RotDG Chapter 73: Underworld Investigation, Aftermath

As I had expected, Vorth was much stronger than he should have been as a spectral sentinel. Just like me, he had inherited some of his past life’s capabilities, making him beyond even a Platinum Rank— at least in his Attributes.

There was still a stark difference between a Platinum Rank and a Sapphire Rank due to a variety of reasons. However, one of the deciding factors was the introduction of Power Skills, which were far more potent than an ordinary Skill could ever be.

From Unranked to Platinum Rank, the jump in power was relatively linear. But from Sapphire to Diamond, it was practically exponential.

Of course, that also meant that every Rank Up afterwards became… different. In some senses, more difficult. But not necessarily so either.

Not that any of this mattered right now, other than the fact that I wasn’t going to risk Vorth’s life by making him go up against a Sapphire Rank right now, if the situation arose. Because, very likely, he would die. 

Anyway, I pushed aside those thoughts for now, focusing on the matter at hand as I began my interrogation of Wyll.

“I want to know everything you know about Sonia,” I said as I met his gaze. 

He was kneeling on the ground before me, and he blinked a few times when he heard what I said.

“You mean Sonia Redheart?” he said, evidently in a daze. “So you are one of her friends—”

“Answer the question,” I cut him off as Vorth took a step forward behind me.

Wyll flinched and hurriedly nodded. “She’s the daughter of Natalia Redheart— a Ruby Ranked adventurer! She is currently enrolled in the Holy Academy as—”

“I know that,” I said, crossing my arms. “I’m not asking you to tell me about her biography. Tell me what you know about her father.”

“That’s…” Wyll hesitated when he heard that. 

It looked like he wanted to say something that was probably related to how I was definitely one of her friends. However, I didn’t care, I just wanted answers right now.

Eventually, Wyll just sighed and shook his head. “Look, I promised her that I’d look into her father, and I did. But I couldn’t find much information about him. The most I could find was that he was very likely one of the adventurers in her team when they were Platinums— I don’t know more than that!”

“And you didn’t dig into it further?” I asked, frowning at that.

“I couldn’t, because they were all killed during a mission eighteen years ago,” Wyll said, shaking his head. “The only one who could possibly know who Sonia’s father is is her mother herself!”

“I see…” I nodded slowly, realizing that this was all I was going to get from the information broker.

Sonia probably wasn’t going to be happy about that. However, I upheld my end of the bargain, so she had no choice but to accept the answer I was going to give her tomorrow. 

And while I was technically done here— I could have just taken my leave now— I decided to press Wyll with even more questions.

“Now, tell all there is to know about the Crimson Covenant,” I said, changing the subject.

Wyll hesitated when he heard that. “But if I do that, then the boss will kill me!”

“Either he will kill you, or I will kill you,” I scoffed as I took a step forward, holding up my Lesser Death Dagger dangerously towards his neck.

He gulped, stumbling over his words when he replied. “B-but there is so much— where do I even begin?”

“Start by telling me about Rin— this Prophet of Change I’ve heard so much about.” I tilted my head curiously as I asked the question. “Who is he? And where did he come from?”

I wouldn’t say that I wanted to make an enemy out of Rin, but he piqued my curiosity. After all, he was someone who was open to using not just death magic-related abilities such as blood magic and demon summoning rituals, but he was also searching for the Artifacts of Death.

For someone to be this open to using death magic here in Albus… well, it sounded almost completely suicidal. So why would he be doing all this?

Could he have been someone from my past?

Someone I vaguely knew?

Someone I had saved?

It was also possible that he wasn’t related to me at all. While it was hard for me to fathom the fact that a regular citizen of the Sanctus Empire could have been so open to using death magic so soon after the end of the War of Fate, it wasn’t impossible. After all, Zerek had been one of my closest friends in my past life, and he had been someone to throw his entire life as a noble away in the pursuit of studying necromancy.

Even when he first came to me, I thought he was insane. Because my predecessor, Val the Death God, had gone on a mindless rampage that resulted in the death of millions across all of Parvos.What could have possibly spurred Zerek to have given up his cushy life as a duke’s son to seek me out?

A similar question lingered in my mind now as I pressed Wyll for answers about Rin. Unfortunately for me, it seemed that getting answers was not going to be as easy as I thought.

“The boss just… showed up one day. I don’t know.” Wyll shook his head as he spoke exasperatedly. “Nobody really knows who the Prophet of Change truly is— I don’t even know if Rin is his real name, or a fake name he had come up with.”

“Then what do you know?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“I know that his rise to power has been meteoric,” Wyll said hurriedly, gesticulating wildly. “That he had hardly even been a Gold Rank when he first showed up just about two years ago, but now he’s already become a Sapphire Rank, and he’s well on his way to becoming a Ruby Rank too!”

“Oh?” I raised a brow when I heard that.

That was certainly quite some fast growth— even I found it impressive for an ordinary person to go from Gold to Sapphire in such a short amount of time, especially considering the hurdles that came with Ranking Up at that point. 

