I Became the Narrow-Eyed Villain in a Dropped Novel

Chapter 112:

The lumberyard, filled with stacks of timber, was quiet as usual.

For the time being, no one was scheduled to come to stack or to collect.

It should have been that way.

The guard, letting out a long yawn, frowned at the sight of a carriage approaching from a distance.

Who is it?

Is it the smokescreen operation the commander ordered?

No, that can't be it.

If it were, I would have been notified from above beforehand.

The guard gripped the knife hidden in the lining of his overcoat and stepped into the center of the road.

The carriage, spotting him, slowly reduced its speed.

It was one of the local merchants.

What business does a nobody like him have all the way out here?

“I didn’t hear anything about someone coming.”

“That's because I came in a hurry.”

The merchant stuttered with a trembling voice.

The guard narrowed his eyes and scanned the merchant from top to bottom.

Suspicious.

The way he avoids eye contact is one thing, but the bruises here and there were also strange.

“Wait. Hey, you th….”

As the guard briefly turned his head to call his colleague, someone grabbed his neck.

The guard drew his knife, but before he had a chance to swing it, his body went limp with a snapping sound.

“Wasn’t it agreed that we would do this quietly, Kaseph.”

“It was. That’s why I shut the noisy one up, isn’t it?”

As the guard with the dangling neck fell with a thud, the merchant flinched even more.

His face looked like he wanted to scream, but he seemed to be holding it back, afraid he would end up like that guard.

“I was trying to be a gentleman, but that’s out the window now.”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who operates a raid party behind the scenes.”

“That and this are completely different issues. Ah, you.”

“Ye, yes!”

When Valheit pointed at him, the merchant nodded his head almost convulsively.

“You’ve done well, you may go.”

“Th, thank you….”

“Quickly.”

As Valheit waved his hand, the merchant jumped down from the carriage and limped back the way he came.

“Is it okay to let him go like that?”

“It’s fine. The Ravens are already on him, so he won’t last long before he dies.”

“…Between breaking a neck directly and sending someone to their death, which do you think is more cruel?”

“Why do you ask such an obvious question? Of course, breaking the neck is much more cruel.”

Valheit, seemingly satisfied with his own answer, chuckled and held up three fingers.

Three people.

As it was an outlying area, the security was not tight.

Normally, he would have burned the entire lumberyard to eliminate it, but he couldn’t do that this time.

“They don’t seem to have much intention of fighting.”

“You can tell something like that?”

“Well, since they’re running away like rats.”

Kaseph looked around the quiet lumberyard.

He couldn't feel any difference from a moment ago, but if Valheit said so, then it must be so.

“For Ravens, they gave up quickly.”

“Doesn’t that mean it’s not that important of a place.”

Valheit strode into the piles of timber without hesitation.

It was a perfect layout to be ambushed in, but there was no reaction.

“They probably said something like, ‘If Valheit comes, it’s okay to abandon unimportant bases.’”

“I don’t mind you boasting, but that’s not exactly good news for us. If they prepared and fled, there’d be almost nothing left to investigate.”

“That’s why I dragged you here, isn’t it. Stop thinking about playing and get to work.”

As Valheit chided him, Kaseph let out a long sigh.

That irritating personality was the same, whether it was the old him or the current him.

“Where are you going? Surely you’re not sulking just because you got scolded.”

“I can smell something burning from over there, so whatever is related to the curse should be there.”

“You have a dog-like talent like that too? Ah, I meant that in a good way.”

“I’m sure you did.”

Upon entering, a rectangular temporary building that looked like a makeshift shelter came into view.

Valheit must have smelled it too, as he waved his hand.

Before long, the two found a pile of burnt ashes.

“At this point, it seems fortunate the fire didn’t spread.”

“As expected of those who inherited the Duke’s paranoia, they handled it thoroughly.”

“Can you figure anything out?”

Valheit asked casually.

He knew it wasn't a question out of curiosity but a probe, yet he couldn't just not answer.

“…An hour should be enough.”

“Would it be too much to ask you to do it faster?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll go for a walk. Being here next to you isn’t helpful for either of us, is it.”

Without even waiting for an answer, Valheit walked away, humming a tune.

He definitely has some other ulterior motive.

He had no intention of stopping him.

Unlike before, Valheit’s ulterior motives were now directed at the enemy.

***

‘They ran far away in that short time.’

The last remaining Raven was quickly getting farther away.

It was still a long way from getting out of my detection range, but the distance had grown considerably.

In the past, there would have been no way to follow in a situation like this.

But not anymore.

‘Acceleration.’

As I thought the word, I felt mana gathering around my feet, making them lighter.

Have others been using this good stuff all this time?

I should have collected skill points and learned it sooner.

It momentarily increases speed.

It’s a very simple effect, but its simplicity makes it a powerful spell.

It's a basic of the basics that everyone who wields a sword in the Empire learns, and it's even a semi-essential spell for mages who move relatively less.

It’s a high-efficiency spell that pays for itself and more in any situation, but it’s not without its drawbacks.

A high tier means a lot of mana is consumed, and it also takes a long time to master.

Even someone who trained hard in Chartra usually has a limit of 10 seconds or so Ede said.

‘But that has nothing to do with me.’

When I kicked off the ground and shot forward, the wind sharply brushing against my face let me feel the speed.

