Number One, who barely escaped from the underground auction house, headed to the fifth floor through a passage used exclusively by the executives of the Miss Sue Family.
Barely survived.
Although the captain of the guards had died in vain, it wasn’t as if there were no gains from this incident.
From the beginning, when this situation unfolded, he had considered the possibility that the captain might die.
Though it was painful that even the subordinates under the captain died, the same could be said for the dog butcher.
Since the captain of the guards was essentially one of the dog butcher’s underlings, it was clear that he suffered the greater loss due to his betrayal.
Now, I just need to regroup with my master and clean up the underground auction house…
But who on earth was that masked man who appeared at the end?
The rabbit gentleman was someone he’d already heard about from the sewer rat, so he wasn’t surprised, but the appearance of the man in the plain mask felt like a genuine threat to Number One.
Moreover, the Dark Elves who effortlessly handled the Crown Prince’s wild dogs were just as daunting.
Still, I have the ledger on this side.
Number One glanced at the ledger he hadn’t let go of until the very end and felt a bit of relief.
If that masked man wanted this ledger, perhaps it could be used for negotiation.
I need to get back first… huh?
As he walked down the passage, Number One sensed something was off.
It was silent.
Of course, on the fifth floor, especially in the territory of the sewer rat, how much noise would you expect? But it was strange that not even a single rat was in sight.
Even the beggars who usually doubled as guards while sleeping nearby were also nowhere to be seen.
Are they already preparing for war?
Number One shook off an uneasy feeling he couldn’t quite place and moved forward.
“They’re fast to prepare.”
How long had he been walking?
Number One had not encountered a single person on the way, and he soon arrived at the sewer rat’s hideout.
He was here to find his master, Miss Sue, who should be in this place.
As he stepped inside, he was greeted by a large crowd of people dressed as beggars.
No, to be precise—
They were people who used to be.
“Huh…?”
They say that when you’re too shocked, words fail you.
Number One could not say anything for a moment as he stared at the scene unfolding before his eyes.
“That… belongs to master.”
A girl with silver hair glowing softly like the moon and eyes as red as flowing blood was looking down at Number One while she was perched atop what used to be humans.
“Wh-Who are you… What on earth are you…?!”
Even Number One hadn’t fully grasped the full extent of the sewer rat’s forces.
Not only were they extremely secretive, but each beggar under his command was a top-tier assassin.
And now, all of them had become corpses, serving as the girl’s chair.
“Me…? I’m Evelyn. I came here on master’s orders. But… I lost them. Both of them. Still, it’s good you came. If I bring that back, master will praise me.”
“What….”
Number One couldn’t find the words to respond.
As he met those eyes that were red as blood, his body froze and he grew paralyzed like a frog before a snake.
An overwhelming predator.
That was what Number One saw in the girl.
“Boys, bring that over.”
There was no one else here except for Number One and the girl, so who was she talking to?
Thinking there might be someone hiding nearby, Number One looked around, but the moment someone grabbed his ankle, he realized who the girl was talking to.
“T-The corpses…!”
The corpses that had fallen at his feet.
And the ones that had been piled beneath the girl began to rise. Their eyes turned red like hers and they glared at Number One.
***
“I’m sorry. I lost the item.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just glad you’re not dead.”
Elliot got on one knee with his head bowed and reported. Eldorat of the Goldenmine family did not blame him.
“Instead, I brought a valuable guest.”
“……”
“Right, the owner of the ledger, known outside as the noble killer. What should I call you?”
“Call me whatever you like.”
“Then I’ll just call you White Mask. So, Mr. White Mask, I hear you’ve got business with me. What’s this about?”
“I like that you get straight to the point.”
“Huhu, that’s just the way I am. I had my share of troubles back in my hometown because of it.”
“Is that so? Then let’s get to the main point. I’ve come to make a deal.”
“A deal… I’ve just been told the ledger has already fallen into their hands.”
Eldorat stroked his golden chin as he looked at Shane.
“You can’t use something just by knowing its contents. The ledger itself holds power.”
Eldorat cut straight to the point, but Shane shook his head and replied.
“Your goal isn’t just some petty transaction ledger, is it?”
“Hmm. You seem like you know exactly what my goal is.”
“The surface.”
“Hmm?”
“To walk proudly on the land of your homeland. Isn’t that right, descendant of the emperor’s bloodline?”
“……!”
The first person to react to Shane’s words was Elliot.
He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should launch a surprise attack on Shane. But soon a chill crept around his neck and he froze in place.
The dark spirit Arcane had stealthily appeared and transformed her arm into a blade before pressing it against Elliot’s throat.
“Kuhuhu… So you know that too. Now I’m really curious about who you are… But first, put that sword away. Despite appearances, he’s the only subordinate I trust.”
“Arcane.”
“Yes… Master.”
At Shane’s command, Arcane quietly withdrew her arm, allowing Elliot to finally exhale a breath.
I didn’t even sense a hint of her presence…
Sweating coldly, Elliot cautiously glanced back and saw the girl who had just pointed a blade at his neck.
