Zeke asked with a puzzled look.
"Guest? No one will come to see me in Atlas."
Zeke came out of the room and went to the reception room where the guests were.
"Master? And Instructor Andrei too?"
To my surprise, Duke Draker and Andrei Draker were in the reception room.
The Duke waved his hand and said to Zeke.
"Disciple. You are a real bastard. I have never seen anyone fail to enter Valhalla. Didn't that old man Flaubert say anything?"
Zeke said, sitting down with a tired expression.
"I'm already on my way back from taking a special test."
"Oh really? Then there was no problem."
Duke, who knew Zeke's skills better than anyone else, wasn't too worried.
Zeke said, looking at the two of them.
"But what are you two doing here? What about the Academy?"
The Duke said with a calm expression.
"Shouldn't there be a teacher where there are students? What about the Academy? Howard will take care of it."
To begin with, Duke was a man who didn't do much but just drink potions and drink alcohol.
"Even if that's the case, Master… … why Instructor Andrei… … ?"
Andrey looked slightly embarrassed.
The Duke said, as if he was tired of the sight.
"Oh my, that rascal. I told him I had nothing more to tell him, but he kept following me around."
Even though he said that, the Duke didn't seem to strongly refuse Andrei's company, perhaps because they had become attached to each other.
"So you're both in Atlas?"
"Yeah. You've already got a big mansion, so let's just stay here for a while."
There was no reason for Zikr to refuse.
Thanks to this, Duke and Andrei also became members of the mansion's military family.
Zik asked Andrey.
"So, instructor, are you going back to the Four Seasons?"
He shook his head.
"No, this time I was appointed as an assistant professor at Valhalla."
Considering Andrei's relatively young age, becoming an assistant professor at Valhalla meant that his skills had improved by leaps and bounds.
Duke said it was nice to see him after such a long time and started drinking heavily even though the sun hadn't set yet.
Zeke served the Duke's drinks for a bit, then passed the errands to Andrei before returning to his room to prepare for a night of drinking.
And when it was a secret night and everyone in the mansion was asleep, Zeke used the Ghost Treasure, a technique that left no trace, and went outside.
* * *
He knew well the dark world hidden behind the splendid metropolis of Atlas.
Zik entered a remote alley on the outskirts of the city, where ordinary people rarely visit.
And I went into a bar where the sign was falling off.
Inside the bar, people were drinking alcohol that gave off a dangerous smell.
Zick scanned the interior of the bar, then walked over to the bar and sat down with his chin on the table.
Then he spoke to the bartender.
"Give me a pint of stout. And."
He continued, putting down a gold coin.
"Go and tell Kay that I want to see you."
At those words, the bartender and all the men around him who looked dangerous turned their attention towards Zeke.
Zig, who was receiving attention, smiled faintly.
"Don't get hurt unnecessarily, just go quietly and tell them. Zeke Draker wants to make a deal with the Syndicate."
At the mention of Draker, the bartender nodded to a man near the bar.
He went inside and came back out, then gestured towards Zeke.
It seemed like permission had been given from above.
Zeke followed the man into the bar.
As expected from a smuggling organization like the Syndicate, they guided Zeke through an underground passage.
After passing through several tightly closed security doors and several forks in the road, I arrived at a building that looked like a large warehouse.
I went inside, past the entrance guarded by several rough-looking men, and into the things inside.
"Just wait a minute."
The man went inside first.
After a while, the door opened and the man motioned for Zeke to come in.
When I went inside, it was filled with various items and boxes of cargo.
There was a table between the crates, and Kay was sitting there.
A captivating woman with wavy red hair and a low-cut dress that reveals her cleavage.
'Your taste in clothes is the same now as it was then.'
Kay stared intently at Zeke's gloves.
Then he pointed to the seat across from him.
"Please sit down first."
As Zeke sat down, Kay took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.
She opened her mouth again, blowing out a thick puff of cigarette smoke.
"So, why did the Supernova of the Draker family want to see me?"
