Chapter 33: Reversing Situations (1)
After Viscount Rak joined them, Kyle, who had been heading past the royal capital toward the slums, came to a stop.
When he suddenly halted, Viscount Rak, who had been following behind, asked,
“Why have you stopped?”
“Where there is light, there is always shadow somewhere.”
At Kyle’s strange remark in this situation, Viscount Rak tilted his head in confusion.
On the other hand, Seros’s expression carried a trace of surprise.
What had just been spoken was a cant.
‘Could it be that Black Terun is active in the Daon Kingdom?’
While Seros briefly sank into thought, the people of the slums who heard Kyle’s words instantly turned their heads.
Before long, they pulled daggers from their clothes and surrounded Kyle’s group.
“Are you people from the Tylers Empire?”
Outwardly, they looked hostile, but there was no hostility in the voice of the man who stepped forward.
Kyle, who was looking at him, conveyed his business in a low voice.
“I came to catch a piece of trash called Sinoah.”
“……Do you know the location?”
“I do.”
The man closely examined Kyle, who spoke with confidence.
As it happened, just a few days earlier, a request had come in from the Tylers Empire seeking information on the Sinoah Merchant Guild.
Given that they were using the contact phrases employed by the Tylers Empire, there was no need for suspicion.
‘But something feels off.’
The moment he confirmed the white hair and red eyes, the man recalled a certain family.
The Guardian Family that protected the northern region of the Daon Kingdom.
It reminded him of the bloodline of the Ragnar Family.
“Are you of the Ragnar Family’s bloodline?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“……If you want to keep our mouths shut, you’ll need to show some sincerity, won’t you? Kyle Ragnar.”
A group that did business using information from across the entire continent.
The intelligence network of Black Terun, which called itself the greatest among information organizations, was exceptional.
They even possessed knowledge about Ragnar, said to be a remote region of the kingdom, proving just how fast information circulated.
At the man’s demand for sincerity, Kyle snorted lightly and pulled a small token from his clothes, tossing it over.
The man, who caught it without even properly looking at it, tilted his head.
“With a thing like this as sincerity……?”
As he absentmindedly checked the color of the token in his hand, the man shut his mouth.
Before he could even be surprised by the black token, Kyle’s voice was transmitted directly into his mind.
— Keeping your mouth shut will be good for your health.
Kyle walked up to him, snatched the token from his hand, and put it back into his clothes.
As Kyle brushed past him as if ignoring him, the people of the slums tried to move.
“Stop! No one rush in!”
The man urgently stopped those who were about to act.
Halted without understanding what was going on, they looked at Kyle, and Kyle, as if thinking something over, also stopped walking.
After a moment, Kyle turned his back and once again tossed the token toward the man.
The man threw himself forward as if it were a treasure and caught the token Kyle had thrown.
— Make a new one and bring it, Terun.
The man’s previously lax demeanor changed abruptly.
He sprang up, holding the token he had caught.
Clasping both hands together politely, he nodded his head repeatedly.
— You understand now what kind of place the Sinoah Merchant Guild has meddled with, don’t you?
That marked the end of Kyle’s voice; it could no longer be heard.
After hearing his final words, the man called Terun bit his lip hard.
Even so, as he recalled the Sinoah Merchant Guild that had become Kyle’s target, he shook his head.
‘They’re definitely insane bastards. No—are they just unlucky?’
Terun covered the letters engraved on the black token.
[Ian Kailers]
He was the only being who possessed a black token.
Although an announcement had been made that he had died on the battlefield, Terun had never believed it.
He was convinced that such a monster of a man would never be defeated.
He expected that he had survived and was somewhere out there, and had been mobilizing every information network to locate him.
Moreover, since it was a request made directly by Emperor Adrian Tylers, Terun himself had moved to the Daon Kingdom.
He had never imagined that he would encounter him in such an unexpected place.
Because even the shape of his face, the color of his hair, and the color of his eyes had changed, he had failed to recognize him in time—but he was unmistakably Ian Kailers.
Now living under a different name, Kyle resumed walking and called out to Seros.
“Seros, ignore these people and go deal with the Sinoah Merchant Guild.”
