Chapter 79

Misunderstanding

The Visters who had tried to shank me earlier, only to get themselves killed, had belonged to the Black Grasp.

“I had a little run-in with the Black Grasp.”

I told them about what had actually happened earlier. Since it was a real incident, nothing about it should seem strange. Reprisals like this were commonplace in the lawless city, after all. Besides, they firmly believed I was Avarus.

“I dealt with them. Though it caused something of a disturbance.”

I gestured at the scene of apparent carnage. Most of the blood and flesh was mine, but some of Isolde’s was mixed in here and there. The Acatas took one look at the carnage and the utterly devastated alley and its surroundings.

“J-just as we’d expect...!”

“As expected of the Executor!”

“Truly worthy of one granted a true name by the Great One!”

Their eyes shone behind their masks.

“From the look of this, you must have wasted a hundred or so.”

“A hundred Black Grasp Visters? Not just any Visters?”

“They’re certainly no pushovers...”

“And while using Transmog?!”

Their fussing almost rivaled the translucent messages.

‘Did I scatter too much?’

It did feel as though I might have overdone it.

Perhaps that was why.

“““You truly are incredible!”””

The Acatas had gone beyond trusting me completely. Now they were practically worshipping me.

* * *

Shadow Alley.

This was where covert commissions changed hands: espionage jobs, trades in the kingdoms’ secrets, and assassination contracts. It was the darkest, most secretive place in Violess.

As I stepped into Shadow Alley, the first thing to greet me was a maze of crisscrossing paths. Dust and rubbish covered the ground, and damp and mold coated the walls. Even the magic lamps were barely functional, flickering weakly and leaving most of the alley submerged in utter darkness.

In one corner, people in black cloaks were conducting a transaction in hushed voices. They flinched at my approach, their eyes full of suspicion and wariness as they turned toward me.

Ignoring them, I ventured farther in and picked up an unusual presence—one deliberately making itself known. Sure enough, I found Isolde in her white deer mask against a wall covered in strange graffiti.

She was still dressed exactly as she had been after our fight. Had she lacked the time or opportunity to change?

‘Looks like she’s already had another fight.’

Five or six men lay around her, beaten to bloody pulps. From the look of things, they had tried to assault her. It was a common occurrence in the lawless city.

I took a sack that had held gold coins out of my Inventory. With Dragon’s Claw[A], I cut it into a makeshift cloak that would cover her body. But when I offered it to her, she simply stared at me without taking it.

Her yellow eyes, like topaz, peered out from behind her mask. Apparently, she still suspected me.

“As you saw earlier, I’m not a member of the Dark Merchant Company. Quite the opposite—we’re enemies.”

Isolde gave no answer. Then, abruptly—

CLICK.

She removed her white deer mask, gradually revealing her face.

Platinum-blond hair that glowed softly even in the deep darkness. Lips as soft as roses, tinted the pale pink of tulips. Ivory skin, fine and pure as a lily. Perfect features, as though delicately sculpted. Her unreadable expression was as cold as ice.

Then as now, her beauty was unquestionably unrivaled. No, more than unrivaled—it was overwhelming.

That was only natural. Isolde was the Saintess, God’s representative. How could the representative of a supreme, immortal being be ugly? As the sole recipient of her followers’ faith, she possessed the most perfect beauty humans could envision. Divine power, the ultimate aura, had “sculpted” her into that beauty.

Moreover, divine power was a manifestation of [Collective Imagination]. Thus, her beauty transcended even people’s differing subjective standards. Anyone would be captivated by her appearance—or, if not captivated, almost certainly find her appealing. It even transcended race. The lycanthrope hadn’t become obsessed with her for nothing.

In that sense, it wasn’t as if I found her looks unappealing, either. But that didn’t mean I harbored any other feelings for her. For one thing, she was my superior. Not my direct superior, but as commander of Divine Command, she had vastly outranked me.

More importantly, she was the woman Ian had liked. Simply put, my direct superior’s woman. And my friend’s woman. Though she had rejected him before they ever got together.

As I regarded her impassively, Isolde bowed her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“I thought you were an officer of the Dark Merchant Company.”

So my guess had been right. But if she was apologizing now, that meant...

“Does that mean you believe I’m not a member of the Dark Merchant Company now?”

“Yes.”

She answered without hesitation.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected her to believe me so easily. I’d thought I would have to keep presenting evidence and arguing my case, but she had readily accepted my word. It was somewhat unexpected, but it made this conversation easier.

“Then I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

“Go ahead.”

She made it clear she was willing to answer whatever I asked.

* * *

A few questions gave me all the answers: why Isolde was here, why she had misunderstood who I was, and why she had tried to kill me.

‘To think the rumors about monster meat have already reached the Holy Kingdom.’

