My Wife is a Dead Villainess, and I'm Her Living Weapon-Chapter 105: Business

Unknowingly, Elian felt his body tense. He quickly scanned the breakers in front of him, but got nothing of use. They were Radiant Breakers in the high fifty’s with D stats. The more he scanned, the more he noticed vast differences among humans and monsters.

For one, humans had extremely low HP. With the exception of Heaven’s Fist, even Dusk-tiered humans had lower numbers compared to Radiant-tiered monsters.

Arjun Sharma was already level 64, and barely cracked 125,000 HP. Meanwhile, Bastion and Silent—still Radiant-tier—had more than twice that. It was not a matter of effort or even level. Just species.

The same limitations on HP applied to mana. Even Burny could overwhelm human Breakers at half their level in this regard. Flame Swallows had twice as much mana as Snow Wolves at the same level. Humans weren’t even close.

But there was something that evened the playing field.

Monsters had only Talents and Stats. Humans had Jobs. Living Metal and Dominator did allow me to fight above my level. I wonder how normal Jobs work.

As Elian’s contemplation grew deeper, he heard a mesmerizing voice giggling inside his mind.

"Elian, I know they are quite pitiful, but please at least acknowledge their presence."

Huh? What do you mean?

"The two before you have been kneeling for more than five minutes now. They’re quite terrified of you."

Only then did Elian gaze at the one kneeling before him. Unused to people giving a crap about his reactions, he grew confused.

How is that my fault? Couldn’t they just get up on their own?

Bianca stood up from her seat and sauntered towards him, like a cat longing for attention— she lay on his chest seductively.

"This is what it means to hold power, Elian. In the presence of absolute strength, the weak do not have even the right to raise their heads."

Elian again looked at the ones prostrated before him.

"Yes, it’s ironic. The people beg for safety. They crown the one who bears their burdens. But the moment her choices no longer serve them, they cry ’tyrant’—and line up to cut off her head."

Bianca’s words carried a bitterness that bled into her body language. Instead of questioning her, Elian just wanted to comfort his lover. Ignoring everyone else, he wrapped his arms around her and brushed her back tenderly.

The witch flinched and murmured in a shy voice, "Darling, there are other people here."

Elian clicked his tongue in irritation. When he slammed his foot to the ground, the sheer weight caused a slight tremor. He gingerly shifted Bianca to the side, but kept his arm around her waist possessively. "Get up. State your business and leave."

Without even meaning to, Elian practically growled his orders; he saw the two men shiver and quickly get up. But they fidgeted, unsure of how to proceed.

"Gentlemen, please take a seat. As you can see, my Tyrant prefers things succinct and on point. And I am the exclusive contact on every matter related to the fourth candidate; are we clear?"

"Yes, Lady Winter!" both men shouted.

Bianca then gestured to the other chairs. All while she pressed closer, her gestures intimate, and adoring—like a succubus Bianca charmed him. Elian grew helpless at her assault.

It took a minute, but Elian understood what had just happened and frowned. Bianca basically used him to solidify her influence. It was the classic example of a beast being led by a beauty by the nose.

"Sigh, Elian, you dumb lovestruck bastard," Fluffy commented in derision.

He quickly broke his voice box and spoke with mana, "Shut it; I trust Bianca anyway."

Bianca joined in an elated mood, "Away with you, Fluffy! I bet you are just jealous; I get to act like a pampered lover. It’s been on my bucket list since forever."

"Tsk. You and your weird fantasies. Pervert!"

Silent cheered, in between giggles. "I find it quite adorable. He knows that Bianca is using him, and he doesn’t mind. That is love!"

"Hmph, she reminds me of Silent. Whenever other female pack leaders came to meet, she would act like a needy puppy in need of constant attention." Her husband added.

"It seems the apple does not fall far from the tree," Burny quipped.

Elian couldn’t help himself and chuckled at the carefree nature of his faction. Although they were hiding in enemy territory, they all remained whimsical.

One of the agents gulped and handed a folder to Elian. When the golem ignored him, he quickly shifted it to Bianca. She opened it up and took a quick glance. It had reports and pictures of various people.

Paper? Who even uses that anymore?

"Hush Elian, it’s Whiteline. A material that cannot be recorded digitally. Basically, anything written or printed on Whiteline is invisible with anything but the naked eye."

Elian went wide-eyed at Bianca’s mini-lecture. He saw how frighteningly competent and knowledgeable his lover was. Grateful for her presence, he felt his arm instinctively tighten around her waist.

