Chapter 129
Chapter 129
Aden was amused as the unknown man stammered in confusion.
“H-how on earth…?”
He couldn’t understand the current situation.
The place where the real viscount was and the annex were quite far apart.
There was no way Aden could have arrived already.
He was sure he had perfectly deceived everyone with his disguise and the power of deception!
Aden sneered at the bewildered unknown.
“‘How’ is not the question, your plan was just poorly executed.”
When the Viscount Heride—more precisely, the unknown disguised as the viscount—appeared, Aden almost burst into laughter.
‘As if I wouldn’t recognize that perverted bastard…’
Aden instantly activated his Insight and recognized the man as the unknown.
The nerve of this guy, thinking he could deceive a Sword Master by coming directly to him.
However, it was only because Aden had the Insight that he could see through the disguise; otherwise, anyone else would have been completely fooled.
Aden pretended to be deceived and quickly ran, then circled back.
It was then that he caught the unknown, who had put all the knights to sleep and was about to take out the jewel.
Boom-!
Master Fear emanated from Aden, pressing down on the unknown.
The once light air turned as heavy as lead in an instant.
A ferocious aura that would force even a high-level Sword Aura knight to his knees.
“Ugh!”
Despite the pressure of Aden’s Master Fear, the unknown only groaned slightly, managing to hold his ground reasonably well.
“Are you the contractor of a demonic sword? It seems the spirit of the sword neutralizes the effect of my Master Fear.”
“H-how do you know that…!”
The unknown was shocked to realize that Aden knew about his secret contract.
Aden showed Baalzebul to the unknown, smiling slyly.
“Because I, too, am a contractor.”
At that moment, the dagger in the unknown’s hand, Seere, suddenly trembled.
-The demonic sword Seere is shocked, exclaiming “Gluttony!”
The spirit of Seere urgently warned the unknown.
-The demonic sword Seere shouts at its contractor, “Run away now!”
“W-what? Seere…”
-The demonic sword Seere… Ah, forget it! Just run away! We don’t have time for explanations! It’s dangerous! Extremely dangerous!
The unknown felt a chill down his spine, having never seen Seere react so frantically before.
“Aden sir!”
“All the knights have fallen!”
“Don’t worry, they’re just asleep!”
“Gasp! There’s an intruder in the annex…!”
“It’s the phantom thief, Unknown!”
At that moment, Lowe and the knights of the viscount’s household, who had followed Aden, arrived. They were shocked to see the other knights asleep on the ground and the unknown holding the Tear of Azure Sky.
The knights began to secure the main entrance one by one.
‘Damn it…’
Behind his mask, the unknown bit his lower lip.
The situation was getting worse and worse.
Meanwhile, Aden’s Master Fear continued to weigh down on him.
“Give up while I’m still asking nicely. It’s over.”
“Over? You think so?”
The unknown sneered at Aden’s words.
Indeed, the current situation was far from his plan.
To anyone, he would appear to be a cornered rat.
‘But that’s not a term in my dictionary!’
The phantom thief Unknown had no concept of being cornered.
He grinned.
“Then catch me if you can!”
He swiftly pulled something round from his pocket and threw it on the ground.
“…!”
Aden’s instincts warned him.
-Summoning Banshee’s Spirit Shield.
Aden reflexively summoned Banshee’s Spirit Shield.
At that moment, the object the unknown threw hit the tile floor.
Boom, boom-!
A powerful explosion occurred, creating a sudden storm.
It wasn’t just a simple smoke bomb; it was a truly dangerous bomb.
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
The knights screamed, reflexively covering their faces from the shock and noise.
The entire annex shook violently due to the explosion, and gray smoke filled the interior.
As the smoke and dust began to settle, Aden dismissed the shield and looked at where the unknown had been.
There was a crater about one meter in diameter caused by the explosion.
Around it were shattered trinkets and glass shards.
Thanks to the shield Aden had summoned, Lowe and the knights behind him were safe from the debris.
The knights of the viscount’s household murmured in astonishment.
“My God, what is this!”
“He set off a bomb…!”
“Could he have… committed suicide?”
Everyone thought the cornered thief might resist.
But to set off a bomb at his own location?
No one had expected that, and everyone wore bewildered expressions.
Lowe, with a curious expression, whispered to Aden.
“Um, Aden sir. If the thief is dead, what should we do now?”
The reason Aden had come to Viscount Heride’s estate was originally to recruit the unknown.
But if the target for recruitment had blown himself up with no trace left, what could they do?
“Who said he’s dead?”
“What? But the explosion…”
“Lowe, look closely.”
Aden pointed to the crater.
The display cases were shattered and the items scattered around the crater.
“No matter how strong the explosion, there should be at least some flesh, intestines, or kidneys left. But it’s too clean.”
“Oh? Now that you mention it…”
“So, he’s still alive. He just escaped cleverly.”
“Then where on earth…?”
“Hmm. Who knows?”
After a while, the knights of the viscount’s household also noticed the oddity and spread out to search for the thief.
“Aden sir, shouldn’t we start looking as well?”
“No need. He’s no longer in the viscount’s estate.”
“Huh?”
In contrast to Lowe’s worried expression, Aden wore a meaningful smile.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a forest quite a distance from Viscount Heride’s estate.