They had reached Isolde’s ears instead of Ian’s. But that wasn’t a bad thing. After all, they had brought me face-to-face with Isolde, a princess of the Holy Kingdom who was far from easy to meet. In other words, the Predator Merchant Company strategy was working exactly as intended.

“By the way, did you come to the lawless city alone?”

“Yes.”

I’d expected as much, but actually hearing it left me incredulous. For a woman to come alone to this perilous lawless city, where even adventurers wouldn’t set foot, was madness. Of course, Isolde wasn’t an ordinary woman. Still, she was a princess of the Holy Kingdom. Someone of such exalted status traveling alone? It was terribly reckless, but...

‘She hasn’t changed a bit.’

That was the kind of hero Isolde was. Whenever something seemed dangerous, she stepped in to handle it herself.

The reason was that she trusted no one but herself. Or rather, instead of distrusting others, she regarded them as people she needed to shelter. She was both princess and Saintess of the Holy Kingdom, God’s representative, bearing the faith and wishes of countless subjects.

Since childhood... no, since birth, she had shouldered people’s expectations and hopes. And so she never allowed herself a moment of weakness or doubt. She sought to sacrifice herself to protect others, believing it was the very reason she existed. A hero who quietly endured even loneliness and solitude, never revealing her suffering.

‘That’s why Ian liked her.’

It was also why she had rejected him. Isolde never leaned on or relied upon anyone else.

Omni Vessel[M].

In another sense, it was a vessel that bore the burden of everything.

In any case, she was no different from the Isolde I remembered, in any respect. At this point in time, I was the wastrel of a count’s house, but Isolde was simply Isolde. And that gave me a good idea.

“I understand how you could have misunderstood the situation, but that doesn’t change the fact that I genuinely almost died.”

“I’m truly sorry.”

She bowed her head again.

Her expression hardly changed, but I could tell she meant it.

‘This is a little disconcerting.’

It really threw me off.

A heartfelt apology from Isolde was something I’d never received even in the allied army. An apology from that taciturn commander of Divine Command, no less. I was quite taken aback. Part of me wondered whether I should even be doing this.

Still, I shook my head. Rank aside, she had unquestionably been in the wrong to try to kill me out of the blue.

“If you do me one favor, I’m willing to put this behind us.”

“I’ll do anything within my power.”

She answered without a moment’s hesitation. She acknowledged her own wrongdoing, too. And she really would do anything I asked, so long as she could.

“Let’s get changed first.”

I draped the cloak around her and set off.

* * *

While buying clothes for Isolde, I picked some up for myself as well. Just as her divine power couldn’t restore clothing, my Regeneration[B+] couldn’t do anything about mine.

And since I was buying them anyway, I stocked up on several hundred outfits. Thanks to the Infinite Inventory, storage was no issue, so I would have plenty of changes of clothes for the future.

“Let’s change your mask, too.”

Isolde’s looks attracted so much attention that a mask was essential. But although her white deer mask hid her face, it stood out in its own way. So the mask I picked for her was... an ogre mask. It suited her remarkably well.

She put on the ogre mask without complaint and went straight to the point.

“What is the favor you’d like to ask of me?”

The more I saw of her, the more she seemed exactly as she had in the allied army. I began walking slowly, and she followed close behind me like a duckling.

“How much do you know about the Ashen Mask in the black market?”

“I know they’re a Vister group belonging to the Dark Merchant Company.”

But it seemed she didn’t know what the Dark Merchant Company truly was. That made sense. I had been the one to uncover its true identity back in the allied army. It would have been stranger if she knew at this point.

“Then do you know why the Dark Merchant Company created a Vister group called the Ashen Mask?”

“Wasn’t it to conceal their identity?”

Half right, half wrong.

“It was to foment chaos in Violess.”

“Chaos?”

“At present, no Vister group holds complete control over Violess. As close as it gets, power is divided between two groups—”

“You mean the Crimson Soiree and the Black Grasp?”

“Exactly.”

The Crimson Soiree of the red-light district. The Black Grasp of the gambling district.

“But the Dark Merchant Company—or rather, the black market’s Ashen Mask—never enters the discussion. Even though they could take control of Violess whenever they wished.”

“You mean...?”

“Yes. They’re deliberately staying out of it.”

And the reason was simple.

“Because war is the best business there is.”

A free city had no absolute authority such as a monarch or a territorial lord. In the lawless city of Violess, in particular, force was absolute power. Anyone with sufficient force could seize control. And so, with no absolute authority ruling Violess...

“It creates a situation where countless Visters step forward to become the masters of Violess.”

It was like a mountain range without an ogre, where orcs, goblins, kobolds, gnolls, and every other minor monster vied to become its master. As a result, every day in Violess was an unbroken succession of chaos.

