The Shadow Organization Members Raised Through Pay-To-Win Are Too Strong

I made a decisive move against the mage in front of me.

Would they really listen if I just said I wanted to contact the Tower Master?

No, that’s unlikely.

“Didn’t the Tower Master say anything?”

I had already given orders through the status window.

For the Fire Magic Tower Master to stay in place and wait for orders.

Of course, my orders would have reached the Tower Master’s ears as well.

I thought the Tower Master would have somehow hinted at it to the visiting mage.

“Raven.”

And with the last word, my gambit paid off.

Bella’s expression hardened as she changed her posture.

She immediately began moving her staff and chanting a spell.

“…!”

As soon as the incantation ended, I felt the air vibrate subtly.

All surrounding sounds faded away.

The murmur of people and even the sound of wind all receded.

A strange silence enveloped us as if we were cut off from the world.

“Our conversation won’t be heard by others here.”

Sound barrier.

No, more accurately, the space centered around where I stood was separated from the existing dimension.

It was a higher-grade magic, more difficult to handle than simply blocking sound.

‘Impressive.’

It was one of the exclusive skills of Adeline, the Fire Magic Tower Master.

Judging by Bella’s skill, it seemed the Tower was still going strong.

‘Well, considering who raised her.’

Tower Master, Adeline.

She was in the dealer position even in Black Raven.

She had enough power to be placed in the High Council without seeming out of place.

With such a being managing the Tower, this much was to be expected.

As I was lost in thought for a moment, Bella continued speaking.

“Seeing that you know my m-master, did you really come from Raven?”

Bella’s demeanor had suddenly become respectful.

The tone of her speech had changed as well.

Raven is a term referring to Black Raven.

It was sometimes called that since the representative symbol of the Black Raven is a raven.

‘But master?’

Bella referred to the Tower Master as her master.

It was unexpected, so I inadvertently muttered,

“I can’t believe Adeline would take on a disciple. How unexpected.”

Adeline was a character who was very greedy for magic.

So I thought she wouldn’t raise a disciple separately, but it was really unexpected.

Bella seemed even more convinced by my words.

“Are you perhaps from the High Council?”

As Adeline’s disciple, the conversation moved quickly.

Her voice trembled as I casually called the Tower Master by name.

‘High Council…’

Well, it’s natural to misunderstand like that in the current situation.

Knowing this much, it seemed likely that Bella was also affiliated with Black Raven.

Not just knowing, but also aware of the fact that there are several organizations within.

‘A member?’

Right away, her master, the Tower Master, is a member of Black Raven.

There’s no way she’s not related.

But Bella wasn’t a character in my memories.

She’s probably a new character who entered while I was gone.

In any case, since the other person knows Black Raven well, it would be counterproductive to speak carelessly.

‘I shouldn’t mention the High Council…’

The High Council is the highest organization composed of a small number.

It was obvious that pretending to be from there would be quickly exposed.

Moreover, I didn’t even know exactly which organization the other person belonged to.

‘Well, I prepared for times like this.’

I hadn’t just been playing around in the village.

I had prepared for each type of mage who might inspect me and ran simulations in my head.

If the dispatched mage wasn’t related to Black Raven, I was planning to somehow contact them by mentioning the Tower Master’s name.

Or, like now, when it seemed directly related to Black Raven, I planned to mention knowledge only known to the leader.

A moderate level of shallow knowledge wouldn’t do.

Information that only the leader can access, while members only know of its existence.

And there was one piece of definite information that fit this.

‘An organization only I know about.’

An organization solely for experiments, hidden so that no one except the leader could know of its existence.

I mentioned its name.

“Phantom.”

Bella’s face was filled with shock.

*  *  *

Before arriving at the village, Bella was bored.

“How tedious.”

She had to head to a village on the outskirts, not even in the Hailstone Duchy.

It was bound to take a long time.

Moreover, this request was known only to her master Adeline and herself. No other mage affiliated with the Tower accompanied her.

So Bella traveled in a carriage owned by the Hartwell family, not the Tower.

Since she wasn’t interacting with the knights, Bella quietly passed the time.

Still, it wasn’t entirely boring.

‘Black Raven.’

A letter sent by her master had arrived the night before.

How urgent must the content have been for her to send a letter by magic?

The content of the letter was brief.

