Chapter 645: Deductions?
Marionette, having long been dropped off, fiddled with a black earpiece in her ear. Apparently, according to Elara, her family had insisted she wear this for unknown reasons.
Since the Assassin wasn’t filled in on the joint attack going on with her family and the Nightravens, she could only silently agree to the orders given with confusion in her heart.
After making sure the earpiece was properly secured in her ear, Marionette hid it with her hair; it would be rather suspicious if she walked around with it visible to everyone.
As she did this, she picked up the faintest of whispers around her.
“Was it really her…?”
“It has to be, right?”
In the corner of Marionette’s eyes, she caught sight of a group of ladies whispering amongst themselves; their subtle glances and whispers obviously directed towards her.
Marionette narrowed her eyes as she glanced around her surroundings, finding herself mingling with a horde of over a hundred nobles.
Unlike the start of yesterday, there was now a considerable number of people. From what Marionette gathered, the reason why there was such a large growth of nobles was simply because of unforeseen matters.
Apparently, the route to get to the Darkhound territory was riddled with obstacles no one had expected.
Glancing back at the whispering ladies behind her, Marionette narrowed her eyes.
‘Was I found out?’ Marionette asked herself before eavesdropping.
She knew that the number of nobles she had kidnapped yesterday was not small, but surely no one should have noticed their disappearance.
‘With so many people and how careful I was, I should’ve been safe.’ The Assassin thought to herself, sighing inside, ‘Perhaps I wasn’t careful enough.’
As she was thinking this, her ears twitched.
“She was the only few people missing when it happened!”
“But why would anyone just randomly destroy a corridor…? Spite?”
“The person who told me didn’t say why either, but I believe…”
Hearing that it was something pletely unrelated to her thoughts and something she didn’t care much about, Marionette dropped her eavesdropping.
‘So that’s what it was about…’ Marionette internally sighed in relief, ‘It’s surprising that they managed to find out about that.’
Marionette knew she wasn’t exactly discreet when running down that corridor yesterday, but it was still surprising someone found out nonetheless.
‘I wonder who it was that told her…’ The Assassin scanned her gaze around. Wherever she looked, people avoided locking eyes with her; it seemed her actions yesterday had created a negative impression.
‘Looks like I gained something from that, at least…’ Marionette thought, still remembering her failure to take out Aurelia yesterday. ‘She isn’t here.’
Having pleted her scanning, she noticed Aurelia wasn’t in the bunch of nobles around her.
Marionette snorted and immediately rid her mind of the woman, still irked by the memory of her clinging to Lillian’s back yesterday.
As the Assassin was about to switch her focus, her ears caught another interesting whisper.
“Hey! Did you hear about the Outbreak that happened yesterday in the slums?”
“Hear it? I saw it happen from my window!”
In a group posed solely of male nobles, an interesting topic arose, spreading like wildfire around the nearby nobles like wildfire—quickly snuffing out any conversations about her.
“From what I managed to gather in the chaos, the Outbreak happened deep underground when nobody was there, and only two monsters broke out from the Gate!”
“I heard something different. Apparently, during the investigation made by nearby guards, there were more monsters underground—I think they were killed by the two monsters that escaped from underground.”
“But why would the monsters try to kill each other? Usually, when an Outbreak happens, only monsters with good relationships would escape. Could the Outbreak have been a special case?”
“I’m not sure, but one thing is for sure: I’m definitely taking a look around that slum! Maybe I could steal one of those monster corpses. I hope one of them has a Mana Core, because it would just make my day…!”
As similar conversations circulated, Marionette continued to remain silent amongst the whispering bunch—deep in thought.
She remembered the destructive battle yesterday vividly; monsters far above her weight class who battled it out without regard for their surroundings.
Was it really because of an Outbreak happening?
‘No… It couldn’t have been.’ Marionette thought, ‘It’s impossible for a natural Outbreak to happen.’
Contrary to what some may think, naturally occurring Outbreaks cannot happen in human-made dimensions. However, the idea that an Outbreak could have happened couldn’t be ruled out.
That was because of Gatebearers.
From rare and irregular monsters known as Gatebearers, a mage can pluck out their eyes and gain a portable Trial Gate. With care, these can be transported.
