Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss

Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 44

EP.44 Looting

After finishing the looting of survivors and corpses, Jeong-hyeon was about to leave the area when he suddenly noticed a large door made entirely of precious magic stones.

‘A door made of such expensive magic stones…’

There was only one thing this could mean. Smiling, he immediately guessed its purpose.

‘A treasure vault.’

This was likely where the auction items or the gold from the guests were stored. Grinning at the thought of a proper payback, he drew his sword.

‘Let’s see… should I cut here?’

Despite having used an excessive amount of divine power earlier, Jeong-hyeon noticed it had already returned to its original state, causing him to let out a small laugh. The sheer amount of divine power he possessed was astounding, even to him.

‘No wonder the kingdom wanted to use me as a divine power bomb.’

An overwhelming, seemingly endless supply of divine power. Jeong-hyeon thought of it as both a blessing and a curse from the goddess. He quickly dismissed the thought and began channeling divine power into his sword.

Zzzzzing.

As soon as the divine power flowed into the sword, it began vibrating more intensely than usual, the sword aura swirling powerfully around it. Satisfied, Jeong-hyeon realized that his sword aura had evolved to a higher level. With a smile, he swung the sword towards the magic stone door.

Swoosh.

A clean, sharp sound accompanied the effortless slicing of the magic stone door. Jeong-hyeon’s expression filled with satisfaction as he realized how much stronger he had become with just one swing.

‘This is it.’

He had been frustrated for some time, with neither his skills nor his abilities showing any signs of improvement. But now, with this sudden surge in power, he felt invigorated. He reveled in the exhilarating feeling as he retrieved Miria from his subspace pouch and spoke.

“Miria, I need your help.”

“Huh? What? Where…?”

Miria seemed disoriented, noticing how everything around her had changed. With little time left, he called out to her again.

“Grab anything useful or valuable from inside and put it in the subspace pouch.”

“…Huh? Oh, okay.”

Still in a daze, Miria nodded with a slightly dumbfounded expression. Lee Jeong-hyeon chuckled softly at her reaction and urged her on.

“Don’t just stand there, hurry up.”

“Alright, alright. But seriously, what did you do to this building…?”

Miria began to voice her astonishment at the sight of the utterly destroyed surroundings. However, as she entered the vault, her shock quickly turned to delight, and she let out a cry of pure joy.

“Oh my god…! What is all this? This is insane, absolutely insane…!”

After hearing Miria’s excited reaction, Jeong-hyeon grew curious about what was inside and followed her into the room. Inside, it was as if all the treasures of the world had been gathered in one place, with countless riches piled high.

‘…This is truly insane.’

Amidst the piles of wealth, he realized that the least valuable items here were the gold coins. Chuckling to himself, he lightly tapped Miria on the back, who was still in a daze.

“Snap out of it and start grabbing the good stuff, Miria.”

“Oh… okay! But I’ve been wondering, what does ‘Miria-mong’ even mean?”

Jeong-hyeon pretended not to hear her and focused on scanning the surroundings. This wasn’t the time to be joking around with Miria.

‘For now, I need to focus on grabbing the most valuable-looking items.’

The problem was that he had no real ability to distinguish between what was more valuable and what wasn’t, so he decided to just grab anything that looked even remotely valuable. Moving quickly around the room, he began shoving anything that caught his eye into his subspace pouch.

“Unbelievable…! Gold coins are like trash here!”

Miria’s crazed voice echoed from nearby as she continued her frenzied collection. Jeong-hyeon clicked his tongue at her behavior, initially tempted to scold her, but then decided to let her enjoy herself since she had been helping him out.

‘How did she end up like this?’

When they first met, she seemed somewhat normal… then he reconsidered and nodded to himself, realizing she was never really normal to begin with. Shaking his head, Jeong-hyeon refocused on the looting.

Suddenly, he noticed a long, purple-glowing magic stone vault in the distance.

‘If it’s a purple magic stone, then it must be…’

Only the highest quality magic stones, those of the Heart Rate grade, emitted such a color. Realizing that something extraordinary must be hidden inside, he quickly approached the purple vault.

‘Time for some unboxing.’

Jeong-hyeon wondered what could be so valuable that it was hidden in such a secure place. Just as he was about to slash it open with his sword, he felt a powerful wave of mana from a distance.

‘They’re here.’