Only to feel her hand on his cheek, "Darling. You are crushing me."

Ah. Sorry, Bianca!

The agents ignored their flirting and reported in a trembling voice, "Three days ago, the Big Three held an emergency summit. The topics they discussed would have been the fall of the Snow Wolf and Flame Swallow Dungeons, the death of Heaven’s Fist, and the announcement."

Bianca didn’t spare them a glance and continued reading the documents in her folder. Elian wanted to look as well, but she seemed engrossed.

"Elaborate," she commanded.

"Over the course of the year, an estimated 400 crusaders suddenly perished. With no major deployment, the other two factions had us investigate why. We found that they were sent to the said dungeons and died," the agent continued.

One of them pulled out a black rectangular object and pressed a button on it.

[Alert: an audio clip has been shared; do you wish to play it?]

"Go ahead."

An audio clip began to play in Elian’s nanomachines.

[Sera Dale. I saw your reaction earlier. You know what this thing is don’t you? Your comrades all made the same reaction. But why won’t any of you talk? Honestly it is frustrating....ARGHHHH!!]

"This recording is the recovered interrogation of Malric Throne, a hunter for the Truthsong Church; he has been MIA for months now. His last case was investigating the beacon party. They were the last recorded breakers to enter the Snow Wolf Dungeon."

The agent clicked a few more buttons and shared video files.

Elian was present for all but one. They were: Fluffy’s massacre of the crusaders, Elian threat to humanity. The Flame Swallow’s annihilation of more crusaders. And finally, Bianca’s face reveal.

We really killed a lot of them huh?

"These are the videos presented at the summit. Along with the announcement about the fourth candidate, the three factions have entered a truce. They intend to create a joint hunting unit to eliminate Elian Reed."

Elian clenched his jaw. He anticipated that his actions would lead them to do something. But he now understood how naïve he was.

That make sense, rather than come to blows, it would be easier to just kill me. At least they already knew each other.

But rather than focus on the threat to his life, Bianca asked questions about something else.

"How do they intend to handle Heaven’s Fist’s death? How about the power shortage?"

The agent straightened up and brought out another folder.

"The Ascendancy is trying to hide that fact. They are saying he went on a training journey in a disclosed dungeon. The Duke is having trouble as many in his group wish to become Tyrant candidates."

The other agent removed his shades and massaged his face. "As for the power issues, Crestfall City remains unaffected, but fifteen different cities all lost power two months ago. They are making do with diesel generators, but the people are starting to complain."

"Typical. And my request?"

The blond agent gulped and stammered, "Uhm, Lady Winter, we went through great lengths to procure this information its..."

"I’ll add five billion."

"That is still not en..."

"Twenty," Bianca declared with a flat voice.

The agents looked at each other, then made a slight nod.

They opened the folder and showed a list of graphs and data charts. Elian could follow to some degree and understood them to be energy or power readings, like those used to measure electricity bills. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"There are four recorded locations that provide a disproportionate amount of power relative to size. These power plants all came into operation after the same event."

"Elaborate."

"Yes, each noble bought an artifact from the Nobel Auction."

"What did they buy?" Bianca scoffed.

"It took some time to hunt them down, but they were Knight-Class Flame Phoenix Cores. Lady Winter, my honor requires me to state that if you take these cores, entire cities will freeze in the coming winter."

"Duly noted and ignored. Now. Where are they?" she answered curtly.

Elian’s mind stalled. He was racking his brains on how to even begin looking for them. And Bianca already found them. Using nothing but money, she not only found where they were but even who guarded them.

The agent coughed and adjusted his tie before continuing, "These are the locations where the cores are kept. They are protected by S-Rank Breakers and are deep in the territory of the Noble Ascendancy."

Bianca raised an eyebrow and went back to reading the documents in her hand. "It’s fine. Where they are makes no difference. And the fifth?"

"We’re still looking."

"Okay, you may go."

But the agents didn’t leave and waited. "Is there anything else you wish to know, Lady Winter? The Crows will do our utmost to fulfill your will."

"Really now?" Bianca put down the folder in her hand and gazed intently at the two agents. In a fit of possessiveness, Elian couldn’t help but change her face back to Vanessa Tyler.

His actions caused the agents back away in surprise. Bianca only smiled.

"You seek our information? It will be costly."

A heavy silence pervaded the air.

"Uhm, just how much are we allowed to ask?" one of them stammered.

Bianca began to act smugly as she drummed her fingers on the table, "Hmm, now we’re talking. What would you like to know?"