Chương 197: Discovery

"Alright, so my contacts don't think you are trustworthy enough despite my best attempts to convince them. They would like you to kill someone else…"

"S–Sure, Who–ho is it?"

"This target will require a little bit of explanation–His name is Vilador. He is an elf who used to work for us, but he defected to Beliol Azt Mastras""The ki–ing of Beelmart?"

"Well, the former king of Beelmart, to be precise… I don't know how, but when the palace of Beelmart was invaded by warriors of Rootriska and such, the old king managed to escape, and he has since then settled down in what we colloquially refer to as a 'Death Zone'.

He has been constantly trying to build up forces to get his throne back, but it is only recently that he has been able to actually convince some strong individuals to come to his side""We don't really know what he has to offer now that he didn't before, but he managed to convince Vilador… He has had several bounties on his head since joining due to his skills. He is a mage specialised in 'Golemcraft' and 'Spirit Creation'.

As you might know, this is the ideal combination as the fusion of a golem and a created spirit makes for a powerful cocktail""We used to pay him to create those for us, but I suppose Beliol Azt Mastras offered him something more substantial to allow him to partake in his craft more effectively… Since you seem quite…

Mechanical, Maya, I think it's important that I tell you that Vilador had developed an interest in machines and automatons in particular, not long before leaving us" Leou scratched her chin, leaning back into her chair slightly.

"... Vilador is a real genius of his craft. His creations can act independently while being countries away from him. I don't think I ever heard of them having a distance limit that they could be from their creator. So you can understand why no one would want him working with the former slaver king, right? Well, there's that, and also, a certain someone in the organisation…"

"Is it–it the same one–e who Hulil was cour–courting?"

"Very astute, Maya… She's… Let's say she easily holds grudges and is quick to rage. She doesn't like that he defected from us and wants him dead. She has a high position in the organisation, and will personally vote you in if you succeed""I know I described her rather negatively, but if you're her friend, she's very sweet""I s–see""Aherm, anyway, you're probably wondering why I am even asking you to kill him when he already has several countries after him.

That's because we have something to find for him that they don't–He doesn't realise it, but due to his interactions with one of our members, he has been 'marked' by a certain smell, allowing said member to know where he is within a wide radius of them… In short, Vilador is approaching. He is probably going to be doing one of his favourite tricks, which is to release some of his creations by creating an array, which will manifest them with a delay, allowing him to be nowhere around when everything turns messy" Mmh…

So, not a very brave guy, judging by just how he was described so far. It seemed likely that he isn't much of a lithe and agile elf at all, and more of a basement dweller who does nothing but magic all day and night long. I listened to Leou give further descriptions of Vilador, and the picture became clearer–He was a proper specialist. He apparently cast regular spells so infrequently that he was caught on several occasions having to think about it before casting a basic mana bullet.

As such, I could only assume that, as long as he didn't have one of his creations to defend him, he was very vulnerable to attacks, but of course, he wasn't stupid enough not to have ways to defend himself ready at all times, and he was also said to be capable of creating simple golems and spirits rather swiftly despite these categories of spellcasting usually requiring a lot of time and focus. … Or so I was told. It wasn't like I had personal experience in such matters.

Anyway, judging by the direction from which Vilador was coming, Leou and her allies were strongly suspecting that their former fellow was intent on visiting one of his old caches, which he presumably was unaware wasn't a very well-kept secret. The place had already been emptied of all it was worth and only made to look like it had been left alone in case he were to come back–Like he seemed to be about to do.

That, or he was just going to use this hidden location to make some of his creations pop up on the order of his new boss. All that mattered was that this place was likely to be where he was headed, and as such, I was supposed to wait for him there and assassinate him.

"Ho–ow long until he arr–arrives?"

"As far as I know, he's moving at a snail's pace. Probably being careful to only take safe roads so as to avoid having to use his abilities to deal with problems. He'll probably need at least two weeks to get there" Leou brought out a very nice-looking map, showing the path he was most likely to take by carefully sliding her fluffy finger across the paper–I wonder how nice the back of her hand feels to the touch… I know cat paws feel great, but her hands are like those of a human, just softer…

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Mmh…

"Al–Alright then. Drop me in. I'll pre–pre–pare the terrain in ad–vance–ce""You're taking the job? It is quite dangerous, Vilador could have extremely powerful constructs with him… Golems and spirits fused together are no jokes, and we aren't quite clear on just how many resources he has had access to since joining the old slaver king""N-No worries. I'll slaughter him" Isn't she so cute? Her tail swings in a certain pattern depending on how she feels, and right now, I can tell that she's a bit worried for me.

