Chapter 78

Chapter 78. I Did Not Even Sign the Contract?

Balun did not know how much time had passed, but at the very least, it seemed certain that the explosion had completely cleared. After all, he could not hear any noise.

Feeling the quiet silence around him, Balun opened the eyes he had tightly shut. He moved Black Moon away from where it had been covering his head and raised his crouched body. The ruined interior came into view.

Broken pieces of wood were scattered in every direction, burning in lingering embers, and acrid smoke stung his nose. The ceiling and the second and third floors had disappeared somewhere, and a single shaft of sunlight was even shining into the dark interior through a massive hole that had opened above.

‘What a disaster.’

Suddenly feeling a stinging pain, he reached behind him and brushed his back. Along with a sharp prickling sensation, blood smeared his hand. He could not see it because it was on his back, but he was certain there was a wound.

Balun endured the stinging pain that swept over his entire body and forced himself to stand. He was picking up the axes scattered across the floor, the Subspace Pouch dangling from his belt strap, and his other belongings, when he suddenly sensed people nearby. It was Oskal and the Rogues.

“Ugh… What happened… Gasp! Lord Balun! Are you all right?”

“I am fine. Are you people all righ… No, you look fine. How do none of you have a single wound?”

Balun looked Oskal and the Rogues up and down. They did not have so much as a scratch. Meanwhile, someone else’s skin had been scraped raw and was burning painfully enough to drive him mad…

“That is because I used Defense Magic.”

“Did you only use it on yourselves?”

“Pardon?”

“Why did you not use it on me?”

Would something have gone wrong if he had used it on Balun too?

“Ah, I apologize. I was in a hurry to protect the others, so… I thought you would be fine, Lord Balun. You are strong, are you not?”

‘No, does being strong make my body sturdy too?’

For some reason, Balun felt hurt, but he decided not to show it.

Oskal seemed to have made what he thought was the best choice in his own way.

“We need to check the situation. I will take a look around and come back.”

“Ah, Lord Balun. Wait a moment. Please wait.”

Balun was about to stand up to examine the situation, but Oskal caught him in alarm.

“What is it?”

“Where do you think you are going in that condition?”

“This condition?”

“You are bleeding too much! Are you trying to die?”

“Hm?”

Balun tilted his head and looked down at his own body. He was bleeding too much?

“I cannot really tell. I think I am just a little injured.”

“Lord Balun, can you perhaps not feel pain?”

“I can. It hurts even now.”

Was this bastard joking right now?

It hurt so badly he could die, right now.

“And yet you are acting like this?”

“I cannot just stay still, can I? I have to move to see the situation. I have to see the situation to make a judgment.”

“Ha.”

Oskal let out a deep sigh and shook his head. How could a person be this ignorant?

“Please wait a moment. I will treat you.”

Oskal gave Balun simple emergency treatment with magic. Feeling the bleeding stop quickly and the pain diminish, Balun muttered as if lamenting,

“I should have learned something like this.”

“Pardon?”

“If I had learned magic, I could do things like this too. Why did I only learn how to swing axes? Ha.”

Hearing that, Oskal blinked. He should have learned magic? A Barbarian?

“You make amusing jokes.”

“It is not a joke.”

“…”

“By the way, is this the end? Can you not heal me completely?”

Balun rubbed his back. It had gotten much better, but it still stung.

“If that were possible, Healing Priests would not exist in this world.”

“So Healing Priests can do it?”

“Yes, if they are faithful enough. Of course, it can be done with magic as well, but I am not an Archmage of that level.”

“I would like to experience it. A Healing Priest.”

“If an opportunity comes, I will introduce you to a Priest. There. It is done. You may move now.”

“Thanks!”

Balun soon went outside. Seen from the outside, the building looked even more miserable. The entire three-story building had been smashed apart and rendered unusable.

A sigh escaped him on its own.

‘Wow. How much money is all this? The construction costs would be no joke if they had to build it again. Tsk, tsk.’

Meanwhile, people were gathering one by one on the street outside and peeking over. They seemed to be spectators who had come out in surprise after the explosion.

He could see guards running over from the distant street. When the first guards to arrive tried to enter the collapsed building without hesitation, Oskal came out and stopped them.

“Do not enter.”

“Pardon? Mage?”

“It is dangerous. The aftermath of the explosion may still remain.”

