Chapter 313 – Zahir
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Zahir was originally a high-ranking warrior of the Karim tribe.
He led an adventurer’s life by coming to Slumber to get food for his tribe, escorted by the warchief’s son, Payaz.
Payaz was also a sword master, befitting the son of a warchief, and it wasn’t difficult to raise an adventurer’s guild.
Meanwhile, while exploring the 11th floor, Zahir discovered a dungeon.
He didn’t think it was such a great dungeon at first. It was because the size and strength of the monsters in the dungeon were not so great.
However, in that dungeon, they found vials contained in luxurious boxes.
At first, he saw it as a magician’s potion he was researching in the dungeon.
Until then, Zahir hadn’t even thought that those potions would change his life.
Zahir had Tillman, a wizard recruited into the guild a few years ago, who was having the same party, take a look at the potion without much thought…He discovered that it was an amazing elixir.
And after taking the elixir, Zahir rose to the level of a sword master.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you. Tilman. Thanks to you. Is there anything you want?”
“You mean what you want? Zahir, do you have any future plans?”
“Plan?”
Zahir questioned Tilman’s meaningful words.
“Zahir-nim has risen to the rank of Sword Master. Doesn’t he intend to become a nobleman?”
Zahir’s face hardened at Tilman’s words.
To become a noble of the kingdom was the same as to renounce one’s tribe.
“…Are you telling me to betray the tribe?”
“Um… Betrayal… Do you mean… Do you have family in your… Tribe?”
“…Nothing. I am an orphan.”
Zahir lost his family to bandits.
It was not uncommon for him to lose his family to fights between tribes as well as bandits in the desert.
Of course, as he became a warrior, he worked hard to catch the bandits, but he didn’t even know who his enemies were because he was too young to remember them.
He just hopes that there will be enemies among the thieves he catches.
Of course, if he went back to the desert again, the women who would become his wives would line up, but it was also true that he was alone right now.
“Then… I can’t understand it even more. You, who have no family… Why are you sending the precious magic stones and rift cores that you risked your life to save? Oh, I apologize if that was a rude remark.”
“…Okay.”
Tillman’s words touched Zahir’s dissatisfaction, which he had been ignoring in a corner of his heart.
‘Tilman is right. Why am I… Paying the price I shed blood and sweat to them? What can you get…’
Daewoo will get a little better, but nothing has changed much more than now.
All he got was the trust and recognition of the warchief, Karim, the guild master, and Payaz… Now that he has become a sword master, he should be praised as a great warrior, but that was all.
“Zahir, you are now a sword master. The desert is not the whole world. You are a person of high value. Here you can receive the title of count and create your own family. If you don’t like this place, you can go to the Empire. Will be treated much better than now.”
Zahir felt as if he had been hit in the head.
“…What do you want?”
Zahir noticed that Tilman was subtly encouraging him.
“…Zahir, no, Zahir-sama. I don’t think you’re a human who will stop at Sword Master. I… Want to be by your side and assist you.”
Tilman quietly knelt down in front of him on one knee.
“…”
Tillman respectfully knelt down.
His appearance gave Zahir a feeling that his heart was being ripped open.
‘Yes, what was the desert bound to there? It’s just where I was born.’
It was amazing to see that in less than a few years, a huge fortress that could not even be dreamed of in the desert was built in the labyrinth.
It was an adventurer’s life, not an aristocrat, but it was much more comfortable and better than life in the desert.
After coming here, I could clearly understand why the tribe couldn’t get out of the desert.
It is power.
They didn’t have the strength to get out of the desert.
No, the warchief had no intention of leaving the desert.
The soul of the desert or something.
They thought they would starve to death, so they sent themselves here.
That’s how Zahir listened to Tilman’s advice and had great ambitions.
From his close subordinates, he secretly began to make them his own.
And Zahir did not stop at Sword Master and ambitiously tried to rise to the level of Grand Master, but the plan was shaky from the beginning.
It was because in Sword Master, he could no longer raise his level with the power of the elixir.
