Chapter 90

Lucion briefly recalled those assassins near the border who had weaknesses, such as struggling with no money or being kicked out for unavoidable reasons.

But he couldn’t think of any.

The novel ‘The Grasp of Darkness’ was about adventure, not politics.

Lucion stopped thinking and said, looking at Kran who was still worried about losing the mansion to the Chefran’s knight and soldiers.

“You don’t have to worry about that. If you spread a rumor that there will be an inauguration ceremony for the family head and you send a few people tied to Chefran’s former head as an example, they will shut up on their own.”

Only then did Kran realize that he was mistaken, and he put on an embarrassed expression.

“Yes, that’s a good idea, Mr. Hamel.”

“Well, I’ll try to recruit some people. Don’t you need more people in the organization now?”

Lucion naturally brought up the problem that the organization had to solve.

The viscount’s mansion was able to accommodate a large number of people, and the ground itself was good, so it was okay to dig a tunnel and create a secret place.

Of course, this place was only a part of the hideouts to be built in the future.

“That’s right, the organization needs people now. It’s pretty urgent, too.”

Kran answered quite seriously, perhaps aware of that part as well.

“Hamel… sir.”

Stra called Lucion with slight hesitation.

The term ‘Mr. Hamel’ felt awkward.

“Say it.”

“I-Is there anything I can help you with?”

Stra stuttered and avoided his gaze slightly.

“So, it looks like we keep making Mr. Hamel wander around. Helon and I can help you. I’m confident in getting around.”

For Lucion who had a lot of secrets, it was rather troublesome if the number of colleagues moving with him increased.

“I appreciate it but no, thank you.”

But Lucion didn’t forget to express his gratitude.

It was better to have a good relationship with each other since Stra and Helon were close friends of Kran.

“Unfortunately, the two of you have work to do.”

Kran spoke out.

“Stra, you should set up the barrier first. In particular, pay more attention to Miss Miella’s room. Helon, you will go spying around and checking for signs of betrayal.”

“I understand.”

Helon answered immediately, and Stra frowned slightly.

“You know, Kran-nim.”

“Yes, Stra.”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but I think Kran-nim is pushing Mr. Hamel too hard. If you look at it, Kran-nim is the strongest.”

“…?”

Lucion was slightly surprised by Stra’s unexpected remarks.

“It’s not really about Mr. Hamel. Watching the process of the organization growing, I thought it was unreasonable. I can’t say this in front of Mr. Hamel.”

“I agree. How many letters did you get? Every time I came, the thickness was no joke. To investigate all of it… Sigh.”

Kran’s eyes shook when he got hated by Helon.

Since he had never forced Lucion to do so, Kran’s face naturally showed an unfair expression.

“I did it because I liked it, so there is no need for everyone to say anything to Kran.”

Lucion thought about leaving it alone, but he couldn’t help but open his mouth because Kran was begging for his life with a sad look.

“Well, let’s talk about what to do first.”

Lucion dragged a chair and sat down.

“First of all, we need to start with the organization’s layout.”

He stated it as if it was a fact and asserted himself, but everyone looked at Lucion with a ridiculed expression.

“Since the size of the organization isn’t that large, it would be okay to sort them into 5 categories. The one responsible for combat, patrolling and protecting the mansion, in charge of secrecy and order of the organization, and general support for the organization, such as weapons and armor. And finally, information.”

Lucion folded five fingers and pointed to the first and second fingers.

“The two can be combined, but I think it’s better to classify them separately. Lastly, there are the Rats here too, so you can rest assured. For now, I’d like to classify them this way, but does anyone have anything else to say?”

Lucion looked at them one by one.

They all just shook their heads.

All of them seemed to agree, and even if they shared their opinions, it seemed they would still come to this conclusion.

“All right, then, as I said earlier, I’ll recruit a person.”

Lucion rose from his seat.

Kran would take care of the rest, so it was faster to recruit someone.

“Ah, Kran-nim.”

As Lucion was about to leave, he suddenly recalled something and called Kran just in case.

