The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 276
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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 276. Ian’s Whereabouts (1)
A small teahouse nestled on a quiet street in the outer reaches of District 5 – Production District.
No distinctive signboard. No gaudy decorations.
Only characters etched in bold strokes upon a white board comprised the establishment’s identity.
[Whitecent Aroma]
Marzen sat by the window of Whitecent Aroma’s teahouse.
The interior was hushed.
Beyond the glass, the daily lives of Empire citizens flowed past in serene silence.
A merchant hauling fruit.
An elderly man smoking a cigarette.
A young girl who seemed to be waiting for someone.
It was an ordinary scene—nothing out of the ordinary.
Word of the fifty-thousand-ton Runesteel Ore vanishing incident appeared not to have reached this far into District 5 – Production District.
Or rather, it genuinely hadn’t.
All related information had been suppressed.
The Distribution Ministry Headquarters had immediately elevated it to the highest classification level.
The Information Bureau had instantly concealed all relevant documents.
Rumors and hearsay.
They had intensified surveillance and censorship to ensure nothing leaked out.
Yet despite such measures, word of mouth had a way of seeping through regardless.
‘They’ve managed to completely seal off even the rumors.’
It was truly terrifying control.
‘The Information Bureau’s capabilities are this formidable.’
It exceeded Marzen’s expectations by far—far more formidable than he had imagined.
In other words, the Information Bureau was not merely an intelligence-gathering agency, but rather a complete apparatus of control capable of, if necessary, even manipulating the very flow of the world itself.
“Hmm.”
Marzen swallowed hard.
His shoulders trembled slightly.
The reality of standing against such a monstrous organization was only now sinking in.
Marzen quietly lifted his teacup.
He brushed his lips against the now-lukewarm tea, steadying his trembling resolve.
His gaze remained fixed upon the street scene beyond.
The street appeared peaceful.
But that was merely surface appearance.
The Empire had already entered emergency response mode.
While the outside seemed calm, the interior was no different from a state of war.
And the architect of this crisis.
“So you were here.”
Kim Fujiwara Bloodhound.
He quietly opened the teahouse door and stepped inside.
A momentary hush fell over the gathering.
Kim Fujiwara naturally took the seat across from Marzen.
Marzen regarded Kim Fujiwara quietly.
So handsome it was hard to believe this was the man who had shaken the entire Empire—.
“Is there something on my face?”
No, his expression remained composed.
“…It’s nothing.”
Marzen quietly averted his gaze.
Kim Fujiwara tilted his head slightly, then leaned back against the chair with unhurried ease.
“I thought something might be there, the way you were staring so intently.”
Marzen took a sip of tea before speaking.
“Didn’t we agree to avoid direct meetings?”
“We did.”
“Then why did you ask to meet?”
“Because the Distribution Bureau has been thrown into complete chaos.”
Kim Fujiwara smiled faintly.
Marzen regarded him with his lips pressed firmly shut.
He knew precisely why the Distribution Bureau had been thrown into chaos.
‘To think he actually recovered the Rune Iron Ore right in front of Barelto.’
…It was truly incomprehensible.
Subduing Barelto in the first place.
Making fifty thousand tons of Rune Iron Ore vanish before his very eyes.
Not a single one of these events could be rationalized by common sense.
“Ah, by the way—I should mention that my surveillance personnel are currently deployed to handle the Rune Iron Ore incident.”
….
“They won’t have the leisure to pay attention to this quiet tea house.”
Marzen found himself beyond amazement.
He could only recognize anew just who he had become entangled with.
Marzen set down his cup.
At that same moment, Kim Fujiwara asked.
“So, what of the investigation you asked me to conduct?”
“Thanks to you drawing all eyes toward yourself, the investigation itself proceeded without hindrance.”
Marzen withdrew the materials he had gathered thus far from subspace.
* * *
As Marzen thrust his hand into empty air, space itself split apart.
Beyond that fissure.
Something erupted forth as though forcibly torn out.
Boom—!
What poured out in an explosive cascade was an enormous quantity of documents.
“Incidents and accidents that have occurred throughout the Empire over the past four years.”
“….”
“Among them, I’ve filtered only incidents classified as terrorism, rebellion, and unconfirmed accidents.”
I examined the towering stack of documents before me.
The thickness alone reached nearly the length of my arm.
“…There were this many?”
“I was shocked during the investigation too. I initially thought there would be only a handful.”
Marzen shook his head once.
And understandably so—even by my assessment, the number was staggering.
No matter how vast The Empire’s territory was, incidents occurring within four years seemed excessively numerous.
Moreover, these were far from ordinary incidents.
