In a luxurious mansion.

Inside a building fortified with dozens of security measures and protective spells.

In an office lavishly decorated with jewels and gold.

Sian grimaced as he looked at the report submitted by his underling.

‘As expected, something’s definitely off.’

A few months ago, he had noticed some strange movements.

At first, Sian brushed it off as nothing serious.

The potion market wasn’t exactly tiny, but it wasn’t large enough to warrant alarm either.

Even if someone was trying to monopolize that market under the table, it hardly seemed worth his attention.

As both a businessman and a wizard, time was his most precious resource, after all.

And with the way things were going, he was on the verge of reaching the 9th circle, leaving him even less time to waste on trivial matters.

But now, the situation had shifted…

‘Things have changed.’

For precautionary measures, he had instructed his underling to investigate.

The more he delved into that potion business, the more suspicious aspects began to surface.

Like how overly focused the trader was on hiding their true identity.

Or that for some reason, even the princess was investigating this businessman.

And the most suspicious of all… the price of the potions.

It was as if they were digging underground to sell them, priced at less than 20% of their original cost.

This was less than even the cost of materials. Yet this guy was selling potions nationwide at that ridiculous price.

It was utterly bizarre.

‘Even if he found a recipe to reduce costs, this is still an unusual move.’

Even if he had connected with a genius alchemist who could produce potions at much lower prices, why sell them so cheaply?

Just by selling at fair prices, he could easily rake in profits.

But this crazy businessman seemed to prioritize distributing potions to the sick over making a profit, almost like he was doing charity work.

‘This doesn’t make any sense.’

A businessman should always prioritize whether something was profitable or not in all his judgments.

Sian himself certainly operated that way.

His facilities, for instance.

Just looking at hundreds of mining camps where workers were extracting mana stones without any protective gear proved the point.

‘He clearly isn’t incompetent.’

It was just that he was ignoring profitability. Yet the work he was involved in displayed undeniable expertise.

He also possessed impressive concealing skills.

It took Sian’s information network nearly a month to even get a whiff of that name.

‘Rubia, just who are you?’

Something was definitely going on.

It was apparent to Sian that there was more to uncover.

That gut feeling nagging him.

After a significant amount of contemplation, he finally thought of a possibility.

An immensely chilling possibility.

‘What if, I mean what if…’

Someone with such skill.

A person who would neglect success to help others.

A person who places utmost importance on hiding their identity for some reason.

What kind of person would that be?

What organization would such a person belong to?

Naturally, one word flashed through Sian’s mind.

‘Black Fangs.’

It could be an excessive assumption. Even as he tried to calm himself, it was futile.

The more he thought about it, everything fit together perfectly.

All the bizarre behaviors so far.

The way that he prioritized helping others over making profits now made sense.

Black Fangs were annoyingly fond of helping people, after all.

If they were behind the potion business, they would undoubtedly prioritize lives over money.

It made sense why they would desperately conceal their identity.

His speculation slowly morphed into conviction.

Sian’s face turned pale with disbelief.

Otherwise, it would have been even more astonishing.

Black Fangs.

An enigmatic organization that could shake a nation to its core, even causing the Empire a headache.

If that businessman Rubia belonged to the Black Fangs, Sian had unknowingly crossed paths with someone he should never have touched.

Sian had meddled with Rubia’s potion business multiple times.

He coveted their recipes.

Circumstantially, it was pretty evident that they possessed recipes capable of drastically reducing production costs.

Up until now, he hadn’t even guessed that Rubia might be linked to the Black Fangs, so he had no choice.

‘This… could be more dangerous than I thought.’

He had antagonized a being resembling the Black Fangs.

He even made the first move to attack.

Would the Black Fangs simply let that slide?

Famous for being courteous to the weak and merciless to their enemies, the Black Fangs?

Especially when he was running mana stone mining camps that they would undoubtedly despise?

‘Not a chance.’

They were surely just waiting for the right time to bare their teeth at Sian.

Thus, what awaited him was clear.

