Chapter 98
<Wasn’t This a Strategy Game? Episode 98>
체디악 glanced a bit uneasily at 에덴.
“…I was looking for something.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t say.”
With that firm response, 에덴 lost her patience and her face turned icy in an instant. 체디악 flinched at her expression, but he still held back.
에덴, looking annoyed, glared at him before letting out a sigh as if she had given up.
“Fine, I wouldn’t believe it easily either. 초코. Just let him go.”
At 에덴’s unexpected words, 체디악’s eyes widened.
‘Is she serious? What’s this? A trap?’
When 체디악 looked back at 하겐티 with suspicious eyes, 하겐티 just waved his hand nonchalantly.
Suddenly, the invisible force that had been binding him disappeared without a trace, and his body, which had been floating in mid-air, thudded to the ground.
“Ugh.”
에덴 made a disappointed noise as she looked at 체디악, who was sprawled out awkwardly.
“If 체디악 doesn’t say anything, we can’t help you.”
“…”
“It can’t be helped. Well, we’ll be off then. We need to go help others who need it.”
체디악 shot up and stared at 에덴.
“Is that true?”
“Better hurry before I change my mind.”
체디악 scrambled to get up and tried to teleport. This time, he instantly felt light, unlike before.
When he looked up, 에덴 and 하겐티 were nowhere to be seen.
“It’s real…”
체디악 smiled for a moment, then frowned.
“People who need help…?”
What are these people doing?
They definitely weren’t the type to let him go this easily. Even if they were, someone with this level of skill wasn’t that common.
“Could it be… they really came to help me…?”
체디악 felt a bit uneasy but shook his head. He couldn’t accept help from strangers he knew nothing about.
체디악 lifted his gaze to the increasingly darkening sky.
The Dark Forest was covered with towering trees, making it dark even at noon, so after sunset, nothing could be seen.
Sure, he could use magic to light a fire, but the forest was too vast, and that wouldn’t help much. Plus, if he lit a big fire, the bad guys would spot him.
“Damn it, I need to find it quickly.”
체디악 brushed off the dirt that clung to him from falling and moved hastily.
After two hours of rummaging through the forest, he finally found what he was looking for just as the sun completely disappeared, and darkness swallowed the woods.
“Found it! Ha, I guess there was everything except for what’s in 마벨리오스!”
체디악 laughed heartily, but then abruptly stopped and looked around.
However, other than the hooting of an owl, there was no sign of life.
“…”
체디악 quickly hid his find in his arms and started spinning, moving to another spot.
This time, he didn’t head inside 마벨리오스; instead, he went to a nearby mine.
Even though the sun had set, large torches were lit all over the mine, and it was bustling with people.
Looking closer, he noticed several thugs wielding weapons and commanding slaves, who were shackled at the hands and feet, hustling to carry minerals.
“Those ruthless bastards…”
체디악 hid behind a big rock and cursed under his breath as he watched the scene. He carefully moved to the cave located at the back of the mine.
체디악 hid behind a jagged rock and peeked out secretly.
“…”
At the entrance of the cave, a few soldiers stood guard.
Behind them was a large cart, and on top, there was a prison made of iron bars, and inside…
‘She’s not dead yet.’
Just as 체디악 clenched his fists in relief, he heard a voice beside him gasp.
“What the hell, that’s a person!”
Startled, 체디악 almost screamed but found himself mute.
In a panic, he turned to see 에덴 and 하겐티 sitting beside him and peeking into the cave as if they’d been there the whole time.
‘W-What are you two doing here?!’
체디악 mouthed the words, but 에덴 ignored him and focused on the person trapped in the cage.
It was a woman, lying there as if she were dead.
Not just any woman; she looked like she was on the verge of death.
에덴 grimaced at the horrible sight, while 하겐티 stood unmoved, clinging closely to 에덴.
“So, you’ve been running around all day just to save that person?”
This question finally left 체디악 speechless.
So they had been tracking him all along? He hadn’t felt a thing… nor sensed any magic…
“Hmmm…”
에덴 narrowed her eyes, assessing the situation. Letting 체디악 go had clearly been part of the plan from the start.
‘So maybe 체디악 can be kept unaware that he’s being hunted?’
In response to her hopeful question, 하겐티 nodded.
‘Just don’t leave a trace.’
