CH 158

“What was that!? Sir Bonmer. That sound just now…” Lorraine was scared.

“Hmph!”

Bonmer quickly stepped in front of her and looked around. Despite clearly hearing the chilling, insidious voice, no one was present in the vicinity except himself and Lorraine. Moreover, he could no longer hear the voice. It was as if the two of them had hallucinated.

‘C-could it be?’

Bonmer flinched as he recalled a rumor that recently started to circulate.

“Let’s go in for now, Lady Lorraine. I will talk to His Excellency Crawlmarine,” Bonmer said.

“Y-yes.” Lorraine hurried inside with a deathly pale expression. She was extremely afraid of ghosts. Bonmer inspected the surroundings once more with an anxious heart, then quickly started toward a certain place.

“Sir Bonmer.”

“Hello there, sir!” Several well-dressed young men greeted Bonmer politely. All of them were direct descendants of the Batla Duchy’s vassals. They were the ones who had been taken hostage due to their parents not attending the succession ceremony.

“Sirs, could I talk with you all for a moment?” Bonmer asked.

“Ah, of course.”

“Of course...”

The young men immediately nodded with great delight. Although all of them were prisoners, Lorraine and Bonmer were in a vastly different position compared to themselves. Everyone was afraid of the duke and they also found it quite difficult to talk to Count Crawlmarine. In addition, Lorraine was always by the count’s side. As such, the young noblemen knew exactly what Lorraine’s actions represented.

“What would you like to discuss?” the young noblemen asked courteously.

Bonmer once again looked around his surroundings with a stiff expression. Then, he drew closer to the young men and spoke in a low voice, “I heard it as well.”

“W-what do you mean?” the young men asked.

“The evil gold spirit,” Bonmer said.

“Huah!” the young men shouted with fear.

The evil gold spirit. A strange rumor started circulating among Eugene’s army—an insidious, evil voice would suddenly call out from nowhere. The whispering voice would always ask for offerings to be put in certain places. Apparently, the evil spirit would accept gold coins, silver coins, jewels, and even house and land deeds.

It was a wicked spirit that coveted gold. As such, it was given the name ‘evil gold spirit.’ Strangely, all those who heard the evil spirit’s voice were nobles or people of some status. The brave ignored the voice, but others became frightened and followed the spirit’s instructions to offer it coins and other forms of wealth. Most of the time, jewels and coins were offered. This was because many of the young noblemen weren’t in possession of any deeds.

What was surprising was that the offerings would disappear in a few hours after being placed in the locations directed by the spirit.

Then, the voice of the evil spirit would no longer haunt them.

“W-what did the evil gold spirit want?” one of the noblemen asked.

“I can’t remember too clearly because I was shocked, but I definitely heard mentions of gold and silver, as many of you have heard as well. And the spirit said something else as well…” Bonmer hesitated. He recalled the spirit mentioning a count, but he wasn’t entirely sure.

“W-what will you do?” one of the nobles asked.

“Well, I think I will ignore it for now,” Bonmer responded.

“Y-you might receive a curse. Why don’t you just give the evil gold spirit what it wants?” a young noble suggested.

“Hmm…” Bonmer shook his head after a moment of contemplation. He was a knight of the Fransil family. It was dishonorable and shameful to give in to an evil spirit who threatened people!

“But no one has actually been cursed yet, right? For now, I will watch and wait. Worst case scenario, I…”

“Sir Bonmer! Sir Bonmer!”

Bonmer was interrupted by someone’s shouts. He turned around to see a servant running up with a shocked expression. The servant bowed politely before continuing. “Sir, I think you should come quickly.”

“What’s the matter?” Bonmer asked.

“Lady Fransil is asking for you, sir. I don’t know what happened exactly, but she was very scared. I- I think she was crying,” the servant stated.

“What?! Who dares?!” Bonmer shouted furiously.

“Hiek!” The servant quickly waved their hands and explained. “No! That’s not it! We didn’t do anything at all! T-The lady was alone in her room!”

“Let’s go!” Bonmer shouted before hurrying away.

***

“Lady Lorraine! I’m coming in!” Bonmer shouted before bursting open the bedroom door. Lorraine, who was trembling inside her blanket, hurriedly ran forward. “Sir Bonmer, Sir Bonmer! I-It was here! It was here!” Lorraine shouted tearfully.

Bonmer felt his heart sink when he saw the tear marks on her face.

“It was here? What are you talking about?” Bonmer asked.

“T-t-the ghost! The ghost followed me inside! I-It asked me for gold coins, silver coins, jewels, all kinds of relics, land deeds, and house deeds! I-I-It told me to place the offerings tonight at the well behind the castle. T-The spirit said it would help me get together with His Excellency Crawlmarine. Sir Bonmer, what should I do? I should do as the ghost says, right?” Lorraine asked, desperate.

