Monsters Wag Their Tails Only at Me

A low exclamation slipped from my mouth at Crow’s words.

“Haah... I kinda want to see that bastard’s face now.”

Treating humans like disposable toys wasn’t enough, and now he was calling it taking out the trash.

At this point, I genuinely wanted to see the true face of the infamous King Laskar with my own eyes.

If I met him in person, I’d punch him straight in the fucking face.

Unlike the rage boiling inside me, my head cooled rapidly.

It was time to gather all the scattered pieces of information and draw one meaningful conclusion.

“How did you find out the beggars were disappearing?”

At my question, Crow flicked a glance toward me before immediately lowering his eyes back to the dirt beneath his nails as if he barely cared.

“Where do you think? The streets.”

“Zark, can you explain a little more—”

“Call me Crow.”

The instant his real name left my mouth, Crow cut me off cleanly.

When I shut my mouth, he stretched lazily before letting out a long sigh.

“The first time I heard about it was in the southeastern region. A beggar who’d occupied the same corner for ten years disappeared overnight.”

Unlike his earlier half-assed attitude, Crow finally began properly unpacking the story.

“People living on the streets die in ditches all the time, so nobody cared at first. But only a few days later, another beggar vanished. That’s when strange rumors started spreading through the villages.”

Once he truly started talking, he turned out to be a natural storyteller.

Everyone focused on his mouth, drawn into the tale.

“They said some noble lord was buying up village beggars for a piece of bread.”

“A noble... who?”

“If anyone knew that, it wouldn’t be a strange rumor, would it? There aren’t any noble families in that southeastern region important enough for people to recognize by name.”

Crow tapped one point on the map with his fingertip.

I didn’t know whether the location was intentional, but the spot he indicated was close to the region where I had stayed until yesterday.

Suddenly, I remembered the list I had seen in the underground laboratory beneath the Aylos family estate.

Before the servants’ names, there had been dozens of unfamiliar names.

No way...

“Phiren.”

While I was still only suspecting it internally, Varen voiced the answer with complete certainty.

After exchanging a glance with me, he jerked his chin toward Crow, silently telling him to continue.

“If it had only happened in the southeast, I wouldn’t have bothered bringing it here. Those creepy rumors that started in the rural outskirts eventually spread all the way to the capital.”

“You’re saying the capital’s beggars are disappearing too?”

“Yep. It’s become a huge horror story on the streets lately. Unlike the provinces, the beggars in the capital actually live pretty comfortably. But then some bastard sleeping beside you the night before disappears without a trace by sunrise. Of course people are terrified.”

Homeless drifters with no ties were vanishing one after another.

At the same time, an unidentified military force was gathering in the north near the route leading toward the Belzena Mountains.

The two pieces of information locked together and formed a single conclusion.

“Looks like they’re creating an army of death using the missing beggars.”

“And preparing to attack Belzena with them leading the charge.”

Morpha answered after I spoke.

Meanwhile, Varen let out a low growl of anger.

Seven dragons had died in Belzena during the humans’ unexpected assault.

Among them had been Varen’s father, Ordin.

As if recalling that moment, Varen’s eyes burned fiercely.

Quietly, I stroked the back of his hand, offering comfort through warmth instead of words.

“Question.”

Theo abruptly overturned the heavy mood with a single word.

Everyone seated around the table turned toward him.

His brows furrowed as his gray eyes gleamed thoughtfully.

Then, with a serious expression, he asked a difficult question.

“Ceryl, according to what you said before... about that death army. Didn’t you say it matters less who’s under the spell and more who they’re bound to?”

Faced with the question aimed at me, I gave a small nod.

Theo leaned both arms onto the table and tilted his upper body toward me.

“If they kidnapped beggars to build an army, then who are those people bound to?”

“That’s...”

No one could answer Theo’s question.

Silence fell as each of us sank into thought.

The servants of the Aylos family had been bound to Days.

The reason Phiren had deliberately bound them to his own son was to test whether they would obey their master’s commands absolutely.

The experiment had succeeded.

Ordinary humans who had never experienced battle once in their lives charged straight through dragon fire toward me at their master’s single command.

So if an army had been assembled by kidnapping beggars across the kingdom, then who were they bound to?

Whose orders would they obey with absolute devotion, even at the cost of their lives?

