< 79. Dispatch Mission: Desert Acrobatics >
*
Bane Seldenburg was in chaos. The City of Mosat had already belonged to Kirzat’s territory during the early stages of the 50-year war, a relatively peaceful commercial city located somewhat far from the conflict zones. But what on earth was happening now—
-Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!
Warning alarms were blaring from all directions. The sound from the magic alarm was like a signal fire gradually approaching. Beyond the thick wooden door, the sound of trained warriors frantically drawing their swords could be heard from somewhere down the hallway.
“Hey, hey!!”
“Shh, stay inside.”
A gruff voice came from outside the door. His mercenaries. Bane wanted to retort at their rudeness, but fear and instinct held him back. Outside, the sound of mercenaries quickly running could be heard.
“You, scout the east corridor! You, you! Follow me. The rest, stay here and wait!”
“Yes, Captain!”
-Thud thud thud
The mercenaries, true to their desert warrior roots, quickly disappeared.
-Crunch!
“?!”
A squelching sound reached Bane’s ears. It sounded like a juicy fruit being crushed. He desperately hoped it was a hallucination born from his fear.
-Crunch.
-Crunch.
The sound was getting closer. Bane carefully gripped the sword hilt and let out a long breath. He was one of the ancient vampires, a member of the great Seldenburg family. Fear was something he—
“Gasp!”
-Crunch.
This time, the sound came from right outside the door. A small breath and the sound of something being crushed. Bane drew his sword and slowly aimed it at the door. The tip of the blade trembled.
-Tap.
“Eek!!!”
Something heavy hit the door. Soon, a sliding sound followed. His keen sense of smell caught the thick scent of blood. Blood seeped through the door crack and flowed right to his feet.
Normally, he wasn’t afraid of blood—rather, he enjoyed it. But now, he couldn’t. For the first time since receiving the blessing of the night, he was afraid of blood.
It was a terrible feeling. The helplessness of falling from the position of predator to prey.
“G-get away! I-I’m not afraid of you!!”
He bit his tongue and barely managed to spit out the words, mocking himself for the brave vocabulary. No fool would back down from such a threat. Whatever this terrorist wanted, he was ready to give it if they just talked.
If they just talked.
-Crunch!!
“Eek!!”
A massive blade pierced through the wooden door. Bane, who had been poised to attack the door crack, bit his tongue and jumped back. The blade withdrew, and through the thin gap, something blue glinted.
Bane swallowed and examined what it was. His vampire vision pierced through the small, dark gap. It was, it was blue eyes. Glassy, inorganic eyes.
Soon, the eyes disappeared.
“Damn it!! Damn it, damn it, damn it! I’m just a merchant! Why are you doing this to me? Which guild sent you? The temple? Hey, hey, I don’t eat people!!”
-Crunch!
“Eek!!”
The other side of the door split, and an axe blade created a long crack like a piece of wood being split. The thick wooden door was splitting apart. Bane raised his sword threateningly and shouted.
“T-tell me your name! Assassin!! Our family won’t let you get away with this.”
“Should they?”
“Y-you spoke!! Okay, okay! What do you want!”
-Crack!!
The door completely split and collapsed. Bane finally fully smelled the hot tropical night of the oasis and the thick scent of blood flowing through it. In the darkened corridor, crushed bodies lay like grotesque murals.
“You’ve got good friends.”
“…Who sent you?”
“Doesn’t that sound like a stupid question?”
Bane swallowed hard and looked at the butcher before him. He looked younger than expected. His tall stature and inorganic demeanor made him seem older, but his face couldn’t be more than early twenties.
Black, curly hair and deep blue eyes, pale skin. Not from Kirzat. His aristocratic accent and deep voice spoke the common language of Leviathan perfectly.
‘From the Empire?!’
But this region was extremely hostile to those from the Empire. How? If an outsider from the Empire had rolled into this city, his subordinates scattered everywhere would have noticed.
