Chapter 128

Sword user-level guards in black suits turned the third-rate con artist mage upside down and shook him down.

I smiled with satisfaction but then hardened my expression and asked one of the guards.

“What happened?”

The guard hesitated for a moment before responding.

He seemed unsure of what to call me since I wasn’t wearing a paper mask.

I tore a suitable piece of cloth from the inside of the store and covered my face.

The guard bowed his head slightly and said,

“Actually, the manager is looking for the VIP. We don’t really know the details…”

I turned my head to Sererassie.

“Sister. I’m sorry. I think I have to go.”

Sererassie replied with a sultry smile.

“There’s no need to apologize. There’s no need for a mage to say things they don’t mean. Go do what you have to do.”

“Will I come out again? I still need to buy the carriage.”

“When that time comes, let’s go to the Ivory Tower. They won’t count yours even if the sky falls, so if you had any black intentions other than picking items, give up.”

I dramatically lowered my head and said,

“…I was thinking of giving it to Rudi.”

“You’re trying to make me into a bandit like you. Why do you want to buy gifts with someone else’s money? And why do you act like I’m being heartless?”

I smiled slightly and raised my head again.

“Go in first. Be careful of the crazies with swords… Ah. Can you accompany me by carriage just until the Imperial Palace?”

“Yes. Understood.”

I got one of the guards into the carriage and sent Sererassie off to the Imperial Palace.

Originally, the city was filled with gangsters and thugs, so you couldn’t expect public safety unless you were in a decent affluent area.

I also caught a carriage and headed towards the red-light district with the guards.

The Red Mask, the current manager of Hope Casino and a big shot in the Silentalouon red-light district.

A decent connection that hadn’t lasted long in my previous life.

Once a lackey of a gigantic underworld organization, she had teamed up with me after wanting to become the boss from being a lackey, and through the Black Iron Knights, she wiped out the underworld organization and seized that position.

Her desire was the freedom to make and spend money.

A manager who tightly controlled the red-light district, where various issues arose just like in the slums.

She was slumped over in a hotel room on the upper floor of Hope Casino.

Dressed in her usual suit and wearing a red fox mask, I thought she somehow seemed to be smiling.

“Red Mask. What brings you here?”

She lifted her body and looked at me.

My prediction was correct.

The cold eyes behind the mask were inappropriately grinning.

“Welcome.”

Her voice was much higher and longer than usual.

As if she were under the influence of some drug or drink.

…I had told her not to mess with drugs.

It felt like there was something slightly strange about her energy, but at first glance, it seemed to be drug-related.

I asked the executives around her,

“What is going on here?”

I couldn’t suppress the irritation in my voice.

A short executive bowed his head at a 90-degree angle and replied.

“When Red Mask was a lackey in the organization, there was an outside force trading with the organization. They have sent someone again.”

“Are they looking to trade again?”

“Yes. They have expressed their desire to resume trading.”

“The item is drugs?”

“No.”

I recalled that drugs were being produced inside the red-light district at that time.

Damaged Sererassie had forced a retired alchemist to make them.

“Then what is it?”

“It’s a type of tobacco that has various hallucinogenic effects.”

“That’s a drug!”

Even without processing, simply drying it could yield stronger substances than most processed drugs.

Once that started entering this district, the idle thugs of the capital would begin to run rampant again.

It would also negatively impact the old slums, which had only just begun to stabilize.

Noticing my increasingly grim gaze, one of the executives who had faced me on Magic Street added an explanation.

“Red Mask has purchased a magic tool to avoid the effects of tobacco during meetings with that customer. However, it was defective, which is why she became addicted. She has never taken lightly the promises made to the VIP.”

Right.

If you’re going to do business, you have to meet.

“It seems like it won’t be possible to have a conversation now. I’ll come back tomorrow…!”

At that moment, I became aware of the identity of that strange energy.

I remembered capturing a musician who had smoked the infiltrating tobacco alongside Red Mask last year.

“Damn.”

I urgently checked her pupils.

A faint purple-black energy was swirling around.

The priests looked surprised and asked,

“What’s the matter?”

“Call a priest. This isn’t just addiction; it’s corruption.”

“Yes?”

“I’m very curious about the identity of those outside organizations.”

* * *

The church despised the red-light district, calling it a den of iniquity, but they loved the gold and silver coins from there.

Red Mask, having received purification from the priest, quickly stood up and bowed to me.

“I’m sorry, VIP. I have caused a disturbance.”

“It was unavoidable. Don’t worry about it. More importantly, what is this outside force?”

“This is my first contact as well. I didn’t meet them much even when I was a lackey in the organization. They seem to be tobacco dealers publicly, but knowing what I was drugged with, it doesn’t seem like that’s all they are.”

Although it sounded absurd that their public identity was as tobacco dealers, if their true identity was that of the Infiltrators, it made sense.

Tobacco was a product monopolized by the church, which controlled its quality well while grabbing profits magnified many times over.

Of course, the church used that money for the relief of the poor, and if the tobacco market were left to the private sector, it was obvious that they would sell much more addictive tobaccos than now.

However, given the prices, and the situation where people had to yield to their weaknesses and give in to demands, they sought out smuggled tobacco, and even devout believers secretly showed gratitude to them.

In other words, by claiming to be tobacco dealers, they could find excuses to conceal their identity from the church and nobles, while posing little risk to ordinary people.

They made good money, so they could cover operational costs for the organization.

“Did they sell that tobacco back then? The one that the musician smoked.”