The same dreadful fate that had befallen all enemies of the Black Fangs.

It was bound to come for him too.

Sian’s life was destined to end here.

All the wealth and fame he had desperately built up would surely be washed away in an instant.

‘…I need to prepare.’

He needed a way to fend off the Black Fangs.

His own power alone was insufficient.

No matter how powerful he was as an 8th circle mage, he was far from the level of an Archmage.

Yet the leader of the Black Fangs was rumored to be someone who could even overpower Archmages.

He was woefully underpowered to confront such a being.

Faced with such a grim future.

But… Sian gritted his teeth.

There had to be a way.

If he was going to survive, one possibility floated to his mind.

Sian activated a communication spell to contact that person. Thankfully, he wasn’t told to just drop dead.

That person was willing to listen, and Sian arranged a meeting.

‘The Black Fangs…’

No matter how strong you think you are,

I won’t just sit back and be taken down.

To survive, I’ll struggle to the bitter end, Sian vowed, moving toward the meeting place.

*

What unfolded before Sian’s eyes was a bit unexpected.

A request asking for a moment of his attention for something important.

Given that he hadn’t had much interaction with this person, he considered it a stroke of luck that they had agreed to meet.

However, he soon realized he wasn’t just meeting this person alone.

It seemed a gathering was underway.

There were several others present apart from that individual.

Given who was in attendance, Sian felt a bit intimidated.

But he wasn’t the kind of person to crumble in such situations.

‘Actually, this is an opportunity.’

Thinking about it, having more allies is always better. It could very well be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Sian had one clear task ahead of him.

“Please lend me your strength to face the leader of the Black Fangs!”

Sian shouted with all his might.

To those top-tier allies.

In other words…

‘The influential figures of the Holy Church.’

“…What did you just say?”

The man before him, Cardinal Dominic, asked.

While Cardinal Dominic was smiling, the aura emanating from him was unnervingly intense.

Yet, Sian couldn’t help but smile back.

This was, in fact, a good sign.

He had anticipated that the Holy Church would hate the Black Fangs for revealing their secrets.

But he had no idea it would reach this level of intensity.

Thanks to that, Sian’s plan to win over the Holy Church was now closer to success.

“That horrible demon! We’ll erase the leader of the Black Fangs from this world with our own hands!”

Sian excitedly responded to Cardinal Dominic’s question.

He had thought he was heading toward certain death at the hands of the Black Fangs. But now, he had found a way to survive.

Eight Cardinals, all of whom were Bishop-level or higher.

It was a force powerful enough to warrant a national war.

If they joined forces, taking down the Black Fangs would be nothing short of a dream.

Of course, that was a story for when cooperation was established. But judging by the current situation, he figured he had no reason to worry.

The sheer murderous intent that nearly made him tremble.

Just how intense was their desire to kill the leader of the Black Fangs?

It was hard to fathom the depths of their hatred.

Naturally, it wasn’t surprising.

“I accept your proposal.”

Cardinal Dominic smiled pleasantly as he declared.

A perfect success.

Sian had secured the cooperation of the Holy Church.

“The demon is spouting blasphemous words; I can’t stand it any longer. Just the fact that such a being is alive in this world makes me sick.”

That voice dripped with madness.

For some reason, they seemed overly enthusiastic. But he could handle such a minor risk.

‘What good fortune.’

Sian genuinely thought that.

Things were going remarkably well.

He was certainly a lucky guy.

Probably no one else had as much luck as he did.

Of course…

“If it’s your wish, I will do my utmost to execute the demon.”

“That truly is a relief! Then let’s head straight to the mansion… Huh? Cardinal? Why suddenly the mace?”

—Clang!

After Dominic had lost his mind completely and smashed his head with the mace, all those thoughts vanished from Sian’s mind.

He had made what he thought was a rational decision, only to return with the horrific outcome of being turned into ground beef after torture.

It was incredibly unfair for Sian.

…But what can he do?

It was all a result of his own actions.