CH 127

[It’s very natural for me to do it now.]

Lucion’s smile lengthened as Russell snorted.

“It’s because of my mood. Since Bethel is gone, Teacher is the only person I can ask.”

[It’s a good thing that you’re good at talking.]

“Yes. I’m glad I am good at talking.”

Russell’s eyebrows twitched.

[Is it for surveillance? Or is it for when you come back?]

“Both.”

Lucion answered then he took the mask out of his arms and put it on.

Ratta’s ears perked up.

―Are we moving now? Should Ratta get ready?

“No, I’m still playing. I need to contact Kran to make arrangements.”

―Then Ratta will go to Hume and let him know! But you’re fine with it, right?

“Yeah. Do you want me to open the door?”

As Lucion tried to bring out the darkness, Ratta lifted one of her paws and waved it for Lucion to see.

―No, Ratta can do it. Ratta has grown up!

Lucion bit his lips tightly to suppress a burst of laughter.

Ratta went to the door, jumped up, and clung to the doorknob.

She shook her body at the same time and the door opened.

―Tada! Ratta will be right back!

Ratta ran excitedly using her tail as a propeller.

―Ah. Don’t forget to close it. Ratta, keep it together.

Thud.

With the perfect finish, Lucion burst into laughter and wore the mask.

[Lucion.]

“Yes.”

Lucion, who was about to use the contact item, stopped.

‘Are you going to tell me why you lost your memory?’

Even though he purposefully didn’t make it obvious, the fact that Russell had lost his memory was still bothering him.

[When you get the black orb, did you see something like hallucinations or illusions?]

“What are you talking about?”

[You said that Broson has a black orb.]

“Yes, that’s right.”

[Seeing that the prince of Myronist Kingdom also has a black orb, it’s almost certain that the orb only reacts to you, right?]

Leaving everything aside, that one fact was very strange to Russell.

Why is it only reacting to Lucion?

Lucion took off his mask and let out a deep sigh.

“Apart from the fact that the black orb made me grow, I want to know that too.”

A missing part of a novel.

A black orb that responded only to him.

The reason why he was called a broken vessel.

Thinking that it was not worth being brought up now that he didn’t know anything yet, Lucion buried all these facts deeply again.

[So you’re wondering about it too…]

Russell sighed deeply.

“Are you making any progress?”

[Yeah. I feel like dying.]

Lucion snickered and put his mask back on.

“Kran.”

Lucion spoke out, using the contact item.

<Yes! Hamel-nim!>

Kran replied in a very welcoming voice.

“I’ll be at the branch in an hour, so get ready.”

<Okay. I’ll move right away. Excuse me, Hamel-nim.>

“What is it?”

<I didn’t get a call earlier, is there a problem?>

“Oh. I have a little business to attend to.”

<…>

All of a sudden, Kran became silent.

“What’s the matter?”

<Did you have a hard time?>

“See you later.”

Thud.

Lucion cut off the contact item when Kran started saying strange things again.

Taking off his mask, Lucion looked at the contact item with an expression of miscomprehend, but he soon raised the corners of his mouth when he saw the ghost that Russell had caught.

At once, he grabbed the ghost’s head and spoke, letting the darkness flow.

“Will you obey me?”

* * *

Shaa.

Darkness appeared in the middle of a house’s living room.

There was less darkness fluttering than before, but it was still noticeable.

―Ratta worked harder this time. Darkness also listened to Ratta this time. How was it?

[It’s much better.]

―Whoo. Ratta has grown up!

Listening to Ratta and Russell, Lucion didn’t say anything, but he quickly sent darkness around the house.

[Oh! I can see the results of the training. It’s 0.5 seconds faster than before.]

Russell nodded his head in pride as he looked at Lucion’s darkness in the house.

[I’ve confirmed that no one has gone out.]

Bethel approached Lucion and informed him of the situation.

‘It’s perfect.’

Lucion felt the corners of his mouth rise.