“Gasp!”

“I will explain things properly to the Mayor, so please control the people. I will handle things here.”

“Yes, understood!”

The guards answered briskly and withdrew.

Balun, now curious, asked, “The aftermath of the explosion may still remain? Does that mean something else could happen?”

“No. It does not.”

“Then why did you lie?”

“Because if they enter carelessly, they may damage the evidence.”

“Evidence?”

“The mana traces.”

Oskal’s eyes turned serious in that instant.

“I finally found the clue I have been desperately searching for all this time. How could I allow that to be ruined? I cannot. Absolutely not.”

His eyes gleamed.

‘What is with this atmosphere?’

Oskal’s impression, which had always seemed endlessly gentle, looked especially sharp now.

“A clue? What is it? What did you find?”

“I will tell you that later. After I analyze it first. Please do not touch anything for a moment. I need to focus.”

After saying that, Oskal began walking around the collapsed site and doing something.

He touched things here and there while muttering incomprehensible words, like an inspection team analyzing a crime scene.

Balun glanced at him, then turned his head and went back inside.

The Rogues were inside. They were still bound with ropes, unable to hide their dazed expressions. Balun untied their restraints one by one.

Even after they were freed, their dazed expressions did not disappear.

“Hey, get ahold of yourselves. Are you dreaming or something?”

When Balun lightly slapped their cheeks a few times, only then did they come back to their senses.

“What are you thinking about so hard?”

“My money.”

“Hm?”

“My money is all gone.”

One of the Rogues muttered with vacant eyes.

“My ledgers, my expensive liquor, all of it is gone. Damn it. Do you know how much all that was worth…?”

“That is unfortunate.”

“Hey, Barbarian. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Stay strong. You can start over.”

After offering those words of consolation, Balun fiddled with his Subspace Pouch.

Even after that explosion, the Subspace Pouch did not have a single scratch.

‘Phew.’

A sigh of relief escaped him for no reason.

“By the way, Barbarian. There is something I want to ask.”

“Ask.”

“What Dmitri said. It was true, was it not?”

“Who is Dmitri?”

“The bastard who exploded and died.”

“Of course. It was true.”

“That son of a bitch.”

In the end, a curse burst out. He did not need to ask who it was directed at.

“What? Black Moon? So he was a traitor from the beginning? Ha! I treated him so well.”

“You must have been quite close to him.”

“I was. Not anymore.”

“Do you feel betrayed?”

“Of course I do. I want to kill him. Though I cannot, because he is already dead.”

“I suppose even thieves have camaraderie.”

At Balun’s thoughtless remark, the Rogues flinched, then burst out angrily.

“Listen. We might not be good people, but we are still human. We are not bastards to that extent.”

“Now that I hear it, I suppose that is true. I apologize.”

A brief silence followed.

One of the First-Class Rogues suddenly spoke.

“Thank you.”

It was so abrupt that Balun looked at him.

“What are you thanking me for?”

“You caught the rat.”

“Is that something to be grateful for?”

“Of course it is. You did something we should have done ourselves. And we did not even know there was a rat among us.”

Back-alley organizations originally valued unity and solidarity above all else. In that sense, a spy hidden inside an organization was extremely deadly.

Because Balun had exposed one, they felt grateful.

Of course, there was no way Balun would know how Rogues thought.

“But I beat you people up.”

“You only beat us. You spared our lives. I know very well that, to Barbarians, that is tremendous mercy.”

Balun tilted his head.

‘How does that make sense?’

Did they think he was some kind of murderer who was desperate to kill people?

“I do not know how to repay this favor.”

“A favor?”

“If we receive help, we must repay it. That is our way.”

“Then can I avoid paying the remaining fifty gold?”

“Fifty gold? What is that?”

“Never mind. I will just pay it. As for repayment… you do not have to do anything.”

He was sorely tempted to squeeze money out of them, but he decided not to.

It felt far too much like thuggery to take money from someone whose house had already collapsed.

No matter how he thought about it, that was true.

That was not the proper conduct of a person, was it?

“No. We must repay you. Otherwise, Eclipse’s honor will weep.”

“I see thieves care about honor too.”

“What?”

“Nothing. If you are offering help, I will accept it gratefully.”

While Balun was having that conversation with the Rogues, Oskal returned.

“Did you find anything? Was there any result?”

“Yes.”

