CH 126

“Kieee~ Twinkle twinkle golden castle~ How I wonder what you are~ Best in the world that’s what you are~ Castle filled with diamonds and rubies~ Our Sir Eugene is the greatest of all~ Kiek?!”

“You’re too noisy.”

The spirit was humming a bizarre song while floating in the water-filled bathtub. Her tune was disturbed by a well-placed flick to her forehead, and she responded with a gloomy expression.

“Oh, what’s the matter? I’m going to hire a minstrel in the future to spread the legend of your lordship and myself.”

“Stop your nonsense and wash my back,” Eugene said.

“Yeap.”

Mirian fluttered up and started to thoroughly wash Eugene’s back with her ‘spits and shits.’ It was a little unpleasant at first, but it felt rather refreshing except for the sounds she made.

“Ah, by the way, sir. These little itty tattoos. There’s only seven of them left now,” Mirian commented.

“Is that so?” Eugene said. Five of the initial twelve tattoos had completely disappeared. Eugene would gain a new ability with the disappearance of each tattoo, and all of them had been greatly helpful. Black Scales, camouflage, transformation, language interpretation, and the most recent, berserker.

‘I shouldn’t use berserker if I can help it.’

It was a tremendous ability that amplified all of his abilities for a few minutes, but the drawback of exhausting all of his energy afterward was too great. It was an ability best left reserved for desperate moments.

‘But as the tattoos disappear, I’m regaining a vampire’s unique abilities.’

At first, he gained the ability to handle Fear, and from then, he was becoming more and more capable. Most recently, he gained the ability to charm others. No, rather than gaining, he was awakening his original abilities. Eugene was certain that it had everything to do with the disappearing tattoos.

‘The tattoos must be a kind of seal. And those who placed this seal on me…’

The image of the three figures was becoming clearer with each red mana stone that Eugene consumed. Eugene was somewhat certain that the three figures had been the ones responsible for the seal.

He had a good reason to believe so…

‘It wasn’t that I saw them when I was young. No, I was looking up at them while I’m on the ground.’

Eugene recently realized that their ‘smiles’ had been definite sneers.

‘I was most likely beaten by the three of them. But why?’

It would have been easier for them to have killed him, so why did they leave him alive with a seal? Moreover, when and where had everything happened?

‘The only thing I know for sure is that I need to get rid of all the tattoos.’

There were still seven tattoos left, and fortunately, there were many evil lands in Brantia. Of course, monsters possessing red mana stones were extremely rare, but at this rate, he was certain that he could remove all the tattoos in one year at the earliest, and two to three years at the latest.

“Then we will have to continue conquering Brantia,” Eugene said.

“Of course, of course! You’re going to be a real king now. The demon king! The emperor! Kihehehehehehe!” The spirit of desire laughed frivolously as if Eugene was already the king of Brantia.

Eugene considered shattering her expectations but stopped himself from doing so. He didn’t want to disappoint her this early, and his ultimate goal was something that was much greater than becoming the king of Brantia.

***

“Hmm? What is all this?”

“Your armor.”

“Oooh!”

Wolfgan and the beowulf warriors exclaimed after receiving wolf-shaped helmets and sets of platecoats. Others might have rejected the armor out of pride, but the Perseus Beowulfs thought differently after facing the knights from the continent. They had experienced how difficult it was to fight against enemies clad in solid armor.

“It’s not as good as our armor, but it will block most arrows, spears, and blades,” Eugene said.

“Thank you for this, Dark Lord!”

“Wow! I can’t believe I am wearing such high-end armor!”

The materials of the armor and their polish weren’t very good, but they had been made with consideration to the size of the bewoulf warriors. The armors were very large, and the thickness of the iron plates used in them was almost double the size of regular armor, so they had been very expensive.

“You will have to make good use of them. I will charge you all later,” Eugene said.

“Kuhehe! Of course. Ah, by the way, are we setting off soon? Who are we up against?” Wolfgan asked.

“The Riwad barony. Have you heard of it?” Eugene asked.