It was very funny to see that even though more than a week had passed since the destruction of report point number 2, report point number 3 was still crowded with people.

“I-It’s a warlock!”

At the belated shout, Lucion nodded his head.

“That’s right. I am a warlock.”

There was nothing more they should know or needed to know here.

Clang!

That person flew away and hit the wall with Hume’s fist.

If it weren’t for the darkness surrounding Lucion himself, he would have been pinned to the wall.

Lucion yawned behind Hume and looked around.

There might be something he could pick up.

[Lord Lucion.]

Bethel stood behind one of the men in the back and pointed.

[He’s holding the papers.]

Lucion’s gaze turned to him.

Tak. Tak.

He heard the sound of a magic item being used as if something was hurriedly being burned in a hurry.

Lucion stretched out the darkness and moved it among the people, stealing magic items and papers from their hands as if extorting them.

“Take them away now!”

The man who had the paper stolen hurriedly shouted, but Lucion calmly read the text.

-Lucion Cronia will arrive in the South soon. Support is in place at the branch, so assemble a team to follow.

‘It’s a recent letter, perhaps from yesterday evening or this morning.’

Lucion looked at Bethel and let out a bright voice.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I found a good piece of evidence.”

He had Hume with him.

He didn’t know who sent this letter, but it was obvious who could be near him yesterday and today.

Knights and servants of Cronia.

And the Imperial Knights.

Except for Cronia, who had already dealt with all the spies, who would be left?

‘…Even the Imperial Knights have a lot of problems.’

[I’m glad it helped.]

Bethel smiled and turned around when she realized the noises had stopped.

[It’s already organized.]

“It’s over, Young Master.”

Hume wiped the blood off his shoes and approached Lucion.

―Huft. Now it’s time for Ratta to move.

Ratta stepped out of the shadows and smiled bashfully.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

While Ratta summoned the ghosts from the corpses, Hume removed Lucion’s mask and placed a hand on his forehead.

“As expected, you have a fever. Would you like a fever medicine?”

“Yes.”

Lucion raised the corners of his mouth.

“Are you all right? …You haven’t been feeling well lately.”

Hume asked anxiously.

“How can there be no cost to gaining power?”

Lucion took the fever medicine from Hume in a calm voice and put on the mask again.

“Remember the smell of cuts here.”

When Lucion held out the paper, Hume paused and he opened his mouth.

“There was a member of the Imperial Knights who had this smell.”

Lucion was rather disconcerted when he realized that the culprit was an Imperial Knight.

[We’re dealing with an Imperial Knight? That evened things out.]

Russell uttered in an exasperated voice and let out a few empty laughs.

“You’ve remembered all the smells?”

“Yes. I’ve remembered all the smells in case it would be helpful to you.”

At Lucion’s voice mixed with fluster, Hume smiled proudly.

It was a pure smile.

“If possible I hope the handwriting is the same.”

Lucion’s mask turned yellow.

* * *

“You’re here?”

Lucion looked to his right when he heard Quate’s voice.

The black smoke that surrounded Lucion’s body disappeared.

“Yes. I am not late, aren’t I?”

“You came sooner than expected.”

In the South, there were a total of six branches created by Neubra. He had arrived at one of them.

Lucion looked at the branch disguised as a weapon store.

“How’s it going?”

He asked while following Quate.

“We checked the location of the place that was said to be underground.”

“Yes. Didn’t Heroan already say that?”

What Herodian found out was what could threaten them and the fact that there was a certain place inside.

It was Quate’s job to find out what existed inside.

“So?”

Lucion asked, looking at Quate.

Quate’s eyes widened at the strange pressure.

“I’m just asking, so you don’t have to feel pressured.”

Lucion noticed the ferocity in his voice and laughed lightly.

“More importantly… I didn’t find out anything because I didn’t have time. I am sorry.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize. Then, I’ll look into the underground location. You go first, I will follow you.”

Lucion sent Quate first.

The lack of information was not due to Quate’s lack of skills.

As he said, time was running out.

[I can catch one, right?]

