CH 118

“Lord Crawlmarine?”

“Huh?! Ah, e-ehem!”

Crawlmarine cleared his throat and came to his senses. He had been rather shocked by Eugene’s true identity.

“I cannot believe that such a prestigious person has honored us by visiting my castle. I truly count it as a stroke of fortune for Crawlmarine. Sir Jan Eugene, welcome to Crawlmarine, the land of glory under the protection of the Spirit of the Lake,” Lucas said politely.

Unlike the majority of nobles in Brantia, who were rather ignorant and rough, Lucas was rather well-spoken and noble-like. However, it was inevitable for him to be inferior to a high-ranking noble vampire with an outstanding appearance and was even armed with rare plate armor. Both Lucas and the other nobles of the castle felt this way.

‘Damn it.’

Lucas mumbled inwardly. He maintained a dignified appearance on the outside while speaking, “I have heard that you took in Sir Bosch’s son as your aide. It’s very fortunate, and I am grateful for it.”

“Luke Bosch knows the honor of Crawlmarine. He possesses the blood of a fine knight. I am also happy to have him as my aide,” Eugene responded.

Although it was obviously flattery, the nobles continued nodding their heads with satisfaction as if they were the ones being complimented.

“Anyway, you stepped out for those uncivilized brutes?” Lucas said while turning his gaze to the beowulfs.

“...!”

The eyebrows of the beowulfs wriggled in return.

Boom!

Eugene stomped on the floor before turning his head. “Stay still.”

The beowulfs was about to transform and cause a ruckus, but they immediately calmed down at Eugene’s words. The nobles were both surprised and relieved.

‘As expected, those beasts are helpless. It must be because they are distant relatives.’

‘He has perfect control over the beowulfs. It will be easy to talk to him.’

Eugene’s following sentence was slow but it was spoken in a clear voice while receiving the expectant gazes of the nobles. “Perseus Beowulfs. They will apologize to Crawlmarine. However, the money they were supposed to get. 300,000 cellings. I want it.”

“W-what?!”

“How could you speak such nonsense!”

As expected, the atmosphere immediately turned grim.

Bang!

Eugene once again stomped his foot, silencing the nobles before continuing. “The damage they caused in the castle and the town. I will pay for it. Tell me.”

“Huh!”

The nobles became startled and started to whisper among themselves. In other words, Eugene was asking for the money the beowulfs were supposed to receive for participating in the war, and that he would pay for all the damage caused by the beowulfs’ rampage.

“I performed some calculations on my own regarding that matter.” A clear voice cut through the silence, and everyone’s eyes shifted toward it.

Lanslo stepped forward with his unique, charming smile. “I have heard that the number of livestock that the beowulfs killed was about 200. Is that right?”

“Uh… that sounds about right.” The noble in charge of the castle’s finances nodded after a short moment.

“In addition, I heard that three knights and forty soldiers were seriously injured. Is that correct?” Lanslo asked once again.

“That’s right. 44 soldiers, to be exact,” the noble answered once more.

“The price of the livestock and the compensation for the injured should be about 320,000 cellings. I think that should be sufficient, would you not agree?” Lanslo said.

“Well, that’s…”

“However, I heard that the fight caused some damage to the castle as well. As such, Sir Jan Eugene will pay a total of 400,000 cellings as compensation for all the damages, in addition to consolation money. If you subtract that 300,000 cellings owed to the beowulfs, that comes to exactly 100,000 cellings.” Lanslo explained.

“B-but…”

The noble attempted to respond, but Partec took his chance and placed a small box on the ground.

“We have prepared it in Roman gold,” Partec said.

Thuck!

“Kieeek!”

“Ohh…!”

The eyes of the nobles were colored with greed when they saw the sparkling gold coins. Even the master of the castle, Lucas, forgot his dignity momentarily and jumped up with wide, shocked eyes.

‘Gold is always better.’

Even if they were equivalent in value, it was an unspoken fact that gold was much better than silver. In addition, judging by the reaction of the spirit of desire, who was the truest to her greed, the effect was guaranteed.

Sure enough, the nobles reacted with enthusiasm.

“A-are gold coins supposed to shine like that?”

