Chapter 52: The Unfinished Conspiracy (Revised)

A dark room where no light reached.

A blond-haired man sat in a chair, trimming his nails.

At some point, he seemed dissatisfied with their shape.

Staring intently at his nails, he suddenly bit them off with his teeth.

The neatly trimmed nails became a mess, but instead of frowning, the man smiled as if pleased. Then, as he used his hands to tidy up the rough edges—

A brown glow flickered before him, taking on the silhouette of a person.

Without even glancing at the figure, the man continued trimming his nails. Once he finished, he finally spoke.

“I’m telling you, out of all my many subordinates, I’m truly glad that you’re one of them.”

[······.]

“You’re loyal, upright, and sturdy. You don’t distract me with useless chatter or actions, and you don’t require me to micromanage your tasks like those idiots. That’s the best part.”

“That’s why this is even more shocking.”

[I’m sorry.]

Even though the brown figure apologized with a heavy voice, the man simply smiled faintly and continued speaking.

“The connection with Low has been severed. What could that mean? Dead, critically wounded—either way, it’s not a good outcome. I wonder what happened to Low.”

[——.]

“Low might be a bit reckless, but he’s not the type to handle things sloppily. Has he grown rusty after spending so much time hoarding money and drugs?”

“I see.”

When the brown figure remained silent, the man clicked his tongue and changed the subject.

“Have you heard about the destruction of the Ice Barrier? What about the Snowflake Tower?”

[According to the report, the Snowflake Tower’s cannon was destroyed, but the impact was minimal compared to what was planned, so there was no significant effect. No additional findings have been confirmed.]

“Go on.”

As the brown figure continued reporting the progress, the man, who had been listening quietly, finally spoke again.

“Wow, that was an even bigger failure than I expected.”

[I’m sorry.]

“This one deserves an apology. The mage who infiltrated the Snowflake Tower got caught, Low got taken down, and even deploying Black Crow ended in failure. This should be the perfect moment to laugh, but I just can’t bring myself to.”

The man tapped the table with his nail knife.

“So, in the end, the North remains untouched and strong.”

[Yes.]

“Well, damn.”

Just then, a purple light emerged, forming the silhouette of a woman.

[Why did you call me? I’m busy.]

“What are you up to?”

[What else? It’s the research you requested.]

“Oh, the chimera?”

The man clapped his hands as if he had just remembered, and the purple figure let out a sigh.

[I accepted it because it aligns with my original research, but this is a lot trickier than I expected. Not to mention, your conditions were absurdly demanding to begin with.]

“But I believe in you. You can do it. I’ll be cheering you on.”

[Ha, you f*cking bastard… So why did you call me? Even Dorgon is here.]

At the purple figure’s question, the man sighed and answered.

“We lost two of our friends.”

[What?]

“The connection with Shira and Low has both been severed. First, Shira—Aran went to the Moonlight Forest, defeated all the Dark Elves, and even cut down the corrupted World Tree.”

[Tch, I knew this would happen. He insisted on handling things himself, and look what happened. That weak-willed fool probably felt guilty toward Aran.]

“He had no choice. Shira liked Aran.”

[That aside, does that mean he died without ever learning why the World Tree was corrupted?]

“Yep. Poor thing. He never found out why the World Tree fell, ended up fighting the one he loved… Should we have a moment of silence for him?”

[Everyone except Shira already knows you were behind it, so cut the crap, you lunatic.]

The reason Shira became a Dark Elf was because he had fed the World Tree demon blood, believing it would save it.

If so—

Why had the World Tree fallen in the first place?

“No, Aran didn’t know either. Huh? Then Aran ended up cutting down the World Tree without ever knowing why it was corrupted? They fought desperately, focusing only on what was right in front of them. That’s so ridiculous it’s almost funny.”

As the man chuckled, the purple figure sighed but didn’t bother to criticize him.

After all, while he was the one who orchestrated the plan, it was she who drained the World Tree’s life force.

And if he hadn’t corrupted the World Tree in the first place and then lured Shira into using demon blood to “save” it—

Shira might have sided with Aran when he decided to betray them, which would have been a major problem.

Unlike the others, she hadn’t betrayed Aran out of her own will.

She had no choice but to turn against him because she feared that the hero, Arin, would kill their fallen kin, who had been consumed by darkness.

In the end, that lunatic wanted to break Shira’s heart, which had loved Aran.

And she? She didn’t care what happened to Shira, as long as she could extract the World Tree’s life force.

Neither of them were any different.

[The dark elf is dead, so one of your slaves is gone.]

“Yeah, really unfortunate. Now that Shira is dealt with, Aran will likely target the next one. I hear he’s got some decent allies with him now. It’s becoming troublesome.”

“Uh.”

[Hey, who do you think Aran will target next?]

At the purple figure’s question, the brown figure hesitated before responding.

[Based on the order I anticipated, after Shira, it should have been Low… but since Low is gone, it’ll probably be me next. Once you make it to the royal capital, he’ll target you last.]

