The Devil's Cage

Wallway Street 13th.

The moment Kieran returned to his room, he threw the baggage that was the height of two men onto the floor and panted heavily.

The pieces of baggage were much heavier than he had anticipated. Even with his Strength nearing Advance Ranks, he couldn’t bear it for long, but he was still happy.

The grin on his face widened uncontrollably.

In the remaining time in [The Wisher], Kieran didn’t forget to ‘search’ for ‘valuables’ in the dungeon after he had made up his complete plan.

He had enough reputation and enough gold to carry out his plans, and the results? Self-explanatory. The most direct result was the overflowing items from the wrapped cloth.

The only pity was that he couldn’t find a real treasure, even in Arwena Algo Zalgar’s grave.

The best he could get was Magic rank items on par with Rare ranks that hadn’t truly been categorized as Rare. Kieran didn’t mind, however.

No one would when they got about 50 Magic rank items out of the blue.

Kieran arranged the Magic rank items based on their category before contacting Lawless.

After gaining the surprise and envy of Lawless once more, Kieran entrusted everything to him.

Lawless was trustworthy, just like Fire Raven and Frost Wolf.

Fire Raven finally got to rest after perfectly carrying out the role of a scout in the dungeon.

Frost Wolf also fell into slumber when it returned, but unlike Fire Raven, Frost Wolf was in an uglier state. Its soft fur was dirty, and it had suffered many wounds on its body.

What did Frost Wolf do after it went off?

Battle!

With sufficient energy to grow, what else would boost its strength faster than if it were to go into battle?

In the free time of [The Wisher], Frost Wolf managed to control almost a hundred kilometers of the forest outside Eiders’ outskirts. From the common wild beasts to the dark beings and monsters, Frost Wolf challenged every one of them.

The challenge results were obvious, as well. Frost Wolf didn’t just win, but it became the ruler of that forest as well.

It’d even found small historical remains in the woods for Kieran. 1/4 of the items in the baggage were Frost Wolf’s contribution.

Because it had tried its best to prove itself, the scale in Kieran’s heart on using [Frost Heart Remnant] tipped towards Frost Wolf more.

Kieran was a man of his words, but before that, he had to contact Blacksmith.

2567: I have a special gemstone I need to be appraised.

Blacksmith: Inn.

2567: Wait for me.

…

Kieran was used to Blacksmith’s cold and simple conversation style, just like he was getting used to Lawless’ nagging and Starbeck’s delicious food.

Of course, no habits would change Kieran’s natural vigilance.

Once he stepped out of his room and stood outside of the room’s protection, his sharp senses picked up a figure in the darkness beside the area.

The person walked out plainly after knowing that he had been discovered.

It was Borl, a player that Kieran had met only a few times before but claimed to have ties with the Witch and proposed to work with Kieran.

“I have something to discuss with you,” Borl said.

“I don’t think we have anything to discuss.” Kieran shook his head, wanting to walk around him.

Kieran would only show vigilance and alarm toward a stranger; no matter how kind or harmless they presented themselves, it would be the same.

A villain would never write its intentions on its face.

“I’ve found someone to work with. Someone who has sufficient power!”

Borl didn’t stop Kieran. Stopping a player more powerful than himself in this city was not a wise thing to do.

However, Borl spoke quicker than before, hoping that Kieran would change his mind after he heard what he said, but unfortunately, Borl was destined to be disappointed.

Kieran didn’t stop and instead walked towards the station further away.

Borl couldn’t help but laugh bitterly as he watched Kieran’s figure disappearing behind the train’s door.

Before coming, he had tried to estimate how hard it would be to move Kieran, anticipating that it would be very difficult, but the reality was much harsher than he expected.

“Neither the hard way or the soft way works…” Borl sighed.

He really wanted to change his collaborator, like the one he found recently.

His collaborator had quite the power and influence, and from a particular standpoint, his collaborator could very well replace Kieran’s part of the role, but…

Not all could be replaced; some parts were just destined for Kieran.

The secret that he hid in his heart made Borl sigh uncontrollably again.

Then, he opened his message tab and contacted his collaborator.

Soon, he received a reply.

When he saw the message’s content, Borl jolted and unconsciously frowned. He didn’t reject the suggestion, though.

After all, Borl’s time was limited.

…

There were many inns in the big city, but the one that Blacksmith referred to could only be Harvest Inn.

After pushing open the familiar wooden door of the inn, merry voices echoed in Kieran’s ears. He nodded at the familiars who raised their cups at him. He then went over to the bar counter.

The red hood made Blacksmith stand out from the rest.

When Kieran seated himself beside Blacksmith, Rachel turned around.

“What would you like?” she asked.

“No, thanks.” Kieran waved his hand.

“It’s free,” Rachel added.

“Then lemon water, please,” Kieran said.

“Stingy,” Rachel retorted.

Kieran didn’t say anything, as if acknowledging the comment.

It was the truth, and truth didn’t open up room for argument.

He would only clear up the matters that worried him.

“You’ve helped Wu complete a Title Dungeon?” Blacksmith, with a glass of lemon water, asked.

“En, due to some items, I owed her a favour. So I helped her finish it to repay my debt,” Kieran explained.

“Is that so? The version I heard is different.” Blacksmith’s tone sounded a little different.

Even with the system’s blur, Kieran could feel the gaze and judgement from her.

It was strange, yet familiar.

It was strange because he had never received such a gaze from her before, but Kieran always got this same gaze from Wu when she looked at him, especially when he mentioned Starbeck.

The feeling was the worst for him. And now, on top of everything, it was made into a rumour.

A rumour made known even to Blacksmith, who rarely came out of her room. Kieran could already imagine how quickly the rumour had spread.

He frowned, but before he could ask, his message tab pinged him.

It was Starbeck.