Playing the Perfect Fox-Eyed Villain Chapter 54

Episode 54. Dual Identity (2)

As I jumped down from the gate towards the carriage, the sharp sound of the wind cutting through filled my ears.

At the same time, the distant ground begins to get closer. However, my heart is as calm as a calm lake.

Rustle──!

Just before landing on the carriage roof, I reached out to a tree branch to slow down and landed lightly on the carriage roof.

“……Huh? What are you talking about?”

Someone's voice came from the cargo area, either because he had a good sense or because he had good ears.

I pulled my hood down again, keeping my movements quiet.

If what I'm doing here now gets to the ears of the Dawn Society, it won't be as easy to ignore as before.

The problem isn't the mixed race, but rather the delay of the Dawn Society's ultimate goal, the resurrection of the demon god.

Even the people riding this carriage were members of a religious sect under the Yeomyeonghoe.

So, we can't help but be careful.

“What could it be? A squirrel at best.”

Once on the roof, I began to explore the inside of the carriage using my 'mana sense' as before.

'Two in the hold, and a coachman.'

I don't feel any particularly strong presence among them.

'It looks like Bishop Pintel didn't come with you.'

It was a blessing in disguise.

If there had been a Bishop-level personnel, a dangerous situation could have arisen.

'I guess I should start slowly.'

Thinking so, I grabbed the supports of the carriage roof and shook it up and down violently.

"……what!?"

As the pillars began to sway and the tent covering them shook violently, the man in the cargo hold poked his head out slightly.

“Hey, wait a minute, it doesn’t seem like a squirrel……, Kwaaaaah!”

I quickly grabbed the man by the chin and threw him out of the carriage.

'uh…….'

I knew it was strong, but not to this extent.

What immense power!

I was dumbfounded at how easy it was to lift a grown man with one hand and throw him.

After that, I grabbed the support again and threw myself into the carriage's cargo area.

"crazy!"

Perhaps bewildered by the sight of his comrade falling out, the remaining one hurriedly drew his sword as I entered the cargo hold.

No, to be exact, I was going to pull it out. Before I could even reveal the blade from its scabbard, my right foot kicked the guy in the stomach.

“Huh!”

The thrilling sensation that spread through my toes made me realize that the attack had landed successfully.

The man flew into the corner of the cargo hold, hit his head, and fell down. It seemed as if he had fainted.

I walked forward slowly and removed the tent connected to the stable.

“Hey! What are you doing in the trunk……, Hee, heeeeek!”

The coachman who had been talking turned his head and was startled to see me with my hood pulled up and a sword against my neck.

Always familiar, the emotion of 'fear' was clearly visible above his head.

“Who, who are you……!?”

“I don’t know about that, so you’ll have to stop the carriage…….”

slap.

As I opened my mouth, I covered my mouth with my hand at the polite words that came out naturally.

Fortunately, the coachman seemed to have noticed my intentions, grabbed the reins, stopped the carriage, and climbed over to the cargo hold.

If I were to speak, I would unconsciously use formal language like I did just now.

I decided to use body language, the universal language, to identify who I am.

chuck.

I held out my hand and made a gesture asking for something.

“……What do you want? We are just passersby. We have nothing you can take with you. Please spare our lives.”

He kept waving his hand in denial.

“Please, Nari. Please spare my life. I have a wife and children waiting for me at home.”

The coachman continued to look pitiful, glance sideways, and move his body as if he was covering up something.

There were a few boxes in the hold, but a small box behind the coachman caught my eye in a curious way.

'Is that it?'

After I pushed aside the groom, I reached out to grab the box, and a cool breeze ran through my fingertips.

“Whoaaaa!”

Suddenly, I saw the groom pulling out a small dagger and pulling out his body to stab me.

But not so fast.

Before the dagger could reach him, he twisted his outstretched hand and struck the guy in the side.

“Ugh!”

I was about to leave the carriage with the box in my arms and move away, leaving the coachman behind as he fell out of the carriage with a single scream.

Outside, the slumped coachman is panting and looking this way.

“……Uh, do you know who we are?”

You're saying the kind of things a third-rate villain would say.

“It’s the Dawn Society! If you turn us into enemies like this, you won’t survive either!”

You'll be shocked if you know my true identity.

That is, if they found out that the assailant who attacked them was the highest executive, 'Bishop'.

“Even if you cover your face like that, you won’t be able to avoid being tracked in the end……. Ugh!”

He was sitting there talking loudly. I kicked the guy who was talking loudly in the face with my foot, and soon he became quiet.

To make matters worse, I'm already upset because I have to do work that other people have to do.

I opened the box just in case and checked the contents. Inside was a red soul stone that gave off a strange aura.

'With this, we were able to prevent the Yeomyeonghoe from securing the soul, but… … .'

There was still one worry in my mind. That was that the 'Black Knight' never showed up.

'But I guess it will appear next time.'

Of course, because he's the main character.

Otherwise it won't work.

I can't keep doing this, can I?

***

A solemn atmosphere permeated the audience room of the Dawn Society located in the Genmel Monastery.

For an ordinary person, it would not be strange to feel suffocated under the overwhelming atmosphere of this situation.

Eleanor looked around, then turned her gaze to the throne in the audience room.