[Right. What happened to that bastard?]

At the purple figure’s question, the man furrowed his brow and replied, unlike his calm tone when talking about Shira.

“It seems things didn’t go well for him in the north. I’ll tell you more later when we hear from Dorgon.”

[You seem pretty pissed. What’s the main point?]

“There are two areas we need to focus on. Aran is one thing, but the north won’t stay quiet about this. Grace isn’t stupid enough to think we’re not involved with Low’s actions.”

[Wait. Are we going to fight Grace? I’m not too fond of that idea.]

“I don’t like it either. But eventually, he was a target we had to eliminate, right? The reason I wanted to exclude the Snowflake Tower was for that purpose, but it failed, so now we’ll have to speed up the timeline.”

[Sigh… that’s true. So, what’s the plan?]

“One of two things. If we want to conquer the north, we need Dorgon’s strength. We can’t let Aran ruin that. So, Mercy, you’ll need to step in and eliminate Aran. Then Dorgon can take over the north.”

[It feels like I’m getting the short end of the stick. Let me hear the second option before deciding.]

“Alright. If Grace tries to pressure us, I’ll make an announcement like this: The fallen hero Aran, who was consumed by demons, is attacking the old heroes, and the north is cooperating with him. I’ll also claim that the Duke of Snowflake Tower is investigating because the north is hiding something.”

Basically, a battle for public opinion.

The north is a powerful faction, but due to geographical limitations, their interactions with other regions are few.

The plan is to seize that opportunity. Once the north makes a move, we’ll brand them as villains, pressure the surrounding forces with political power, and isolate them by twisting Aran’s heroic narrative into a villainous one, making sure no one sides with them.

Humans are emotional creatures, and when they have someone to blame, the truth hardly matters. People will cling to the powerful for their own interests.

The goal was to shift the unity of humanity—once bound together in demon-slaying—onto the north and Aran this time.

[Sounds like an interesting plan, but is it even possible? Unlike the demons, who were already monsters in appearance, the north consists of humans, and they haven’t done any harm to humanity, so it won’t be easy to get support.]

“You’re missing the point, Mercy. Humans don’t dig that deep. They’re too busy trying to survive. Plus, if we give the power-hungry rulers something enticing, the lower ranks will naturally follow, and we’ve eliminated demons the same way before, right?”

[Well, politics aren’t really my thing. What happens next?]

“While that’s happening, we’ll send Aran to the north. That way, we can kill two birds with one stone. Everything will become simpler, don’t you think?”

The man’s words were met with interested expressions, even if only as silhouettes from the purple and brown figures.

[By doing that, we can focus the weakened forces left by Shira and Low into one spot. It seems like a good plan.]

[I agree. The biggest issue with Aran is that you never know where he’ll jump next. It’s safer to lock him in the north.]

With the two in agreement, the man finally smiled brightly.

“Alright, friends. Let’s begin preparations. I won’t be able to participate since I have to take control of Elrn Church, but you two should be fine handling things.”

[Leave it to us. We’ll make up for our previous failure.]

[Okay. I want to wrap up the troublesome stuff quickly, so I’ll help too.]

The purple and brown silhouettes disappeared after their replies.

As the room was once again filled with darkness, the man leaned back in his chair and spoke to himself.

“It’s moving faster than planned… but it’s still within the big picture. Once I eliminate the dissenters who will oppose Aran, Grace, and the world I will create, everything will be set. The foundation for my thousand-year kingdom, where I will reign forever.”

The center is his.

The west is Dorgon’s land, so it’s under his control.

The opportunists in the east have no courage to fight the center.

The autonomy-seeking southerners are being controlled by the dark elves, unable to recover from the wounds of the last great war, so they won’t be able to act for a while. After the main work is done, he’ll clean up the rest.

The only problem is the north, which he can’t control directly. But with the forces he has prepared in the west and the central tower, he believes it’s manageable.

“Oh, right. Since Low is gone, I’ll need to take over Black Crow too. His business needs to be mine now.”

While not as useful as the dark elves, Black Crow’s thugs are still disposable pawns in the underworld. The man decided to use the legacy left by his friend to his advantage.

In less than half a day, the turmoil caused by the Snowflake Tower terrorist incident in Wintercannon had been perfectly resolved.

Grace, who chased the assassins, had completely eradicated Black Crow’s assassination team, successfully rescuing the villagers of Caliber who had been kidnapped.

In the process, she even caught Low, who had fled.

Low’s limbs were bound with magic-suppressing shackles and thrown deep into a dungeon.

Even if he tried to break out of those shackles, he couldn’t use his legs anymore.

He had a magic icicle from the Snowflake Tower lodged in his heart, so unless he regularly controlled the freezing cold, he’d freeze to death.

While Snowflake Tower had lost its largest fortress, there was no significant damage otherwise.

