CH 113

“Me? Why?” Romari asked with disbelief.

Eugene responded with a frown. “Because we don’t have anyone else capable of purifying mana stones. Besides, you don’t like wandering around anyway, right? Well, if you’d like, I can take you all over Brantia.”

“Come to think of it, I think purifying mana stones will be a very rewarding job for me. If you will leave it to me, I won’t disappoint you, Sir Eugene,” Romari answered with an immediate change of attitude.

Eugene nodded. “That’s a good choice. I’ve spoken to Markus and the merchant guild leader of the city, so you can get started tomorrow.”

“Yes. Uh… by the way, how much work will I have?” Romari asked.

“For now, 40 or 50 a day,” Eugene answered.

“Oh, I see,” Romari said. She was doing her best to maintain a grim expression, even though she felt delighted.

“It will depend on the condition of the mana stones being brought in, but you will need to ensure that at least 30% of them are refined into high-rank mana stones,” Eugene added.

“I understand,” Romari answered. She was confident that it was still less than half a day’s work. As such, she would be able to spend the rest of her time elsewhere.

‘I-I’ll finally be guaranteed some time to research and to take a break.’

She felt like tearing up. It appeared heaven hadn’t abandoned her, after all. Finally, she would see the light at the end of the tunnel…

However, Eugene’s following words shattered her hopes and dreams. “The number of mana stones will likely increase twofold or threefold in about a month.”

“What? W-why would that…” Romari muttered with disbelief.

“Isn’t it obvious? We will have to clean up the area surrounding Mungard first, right? In particular, I’m planning to focus on cleaning up the roads leading to the territories with the evil lands as soon as possible,” Eugene answered.

Brantia was even worse off than the Carls Baggins Peninsula. Although the peninsula had been thrown into chaos and confusion after the detainment of the former marquis, the lords were still kept in check by the remaining forces of the Archivold family. But Brantia had devolved into a completely lawless land. After all, the throne had been deprived of a proper master for a long time.

From the things Eugene had heard from Markus, there were apparently four self-proclaimed kings in Brantia, and their subordinate nobles were always at war with each other. In the unending turmoil and chaos, knights devolved into simple bandits while thieves gathered forces and proclaimed themselves to be lords.

The pandemonium naturally brought along a restriction of movement. People could no longer travel without having to worry about their safety.

Once upon a time, Mungard also maintained active trade with five or six families possessing evil lands, but now, there was only one left.

“Since we will be heading to the Batla Duchy anyways, I’m planning to reconnect the routes leading to the territories with evil lands. Anyway, it should take a few months, so work hard. Ah, I thought that you might get bored by yourself, so I will be leaving Selena behind as your escort,” Eugene said.

“Yes…” Romari answered in a dejected voice.

‘How annoying!’

However, she could not express her dissatisfaction with Eugene. Instead, Romari’s negative emotions shifted to another target.

‘Things wouldn’t have turned out like this if it weren’t for the muddy vampires living in this backwater town. We’ll see how I deal with you.’

Romari’s lifeless eyes glinted with an evil light. She was completely determined to constantly torment those that were ultimately responsible for her situation.

“K-kiek?! I can feel an evil, ominous aura coming from the raccoon. D-don’t tell me… Has she finally devolved into a black wizard?” It was to the point where the spirit of desire expressed her astonishment.

***

Eugene left Mungard alongside Galfredik, Lanslo, Luke, and Partec’s group after stationing Romari and Selena at Markus’ mansion.

“May the blessing of blood be with the steps of the great one. Please stay safe until the day I am in your presence once again.” Markus spoke politely with a deep bow. Although it was the middle of the day, Markus had insisted on following Eugene to see him off at the gate. Markus was completely covered in a coat, a hat, and even a mask.

“I’m going to warn you just in case, but don’t even try to bother my wizard or waste my fortune in my absence. Understood?” Eugene said.

“I-I would not dare. I will treat your property like my own blood, my king. Also, the wizard who succeeds the Blood Shadow School is a friend of the clan. In addition, since you have personally hired the wizard, I will put her safety before my own,” Markus hurriedly responded.

“And don’t trouble my aide either. Well, I won’t mind it if it’s just a moderate amount of work,” Galfredik said with a grin.

“O-of course,” Markus replied while nodding desperately. As an Origin, Eugene was definitely out of his league. However, even Eugene’s vassal caused Markus to erupt into fear with mere eye contact. The intimidation was even greater than when Markus had come to face with the clan’s high lords in the past. As such, he was determined to protect Selena at all costs.

