Disciple of Immortal

I ran toward Greed's mansion to pick Philia up, but the situation in the city was highly unusual.

I heard human-like screams coming from the direction ahead of me.

Just as I was pondering what had happened, I saw explosions far in the distance.

This was clearly no trivial matter.

「Right in the middle of the city… Could it be that something happened at Greed's mansion?」

The first thought that came to mind was Philia.

Philia might have overreacted if one of Greed's subordinates treated her roughly. In that case, she could easily turn Greed's mansion into a vacant lot.

If that were true, things would become very complicated.

「H-HYAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I-I DON'T KNOWWW! I DON'T KNOOOOOOOOOOOOW!」

A man came running toward me—no, more like he was fleeing the city.

That man was none other than Mel's mortal enemy, Wontz.

His usually well-kept attire and hair were in complete disarray, a testament to his panic.

「O-OUT OF MY WAY, SHITTY BRAT!」

Wontz reached out to shove me aside. I caught his hand, circled behind him, twisted his arm, and pinned him to the ground.

With that, Wontz was firmly shoved into the dirt.

「ARGH!?」

「What happened in this city? Don’t you have a bodyguard? I guess he abandoned you to save himself.」

「I-Is that the attitude of someone asking for informati–! Y-You are… the collaborator of that Mel!」

「You leave me no choice.」

「Anyhow, let me go! Are you planning to catch me!? I'm telling you… I don’t know anything at all!」

It seemed he was genuinely confused.

「… I just want to know what’s happening. Explain, and I’ll let you go.」

「J-Just as the kingdom knights came to apprehend Greed-sama, a horde of golems suddenly emerged from the Dark Ward and the city center… and started attacking the knights and anyone nearby!」

Wontz blurted out his story in one breath.

「Greed… attacking the kingdom knights?」

The female merchant, Isabella, had told us the kingdom knights had been keeping an eye on Greed due to his research into black magic in the Dark Ward, and they might move to arrest him soon.

Yet Greed struck first.

「Picking a fight with the kingdom… That’s insane.」

I was at a loss for words.

「That’s why I’m fleeing this city! Otherwise, I’ll either get trampled by the golems or be mistaken as one of Greed-sama’s collaborators by the knights! If I’m lucky, they’ll only arrest me, but they might kill me on the spot! I knew that old man had lost his mind, but I had no idea he’d rebel against the kingdom! I swear I didn’t know!」

Wontz screamed, his voice trembling.

He curled up on the ground, bawling like a child.

「Even if I leave Polorock, the bandits and monsters in this area might attack me. This region, with all its merchants, has always been under the eyes of bandits, and the Dark Ward made things even worse. Now with this chaos, I don’t know who to trust… But I can’t ask anyone from the Dark Ward for help. They’re behind this too! And I’ve got nothing to pay them with anyway. Why should I trust them after seeing those golems?」

Wontz pounded the ground with his fists, venting his frustration.

「Well, that’s not exactly what I was asking, but—」

「Even if I took a carriage, everyone would see me as one of Greed-sama’s lackeys. Why didn’t he tell me anything? If I’d known it’d come to this, I’d have gathered all the assets, converted them into gold, and run to side with the kingdom knights!」

「… Could they have foreseen this situation?」

「That old fa*rt shouldn’t drag us young folks into his lunacy! Even Jude, the person I relied on the most, abandoned me! What am I supposed to do now?!」

Wontz grabbed my shoulders, shaking me as he shouted.

「Wait a second, let go of me! I don’t care if you want to run, just go wherever you want!」

I had the gist of the situation.

Greed, who had ruled Polorock as its absolute master, wasn’t satisfied and tried to challenge the kingdom by instigating a riot against the kingdom knights.

「Where am I supposed to run to? I have nowhere to go! Tell me a safe place! If it weren’t for that money game with that girl, Greed-sama wouldn’t have dragged me into this! All my assets were taken, and now I have nothing left! Hahahaha, even that foxy Isabella made a mistake! Take that, you bi*tch!」

「… What’s wrong with him?」

Wontz was cornered and had gone deranged.

This wasn’t the time to waste energy on someone like him.

Of all things, Greed had made his move after taking Philia to his mansion.

No, wait. Could he have taken advantage of Philia’s innocence to orchestrate this chaos?

Dammit, stay safe until I get there, Philia.

Greed, the lord of this commercial city, had deep ties to the underworld.

He must have hired a few S-rank adventurers to protect him.

The reason he acted now was because he believed he could win.

「… Thanks for the information, by the way.」

After saying that, I let go of Wontz and headed straight for Greed’s mansion.

「What am I supposed to do now?! I gave up my conscience and sacrificed everything to rise in Polorock! Now my stronghold is in ruins… Someone, please tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! At this rate, I’ll have nothing leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeft!」

Wontz’s wails echoed behind me.

「… If you regret your past actions, survive this mess, change your ways, and start over from scratch. That’s better than nothing.」

I stopped for a moment and turned around to say those words to Wontz.

「My way… of life?」

I didn’t stick around to hear his reply and rushed forward again.

I had no time to spare for someone like him.

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