Chapter 77

Sleep Resistance Contest

Overwhelmed by the atmosphere, Tilda stopped midway through her greeting and stepped aside.

After that, Ferda never looked at her again.

Humiliated, Tilda’s face flushed scarlet, and she hurried away. After watching her leave, Stephan asked Ferda,

“Did you happen to overhear what she said?”

“What are you referring to?”

“She mocked the exhibits, asking whether they could possibly make any money…”

“Did she?”

Ferda looked completely unconcerned.

He had no idea what had happened between Stephan and Tilda.

“Then why were you so hostile toward her?”

Stephan wanted to know the reason.

Unless they had overheard her materialistic remarks, no one had ever treated Tilda with hostility upon meeting her for the first time.

After all, she was a beauty who took after their mother.

“At first, I had no intention of speaking harshly to her. But once I saw her, I changed my mind.”

“What changed your mind?”

“I didn’t like her eyes.”

“Her eyes? What was wrong with them…?”

“Your sister is the type who isn’t satisfied unless she has everyone pinned beneath her thumb, isn’t she?”

Stephan’s eyes widened.

“H-How did you know?”

“Because that was exactly the look in her eyes.”

Ferda had hated countless people.

To sustain that hatred, he had needed to understand the different types of people who existed, and certain characteristics had become firmly etched into his mind.

Tilda Pascal belonged to the kind Ferda despised most.

People with no ability, yet possessed of greed far beyond their station.

People who treated others like toys to be manipulated in the palms of their hands.

Impressed that Ferda had seen through Tilda’s true nature at a glance, Stephan decided to change the subject.

They were in the middle of preparing for the exhibition, so there was no time for idle chatter.

“Have you met Mr. Marquis?”

“Yes.”

“And where did you put the mana stone, if I may ask…?”

“Could we display it tomorrow instead? Everyone seems busy today, and I would rather not interfere.”

“Very well. Then we’ll make it look as though our strategy is to conceal the true centerpiece.”

Stephan muttered under his breath that they would need to display at least the mana stone to attract attention.

However, the exhibition itself was not particularly important.

It was merely a side attraction. The main event was the presentation.

The presentation would focus on the mana stone—

and the magitech rifle hanging over there.

Ferda and Stephan looked up at the rifle.

“Regent, have you ever seen that thing demonstrated?”

“I’ve seen something similar.”

“What do you mean?”

“It didn’t look like that at the time.”

The rifle that fired mana rounds had once been a much larger and more complicated contraption.

It had been so cluttered with various components that the current version, despite all the things still dangling from it, almost seemed streamlined by comparison.

“How does it look to you?”

“To me?”

“To you and the other merchants.”

“Well…”

Stephan scratched his head.

When Tilda had seen the rifle, she had questioned whether it could possibly be profitable.

The other merchants had reacted similarly.

So had Stephan.

It was simply difficult to criticize something produced by an institution he was sponsoring.

“If they cleaned up its appearance a little, wouldn’t people evaluate it more favorably?”

“So you’re saying it looks awful.”

“Yes.”

“I suppose it does.”

Ferda agreed.

As it stood, the rifle looked more like a piece of artwork than a functioning mechanical device.

At present, however, this magitech rifle was the most important item to Ferda.

“I hope this will be enough to draw in merchants from both the north and the south…”

“I’ll do everything I can regarding the north.”

Stephan did not mention the south.

With his eldest brother, Merchant, standing in his way, he did not want to make any promises.

They should not expect too much from their first attempt.

That was what they thought.

Then something completely unexpected happened.

Scholars who had spent their entire lives buried in books were intellectuals.

People often mocked them as frogs trapped inside a well, but there inevitably came moments when such intellectuals were indispensable.

For an organization dealing in information, the process of filtering and analyzing that information was particularly important.

The Black Bandana had never overlooked that fact.

The Black Bandana.

Symbolized by the black cloths they wore around their heads, they were a clandestine organization that gathered and sold information throughout the Cerdes Continent.

To process that information efficiently, they needed the intellectuals of Escoleia.

That was why Garnet, a member of the Black Bandana, had come here.

“Hmm.”

She had adorned herself like one of the south’s many noblewomen and wore an outfit made from a rather limited amount of fabric.

Her dusky complexion contrasted with her ash-gray hair.

Her ethnicity and appearance made her perfectly suited to posing as a desert woman from the far south.

There was only one problem.

“Did you come here alone, my lady?”

Men flocked toward her like flies, drawn by her voluptuous attire.

“Hm?”

“I was merely wondering whether I might have the honor of escorting you—cough!”

The moment their eyes met, the man coughed awkwardly.

Then his face went pale, and he hurriedly backed away.

“M-My apologies. I’ll be on my way.”

“…Huh?”

Garnet raised one eyebrow and watched him retreat.

The man quickly fled.

She had no idea why he had approached her in the first place.

A man dressed in northern attire came over.

“Come on, Boss. Try smiling a little. Did you come here to kill someone? We’re not an assassin organization, you know.”