Terrorism, rebellion, unconfirmed accidents.
Events capable of shaking a nation had occurred with such frequency?
Only because it was The Empire did it survive—any other nation would have collapsed long ago.
‘But… there are far more than I anticipated.’
With incidents overlapping to this degree, locating the information I sought would prove difficult.
Specifically, traces of Ian.
If my hypothesis was correct, Ian had been consistently drawing The Emperor’s attention from within The Empire.
He had deliberately created chaos, and thanks to that, The Emperor’s focus never turned toward me.
Therefore, terrorism, rebellion, unconfirmed accidents, and so forth.
I investigated incidents that Ian was likely responsible for.
My objectives were twofold.
First, to locate Ian’s whereabouts.
And second.
‘I intended to frame this Runesteel Ore incident as Ian’s doing.’
The true purpose was to move The Emperor.
This unprecedented catastrophe—the complete disappearance of Runesteel Ore, a critical resource.
But would The Emperor move directly?
Honestly, it remained unclear.
Runesteel Ore could certainly capture The Emperor’s attention.
But it was not a ‘certain’ card capable of compelling The Emperor’s action.
In truth, there were virtually no cards that could move The Emperor directly.
Yet there was precisely one.
A card that would force The Emperor to move without question.
Ian.
It had been so even in my previous life.
The Emperor had desperately sought to kill Ian.
He pursued Ian with relentless obsession, sacrificing most of The Empire’s military strength in his determination to eliminate him by any means.
Regarding the reason, Ian had once told me.
-Because I’m the only way you can stop The Emperor.
The Emperor’s sole rival—Ian.
Of course, since The Emperor had returned to the past, he too would have lost his memories of Ian.
But the moment The Emperor laid eyes on Ian, he would have instinctively known.
The very threat that Ian’s existence posed.
The fact that he was the only rival capable of standing against him.
Therefore, if Ian were involved?
‘The Emperor would have no choice but to act.’
There was even a possibility that The Emperor himself was directly orchestrating the Runesteel transaction.
Why, you ask?
Because Runesteel ore was no longer merely a strategic resource—it could become bait to lure Ian out.
The Emperor would have already calculated such a move.
‘Assuming, of course, that Ian is involved in this incident at all.’
Therefore, I had attempted to fabricate this Runesteel ore incident in a form similar to the incidents and accidents Ian had caused.
‘…But there are too many.’
Far more incidents were unfolding within The Empire than I had anticipated.
Which ones had Ian caused?
Which were imitations by someone else?
And what was merely a coincidental accident?
I couldn’t distinguish any of them.
Even tracing back my memories from my past life….
It proved meaningless.
I possessed no information about the incidents and accidents that had occurred within The Empire.
‘This makes finding Ian’s whereabouts all the more difficult.’
I pieced together my scattered thoughts.
It was at that moment.
Marzen spoke up.
“Do you know what’s even more astonishing?”
“…What is it?”
“All of this was orchestrated by a single person.”
My eyes widened in an instant.
Simultaneously, a strange sense of déjà vu washed over me.
I feigned indifference as I asked.
“Do you know who they are?”
“I don’t know their identity.”
Marzen shook his head.
“It’s information beyond the reach of my authority.”
Marzen was not yet the Minister.
But as Vice Minister of the Distribution Bureau, he held a position of considerable authority.
Therefore, information inaccessible to Marzen meant it belonged to the highest classification of secrets.
However.
“That doesn’t mean I’ve been idle about it.”
Marzen continued without hesitation.
“I couldn’t reach it through official channels, but I mobilized my own intelligence network.”
“You have a personal intelligence network within The Empire?”
“Do you know where my hometown is?”
“Inforen, the information city, isn’t it?”
A city where information itself was currency.
Yet now it was a city erased from all maps.
Because it had uncovered secrets The Empire forbade anyone to touch.
Marzen was a man who had survived that place and risen to become an executive of The Empire.
“I’ve learned something through all my years of survival. Information is power, and that power is never shared.”
“….”
“If you wait to see and hear everything before moving, you’re already too late. This is a place where your head could fly off at any moment.”
Indeed.
It was no accident that he had survived Inforen.
Nor was his position as Deputy Director of the Distribution Bureau won by mere gamble.
“After mobilizing my intelligence network, there was one name mentioned consistently across all incidents.”
Marzen withdrew a single document from the stack of papers before him.
Within it, a single word was inscribed in crimson letters.
[Invictus]
“But I couldn’t determine what it was.”
Marzen gazed quietly at the document and continued.
“Whether it’s a person’s name or an organization’s name. Nothing is certain.”