‘Although whenever a Gate forms from an Eye, there would usually be a period of suction instead of an immediate Outbreak. But it’s not impossible, if what I heard from Lillian was true…’
The Dragon’s Den Auction was overrun by monsters because of an immediate Outbreak from a Gatebearer Eye.
‘Since Outbreaks and Gates can only appear in open spaces, there must have been something underground that allowed it to happen—like a facility of some kind.’
A facility that could’ve been handling an eye of a Gatebearer.
‘A secret auction place? A mysterious black market? Or perhaps an underground warehouse?’ Marionette listed.
Auctions were considered a special and expensive event, usually dedicated only to nobles. Thus, auctions were usually only held in richer districts/areas in hopes of attracting wealthy participants.
There was usually only one Black Market for each territory in the Underworld. The one located in Darkhound’s territory was in the Middle Ring, not the Outer Ring—where the chaos happened.
‘Unless the Black Market had managed to expand large enough to reach the Outer Ring, then the logical idea is that whatever was underground was some large storage facility.’
Gatebearer Eyes were rare, the higher rank ones being even more rare, and by judging the destruction made last night, Marionette deduced that the storage facility couldn’t have belonged to an unknown organisation.
‘The Golden Postage, the Crimson Waxseal, and the Black Distributor…’
There were three main delivery organisations, each with its own reputation.
The Golden Postage dealt with more casual and business-like matters, pletely avoiding things that would possibly damage their golden image, like the Underworld.
The Crimson Waxseal was similar to Golden Postage, except that they would also take on the delivery and storage of more harmful and dangerous things. They’re an honest pany and didn’t bother hiding their underworld dealings. This was the organisation that her family liked working with the most out of the three.
Lastly, Black Distributor. The Roselles disliked working with this organisation the most. Despite having zero regard and concerns for what you might be delivering, they also have minimal regard for respect for customers and do what they like.
It was an organisation filled with thugs.
‘Since the Golden Postage would never take on a job like this, and that the Crimson Waxseal wouldn’t be so clumsy enough to mishandle the Eye, it would have to be the Black Distributor…’
Marionette had never worked with the Black Distributor; thus, she could only assume what they were like through her family’s description of them.
‘By ignoring the unknown rank of the Eye, there is only one thing left for me to think about.’
From the whispers around her, it was said that two monsters broke free from underground—and only two. They were most likely the two she watched battle yesterday.
A humongous monster that fought with something similar to her darkness, and another, smaller wendigo-like monster that controlled vines.
But the thing was, their battle wasn’t what kept her in deep thought. It was actually because of a suspicion. She believed the one that controlled vines was actually a Monster Shard.
Her first reason was that:
In an Outbreak, it was like a rule for monsters that e out of it to be non-hostile towards one another. Although there were exceptions, it was very rare for it to happen.
And her final reason was that:
Moments after the fight ended, she watched the wendigo fly towards a person hovering in the air before pletely vanishing.
‘A person draped in a dark-blue hooded cloak with a neon black and blue crown…’ Despite having exceptional eyesight, Marionette couldn’t catch a glimpse of the mysterious person’s face.
However.
‘They must’ve had a reason for being there.’
Regardless of whether or not she knew her, Marionette began to paint a story inside her mind with the information she had deduced.
‘If it was really the Black Distributor, then they must’ve possessed something valuable enough for a person like that to e after them, possibly being the Eye. And what likely happened was a serious fight for it, which then led to the Eye to cause an Outbreak; likely as some kind of last stand from the person in charge of the facility…’
Although there were holes, Marionette decided to gloss over them. In truth, she had only thought this deeply to pass the time.
Marionette looked down and found herself holding a glass of champagne.
The event today would only hold one activity in the form of a massive grand ball that would last for a few hours at max; it was the last chance for everyone to connect with each other before leaving.
While taking a bored sip from her glass, Marionette stared up at the ceiling to admire the chandeliers. At the same time, she tried her best to ignore the foul stench and standing corpses around her.
It was one of the main reasons why she hated large gatherings like this. The sight wasn’t that big of a bother, but the smell that assaulted her nose was; it was a type of smell no one could get used to, even when growing up with it.
‘It has already been a couple of hours, and all I’ve done is stand around…’ Marionette thought, deeply bored out of her mind.
