Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Eight: To the Blank Zone 2 (Isaac’s POV)
“How did it come to this…!?”
Isaac had closed all the windows of the cargo wagon and was trembling with his head in his hands. Because they were stationed between the narrow rocky areas, everyone was close together. Spotting Karen within visible range, Isaac had reflexively holed up inside the cargo wagon.
“A C-rank alchemist—seriously!? And what’s this nonsense about a panacea!?”
Just a little while ago, the alchemist named Karen should have been E-rank—an alchemist who had finally risen from F-rank to E-rank after seven years.
Though he had nearly been caught once, through his father Eugene’s maneuvering, Isaac had been forgiven for his crimes in exchange for contributing to the dungeon investigation team, and by the end of the investigation, he was supposed to complete his atonement and return to work at the trading company.
The Gubert Trading Company was unofficially scheduled to rise to A-rank in the Merchants’ Guild on the grounds of their contribution to the dungeon investigation team, and Isaac’s own company was supposed to be elevated along with them.
Even if Karen suspected Isaac as the culprit who set fire to her house, a mere E-rank alchemist couldn’t do anything about it. Isaac intended to gain power and secretly crush Karen.
If the house fire made her cower and learn her place, he would spare her life—that was how much he had thought of the woman who, before he knew it, had become a C-rank alchemist as a member of the same dungeon investigation team, with rumors flowing that she had made and given panaceas to win over adventurers.
When he first heard it, he had laughed it off as a joke. But as time passed, it became clear that it was the truth.
Moreover, information emerged that her younger brother he couldn’t find information on no matter how much he investigated was the leader of the B-rank adventurer party "Crimson Thunder." He wanted to believe it was a lie, but this too became an undeniable truth as Karen was repeatedly witnessed walking around with B-rank adventurers and ordering them about.
What Isaac had burned wasn’t the house of an E-rank alchemist. It was the house of a B-rank adventurer. It had also become the house of a C-rank alchemist, and it wouldn’t be strange if it soon became the house of a B-rank alchemist.
“At this rate, I’ll be killed…!”
“You seem to be in trouble.”
“Who’s there!?”
Before he knew it, a small man was in front of him.
Sitting without permission on top of the cargo in the wagon, stretching out his legs, and rubbing his knee.
Isaac had no idea when the small man had gotten into the wagon or sat down in front of him.
He was shocked and couldn’t find the words immediately.
“What are the guards—!?”
“You have someone you want to dispose of, don’t you? I could lend you my strength.”
Isaac froze, then slowly looked down at the small man with the stiff, creaking motion of a rusted tin doll.
His attire was that of a nobleman. The cane in his hand had jewels—no, it was too dim to see well, but magical stones were decoratively embedded in it. It was made with emphasis on appearance, but Isaac, whose eye for luxury goods was well-developed, guessed it was some kind of magical tool. If that was an attack magical tool, making a fuss might threaten his own safety.
Realizing this possibility, Isaac grew strangely calm, swallowed hard, and slowly lowered his half-raised body back onto the barrel.
As if waiting for Isaac to calm down, the small man opened his mouth again:
“The alchemist and the adventurer—If they return alive from the dungeon, you’ll find yourself in a difficult situation, won’t you?”
“…Setting aside the alchemist, there’s no way I could do anything about a B-rank adventurer.”
“You know about the recent frequent disappearances of high-ranking adventurers, don’t you?”
Isaac’s throat twitched.
It was precisely because even high-ranking adventurers were disappearing that the nation had moved, and the dungeon investigation team was established. The reason even the utterly self-centered high-ranking adventurers were participating in this investigation team and showing cooperative attitudes was precisely because it was such an abnormal situation.
The way this small man spoke was as if he were on the side that had caused this abnormal situation, that had even high-ranking adventurers running around in confusion. The culprit that this dungeon investigation team was desperately searching for might be right in front of Isaac.
Before feeling fear at this fact, Isaac felt hope.
“Among the missing adventurers, there are even B-ranks and A-ranks… can you really do something about them?”
“If that’s what you wish.”
Isaac scratched around his right eye, which had started twitching from tension.
If the man before him truly was the culprit of the problems currently occurring in the dungeon.
Isaac calculated rapidly in his head.
For example, if he captured this small man and handed him over to Boromias.
Would Isaac then be valued and all his past problems erased?
The calculation result was no.
Adventurers didn’t care about politics. If they didn’t like something, they would kill.
Especially an adventurer whose information even the Gubert Trading Company couldn’t obtain—such individuals held special status within the Adventurers’ Guild. In other words, Karen’s brother was very likely on the verge of reaching that level.
There was no way to oppose them in any sense.
Unless he completely eliminated them, Isaac was finished here.
Isaac looked at the small man.
“What do you want?”
“Destruction and chaos. The same as you.”
The small man showed a thin smile in the dim cargo wagon.
Destroy something and cause chaos. In the confusion, Isaac would dispose of Karen and her brother.
The small man and his people would also use the chaos to do something. But whatever that was, Isaac didn’t care to know.
As long as he could dispose of Karen and her brother, Isaac could return to the royal capital, to his home, with his head held high.
“What should I do?”
“That’s the spirit.”
The small man showed an ominous smile and bestowed upon Isaac the means to end everything.
