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Terrifyingly, what was inside the black chest was the chopped off head of a person.
Unnaturally large eyes.
Closed lips.
And a perturbed expression.
The people that saw the decapitated head could only imagine the pain felt at that time through that expression.
And…
The state of the head seemed very clean, and new.
There was no rigor mortis, and not only did fresh blood drip down from the neck, the skin shined as if still part of the body.
It was believable to say that this head had just been chopped off.
This was only possible since Kang Chul-In had asked Nilus to use the life-force spell on the head, making it seem completely fresh and new.
“Don’t tell me…”
“Is that…?!”
At this moment, the gazes of many of the lords turned to Alex Rothschild.
And at that moment, Rothschild was frozen on the spot, as if he were a statue.
“I-It’s the head of Rothschild!”
Dorian, who was famed for having no care for his surroundings, spoke. It was like spitting on , it was killing him twice over.
That’s right.
What was inside was the head of Rothschild, or more accurately, the head of his clone.
Though it was a shame that it wasn’t the head of the real Rothschild, it was terrifying to think that Kang Chul-In had kept Rothschild’s decapitated head, and left it in his office as adornment.
“W-What? Are there two Rothschilds?”
“Is that a fake?”
“What the hell… what is he thinking, trying to sell an item like that?”
“Is that really the head of Rothschild in the first place? Is that his twin or something?”
“What’s going on?”
The lords discussed with each other.
They had to be.
Kang Chul-In’s sudden actions definitely needed an explanation. The Lords that didn’t know anything were confused, and the situation could turn against Kang Chul-In.
“I’m sure everyone is curious right now.”
Kang Chul-In spoke.
“I think it’s time for some explanation… , is everyone interested?”
As a great ‘seller’(?), he had to first explain the product before he sold it, in order to ‘gain the trust’ of the people that bought the product. After all, Kang Chul-In wasn’t a cruel or unfair seller.
“It doesn’t seem like a bad idea to listen.”
Holding his hand up, a middle-aged Caucasian spoke. It was Albrecht Vilhelm.
“I also agree.”
Hecate showed her agreement.
“I’m sure there’s also a reason for this. Let’s hear it.”Lee Chae- also agreed.
Soon after.
“Come on, let’s hear what it is?”
“What the hell is that?”
“We require an explanation?”
The other Lords also demanded an explanation from Kang Chul-In.
Though they were frightened at first due to the hideous sight of the head, it changed to curiosity. Curious on why the 1st ranked Lord would try to sell a head that looked just like Alex Rothschilds.
“Very well.”With a satisfied smile on his face, Kang Chul-In continued to speak.
“As you guys can see, this is the head of Alex Rothschild.”
And listening to Kang Chul-In’s explanation, shock filled the eyes of the other Lords.
Rothschild’s head!
Even though Rothchild was still standing in a not-so-distant place, it's his head? What kind of bullsh*t is this? The words of Kang Chul-In were extremely confusing for the other Lords.
“Ah, of course…”
Slowly smiling, Kang Chul-In continued his explanation. By slowing down his explanation, he would be able to fully draw out and pique the attention of the other Lords.
“This isn’t the real one. After all, if it was real, that Alex Rothschild wouldn’t be able to participate in this Lord meeting.”
And at this, some Lords snickered, and almost left the place. These were the Lords that Rothschild had spent his efforts warming up to.
“Then what’s the reason for you bringing out that ‘fake’?”
It was Albrecht Vilhelm, who was going to be ranked 2nd in the future, and was also the leader of the Gulveig alliance.
“There must be a reason, right? Otherwise, unless you’re stupid, there’s no way that you’d taunt Rothschild like this and risk getting yourself framed as a bad person.”
“I’d say it’s to tell the truth, and to warn everyone here.”
“Warn us… what do you mean?”
“Through this auction, I’m planning to warn everyone on how evil, and terrible this man is.”
The gazes of the lords headed towards Alex Rothschild.
And at that moment, Rothschild’s mouth was shut, and was staring venomously at Kang Chul-In. Even looking at the gaze, the killing intent in it was terrifying.
