Monster Paradise

In the inner world, in a suburb far from the city, was a flaking, dilapidated low villa almost completely overrun by plants.

This phenomenon was not merely confined to the outer walls—even the inner walls and the floor were covered with vines of various colors.

It was in this deserted, uninhabited place that a figure suddenly emerged.

In appearance, this figure looked rather like a tall, burly human. A pure black robe was draped over its body, concealing its form entirely.

The figure slowly walked over to the side of a low-rise building, then turned to face the vine-infested wall before taking off the hood of its robe.

The face that was revealed—more precisely, the four faces revealed—belonged to one of the six overlords of the inner world, the four-faced individual.

Almost at the same time that he removed his hood, one of the vines on the overgrown wall began to squirm. In practically the blink of an eye, it had formed itself into the shape of a giant face.

“Four Face, I’m extremely surprised that you requested we meet alone this time,” the giant face formed by the vine spoke first. “Tell me. What exactly happened to make you insist on conferring with me, despite the risk that I might kill you?”

“Someone stole my fragment of the castellan’s seal,” the four-faced individual stated right away, without even a word of greeting.

“It’s been stolen?! Do you know who did it?” Upon hearing this, the giant face on the wall took on a startled expression; its tone also full of astonishment.

“I don’t know who it is exactly, but I feel that there’s a ninety percent chance of it being outsiders.” The four-faced individual appeared to be very sure of this.

“How did you lose it? Why don’t you explain a little further in detail?” The giant face asked.

“I placed the fragment in this storage ring, the one I wear most often,” the four-faced individual said and pulled up his sleeve, revealing the storage ring he wore on his left middle finger. “Every time I take something from it or put items away, I instinctively do a scan with Divine Telekinesis. However, when I was retrieving something yesterday, I suddenly discovered that the fragment was gone.”

“How did you lose something inside a ring you’re always wearing?” The giant face was rather confused. “Did you remove the ring?”

“I definitely did when I took a bath two days ago. What’s more, I put a batch of items into the ring three days ago. I used Divine Telekinesis to scan through the space storage back then, and the fragment was still there.” The four-faced individual nodded. “So I’m sure that the castellan’s seal fragment went missing between both those times I scanned the space storage with Divine Telekinesis. Moreover, I happened to take off the storage ring during that period. Someone must have seized the chance to covertly pull some monkey business.”

“To know when you removed the storage ring—to be able to access it, then stealthily return the ring to its place…” The giant face formed from the vine gave a faintly mocking smile. “There just might be an inside man among your subordinates then. Someone who can unlock your storage ring ought to be someone very close to you.”

“That’s what I thought too.” At this point, the four-faced individual’s expression turned gloomy.

“The inside man escaped?” The giant face asked with a smile, noticing the four-faced individual’s expression.

“I killed her.” The four-faced individual’s face turned grim when he said this.

As soon as he discovered that the fragment of the castellan’s seal had disappeared without a trace, he had immediately gone to find the succubus.

After interrogating her and unsuccessfully trying to extract a confession, he had killed the succubus himself.

“You didn’t manage to find out anything?” The giant face continued its questioning.

“No.” The four-faced individual shook his head. “She must have been controlled by some form of hypnosis. She knew nothing at all about the castellan’s seal fragment. I forcibly read her memory, and I still wasn’t able to find out anything about the mastermind behind this.”

“Not even a clue?” The giant face also found this rather peculiar.

“No.” The four-faced individual shook his head.”That’s why I said it was probably stolen by outsiders.”

“You’ve lost your fragment of the castellan’s seal, so why are you here to see me? Are you asking me to help you look for it?” The giant face asked, smiling. In reality, it had more or less guessed the other party’s true intentions.

“Since these outsiders are obviously here for the castellan’s seal fragments, they’ll come looking for you sooner or later,” the four-faced individual said bluntly without beating around the bush. “I want to join forces with you to kill these people!”

The giant face fell silent for a moment when it heard what the four-faced individual said. It only spoke again after some time.

“Why should I trust you? You might have concocted a story, while your real objective is to get hold of the fragment that I have.”

“If you want me to prove I have an item, that’s very easy—I can just bring it out and show you. However, if you want me to prove that I don’t have something, I can’t do it. There’s no way for me to prove that my fragment of the castellan’s seal is missing.” The four-faced individual shook his head. “All I can say is that I’ve come here this time in good faith. My target is that group of outsiders; I have no designs on that fragment in your possession.

“Whether you believe it or not, that’s up to you. If you’re willing to work together with me, then we’ll join forces. If you’re not willing to do that, I won’t force the issue either. I’ll think of other ways to take revenge on them.

“However, I must still remind you that it’s only a matter of time before they find out you have a fragment of the castellan’s seal. Sooner or later, they’ll come looking for you…”

The giant face fell silent once again. It had known the four-faced individual for years and was aware that he was a cunning, treacherous old fox. However, this time it did not seem as if he were setting a trap. If he was, then his acting skill was truly beyond words.

“Let’s assume that everything you’ve said is the truth. If so, why are you helping me?”

“These outsiders are here for the castellan’s seal. If they really do manage to gather all of the fragments, what do you think will happen next?” The four-faced individual did not answer the giant face’s question. Instead, he posed yet another question.

“If the outsiders get hold of the castellan’s seal…” The giant face on the wall sported a rather peculiar expression now. “They might… wipe out everything that exists currently, and rebuild Phantom City…”

Only now, when the words had unthinkingly slipped out of its mouth, did the giant face seem to realize the true seriousness of the issue.

Earlier, this aspect of things had never occurred to it. It had merely thought that the four-faced individual losing the fragment of the castellan’s seal was rather amusing. However, now that it was considering the matter, it felt extremely fearful.

“It’s not ‘might wipe out everything’, they absolutely will wipe out everything!” The four-faced individual corrected, “Think about it. If you’re an outsider who has obtained the fully restored castellan’s seal, would you leave the original Phantom City as it is and not change anything at all? On the contrary, if it were me, I’d demolish everything in the original set-up, and rebuild a Phantom City that I could call my own!”

“We’ll be erased…” The giant face brought up the point that mattered to it most of all.

The four-faced individual said nothing more. Patiently, he stared at the giant face on the wall, waiting for it to give him an answer.

It only took a moment for the giant face to make a decision. It spoke again, “How do you want to join forces?”