CHAPTER 266: THE RESULT OF THE MERGER

The situation was quickly resolved.

There was no immediate way to return Watopia, which had become an island, back to the bottom of the sea. That had become entirely Watopia’s responsibility.

‘It was worth doing good.’

As the Pope’s trust level rose to the maximum, Ethan’s survival probability increased by a whole 2 percent.

‘Thanks to that, I also got two potential points.’

Ethan was planning to invest the 2 points he gained this time in Perfect Evasion.

‘My current evasion probability is 9 percent.’

If he invested two more points, his evasion probability would reach 10 percent. Then, even if he received ten attacks, he would surely be able to evade one.

‘The Pope is certainly the Pope.’

The survival probability that increased while raising the Pope’s trust to the maximum was a whole 2 percent.

‘When I treated Princess Evangeline and met the Emperor, my survival probability increased by 3 percent.’

Just by the Pope’s trust alone, the survival probability increased by 2 percent.

It was an indicator that showed how great of an existence he was.

“Everyone saw it! Your incredible skill! To make the impossible possible, it was truly amazing!”

Following that, the King of Watopia also expressed deep gratitude to Ethan.

“We of Watopia will never forget this debt, Ethan Whiskers. If there’s anything we can do to help, we’ll do it by all means.”

Saying that, the King of Watopia handed over a teardrop-shaped jewel.

“This is a special jewel given to our benefactor. It’s called the Teardrop Jewel, a very precious gem. It’s been passed down through the royal family for generations.”

“Is it really okay to give me something so precious?”

The Teardrop Jewel.

It was an artifact he had never seen before, but just by looking at it, he could tell its value.

‘It’s extremely precious.’

“Because it’s precious, I’m giving it to you. What you’ve done is so great that it can’t be repaid without giving you the most precious of the royal treasures.”

Saying that, the King of Watopia cleared his throat with a “Ahem.”

“Of course, this Teardrop Jewel isn’t the most precious thing.”

As the king gestured slightly behind him, the mermaid princess stepped forward.

Bright red hair.

Beautiful appearance.

The merfolk varied quite a bit in appearance depending on their bloodline, with some having legs and some having fins.

“My daughter is Watopia’s most precious treasure, but she’s still young.”

“I can’t take the most precious thing. I’ll be satisfied with the second most precious Teardrop Jewel.”

When Ethan said this with a smile, the King of Watopia finally laughed cheerfully as if relieved.

***

“Ugh.”

In the underground prison.

The 5th Apostle frowned deeply as he opened his eyes.

“You’re awake?”

“Ethan… Whiskers!”

Grr-!

The 5th Apostle gritted his teeth.

He quickly grasped how the situation had turned out. He had been defeated. Even his thousands of subordinates couldn’t handle that monster-like person.

“Why did you keep me alive?”

“Because I don’t intend to kill you easily. Did you think you could die easily after causing such a commotion?”

Ethan smirked.

“The lives of Watopia’s merfolk. And the lives of Tartaros’ dwarves on top of that. There’s no way I could easily kill you who tried to take over ten thousand lives.”

Saying that, he crouched down in front of the Apostle whose hands were tied.

“But I could give you a chance to die comfortably.”

“…You call that measly thing a chance? I can still…”

“You can’t die, can you? You see, I know too much about you guys.”

Ethan knew about the last resort that all fanatics of the Dawn Council had.

Martyrdom.

They had a kind of poison that allowed them to take their own lives.

Of course, Ethan knew well where they hid this poison.

Not only that, he had found and removed all means for him to take his own lives besides the poison.

“You… what on earth are you!”

Clang.

The 5th Apostle shouted at Ethan, struggling.

“That’s not important. What’s really important is something else. I hope you know this information. So that you can die in peace.”

Ethan said, lowering his voice.

“Sundrake. Where is the will of the Rosicrucian Order now?”

“…!”

The 5th Apostle’s expression hardened. He would have managed his expression under normal circumstances. But Ethan’s question was so shocking that he didn’t have the composure to manage his expression.