When asked to name the best espionage groups on the continent, two are usually mentioned.
One was the Draker family's Black Stage, and the other was the Roman Empire's Information Bureau.
And there was a little-known source of information, and that was this syndicate.
It started out as a gathering of local smugglers, but quickly grew into an important transport route for drugs from the southern continent.
Zeke had a connection with this syndicate in his previous life, especially with Kay in front of him.
At that time, Kay was an executive of the syndicate.
In her previous life, she had been the first to request Zeke's services, and through this she had secured important transport routes, which gave her a solid career within the syndicate.
Thanks to her, Zeke was able to easily access important information on the continent through her.
'I wouldn't have been able to find the Elder Dragon relic I was looking for before I died if it weren't for Kay.'
Although he wasn't an executive yet, he was capable enough, so it was clear that if we got to know each other and maintained a good relationship from now on, it would be of great help.
Zeke took off the gloves he was wearing and used his magic reflection skill.
Support support support!
The magic power and other things that reached the skill's range flickered violently.
Zeke stopped his skill as he put his gloves back on.
Then the magic power and other things returned to normal.
"I showed it to you because I didn't want to waste time on unnecessary suspicions, so let's skip the fight."
Kay realized that the youngest member of the Draker family sitting in front of her was no ordinary child.
Zeke looked at Kay and spoke bluntly.
"I want to make a deal."
At those words, Kay frowned gently.
"Drake wants to make a deal with us? It would be more believable if Emperor Rom said he would donate to the Holy Kingdom."
"Would you accept money just because you're a Drake? Whether it's money earned from selling soma or money earned from killing people, it's all the same money."
When the word Soma came up, Kei's expression hardened.
It wasn't long before the Syndicate brought Soma from the Southern Continent to the Central Continent.
That was a very confidential matter even within the organization.
Of course, an ominous aura was emanating from Kay and the men around her.
"Why are you trying to cut my neck and bury it?"
In that moment, an enormous amount of energy poured out from Zig's body.
The members of the organization who were hiding throughout the warehouse couldn't even lift a finger because of the murderous aura emanating from Zeke's body.
Kay cursed inwardly, thinking that this young Drake was more dangerous than rumors suggested.
'Those damn Drakers.'
Then Zeke took something out of his bosom and threw it.
Kay was surprised to see a pair of earrings on the table.
"Artifact?"
Young Kay also had a keen eye, just like future Kay.
Zeke said with a smirk.
"It's a popular ancient item at the auction house. It'll be even more surprising if you see the magic attached to it."
Kay took the earrings and put them on her ears, making a disgusted expression.
Advertisements
Then, I generated magical power and checked the performance of the earrings.
"… … Magic power recovery?"
Zeke chuckled.
Its value was enormous, as it was impossible to create a magic item with this level of efficiency with modern magic technology.
She said quietly, putting down her earrings.
"So you meant these earrings when you said you wanted to make a deal?"
"This is just the beginning. There are some better items than this. Keep an eye on the market conditions and slowly sell them at the Dorta Auction House to make some cash."
"If you're a pureblood Awakened Draker, you won't have to worry about money, so why are you doing this?"
"I don't think there's any reason to tell you that."
Zeke took out a document containing the personal information of his undercover identity, Zeke Murray, and handed it to Kay.
"Open a clean account with this and deposit the money there. If you look at the very end, you'll see a trade contract. The items are in the Northern Bank, so go through the process and transfer them. The sales commission will be 10% per transaction, and an additional incentive will be paid for every ten thousand gold."
Kay checked the contract that Zeke had brought.
It was a detailed and neatly organized contract, as if this was not the first or second transaction of this kind.
Kay looked at Zeke and asked.
"What the hell are you?"
"You ask me this even though you know I'm Zeke Draker. I revealed my identity to gain your trust. Of course, I trust you to keep your subordinates' mouths shut."
Kay looked at the personal information and contract in front of her and thought about it.
Then he quickly nodded.
She got up from her seat.