“That’s…”

Lorraine seemed to be distraught. It was only natural. She was originally terribly afraid of ghosts, and she had been alone when the evil gold spirit spoke to her. Moreover, the spirit had even mentioned the object of her affection. There was no way she could have maintained her sanity.

“W-what if the spirit’s trying to help me?” Lorraine muttered.

“You must not jump to conclusions. We don’t know for sure yet if the spirit is noble or evil,” Bonmer responded.

“But… don’t you know the stories? The stories where a spirit of a lake or a mountain acts as a bridge between two lovers,” Lorraine said.

“Phew. Lady Lorraine, only elves are able to see spirits. Of course, there are special knights who enter into contracts with spirits. However, such spirits are always good and noble. They help people.” Bonmer said. And even if the evil gold spirit was indeed a spirit, there was no way that a good spirit would rob people of their gold. It would definitely be a wicked, vicious fellow.

“E-Even so, it said that it could help me get together with Count Crawlmarine. So maybe it wants to help me out, right?” Lorraine said with hope. It seemed she was having trouble grasping reality due to both fear and hope.

Bonmer suppressed a sigh as he shook his head. “You must not fall for an evil spirit’s suggestion. Moreover, you are a direct descendant of the Fransil family, my lady. You must think about the family’s honor.”

“B-buuut…”

“Please leave this matter to me,” Bonmer said.

“How? Sir Bonmer may be strong, but we’re up against an invisible spirit…” Lorraine muttered.

“I will report this matter to the duke,” Bonmer replied.

“…” Lorraine remained silent. She was scared of ghosts, but Eugene was scarier.

***

“What? There’s an evil spirit?” Eugene asked.

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Eugene’s forehead creased after hearing Bonmer’s words. He was already extremely occupied with this and that, so what nonsense was this?

However, he couldn’t simply ignore it. Lorraine and Bonmer were valuable hostages. If they were to come into any harm at all, it would lead to problems with the Fransil family which would affect the ransom as well.

“Keep talking,” Eugene said.

“Yes, Your Excellency. It’s a long story, but there’s been a rumor circulating around some people lately. So…” Bonmer explained with a stiff expression. However, for some reason, Eugene’s expression turned rather strange as Bonmer continued with the story. Simultaneously, Lanslo, who was standing next to Eugene, turned his head after covering his mouth with his hand.

‘Why is Sir Drak acting like that?’

Bonmer felt that something was out of place, but nevertheless, he finished his story and bowed. “…and that is all. Your Excellency, if it is indeed an evil spirit, I dare say that we must take care of it as soon as possible.”

“Pffft!”

“…?”

“Ah, my apologies. I think I have something in my throat. Pffft!” Lanslo explained and pretended to drink water in a hurry after receiving Bonmer’s gaze.

“I see. I will take care of this matter,” Eugene responded.

“Ah! Are you thinking of assigning the wizard under your command or the druid to this case?” Bonmer asked with a brighter expression. Although Eugene’s power was beyond comprehension, Bonmer assumed that either the wizard or the druid would take care of the matter since they specialized in the mystic arts.

However, Eugene shook his head. “No, I can handle it...”

“What? But…”

“Don’t worry. Sir Bonmer, go outside and make an announcement,” Eugene said.

“About… what?” Bonmer asked.

“Nobles, knights, soldiers, mercenaries. Regardless of their status, if they have some money, have them report to me.”

“What? Ah, yes, of course. I will take my leave, then.” It was hard to understand the reasoning behind Eugene’s command, but Bonmer hurriedly answered before leaving since the atmosphere around the duke seemed rather chilly.

Thud.

Puhahahahahahaha!

Bonmer felt even more confused. A clear laughter had resounded from inside the room as soon as he closed the door.

‘A vicious spirit that covets gold, the duke, and his knights… Everyone here is shrouded in mysteries.’

Bonmer gave a deep sigh. He simply wanted to return to the Fransil family as soon as possible.

***

“Puhahahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!”

“…” Eugene felt his rage simmering as Lanslo continued to roar with laughter.

‘No wonder I haven’t seen her much lately. What the hell is that crazy spirit doing? Is she out of her mind?’

Eugene was dumbfounded. Mirian had barely been around him since a few days ago. He inquired into the matter out of curiosity, but Mirian had responded to him by saying that she was collecting information. He let the matter go since as she said, the number of troops under his command had recently just increased exponentially. Moreover, he felt rather cautious with the increased number of prisoners and hostages since they could very well be plotting something behind his back.

However…

“An evil gold spirit? What the…”

“Puhahahaha!”

Lanslo had finally managed to calm down, but he burst into laughter once again after hearing Eugene’s murmur.

“Stop laughing, will you?” Eugene said with a frown.

