moved like a cat.
One by one.
“Kill….”
They had to shout as they watched their comrades fall.
“Kill her!”
They had to eliminate the saintess, their target.
“What the hell did you do to the saintess!”
They screamed at the rampaging Cecil, screaming again and again.
“What did you do to the saintess—!”
The saintess, who should have been the noblest and most pure, was butchering Anhel’s followers.
The sheer contradiction shook them to their core.
But Sein, the one responsible for this mess, just scratched his ear like it was a nuisance.
“You lot never really thought she was a saintess, so what’re you yelling about?”
“That can’t….”
“You don’t even know what a saintess or saint really is.”
Even Joan of Arc, called a saintess in real life, led the charge and slaughtered enemies.
The saintess and saints in Sanctuary were no different.
Those who received the greatest power had to stand at the front lines of battle.
They weren’t meant to hide deep in temples under someone’s protection.
Stab!
The precise term for them was.
“She’s Anhel’s killing machine, that’s what.”
Deep despair washed over them at Sein’s smile.
These magic squads had lost their magic; facing Cecil without it was absurd.
Finally, when the number of enemies dwindled to what could be counted on one hand.
“Stop.”
At Sein’s command, Cecil halted her slaughter.
Step.
Sein approached the gruesome scene and handed something to Cecil.
“Five minutes.”
“Yes!”
If Varus knew the candy he’d handed her was made from lich bones instead of sweet sugar, what face would he make?
“Please spare us!”
The Saintri groveled.
“You guys really Saintri? Doesn’t seem like the old days.”
“…….”
“Anyway.”
Sein squatted down and placed his hand on the chest of the one begging for his life.
Stab.
His hand sank in like cutting through tofu.
“Gahk!”
The man writhed in agony briefly before Sein pulled his hand out, now holding something like a glowing orb.
“As expected.”
These weren’t real magic squads.
Just fakes imitating them.
“Guess the temple’s finally getting serious.”
They muttered words they couldn’t even comprehend.
“Varus, take these with you and squeeze out every bit of info—known or not—and report back.”
He sealed their fate.
“Understood.”
“And Palu.”
“Yes! Lord Sein!”
The guy who once took beatings without ever speaking formally now rubbed his hands eagerly, eyes gleaming.
“A job for you.”
“Just say the word.”
“Spread the word as far as Otolmeo’s reach extends.”
If they were starting to move in earnest, he had to do the same.
“The saintess is in Demorus.”
“……!”
“Sein Demorus has secured the saintess.”
Palu trembled in shock.
As expected of a promotion—he could gauge the value of information.
“Otolmeo says the organization’s fate lies with you, Lord Sein.”
“If so, tell him to make himself more useful.”
With that, the parasite kidnapping incident was resolved for now.
*
*
*
“Send these ones to Rasiel.”
Boys and girls lined up in a row.
Young men were common enough, and occasionally even old folks appeared.
Sein was sorting them.
“These to Dante.”
Sweeping back his white hair, he assigned each one their destination.
“You heard, but you’re no longer slaves.”
It was the result of their own choices.
Former slaves gaining freedom.
“But swear loyalty to whom?”
“To Lord Sein Demorus.”
“Good. Perfect.”
He gave a future to those who had to worry about just surviving the day.
In exchange, he demanded their loyalty.
How long it would last was anyone’s guess, but training would follow.
“Bill the buyers directly. Varus.”
“Will do.”
Sorting Varus’s collected slaves.
“These, raise them up as much as possible in Antara, then split between Borfeo and Chichiron.”
Weren’t they worth just a few gold each?
Mere snacks for central nobles.
“But first batch is kinda low quality. Still, some usable ones.”
When used by someone who knew their value, it was a different story.
What Sein had told Varus was about physical traits.
Or.
“It still works fine, right?”
A magic tool Sein made with Arin’s help.
A cheat item nonexistent in Sanctuary.
A rankless item that let players use Sanctuary’s system to gauge mana potential and aptitude.
“Scouter’s fully charged with plenty of mana stones, if that’s what you mean.”
Like that thing from the comic where six Dragon Balls grant a wish.
“Good.”
With that, he could invest for maximum efficiency anytime.
“And….”
An hunched old man stood before Sein.
His vacant eyes and drool proved he wasn’t right in the head.
“This one’s coming to Demorus with me.”
“You serious?”
Varus asked.
“We found him like you said, but….”
Even the scouter showed nothing special about the old man.
His only oddity: a strangely shaped spot on his thumbnail.
“This is exactly what I was looking for.”
To find it this quick.
Taking over Antara’s bustling slave market was truly a divine move.
*
*
*
Having finished all his business, Sein returned to Demorus.
Sein’s residence in Demorus was a tiny old castle called the Castle of Sorrow.
-It got that nickname because its past lords met bad ends.
A place no one wanted to go, but it suited Sein perfectly.
Close to the forge, far from the main keep—a space for himself.
“Everyone out.”
At Sein’s order, the servants, Cecil, Derren who’d tagged along, and even Roberta who’d insisted on guarding him all left.
Now left were.
“Pathetic.”
Sein and the old man from Antara.
Sein placed a hand on the old man’s shoulder and injected mana.
“Urk, ugh.”
The old man groaned in pain.
Varus had said they found him in the 9th district slums.
Slave hunters pulled him from the gutter trash.
Not all there, old as dirt, zero value—but maybe some dark mage would want him, so they grabbed him.
From their view, even one silver coin was profit.
But they had no clue.
“One silver?”
A smile curled on Sein’s lips.
“Bullshit.”
Anyone who knew the true value couldn’t utter such nonsense.
The old man’s worth was beyond money.
“Grrraaagh! Urk!”
This secret came out five years after Sanctuary launched.
Uncovered after five years in a game played by hundreds of millions—astonishing.
Some called it a bug, others a dev Easter egg.
The devs, as always, said nothing.
But what mattered was.
Fwaaah!
What it was.
Something humans could never make—only gods could.
Fwaaaaaah!
As mana flowed in and coursed through the old man’s body in a specific pattern, blue light poured from him, filling the room.
Then the miracle happened.
Crack! Split!
Cracks formed on the old man’s skin and flesh.
No human could look like that—something else entirely.
Crack!
This once turned countless players’ Sanctuary accounts to ruins.
They didn’t know the exact conditions, so experiments were needed.
The treasure worth ruining a life for was called.
“Awaken. Ego.”
Ego item.
One that grows and evolves.
An item containing a full life of its own.
Boom!
An explosion of light.
Without sealed windows and doors, it would’ve flooded the entire Castle of Sorrow.
Light that could blind without precautions.
Within it.
Thud.
The old man vanished, and something rested in Sein’s hand.
An utterly ordinary ring.
But Sein knew what it was.
“Lucky.”
He couldn’t help but be satisfied.
“A thief came out.”