CH 188

‘Let’s go as quietly as possible.’

Eugene was certain that news of his arrival would become a huge disturbance, which would alert the imperial prince of his presence as well. As such, he moved as quickly and as quietly as possible after discovering paths with the least human presence.

The royal castle also served as the city hall, so it was very crowded. But since Eugene had already been inside the building before, he was knowledgeable about its structure. In addition, he was an expert at hiding his presence as a vampire, so he was able to successfully penetrate the depths of the castle without making any ruckus.

“Huh?”

“Kieh?”

Mirian and Eugene stopped at the same time. They had been walking under a stone wall located in the old back garden.

Both of them were sensing something foreign. The energy felt different from a wizard, vampire, or elf, and it was approaching them very rapidly.

“What is it?” After sensing the strange energy, Eugene turned his gaze and placed his hand on Wolfslaughter’s pommel.

Fwoosh…!

The sound of strong wind sweeping through leafy trees could be heard, and a dark green shadow crossed over the tall wall and fell straight in front of Eugene. Simultaneously, the strange energy, which could only be described as ‘pure,’ instantly turned hostile.

Shuacccck!

A blue light sharply cut through the air and fell like a thunderbolt.

“Kieeeeek!” the spirit exclaimed in shock. All of a sudden, the blade’s trajectory shifted ever so slightly.

Clang!

Eugene did not miss the chance and reflexively pushed Wolfslaughter upward to block the sword. Then, he twisted his blade and stabbed forward. It was a perfect example of a parry, and Eugene’s silver blade shot like a storm. However, the attacker was quite formidable.

Clang!

In an instant, the attacker managed to deflect all three of Eugene’s strikes, then jumped backward without any preparation as if they were an acrobat. Any normal knight would be amazed or intimidated by the attacker’s moves, but Eugene wasn’t a normal knight.

Kwararararak!

Eugene pounced like a beast, and his cloak fluttered in the wind like a beast’s tail.

“…!”

The attacker’s fierce gaze met Eugene's eyes in midair.

‘Their hostility disappeared?’

Eugene relaxed his grip when his intuition informed him of the change.

The attacker waved their sword in all directions, and the two blades clashed, resulting in a clear, metallic sound.

Chae, chaeng! Clang!

“Ugh!” Although Eugene had relaxed his grip, the attacker couldn’t overcome the momentum contained in Eugene’s sword. They grunted while being pushed all the way back.

The two figures came to face each other, and both of them opened their lips almost at the same time.

“What are you?”

“Who are you?” The figure’s clear, transparent voice contrasted with Eugene’s low, cold voice. The opponent was an elf-woman holding a longsword glimmering with light. Half of her face was covered from the eye down with a translucent cloth, and her body emitted a mysterious blue current.

However, Eugene had never been someone who could be dazzled by someone’s appearance or voice.

“An elf? What is your relationship with Pranbow?” Eugene asked.

“You know Master Pranbow? Who are you really?” the elf responded.

“You barge into someone else’s house and wave around your sword, and ask who they are without introducing yourself? Where are your manners?” Eugene retorted.

“…” The elf flinched, then looked as if she were going to speak. However, she remained silent and instead turned her gaze to Eugene’s side.

“Kieeehh?! Kieeee…” Mirian exclaimed in fear and trembled before hiding behind Eugene’s shoulder. However, the elf’s emerald eyes followed Mirian’s movements.

“S-sir! I’m shcared!” the spirit exclaimed. Eugene suddenly felt goosebumps rising at the spirit’s heartrending, mournful voice. The elf’s eyes quivered slightly as well as if she was experiencing a similar emotion. Somehow, the elf looked rather angry.

Eugene spoke once again, “I asked you who you are. If you do not answer…”

“W-woo, Woo, woo…” A strange noise came from the elf’s mouth.

“…?” Eugene narrowed his eyes, wondering if his hearing had betrayed him. It was already unbelievable that an elf-woman possessed such great power and excellent skills, but now, she was acting incredibly strange as well.

The elf-woman continued to stare at Mirian’s head, which poked out from behind Eugene’s shoulder, and she puckered her lips once again, “W-wee, whewoo! Good girl! Come here!”

“Is she mental…?” Eugene muttered

“Kieh?” Mirian tilted her head like a pet responding to her owner’s words.