“The half-orc sword master? I heard that he’s quite strong,” Wolfgan answered. It appeared that the title of a ‘sword master’ wasn’t just for show, since the name of their opponent was enough to cause the beowulfs to buzz.

“I heard he cut off the heads of the church knights from the continent, right?”

“Oh, that’s right. I heard that he reaped quite a harvest from the armor and weapons of those knights.”

“He got himself a lot of slaves as well. Damn it, we should have made them into slaves instead of killing them all.”

“What would you have done with them when you can’t even communicate with them? Besides, they would have done nothing but waste our food.”

“Food? I suddenly want to eat meat.”

“Me too. Should we go to Marine Forest and catch some deer?”

“Wait. Did you say slaves?” Eugene asked after stopping the beowulfs in their tracks.

“That’s right. They say he took quite a few prisoners and made them into slaves. Well, it’s not like the continental humans are going to come all this way to pay their ransoms,” Wolfgan responded.

Eugene turned his head. “Lanslo. If they managed to reach all the way to the Riwad barony during the crusade, wouldn’t they have been quite skilled?”

“Most likely. There is a high chance that they were part of the first expedition. I heard that the first expedition force consisted of knights belonging to noble families of considerable status and reputation in each kingdom,” Lanslo answered.

“So there must have been holy knights as well?” Eugene asked.

“Probably, although they wouldn’t have necessarily belonged to the Caylor Kingdom,” Lanslo replied.

“Hmm.” Eugene fell into contemplation. From his experiences during his current and previous life, Eugene came to the conclusion that among all the kingdoms, the Caylor Kingdom was the most hostile towards other races. Although other countries weren’t necessarily accepting of other races, their treatment of the other races wasn’t bad as the Caylor Kingdom.

However, the Caylor Kingdom hadn’t always been a place that was hostile toward other races. The current king and his backer, the church’s cardinal, had manipulated things behind the scenes over time.

‘In the first place, only the Central Church of the Caylor Kingdom serves Gahein as its sole god.’

The churches of other nations recognized other gods besides Gahein. Even the Holy Empire, which was a theocracy, recognized Gahein and two other gods as the Three Supreme Deities. So what if Baron Riwad’s slaves weren’t from the Kingdom of Caylor?

“Galfredik, Lanslo,” Eugene called out.

“Hmm?”

“Yes,” the two knights responded.

Eugene gave a meaningful smile before continuing. “It seems that it won’t just be the Riwad barony that we’ll take from this war.”

***

The next day…

Galfredik, Lanslo, and Partec’s group quietly departed from Crawlmarine Castle. Galfredik was rather disappointed that he could not participate in a real battlefield, but he understood that successfully carrying out his mission was of utmost importance. As such, he followed Eugene’s orders without saying anything.

Fighting and killing weren’t the only ways to win a battle. Strategies and tactics needed to be employed in a flexible manner according to each situation as well. Moreover, Galfredik’s skills as a tactician were on par with his skills as a warrior.

After the five people left, Luke ordered all the vassals of the Crawlmarine territory to rally. The nobles knew that Luke was being supported by a high-ranking noble vampire and a horde of beowulf warriors, so they quickly responded to his call. They knew that they would have to serve the new count for at least 20 more years, and the best way to show their loyalty was to quickly respond to his call.

Five days later…

The eight knights, although it was a little embarrassing to call them as such, and more than two hundred soldiers stood tall under the flag of Crawlmarine.

“Marindolf of Patos, my lord!”

“Leadman of Penzil! I will dedicate my life to your lordship and Crawlmarine…”

The vassals fought to introduce themselves and prove their undying loyalty to Luke. However, although their words were grand and their voices were loud, it was clear from their expressions that they were extremely anxious.

They had gathered their troops to prove their loyalty, but they were well aware of Baron Riwad’s strength and how many troops he had under his command.

‘What happens to us if the count dies?’

‘If it’s that big, half-orc swordmaster, he wouldn’t even consider taking us prisoner for ransom.’

‘Surely, he wouldn’t kill all of us, would he?’