The man spoke to her with easy familiarity.

He was also a member of the Black Bandana and had come to Halim to recruit information analysts.

In other words, he was supposed to be working.

Garnet glanced between his face and the glass in his hand.

“Are you drinking while you’re supposed to be working?”

“It’s essential during undercover work. If you want to persuade people instead of threatening them, you need to help them relax. And alcohol is indispensable when dealing with northern warriors.”

“For coaxing some spineless weakling, wouldn’t a knife suit you better than that glass? Are you planning to recruit another slick bastard who steals all our data and pockets bribes behind our backs?”

“Oh, come on. I told you, things were chaotic back then. Besides, I took care of him myself, didn’t I?”

“That happened because you were drinking. Try having one more glass. I’ll shove my hand down your throat, pull out your stomach, and wring it dry right in front of you.”

Garnet made her intentions perfectly clear.

She was a woman who always followed through on her threats.

“There you go, being terrifying again. Smile! A woman is at her prettiest when she smiles, not when she looks like she’s about to murder someone.”

“Shut your mouth and get back to work. I’ll handle myself.”

The northern man merely chuckled, raised his glass to her, and disappeared once again.

Garnet sighed and covered her mouth with her fan.

‘I told them I hated this noblewoman disguise.’

She was certainly beautiful enough to pull off luxurious clothing, but that was all.

She had spent her entire life in a violent world closer to a battlefield of blood and flesh than a garden of flowers.

Her gaze was naturally fierce, and even her movements carried a masculine edge.

She never wanted to wear such cumbersome clothing again—clothing that exposed her skin and jingled every time she moved.

Yet despite the discomfort, she had come all the way to Halim.

It was because of one particular person.

Garnet decided not to waste any more time.

The presentation would begin soon.

It was being held inside the opera house.

Its acoustics allowed sound to resonate throughout the building, and it could accommodate a large audience, making it the perfect venue.

Garnet entered.

Pretending to search for her assigned seat, she swiftly scanned the surroundings.

‘There.’

The orchestra seats—the section closest to the stage.

The first two rows had been left completely empty, while Ferda sat surrounded by his aides under total protection.

Garnet silently called his name.

‘Ferda Valdrova.’

Her initial investigation had begun with Helus Phobidas.

She had been hired after hearing that the man’s young girl had been kidnapped, and while searching for her, she had learned of Ferda Valdrova.

‘He only became more fascinating the deeper I looked.’

The report that Valdrova had gained a fiancé had already been impactful enough, but once she began digging in earnest, her interest accelerated.

Information from the Far East was updated weekly, and every new report revealed astonishing progress.

‘And now he has come to Halim today.’

Garnet had wanted to see him in person, and at last she could.

He had gray hair similar to hers and a tall, imposing frame.

Though his body was concealed beneath a slim formal uniform, she immediately saw that it was not particularly well trained.

‘There’s nothing especially distinctive about his appearance, but…’

His aura was different.

All she could see from where he sat on the sofa was the back of his head and neck, yet he carried the dignity one would expect only from a man in his fifties.

A composure and calmness unrestrained by youthful passion.

It would not be surprising if quite a few women admired him.

‘I heard the president of Escholeia yielded his place in the main presentation to him.’

An exhibition—and especially its main presentation—was approved only after years of preparation and an extremely rigorous review process.

Even the president had competed with other scholars for a place in that presentation.

For him to approve Ferda’s project as a solo presentation meant he was confident enough to stake his own position on it.

‘His influence has strangely grown stronger lately as well. So he really did have a connection with Regent Ferda.’

He was certainly worth investigating in depth.

Muttering that to herself, Garnet pulled out a notepad and began writing.

As one of the continent’s greatest information brokers, she diligently carried out her duty.

“Excuse me, madam?”

Garnet had merely been lost in thought and was not actually offended.

Even if she had been, it would probably have been because of the employee’s attitude.

“No, it’s fine. Could you tell me where my seat is?”

“Yes! Allow me to guide you.”

The seat assigned to Garnet was one of the opera house’s box seats.

It was directly in the center, and Ferda was visible within her line of sight, so it was not bad.

‘I suppose I’ll wait and see.’

This was her opportunity to witness Regent Ferda’s judgment with her own eyes.

The moment their eyes met, the employee sharply inhaled.

“Ah! I-I’m terribly sorry if I have offended you!”

Meanwhile, Ferda was receiving greetings from numerous nobles.

He had rented out the entire expensive front section, so no one should have had any reason to pass through it, yet many people deliberately walked by just to greet him.

“It is an honor to meet the consort of the guardian of the Far East. I am the owner of the Jade Stone Company…”

“It is an honor to meet the great Regent of the Far East! As for myself, I currently work as a mercenary…”

Not only scholars, but knights, nobles, and merchants all tried to force their names into his memory and attract his attention.

For the rare dignitary who possessed both rank and wealth, that was the best way to make themselves known.

Most nobles blocked off the path entirely to prevent such situations.