“Heup!” The elf sharply inhaled when she saw the spirit’s action. Her shoulders suddenly began to heave, and she quickly took several breaths.

Eugene judged that the elf was collecting her breath to attack once again, so he raised Wolfslaughter. However, the elf-woman raised her trembling hand and beckoned to Mirian instead. For some reason, her eyes were slightly red.

“C-cute little undine. C-come here. Come. Good girl! Ha! Ha…!” The elf spoke with ragged breaths, which caused the cloth covering her face to waver. It was a truly grotesque sight, and it was almost impossible to believe that she was an elf. Her eyes were bloodshot while holding a sword, and her breaths were irregular and ragged.

“Is she a pervert?” Eugene said.

“S-sir. I’m shcaredd…” Mirian dug deeper into Eugene’s back as her wings quivered.

“You…” The elf called out in a cold voice before continuing, “Did you force that cute and adorable undine to serve you? You feel like a member of the Tribe of the Darkness. What kind of evil, malicious technique did you use to frighten the spirit so much? How wretched. How pitiful…”

“…”

Eugene could not find it in himself to respond to the elf’s words, which could only be described as nonsense.

‘Cute? Adorable? Who?’

“Sir, now that I’ve gotten a closer look at her, she doesn’t seem to be a bad person. Someone capable of accurately grasping my essence couldn’t possibly be bad. She must be a prophet born into a rich prestigious family, and she must have gone through a high degree of training to… Kieh?!” The spirit sneakily started to accept the elf’s misguided thoughts, but Eugene snatched her out of the air with his finger.

The elf’s eyes changed at once.

“You! You! How dare you do such a vicious thing?!” The elf exclaimed.

“You can have it,” Eugene responded while flicking the spirit toward the elf.

“Kiek!”

“Ahk! Ah!”

Mirian shot forward, and the elf stretched her arms to catch her joyfully.

However…

Shuack! Thuck!

“Kuagh!”

Eugen narrowed the distance in an instant, then struck the back of the elf-woman’s head with the pommel of his sword. He showed no mercy to the distracted elf.

Eugene placed the limp elf over his shoulder. He wasn’t sure who this crazy woman was and what she was doing here, but he would discover her identity once he met with Lanslo and Luke.

“Kieeeeehe! Sir, you traitor! You abandoned me!” Mirian mournfully exclaimed.

Eugene cut her off. “Stop talking nonsense and search for Luke or Lanslo’s presence.”

“Traitor! Betrayal! Kieeehuuee!”

Perhaps, it was time for him to dispose of the crazy spirit as well.

***

Mirian immediately found Lanslo’s location when Eugene threatened to truly abandon her, and Eugene headed straight toward him.

“Master!”

“Sir!”

Lanslo and Luke welcomed Eugene with open arms. The two of them had been buried in a seemingly important discussion.

“When did you arrive? I didn’t receive any reports… Huh?”

“What is that?”

The two figures’ expressions filled with surprise, and Eugene threw the limp elf on the floor as if she was luggage.

Eugene responded, “I don’t know. I was traveling quietly to meet the two of you, but she suddenly attacked me.”

“What? What a crazy bastard! How dare she!” Luke shouted in fury, then he turned over the sprawling elf with a fierce expression.

“What?!” He was stunned when his eyes landed on the figure’s face, and Lanslo also stopped in his tracks.

“What is it? Do you know her?” Eugene asked.

“…Are you saying that this person attacked you, Master?” Luke asked.

“That’s right. So what?” Eugene responded.

“…She has a huge bump on the back of her head. It’s the size of a fist,” Lanslo commented.

“She was pretty strong. I struck her with the pommel of my sword,” Eugene explained.

“Heuk! I-is she d-dead…?”

“I controlled my strength, so she should be alive. Do you know her?” Eugene asked.

“Um, S-Sir Eugene?” Lanslo hesitatingly called out. He still addressed Eugene in a comfortable manner when they were in the presence of close personnel. Lanslo carefully raised the elf’s body, which was limp like a corpse before saying, “This person… She is Eland’s Princess.”

“What…?” Eugene mumbled in shock.