“H-hey. Empire guy. You’ve got the wrong direction. I’m really just a merchant! At most, I came here to buy and sell some food or silk.”
“Just a merchant… Of course, the drug cartel distributing Nightspiron is also just a merchant group.”
“…Damn it. That was the Sultan’s order!”
The man swung the massive greatsword over his shoulder. The large blade slid into the sheath on his back without a sound. At least a swordsman three levels above him.
Soon, the man rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a letter. He muttered quietly.
“Bane ‘Fifth’ Seldenburg. From the Southern Jungle. Disguised as a textile merchant, traveling between Kirzat and the Eastern Kingdom Alliance. Last seen at the port of Kaelas City. Recently suspected of transporting Nightspiron smuggled from Kaelas to Phaeirn.”
“Damn it, is it my fault that the drugs I sold ended up in another country? Blame the guys who smuggled it in or curse the Phaeirn city guards! I just wanted to make some money in that city! It was a legitimate business!”
“Illegal or legal, that’s not my concern. Vampire.”
-Tap.
The man folded the paper and put it back in his pocket, then looked at Bane. The inorganic blue eyes glinted in the dark.
“The problem is that you made contact with Kirzat’s Shaksisi to do business.”
“…You’re from Iron Side.”
“Would you believe me if I said no?”
“Damn it, the intel leaked!!”
-Slash!
Bane screamed and stepped back, trying to quickly grab a beastman, but a dagger had already pierced his wrist. He hadn’t seen it being drawn or thrown! Bane clutched his bleeding wrist and stepped back.
-Tap.
His back hit the stone wall.
There was no place left to run. Hiding in a warehouse without a single spear due to the assassination threat had been a mistake. If only I could get out that door, I could use the Mist Form to escape—
“I’ll spare you.”
“…What?”
“I’ll spare you, vampire. Tell Shaksisi. Let’s play fair.”
“…I don’t know what trick you’re pulling, but…”
As Bane glared, the man shrugged and stepped aside. The hallway was close. He quickly dashed out and slammed the door shut. The wind of the oasis brushed past his ears.
As he transformed into mist, his mind blurred, and his vision turned red. Bane cackled and shouted.
“You’ll never catch me again!! I’ll make you regret this!!”
“…Tch.”
The man chuckled as he watched Bane disappear into the moonlight.
*
-Thud.
Kirhas, who had been keeping watch on the roof, gracefully flipped down and landed on the ground. She settled beside Fernandez and spoke cautiously.
“The area is secure, Your Excellency. Abel is waiting at the rendezvous point. Should we just let him go?”
“I don’t want to mimic Iron Side… but he’s already in my grasp.”
Fernandez pulled a dagger embedded in the wall, dripping with blood. He took out a map from his pocket and let a drop of blood fall onto it. His hand drew a complex beastman figure in the air, and the Bronze Throne flashed.
-Whoosh.
A black halo ignited behind Fernandez’s head. Kirhas flinched at the sticky, threatening sensation, lowering her ears and shrinking back.
-Swish…
The blood droplet on the map moved on its own, sliding across the map. A red dot moved across the intricate tactical map of the sprawling City of Mosat, centered around the oasis. Fernandez stared at the map, loosening his wrist.
“Near the western boulevard of the city.”
“Shall we pursue?”
“In an hour. We need to catch at least one Shaksisi to make things easier. We need to find more of their bases.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
Fernandez clicked his tongue as he watched Kirhas’s eyes gleam quietly. They had infiltrated a bustling commercial city, far from the battlefield, and were unexpectedly mimicking Iron Side. He didn’t like the situation, but…
‘At least Mumto will be annoyed.’
During this time, heretical sects related to the Necropolis were spreading their influence across the wilderness, and the mercenaries hired by Seldonburg were also from that faction. If he considered this as part of the process to achieve his goals, it wasn’t a bad job.
The collaboration with Iron Side Grayshade had begun ten days ago, ever since Fernandez left the monastery and met with Angela.
*
-Two weeks ago.
