The Villain has Perished

'Meh, the spar didn't go as I wanted it to.'

While waiting for the night to fall completely, I was looking back at my earlier spar and thinking of ways to improve.

Originally, after Matthew blocked my strike, I was planning to kick him in the nuts.

It is a trashy move, you say?

Heh, in a fight, the only thing that matters is the result. You must do everything to win, even if it means destroying the opponent's future generations!

But back then, my legs refused to budge and obliterate his family jewels. Since my primary plan was foiled, I used <Bitch Slap> to put Matthew in his place.

'That was satisfying~'

To spend the free time, I closed my eyes and used <Share Vision> to explore the town. The skill didn't allow me to share other senses with the tarantulas like smell, touch, and hearing, but it was fun, nonetheless.

'25,26,27,28… did two tarantulas die?'

The baby tarantulas were only first mortal awakening rank, so it wouldn't be a surprise if a knight encountered them and eliminated them after thinking of them as monsters. Still, I decided to look into this matter when I had the chance.

The downpour had stopped, and the town was buzzing with activities. Vendors and buyers were on every corner of the street. People were going to and fro, completing their daily activities without minding the overcrowded areas.

My goals in this town were, Crown of Massacre and the holder of the armament [Word Magic].

Crown of Massacre is a High-Epic grade bound-type equipment that increases Physique stat depending on kill count. It was a must have equipment that I had my eyes on.

What's better was the fact that the holder of the armament and the crown of massacre are in the same place. I wouldn't need to wander to too many locations to get them both.

Armaments are inheritances that are created from attribute-holders. By extracting the attribute from the holder, it is possible to imbue it into an external object. The resulting object is called Armament.

Armaments were overpowered equipments that defied common sense. But this wasn't why I was aiming to get the armament [Word Magic]. It was because of the profession I was aiming to get.

Dev, that was the profession I was gunning for. Being an armament holder was one of the ways to have a chance of obtaining the Dev profession. This profession was going to give me much needed unfair advantage over everyone in the future.

To understand the importance of the Dev profession, one would need to know more about Coalescence.

Coalescence is the merging of all surviving worlds and parts of annihilated worlds. But every world has different sets of laws and rules that govern it. This makes the worlds incompatible to combine.

It was the job of Dev profession holders to make sure the combination of worlds proceeds smoothly! It wasn't wrong to say that they were the gods of the new world!

The profession was something I had to get, no matter what, for my future. I wasn't planning on compromising it.

'When all is said and done, the first thing I need to do is bring the armament holder on my side and take the armament from her.'

There were two issues, however.

The holder herself didn't know that she was an armament holder and the method to remove her armament was very troublesome.

It would take me a few weeks at the earliest to get [Word Magic] from her.

As for her permission, I wasn't worried about it. She would give me her armament happily, because it was no different from a curse for her.

A few hours later, it was time for me to start.

'I should get going.'

Picking the bag I brought from the Lionel estate, I wore a robe that hid my hair and face.

I opened the window and got ready to sneak out of the mansion.

The baby tarantulas had helped me locate my destination, so I wasn't worried about getting lost.

<Phantom Step>

Coating my body in magic power, I climbed the window sill but stopped mid-way through my endeavor.

A question popped into my head.

'Why am I trying to sneak away? Wouldn't it be the same if I walked through the front door?'

Tsk, it seems I've read too many novels where the protagonist hides everything he does for no apparent reason.

Shaking my head, I left the room and decided to leave from the front door.

I didn't change my method of venture because my room was on the 3rd floor and I was afraid of falling, definitely not.

—

"Sir Sol, where would you like to visit?"

"It's Luffy, not Sol."

I corrected the knight who was following me.

Draped in robes that hid our appearance at a glance, we were roaming on the streets of the town. When I was leaving the mansion, the Viscount requested me to bring a few of his knights, as a security measure.

I told him that this was a private tour, and I wasn't planning on revealing my identity, but he didn't relent until I agreed to bring two knights with me.

'Hehe, this was why I gave Matthew a grace period until tomorrow. If I stripped off his knighthood today itself, he would've been thrown out of the Viscount's mansion, and I would've met him while I was roaming outside at this time, leading to an unnecessary issue!'

But I foresaw everything and avoided the problem before it became a problem!

'Sometimes, my genius, it's frightening.'

"Yes, Si–Luffy, where should we go?" The talkative one of the knights, Mernan, asked again.

Mernan was short and robust, packed with firm muscles underneath his clothes, while Rowan, the tall and silent one, although seems lethargic at a glance, was quite fast.

Thinking a bit, I answered Mernan. "We should go to a tavern. I've always wanted to taste the famous green ale of Rapthial town."

"Green Ale, it is then! I know a suitable tavern in that case!" Mernan's face brightened at the mention of ale.

He guided us through back alleys and less crowded areas. With the downpour no longer continuing, the town was jam-packed during the night, too.

'It's going to be troublesome to break free from them.'

It wasn't an issue to bring these two to my destination, but it definitely was an issue if they heard what I was going to say.

The chances were high their job wasn't limited to protecting me but watching my actions and reporting them to Viscount. Because of my actions during the spar, the Viscount must be trying to know why I was different from rumors.

I dropped 3 <Summoner cards> with Great Boars inside them.

'This should help me escape them and also allow me to test the Great Boar in real combat before using it in the field.'

When we were at a sufficient distance from the dropped cards, I willed to release the boars after taking one last glance at the two knights with me.

Mernan was smiling lazily while muttering ale repeatedly, and Rowan looked like he was dazed. They appeared relaxed at a glance, however, noticing their muscle movements beneath their robes, I knew, these two were acting to make me lose guard and watching my actions closely.

'Release'

"Kyaaaa! A Monster!"

"There is a big boar here! Run!"

"Run for your life!!"

"It's attacking me! Someone save me!"

The Great Boar ran behind a tall and muscular man. I turned to the two knights who were hesitating beside me. They wanted to help, but they couldn't leave me alone.

"The two of you should help. I don't mind waiting for a few minutes."

"Thank you, Si–Luffy." Mernan nodded to Rowan and dashed to the boar.

He swiftly saved the victim who was being chased by the Great boar, and clashed with the boar. The results of this experiment were apparent in a few minutes.

Although, Great boar was one rank weaker than Mernan, due to its innate high physique, it was stronger than him. The reason Mernan had not yet lost was because the Great boar didn't have intelligence and Mernan was slowly chipping at its stamina while inflicting small injuries at it.

Satisfied with the result, I released the other two boars.

The commotion intensified instantly, and Mernan's expression paled. The people were confused and terrified of the monsters that were appearing among them out of the thin air.

Finally, Rowan, who was standing beside me, apologized to me and rushed to help Mernan.

<Phantom Step>

Their attention was wholly on protecting crowds and defeating the boars, and I used the gap to escape.

Silently moving through the crowd, I kept using the <Phantom Step>. To maintain the skill, I had to use <Cancel> on the baby tarantulas roaming in the town to refill my magic power a few times.

When I was a sufficient distance away, I used <Cancel> on the three boars.

'Good, no one was injured seriously.' I muttered while using <Share Vision> of the baby tarantula I left at the scene.

Dusting my palms, I smiled. 'Clean and swift. That's how you do a job.'

With the knights out of the way, I reached my destination fairly easily.

'Slave Trade & Co'

Those were the words written on the large board above the gate in front of me.