The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - 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. Traces (2)
A man came rushing out from the depths of the shop, stopping before me to bow at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
He was none other than Adlern, proprietor of the Adlern Merchant Company and an executive of the Frecce Merchant Guild.
Being an executive of the Merchant Guild was no insignificant position in Frecce.
Within Frecce alone, one could say it was a rank rivaling nobility itself.
“I’ve been waiting for your arrival, sir!!”
Yet Adlern maintained such a respectful demeanor toward me.
The excessive courtesy left me momentarily dazed.
But I quickly gathered myself and opened my mouth to speak.
“About what I mentioned last time—”
Then I paused, closing my mouth again.
I had naturally slipped into casual speech.
Frecce is a free city.
It has hierarchy, perhaps, but no rigid class system.
Even if I am nobility, that status holds no sway here.
Naturally, I shouldn’t speak casually to just anyone.
Adlern was clearly older than me.
Yet casual speech had slipped out unbidden—it was simply habit.
Not so much a habit born of nobility, but rather a remnant from my days in the Allied Forces.
The Allied Forces operated under a strict hierarchical system.
As Special Forces Duke Commander, my rank primarily involved issuing orders.
From issuing commands rapidly, casual speech had become second nature, and that old habit still lingered, causing it to slip out naturally.
If this were the Battenberg Kingdom, perhaps it would be different.
But having come to a free city, I must abide by its customs.
“Ah, my apologies. It’s a habit—I spoke carelessly without realizing it.”
“Not at all, sir!! Please, think nothing of it!”
Yet Adlern waved his hand dismissively, as if the matter were beneath consideration.
“Aren’t you a distinguished young master of Count Whitewolf’s House? I’m merely a lowly commoner and merchant. So please, speak as you wish! Hehe….”
As he spoke, Adlern rubbed his palms together eagerly.
On the surface, he resembled a fawning courtier, yet there was no genuine malice in his manner.
Rather than malice, he regarded me as his benefactor.
After all, Adlern was a merchant who dealt primarily in wine.
Since it was an expensive luxury good, his clientele was limited to the upper classes.
But thanks to me, nobles had begun arriving in Frecce specifically to purchase monster meat, their numbers surging dramatically.
In a sense, he was the merchant who had benefited most in all of Frecce.
And besides—
Given how earnestly he spoke, there was no reason for me to maintain formality.
“Then I’ll speak freely.”
“Yes, yes! Now my heart is at ease!”
Adlern finally released a sigh of relief, as though a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
Adlern treated me almost like royalty.
It seemed he had generated far more profit than I had anticipated.
And here in Frecce, money was absolute power.
Whether they were executives of the Merchant Guild or not, everyone was equal before wealth.
“So, what happened with what you mentioned last time?”
“You mean the investigation into the man named Ian, sir?”
As I nodded, Adlern’s expression brimmed with confidence.
“At your word, Adrian, our Merchant Guild dispatched personnel to free cities across The Continent!”
The strength in his voice suggested he had achieved something noteworthy.
As my eyes gleamed with interest, Adlern quickly continued.
“…However, regrettably, we were unable to find any trace of the man named Ian you mentioned.”
And just like that, Adlern’s expression grew dejected.
The confidence from moments before had vanished without a trace.
Now he was merely watching my reaction.
I wondered why he had been so confident in the first place.
In any case, we had found no trace of Ian.
‘Ian, where exactly are you wandering around looking for me?’
Whether past or present, his intentions remained utterly inscrutable.
Though strictly speaking, it was my past self who had done the wandering.
Still, it wasn’t entirely without results.
We had at least confirmed that Ian was not in the free cities.
In other words, the scope of my search for Ian had narrowed.
Most importantly, the Merchant Guild’s information network remained active, so if Ian ever visited a free city later, I would know immediately.
As I swallowed my disappointment, that was when—
“However, there is one thing.”
Adlern glanced at me once more before speaking slowly.
“We were unable to confirm anything about Violess.”
“Violess?”
Violess, you say….
“You mean the lawless city?”
“Yes, yes, that’s correct.”
Violess.
Violess was a free city like Frecce.
However, unlike cities specialized in particular industries such as commerce, livestock, or mining, it was a city where law and order did not exist.
In other words, a lawless city.
Free cities had no absolute authority like lords or sovereigns.