Demand for illegal weapons, drugs, information, supplies, and the like skyrocketed. The Dark Merchant Company supplied them, generating enormous profits.

“They deliberately create a power vacuum to encourage fighting between the Vister groups.”

They provoked endless conflict. Power struggles broke out practically every day. The Vister bastards exploited the innocent poor. Unable to bear that exploitation, the poor joined the Vister groups themselves. And the endless conflict began anew. That vicious cycle, repeated over and over, had created the Violess of today.

From a greedy marquisate, to land held by mercenaries who had risen in revolt, to the city of criminals it was today. Behind it all stood the Dark Merchant Company. In other words, the Devotees of the Fallen Souls.

For that reason, one particular Vister group gaining too much power was not what the Dark Merchant Company wanted. But...

“The reason they leave the Crimson Soiree in the red-light district alone is simple.”

Noble daughters the Dark Merchant Company had abducted from the kingdoms. Girls sold off because they couldn’t repay usurious loans. Women afflicted with curses, and so on.

“They make a considerable profit by selling those women and girls to the red-light district.”

“Then what about the Black Grasp in the gambling district...?”

“They need to create an environment where wealth can’t accumulate in Violess.”

The Dark Merchant Company was the hidden hand manipulating it all. And not just Violess. They manipulated the kingdoms and the entire continent this way. Later, when the Emperor invaded, that had played a decisive role in the continent’s sudden collapse.

Just one year. That was all it had taken for every kingdom and city on the continent to vanish from the map.

Thus, Violess’s black market had to be destroyed. But that was easier said than done. Violess was an important base for the Dark Merchant Company, and its security and defenses were correspondingly thorough. No matter what, I couldn’t fight the entire Dark Merchant Company alone.

My original plan had therefore been to inflict some damage and withdraw. I’d intended to begin operating in earnest after joining up with Ian, but...

“The favor I’d like to ask of you, Lady Isolde, is simple.”

Isolde, a hero of the allied army. Though she fell short of Ian, she was the greatest fighting force the allied army had.

When I stopped walking, she stopped in step with me and looked up. Meeting her gaze, I spoke.

“First, the destruction of the black market.”

And ultimately...

“I’d like your help in bringing down Violess.”

Behind her mask, her yellow eyes took on an unusual gleam. That topaz gaze looked somewhat surprised.

“What is it?”

“To be honest, I thought you’d ask for something else.”

“Something else?”

She stared at me without saying anything more. But considering my reputation as the wastrel of a count’s house, I could more or less guess.

“And would you have agreed?”

“Not to going all the way.”

What the hell was she talking about?

“Don’t say that, even as a joke.”

“I’m not joking.”

“...”

“I did try to kill you without warning.”

“It was a misunderstanding.”

“From my perspective. To the person on the receiving end, that’s just an excuse.”

... Honestly.

“But will the two of us be enough?”

She sounded somewhat concerned. As she implied, taking on the Dark Merchant Company was no easy feat. If it were, she would have already gone on a rampage long ago.

“Don’t worry about that.”

But there wasn’t much to worry about.

“Just as you did, they’ve mistaken me for an officer of the Dark Merchant Company.”

The Dark Merchant Company firmly believed I was Avarus. By now, they had gone beyond believing in me to practically worshipping me. And as Chief of Covert Operations in the special warfare unit, I had carried out countless covert operations, including special warfare missions and espionage.

“You’ll shake up the black market from outside. I’ll disrupt the Dark Merchant Company from within.”

Disruption operations were my specialty. Once the entire black market began to falter...

“Every Vister in Violess will make a move, including the Crimson Soiree and the Black Grasp.”

“...?”

“If they can get their hands on the black market, seizing absolute control over Violess will be child’s play.”

“... Ah.”

She let out a quiet exclamation, as though she finally understood. Her mask hid her face, but I imagined her lips had parted slightly.

“Well? Care to stir up some trouble with me?”

Behind her mask, her yellow eyes sparkled.

“I believe I’ve already given you my answer.”

CRACK!

She clenched her gauntleted fist.

“I said I’d do anything within my power.”

Then she seemed to vanish before my eyes.

KABOOOOOM!

A massive explosion erupted in the distant black market.

WEEEEOOO! WEEEEEOOO!

A deafening intruder alarm followed.

Magical barriers activated all around, and unidentified spells came flying. But Isolde didn’t give a damn about barriers or anything else.

BOOM! KA-BOOM!

She simply smashed through everything, charging furiously into the black market.

... She was an ogre, through and through. Since she happened to be wearing an ogre mask, she really did look just like one. Though, in truth, she was a little less monstrous than an ogre.

“You haven’t changed at all.”

And that was when it happened.

◆Starting Hidden Quest [What a Fine Day to Stir Up Trouble].

A message announcing a hidden quest appeared before my eyes.