Subscriber of the Gods-Chapter 218: Operation Begins

“Urgh… I lost, I lost. Hey, what have you been doing to become this strong?”

In Whiskers territory.

In front of Schudlen Mark, Ethan’s personal guard and knight of Whiskers territory, stood the Knight Commander, breathing heavily.

Until just now, the Knight Commander had been the strongest in Whiskers territory.

And now Schudlen had taken over that position.

The knights watching the duel shook their heads.

They had all lost to Schudlen as well.

“He’s not the Schudlen of old…”

“He’s become scary.”

“Where on earth did he go with Young Master Ethan to improve his skills so much?”

In the past, Schudlen had the image of being very diligent but lacking in corresponding skill.

Because of this, some knights tended to look down on Schudlen. They would even spout harsh words, citing the traditions of the knighthood.

Of course, those harsh words became Schudlen’s assets, and he put those traditions to very good use at Ivecar Academy.

“I… I need to apologize to Schudlen.”

“I already did.”

“Damn, am I the only one who hasn’t?”

The landscape of the knighthood had changed.

Of course, strength wasn’t the only important thing in the knighthood. Experience was important too, and there were quite a few other important factors.

Nevertheless, the reason the knights cared about Schudlen was that he was Ethan’s personal guard.

“Young Master Ethan helped me a lot.”

Of course, Schudlen didn’t care much about the evaluations of other knights. The internal affairs of the knighthood weren’t that important to him.

Schudlen continued his training every day without fail during the given time.

Especially thanks to the special training golem that Ethan had left behind, he was able to do various types of training.

Trying his best to achieve a perfect victory against the special golem, he had unknowingly become the strongest knight in the territory.

“You, you still have strength left, don’t you?”

The Knight Commander knew that Schudlen had been fighting while holding back somewhat.

“Be honest.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I thought so. Then that means you’re still not satisfied?”

Schudlen wanted to become much stronger than he was now.

The Young Master Ethan he served was an extraordinary person whose ambition knew no bounds.

To properly assist such a person, he shouldn’t be satisfied and complacent with his current skills.

He was someone who had chosen and consistently believed in him. Schudlen intended to throw everything into serving Ethan Whiskers until Ethan cast him aside. 𝔯ÁNɵ฿ЁS̈

“I want to become stronger.”

“Good, then I’ll help you. To think you’d become this strong. The little squirt has grown up a lot.”

The Knight Commander looked at the grown Schudlen with pride.

“Young Master Nathan will be disappointed, won’t he? When he returns this time, I was planning to assign you as Young Master Nathan’s guard.”

Schudlen just smiled. The Schudlen of that time and the Schudlen of now were completely different people.

The rookie full of passion was nowhere to be seen, and now he exuded experience and strength.

To think he would grow this much in such a short period.

“Is this what they mean when they say children grow up so fast?”

“If someone heard that, they might think I was your son, Commander. Your real son might feel hurt if he heard.”

“My son doesn’t care about such things. He just throws tantrums asking for spirit dolls. Why are dolls so expensive these days?”

“But you have enough money, don’t you? Your salary has increased tremendously.”

“It’s all thanks to Young Master Ethan, isn’t it? I didn’t know my wife was such a good cook. Money really is something you should earn well. Hahaha!”

The Knight Commander said this while patting Schudlen’s shoulder.

“You know that our Whiskers keeps expanding its territory, right? This time we’ve merged with Huntar territory. But you know what? There are a lot of bandits over there.”

“Ah, I heard there’s a mountain in that area.”

“Yes, somehow those bastards have tamed monsters, and they keep coming down with the monsters and invading that area.”

“Sounds like a good opportunity to gain experience.”

“Right, I’ll speak to the lord and have troops organized around you. Go and make sure to handle it thoroughly.”

The Knight Commander said this while slapping Schudlen’s back.

“I’m proud of you, Schudlen. No matter what happens, make sure to protect Young Master Ethan.”

“I’ll protect him even if it costs me my life.”

***

Big changes were happening in the Magic Tower as well.

“P-please spare me. Please, please spare my life!”