Smiling through one or two greetings was manageable, but when dozens of people lined up, it quickly became tiresome.

Even so, Ferda allowed them to continue.

He wondered whether he might recognize someone among them.

Yet astonishingly, every last one of them was an unknown nobody.

It had been a waste of time, but it was not necessarily unpleasant.

After all, he had nothing else to do before the presentation began.

‘There are certainly a lot of people.’

Stephan, who had arrived earlier, had said that the opening presentation had failed to fill even half of the opera house.

Contrary to that claim, the venue was packed today.

People had even gotten into fistfights over tickets.

It was an event where the most promising scholars presented condensed versions of their most innovative work, so nobles and merchants alike were on edge.

However, the greatest rivals at the presentation were not the merchants or nobles, but the scholars presenting their work.

“Greetings! I am a scholar who…”

—Rrrrrr…

—Hooooonk…

The nobles and merchants began collapsing into sleep the moment they heard the presenters’ voices, let alone their explanations.

Even Ferda, seated in the VIP section, was struggling to resist the temptation of sleep.

He began to suspect that this was not a presentation at all, but a sleep-resistance contest.

“Malcolm.”

While everyone else was dropping from exhaustion, Malcolm remained wide awake.

He understood nothing, so there was no need for him to follow along.

And because he had no need to understand, he had no reason to become sleepy.

“When is Burnell’s turn?”

“I’ll check! Hmm… It comes right after Bernard Wayne’s presentation on his monster appearance prediction device!”

“I see. I can hear you perfectly well, so lower your voice. The presenter is looking this way.”

“What? Ah!”

Since this was an event where scholars presented the achievements they had devoted their entire lives to, they were understandably sensitive.

Realizing his mistake, Malcolm closed his mouth.

As Ferda listened to the presenters while half asleep, a voice finally roused his mind.

“The item I will be presenting is the Monster Appearance Prediction Device.”

It was the voice of the president of Escholeia.

His turn had finally arrived.

Perhaps they had been thinking the same thing as Ferda, because the eyes of the previously dozing audience members lit up again.

“To briefly explain the principle behind this prediction device, when a monster appears, foreign mana is momentarily detected in the surrounding air. We identified the pattern of that mana and constructed an algorithm. Through that formula, we secured the appropriate runes, and…”

However, the explanation that followed was so overwhelmingly boring that even that renewed light vanished from their eyes as they fell asleep again.

‘By the time Burnell appears, eighty percent of them will be asleep.’

Even Ferda, who sponsored him, was not confident that he could endure the sleep spell disguised as an explanation.

Sorry, Burnell.

No, actually, he was not sorry.

If Burnell did not like it, he should simply do better.

“Haha, I imagine many of you are bored. My apologies. I have not had many opportunities to stand in a place like this. Let me move on to a simple demonstration.”

At least the president had enough awareness to proceed to the demonstration.

The device he had brought resembled a metal pillar.

“This prediction device was fundamentally designed so that not only Magic Walkers, but also Mana Walkers can operate it. Simply inject mana like this and activate the formula…”

Wooooong—

“And the device begins operating. Haha, this should make the explanation easier and more interesting. Now, if you look here, you’ll see a display. It was designed so that anyone capable of reading a map can use it. If a monster appears here, the machine produces a distinctive beep—beep—sound…”

Beep—beep—

“Hm? Ah, yes. Like that. Of course, it does not mean a monster has actually appeared. There is a peculiar issue that occurs briefly during startup.”

Beep—beep—

“Huh? Just a moment. I followed the blueprint exactly and even completed testing, so why is it…?”

Beep—beep—

“W-Wait, what?”

Bernard grew flustered and began touching the device.

He struck it repeatedly while searching for a defect.

Ferda understood instinctively.

That was not a malfunction.

“Everyone, prepare yourselves.”

“What?”

“They are coming.”

The central point displayed on the screen began flashing, and every candle illuminating the hall flickered at once.

“Oh my, what is happening?”

“Is it an earthquake?”

Most of the audience failed to realize how serious the situation was.

Those among them with combat experience immediately reached for their weapons.

The space surrounding the Monster Appearance Prediction Device began to crack.

Something forced its way out from within the fissure, where a confusion of colors swirled.

It was the head of a wolf.

No—

a monster with the head of a wolf.

—17—

Roooooar!

The monster’s roar echoed through the hall.

“Aaaah!”

“Uwaaagh!”

Shrill screams erupted one after another, accompanied by the sound of chairs toppling over.

The sudden appearance of a monster plunged the presentation hall into chaos.

The wolf monster pushed itself farther out of the crack.

That was when it happened.

“Lightning Spear.”

The instant Ferda completed the incantation, the spell shot toward the monster emerging from the fissure.

A streak of lightning swallowed the wildly swaying chandelier light and pierced through the wolf’s head.

Psssh!

The bolt traveled in a straight line from the monster’s brain to its heart.

Green blood spilled from its mouth.

It had undoubtedly died instantly.

Looking at the creature, Ferda thought,

‘That makes one.’