Chapter 118
I hated everything.
I couldn't understand any of the situations surrounding me, and I just continued wandering in the winter where snow was falling.
In those days, I was like an extra on a broken stage.
What should I live for?
I didn't know.
There was nothing I had to protect, and nothing I wanted to protect.
So I just repeated self-destructive days and wandered mindlessly through the snow-covered fields.
"Haa, haa..."
That day was the same.
I was covered in bright red blood from head to toe.
My body was so tattered it was indistinguishable from a corpse.
A trail dragging along the ground.
Leaving long traces of blood behind, I pushed through the blizzard with mechanical steps.
What I discovered at the end of that process was a silver-haired girl.
"...So you were in a place like this."
A calmly offered word.
On that day, for the first time.
I gained one reason to live.
***
Air flowing coldly.
The atmosphere that had been noisy until just before sank gloomily, and at the end, only the snake and monarch continued their confrontation.
Two thrones, white and black respectively, formed a contrast of light and dark.
We maintained silence.
The one who opened his mouth first was none other than the old man.
"Doesn't it remind you of old times?"
Eyes sinking.
The old voice muttered as if reminiscing.
"We were glaring at each other like this that day too... The day you destroyed my kingdom."
Perhaps he was overlapping the past.
As I quietly chewed over the sentences the old man pronounced, suddenly faded memories brushed my vision too.
Those memories contained a particularly cold winter day.
The monarch smiled intently.
"It's already been 3 years."
"......"
"I miss those times sometimes."
"Let's cut to the chase and just state your business briefly."
"My... how cold."
I didn't let my guard down.
Though the old man was smiling glibly on the outside, hundreds of vipers were writhing inside him.
The one sitting before my eyes was the leader who had ruled the underworld.
On the other hand, he was also the only person who nearly killed me throughout the past 4 years.
As such, it was inevitable that my nerves became sharp.
My gaze cooled coldly.
"I'm sick of your cunning tongue."
"Is a snake criticizing cunning?"
"I learned that sometimes there are people more snake-like than snakes."
He probably wouldn't say he didn't know.
Because you were the very one who made me realize that.
I said.
"Anyway... I'd like to start with the main point."
"If that's what you want."
The old man shrugged his shoulders.
His voice that had been stalling for a moment soon began the full-fledged conversation.
"The atmosphere in the empire these days is not normal."
"To be precise?"
"Like dawn before a storm... It looks more peaceful than ever on the surface, but in reality, disaster is approaching."
"It means something huge is ahead, surely."
"I've already caught signs here and there."
"Signs, huh."
It seemed my interest was leaning.
The original story's plot was getting on track anyway.
Whether I liked it or not, the continent was scheduled to face upheaval.
I remembered most events through my past life, but I couldn't be certain of the future as I had meddled with quite a lot of the past.
Only then did I listen and request additional explanation.
The old man continued speaking.
"The side we should pay attention to first is... the businessman, of course."
The businessman.
One of the representative villains of the original work.
According to records, he was one of the continent's richest men, and a villain who committed all sorts of dirty deeds with that enormous wealth.
He was also an object of revenge for the fox who had lost everyone including her master.
"His movements are not normal."
"That's unexpected."
The businessman hadn't shown any particular movements until now.
Except for the attempt to join hands with the monarch a few months ago, which was thwarted by my intervention.
I remember the businessman and monarch completely turned against each other after that time.
The old man lowered his gaze.
"It seems... he's joined hands with the heretics."
"You mean Baob?"
"Who else could it be?"
"That's strange. I thought their interests didn't align. Hasn't the businessman's side already rejected cooperation proposals several times?"
"He refused saying he didn't want to get involved in fishy deals."
"Then why did he accept the proposal now?"
"His feet must be on fire."
Feet on fire.
The monarch pointed at this side with his finger.
"Thanks to you interfering, his business was completely crushed."
"By interfering... you mean the incident a few months ago."
"Originally we were going to make a deal. He asked to be put in line for the kingdom's drug cartel in exchange for offering funds."
"You would have accepted, of course. If it was you."
"There was no reason to refuse a profitable deal for this side. Anyway, we were going to receive high-class slaves, drugs piled in boxes, and various luxury goods as a down payment. It would have filled that huge ship, so he must have pushed himself."
"And I intercepted that ship."
"Exactly."
It felt like the puzzle was finally coming together.
A ship the size of a soccer field was moving for mere cooperation, hounds were waiting inside, and even Myeong, the kingdom's greatest force, was on standby.
At the time it felt excessive, but.
Hearing the story, it was worth investing in.
The old man burst into laughter as if purely enjoying himself.
"Keukeuk... Who would have known you'd even take the ship so thoroughly."
"It looked quite usable."
"Thanks to that, we're just receiving needless hatred. He still doesn't know you were involved in this incident."
"He probably thinks it was betrayal carried out unilaterally by Darkness or you."
"I already have many enemies so it doesn't matter... but where did you divert that huge ship and supplies?"
"They're mine now."
"Of course."
The old man nodded.
I briefly summarized the story and asked about the most important part.
"Well... I understand the general justification. As a businessman, he would have wanted to make up for his losses. It just so happened that the heretics' proposal fit that situation."