“Recently, King Laskar has apparently been suffering from unexplained headaches.”

At that moment, Morpha spoke in a flat, emotionless voice.

Theo immediately nodded in agreement.

“Right, that’s true. Morpha and I visited the Litmus family.”

The Litmus family was the only physician family among the Elder Council.

Morpha began explaining the information gathered during the infiltration.

“And over the last several months, his health has deteriorated rapidly. Even the Litmus family—the king’s personal physicians—couldn’t determine the cause.”

The question Theo had asked still had not been resolved, yet Morpha suddenly threw out an entirely different mystery.

I quietly stared at Morpha, and the moment our eyes met, I immediately asked:

“They really couldn’t find the cause?”

“Perhaps there was no need to find it.”

Beneath Morpha’s calm tone lurked a quiet implication.

I frowned deeply and searched through Phiren’s memories.

But no matter how thoroughly I combed through them, I found no clear clue.

Instead of relying on someone else’s memories, this time I retraced my own experiences.

That damned curse that refused to let people die even when they should.

One life—Leobin’s—had been bound to me.

And every time Leibin was severely injured, I had to repay his loyalty using my own life force.

Even bearing the weight of a single life had left me bedridden for a long time.

Days hadn’t looked much different a few days ago.

The moment the servants suffered burns from dragon fire, his complexion had turned deathly pale as cold sweat poured down him.

The more I organized my thoughts, the less believable Morpha’s implied theory became.

“That’s impossible. The risks of that magic are enormous. There’s no way they’d cast something like that on the king himself—”

But I failed to finish the sentence.

Because at that exact moment, I met a pair of gray eyes directed toward me.

The words spoken by Zed—Theo’s older brother, who looked exactly like him—suddenly struck the back of my head.

“...A puppet.”

Zed had called Laskar a puppet king.

Phiren had used the exact same expression in the letters he sent to Ceryl.

Why would they call the king of an entire nation a puppet?

Why would such a weak-sounding title be attached to a king responsible for endless atrocities and cruel commands?

I had always wondered.

But what if he was in the same position as Days?

“We’ll only know for sure once we see him ourselves.”

My tangled thoughts were abruptly cut off by Varen’s firm voice.

When I looked at him in confusion, Varen smirked lightly in response.

“You said you wanted to see his face once.”

“...Ah...”

Varen repeated exactly what I had muttered earlier.

I could only blink at his casual tone.

At Varen’s single remark, everyone immediately began organizing themselves as though they had been waiting for it.

Several people started speaking at once, sharing plans.

Meanwhile, still dazed, I frowned and tilted my head.

“Wait a second. We’re seriously going to meet King Laskar in person? Did I hear that correctly?”

Everyone who had already risen from their seats turned toward me at the same time.

Then they nodded as though it were obvious.

Faced with such unified reactions, I let out a disbelieving breath.

“We’re not talking about visiting some guy in the next village. This is the king. The king. Am I... am I the only one treating this like a huge deal?”

Swan answered lightly.

“It’s a huge matter for us as well. We’re finally putting into motion the plans we’ve spent years preparing.”

“How long were we supposed to keep digging through back alleys forever?”

Crow rose from his seat and smacked Swan lightly on the shoulder.

The two men, dressed in completely opposite ways, looked at each other with identical eyes.

There was complete trust in them.

Only then did I finally understand their reactions.

These were people who had spent years moving toward the same goal together.

Now that the rebels’ final destination was finally within reach, anticipation outweighed tension.

“Contact Moka. Tell her we’ll be coming soon.”

“Yes. Understood.”

After answering Theo’s order, Swan hurried out of the tent.

When I silently asked with my eyes, Theo explained that Moka was a woman who had infiltrated the royal palace disguised as a cleaner.

It felt like I was the only person here who still wasn’t mentally prepared.

I clenched both fists tightly, trying to calm my unsettled stomach.

“Haah... O-okay. Fine. Let’s go take a look at Laskar’s fucking face— ah!”

While glaring fiercely by myself and trying to strengthen my resolve, I suddenly shouted loudly.

Then I grabbed Morpha’s arm.

If we truly could enter the royal palace—that forbidden place itself—then there was someone else we needed to find there.

“Kaldrok’s child is imprisoned there.”

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