Chapter 166
‘Javier?’
Lloyd almost jabbed his own eyeball with the fingers he’d been using to rub his eyes.
He couldn’t help it.
It was too absurd.
‘What? He didn’t like digging into someone’s background because it felt dishonorable? Because it didn’t suit his principles?’
He remembered a night a few days ago, around midnight.
Javier had returned to the lodging under the dim moonlight.
His face had been full of self-loathing and doubt.
He had openly pushed back against the order to investigate Cannavaro.
Lloyd had coaxed him and sent him off again.
After that, Javier had disappeared for a few days.
‘……So he was actually enjoying it.’
A plain dress.
A silky, straight silver wig.
Light makeup on Javier’s face.
Lloyd couldn’t help but sigh and marvel at the same time.
He looked completely convincing.
He was handsome to begin with.
Refined features, noble-looking demeanor.
Just a little makeup was enough to turn him into a breathtaking beauty.
‘And he’s slim too. Sure, he’s densely built with muscle underneath, but he’s got no extra fat, so anything he wears makes him look incredibly slender. His height’s a bit much, but to these people he probably looks like a supermodel.’
Whatever the reason (?), it was working.
Javier’s popularity at the distribution center was through the roof.
It almost felt like he was at a concert or fan-sign event for Earth’s top girl group, Kwice.
Then—
“Hey? You there.”
Someone tapped his shoulder from behind.
A man who looked like a refugee shot him a crooked look.
“If you’re in line, move up. Why are you so slow?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t just space out, move.”
“Uh—?”
The man shoved him with his whole body.
Not just the man.
The dozens of people lined up behind him all started pushing forward with their full weight.
The sensation was strangely familiar.
‘This is literally Line 2 during morning rush hour.’
Sindorim Station came to mind.
Morning at Sindorim.
It wasn’t a normal subway station.
It was a melting pot and a battlefield.
Sometimes you didn’t even need to walk—people would push you forward on their own.
That same phenomenon was happening now.
Lloyd, who had squeezed through the crowd to find Javier, was suddenly swept into the line at the distribution center.
It was too late to escape.
He ended up stuck in line.
Forced body-to-body contact, unwilling but unavoidable.
Before long, he was pushed all the way to the front—
To the very goddess(?) of the distribution center.
Javier.
“…….”
“…….”
Javier blinked at him.
Lloyd gave him a half-rotten grin.
The silence didn’t last long.
Keeping a perfectly straight face, Javier said:
“Your bowl, please.”
“Ah.”
Lloyd absentmindedly picked up a wooden bowl.
He handed it over.
Without thinking, a question slipped from his lips.
“Excuse me, but may I ask the lady’s name?”
“Ah…… I’m Ella.”
“Ella?”
“Yes. ‘El’ and then ‘la.’”
“…….”
For someone usually so sharp, he was giving a very dumb answer. He must have been just as flustered.
‘You little punk.’
He must’ve infiltrated the distribution center to make his investigation more thorough.
Lloyd stepped back so he wouldn’t fluster Javier further.
“Thank you, Miss Ella. I’ll be going now.”
He took the soup.
He downed it in one go and barely managed to slip out of the line.
He had just exhaled in relief when the administrative officer of Count Namaran approached.
“Heh heh, Sir Frontera. I didn’t think you were that type.”
“Pardon?”
Lloyd tilted his head.
What was this guy talking about?
And why was he grinning like that?
The official squinted and smirked.
“When I mentioned that beauty earlier, you didn’t seem interested. But after seeing her in person, you were even more forward than I was, weren’t you?”
“…….”
“How was she when you talked to her? Her voice? Her mannerisms?”
“Honestly. If you’re so curious, go see for yourself. Let’s get to work. Ahem.”
Lloyd pretended to get offended and cleared his throat.
His mouth itched.
He wanted to shout:
You’re all being fooled.
That Ella or whatever—
She’s actually a guy.
And not even a polite guy!
He can’t sleep without a lullaby because of his horrible sleep habits!
He wanted to shout it to the whole town.
He pitied all these people who were practically love-struck over Javier.
But he zipped his lips shut.
‘He’s undercover.’
Javier wasn’t the type to pull this off as a prank.
He must’ve found something suspicious.
He must have a reason for doing this.
‘Let’s trust him for now.’
He decided to leave Javier to his mission.
Meanwhile, he had work to do too.
With the administrator guiding him, he headed to the blacksmith.
He requested the creation of anchors.
At first, the blacksmith looked confused.
An anchor was an unfamiliar tool.
But once Lloyd explained with a prepared blueprint, the blacksmith began nodding.
‘Thank goodness. He’s supposed to be the most reliable blacksmith in the city. Not on Wells Cogidus’s level, but anchor work is doable.’
One worry off his mind.
After that, Lloyd left the castle.
He walked along the outer wall, following the cliffside.
He used his surveying skill.
He activated the skill option: [Underground Scanning].
‘Since I’ll be installing forced piles and anchors here, I need to check more thoroughly.’
How to drive in the piles.
At what angle and depth to set the anchors.
