Chapter 151: Preparations (4)

Knock knock-

“Come in.”

The person who came in with the knock was none other than Rachel.

I had already heard the news that she had visited the Lunatic through Luis.

I gestured with my chin to the sofa in front of me and she sat there with a somewhat displeased expression.

“Fortunately, it seems the cult hasn’t noticed my betrayal yet. For now, that is. So I don’t think there will be any problem helping you for the time being.”

“That’s a relief.”

“But are you going to keep wearing that?”

I looked at Rachel, who was crossing her legs.

She was tapping her face.

“The mask, you mean?”

“Yes.”

Only then did I realize the reason for Rachel’s uncomfortable expression.

It was because of the skull mask I was currently wearing.

“Are you going to keep wearing that? It’s about time you showed your face.”

“……”

“Or do you still not trust me?”

“That’s not it. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have brought you here in the first place.”

This shop, the Lunatic, was currently Shadow’s base and only hideout.

Opening such a place to Rachel could be seen as a sign of trust.

Due to their nature, thief guilds are bound to have several hideouts and front businesses.

During Shadow’s heyday, they had managed over ten establishments in Icata alone and it was said that the information they obtained from them was enough to live on.

But all those places were swept away by the empire’s purification operation.

With Shadow’s head being pierced first, the roots that had been hidden deep underground, following the stem, were all pulled out.

Of course, Luis had told me that a few places had survived…… but too much time had passed with contact cut off, so it wasn’t clear what their relationship was now.

Because the situation had changed a lot from the past.

They might not acknowledge us over there.

It was right to see them as strangers.

Anyway, since we had opened the location of this important Lunatic to Rachel, it was as good as us showing our trust in her.

But from her perspective, it seemed not.

Judging by that still dissatisfied expression.

“There might be other places besides this, right?”

“This is the only place.”

“Can’t you just show me coolly?”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because something might go wrong. Didn’t you just say it yourself? That ‘for now’, the cult doesn’t seem to have noticed your betrayal.”

“……No. That’s literally it.”

“That means you don’t know when the cult will find out about your betrayal.”

If Rachel was caught by the cult, she would be forced to reveal everything in her head through mental torture, regardless of her own will.

Then, not only the location of this place, but all my personal information, including my face and physical characteristics, would be exposed.

The place can just be abandoned.

Because I can get a new one.

But I can’t get a new body.

Is there any need to bear such a risk?

“Understood?”

At my question, Rachel stared at me silently for a moment.

Then she lets out a small laugh.

“This is why I chose you, because you’re so perfect. As expected, I have a good eye for people.”

“……”

“Honestly, it would be a lie to say I’m not disappointed. But if that’s the reason, then I can fully understand.”

She bowed her head.

She takes something out of her bosom.

It must be the information she had stolen from the cult at my request.

The reason she came today was to give those things.

And she asked.

“Then what exactly is our relationship? Comrades? Or a temporary alliance with a common enemy. Something like that?”

“Is that important?”

“Yes. It’s important.”

“……There’s no need to think about it too hard. A business relationship. When all this is over, I plan to handle your request first.”

“Ah.”

For a brief moment, her movements stopped.

Because she was bowing her head, I couldn’t see clearly, but she seemed to be biting her lip.

“……That’s right.”

And as expected.

Her red lips, as she held out the file, turned white along the teeth marks and then returned to their original color.

“You didn’t forget. Thank you for that.”

“There’s no way I’d forget. That’s the reason you’re helping me.”

“That’s right. The reason I’m helping you.”

Before I knew it, she was continuing her words with a serious expression.

“Here. The documents you wanted.”

“……”

“The cult is also planning a war. It seems they’re planning to completely root you guys out. That is, Shadow.”

I tilted my head.

Because it was the exact opposite of what I had expected.

“Whose decision is this? Bishop Cristiano?”

“No. Bishop Lutus.”

My brow furrowed automatically.

Bishop Lutus?

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s the same for me. It’s strange that the guys who should be making ‘Raid the Academy’ their number one priority are suddenly trying to catch you guys like rats.”

The strangest thing was Bishop Lutus’s decision.

“Does Bishop Lutus hold the real power?”

“It seems so…… but it’s not certain. No matter how much I try, it’s hard for me to grasp the atmosphere between the different sects.”

Rachel answered without confidence, but I saw it as certain.

I know just by looking at the situation.

If Bishop Cristiano had the real power, given his personality, he would have chosen to continue with ‘Raid the Academy’ rather than a war with us.

‘But how?’

Lutus shouldn’t have that kind of power.

Was there a setting in the original work that I was missing?

‘And. Why on earth?’

This part was actually the most questionable.

In the cult’s eyes, our Shadow is just a small-scale guild.

In fact, it’s embarrassing to even call it a guild, and its members are also thieves, so it’s fine to just ignore them.

‘But they’ve brought in reinforcements to wipe us out.’

I opened the file I received from Rachel.

Inside were the personal details of the personnel who had been brought in as reinforcements by the cult.

Each one was a force not to be ignored.

Why would they bring in this much reinforcement?

And why are they going this far?

No matter how much our Shadow and the Darkness Council were at odds in ‘Raid the Academy’, it was at most at the level of jealousy and keeping each other in check, it shouldn’t have been to this extent.

‘Did he hate us that much?’

No.

