Chapter 272: Victory is a Side Reward (9)

Nether stared at the book Keter held out.

—Everything About Problem-Solvers

It didn’t just have the same title. It was undoubtedly the book he had written.

The number of pages, the cover, the specifications... It really is the one I wrote seventeen years ago.

Back then, the technology for binding books had been poor, making mass production impossible. As a result, he had produced only ten copies, and all of them had been made by hand.

Nether himself no longer possessed a copy of this book. He had never been attached to it, and rather, he felt ashamed of it.

I was immature and foolish. I can’t believe I wrote down all of my know-hows.

Nether had sought out and burned every copy he could find. He had realized how foolish it was to publicly reveal the ways of a Solver, which was practically his means of living. He burned eight out of the ten copies, but no matter how hard he searched, he had never been able to find the remaining two. Yet, one of them now appeared in Keter’s hands.

Keter looked at Nether, who glared at the book Keter held out in front of him.

I never imagined I would meet Nether. Especially as an enemy.

The claim that he had become a Solver after reading Nether’s book wasn’t a lie. It was the truth.

Originally, Keter had intended to become a mercenary. However, he gave up on that path because of Cork, the branch manager of the mercenary guild, and began searching for an alternative.

At that time, he had coincidentally come across a book called

Everything About Problem-Solvers

. A beggar had been about to throw it into the fire as fuel, and Keter had purchased it from him. Surprisingly enough, the work of a Solver was very similar to that of a mercenary.

“This is practically a lucky version of being a mercenary, isn’t it?”

He was like a mercenary, but not actually one. For Keter, who had dreamed of becoming the Mercenary King, a Solver was the perfect alternative profession.

But if one were to ask if he viewed Nether as a benefactor or a teacher...

Not exactly.

He hadn’t learned from Nether directly, and had taught himself through the book. He could regard the book as his teacher, but Nether himself couldn’t be his master. Therefore, the Nether before him was nothing more than an enemy.

“I never thought I would meet my apprentice here.”

However, Nether referred to Keter as his apprentice and didn’t take the book.

“You coated the cover with luminous paint, didn’t you? It’s colorless and odorless, so it’s hard to notice, but snow is piling up on the book. Why isn’t the snow melting? It’s because it has been coated with something.”

“What a strange man. Why would I coat this with luminous paint? If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve used poison.”

“There are plenty of uses. For example, you could send an assassin who would use the luminous paint as a marker to track me down and kill me.”

Nether took a pair of white gloves out of his pocket, put them on, and took the book. He flipped through the book, then left his signature on the very last page.

“I’m pleased to see traces that the pages were read hundreds of times.”

“I had to read it hundreds of times because your writing was so terrible,” Keter replied casually.

“I do have awful handwriting.”

Nether acknowledged it and returned the book.

However, Keter stopped his hand right before taking it.

“Are you sure it’s fine to use such precious poison on me?”

“

Hm?

” Nether looked puzzled.

But, with a smile, Keter replied, “Those gloves. You pretended you were wearing them so you wouldn’t get luminous paint on your bare hands, but in truth, they’re coated with basilisk venom, aren’t they?”

Basilisk venom. It was a precious poison worth a hundred times more than its weight in gold. It was colorless, odorless, and nonvolatile. Simply touching skin caused poisoning. Even at the moment of poisoning, there were no sensations, and it had a twelve-hour incubation period. Once the incubation period ended, the poison would begin paralyzing the body, causing total paralysis within five minutes and cardiac arrest within ten minutes, killing the victim.

There was an antidote, but taking it after realizing one had been poisoned would be too late. It had to be taken before any symptoms appeared in order to be effective. Because basilisk venom was so troublesome, there was even a joke that if it were easy to obtain, half the world would be dead from cardiac arrest.

“It’s an annoying poison that doesn’t wash off with water—” Keter bent down, grabbed a handful of dirt with his bare hand, and threw it onto the book. “But it can be easily removed by rubbing it with dirt.”

