Book Eater

Chapter 64: Slaver Raiding Mission (1)

With that, the deal was sealed. Vince still looked disgruntled, but he wrote down his part of the agreement. He would help Canis move and give him a new identity. Since a Superior ranked magician was equivalent to a senior nobleman in status, Canis now had an unquestionably strong backer.

After they had both signed the contract, Canis got up with a satisfied expression. “Okay, wait here a bit. It will take some time, so I’ll probably be back when the sun goes down.”

Vince asked, “Do you intend to start immediately?”

Canis nodded. “Isn’t time running out? From now on, your job is my job. If I fail, then I won’t gain anything either. Rest assured, I’ll be back after working diligently.”

Canis took his leave immediately, moving with a newfound vigor. Theo figured he was feeling good after securing his life and future. The two magicians were a little surprised at his alacrity, but they soon started scanning the room around them.

Everything around them was an artifact.

“Take as much as you want? He’s going to regret saying that.” Vince laughed.

Canis would have never imagined Theo could take everything in the store. There were plenty of artifacts that were too big to store in a dimension pocket, but could be easily eaten by Gluttony. The artifacts weren’t particularly valuable, but there was a certain advantage in quantity.

Theo walked over to the shelf that held all the defective goods and raised his left hand. “Let’s start. Gluttony, eat.”

Unlike genuine products, a defective product was useless. Their only value lay in the magic power they would give. Gluttony’s tongue swept the shelves clean with a single swipe.

Woorururu…

Everything disappeared into Theo’s left hand, regardless of size. Theo heard dozens of statements start to echo in his head before they were cut off.

[......]

[It will take approximately thirty-one minutes and fourteen seconds to fully digest.]

The release of the 3rd seal had improved Gluttony’s abilities. Digestion that would have taken over an hour had been reduced to nearly thirty minutes. This made it easy to consume the artifacts piled up on the store shelves.

Vince whistled in admiration as Theo stood before an empty shelf. “... It really is amazing when I think about it. Converting an artifact into the user’s magic power is a really interesting feature.”

“To be honest, I don’t know what principle it’s using.” Theo admitted.

Vince chuckled. “If you find out, then humanity’s prowess in magic will advance a few steps.”

Vince was correct. Modern humans had never seriously studied grimoires, especially how it worked and the reason they existed. This wasn’t a problem for the two of them to worry about.

Theodore walked past the empty shelf to another corner filled with artifacts. It seemed Gluttony would be fed to satiety today.

***

Canis returned around four hours later as the sun was setting. The exhausted expression on his face gave way to astonishment as he walked in. The shelves of his store were now completely bare.

Canis looked around the empty store several times before clicking his tongue. “Huh… I told you to take what you wanted, but I didn’t think you would sweep them all away. How terrible.”

Theo hid a grin. “I wasn’t allowed to?”

“No, I did say you could. In any case, I can’t bring anything here with me when I leave Bergen. They aren’t my things, so consider this as a big advance payment.”

Canis pretended to grumble, but Theo wasn’t deceived. He had seen firsthand how clever Canis was when he’d made a deal with Vince. Canis probably had another stash of goods that he could readily convert to cash, so he had abandoned everything he’d left in the store. Theo felt no remorse about sweeping it all up.

Canis shrugged as he took a seat in front of them. He took out a handkerchief sized cloth and placed it on the table. It was marked with curved and straight lines, but it didn’t make any sort of picture.

“A map?” Theo asked.

Canis smiled and nodded. “I can’t read it, but you should be different. Now that you’ve looked at the picture, what do you think? Can you understand it?”

Vince replied, “Yes, this much is enough.”

As Vince and Theo examined the map, Canis dipped a pen into a jar of red ink. Then he started to write something in one corner.

“I'm sorry, but I couldn’t personally confirm the slaves. They’re working with my organization, but the guys from Austen are thorough. The boss and some executives offered a few slaves, but they didn’t bite."

Vince frowned. “You couldn’t dig deeper?”

Canis smirked. “... I stroked their ego, so yes. The patrols are easily avoided, but the guards were the real deal. I didn’t see any gaps in their abilities and the security they set up.”