“Yes, my lord.”
As Seros passed by Terun, he whispered to him in a small voice.
“Keep absolutely secret everything you saw and heard here. Otherwise, I might come looking for you.”
At Seros’s warning, laced with killing intent, Terun clamped his mouth shut.
There was no way he could fail to recognize that name.
He clearly remembered the name Death God Seros, the Vice-Commander of the Special Operations Unit once led by Ian Kailers.
‘The Daon Royal Palace must be in chaos. From now on, I should thoroughly ignore any requests from the royal family.’
It felt as though he could hear the sound of Terun’s thoughts grinding away, but Kyle ignored it and, guided by Viscount Rak, headed toward the Sinoah Merchant Guild’s base.
Once Kyle disappeared from sight, Terun, who had been standing there blankly, spoke to his subordinate.
“……Return all the advance payments we received from the northern lords of the Daon Kingdom.”
“Pardon?”
“If you want to live, don’t talk back and just do as I say.”
“……Understood.”
“And spread the word to the ones scattered throughout this slum. If they’re anyone connected to the Sinoah Merchant Guild, make sure they don’t leave this place.”
As long as the monster evaluated as the strongest in the human world was lurking in Ragnar, he could not afford to do anything that might make him frown.
Terun put the black token into his clothes and turned around.
‘Does the Emperor know about this as well……? Well, it has nothing to do with me, so I don’t need to worry about it.’
Terun, the head of Black Terun, lifted a hand to his head as if he had a headache.
It felt like he had tried to gain something unnecessarily and ended up losing more instead.
‘Haah…… I should have just kept my mouth shut.’
He had never expected to meet Terun here.
If it had been a Branch Head belonging to Black Terun, or someone even lower, Kyle would never have taken out that token.
Whether by coincidence or fate, Terun had appeared right before his eyes.
‘I would have had to change the token anyway. And since this is a time when I need an intelligence network, it worked out well.’
While Kyle briefly sank into thought, Viscount Rak asked Seros, who was walking ahead,
“Who were those people earlier?”
“You’ve probably heard of an information organization called Black Terun.”
“……I have. In fact, I submitted a request to Black Terun to ascertain the location of the Sinoah Merchant Guild.”
Seros briefly looked at Kyle’s back at Viscount Rak’s words.
Even so, he continued the conversation with Viscount Rak.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, isn’t Black Terun currently the greatest information organization on the continent. The ones who found where the Sinoah Merchant Guild had settled were Black Terun.”
Having already grasped what Black Terun had been up to, Seros clicked his tongue.
They must have moved after receiving a request from the Tylers Empire, but in order to gain additional profit, they had entered into a double contract.
Seeing Viscount Rak’s expression, which clearly showed he did not understand what was going on, Seros could not quite figure out what he should say.
At that moment, Kyle stepped forward and opened his mouth.
“They were members of Black Terun.”
“……?”
“It was merely an organization I had ties with.”
Viscount Rak, startled, gave a small nod at Kyle’s calm words.
He could not help but wonder where and how Kyle had lived all this time.
‘It would be rude to ask.’
Swallowing the curiosity that had risen to his throat, Viscount Rak guided the way without a word.
Meanwhile, Sinoah, who had received news that Kyle had turned the Great Hall into a complete mess, watched his subordinates preparing to leave the royal capital with a bitter expression.
“Haah, to think such a variable would pop up…….”
He had never imagined that Kyle Ragnar would have reached Master rank.
But something even more shocking occurred than that.
“To think there are two Masters in Ragnar—no wonder the ones I sent couldn’t gain any traction.”
“……Merchant Guild Head, you must depart immediately as soon as preparations are complete.”
“I know. I finally managed to build a foothold, yet I have to flee again…….”
“He is none other than the one who inherited the Frostfire. There is a high probability he will become an even more dangerous existence than the Demon of Tylers.”
Though the demon had disappeared for now, no one knew when he might reappear in the world.
It was impossible to believe that a demon who had endured even the fierce attacks of Those Who Worship Darkness had truly died in battle against the Holy Empire.
He was surely scheming behind the scenes.
What in the world was he expecting by putting on such an absurd performance?
