Chapter 80: Stage One Begins

I gestured toward the opposite side. It was where the chairs provided by the blacksmith were located.

“I shall take my leave first.”

Pling sensed the mood and retreated with the guards who had come along.

Inside, only the two who had been pretending to be workers and I remained. There were three of us in total.

“Are you curious how I knew?”

“Yes. Hiding is our lifeblood. Besides, this place is practically our territory. To be discovered like this feels as if our main base was raided.”

“When a person moves, they leave a trail. I simply searched for those trails.”

“You make it sound so simple. For us, this is nothing short of a state of emergency,” the man with a large scar on his face said, sounding exasperated. The other one looked like a naive, socially awkward fellow.

‘They’re good at disguising themselves.’

As if acting were a habit, the second man still maintained his expression.

“I know. Thanks to that, it took me quite a while to find you. I almost gave up.”

“Whew. You really are as incredible as the rumors say.”

“……You truly are a genius.”

“I suppose you could say that.”

There was no point in further self-praise. I set aside my playful attitude and spoke seriously.

“Now, let’s get to the point. You’re the Black Crows, aren’t you?”

Both of them flinched at the mention of the Black Crows. The stage for a conversation had been set.

When my father had found me and suggested we reveal the Auran Yeongongbeop, I realized one thing. Or rather, I rediscovered something so obvious I had forgotten it.

‘There are Crows within the Holy City.’

They were the informants who moved for my father—the Black Crows.

They were monitoring not only the enemies in the territory but also my own movements. More accurately, they moved to know every detail of everything happening within the spiritual land.

‘Father has made some changes too.’

The Inner City, the Outercity—it didn’t matter. Even the Underworld was likely within the Crows’ search range.

And.

‘He’s caught on to my movements to some extent.’

Not everything, but he had noticed parts of it.

I didn’t know how much Father knew, but it was certain that he knew something. That was why I had ordered Reton afterward.

To find them.

The result was the two Crows standing before me. They could be just some of the Crows in the territory, or perhaps all of them.

I needed to make a deal with them.

“As you know, we only take orders from our Master.”

“I know. That goes without saying.”

Their Master was my father. The Crows were traditionally loyal only to the Count of House Ofern. That was the rule.

“Therefore, you have nothing to gain from us.”

“Well, thanks to this, we’ll likely have to leave the Holy City. A Crow who has been discovered cannot remain here.”

Both were firm. They acted as if there wasn’t a single gap for a needle to pass through. However, I held a reliable bait that they would surely want.

“I’m not asking for much.”

“Even a little is too much.”

“Just listen. Isn’t it exhausting trying to strike at the Foxes?”

“Ahem……”

The Crows were doing a decent job of holding their ground against the Foxes of the Marquis.

However, the place where the Crows primarily operated was the Foxes’ domain. That meant it was the Marquis of Owen’s territory.

So, even if they were holding their own, they couldn’t completely annihilate the Foxes.

‘Even a mangy mutt has the advantage in its own territory.’

Unless there was an overwhelming difference, total annihilation was impossible.

“I can help you from this side. We can kill the Foxes. If possible, I can even take down the head.”

“……Don’t talk nonsense.”

“If you weren’t the Young Lord, I would have spat on the ground for such a ridiculous claim.”

The head of the Foxes referred to the Marquis.

‘There are many of them.’

It was only because we had moved with frontal tactics until now. There was no reason we couldn’t do what the Marquis’s house did.

And I was the perfect person to move that way. I was confident.

Confident that I could pull it off.

Perhaps because they were being swayed by my presence.

“Don’t you want to end this tedious war? Just listen first. If you think it won’t work, I’ll back off.”

“……We’ll listen for now. But the Captain will make the decision.”

“Good.”

The Crows opened their ears.

As soon as the conversation began, I explained my plans. Then, I made my demands.

“I only need two things. First, delay your report for a while.”

“……”

“……To the Lord Count?”

“Just for a certain period.”

“That is a difficult request.”

Asking them to delay the report going to my father—it wasn’t for long.

‘It only needs to be until I carry out the plan.’

I was confident I could get the job done in just a short amount of time.

“It’s difficult, but not impossible. You just have to report my tracks appropriately. Well…… even if you don’t, I have my ways.”

“……Like when you killed Viscount Baeksieon?”

“Yes. I can move whenever I want and hide whenever I want.”

In fact, it didn’t matter even if they didn’t cooperate.

When I killed Viscount Baeksieon, I had covered a distance that would normally take over a day in just a few hours.

‘Combining Mugong with Magic is basically cheating.’

I could boldly assert that no one could catch me if I didn’t want to be caught. If I used stealth techniques, I could make even my traces disappear.

No matter how clever the Crows were, catching me was impossible.

In other words, I could hide from the Crows’ eyes for a while. The people in front of me understood that immediately.

“Then why on earth are you asking for our cooperation?”

“Actually, the second thing is what’s important. I need information.”

“What information? For information, the information guild……”

“An ally is more trustworthy than a stranger. Just one thing. Pass over all the information related to the Marquis’s house.”

