CH 186

Delmondo gave a long explanation regarding his disposal of the territory, but unfortunately, Felid only understood less than half of what Delmondo had said. Meanwhile, Priscilla listened intently, nodded every once in a while, let loose surprised gasps, and clapped while bursting into an exclamation once he concluded.

“After hearing your explanation, I can only say that you made the right call, Sir Delmondo. Besides, the duke can repurchase it whenever he wants, so there’s not much to lose either,” Priscilla commented.

Delmondo responded, “The Marquis of Archivold is a massive fan of the great one. Of course, I’m certain she has her own goals to achieve through this transaction, but from the great one’s perspective, the Carls Baggins Peninsula will be better off being under the marquis.”

“That’s for sure. The new king of Brantia is His Excellency’s aide. As long as Maren and Moffern continue to trade with Brantia, the Marquis of Archivold would not want her relationship with His Excellency to sour,” Priscilla said, nodding.

‘As expected...’

Delmondo was inwardly impressed by Priscilla. She was a woman with an attitude, loyalty, as well as a brain.

“I think I know why the great one continues to conduct his business with you,” Delmondo remarked.

“Ah, you flatter me!” Priscilla waved her hands while suppressing a grin. She continued after taking a cautious expression, “So you’re here to warn us personally?”

“That’s half the reason,” Delmondo responded.

“Then what is the other half?” Priscilla asked.

“Please get me a ship leaving for Mungard,” Delmondo replied.

“Will you be heading there personally? Couldn’t you have gone there straight from Maren… Ah!” Priscilla realized the crux of the matter while she was speaking, and she couldn’t help but exclaim.

“That’s right. The fact that even a holy knight can sneak in, there’s no one I can trust,” Delmondo said, nodding.

“And that is why you came via one of our merchant ships. All right. I will find a ship that is set to depart in the shortest time,” Priscilla responded.

“Thank you. I will surely mention your loyalty to the great one, Vice Executive,” Delmondo said.

“Thank you,” Priscilla said. She felt as if all her prejudices regarding vampires were falling apart. According to the clergy, vampires were sneaky, evil monsters who had always treated human lives like flies. However, after meeting with the vampire administrator, she found him to be a well-spoken, elegant individual.

‘Well, Sir Eugene can be a little scary as well, but he has never done any harm to his own people. Anyway, I can’t see any weaknesses or openings in this man. No wonder Sir Eugene chose to appoint him as the territory’s administrator. Just what I would expect of Sir Eugene.’

Priscilla continued to dig herself into an illusion in her own mind, and Delmondo was doing the same.

‘As expected from the great one. I was wondering why he continued his relationship with the Palin Association, but it turns out they have a person who can best realize and represent his interest.’

In reality, Eugene never had such profound implications behind his choices. They had simply come to be.

Two days later, Delmondo’s coffin was once again loaded on a ship that Priscilla found for him. After passing through the Rodrick Archipelagos, the merchant ship arrived in Mungard in five days. The casket was immediately delivered to Lord Markus’s mansion.

***

Eugene headed to a farmhouse located near the mountain range after crossing over to find Silion. He paid a moderate amount of silver for taking good care of his steed, then immediately left for the new royal capital, Brighton.

The chaos had subsided considerably in Brantia, and as such, Eugene’s first solo journey had been quite uneventful and comfortable. Of course, it wasn’t without any problems.

Eugene traveled alone in a long robe with a hat. His appearance was no different from an ignorant, naïve noble traveling alone. And since there was no reason for Eugene to use his Fear during his travels, various bandits and roamers mistakenly recognized him as easy prey. Unsurprisingly, they were no match for Eugene, and he continued to travel South while slaying such groups about once per day.

Five days later, when Brighton was just around the corner, Eugene came across a strange group.

“Kieeehh? Sir, sir. They must be nobles. Their armor looks expensive, and their carriage is huge and gorgeous,” Mirian commented. Her eyes shone brightly as she stared intently at the unknown group while hiding in Silion’s mane. When it came to matters regarding money and wealth, she was more perceptive and sensitive than anyone else.

“You stay inside, just in case. Don’t mess around,” Eugene responded.