With long black hair that flowed down to her waist and roseberry-colored eyes, the girl stood meekly by Shane’s side. This was a stark contrast to the menacing aura she had shown moments earlier.
Just who…
While Elliot was lost in these thoughts, Eldorat’s gaze never left the masked man before him.
“It’s interesting that you know my identity… but how exactly do you plan to bring me to the surface?”
Eldorat.
His real name was Zephyr D. Quayet Elain.
He was the current emperor’s brother, a man who had lost the battle for the throne and had endured in the underground city for 42 years.
“Your goal was never to return to the imperial family in the first place, was it?”
“…I gave up on that a long time ago.”
Once, he had dreamed of that very thing.
Living like a rat in this underground city, he had waited for the day he could challenge the throne once more.
But then came the black mage’s terror attack 38 years ago.
After witnessing the empire’s furious response, Eldorat completely abandoned his dream of seizing the throne.
“There was nothing I could do against that damned White Flame.”
Eldorat had seen the most powerful black mage in the underground city crushed and dismantled by a single unit of the Knights of Judgment. Seeing that, he had long since given up on his dreams.
“Now, I just don’t want to see this damned artificial ceiling anymore.”
So Eldorat had resigned himself to life in the underground city, even though with age it felt like he was going through a mid-life crisis.
A part of him still longed to return to his homeland.
Not as an emperor, but with the authority of a proper imperial, he wanted to rule over his own territory.
“It’s not such a difficult thing.”
“You think it’s possible?”
At Shane’s assurance, a faint spark of desire flickered in Eldorat’s eyes.
Even now, with his age showing through the fine lines around his eyes, he still yearned to return to the surface.
“But I can’t promise you a perfectly intact territory. Not that there’s likely one left, to begin with.”
“Hmmm.”
“But there is a sizable territory with plenty of potential for the future. How does that sound?”
“There’s still such a territory left?”
Would they really send a defeated imperial to such a place in the battle for the throne?
However, at Shane’s next words, Eldorat couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
“Can you stand the cold?”
***
After his meeting with Eldorat, Shane moved to a mansion separately prepared by Goldmine.
“You really pulled it off…”
Not long after, Adam who had been informed in advance arrived.
Adam, who had entered the splendid mansion, was receiving real-time information about the underground city that was in chaos through his information network.
This wasn’t exactly a place where such rumors spread slowly.
The guests who had survived that mess were already spreading the news far and wide.
“How did you know this would happen?”
Like Elliot, Adam had also expected the attack to occur after the auction ended, during the transfer of the items.
However, Shane arrived at the scene with a dark elf in tow, as if he had foreseen it.
“At the very least, the Crown Prince would have been prepared.”
“The Crown Prince? You mean the wild dogs?”
“Yes. He also had people working to verify the rumors and likely planned to act before the items even reached the auction house.”
“Ah… but in the end, the items were transferred without a trace.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
On any other occasion, it might have been different, but this time, Count Salier’s ledger was an item that had stirred up the underground city for a while.
On top of that, it had been placed in the only auction house on the fourth floor and had ended up with the dog butcher, a member of the four families.
With everyone’s attention fixed on it, it was impossible to pass the item quietly and without a trace.
Yet Shane had managed to do just that.
“The Crown Prince must have felt uneasy about it.”
“Yes. He wouldn’t have wanted to miss the chance to grab the item, even if the bidding failed.”
So from the moment the bid failed, the intrusion of the wild dogs raised by the Crown Prince became inevitable.
“What would you have done if the Crown Prince had succeeded in the bid?”
“That was impossible too. No matter how much gold circulates above ground compared to below, could he really spend that much in secret?”
“Hmm. Indeed, if we’re talking sheer amounts of black money, the underground can’t be beaten.”
“That’s right.”
Even as the Crown Prince, he couldn’t possibly invest such a sum in a place as discreet as the underground auction house.
Understanding up to this point, Adam was about to ask about the third party, the rabbit gentleman.
“I’m back, Master.”
But Adam’s words were cut short by Evelyn who opened the door and came in.
“Are you busy?”
“No, in fact, I was waiting for you. How did it go?”
“Sorry, I lost two of them.”
“The sewer rat and Miss Shu, I presume.”
“Yes. They whoosh—disappeared just like that.”
At the moment when Adam was making a perplexed expression at Evelyn’s absurd explanation,
Evelyn continued speaking with a confident expression.
“But I did bring this back.”
Creaak.
“Huh!”
Adam’s startled voice that followed was only natural.
Beyond the open door stood forty homeless people… they were the sewer rat’s hired thugs who were moving stealthily and hiding their presence.
Their eyes were blood-red like blood, and their expressions were vacant as if they had lost focus.
Shane stood up and patted Evelyn on the head.
“Well done.”
Among them was someone who, unlike the hired thugs, was conspicuously well-dressed.
He was familiar. The one who had escaped from the underground auction, Number One.
“Adam, it seems it’s time for you to awaken your abilities.”
“Wh-What?”
The words that came at a completely unexpected time were enough to startle Adam.
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