However, there was something else that drew my curiosity in what Wyll had said.

“So the Crimson Covenant has been around for two years, and neither the Sanctus Empire nor the Church of Life has put a halt to their activities yet? That is quite odd…” I observed.

Especially considering that the Prophet of Change was not only Sapphire Rank, but was collecting the Artifacts of Death. At the size they would have been a year ago, they should have been crushed with relative ease.

But Wyll just shrugged helplessly in response. “I don’t know— the Church of Life normally doesn’t involve themselves in Albus’s businesses, so that’s to be expected. But I believe Rin has some sort of a connection to the Sanctus Empire. I believe that’s why they have been mostly overlooking his activities...” 

“Some kind of blackmail then?” I asked, placing a hand on the chin of my mask. “Is that why he was searching for more information on the royal family?”

“I’m not sure,” Wyll said as he pursed his lips. “All I know is that the boss specifically wanted me to get any information I could about the third princess. He didn’t give me a reason why, nor did he ask me to find out anything in specific about her.”

I nodded as the information broker gave me his explanation. But I was getting mildly annoyed. So far, this conversation has not been very informative to me. All it had done so far was raise even more questions, rather than giving me any answers.

“And what about the Artifacts of Death?” I pressed Wyll, hoping to at least get something useful out of him. “Why is the Prophet of Change collecting them?”

I was expecting another non-answer from the so-called information broker. But, surprisingly, this time around, he was actually able to give me an explanation.

“That’s because Rin believes in effecting change in this world,” Wyll said as he scratched the back of his head. “Or at least, that’s what he says.”

“What does that mean?” I narrowed my eyes.

“I’m not exactly sure either, but he said something about how he believes that our aversion to death magic is backwards— that if we were to embrace it, we would all learn to benefit from its powers. So the reason he seeks out these Artifacts of Death is to learn from them, since there is nobody within all of Albus who is capable of teaching him death magic.”

Wyll finished his explanation, and I pondered over it for a moment.

Interesting, I thought as I tapped a finger against my mask. The more I heard about this Rin, the less I wanted to be his enemy. At least, as of what I knew of him right now. Perhaps that could change in the future. But he could be a very useful ally for me too…

“That’s really all I know,” Wyll continued, interrupting my thoughts. “Please, can I go now?”

He looked pleadingly at me, and I shook my head. I had one final question for him that he could definitely answer. And it was—

“Why did you even want to join the Crimson Covenant anyway?”

Wyll blinked when he heard that. Then he chuckled nervously, rubbing his hands together. “Well, I am an opportunistic individual, but I have also made some mistakes in my time. Unfortunately, a few months ago, I… accidentally drew the ire of the Sapphire Stalkers

I gave him a flat stare when I heard that, although he couldn’t exactly see it through my mask. “And how exactly did you do that?” 

“Well, a higher-up of the Sapphire Stalkers who goes by the Title of the Black Hand came to me, asking me to get him information on the Crimson Covenant relation with the royal family. I agreed, but I asked to be paid up front, and I wasn’t able to get him what he wanted…” Wyll pursed his lips as he trailed off.

“Seems like you really suck at your job, huh?” I snorted.

And Wyll took offense to that. “Hey— I don’t suck at my job, I’m playing both sides! If I managed to get what Rin wanted, he would protect me. And even if I didn’t, I’d just tell the Sapphire Stalkers that I was carrying out an undercover operation for them and give them the information they wanted. I’d argue that I was being intelligent.”

“Sure, whatever you say,” I dismissed him as I drew back. “Well, you’ve told me everything I wanted to know— or at least, everything that you knew about what I wanted to know. So I’m done here.”

Wyll perked up as he rose to his feet. “That means I can leave now, right?”

I paused, before giving him a silent look. He shuffled his feet nervously as I didn’t respond.

“...right?” he repeated himself.

I just chuckled and turned away from him, before Vorth stepped forward, looming over him. He realized what that meant as he exclaimed, pointing at my back.

“But you promised you wouldn’t kill me! You… you liar!” he practically screamed.

“Well, you see…” I said, not even glancing back at him. “I said I wouldn’t kill you.”

I came to a halt and looked towards my summon as he cracked his knuckles. 

“I never said anything about V killing you.”

“You’re so cruel, master,” Vorth said.

“Indeed,” I agreed as I looked away. “But only when I have to be, and you already know that, don’t you?”

“Of course, and that’s what I like about you,” my summon chuckled as he brought his hands together and raised them over his head like a hammer.

Wyll glanced between us desperately as the realization settled in. “No, no, no! You can’t do this— I can’t die!” 

I heard the crackle of electricity, followed by a flash of light behind me. Wyll screamed as he unleashed an attack straight at Vorth.

“I will not die here—”

And he was promptly cut off as a heavy splattering sound erupted behind me as the ground shook. His screams disappeared into the night, before I heard Vorth’s metallic footsteps approaching me from behind.

“It has been done, master.”

“Good,” I said as I ignored the notification that popped up before me. “Now let’s get out of here.”

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