Conquering The Game's World-Chapter 277: ’A Canary In The Cage...’

Back in Selvas City.

Inside the luxurious building of the Norwish Mafia’s port base, most of the lights had already been turned off. But one room remained dimly lit.

Nora Adams sat on the edge of her bed, unable to sleep.

Her room was large, decorated with expensive furniture and polished wooden walls. Anyone who stepped inside would think it belonged to someone living a life of comfort and privilege.

To Nora, however, it felt like a cage. Her eyes were fixed on the small photo frame resting on the bedside table.

The picture inside was old, its edges slightly worn with time. In it, a young woman with gentle eyes was smiling softly, holding a small girl in her arms. The child in the photo had messy hair and an innocent expression, clearly unaware of the harsh world waiting for her back then.

That child was Nora.

Her fingers slowly reached out and touched the edge of the frame.

For a long moment, she said nothing.

Then she spoke quietly.

"Mom... that beast has become someone else’s puppet and might die any day."

Her voice carried a strange mixture of bitterness and exhaustion.

"I should be happy, right?"

"Too bad... I’ve become the next target."

She leaned back slightly, letting out a faint, humourless laugh.

If someone else heard that sentence, they might not understand its meaning.

But Nora herself understood it perfectly.

Nick Adams, the leader of the Norwish Mafia. The man the outside world knew as her father had never been anything close to that. He was simply a monster. A beast wearing human skin.

Her eyes returned to the photo.

"...You really had bad luck, Mom."

Nora knew the story of her birth very well.

Her mother had once been an ordinary woman. Someone with a peaceful life and a lover.

Until one day she was kidnapped by the Norwish Mafia’s leader, Nick Adams.

All because he took a fancy to her and wanted to own her. She had been forced to stay beside him. Forced into a life she never wanted. And from that violence, Nora had been born.

Even as a child, Nora had understood that something was wrong with the way her mother looked at her.

Not hatred, but sadness.

A deep sadness that she tried to hide behind gentle smiles. As if she had accepted her fate.

Too bad, destiny was never on that poor woman’s side. When Nora was six years old, her fragile life ended.

Enemies of the Norwish Mafia had attacked. Since they couldn’t kill Nick Adams. So they killed the woman closest to him.

Nora’s mother.

Her fingers tightened around the edge of the photo frame.

She remembered the blood.

She remembered those screams.

And she remembered Nick Adams’ expression afterwards.

Not grief or anger. Just cold indifference.

As if the death of the woman who had given birth to his daughter meant nothing at all.

That was the moment Nora truly understood something. That man would never be her father.

From that day onward, she stopped calling him that.

In her mind, he was only a monster she needed to escape from or kill.

She had tried more than once, but every attempt failed.

After her awakening, her only motivation to become stronger was to kill him someday.

However, since then, Nick Adams had never given her the chance.

He kept her close, under watch and controlled.

Even now, as Nora stared at the quiet room around her, a bitter smile appeared on her face.

"A luxurious prison..."

She muttered quietly.

Even if she was a B-Rank awakener, a Master-rank talent in the eyes of most people, it meant nothing to her.

Because Nick had long ago made sure she couldn’t use that power. Her food had been laced with mana-suppressing poison for years.

A slow, subtle toxin. Not strong enough to kill. But enough to disrupt the flow of mana inside her body.

Without stable mana control, an awakener was little more than an ordinary person. Right now, Nora’s strength was barely comparable to an E-rank.

And unlike the giants or other physically specialised fighters, she had never trained her body separately from her mana.

Without mana, she was powerless.

A bird with its wings cut off. A prisoner who could see the sky but could never reach it. Just a canary in a cage.

Her gaze slowly darkened.

"Nick Adams..."

She spoke the name quietly, as if tasting something disgusting.

"You always were careful around me."

Even in his madness, he had never forgotten to keep her restrained.

But now, the situation had become even worse.

The image of another man flashed in her mind.

That so-called Dark Magician.

The first time she saw him was when he visited the Norwish Mafia headquarters with Nick.

She could still remember that moment clearly.

There was a strange aura filled with death around him, and the way he had looked at her was disturbing.

As if she had already become something he owned. Nora hugged her knees slightly as she sat on the bed.

"...I know that look."

She had seen it before.

On criminals and traffickers.

Those monsters who believed people were nothing more than tools. It was the same way Nick Adams looked at her mother.

If things continued the way they were going, she could guess exactly what would happen next.

A bitter laugh escaped her lips.

"Congratulations, Nora." She muttered quietly. "You finally escaped your father... only to fall into the hands of someone worse."

Her fingers tightened slightly against the bedsheets. Just thinking about it made her chest feel heavy.

The room fell silent again.

But after a moment, Nora’s gaze slowly shifted away from the photograph.

Her thoughts turned to something else.

To the two men who had come tonight and the mysterious person behind them. The one they called their boss.

Nora exhaled slowly.

"...A mysterious saviour?"

She almost laughed at the irony. Her entire life had been a chain of bad luck.

Yet now, when everything seemed hopeless, someone had appeared, offering her a deal.

They would help her escape this situation. In return, she would become the leader of the Norwish Mafia and help that mysterious person control it.

For a moment, Nora looked down at her hands.

"Leader of the Norwish Mafia..."

She whispered quietly.

The position itself meant nothing to her.

She only wanted one thing.

Freedom from the nightmare she had been trapped in since childhood.

Her eyes slowly returned to the photograph.

"...Mom."

"I don’t know if I’m making the right choice..."

Trusting strangers was dangerous. But right now, it was the only path left.

She gently placed the photo back on the table. Then she lay down on the bed, staring up at the dark ceiling.

Outside, the distant sound of waves echoed faintly.

"...Just this once." Her lips moved in a quiet murmur. "I’ll gamble."

Because right now, those mysterious people were the only hope she had left.