Payaz, the master of Karim Guild, is a sword master.
Zahir reached a level like Payaz, and was confident that he would not lose to him, but the difference in basic power between them was large.
Fortunately, there was quite a bit of elixir left.
And surprisingly, Tillman continuously analyzed the elixir and made it possible to produce it continuously.
Zahir had no choice but to give up on becoming Grand Master with the elixir and decided to turn in a different direction.
He decided to give his subordinates the elixir and make them sword masters.
Of course, what worried me was the betrayal of a subordinate who had become a sword master.
“How do you feel about abstinence?”
“Taboo?”
“It’s a taboo that adds magical treatment to the elixir so that Zahir-sama can dispose of them at any time.”
Tillman’s proposal was certainly attractive.
“…Should I go that far?”
“It has to be done. If they don’t betray, it won’t happen, and you won’t know.”
“…Yes.”
The subordinates who became sword masters will be of great strength.
It was also necessary for future work.
“…Couldn’t it…Did you also forbid the elixir I took?”
Zahir asked Tillman with his eyes shining sharply.
“That can’t be the case. At the time, the analysis wasn’t done to the extent of being able to forbid elixirs, and even if I did, would there be any reason to serve Zahir-sama like this?”
“…I see. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry. Moderate suspicion is a good virtue as a monarch.”
Tilman’s word “Lord” Made Zahir feel good.
So, with Tilman’s help, Zahir created five loyal sword masters excluding himself.
He appealed to himself that he had the power to create a sword master and, of course, promised their wealth and glory.
Zahir, unlike his warchief, intended to reward him well enough.
What followed was a one-off.
6 sword masters.
It was an act of betraying the huge guild union, but it was an overwhelming force that was certain to succeed.
Not only Karim in the fortress, but also the officers of other guilds all swore allegiance to Zahir.
After completing all preparations, Zahir occupied the fortress.
They didn’t just occupy the fortress to start a siege. That’s how important the fortress on the 11th floor of the labyrinth was.
The 11th floor of the labyrinth is a completely different place from the other floors.
It was no exaggeration to say that it was a different world.
It is a fertile land where huge forests and meadows coexist.
There were days and nights similar to those outside…
Above all, the magic stone mine secretly managed by the Guild Alliance.
It would have been foolish to give up on this place.
Zahir was planning to show off his strength by overwhelmingly defeating the Guild Alliance here.
Then he thought that his lord would not dare to interfere with his stronghold with six sword masters.
After defeating the Guild Alliance, he planned to establish a new integrated guild and go up to the capital to receive a title.
There is only Tilman who can take out the Sword Master.
Over time, his own power will only grow stronger.
Then you’re not a noble…
He should be able to aim for that too.
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Zahir was arrogantly looking down at the camp of the Guild Alliance encamped under the city walls.
“You came faster than I thought.”
The movement of the guild union was faster than expected, but I wasn’t nervous.
At a place far enough away from the wall that the arrows could not reach it, the troops of the Guild Alliance gathered and were preparing for battle.
“Over there?”
Seeing the troops stationed a little far from the guild union, I asked Tilman.
“Probably…The adventurers and the soldiers of the lord. Fortunately, they don’t seem to have any intention of attacking together.”
This is the sea that was expected.
In the first place, the Slubber lord and the guild union weren’t on good terms.
There was no way the guild union would ask for help from the lord.
It didn’t matter if we came together…
Zahir, who was planning to become a noble of the kingdom of Barulas, was reluctant to have direct conflict with the lord.
Zahir turned his gaze back to the Guild Alliance.
And he could see Payaz glaring at him from afar.
His eyes were filled with cold anger.
“Tsk… You’re cheeky.”
As the owner, the dog, who had been feeding well, is angry that he did not bring food.
As Tilman said, this was not a betrayal in the first place.
He himself is not a slave, and he has been doing free service to his tribe. And he just doesn’t intend to do that service anymore.
The past years have been too precious.
I wish I had met Tilman sooner.
However, that angry face will soon turn into despair.
