Zich knew of three ways to artificially control monsters. The first one was using the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls, which Trislowa had attempted to create in the past. Second, there was the method that Lyla used during her days as the princess of Clowon. Finally, there was the method that the robed figures had used when attacking Violuwin. Of course, there was no guarantee that these three forces used different methods from one another.
‘I mean, there’s a high possibility that the robed figures used the same method to control the monsters like Lyla did in her princess days.’ They both probably used Clowon’s ruins. ‘It’d be the same for the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls.’ It was hard to imagine Glen just leaving the Bellids alone after undergoing countless regressions when he got himself involved in all kinds of places.
‘Maybe Glen secretly offered the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls to the Bellids.’
Nevertheless, Zich was certain that Glen knew a method for controlling the monsters to fit his plans, and he was scheming something with them. ‘To think that I would have an opportunity to screw him over so fast.’
The guaranteed way to success was not missing a given opportunity, and Zich had no intention of losing this one.
‘I think I will be able to do something joyful before leaving this city.’ Zich laughed heartily in a good mood. Yet, contrary to what he was feeling, his companion, Lyla, increased her distance from him and backed a couple of steps away.
“How chilling,” Lyla whispered, revealing her true feelings.
* * *
From then on, Zich began to spy on Glen. He expected Glen to make some movements if he was scheming something. Yet, Zich failed to find anything suspicious about Glen. All Glen did was take care of monsters outside, walk around his lodging from time to time, and attempt to draw attention from Lyla. Had his predictions missed the mark? Yet, Zich thought there was a low possibility of that.
‘He might be waiting for a suitable time. Or he might have already finished his preparations.’ Zich thought the latter had a higher possibility. The fact that there were monsters ambushing the city seemed to indicate that Glen’s plans had already solidified somewhat, and perhaps Glen had progressed his scheme further while Zich went to check on the Wind Tree’s existence. Although he left the task of spying on Glen to Lyla, her particular skill sets weren’t the best for surveilling a secretive person like Glen.
‘Besides, she probably can’t pour all her attention into surveilling him.’
If this was all true, then what kind of scheme was Glen preparing? What came to Zich’s mind were Til, since he later became the Demon Lord of Disaster, and the monsters that attacked Pialu. With these two key words—Til and the monsters—Zich tried to decipher Glen’s movements.
‘Of course, I’m sure this guy’s goal is to play the hero.’ Then, the punitive expedition of the monsters was out of the question. For Glen to be praised as a hero, he would have to accomplish much more than other people. Yet, the presence of Zich’s companions at Pialu prevented him from accomplishing such a thing. Furthermore, Zich’s team was far superior to Glen’s in terms of skills. Even if Glen had prepped the stage for a gigantic monster ambush, it was clear that Zich’s party would steal his spotlight.
‘Even that guy must have realized the difference in our skill levels.’
Rather, Glen was probably even more bothered by this fact than anything else, and Zich was probably an unbearable eyesore to him since certain regions treated Zich as a hero. Zich thought that Glen had a connection to the monsters’ abnormal movements, and there would be a reason why the monsters were acting so peculiarly. However, all this also meant that Glen’s true goal was something else.
‘As I thought, does it have to do with Til? What kind of methods did he use to manipulate Til?’ The first thought that came to Zich’s mind was the methods the robed figures had used to create Demon People up until now: they used the people in the person’s surroundings to corrupt them.
‘The people around Til are…”
There was Nick who had a bad relationship with him and Max whose relationship with Til was good.
‘There are also the kids, but…’ Would he really use children? ‘If it’s that guy, he totally would and even go beyond.’ Zich was sure of it. ‘Nevertheless, it seems clear that I should search Til’s surroundings.’ Thus, Zich decided to watch Til and Glen closely.
* * *
The monster attacks continued. For a couple of days, the level of their attacks ended with the monsters lingering near the city like before. However, as time passed, the number of monsters increased, and their attacks became more frequent. Naturally, people became more anxious and they were worried that mass numbers of monsters would attack all at once like before. Although they had successfully blocked the last monster ambush, they had suffered significant casualties. Furthermore, there was no guarantee that the next ambush would have a similar number of monsters as before, and there could even be more monsters next time. Yet, Zich believed that the monsters’ movements had been purposefully staged, so he observed the situation from a different point of view than the city’s residents.
‘If the plan is to ambush the city with monsters, these sorts of operations aren’t necessary.’ The monsters’ current movements only made the city residents more anxious. If the plan was to take over the city, a much more efficient way would be to gradually decrease the monster attacks and catch the residents off guard.
