Chapter 44

Blood poured out of Drews neck and soakedthe ground,as if his greed was dripping out of his heart. The robed man wiped the blood away from his sword and placed it back into its sheath again.

The plan is ruined.

He glanced at Drews corpse. A look of annoyanceflashed acrosshis eyes, but the mans personalmission superseded his emotions.

Do I have to move onto the next plan? No, this situation means that all possible routes have changed. Even if I dont use Drew, theres a high chance that the plan will fail.

In a way, he already knew the answer.

It cant be helped. I have to force out the result.

It wasnt what his master wanted, but it was the only way toobtaina similar result.

I need to supplementsome morepersonnel. I thought it would be finebymyself, but it seems like Illhave to resort to the last measure.

Thishurt the mans pride. The importance and level of difficulty of this place andmissionwere on the low side. That was why he was the only one who had been placed in charge of themission; and from the first place, the mans skills and status were not suitable for a place like this. He had simply taken the job in his free time, thinking of it as a sort of amini-vacation. However, his planswereruined now.

I have to show someachievementstoprotect my pride. And

There was an even more important matter.

I have to find out the unknown variable.

Everything had been runningsmoothly until now; hehad tofindout the cause of the change. It was probably the unknown variable.

I have to investigate who that guy isand then kill him!

A chilly pair of eyes glittered inside the robe.

* * *

As if Snocs house was mimicking its owners feelings, it exuded a gloomy atmosphere. The wooden entrancehadntopened since Drew abandoned Snoc. It was the samewhetherhis accomplices visited him or not.

Although it was late, a single candle wasnt lit up, and theinside of the housewasdark. Snocliedon his bed and stared at theceiling absentmindedly. Clothes were on the floor in a mess, and untidy disheslitteredthe table. Snoc didnt move at all, enough to make one wonder if he was actually dead. Only his blinking eyes and heaving chest hinted that he was still alive.

Growl!

Eventhoughhe barely moved and used the bare minimum energy, his digestive systemcontinued to work. Without considering its owners feelings, Snocs stomach cried out to Snoc to throw some food inside it.

Should I eat something?

Even though he cut off all outside contact and shut himself in his house, Snoc didnt intend to die. He grasped his stomach and got up. As if hewasgoingthrough a lot of inner distress, his eyes were sunken. He got off his bed andput onhis shoes.

Koo!Koo!

A small being approached Snocs legs and cried while tapping his feet.

Are you hungry too?

It was the mole who he met at the mine some days ago. He met the animal only recently, butthe molewas basically a family memberfor him. Snoc liked the mole upon meetinghim. As if they were connected by a thread of destiny, he felt a sense of affinity towards the mole by instinct. In addition, after Drew betrayed him, the mole was the onlyone he could share feelings with. It wasvery strange, but Snoc felt like he could give up his life for thismole he met just a couple of days ago.

Yeah. Lets eat. We will only be able to live if we eat.

He picked up the mole and hugged it. As ifhewas used to this, the mole burrowed into Snocs chest.

Lets go, Nowem.

While calling the name he gave the mole, Snoc went to where the cupboard was. He lit up a candle and scavenged the area for food.

Theres nothing to eat.

The only thing left was a drypiece of bread.

I should go out to buy food when the day gets brighter.

AlthoughDrew stole most of his money, he still had enough money to eat for the day; but whenever he thought of this, he felt gloomy. Snoc took outa slice of breadand ripped it apart. Then, he placeda breadpiece in front of Nowems nose.

Snort! Snort!

Nowem sniffedthe bread piece.

Grab!

Nowem opened his small mouth as wide as he could and bit the piece of bread into smallerpieces. He looked adorable, chewing with his mouth full of bread. Snoc placed the rest of the bread into his mouth. The dry bread sucked all the moisture out of his mouth, and he forcefully chewed the crumbly, untasty bread. After he gulped down the rough bread, he felt like his empty stomach became a bit fuller.

The air felt stuffy and humid, so Snoc opened the window. A faint moonlightseepedinto the room. The full moonhungin the sky todayand spread its peculiar,dream-likeatmosphere.It felt like the moon wascomforting his disturbed mind. Snoc placed his elbow on the windowsill and stared at the moon.

Huh?

A dark shadow cast under the moonlight.

What?

Was he imagining it? Snoc rubbed his eyes and stoodcloserto the window.Someonewas there. Under the moonlight, a man who exuded the same mood as a grim reaperstooda short distance away from Snocs house andstaredat him through the window. And he wasnt the only oneSnoc could see four figures.