“This is Princess Lilisain, the eldest daughter of Eland’s king and the one known as the Platinum Knight,” Lanslo added before carefully raising the cloth covering the princess’s face.

“…”

The princess was still out cold, and even her tongue was sticking out. Eugene stared at her for a moment before looking away.

“I think we might need to break up the marriage.”

“...”

“…”

It looked as if that were the most appropriate choice. Luke and Lanslo showed their consent with their gazes. It was an unprecedented situation in which the king’s guardian, the duke of the kingdom, had knocked out the woman who was supposed to become the queen.

***

“So, Princess Lilisain attacked you first, Master?” Luke asked.

Eugene responded, “That’s right.”

Lanslo commented, “I’m not suspicious of you or anything, Sir Eugene, but can you think about it one more time? Did you perhaps scare her, or activated your Fear in front of her?”

“Nope! I saw it all. This smart, great prophet of a princess, who, by the way, can see the essence of things with her eyes of truth, was the one who drew her blade against Sir Disloyal Traitor!” Mirian commented.

“…”

“I see. But I think I might have heard a few strange phrases in your description.”

“Y-you misheard me. W-well, then I will take care of the elf princess,” Mirian hurriedly responded while stealing a gaze at Eugene before quickly flying toward Princess Lilisain. She was still lying face flat, unconscious, on a sofa with a cool towel on the back of her head.

“Anyway, Luke, I cannot allow such a crazy woman to become your partner,” Eugene declared.

“Hmm. Well, I will always follow your will, Master, but why do you think she acted like that?” Luke asked.

“How would I know? I don’t want to know either…” Eugene responded. He continued after taking a glance at the princess, “By the way, what about the other knights? It looked like there were fewer troops based on what I saw on my way here.”

“Oh, as soon as the coronation ceremony ended, we held a large-scale ordination. Some of the knights from the Caylor Kingdom are out surveying the lands they were granted,” Luke answered.

“Hooh. I see. Good job. Those knights had been fighting for it, so it’s important that we are accurate with giving them proper rewards,” Eugene stated.

“I only followed the advice of Sir Lanslo and Master Pythamoras,” Luke answered shyly while scratching the back of his head. He was now wearing a crown on his head, but he was still a faithful aide in front of Eugene.

“What about Pythamoras?” Eugene asked.

Lanslo answered, “He went with Sir Randolph to take a look underground. By the way, Sir Eugene, it looks like you were successful in what you set out to do, so where are Sir Galfredik and Miss Romari?”

“Well, about that…” Eugene gave a detailed explanation of the events that occurred in the North. Then, he took out a parchment and an object wrapped with thick cloth from his pack.

"This is a letter from the temporary chief of the Tolo tribe, and this is the head of the former chief and his son,” Eugene explained. Thanks to Romari’s magic, the two orc heads had avoided any decay.

Lanslo’s eyes glimmered coldly when he saw the heads of the two orcs.

Eugene spoke, “I know it would have been more meaningful if you got to do it yourself, but I brought them since things had already turned out this way.”

Eugene felt sincerely apologetic to Lanslo, as Eugene knew better than anyone the meaning of achieving true revenge. Even he was unwilling to yield the head of Dircht, the holy knight, to anyone else.

Lanslo responded, “It’s fine. The other six tribes are about to arrive, right? I will wait until then to vent my anger.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Eugene said.

“No, I’m grateful,” Lanslo said with a grin. Eugene was a knight who conquered Brantia in less than six months with incredible achievements. The person who thrashed the northern orcs and smacked the elf princess’s head was apologizing to him and thanking him. It was unfortunate that he had failed to personally take revenge, but Lanslo felt extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to stand by such a figure. On the contrary, he thought it was fortunate that Eugene took revenge in his stead.

At that time, Mirian squealed while shooting toward them. She had been re-wetting the towel on the princess’s head.

“Sir! Sir! The elf princess is about to wake up!”

“…!”

The eyes of the three figures immediately turned toward her.

Princess Lilisain slowly rose to her feet. The back of her head was still decorated with a bump the size of a child’s fist.

Then, she turned her hazy, emerald eyes toward the three.

A Vampire Origin, the King of Brantia, and the Knight of the Lake.

The three men were already great figures in their own right. However, they still couldn’t help but feel nervous standing in front of the crazy princess.