"He was a man with ambition from the start."
"It seems the heretics' side dug into the timing and conditions well."
"Even rat bastards have their cunning sides."
"So far this was about the circumstances... Do you have concrete evidence proving their contact?"
"I knew you would check that first."
"Because the other person is someone I can't trust at all."
"Keukeuk... take this."
Thud-.
An envelope suddenly falling from midair.
It was in a thoroughly sealed state.
It was full of encrypted documents.
Roughly skimming through, it recorded the businessman's fund movements, recent movements of black magicians, and other detailed elements.
The old man jerked his chin.
"You'll understand if you look through them in order. About the reason I drew that conclusion."
"I'll check later."
I threw the file into the shadows.
The fog spread around, sucked in the envelope like a subspace and disappeared.
The old man who had been waiting until then soon resumed the conversation.
"Then... shall we move on to the next matter."
The conversation continued for a while.
Though it was a short time, I could hear quite nutritious information.
For example,
The Beniti dukedom's signs looked suspicious, or news that the church was also gradually recognizing the emergence of heretics.
Additionally, there was a warning that there might be a traitor in the academy.
It seemed they had found traces of collusion in the process of tracking black magicians.
I listened calmly.
Like that.
After that, the conversation continued for hours.
I was able to wrap up the conversation only after putting a few more documents into the shadows.
The old man asked casually with a glib smile.
"How was it? Was it somewhat helpful?"
It was difficult to deny.
Though I didn't like his expression that seemed to be subtly showing off, I had no intention of acting childishly in this aspect.
I nodded plainly.
"It was helpful."
"I'm glad."
"But... I hope you won't catch the eyes of people around me from now on. If you have business, let's talk directly."
"You're the only one who treats me so coldly."
"There won't be a second warning."
"No second warning means?"
"I'll have to end your breath."
"You can't kill me."
The monarch struck back glibly.
A glib smile was spreading on his old mouth corners.
That was.
"That's because."
A smile of an ugly adult I had forgotten about living.
"I'm still a person you need."
Irreplaceable parts aren't easily discarded.
Whether I liked it or not, the old man was such a part.
The most unpleasant card among the cards in my hand, but at the same time the most capable and versatile card.
The reason I had kept him alive until now was also the same.
In short, he was 'necessary'.
It was a world that put different values on lives.
The snake and old man calculated each other's value.
-This is a deal.
At the moment the war full of bloodshed ended.
I didn't kill the monarch.
Instead, I gave him a certain role as the price.
The kingdom's huge drug cartel, influence reaching every corner of the continent, overwhelming military power comparable to a nation.
I ordered him to protect the empire's underworld using such power.
Heretics flourishing across the continent.
The reason they could be suppressed for the past 4 years was none other than because of the monarch's help.
Because his existence was unifying the continent's underworld.
"Isn't it too wasteful to discard such a card?"
"......"
This is why he was annoying.
The old man had a talent for confusing the other person's head.
The conversation continued precariously every time.
But
"I'll be getting up now."
I'm not swayed.
I had gone through too many things to be swayed by such wordplay.
My mind was cold without a trace of wavering.
As I calmly stood up from my seat, a voice smacking its lips regretfully was heard.
Yet the old man was wearing a satisfied smile.
"You won't even respond."
"It's a provocation I've experienced to the point of boredom already. Rather, I think it would be strange to react."
"Keukeuk... that part of you is truly interesting."
"Make sure to heed the warning."
"I can't ignore it when you call it a warning. I'll warn my servants separately too, so don't worry."
"I hope we'll meet in a peaceful atmosphere next time."
"I pray for that too."
Like that, as I was getting up and brushing off my seat.
A question the old man threw as if he suddenly remembered stuck in my ear.
It was words asking after someone.
"Oh right... is that child doing well?"
Halt.
I stopped in place.
It was a reflexive bodily reaction.
The old man continued speaking glibly regardless.
"I mean Neria."
"......"
"I wonder if she's living well after betraying her master and leaving."
"You'd better watch your words."
"If I don't... will you kill me?"
"It means don't cross the line as a mere part. I've just left you alone because it's bothersome, but I can still kill you anytime."
"Isn't that too sensitive a reaction for just asking after someone?"
"Ha."
Just.
If you remembered what you did to that child, you would understand the particularly cold reaction returning.
Cold gazes glared at each other.
"Was it a problem that I called her by name? Then I'll call her differently."
"I clearly said to be careful with your words..."
"Disloyalty."
"......"
An alias raising silence around.
For a brief moment.
The winter 4 years ago that was colder than any other winter quickly brushed past.
The name on the old man's lips remained like a scar.
'One who didn't offer, Disloyalty.'
It was the last person the monarch had made a royal guard, and the past days when she no longer remained by the tyrant's side.
At the same time, it was also a name I had saved with these hands.
Neria Lightni.
Called Disloyalty by the ghosts of the past.
It was the life of a girl who had to live forcibly until meeting me in this miserable world.
I released the killing intent I had suppressed.
The atmosphere in the area was pressed down by a suffocating current.
"Don't call our vice-commander... by such a name."
I muttered.
Only thickly settled murderous intent was exploding in it.