Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Sleep Resistance Competition

Tilda, overwhelmed by that atmosphere, even halted the greeting she was making and stepped aside.
From then on, Ferda did not spare Tilda a single glance.
Faced with the humiliating situation, Tilda’s face flushed intensely, and she slipped away from the place.
Seeing Tilda’s state, Stefan asked Ferda:
“Did you happen to hear the story?”
“Which story are you referring to?”
“She was mocking, saying that exhibitions wouldn’t make any money…”
“Oh, really?”
His expression showed that he didn’t care in the slightest.
Ferda had no idea what kind of situation Stefan was referring to.
“Then why were you so hostile?”
Stefan wanted to know the reason.
Unless one happened to overhear that kind of vulgar conversation, there was not a single person who would be hostile toward Tilda upon meeting her for the first time.
Because she was a beauty who had inherited her mother’s features.
“At first, I didn’t intend to speak ill of her either. But seeing her, I changed my mind a bit.”
“What do you mean?”
“I disliked her. Those eyes.”
“The eyes? Why those eyes…”
“Your younger sister is the type of person who cannot be satisfied unless she catches anyone and subjugates them, isn’t she?”
Stefan’s eyes widened.
“H-how did you know that?”
“Because she had those exact eyes.”
Ferda had hated countless people.
To fuel that hatred, he had needed to understand the types of human nature, and certain characteristics remained vivid in his mind.
Tilda Pascal was the type of person Ferda hated the most.
Bastards who had no ability whatsoever, yet possessed greed unfitting of their station.
Bastards who tried to manipulate humans in the palm of their hand as if they were toys.
Admiring the fact that he had seen through Tilda’s true nature at a single glance, Stefan decided to change the subject.
They were busy preparing for the exhibition, so there was no time for idle chatter.
“Have you met with the Marquis?”
“Yes.”
“By any chance, where did you place the mana stones…?”
“Can’t we exhibit them tomorrow? He seems busy today, so I don’t want to disturb him.”
“Well, all right. Then let’s make it look like the strategy is to conceal the main attraction, shall we?”
At least we should exhibit the mana stones to draw attention.
Stefan muttered to himself like that.
However, the exhibition itself was not all that important.
It was merely a secondary branch; the main briefing session was the focus.
What would be addressed in that briefing session: the mana stones.
And the magic-technical rifle hanging there.
Ferda and Stefan raised their eyes toward the magic-technical rifle.
“Regent, have you by any chance seen a demonstration of that thing?”
“I’ve seen something similar.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Back then, it didn’t look like this.”
The rifle that fired mana bullets was something much larger and more complex.
That thing hanging with all kinds of accessories was messy enough to make you feel that it had been simplified.
“How does it look to your eyes?”
“To my eyes, you say?”
“You or other merchants.”
“Well, uh…”
Stefan scratched his head.
Tilda had looked at that thing and said it might make money.
In reality, the reactions of other merchants were similar.
Stefan’s as well.
It was not easy to speak ill of a place you were sponsoring.
“If the exterior simply becomes a bit cleaner, wouldn’t its evaluation rise again?”
“So you are saying it’s untidy.”
“Yes.”
“Mmm, I suppose so.”
It seemed that way to Ferda as well.
Looking at the current object, it was closer to a piece of art than a rotating mechanical device.
Right now, this magic-technical rifle was the most important thing to Ferda.
“It would be good if we could attract northern and southern merchants with this item…”
“I will do everything possible to exert influence in the north.”
Stefan did not mention the south.
With his older brother Merkat standing firm right now, he didn’t want to make promises.
So let’s not think about filling ourselves up with the first spoonful.
He thought that, but an unexpected incident was triggered.
— —
Scholars who have spent their lives holding nothing but books are intellectuals.
People mock them, calling them frogs in a well, but the moment when those intellectuals are needed always arrives.
Especially for groups that handle information, the process of filtering and processing that information is even more critical.
The Black Kerchief did not overlook that.
The Black Kerchief.
With black hoods as their symbol, they were a secret organization spread throughout the continent of Serdes collecting and selling information.
To efficiently process the information they handled, they needed the intellectuals of Escolleia.
That is why Garnet, a member of the Black Kerchief, came here.
“Mmm.”
She wore ornaments like any ordinary southern noblewoman, dressed in skimpy clothing.
Dark skin that contrasted with her ash-gray hair.
A race and appearance perfect for passing as an inhabitant of the Far South desert.
However, there was a single problem.
“Did you come alone, miss?”
Men swarming like flies before her sensual attire.
“Huh?”
“Not that it matters, but I will escort you, ahem…!”
The moment their eyes met, the man let out a dry cough.
Then he turned pale and took a step back.
“T-this is rude of me. I’m leaving now.”
“…Huh?”
Garnet arched an eyebrow and watched him retreat, while the man hurried away in a panic.
There was no way to know why that man had approached her.
