Chapter 114
Verdan
The fake Haman vanished in an instant.
Johan stared irritably at the spot where he had disappeared.
“He’s gone.”
Serena remained perfectly calm.
“Don’t worry. I heard everything—Verdan’s movements, his identity, and even the location of the real Haman. If you wish, we can capture him immediately.”
Her words were not particularly comforting.
Johan was annoyed by the mere fact that he had become entangled in such a troublesome affair.
He clicked his tongue.
“What a nuisance.”
He already had a mountain of more urgent matters to handle.
Johan did not want to waste too much time on something so trivial.
After studying his expression, Serena spoke.
“You don’t seem particularly concerned. Aren’t you curious about what happened?”
Serena found his reaction a little strange.
Johan was remarkably unperturbed.
Even after Haman’s true identity had been exposed, he showed not the slightest agitation.
Johan shook his head.
“Of course I’m curious. I simply find this whole matter rather troublesome. I apologize for asking this, but... my lady, could you explain the current situation as concisely as possible?”
He wanted to resolve this affair as quickly as possible and move on to other matters.
Serena stared thoughtfully at Johan before letting out a soft chuckle.
“You truly are an unusual person. You’re remarkably insensitive to shock.”
Since possessing this body, Johan had experienced far too many crises and unexpected developments.
His sudden awakening as an Apostle, Kaiaze’s appearance, Gawain’s corruption... Compared to such events, the problem with Haman was honestly insignificant.
It could not stir Johan emotionally in the slightest.
He spoke with an impassive expression.
“I may be surprised once I hear the whole story. For now, please explain.”
Serena nodded.
“You’ll probably find at least some of it interesting. I’ll keep the explanation as brief as possible.”
She began telling Johan everything she had discovered through the Mind-Reading Eye.
In a dilapidated warehouse in one of the royal capital’s back alleys, the fake Haman collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily.
A curse burst from his mouth.
“Damn it! Where did the information leak from?”
Serena had known his true identity.
The fake Haman could not understand how.
There had been no possible avenue through which the information could have leaked.
Verdan the Impostor always worked alone.
Because he had no associates, his secrets were always kept perfectly secure.
At the very least, there could not have been a mistake on Verdan’s end.
He sank into thought for a moment before muttering,
“...Could it have been the Marquis?”
Not long ago, Verdan had received a job from House Leonar.
The marquis’s family had asked him to investigate the Watcher of Narak, and Verdan had readily accepted.
After all, they had promised him an enormous reward.
Verdan had begun working even before the Watcher of Narak arrived in the royal capital.
After gathering information about the Myatro estate, he meticulously investigated the personal details of its servants.
A butler named Haman had immediately caught his attention.
As the butler, Haman held a position that allowed him to remain close to the master of the house.
By using Haman, Verdan could easily extract information about the Watcher of Narak.
Verdan had promptly abducted Haman and disguised himself as him.
Through his Authority, Impostor, Verdan could become Haman himself.
His appearance, manner of speech, personality, minor habits, scent... He had absorbed even the smallest details and perfectly imitated his target.
A disguise created using Impostor existed on an entirely different level from ordinary disguise techniques.
The moment he activated his Authority, Verdan became another person entirely.
No one could see through his identity.
Serena, however, had been different.
She had uncovered everything.
Nothing like this had ever happened to him before.
Verdan bit his lip.
“The Marquis. Yes, the information must have leaked from the marquis’s family.”
There was no other explanation.
Verdan slammed his fist against the floor.
“Those incompetent bastards! Damn them!”
The booming impact echoed through the warehouse, awakening someone who had been unconscious.
“P-Please spare me! Please! I beg you!”
In a corner of the warehouse, a man sat tied to a chair with a sack over his head.
Verdan’s face twisted fiercely.
He rose from the floor and walked toward the corner.
“Shut up, you witless imbecile!”
Verdan roughly yanked away the sack.
A man was revealed.
As though reflected in a mirror, his face was identical to Verdan’s current appearance.
Only their expressions were different.
The young man with dark-red hair was trembling in terror.
It was the butler, Haman.
He cried out desperately.
“S-Sir! Please have mercy on me! I’ll do anything you ask!”
Verdan slapped Haman hard across the face.
“You dim-witted bastard! You made them suspicious of me for no reason! I heard you graduated at the top of your class from the preparatory academy, so how can you possibly be this incompetent?”
Haman was far too bumbling.
The moment Verdan imitated him using Impostor, Verdan became a fool as well.
More precisely, he found it difficult to suppress the urge to behave foolishly.
It was a consequence of the Authority’s nature.
Because Impostor compelled him to imitate his target perfectly, even his personality became similar to theirs.
Even now, Verdan was battling Haman’s sense of self.
He felt an urge to behave as ineptly as Haman.
“I-It was all my fault! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
Verdan shouted and tore the skin from his own face.
“Damn it! I can’t stand this any longer!”
His skin tore away like tattered rags.
The shredded pieces of flesh dissolved into smoke and disappeared.
The Authority, Impostor, ceased functioning.
Verdan’s true appearance was revealed.
He was a young man with a shiny bald head, narrow eyes, and a crooked mouth. His overall appearance was thoroughly sinister.
The moment Haman saw Verdan’s real face, he began foaming at the mouth and trembling violently.
Whenever Verdan returned to his original form, excruciating pain always followed for Haman.
Another of his fingernails would be torn out.
Verdan needed one of his target’s fingernails to use Impostor.