“Why should I keep you alive? Give me ten reasons. One second per reason, ten seconds should be enough, right? 1, 2, 3…”

Yerica snapped her fingers before even finishing the count.

She had taken over all the magic that Archmage Hecate had left in the Magic Association.

Combining the knowledge she originally had with the knowledge left in the association, Yerica could now be said to have inherited everything of Hecate’s.

Thanks to this, Yerica was able to grow very quickly.

Of course, that wasn’t all she focused on. At the same time, Yerica had been drawing the mages of the Magic Tower to her side.

“Lady Yerica is the true successor of the orthodox Magic Association!”

“Follow Lady Yerica!”

Winning people’s hearts is extremely difficult.

In fact, Yerica was very poor at building relationships. Because of her long life as a fugitive, she hadn’t been able to form a single proper relationship with others.

But she had closely observed how Ethan won people’s hearts.

Especially, she had carefully watched how he persuaded the mages of the Magic Tower.

The important thing was sincerity. You had to sincerely understand the other person’s heart and be able to give them what they wanted.

Having seen how Ethan did it many times, taking over the association was a very easy task.

“P-please!”

“My contractor once said, all bad guys only admit their faults when they’re about to die.”

Yerica’s eyes were cold as she spoke impassively.

“How many people have begged you? How many of those apologies did you accept?”

It was all a misunderstanding?

How wronged must grandfather have felt?

It was laughable just thinking about it. She had no intention of stopping just because he begged for forgiveness at this point.

There was one more thing Yerica had been influenced by Ethan.

Once you start something, you should finish it thoroughly.

You should never end things half-heartedly.

“From today, the association will walk a new path.”

“Hurrah!”

“Long live Lady Yerica!”

Now the most important thing remained.

The Magic Association held authority only because it was recognized externally.

Yerica still had to take the authority held by the previous association head and gain recognition again.

Of course, that wouldn’t be an easy task.

“It’s time to get help from Lord Ethan.”

Having taken over the association as per Ethan’s orders, the next step was Ethan’s turn.

***

“Is it really possible?”

“If I thought it was impossible, I wouldn’t have even attempted it.”

Many people were gathered in a dark room.

They were all people who held quite important positions within the David Merchant Guild, each of them known as great merchants outside.

“Trust me and follow along.”

The one who gathered them was Etting. Parchments were placed in front of the great merchants.

“The conditions aren’t bad. But the risk is too high compared to the conditions.”

“That’s right, if this plan fails, all the standing we’ve had within the Merchant Guild will disappear.”

“But the fact that you’ve all gathered here shows that you’re willing to take that risk, doesn’t it? Just coming here is already a risk, isn’t it?”

Etting smiled. None of those here came out without making a decision.

They had already finished their profit and loss calculations before coming.

At least among the great merchants Etting knew, there were none who liked challenges and gambling.

Nevertheless, asking if it was possible despite the high risk was an attempt to draw better conditions from Etting.

It was a trivial weighing that would be good if it worked and wouldn’t be bad even if it didn’t.

“As expected of great merchants, every word you speak has clear profit and loss considerations.”

You only care about your own benefit!

If someone who wasn’t a merchant heard this, they might consider it quite insulting.

But to merchants, it was an incomparable compliment.

The first priority a merchant should think about is only money.

Faith, belief, trust. These are certainly important things for a merchant.

But all those things are ultimately just stepping stones to earn more money.

The expressions of the great merchants completely changed at Etting’s praise.

“So Etting, I’d like to hear the detailed plan.”

From the moment so many merchants attended this meeting, the tide had already turned.

They already had confidence that Etting would win.

“The name of this operation is Lightning. I plan to end it instantly with a blitzkrieg.”

***

The second day of classes that started in the morning now had only one left.

Ethan had shown such an overwhelming performance in all the classes he attended today that there was no room for other words.

If he did well on the exams now, Ivecar Academy could essentially be considered the winner of this training conference.

But no one felt disappointed or despaired.

If the difference hadn’t been so large, they might have felt jealous. But Ethan was on a completely different level.

