Wizard: I Add Points and Hunt Monsters

”You’ve misunderstood,” Andrews said, shaking his head. ”This world has long been broken. It’s survival of the fittest. Whether we suppress them or not, they’re all living with their lives on the line.”

”So what? You’re just going to eliminate anyone who gets in the way, so everyone can be just like you?”

”You don’t understand...”

”I don’t, but I do know that after this, you, the Dawn Church, the nobles, and the Council will all be finished!” Ales scoffed.

Andrews pressed his lips together. The overcast night made the candlelit chapel seem dim, hiding his face in the shadows and making him look exceptionally sinister and cold.

Seeing his expression, Ales couldn’t help but grin. ”I’ve known you were narrow-minded for a long time, but I never thought...”

”I just don’t get why you’ve turned out this way. The Caster City State’s Judgement Chief, a Bishop of the Dawn Church, the dictator of Krimms Cathedral... what more could you possibly be unsatisfied with?”

”Unsatisfied? Perhaps...” Andrews shook his head and took another sip of beer. He drank slowly, as if savoring his final moments. He had already foreseen what would happen today, but he wouldn’t regret a thing he’d done.

”Just like you weren’t satisfied with the title ’Legend of the West Coast’ back then, and wanted to find a Divine Artifact that could protect everyone...”

”How ironic,” Ales sneered. ”My goal was to protect, to save people. You were just clearing away obstacles. When I got back, the Joker had nearly wiped out all the Investigators in the Secret Investigation Department!”

”Heh. That’s why, ever since then, I was suspicious of you holing yourself up in the Secret Investigation Department... And as it turns out, my suspicions were correct. You really were plotting against us.”

”Plotting? I suppose you could call it that... Go on, tell me. How exactly was I plotting against you?”

”Ales, where’s the courage you once had to admit your mistakes?” Andrews asked with a smile, wagging his finger at him. ”You found out long ago that Old Ernst was the mastermind, didn’t you?”

”Seventeen years ago,” Ales admitted.

”Then you’re also well aware of the role I played in all this.”

”Mhm. The shit-stirrer.”

”Pfft—COUGH, COUGH...” Andrews nearly choked. He glared at Ales. ”I was maintaining the balance between the nobles and the Council!”

”Sure, sure. Think whatever you want. And then?”

”Your plan began when you discovered Old Ernst and the other nobles were making their move, didn’t it?”

”That’s right!”

”And your goal? I always felt that aside from his family and Governor Samir, the measures you took against me and the Dawn Church were... excessive. Far too severe.”

”Oh? Was it?”

”The Level 3 Disaster Species, the Joker’s rampage... you were pulling the strings behind it all, weren’t you?”

”I was,” Ales said, removing his monocle with a smirk. ”Tina is a good girl, and the Joker is a fine Forbidden Item. Don’t forget, you were the ones who delivered it in the first place.”

”And what about the Abyssal Sect? Since you’re not dead, I assume that Elder Matteo is still alive as well?”

”Heh...”

Seeing the smile on his face, Andrews knew he’d guessed right. He asked seriously, ”So, what’s your goal in all this? Are you willing to sacrifice the entire city-state for it?”

”Sacrifice the city-state... Me?”

Ales repeated those words a few times, the smile slowly vanishing from his face. Then, two rays of black light erupted from his murky eyes, instantly flooding his entire eye sockets.

”Isn’t that what all of you wanted? I merely gave it a little push. As for my goal in all this...”

”It’s for the item hidden somewhere in this very Cathedral—Forbidden Item 0-34, the Resurrection Coffin!”

”You... Ales, your eyes... Is this an aberration?”

Andrews stared in horror at Ales’s current state. The name of the Forbidden Item echoed in his mind, and he suddenly recalled all the cryptic things Ales had said.

’My time is almost up, Andrews...’

’It’s better to be dead. Living is just a pointless struggle...’

’I...’

”You... you want to be resurrected? No, you want... eternal life?!”