Extra's Revenge: Reincarnated As A Slave-Chapter 112: Modred Helt Is Dead

’Could it be...?’

Elara pulled out her tracking device, the one she’d given to Modred Helt earlier that evening.

His position showed him still at his shop, exactly where he should be.

’Not him then...’ She frowned, racking her brain to figure out the mystery.

It would have been too obvious if it was him anyway, and she couldn’t possibly think of a reason he would be after her.

’So who could it be...?’

It didn’t take her very long when she asked that question before she felt it.

’T-this is—!’

Her eyes bulged as she detected something clinging to her body.

—A foreign Imprint!

’When? How? Someone did this... and I had no clue?!’ Her body shuddered in both fear and deep realization.

If she hadn’t expended the Imprints on her just now, she would not have known that someone planted a layered Imprint on her body.

It was likely how they had tracked her down.

’Who could be responsible for this?’ Elara did not need to think too far before she drew her suspicions. ’Not many people have a motive to end my life. Which means one of the other Advisors, or possibly the Yellow Lily directly is responsible for this.’

Elara’s mind was already racing through possibilities, analyzing who would have the resources and motivation to arrange an assassination.

Aldric? Possibly, if he’d somehow detected her audit. Vera? She had the enforcement connections. Even Brennan might have access to hired killers through his financial networks.

’I need to get to my secure storage, retrieve my documentation, and go to ground until I can figure out who’s behind this.’

She also had to figure out what happened to Modred Helt.

If they targeted her, then perhaps—

’I need to worry about myself first. For one, I have to get rid of this Imprint. Once that’s settled, I’ll inform Lady Z about the whole situation and we’ll watch out for him.’

Elara resumed moving, more cautiously now, taking routes she knew had minimal Guard presence and no surveillance Artifacts.

The night had taken a very terrible turn.

Danger was looming everywhere!

*******

"Hehehe!"

Rey watched from a rooftop nearly half a kilometer away, his enhanced perception allowing him to track Elara’s escape despite the distance and obstacles between them.

His smile widened as he felt the subtle pulse of the Chaos Imprint he’d placed on her—still providing him with her exact location.

She couldn’t get rid of it so easily, not without a corresponding Null Art Technique.

’Interesting,’ he thought, reviewing what he’d witnessed. ’I didn’t expect you to be so skilled, Miss Elara. You’ve been hiding a lot more than just auditing skills.’

The spatial collapse Technique had been impressive too—Mid Sequence Chaos Art, executed with the kind of precision that suggested extensive combat experience.

Elara was far more dangerous than her modest auditor persona suggested.

’Yet she pretends to be less capable. Why is that? To place her under the radar, perhaps...?’

But those questions could wait.

Rey had achieved his primary objective.

More importantly, he’d created the exact kind of chaotic situation he needed for the next phase of his plan.

He intentionally let Elara escape, making no attempt to pursue despite his ability to track her. The assassination attempt had served its purpose, and actually killing her would have complicated matters unnecessarily.

’Besides,’ Rey thought, already moving to his next objective, ’I need her alive and paranoid. That paranoia will drive her to accelerate her investigation, to take more aggressive actions against the Advisors she suspects. Which will create exactly the kind of internal chaos I need.’

Rey shifted his attention from Elara’s fleeing form to a different direction—toward Helt’s Scrollworks, his legitimate business establishment several districts away.

His smile turned colder as he withdrew a small activation crystal from his pocket.

The crystal pulsed with stored energy, connected through mystical channels to Artifacts he’d carefully positioned throughout his shop before leaving this evening.

Explosive charges disguised as inventory, accelerants hidden in the building’s structure, mystical triggers designed to create a very specific pattern of destruction.

’Time for the final piece of tonight’s work.’

Rey channeled a pulse of energy into the activation crystal.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!

The explosion that consumed Helt’s Scrollworks was visible across half of Elkrim.

It started in the basement, where Rey had positioned some powerful explosive Artifacts as well as a few Mid-Sequence Spirit Art scrolls that he’d deliberately rigged to fail catastrophically when activated simultaneously.

The detonation created a fireball that shot upward through the building’s floors, consuming everything in its path.

The ground floor, with its carefully arranged inventory of legitimate scrolls and materials, became an inferno. The mystical texts themselves became fuel, their stored Ether igniting and feeding the flames with supernatural intensity.

The upper floors, where Rey had supposedly maintained his private quarters, collapsed inward as the building’s structure failed. Wood, stone, and enchanted materials all contributed to a conflagration that sent flames hundreds of feet into the night sky.

The light was intense enough to be visible from districts away—a pillar of fire that illuminated Elkrim’s darkness like a miniature sun.

Within minutes, Guards from multiple divisions were responding, rushing toward the merchant district where a legitimate business was being consumed by what appeared to be a catastrophic accident.

Category C Guards arrived first, attempting to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to neighboring buildings. But the mystical components in the flames made conventional firefighting methods nearly useless.

Category B Guards followed, bringing more sophisticated magical suppression equipment.

They began establishing containment barriers, preventing the fire from spreading while allowing the building itself to burn.

Crowds gathered at safe distances, watching the spectacular destruction. Merchants who knew Modred Helt expressed shock and concern—he’d been a respected member of the business community, always helpful, always professional.

"Anyone inside?" a Guard captain shouted.

"The owner lived above the shop!" someone called back. "Modred Helt—he might still be in there!"

The Guards attempted entry through the back, but the heat and structural instability made it impossible. If anyone had been inside when the explosion occurred, they were already dead.

By the time the flames were finally brought under control—nearly three hours after they’d started—Helt’s Scrollworks was nothing but a charred shell.

The building’s collapse had been so complete that investigators couldn’t even determine where different rooms had been located.

"Mystical accident," the lead investigator declared after a preliminary examination. "Probably unstable Ether in one of the scrolls, triggered a cascade failure. We see it occasionally with merchants who deal in Ancient MajiK materials."

"Any sign of the owner?" his assistant asked.

"If he was here, there won’t be enough left to identify. That level of heat..." The investigator shook his head. "We’ll check existential records against any remains we find, but I’m not optimistic."

Several districts away, standing on a rooftop with a perfect view of the distant flames, Rey allowed himself a satisfied smile.

’And just like that, Modred Helt ceases to exist. I only have my connection to the Dark Commerce District remaining...’

The elderly merchant persona he’d crafted so carefully, the legitimate business he’d built, the respectable identity he’d cultivated—all of it reduced to ash and official records declaring him most likely dead in a tragic accident.

’The Red House will assume I was attacked due to the coincidental timing of the attack,’ Rey thought with a smile, already planning his next moves. ’Elara will think her would-be assassin struck at me as well, confirming her suspicions about a conspiracy. The other Advisors will appear even more guilty as a result, and many doubts will exist regarding the merger—especially if I spin the story well.’

He withdrew the tracking vessel that held Elara’s transferred Imprint, confirming she’d reached what appeared to be her secure storage location.

Good—she was following predictable patterns, which meant his assessment of her psychology had been accurate.

’Tomorrow, when the Red House learns of my supposed attack, chaos will intensify. I will receive far more favor due to my suffering, and also a great degree of freedom thanks to my ’ghost’ status.’

Rey began moving across the rooftops, heading away from both the burning shop and Elara’s location.

The flames from Helt’s Scrollworks continued to light up the night sky behind him, a funeral pyre for an identity that had served its purpose.

’I suppose this is rather premature, but it is also the best opportunity to fully integrate myself into the criminal underworld.’

Rey’s smile widened as he disappeared into Elkrim’s shadows.

Once again...

... Everything was going according to plan!