Wolf 3

No one in their right mind would describe the way Baek-ho removed that mask as anything remotely gentle.

He grabbed the wolf mask with an open hand, tearing it off the man’s face and ignoring every binding that held it in place.

And..

The face behind the mask was finally revealed to us.

Baek-ho, who had been quietly gathering his thoughts, finally broke the silence and spoke.

“Wow, you were actually alive?”

His tone was as joking as ever, but the eyes he cast down at the man were icy cold.

Well, it’s not hard to understand. For Baek-ho, betrayal was a trigger point.

“Layton Bright.”

And he was actually the second-longest member of Baekho’s team, right after Fallen Gramps.

“Damn it! Didn’t I treat you well enough?”

Baek-ho exhaled a sigh, as if he was tired of dealing with this.

“Whatever. Start Talking. Why are you alive? What’s with this mask?And what the hell have you been pulling behind our backs?”

“And just so you know, every time you stop talking, I’m going to pull something off your body. Keep that in mind.”

“Start.”

Baekho commanded in an overbearing tone.

But there was no way the guy who had kept his mouth shut this whole time would suddenly start babbling.

Instead, Bright glared back up at Baekho with outright hostility.

Baek-ho didn’t respond. He simply waited, but when three seconds passed in silence, he calmly reached out his hand.

“Argh! Aah, aaaaah-!!”

He then pushed his fingers into Bright’s left eye and gouged it out.

Crunch, crack, crunch…

He moved so slowly that I could clearly hear multiple snaps from Bright’s skull.

“AAAAAAGH!! AAAAAH!!”

Even as Bright collapsed and writhed in agony, Baek-ho spoke in an emotionless voice.

“Talk.”

“He didn’t do anything beyond saying that. He made no threats, offered no reassurance, and didn’t carry out any sort of interrogation process.”

He simply told the man to talk, waited a few seconds, and if he didn’t, the process repeated.

“Aaaaaaaaagh—!!”

He gouged out the eye, tore off the ear, pulled at organs.

And if Bright fell into critical condition, Baekho would pour a potion on him to heal him.

Ssshhhhhh—!

Honestly, it was incredible that Baekho kept going without showing any emotion, but Bright was no joke either.

It wasn’t like he couldn’t feel pain…

‘He’s screaming, but he’s not saying a single word.’

Maybe he realized it didn’t matter in the end?

He didn’t plead, didn’t beg for death, nothing.

He had an absurd amount of willpower, but Baek-ho wasn’t going to get anything out of him at this rate.

‘Guess it’s time to try a different approach…’

I considered stopping Baekho, but the look on his face made me change my mind.

It wouldn’t be too late to change the method after he had calmed down a bit.

It wasn’t like I was the one in pain anyway.

“Aaaaaargh!!”

So while I watched Baekho “heal” Bright, the others caught up.

“Ah, you’re here. What took so long?”

“We got lost. None of us could find the path.”

“So what’s going on here?”

“Wait a minute! Bright? That guy over there… isn’t that Bright?”

“Calm down, everyone. I’ll explain everything.”

I gave them a quick summary on behalf of Baekho, who clearly didn’t care to explain anything.

“So… the suspicious guy in the wolf mask turned out to be Bright when Baek-ho took it off?”

“Lord Ruingenes! You said you personally saw Bright die!”

“I did. But seeing him alive like this… He probably used some kind of ability or special tool to fake his own death.”

“That’s likely. He pretended to be dead the moment he got caught earlier too.”

“Hm… I can think of a few possible abilities.”

Whether it was an ability or an item, it didn’t really matter.

The main point was that Bright had faked his death right in front of Ruin Gramps and then slipped into the ruins afterward.

“This just makes him even more suspicious. What was he doing all this time?”

“We’ll have to hear it from him.”

As our conversation reached that point, Baek-ho shouted towards us, ‘Gramps! What are you doing? If you’re here, put that thing on him already!’

In response to Baek-ho’s request, Ruin Gramps approached Bright and cast a spell on him.

“Do you know what kind of magic that is?”

I nudged the GM, who replied swiftly.

“Judging by the mana structure, it seems to be of the nerve stimulation and awakening type—.”

“So basically, it helps with torture?”

“…Yes. He’ll feel everything several times more intensely.”

Unexpectedly useful knowledge.

If I ever have to interrogate someone, I’m definitely asking a mage for this.

Anyway, the magic took effect instantly.

Bryat’s screams grew several times louder as tears and snot ran down his face. His voice broke soon after, turning into a shrill cry.

However, when Bright stayed silent until the very end and eventually lost consciousness, even Baek-ho seemed impressed.

“Wow. This bastard’s seriously tough.”

To be honest, I thought Baekho was the more intense one, considering he was still pouring that healing potion while saying it.

Ssssssshhh!!

Once his anger had subsided a little, Baek-ho stopped the torture and walked over to us.

 

Seeing his usual friendly smile return to his lips, he finally looked ready to talk.

So..

“What happened?”

“Huh? How am I supposed to take that question?”

“I mean it’s strange. All of us searched and couldn’t find this guy, but you did?”