“Yes.”

“If Heroan, the head of the Rats, doesn’t listen, tell him to stick with it unless he wants to know how many cards he has left.”

Lucion’s mask turned yellow.

“Well, then,”

Lucion went outside just like that.

“…Is Hamel-nim always like that?”

Miella belatedly opened her mouth.

“Oh, I’m not criticizing it, it’s not at all different from what you suggested to me. How should I say it. Urgent and simple?”

“That’s right.”

Kran said, looking at the place where Lucion had left.

It would be okay to chat with the members of the organization for a while, what could be so urgent?

“He can stay a little longer. It’s a shame.”

* * *

A blue lightning bolt was shot toward Heint.

Crackle!

Despite the sound hitting his ears, Heint calmly held out his open palm.

‘…The last one.’

Pssh!

The light burst out.

When his view was blocked for a moment, the lightning bent and accidentally pierced the ceiling of the building.

Swoosh!

Heint thrust his sword into the wizard’s heart from the gap.

“Cough!”

He quickly drew his sword and surrounded it with light.

When the defensive magic surrounding the magic circle was turned off, Heint stabbed the wizard down toward the magic circle.

Pssh!

As the magic circle exploded with light, the light spread around.

‘All right, the defensive magic circle is broken. Now…’

Bang!

Heint reached out of the window and shot light into the sky.

It was a signal for Imperial Knights who were waiting to start attacking.

A mysterious letter stuck in the door of his house.

The location of Luminos’ hideout written in it.

After reporting to the Emperor, he confirmed that what was written in the letter was true.

Due to the nature of the wizards, the 8th Order of the Knights moved in line with the Emperor’s order to push ahead with the raid during the day.

The 8th Order of Knights was newly created by the Emperor to protect Saint Lucion, and this was possible because the focus was on Lucion, not the imperial family.

Twinkle.

Heint stuck close to the wall when the tiny light grains he had scattered on the floor to detect the surroundings reacted.

“Are you sure it’s an attack? Isn’t it just another idiot breaking the shield with their magic failure?”

“That’s why, I don’t come all the way here to find out about that. If someone fails the magic, they will definitely get buried.”

“I am going to bury them in the dirty mud…”

The wizard couldn’t finish his words due to the sudden pain that pierced his chest.

“Cou…gh…”

Heint pushed the wizard with his feet and at the same time drew his sword and slashed the other wizard’s neck.

‘Is it just the two of them?’

Heint walked down the hall sprinkling blood on his sword.

The hideout where Luminos was located was an ordinary bakery.

However, like the magic tower in the east, the shop was enchanted to expand the secret space.

How unusual, Luminos didn’t have a barrier magician.

It was made up of people who mainly used elemental magic, so he could attack with ease.

‘Let’s see.’

Heint sprinkled light on his palm.

When light and magic met, the magic was briefly distorted.

Because of this power, he first infiltrated Luminos’ hideout with a few subordinates.

He got rid of the defensive magic circle, and the rest of his subordinates were looking for a magic wall through the light he had scattered.

‘There’s no magic wall around here.’

Even though he reached the end of the corridor, there was no sign of magic.

“Captain, I found it.”

Even before he heard his subordinates’ voices, Heint was already turning his back.

“I’ll be right there.”

Heint followed his men to the magic wall.

On the way, he belatedly realized the presence of attackers and moved forward while cutting down the rampaging wizards.

“Here it is.”

A subordinate pointed to a wall stained with blood.

Without hesitation, Heint sprayed light on the wall.

When the wall was shaken because of the light, Heint put the light into his hand and touched the wall.

As he gradually increased the light temperature, the magic broke with a ‘thud’.

Heint drew his sword again when a room was revealed through the disappearing wall.

“Charge.”

The faces of the wizards in the room turned pale at his word.

“I-I hope you match the gestures… Ugh!”

The knights’ swords cut the wizards faster than the wizards chanting their spells.

Flutter!

However, a flame from a wizard’s hand quickly turned into a bird and tried to attack Heint.