This meant losing all control over various criminal organizations and armed factions.
Extreme freedom had dismantled even the most basic laws and order, and those with power who imposed their own rules seized control.
Thus, in the lawless city of Violess, force was absolute power.
That was why merchants rarely ventured there.
Law and order had crumbled, making contracts utterly unreliable.
Merchants who ventured into the lawless city invariably returned stripped of their goods—if they returned at all. Few dared attempt such journeys anymore.
Yet there existed a merchant company that moved freely through this lawless city.
“That territory is firmly controlled by the Dark Merchant Company….”
“The Dark Merchant Company?”
“They’re a rather unsavory organization, if I may say so.”
Adlern proceeded to elaborate on the Dark Merchant Company at length.
However, I had no real need to hear his explanation.
I already possessed knowledge of the Dark Merchant Company.
In fact, I knew far more about them than Adlern did.
The intelligence I had gathered during my tenure as Special Forces Duke Commander remained vivid in my mind.
The Dark Merchant Company.
As the name suggested, the Dark Merchant Company was a clandestine alliance of merchants operating in the shadows.
“They primarily engage in illegal transactions—the distribution of forbidden goods like slaves. They accumulate vast wealth through black markets.”
Naturally, they disregarded law and morality entirely.
For profit, they employed any means necessary.
They trafficked without hesitation in unethical and sordid merchandise.
“All manner of illegal weapons, poisons, ancient artifacts, magically forbidden items, and cursed objects circulating across the Continent can be traced to them.”
A vast organization operating an underground market network spanning the entire Continent.
Through this, they maintained deep connections with criminal syndicates across nations, political corruptors, even the nobility itself—sharing profits with diverse factions.
“However, all members and executives of the Dark Merchant Company maintain absolute anonymity, so no one truly knows anything about them.”
Their clientele, too, remained meticulously anonymous—a precisely orchestrated organization.
“No one knows who operates the Dark Merchant Company, who its members are, where their primary operations are based, or how they function.”
Adlern scratched the back of his head, clearly troubled.
When a merchant so attuned to information spoke thus, one could safely conclude the organization was thoroughly shrouded in mystery.
This was precisely why they bore the name “Dark Merchant Company.”
The name did not describe their actual identity.
Because their true name remained unknowable, people had simply assigned them this epithet.
To be precise, the concept of “Hidden Form Knowledge” had been substituted with “Dark,” creating their designation.
A meaning conveying that nothing could be discerned, as though shrouded in darkness itself.
Strictly speaking, “the Unknown Merchant Company” would have been the accurate expression.
But the phrasing felt awkward and the length unwieldy, so “Dark Merchant Company” sufficed.
In any case, the Dark Merchant Company was a secret organization veiled in mystery regarding every aspect of its existence.
Yet.
I knew.
During my time with the Allied Forces, I had conducted investigations into the Dark Merchant Company and successfully uncovered their true name.
The Devotees of the Fallen Souls.
This was their genuine identity.
The name suggested a religious organization more than a merchant company—and in truth, it was.
The Dark Merchant Company was not a merchant organization at all, but rather a form of “religious cult.”
A dangerous religion that worships darkness and forbidden knowledge, wielding the world’s hidden powers.
Their purpose is to shatter the order of The Continent and plunge the world into chaos and destruction.
I have also investigated the key organizational members of their group one by one.
From the handful of leaders dwelling at the highest echelons to middle management and transaction brokers—I know who they all are.
And so, ultimately, I also know the identity of the Dark Merchant Company’s guild master and the ‘god’ whom the Devotees of the Fallen Souls revere and follow.
One of the six lords who serve The Emperor.
The Abyss Lord.
He is the god in whom the Devotees of the Fallen Souls believe.
* * *
One of the six lords who serve The Emperor—The Abyss Lord.
The Allied Forces referred to The Abyss Lord as [an inexplicable, unknowable terror].
True to the name, it defied explanation.
And so, countermeasures were impossible.
Not The Saint’s miracles, nor The Grand Mage’s mental defense spells.
Not The Spirit Summoner’s spirits, nor The Blacksmith’s divine weapons.
Nothing proved effective against the [inexplicable, unknowable terror] that The Abyss Lord displayed.
And so the Allied Forces could glean no information whatsoever about The Abyss Lord.
What manner of being it was, what abilities it possessed.