Are you boiling inside, Rothschild?
But Kang Chul-In ignored Rothschild’s terrifying gaze, and continued to talk.
“This head…”
Kang Chul-In pointed at the head of Alex Rothschild.
“This is the head of the clone, or puppet that Alex Rothschild uses. I’m sure that many of you remember when Alex Rothschild fell from 5th to 105th place after the Lord rankings were revealed. This is the reason. I cut off the head of Rothschild, and he got a penalty from me cutting off his head. Basically, this head is a kind of artificial intelligence that shares the same thoughts, and abilities as the real Alex Rothschild.”
This was the moment where Alex Rothschild’s greatest ability, his ability to live on like a cockroach was revealed. Through revealing this, Kang Chul-In had shown the true face of Alex Rothschild.
“A few months ago.”
Without giving the Lords time to talk, Kang Chul-In continued on.
“Dorian explorer, who’s famous as a dungeon explorer, asked me to come and explore a dungeon with him. Isn’t that right, Dorian?”
“That’s true. I asked him first.”
Dorian answered enthusiastically. Giving public humiliation to Alex Rothschild was something that Dorian also hoped for.
“At that time, Alex Rothschild had been trying to build his connections to Dorian, and Dorian therefore invited Alex Rothschild to come to the dungeon as well. I also agreed to this. After all, I got to know from the news that Alex Rothschild was not only the heir to one of the largest family businesses in the world, but I also thought that he would be a gentle, and polite lord. I had planned to communicate and link up with him, Lord to lord.”
And the disturbing truths kept pouring out of Kang Chul-In’s mouth.
“But who would have guessed… Rothschild betrayed me and Dorian.”
Kang Chul-In pointed at Rothschild.
“He had brought his personal guard, wraiths, as well as assassins to kill me and Dorian in front of the dungeon! It was a definite attempt to take all the spoils of the Epic Dungeon by himself. And thanks to this, Dorian also nearly got his head chopped off from Alex Rothschild’s ambush. Isn’t that right, Dorian?”
“That’s right.”
“Is there any falsehood to my words?”
“Nope.”
“And how about any exaggerations?”
“There are none.”
Answering Kang Chul-In’s questions, Dorian also turned to stare at Alex Rothschild. Even the optimistic and usually amiable Dorian didn’t like Alex Rothschild, who had planned to kill him.
“Then…”
Albrecht Vilhelm spoke.
“You were able to cut off Rothschild’s head? Through all the troops that he had brought?”
“Does that question really come out after looking at this? I’m not sure if you don’t have eyes, or you’re just trying to test me.”
Kang Chul-In gestured at Alex Rothschild’s head.
“Ah, it wasn’t meant like that.”
Albrecht quickly apologized.
“It’s just… it was hard to believe. To think that just the two of you were able to completely wipe out and decimate the forces of the 5th ranked Alex Rothschild… I was just surprised that you were able to do that. I’m sure that everyone else here also feels the same as me.”
It made sense.
“Anyway… if it made you feel bad, I apologize.”
“Well, there’s no need to apologize like that to me.”
“But… is that story something you want us to really believe? You can’t leave the possibility out that you were the one that set up the trap for Alex Rothschild instead. Don’t you think it’s lacking to only have Dorian speaking up like that as evidence?”
“Evidence? What evidence.”
Kang Chul-In smirked.
“I’m not here asking all of you guys to believe me. I’m just here to warn all of the Lords .”
Kang Chul-In wasn’t an idiot.
Without sufficient proof and evidence, he also knew that it would be impossible to knock down Alex Rothschild completely.
“A warning?”
“What happened at the Epic Dungeon was just an additional explanation, I’m just warning everyone that they shouldn’t be willing to take the dangers with Alex Rothschild.”
“Hmm… Alright, I understand now.”
Albrecht Vilhelm nodded his head.
Cheeky bastard.
Kang Chul-In knew that Albrecht had asked these questions, even while knowing his intentions.
This time, he’s agreeing with what I said. This means that he’s already looking at the Esmeralda territory.
