Chapter 175 – The Life of a Baron (Part 1)
Not long after I sent someone, Dana Litalin came to us.
"Have you been well?"
This dark haired white handsome man had on a friendly smile.
"Nice to see you. Where have you been staying?"
"There is an empty folk house nearby, I was staying there."
"A folk house? A folk house from this world…that must have been quite uncomfortable."
"It wasn"t really. I spent ten years in the most uncomfortable place in the world so anywhere else is pleasant."
Not knowing the meaning behind those words, Dana told us a detailed story.
Dana Litalin.
His plan in Arena was truly impressive.
After learning magic from the magic society, he got into contact with high priest Aprit and became his disciple and infiltrated their organization.
He was marked with the stamp of subordination but with a special skill called the dual circle, he was able to have both normal magic and dark magic simultaneously.
He withstood the 24/7 observation of his suspicious master Aprit, pretending to be ignorant and weaker than his master. In the end, he became a high priest and exercised the highest executive power in their organization for five years.
"The Second Advent Life and Death a.s.sociation is a secret organization created hundreds of years ago by the one who unified the continent, Sultan Kajad Pun Aman."
"Besides us, the Arend kingdom has managed to figure out that much as well. But we had no idea that organization was personally created by Sultan Kajad."
"You probably thought of it like the Qin emperor of China, right? But Sultan Kajad is a little different. He didn"t get into dark magic at the end of his life for immortality. Instead, he was a great dark magician from the beginning."
"So that"s how conquering the whole continent was possible."
"Yes. Under Sultan Kajad"s banner were many magicians but despite all of that, not a single one knew he was a dark magician."
Dana"s explanation continued.
"The fact that he could hide his dark magic so well that no other great magician found out about it only meant that he was better than anyone. In history and unofficial history there is no record of him being connected to dark magic."
Then, after hearing this story, Cha Ji-hye suddenly asked.
"Then you really almost died."
"If that day the ceremony had successfully revived Sultan Kajad, wouldn"t Sultan Kajad detected the mana you had hidden in your chest, Mr. Litalin?"
"……. Now that you mention it…yes."
Dana smiled.
"I really chose the path of life. I was very lucky."
"That"s an impressive story but for us we have to verify if that is true or not. If it"s true, then that would count as you, plus Aprit, as two high priests that have been taken from the organization which means you would have kept your promise."
At Cha Ji-hye"s words, Dana nodded his head.
"I don"t have concrete proof but I will do my best to show you. First, arm!"
All of a sudden, Dana summoned some dagger.
It looked like an item bought with karma.
With a black light like obsidian, a smooth surface that reflected all light, an elegant dagger.
"I"ll give this to you as a gift. It is the dagger I used to kill high priest Aprit."
"Ah, thank you."
I received the black dagger from Dana. But on the pitch dark edge of the blade, there was no blood.
"Summon board, show me the information on this dagger."
Then the explanation regarding the dagger appeared on the board.
-Black blood dagger: a dagger specially created with dark magic. When the blade comes into contact with dark magic, it enacts a curse that induces hemorrhage thus can be fatal to someone with dark magic.
"Of the items you can get from a karma prize there"s something like this?"
"No. I made it myself."
"You did?"
"Yes, after it was all finished I itemized it so I could summon and unsummon it at any time. And that way I could hide it from my master."
I was completely surprised.
He was well-versed enough in dark magic to make something like this?
Even examinees who use magic can"t make such a thing after studying it but would rather buy as a skill with karma.
But surprisingly, Dana really is well versed in magic and dark magic.
Just like an ordinary magician from Arena.
"I guess that"s why he"s ranked 1s in the world. He really is something."
In some ways you could say he"s a similar case to Lee Chang-wee who was already a great martial artist before he became an examinee. Even when compared to an examinee with the same skill level, his talent gave him the ability to come out on top no matter what.
I looked at the black blood dagger, thinking carefully, and asked Dana.
"Perhaps…how many people have you killed or hurt with this dagger?"
"The only person to die by that blade was Aprit. Other than that I have never used it."
"I see."
I took out number one from the virtual s.p.a.ce.
"Baeeek?"
"Here, smell this."
The first put his face close to the black blood dagger and sniffed.
"Can you find the owner of this smell?"
Without a sound, number one lifted a wing and pointed to Dana.
My palm hit my face.
"No, not him…find the owner of the smell of the blood on the dagger."
Number one sniffed at the blood on the blade.
Even with the blood wiped, if it was used to stab someone, there was bound to be the smell of blood on the blade.
The first sniffed and snorted and shook its head.
"There"s no scent of blood?"
The first shook his head.
That means it can smell the blood, but it was unable to find the owner of that scent.
If the animal tracking skill wasn"t working then there could only be one reason.
Because the owner of that smell is no longer in this world.
"For sure as, you said, the person stabbed by this blade is no longer around."
"What you just did, was that a skill?"
"Yes, as long as the owner of that smell exists in the world, no matter where they are, tracking them is possible. Seeing as how I can"t, he"s dead."
"Of course. Because as I"ve said, Aprit is dead."
