Chapter 77: Sleep Resistance Competition
Tilda was completely overwhelmed by that atmosphere.
She even stopped the greeting she was making and stepped aside.
After that, Perda did not look at her even once again.
Faced with such a humiliating situation, Tilda left with her face completely red.
Watching her leave, Stephan asked Perda.
“Did you hear the conversation?”
“What conversation?”
“She mocked us by asking whether the exhibition products would really make money…”
“Did she?”
His expression seemed to say he did not care.
Perda had no idea about the situation Stephan had been in.
“Then why were you so hostile toward her?”
Stephan wanted to know the reason.
If he had not heard that vulgar conversation, then Perda was the first person to show hostility toward Tilda immediately after meeting her.
After all, she was a beauty who inherited her mother’s appearance.
“At first I was not planning to speak badly to her either. But when I saw her, I changed my mind.”
“What did you see?”
“I disliked her. That look in her eyes.”
“The look in her eyes? What was wrong with…?”
“Your sister seems like the type of person who cannot stay calm until she dominates and crushes others, doesn’t she?”
Stephan’s eyes widened.
“H-how did you know that?”
“Because she had exactly those kinds of eyes.”
Perda had hated countless people.
And to feed that hatred, he had needed to learn how to identify different kinds of human beings.
Certain traits had become deeply engraved into his mind.
Tilda Pascal belonged to the type of people he hated the most.
Incompetent people with excessive ambition.
People who tried to manipulate others as if they were toys in the palm of their hand.
Impressed that he had discovered Tilda’s true nature with a single glance, Stephan decided to change the subject.
They were far too busy preparing the exhibition to waste time on useless chatter.
“Did you see Mr. Marquis?”
“Yes.”
“Then where did he leave the magic stones…?”
“Can we not display them tomorrow? He seems busy today, so I would rather not bother him.”
“Well, understood. Then I will make it seem like a strategy to hide the true main attraction.”
Even though he felt displaying the magic stones would attract a lot of attention.
Stephan muttered that under his breath.
But in truth, the exhibition was not the important part.
It was only secondary.
What mattered was the main presentation.
And what they would show there were the magic stones.
And also the magitech rifle hanging on the wall.
Perda and Stephan looked up at the rifle.
“Regent, have you ever seen that thing functioning?”
“I have seen something similar.”
“What do you mean by similar?”
“At that time it did not have this shape.”
The rifle that fired magic bullets was something much larger and more complex.
Compared to that, the current weapon looked like a simplified version.
“What do you think about it?”
“Me?”
“You and the other merchants.”
“Well… hm…”
Stephan scratched his head.
Tilda had asked whether that object could really generate money.
And honestly, the reaction of the other merchants was similar.
Even Stephan’s own reaction.
It was not easy to speak badly about something one personally sponsored.
“If they improved the exterior a bit, I think the evaluations would be better.”
“So you think it looks terrible.”
“Yes.”
“I suppose that is true.”
Even Perda saw it that way.
The current magitech rifle looked more like a work of art than a functional machine.
And that moment was crucial for the weapon.
“It would be good if we could attract merchants from the north and south with this…”
“I will do everything possible to move the northern merchants.”
Stephan did not mention the south.
As long as his older brother Merchit remained there, he could not promise anything.
So he decided not to try to take on too much from the beginning.
That was what he thought.
Until something completely unexpected happened.
***
Scholars who spend their entire lives buried among books are intellectuals.
Many mock them by calling them frogs inside a well.
But there always comes a moment when those intellectuals become necessary.
Especially when it comes to organizations dedicated to information.
In those cases, the process of filtering and handling data was even more important.
Black Bandana never overlooked that.
Black Bandana.
A secret organization symbolized by black bandanas.
Its members were spread across the entire continent of Serdes, gathering and selling information.
And to process all that information efficiently, they needed the intellectuals of Escolea.
That was why Garnet, a member of Black Bandana, had come there.
“Hmm.”
Dressed like a typical southern noblewoman, she wore ornaments and revealing clothing made of little fabric.
Ash-gray hair and dark skin.
Her appearance was perfect for pretending to be a resident of the desert in the far south.
However, there was a problem.
“Did you come alone, miss?”
Men swarmed around her like flies drawn to her sensual appearance.
“Huh?”
“It is nothing, I just thought I would offer to escort you, cough…”
The moment their gazes met, the man began coughing violently.
Then he backed away in horror.
“S-sorry for bothering you. I will continue on my way.”
“……Huh?”
Garnet raised an eyebrow while watching the man hurriedly leave.
She had no idea why he had approached her in the first place.
Then a man dressed in typical northern clothing approached her.
“Wow. Boss. Smile a little. Did you come here to kill someone? Are we a group of assassins?”
That man acted far too familiarly.