“Got it!” Mirian saluted before shooting into her leather pocket. Eugene slowly headed toward the unidentified group.

‘Most of them are knights. But judging from their armor, they aren’t from Brantia.’

The dozen-or-so knights were armed with plate mail. However, the style of their armor was slightly different from those belonging to Brantia or the Caylor Kingdom. They looked… tougher.

‘They’re not from Caylor, so where are they from?’

Eugene approached the group with such thoughts. As soon as the riders spotted Eugene, they began to move.

‘Hooh? Are they trying to protect someone?’

Given that the movements of the riders were very concise yet unhesitating, they were obviously quite disciplined. The knights moved into a formation that would allow them to protect the figures located in the middle, but would also allow them to charge out at a moment’s notice. Their wary eyes remained on Eugene.

Eugene stopped Silion once he was close, then placed a hand on his chest before announcing his lack of any hostility, “I do not know where you are coming from, but I have no intention of moving against you.”

“…?!” The knights flinched.

‘Do they not speak the Caylor Kingdom’s language?’

After deducing that the knights couldn’t be from Brantia, he had purposefully spoken in the Caylor Kingdom’s language, which was more widely known.

Eugene repeated himself in Brantian, and a voice came from inside the knights’ formation.

“Sir, are you a knight from the Caylor Kingdom? Or are you a knight of the church?”

The voice had answered in Caylorian, but with a distinctive accent. What was quite unusual was that the voice was rather thin and soft, even though they were trying to mask it. It was clear that the voice either belonged to a woman or a little boy.

Eugene answered, “Neither. And if you want to know who I am, isn’t it customary to reveal who you are first?”

The knights looked a little angry after hearing Eugene’s words.

‘As expected…’

Eugene realized that whoever was inside the formation possessed a high status from the knights’ reaction.

“Ah, I see. That was rude of me. Unfortunately, however, I cannot reveal my identity to you, sir. However, I can tell you that I come from the Roman Empire,” the voice responded.

Eugene was quite surprised, though he looked calm on the outside. He had never imagined that he would encounter a noble and knights of the Roman Empire in Brantia, as he had never seen them in the Caylor Kingdom either.

“Then, will you tell me who you are, sir?” the voice asked in return. Whoever they were, they kept on making their voice sound thicker.

Eugene responded, “I am not obliged to reveal my identity to someone who won’t even show their face. However, I can also let you know that I am a knight from the Caylor Kingdom.”

“XXXX! XXXXXXX!”

“XX. XXXX, XXXXX,” the knights began to converse in an unfamiliar, foreign language after hearing Eugene’s answer. Naturally, Eugene was able to decipher their words from the ability he gained from consuming the drake’s red mana stone.

‘Imperial prince? Did they just say imperial prince?’

It didn’t matter that the knights were voicing their intent to force the cheeky opponent to his knees or wanting to subdue the arrogant man in an instant. What mattered was the two words that Eugene managed to make out.

An imperial prince was the son of the emperor. Someone as important and distinguished as the imperial prince had personally come to Brantia?

“I apologize. My knights are extremely loyal. Anyway, you have a point, sir. Then let us go our separate ways,” the voice remarked.

“Understood,” Eugene responded. He was very curious about the Roman Empire’s imperial prince and his entourage, but his priority was to get to Brighton as soon as possible. As such, Eugene began to resume his journey after giving them a small nod.

“Ah, by the way, where are you headed?” The voice called out.

Eugene responded, “…Brighton.”

“Oh! Is that so?” The imperial prince exclaimed with joy. He continued, “We are on our way to Brighton as well, so why don’t you accompany us? As you can see, it is our first time here, and it took us quite a while to get to this point.”

“Hmm.” Eugene was about to refuse. He didn’t need more baggage on his way to Brighton.

However…

“I will compensate you well. Sir Kerkan Tar.”

One of the knights came forward with a dissatisfied expression at the call, then threw a leather pouch toward Eugene. Eugene felt a pleasing, familiar weight when he received the pouch.