There, Tenelon sat haughtily, his expression clearly showing his displeasure.

He looked at the man kneeling before him like a sinner.

“……Pintel.”

“Yes, yes…… Arch Bishop.”

He answered Tenelon's call with a cold sweat. His lips trembled as he was met with the murderous gazes of Tenelon and the bishops gathered around him.

“What a disappointment.”

And then, at Tenelon's words of disappointment, Pintel closed his eyes tightly.

“You have to transport the important soul stone yourself, and yet you ordered a common member to do it.”

“I’m sorry… It was my fault…!”

“It was an oversight…….”

Tenelon recited Pintel's words once again.

His sticky gaze was glued to Pintel and wouldn't let go.

“I want to give you a chance to make amends, but… I don’t know how to do that.”

“I, I will find the guy who attacked the carriage and definitely get the soul stone back……!”

“Are you talking about someone whose face you don’t even know?”

Pintel's mouth was shut by Tenelon's quiet words.

“If one cannot be called without a name, how can one find one without a face, Pintel?”

As the conversation continued, the atmosphere in the audience room began to become heavy.

'… … dark.'

The demonic aura flowing out of Tenelon's body began to slowly fill the room.

The bishops could not easily open their mouths due to the overwhelming spirit surrounding them.

Because the anger directed at Pintel now could have been directed at himself instead.

It was the same with Eleanor.

“Bishop Pintel, you look like a piece of shit.”

There was a man who came in as if he was swimming in that suffocating magic.

'… … Yurian.'

His mouth seems to be unstoppable even with Tenelon's magic.

“The person who used to raise his voice and hold me accountable is now behaving like this… Truly, the world is unpredictable.”

“……Ugh.”

Pintel bit his lip at his sarcasm.

“Bishop Yurian, you are quite late.”

“Yes, I was late, attending to business with my closed eyes. Lord Tenelon.”

Instead of being called 'Arch Bishop' out of respect, Yurian uses the word 'Kyung' along with his name like everyone else.

This attitude seemed to highlight that he was not a full-fledged member of the 'Yeongmyeonghoe', but had joined for his own purposes.

“While it is certainly deplorable that Bishop Pintel failed to secure the consortium, isn’t it more important now to clearly identify our ‘enemy’?”

The words that came out of his mouth were truly right.

Tenelon nodded, as if he thought so too.

"surely……."

“Rather, I see it this way. Even though I lost one soul stone, it was actually a blessing.”

“Hmm?”

Eleanor held her breath at the footnote he added. Her gaze, which had been directed at Pintel just a moment ago, slowly shifted to Yurian.

The other bishops were the same. Each of them looked at Yurian with eyes filled with various emotions.

Despite this, Yurian did not tremble like Pintel.

I was just smiling as if I was enjoying the situation.

“Just think about it. The ‘enemy’ that attacked the carriage knew that we had secured the soul stone, and they knew exactly which route the carriage was taking to get back.”

"hmm."

“Do you know what that means……?”

“It means that he has tremendous information power. It is comparable to the royal family, and even to the ‘Geomseong.’”

Eleanor, who had been listening to the story in silence, finally opened her mouth.

“Bishop Eleanor, this is truly a naive thought.”

“Then what does that mean? Could you please explain it to me, who is lacking in many ways?”

A smile spread across Yurian's lips as he listened to her.

“There is talk that there is a traitor within the Dawn Society.”

The audience room is getting noisy.

The muttering spread like small ripples. Eleanor swallowed.

“Then wouldn’t it have been better to target us directly rather than intercept the concubine?”

“Either they are low-level people who don’t know the location of the parish, or they are just waiting for an opportunity to take down the Dawn Society…….”

"stop."

While Yurian was talking, Tenelon's solemn voice interrupted him and interrupted him.

Tenelon's masked eyes glowed with a cold gleam.

Having achieved his goal, Yulian bowed his head respectfully as he said.

***

After coming home from the Yeomyeonghoe, I sat down on a chair and started to think quietly.

This doesn't seem like it'll cause any rifts in the Dawn Society, but it might help narrow their radius of activity somewhat.

'We will keep each other in check to fight a traitor who doesn't even exist.'

No, since I am here, does a traitor exist?

I don't know how effective this will be, but isn't it better than nothing?

'If there's anything on your mind… … .'

Why didn't the black knight appear?

I placed a calendar with the words 'Continental Calendar' written in large letters on the table and began marking the dates with a pen.

Days marked with this sign are the days when the 'Black Knight' appeared and was active in the system.

“Even though the debut date has passed, can’t it appear on another day?”

After looking at the marked days, I tore off this month's calendar and put it in a drawer.

“Please, please show up.”

'Black Knight' was good, but it was the 'Black Knight' who killed the Bishops of the Dawn Order and took Tenelon's life. I prayed cautiously.

“Haydn Reich, I, your disciple, would like to ask you this… um?”

At that moment, what caught my eye was a newspaper neatly placed on the table.

"Adratan Journal"

The front page had a headline written large like a gate, along with the name of the newspaper.

[Black Star, Haydn Reich! Left the system?]

[Why did the Adratan Empire's star, Geomseong, leave the system?]

When I read that headline, a hollow laugh escaped my lips.

“……Master?”

Black Knight, aren't you going?