The worry that I might not be able to control my speed and crash into something was covered by Valheit’s senses.

The distance to the fleeing Raven rapidly decreased.

It hadn't been long, but the opponent was starting to come into view.

‘Should I put in a little more effort?’

I increased my speed a bit more and overtook the opponent.

Before the Raven could react in any way, I came to a stop in front of him lightly no, with a roar.

I’ll have to practice this later to get a feel for the right speed.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?”

“Son of a bitch.”

The opponent, who spat out a low curse, slightly widened the distance.

Is he planning to run away when he sees an opening, or is he planning to take me down?

Either way, I didn’t think I would lose.

“You don’t have a chance of winning anyway, so wouldn’t you be willing to come along quietly.”

“Ah, dammit.”

By the time I noticed something was wrong with the momentarily flinching Raven, it was too late.

Blood was already streaming from his mouth and nose.

The Raven collapsed without me having a chance to do anything.

It seems he bit down on a poison capsule or something, just like the one I saw last time.

‘The Duke isn’t someone worth pledging your life to.’

I clicked my tongue and approached the cold corpse.

I didn’t really want to touch it, but there might be some useful information left.

Forcing myself to touch the unpleasant thing, I searched the overcoat pocket and found a small note.

It was written in a coded message, so I couldn't read it.

“Is this also an achievement, if you can call it that?”

I had intended to capture him alive and get detailed information, but this had become a hassle.

In the original novel, they caused all sorts of trouble, but they weren't this extreme.

Is it because they’re dealing with Valheit, or…

‘Is there some other reason?’

No matter how I look at it, this is not a normal reaction.

Considering it's an operation the Duke is conducting alone without even Regina knowing, I felt that it wasn't a simple experiment.

However, a few pieces were still missing to draw a conclusion.

The biggest question was, of course….

‘For what purpose is this experiment being conducted?’

***

When I returned to the lumberyard, Kaseph raised his skinny hand and signaled for me to come over.

It was eerie, like a dried-up tree had come to life and was moving.

“Did you get anything?”

“I got one note. Other than that, he committed suicide before I could even ask, so I couldn’t ask anything.”

“The Ravens seem quite desperate. They’re not an organization that discards trained personnel over trivial matters.”

“Did you find out anything?”

Kaseph patted the chair next to him.

Not knowing what he meant, I raised an eyebrow, and he reluctantly began to explain.

“Just as you found out, this was the medium.”

“Ah, I thought it was just a chair, but it was from Ruhindorf.”

“This is one of 21 relay stations. It’s probably the one with the weakest power among them.”

“There are 21 of them?”

I had flagged 18 warehouses as suspicious, but to think there were even more than that.

“Among them, there are probably 2 at most that play a central role. The rest are just peripheral.”

“Seeing as they need so many peripheral ones, the level of the curse must have gone up since Kranacht.”

“No, it’s the opposite. The power and level of the curse have gotten lower.”

It took me a moment to understand.

Then why are they going through all this trouble to experiment?

“As I see it, their goals are twofold. One, as you already know, is to test if they can cast a curse from a distance.”

“So they deliberately used a simple curse for that?”

“Yes and no.”

A spark fell from Kaseph’s finger and spread out on the ground like a spiderweb.

“This is a rough layout of the relay stations they’ve set up that I’ve identified. What do you think when you see it.”

I examined the flames spread on the ground.

It wasn't a very pleasing shape.

It wasn't meticulous, nor did it have any sense of regularity.

“In a word, it looks messy.”

“Correct. Even if they had no intention of arranging it vertically, scattering it this much is very inefficient.”

“Isn’t it a trick to cast a curse from afar?”

“No, this has little to do with distance. It’s just simply a mess.”

“They couldn’t have done it without a reason, could they.”

Kaseph nodded his head as if to say I was correct and cleared away the flames.

The struggling fire was extinguished all at once.

“There’s only one benefit to be gained from this pathetic structure. It’s that it’s nearly impossible to identify from the outside.”

If Kaseph’s guess was correct, the Ravens’ experiment in Ruhindorf meant ‘casting a curse from a distance without being detected.’

Is there a need to do that?

“You said the curse’s power is weak, but to what extent?”

“Powerful curses, of course, and even common curses like the debilitation we saw in Kranacht are burdensome to use. The curse they prepared this time was neutralization. In magic terms, it’s on the level of Light’s Guidance.”

Meaning, it’s a basic of the basics.

Hiding a weak spell and activating it.

If the experiment in Kranacht was a fraud using signatures, Ruhindorf seemed more like a trap.

A trap.

A trap for whom?

At that moment, a possibility flashed through my mind.

“That neutralization curse, what kind of effect does it have?”

“It’s for the purpose of tying someone’s feet so they can’t respond properly.”

“Are there any restrictions on the target of the curse?”

“One of the few advantages of a curse is that as long as you can cast it, it works on anyone.”

Commit fraud, set a trap, and then cast a curse from a distance to tie them down.

This much effort isn't necessary to deal with a moderately strong person.

It has to be assumed that they are targeting someone who cannot be subdued without such methods.

And according to the Status Window’s notification, these curse experiments are closely related to Valheit’s death.

To the point of using the word ‘turning point.’

‘The target to be put in the trap is Valheit?’