There Is No World For ■■
Chapter 145: Retrograder, Egoist, And Commie (2)

* * *

As Yeomyeong examined the lingering flames on the railway track closely…

- Everyone, get out of the station!

The stern voice of an old man echoed loudly throughout the collapsed station. The voice was filled with mana, seemingly amplified by magic.

- This is the order of Count Palatine Joe Pantoliano! From now on, the station is under the control of the Mage Corps!

Joe Pantoliano? Yeomyeong recalled the name of the Western Count Palatine and frowned a little.

…The Count Palatine who teamed up with the shepherds.

Not much time had passed since Kahal Magdu attacked on the station, and the forces of the Western Count Palatine were already taking control?

It all seemed too coincidental to be an accident, yet too obvious to say it was planned well in advance.

And given that Kahal Magdu had teamed up with the Korean government during the North Manchuria incident, it seemed likely that the destruction of the station was part of Western Count Palatine’s plan. However…

What was his reasoning for destroying the railway? Why did he cut off the city’s lifeblood in this manner?

Having no reason to stay at the station any longer, Yeomyeong swallowed his doubts and turned to leave.

Neti naturally followed suit, and the two of them blended into the crowd of merchants fleeing the station, looking just like evacuees themselves.

- Anyone who disobeys the Count Palatine’s orders and remains in the station will be punished immediately, regardless of their status! I repeat, everyone, get out of the station!

With the Mage’s threatening warning resounding behind them, the two of them exited the station.

The few Mages controlling the entry and exit outside the station glanced at Yeomyeong and Neti. However, since they could feel their mana, they didn’t bother stopping the two for a check.

A little while later, Neti asked, looking at Yeomyeong’s back as he walked ahead.

“Brother-in-law, does this mean that the way back to Earth is blocked?”

“For a while, yes. The railway is in a really bad shape… we’ll have to stay in this city until it’s repaired.”

“Then how about traveling to the city with the Dimensional Portal by foot?”

Seeing Neti’s eyes sparkle with strange anticipation, Yeomyeong shrugged and replied.

“Well, I don’t mind, but… will you be able to handle walking and sleeping on the road for months without even a bathroom?”

“…Ugh.”

Months? Neti made a face as if she didn’t even want to think about it.

“Anyway, I guess it’s better to wait until the railway’s repaired.”

Yeomyeong chuckled after seeing her expression, which resembled Seti’s, and then turned his attention to the surroundings.

The merchants who were chased out were looking crestfallen as they sat in front of the station, likely having lost their money and goods due to the terror attack.

After observing the merchants for a moment, Yeomyeong spoke up.

“Hey, Neti?”

“You can call me sister-in-law instead of my name, you know.”

Neti replied in a sly tone. Ignoring her comment, Yeomyeong continued speaking.

“I think we should delay meeting Seti for a bit.”

“Huh? Why? Is it because of the train?”

“That’s part of it… but also because this seems like the perfect time to start something.”

Neti tilted her head at his words. What did he mean by ‘perfect time’?

Instead of satiating her curiosity, Yeomyeong walked over to a merchant dragging a large cart.

“And who might ye be?”

The merchant seemed wary due to the sudden approach.

Trying to show he wasn’t hostile, Yeomyeong slightly bowed his head before speaking.

“Excuse me, sir. May I ask you a question?”

“Can’t ye see I’m busy?”

As the merchant replied gruffly, Yeomyeong subtly took out a silver coin from his pocket.

“It will only take a moment.”

There was no merchant who would refuse money in this world.

At the sight of the gleaming coin, the merchant pretended to give in and accepted it reluctantly.

“Well… let’s hear what ye got, then.”

Ignoring Neti, who let out a wry laugh seeing the sudden change in the merchant’s attitude in front of money, Yeomyeong continued with his question.

“Could you recommend a decent place for a foreigner like me to stay in?”

“…A place to stay?”

“It looks like I’ll be stuck in this city until the railway is repaired. The price doesn’t matter, so if you could recommend a place that merchants usually know about, that would be great.”

Was it that unexpected of a question? The merchant silently scanned Yeomyeong from head to toe. After eyeing Neti’s face as well, he scratched his chin and responded.

“Travellin’ ‘round a city like this… yer luck must be mighty good.”

“Traveling is something you should do while you’re still young, isn’t it?”

“Well, that’s somethin’ only nobles’d be thinkin’. Anyhow, if ye head west along the main road, ye’ll come across a place called Golden Pond. It ain’t cheap, but it’s got the finest guardin’ in the whole city. Best head there.”

Having said that, the merchant turned around as if he had said all he needed to, and Yeomyeong didn’t bother to stop him.

Instead of heading west as the merchant suggested, Yeomyeong moved down a different alley.