For some reason, Oskal’s expression looked solemn.

“I wondered whether it would be right to tell the Rogues of Eclipse this as well, but I believe it is right. They are victims too. Besides, it is not something that can be hidden even if I try.”

He steadied his breath and opened his mouth.

“That magic just now was a spell called ‘Self-Destruct Magic.’ It is a spell that overloads the Mana Circuits and creates a powerful instantaneous explosion.”

“I see.”

“However, this spell is the proprietary magic of the Black Magic Tower. In other words, it is magic that only Black Mages of the Black Magic Tower can use.”

“Meaning that bastard was an agent of the Black Tower?”

“That is correct. He was both an Assassin affiliated with Black Moon and a member of the Black Magic Tower. Otherwise, he would not have been able to use Self-Destruct Magic.”

A silence fell.

While the Rogues were dumbfounded by the shocking information that had suddenly poured over them, Balun alone had a different question.

‘Wait. Self-Destruct Magic was something only those Black Magic Tower bastards could use? Then what was that Mage who self-destructed in Dunmore?’

Balun recalled his memories of Dunmore. Back then, when he had fought a bloody battle to catch the bandits, one Mage who was supposedly their Vice-Captain had definitely self-destructed.

It had been far less destructive than this, but it had clearly been the same technique.

‘Then that bastard was also an agent of the Black Magic Tower…’

Balun let out a low groan. He felt as if he had learned an enormous secret. To think that the Vice-Captain of the infamous elite unit that the Kingdom of Valtrien boasted of had actually been a Black Mage of the Black Magic Tower.

“Thank you, Lord Balun. Thanks to you, we can finally resolve this clue.”

Balun’s thoughts were broken by that abrupt gratitude.

“Clue?”

“Yes. Our goal was to uncover the Black Tower’s agent hidden in Mirehal.”

“I see.”

Balun had already heard that from the bald councilman bastard.

“It would have been better if we had captured him alive, but this is still fine. We gathered many leads.”

“That is a relief, then.”

“Since we achieved what we wanted thanks to you, we should repay you. Would you like to receive it now, since we are already here?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The repayment.”

He was asking what that was supposed to be.

“Have you already forgotten what I proposed? I asked whether you had any interest in taking on a job.”

“You did. But what does that have to do with this?”

“Ah, I did not tell you this part! It was a request to find the Black Tower’s agent. I thought that since you had already experienced them, you would be able to find them better.”

“Hm?”

“You completed the request, so I have to pay you. That was the promise.”

Balun blinked.

Was that how this worked?

‘No, I did not even sign the contract.’

Balun had not even known what the request was in the first place.

No, they should have told him the details of the request for him to know.

Balun had only made a counterproposal, saying that he would accept their request if they helped him.

“Now, please follow me.”

“Where?”

“To the Red Tower. Do you not want to receive your money?”

“No! I should go!”

Balun’s eyes began to sparkle.

***

A short while later, at the Red Tower’s Mirehal Branch.

“Here. This is the promised 1,000 gold. Please take it.”

Balun received a heavy money pouch.

A full 1,000 gold!

Balun’s mouth was on the verge of stretching all the way to his ears.

‘Hehehe. What kind of windfall is this?’

He had completed the request before even starting it. It was an effortless profit if there had ever been one.

“Is it all right for you to spend money like this? This is a large sum.”

“It is fine. The information is worth more than the money. It is not a losing trade for us either.”

“Is it wise to say that in front of me? It makes me want to ask for more money for no reason.”

“What does it matter?”

Hearing that only made Balun feel as if he had lost out.

Even 1,000 gold was a large sum…

“If you feel regretful, how about taking on one more job?”

“A job?”

“Yes. I will make sure the payment does not disappoint this time either.”

“What kind of job? I will listen and decide. If you do not tell me, I will not accept.”

Balun narrowed his eyes at Oskal, and Oskal chuckled.

How could a person be this consistent?

Even after tasting such a large sum of money, he was still like this.

After being given this much money, even a Barbarian might have lost his head and accepted on the spot.

“It is an extension of this incident. The job is to find the Black Tower’s agents. After investigating the mana traces, I am certain there are still a few more agents inside Mirehal…”

“I will not do it.”

“No. Please listen until the end…”

“I will not do it.”

Agents or whatever they were, it seemed dangerous, so he would not do it.