Chapter 271

Chapter 272. Victory is Just a Side Dish (9)

Nether stared intently at the book Keter had presented.

–<Everything About Solvers>

Not only was the title the same, but it was clearly the book he had written himself.

‘The number of pages, the cover, the format… That’s definitely the book I wrote 17 years ago.’

Back then, bookbinding technology was so poor that mass production was impossible. So, only 10 copies were made, and even those were handcrafted.

Nether himself didn’t even own a copy of this book. He didn’t have any particular affection for it; in fact, he found it embarrassing.

‘I was immature and foolish back then. To think I wrote down all my know-how as a Solver.’

Nether himself had hunted down and burned all the copies. He realized how stupid it was to reveal the secrets of his livelihood—his Solver techniques—to the world.

He burned 8 out of the 10 copies himself. The remaining 2 were nowhere to be found. And yet, here was one of them, in Keter’s hands.

Keter watched Nether’s face as he glared at the book.

‘Who would’ve thought I’d meet Nether himself? And as an enemy, no less.’

It wasn’t a lie that Keter became a Solver after reading Nether’s book. It was the truth.

Originally, Keter had wanted to become a mercenary, but he gave up on that dream because of Cork, the branch leader of the Mercenary Guild. He searched for another path.

That’s when he stumbled upon <How to Become a Solver>.

He bought it from a beggar who was about to use it as kindling, and to his surprise, the work of a Solver was similar to that of a mercenary.

“Isn’t this just a lucky mercenary?”

A mercenary, but not quite. For Keter, who dreamed of becoming the Mercenary King, being a Solver was the perfect alternative.

So, if you asked whether he saw Nether as a benefactor or a mentor…

‘Not really.’

He didn’t learn directly from Nether; he taught himself through the book. The book might be his mentor, but Nether himself wasn’t. That’s why the Nether before him was just an enemy.

“I never thought I’d meet my disciple here.”

But Nether called Keter his disciple and refused to take the book.

“Did you coat the cover with glow-in-the-dark paint? It’s colorless and odorless, so it’s hard to notice, but the snow settling on the book isn’t melting. Why do you think that is? Because it’s been coated with something.”

“You’re a strange one. What would I use glow-in-the-dark paint for here? If I wanted to kill you, I’d have used poison.”

“There are plenty of uses. For example, you could send an assassin to mark me with the glow-in-the-dark paint and kill me.”

Swish.

Nether pulled out a pair of white gloves from his pocket, put them on, and accepted Keter’s book.

Flipping through the pages, Nether eventually signed the very last page.

“I’m glad to see the traces of you reading it hundreds of times.”

“That’s because your writing was so bad it took hundreds of reads to understand.”

“I admit, my handwriting is terrible.”

Nether readily admitted and handed the book back. But Keter stopped just before taking it.

“Are you really okay with using such precious poison on me?”

“Huh?”

Nether looked puzzled, but Keter smiled and said,

“Those gloves. You pretended to wear them to avoid getting glow-in-the-dark paint on your hands, but they’re actually coated with Basilisk poison, aren’t they?”

Basilisk poison. It’s a poison more valuable than gold, ounce for ounce.

Colorless, odorless, non-volatile, and it only takes contact with the skin or mucous membranes to cause poisoning. The victim feels nothing, and after a 12-hour incubation period, the poison begins to paralyze the body, leading to full-body paralysis within 5 minutes and a heart attack within 10 minutes.

There is an antidote, but it’s useless if taken after symptoms appear. It must be taken before any signs of poisoning.

This finicky Basilisk poison—if it were easy to obtain, half the world would’ve died of heart attacks by now, or so the joke goes.

“It’s a troublesome poison that won’t wash off with water—”

Keter bent down, grabbed a handful of dirt, and sprinkled it on the book.

“But rubbing it with dirt can easily remove it.”

Tap tap.

Keter carefully brushed off the remaining dirt and put it back in his pocket.

Of course, he didn’t really put it in his pocket. The pocket was connected to a ‘dimensional tunnel’ linked to Sephira’s warehouse.

To onlookers, it seemed like they were just exchanging a book, but in reality, Keter and Nether were exchanging hidden moves.

“Keter. As you know, a Solver has no allies or enemies. We neither underestimate nor overestimate anyone. That’s why I’m telling you this: surrender. Sephira can’t beat Baydant.”

“If anyone else had said that, I might not have known, but coming from you, it’s not wrong. You’ve probably analyzed Sephira and Baydant’s strengths very objectively. But you know this, don’t you? What does a Solver do once they accept a request?”

“…They never give up until they die.”

Those were the words written in Nether’s book.

“Then I’ll take it that you’ll proceed accordingly?”

“Let’s proceed accordingly.”

There was a tone of something being ‘settled.’ The two parted ways without shaking hands, each returning to their own camp.

* * *

Hisop reviewed the rules of the Family War proposed by Jordic.

-1. All rules apply equally to both Baydant and Sephira.

-2. Civilians cannot participate in the war, and they must not be attacked.

-3. Residential areas are excluded from attack targets…….

The following clauses were humane rules. Ethical rules that didn’t favor any particular family.

But Hisop didn’t skim through them; he examined them carefully and found a suspicious clause.

22. Superhumans of 5 stars or above can only fight in one-on-one duels.

“Lord Jordic. Clause 22 seems to be specifically targeting our Keter.”

At the Southern Sword Tournament, Keter had demonstrated the ability to attack hundreds of people simultaneously. This clause was clearly aimed at countering that.

But Jordic frowned and retorted.

“How many 5-star or above superhumans does Sephira have? More than five? Baydant has seven Masters even without reinforcements. Including the Masters sent by other families, that makes nine. Let me tell you this: Baydant also has six Grandmasters.”

“…….”

