Mastermind
Copyright© 2026 by FantasyTranslater
Chapter 47
Crash-!
Both of Sergius’ hands were shattered as if crushed by an invisible force, and a horrendous scream burst from his mouth.
“Aaaagh!”
It wasn’t just his hands. His arms, shoulders, and legs were mangled as if crushed by a press.
A chilling scream echoed throughout Yutia’s mansion. But Yutia, watching this gruesome scene, simply spoke with a calm expression, as if passing judgment on Sergius, whose body was now completely broken.
“Screaming like that won’t bring anyone to save you.”
“S-Save me ... please!”
Sergius, his face full of terror, cried out to Yutia, who was watching him in the red world. Already suffering from unbearable pain, bodily fluids leaked from his eyes, nose, and mouth. His dignity as a cardinal was long forgotten; all he could do was scream, desperate to escape the agony.
“What are you talking about?” Yutia, seemingly puzzled, locked eyes with Sergius, who was writhing on the ground, and opened her mouth again.
“Obviously, you’re not going to die, right?”
As she spoke, a white light began to emanate from Yutia’s hand. The powerful divine energy quickly started to heal Sergius’ body, but—
“No! No, stop!!”
Sergius screamed even louder as he watched his body begin to heal. Then, the moment his body was fully restored—
“Gah...!”
Sergius, filled with terror, looked up at Yutia, his whole body trembling. He was a pitiful sight, far removed from the dignity of a cardinal of Rosario.
The fear from the repeated excruciating pain had already eaten away at what little remained of his dignity and faith. Even though he had suffered this torment countless times, he still couldn’t comprehend the situation. The holy knights who never came, no matter how much he screamed. The pressure that kept him from moving his body as he wished. The way his body twisted like paper with a mere gesture from her.
None of it made any sense. It was as if everything was incomprehensible.
And so—
“Save me ... please ... save me...”
He simply begged for mercy. Even though he didn’t fully understand why he was being subjected to such horrors, he pleaded for forgiveness, as if asking for absolution from a god.
However—
Crrrrunch~!!
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Contrary to Sergius’ desperate hope, his body began to slowly compress once more. His ears ringing with his own mad screams, he heard Yutia’s voice.
“I keep telling you, you’re not going to die. You still have something to do.”
Her voice was sweet to anyone’s ears.
“But—”
Soft, yet—
“You’ll have to atone for the crime of trying to harm Him.”
Her voice sent chills down his spine.
“Aaaaagh!!!!”
Sergius’ screams echoed once again.
It had been about a month since Alon returned to the Count’s estate. He had spent the time recovering from the weariness of his long desert journey, while also investigating the source of the “Abyssal Entity” that wasn’t supposed to have appeared yet, along with signs of foreign threats he had heard from “It.” Now, Alon was preparing to leave the estate once again.
There were two reasons for his departure. One was to attend the magic conference, to which he had been invited by Liyan Aguileras, the daughter of the Red Tower’s lord. The other was to make an appearance at a social gathering before the conference.
Social gathering.
In truth, it was more accurate to call it a noble’s social event rather than a grandiose term like “gathering.” The nobles were just getting together to strengthen their friendships.
The only slightly unique aspect was that unlike typical noble gatherings, this one allowed participation from renowned non-nobles.
‘I really don’t want to go.’
Alon smacked his lips as he thought about it. But even so, the reason he felt compelled to attend the gathering before the magic conference was that, as the head of Kalpha, he needed to maintain some degree of decorum.
Whether he liked it or not, he was already the leader of Kalpha.
Of course, that didn’t mean he was forcing himself to do things he truly didn’t want to do.
Up until the middle of the process, he was full of thoughts about having to do things against his will, but that changed completely because of a single letter that came to Alon.
“Hoo—”
Alon looked at the magical letter that brightened his mood just by looking at it. It wasn’t enchanted or anything; it was simply a letter stating that Alon had become the legitimate leader of a faction, along with details about the regular payments he would now receive.
“Impressive.”
The amount of money mentioned in the letter, which a faction leader could legally receive, was far beyond his imagination. It was enough for him to finally understand why the leaders of the two factions he couldn’t comprehend before had held onto their positions so stubbornly for years without stepping down.
‘At this rate, I could go through all kinds of hell every day and still hang on.’
Alon wondered how the faction’s structure worked to generate so much money. But setting aside that curiosity, he felt satisfied once again, imagining the money that would come in the future. Just as he tucked the letter into his coat, feeling content with this financial relief—
“Count, isn’t that the letter you received two weeks ago?”
“It is.”
“And you’re still carrying it around?”
“It puts me at ease.”
At this unexpected answer, Evan looked at him with a strange expression.
“Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if you’re being serious or not, Count.”
“Well, I’m neither particularly serious nor not serious.”
At that, Evan shrugged and changed the topic.
“Now that I think about it, I heard some interesting stories while we were staying in the village yesterday.”
“Interesting stories?”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.