"Follow me."
Kay took Zeke inside the warehouse.
Inside, there was Kay's office.
It seemed like a space used especially when dealing with important guests, as soundproofing and security magic were cast throughout.
As Zeke sat down, Kay brought something over.
"The Oath of Oath. It is truly a magical thing."
Kay wasn't surprised that Zeke knew he was a wizard.
This is because from the moment he brought the magic item, he knew his true identity and guessed that he had come on purpose.
She unfolded the contract containing the oath of commitment and picked up her pen.
"I hope you don't feel bad because it means that I have acknowledged you as my true partner for the first time."
It wasn't that strange, since Zeke had made a vow with Kay in his previous life as well.
Kay was the first to dip his finger into the stylus on the back of the pen.
After that, he signed with blood that flowed down to the nib of the pen.
Following her, Zeke also signed in the same way.
Then, each person's signature was engraved on the inside of their wrist.
'huh?'
But Zeke noticed something strange about the signature engraved on his wrist.
It is engraved as if two signatures are overlapping.
'Could it be that the oath engraved in my previous life has appeared again?'
If you break the oath you swore in blood, the signature engraved on your wrist will disappear.
This would allow one to know whether the person who signed the contract had betrayed them or not.
Zeke flinched at the seeming overlap, but Kay didn't seem to care much.
After confirming the signatures engraved on each other's wrists, the two decided to become partners.
"Now that we're partners, can't you tell me why a Draker pureblood Awakened would want to sell his wares?"
Zeke said to Kay.
"First. It's not a stolen item. It's an ancient item I found. Don't ask where I found it, I won't tell you. Second, just because you're a pureblood Awakened doesn't mean you're necessarily rich. You need to have a wealthy family to support you."
Since it was a story about the Draker family that was difficult to find out, Kay listened to Zeke's story with a curious expression.
Then Zeke said to Kay.
"Is the syndicate dealing with the McCain cartel right now?"
At those words, Kay's expression hardened again.
"How on earth do you know such confidential information even within the organization? Even I, as the branch manager, only recently learned about this information."
She opened her mouth as if to say, "What's the point of hiding it?"
"I'm dealing with McCain, as you said. But the favela cartel has been pressuring me lately. They're telling me to cut ties with McCain and start shipping their stuff."
Currently, the southern continent is in the midst of a three-way war between the giant cartels Favela, McCain, and Tahuani.
In the southern continent, which was close to a lawless zone, the kingdom's very existence was already a mere name.
Because the military power of the Cartel was dozens of times stronger than that of the Knights of the Kingdom of the Southern Continent.
With that power as their base, they produced the drug Soma in the jungle and brought it to the Central Continent.
Since the largest consumer of Soma was the Rom Empire, transporting it to the Central Continent was important.
The border area, originally used as a transportation route, was completely blocked when the Ishtar family, which had settled there, issued an edict to expel visitors.
Even though they were the most outgoing cartels, they did not want to clash with Ishtar, one of the Transcendent families, so they had to find another way.
In doing so, they joined hands with the smuggling organization, the Syndicate. Soma was transported through the South Sea and distributed through the desert region to the Roman Empire, the Central Kingdom, and the Northern Continent.
Since Soma was known to have a hallucinogenic effect as well as a magical power-boosting effect, it was popular among magicians, so demand was always high.
Thanks to this, the syndicate monopolized the transportation of goods for the cartels and was making a huge amount of money by establishing distribution and sales networks in each region of the continent.
Having already experienced this situation in his past life, Zeke was well aware of the Southern Cartel's situation.
Zeke, who was organizing his memories from his past life, looked at Kay and said.
"Hey, Kay. I have a suggestion to make."
"What are you proposing?"
Zig said with a calm smile.
"Please let go of Don Juan and his legs."
At those words, Kay was so surprised that she raised her voice without realizing it.
"You want to face the McCain cartel boss?"
Zeke nodded.
"Okay. If you do that, I'll make you the boss of the syndicate."