There were even teachers who thought Ethan should have been in the position of educating rather than taking classes at this new teacher training conference.

As a result, the gazes looking at Ethan had clearly changed from the first day.

‘It’s going according to plan.’

Showing an overwhelming performance changed even their gazes.

These people will now return to their respective academies and spread rumors about Ethan in all directions.

‘To become a master, it’s not enough to just have outstanding abilities.’

You need to be able to lead the situation.

‘I need to appeal myself clearly and be able to spread those stories. This is why fame is essential.’

He felt like he was getting closer and closer to meeting with the Saintess.

‘The Saintess definitely has the ability to cure Extinction.’

Of course, he didn’t think it would be easy to cure.

‘There’s something that bothers me about what Regia said.’

This was the first time he had heard in detail about Extinction from Regia.

‘I thought Regia had gone directly to find the Saintess and got cured.’

However, Regia didn’t say that he directly found the Saintess. Rather, he said the Saintess came to find Regia directly.

‘Why? Why did she come directly?’

Then why doesn’t she come to Ethan?

Because she doesn’t know Ethan has Extinction?

‘If it’s simply for that reason, I could spread rumors that I have Extinction.’

But what if that’s not the reason?

It would only greatly expose his weakness.

Currently, Ethan had too much to shoulder, so rash actions were forbidden.

‘I don’t know.’

Ethan thought he should find the Saintess in the safest way possible.

‘That’s the best.’

At that moment, a commotion was heard from outside.

“Ah, Lord Ethan.”

As soon as he opened the door, a Ramsdale branch member appeared. He was just about to knock.

“I came to tell you about the last class of the afternoon.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I came to inform you that the last class has been tentatively postponed due to personal circumstances of the instructor, Lord Regia Malcher.”

“Tentatively postponed?”

When Ethan asked quizzically, the Ramsdale branch member bowed his head apologetically.

“I’m sorry. Everyone must have been looking forward to it. We haven’t heard the details either…”

“Ah, yes. It’s fine. I’ll keep that in mind for now.”

“I’m sorry! We’ll inform you immediately if there are any changes.”

‘Regia’s personal circumstances?’

There was certainly nothing unusual when they met after lunch. Rather, he should have been in the midst of preparing for the class.

Thump thump thump-!

Thump thump thump-!

“That’s strange… He should be inside.”

Thump thump thump-!

“Mr. Kai Felix! Are you in there?”

Something was off.

‘Could it be.’

Ethan rushed to the front of Kai Felix’s room. Then he immediately drew his sword and cut the door in two pieces.

“E-Ethan, sir?”

“He’s not here.”

Kai wasn’t inside.

‘These bastards, already?’

To think they would move so boldly.

The Ramsdale branch members looked nervous as Ethan broke down the door.

“Maybe he’s somewhere else…?”

Ethan didn’t answer and immediately headed to the dining hall.

“Did… something unpleasant happen?”

“Do you guys know something?”

“No, we weren’t informed of anything…”

***

Upon arriving at the dining hall, Ethan examined the walls and floor.

Ethan had previously remembered the locations where the security chief had left traces in order to respond immediately when the followers of the Moon moved.

‘As expected, it’s been erased. There was another spy inside besides the security chief.’

A spy who had never once encountered Ethan.

If Ethan had seen them, there’s no way he would have missed them.

‘There are no outside helpers other than the security chief. Then it could be someone from the Ramsdale branch.’

Ethan confirmed traces of the followers of the Moon.

-Proceed.

Ethan frowned deeply. Then he recalled Regia’s personal circumstances he had just heard about.

‘They deliberately diverted attention.’

He thought they would never attempt anything during this time when Regia and the Sword Saint were clearly watching.

‘Were they that desperate?’

The followers of the Moon tend not to take big risks for things they’ve invested a long time in.

‘Yet they took the risk and acted, which means something must have gone wrong with their plan.’

That meant there was a gap.

‘The dividends invested in Kai Felix have just come in.’

“These bastards, trying to snatch it away.”

Ethan immediately started running.

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