The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 34

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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 34. The Lord’s Responsibilities and Duties (2)
The soldier had suddenly mentioned a name—Adrian.
“My brother?”
Seraphia’s head tilted in confusion.
It made sense for her to be puzzled, since Adrian was not in Whitewolf Territory at the moment.
Adrian had left Whitewolf Territory to establish the Merchant Guild, so she naturally knew this. And it hadn’t been very long since his departure.
In other words, the time elapsed was far too short for him to have left on a business venture and returned.
Moreover, the catastrophic blizzard had completely severed Whitewolf Territory from the outside world.
Even if he wanted to return, it would be impossible.
Yet Adrian?
Unless something had happened to Adrian—.
“What do you mean about my brother!?”
Seraphia asked the soldier urgently.
But perhaps the soldier himself couldn’t find the words to explain properly.
“Y-you’ll need to see for yourself!!”
The soldier cried out in desperation.
Seraphia was seized by an inexplicable dread.
* * *
Ominously enough.
The sky was blanketed with ashen clouds.
The ground, frozen solid by the cold.
Each step produced a crisp, rustling sound.
Seraphia quickened her pace all the more.
After walking for some time.
The first thing Seraphia could see was a distribution center constructed sturdily from canvas tents.
“This… this is…”
“When was this built…?”
Kai and Bernard, who had followed behind, widened their eyes in astonishment.
Before the distribution center stood long queues filled with the territory’s residents.
In the bitter cold of their wait, the people huddled in worn coats and fur garments, blowing on their hands to endure the chill.
Inside the distribution center, supplies were stacked abundantly.
Large wooden crates and burlap sacks overflowed with dried meat, salted fish, processed grains, and warm fur clothing.
Food, clothing, firewood, medical supplies, and more.
These were precisely what Whitewolf Territory needed most—supplies that could resolve the territory’s crisis in one fell swoop, piled high within.
Those who had already received their rations hurried toward their homes.
Families, friends, and loved ones trembling from cold and hunger back home. Yet smiles bloomed across their faces as they imagined the joy soon to come to those waiting for them.
Seraphia ventured deeper into the distribution center.
The distribution of supplies was being handled entirely by the soldiers who had accompanied Adrian.
As the season of bitter cold approached.
Though the soldiers’ bodies naturally shrank from the harsh chill, they seemed oblivious to the cold.
“Come now, there’s plenty for everyone, so please take as much as you need.”
“Don’t go starving yourselves out of false modesty.”
Maintaining a resolute posture, I distributed supplies to each household with an animated expression.
Adrian was no exception.
I moved through the distribution site, checking whether any supplies had been overlooked, whether people were receiving their portions properly.
I verified everything meticulously, one by one.
The Merchant Guild members followed me around, scribbling notes and checking items off their lists.
Perhaps that was why.
…It was warm.
Even in the depths of the harsh winter, this place remained unfrozen. Life overflowed from every corner.
The low voices of the territory’s residents drifted over as they huddled around small bonfires, conversing softly.
Children were eating warm soup, while elderly folk received assistance from soldiers in transporting their supplies back home.
The occasional cries of children trembling from the cold mixed into the soundscape.
At the sound of those children’s tears, several people’s eyes glistened as they shed tears of their own.
But those tears did not spring from sorrow or fear.
They were not the result of hunger or cold.
“Thank you… truly, thank you….”
“How could I ever repay such kindness….”
Gratitude and appreciation.
What bloomed on the faces of the territory’s residents was not despair.
It was hope…
Seraphia’s crimson eyes trembled visibly as she observed each person’s face.
…She could not comprehend it.
How to accept this situation.
And how to understand it.
She simply could not comprehend it.
“…”
Suddenly overwhelmed by emotion, Seraphia bit her lip hard. Yet unable to contain the surging feelings, her lips trembled slightly.
She drew a deep breath deliberately.
She gripped the hem of her garment tightly with both hands.
Still, her shoulders trembled.
Kai, watching her, asked with concern.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m… I’m fine… Just give me a moment… I need to be alone… for a moment.”
Seraphia fled from the spot.
Kai tried to follow, but Bernard blocked his path.
“It would be best to leave her alone for now.”
At Bernard’s words, Kai’s gaze shifted, and he saw Seraphia’s body swaying.
Like a delicate petal scattered by the wind, she appeared dangerously unstable.
But Kai ultimately took a step back.
It was a tenderness that seemed to stem from a desire to momentarily sever oneself from the world and its emotions.
And Kai knew precisely what lay behind it.
* * *
Seraphia walked without destination.
She had no thought of how far or where she should go.
She simply walked and walked and walked.
Only when she reached an alleyway hidden from all eyes, a desolate place beyond the reach of every gaze, did her footsteps finally cease.
Somewhere along the way, her long black lashes had grown moist, veiling her eyes.
Glistening tears, pooled and trembling.
The tears kept welling up. I didn’t understand why.
I was simply… so happy.
In this very moment.
Yet I couldn’t fathom the reason for this happiness.
Perhaps that was why.
“…Hic.”
Why I couldn’t suppress the sobs that burst forth.
Why I couldn’t contain the overwhelming emotions surging within me.
This shouldn’t be happening. I shouldn’t cry.
I shouldn’t weaken. I can’t. I mustn’t.
I have to be strong. Stronger still….
Without realizing it, Seraphia’s legs gave way beneath her.
“Hic…!”
The tears she’d been holding back finally broke free.