It was time to leave. Jeong-hyeon called out to Miria, who was still frantically stuffing items into her pockets, and then shoved the entire fan-sized vault into his subspace pouch without bothering to open it.

‘Looks like I’ve gathered everything I need.’

It was time to make a run for it. He grabbed the approaching Miria and quickly stuffed her into the subspace pouch as well.

To leave evidence suggesting the Church’s involvement, Jeong-hyeon deliberately scattered divine power once more before making a swift escape.

***

Esich, the Second Deputy Archmage.

He was the elder brother of Erie, the next head of the L’rusié family, and had entered the central political scene at a young age, marked as the next Grand Mage. Currently, he had been reassigned as the Chief Magic Instructor at the Academy at the request of the Second Princess Karina and to uncover the truth behind his sister Erie’s death. However, due to the critical mistake of the Second Knight Commander, Marpe, his plans had come to a standstill before he could even begin.

Esich had faced many challenges before, but this was the first time he found himself unable to even start his work. Despite coming to uncover the truth behind his sister’s death, the current situation left him feeling helpless and frustrated. Just as he was grappling with this sense of futility, an unexpected and significant issue arose.

“…Esich. I have a request. Could you investigate this recent incident?”

It was a command from the Second Princess Karina. Without any prior information, he could only gauge the severity of the situation from her facial expression. The Second Princess then briefly explained the incident.

“According to the investigator, they found evidence that Marpe had joined hands with the church… no, with Bishop Lea, to carry out a terror attack on the auction house.”

Terror attack?

The unexpected term left him momentarily speechless. More shocking than the terror attack itself was the involvement of Bishop Lea with Marpe.

“…The Knight Commander Marpe with Bishop Lea? What does that mean?”

“Of course, it doesn’t make sense, but the evidence found at the scene is too clear. For a while, all attention will be focused on that.”

Esich bit his lip thoughtfully. He realized he was now entangled in a far more complicated incident than he had anticipated.

“Esich, as you know, Bishop Lea is too cunning and shrewd to engage in a terror attack that offers her no benefit. Marpe, despite his ruined reputation, wouldn’t go this far either.”

Esik agreed completely with this assessment, nodding as he came to the only logical conclusion.

“This suggests that a third party… the real perpetrator, is likely someone else.”

“Exactly. It’s an obvious conclusion if you think about it.”

Obvious as it might be, the investigators wouldn’t listen to the Princess. Overwhelmed by the burdens of post-war reconstruction, coupled with the barrage of complaints from the nobility and the overwhelming evidence presented, the investigators would be pressured to wrap up the matter quickly rather than seek the truth.

‘And in doing so, they will create a scapegoat to take all the blame.’

Once everything was dumped on that scapegoat, the kingdom would turn its gaze elsewhere once again.

‘The problem here is the scapegoat.’

Someone had to take the fall.

‘Knight Commander Marpe is directly under the Second Princess. Regardless of the truth, the blame will naturally fall on her.’

The First Princess, who had been facing issues with the succession, would seize this opportunity to further burden the Second Princess with responsibility and try to bring her down, regardless of the actual truth.

‘If that happens…’

He realized that he would be caught up in this mess, unable to pursue the truth behind the death of his sister, Erie. Everything would sink into the mire, and the case would go unresolved. Therefore, a way to break through this situation was desperately needed.

“Esich, I have a suggestion: how about shifting the blame onto the First Princess and the Church?”

“The First Princess and the church…?”

“Yes. Given the timing, we had just arrived, while the First Princess and the church had already established their positions, making it easier for them to carry out the terror attack.”

Though it was a fallacious argument full of logical gaps, the suggestion wasn’t based solely on this simple opinion. Combining the forces of the First Princess, who had fallen out of the line of succession, and the rapidly rising Second Princess, there seemed to be a sufficient possibility.

‘It might be difficult to implicate the Church, but if we focus solely on the First Princess, it could be possible.’

Esich smiled at this solution and spoke.

“So, we just need to find evidence that implicates the First Princess and the church… No, just the First Princess, since the church is already involved.”

At his words, the Second Princess nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Exactly. I entrust this task to you. Find it—whatever it may be.”

The emphasis on “find it” and “whatever it may be” made it clear to Esich that he was being asked to produce evidence, even if it had to be fabricated. Understanding this unspoken command, he calmly nodded in agreement.

“I will make sure it’s done.”

“Good. As always, I’m counting on you.”

With those final words, Esich bowed respectfully and slowly exited the room.