Keter carefully brushed off the remaining dirt on the book and put it back into his pocket. Of course, he hadn’t actually placed it in the pocket. The pocket was connected to the Dimensional Tunnel that linked to Sefira’s storage.

To others, it looked as if they simply exchanged a book, but in reality, Keter and Nether had exchanged hidden techniques.

“Keter. As you know, a Solver has neither allies nor enemies. One neither underestimates nor overestimates any side. That’s why I’m telling you this. Surrender. Sefira cannot defeat Bydent.”

“If someone else had said that, I might not care, but since you’re the one saying it, it’s probably not wrong. You must have analyzed Sefira’s and Bydent’s forces very objectively. But you know, don’t you? A Solver never gives up on?”

“... On a request up until he dies.”

Those were words written in Nether’s book.

“Then may I assume we will proceed that way?”

“Let’s do that.”

Their tone made it sound as though something had been concluded. Without even a handshake, the two turned away from each other and returned to their own camps.

***

Hissop examined the rules for the Family War that Jordic had presented.

1. All rules apply equally to both the Bydent and Sefira families.

2. Civilians cannot participate in the war, nor may they be attacked.

3. Residential areas are excluded from eligible targets of attack...

The clauses that followed were humanitarian rules. Moral regulations that did not favor either family in particular. However, Hissop didn’t skim through them carelessly. He studied them meticulously and discovered a suspicious clause.

22. Superhumans of five-star or higher can only fight in one-on-one duels.

“Lord Jordic, it seems Clause 22 was created with Keter in mind.”

At the Sword of the South Tournament, Keter had shown his might by attacking hundreds of people at once. The clause definitely targeted that ability.

However, Jordic frowned and retorted instead. “How many five-star or higher individuals does Sefira even have? Do you even have more than five? In the Bydent family alone, we have seven Masters. If we include the Masters from allied families, that makes nine. And since we’re on the topic, let me say this. Bydent has six Grandmasters.”

Hissop continued to silently listen to what Jordic had to say.

“No matter how brilliant a strategy may be, it’s useless against Superhumans. Frankly speaking, if the Family War begins and we deploy fifteen Superhumans at once to attack Sefira, how will you defend against them? Sefira has only one Grandmaster at best, and that’s Keter, isn’t it?”

Hissop didn’t bother responding as a means for Jordic to say what he wanted to say.

“You must have felt Clause 22 was created to suppress Keter’s mass-killing ability, and that isn’t wrong. But this is actually for the benefit of both sides. We don’t want unnecessary casualties in battles between Superhumans. Let Superhumans fight Superhumans. That way, pointless slaughter will not occur.”

“If one side runs out of Superhumans, what happens to Clause 22?” Hissop asked.

“In that case, five-star and higher Superhumans simply will not participate in the Family War. Surely you have no objections since this is extremely favorable to Sefira, who has fewer Superhumans, correct?”

Hissop nodded. Everything Jordic said was right. Sefira had few knights of five-star or above, and none who were six-star. Whether Keter was six-star or not was uncertain, but even if he was, Sefira was still overwhelmingly outnumbered by the Superhumans Bydent had prepared.

However, if the Superhumans were forced to fight one-on-one, this numerical disadvantage disappeared. It was a clause that clearly favored Sefira.

When Hissop nodded in acknowledgment, Jordic gave a faint smile and continued to speak.

“Not only Clause 22, but all of the clauses are humanitarian in nature. The Bydent family does not desire unnecessary bloodshed. To be honest, we want the Sefira family to surrender. Then no one has to die. We have no intention of mistreating Sefira. I can swear that we will provide the highest—”

Jordic suddenly stopped speaking as Hissop closed the treaty he had been reading and held it out toward him. Jordic looked at Hissop, asking what this meant. In return, Hissop waved his arm as if urging him to take it back.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

“We will not accept this.”

“Did you dislike Clause 22 that much? So you’re saying you won’t be satisfied unless everyone dies...”

Hissop interrupted. “Do not misunderstand. We have no intention of creating any rules with Bydent.”

Jordic stayed silent and listened to what Hissop had to say.

“Sefira proposes no rules. Let us simply begin the Family War as is.”

