Chapter 51: Hidden Fangs

His hand, which had been mid-command, froze in place as his eyes widened. The owner of those eyes was Reton.

He had become my faithful servant through the Mana Oath. He didn’t have the luxury of worrying about his subordinates nearby.

“M-My… Lord. No, Boss!”

*Thud.*

He didn’t hesitate for a single moment to fall to his knees.

The surrounding Parakhos were shocked. Question marks seemed to be drawn in their eyes. They had no idea what was going on.

“W-What…?”

“Huh? Boss, what’s wrong?”

Reton was the only one who could resolve their curiosity. However, he had no intention of doing so. Instead, he barked out a command.

“What are you doing?! Down on your knees, now!”

“Huh? Boss… What do you mean, Boss? This is…”

“Now! Kneel!”

*Whoosh!*

‘Oh? It looks like he’s been training quite a bit. Did he get a hint from somewhere?’

The Mage’s powerful Mana swept through the surroundings.

It was a level of Mana sufficient to intimidate any ordinary person. Furthermore, anyone who knew Reton’s usual cruel personality would find it more than enough reason to kneel without another word.

No one else needed another reason, and no one dared to ask.

As if Reton’s trembling fear was contagious, they simply shook in terror without understanding why. Reton, who had discarded all his usual dignity, begged for my forgiveness while shivering.

“T-That… it wasn’t intentional. It was definitely not intentional! You know that, right? Would I ever dare?”

It wasn’t because of deep loyalty. It was because of the Mana Oath.

‘Naturally, any loyalty that wasn’t there before would be forced to sprout.’

‘Had he not promised to dedicate everything and swear his loyalty?’

What kind of loyalty involved pointing a sword at one’s Lord? Although he had drawn his blade out of ignorance, the result was that Reton had pointed a weapon at me.

His treatment would be decided based on how I chose to accept it.

That was why the oath was so terrifying.

‘Everything is decided at my whim.’

In a way, I held a truly fearsome weapon.

*Clap!*

I clapped my hands to refresh the atmosphere. Then, I spoke.

“Stand up. I did this to see how things were going. I wouldn’t punish you for something like this, would I?”

“……Thank you.”

Thank you, indeed. He was only doing this for his own life, but it didn’t matter.

Reton stood up hesitantly.

Seeing the shift in mood, the Parakhos tried to stand up with him.

“Don’t you dare!”

They froze.

They stopped involuntarily at the fierce glare Reton shot their way. It was quite an entertaining sight, but there was no need to drag it out.

“It’s been a while. Let’s talk.”

“Yes!”

Leaving the blank-faced Parakhos behind, I stepped deeper into the hideout with Reton.

We left the silent cavern and advanced for quite some time. Using my tracking skills to follow the trails, I didn’t even need Reton’s guidance.

‘I’ll just move toward the place with the most traces of people.’

The inside of the cavern was larger than expected. Various spaces revealed themselves along the continuous paths.

‘At least twenty people could sleep here. If they moved in shifts, forty more could live here.’

There were four living spaces alone for the Parakhos stationed here to guard the place. Even if we only counted forty people per room, it could easily house 160.

Occasionally, I saw traps designed to stop intruders. There were also quite a few facilities that could be used for defense in an emergency.

‘It’s practically a fortress. There are still quite a few hidden spaces. Hmm…’

It was designed so that one could move freely between hidden spaces during a defense. From an attacker’s perspective, traps and defensive facilities were densely packed to prevent easy advancement.

It was a place where one had to be careful with every single step.

There were several points where, if one advanced carelessly, they might be stabbed before they even realized it. It was a top-tier Underground Fortress that maximized the use of its small space.

“It looks like 200 more people could live here comfortably.”

“It was originally designed with that scale in mind. If it’s expanded further toward the back, 500 people could easily stay here.”

“Ho…”

500 people underground. If filled only with those who could serve as a fighting force, that was a significant number.

Such a fortress was located in none other than the Lower Class District. It meant it was inside the Outer City, even if it wasn’t in the Inner City. What if an enemy decided to move from a place like this?

‘If someone were to cause an act of terror here, it would be quite a headache.’

Even with the Knight Order and Guard Corps stationed in the Spiritual Land, they would inevitably struggle.

It was quite an impressive place.

If it were anyone other than Reton, who served me, I would have thought it needed to be destroyed immediately. They had done a good job creating such a place.

“This wasn’t here before. You built it in quite a short time.”

“I started construction as soon as I took control of the organization. The boys worked quite hard. And I also benefited from your grace, my Lord.”

“How?”

“To be precise, I observed how you utilized Dig and used it as a reference.”

“Ah. I see.”

It meant the scale was possible because it was built using Magic.

That was the same as saying there was someone capable of applying Magic to architecture.

‘There’s a pretty dangerous individual here.’

It was unexpected that there was someone among the Parakhos capable of designing such a fortress. Whether in the Central Plain or on Earth, defending a Spiritual Land required more than just military force.

Sometimes, a fortress like this was much better than 100 Knights.

The person who designed this was in Reton’s organization. If they fell into the hands of an enemy, they would be a source of trouble.

‘I have two choices. Either I take them for myself, or I eliminate them.’

“You were the one who executed it. But who designed it?”

“That… everything here belongs to you, my Lord, so I built it to protect it as much as possible. That is, well… there were various things happening…”

“Your excuses are long.”

Reton hesitated for a moment. When I asked again, he answered with a reluctant expression.

“I’m just curious about who it is. Who designed it? I want to see their face.”

“……I will lead you there immediately.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

I had come here to monitor Reton’s movements for the first time in a while.

