“I felt it.”
Crunch.
At Hikars’s response, Ruel silently ate his at pie.
“There was an unmistakable sll of death.”
“If you’re talking about the sll of death… does that an that Treitol Kran is dead?”
At Ganien’s question, Hikars shook his head.
“I can’t say for sure. The sll of death naturally lingers around the deceased if one stays near them for a long ti.”
Crunch.
In short, Hikars was saying one thing.
“Are you saying that the sll of death is coming from here?”
“Indeed. The mont I entered the castle, I sensed the stench of accumulated death. Sowhere within this place, death is gathering.”
“Haha.”
Ruel laughed in disbelief.
To feel death in a castle.
It was absolutely chaotic.
How deeply had the Red Ash infiltrated Kran?
‘In a place that worships the gods… talking about death….’
Ruel scoffed again.
“Can you pinpoint the location?”
“I will do my best to find it for you, Ruel-nim.”
Hikars bowed respectfully to Ruel and then stepped back into his shadow.
Ruel then turned to look at Cassion.
“Call Noah.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to rest for a bit now?” Cassion hesitated slightly before asking.
Ruel had to move again tomorrow.
Though it was called a welco party, he knew it would be no different from a battlefield for Ruel.
—Indeed! Ruel needs to rest so he doesn’t get scolded by Fran!
Leo chid in.
“My current condition is nearly perfect!”
Ruel looked at Cassion and Leo in turn, as if questioning what they were saying.
He only had a slight fever and no injuries or pain.
“What a very amusing joke.”
Cassion retorted sarcastically.
Given Ruel’s condition, he would likely be in serious pain tonight.
“Call him.”
“Understood.”
Cassion replied reluctantly and headed outside.
Ganien watched Ruel with a peculiar expression.
“Why?” Ruel asked, sensing his gaze.
“I know it’s an urgent situation, but you seem even more pressed… as if you’re out of ti…”
Ganien hurriedly stopped speaking.
His expression soon darkened as if he had touched sothing he shouldn’t have.
Curious about what he was about to say, Ruel furrowed his brow.
“Why did you stop mid-sentence? It’s unsettling.”
“Oh, it’s nothing, really.”
Seeing Ganien’s fidgety attitude, Ruel finally caught on to what he was thinking.
“I’m not going to die.”
At that mont, Leo perked up his ears and looked at Ruel in surprise.
Ruel petted Leo while looking sharply at Ganien.
It seed Ganien still believed that he didn’t have much ti left to live.
Avoiding Ruel’s gaze, Ganien began to stutter, “W-When did I say you were going to die?”
“I really won’t die. So stop being so conscious of my mortality.”
“You’re annoyingly perceptive.” Ganien mumbled in a lowered voice.
“You need so intuition, at least.”
Ruel smiled.
If he didn’t have any intuition, he wouldn’t have made it this far.
Every mont was like walking a tightrope.
Who would have thought that the insight gained from a career in sales, constantly breaking and rebuilding, would co in handy here?
Knock, knock.
After a knock, Noah walked in with an anxious expression alongside Cassion.
He seed to be gripping sothing tightly in one fist.
“You called for , Ruel-nim?”
“Relax your face. Soone might think you were dragged here against your will.”
Noah briefly opened his hand to reveal so gold coins.
A smile quickly blood on his previously tense face.
“Haa. I’m okay now. What do you want to tell ?”
“You need to go to the underworld once more.”
“Do I have to go again?”
Noah made a blatant face of displeasure.
“We need to find the corpses of the missing monsters and adventurers.”
They broke through the wall that kept death hidden, concealed by the Red Ash at the second defense line.
There, they found only old skeletons and so corpses.
The rest of the bodies had been taken away sowhere.
As Glen Syria died, there will be a disruption in the supply, so they will have to send people from the country under the pretext of investigation, and they will have no choice but to change the existing route to another place.