‘Maybe I should run when I have the chance…’

Luke was furious when he saw the lamenting faces and anxious eyes of the vassals. However, he was now the Count of Crawlmarine. In addition, his celebrated master was watching right behind him.

“I would like to express my deepest appreciation for your honorable decisions,” Luke said.

“It’s my greatest honor.”

“I am simply honoring a knight’s duty, my lord!”

The words of the nobles were completely contradictory to their expressions. Luke suppressed his boiling anger and responded, “I am touched that all of you are so eager. If I could do as I wished, I would have placed all of you in the vanguard.”

“...!”

His fury blazed even brighter after seeing the evident shock in the nobles’ faces.

“However, I know that everyone has been suffering because of the recent, vicious war caused by the continent’s church. As such, I decided on a siege defense,” Luke declared.

Oooh!

The expressions of the vassals finally loosened. It was an obvious decision since defending against a siege was much easier than a head-on battle on the plains. Moreover, the enemies would outnumber them by two or three times there.

A negotiation was an option depending on the situation, and if the situation became extremely disadvantageous…

‘It will be easier to turn our backs.’

The vassals shared similar thoughts, although they spoke of loyalty and bravery amidst the brightened atmosphere…

Eugene stepped up. “Sirs, you don’t have to fight. Just make sure to defend the castle.”

“What?” The vassals were baffled by the vampire noble’s words. The vampire had been mostly responsible for the naming of the new count, and he possessed terrifying skills as well. They wondered what he was planning.

“Literally. Don’t try to crawl out of the castle. Stay where you are. If you try anything else.” Eugene paused and glanced back. The vassals naturally followed his gaze as if they were bewitched.

Krrrrrrrrrr.

The beowulf warriors grinned, revealing their sharp fangs. They were armed with armor and wolf-shaped helmets.

“Hiek!”

Some of the vassals fell onto their buttocks with frightened shouts, and Eugene inched closer to the vassals before continuing in a cold voice. “Disobeying orders will result in immediate judgment. The death penalty. Make sure you don’t forget.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The vassals finally realized the truth. It was meaningless for them to declare their loyalty to the young count. The real authority here was the noble vampire, who had the power to move the dirty, mean beowulf warriors with nothing but a wink.

***

Uwaaaaaaahhh!!!

The people of Crawlmarine cheered for the troops and the beowulf warriors. A new count had taken the place of their original lord after he was beheaded on the count of murdering his own father and a knight, but the residents of the territory didn’t particularly care. It was all because the nobles had strongly emphasized the legitimacy of the new count and they were also too busy living their own lives and making ends meet to actually care.

Moreover, the people were mostly simple and ignorant. They liked Luke, who looked much more reliable and handsome than the previous count. In particular, they were exhilarated that the mean, evil ‘Dogs of Perseus’ were marching behind the new count.

“Long live the lord!”

“Crawlmarine will win!”

“Hurray! Hurray for the handsome count!”

Several beowulfs grumbled after hearing the residents’ cheers.

“This makes it seem like we’re subordinates of the count.”

“Well, that’s not exactly wrong, is it? The dark lord stands behind the count, and we were hired by the dark lord.”

“Well, I guess that’s true.”

In fact, the beowulfs were quite satisfied with the current situation. It had been common for them to go on for days without food when they lived in the mountains, but ever since they were hired by Eugene, they had been able to hold a feast of meat every day. In addition, their employer was quite friendly toward them, and he even recently gifted them precious armor. Eugene, the dark lord, was the best employer they could ask for.

“But we’re not going to Patos Castle?”

“Yes. Only Mister Wolfgan and a few of the boys are going. To escort the count.”

“Then what about us?” the beowulfs whispered. Despite all the cheering, Eugene heard the murmurs of the beowulfs and turned his head.

“You. No, us, we will do what we do best,” Eugene said.

“What we do best? And what is that?” one of the beowulfs asked. Vampires and beowulfs were originally of the same blood. One was known for their craftiness, and the other was known for their persistence.

In a war where two races joined their forces without having to care about chivalry and honor, there was only one possible outcome. Eugene smiled coldly before voicing the answer. “An ambush. A surprise attack.”