I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-104

Ch-104

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Boom!

Kwakwa-BOOM!

At the renewed commotion, everyone except Hudson turned their heads.

And the moment they did, each one of them fell silent, at a loss for words.

For what they saw could only be described as pure violence.

That monster was overwhelmingly crushing the berserkers of the Dersian family beneath him.

In a fleeting instant, another six had been smashed to pieces.

“…Alt!”

The young lady of the Dersian family widened her eyes.

This was the first time Alt had struggled this badly against an opponent.

And it was also the first time they had faced someone who destroyed everything to this degree.

He ignored the wounds piling on his own body and focused solely on killing his opponent.

Smashing, breaking everything in his path without allowing even a breath of respite.

A swordsman simply couldn’t withstand that level of destructive force.

No one could.

“Ah…”

She couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.

Only one remained now.

And even that last one was seconds away from having his head severed.

“Stop!”

It was then.

Hearing the deafening noise, the guards began arriving one after another.

All of them were elite soldiers of the Darkan Territory.

The Dersian young lady let out a sigh of relief upon seeing them.

No matter how crazed that man was, this was still the Darkan Territory.

If he caused more trouble here, he’d never leave alive anyway.

As long as one of them survived, Alt wouldn’t die.

He would revive again, like a phoenix.

*He’s saved…*

Crunch!

But the young lady’s prayer remained unanswered.

The man raised his massive greatsword and crushed the head of the last remaining Alt.

“Ah…”

Stagger—

The Dersian young lady faltered and collapsed to the ground.

Her escort was dead.

The berserker of the Dersian family—who had never once known defeat—had died.

Crack!

The young lady pushed herself off the floor.

She could never forgive that man.

The moment she stepped out of the building, the captain of the guard stepped forward.

“Aren’t you the Lady of the Dersian family?”

“Yes. I am Isabella, the sole daughter of the Dersian family.”

“What in the world is happening here?”

“That man dared lay hands on the Dersian family. On top of that, he killed my escort and insulted me.”

It was absolutely unforgivable.

The captain’s gaze shifted back to the center of the chaos.

A man standing with a massive sword in hand—like a barbarian.

*If it’s the Dersian family, that means they’re close with Lord Darkan…*

Not to mention, they were hosting the auction together this time.

He couldn’t afford to ignore the influence of the Dersian family.

Even if she were at fault, she still had to be defended.

“Whoa, whoa! What’s all this commotion?”

“…Sir Pamel!”

Pamel, the Guardian Knight of the Darkan Territory.

He arrived with the knights.

As the soldiers lined up to greet him, Pamel gave a small nod before shifting his gaze.

“Hm? Lady Dersian?”

Seeing him, the young lady’s confidence swelled even further.

“Sir Pamel, Guardian Knight. That man insulted me and killed my escort. Will you simply stand by and watch?”

“That man killed the berserker? No… wait.”

As Pamel looked at the man, he spotted Hudson emerging from the building and tilted his head.

“Are you… Lord Hudson?”

“That’s right.”

“May I see your invitation?”

Dismounting, Pamel approached Hudson.

Hudson produced an invitation from his coat.

After verifying it, Pamel nodded.

“I see. Are you involved in this incident?”

“That man standing over there is my escort. And contrary to what that woman said, I was the one attacked first.”

“…Is that true?”

“Anyone on the same floor would’ve seen it. Ask them yourself, if you wish.”

Pamel furrowed his brow.

He had memorized the identities of all invitees.

Hudson was among them.

But the opponent was the Dersian family.

“It seems this matter is something the lord must personally judge.”

“Sir Pamel! Are you saying someone unknown is more important than the Dersian family?”

“Lady Dersian, this gentleman was personally invited by the lord. I came running when I heard he had crossed the warp, but in that short time something like this happened…”

“…You came to greet *that man*?”

“Yes. In any case, this matter exceeds my authority. Please come to the lord’s castle.”

The Dersian young lady’s eyes wavered.

Pamel was the territory’s representative knight—someone who even held the lord’s authority in the lord’s absence.

He had more than enough power to carry out immediate executions.

Yet he was drawing a line, saying this was beyond his authority.