She hadn’t made any effort to interact with others, not because she was shy, but because there wasn’t a need to.
She was forced to be here under her father’s orders to find a suitable partner. Why would she look around for someone like that when she had Lillian? The Rabbit was far better suited for her than anyone in the ballroom could ever be, and she refused to change that.
“Haa…” Marionette sighed before checking her skin.
She had been making a conscious effort to check her condition. And so far, she had yet to feel any unfort, could it be she was adapting to the True Darkness already?
‘Perhaps in the near future, my condition would have pletely stabilised. If that were to happen, then my father would have no reason but to abide by his side of the deal.’
The thought of her family accepting her relationship with Lillian made Marionette feel joyful inside.
‘My marriage with Lillian is only a matter of time.’
Unbeknownst to her, the True Darkness that had taken root inside her spine and a part of her brain had manipulated her in this direction of thought.
After waking up from her thoughts, Marionette took a quick glance around before sighing.
She might as well try to make an effort to form connections.
‘Maybe one of them would prove to be a great ally in the future.’
The Assassin pushed herself in the direction of a group of individuals. And as she walked over, she noticed they were urgent glances, followed by their subtle escape as they slowly walked away from her.
“Hm…” Marionette hummed before trying her luck with another group, but was met with the exact same result.
After a few more attempts, Marionette gave up and decided to stand off to the side, leaning her back against a pillar. She hadn’t expected to be avoided by everyone.
‘Seems like that leak has given me quite the awful reputation.’ Marionette swirled her champagne glass, ‘Whatever. I’ll just use it as people deterrent to enjoy the solitude.’
As much as Marionette wanted to leave right now, she knew there was a high chance her family would find out she left early.
While midway through a sip, someone appeared right next to her.
“Oh~? What ya doing over here alone, Red Eyes? Where’s Lils’?” Millis asked, standing beside Marionette in her butler uniform.
Marionette’s eyes slowly turned to look at Millis before narrowing.
After finishing her glass and placing it on the black tray of a passing servant, Marionette answered:
“She’s ill, so I decided to let her rest for the entirety of the day.”
“Ehhh? Ill? She looked pletely fine yesterday, though!”
“I too thought that, but last night said otherwise. Anyway, could I ask why you’re standing with me instead of your mistress?” Marionette raised an eyebrow, folding her arms.
“Hm? She got caught up in some talk with a buncha’ nobles. I got kinda bored, so I decided to e and find ya.” Millis shrugged nonchalantly, “But to think Lillian would willingly let ya e here alone… I had the impressed she woulda’ came regardless of her health!”
“With how adamant she was last night, I too had that thought.” Marionette nodded, “That’s why I administered a sleeping drug as she slept just so I could be sure she got a good amount of res—”
“D-dude…” Millis crookedly smiled at her with a twitchy face, “Y-ya really drugged her? She’s going to be sooo~ pissed off by that, ya know?”
Hearing that, Marionette’s still lips curled into a sly smile, “I’m aware, and I intend to tell her all about how I did it after this event is done.”
“With the way ya is saying it, it makes it sound like ya did it in a dirty way.” Millis’s smile turned wry as she sensed a mischievous aura radiating off the Assassin.
Marionette, at those words, couldn’t help but smile even more brightly, “Indeed.”
The two then delved into a back-and-forth conversation, something that was only possible because of Millis’s unusually strong level of charisma and… Because the topic was mainly about Lillian.
Eventually, it came to an end as with a sudden loud CLICK, the lights in the ballroom were shut off.
Everyone in the ballroom froze in place as confusion took over their bodies, but soon all the confusion was cleared up.
Spotlights lit up a spot at the top of some stairs, revealing Damien with a champagne glass in his hand. He had a large, amiable smile as she shouted:
“Everyone! I hope by now that you all have been well acquainted with some of those around you. Because now that we’re ing close to the end of this Legacy Table, I would like you all to find a partner for the End of Event Waltz that’s going to start in 5 minutes!”
Marionette widened her eyes subtly, ‘The end is going to be a dance?’
Woahhh, I wonder what’s gonna happen next. If Millis was a noble, do you think Marionette let Millis be her dance partner if Lillian wasn’t there?
Also! Do you guys prefer long chapters or split up ones? The answers for this one will help me a lot!
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