– Ravens have appeared. Be cautious. Do not doubt under any circumstances.

It meant that Black Raven was active.

It was a story she had heard ad nauseam before departing to carry out the request.

‘I might even get to meet them if I do well.’

Rather than worry, Bella smiled with anticipation.

She had heard a lot about Black Raven through her master Adeline, but Bella wasn’t an affiliated member.

So there was a strange excitement.

Above all, the phrase written at the end of the letter stimulated her curiosity.

‘Do not doubt under any circumstances.’

Talking to this extent, it seems that someone high up in Black Raven must be active.

Maybe even the Phantom she was warned to be most cautious about might be there.

‘I’m looking forward to it.’

But Bella had no intention of following her master’s caution.

She was confident in her own magical abilities.

As the only disciple of Adeline, who had reached the level of an archmage, Bella herself was a mage who excelled in magic.

She had reached 3-star at a young age and was now even looking at 4-star, being called a genius.

Some were calling her the next Tower Master.

‘I wonder how strong they are.’

Of course, she didn’t think she could win.

If her master was so alarmed as to warn her, they must be incredibly skilled.

Still, Bella thought that with her magic, she might be able to find out if the other person was affiliated with Black Raven.

Above all, she was hoping to gain insight through meeting a strong person.

If she was lucky, she might even be able to raise her magic skills one more level.

She was confident until she saw the boy upon arriving at the village.

She certainly had been.

“……”

But now her face was filled with shock.

Her hands were even trembling slightly.

‘W-why Phantom…’

Originally, the boy was supposed to be the subject of the request.

An illegitimate child of the Hartwell family.

And it was a simple request to check if he was their child.

But the boy mentioned Phantom.

Bella inadvertently flinched when the word ‘Phantom’ came out of the boy’s mouth.

It was the ingrained fear that the word gave.

But the boy’s expression was still indifferent.

That indifference seemed to see right through her, which was frightening.

‘I certainly couldn’t feel any energy…!’

Phantom was the leader’s personal guard, which her master had warned about.

The problem was that she couldn’t sense any energy from the boy.

Not even aura, let alone mana, could be detected.

It seemed like he could be knocked down if she threw magic right now.

If he hadn’t mentioned Phantom, she would have been suspicious to that extent.

However, Bella remembered what her master had cautioned.

The warning not to doubt.

Thinking about that warning again, she changed her perspective.

The boy in front of her was clearly more skilled than her.

‘To hide his energy this cleanly.’

He was undoubtedly an extraordinary being who could control his power at will.

In a way, isn’t it because of such skills that he could belong to the leader’s personal guard?

His appearance was the same.

He would be considered handsome if dressed up, but the boy’s current appearance was close to ordinary.

He didn’t show any signs of being extraordinary.

Who would think that being was Black Raven’s Phantom?

“……”

Bella took a short breath and pulled out a magic tool.

Even if the conversation here wasn’t heard outside, staying too long would easily raise suspicion.

“This magic tool can confirm if you are of Hartwell family bloodline.”

Mentioning the magic tool was to find out the other’s intentions.

Bella wasn’t foolish enough to think that this boy was really an illegitimate child.

She didn’t know why, but she knew at least that Black Raven was targeting the Hartwell Count family right now.

“……”

As expected, the boy looked at the magic tool without saying anything.

And he left only one word.

“Ethan.”

“Pardon?”

“My name is Ethan.”

The boy introduced himself as Ethan.

Originally, the name of the illegitimate child she knew was Brooks.

With this conversation, Bella confirmed once again that her guess was correct.

For some reason, Black Raven was planning to infiltrate disguised as an illegitimate child of the Hartwell family.

Then what happened to the real Brooks?

There was no need to think about it or be curious.

The atmosphere had just improved, and excessive curiosity would shorten one’s life.

“I’ll take care of the name part. And there’s one more person coming with me.”

Ethan’s tone was arrogant.

Even so, Bella couldn’t point that out.

It was because the other person was Black Raven’s Phantom.

As someone belonging to the leader’s personal guard, there was no option to refuse.

If there was any consolation, it was that she could handle the name issue on her own.

In fact, it was easy to report that Brooks was an alias and that Ethan was the real name.

It wasn’t strange to have multiple names since he lived as a commoner, not a nobleman.