“Then I will be leaving. If ships arrive from Maren or Moffern, behave and give reasonable explanations about me. If my relationship with them turns sour, then I will make sure to hold you fully accountable,” Eugene stated.

“Your humble servant will fulfill your orders by mobilizing everything I have. By the way, with all due respect…” Markus hesitated for a moment before continuing. “If you encounter a member of the Rivoles Clan or the Helmond Clan… About the current situation… Could you…”

“I will take care of that. And if the members of the Helmond Clan come to harass you, feel free to sell me out. I’ve already talked with Romari, so you can seek help from her as well,” Eugene responded.

“I am eternally grateful for your boundless mercy and consideration, my king!” Markus shouted while dropping to one knee. He felt as if a giant boulder had been removed from his shoulders.

Vampires rarely ventured outside of their territory once they settled down, and as such, it was highly unlikely for a lord or a banneret of the Helmond Clan to make their way here. However, even if it happened, Markus now had a wizard of the Blood Shadow School to appeal in his stead regarding Eugene’s existence. As such, he should not be held accountable.

‘I-I’m safe.’

Although Markus had a bad habit of asking Eugene to kill him every time he made a mistake, his true desire was to live a longer, more comfortable life than anyone else. With Eugene’s reassurance, he was finally able to attain peace of mind.

Of course, he never imagined in his wildest dreams that his mental stability would soon come to collapse under the brunt assault of an irritated, tired wizard that had been forced into simple repetitive labor.

***

Bang!

A human head was ruthlessly crushed under a mace, and the limp body fell backward. A few more loud screams erupted in succession, and the noisy forest road soon regained its quiet.

“Why are there so many crazy bastards in this place?” Galfredik muttered while shaking off the blood and brain matter from his mace.

Lanslo answered, “If they sell all of our horse and equipment, they could easily earn hundreds of thousands of cellings. Even when compared to robbing an average village, they would earn dozens of times the profit by taking all of our possessions. It’s worth a gamble for them.”

“Even so, we have three heavily armed knights, right? Besides, you mentioned earlier that even the equipment on those guys would be on par with knights here,” Galfredik said while pointing toward Luke and Partec’s men. They were armed with chainmail and plate coats.

Lanslo responded with a bitter smile. “Whether they are bandits or mercenaries, thirty is quite a large number. It’s a force enough to catch the eye of any lords. They would have never imagined that things would turn out this way.”

The bandits, all of whom had been wiped out promptly, had been dressed in shabby leather armor, dull rusted spears, and swords, as well as simple wooden shields.

It hadn’t been just them either.

Eugene’s party had been attacked a total of three times while traveling for four days, and the attackers had been groups of 30 to 50 soldiers and bandits armed with extremely poor-quality weapons and armor.

The type of equipment they used was similar in quality to the garbage worn by novice mercenaries on the continent. They were wielding sticks that one wouldn’t even pay to use. Naturally, none of them possessed even a single crossbow, and there had been only a single person who had been armed with chainmail, and he had been the sole, self-proclaimed ‘knight.’

“By chance, are the mercenaries and knights of Brantia unfamiliar with plate armor?” Eugen asked after leaving Luke to clean his weapon.

Lanslo nodded. “That’s exactly right. Plate armor is extremely valuable here. Since there aren’t many knights fighting in plate armor, not many people understand the defensive capabilities of plate armor. In addition, most would be ignorant as to how to fight against a knight armed in plate armor.”

“In other words, they are brave because they are ignorant,” Eugene answered.

“Haha. I guess that’s one way to put it,” Lanslo said.

Lanslo’s words were true.

The various nations of the continent had greatly developed smelting and armor manufacturing technology. As such, most countries were up to standard in terms of technology and the quality of their armors.

Naturally, the majority of those who lived and died by the blade were familiar with the greatness of plate armor, as well as the proper method of facing off against an opponent with plate armor.

However, Brantia possessed poor technology, and sets of plate armor were extremely limited in number. As such, even a great number of knights had no idea how to deal with enemies wearing them. In Brantia, plate mail was considered the toughest armor. During the crusade, numerous disputes had been fought over plate mails and chain emails that were looted.

“Sir Eugene.”

“Yes. Is it the same this time as well?” Eugene answered.

Glade, Lavan, and Partec were scratching their heads with disappointed expressions. They had just finished searching the bodies of the bandits.

“Yes. There’s nothing useful. Just dozens of silver coins. They were practically beggars,” Partec reported.

“Well, we killed quite a few of them during the last four days, so I’m sure we’ve secured a safe passage until this point. This should be enough.” Eugene made a decision.

