The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 72: Infinite Inventory (Part 2)

Adrian waved his hand in the air, and the piles of gold coins vanished.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he casually resumed walking.

“…Oh, right. I should take this Rune-Iron door too.”

Crunch!

Adrian ripped the entire Rune-Iron door off like he was cracking tofu. Then he waved his hand again, and the massive door disappeared somewhere.

Watching him, I thought—

“N-no way…”

I couldn’t figure out what kind of person he was.

The power to make the impossible possible.
The ability to turn recklessness into miracles.

I used to dress up what he did with words like those. But now, not even those were enough to explain Adrian.

Because this was Adrian.
That alone was enough reason.

However, there was still something that had to be addressed.

“Don’t tell me… You plan to take all the wealth with you?”

When Kai asked, Adrian stopped walking.

“So what, just leave it behind? All that money?”

“But… that’s Viscount Benneron’s property, isn’t it?”

“And?”

“…Excuse me?”

“Does he look like Viscount Benneron to you?”

“……”

Kai had nothing to say.

“The real Viscount Benneron died long ago.”

“Then at least give it to his children—”

“They’re all dead too.”

Kai clamped his mouth shut again.
Indeed, as Adrian said, Altheron, Benneron’s son, was dead.

And on top of that—

“Count Edmont, the original lord of this county, is also dead. Avarus killed all of his bloodline too. He had to devour the County, after all. You heard about that too, right?”

Count Edmont—the one who had granted Benneron his title.
He was dead too.

When Adrian interrogated Avarus in the Infinite Labyrinth, Kai had heard it as well. It was solid information.

Still—

“It’s true that claiming spoils from territory wars is the victor’s right, but it must be done under royal supervision. And the proper taxes—”

“What are you going on about?”

“I mean—”

“When did that happen?”

“…What do you mean?”

“I’m saying, when did we do a territory war?”

“Well, that’s obviously—”

…Come to think of it, we didn’t.

“We launched a surprise attack. Out of nowhere. If we keep our mouths shut, no one will know it was an ambush. See? We even wore masks.”

Then Adrian pulled out a mask from somewhere and put it on.
I had no idea when he prepared that, but what was the point now?

“But didn’t you reveal your identity as the Madman right after the ambush?”

“Oh, yeah, I did. I didn’t think they’d recognize me. Who knew it was someone using Transmog?”¹

Adrian tossed his mask away again.

“But anyway, there were no witnesses who saw our faces.”

…That was true.

“Then we were masked. Simple.”

No witnesses meant assassination.
That was what Adrian had shouted when he first kicked open the mansion gates.

In other words, pure nonsense.

Yet somehow—

…I couldn’t argue back.

Still, that didn’t mean I had no concerns.

“The royal family will send an investigation team over this matter.”

The County of Benneron had completely fallen.

Even if he was only a Viscount, he was still nobility. More importantly, Benneron Timber was a high-quality material used by the royal family and many noble houses.

If that supply were to suddenly stop—

“It’s only a matter of time before the royal family learns of this incident.”

And when they do, they’ll investigate it thoroughly.

“If we’re identified as the attackers of the County…”

We might even be accused of murdering Count Edmont—

“What are you even saying?”

Adrian cut him off like it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.

“The one who attacked the County is right above me.”

Kai looked up above Adrian’s head.
The dark ceiling of the underground vault.
Nothing was there.

“No, not that above.”

Adrian nodded toward his own stomach.
Stomach—the human digestive organ.

In other words, he was referring to Avarus, currently being digested inside Adrian’s belly.

For a brief moment, Kai’s mind left the building.

“The County of Benneron fell because of Avarus. He looted everything and ran, didn’t he?”

Then, just like that, Adrian improvised a new narrative.
Kai’s fleeing consciousness could never quite return.

Because not a single word was wrong.

The County of Benneron had fallen due to Avarus.
Avarus had played the role of Viscount Benneron and plundered all of its wealth.

Only—

“When we arrived, the vault was already empty… So what are you talking about?”

He’d just spiced it up a little.

“Besides, this is the cleanest kind of money to take.”

“The cleanest…?”

“Criminal’s money.”

…Once again, no rebuttal.

Meaning, there wasn’t a single flaw in Adrian’s words—

“Understood, completely.”

Kai picked up the mask Adrian had thrown aside.

Kai, who had somehow convinced himself, carefully inspected the mask before putting it on, trying to ensure his face stayed hidden.

Not that it meant anything now—but still.

After that, following the light of Kai’s Aura, we exited the secret vault.

A long, spiraling staircase awaited.

As we climbed those stairs slowly, I sorted through my thoughts one by one.

Namely, the information I’d squeezed from Avarus inside the Infinite Labyrinth.
Wanting to be freed from endless pain, Avarus confessed even things I hadn’t asked.

Most of it, I already knew.

But some surprising facts that even my past self didn’t know had come up. The first among them—

‘He approached Serapia on purpose.’

Avarus had deliberately targeted Serapia.

His goal was to feed her the Infinite Elixir, which he had reluctantly taken.

‘In my past life, she must’ve taken it.’

Because Serapia had collapsed just the same in that life.
Even if the events around the Werebeasts and monster horde were different, the outcome—her collapsing—hadn’t changed.

Thus, the future altered by my presence.
It started now.

Because of me, Serapia hadn’t taken the Infinite Elixir.
From here on, a new branch of fate would begin.

In that sense—

‘He called her the chosen one.’

Avarus had referred to Serapia as a chosen one.

Translatin_Otaku

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