“Hmm… It weakens the mind and exposes you to the old through dreamy illusions. Yes, that tobacco seems to fit the description perfectly.”

I sighed briefly and asked,

“Were you unable to catch them? No. If they return, can you catch them?”

Red Mask looked at the guards, who seemed ashamed and lowered their heads.

“I’m sorry. I was well-guarded and went to the appointment, but to be honest, I was frozen in the moment and just shivered without doing anything.”

“Do you remember their face?”

“They were wearing a hood like that of a monk, but strangely the top of the hood was flat and high.”

I recalled the Infiltrator I had seen at the Alchenberg Monastery.

Similar attire, the same hood.

This couldn’t just be coincidence.

“Red Mask. That guy is an Infiltrator, and from a fairly large sect of the old ones.”

“!”

I could see her eyes tremble even through the mask.

“When you say ‘fairly,’ how do you mean?”

“They are on a level where they can negotiate by contacting high nobles at the Duke level. They are not someone you can handle. Did you make a contract there?”

She shook her head.

“It’s not something I can resolve within my scope. Help from knights and the church is also necessary.”

Red Mask briefly fell silent.

“In that case, they will come looking for us again. They are not the type who won’t realize that I snitched. I also want to live. Is there any way you can save us?”

I leisurely nodded.

Guaranteeing the safety of local collaborators is a fundamental step in gaining loyalty.

“I’ll make you all pitiful victims caught on the spot. But ‘Hope’ must close its doors. It has to be that much for them to believe.”

She regained her smile.

“I’ll think of a new name.”

Indeed, she was a partner who understood well.

“Arrange for a trading appointment.”

* * *

The office was empty as usual, and the huge chandelier cast a faint and lonely light.

“Your Majesty.”

I finished the report to my pitiful Emperor, who was glued to his desk even after the sun had set.

“… Hence, it seems to me that the Infiltrators are trying to take root in the capital again.”

She had signed documents permitting territorial expansion between certain counts before I arrived, but upon hearing about the Infiltrators, she pushed those documents aside.

Turning, Jeilliris gazed out the window from her chair.

Wearing a deeply plunging dress and draped in a shawl, her protruding delicate shoulder blades cast an ominous shadow like a cloak.

The Imperial Palace was situated in an elevated area, overlooking the entire capital.

She gazed at the streetlamp lights illuminating the largest city in the empire.

It was a magic tool streetlamp that she had improved and installed in the capital.

“Is this the first time since we launched a major hunt in the sewers last time?”

“Yes. Although illegitimate children and the princes like Lancea have caused disturbances regarding the corruption issue, this is the first organized movement.”

“What’s the scale of the smuggled tobacco market?”

Her voice sounded composed, albeit a bit casual.

“The church’s tobacco is of excellent quality but lacks variety of flavor and aroma, which makes it shunned by smokers. In contrast, smugglers deal with everything from high-quality tobaccos rich in aroma and variety to ordinary tobaccos of slightly lower quality, but at prices less than a third.”

“That’s extensive.”

Yet beneath that melodious voice, I could feel the deep-seated hatred stirring.

“It seems to be about half the scale of the authorized tobacco market.”

Considering the smuggling, that was an absurd amount.

“If that corruption tobacco begins to leak into that market, chaos will ensue across the capital.”

“Yes. Indeed.”

“Since a smuggling market has already been established, it won’t disappear just by increasing inspections.”

“That’s true.”

Jeilliris muttered, showing her back to me.

“Ultimately, we’ll need to do both again. You’ll have to take the blame once more.”

“I didn’t hear that.”

I replied as if clueless.

Outside was dark, while the inside was bright, so Jeilliris’s expression was reflected in the glass.

It wasn’t a smiling face, but it wasn’t a twisted one either.

A mix of anger towards the Infiltrators, expectation towards me, responsibility as a ruler, and excitement for the upcoming battle all blended together.

A fleeting moment of pathos flickered and disappeared, and she continued speaking.

“I will tighten inspections and hire more constables and night watchmen. Furthermore, I will entrust this matter to Sir Barbatos and also ask the church for assistance.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“You will focus on preventing recurrence, disrupting the market, and penetration. You must dismantle the smugglers from the inside. I leave the methods to you.”

Her voice rose subtly.

The only remaining expression reflected in the glass was a smile.

“Leave it to me. I will make them weep and regret crawling into Your Majesty’s city.”

I left the office, grinning and raised my guard.

* * *

Rudi looked around the street adorned with red lanterns.

“I never thought I’d end up here. Is that ‘Hope,’ the place where Sir Valencianus used to go?”

“Yes. It’s a place overflowing with hope.”

Just then, a man was dragged out by the guards and thrown onto the night street.

“My money! My money!”

“Don’t you know that hiding cards usually ends with losing a hand? Be thankful your limbs are still intact.”

Rudi’s green eyes sparkled as she wore a bright smile.

“It truly looks full of hope.”

“I’m sorry.”

I placed a mask on Rudi at the entrance, and I also wore a mask.

“Don’t call me Valencianus here.”

“Yes. Val… Ah!”

Wearing a mask and maid attire, she seemed to stand out even more in this area.

As we descended to the lower floor heading to the VIP room, every guard we encountered bowed in a right angle to greet us.

“Is Red Mask inside?”

“Yes, she is.”

I opened the door and entered.

Inside awaited an unexpected face.

A knight over 2 meters tall with a mane-like hairstyle and clad in black full-plate armor.

“Sir Barbatos? Why are you here?”

“His Majesty advised that I should move together with the VIP.”