He was also a member of Black Bandana and had come to Hallim to recruit information-processing agents.
In other words, he had come to work.
Garnet alternated her gaze between his face and the glass in his hand before asking.
“You are drinking while working?”
“It is essential for infiltration jobs. If you want to persuade instead of threaten, you need to relax a little. For northern warriors, alcohol is mandatory.”
“To pry information out of a weakling, a sword would work better than that glass. What? Are you planning to recruit another bastard like that slippery guy who kept all the information and accepted bribes?”
“Ah, at that time I was busy too. Besides, I dealt with him myself!”
“That is what happens when you drink. Take one more glass and I will shove my hand down your throat, rip out your stomach, and squeeze it right there.”
Garnet expressed her intent with chilling ferocity.
She was the kind of person who carried out what she said.
“Ah, how scary you are when you get like that. Smile! Women look prettier when they smile. Not with that face that looks like you want to kill people.”
“Shut up and work. I will handle my own business.”
But the northern man burst into laughter, raised his glass, and disappeared once again.
Garnet sighed and covered her mouth with the fan she was holding.
“That is why I said I hated this noble lady concept…”
She was beautiful enough to look good in luxurious clothes.
But that was all.
Her entire life had been much closer to battlefields filled with blood and flesh than to flower gardens.
Her eyes were fierce, and her movements inevitably gave off a masculine air.
She did not want to wear uncomfortable clothes again that exposed skin and jingled every time she moved.
Even so, she endured that discomfort and came all the way to Hallim.
All for one person.
Garnet decided to stop wasting time.
The presentation was about to begin.
The conference was being held in an opera house.
Its structure amplified sound and could hold a huge crowd, making it the perfect location.
Garnet entered.
While pretending to search for her seat, her eyes quickly swept across the place.
“There he is.”
The orchestra section, the place closest to the stage.
The first two rows were completely empty, surrounded by his subordinates forming an absolute security perimeter.
Garnet silently spoke his name.
‘Perda Valdrova.’
The first investigation had begun with Hellus Povidas.
She had been hired when that man reported the kidnapping of a little girl.
And while searching for the child, she learned the name Perda Valdrova.
‘The more I investigated, the more interesting he became.’
The simple report that Valdrova had obtained a fiancé had already been shocking.
But when she truly began digging deeper, her interest skyrocketed.
Information from the Far East was updated weekly.
And with every update came astonishing developments.
‘And today he came personally to Hallim.’
Garnet wanted to see him with her own eyes.
And at last she could.
Gray hair similar to hers and an imposing stature.
Although the stylish uniform concealed part of his physique, she immediately sensed that it was not a trained body.
‘At first glance there is nothing particularly special about him, but…’
His aura was different.
She could only see the back of his head and his neck while he sat on the sofa, yet he radiated the dignity of a fifty-year-old man.
A calmness and composure that were not swayed by impulsiveness.
It would not be strange if several women had fallen in love with him.
‘I heard that the rector of Escolea gave him the main stage of this conference.’
The exhibition, especially the main presentation, required years of preparation and rigorous evaluations.
Even the rector himself had competed against other scholars to obtain that main stage.
The fact that he had approved it directly meant he was willing to gamble his own position on it.
‘Lately his influence has grown in a strange way. So he really did have a connection with Regent Perda.’
He is worth investigating thoroughly.
She murmured that to herself and quickly began writing in her notebook.
As a member of the continent’s greatest information network, she also fulfilled her duty.
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
“Huh?”
The moment their gazes met, the employee swallowed nervously.
“Ah! F-forgive me if I offended you!”
But Garnet was actually absorbed in her thoughts.
And even if she had been annoyed, it surely would have been because of the employee’s attitude.
“No, it is fine. Could you tell me where my seat is?”
“Yes! Please allow me to escort you!”
The seat assigned to Garnet was in one of the opera boxes.
It was positioned right in the center and also had a perfect view of Perda, so it was not bad at all.
‘Now all that remains is to wait.’
Because soon she would be able to see with her own eyes just how good Regent Perda’s vision truly was.
***
Meanwhile, Perda was being bombarded with greetings from numerous nobles.
Even though he had completely rented out the expensive front seats and, in theory, no one should have approached him, many deliberately passed in front of him just to introduce themselves.
“It is an honor to meet the consort of the guardian of the Far East. I am the owner of the Okseok Company…”
“Greetings to the great regent of the Far East! As for me, I currently work as a mercenary…”
Not only scholars, but also knights, nobles, and merchants tried to force their names into his attention.
It was the best way to stand out before one of the few influential figures who possessed both power and wealth.
Normally, nobles would directly block the path to avoid situations like this.
One or two people could be tolerated with a smile.
But when dozens lined up, it inevitably became annoying.
