Chapter 54
Late at night, when everyone was asleep and darkness and silence had settled over the streets with no one wandering around, a boy wearing a hood moved through the city.
The capital had excellent security, so unless he had gone far into the outskirts, there was no way the patrolling soldiers would fail to notice a young boy wandering the streets at night in suspicious clothing.
However, the boy already knew about the gaps that inevitably appeared during patrols, so he went around narrow alleyways in circles and managed to reach his destination without being noticed by anyone.
“Where's the package?”
On the outskirts of the capital, in a place that looked quite old and run-down despite being part of the capital of an empire boasting brilliant civilization, the boy looked beneath a heavily shadowed bridge and spoke.
The fanatics' leader, a young man, had told them that it was not yet time to reveal themselves.
So they rarely appeared in places where there was any light.
“…Hey.”
However, that did not mean they would simply refuse to answer.
When there was strangely no response at all, the boy felt uneasy and stepped backward.
“This is ridiculous.”
As if answering the boy's uneasiness, a heavily armed man in his forties walked out from beneath the bridge while wiping blood from his armor.
He was too old to be considered an adventurer, yet his equipment was inconspicuous.
And although he could have attacked the boy by surprise, he had boldly walked out to confront him face-to-face.
‘Tsk, they sent a knight.’
Of course, the boy already knew.
The Empire was somewhat aware of their activities and was making various moves to deal with them.
But what truly surprised the boy was that, according to what he had heard from the young man, they were supposed to move with the intention of wiping them out together with Madness.
He had never expected them to come out like this.
Perhaps this situation had been created by some noble blinded by the desire for achievements and a knight who was equally incapable of thinking properly.
It was probably even harder to remain cautious while watching Ingwang casually sitting in a café, drinking tea, and doing ridiculous things.
The boy contacted the young man using the communication device hidden in his pocket.
Then he deliberately shouted at the man as though he were confused.
“W-Who are you?!”
“There is no reason for me to tell someone like you my name.
Shut up and take the Madness that will arrive soon to your headquarters.
If you want to live, you’d better obey me.”
The boy let out a deep sigh internally.
He showed his contempt on his face toward this man who apparently did not even know what organization he was dealing with.
“Ha!
Did you really think things wouldn't end up like this?
Did you think those who have violated the laws of humanity would be allowed to live comfortably forever?”
He really doesn't know.
He thinks we actually want peace.
He really doesn't know anything.
The boy now felt pity for the man standing before him.
No doubt, the man had brought several companions and hidden them somewhere nearby.
But there were certainly fewer than twenty at most.
And yet he was acting like some agent of justice with such a small force.
Even though the title of knight had nothing to do with whether someone possessed common sense, the boy simply could not understand how this man had become a knight.
“B-But Madness already knows about our actions.
If we don't show him moving the goods you dealt with, he will notice that something is strange!”
“Ha!
Do you really think that crazy bastard is smart enough to figure that out?
He's insane!
He lives every day in the sewers, screams like a lunatic, and travels around with a little girl, a slime, and an old man who can barely straighten his back!”
How could someone like that defeat the Fallen?
This man was clearly in a position so low that he had not even been informed of such a fact.
Officially, defeating the Fallen Ascetic would probably have been credited to the Great Hero and several other outsiders.
And because they wanted to prevent Madness from being unknowingly spread, only a very small number of people knew about Ingwang.
So it was understandable that this man did not know.
But even so, the noble he served should have known.
If he was important enough to cause something like this, then he should have been in a fairly high position.
The fact that he did not know meant that the knight was serving a noble of such a low rank that he was unaware of the truth.
If that wasn't the case, then the only other possibility was that the noble he served hated him so much that he had simply sent him here to die.
Even if this knight knew the truth that Madness had fought and defeated the Fallen, he would surely believe it was false information.
From the boy's perspective, it was incredibly frustrating.
“Hmph!
Well, fine.
Forget that crazy bastard.
If you don't have the children with you, your companions, those lowlifes, won't let you inside.
They're not stupid enough to do that!”
The boy had never felt this frustrated even after eating dozens of steamed sweet potatoes.
He wanted to jump straight into the waterway beside him and gulp down water until this suffocating frustration disappeared.
The water flowing through the waterway had apparently been at risk of contamination not long ago.
But Madness was constantly purifying it now, so it was probably cleaner than even properly purified water.
He could probably do it right away.
Apparently, the children had not even been untied after being rescued.
They were still trembling in fear.
If they knew that this knight had rescued them, they would have shouted.
So what exactly was this man trying to accomplish?
The boy stopped thinking about it.
“Shut up and move.
And lure Madness here!”
If someone only knew Madness through written descriptions, or had only seen him under sunlight, they would never understand.
They would never understand how thoroughly the man called Madness planned and acted.