This was not simply a matter of liking or disliking.

A gamer’s intuition, so to speak.

I felt that there was something more serious that I didn’t know.

“Do you know everything?”

Just then, Rachel asked me.

I decided to put aside my unsettling thoughts for a moment.

The war ahead was a more important issue than Bishop Lutus.

“Roughly?”

“Still, I’ll give you a supplementary explanation.”

I nodded my head.

The reinforced forces.

Among them, there were three people to be wary of.

First, Bishop Laitna.

Right.

A Bishop-level figure had come here to Icata.

To catch us.

“Bishop Laitna is one of the only three bishops in the Death Council. Her rank is the lowest, but it’s still hard to ignore. She’s the master of the Skeleton King, after all.”

The Skeleton King is literally the king that reigns over all skeletons.

“But it seems she has recently reached a higher level.”

“A higher level?”

“Yeah. But it’s not certain.”

“……”

It was peculiar.

Everything that Rachel said was not certain was in fact true.

Bishop Laitna is the master of the Skeleton King.

But in the original work, Bishop Laitna had summoned the next stage, the Skeleton Lord.

A walking bone disaster.

It was a given what kind of chaos would break out if something like that was summoned in the middle of Icata.

‘It’s out of the blue, but I wonder who would win if he fought Clatter.’

Both were skeletons and shared the commonality of being undead that were outside the norm.

‘Still, a Skeleton Lord might be too much for him.’

Clatter was currently diligently recovering from the wounds he had received from the mana bomb in the subspace.

Clatter was an essential force for the war with the cult.

“But even if Bishop Laitna is the lowest in rank, she’s not at the level to receive orders from Bishop Cristiano or Bishop Lutus.”

“Of course not. She came because she personally wants something.”

“Want something?”

“Yeah. You.”

Me?

When I just stared at her, not understanding, Rachel continued.

“Your corpse. She wants to have it. She’s a complete madwoman.”

I just nodded my head in disbelief.

“She has good taste.”

“What?”

“Ahem. It’s nothing. Anyway, the High Cleric Vallary below her is the same as Margo. But besides being Bishop Laitna’s older brother, he’s a person shrouded in a veil, so I don’t know the details. The other man is Dorian. The second-in-command of Blood.”

Blood was a famous contracting agency in Karagas that would do anything for money, even kill people.

But their true identity was a subordinate organization of the Darkness Council.

“I don’t know about his skills, but it seems he’s quite well-known in the contracting business. He’s coming with twenty Blood members, so this is quite a large reinforcement.”

I could feel Bishop Lutus’s sincerity.

My brow furrows automatically.

The more I think about it, the more resentful I feel.

Right now, honestly, my annoyance is greater than my suspicion.

“I’ll have to kill them all.”

“Is there a way?”

“Why? You don’t believe me?”

“I believe you. But I’m also worried. As you can see, the difference in power……”

Rachel trailed off, but I wasn’t stupid enough not to know what meaning was contained in it.

Well, I understand.

Because just in terms of numbers, we’re no match for them.

The original forces of the guys remaining in Icata are five Death Clerics in the Sewer District, and ten Dark Clerics at the Ladrier Hotel, for a total of fifteen.

The one leading them is the Death High Cleric, Margo.

And on top of that, additional reinforcements, including a Bishop-level figure, were added.

Even I would have my doubts.

“I told you. Watch.”

That was all I had to say.

It couldn’t be helped even if it was irresponsible.

“Hmm. Okay.”

Afterward, Rachel and I talked a bit more about the cult and then she left.

She probably went to the Academy.

I also had to go back soon, but I decided to stay for a while and check the rest of the documents she had given me.

There were four people to watch out for.

Bishop Laitna and High Cleric Vallary.

Dorian and High Cleric Margo.

Rachel had left it out earlier, but High Cleric Vallary was Bishop Laitna’s older brother and a powerhouse no less than her.

The master of the Death Knight, no less.

He was an eccentric necromancer who could have easily become a Bishop but had refused it.

‘He has the same rank as Margo, but they’re on a different level.’

But from what I heard, Bishop Laitna and High Cleric Vallary were more interested in the side dish than the main dish.

And what was that side dish?

My corpse.

So there was a high probability that these two would not be very interested in the war itself.

‘Then the overall command will surely be held by High Cleric Margo, and Dorian will probably move separately with the subordinates he brought.’

A rough but overall flow was being drawn in my head.

The enemies may be strong individually, but their individual tendencies were too strong, and their objectives were also different.

So it was clear that they would move individually rather than as a group.

Before that, they had to find us, who were hiding in this vast Icata.

That was their first task.

Will they be able to find us?

‘No. It won’t be easy.’

Because they wouldn’t even imagine that we would be on Royal Road.

And even if they managed to find us, it wouldn’t be easy to attack.

Since the Central Knights Headquarters was nearby, they would have to bear a huge loss just to attack.

‘On the other hand, we know where they are.’

Therefore, the first move is ours.

‘Based on the superiority of information, we will defeat them one by one.’

This was the plan I had made.

And if I could recruit a force to fill the lack of manpower, which could be said to be Shadow’s current weakness, victory would be a sure thing.

And just before, I had been able to think of a very suitable reinforcement.

A blue-chip stock that I had invested in for the future and had forgotten about until now.

“It’s been a while. I wonder if he’s doing well.”

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