He was siding with the one who destroyed the building and killed her escort.

An impossible situation.

More astonishing was the fact that Pamel had rushed out the moment he heard someone crossed the warp.

*When I arrived, the guard captain was the only one who came out…*

The Darkan Lord wasn’t the type to budge for ordinary nobles.

So who were these people?

Who were they for the Guardian Knight Pamel to be sent out personally—and even to overlook this entire situation?

They were unfamiliar faces.

And if they were nobles of the Empire, she would have known.

For imperial citizens to protect someone who wasn’t even an imperial citizen?

“…Fine. Let’s go to the lord’s castle. I’m certain the honorable Lord of Darkan will punish them properly. Assuming, of course, he wishes to maintain relations with the Dersian family.”

So she threatened him.

If he overlooked this matter, their relationship with the Dersian family would sour.

The Darkan Lord would never risk that!

—

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After killing the transcendent bearing the Spade mark, a new message appeared before my eyes.

《You have obtained massive experience (27%).》

《Achievement “Slayer of the Transcendent” has been completed.》

《Honor increased by 250.》

《The star of the slain transcendent scatters.》

《‘♠’ has fallen somewhere on the continent.》

…

A huge gain in experience—almost from a standstill.

Achievements, and the additional messages that appear when hunting transcendents.

Seeing all this information, I couldn’t help but tilt my head.

*So a Spade is treated as a proper star…*

A “star” is a part of the goddess’s body.

A scattered fragment of her body becomes a star, granting power beyond human limits.

But the Spade mark of the slain transcendent was being treated the same way—recognized as a “transcendent’s mark.”

If killing him caused his mark to scatter and fall somewhere… could this mean another god’s body exists?

Then who among the gods had died?

*The star-bearer would know.*

A true star-bearer would understand the meaning of that transcendent’s mark.

But finding a star-bearer isn’t something one can simply do.

I didn’t have the time right now, and it would be faster to make them come to me.

The problem was that reaching level 10 would take ages.

Maybe it’d be better to develop a secondary character and use *them* to find a star-bearer.

Or investigate the Dersian family, who possessed a transcendent with a Spade mark.

“Dersian… Isabella von Dersian.”

I looked at the woman screaming her lungs out.

She had called herself “Isabella” earlier.

But the Isabella von Dersian *I* knew was not her.

The real Isabella should presently be struggling in the desert, aiming to become the Desert Queen.

She was the only Isabella von Dersian I knew.

*…So is this woman a fake?*

It made no sense.

The sole daughter of the family having the same name.

It wasn’t coincidence.

Unless they missed the kidnapped Isabella so much that they gave a newborn the same name—which seemed unlikely—there must be another reason.

Their ages looked roughly similar too.

“Whoa, whoa! What’s all this commotion?”

“…Sir Pamel!”

The sudden appearance of the knights.

And when I saw the man called Pamel, I was quietly surprised.

【Lv. 13】

He wasn’t a transcendent who had eaten stars—he was simply a monster who had raised his level through normal means.

Back when I played as Wilhelm, I had no ties to the Empire, so their customs were unfamiliar to me.

Perhaps the way they handled prestige varied greatly from family to family.

*He’s evaluating me.*

Though Guardian Knight Pamel was speaking to the Dersian young lady, all his attention was fixed on me.

His stance suggested he was ready to draw his sword at any moment.

One suspicious move and he would strike.

But it didn’t bother me.

The fact that he was wary meant he couldn’t gauge my strength.

And honestly, fighting a high-level monster was easier than dealing with the erratic powers of transcendents.

“…Please accompany us to the lord’s castle.”

Pamel spoke to Hudson.

“Alright.”

Hudson nodded lightly.

We were to go to the Darkan Lord to settle the issue.

And all the way there, the Dersian young lady glared at me as though she wanted to kill me.

*

*

A marble throne.

The black dragon engraved into the throne was the symbol of Darkan.

Sitting there, the Darkan Lord—black-haired, with eyes like obsidian—rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly.

*This is insane.*

It was because of the people standing before him.

He had sent Guardian Knight Pamel, yet in that short time such a disaster had unfolded.