‘…But that’s not something everyone can do, right?’
하겐티 chose not to respond to that, which meant yes.
In other words, it meant 하겐티 was such an amazing Great Mage that he could track mages without leaving any traces.
‘Alright, then, just to confirm… can you purposely leave traces as well?’
하겐티 looked at 에덴 intently and quietly replied.
“Yeah.”
So it turned out, 에덴 had fully utilized 하겐티’s cheat-like abilities to plan everything from the beginning.
The initial idea of leaving traces to meet 체디악 was to grasp his character.
Eventually, even if 체디악 got caught by 하겐티, it was only because his abilities were insane, and 체디악’s magical power seemed notable too.
Even though he seemed a bit clumsy, he didn’t seem like a bad guy.
‘Most importantly, it looks like he has no intention of spilling the beans even if he looks weak. He seems stubborn too. Pass.’
Having roughly assessed 체디악, 에덴 pretended to let him go as per the plan.
As expected, 체디악 was now in 하겐티’s palm, and the two followed him around all day long.
And now they were here at the mine.
The horrifying scenery of the mine alerted 에덴 to what 체디악 was trying to do.
This related closely to the theme of the game, and that’s when 에덴 understood why she was given this quest.
‘My voice!’
체디악 protested while rubbing his neck, but neither 에덴 nor 하겐티 paid him any mind.
체디악 looked fearfully at 하겐티, who was closely hovering around 에덴.
What the hell is his identity?
“Well… it might be tough, but we’ve got a cheat character on our side…”
Cheat character? What’s that?
“Alright then, what’s the operation, 체디악?”
Now completely perplexed, 체디악 looked at the woman who seemed oddly excited.
“You guys… what are you even…?”
The three moved to a secluded area to start a secondary conversation.
Once they changed locations, the tightly blocked voice flowed freely. This was undoubtedly their doing too. The hardened expressions softened as confusion and wariness filled their faces.
“You’ve been stalking me this whole time…?”
“There was no choice. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have told us anything at all.”
In response to 에덴’s bold answer, 체디악 burst out indignantly.
“Why on earth are you doing this to me?!”
“I’m really trying to help you, you know. 체디악 씨, aren’t you trying to save the people trapped in that prison? It’s obviously illegal labor exploitation.”
That hit the nail on the head, leaving 체디악 speechless. She seemed to genuinely not be able to lie.
Well, that was better than being a good liar.
It was the second pass.
“Do you happen to know anyone in there?”
At 에덴’s cautious inquiry, 체디악, who had been silent, shook his head.
“No.”
“Then, were you asked for a favor?”
Knowing this was a place rife with crime, he was aware that sometimes people paid to rescue someone.
Could 체디악 be one of those mages doing that kind of work?
But once again, 체디악 shook his head.
에덴 looked puzzled and turned to 하겐티, who was just as indifferent to 체디악’s intentions.
“Then why…?”
체디악’s ears turned red.
‘What’s this?’
As 에덴 narrowed her eyes suspiciously, 체디악 started to stammer.
“…I… just… happened to…”
“…What?”
“I just found out by chance…”
에덴 blinked in disbelief.
What…?
“So you just happened to see it and couldn’t just walk away?”
At her precise words, 체디악’s face turned beet red.
“Yes! I couldn’t just turn a blind eye to people who aren’t even related to me! Is that clear now?!”
체디악 shouted out, immediately regretting it.
The strange part was on his end. It seemed he had a ridiculously wide sense of concern that had him tangled in incidents continuously.
‘체디악, how did you end up as such an excessively nosy person? Seriously… what a disaster. What are you gonna be when you grow up…?’
‘Yeah, but is it any of 카라일’s business whether I carve my name into the old tree in town? If you keep making such problems, they’ll throw you out of the Magic Tower, 체디악. Please learn to stay out of others’ issues.’
‘What do you care? Damn it, being so annoyingly nosy!’
Ugh, damn.
As he recalled all the worries and insults that had followed him through life, 체디악 tightly shut his eyes.
But he couldn’t help it. He was simply born this way, with an insatiably nosy personality.
“Wow… you really are nosy.”
Just then, a sound of surprise arrived, causing 체디악’s face to flush. He was about to say something along the lines of “mind your business and carry on,” but then…
“I’m really moved right now.”