As he waded through the crowd of merchants unaware of the silver coins he’d scattered, Yeomyeong approached another merchant and asked him the same question.

- Could you recommend a decent place for a foreigner like me to stay in?

No matter how much the merchants furrowed their brows at his unexpected question, none refused the silver coin.

And as any merchant would, they all answered honestly; their answers almost identical.

Golden Pond, Amber Tower, Jade Palace…

By the time Neti had memorized all the high-end accommodations in the city and Yeomyeong had spent at least twenty silver coins, Neti, who had been following him silently, finally spoke up.

“Brother-in-law, what are you doing?”

“Nothing special, just letting them get familiar with my face and doing a little fishing.”

“…Fishing? It seems like we’re just meeting merchants.”

“Merchants are like a river. We’ve already set the bait all over, and soon enough, we’ll catch the real fish.”

He provided no further explanation.

Before Neti could ask him to elaborate, Yeomyeong found another merchant.

The merchant this time was a middle-aged man with a noticeable scar on his face who gave Yeomyeong a different response.

“A place to stay? I know a good one. If you want, I can even guide you there myself.”

The greed in the merchant’s eyes was apparent, but Yeomyeong didn’t refuse.

In fact, Yeomyeong even gave him an additional silver coin, and the merchant laughed heartily.

“Alright, follow me. I’ll take you and your wife to a place where you can rest comfortably.”

Wife? He should first cast away his lewd gaze before speaking.

As Neti barely suppressed the urge to knock the merchant’s head off as he leered at her with his disgusting eyes, she finally understood what Yeomyeong meant by ‘fishing.’

Anyway, the two followed the merchant without resistance.

And as they passed the northern part of the city and the tower where the Western Count Palatine lived came into view, the merchant led them off the main road into an alley saying it was a shortcut.

“Don’t worry, we’re only passing through safe alleys.”

No matter what the merchant rambled on about, Yeomyeong just smiled like an idiot.

It wasn’t until Neti frowned at the stench coming from the back alley and the sun began to set that the merchant stopped in front of a building.

It wasn’t an inn; it was a dilapidated building that couldn’t even be used as a tavern.

“Here we are! Duncan’s Inn, the best accommodation in the city that only a few know about!”

The best accommodation, he said? Yeomyeong let out a small laugh.

His heightened Superhuman senses didn’t miss the sweet smell of burning grass and the hidden scent of blood coming from beyond the building.

Drugs and blood.

Yeomyeong smiled back at the merchant, who was grinning blatantly.

“Looks like we came to the right place.”

* * *

Thud!

Thud, thud!

Thud, thud, thud!

The sound of knocking on the back door echoed throughout the old building.

It wasn’t even time for customers to arrive yet.

The man, who had been dozing off on the first floor, groggily got up from his bed, looking half annoyed and half exhausted, he headed toward the back door.

“Who’s there?”

“I’m looking for a man named Duncan.”

“At this hour? Who sent ye?”

“I don’t know his name, but I was referred to by a merchant with a scar. He said this guy’d help me make a lot of money.”

“Ah, ye must be the ones Madian sent. Wait a tick.”

The man replied as he pulled out a dagger from his belt.

As soon as the name Madian was mentioned, the fatigue that had been weighing him down disappeared.

After all, Madian was known as a slave trader in the organization.

The man didn’t doubt it for a second that these naive fools had come along willingly to become his slaves.

And just as he casually grabbed the doorknob—

Bam!

The old wooden door shattered as something struck it from the other side, and the man behind it was knocked over as well.

“Gah!”

As the man flew through the air and tumbled across the floor, He felt a pain in his chest that made it hard to breathe.

Did he break his ribs? He gasped for air, wheezing sounds escaping his lips as he trembled while checking the door.

Who is the crazy—

It was Madian who had struck the door. Or, to be precise, someone had grabbed Madian’s head and bashed it against the door.

Madian was shuddering as the blood pouring from his forehead soaked the door.

Could it be that the sound of knocking from earlier came from hitting Madian’s head against the door? No, that must be the case.

Otherwise, the indent on Madian’s forehead wouldn’t have made sense.

“Cough, ye… cough, who the hell are ye?”

The man asked the unknown young man holding Madian’s hair. No response came.

Was he an assassin sent by a rival organization? Or was he perhaps one of those crazies that had been popping up all over the place recently?

No, he must be one of them.

After all, it wasn’t that common to encounter a lunatic who would crush someone’s skull in broad daylight in this city.

“I demand ye… reveal—”

However, the man was unable to finish his question. He trembled and then collapsed with his head drooping.

The young man gave the fallen man a brief glance, before tossing Madian at the doorstep and entering the building.