Lucion giggled and nodded to Russell’s question.

“Yes, I am counting on you. I can only use shadow movement to escape.”

[Then I’ll go look around the basement.]

“Take it easy. For details, you can ask the ghosts living around here.”

Lucion watched with satisfaction at Russell and Bethel who were moving along, then turned to the branch.

The six branches had nothing to do with the organization, they were only his and Peter’s business, but he drew members of the organization into this.

It was because he was confident that this would definitely help the growth of the organization, regardless of his personal work.

It took an enormous amount of time to take root in a country.

However, the organization had to grow quickly and be strong at the same time, so the only way was to reap those that had already taken root.

Only six branches had met the conditions so far.

It was a place that the Empire hadn’t noticed until now, and that Neubra had worked hard to create.

Of course, he had to get his hands on it.

‘…And once I get them, I have to take responsibility.’

Lucion caught his breath.

His breath felt hot because of the fever.

―Lucion?

Ratta, who was closest to Lucion, asked him, poking her head out of the shadow.

―Does it hurt?

“No. It’s all right.”

Apart from his body that felt heavy due to the fever, his mind was clear.

[I got one.]

With a gruff voice, a ghost was caught in Russell’s grasp.

Lucion immediately grabbed the ghost’s head.

He could feel the ghost’s tremor in his palm.

“Will you obey me?”

―Obey him!

As he breathed darkness into the ghost, Ratta’s excited voice followed.

* * *

“Here you are, Mr. Hamel.”

Kran grinned, and as soon as Peter saw Lucion, he pressed his hood down deeply and became restless.

When Lucion turned his gaze to Peter, his body stiffened slightly.

Something translucent was wrapped around his neck.

[It’s a black magic trick for pursuit. As for the black magic’s trigger, I guess there’s a ghost nearby that the warlock dominated? Ah, there it is.]

Russell snapped his finger.

Thud.

A ghost appeared near Peter.

Lucion looked at the ghost naturally because he was wearing a mask.

There was a sign on the ghost’s face indicating that they had been dominated by a warlock.

“Yes. I’m late. Oh,  it’s good to see you, Mr. Reint.”

Lucion pressed down his bewilderment and greeted Reint, who was guarding the perimeter like a guard following Kran.

“It’s good to see you too. I would like to apologize again for my rudeness last time.”

Reint strode up to Lucion and bowed his head immediately.

“There’s no need for apologies. You couldn’t help it because of the situation. How are you feeling?”

Considering that he would become the main force of the organization in the future, Lucion really liked Reint.

“My body is fine now because Mr. Kran asked the priest to help.”

“Isn’t it hard to get used to it?”

Lucion let out a voice mixed with laughter.

“Well… First of all, I’m adjusting. Obviously, there’s the organization as well, but I am feeling a lot of things.”

“Please excuse Mr. Heroan. That’s just the way he is.”

When Lucion thought about who would bother Reint the most, Heroan came to mind immediately.

The eye patch Reint was wearing strangely stood out.

Pfft.

It was definitely Quate’s voice, but his expression was steady.

―Quate laughed. Oooh.

Ratta was surprised.

“…How did you know?”

Reint opened his eyes wide.

“Because there are a lot of victims. I think the person who’s having it the hardest is Mr. Quate.”

Lucion snickered at Quate.

“But you’ll get used to it. You’ll get along with him.”

Reint said, straining his eyes.

“Of course, I’ll do my job properly today. For the people who gave me the opportunity.”

It was as if passion and determination were engraved in Reint’s eyes.

The words ‘You don’t have to do that’ remained only in Lucion’s mouth.

“Yes. Be strong.”

Lucion approached Peter, who was conscious of him all along.

“Follow me.”

After going to the right place, Lucion handed Peter the contact item first.

“Take it.”

Peter wordlessly put the contact item into his pocket.

“You said you had something to say? I have some time, so try it.”

Lucion looked at him with his arms crossed.

The ghost around Peter was what he should deal with next.