The reason… I didn’t know.
I could only think that my heart had grown weak.
My face drenched in tears.
If I looked in a mirror, I would surely appear utterly pathetic.
Yet the tears wouldn’t stop.
I didn’t even try to stop them.
And so.
Seraphia sank to the ground right there.
“Hic…! Sob…!”
She must have wept for hours.
* * *
Across The Continent, there were free cities beyond Frecce.
Free cities developed around specific industries—mining, agriculture, and livestock—while Frecce was a city where commerce flourished.
And there existed a city that developed around cultural pursuits such as art and scholarship—
The cultural city, Orpheum.
A landscape of towering mountain ranges and verdant rivers encircling the city.
Orpheum, constructed in harmony with nature’s beauty, was a city formed by the gathering of those who cherished learning and the arts.
As time passed, the city gradually became the center of academic discourse and artistic collaboration.
Now it had established itself as a city where diverse artists and scholars from various nations gathered to exchange ideas and engage in scholarly debate.
Beside the Orpheum Grand Plaza stood a colossal bookstore that resembled a library—.
Upon stepping through the entrance, the soaring ceiling and endless rows of shelves created an atmosphere reminiscent of a temple of knowledge itself.
The shelves were meticulously organized by genre and subject matter.
A spiral staircase occupied the center of the bookstore, allowing access to multiple levels of space.
And on each floor and section were mobile ladders positioned for convenience.
“Heave!”
A young-looking woman moved busily up and down among them.
She wore an elegant robe that harmonized shades of blue and silver.
Her long hair, tinged with pale sky-blue, shimmered like silk, and her blue eyes held the deep, serene hue of a cloudless sky.
She possessed a delicate nose and somewhat thin lips.
Her skin, sculpted with fine clarity, harmonized perfectly with her refined features.
The petite woman descended the ladder precariously, cradling an armful of heavy books.
Then, whimpering like an anxious puppy, she carefully stacked the books one by one atop the counter.
[All About Every Monster], [Advanced Demonology], [Deep Analysis of Alchemy], [Introduction to Curse Studies], [Transformation Magic], [The Evolution of Classical Magic], [Evolutionary Biology]….
In an instant, the books formed a towering mountain.
The bookstore owner’s glasses clicked downward as he observed the pile.
His lowered gaze.
The small, blue-tinted woman suddenly thrust her head forward, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm as she exclaimed.
“P-please ring all of this up!”
“All of it?”
“Yes!”
Didn’t you buy an armful just a couple of months ago? Surely you haven’t already finished reading all those books?”
“They were so entertaining that I ended up reading through the night….”
“Entertaining, you say…?”
These tedious, complex, headache-inducing books filled with difficult terminology and knowledge, each exceeding 1,000 pages in thickness?
“Yes! They’re incredibly entertaining!”
I suspect you’re the only one on this entire Continent who finds such things entertaining, Iliana.
The bookstore owner, with an exasperated expression, began sorting through the mountain of books one by one.
Iliana, the small, blue-tinted woman, gazed at him intently before asking.
“By the way, sir. The entire city seems unusually bustling today—is something happening?”
“Hmm? Ah yes, recently something called ‘monster meat’ has arrived in the commercial district, which is causing quite the stir.”
“…Monster meat, you say?”
“Someone has been selling monster meat recently. They claim it’s monster meat with the madness removed—.”
“That’s impossible!!”
Iliana struck the counter with a bang and cried out.
“The element of madness imprinted at the genetic level cannot be removed!”
“No, that is—.”
“Even if you target the genetic sequence of madness, the essential energy is intrinsically linked to the core code of the genes themselves—the connection cannot be severed!”
“So that’s—.”
“So even if you target and cast a genetic deletion spell, you can’t erase the energetic traces! Unless you deny or delete the very existence of the gene itself, it’s absolutely impossible! Absolutely!”
Her small lips pressed firmly together, both fists clenched tight.
Beneath her long lashes, her brilliant blue eyes held an expression of unwavering stubbornness.
“I… Iliana? Even if you explain using such difficult terminology, I’m just a merchant—I can’t possibly understand.”
“B-but…! That’s fraud!”
“Setting aside such complex magical knowledge, one thing is certain: people who ate monster meat did not go mad.”
“Four… four people? That can’t be right. Are you sure you didn’t misunderstand?”
“I’m certain. The people ate monster meat and did not go mad.”
“That’s… that’s impossible…!!”
Iliana’s blue eyes widened in shock.
“Who on earth did this? Who fed people monster meat…?”
“A Merchant Guild called Predator.”
“Predator… a Merchant Guild?”
Not a mage or a scholar of the arcane?
So not a magic tower?
Iliana fell deep into thought, searching her memory.
But no matter how hard she tried, she could recall nothing about the Predator Merchant Company.
Though she had learned from books, Iliana had memorized the names and territories of nearly every kingdom on The Continent, along with their noble houses and merchant guilds.
That she could recall nothing meant only one possibility.
“It’s a newly established Merchant Guild.”
“Ah…”
That explained why, no matter how hard she searched her memory, she found nothing.
“It’s operated by Whitewolf Territory, I hear.”
“Whitewolf Territory, you say…?”
Iliana fell into deep thought once more.
But unlike before, this contemplation did not last long.
A memory suddenly flashed through Iliana’s mind.
If this Whitewolf Territory were the same one she was thinking of…
“Could you possibly be referring to the territory at the very northernmost edge of The Continent?!”

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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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