Hissop’s firm stance, rejecting even the humanitarian rules, made Jordic’s eyebrow twitch. This was no longer the timid Sefira of the past, no longer the family that had always tried to avoid any contact with Bydent.

“You revere Keter like a god. Do you really believe he alone can protect Sefira?”

“Lord Jordic, does Sefira look that weak to you? Then there is nothing more to say. We will show you in the Family War that Sefira doesn’t rely on Keter.”

“

Hmph!

” Instead of taking the rule document Hissop gave back, Jordic threw it onto the ground and turned away. “Lord Hissop, you’re the one who just killed Sefira’s future.”

“If you intend to threaten me, at least do it without your voice trembling.”

Jordic turned back to glare at Hissop, but Hissop had already vanished with Keter.

Nether approached from behind, having watched the whole thing. “So it’s become an all-out war after all.”

“It’s just as you said. They refused a rule that would have benefited Sefira.”

“They must not be relying solely on Keter. They must be placing their trust in Lord Besil, who entered private training, and the commander of the Order of the Galaxy.”

“Are you saying we could lose if those two return as Grandmasters?”

“I do not know. I have seen dozens of Grandmasters, but I have never seen a Grandmaster who used a bow.”

“Hissop must be confident because of Keter.

Tsk!

”

“It may not be just that. Lord Jordic, do not underestimate Sefira and archery. Archery is not taken lightly in the empire.”

“You just said you’ve never seen a Grandmaster archer, didn’t you?”

“That is how difficult it is to become a Grandmaster through archery. However, Sefira is a family with a history of producing a Prime through archery.”

“A Prime from Sefira?”

Nether had investigated Sefira’s past. Although it had been two hundred years ago, Sefira possessed not only a six-star Grandmaster, but also a seven-star Prime at the time. Though they had all suddenly disappeared one day, Sefira had indeed reached the pinnacle through archery.

“Well, that doesn’t mean we’ll lose.”

“Of course not. We have six Grandmasters.”

Jordic didn’t tell Nether about the Ghost Face Slayer. Even he couldn’t do anything about that existence, after all.

However, Nether already knew about the Ghost Face Slayer and simply pretended not to know.

No matter how great Keter is, he’s not a Prime. I’m also curious whether Keter could defeat a Prime.

Stories of a five-star Master defeating a six-star Grandmaster in a one-on-one fight were extremely rare, but not nonexistent. However, he had never heard of a six-star Grandmaster defeating a seven-star Prime in a one-on-one duel. That was how big of a gap there was between six-stars and seven-stars.

There’s a reason why those below six-stars are called Superhumans, and those at seven-stars and above are called Transcendentals.

A Prime could impose their own will upon the world. One couldn’t understand the effect of that without experiencing it firsthand.

The possibility of Keter defeating a Prime is less than one percent.

Even if, by some trick or by mobilizing all of Sefira’s forces, they managed to bring down the Prime, how would they deal with Bydent’s remaining forces afterward? Nine Masters and six Grandmasters, two thousand soldiers and one hundred knights. Sefira had more soldiers and knights, but that meant nothing when they were overwhelmingly outnumbered in terms of Superhumans.

If Bydent avoided a full-scale battle and instead used a small elite force for guerrilla warfare, Sefira would have no way to stop them.

All Sefira would be able to do is hide in their shell like a turtle and never come out. In that case, Bydent can’t attack easily, but time would still be on Bydent’s side.

Bydent held the advantage in the Family War in many aspects, and the odds of Sefira’s victory were slim. Even so, Nether didn’t feel relieved.

What if Keter defeats the Prime, and then defeats all six Grandmasters as well? And what if he still has strength to spare afterward?

It was an absurd assumption, yet Nether was serious.

I’ve already prepared something in case such an outcome occurs.

Preparing for the most unlikely of unlikely scenarios, that was what a Solver did. Nether prepared for that possibility and was still laying the groundwork even now. If Sefira broke all expectations and won the Family War against Bydent, he had one final move prepared. One that would ensure at least a draw.