The suspected routes were, a) an adventurer or b) the underworld.
“Isn’t this too much? Last ti you told to investigate the tombs, and now it’s corpses!”
“Oh.”
Ruel replied absentmindedly.
It was true that the previous tomb of the forr lord of Setiria had been robbed.
All traces that could possibly reveal who did it had disappeared over ti.
“You must have received enough from Cassion if it’s about money, right? Are you trying to squeeze more out of ?”
At Ruel’s unexpected remark, Noah’s eyes montarily widened.
Ruel flashed a sharp smile.
“It seems that Billo’s training hasn’t been sufficient.”
“Ah, no! I will do it! If it’s sothing you ask of , Ruel-nim, I must do it!”
Noah managed to force a smile.
“I’ll reconsider after seeing you do it this ti.”
Ruel smiled back.
He had entrusted the pursuit of the adventurers to the shadows.
Given that they were protecting him and gathering information, they didn’t have enough hands for the task.
“Chase down those who are trading corpses in the underworld, whoever they may be, and I’ll add a few more people this ti.”
He was thinking of attaching a warlock to Noah.
“More people?”
Noah laughed widely, enough to show his teeth in surprise.
It had been quite exhausting to explore the underworld alone last ti.
“Right. You had too many complaints last ti.”
“I didn’t really complain… at least not specifically.”
Feeling as if those green eyes could see through him, Noah unconsciously licked his lips.
Ruel turned to Cassion.
“Cassion, are you okay without Noah?”
Now Noah had enough manners and skills to assist Cassion with competence.
All of it was thanks to Billo.
“Yes. I’m fine. After all, isn’t there one more attendant?”
Cassion replied happily, looking directly at Ganien.
Ganien looked surprised and pointed at himself.
“…? You’re not suggesting that I’m the attendant, are you?”
“Have you forgotten what position you entered here in?”
Cassion said with one corner of his mouth lifted, and Ganien flared up.
“That can’t be! I’m not just an attendant!”
“Exactly, so you should act like one.”
“But that attendant and this attendant are different!”
“If you ca as an attendant, then you should behave like one. You’re really dense.”
‘Here we go again.’
Ruel inhaled Breath and looked at the two of them.
Leo watched their childish behavior with sparkling eyes.
“Fun?”
—It’s fun. Looks too enjoyable.
Leo smiled broadly.
As long as they were having fun, that was fine.
Ruel laid down on the bed, continuing to listen to their ongoing conversation.
‘Let’s see how much they chatter.’
Noah quietly backed away while checking his surroundings and stepped outside.
***
“Give it.”
At Cassion’s command, Ganien reluctantly held out a hair tie.
“Ah, co on.”
“Be careful not to crumple it. It’s more expensive than your salary right now.”
Cassion openly mocked, but Ganien gritted his teeth and just frowned.
“Urgh.”
Ruel let out a big yawn, still half-asleep.
Leo also yawned widely and blinked his eyes.
Ruel scratched the back of his neck.
“There was so light twinkling from a distance at dawn. Was it you guys?”
—That’s right! This body saw everything!
Leo said, rubbing his face against Ruel’s body.
“Seems like Cassion won.”
Ganien flared up at Ruel’s comnt.
“It was a close call.”
“A close call? I guess you won the title of ‘winner’ with your mouth.”
Even at Cassion’s continued taunting, Ganien just clenched his mouth shut.
“Ruel-nim.”
Cassion, who had tied Ruel’s hair back, handed him so docunts.
“This is the result of the investigation into Treitol Kran again. Unfortunately, there haven’t been any significant changes.”
“No significant changes?”
Ruel’s eyes sharpened as he accepted the docunts.
“Yes. Additionally, there are records related to the rest: Adea Kran, Jayel Kran, and the king of Kran.”
Cassion then handed Ruel a at pie along with other docunts.
Ruel, who imdiately took the docunts, read through them urgently.