"But there is no proof that the person who died by this blade was Aprit."
Pointed out Cha Ji-hye.
Dana shrugged his shoulders.
"That may be so. But if you look around at the Aman kingdoms inside movements you"ll find many cases of situational proof that my words are true. For example, you should be able to find the rumor that an intruder escaped through the palace dome……"
"And?"
"I fought there and in the midst of my escape I absorbed some of the fake souls. Because of that there wasn"t enough life force to perform the revival ceremony."
"Then they"ll try to recuperate what they"ve lost."
"Exactly my point. What method do you suppose there is to gather soul fragments quickly?"
At his question, I could help but reflexively think of the pirate army.
The reason the dark magicians held hands with the pirate army was for one reason.
"A ma.s.sacre?"
"Precisely, they"ll probably start a war. More so than a straightforward ma.s.sacre, it is far easier to gather soul fragments in war. Because you can gather the soul fragments of the enemy and those killed in battle. On top of that, if in in the midst of war, if there are civilian casualties, no one will think it was weird.
Arena, where human rights didn"t exist.
Soldiers revved up from war who slaughtered civilians and plundered. It wouldn"t be a rare occurrence.
I got the feeling that all of the puzzle pieces were falling into place.
-Mission: witin the time limit, prepare for the invasion of the Aman kingdom.
The reason I got the mission to prepare for the invasion of the Aman kingdom with a time limit of 2 years.
That matches up with Dana"s current mission.
In another light it"s because Dana cleared his mission that the Aman kingdom can"t help but go to war.
"Since a long time ago the Aman kingdom has been stocking up their army but their real reason was so that after they revived Sultan Kajad, they were planning on conquering the whole continent."
Dana continued to say.
"But now the situation has changed. In order to for Sultan Kajad"s revival, the situation is they now need to go to war. They will for sure attack their neighboring kingdoms, starting with the weakest nation first."
"How about here, the Arend kingdom?"
"The Arend kingdom is a strong nation that even the strongest nation Aman kingdom can"t look at lightly. They probably won"t attack right away but that doesn"t mean you can let your guard down."
"Shouldn"t we warn them on Brown Mountain?"
Asked Cha Ji-hye to me.
"Ah, yes. Since the elves" Trees of Life will be good targets."
To recoup the fake souls they lost to Dana, they"ll likely go for the Trees of Life.
Dana spoke.
"I have heard of Brown Mountain. Currently, that the elves have three Trees of Life is something the high priests know as well. Elves are quite strong/ but the priests will definitely go after them. It is no ordinary task, so a high priest will probably move to do it himself."
"Right, so then you must know the look, attire, and names of all the high priests?"
"Of course. I played high priest with them for 5 years."
Dana grinned.
"You do not have to worry about Brown Mountain. I am tracking the high priests and important figures of The Second Advent Life and Death a.s.sociation movements every day. Even right now."
"How, every day?"
"I have raised my guider skill to intermediate level 1. So I can tell not only what direction they are in but I can also approximately know how far away they are as well. The first thing I do when I wake up is check their locations."
Usually the guider skill isn"t raised beyond entry level 1 but he"s raised it to intermediate.
After hearing the story that he"s been undercover with The Second Advent Life and Death a.s.sociation for ten years, I could tell how careful a person he was.
Dana continued to speak.
"For this exam turn, I will stay here and help you."
"You"ll help us?"
"Yes, I have not yet fully earned your trust so I will help in many ways and earn it. The knowledge I have is significant so it will be very helpful in your missions."
That"s an understatement.
He was active in the heart of the enemy for 10 years, he"ll have more than a snippet or two of valuable information.
Not only that but he"s 1st in the world rankings.
Cha Ji-hye approached me closely and whispered.
"How about asking him about Yoo Ji-soo team"s mission?"
"Huh? Oh right."
Now I"ve been reminded, I called Yoo Ji-soo and Cha Jin-hyuk.
Having been called by me, I introduced the two of them to Dana and they were completely surprised.
"Dana Litalin? The world"s top ranker?"
"Really? I"m seeing you in real life for the first time!"
To these two, Dana gave an especially bright smile.
"Nice to meet you."
"Eh hehe, nice to meet you. You"re really good looking."
Yoo Ji-s...o...b..gan swishing her tail at the handsome Dana.
Anyway, I explained the two peoples" mission and asked if he knew anything.
"A mission to investigate the de facto power behind Consul Rumad? Consul Rumad you say……"
"He is the consul of the city of Laman."
"The city of Laman? Ah, now I understand."
Said Dana.
"Laman is right up against the northern region of the Arend kingdom and its border so in an emergency, the military deployment happens there first. From within the Arend kingdom there were two royals who worked with us (high priests) so Consul Rumad will have exchanged confidential letters with one of those two."
"And, um, who are they?"
"The current king of Arend, Alsefon the 3rd, his younger sibling by a different mother (paternal half-sibling) Duke Cornwall, and Count Sendels the margrave of Arend north region. It"s probably Count Sendels."
I feel like Yoo Ji-soo team"s mission will be solved easier than expected. They didn"t need my help at all.