Just as Baston thought, few days passed and there was no sign Claire would bother him again. Since there was a better candidate to invite, the woman should not look at the fat boy again. Not to mention the
mysterious beautiful girl was stronger than him, Claire herself must be fond of beautiful girl. Surely, it hurt his heart but Baston chose this way to avoid future problem that might happen.
After getting away from such trouble, Baston spent his time in his room. It wasn't unlike the first where the room was cramped and moist. Since he showed his ice attribute, the treatment he got slowly changed into a good
one. At present, the room got upgraded again since he showed amazing fight on the magic competition. Not only he was strong, he also could adapt into different situation. Principal Viral who saw this had a foresight that this fat boy could transform into the best wizard the academy ever had. Such a pride
surely must be treated well in order to cope with Baston's development.
Baston himself was happy, but he was also afraid the responsibility that he needed to overcome would become bigger than before. Even though he felt appreciated, he didn't want to be in the limelight for now. There
were many secrets on him so once everyone recognized his ability, it would be harder to get away with everything. Because of that, he chose to be the poor class even though he had ability to get away from it. Less attention brought good situation so that was why he postponed the matter although many already advised him to quickly shed his poor status.
While being lazy, the fat boy heard a news from his special dormitory. It wasn't a surprise that Alicia won the junior magic competition. As for the senior one, he didn't care too much since there was a little contact
between them. Anyway, he wanted to stay away from another quest for now. That was why he kept holing up inside his room and seldom went outside. If he didn't go out, then the old book wouldn't issue new quest. The matter of food and drink were handled by Karte so his life was quite full and happy at present. Still, sooner or later he had to go outside because there was no way he could stay locked like unemployed person.
During the rest, Panto came to his room to talk regarding the new company. Baston couldn't avoid it because this responsibility fell on him since he killed the old owner. Although from time to time, Levan popped up in the company, it would be hassle to keep coming everyday. He was afraid someday; he couldn't be there and deployed the puppet so the assigned supervisor must
take care of the company.
"My own people should be here this afternoon. Once they are here, Levan needs to announce it to the workers so there will be no disagreement in the company," Panto looked at the document.
Baston nodded, "It's no problem. The fake Levan will act according to your suggestion. By the way, he will come up with an excuse where he will need to stay away from the company. At that time, your people will have
full authority about the company. You must remember the salary have to increase since most these people were robbed by Levan before."
"I understand. As long as the profit we take is less, I'm very sure we can slowly enrich the workers here. Regarding this problem, don't
you want to inform to the kingdom?"
"There is no need. People in here will choose to believe Levan rather the kingdom itself."
"Well, it's true…"
During the stay at the company, Panto found the workers here believed Levan completely. In their hearts, they regarded him as the savior. Although in the end, Levan was just only a scammer but unfortunately, people
here wouldn't believe it easily. He once tried to talk about the bad rumors regarding Levan, but the workers quickly became angry since the outside dared to badmouth him. Such a strong disagreement made Panto shook his head. Clearly, if these people were allowed to develop, they would become a fanatic in time.
"Fanatic, huh?"
Panto was pondering what these people could do and this term suddenly popped up in his head. Although Baston didn't explain too much about the relationship between Levan and the cult, he thought his hunch was one of the possibilities. He wanted to confirm it but he didn't dare to ask Baston
directly. It was because the fear of his safety, Panto decided to keep it first and asked someone else. When he excused himself, he went to noble's area where Alicia lived. He couldn't just go straightforwardly since he would be blocked. Alicia happened to inform him if somehow, there was something he wanted to tell her regarding the cult, he could just contact her guards.
Once again, Panto had a secret meeting with Alicia. After the merchant boy talked about Levan, Alicia frowned because she also never thought this man was very wicked inside. He robbed people and used part of the money for himself and for charity. Because the scope was only small town, Levan could act blatantly without any hindrance. Luckily, Baston was in here so the
man was dead forever.
"It seems Baston was always at the scene when something happened. Is it really just a coincidence or not?" Alicia thought.
As always, the noble girl could imagine something out of the box. Prius Academy had peaceful years after years but when the fat boy started to become active, there would be something happened. Regarding Baston himself, there wasn't anything strange with his background. He lived alone in the
academy since he had an opportunity to be admitted here. If not because the kingdom's law, there would be no chance he could study magic. The fat boy stayed low until one day, his behavior turned completely different. There was no impression about him until he talked about the cult.
At the moment, only 2 people knew the existence of the cult except Baston in the academy. It had been already long enough, but Baston never told this matter to others. This secret only for them to know so it made her as one of few people here felt happy and appreciated. Still, she started to look into another matter seriously when Panto told her about his conclusion.
