I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 55

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 55
* * *
It was deep night. The kind of deep night when everyone—human and animal alike—had fallen asleep.
Without even moonlight to pierce the darkness, silence alone claimed the empty streets, while a desolate wind patrolled between the alleyways like a sentry.
There were certain things that thrived on nights like this.
Monsters and wild creatures that fled from light, messenger birds that vanished into the darkness—and then there were—
“Captain. Are we still in contact with him?”
“What?”
—people gathered in small clusters, putting their heads together to scheme their disreputable dealings.
The sole inn in Rochen, a town small enough that few travelers passed through it, had been occupied by such people for months now.
But the atmosphere tonight was different. Ban, the mercenary captain, fixed a dark stare on the subordinate who had broached the subject, his brow furrowed.
Yet the subordinate’s tone was unusually firm today.
“That Priest. Sir, I mean.”
“What in blazes are you talking about?”
“Captain. You know outsiders have entered the village, don’t you?”
“I heard. They seemed like ordinary riffraff to me. Nothing remarkable about them. And you said they were already asleep, didn’t you?”
“That’s not the point, sir. The information they brought—that’s what matters!”
As one man began to speak, fragments of conversation flowed from all corners. Ban listened carefully to every word they said.
The truth behind the stories those outsiders had shared as “interesting information.” And what message could be read in them.
By the time the story ended, Ban’s face was hideously contorted. He brought his massive fist down hard upon the table.
“So what you’re saying is… someone’s mimicking our operations?”
“Sir, that’s not the issue!”
“What else could it be? Something’s happened at Veritas Academy, and whoever’s taken it over is doing the exact same thing we are!”
“Captain, Captain. Please, just listen to me.”
The man relaying the news clung to Ban’s arm desperately.
“How were we able to pull off an operation like this? Hmm? It’s been possible only since we obtained that ‘stone,’ hasn’t it?”
“…That’s true.”
There exist realms in this world that ordinary humans dare not reach. Things that common people, no matter how hard they struggle, cannot possess—things that, if coveted carelessly, will only lead to their own ruin.
They desired such power. A power so formidable that no one would dare look down on them.
Ban rifled roughly through his pocket and drew out what lay within.
“Who gave it to you? Someone lent you this power!”
The rough surfaces of the stone scraped harshly against his palm. The sensation jolted his mind into sharp clarity.
An incident identical in method to what they had perpetrated at Veritas Academy—one that could only be executed with the same kind of power they possessed.
Which meant—
“That bastard… he’s contacted someone other than us?”
Ban’s eyes gleamed. He found himself imagining the figure of whoever had approached them—that someone who had turned mere vagabonds into something far more.
“Let’s make a deal. Our goals are the same, after all.”
“A deal? What’s the wager? Do you have anything you could possibly offer us?”
“You want power, don’t you? I can give you what you desire.”
“What?”
“Authority. I can share with you the power that only Guardian Families were ever allowed to possess.”
He had asked them to call him the Priest.
At first, they thought he was mad. Ban had ordered his men to beat him senseless and throw him out.
But it wasn’t long before disbelief became impossible.
“Agh, aaaahhh! Ahhh!”
“Wh-what is this? What are you doing? Stop! Stop it!”
“Why? I showed you because you didn’t seem to believe me. That I have power.”
Because those subordinates began to strike their own bodies instead of the stranger’s.
He lost two men that day, but in exchange, he obtained a stone imbued with Authority. Given the significance of such power, it was frankly a profitable trade.
From that point on, they became partners with the Priest in mutual benefit. The Priest used them to obtain sacrifices; they used the Priest to gain power.
Because they were the only connection each other had, they felt compelled to trust, even as they harbored suspicion. Or so he had believed.
“Think about it, sir. Wouldn’t it actually be more advantageous for him to have multiple helpers?”
“He’s obsessed with sacrifices, not power. It’s as if he’s trying to summon the being who granted him that power.”
“Captain. No, sir. We should consider the possibility that he might be playing games with others while neglecting us.”
Distrust spread rapidly, like tinder catching flame in an instant.
“That damned son of a bitch! How dare he divide what’s ours!”
“He’s using us. We were just foolish enough to believe we stood as equals with him!”
“We need to confirm the truth immediately and make sure that bastard doesn’t get any funny ideas!”
The atmosphere began to boil. Ban looked down at the red stone again. It pulsed with a sickly crimson glow.
They possessed a fragment of power. By now, Ban understood all too well just how extraordinary this power truly was.
But now he was supposed to share it? Give away more, break it into smaller pieces?
“Ha, hahaha!”
That cursed wretch. The flame of distrust ignited in Ban’s eyes as well. His brown irises burned with fury.
“We can’t stand around idly and let our prey slip away.”
“Sir, then—!”
“Gather the rest of the men. We move against him first.”
“And what of… those things?”
“What?”
“The ones we brought from the village. Do we continue with them?”
Ban deliberated. To collect more sacrifices, he still needed the “Calamity.” But if the one meant to receive the sacrifices was no longer on their side—
‘That won’t do at all.’
“Hold on. We’ll resume once I’m certain of the situation.”
“A wise decision, sir!”
“Go sort things out tomorrow. Keep them alive. Everything else goes to him. We proceed once we know for certain.”
“There’s a reason the captain is the captain. I agree completely!”
Eyes gleaming with greed shone from all corners. Ban laughed along with them.
They had no intention of sharing what was theirs.
Death to traitors. Ban thought it and laughed boisterously. Beer that the innkeeper had left behind—when had it been brought in?—sloshed in rhythm with their raucous noise.
* * *
Two dark shadows concealed in the ceiling quietly withdrew from the gathering below.
The mercenaries, for all their secrecy in holding their nocturnal meeting, had been careless enough to make noise. Thanks to that, no one noticed the sound of the two figures slipping away.
The mercenary posted outside the room had his head nodding in drowsy circles in every direction, so no one noticed them returning to their quarters either.
“…I think we can locate where Dorothy is being held.”
“We return to the Knight Order at dawn.”
They had caught the thread faster than expected. The critical question now was how to handle it.
“We’ll need reinforcements.”
Olivia nodded as well. The bait they had cast had worked more effectively than anticipated.
Now it was a race against time.
* * *
Aiden and Olivia arrived at the Knight Order in the dim pre-dawn, before the sun had yet risen.
A mission was far more grueling than one might expect, Olivia thought distantly.
This was a job that demanded the stamina to ride through the night without fatigue and the ability to scale a building’s outer wall undetected.
“Olivia. I’ll go meet the Commander while you head inside and find the others.”
“The Commander… do you think he’ll be at the office at this hour?”
“We’ll make him come in.”
A meaningful smile played at the corner of Aiden’s mouth as he spoke.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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