“….”
“What is certain is that this name appears like a trace in every single incident.”
Marzen exhaled quietly.
And I offered no response.
I couldn’t offer a response, to be precise.
…Because I already knew.
Invictus.
I knew the weight and substance it carried.
The word’s meaning was ‘unconquered, invincible existence’.
And so, during the Allied Forces era.
It was once a codename used by someone.
Before the Allied Forces were even formed.
In those days when the position of Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces didn’t yet exist—.
‘Ian!’
That codename was Invictus.
* * *
Kim Fujiwara suddenly fell silent.
Marzen observed Kim Fujiwara carefully and quietly.
His face and expression remained handsome—
No, rather, his features were so impassive they bordered on expressionless.
As if organizing his thoughts, Kim Fujiwara lowered his gaze.
And after a moment.
Kim Fujiwara lifted the gaze he had lowered.
Then he reached out and began carefully turning over several stacked documents.
As if searching for something.
Or rather, as if verifying something.
Without a word, Kim Fujiwara continued examining the contents of the documents.
And then.
“…I will change the plan.”
Kim Fujiwara opened his mouth.
But his gaze remained fixed on the documents.
Marzen watched him for a moment before asking.
“How do you intend to change it?”
“The original plan I mentioned was for me to cause chaos from this point forward.”
Fifty thousand tons of Runesteel that had vanished.
Eight hundred billion in unpaid balance.
“Since we can no longer conduct business with The Empire, I would nullify the additional Runesteel transaction.”
“….”
“And if they don’t pay the eight hundred billion, I would proceed with corresponding retaliatory measures.”
Kim Fujiwara continued as he closed the documents.
“For example, full disclosure of transaction records. The Empire’s sloppy budget management and accounting manipulation, as well as the flow of funds procured through unofficial channels… things like that.”
It was far more than simple blackmail.
It was a carefully orchestrated sequence, and Kim Fujiwara remarkably possessed such information.
“If necessary, I was prepared to resort to violence. Or rather, armed action.”
I had been preparing to obliterate every agent The Empire sent to eliminate Kim Fujiwara.
Kim Fujiwara possessed both the power and the means to do so.
It was a plan to cause genuine, literal chaos.
“At that point, I would assign you the scenario of having persuaded me, Marzen.”
“….”
“As if you had persuaded me while I was causing chaos, and requested a postponement of negotiations to allow time for internal reorganization.”
Kim Fujiwara’s fingers tapped against the table—tap, tap.
“Then you would be able to restore trust with me, preserve The Empire’s dignity, and ultimately gain the evaluation of having controlled the situation.”
“….”
“Based on that achievement, I intended to naturally position you in the Director-General’s seat… but.”
Tap, tap.
The fingers tapping the table stopped.
Kim Fujiwara slowly raised his gaze to look at Marzen.
“That has become unnecessary.”
“…?”
“Prepare for your promotion immediately.”
“…????”
Marzen Re Ordell’s face flooded with confusion.
What, so suddenly?
I couldn’t keep pace with the rhythm of this conversation.
Kim Fujiwara held up a single document.
Invictus
A document bearing an unfamiliar name.
And it was classified intelligence that Marzen Re Ordell had painstakingly obtained through his personal information network.
“It’s all thanks to you bringing such crucial information, Marzen Re Ordell.”
“…?”
“You said earlier that information is power, didn’t you?”
Though that power won’t be shared.
“You can certainly claim the benefits first.”
Kim Fujiwara flashed a sly grin.
Then he raised his hand and pulled—
A quill pen emerged from subspace, and he began writing something.
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-For all additional Runesteel transactions, The Empire shall bear all costs including refining and transport fees.
-Terms: prepayment, full payment within three days.
-Remaining balance of 800 billion and contract deposit of 1 trillion to be paid in advance.
-All negotiations regarding additional Runesteel shall proceed exclusively with Marzen Re Ordell.
-Authority elevation of Marzen Re Ordell is necessary.
-Transaction goods shall be sent directly to the Imperial Palace, and Kim Fujiwara must be included without fail in the transport process.
====
“Go and report it exactly as written.”
“This is absolutely absurd…!!”
Marzen Re Ordell reviewed the contents once more.
Every single condition lacked even a shred of realism.
These were terms that one could never imagine presenting to The Empire itself.
“Do you think The Empire will accept this?”
“Of course they won’t.”
“Then why—”
“But there is one person who will be different.”
“…Who are you talking about?”
Kim Fujiwara quietly pointed his finger upward.
“A single person whom The Empire itself dare not defy, no matter how much they refuse.”
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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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