He carefully examined the construction area.
‘If I plant forced piles on the flat road surfaces to stabilize the structure, then place anchors on the slope to hold back sliding… If I repeat that from the upper wall to the base of the cliff, it should work.’
He collected terrain data meticulously.
He analyzed the bedrock’s condition.
Then—
‘Hm?’
Something odd appeared in his underground scan.
‘What is that?’
About 50 centimeters below the surface.
At first, it looked like a simple rock.
But it wasn’t.
The top was round and white.
The bottom was jagged and uneven.
It was—
‘A skull? Why is that here?’
Lloyd frowned.
It was literally a human skull buried in the soil.
But it wasn’t a grave.
And it was only the skull—no other bones.
‘Someone’s severed head?’
Lloyd shrugged.
It was a big city.
It had a long history.
Plenty could’ve happened over the centuries.
One old skull didn’t merit special fuss.
He moved on.
He focused on his survey.
Skill activated.
Scanning deeper.
Checking the terrain.
Until—
Another skull appeared.
‘What the—’
Again, 50 centimeters below surface.
Again, only a skull.
He passed it with a puzzled look.
‘Weird… Am I just lucky today? If this were Korea, I’d buy a lottery ticket.’
He snorted.
Shaking off the odd feeling, he returned to surveying.
But ten minutes later—
He couldn’t smile anymore.
‘Another one?’
A third skull.
Same depth.
And—
Facing the city.
In the exact same orientation as the first two.
“…….”
He turned back.
He measured the distance between the skulls using his surveying skill.
To his shock, the spacing was identical.
‘Something’s going on.’
These weren’t random executions dumped into the soil.
They were buried at identical depth, orientation, and spacing.
The margin of error was barely ten centimeters.
‘This was measured and planned. This wasn’t random. There’s definitely something here.’
He dug through his backpack.
He pulled out a folding shovel.
He dug out the skull.
When he reached in to lift it—
Zap!
“……!”
A jolt like electricity hit his fingertips.
Lloyd jerked back and examined the skull.
‘Magic?’
He hadn’t felt it while it was underground.
But once unearthed, he sensed it clearly.
Through the Asrahan Heart Technique, he saw it.
Dense mana.
Dark, gloomy, sinister mana.
And at that moment—
‘Wait. Don’t tell me…’
His mind began racing.
Equally spaced skulls.
Skulls filled with dark mana.
He pieced together—
Facts and guesses.
Logic and intuition.
Reality and implication.
The puzzle formed a picture.
‘Namaran’s Barrier. They’re using this.’
A chill ran down his spine.
He remembered the Namaran Barrier arc from the novel ‘Iron-Blooded Knight’.
In the story, Javier faced hardship at the barrier.
He overcame it and grew dramatically.
The focus was on breaking through the barrier, not how it was made.
‘So this is how they made it. Dark-mana-infused skulls buried around the city.’
He looked at the skull with new understanding.
Then a thought struck him.
If he could disperse the mana?
The dark magic might disappear.
The barrier might never activate.
‘Should I try?’
He checked the amount of mana in the skull.
He assessed his Asrahan Heart Technique.
‘Triple Circle, Level 2.’
If he used all of it—
Could he dismantle the mana?
He evaluated rationally.
‘Yes. It’s doable.’
No reason to hesitate.
Bzzzz—
No one was around.
He activated the Asrahan Heart Technique and reached out.
He fully opened its mana absorption.
His fingertips touched the top of the skull—
‘Inhale.’
A wave of dark mana surged into him.
‘Nope. Can’t eat that. I’ll get stomachaches.’
He spun all three circles at maximum.
He funneled the dark mana out through his other hand.
Untangling it.
Separating it.
Releasing it.
Into the air.
Like smoke drifting away.
Minutes passed.
“……Haa!”
Lloyd exhaled heavily.
His face had gone a little pale.
But he smiled with satisfaction.
‘Done.’
So this is how bomb disposal must feel.
Thankfully, the three circles endured the absorption and dismantling.
The skull was now empty of dark mana.
He lifted it from the hole.
He was about to examine it when—
Clink.
Something rattled inside.
A small, hard object.
“Huh?”
He peered inside—and his eyes widened.
“A gemstone?”
A jet-black stone, like obsidian, sat inside the skull.
About the size of a thumbnail.
It gleamed with a glossy sheen.
It looked expensive.
‘So the skull was just a container. The mana was stored in the gemstone. And now that I dismantled the mana…’
This gemstone belongs to me now.
A grin of capitalist greed curled Lloyd’s lips.
His heart pounded a lively 16-bit drumbeat.
And then—
‘Treasure hunt, start.’
Lloyd began sprinting along the cliffs around Namaran.
Panting like a dog searching for bones.
Picking out the “meat chunks” from mom’s curry without her noticing.
Scanning the underground until his eyes nearly burned.
Intercepting the dark mages’ sinister plan—
Ruining their scheme—
And collecting expensive gemstones—
To make his wallet rich and full—
All in the name of justice, he gladly charged straight ahead.