Theodore’s and Vince’s expressions turned grim. They had easily spotted Canis, but they had already been vigilant. If they had been casually walking around Bergen, they may not have noticed Canis following them. However, Shackler’s people had immediately noticed Canis? That was rather strange.

“Now, this is how they set themselves up.” Canis pointed to the map as he explained, “There are two barracks installed on the outskirts of the camp, with guards around the prison barracks containing a total of four slaves. Their positions don’t change, and they don’t leave. As I said before, the four guards standing at the entrance to the barracks are at a higher level than the patrols. In particular, there are ten people surrounding the large barracks.”

Vince asked, “Do you know the interval and number of patrols?”

Canis nodded. “I drew it on the map. The interval is one to one and a half hours, and they patrol in pairs, with an average of five patrols running at one time.”

Vince looked at Canis with new eyes. He had thought Canis was just a rat, but this much ability could easily land him a job as a military intelligence agent. Maybe he was someone who had left that world. If this information was correct, it was worth the price he’d paid in advance.

Vince asked, “Theo, what do you think?”

Theo was examining the map closely. “... We should strike from two directions. If we don’t surround them, then they may escape with the slaves. So Master, I should save the four slaves on the outskirts first.”

Vince nodded. “That is true. Should we strike tonight?”

Theo agreed, “Yes, I think so as well.”

Canis’ information would only degrade in value if they let time pass. It was best to hunt their quarry tonight. Since they had enough power, they could choose the most efficient path and break through the front.

Canis, who had been listening to them talk, interrupted, “Wait a minute, I’m not done.”

“There is still more?” Vince glanced at him with a strange expression.

They had only asked Canis to find the patrol route, number and position of the guards and where the slaves were being held. Vince hadn’t expected that a thief from the dark side of the world would do more. However, Canis dipped his thumb in red ink and stamped a point on the map.

***

Whoooooo...

A cold, strong wind blew through the densely populated city of Bergen. Theo was hiding in the bushes a few meters away from the barracks that the slaves were being held in, so grass and twigs tickled his skin.

Rustle!

He looked down at the cloth in his hand and went over the strategy he had formed with Vince. Theo would discreetly free the four slaves from the two barracks on the outskirts and leave with them. Meanwhile, Canis had been sent away with Veronica’s certificate to gather the lord’s army.

Theo remembered something else.

Is this my first time killing a person?

That boat might have already sailed when Theo cut down hundreds of monsters and undead at the Miller Barony. But in truth, he had never killed a living human. Therefore, this battle would involve his first murder. Theo wasn’t sure what he was feeling. He looked at his own hands with a critical eye.

He murmured quietly. “... Murder.”

His hands weren’t trembling at all. Rather, they seemed eager to aim at a target. Alfred’s experiences and memories had sharpened his nerves. Theo was ready to kill at any time. It was no different from being a living weapon.

Someone who killed one person was a murderer, but someone who killed a thousand people was a hero. As the saying went, every hero was forced to become accustomed to carrying the weight of the blood they shed. Alfred was no exception, and Theo, who had received his memories, was no different.

It only made things easier that his opponents were trash who considered living beings commodities, so they deserved to die. The fact that there was no hesitation in Theo’s fingers might be natural.

At that moment, a red light shone from far away.

The signal.

Only someone who was using Mana Force would be able to see that light, the signal Vince and Theo had agreed on. At that moment, two men on patrol appeared near the bush where Theo was hiding.

“￥CGG?C?”

“??￥℃￡!”

They were dark-skinned, and they spoke a language which Theo couldn’t understand. They carried shamshirs on their waists, marking them as warriors of Austen. These two men were the trash from Shackler. Their balanced gait and firm arm muscles underneath folded sleeves showed that they were warriors. As they passed by Theo’s bush, he struck.

Piing-

Theo’s Magic Bullet passed through one of the guard’s spines and out his side without making a noise.

“￥...?￡?C.”

The other warrior walked two steps forward before realizing his colleague wasn’t with him, but as he was turning, Theo’s hand slammed into his neck.

Bakak.

Theo was empowered by Battle Song, so the warrior’s neck was broken instantly. The two bodies landed on the ground at the same time. Theo hid the two bodies roughly in the bush and glanced at his hands again. They weren’t shaking at all.

... Time to go.

Theo ignored the fact that he didn’t feel anything and headed for the barracks without any hesitation.