“Understood, Sir Ethan. Don’t worry about the name. I’ll take care of the magic tool as well.”

Bella spoke politely.

And she infused magic into the magic tool she was holding.

Even if it wasn’t the blood of the real illegitimate child, it would indicate that it was of the Hartwell family bloodline.

Then Ethan took out a small dagger from his bosom.

He slightly cut the tip of his finger and dropped a drop of blood on the magic tool.

The magic tool that absorbed the blood emitted a white light.

It was a reaction indicating that it was indeed of the Hartwell family bloodline.

Now, all confirmation was complete.

“Then I will dispel the magic.”

Bella dispelled the magic surrounding them.

The knights who had already confirmed that the white light had flowed out bowed their heads.

From now on, Ethan officially became a member of the Hartwell family.

*  *  *

At the same time.

The investigation team from the Hailstone Duchy arrived at the entrance of the underground mine.

They slowly stepped into the mine, holding torches that dimly shone in the darkness.

But the scene they witnessed was more horrific than imagined.

Strewn corpses, floors and walls stained with blood. It was a terrible sight as if something had torn everything to shreds.

The investigation team began to carefully examine the interior of the mine and investigate the traces.

“Could this really be a monster wave?”

One investigator muttered with doubt.

All the other magic stone mines had already been attacked.

And this was the last one, but there was one peculiar point.

“There are quite a few survivors for it to be a monster wave.”

A woman in a black robe spoke among the investigators.

As the woman said, this mine had one difference from the other mines.

The fact that children survived.

And quite a number of them at that.

If you include the children who have already escaped, the number would be even higher.

That meant it wasn’t a monster wave.

If monsters had swept through, everyone would have died.

The woman looked around.

Why did only this mine have survivors?

As if that weren’t enough, one precautionary measure had been set up in this mine due to the recent continuous attacks.

Seeing that it died, it was useless, but wouldn’t it have had some effect?

Just as she was about to examine the surrounding traces to satisfy her curiosity.

“……”

The woman’s movement stopped.

The murmuring voices all stopped.

The investigation team that had been moving busily was the same.

As if time had stopped, they were frozen in place without moving.

Two unknown beings appeared in the interior of the mine where only silence prevailed.

They were wearing red and black masks, respectively.

The two masked beings looked around quietly and began to converse.

“It seems Celestia’s hounds have been unleashed,”

The red mask spoke first.

To this, the black mask replied firmly.

“Unsealing, no word from Leader. This is the High Council’s independent action.”

Both wore masks, so their identities were unknown, but their voices were clearly distinguishable.

While the red mask had a voice closer to neutral, the black mask had a deep bass voice.

The two continued to walk slowly through the interior of the mine.

The red mask picked up a corpse lying on the floor.

After examining it once, they licked the blood while laughing maniacally.

“Perhaps the leader gave the order.”

The black mask nodded at the words of the red mask, who was licking blood and laughing bizarrely.

“Leader’s return. Our Phantom, need to start activities.”

The black mask spoke briefly and watched the red mask’s actions.

“……”

The red mask, who had been licking blood for a while, approached one of the investigators.

It was a woman in a black robe.

Then, they put their hand on the woman’s shoulder.

Blood dripped from the red mask’s hand and instantly took form and pounced on the investigator.

That thing made of blood bit and swallowed the woman.

“Who would have thought there’d be a dark mage among the investigators.”

“Leader’s wisdom. Need to exterminate the duchy.”

But the black mask’s words were too hasty.

They were beings that moved only by the leader’s orders.

The leader’s order hadn’t come down yet.

The red mask answered with a meaningful smile.

“The leader must have a separate plan. We just need to act quietly like now.”

“Agree. Leader, bestowed power upon us. Need absolute loyalty.”

The two looked at the remaining investigators.

There was no additional sense of dark magic.

While looking around for a long time, the red mask raised its head and looked toward the mine entrance.

“Oh my, someone is coming here.”

The black mask answered without moving.

“That being, confirmed as Walter.”

At the mention of Walter, the red mask nodded.

“Well then, shall we take our leave? Since it’s something the High Council did, they’ll take care of it themselves.”

“Agree.”

With cold and eerie smiles, the two beings disappeared into the darkness.

As they disappeared, time in the mine began to flow again.