“How… did you…”

“You guys know best that I’m suffering from a peculiar Extinction.”

The lower-ranking Apostles might not know, but the higher-ranking ones surely would.

Especially a high-ranking Apostle like the 5th Apostle would definitely know.

“Are you… really Ethan Whiskers? I can’t understand. It doesn’t make any sense with my knowledge. The name of the Rosicrucian Order and even the name of the traitor Sundrake… These are information that even the council executives don’t know. Unless you’re an Apostle… No way!”

The 5th Apostle was shocked.

“An Apostle… betrayed?”

Ethan smiled faintly. Of course, no Apostle had betrayed. Ethan just happened to know a bit too much about the Dawn Council.

The 5th Apostle, despite desperately trying to manage his expression, couldn’t hide his confusion. Seeing this, Ethan smiled inwardly.

‘This is why I kept the 5th Apostle alive.’

This is a very important time for Ethan and the Whiskers family. Unnecessary conflicts shouldn’t arise during this time.

‘So I need to confuse them.’

Ethan slowly stood up.

“You should remember. I’ll be back in an hour.”

Bang-!

As soon as the door of the underground prison closed, the 5th Apostle used his superhuman ability.

“I must inform them.”

He had to inform the Dawn Council of this fact.

***

Whoosh-!

Ethan, who was waiting outside, stretched out his hand and caught a bird made of mana.

“I don’t know how many hidden superhuman abilities he has. This is why Apostles are scary.”

Ethan grinned. He had intentionally shown a gap for the 5th Apostle to send information to the Dawn Council, and as intended, he easily secured the information.

“He wrote quite densely.”

Ethan looked at the parchment written by the 5th Apostle.

The parchment was densely filled with information about Ethan and warnings that there might be a traitor among the Apostles.

“Now, take this with you.”

On one side of the parchment, a special pattern was drawn. This pattern was proof that this letter was directly sent by the 5th Apostle.

‘Originally, it’s not something that can be easily imitated, but.’

In Ethan’s hand was the 5th Apostle’s green jade.

“With this, it’s possible.”

Using the green jade to imitate the unique mana possessed by the 5th Apostle, he drew the 5th Apostle’s pattern on a pre-prepared parchment.

‘I’ve completely removed the content about me.’

“So that I can throw the Dawn Council into confusion.”

It would be difficult to divert attention from this incident with any ordinary matter.

This was a plan entrusted to a high-ranking Apostle, the 5th Apostle. Such a plan not only went awry but completely failed.

Of course, Watopia had risen above the water surface, and Tartaros’ Great Hammer was also severely injured.

But they failed to recover the holy relic, which was the original purpose, and also failed to drive a wedge between the two forces.

‘Thousands of believers also sank to the bottom of the sea.’

Ethan tore up the 5th Apostle’s parchment on the spot. Then he gave the bird a separately prepared parchment.

The content written on the parchment was very simple.

-Internal Apostle betrayed. Information leaked.

Ethan then wrote the most important information.

-Rosicrucian Order, Sundrake.

The Rosicrucian Order, the predecessor of the Dawn Council. And Sundrake, who was one of the leaders of that Rosicrucian Order.

This fact was information that even among the believers inside the Dawn Council, only the high-ranking ones could access.

“It’s fine whether they turn their attention inward or outward. At least they won’t come my way.”

At the center of this incident were Watopia and Tartaros, and the Pope and Ethan.

‘If attention is drawn, it’s likely to go to the kings ruling the two races.’

Or attention might be drawn to the Pope.

‘Either way, it can divert attention from me.’

At the same time, it could also be evidence that the 5th Apostle is still alive.

“But I’m going to kill him.”

It’s not a good judgment to keep the 5th Apostle alive, who uses dangerous abilities like perfect mimicry.

Ethan entered the underground prison again.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done this, so I’m not sure if it’ll go well.”

Ethan cracked his fingers.

“I’m going to hear some bone-cracking sounds.”