A man dressed in northern attire approached.
“Well, well. Boss. Try to smile a little. Who did we come here to kill? Are we an assassination group?”
This man acting in a friendly manner.
He was also a member of the Black Kerchief who had come to Halim to find an information processor.
Which meant he had come to work.
Garnet looked alternately between his face and the glass in his hand and asked:
“Are you drinking alcohol during work hours?”
“It’s essential for the watches. To persuade rather than threaten, you need to relax, and alcohol is essential for northern warriors, you know?”
“A knife would suit you better than that glass to persuade a weakling. Are you trying to sweet-talk another bastard like that slippery fellow who gathered all the documents and pocketed the bribes?”
“Ah, I wasn’t in my right mind back then either. I handled it directly, didn’t I?”
“That’s because you’re drinking. Drink one more glass. I’ll shove my hand down your throat, pull out your stomach, and squeeze every last drop out of it.”
Garnet showed her will in a murderous manner.
She was someone who did what she said.
“Wow, so scary again. Smile! A woman is prettier when she smiles. Not with a face that’s trying to kill someone.”
“Shut your mouth and do your job. I’ll take care of my own affairs.”
However, the northern man simply let out a chuckle, raised his glass, and vanished again.
Garnet sighed and covered her mouth with a folding fan.
‘This is why I said I hated the concept of a noblewoman.’
She was beautiful enough to wear elegant clothes, but that was all.
Her life had been spent in a violent world closer to battlefields covered in blood and flesh than flower gardens.
Her eyes were fierce, and her demeanor inevitably carried a masculine air.
She never wanted to wear uncomfortable clothes that revealed flesh and rustled with every movement again.
Even enduring that discomfort, she came to this Halim.
The reason was a single person.
Garnet decided to move without further delay.
The briefing session would begin soon.
The briefing session took place in the Opera House.
With its resonant structure and capacity for many people, it was perfect.
Garnet entered.
Pretending to look for her seat, her gaze quickly scanned the surroundings.
‘Over there.’
The orchestra seats, the closest to the stage.
The first two rows were completely empty, surrounded by his aides under maximum security.
Garnet uttered his name inwardly.
‘Ferda Valdrova.’
The first investigation began with Helus Povidas.
Hired upon the word that the man’s young daughter had been kidnapped, she came to know Ferda Valdrova while searching for her.
‘It became more unbelievable the more I dug.’
The report that Valdrova had obtained a fiancée was shocking enough, but once she began investigating in earnest, her interest accelerated.
Information from the Far East was updated weekly, and each update showed an astonishing development.
‘And today he attended this event in Halim.’
Garnet wanted to see that person directly, and she was finally able to confirm it.
Gray hair similar to hers, tall stature.
Hidden by a thin formal uniform, but she saw through a single glance that his body was untrained.
‘On the outside he has no grand attributes, but…’
His aura is different.
Only the back of his head and his nape were visible while he sat in the armchair, yet she felt the dignity that only a mature man in his fifties could project.
Composure and calm devoid of bloodlust.
It was no wonder quite a few women adored him.
‘Did I hear that the chancellor of Escolleia yielded his spot in this main briefing session?’
The exhibition, especially the main briefing session, was achieved after years of rigorous selection.
Even the chancellor competed with other scholars to get into that main briefing session.
Yielding it alone meant he had enough confidence to risk his own position.
‘His voice has grown strangely louder lately, so he must have had connections with Regent Ferda after all.’
It’s worth digging deeply into.
Muttering that, she pulled out a notebook and began scribbling.
As the continent’s largest information network, she too fulfilled her duty.
“Excuse me, ma’am?”
“Huh?”
The moment their eyes met, the employee caught his breath.
“Ah! If I offended you, I apologize!”
However, Garnet had only gotten lost in her thoughts; she wasn’t in a bad mood.
Even if she were, it would have been due to that employee’s attitude.
“No, it’s fine. Can you tell me where my seat is?”
“Yes! I will guide you.”
The seat assigned to Garnet was one of the box seats in the Opera House.
Right in the center, and Ferda was caught in her line of sight, so it wasn’t bad.
‘I’ll have to wait and see.’
Because this was the moment to verify with her own eyes what Regent Ferda’s discernment was like.
— —
Meanwhile, Ferda was receiving greetings from many nobles.
Given that he had rented the entire expensive front row, people shouldn’t have been coming and going, but many deliberately passed in front of him to greet Ferda.
“Greetings to the spouse of the Guardian of the Far East! I am the owner of the Okseok Merchant Company…”
“Greetings to the Grand Regent of the Far East! As for me, I currently work as a mercenary…”
Not only scholars, but knights, nobles, and even merchants tried to stand out by hurling their names at him.
For a rare noble who possessed both status and wealth, that was the best way to catch his attention.
Usually, nobles control passage entirely to avoid this situation.