“Pffft! But isn’t this so funny? How ironic! An Undine is a spirit of clarity and elegance, but now she has become known as a gold-starving, evil spirit. Puhahaha!”

“…” Why was it that Eugene had always been alone to embrace the embarrassment? Why did he have to get paired with such a kooky spirit? Why did he have to feel such shame?

Now was the time for him to make a decision…

“But why did you call for all the rich people?” Lanslo asked.

“You’ll see,” Eugene casually replied.

“Oh? I’m looking forward to it,” Lanslo responded with a smile. Eugene felt rather annoyed to see Lanslo genuinely enjoying himself, but he urged himself to be patient. After about thirty minutes, a group of people rushed into the office.

“Did you call for us, Your Excellency?”

“We are here to respond to your summons, my lord.”

The group consisted of Odd, his colleagues, direct descendants of noble families and two squad captains from noble families.

‘There’s a lot of them.’

Eugene felt an oncoming headache just imagining that most of them, or maybe all, had been victims of the greedy spirit.

“I have called all of you here because I have something to ask,” Eugene spoke.

“Ah, yes.” The victims looked rather puzzled.

Eugene continued in a low voice. “Have any of you heard a strange voice recently? That… the one… known as the evil gold spirit. Anyone?”

Eugene had to glance sideways at Lanslo to ensure that the knight wouldn’t burst into laughter. Lanslo managed to hold back, though his face turned crimson red in the process.

“Ah!” The majority of the people raised their hands.

Eight people. Eugene held back his sigh and asked once again, “I heard that you had been robbed by the spirit. How much was it for everyone?”

“Five gold coins for me.”

“I-I offered a ring and 2,000 cellings….”

“I gave ten silver coins…”

“I…”

Eugene was forced to suppress his killing intent as the victims answered his question. He replied, “For now, I will reimburse, no, compensate you. Since all of you are my subordinates or serving me, the damage you have incurred is my responsibility.”

“Ohhh!”

“Your Excellency!”

The ignorant victims were moved by Eugene’s generosity.

“And that spirit… no, the evil spirit. I will take care of it,” Eugene said.

“Ohhh! I understand!”

“No evil spirit would dare raise its head in the face of your courageous, incredible spirit!”

“If you do so, then a good and righteous spirit will stay with you and bless you, instead of an insidious, evil spirit!” The victims bowed repeatedly and praised Eugene.

“Pfff! Kff! Keugh!”

Lanslo’s vain attempt at suppressing his laughter led to him having trouble with breathing. Eugene glared at him with annoyance.

‘Hmm?’

Something came into his vision.

“Hmm...”

Eugene stood up from his seat and walked toward it. Everyone’s gaze remained on him. Eugene stopped in front of his desk and picked up a small box. It was the safe that he had decided to deposit Mirian’s salary in exchange for her work. Although it was rather conspicuous on top of the desk, no one dared to touch anything in his office without permission so it remained untouched.

‘Except for just one…’

Eugene opened the box.

All kinds of glittering gold, silver, and jewels greeted him. Although the spirit was greedy, she was stupid. She had stored all of the stored goods in her box. Suddenly, a clear, resonant voice could be heard from the slightly-opened window. It sounded similar to a chattering bird.

“Kiee~ Kiee~ I done-did one today, yeah~ I’m rich now, yeah~ Just wait, golden castle~ If he doesn’t buy it for me, then I will go clack, clack…” Mirian flew in through the crack while singing a horrible, nonsensical song. Then, she met Eugene’s gaze.

Her eyes slowly turned toward the fraud victims in the office, then turned toward Eugene once more.

‘I-I have to run!’

Thud.

Eugene reached out to close the window, then turned toward the victims. “The evil spirit. I think I can take care of it. You may all leave now.”

“Oh! Yes, Your Excellency!”

The victims left with relieved expressions, and Eugene brought the captured spirit close to him before whispering, “You will be in charge of purifying drinking water from now on. Clean up the water for the army to drink. I don’t care if you have to spit it or poop it. Make 10 oak barrels every single day.”

“Kieeeek?!”

It was meant as a punishment, but Eugene had been pondering it for some time now as well. There was no problem procuring food and supplies from the depot, but drinking water was an entirely different matter. Fortunately, Eugene had a spirit who could purify even dung water into clean, drinkable water.

“S-sir. I was wrong. J-just forgive me this once, and I will always be loyal…” Mirian begged.

“Shut up. If you don’t meet your quota, don’t even dream about the golden castle. I’ll make sure that you’ll live in a monster’s anus for the rest of your life. I’ll shove you up the anuses of all the monsters I kill from now on,” Eugene said with a growl.

“Kieeeeh!”

The lazy, greedy, evil gold spirit finally received the divine punishment she was due to receive.

Justice was still alive...