Leou knows that I am more than meets the eye ever since I wiped out an entire manor's population, but powerful mages are a danger to everyone. I wasn't able to elevate any of my upgradable upgrades so far. This stuff takes a while to show results when not using extraordinary means, but… Intermediate Energy Resistance (General IV) - Your body becomes more resistant to energy-based damage overall It was looking fairly good nonetheless.

'Intermediate' is only the second level for those things, but coupled with my general toughness, it should provide good enough protection against such things… Well, I know that this isn't really the case… A general resistance ability to energy in general is far too broad to actually give a substantial boon. I nonetheless felt confident that I could catch this mage by surprise and kill him. Especially if I could prepare the entire area ahead of time.

Leou didn't try to change my mind anymore, she just wished me good luck and promised that she would have the other kinds of wire I wanted by the time I came back–Speaking of which, I was only lacking three kinds of wires now. I had gotten my hands on steel wires as well. Right now, I am absolutely covered in wires. They all grow in the exact same amount, so the addition of even one makes for a substantial growth in their overall numbers. I wouldn't want to be the poor fucker who got shocked by all of those at once.

Anyway, I convinced Leou to let me touch her ears before I was once again made to ride a giant winged beast. This was seemingly the standard manner in which Leou moved people around, and it worked perfectly well for me since I could just jump off when my stop came up. I once again fell through the branches of a tree, though this time, the forest wasn't a forest of tall pine trees, but a dense woodland filled with thick, black oak trees whose canopy made most of the forest a kingdom of shadows and darkness.

It was a rather good place to hide something, I had to admit, though it had seemingly not been good enough for Vilador to get away with putting a cache here… There was no real path leading to it either. His hiding spot was nought but a place dug out beneath a slight bump in the terrain, the entrance was concealed by a simple trapdoor upon which grass and dirt were stuck upon–I'll admit, even while knowing what to look for, it took me a little while to locate the precise location.

Just as Leou had said, the place had already been emptied. All that was left were boxes and barrels filled with dirt and rocks to give the slight impression that things were still stocked here. The first thing I did was unwrap something I had been holding close to my chest as I fell. It was just an attire made to blend into the environment, but I hadn't wanted it to be damaged during the fall, so I had kept it like this.

Now dressed like I was a monster lurking in the woods, I went to work preparing the area for the mage's arrival… It has been a while since I did something like this, but I still remember my tricks. This is making me feel quite excited!

"Ah, bollocks… How has this place become even more overgrown since I was last there? Wasn't it overgrown to the maximum already?" A man whose face was covered by a sort of iron mask grumbled as his cloak got constantly caught in brambles and thorns. He was flanked by two wooden humanoids, each with the head of a deer.

They wielded wooden blades that were carving a path through the abundant nature for their master and creator, but even then, the forest was messy and troublesome to traverse, especially for a scrawny mage.

"Hopefully, I didn't get turned around while–Oh, and here it is!" In the midst of another complaint spoken aloud, the mage ran into a small clearing where the terrain was slightly overelevated. This was where he had created a cache several years ago to stock money and materials useful to him.

He didn't like to keep everything with him or at his main home, and he certainly didn't trust any bank to hold onto his stuff, so he had created a few of these caches for himself, and it was now coming in handy for a big project. This particular place was the first he was visiting because it held a specific kind of material that was essential to what he was seeking to create… However, after stepping into the clearing, he stopped and raised a brow.

"How many freaking moles are there in this place?" There were a bunch of spots featuring upturned dirt. They looked exactly like what a mole would do when breaching the surface, and it made him worry that some animals might have gotten into his cache. The quantity of it all felt off, however… But it wasn't the thing that made cold sweat run across his back. On one of the stacks of upturned dirt, there was the clear impression of a footprint.

It was clearly fresh as he could make out the details of the person's shoe. The size made him think that this belonged to someone who was about his size, and since they were clearly wearing shoes, it wasn't a forest-dwelling monster.

"Damn it. You. Get in and check if anyone's inside" He sent one of his creations in, keeping the other close to guard himself. A few seconds passed, and the wooden creation came out, motioning with its head that there was nothing dangerous inside.

"Alright… Let's check the extent of the damage, then… Crap, I hope they didn't steal the one thing I was looking for!" The mage couldn't help but speak aloud as though his creations were going to respond, or even understand the finer topics outside of direct orders. The moment he poked his head inside, he froze.

"Nothing dangerous, you say?! What the fuck is this thing then?!"