***

Crack-. Crack crack-.

The 5th Apostle was certainly a high-ranking Apostle.

Even after being tortured for a while, he endured the pain without making a single groan, so Ethan acknowledged that he wasn’t getting much out of him and took his hands off him.

Ethan’s bone muscle control was one of the powerful torture techniques that crushed and twisted bones and muscles.

When he first taught at Ivecar, Chen Garcia collapsed after just a slight taste of this bone muscle control.

Of course, he went easy on him then, but there was no reason to go easy on the 5th Apostle.

Yet he couldn’t elicit any notable reaction, so it was indeed endurance worthy of a high-ranking Apostle.

Of course, that didn’t mean there was no way.

‘Pain alone isn’t enough to extract information.’

There was only one piece of information Ethan needed.

‘I need to find out where the faction that split off from the Rosicrucian Order is. The ones who gave me the Extinction.’

The 5th Apostle was glaring at Ethan with blazing eyes.

But Ethan could tell.

That he was flustered by the current situation of being captured. And that he was worried about whether sending the parchment had been discovered.

‘He’s pretending like nothing happened.’

Of course, Ethan also sat calmly in the chair in front of the 5th Apostle, pretending not to know anything.

“How did you know? The facts you know, that information that no one but high-ranking insiders could possibly know. Apostles don’t betray. That’s for certain.”

“Is it important how I knew, or how much I know?”

Ethan said.

“Whether you can get out of here alive. That’s the most important issue, isn’t it?”

Ethan, who had been leaning back in his chair, slowly leaned forward.

“Do you think I’ll send you back?”

The 5th Apostle smiled grimly.

“It depends on the information you tell me. If you tell me the information I need now, I might let you live.”

“Ha, do you expect me to believe that?”

“Hahahahahahaha-.”

At those words, Ethan laughed as if it was really funny.

“What are you going to do if you don’t believe me?”

Then he spread his arms.

“What can you do? I’m giving you a chance right now. I have a scenario where I can create a fake corpse with perfect mimicry and help you escape.”

For a moment, the 5th Apostle’s eyes lit up.

“…What are you curious about? What do you want from me?”

“I know that the Dawn Council is a group that split off from the Rosicrucian Order. Where are the believers of the Rosicrucian Order now?”

“……”

After pondering for a moment, the 5th Apostle sighed deeply.

“The Demon Empire. They have a base in the Demon Empire. I don’t know what they’re doing. We don’t pay attention to each other as long as we don’t conflict. Of course, that’s at my level. I don’t know what the higher-ranking Apostles are up to.”

Ethan looked at the 5th Apostle. At that gaze, the 5th Apostle couldn’t help but frown.

He felt like he was being seen through, which made him very uncomfortable.

“Then where is the legacy of the Rosicrucian Order that they left behind in the Dawn Council?”

“The legacy of the Rosicrucian Order? Most of what they left behind is in the Dawn Temple. That Extinction you’re suffering from is also one of those legacies.”

The Dawn Temple was the headquarters of the Dawn Council.

“…But why are you asking about such things?”

“You still don’t understand after coming this far?”

Ethan said with an angry expression.

“No way…?”

“Yes, it’s exactly what you’re thinking. I belong to the Rosicrucian Order.”

As if all the puzzles in his head finally fit together, the 5th Apostle looked at Ethan with surprised eyes.

“Then why, why are you doing this? There’s no need for us to be enemies! Right now, you…”

Ethan didn’t answer and just grinned. But his hand continued to fiddle with the artifact restraining the 5th Apostle.

When the 5th Apostle’s gaze, filled with expectation, followed the artifact, Ethan quietly muttered.

“Why, you ask? I don’t know either.”

“…What do you mean?”

“It’s all a lie.”

“…!”

“Everything, that is.”

“You… you!”

Ethan pulled out the Frost Sword.

“You look desperate. Feel that despair fully. That’s the emotion that those you’ve killed so far have felt.”

Author's Thoughts

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