The Devil’s Cage

Kieran opened the door.

A well-dressed, clean looking, tall man holding a big long box with both his hands stood outside the door.

The man was one of Wilberst’ servants or a bodyguard.

His body, unlike any commoner, was sturdy and his bones were huge, he stood there with a sharp presence.

However, the man was showing a flattering smile toward Kieran, thus weakening his own sharp presence a little.

“Lord D, this is a present from my boss.”

“He hopes that you can accept it.”

The man passed the box to Kieran.

“Mm.”

Kieran nodded and accepted it.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done. If you need anything, please drop by Wilberst Manor, we will do our best to fulfill your requests.”

When the man saw Kieran accept the box, the man smiled more eagerly as he stepped back.

Seeing the man vanished beyond the stairs, Kieran returned to his room, locked the room, and looked down at the long box in his hand.

The box was made out of wood with a bronze lock. After opening the lock, a shortsword placed on top of scarlet red velvet cloth entered Kieran’s sight.

The sword was sharp, especially on top of the velvet cloth, it made the sword look like some godly forged weapon that could kill without tainting itself with blood.

Of course, it was actually just a Magic rank shortsword.

[Name: Sharp Shortsword]

[Type: Sword Weapon]

[Rarity: Magic]

[Attack: Average]

[Attribute: Armor Penetration Lvl 2, Nimble Lvl 1]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Remark: This is a decent standard weapon]

…

[Armor Penetration Lvl 2: Able to easily tear through medium armor (Strong defense)]

[Nimble Lvl 1: It won’t delay your movements]

…

Kieran picked it up and quickly whipped up some sparks with the sword. After feeling its light weight and sharpness that could slice the air, he threw it into his bag.

Although it was a decent Magic rank shortsword, it was nothing to Kieran.

Instead, the box that held the shortsword was more concerning.

Kieran carefully inspected it. He pulled out the velvet cloth, and a letter was revealed underneath the box.

Looking at the letter underneath the box, Kieran smiled interestingly before opening it and thoroughly reading through it.

The contents of the letter were simple, it roughly translated into Wilberst wanting Kieran to help him investigate his son’s death and find out the true cause.

After reading it from top to bottom twice, Kieran placed the letter down and muttered to himself.

“Are you really different? Or are you just pretending to be different?”

Kieran chose Wilberst to meet for a reason.

There were four families, or more precisely, two factions were written on that paper that Becker, the young Spec Ops member, gave him.

On the government side: Mayor Syro Derl, speaker of the senate, Hardy Lynne and Senator Morr.

The civilian side: Merchant Wilberst.

Before this, when Kieran saw the paper from Becker, Kieran instantly divided them into four factions.

But he wasn’t sure whether the seemingly special Merchant Wilberst was related to the other three or not.

Now?

Kieran only gained some confirmation.

After all, if Wilberst were really related to the other three, to consort and gain Kieran’s favor, Wilberst wouldn’t have sent him a Magic rank shortsword; instead, he could just remove the bounty on Kieran, and it would be the better way without a doubt.

Of course, it might also be Wilberst’s deceptive setup.

“Kozert, I need you to find out everything about Mayor Syro Derl, Hardy Lynne, the speaker of the senate, Senator Morr, and Merchant Wilberst.”

“Don’t worry about the price, the money in your room is at your disposal,” Kieran ordered.

“Yes, my lord.”

Kozert who was hiding in the room with Kieran moved out again after the servant from Wilberst left.

The other one who moved out as well was Bloody Mary but compared to Kozert’s intel gathering, Bloody Mary’s mission was much more dangerous.

Most importantly, Bloody Mary couldn’t reject and what made its heart cold was that it wasn’t going to get paid whatsoever after the mission.

Since it changed the contract with Kieran and allowed its contractor to discover its hidden abilities, it realized Kieran had been squeezing out every bit of its value at every single moment, as if Kieran was a black-hearted boss and Bloody Mary was a poor child laborer who couldn’t escape before it worked itself to death.

However… It really couldn’t die under normal circumstances.

Bloody Mary, who always took pride in its ‘undead’ ability, somehow felt depressed at the moment because of it.

Kieran completely ignored the grudgeful feeling from the High Demon and went downstairs.

He wanted to ask something important of Lagren.

Bloody Mary?

Kieran didn’t have the spare time to care about the High Demon.

As though Bloody Mary realized Kieran’s attitude to itself, after transforming into human form, Bloody Mary uncontrollably tightened its coat again.

It felt cold.

…

Bloody Mary felt cold, while Kieran felt the warmth.

When he walked into Lagren’s room, the light from the brazier hadn’t gone off, it expelled the slight chill of dawn, and the warmth caressed Kieran’s face.

Since it was his first time entering Lagren’s room, Kieran automatically sized up his new surroundings.

While on the other hand, Lagren looked like he was used to Kieran’s habits. He took a chair and placed it in front of Kieran after Kieran finished sizing up his room.

“Sit.”

Lagren then sat on his bed, and when he saw Kieran’s gaze checking the chair, Lagren’s heart couldn’t help but rant.

“Still denying it?”

“Only Monster Hunters have this kind of sick vigilant habits, no one else.”

Although Lagren’s heart was not happy at Kieran hiding his identity, his words were still as straightforward as usual.

“What now?” Lagren asked.

“Are you familiar with Eiders?” Kieran asked.

“In what aspect?” Lagren responded.

“Mayor Syro Derl, Speaker Hardy Lynne, and Senator Morr, plus Wilberst,” Kieran asked.

Kieran would never place all his eggs in one basket.

Even after he sent Kozert to gather information, he would not let go of chances to collect more by himself.

“You are really a fast bastard.”

“Two days after the incident and you are already investigating them?”

“Syro Derl and Morr are clean, the problem is Hardy Lynne,” Lagren crossed his arms and said.

“Then what about Wilberst?” Kieran automatically clung on the name that Lagren missed.

It wasn’t natural for Lagren to really miss out on Wilberst, unless…

With thoughts lingering in his mind, Kieran saw a mocking smile on Lagren’s face.

“That old man? He is just an idiot who overestimates his powers,” Lagren commented.

However, when the phone in the room rang, and Lagren picked it up, his face became sour when he heard what the voice was saying.

Kieran also heard clearly what the voice on the phone was saying.

It was a man’s voice, and it said, Hardy Lynne was dead, and he was killed by Wilberst.