Beorn watched Fernandez silently reading the orders.
“What, don’t like it? The choice is yours, brother. You’ve risen to a rank where you can choose your missions.”
“Will my opinion be considered?”
“If you wish, you can transfer from the Inquisition Office to the Papacy. His Holiness would want that too. You’re a saint, after all.”
“…I have no such intention. Regardless… it’s a ‘dispatch mission.’”
“Iron Side has been working closely with the Inquisition Office for quite some time. They’ve sent an official request, so we must take it seriously.”
Beorn secretly hoped Fernandez would refuse. Sending a saint to a region outside the influence of the Vaitas Church was a completely different matter from operating in the eastern part of the continent. Even from the Papacy’s perspective, it was an undesirable situation.
“The war between the Empire and Kirzat isn’t a full-scale war. It might have been once, but now it’s more of a loose, localized conflict.”
“It’s more annoying than a full-scale war.”
“Exactly. It’s the perfect situation for heretics to infiltrate. Mercenaries are constantly being deployed, and the locals are becoming numb to outsiders.”
“So, you’re not just asking me to serve Iron Side, Monastery Head.”
“If you’re dispatched to an intelligence organization, you should bring something back.”
Beorn chuckled.
“It’s an age of heretical cults, Brother Fernandez. What I want isn’t the Empire’s victory or the end of the war. Whoever wins, it’s just worldly affairs.”
“Use Iron Side?”
“At least figure out their true intentions and come back.”
“This order and the letter Iron Side sent me tell different stories.”
“Hah, Necropolis?”
Beorn chuckled. He pulled his chair closer and whispered quietly.
“The Necropolis is a smokescreen. The reason they specifically requested you isn’t about the Necropolis. Asking to borrow a saint to excavate ancient ruins in the middle of a warzone? That’s not their real goal.”
“You’re saying there’s another reason they want to lure me out?”
“The Infurmur incident caused a seismic shift across the Eastern Kingdom. Iron Side likely already knows you were behind the Infurmur incident.”
“So, Monastery Head, you’re saying…”
Beorn took a sip of tea and smiled.
“Find out why Iron Side is targeting you. If it’s related to heretical activities, even better. We’ll have a card to pressure the Empire. First, follow their orders and deploy to Kirzat. If you can make contact with Shaksisi in the process, even better.”
“You want me to walk a tightrope between Kirzat and the Empire’s intelligence agencies?”
“We’ve declared absolute neutrality in worldly politics. Kirzat’s Sultan has submitted to the authority of the Temple of the Gods. There’s no need to unconditionally comply with Iron Side’s request or take such risks. Brother Fernandez, our goal has always been one.”
“…Interesting.”
“I thought you’d like it.”
“I’ll depart tomorrow, Monastery Head.”
“Good luck.”
The conversation ended there. Fernandez folded Beorn’s orders and tucked them into his pocket, chuckling. Walking a tightrope between two powerful nations’ intelligence agencies was extremely dangerous, but…
He enjoyed such complex situations.
‘The Necropolis is a smokescreen. That’s an interesting opinion.’
-It’s highly likely to be a smokescreen. The Necropolis’s seal hadn’t been broken until Pertas.
‘We have many things in our hands, Faijashi.’
Fernandez left the monastery head’s office and walked down the hallway. Moonlight fell over him. He looked out the window at the dense coniferous trees swaying in the Dragonspine Mountains.
‘And we haven’t started one move yet.’
-Yes. If we can take this opportunity to reach the Necropolis…
‘Our goal will become much easier.’
According to King Guimerin, one of Vaitas’s four daughters was involved in the Great War in the west. By aiming for the Necropolis, finding Vaitas’s daughter, and uncovering Iron Side’s intentions—
‘We can end the 50-year war.’
If we can even use Kirhas Hearttaker to unite the beastman nobility, it’s not an impossible plan.
![[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return](https://i3.wp.com/novelhitam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TS-Obsessed-Gamer-The-Ultimate-Return2.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return")