Haman clenched both fists tightly.
He desperately tried to hide his fingernails.
“I-I don’t want it to hurt! Don’t do it! Please!”
He screamed in panic.
A series of instinctive reactions emerged like conditioned reflexes.
Verdan seized Haman by the hair and violently shook his head back and forth.
“Shut up! I said shut up, you useless idiot!”
He was under tremendous stress.
His identity had been exposed, and the job had been ruined.
He wanted to blame Haman for everything.
“U-Ugh!”
The beating began.
Verdan struck Haman indiscriminately.
Bound to the chair, Haman could not put up even the slightest resistance.
He could only be broken beneath the merciless violence.
His screams echoed through the warehouse for a long time.
Verdan’s breathing grew ragged.
Only then did the beating stop.
Verdan spat a wad of phlegm onto the floor.
“Phew. A beating is the best medicine for a fool.”
Haman hung limply from the chair, reduced to a ragged mess.
Much of the fury had disappeared from Verdan’s expression.
He felt somewhat refreshed.
Most of his rationality had returned.
Now it was time to deal with the situation.
He gazed at Haman and sank into thought.
‘First, I’ll kill him and get out of here.’
Since he did not know how much information had been compromised, he needed to abandon the job entirely.
After destroying all the evidence, Verdan intended to stay far away from the royal capital for the foreseeable future.
He would lose the payment promised by the marquis’s family, but there was nothing he could do about that.
His life was more important.
Verdan drew a dagger from inside his clothes.
He slowly approached Haman.
Haman watched him through eyes nearly swollen shut.
“Farewell, you idiot.”
Haman had only wanted to live diligently.
He had only studied as though his life depended on it.
Yet his reward was a miserable death.
Tears rolled down Haman’s cheeks.
The dagger drew closer.
At that moment, an explosion erupted from somewhere nearby.
Verdan snapped his head toward the sound.
The warehouse door had been shattered.
A knight clad in plate armor slowly entered.
Drawing his sword, he spoke.
“Verdan the Impostor. Is that you?”
An emblem shaped like a gold coin was engraved upon the knight’s breastplate.
It was the crest of House Marcano.
In other words, this uninvited guest was a knight serving a family belonging to the Council.
He undoubtedly possessed overwhelming martial prowess.
Verdan could never hope to contend with him.
His face turned deathly pale.
“H-How did you find this place?!”
The location had been kept completely secret.
Even the marquis’s family did not know about it.
It was a hideout known only to Verdan.
There should have been no way to find it, yet the knight was undeniably standing before him.
Verdan could not make sense of the situation.
Had Serena truly read his memories?
While he stood frozen, the knight casually swung his sword.
A violent pressure wave surged forward.
Verdan was hurled away and slammed into the wall.
Groaning in pain, he looked ahead.
The knight was slowly approaching.
“Verdan the Impostor, you dared to disgrace a member of the Council. You will pay for that crime with your life.”
He planted his armored sabaton on Verdan’s chest.
Verdan met the same fate as Haman.
Unable to offer even the slightest resistance, he was dragged away by the knight.
***
In the underground dungeon of the Myatro estate, Johan stared into a cell.
A naked man was chained inside, trembling violently.
It was Verdan the Impostor.
“B-Baron, please spare me! Please show me mercy just this once!”
Johan said nothing.
He was considering something.
‘How should I make use of him?’
Verdan was a spy sent by House Leonar.
Not every detail had been uncovered yet, but that much was certain.
House Leonar had committed a hostile act against Johan.
The reason behind it remained unclear.
Johan slowly opened his mouth.
“Verdan, I have a few questions for you.”
Verdan nodded rapidly.
“I will answer with complete honesty!”
He wanted to survive by any means possible.
“Before that, there is one thing I wish to confirm.”
“I will cooperate with anything you ask!”
Johan tossed something into the cell.
“Swallow it.”
A white fingernail landed at Verdan’s feet.
Johan’s little finger was wrapped tightly in bandages.
Verdan alternated his gaze between the fingernail and Johan.
“W-Why are you giving this to me...?”
Johan’s expression hardened.
“I do not wish to waste much time on the likes of you. If you pretend not to understand something or attempt to deceive me again, I will immediately wring your neck.”
Verdan made his decision quickly.
He lowered his head to the floor like a dog.
Since his limbs were restrained, there was no other way for him to obey Johan’s command.
Verdan swallowed Johan’s fingernail.
At that moment, his skin began to soften and flow like clay.
Before long, his appearance had changed completely.
A naked Johan now sat chained in Verdan’s place.
The fake Johan’s lips stretched into a broad smile.
“What do you think? It’s flawless, isn’t it?”
His demeanor abruptly became relaxed.
His manner of speech and facial expressions were remarkably similar to Johan’s.
The real Johan gave a quiet laugh.
“Interesting.”
The moment he finished speaking, black smoke began rising from somewhere.
The real Johan’s figure was engulfed in darkness.
A red light flickered within the gloom.
The fake Johan furrowed his brow.
“What is this all of a sudden—”
An eerie voice cut him off.
“Come closer.”
The demonic energy vanished.
The darkness cleared away.
A vicious being stood there with a broad grin.
“A demon...!”
Mapheltan crooked one black finger at him.
“Now, hurry up. Come here.”
If he made proper use of Verdan, Johan would be able to remain active at night as well.
Mapheltan was extremely pleased.
He had unexpectedly received a very useful gift.