Even so, Perda allowed them to do as they pleased.
Because he thought he might see a familiar face.
However, surprisingly, everyone who appeared before him was a complete nobody.
He had wasted his time, though it was not necessarily a bad thing.
After all, he had nothing to do until the conference began.
‘There are so many people.’
According to what Stephan had told him, during the opening presentation the opera house had not even been half full.
But today it was completely packed.
There had even been fights over the tickets.
It was a conference summarizing the most promising and innovative projects among scholars, so nobles and merchants were especially interested.
However, the greatest enemy of that conference was not the nobles or merchants.
But the scholars presenting themselves.
“Pleasure to meet you! I am the scholar…”
— Snoooore.
— Kuuuuh…
Nobles and merchants falling asleep the moment the explanations began.
Even Perda, seated in the honorary box, was fighting against that irresistible drowsiness.
He was beginning to suspect that this was not a conference, but a tournament testing resistance against sleep magic.
“Malcolm.”
“Yes!”
While everyone else was collapsing from exhaustion, Malcolm remained completely awake.
Since he understood nothing, he also did not need to comprehend it.
And because of that, he did not get sleepy.
“When is it Vernell’s turn?”
“I’ll go check! Mmm… after Rector Bernard Wayne’s presentation about the monster appearance prediction device.”
“I see. Lower your voice a little, it echoes perfectly. The presenter is staring at us.”
“Huh? Ah!”
It was a place where scholars presented the achievements they had dedicated their entire lives to, so they were extremely sensitive.
Malcolm realized it too and shut his mouth.
And while Perda listened to those presentations half asleep.
One voice managed to wake him up.
“The object I will present is the [Monster Appearance Prediction Device].”
The voice of the rector of Escolea.
It was his turn.
Perhaps the others thought the same as Perda, because even those who had been dozing opened their eyes again.
“To explain the operating principle of this device in simple terms, when a monster appears, an anomalous mana is momentarily detected in the surrounding air. We analyzed the pattern of that mana, developed an algorithm based on it, and through those formulas obtained the necessary runes…”
But that light in the audience’s eyes quickly faded again.
Because the explanation was so unbearably boring that it felt like sleep magic.
‘By the time Vernell comes out, eighty percent will be asleep.’
Not even Perda, who sponsored him, believed he could endure that explanation disguised as a sleeping spell.
Sorry, Vernell.
Actually no, I am not sorry.
If you do not like it, then you should do better.
“Haha, you all must be getting bored already. My apologies. I am not used to standing on stages like this. I will move quickly to a demonstration instead.”
Even so, as rector, he had good instincts and quickly moved to the demonstration.
The apparatus he brought resembled a metal pillar.
“Basically, this device was designed so that both Magic Walkers and Mana Walkers can use it. You simply inject mana and activate the formula…”
Uuuunng—.
“And then the device begins operating. Haha, now it will be much easier and more entertaining to explain. Good, here you can see this screen. It was designed so that anyone who can read a map may use it. If a monster appears somewhere, a characteristic sound will ring out like beep— beep—”
Beep— beep—.
“Huh? Ah, yes, just like that. Though that does not mean a monster has appeared. Sometimes this happens during startup…”
Beep— beep—.
“Huh? Wait a moment. I am certain this was built exactly according to the blueprints and even passed the tests, so why…?”
Beep—. Beep—.
“Whaaaat?”
Bernard nervously began manipulating the device.
Hitting it here and there while trying to find the malfunction.
Perda knew instinctively.
That was not a malfunction.
“Everyone, prepare yourselves.”
“Huh?”
“They are coming.”
The central point marked on the screen began blinking.
And the candles illuminating the conference hall all started flickering at the same time.
“Huh? What is that?”
“An earthquake?”
People still did not understand the seriousness of the situation.
But among them, those with combat experience immediately reached for their weapons.
The space around the monster appearance prediction device began to crack.
Inside that fissure filled with chaotic colors, something began forcing its way out.
It was the head of a wolf.
No, a monster with the head of a wolf.
Khuoooong!!!
The monster’s roar echoed throughout the entire hall.
“Kyaaaah!”
“AAaaah!!”
Piercing screams and the sound of chairs falling erupted one after another.
The conference descended into absolute chaos the instant the monster suddenly appeared.
Taking advantage of the momentum, the lupine beast began fully emerging from the fissure.
That was when—
“Lightning Spear.”
The very instant Perda finished speaking, the spell he had conjured shot toward the monster emerging from the crack.
A flash that devoured the wavering lights of the chandeliers pierced through the wolf’s head.
Flash!
It pierced straight through from the monster’s brain to its heart.
Green blood burst from its mouth.
It was an instant kill.
Perda looked at the monster and thought.
‘One less.’
Haimiya_cutie.
Body IntegrationAura farming on.