They could not even discern its appearance.
Of course, information about the other lords—especially
◆The player’s will [EX] resists the void of memory!
could be pieced together bit by bit and revealed.
But whenever they approached the truth concerning The Abyss Lord, everyone descended into madness, gripped by overwhelming terror and dread.
It was the same when confronting The Abyss Lord directly.
During the war against The Abyss Lord.
There was no one among the Allied Forces who faced The Abyss Lord directly.
I was no exception, nor were the heroes of the Allied Forces.
Only one.
The commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces and the hero, Ian.
Only Ian could face The Abyss Lord.
Because only Ian remained unbroken by the [inexplicable, unknowable terror] that The Abyss Lord unleashed.
The player’s will [EX].
But it was not an ability that granted complete mental immunity.
It merely prevented the mind from collapsing instantaneously.
Ian feared just as we did, trembling in terror alongside us.
Yet Ian endured, stood alone against The Abyss Lord, and ultimately succeeded in annihilating The Abyss Lord.
And afterward, Ian described The Abyss Lord as follows:
-Should I call it the final evil that rises from the heart of eternity, whispering the murmurs of chaos?
-What?
-Or perhaps the last unholy existence born from the depths of the abyss, thrashing ceaselessly through endless time?
—What are you talking about?
—A formless evil born of chaos in the infinite abyss of eternity, endlessly rippling from the center of perpetuity, the ultimate negative existence forged from the depths of hell—how else should I describe it?
…The sheer nonsense made it impossible to comprehend.
Every time I asked about the Abyss Lord, I received that sort of gibberish.
Thus, the Allied Forces concluded that the trauma inflicted by the Abyss Lord was what continued to confound me.
Though the Abyss Lord had been annihilated, merely recalling and reminiscing about it caused me psychological damage.
And I didn’t know it then.
The Player’s Will [EX] wasn’t an ability that granted complete mental immunity either.
In any case, the Abyss Lord had already been destroyed.
There was no need to dig deeper, so I stopped asking about the Abyss Lord altogether.
‘If I’d known it would come to this, I should have asked more carefully.’
Regret now was unavoidable.
In any case, the Dark Merchant Company.
That is, the Devotees of the Fallen Souls worshipped and revered the Abyss Lord.
They were beings who had received power and authority from the Abyss Lord.
Therefore, one must not regard the Dark Merchant Company as a mere black-market organization.
Though hidden from view, it was a colossal force wielding power and wealth from behind the scenes of the Continent.
“According to rumors, they even control kingdoms by making kings their puppets.”
Adlern spoke cautiously.
But it wasn’t merely rumor—it was fact.
The Dark Merchant Company was deeply entrenched in the politics and economics of each kingdom.
This was precisely what made the Dark Merchant Company so terrifying.
The Dark Merchant Company maintained political patrons and collaborators within the nobility of each kingdom.
Since they could mobilize a kingdom’s armies, even official law enforcement agencies couldn’t easily move against them.
They were no mere merchant guild of a free city to be trifled with.
And later, when the Emperor invaded the Continent, this played a decisive role in its collapse in an instant.
A single year.
That was all the time it took for every kingdom and city on the Continent to vanish from the map.
Thus, what all of this suggested was singular.
‘The Dark Merchant Company was already in motion….’
It meant the Emperor had been preparing from the start.
Though the Dark Merchant Company worshipped the Abyss Lord, the Abyss Lord was ultimately one of the six lords who ‘served the Emperor’.
In other words, the Dark Merchant Company moved at the Emperor’s behest.
‘Just as with the experiments on Lycanthrope….’
Truly, the Emperor was meticulous beyond measure.
Naturally, the Dark Merchant Company could not be left as is.
Like Lycanthrope, it had to be uprooted completely.
At any rate.
I would investigate the Dark Merchant Company while searching for traces of Ian.
Two birds with one stone.
‘I’ll need to visit Violess myself.’
The lawless city of Violess—I had to go there at least once.
But I couldn’t manage it alone.
A Lord’s strength operated on an entirely different level.
Even the heroes of the Allied Forces were powerless against a Lord.
Only Ian possessed the capability to stand against one.
But with Ian’s whereabouts still shrouded in mystery.
‘First, I need to heal Seraphia.’
The only being capable of confronting the Abyss Lord was the Frost Lord herself.

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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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