The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 55: Whereabout (2) (Part 1)

A man came rushing out from the back of the store, gasping for breath, and bowed to me at a full 90 degrees.

He was none other than Adelon, the head of the Adelon Merchant Group and an executive of the Frecce Merchant Guild.

An executive in the Merchant Guild wasn’t a minor position by any means—
In Frecce, such a person held a status comparable to that of a noble.

“I’ve been eagerly waiting for your arrival, sir!!”

Despite his status, Adelon greeted me with utmost respect.
His formality was so excessive that I blanked out for a moment.

But I quickly came to my senses and opened my mouth.

“What about what I asked last time—”

Then I abruptly stopped.
I had instinctively used informal speech.

This was Frecce, a Free City.
There might be social classes here, but there were no official ranks.

Even though I was a noble, that status didn’t apply in this place.

Naturally, speaking down to just anyone was unacceptable.
Adelon was clearly older than me as well.

Still, I’d let it slip—a habit, really.
Not a noble’s mannerism, but one from my time in the Allied Army.

The Allied Army was strictly hierarchical.
As the commander of a Special Operations Unit, I was usually the one giving orders.

That had made speaking informally second nature.
And that habit still lingered—so I slipped again.

If this were the Battenberg Kingdom, maybe I could get away with it.
But in a Free City, I had to follow the Free City’s rules.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I let my speech slip out of habit.”

“No, no! Please don’t mind at all!”

Adelon frantically waved his hands as if the thought was absurd.

“You’re the esteemed young lord of the House of Whitewolf! I’m just a lowly commoner and merchant. So please, speak however you wish! Hehe…”

He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing his palms together.
He looked every bit the sycophantic flatterer, but he didn’t seem malicious.

Rather than flattery, it came from genuine gratitude.

And for good reason—Adelon’s main trade product was wine.
A luxury good, primarily purchased by the upper class.

But thanks to me, nobles had started flooding into Frecce to buy monster meat, and many ended up purchasing wine while they were here.

In short, he was likely the single biggest beneficiary of the recent boom in Frecce.

And well…
Since he was saying all this himself, I didn’t see much point in keeping things formal.

“Then I’ll speak comfortably.”

“Ah yes, of course! Thank you, sir! That puts my mind at ease!”

Adelon finally let out a sigh of relief.
He was practically treating me like royalty.
Seemed like he’d profited even more than I’d realized.

And in Frecce, money was absolute power.
Even being a guild executive meant nothing in the face of wealth.

“So? What happened with the thing I mentioned last time?”

“You mean the request to investigate a man named Ian, correct?”

I nodded, and Adelon grinned confidently.

“Per your instructions, our guild dispatched people to Free Cities across the continent!”

He sounded energized—like he’d gotten results.
My eyes lit up, and he quickly continued.

“……However, I’m afraid we couldn’t uncover any traces of this Ian fellow.”

Adelon’s face immediately fell.

His confident expression from just moments ago disappeared without a trace.

Now he was anxiously gauging my reaction.
…Why act all smug in the first place?

In any case, there were no leads on Ian.

‘Ian… where the hell are you running around looking for me?’

Even now, I still couldn’t figure out what went on in his head.
Though technically, it had been the past me who’d done all that running.

Still, it wasn’t a total loss.
At the very least, we’d confirmed Ian wasn’t in any of the Free Cities.

Which meant the search range had narrowed.

More importantly, the merchant guild’s information network was still active.
If Ian entered a Free City in the future, I’d know right away.

I was just swallowing my disappointment when—

“There is… one exception.”

Adelon glanced at me again, then cautiously continued.

“We weren’t able to check Baoless.”

“Baoless?”

If I remembered correctly…

“You mean the Lawless City?”

“Yes, yes, that’s right.”

Baoless.
Like Frecce, it was also a Free City.

But unlike cities focused on commerce, ranching, or mining, Baoless had no industry—
It was a city without law or order.

In Free Cities, there were no monarchs or lords to wield absolute power.
That meant there was also no one to control the criminal organizations or paramilitary forces that inevitably formed.

Extreme freedom had broken down even the bare minimum of law and order,
And those with strength had taken over by enforcing their own rules.

Thus, the Lawless City, Baoless, became a place where might was absolute power.

Naturally, merchants avoided the place entirely.
With no law or order, contracts couldn’t be trusted.

Trade caravans were often raided and looted, and those who entered rarely returned with anything.

Even so, there were merchant groups that dealt with Baoless—

“It’s completely controlled by the Dark Merchant Group…”

“The Dark Merchant Group?”

“They’re… well, some seriously shady folks.”

Adelon began to explain more about them,
But I didn’t really need the refresher.

I already knew more than enough about the Dark Merchant Group.

In fact, I probably knew more than Adelon.

During my time as a Special Ops commander, I’d gathered plenty of intel on them.

The Dark Merchant Group.

As the name suggests, they were a clandestine merchant syndicate operating in the shadows.

“They mainly deal in illegal goods—like slaves and other banned items. They rake in enormous profits through black market channels.”

Naturally, they had no regard for law or morality.
They’d do whatever it took to turn a profit.

They shamelessly trafficked unethical and vile goods—

“All those illegal weapons, poisons, ancient relics, cursed items, and forbidden magical artifacts you see across the continent? Most of them were distributed by the Dark Merchant Group.”

They operated a massive black market network spanning the entire continent.

They were deeply entangled with criminal organizations, corrupt politicians, and even noble families.

“Yet all their members and executives remain completely anonymous. No one knows who they really are.”

Their dealings were also kept strictly confidential—
An organization run with frightening precision.

“No one knows who runs the Dark Merchant Group, who its members are, where its base of operations is, or how it moves.”

Adelon scratched the back of his head, looking troubled.
If even a merchant as sensitive to information as him spoke like that, then it was fair to say the group was thoroughly veiled in secrecy.