“I’m not sure. It’s been so long since I’ve seen… A-anyway, they are truly mesmerizing.”

“Kieeeek! It’s definitely not a given! I… I wiped them clean! All night long! I spat and I shat! To clean them to shine so brilliantly! Kieeeeek?! You bastard! Don’t touch them with your filthy hands! You’re going to stain them! Kieueeekhekuk! Back off!” Mirian threw a fit while rubbing herself against the gold coins, even though they would soon belong to someone else.

Lanslo was the only one aside from Eugene, who was capable of properly seeing Mirian. He spoke while desperately holding back his laughter. “What will you do? 100,000 cellings in the gold of the Roman Empire. Will you take it?”

Lucas stared hard at the mound of coins with greedy eyes. Then, he shook himself awake and contemplated for a moment before looking at Eugene with a cautious expression. “This may sound a little shameless, but if you do one thing for us, I will gladly agree to your suggestion, sir.”

“One thing?” Eugene asked.

“I heard that you have encountered my soldiers earlier,” Lucas said.

“I have,” Eugene answered, not bothering to mention that they had run away with their tails between their legs.

“Ahem! They… Their slightly dishonorable actions weren’t only because they were afraid,” Lucas stated.

“Hmm?”

“You must have seen it on your way here from Mungard. Brantia’s security has deteriorated considerably. The fundamental reason for it is that we have not been able to properly subjugate our evil land for a long time. There are three or four times as many roamers as there were a few years ago.” Lucas explained.

“I understand. Crawlmarine. Same situation?” Eugene asked.

“I’m embarrassed to admit it, but yes. The vassals are having trouble mustering enough forces to protect even their own demesnes. There’s even trouble going from village to village,” Lucas replied.

“By chance. Are you asking me to get rid of roamers?” Eugene asked with a frown.

Until now, he had traveled along a set path from Mungard, so he only had to eliminate the roamers residing near the road. However, killing all the roamers on a territory as large as Crawlmarine was a completely different matter. It would take an enormous amount of time, and more importantly, it would be impossible with the troops he currently had.

“I’m not asking you to kill all the roamers in the territory. That is a problem for me, the Lord of Crawlmarine, to deal with. The only thing I dare to ask you is to take care of the most threatening of the roamers.” Lucas explained.

“Most threatening roamers?” Eugene asked.

Lucas and the nobles of the castle all turned toward the Perseus Beowulfs at Eugene’s question. “Lycanthropes. My troops were only surprised to see your group because they mistook them for a group of lycanthropes.”

***

Tap. Tap.

It was early morning. Lucas and the nobles observed Eugene’s group and the beowulfs as they left through the gate.

“My lord, are you sure it will be fine?” one of the nobles asked.

Lucas responded with a bright smile, “Hmm? What do you mean by that?”

“The lycanthropes. Their numbers are one thing, but the place where they reside…” The noble continued.

“Ah, what are you so worried about? Sir Eugene is a high-ranking noble of the Dark Clan, right? Besides, there are thirty warriors of the Perseus Beowulfs. Such a force is enough to compete with hundreds of heavily armed cavalries, so there’s no need to worry at all,” Lucas said reassuringly.

“That’s true, but only when it’s a battle in the open plains, right? However, the lycanthropes are hiding in Marine Forest, and Lake Crawl is also located in the forest,” the noble said.

Another noble joined in as well. “That’s right. Shouldn’t we at least explain to Sir Eugene what happened in that place?”

“And we should have let him know what happened to Sir Laplas of the Batla Duchy when he went to exterminate the lycanthropes…”

“Ehem! The brave warriors are departing to restore the honor of Crawlmarine! The least you could do is to pray for their victory!" Lucas rebuked the nobles.

“I-I made a mistake. Please forgive me.”

“I beg for your forgiveness, my lord.”

The startled nobles hurriedly lowered their heads.

“Ehem! It’s not that I don’t understand your concerns, but we must fully trust in them. I believe that they will return to us with a victory,” Lucas said.

‘I hope that they all die! No, at the very least, that man needs to die.’

