CH 95

“Uwah~ I’m so hungry.”

“Already? It hasn’t even been that long since our last meal.”

“It’s even weirder that you can manage to feel hungry in a place like this. I’m scared to death right now.”

Workers were huddled together in front of an iron gate, which was tightly locked. They continued to chatter away.

“By the way, do you think he will be fine? It’s already been a day and a half.”

“What? Are you doubting the master of the twin crown?” A hairy worker shouted, and a hunter-turned-dismantler responded with a click of his tongue. “What does it matter if he’s the twin crown? Does it make sense to enter a dungeon alone?”

“You’re right. That doesn’t really make sense.”

“I’m not sure what the count was thinking. Why did he allow the knight to enter the dungeon by himself? Hmph.” Most of the other workers voiced their agreement with the dismantler. 

The hairy worker responded as if he were frustrated. “You can only say such things because you’ve never seen Sir Eugene fight before. It didn’t matter if he was up against a holy knight, hmm? He still smashed them all!”

“Even a holy knight is a human after all, right? It’s a different matter to deal with monsters in a dungeon.”

“It’s rare to hear some sense coming out of your ignorant brain. Oi, that’s a dungeon brimming with monsters. And it’s not only kobolds or goblins either. Even a single intermediate-rank monster could…”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Uag!”

“Oh, dear!” The workers became startled as a series of heavy sounds resonated from inside the iron gate.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The workers stared at the iron gate with shocked expressions. They recalled the words of the knight who entered through the iron gate yesterday morning, then quickly ran to the iron gate.

Heave-ho! Heave-ho!

Including the soldiers who had been guarding the entrance to the evil land, about ten people rushed to push the iron gate with all their might. Soon, it opened with a loud creak.

“S-sir!”

“Are you all right?”

Everyone had expressions of disbelief as the knight made his appearance. His black plate armor was thoroughly coated and drenched in blood.

“Hiek?!” One person gasped after noticing the corpse of a large monster lying at the entrance, and everyone’s gazes followed suit.

“Heukk?!”

“W-what is that?”

The workers and soldiers shouted with their mouths agape, and Eugene muttered in a nonchalant voice. “It’s a manticore…”

”It’s going to be hard to dismantle, so move the entire thing onto the cart. If you go further inside, you will find the corpse of a drake, so place that on the cart as well. Take care of dismantling the low-rank and intermediate-rank monsters,” Eugene spoke before leisurely walking away, leaving behind the soldiers and workers in utter disbelief.

***

Winslon County owned two evil lands. Both were long-standing dungeons that had been opened for more than 30 years already, and unlike other evil lands, the types of monsters residing in the dungeons and their pathways had almost been identified in their entirety. It was thanks to Count Winslon’s tendency to favor his knights.

While other lords mainly hired mercenaries and sent only one or two knights on subjugations, Count Winslon sent a fairly large number of knights on each expedition. Moreover, since he only took half of the mana stones and materials gained from the evil lands, his knights were usually well-motivated and satisfied with their gains. The knights had no hesitation in exploring deeper and dealing with stronger monsters.

But even though the identities of the high-ranking monsters had been discovered, none of them had ever been defeated.

Cyclops, manticore, and drake— they were incredibly powerful monsters, and they were incredibly rare as well. Even in the history of the entire kingdom, they had rarely been defeated.

But they had finally been defeated, and they fell to a single person to boot. In addition to the birth of a new crown after sixteen long years, the rumors regarding the defeated monsters spread like wildfire.

***

“...!” Priscilla trembled when she saw the numerous carts lining the yard of the association.

“Careful! Be careful when you move it!”

“Heave-ho! Heave-ho!” One of the carts contained the intact corpse of a giant monster, and the workers worked in unison to carefully move it.

“A-a manticore!?”

“There’s a dragon over here!”

“Are you an idiot? It’s a drake. A drake! A dragon is much bigger than that.”

“Oh my God…”

However, it wasn’t just Priscilla who was overwhelmed by the sight. The entire association was thrown into an uproar. Quite a few of them had seen corpses of intermediate-rank monsters such as trolls, war boars, and lycanthropes. However, none of them had ever set sight on the corpses of high-rank monsters, like the manticore or the drake.

They were shocked at the overwhelming majesty of the corpses, and they were surprised once more upon discovering that the corpses had remained fully intact even after traveling an incredibly long distance.

“Vice Executive,” Eugene spoke up.

