Chapter 71: Schemes

The Holem's Crown stayed silent for a moment and then spoke in Charles's mind.

'I always chose a mortal as my inheritor, lad. That way, I had an easy time finishing the 1000 miracle mission by manipulating them from behind. Otherwise, it would have taken more than one or two millenniums for me to fulfill the Abyssal contract. But what I didn't expect was your scheme and the last abnormal miracle. If not, I would have already on my way to the City of Miracles.'

'Oh?' Charles raised his eyebrows and then asked,

'Did you encounter any Nightwind family 'Mystic' in the past few months?'

This time, the Holem's Crown deliberated for a second and responded.

'Yes. I saw a Nightwind family member once in the city, but it was just a pure coincidence. That man appeared around 40 to 50 years old, had long wavy blonde hair, a lean body, and ocean-like blue eyes. I saw him entering Slum Street's orphanage, and he looked more like a mage because of his blue robe.'

'Coincidence?' Charles snorted inwardly and fell into deep thoughts.

'This Xander Nightwind might be the 'Red Prince.' But why is his hair blonde instead of red?' He froze for a moment and soon widened his eyes.

'Did he purposefully use that title to confuse me? Now that I think about it, he did manipulate my mind first to believe Addie as the Red Prince, right? If Richard didn't tell me earlier, I might have believed Daniel as the 'Red Prince.' Why do these guys are after me?' While he was in muse, the Holem's Crown suddenly continued.

'If I'm not wrong, there was also another blonde-haired old man tagging along with him. At that time, I even wondered why a Nightwind family member tagging along with a normal mortal. Why are you asking about him now?'

'Blonde-haired man...' Charles's face instantly turned serious.

He clearly remembered that Derrick said that the First Servant 'Evil' was a mysterious blonde-haired man and became surer about his guess.

'Wait... A mortal, is it? We also encountered a blonde-haired old man near our third suspect, John Wayne's room. At that time, John also said that a blonde-haired man was stalking him for some time... Is it also a coincidence?' Charles blinked his eyes in surprise and soon made a guess.

'This blonde-haired old man must be the First Servant' Evil. Fireborn Family sent John Wayne to protect the [Historian] Max. Still, due to some irregularity, John found out the hidden secrets about the Holem's Crown and started researching his own...

When Max and his two other friends searched for Holem's Crown in Slum Street, John also stalked them from behind, saw a shadow descended from the sky, and kidnapped them. At that time, he felt full-body numbness, deafness, blindness, and even smell blindness...

It looks exactly like our current situation. So, Daniel's ability must be similar to pulling someone's consciousness into a strange illusion. No, this doesn't look like pulling one's consciousness. It seems more like interfering with one's thoughts and senses. Hmm, does that mean Daniel is the [Mesmerist]?' Charles raised his thin eyebrows in suspicion.

'Devil's Lair's members are indeed terrifying. Most of them have mind manipulation-like abilities and are well hidden.'

Charles was deeply impressed by the Devil's Lair organization members' scheme.

'What a plan. Although the Devil's Lair's organization members did everything perfectly, they still left some clues behind. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come this far.

My next problem is Xander Nightwind and Eddie Nightwind. I can tell now that they might be after the Holem's Crown. The current Eddie Nightwind has no true soul, but he needed a trustworthy ally. But that reliable person is definitely not me. Although I don't know much about Red Prince, I can tell now that he must be a partner of Eddie Nightwind. Otherwise, Eddie wouldn't have mentioned his name in the contract. Then, why did he bring me here? That's a very tricky question…

Eddie deliberately leaked many clues like making a prophecy, placing a 'Nightmare Stone' in the Wind Villa's study room during this time, and so on and lured me into the Dreamworld to look for clues about A-035… Think, Charles. Even if he isn't a genius, would a 500-year man make these kinds of silly mistakes? No! Then, why did you believe his stupid excuse at that time?'

At that moment, Charles's jade eyes suddenly squinted as he recalled something.

'No, something was wrong at that time. When I was in the Dreamworld's Wind Villa, Eddie almost made me believe his story with the power of 'Imagination' and even helped me by upgrading the Ember Pistol. At that time, he even said that he used the power of 'Imagination' on me to listen to his words.' He suddenly halted his thought and glanced at the 'Mark of Imagination' once again.

'Now that I think about it, this 'Mark' can trick others, right? If what I guessed is true, Eddie might have put this mark not only to fool the Holem's Crown but also to fool me!

Moreover, I'm feeling something was off about those chaotic double thoughts. Yes, when I first saw the Dark Wolf, my thoughts went disarray all of a sudden. One thought told me to act rationally, while the other thought urged me to kill that Nightmare Creature. At that time, I actually believed that it was the Nightmare Creature's work. But now that I think about it, I'm started to feel suspicious of Eddie. Did he manipulate my thoughts to check whether he can control me or not? Then, I also sensed a similar déjà-vu feeling when I kidnapped Derrick. At that time, I subconsciously saw this temple from afar and became a clear-head. But when I tried to question why I was acting recklessly, that damned quote stood firm in my mind...