“No matter how great your strategy is, it won’t work against superhumans. Frankly, if we mobilize 15 superhumans to attack Sephira at the start of the Family War, how will Sephira stop them? Even if Keter is a Grandmaster, he’s just one person.”

Hisop didn’t bother to respond. He gestured for Jordic to continue if he had more to say.

“You felt that Clause 22 was created to hinder Keter’s mass-killing abilities, and you’re not wrong. But this is for the benefit of both our families. We want to avoid unnecessary casualties in battles between superhumans. Let superhumans fight superhumans. That way, there will be no meaningless slaughter.”

“What happens if one side runs out of superhumans?”

“Then we’ll agree that superhumans of 5 stars or above will no longer participate in the Family War. You can’t deny that this clause is very favorable to Sephira, given their lack of superhumans.”

Hisop nodded. Jordic’s words were not wrong.

Sephira had few 5-star knights, and no 6-star knights at all. Even if Keter was a 6-star, he would still be vastly outnumbered by Baydant’s superhumans.

But if superhumans only fought one-on-one, this numerical disadvantage would disappear. It was clearly a clause favorable to Sephira.

As Hisop nodded in agreement, Jordic smiled faintly and said,

“Not just Clause 22, but all the clauses are humane. Baydant doesn’t want unnecessary slaughter. Honestly, we want Sephira to surrender. That way, no one dies. We have no intention of mistreating Sephira. We swear to give you the best treatment-”

Jordic stopped speaking. Hisop had pushed the treaty document back at him.

Jordic looked at Hisop, puzzled. Hisop waved his arm as if telling him to take it away.

“We won’t accept it.”

“Do you hate Clause 22 that much? Do you want everyone to die before you’re satisfied…….”

“Don’t misunderstand. We have no intention of making any rules with Baydant.”

“……?”

“Sephira proposes no rules. Let’s just start the Family War as it is.”

“…….”

Hisop’s resolute attitude, rejecting even the humane rules, made Jordic’s eyebrows twitch.

This wasn’t the timid Sephira of the past. This wasn’t the Sephira that had always avoided contact with Baydant.

“You’re treating Keter like a god. Do you think he alone can protect Sephira?”

“Lord Jordic. In your eyes, Sephira must seem very weak. Then there’s nothing more to say. We’ll show you in the Family War. That Sephira doesn’t rely solely on Keter.”

“Hmph!”

Thud!

Instead of accepting the rules Hisop had presented, Jordic threw them to the ground and turned his back.

“Hisop, Branch House Lord. You’ve killed Sephira’s future.”

“If you’re going to threaten me, at least don’t let your voice shake.”

“……!”

Jordic turned to glare at Hisop, but Hisop had already disappeared with Keter.

“It’s come to an all-out war after all.”

Nether, who had been watching from behind, approached.

“It went as you said. Even though the rules were favorable to Sephira, they didn’t accept them.”

“They’re not just relying on Keter. They must be counting on Lord Basil and the Lunar Knight Commander, who are in seclusion.”

“If those two return as Grandmasters, could we lose?”

“I don’t know. I’ve seen dozens of Grandmasters, but I’ve never seen one who uses a bow.”

“Hisop’s confidence must be because of Keter. Tch!”

“…It’s not just that. Lord Jordic. Don’t underestimate Sephira’s archery. The Empire doesn’t underestimate archery.”

“You just said you’ve never seen a Grandmaster archer?”

“It’s that hard to become a Grandmaster with archery, but Sephira has a history of producing Primes through archery.”

“A Prime from Sephira?”

Nether had looked into Sephira’s past. Although it was 200 years ago, Sephira once had not only 6-star Grandmasters but also 7-star Primes.

They all disappeared one day, but Sephira had clearly reached the pinnacle with archery.

“Well, that doesn’t mean we’ll lose.”

“Of course not. We have six Grandmasters.”

Jordic didn’t mention the Demon Face Killer to Nether. The Demon Face Killer was beyond even his control.

But Nether already knew about the Demon Face Killer and pretended not to.

‘No matter how talented Keter is, he’s not a Prime. I’m curious to see if Keter can beat a Prime.’

It’s rare, but not unheard of, for a 5-star Master to defeat a 6-star Grandmaster in a one-on-one fight.

But there’s no record of a 6-star Grandmaster defeating a 7-star Prime.

The gap between 6 stars and 7 stars is enormous. It’s almost a different dimension.

‘There’s a reason we call those below 6 stars superhumans and those above 7 stars Transcendent Beings.’

A Prime can impose their ‘will’ on the world.

The impact of that can’t be understood without experiencing it firsthand.

‘Keter has less than a 1% chance of beating a Prime.’

Even if he somehow managed to trick or mobilize all of Sephira’s forces to capture a Prime—how would he deal with Baydant’s follow-up forces?

Nine Masters and six Grandmasters.

Two thousand soldiers and a hundred knights.

Sephira has more soldiers and knights, but they’re overwhelmingly outnumbered in superhumans.

If Baydant avoids an all-out war and uses small, elite forces for guerrilla warfare, Sephira would have no way to stop them.

‘The only option for Sephira is to turtle up and not come out. That would make it hard for Baydant to attack, but time is on Baydant’s side.’

In many ways, Baydant has the advantage in the Family War. Sephira’s chances of winning are slim.

Yet, Nether wasn’t relieved.

‘What if Keter defeats a Prime and all six Grandmasters? And still has energy to spare?’

It’s an absurd assumption, but Nether was serious.

‘I’ve prepared for that eventuality.’

Preparing for every possible scenario. That’s what a Solver does. Nether had prepared for that possibility and was still laying the groundwork.

If Sephira somehow defies all expectations and wins the Family War against Baydant, he had a final move to ensure at least a draw.