It was a pity that there was nothing to show for the massacres, but their primary objective had been to secure a safe passageway. As such, Eugene could only endure his disappointment.

“Master. Why don’t we rest in a village today? The smell of blood is really getting to me,” Galfredik said.

It was quite ironic that a vampire was feeling uncomfortable with the stench of blood. But even Eugene agreed with Galfredik. After his initial awakening, Eugene had only feasted on the blood of monsters that were at least intermediate-rank, and he had grown to possess a ‘sophisticated palate.’

“Sure. Luke, let’s head to the nearest village,” Eugene answered.

“Yes, Master!” Luke shouted eagerly before intently observing the map. Then, he started in a direction without hesitation.

“Sir, should we leave the bodies behind?” Parted asked.

Eugene nodded. “That’s right. The roamers who’ve been following us will take care of them.”

About ten minutes later…

Kekeke! Kyeeeeee! Keueueuek!

A number of roamers slowly came out of hiding and crawled out of the forest. They immediately pounced on the corpses of the bandits and dragged them away. However, the number of roamers was unexpectedly high—high enough to baffle Eugene who had already known that there were measly monsters following their tracks.

Eugene had no idea, but thanks to the repeated massacres over the last four days, the ‘great migration’ of the local roamers had begun.

***

“Welcom… Hieck!” The server boy started to eagerly greet the customers before freezing in place with shock. He started to hiccup.

There were three knights completely covered in metal, not to mention other men who possessed unusual weapons and armor. It wasn’t just the boy either. The guests of the filthy pub, which resembled a barn or a warehouse, turned to stare at the newcomers with disbelief in their eyes.

“A-an iron man?”

“I-is that human?”

“Isn’t it heavy to walk around in something like that? Maybe he has monstrous strength.”

The guests of the pub believed themselves to be discreetly murmuring amongst themselves, but Eugene could hear everything. It was certainly a response he had expected from the ignorant people of a poor country.

“The food and drinks will be served soon. There are even rooms with baths,” Lanslo said after returning from the counter. He looked around with a smirk before continuing. “You will have to get accustomed to it. Remember how it was in a city like Mungard. You’ll be receiving everyone’s attention regardless of where we are in Brantia.”

“That’s fine. It would be a relief if it ended with just gazes,” Eugene answered.

“That’s true. Greed makes people foolish,” Lanslo stated with a bitter smile. He could see the greed overflowing in the expressions of several people in the pub.

After a while, food and alcohol were served. With the exception of the two vampires, the group filled their stomachs. By the time the group retired to their rooms and prepared to wash themselves and take care of their equipment, a sudden disturbance came from the outside.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

“Monsters! The monsters are coming! Ahhhh!”

Uwaaaaah!

Frightened screams accompanied the urgent rings like a disharmonious chorus. Eugene and his men quickly headed outside after arming themselves.

The villagers were rushing into their homes and tightly locked their doors. About twenty vigilantes were lined up in front of the gate while holding exceedingly shabby weapons.

“S-sir knights! Please help us! If you protect us, we can offer you 6,000 cellings!”

“Please, save us! Please grace us with your chivalry!”

The chief and the vigilante captain begged Eugene. Six thousand cellings was only a meager amount of money—approximately sixty silver coins of the Caylor Kingdom. However, it was likely a huge sum for the villagers.

Eugene turned toward the two figures and asked in Brantian, “Monster type. What is it? How many?”

“T-they are controlling strange wolves! It looked like there were more than fifty of them!”

“Wolves?” Eugene said. He was slightly puzzled. He himself had faced black wolves in the past, and he knew that although wolves traveled in groups, they usually didn’t have more than ten members in a single pack. Even the largest packs would only have fifteen or sixteen wolves, so there was something strange about the fact that more than fifty wolves were traveling together.

Awwoooooooo!

The eerie cry of a wolf resounded.

“Kieek?! Sir, this isn’t just a wolf! This, this… I think it’s a lycanthrope!” Mirian exclaimed.

“The undine is correct. It would make sense for a lycanthrope to control such a large number of wolves,” Lanslo chimed in.

Eugene unsheathed his sword. “You will finally live up to your name.”

The wolf-tearing sword glinted silver-gray as it slowly unveiled itself to the world. A few moments later, giant wolf-shaped monsters started jumping over the wooden fence surrounding the village.

“Kuhahaha! How exciting! This is my first time facing a lycanthrope! Come get it, you shitty mutts!” Galfredik shouted while drawing his longsword.

However, something unexpected occurred.

“Kuhung! Who are you calling a dirty mutt, member of the Dark Clan?!”

“…!?”

The wolf monster standing at the forefront of the group had spoken.

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