Contrary to his dignified expression, Lucas’ eyes glistened with a nefarious light. His gaze was fixated on the back of a certain individual. It was Luke.

‘You were very lucky, but it’s over now. You must die for me, no, for the Bosch family. And take those filthy beasts with you to the afterlife.’

Lucas had absolutely no intention of forgiving the beowulfs, although he was grateful for the gold coins.

‘Those brainless scum! You forgot that I was one of the knights you attacked?!’

The disgrace from the beating itself was one thing, but Lucas felt even more enraged knowing that the beowulfs had forgotten their blasphemous actions toward him.

It hadn’t even been five years or ten years, it had only been about a year!

‘I would like to personally kill all of them, but the vampire nobleman and one or two of the knights might come back alive. Then I’ll pretend to warmly comfort them. He will surely be touched by my generosity and swear himself to me. I will be killing two birds with one stone. Hahaha!’

Lucas had to stop himself from laughing out loud when he imagined a rosy future of having such excellent knights under his command. Lucas, the Count of Crawlmarine, looked down at the fools leaving towards their death as his cheeks continued to quiver.

***

“Something was weird, wasn’t it?”

“Definitely. He said that he would worry about us and he even thanked us, but his eyes were smiling,” Eugene answered with a cold expression while recalling the face of the young count from yesterday.

“I felt like he was up to something,” Lanslo commented.

“I agree with Sir Elf. Even I could tell that the runty count had other thoughts. His mouth was sticking out like a duck!” Mirian shouted excitedly. She had snuck inside Lucas Crawlmarine’s room during the night under Eugene’s orders. Unfortunately, she hadn’t obtained any valuable information, but everyone’s intuition was in harmony.

“Luke,” Eugene called out.

“Yes, Master,” Luke answered. Since yesterday, the aide’s eyes became confident along with his demeanor.

Eugene asked, ”What do you know about Marine Forest, where the lycanthropes are located?”

“Not too much. As you know, the Crawlmarine territory is named after Marine Forest and Crawl Lake. The whole forest, including the lake, was bestowed to the ancestor of the county by the king at the time,” Luke answered.

“And since such a significant place was taken over by lycanthropes, we have to reclaim it. Is that right?” Eugene asked.

“Yes. The county flourished over the years, and eventually, Crawl Forest was left alone as a hunting ground for the county. However, I heard that it still retained its significance because of history,” Luke answered.

“If it’s such an important place, someone must have been protecting it,” Eugene said.

“Ah, well. That’s… It was the Bosch family,” Luke responded.

“Hmm?”

“Hooh?”

Both Eugene and Lanslo expressed their surprise, and Luke continued in a calm voice, “The Bosch family demesne is located fairly close to Crawl Forest. It is a small village with about forty households, and although they farm as well, the residents mainly rely on ranching and hunting to survive. The count would come to hunt two or three times a year, and Sir Bosch would personally guide him.”

“I see. So why did the count not mention anything about that? Would it not have been better to go to the Bosch family and ask for their cooperation?” Eugene asked. He simply couldn’t understand why Lucas was handling things this way.

But Luke seemed to have something in mind. “I was actually wondering about that as well, but I stayed quiet yesterday since it wasn’t my place to speak. Personally, I think…” Luke hesitated for a moment before continuing with a somber expression. “I think something must have happened to the Bosch family. Crawl Forest is quite large and wide, but there are hundreds of roamers that are under the lycanthropes’ control. It’s likely that the Bosch family…”

“Kieeeeh. I feel bad for Aide Number Two,” Mirian whimpered.

“Hmm.”

Eugene could roughly guess the whole story. Although the forest was wide, the lycanthropes wouldn’t simply stay in the forest. In the first place, he was certain that the count had only made the request to annihilate the lycanthropes because they were likely trying to expand their territory recently.

‘Still, I’m sure there’s more to it…’

Eugene contemplated for a few moments before raising his head.

It didn’t matter.

‘If there’s a trap, I will crush it, and I will kill all who attack.’

This was Brantia. He no longer had to care about his relationship with other lords and nobles. Therefore, if he had sufficient reason, Eugene was ready to strike to kill at any moment if it came to it, even if the opponent was a count or a king.

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