Though Albrecht was the most fearsome of Kang Chul-In’s foes and was arguably the most powerful, his current attention was on the Esmerelda territory. He had agreed with Kang Chul-In’s statements in order to spread the bad image of Rothschild so that he would be able to control the Esmeralda territory himself.
This also meant that the person who was behind the death of Skadi Andvari was either between Rothschild or Albrecht.
“I’ve gone off-topic for a bit. Coming back to my original point, what I’m trying to say is that you should definitely think carefully before going on a dungeon raid with Rothschild, or allying with him.”
Kang Chul-In spoke fiercely.
“We only have 1 life.”
This was the main part.
“But currently, that doesn’t apply for Alex Rothschild. Even at this point, the real Rothschild might not be at this meeting and is looking from somewhere afar, probably in his territory. His ability is to create clones of himself. Who knows how many clones he can make, just like this head you see over here. Can you really ally with someone that has multiple lives? Can you really share your blood as an ally, and work on the same goal as him? Even if you both take the risk, you may die, while all Rothschild has to do is recover from death, with just small penalties.”
Kang Chul-In spoke furiously…
We only have one life… While Rothschild has …
I’ll never go on a dungeon raid with him.
Rothschild… I was completely fooled by him.
Many of the Lords began to fear to approach Alex Rothschild.
This was Rothschild’s biggest secret and one that would instill distrust in others naturally. It was also the reason that Rothschild had tried his best to cover up this secret in the past life.
“I’ll leave it to you guys to decide whether it was me, or Rothschild who planned the attack. But! I hope that all of you never forget my warning. If you don’t want to get betrayed, that is. This is all I have to say.”
Because of this, all of his Rothschild's efforts went to waste.
“This… is an extremely rude thing to do, Mr. Kang Chul-In.”
Rothschild didn’t take this blow doing nothing.
“I’m curious why you’re making up fictional stories in order to crack the trust I have built with the other Lords here.”
Rothschild spoke seriously, his previously stiff face gone.
Though his face seemed quite annoyed, it was still quite calm.
As he had always done, he was planning to lie his way through this.
But…
“1200 gold.”
Hecate didn’t care about what Rothschild said.
“If it’s an internationally famous head, I think it’d fit quite nicely as a decoration.”
With a smirking face,
“2000 gold.”
Lee Chae-rin raised her hand. As Kang Chul-In expected, Lee Chae-rin truly did have a lot of money.
“2...2001 gold. …”Dorian also raised the bid by a tiny 1 gold, as his way of insulting Rothschild.
“2001 gold, huh… Well, maybe you can explain yourself later on, but right now we’re busy bidding on your decapitated head, as you can see.”
Kang Chul-In spoke, laughing.
Rothschild seemed as if the world was collapsing around him.
-------
Eventually Rothschild’s head wasn’t sold. It was because Kang Chul-In had taken out the item in the middle.
“Wow… Kang Chul-In.”
Dorian was astonished.
“I was surprised, man…”
“....?”
“To think that you were that evil and cruel… Ow!”
After getting hit on his stomach, Dorian fell to the ground. He was asking for it.
“I didn’t know that Rothschild was like that.”
Lee Chae-rin spoke, as if she was displeased.
“He actually asked for my hand in a dance earlier. Of course, I declined… But… if not for… I would have probably…”
“If not for…?”
“N-N-Nothing!”
Lee Chae- quickly shook her head.
What she didn’t say was…
If not for you, Mr. Chul-In.
“Anyway, what are you going to do with that?”
Dorian pointed at the head of Alex Rothschild.
“For now, I’m planning on keeping that in my office as a decoration.”
“For now?”
“I mean, I’ll have to replace that with the real one once I get that.”
“You’re a terrifying person.”
Dorian shivered in fright.
-Soon, the awards ceremony will begin.
At that moment, silence filled the hall.
-The Lords ranked between 1st to 10th, prepare to become Overlords.
Finally, it was the highlight of the Lord Meetings.
Becoming an Overlord, getting new abilities, and finally getting an Epic Item for the 1st ranked Lord. It was the moment that Kang Chul-In had waited for so long.
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