"Fanatic… Well, if you think it thoroughly, they have the possibility to turn into one."
"Exactly!" Panto also agreed with Alicia, "When I try to speak bad about Levan, those workers quickly retaliate. I really wonder even the truth is revealed, will they accept it?"
"Surely, they won't…" Alicia shook her head, "I guess all the truth only come from Levan and no one else. No wonder Baston kept the man alive in front of the workers, even though the real one has been dead."
"I think there's no other way except this. As long as Levan still stay healthy, no one will suspect anything from it."
"Yes, no one will suspect it… Wait!" Alicia suddenly found an interesting plot twist, "Perhaps, Baston wants to lure someone behind the curtain."
"Lure? You mean Levan will act as the bait?"
"Yes, I believe so. If Levan didn't contact anyone during these times, someone behind him must be agitated since there's no exact news."
"But…" Panto interjected, "It seems Levan works alone with his assistant. His own money is only used for themselves. There's no transaction outside his scope so I'm pretty sure that no one behind him."
"It's because the man behind Levan doesn't need money."
"What? Then, what they need?" Panto was confused.
"People…"
Panto was shocked, but when he thought it deeply, it made sense regarding what happened before. He commented that the workers were going fanatical once someone badmouthed Levan. By this occurrence, didn't it mean the plan was not about money at the beginning but people as the priority? Noticing Alicia's idea, he found it was right to think about it because money couldn't buy the hearts of people completely, but people with fanatic behavior could do anything without regards. These types of people would be very dangerous if they let them be. Truly, if there was no Baston, they wouldn't realize the doom was happening slowly in this town.
As a merchant's son, Panto always thought the money was the best motivation for people to do anything. That was why when he checked the records, it stated the money was only taken by Levan and his assistant. With this fact, he thought the money used for their own luxury and nothing else. It was impossible to take the big amount of money directly to transfer into someone else with no trace. Not only it was inefficient, it was very dangerous since robbers and bandits lurked in every road.
"I never thought people can be one of transaction goods for this case," Panto sighed.
"It's not your fault. You have to learn much from the books."
"I'm not fond of reading the books. Not to mention my house is full of goods just like a big warehouse. Having the library is luxury for me."
"There's a library in the academy."
"But the books provided depend on our status. I'm not noble, so the knowledge I get is the second best."
"Oh, right! I forgot about that…" Alicia replied, thinking back when Baston looked for the library when he was at her house, "No wonder Baston look for my library first…"
"What? Did you say something?"
"No, it's nothing."
Both of Alicia and Panto were having a serious conversation until one hour later, the boy excused himself and left the place secretly. Escorted by the guards, they would make sure no student would see him in this residence. If somehow there was a rumor about it, Panto would be troubled. On the other hand, Alicia pondered why Baston looked for Panto and not her. Even though she already owed him, but eventually, he kept and didn't use it. In her head, she
thought Baston didn't take her seriously so he didn't ask for help. There was an urge to confront him, but when she thought it thoroughly, it seemed it would be embarrassing. It would be just like a girlfriend who was angry with her boyfriend because he was closer to his friend rather than her. She cleared her mind and heaved a sigh of relief. The girl couldn't believe she almost did
something stupid.
Meanwhile at the same time, Baston sneezed multiple times before he stopped. He wondered whether he was sick or someone just talked about him. Anyway, he had less energy to go outside since there was no new quest until now. It looked like his prediction was correct since the issuance of the quest depended on his circumstance. If he was in new area, there would be a bigger chance to encounter it. Because of that, he decided to stay inside until he was getting bored. In this case, just considered it as vacation.
"Life is so good when I can enjoy it…"
Baston murmured, munching a chicken stick on his right hand while the left hand brought a juice to drink. Although his body was getting fatter, but he would deal it at later time. Experiencing a long way until he could successfully kill Levan was exhausted for his body and mind. One time, he wondered how could he just kill someone easily without any remorse. At first, there was a disgusting feeling but slowly, it didn't matter for him again. Right now, he didn't want to think about quest or anything that could sacrifice his brain cell. He just wanted his rest as reward.
"It's really quiet now…"
"Brrrr…"
Just after Baston gave a thought, the old book suddenly gave a tremor. He slapped his head because he unknowingly jinxed himself. Looking at the book beside the table, he felt his hand was too heavy to raise. He then continued to lay down on the bed, eating the food and snack before getting the
sleep he needed. By the time one hour passed, he yawned and woke up. This time,
he finally forced himself to open the book.