Lord of Caldera - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Chapter 51
Praising himself, Max glanced at Sylas’s bed. Sylas was sleeping soundly, unaware of anything around him. Max carefully crawled under the bed and tapped directly beneath Sylas’s pillow.

‘I’ll start by waking him up lightly.’

Vibrations tend to sound loud only to those nearby. Adding the prepared metal piece and tapping it increased its effectiveness.

When someone wakes up the first time, they might think it was just their imagination and go back to sleep. That’s when the real fun would begin.

Ting, ting, ting.

‘Good sound!’

Max smiled at the ringing noise from the metal piece. He thought that with a few more taps, the noise would be enough to wake Sylas up.

Twenty minutes passed.

‘He’s not waking up.’

Even after all that tapping, Sylas remained asleep. At one point, Max had hit the metal piece so hard that it nearly echoed outside the room. For someone so close, it should have sounded like thunder, yet he kept sleeping.

‘What’s going on?’

Unable to contain his frustration, Max crawled out from under the bed. It was risky, but he had to check. When he looked at Sylas’s face, he was at a loss for words.

Snoooore, snoooore. “…He’s really sleeping deeply.”

Max stared at Sylas’s face in disbelief. He was sleeping so soundly that he wouldn’t wake up even if someone carried him away. If it had been an assassin’s mission, killing Sylas would have been easy.

‘Damn it, what am I supposed to do now?’

If noise didn’t wake him, there was nothing Max could do. If he touched Sylas directly, he would be executed, regardless of Dani’s protection. With a deep sigh, Max gave up the operation and left the room.

It was a long-term mission anyway. Tonight wasn’t the only chance; he could try again next time.

***

A week later, Max was screaming in frustration alone in the warehouse.

“This is ridiculous! How can a person sleep so soundly!?”

At first, he thought it was just one particularly tiring night. But no, it wasn’t. The next night, and the night after that, Sylas continued to sleep deeply. It had been a week now. Instead of driving Sylas crazy, Max felt like he was the one going insane.

‘If he doesn’t wake up even to the sound of a teacup shattering right next to him, what am I supposed to do?!’

On the sixth night, Max, unable to take it anymore, had pushed a teacup nearby, shattering it. He figured that would be enough to wake Sylas. But it didn’t. Even when a maid rushed in, startled, Sylas continued to sleep soundly.

With no progress, Dani called Max back and scolded him.

“When are you planning to start? Are you waiting for him to die of old age before you begin?”

“Well… actually, I’ve already started.”

“What? Then why haven’t I heard anything?”

“There’s a problem. The young master sleeps too well.”

“What kind of bullshit is that?!”

Dani, irritated, shouted while Max shrank back and explained the situation. Once the young master falls asleep, it’s as if nothing could wake him, not even if someone tried to carry him away. No matter how loud the noise, there was no reaction. Unless someone physically touched him, there was no way to wake him up.

“To be honest, I still doubt he would wake up. I’ve never seen a human sleep so deeply without the aid of medication.”

“Is that so…?”

After a brief moment of contemplation, a smile crept onto Dani’s lips.

“In that case, we’ll change the plan.”

“What do you mean by ‘change’…?”

“If nothing wakes him up, then there’s no need to just threaten him with noise. Visual threats are far scarier, after all.”

Max tilted his head, not understanding the words, as Dani took a dagger from a nearby drawer.

“Take this.”

“Why are you giving me a dagger all of a sudden?”

“Go and stick it next to that illegitimate child’s pillow. You can do that much, right?”

“What!?”

Max was horrified. That was unmistakably the behavior of an assassin!

“I can’t do it! I absolutely can’t!”

“Did I tell you to kill him? I just said to stick it next to his pillow.”

“The risk isn’t even comparable!”

If he got caught making noise, he could brush it off as a prank ordered by the young master. But this? If he got caught, he would die instantly. Even if they didn’t kill him on the spot, he’d surely be tortured about who was behind it.

‘And then you’d pretend you didn’t know anything!’

This wasn’t something that could be passed off as a sibling’s prank. If Max got caught, Dani would most likely cut ties and abandon him. He couldn’t bear that kind of risk.

Noticing Max’s firm resolve, Dani clicked his tongue and proposed a new condition.

“I’ll pay you five times the remaining amount. And after this task, you won’t have to do anything like this ever again.”

“…!”

Max’s eyes wavered at Dani’s words. All he had to do was take one risk, and he’d receive five times the amount? Even though he wanted to refuse immediately, he hesitated at the tempting offer.

“Didn’t you say that even if you carried him away, he wouldn’t know? Then just do it once. You won’t be caught the first time, will you?”

That was true. The young master slept so deeply that he might not even wake up if a building collapsed next to him. At least, the first attempt wouldn’t be caught.

And with that single, unnoticed attempt, he could collect all the money.

“Just once.”

“Yes, once is enough.”

Max sighed at Dani’s confirmation, already planning to leave the mansion the moment he got paid.

***

That night, Max entered Sylas’s room as usual. Sylas was still sleeping like a log, completely unaware of the world. Max, just in case, put on a mask and drew the dagger from his waist.

It was a situation where anyone would scream “assassin” if they saw him. But Max wasn’t worried.

‘There’s no way a young master who sleeps so deeply would wake up today of all days.’

All he had to do was place the dagger next to the pillow and run. As Max cautiously approached the bed, he noticed something unusual.

‘Huh? Why is there a sword next to the bed? It wasn’t there before…’

It was as if someone had prepared for an enemy’s attack. Thinking it was an overreaction, Max shook his head and was about to stick the dagger into the pillow.

“….”

“….”

Sylas, with his eyes open, met Max’s gaze. Frozen in place, Max stared as Sylas, in a loud and clear voice, said:

“Assassin!”

“No, no, that’s not it!”

But before Max could finish his excuse, Sylas grabbed his sword.