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

Blood flowed from Brooks’ head where it had hit the stone, soaking the ground.

It was a futile end for an illegitimate child.

“……”

Emilia’s eyes widened at the sight.

Her hand, raised to cover her mouth, was trembling.

“Haa… Haa…”

She panted, unable to scream.

Although Brooks had tried to harm her, she seemed shocked by the death that occurred right before her eyes.

“That… that…”

Emilia muttered in a terror-stricken voice.

I placed my hand on her shoulder.

Her body was shaking violently.

“It’s okay. He brought this upon himself.”

I made her close her eyes so she couldn’t see Brooks’ corpse.

Unlike her, who was shaking severely, I was unfazed.

He had brought it upon himself, and his death was also the result of his own mistake.

It was a death that had nothing to do with me.

While reassuring Emilia, I looked around.

The village was still quiet.

But soon, someone would come out to check the situation.

Before that, there was one thing I had to do.

‘I need more information.’

I approached Brooks’ corpse.

And started searching his pockets.

‘Sometimes I miss the game system.’

If it were a game, a report containing various information would have popped up along with the words’ Leader.’

Speaking of information, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘I wonder if Phantom still exists?’

Phantom.

Come to think of it, Phantom was an organization with a different nature from Black Raven.

The purpose of Phantom was for experimentation.

The game ‘Isekai Conqueror’ had one cruel aspect.

If you raised a character incorrectly, they could die.

How sad would it be if a cherished character died from a moment’s mistake?

For example, if you made them learn skills with conflicting natures, they would clash and explode.

High-talent characters could overcome this and grow, but such cases were extremely rare.

With bad luck, a character could die from a curse on equipped gear.

So, I thought of a way to prevent the sudden deaths of the characters I was raising.

It was to raise separate characters for experimentation.

This was the organization called Phantom, born for experimental purposes.

They were members of Black Raven, but because they were solely for experimental purposes, they were essentially ghost-like entities.

I’m sorry to say this, but the characters belonging to Phantom were nothing more than lab rats.

I conducted various experiments on characters that wouldn’t be much of a loss if they died.

I freely equipped them with cursed items and recklessly performed enhancements with risks of annihilation.

If lucky, they would gain strong powers, but if not, these experimental members would die.

That’s why the members of Phantom were frequently replaced.

If they became strong by breaking through the slim odds, I would have them roam the continent, using them for information gathering.

So Phantom was both an experimental organization and my own independent information-gathering agency.

‘But I can’t manage Phantom now, can I?’

Let’s say Black Raven operates autonomously, even without me, as various agencies are intertwined.

But ‘Phantom’ was different.

Because of its strong experimental nature, I had set up Phantom so that no one but me knew about it.

In the end, it would be fair to say that Phantom was both part of Black Raven and an independent organization.

So is Phantom acting independently now?

“……”

Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine.

Come to think of it, I shouldn’t meet these guys either.

Would they like a Leader who used them as experimental subjects?

Absolutely not.

They might even hate me.

I vowed in my heart never to meet Phantom, along with Celestia.

I was thinking about this while searching the dead Brooks’ pockets.

‘Paper?’

A small note came out of the pocket.

The content written on the note was simple.

‘A mage from the Fire Magic Tower will be dispatched along with the family’s knights.’

The Fire Magic Tower, huh.

Of course, there were Black Raven members there too.

Wasn’t the tower master one of them?

As soon as that thought occurred to me, a smile spread across my face.

‘This might be easier than I thought.’

Luck was on my side.

After organizing my plan briefly, I immediately called up the status window.

[Leader, please give your orders.]

Following the previous one, I issued a second order to Black Raven.

“The master of the Fire Magic Tower is to stay in place and wait for contact.”

[Understood, Leader’s order confirmed.]

After finishing the order, I looked over Brooks’ corpse once more.

“I’ll make good use of the illegitimate child’s position.”

I was planning to enter the Hartwell family in Brooks’ place.

It’s called the cuckoo strategy.

Rather than my current status of having nothing, being an illegitimate child of a noble would be better.

No matter how discriminated against and difficult the life of a noble’s illegitimate child might be, I was both a user who had played the game and the Leader of Black Raven.

“This should be manageable.”

I put the note I had checked back into Brooks’ pocket.

Then I quickly returned to Emilia.

“Emilia, from now on, the village will be in chaos for a while.”

It was an obvious statement.

The village would obviously be turned upside down with the death of a noble’s illegitimate child.

Moreover, knights from the family were scheduled to visit in a few days.

In this situation where Brooks had died, would the knights leave this village alone?

Absolutely not.

“I have a plan, so just trust me and follow along. Understood?”

But I had an ingenious plan to resolve this situation.

Emilia was already in a situation where she trusted and followed me.

“…Okay.”

She nodded and whispered softly.

And a moment later.

“Wh-what’s going on!”

The villagers began to appear one by one.

They must be wondering what was happening as it suddenly became quiet.

People came running, hastily tidying their clothes.

“Lo-Lord Brooks…!”

Someone discovered Brooks’ body and screamed.

The villagers who gathered upon hearing the scream confirmed Brooks’ appearance.

Everyone held their breath as their gaze fell on the blood-stained ground.

The atmosphere was filled with shock and terror.

“Qu-quickly, bring the village chief!”

Several people hurriedly ran towards the village chief’s house.

Emilia grabbed my arm and stepped back. She was trembling all over but couldn’t take her eyes off the scene.

“Oh no! What should we do!”

The villagers began to sob around Brooks’ body.

Some fell into despair, while others examined Brooks’ body with vacant eyes.