On one side stood Isabella, the sole daughter of the Dersian family, long-standing allies of the Darkan Territory.

And on the other side…

*The influential administrator of the Labyrinth City, under the protection of the White King. And he’s even a reasonable human.*

When he first heard of Hudson through the city councilor planted in Arcana, he couldn’t believe it.

The “Labyrinth City” mentioned by the White King—this was the second declaration of territory after Cramdel.

Fifth pillar held absolute control there, meaning that domain was a city of monsters.

Yet astonishingly, there was a human who transported goods from the old Empire out of that labyrinth.

Looking deeper, Hudson was actually the administrator managing the Labyrinth City.

A trusted subordinate who handled affairs directly—one of the true powers there!

There had been no contact between the White King and the Empire.

Because those monsters did not listen to humans.

Humans?

If seen, they were killed. If approached, they were slaughtered.

The other Four pillars were the same.

*But fifth pillar was a monster capable of communicating with humans.*

He alone had a human, Hudson, as his right-hand man.

And so, an investigation was ordered.

“Former owner of Casino Hudson, a man who once aimed for a council seat in the Golden City of Arcana.”

Surprisingly, his record was clean—pure human, with no suspicious background.

How he had come into contact with fifth pillar was unknown, but it was a tremendous opportunity.

Treasures of the old Empire?

Unimportant.

Something far more valuable existed.

*…A chance to form a connection with the North.*

The North was the land of the White King.

He ruled vast territories, including Cramdel.

The value of the North was astronomical.

Even the Empire coveted it.

But in the North, the White King was invincible.

To wage full-scale war with his endless monsters would cost unimaginable losses.

Thus the Empire could not easily act.

But this—this was an opportunity. A link to the North and the White King.

So he had invited Hudson.

Yet he caused trouble the moment he arrived.

*Whose side should I take?*

The process didn’t matter.

This was not a place to debate who was truly right or wrong.

This was a place to choose.

If he sided with the Dersian young lady, he would have no choice but to punish Hudson.

And naturally, all potential connections with the North would vanish.

Above all, he had no idea how fifth pillar would react.

Yet if he chose Hudson, then his relationship with the Dersian family would crack.

“…Lady of the Dersian family. I heard you attacked first. Everyone in the vicinity gave the same testimony.”

The Lord of Darkan had made his decision.

If he punished Hudson, he had no way of knowing how far the consequences might spread.

On the other hand, matters concerning the Dersian family were ones he could still manage personally.

“L-Lord Darkan! What… what are you saying? Are you saying you will take the side of some unknown outsider instead of the Dersian family?”

The young lady’s eyes shook violently.

But the Lord of Darkan had already resolved himself.

“Lady Dersian—no, Isabella. He is not some unknown outsider. He is someone I personally invited as a representative of the ‘Labyrinth City.’ To offend him is to offend me.”

“…!”

“I will address this matter directly with the Dersian family. No matter how much you claim you came here as their representative, you do not have the authority to meddle with my guests.”

“Labyrinth… Are you speaking of the Abyss Labyrinth…?”

“Yes.”

As the Lord of Darkan confirmed it without hesitation, the young lady’s cheeks trembled.

*So that giant was his escort too?*

Only now did everything make sense.

The suddenly resurfaced Abyss Labyrinth.

The Empire had deployed powerful individuals to explore it.

They had obtained intelligence that ‘Riley of the Six-heroes Sword,’ the one considered the Empire’s ancestral blade master, had sunk there.

But in the end, the Abyss Labyrinth had been seized by fifth pillar, subordinate to the White King.

*An agent of fifth pillar…!*

According to the Lord of Darkan, that annoyingly pale brat was fifth pillar’s representative.

Grit—

The young lady of the Dersian family ground her teeth.

“That barbarian-like man killed my escort. The berserker of the Dersian family! Do you truly not understand what that means? At the very least, that barbarian must be punished.”

For the sake of her family’s pride—and her own—she demanded at least some penalty for her escort’s killer.

If he punished the escort, she was signaling that the matter could be neatly buried.

“…Hudson, Representative. What do you think?”

To the Lord of Darkan’s quiet question, Hudson firmly shook his head.

 

 

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