The second thing I wanted from them.

‘Information.’

I needed information to carry out the plan.

If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have had a reason to find them or visit them to request cooperation so elaborately.

“……Were you actually serious?”

“How do you plan to target the Marquis’s house?”

Seeing their shocked expressions, I didn’t say anything more and simply stared at them intently.

“……We will first report this to the Captain.”

It worked. I had a feeling it was possible.

‘Just as I expected.’

A reply came from the Captain of the Crows, Ident. The response was that he would hand over everything except for information that was beyond his authority.

‘That should be enough.’

The Captain, Ident, was currently active in the Marquis’s territory.

The information he would bring couldn’t be ordinary. And with that, I could make full use of it.

‘The preparations are complete.’

Now, only the execution remained.

“Pling. Wrap up the preparations.”

“You’re really moving.”

“Yeah. I have to go solve some problems.”

Securing iron ore. Furthermore, it was time to punish the Marquis’s house, which was keeping its eyes wide open while harassing us.

‘I’ll flip the board my own way.’

I told Father that I was moving to scout for a new iron mine.

The direction was south, where the Marquis’s house was located.

“Is there an iron mine there?”

“Yes. If my memory serves me right, it’s certain. It’s a memory I obtained when I got the relic.”

“Hmm…… if it’s according to your memory, it must be correct. Go ahead and try.”

I was able to get permission by using the Dragon’s Relic as an excuse.

‘A relic is a relic. The problem is that it’s a Black Mage’s relic, not a Dragon’s.’

The memory of the Black Mage I had absorbed.

He had intended to be resurrected and extend his reach into our Earldom. He planned to assassinate key figures of the Count’s house and take control through mental domination. After that, he dreamed of a full resurrection of his faction using the Count’s territory as his base.

‘His patience was truly incredible.’

Regardless of the feasibility, the time he put into the plan was substantial.

He had prepared several Dungeons alone. To use the House of Ofern once he obtained it, he had learned many things.

Sixty years had passed since then.

If he had been given just a little more time, he might have truly been resurrected by absorbing the Life Force of others.

Whether the plan succeeded or not, the damage to our house would have been significant.

He probably never imagined that after spending such a long time planning and executing, he would end up being consumed by me instead.

Within those memories, there was various information about our Count’s territory.

‘I didn’t expect him to use low-level undead for scouting. He was more resourceful than I thought.’

He had intended to use the iron from the iron mine to refine Death Knights. Besides that, there were many things he had found for high-level undead or the Black Mage’s summoning rituals.

If this memory was correct and an iron mine was there.

‘There are several more places to develop later.’

There were many other things worth developing as well.

‘The territory is just underdeveloped; there are more things to exploit than I expected.’

I used that as an excuse for my plan.

“The Captain says for you to come. He said he cannot come out himself first. Instead, he will send someone else.”

“As long as the information is accurate, it’s fine.”

“Then I shall take that as your permission.”

I was able to execute the plan with the help of the Crows.

A short while later.

An exploration team was formed under the pretext of developing a new iron mine.

Ten knights from the Hisran Knight Order who were active internally, including Benson, volunteered. 200 elite soldiers were also drawn from the defense forces.

This alone was not a small number. They could handle most monsters at this level.

There was also a hidden power. Furthermore, the workers gathered for the exploration.

‘They’re all Iron Fists.’

They were the Iron Fists who had received True Qi Guidance from me. While I was moving for the plan, they had leaped to another dimension using the Qi I had planted.

In Gajei’s case, his mastery of the Immovable Wind Cloud Footwork had reached the 5th stage.

Those who followed him also grew stronger with his help.

‘I’m glad I taught them the Gui-Sik Grand Technique.’

If I hadn’t taught them the technique to hide their Qi, I feared the knights might have investigated the energy the Iron Fists were emitting.

In total, more than 300 people were moving at once.

“I’m leaving now.”

“Be careful. It’s fine even if you don’t find it.”

“Yes!”

My family came out to see me off until the very end. No one said it, but their faces were full of expectation.

And I intended to fulfill that expectation.

‘I have to fulfill it.’

I certainly planned to meet it. Furthermore, I intended to do the job beyond their expectations.

I shouted to those following me.

“Let’s go. To find the new iron mine.”

“Understood!”

Thud. Thud.

Moving in formation, their momentum was piercingly high.

I led them to the south. South. We continued to head south.

“The sky is high.”

“Autumn is slowly approaching. Time really flies.”

By the time autumn was nearing the threshold along with the harvest season, I was able to arrive in the south, my target.

The place we arrived at was the outskirts of Soireun Village in the south.

As one of the granaries in the south, this place produced a significant amount of resources every year. It was also the territory held by Viscount Rivers, a loyal subject of my father.

If it had been another Viscount’s territory, I would have searched elsewhere first.

“Let’s set up here. We can start searching from this area.”

“Yes. I hope it goes well.”

“It will go well, Pling. We have to work hard from now on. Let’s start now.”

Stage 1 of the plan had begun.