They were probably more worried about the village’s future due to this incident rather than being sad about a person’s death.

“What on earth is going on here!”

Soon after, the village chief arrived and checked the scene.

Anyone could see that he had fallen alone while drunk.

If it had been a murder, they could have at least shifted the blame, but there were no such traces.

The village chief, grabbing his trembling beard, shouted at me.

“Quickly tell me what happened!”

In response to the urgent cry, I told everything that had happened.

Of course, I hid the fact that Brooks had tried to rape Emilia and that I had threatened him with a dagger.

There was no benefit in telling that.

“Hah… This is why I said not to drink.”

The village chief, having confirmed that there was no apparent suspicion of me, sat down on the ground and blamed himself.

It seems Brooks had a personality that turned into a dog when he drank.

But what could be done?

Brooks was already dead.

No amount of self-blame now could bring the dead back to life.

The village chief looked up at the dark night sky with a vacant expression.

“……”

He must be feeling devastated.

I understand.

Who would have known he would die from falling alone while drunk?

But even if Brooks died alone, it didn’t remove the village’s responsibility.

The Hartwell family would try to tie responsibility to them somehow.

If the situation is resolved somewhat well, only the village chief will be killed.

If not, everyone in the village, including the chief, would die.

Either way, the village chief couldn’t avoid death.

That was the weight of being responsible for an entire village.

But I slowly approached the village chief.

“Chief.”

The village chief didn’t move.

I extended my hand to the chief.

“What would you say if there’s a way for you to live, Chief?”

The chief looked at me at my words.

After staring at me for a while, he finally spoke.

“Is, is that true?”

I nodded confidently.

Only then did hope of survival appear on the chief’s face.

“I will become the illegitimate child of the Hartwell family.”

And at my following words, the chief was shocked.

*  *  *

Late at night.

The light was still on at the top of the Fire Magic Tower.

It was the office of the tower master, Adeline von Arkanon.

Normally, it would have been long past working hours.

However, she returned after receiving an urgent message.

If it had been related to the tower, she would have just ignored it, but it was Black Raven’s business, so she had no choice.

Moreover, it was a directive sent directly by the vice leader.

“What on earth is going on…”

Adeline wore an anxious expression.

The content of what Ariel, the vice leader, said was simple.

– It’s an order from the Leader. From now on, Adeline, the master of the Fire Magic Tower, should be prepared to carry out the Leader’s orders at any time.

What could this mean?

On the surface, it seemed simple, but in reality, it wasn’t.

For a Black Raven mission, she could just bring along members.

But the Leader mentioned the ‘Fire Magic Tower.’

This meant that there was something related between the Fire Magic Tower and Black Raven.

“……”

Suddenly, her disciple Bella came to mind.

Bella was currently heading to the outskirts of the Hailstone Duchy.

Her destination was a small, nameless village.

There was an illegitimate child of the Hartwell family in that village, and a request had come to check if they were really related.

Adeline had sent Bella to carry out this request.

There was a magic stone mine near the village Bella was heading to.

And currently, Black Raven was investigating such mines.

‘Surely she won’t encounter Black Raven?’

Adeline hoped that Bella and Black Raven wouldn’t clash.

If Bella had been ordinary, she wouldn’t have worried, but because of her very mischievous personality, she was concerned.

If she could have, she would have gone herself.

But if she, the tower master, went directly, there was a risk of drawing attention.

It wasn’t possible to send someone else instead of Bella either.

It was better for Bella, her disciple, to go.

Although Bella wasn’t an official member, she knew about the existence of Black Raven.

And she was the only disciple of herself, a member.

Although Adeline was an ordinary member, as the leader’s direct disciple, her standing within Black Raven was high.

Even if something happened involving Black Raven, there would be a chance to smooth things over.

Adeline hoped for anything but the worst-case scenario.

‘Phantom….’

The Leader’s personal guard, Phantom.

No one knew much about Phantom.

Who belonged to it, what missions they carried out, everything was shrouded in secrecy.

All they knew was that if you weren’t a member of Black Raven, they didn’t leave witnesses alive.

What if the agency investigating the mines was Phantom?

“Surely not…”

For a moment, Adeline felt a chill.

Why did the Leader mention the Fire Magic Tower?

She felt like all the puzzle pieces were coming together.

“The master already knows.”

That a paternity test request had come to the Fire Magic Tower.

And that Bella was heading to the village to carry out that request.

The Leader already knew everything.

And the meaning of the deliberate order was.

“To prepare for any contingency…”

It must be an instruction given out of concern that Bella and Black Raven might clash.

Since the leader gave the order directly, it seemed clear that the agency investigating the mines was ‘Phantom.’

“The master had already figured out Bella’s personality…”

The Hartwell family’s paternity test was conducted in secret.

The only people who knew about this request were herself, the tower master, and Bella.

“As expected, you’re still the same, Master.”

Adeline smiled wryly.

In a way, she had been under surveillance.

But she didn’t feel bad about it. Rather, she felt good.

Because she confirmed that the master was still alive and well.

After finishing her situation assessment, she immediately picked up a pen and started writing something on paper.

It was a letter to Bella.

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

This was content she had warned about several times before Bella left.

The difference was that while before she had simply cautioned to be careful, this time it was a warning that Phantom had really appeared, so be careful.

Adeline imbued the completed letter with magic.

A moment later, the letter transformed itself into the shape of a crane.

She carefully approached the window.

The cold air outside seeped into her skin.

“I hope nothing happens…”

Adeline released the paper crane into the night sky.

The paper crane began to flap its wings gracefully in the darkness.