I wondered if Baek-ho had a way to find him but had been hiding it until now.

But…………….

“Ah, that?”

Baekho shrugged carelessly, and the truth he revealed afterward was even more shocking.

“I deliberately drew a lot of his aggro by pretending I was suddenly losing control and so on.”

“Are you saying… that was all an act?”

“Yes. I thought if I acted strangely, someone would be watching me. So after I split from the group, I muttered to myself, slammed my head against the wall—did all sorts of crazy things. Then, when the timing felt right—boom!”

Baekho gestured an explosion with his hands

“I blasted a bunch of AOE effects around me. Someone got caught in it, and the rest is what you saw, Baron.”

“Uh… I see…………….?”

“So, what do you think? My plan? Genius, right…?”

I wasn’t sure about genius, but one thing was certain—

This guy was absolutely unhinged.

‘He’s a real lunatic…’

As I stood there, speechless and dumbfounded, Baek-ho smirked and turned his back on me.

“Anyway, I’ve cooled off a bit… so it’s time to loot him.”

Then, Baek-ho walked over to the unconscious Bright and started rummaging through his pockets.

“Tch. Must’ve stored anything important in his subspace.”

“I don’t see his bow either. Isn’t it a numbered item? And a fairly high-numbered one at that.”

“So if he won’t cooperate, we can’t even loot him properly… hey, old man! Got any ideas?”

“Let me have a look.”

Ruin Gramps approached, bent his hunched back to examine it and shook his head.

“The spell formula is quite complex. It seems impossible to open the subspace intact or transfer the imprint.”

“So, there’s no way?”

“It is possible to force open the subspace by destroying the spell formula itself, but there will be losses if we do that.”

“What kind of losses?”

“More than 30% of the items inside will be erased in that dimension.”

“Oh, so basically a 30% chance the good stuff gets destroyed too?”

“What will you do?”

“Do it. It’s not like this bastard will open it willingly.”

“In that case we should move to a more spacious location.”

Following Ruin Gramps’s advice, we dragged Bright to the main hall and laid him down neatly.

Then—

“Let us begin.”

He began unsealing the sub-space.

Whoooooom~!

At first, only the imprint on the back of his hand glowed red, but at some point, white light began to flow from it as well.

After some time had passed like that?

Flash-!

A white flash burst out, and a small portal opened above the back of his hand.

And……………….

Boom-!

Objects stored in the subspace burst out in an explosion, scattering in all directions.

“…Wow.”

He was like a treasure goblin or something.

****

Just how big was Bright’s subspace?

“This is after losing thirty percent…?”

Everyone froze in place, overwhelmed by the piles of treasure.

More than half the main hall floor was buried under items—

“C-careful!”

Everything had come out chaotically, turning the hall into a complete mess.

Clatter!

Crash-!

Shattered potions, porcelain……………….

Boom-!

There were also some explosives that detonated the moment they made contact with the outside.

We even had to take time to neutralize the poisons, since toxic dust had been released into the air.

Whoosh

But the reward was worth it.

“Hell yeah! I knew it!!”

Number 696, RainDris’ Royal Bow, had survived the 30% loss.

Not only that, but I could also see countless other pieces of high-quality equipment.

Well, it was exactly what you’d expect from someone who’d spent years as a top-tier plunderer.

‘He must’ve spent a long time outside the city walls with no chance to sell or trade things.’

Besides, Noark plunderers preferred storing valuable items anyway. In Noark, bartering was common; they’d rather trade valuable goods directly than sell them cheaply to a merchant.

“Everyone, don’t pocket anything! Properly gather them in one place. We’ll distribute them fairly.”

We began gathering all the items into one spot.

There were… some things that looked extremely suspicious.

 

“What’s with all these wolf masks?”

“Why did Bright carry so many identical masks?”

“They’re not the same. Look, these and these are different sizes.”

There was an extraordinary amount of wolf-themed equipment.

Oddly enough, there were a lot of wolf masks in his stash, along with several strange medals that all looked similar.

“There’s a wolf on this medal too.”

“This doesn’t look like stuff he picked up by chance…”

“Let me see.”

Ruin Gramps picked up the medal, looked it over briefly, and wrinkled his nose.

“Do you recognize it?”

“I remember hearing about this a long time ago.”

“What kind of item is it? It doesn’t seem like a magical tool with special functions.”

“This isn’t a magical tool. It’s a symbol signifying membership in a group.”

“A group? I’ve never heard of any group using this emblem.”

“Of course you haven’t. It’s an ancient organisation that existed when Raphdonia was first founded.”

“An ancient organisation ?What was it called?” GM asked, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.

“Hirkmuta.”

“In the ancient language, it translates to ‘White Wolf.’”

“Yes. The name comes from the nickname of the figure they followed.”

“Nickname …?”

“The White Mage.”

At Ruin Gramps’s words, GM’s eyes widened.

After all, in all of Raphdonia’s history, only one person had ever been called The White Mage.

And for good reason.

“If it’s the White Magus, then…”

“The Last Great Sage Diphlun Graundel Gavrilius. Hirkhmuta was the order formed by the people who devoted themselves to him.”

 

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