“Sir! Gold! It’s gold!” Mirian exclaimed after poking her head out of her pocket. She had gained the ability to distinguish the identity of coins just by their sounds due to her obsession with money. In any case, there was only half a day’s journey remaining until Brighton, and Eugene had no reason to refuse free money.

He nodded after immediately pocketing the money, “Let us do that. Follow me.”

“Yes. sirs,” the voice called out, and the knights quickly dispersed from their formation. Eugene gawked, curious about the appearance of an imperial prince who could afford to just throw away gold coins, and the knights sniggered.

“Hmph! This country boy from Caylor must be a curious little brat.”

“Sir Ortimas, that’s because he’s from the countryside, right? There’s no way he can find real knights like us where he’s from.”

“He’s probably lying about the fact that he is a knight. What kind of a knight would go around by himself without any servants or aides?”

“He must be a mercenary, a knight wannabe.”

Hahahha…

The knights continued to mock Eugene in the empire’s language, completely unaware that Eugene could understand their words.

‘Should I just beat them up?’

Eugene was tempted, but he quickly shook his head. He could obtain more information if he continued to feign ignorance of the Roman Empire’s language. Moreover, Eugene was more interested in the two people the knights were protecting.

‘Is he the imperial prince?’

There was a young man wearing fancy clothes and a hat decorated with many jewels. His outfit basically screamed ‘I’m a high-ranking noble~’. And next to the imperial prince, who looked to be around 17 or 18, was another young man of similar age. He appeared to be a servant.

“Then I look forward to our journey, sir. You can call me Localope.”

“You can call me Jan, sir,” It was obviously an alias, so Eugene responded by simply giving his first name. The name Jan was quite common, so they shouldn’t recognize him just by his first name.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter even if they recognize me.’

“Then I will call you Sir Jan.” Localope nodded with a solemn expression, then turned to the boy beside him and whispered, “His attitude is a bit bad, but he doesn’t look like the type to have other motives, Your Highness. He doesn’t look as strong as our knights either.”

“I agree. Anyway, don’t reveal anything and pay attention to what you say and do,” the other boy whispered.

“Yes...”

Although the two were whispering in the empire’s language, it was easy for a vampire to eavesdrop. However, the two people’s actions and words seemed contradictory.

‘Hooh. What’s this?’

Eugene’s eyes glimmered when he discovered that the one wearing the simple gray robe and a hat was the real prince. He didn’t know why, but the imperial prince of the Roman Empire had concealed his identity and was on his way to Brighton, the new royal capital of Brantia.

That meant…

‘I don’t know what purpose they have, but they must be trying to meet Luke, right?’

There was no other reason for the Roman Empire’s imperial prince to head to another country’s capital.

‘I can sense trouble brewing.’

Eugene thought hard for a minute with a frown, then shrugged. Whatever the case, Luke was the new king of Brantia, and Eugene had put him on the throne to take care of such troublesome tasks.

‘I’m going to go around evil lands and collect red mana stones.’

Eugene planned to travel leisurely while removing his tattoos. And when he recalled the pouch of gold coins he had received, he felt happy. However, the duke’s good mood quickly faded away before even ten minutes had passed.

“Sir. Do you know the one who calls himself Brantia’s king? Can you tell me about him?”

“Ah, it would be even better if you can tell us about the Dark Clan’s duke, the one who is said to be the king’s guardian.”

“I heard that the duke is quite strong. How does he compare to my knights?”

“By chance, is that duke a servant of the Caylor Kingdom’s king?”

Eugene regretted his decision to accompany the prince as he was bombarded with one question after another.

Clang!

“I’m not as shameless as to ask you for answers without a reward. I would appreciate it if you could tell me anything you know.”

Eugene reflexively snatched another bag of gold out of the air.

Did they think of him as a beggar? Why…

“Sir! Gold again! He must be filthy rich!” the spirit excitedly whispered.

Eugene stared at the prince with a frown. “I was thinking about something else earlier, so I missed your questions. Please ask them again. I will answer to the best of my knowledge.”

Eugene felt extremely motivated. The additional income was much too large to be treated as a simple allowance.

It appeared that he had netted an innocent, ignorant-of-the-world customer.

He could only take advantage.

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