‘This means that this guy’s plan isn’t to attack the city.’ Even if attacking the city was part of his plan, it probably wasn’t a central part of his plan. Thus, it seemed more likely that the schemer was trying to strike fear and worry in the citizens’ hearts. They were already succeeding since the city had reached its peak anxiety.
However, that wasn’t probably his final goal either. ‘He might be trying to create chaos or stop trade.’ Or, there might be a completely different reason. ‘I need to first gain more information.’ He needed more information to narrow down the possible theories.
Zich went into the square—he had made plans with another person at the square today. Even though anxiety and fear had swept the city, there were quite a few people wandering around, and many shops were open. People had to earn a living even in times of crisis, and the monsters hadn’t reached this part of the city yet. The sun was beginning to set. Several people were sitting outside at the bar tables. Most people were mercenaries who had completed their work for the day, but there were a couple of non-mercenaries mixed in with them.
“Over here!” One person at a table waved his hand and called out to Zich, and he approached him.
“You’re here early.”
“You’re the one who’s late.” The person, Max, watched as Zich sat on the opposite side and called the waiter. “Beer, right?” Max ordered beer without waiting for Zich’s reply. There was already a half-empty beer cup in front of him.
“Are you ordering without even hearing my reply?”
“Do I even have to hear your reply? Just drink whatever I give you. You haven’t drank anything else so far…” Then, Max laughed out loud and gulped the rest of his beer. The scar on his face menacingly moved as he drank. Just a few days ago, Max had treated Zich politely as a Karuwiman Honorary Knight, but now, he treated Zich as if they were close buddies or even a younger brother.
When Zich decided to spy on Til’s surroundings, the first plan he thought about was to hide his body and spy on Til’s surroundings—this was what people usually thought of first when they heard the term ‘spy on’. However, the danger level for this plan was high, and it was time-consuming as well. Thus, the next idea he thought of was to fish out information from the people around Til. Even though it also took a while to get information and there was room for bias, this method took less time and was less dangerous than directly spying on Til. As a result, Zich chose to elicit information from Max.
Max was one of the closest people to Til, and he also looked at Zich favorably as a Karuwiman Honorary Knight. ‘He’s also one of the main suspects for corrupting Til.’ Of course, it was ridiculous to use the term ‘suspect’ when Zich was currently suspicious of everyone around Til without any evidence. However, since Max was close to Til, it was definitely worthwhile to keep observing him. Anyway, with all these thoughts in mind, Zich approached Max.
It was easy to get close to Max—he had already been trying to leave a favorable impression on Zich and his team because of their past trouble with mercenaries in his group. Moreover, Zich’s easygoing temperament, or if said negatively, rough personality, went along well with Max’s own temperament who was a mercenary to his core despite his principles of trust and faith.
They had now reached a stage where they sometimes met after work and drank a cup of beer together. Moreover, they were now so close that Max stopped using honorifics and spoke informally to him. The waiter brought two cups of beer. He put one cup in front of Zich and the other cup in front of Zich. Max’s first cup was already completely empty.
“Is it okay to drink that much?” Zich asked in a tone of rebuke as Max held his second cup of beer in glee. Even though they finished their work for today, they needed to always be ready for battle since the situation was so dire.
“I’m going to just drink this and stop.” Max’s voice sounded melancholy; he seemed sad that this was his last cup. He gulped down his first cup like a wanderer after traveling around a desert, but he sipped his second cup like he was drinking hot tea. Even while drinking, Max frowned in frustration that his beer was decreasing.
Zich smiled at Max’s obvious expression and gulped his beer. Zich and Max shared small talk. Even though Zich was meeting him to fish out information, he didn’t particularly put any effort to draw the conversation in one direction. The conversation was going to lead to topics that they shared anyway. Even if Zich didn’t put any effort to bring out the topic, the conversation naturally shifted in the direction that Zich wanted.
“You’re also aware that the number of monster ambushes has increased, right?”
“Of course. Isn’t that why everyone in this city is so nervous?”
“That’s why people are saying we should send Walter and Ellie to another city,” Max spoke casually, but Zich’s eyes brightened.
“Well, no wonder. It’s dangerous for the kids to stay here since we don’t know when the monsters will ambush us again.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been saying. I think the captain and Vice-captain Nick finally regained their senses.” Max had always felt very uncomfortable bringing along children with the mercenary group. Thus, it was only natural that he was so supportive of sending the kids to another city.
“But I didn’t know that there was such a brave person who would be able to make such a suggestion. It would be difficult to make such a suggestion to those two who care for their children so much that they even bring their kids along with their mercenary work.”
“It’s definitely not easy, but it was okay this time since the person who brought up the topic first was Vice-captain Nick.”
“Is that so? Then, everything must have turned out fine.” Zich took a sip of his beer as if he was no longer interested. However, his eyes were glistening.