Leading the Parakhos, he showed stronger organizational skills than I had expected—stronger than before. It meant his ability to control the group was superior to the former boss, Max.

The most important thing among his achievements was the fortress built to protect the organization. I had to see who had created results that exceeded my expectations.

The person who created those results was not far away.

Reton quickened his pace, saying the man was kept in the only cell provided at the innermost part of the cavern.

‘He probably didn’t expect to be trapped in a place he designed himself.’

I asked as we walked.

“How did you get him?”

“Max’s skills weren’t as good as yours, my Lord, but he was quite resourceful. Among the things he was involved in…”

“Just the key points.”

“Yes. Well, that is…”

The former boss, Max, whom I had killed, was not a simple fool who only swung a sword. He was more resourceful than he was skilled in Geomnyeok.

Using the prestige of his superior organization, he had his hands in everything: Gambling Houses, pickpocketing, drug distribution, protection money, the black market, and even private loans.

He committed every illegal act imaginable.

Among those, I had ordered the elimination of certain things—for instance, things like drugs. Still, I left the things that wouldn’t disappear no matter how hard one tried.

‘They won’t disappear even if you block them all anyway.’

Even if you cleared out all the Parakhos, new ones would eventually emerge. It was for the same reason that gangsters didn’t disappear in Korea. The underworld never vanishes.

That was why I left Reton alive.

His job after surviving was to coordinate the underworld. His task was to adjust things so they wouldn’t grow any larger.

One of the remaining businesses was the Gambling House.

The basic human instinct to seek a sudden fortune exists everywhere. A Gambling House is one of those things that never disappears.

I had allowed Reton to operate them.

“He’s a complete madman. I heard he wasn’t like that before…”

The designer was apparently a crazy man who had come to the Gambling House. And he hadn’t come there to gamble.

“He tried to steal money from the Gambling House.”

“That is crazy.”

“Yes. He’s definitely a madman. I wonder why he needed that much money… *Tsk.*”

His name was Birence.

He was one of the seeds sown by a Northern Mercenary who made a living traveling through the northern parts of the Earl’s Territory.

His father was a mercenary, and his mother was a commoner living in the Earl’s Territory.

Birence was born between the two, and his father died not long after he was born. He had died while participating in a northern subjugation as a mercenary, hoping to make a fortune. After that, only his mother remained—a very common story.

‘People like that are quite common here.’

Hearing only this far, there was nothing special about his background. However…

“Unusually, he was a half-blood.”

“A half-blood?”

“Yes. It seems several things are mixed in. Looking at the shape of his muscles, there might be an Orc a few generations back. And…”

His lineage was unique.

It seemed quite a lot of different blood was mixed on both his mother’s and father’s sides.

There was a faint trace of Orc blood. He wasn’t tall, as if he had inherited the faint blood of a naturally talented Dwarf on one side.

Perhaps because one of his ancestors was quite studious, his mind was also sharp.

“He’s very naturally gifted. In many ways.”

“That’s interesting.”

“He learned work under an Administrative Officer and also dabbled in mercenary work. He’s quite multi-talented.”

“Then why did he end up like that?”

“I don’t know that yet. He used to borrow large sums of money steadily… then he suddenly went crazy.”

In this world, those with ability are treated well. Status could be an issue, but there were cases where people overcame it. Even so, he ended up in this state?

“He borrowed quite a bit of money. I heard he even used that money to rent mercenary equipment to start out. Still, he kept paying it back for a while.”

“Interest would have been high since Max was in charge of the organization back then. He must have been quite capable.”

“Yes, that’s for sure. Even Max was interested in scouting him. He had enough talent to make a living… but as I mentioned, he went crazy…”

“How?”

“He quit his mercenary work and stayed only in the Spiritual Land for about two years. I don’t know what he needed the money for, but the debt kept growing. He spent money like water until he eventually crawled into the Gambling House.”

“Hmm… I can’t figure it out.”

“We don’t care about that. We just need to get the money back.”

“Hmm… Right.”

“Anyway, he fell into gambling, often got into fights in our territory, and he’s that kind of guy.”

“He sounds interesting.”

Suddenly changed, huh? There must be a reason.

He was a man who was common yet uncommon.

Every person has a story if you look closely, but strangely, the more I heard the story, the more I was drawn to him.

The cavern wasn’t massive to begin with. Following Reton’s explanation, we reached the end before long.

*Clang! Clang!*

The sound of metal striking metal continued to echo. The noise had grown louder as we went inside, and this was the source.

*Clang!*

The sound was so loud it made my ears ring.

I wondered if a normal person would go mad if they heard this all day.

“Open up! I said open it, you bastards! You said you’d let me go once I finished this! Huh?! I’m doing it right! Open it!”

A scream was heard at the same time.

I looked at Reton and asked, “Is he like that all day?”

“Yes. He’s like that every moment he’s awake.”

“You made a promise but didn’t keep it?”

“Even if the interest is set to the minimum as you commanded, my Lord, the debt is just too massive.”

“Is that so? Hmm…!”

I felt a sense of curiosity. Leaving Reton behind, I stepped further inside.

*Clang!*

The sound grew closer. I could see a person through the iron bars. He had a bushy beard and a solid body. And…

‘His eyes are clear, though. And they say he’s crazy?’

He seemed far too clear-headed to be called a madman. The Soulforce I felt from him was also clean.

*Clang!*

“Who are you?”

Even as I approached, Birence did not stop striking the bars.

I didn’t stop either and walked toward him.

Even for Birence, who had no internal energy, I had come close enough for him to easily see my face. Belatedly, Birence looked at me.

His clear eyes widened to twice their size.

‘Interesting.’

I smiled at him and spoke.

“You know who I am, don’t you?”