Chapter 94: Underground Auction Part 1

The Haiel Kingdom had recently been enjoying prosperous days.

As it had always been the closest to the coalition, trade flourished, and hadn’t the Great Mezaiya Forest just opened up?

Thanks to this, the borderlands of the Haiel Kingdom which bordered the Mezaiya Forest were going through a period of major upheaval.

However, there were those who worried about the nation’s seemingly peaceful days.

They were none other than the three princes of the Haiel Kingdom.

“Father seems to be getting healthier by the day.”

When Oliver D. Hellison, the eldest of them, said this, the third prince Argon nodded his head.

“It seems he’s tightened his grip on the nobles recently. There’s not a single opening.”

“What kind of magic is he using…?”

The strengthening of royal authority was, of course, good news for the princes.

After all, if their predecessor tightened control over the nobles before passing down the throne, the ones to benefit would be none other than the princes.

However, the issue was that the princes were now approaching their thirties.

It was time for them to inherit the throne, and indeed, they had even begun a battle for succession among themselves two years ago.

But for some reason, the king not only became healthier, he seemed to be growing younger.

At that point, the king stopped the succession and took hold of the royal power once more.

And just like that, two years had passed.

As time passed, the princes couldn’t help but grow increasingly anxious.

“Mason, what about you?”

When the eldest prince asked, the second prince Mason seemed lost in thought for a moment before finally responding.

“Well, not much different from you. I’m barely holding onto my supporters too.”

Before the current king called off the battle for succession, all three had been busy securing alliances with various nobles.

But as the king’s power grew stronger, some nobles returned to his side, and the remaining princes could only grow more frustrated.

“Tch. This is suffocating.”

If the king had made some kind of mistake, they could have used it against him, but the Haiel Kingdom was experiencing an unprecedented period of prosperity.

As a result, the princes had no choice but to gather and lament their situation like this, without any other options.

At that moment, Mason stood up first.

“Sitting here like this will only irritate Father. I’ll take my leave.”

“Haah. You’re right, there’s nothing we can do for now. Let’s call it a day.”

“Right.”

Just like Mason had said, no one wanted to draw their father’s ire, so the three princes parted ways as the eldest suggested.

When Mason returned to his room, his eyes widened.

“Sir Adam, you’re really alive.”

“I am no longer a knight commander, Your Highness.”

Two years had passed, and unlike before, a loyal knight of the royal family with much deeper eyes sat in the prince’s room.

**

After the Great Mazaiya Forest incident, much of the knowledge related to the organization’s future became unusable.

Even so, there were still aspects that could be used, particularly knowledge about people.

During the downfall of humanity, countless people could be observed.

As the endless legions of the organization advanced, people had no choice but to reveal their true selves.

Among those who caught Shane’s eye was the second prince of the Kingdom of Haiel, Oliver D. Mason.

It wasn’t that Prince Mason had done anything particularly extraordinary.

He was simply the only prince who defended the war-torn kingdom until the very end. The kingdom that was ravaged by constant terror and war with the Empire.

He fought bravely alongside the knights who followed him against the Organization’s army and died in battle. Based on these memories, Shane decided to approach the second prince.

And, as it turned out, the second prince in the present time was indeed an exceptional person.

Adam who approached the second prince opened his mouth.

“I heard you’ve been investigating me.”

“…There were more than a few strange things I noticed.”

Mason had been quite shocked two years ago when he received the news of Adam’s death following the Great Mazaiya Forest incident.

Back when Adam had just been appointed as a knight of the royal family, he had once served as Mason’s guard.

Because of this, upon Adam’s return from the Great Mazaiya Forest, he frequently had conversations with Mason.

“You were far too healthy to die so suddenly. I couldn’t believe that someone like you would die of illness overnight.”

And so, Mason independently investigated Adam’s death.

However, one day the subordinate he had sent to gather information returned with only his head, which was left inside a wooden box at the door.

Realizing the danger of the matter, Mason abandoned the investigation.

But just a few days ago, a letter bearing Adam’s signal that was created for emergencies arrived in Prince Mason’s room.

“Just like you feared, I was the target of an assassination attempt. I nearly died, just like this.”

Then Adam opened his shirt to reveal the scar where he had been stabbed by the dagger of that man.

Despite being treated in the Elves’ World Tree, the scar remained vivid. The dagger had been laced with poison and it struck him several times.

“How on earth…?”

“Just like your subordinate who lost his life, I too tried to uncover truths I wasn’t meant to know.”

Adam then explained what had happened to him.

He had tried to send several knights, mixing his own with those of the Empire, to report on the situation in the Great Mazaiya Forest.

Despite the Elf Queen’s testimony that they had safely left, no one from the royal knights had emerged from the forest.

And during his investigation into this, Adam had faced an assassination attempt from within the royal family.

“So, was it Father behind this after all?”

