CHAPTER 42: COLLECTING THE LOOT

After twenty minutes of torture, Arthur stared at the messenger, whose body and face were covered in bloody wounds. The messenger’s eyes were unfocused, barely clinging to consciousness. His body trembled uncontrollably, and with the last remnants of his strength, he muttered and cursed.

"You’re a fake... a fake... just a fake, how?"

"You’ll die... they’ll avenge me... you’re just a fake..."

"You’ll die, just wait until the real Arvan comes."

Arthur continued staring at him in silence for a moment, listening to his mutterings with a trace of sorrow. In the end, he sighed.

"Torturing you wasn’t easy for someone like me... don’t worry. I’ll end your suffering now."

Slowly, the roots receded from the messenger’s chest. Arthur then stabbed him in the heart.

The messenger’s body froze. With the last of his strength, he raised his head and looked into Arthur’s eyes—and there, he saw an expression of pity, filled with sorrow. Unable to speak, unable to comprehend how a cunning tyrant disguising himself as a nobleman could show such a contradictory expression, the messenger died, his heart filled with burning rage.

Arthur pulled out the sword and took a step back, exhaling deeply.

Huff!

"I’m still of the same opinion... the evil tyrant persona doesn’t suit me."

He threw the blood-covered sword aside, sat down on Edgar’s bed, and began thinking about what the messenger had said.

"It seems Arvan departed three days ago... according to the novel, his journey took ten days because of frequent stops... so I have seven days left. Well, that’s enough time."

After organizing his thoughts, he glanced back at the messenger’s corpse, then scanned the room sharply and realized:

"I haven’t searched Edgar’s belongings yet. He must have some valuables hidden."

He quickly got up from the bed and began carefully inspecting the room, looking for hidden compartments or small safes. He lifted the bed and looked underneath, examined the frame for anything concealed inside, checked the old wooden shelves and wardrobes full of clothes.

"Is that lice?" Arthur looked at the tiny insects crawling in the wardrobe and shuddered involuntarily. In truth, lice were quite common, but it was impossible to find them on the clothes or bodies of powerful individuals like Edgar—his Boundless aura would scare off weak pests. That’s why they never had issues with mosquitoes or regular flies. The lice in this wardrobe were clearly the result of neglect and lack of cleaning.

"Hmm... wait. There shouldn’t be lice in Edgar’s room. The maids must clean it regularly..."

Suddenly, a thought struck him. With full force, he yanked the wardrobe aside. It smashed against the wall, and lice scattered toward him, but he ignored them. Instead, he examined the wall behind where the wardrobe had stood, and the floor as well. He noticed irregularities in the floor and a sly smile appeared on his face.

Eagerly, he grabbed the bloodied sword and wedged it into a small crack in the floor. He felt the floor give way slightly. Quickly, he lifted a stone slab, and just as he expected, he uncovered a small square compartment beneath it, filled with dozens of silver coins, gold jewelry, and even some beautiful gems—though unfortunately not very well cut.

After staring at the treasure for a short while, Arthur looked up at the sky and muttered:

"I doubt you’ll need money in the afterlife... so I’ll be taking these."

He placed everything into **Dimensional Storage**, then happily resumed searching the room for anything else of value. However, he didn’t find much—just a silver cup and a few gold rings.

"Now that I think about it... I might find valuable things in Duncan’s room too. And Tarian’s. I suppose it’s time for a thorough inspection of the castle."

Without delay, he removed the thorn barrier and headed first to Duncan’s room. But upon entering, he noticed unusual disorder.

’Someone’s searched this place already... was it the maids?’

His brows furrowed, and he felt a flicker of anger.

But he quickly calmed himself.

"Whoever searched it... they didn’t do a thorough job."

Wasting no more time thinking, he searched the room top to bottom. As expected, he found some hidden valuables: silver and gold coins tucked under a rock, as well as a well-made armor composed of a leather layer and another layer made of fine chain links, resembling a shirt.

Arthur’s joy grew, and he swiftly ran to Tarian’s room, which contained the most valuable items of all. Afterward, he went to Andrew’s room—and shamelessly looted the rooms of every important figure, even Chadwick and Archie, who were still alive. But he found nothing of great value—most knights owned land and private homes granted to them by the Baronet.

That day, the servants and recruits noticed their usually mysterious and stern lord wandering through the castle with a silly smile, entering every room he came across.

...

After half a day of looting, Arthur sat in his room before a medium-sized chest filled with all kinds of valuable items—silver, gold, and even copper coins, jewels, ornaments, and even magic beast cores, not to mention strange materials like vials filled with bizarre liquids and mysterious herbs. These were magical materials he had taken from Tarian’s and Nerian’s rooms.

Yet, despite all the treasure before him, Arthur’s gaze focused on only two items: a dark brown leather scroll, and a raw mana gem the size of a thumbnail, glowing with a mysterious violet light.

[Magic Scroll: A magical item that contains a single-use spell.]

[Concentrated Mana Core: A valuable magical element. Can be used to craft potions and magic items. Not recommended to use its internal mana directly due to accumulated impurities.]

"I didn’t expect to find something this valuable. Tarian, you bastard... you’re richer than I thought."

The most valuable things were the magical materials he had found in the mages’ rooms. He estimated that the scroll and mana core alone were worth several gold coins. If he counted all his loot, he was now certain he could pay Novarian and still keep some money for himself—without touching the barony’s funds.

’Damn, I could’ve gotten more loot, but unfortunately, most important characters don’t reside in the castle regularly... oh well, not a big deal.’

Sigh!

"System, what kind of spell does this scroll contain?"

[The scroll contains a C-rank Fireball spell.]

Arthur was surprised and thought:

"That explains why he doesn’t carry it—it’s useless to him. But how did he even get it? There’s no way he could’ve crafted it himself."