—Cassion, Cassion!
As Leo happily called out his na, Cassion promptly took out a bowl of food.
“Sit down.”
Leo, who had been running over, sat down in front of Cassion, his eyes sparkling as he looked at him.
—Quickly, give it to this body. This body is waiting.
“Wait.”
At Cassion’s firm reply, Leo pouted his lips.
—I am not a dog! I am a great purifier!
“Right. Leo is a spirit.”
As Ganien chid in, Leo nodded vigorously.
“I’m the one who gives treats.”
Just as Cassion was about to take back the bowl of food he had offered, Leo spoke urgently.
—Ah, okay! This body is good Leo, so this body will wait patiently.
Satisfied with Leo’s response, Cassion finally filled the bowl with treats.
Leo swallowed hard as he watched the treats being placed one by one into the bowl.
Flap.
Ruel’s speed in flipping through the docunts gradually increased.
Soon, he let out a hollow laugh, gripping the docunts tightly.
Aside from the occasional gaps in Treitol Kran’s activities, the results were as Cassion had said.
These gaps were botherso, but based solely on the activities, he was rely a misunderstood good prince who had been wronged by his brother.
The point when he had beco a completely different person was when he had started chasing the Red Ash.
‘Is it really not true?’
Ruel set down the docunts related to Treitol Kran and took a bite of the at pie.
Crunch.
‘Then what is this gap?’
It was clear he had co out of the castle as if he had beco soone else, but there existed a gap where no traces could be found after that.
The number of such occurrences was small, but as a prince who had only learned a bit of swordsmanship, there were so traces left imperfectly enough for the shadows to track.
Crunch.
With a frown on his forehead, Ruel examined the docunts investigating others.
The king of Kran inherited the throne simply because he was the eldest and enjoyed peace thanks to the glory of the previous generation.
However, he lacked love for the country.
He seed indifferent to how the kingdom was faring, rely pretending to be king.
And the eldest, Adea Kran, was…
‘Ambiguous.’
Crunch.
Ruel exhaled, brushing off the crumbs that fell from the paper.
There were traces of the Red Ash approaching Adea, but there were none in the opposite direction.
Rather, Adea was investigating the Red Ash.
Yet, his own person, deas Tehel, was an executive of the Red Ash.
Additionally, Adea was diligently digging into the Tonisk Empire.
‘A very passionate and caring prince for his country.’
Still, there was nothing that imdiately ca to mind.
Ruel finally examined Jayel Kran.
Not long after reviewing the docunts, he suddenly let out a chuckle.
‘Preparing for rebellion?’
Death was pooling sowhere in the castle, the Fourth Princess was preparing a rebellion, while the king had no interest in the country, and the first and second were entangled with the Red Ash.
‘The country seems to be running very well.’
Jayel Kran was part of the Red Ash.
The fact that she was preparing for rebellion implied that the Red Ash were also aware of this and were supporting her.
‘Rebellion ans breaking this alliance system, doesn’t it? Are they really going to break the ga they themselves created? Why?’
Ruel set the docunts down and tapped his thigh.
‘Death lingering in the Royal Family. Rebellion.’
Slowly, the corners of Ruel’s mouth began to rise.
The ray of darkness.
The ray of darkness that supposedly destroyed the empire suddenly ca to mind.
The Tonisk Empire was now gone, and the alliance was rely a ans for the Red Ash to expand the influence of Leponia and Cyronian.
Yet, the Red Ash were aiding rebellion in the Kran Kingdom.
This was not an ordinary rebellion.
The goal of the Great Man was to obtain his own body, and the best way to sacrifice in return would surely be through war.
‘If this rebellion was a plan left to take my body…’
Crunch.
Ruel chewed on the at pie with a serious expression.
Then he had to outwit the Great Man at everything.
Author's Thoughts
After a lot of thought, we decided to replace the black light with a ray of darkness. I apologize for the inconvenience.
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