“Yes, the current king has allied with an organization called Nameless, which includes the former head of the Black Mages, Gordon, who used to live in the Great Mazaiya Forest.”

“Is that so? Nameless, huh…”

Still, there wasn’t much Prince Mason could do about it.

Even if that was the truth, the kingdom seemed peaceful enough, didn’t it?

“That’s not entirely the case.”

But Adam’s next words left Mason in shock.

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“The organization I’m part of is currently investigating an underground city. It’s only suspicions at this point, but… there might be a nationwide terror attack.”

Mason was stunned by this completely unexpected news.

***

“A terror attack?!”

A few days earlier.

Adam was equally shocked by Shane’s words.

Why on earth would the current king of the Haeil Kingdom resort to terror?

Wasn’t the kingdom enjoying one of its most prosperous times?

“That was likely the condition the organization imposed on the king.”

“No, but still, a terror attack? One wrong move, and it could lead to war!”

No matter how obsessed the king was with staying young, Adam didn’t believe he was the kind of man who would incite a war.

At least, that’s what Adam thought.

Shane knew how far human greed could extend, but he didn’t feel the need to break Adam’s misconceptions.

After all, the king had no intention of starting a war.

“It won’t go that far.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“The moment the organization is waiting for hasn’t arrived yet.”

“The moment… they’re waiting for?”

“Yes.”

The organization would never make a move unless the situation unfolded exactly as they envisioned.

They haven’t even properly organized their own ranks yet.

So far, the organization had been relying heavily on human informants, but that was only because the current era was being driven by humanity. It certainly wasn’t for the sake of humans.

Once war broke out, the most powerful forces inside the organization would be the non-human races and monsters that emerged from the Great Seal of Akasha.

Until then, they won’t risk ruining their plans.

Given the current timing, their internal structure likely hadn’t been fully established yet…

This could all be considered groundwork.

They were just bringing in non-human races to carry out acts of terror, as part of the preparation to instill hatred for them across all of humanity.

The reason the King brought in non-human slaves was likely because he was confident war wouldn’t break out.

“So, tell the second prince to start preparing. At least the people under him tend to be more loyal.”

In the end, for everything related to this to be completed, the underground auction had to proceed.

Whether a terror attack happened or not.

No matter what happened, the underground auction had to begin so they could obtain information on the fourth and fifth floors.

***

The informants in the underground city were mostly connected through a point-organization structure.

On top of that, they were incredibly cautious, so even if Shane captured one of them and read their memories, the information he could obtain was extremely limited.

“Then why don’t we kill our way up from the bottom?”

Shane responded to the question from Arcane…. the same dark spirit who was once called Blackie but was now given a proper name following Anastasia’s strong insistence.

“I told you, they’re cautious. If the lower ones start dying off one by one, they might disappear without a trace.”

“I see…”

No matter how quickly Shane moved, there was a strong possibility the perpetrators would vanish before he could reach them.

Meanwhile, Arcane didn’t seem all that curious about the information but more disappointed that she wasn’t receiving any Origin power from the process of breaking down souls.

At the same time, another girl approached Shane and spoke to him.

“Master.”

“What is it, Evelyn?”

A girl with hair as soft and shiny as the moon in the night sky looked at Shane with blood-red eyes.

“I’m hungry.”

“You glutton. Is that all you ever say to the master, that you’re hungry?”

“But I really am hungry.”

She was a vampire.

When it was time to give this nameless girl a name, Shane had to endure one of Anastasia’s rare looks of reproach.

You… must never name anything other than animals. How could you give such a beautiful girl a name like Vampire!

In her own way, Evelyn had spent the last two years learning the human language and even how to control her strength, so by now she was able to hold a decent conversation.

Of course, having tasted nothing but pain for hundreds of years, she had no hesitation in expressing her own desires.

“Just wait a little longer. It’ll be time to eat soon.”

“Can’t I drink yours, Master?”

“Sometimes, you need to eat out.”

“Other blood doesn’t taste as good…”

“Don’t argue with what the master says, Vampire.”

“Mhmm, I got it.”

Even though she said that, Arcane looked at Evelyn with doubt in her eyes, knowing the girl would repeat the same thing as always.

On the other hand, Evelyn also knew that Arcane was just as much of a glutton as she was, so most of what she said went in one ear and out the other.

The two bickered like that, and Shane watched them as he walked his way.

At first glance, it might have seemed like a peaceful scene of two beautiful girls playfully arguing as they walked…

But in the underground city, it was hard not to draw attention.

The reason was the unique appearance of the two women and the imposing presence of the masked man.

With all eyes on them from every direction, the three of them soon headed to the fourth floor.

On the fourth floor, there were several others who attracted just as much attention as Shane.

Like Shane, there were more than a few who covered their faces with masks or robes to hide their identities and had numerous guards.

It was because today marked the start of the underground auction.