Without uttering a word, he surveyed the interior. The first floor, disguised as an ordinary inn, had nothing special.

Dusty bar counters, bottles of alcohol, and disorganized tables and chairs.

However, no matter how much they tried to hide it with the exterior, the smell was hard to conceal.

And by gathering mana to enhance his sense of smell, he was able to easily locate his target.

A hidden entrance to the basement behind the bar.

Following the scent, the young man, Yeomyeong, made his way to the basement.

However, before he could take more than a few steps, Neti poked her head from behind the door.

“Brother-in-law… you didn’t kill them, right?”

Unlike Seti, was she reluctant to kill?

Neti frowned at the sight of the bloodied Madian and the fallen man.

…Well, it’s normal to feel reluctant to kill someone.

Yeomyeong shook his head while thinking about it.

“They’re still alive. For now.”

“For now? You sound just like Unnie.”

That was because he had learned it from Seti. Yeomyeong simply shrugged his shoulders and headed toward the basement.

As he opened the door and descended the stairs, Neti followed him, chattering excitedly.

“How did you manage to find this place so quickly, and also the way you used the merchants earlier?”

“Of course, information and experience.”

The information he had extracted from the desert wraith, Dagal, and the experience he had gained by observing the struggles of underground organizations and smugglers during his time as a janitor.

Yeomyeong didn’t go into too much detail, but Neti interpreted his words in her own way.

To be precise, she let her imagination run wild.

“Brother-in-law… you must be from a dangerous neighborhood, right? Like a place full of criminals, where gunshots go off every day… a city like this or Mexico City?”

“…”

Incheon wasn’t quite that kind of dead-end city, but Yeomyeong didn’t bother correcting her.

“And your first meeting with Unnie must’ve been straight out of a drama. She must’ve fallen for you at the sight of you fighting a crime syndicate and then saved you, right?”

“…No, that’s not what happened.”

“Then were you the one who saved her after she got into trouble?”

“…”

No, your sister ambushed me and beat me unilaterally.

As Yeomyeong was about to swallow the words rising up his throat, smoke thick enough to obscure their sight began to fill the staircase leading to the basement.

The sweet, sticky scent of it, almost clinging to his nostrils, filled his airways and descended to his lungs.

But before the sensation spreading to his lungs could reach his bloodstream, Yeomyeong summoned his mana.

“It’s drugs. Block it before it spreads through your bloodstream.”

As soon as Neti heard his warning, she drew on her mana and pinched her nose.

“Ugh, I’ll purify the air.”

With those words, Neti quickly wove a spell, and her Telekinesis magic immediately stirred the air, pushing the smoke away.

Unlike Seti, who focused on martial arts, Neti seemed to specialize in magic. Yeomyeong carefully observed her Telekinesis as they continued down the stairs.

After a moment….

- A customer? At this hour?

- Who let them in?!

- Squeak, squeak human, human female!

The two arrived at a hideout, a den full of men addicted to drugs… no, it was more appropriate to say they had arrived at a part of the sewer that had been converted into a hideout.

Other than Rat Beastfolks, various races, including humans, orcs, and dwarves, all indulging in the pleasures of the drug filled the place.

But what stood out the most wasn’t the drugged-up Foreign Races but the elderly man sitting in the center with his eyes closed.

The elderly man with a long beard reaching below his navel sat cross-legged in meditation.

…A Mage.

Yeomyeong immediately grasped the man’s identity. With the substantial amount of mana emanating from his body, it was impossible not to.

“Who might ye be?”

The old man asked as he opened his eyes slowly. Unlike the others, who were writhing in the throes of drug-induced euphoria, his gaze was calm.

Yeomyeong placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and responded.

“A customer.”

“Ye don’t look like someone who’s come for the trade o’ drugs.”

“What I want isn’t drugs, but information.”

The old man stared intently at Yeomyeong.

“Apologies, but we don’t deal in yer kind o’ information here.”

“Is that so? But…”

Yeomyeong drew his sword. The blade, glowing a pale yellow without a sound, emitted a chilling aura.

Even the drugged individuals flinched at the intense Killing Aura radiating from the sword.

“…Dagal said otherwise.”

“I don’t know what tie ye’ve got with that third-rate Mage who controls bugs, but ye’ve come to the wrong place. We don’t sell information here, we buy it.”

“No need to sell. I’m not planning to buy either.”

“…?”

Finally, a flicker of varying emotions flashed across the Mage’s face.

Confusion, suspicion, realization, and… anger.

Yeomyeong responded to that reaction with his sword, its aura tinged with a milky-white light.

As the brilliant Sword Aura cut through the drug-infused smoke, Yeomyeong uttered the answer the Mage was expecting.

“Hand it over.”

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.