Chapter 76 (1/2)

“Ow. My head. Hm? What the? Where is this?”

Isaac woke from his slumber, immediately greeted by a crus.h.i.+ng headache. Realising that his arms and legs had been tied firmly to an X-shaped cross, Isaac slowly began to look about his surroundings.

It was a small room with mana crystals embedded all over its white walls. In front of him was a table, a chair, and a door at the other end of the room – all embedded with mana crystals.

“Must have cost them a fortune.”

The mana crystals just in this room would be enough to shake up the pure mana crystal market for some time to come. But who was Isaac supposed to blame but himself for falling for the same trick twice in a row.

However, Isaac was glad to see that his little scheme worked despite everything that had happened, seeing how Isaac was still wearing his coat. He had secretly drawn magic circles under the coat in case someone tried to take off his coat while he slept and kidnap him. It was simple adhesion magic. Although it was a basic spell, Isaac had stacked multiple circles on top of another on his shoulders and at his sides under the coat.

Isaac complimented himself, repeating quotes such as ‘forewarned is forearmed’ and praising how insightful he was. However, Isaac quickly realised none of this would have mattered if he never got kidnapped in the first place, immediately dampening his mood.

Isaac took a deep breath and began to a.n.a.lyse his situation.

Kidnapped. Limbs tied. Lens is fine. The pen? Isaac glimpsed at his right hand, and the pen peaked out of his finger. Good. I still have my trump card. Problem is that none of this matters when I don’t have my cigarettes… Shall I see how they’ll treat me, knowing they can’t torture me thanks to the coat? No, why did they kidnap me in the first place? Is it money? Are they still not satisfied despite how much I’ve given them? Or do they want all of it for themselves?

Isaac was clueless as to the reason why they kidnapped him, especially when he was more than willing to give them anything they asked for.

“Sigh. I’d really like a smoke right now.”

Just as Isaac muttered, the door opened, and a man he’d never seen before entered the room along with the warlock Isaac met in the mine.

“Hm? Why isn’t he disarmed?”

“We don’t know what he did, but we couldn’t take the coat off.”

“Interesting. Is it the power of the Queen’s Artefact?”

“Most likely.”

Isaac simply glared at the two who were casually conversing with one another, and it seemed that the man noticed his stare after some time. The man spoke to Isaac with a bright smile.

“Hey! You’re awake. Did you sleep well?”

Seeing the man sit on the chair with the warlock standing behind him, Isaac replied.

“Did you really need to kidnap me when we could have just talked?”

“Hm? What do you mean? Of course we have to kidnap you. We are the vile warlocks after all.”

The man pointed at the warlock behind him as if he didn’t understand what Isaac meant, and Isaac began repeating the explanation he gave Trentor with an annoyed look. The warlock visibly grew more and more frustrated as Isaac continued his explanation, but the other man seemed very interested and keenly listened to his explanation. When Isaac finished, the man chuckled.

“Puhahah! This one is quite the find isn’t it?”

The warlock frowned in response to the man’s words, and the man who chuckled turned to look at Isaac with a smile.

“Well, I guess we have no choice since we’ve been found out. I am Ismael, leader of the Dark Royale.”

“… What is this Dark Royale?”

“Simply put, we are a secret organisation within Central.”

“So that means this isn’t Central’s official move.”

When he heard Isaac’s answer, Ismael turned to look at the warlock, desire s.h.i.+ning in his eyes.

“Look at that. Just one sentence and he figures out everything. There aren’t many like him. Don’t you think it’ll work if we thoroughly convince him?”

Ismael suggested to the warlock in a way resembling a child nagging at his parent, and in response, the warlock answered as he exposed his barely-recovering arm.

“He’s a man who betrayed me, a warlock, the moment my back was open after we made the contract despite not even a single day having pa.s.sed. Are you confident that you can control him?”

“Hng. I’m not.”

“Hey, let’s put things straight first. I am a College graduate, 1st Rank Knight and the Lord’s Representative of New Port City. Did you really think I’d join hands with a warlock? I’m sure it is fine to betray a warlock, is it not?”

Isaac asked Ismael seeking his a.s.sent, and Ismael nodded in approval.

“Yes, of course it is. Betraying, lying, scamming, mugging, and even killing a warlock is worthy of praise and reward, not punishment.”

“…”

The warlock grimaced.

“And you should really take off that sh.e.l.l of yours. I know we overstep our bounds, but we should at the very least follow procedures when we can.”

“… Yes sir.”

A shadow covered the warlock, and when the shadow dissipated, a middle-aged man Isaac had never seen before showed himself.

“That’s fascinating.”

“Is that all you have to say? Others tend to quiver in shock after seeing that.”

“I wonder? Is there anything that can surprise me?”

Isaac answered with a bored look, and Ismael chuckled as if he was really enjoying it.

“Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun. But work is work. Let’s begin. Name.”