“Y-yes, Sir Eugene,” Priscilla answered.

“I spent one hundred silver coins for the preservation magic, so please take that into account,” Eugene commented.

“Yes! I will get that calculated for you right away!” Priscilla answered while nodding frantically. However, she kept on stealing gazes. 

“And who might this be…?” she asked.

“Sir Drak. He will be with me for a while,” Eugene answered.

“With you? Then that means…” Priscilla started to speak. As if feeling Priscilla’s gaze, Lanslo stepped forward with a gentle smile. “It is my honor to meet you, my lady. I am Lanslo of Drak. Will you honor me with a chance to feel your warmth?” Lanslo said.

“Oh, my!” Priscilla exclaimed as her face flamed up in an instant. It was the first time any knight had referred to her as a ‘lady.’

“W-well… I-I’m noot a noble, S-Sir Drak,” she stuttered.

“Noot?” Eugene said with a frown. Priscilla’s voice had suddenly become quite nasally, and her manner of speech had undergone a slight change.

“A flower of jewels blooming on a field of gold, a wildflower growing wild and free in the green fields, and even the moonflowers bathing in the silver glory on clifftops. All are precious and beautiful flowers to me — they’re flowers called ladies,” Lanslo recited.

“Oh, my. Oh, my…” Priscilla lowered her with her hand outstretched. Her blush deepened when Lanslo took her hand and lightly kissed the back of it. Eugene felt goosebumps rising all over his skin. It was an incredibly outlandish, chilling sensation — something he had not felt even when he faced the manticore and the drake.

He quickly interjected in a cold voice, “Don’t make a fool of yourself, Lanslo, and watch over the process. Vice Executive, I have something to ask you. Let’s go inside.”

“Y-yes, sir!” Priscilla answered hurriedly.

“Let’s have formal introductions later, Lady Palin,” Lanslo said. Priscilla hurriedly pulled her hand away, and Lanslo gave a charming smile. Priscilla could not hide her embarrassment while contorting her body in strange ways.

“Sir, sir. I’m afraid the merchant fox wench has fallen in love with the quarter elf,” Mirian commented in a quiet voice while stealing a glance at Lanslo. It appeared that she felt rather wary toward the quarter elf since she had been unheard and unrestrained by anyone except Eugene until now.

“A fox? Undine, such words are not suitable to describe a lady who is as beautiful as a lily.”

“Kiek!” 

Sure enough, Lanslo whispered while glaring at Mirian, and she screamed before hiding inside her leather pocket.

“Did you just say something, Sir Drak?” Priscilla asked.

“Hahaha. It’s nothing, Lady Palin. Anyway, I will see you later,” Lanslo answered.

“Yessh,” Priscilla replied.

‘They’re a mental pair.’

Eugene shook his head as he entered the main building.

***

“T-the royalists?” Priscilla felt alarmed by the unexpected topic.

“That’s right. Do you know anything about the royalists of Maren?” Eugen asked.

“With all due respect, why are you asking me about the royalists all of a sudden, Sir Eugene?” Priscilla asked while pressing her hand against her drumming chest. Nothing good could come out of becoming involved with the royalists. If Eugene was planning to form a relationship with the royalists, then the association would have to cease all operations with him, no matter how profitable their relationship with him was.

“I want to take care of them,” Eugene said.

“...!” She was surprised by the unexpected answer, but she felt relieved at the same time. This was much better than Eugene allying himself with the royalists.

“Anyway, I was hoping you could tell me whatever you know about the royalists of Maren, or if you could introduce me to someone who knows them very well,” Eugene said.

“Well, then…” Priscilla contemplated for a moment before raising her head.

“You should talk to the head of the mercenary guild about this issue.”

“The head of the mercenary guild?” Eugene asked.

“Yes. If you were to pick two people in Maren who hate the royalists the most, it would be the mayor and the mercenary guild leader. But Sir Eugene will attract attention if you meet with the mayor, so it will be better if you meet with the mercenary guild leader instead,” Priscilla explained.

“Hmm.” Indeed, it wouldn’t be strange for a knight to meet with the leader of a mercenary guild.

- I don’t know how useful it will be, but I have one piece of information I would like to share with you. The holy knights came to my territory because of the royalists. The royalist of Maren…

Eugene recalled the story he heard from Count Winslon before he left the county as he continued. “Then please set me an appointment with the head of the mercenary guild. The sooner the better.”

“Of course. Is there anything else?” Priscilla asked.