They all wore dark robes, soit was difficult to separate them from the darkness. It was impossible to decipher their age or genderand made thematerrifying sight to behold. Snoc quickly closed the window and locked it.

What was that?

Late in the night, mysterious figures were ominously staringintohis house. Snoc immediately locked all the windows in his house and checked the lock on his door. Then he took a seat next to the bed while hugging Nowem. As soon as he heard someone barge into his place, Snoc planned to hide under his bed. He held his breath and perked his ears in case somebody forced the door open.

Did I imagine it?

He didnt hear the door open or anyother sound. Maybe he imagined the scene in his tired state. Or maybe he misunderstood a group of people who had no interest in him but were moving for some other reason. Snoc began to scorn himself for being such a coward. Then, he lifted his head and saw a dark shadow in front of him.

* * *

Even though it was late, a large fire crackled in Zich and Hans room. Zich sat in front of the only table in the room,counting coins from the mountain of gold coins in front of him. At a glance, he looked like a greedy merchant who had earned a lot of money and was now internally crying out in happiness. But for that to be the case, his expression looked too indifferent.

Clink!

The last pillar of ten coins stood on the table.

That bastard sure earned a lot.

Zichs fingers thumped the neat layers of gold pillars. At his touch, the pillars slanted and collapsed. Their clinking sounds were enough tosatisfy a hungry soul.

Hans watched the scene from his bed. Zich told him that he could sleep earlier, but Hans couldnt sleep from the clinking noises. It was also his first timeseeing so many gold coins glittering before him. He couldnt take his eyes off of them.

Then, Zich prepared a bag andpoured aset amount of gold coins into it.

This is theamount that Drew stole from Snoc. If Iincludehis compensation for mental damage, this will probably be enough. I also separated the amount Sam might ask me for compensation.

After taking some coins out, Zich stared at the rest of the gold coins.

This is mine.

The remaining amount of coinswasa substantial amount.

Hey.

Yes, sir!

Itwas a conditionedreflex now. When Zich called him, Hans answered without a moment of hesitation.

Take this.

Zich carelessly threw a handful of coins at him, and gold coins rained over the bed Hans was sitting on.

What is this?

Use it however you like. You can buy something to eat, buy some equipment, or even save it for the future.

Hans stared at the pile of gold coins. He didnt expect to get a share at all, and this wasnt even a small amount. It was an amount he had neverpossessedbefore.

C-Can I really take it?

What? Do you not need it?

N-No. Thats not it

Then, take it.

Hans stared down at the pile of gold coins. On top of the gold coins,there was apouch. It was what Zich threw so that Hans could put his gold coins inside.

Wouldnt it be better to save what if we dont have enough traveling expenses, sir?

Hans tried to put on someairssince it was such a large amount.

If I combine the amount I packed before traveling, the reward I received from Karuwiman, and the money I got from beating up this guy who didnt know his place, we wont have to worry about money for a while. And even if that money drops low, there are a lot of placeswherewe canget money from.

Now that Hans thought of it, Zich never seemed to save money. AlthoughZichsaid he was saving the expensive potions, he also usedthemunsparinglywhen he needed them. If Hansthought back onhowZichused up all his three potions just because his friend was beaten up badly, Zich almost seemed wasteful.

Does he have something to back him up?

Hans thought this but quickly erased itfromhis mind.

Its useless to think about it.

By now, he knew that common logic didnt work on Zich. Hans placed the gold coins into the pouch and sealed its opening tightly. Then, he pushed it intoadeep corner of his luggage.

Then, should I get going?

Zich got up from his chair and stretched. Then, he moved toblow outthe candles.

What is it?

Zich turned his head and opened the window.

Why do you say that?

Its noisy outside.

He saw a crowd of figuresrunning on top of rooftopsunder the yellow moon. They looked suspicious right away and looked like bad guys.

Should I intervene?

It could be a chance for Zich to do akind act. He was pondering for a moment when he saw that one of the group members was carrying a person.

Isnt that Snoc? Why is he there?

Zich could tell that they were not close friends of Snoc right away. It wasapparent that Snoc was mixed up in some new trouble.

He is such an unlucky guy. It hasnt even been long since his incident with Drew.

I am going out for a while.

Sorry?

Zich left with those words and jumpedright out thewindow.