“Pant, pant. I really thought I was caught this time…”
-The demonic sword Seere sighs, saying, “That was really close…”
Covered in soot and in a disheveled state, the unknown was catching his breath there.
There was a crack in the mask, likely from the shock of the explosion.
The unknown man clicked his tongue.
“Sigh, as expected of a Master. I’ve never faced such a dangerous opponent while playing the phantom thief. I even had to use the power of escape.”
The demonic sword Seere currently had three powers.
The power of deception.
The power of stealth.
And the power of escape.
Among these, the ‘power of escape’ was an extraordinary ability that allowed him to ‘teleport’ to a predetermined location.
Teleportation that even wizards couldn’t perform without an ancient artifact!
However, the unknown grumbled with dissatisfaction.
“It would be great if I could use it more often. Once a month, what’s with that? Damn it.”
The problem was that once he used the ‘power of escape’, he couldn’t use it again for at least a month.
The reason he committed his crimes only on nights with a full moon was partly his preference, but more importantly, it was because he could only use the power of escape once a month.
It was a useless power, almost like having a white elephant.
“Come to think of it, the other abilities are just as ambiguous.”
Deception was literally an ability that made him better at deceiving others, and stealth made his presence less noticeable.
But these weren’t absolute; he could still be found out if the deception was seen through or if someone discovered him while he was using stealth.
The exceptional trap-disarming skills he had weren’t even a power, just techniques he learned from Seere.
He’d heard that Seere was quite prominent in the past, but considering that, its powers were rather unimpressive.
Seere bristled at this.
-The demonic sword Seere protested to its ungrateful contractor, “But you’ve grown this much thanks to me! Don’t talk as if you haven’t been using my powers well!”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Don’t sulk. Hey, but why were you so scared earlier? What was that… gluttony?”
-The demonic sword Seere trembled with trauma, saying, “Just don’t ask. It’s a crazy thing that devours everything. I don’t even want to think about it.”
“Clicking his tongue, “What the hell is it? Wait, hold on. Didn’t you just call yourself the demonic sword Seere without that title earlier?”
-The demonic sword Seere widened its non-existent innocent eyes, asking, “What are you talking about?”
“Yeah, right. Whatever.”
The unknown casually ignored his noisy dagger and moved to another location.
The place where he arrived using the power of escape was a forest near a village adjacent to the viscount’s territory.
After roughly brushing off the soot and tidying his gray hair, the unknown used the power of stealth and traveled for about an hour towards an inn.
He had already rented a room there as a temporary hideout.
Slipping into his room through the window without anyone noticing, the unknown threw his mask onto the bed.
“Ah, I can finally breathe! That mask was suffocating.”
With the mask off, the tone of the unknown’s voice, which had been low and gruff, became noticeably higher.
The face revealed after removing the mask was surprisingly youthful.
He appeared to be around fifteen years old.
He was a handsome boy with a mischievous, cat-like appearance.
His gray eyes matched his gray hair and curved mischievously.
He lifted the blue sapphire, the Tear of Azure Sky, with one hand.
“Hehehe. At least I stole the jewel successfully. I managed to evade the Master too…”
At that moment.
“Is that your real face? Hm, you’re even younger than I thought.”
“Argh!”
-…?
The unknown screamed in surprise at the voice that suddenly came from right beside him, and the demonic sword Seere felt a shock in its non-existent chest.
Turning his head, the unknown experienced déjà vu.
Because Aden, who had apparently been there for who knows how long, was lounging in a chair in the room, looking at him!
The unknown’s mouth gaped open, and his mind went blank.
He pointed at Aden, stuttering.
“H-how did you…?”
“Why? Surprised that I got here first? A Master can run fast.”
“No, that’s not it…! How did you know I’d come here and follow me?”
“Follow you?”
Aden raised an eyebrow in displeasure, making the unknown shrink back.
“Did I… follow you?”
Aden chuckled, pulling out a dagger from his sleeve.
“I have a hunting dog that’s very good at sniffing out thieves.”
-How dare you treat me like a hunting dog!
“Does it bother you?”
-…Haha. Of course, I am my master’s loyal hunting dog. Grr, woof!
Meanwhile, the spirit of the demonic sword Seere was astonished at the sight of the demonic sword Andromalius.
-The demonic sword Seere gasped, saying, “You are… justice!”
-Yes, it’s me. It’s been a long time, ‘Origin.’ But… what’s with that weird speech?
-The demonic sword Seere winked with its non-existent eyes, saying, “It’s my unique identity! Tehe!”
-…Right, it’s been so long I forgot you’re a crazy bastard.
A strange moment ensued as the daggers reunited briefly, but Aden ignored this and explained to the unknown how he found this inn.
“The Remnant of the Count of Justice, Andromalius. This guy has the ‘power of tracking.’”
“T-tracking…?”
The unknown looked bewildered at Aden’s words.
The 72nd demonic sword, Andromalius.
Its ability allowed the contractor to locate the person they wanted to find.
Although the contractor could only track targets they had seen and designated beforehand, once a target was set for tracking, they could follow them no matter how far away they were.
Upon hearing this explanation, the unknown’s face hardened.
“T-that means…”
“Yes, just as you thought.”
Aden smiled brightly at the unknown.
“No matter where you run, you’re my prey, you perverted bastard.”
From the moment he faced Aden at the annex, the unknown’s fate was already sealed, like a dog with a collar held by Aden.