Even among those who lived in darkness, there were very few who knew that this man erased his traces so thoroughly that even they sometimes lost track of his actions in dark places.
‘What an idiot.
Madness is probably already watching all of this from far away.
Do you really think he'll come here just because he's crazy?
Sigh… I'll just deal with this here.’
“Heeey~!
Kiddo!
Mister!
What are you doing here?”
But he came.
Without making a sound or giving off any presence, Madness suddenly appeared from somewhere and casually draped an arm over the man's shoulder as he greeted them cheerfully.
A man who made thorough plans and never left any traces?
Unfortunately, that description belonged to the village chief, who operated behind the scenes under Ingwang's name.
“Y-You!”
“Madness!”
“I'm Ingwang, you idiots~
Madness isn't my name!
Got it?”
“Hahahaha!”
Laughing heartily, Ingwang patted the man's back heavily several times before walking over to the children who were still tied up.
“Oh my, look at these scraped-up wounds.
It must have hurt so much.”
“Cough, cough!
What… what are you doing?!”
“Shh!
You'll scare the kids if you shout!
Have you ever raised a child?
At least a nephew or niece?
No?
Oh, then I'm a little sorry.
You don't have a family or relatives either?
Hmm, I know that feeling pretty well.”
“You bastard!”
“You bastard!!!!
What?!
What do you mean, you bastard?!
You're a knight who wasn't even planning to rescue these children, so who are you talking down to like that?!
I'll burn the skin of your mouth and sew it shut!
Shut up unless you want to die!”
The man was flustered.
But the boy could barely contain the joy and excitement rising from deep within his chest.
As expected of Madness.
Although his assessment had been slightly wrong, he had instantly seized control of the atmosphere and created chaos right where he stood.
And as if that weren't enough, he had not forgotten to enlighten a stupid human.
As expected of Madness.
As if proving why he was not called a fanatic for nothing, the boy spoke to Ingwang with shining eyes.
This time, his voice trembled not because of acting, but because of genuine joy and excitement.
“O Madness!
I have been waiting for you!”
“Oh, yeah.
Hi.
I was waiting for you too.”
“Ah!
Ah, I-I'll guide you!
What should we do with this knight?!”
“You really make it sound like I'm on your side~
You're the same as this guy, you know.
Actually, you're worse.
What's your name?”
“M-My name is Jamani!”
“That's your real name, right?
If you're lying, I'll make you regret it.
Don't you have the blessing of Madness or something?”
“Y-Yes!
I-I-I am definitely Jamani!”
“Good boy.
That mister is a really~ bad man.
Right~?”
“Yes!
Hehe!”
“You… bastards…!
All of you… come out!”
The man's face turned bright red as he shouted.
One by one, his subordinates began revealing themselves from their hiding places.
“The outsider Kim Ingwang!
You are hereby under arrest for colluding with fanatics at this late hour!
If you resist, you will be summarily judged on the spot!”
“Huh?
That's funny.
What authority do you have to do that?”
“I!!!
I am Knight Mayeon Chahen, a knight serving Count Bursanhan after being granted my title by the will of the Great Empire!
My will is the will of the Empire!!”
At the arrogant man's shout, Ingwang burst into loud laughter and mocked him.
As someone who knew about the existence of the Great Hero, Ingwang found his words utterly laughable.
No matter how much he was looked down upon, and no matter how angry he was about being ignored, what the man had just said had crossed the line.
Step.
Step.
As the man's subordinates began gathering around them one by one, Ingwang merely laughed while looking back and forth between the boy and the man.
The boy misunderstood the situation slightly.
‘Ah!
Madness wants me to resolve this incident!’
Whatever Ingwang's true intentions were, the boy interpreted it that way and acted accordingly.
He did not even notice that the terminal hidden in his pocket was vibrating violently.
These people had been specially selected and trained in advance for today's operation.
They were known as the Seeds of the Fanatics.
The moment the boy raised his hand, they emerged from the shadows of the dark buildings as though they had been waiting for that signal.
In an instant, they knelt before Ingwang.
“W-What?
Why are you doing this?
You're making me uncomfortable.”
“We have prepared everything for you!”
“For me?”
“Of course!
So you really were working with them!”
“Me?”
“The order!”
“What order?!”
“Capture him!”
“???
What the hell are you crazy idiots even saying?!”
Click!
A sudden camera shutter sounded.
A player like Ingwang had used the system to capture this extremely rare and unusual scene with a camera.
Normally, everyone involved would have simply assumed it was some harmless prank by an outsider.
But at this particular place and time, every single person involved would have been in serious trouble if they were exposed.
So they could not ignore the sharp sound that pierced their ears.
“W-Who is that?!”
The player had tried to take the picture secretly.
But the shutter sound had given him away completely.