F*ck, I need to erase this mark from my hand first. Eddie almost changed my character in the past few months.' He sucked in a cold breath and grew extremely vigilant against the 'Mark of Imagination.'

'With this 'Mark of Imagination,' he must have aware of all of my actions. Damn, he might still be watching us using this mark!' A chill went up to his spines as he controlled his facial muscles using the upgrade [Disguise] skill and finally shifted his attention to the Quest mission.

'Now, my question is who this Chaos Wanderer is? Why would he want to devour this artifact?' Charles suddenly recalled the earlier 'Miracle' and got suspicious.

'Did they plan such grand scheme for just one miracle?' Charles asked the Holem's Crown in Blen's language.

'It is possible. But why would the schemers manipulate you to come here? Did they lure you here to finish you off and completely gain full control over me?' The Holem's Crown muttered.

Charles also thought of that possibility and became solemn.

'Things became more complicated. First, I need to think of a way and get out of this situation.' He stopped his thinking for a moment and soon asked.

'Mr. Runeth, do you want to make a deal?'

Simultaneously, Charles opened the game interference, stared at the Quest Mission, and began to think.

'Should I place my trust in this game system for once? Although a psychopath did force me into this world, he seems to have placed this system to help me grow stronger. The Quest did say to save this artifact and gain its complete ownership, right?'

Meanwhile, the Holem's Crown got startled a bit by his words and asked in an uneasy tone.

'What is it?'

It had already noticed that it was going to hear something dangerous and got anxious.

'Do you want your freedom?' Charles asked.

If the Holem's Crown had eyes, it would have already wide opened them now!

'What are you plotting?' The Holem's Crown asked in a skeptical tone.

Instead of answering, Charles chuckled inwardly and asked a strange question.

'Who is your current owner?'

The Holem's Crown took some time to think and then responded.

'There are three owners for me. The first one is the Holem family, but I already completed the contract, and I will be able to erase the Abyssal Mark once I reach Rank-6. The second one is Nightwind Family. There is still one 'Miracle' left to complete this contract, and once I did that, I will not be controlled by Nightwind Family members. Then, my third one is the 'Contract of Imagination.' Unlike the other two, this one is a slave contract, and currently, you are my only owner.'

Charles controlled his facial muscle to hide his smile and said.

'If I'm your owner and I have absolute control over the contract, I can undo the signed contract, right?'

While asking, Charles zeroed his attention on the 'Mark' of 'Imagination Contract' and confirmed that he indeed could undo the contract with a simple thought.

In the meantime, the Holem's Crown went silent for a second and soon replied.

'Yes, you can.'

'Now, I want you to prepare a single Dark Star spell attack. It may be against Eddie Nightwind or this so-called Chaos Wanderer or the Red Prince. When the right time comes, you can act on your own and kill anyone you want.' Charles said in a calm tone.

'What are you planning?' The Holem's Crown couldn't even understand his train of thoughts, so it asked in a confused tone.

Smiling lightly, Charles used his consciousness to look at the 'Mark' and then erased it with a single thought.

A second later, the Contract of Imagination scroll appeared in his mind and began to turn into powders… No, it turned into ashes!

The Holem's Crown also noticed a drastic change happening in its inner world and got utterly stupefied.

'You erased the contract mark?!' It shouted in shock and soon turned its full attention towards its inner world.

Among the three red stars, two appeared dimmer instead of one. Not only that, the Holem's Crown soon saw that the Imagination Contract star began to turn darker and soon disappeared in seconds!

'Do you know how hard it is for a Mystic to get an Intellectual Artifact? You are crazy!' The Holem's Crown said in disbelief.

Without even minding the Holem's Crown's voice, Charles calmly followed after Emilia and soon noticed that they had almost reached the city center.

...

A few minutes ago,

Mad House, 158C Amber Street, Nobles' Borough, Royal Capital, Arc Kingdom.

A blonde-haired man in his late forties sat under the shadow of a big tree and was looking at an ancient-looking black covered book with a solemn look on his face. He wore a blue robe, a long green pendant around his neck, and two unique platinum earrings. He had long wavy hair, wide-set oceanic eyes, a lean body, and appeared around 184 cm high.

"Another variable… Hmm, the Success Rate is only 1.2%." He muttered as he leaned his back against the ladder back chair and sighed.

"I should have taken things slowly."

As he was about to flip the page, he halted his movement, stared at the northern sky for a second, and stood up with a smile.

"The Miracle effect is here." He said before closing the ancient-looking book and then waved his left hand.

A second later, his figure turned blurry and soon replaced with the figure of an old lady.

In the meantime, the blonde-haired man appeared on the outskirts of Riverdale City and soon started walking towards the city.

But as he walked near the city entrance, he suddenly halted his footsteps and frowned.

"Why am I feeling uneasy now?" He stood there with a blank expression on his face for a moment and soon continued to walk.

…