In fact, when they heard that they were planning to use the broken fortress to create a new one using ice, the thought crossed his mind that these people weren’t exactly normal.

Along with the new fortress, there were other significant changes.

While the outcome was favorable, the root cause of the incident lay in the Snowflake Tower’s weak internal security.

As a result, along with investment in firepower, new systems and facilities for internal security were being established.

This was done under the leadership of Sophia, who had recovered from her injuries.

Fortunately, Sophia’s wounds weren’t severe.

According to her, Low had intentionally manipulated the magic amulet, but the man figured it out.

He had known that Sophia’s appearance—youthful for her age—was Low’s type.

It wasn’t foolish to repair the barn after losing the cow.

It was foolish not to repair the barn after losing the cow.

From now on, the Snowflake Tower would never be vulnerable to spies again.

Dariell, the master of the Snowflake Tower, who humbly acknowledged their mistakes, didn’t stop at just that.

The mages of Snowflake Tower were mobilized to help the city recover from the chaos caused by the sudden terrorist attack.

The biggest benefit was the fortification of the city walls without any cost.

They also used magic to restore the streets.

Thanks to that, the voices criticizing the Snowflake Tower’s terrorist attack were silenced before they could even rise.

As soon as the incident broke out, the 2nd Guard Squadron and the Northern Army protected the city, so there was no real damage.

There were also benefits for us.

The 1st Guard Squadron, who fought with Row, and the 3rd Guard Squadron, who eliminated the Blackcrow assassination team in Camliver Village, were injured.

The 2nd and 4th Guard Squadrons alone were insufficient to carry out the regular duties.

To address this, the Snowflake Tower provided support by sending ice golems.

Grace showed interest in the ice golems, as they didn’t require rest or sleep as long as they had enough mana, but she didn’t actively introduce them, claiming it was boring.

I don’t understand the logic. Maybe it’s because she’s from the North.

The news that the ice golems would fill the vacant positions in the Guard Squadrons soon followed.

The 1st and 3rd Guard Squadrons were given special leave.

Although it was called special leave, all the injured were on sick leave, confined to their beds, and even the healthy ones helped nurse their comrades.

After the big operation, they were able to rest, and the comfort was definitely noticeable.

“Ah… It still hurts.”

The problem was that I wasn’t that comfortable.

Maybe it was because I used the power of Bingjeong.

I didn’t feel it during the battle because of the adrenaline rush, but apparently, my body was in a mess.

After hearing this, Grace arranged for me to stay in a single room, which was rare in the fantasy world, but it wasn’t all that great.

Lying there, staring at the ceiling, and occasionally groaning in pain—it wasn’t really living.

Ah, why can’t I make a TV or a radio?

I truly respect the protagonists of alternate history novels. At this rate, I think the best I could do is an electric mat.

I couldn’t get up, so I couldn’t read books or take walks. To be honest, it was boring.

Lying in the hospital bed, my only consolation was…

knock knock.

“Come in.”

The person who entered with a knock was…

“How are you feeling?”

It was Elaine.

Ah, I suddenly felt happier.

She was visiting me not because she had recovered with her superhuman healing abilities after being injured more than others during the Snowflake Tower battle.

She was in the room next door.

“Can you really move so soon?”

“Well, compared to you, my injuries are nothing. I’m used to this level of damage.”

“That’s a heartbreaking statement, truly.”

“Wouldn’t it be only you who would say something that would truly break my heart?”

In the fantasy world, as long as the body isn’t missing a limb, a tear in the flesh isn’t that serious.

No, to be exact, it would be serious for a civilian, but for a member of the Northern Duke’s Guard, it wasn’t a big deal.

In the fantasy world, there’s something called a health potion.

Of course, Elaine, the captain of the Guard, used one, and she was now hospitalized to observe the effects of the potion.

So why hadn’t I used a potion?

Because I couldn’t stimulate my body due to the Bingjeong’s mana.

Elaine came closer to my bed and gently stroked my face with a worried expression.

Was it because the Bingjeong’s power made me feel cold inside? Since obtaining Salamander scales, I rarely felt warmth, but Elaine’s hand was so warm.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you in such a weak state.”

“Yeah…”

“That’s why it’s even more painful. Not being able to take away your pain…”

Elaine’s face, full of worry, made me want to lighten the mood by joking that she could hug me, but…

knock knock.

“?!”

At the sound of the knock, Elaine quickly withdrew her hand and sat nearby.

From the speed, it seemed like she was getting better.

The person who opened the door and came in was…

“I came to check on the soldiers. How are you feeling?”

Instead of Elaine, who was hospitalized, Grace entered with the 4th Squadron Leader, Weasel.

“Ah.”

When she saw the two of us together, a deep sense of apology passed over her face.

Ah, no, not now, really.

The strongest knight in humanity, and yet she killed the mood.

I was about to get annoyed with Grace for the first time, but then I remembered who had arranged for me to be in this room, and I realized I needed to be more considerate.

I almost made a big mistake.