Perhaps the time might come when the power he was stockpiling in preparation for the Demon of Tylers’ return would have to be used against Kyle Ragnar.
“What a pity. With just a little more time, I could have swallowed the Daon Kingdom whole.”
“It is regrettable, but with the cult’s current strength, facing two Masters at once would be too much.”
All the plans they had prepared were canceled.
The fact that the cult’s situation was so poor that even a small amount of strength needed to be preserved also played a role.
It was frustrating and infuriating, but for the safety of the Sinoah Merchant Guild, they had to leave.
As they were hurriedly preparing to withdraw, a noisy, explosive sound rang out from the entrance of the guild building.
Kwaaang—!
“……What is that sound?”
“I will go check.”
“No, wait a moment!”
Sinoah urgently stopped his subordinate’s movement and rapidly turned his thoughts.
He knew that about thirty minutes had passed since Kyle left the palace.
Why had he come to the royal capital?
To annul the Pact Document, or perhaps to warn the King.
And he would surely have thought of some matters to deal with along the way as well.
If that was the case, the place Kyle would head to was obvious.
“……We must leave the slums immediately.”
“Why is that, Merchant Guild Head?”
“I will leave with only part of my guards! Hurry!”
At Sinoah’s urgent shout, the subordinate nodded as well.
They were not fully prepared to leave yet, but they at least had to take refuge with their bodies first.
‘There is nothing more important than my life. If I am captured like this, it will be a major blow to the cult as well.’
Predicting by instinct that Kyle had struck this place, Sinoah rushed to the Merchant Guild Head’s Office to gather important items.
Before long, just as he had expected, Kyle had already barged in through the main gate of the guild.
As he advanced, mercilessly cutting down the guards rushing toward him, Viscount Rak’s eyes gradually widened.
Seros, who had been closely watching Viscount Rak’s face, spoke in a low voice.
“My lord does not usually step forward himself.”
Viscount Rak let out a quiet hum at Seros’s words.
He could roughly guess why Seros was explaining Kyle’s actions to him.
It seemed he was worried Viscount Rak might misunderstand, thinking that the situation in the Ragnar Territory was so dire that Kyle had to personally deal with the Sinoah Merchant Guild.
Moreover, with the Pact Document with the Daon Family annulled, it was now time for the northern territories to make a decision.
‘Given the timing, he is asking whether I harbor other intentions.’
Just as Viscount Rak thought, Seros was looking ahead at Kyle’s path in many ways.
In response, Viscount Rak formed a deep smile at the corner of his mouth.
“You need not worry. I have already made my decision.”
“……That is a relief.”
“With the mere fact that both the Grand General and Seros are Masters, would the balance not change? Above all, Rark Territory has long since resolved to follow Ragnar.”
While the two were conversing, Kyle had already dealt with all those who had rushed at him and was walking forward.
Watching that scene quietly, Viscount Rak nodded without a word.
‘So this is the power of a Master…….’
In the history of the Daon Kingdom, there were only a handful of families that had produced Masters.
Even among those, the vast majority were people of the Ragnar Family.
However, as the succession of the Frostfire ceased, the martial strength of the knights of the Daon Kingdom naturally declined.
They had gone so long without even seeing a Master that the knights of the Daon Kingdom did not know just how much power a Master possessed.
The same was true for Viscount Rak—but not anymore after today.
Because he had witnessed Kyle Ragnar’s strength with his own eyes.
After roughly finishing the cleanup and turning his head, Kyle frowned slightly.
“Seros, it seems these guys were planning to withdraw.”
“Isn’t that simply the nature of Those Who Worship Darkness. After hearing news from the Royal Palace, they would not have dared to confront us.”
“First, we should catch that bastard called Sinoah. He probably hasn’t even managed to withdraw yet.”
On the way here, Kyle had revealed even his identity token to Terun, making him fully aware of what he needed to do.
Thus, the blockade of the slums would be handled properly by Black Terun.
Reading Kyle’s gaze, Seros immediately bowed his head.
“I will capture that fellow called Sinoah within thirty minutes.”
“Do so.”
As soon as Kyle’s permission was given, Seros vanished from the spot like a ghost.