“Lanslo, or rather, Sir Drak needs a new set of plate armor. If you could get in touch with the Betissark Armor Workshop and…” Eugene started to ask.

“I will immediately place an order under my name! I will buy it for you!” Priscilla interjected. 

Eugene hesitated. He had been about to say that Lanslo would head to the workshop to pay for the equipment. In the beginning, he had simply considered Priscilla to be a kind-hearted merchant, however, it appeared that she had an external motive today. As such, Eugene responded in a different manner. “There is no need. Someone already provided the money for the armor, so Sir Drak will pay.”

Count Winslon had given Lanslo hundreds of silver coins to get himself a new set of armor. After all, wearing the armor of the Golden Moon Knights would make him too conspicuous.

“What? Ah… Of course.” Merchants would naturally jump with joy after saving money, but strangely, Priscilla responded with a devastated expression.

***

Two hours later, Eugene left the Palin Association alongside Luke and Lanslo. Lanslo and Luke left for the merchant district to take measurements for their armors, while Eugene immediately headed to the mercenary guild. Trevik postponed all other meetings after hearing that Eugene wanted to meet with him, and he personally came out of the building to greet Eugene upon the latter’s arrival.

“I’ve already heard, Sir Eugene. You swept the floor during Count Winslon’s knight competition? And you killed a manticore and a drake!” Trevik exclaimed.

“You’re very quick when it comes to information. Well, I was lucky,” Eugene responded.

“What? Hahaha…” Trevik chuckled with astonishment. Any other knight would have boasted until they died after achieving such tremendous accomplishments, but Eugene still remained humble.

“Anyway, you had something to speak to me about?” Trevik said.

“Well, I heard from vice executive Priscilla that you are familiar with the royalists. Is that correct?” Eugene asked.

“Hmm, well, that is true. Do you have some business with the royalists?” Trevik asked in a lower voice. The atmosphere immediately turned rather heavy.

“Please don’t misunderstand. I heard that you are the one who is least fond of the royalists in Maren, and that is why I came to speak with you,” Eugene explained.

“Ah! Is that so? Sir Eugene, what is it that you wanted to speak about…?” Trevik continued.

“I can’t tell you the details, but the royalists of Maren tried to screw me over,” Eugene said.

‘Those crazy bastards! What a bunch of ignorant fools!’

Trevik wanted to dance with joy after hearing Eugene’s words. He wanted to maintain a harmonious relationship with Eugene, and he wasn’t sure what they had done exactly, but the royalists had somehow gotten on the wrong side of Eugene!

“Those unscrupulous fellows! I knew they would cause trouble someday!” Trevik exclaimed. His voice was laced with anger, sincerity, and sprinkled with a dose of exaggeration. He quickly continued. “Sir Eugene. Most royalists are usually similar. However, the royalists of Maren are known to be as shameless as vipers. They are even worse than goblin dung. In addition…” Trevik started to excitedly gossip about the royalists. 

Eugene interjected in a cool voice, “I already know about all of that. Please provide me with the names of the royalists.”

“Of course. However, Sir Eugene...” Trevik said.

“...?”

“I think I need to provide you with a rough explanation. When you come to pass down judgment on those vipers or put them on trial, we can provide you with assistance at the city level,” Trevik continued.

“Hmm.” Eugene showed interest. 

Trevik continued in an uncharacteristically subtle voice, “You should at least tell the mayor to put yourself at an advantage. If you let us know, we can take care of the clean-up. What do you think?”

“Let us do that. Let me explain…” Eugene briefly explained why the holy knights had suddenly participated in the competition held in Winslon County. 

Trevik’s expression continued to change throughout the story, and then he responded with a serious expression at the end, “Sir Eugene. The royalists of Maren barely have any connection with the central church and the royal city. Moreover, as far as I know, the cardinal’s approval is necessary for the holy knights to make a move. But do you think it was really possible that the holy knights were authorized to move in that short period of time after a letter was sent directly to the central church? It doesn’t make any sense.” 

“Is that so? Are you suggesting that there was external intervention?” Eugene asked.

“It’s very likely. So… ah!” Trevik suddenly remembered something and hurriedly continued in an excited voice, “Among the royalists of Maren, there is a nobleman named Sir Shiranosa. But this man is a distant relative of Count Evergrove. And the Evergrove county…”

A certain individual’s face naturally came to Eugene’s mind.

‘Jevin Evergrove. Is it you again?’

His eyes glowed with an ominous light.