Anyone could see that he was the leader.

Heint did not panic and reached out his hand that was wrapped with light.

Light with a temperature higher than that of a flame brutally chewed it up and swallowed it.

Crack.

“T-The power of light?”

The wizard who fired the magic was taken aback.

He’d never seen such an aggressive light.

The moment Heint put light on his leg, he bounced like a spring and arrived in front of the wizard.

It was a technique that took advantage of the fact that light was the fastest among mana and darkness.

At the same speed, Heint cut off the black wizard’s head.

Roll.

The head flew off and hit the wall and then rolled on the floor.

That guy was the last wizard in the room.

Heint put down his sword and examined the wizards’ bodies.

Looking at the wizards who died holding a piece of paper in their arms,  he knew that this place was the core of Luminos.

“Watch out for the surroundings.”

“Understood, Captain.”

With that answer, the knights left the room.

First of all, Heint looked at a desk full of scattered papers.

It was mainly filled with documents related to magic, spells, and magic circles.

‘…?’

While looking at the papers, Heint found a paper with a strange pattern on it.

‘…A crow pattern?’

Heint read the content.

– It’s a misunderstanding. We didn’t even know where Lucion Cronia was headed, not to mention the carriage he was in. I think someone is trying to interfere with us. As an apology, I will send you Lucion Cronia’s information that we know.

‘Lucion?’

Heint’s face crumpled.

He didn’t know what happened between Luminos and the group with a crow pattern, but the two groups made a deal over Lucion.

‘Like His Majesty and Carson were worried about, the people who are aiming for Lucion are starting to appear.’

Heint sighed briefly.

* * *

[Lord Lucion. I think it would have been better to stay there a little longer…]

After Lucion used the shadow movement, Bethel opened her mouth with a disappointed look.

“For what?”

Lucion reacted bluntly.

The business was already over, was there a need to be more friendly?

[It’s your organization.]

Russell also helped.

Even if Lucion didn’t like it, it was true that he needed to interact with the members as long as he was part of the organization.

At his words, Lucion flinched while taking off his mask.

“I’ll do it later.”

Seeing Lucion covered in sweat, Hume handed him a handkerchief and water.

“You’ve worked hard, Young Master.”

“It was a bit hard because of the light, but it wasn’t really hard work.”

As Lucion wiped his sweat, he took off his gloves and looked at the back of his hand where negative numbers appeared.

It was the effect of the earrings that Russell gave him.

The hands of the clock didn’t change much from before, so Lucion let out a short breath.

“Is there something wrong?”

Hume looked at the back of Lucion’s hand.

“No.”

Lucion drank water.

He still felt sick, so he reached out to Hume and asked for a handkerchief just in case.

“Are you not feeling well?”

Hume asked anxiously.

“Yeah. If I use shadow movement again, I think I’ll bleed again. The light was a little strong.”

―How can Ratta treat allergies? Should Ratta ask Uncle Troy?

Ratta stared at Lucion as she mentioned Troy, the divine beast of light.

[Hmm.]

Russell let out a long breath.

[I don’t think it’s the allergy, seeing as you’ve developed resistance to light. But when I look at your symptoms, it seems you still have it. It’s very vague.]

When he didn’t have light resistance, it was natural for Lucion to feel pain or suffer side effects since the darkness died when exposed to light.

However, Lucion’s light resistance was already about five out of 20.

It would be normal for side effects to be reduced, but the resistance didn’t work properly like water flowing through broken bowls.

“Still, I live better than before.”

[That’s true. It’s better than nothing.]

Russell nodded and replied awkwardly.

“I should go home now.”

Lucion looked at the sunset sky.

Crips.

At that time, a red thread that was connected to him was cut off.

The six blue threads were the six branches created by the Kingdom of Nevast in the Tesla Empire.

The three red threads were Heint, the main character of the novel ‘The Grasp of Darkness’.

The final boss of ‘The Grasp of Darkness’.

And Luminos.

The corner of Lucion’s mouth went up.

It was obvious at this point which thread was cut off.