One or two you can laugh off, but when dozens line up, it becomes annoying.
Nevertheless, Ferda permitted them.
Because he wondered if a familiar face would appear.
Surprisingly, however, only complete strangers were visible to Ferda.
He had wasted time, but it wasn’t bad either.
Regardless, there was nothing to do until the briefing session began.
‘Speaking of which, there are a lot of people.’
Stefan, who arrived first, said that the opening briefing session didn’t even fill half of this Opera House.
Contrary to those words, today it was packed with people. There were fistfights over ticketed seats.
A place where the most promising scholars condensed and presented groundbreaking content, so both nobles and merchants had their nerves on edge.
Yet the biggest competitors in that briefing session were neither the merchants nor the nobles, but the exhibiting scholars themselves.
“Pleased to meet you! I am the scholar…”
“Drrrreung!”
“Kuuuuu!”
Nobles and merchants collapsing the moment they heard the voice, before even reaching the explanation stage.
Even Ferda, sitting in the VIP seats, was resisting the temptation of sleep, but it was not easy.
He suspected this might not be a briefing session, but a sleep magic resistance competition.
“Malcolm.”
“Yes!”
Malcolm, his eyes shining brightly while everyone else fell from exhaustion.
He didn’t understand anything, so there was no need to understand and, therefore, no need to nod off either.
“When is Vernel’s turn?”
“I’ll check! Uh… It’s right after Chancellor Bernard Wayne’s lecture on the Monster Appearance Prediction Device!”
“I see. You can hear well, so lower your voice a bit. The exhibitor is looking over here, isn’t he?”
“Huh? Ack!!”
It was a sensitive occasion in which he was introducing his life’s work.
Malcolm seemed to realize his mistake and shut his mouth.
While half-nodding off and listening to the exhibitors’ stories, a voice awakened Ferda’s mind.
“The item I will present is the Monster Appearance Prediction Device.”
The voice of the chancellor of Escolleia.
His turn had arrived.
Whether they shared similar thoughts, the eyes of the drowsy people shone again.
“First, in short, the operating principle of this prediction device is: when monsters appear, heterogeneous mana is momentarily detected in the surrounding air. We capture that mana pattern and create an algorithm, and through that formula we secure runes…”
Yet he continued with an overwhelmingly boring explanation that made even that light fade and put them back to sleep.
‘By the time Vernel comes out, 80% will be asleep.’
Even Ferda, who sponsored him, could not confidently endure that sleep magic disguised as an explanation.
Sorry, Vernel.
No, actually I’m not sorry.
If you don’t like it, you should have done better.
“Haha, everyone is bored, right? I’m sorry. Not many step onto a stage like this. I will give a short demonstration.”
As expected of the chancellor, he had the common sense to move on to the demonstration.
The device he brought had the shape of a metal pillar.
“Basically, this prediction device is designed so that not only Magic Walkers, but even Mana Walkers can handle it. If you simply inject mana like this and activate the formula…”
Woooong—.
“The device operates like this. Haha, now the explanation will be easy and fun. Look here, there’s this screen, right? This screen is made so that anyone who can read a map can use it. If a monster appears here, beep— beep— it emits a distinctive sound…”
Beep— beep—.
“Huh? Ah, yes, like this. That doesn’t mean a monster is going to come out. There is a distinctive issue when turning it on.”
Beep— beep—.
“Huh? Wait a moment. I definitely built it according to the blueprint and finished testing, so why…”
Beep—. Beep—.
“Huh?”
Bernard manipulated the device in a panic.
He struck it hard, checking where the defect was.
Ferda’s instinct triggered.
That is not a malfunction.
“Everyone, prepare yourselves.”
“Huh?”
“They are coming.”
The center dot on the screen flickered, and the candles illuminating the briefing venue began to tremble all at once.
“Whoa, what is it?”
“An earthquake?”
People who could not perceive the gravity of the situation.
Among them, those with combat experience immediately reached for their weapons.
A rift occurred in the space around the Monster Appearance Prediction Device.
Something forced its way through from inside the rift, spreading chaotic colors.
It was the head of a wolf.
No, a wolf-headed monster.
Kheureoeong!!!
The monster’s roar echoes.
“Kyaaaak!”
“Uwaaaak!!”
Ear-piercing screams and the sound of overturned chairs exploded in a chain reaction.
The briefing venue instantly turned into a living hell at the monster’s sudden appearance.
Riding the momentum, wolf monsters crawled out of the rift.
It was then.
“Lightning Spear.”
The moment Ferda finished speaking, the magic he recited toward the monster emerging from the rift shot forward.
A single flash of light that swallowed the illumination of the chaotically swaying chandelier pierced the wolf’s head.
Pishung!
It pierced straight through from the wolf monster’s brain to its heart.
Green blood gushing from its mouth; definitely an instant death.
Ferda looked at that fellow and thought:
One down for now.