CH 224

Eugene became more convinced of his intuition during his journey to the Tywin territory.

Kuwuuugh! Kyaaahk!

Roamers collapsed under the swords and spears of the elven knights as blood and organs spilled everywhere. Not a single kobold survived among the group of more than forty kobolds.

“This is a little strange,” one of the elven knights commented while wiping away the blood and flesh from his blade.

“Your Majesty is the highest noble of the Dark Clan, so why are the kobolds attacking us? Lower-rank roamers don’t even think of attacking a group with a banneret, no, even a lord,” the knight continued, and the other elven knights nodded with stiff expressions.

Roamers were monsters that had been freed from the evil energy unique to evil lands. As a result, they were weaker and less aggressive compared to their counterparts in evil lands, and they displayed similar behaviors to wild animals. If they judged their enemy to be stronger than them, roamers wouldn’t attack first. However, roamers had attacked Eugene’s group on three separate occasions so far, even though there were seven elven knights and an exalted vampire noble in their group.

“And even if kobolds move around in herds, it is quite rare to see as many as fifty of them together.”

“And that’s only counting the number of monsters that attacked us. So, there should be more than a hundred of them in total, including the females and the cubs left behind in their cave, right? Your Majesty, are such things common on the continent?” one of the knights asked.

“Not at all. I have never heard of such a thing before.” Eugene shook his head. He had never encountered a group of roamers bigger than twenty. Of course, he had faced many goblins in the forest near Maren, but they had been under the rule of the mountain orcs, so they were an exception.

“Indeed, this is quite strange. Roamers wouldn’t have approached even if it were just a few regular knights instead of me,” Eugene commented. In fact, small groups of roamers wouldn’t approach a large group of mercenaries, let alone a group of knights. That was why people hired mercenaries as guards when traveling long distances.

“Sir, sir! We’ve hit the jackpot this time around! Kehehehe!” Mirian exclaimed excitedly after collecting the spoils of the battle. She flapped her wings with a big grin. There was nothing useful among the equipment that the roamers used, but some monsters possessed mana stones. As such, Mirian would always search hard through the monsters’ corpses.

“There were nine mana stones! It’s the jackpot!” Mirian shouted.

“Amazing. I expected three or four at most,” Princess Lilisain commented with a twinkle in her eyes. The other elven knights appeared surprised as well.

“The monsters that attacked us yesterday had quite a few mana stones as well, right?” Eugene asked.

“Mmhm! Seven yesterday and nine today. So far, we’ve collected twenty… three! What a find!” Mirian responded. Her math was slightly questionable, but this couldn’t be defined simply as ‘what a find!’ If it were possible to gain as many mana stones with every encounter with roamers, the people wouldn't have any reason to enter evil lands. Why would anyone risk going into a monsters’ den, a place filled with all sorts of traps and dangers? It would be much preferable to kill roamers, as they were weaker, and it was possible to take the initiative against them.

‘’Wait a minute...’

Eugene frowned.

“What’s wrong, Your Majesty? Is there something on your mind? Are you concerned about something?” Princess Lilisain asked while moving closer; she had immediately recognized the subtle change in Eugene’s expression.

Eugene answered, “It’s not a concern, but the roamers that had ambushed us until now. They would have been difficult to deal with if there were only five or six mercenaries, right?”

Small merchants would usually be accompanied by five or six mercenaries when they traveled.

“Yes. The knights and mercenaries here are stronger compared to Brantia, but you would still need at least ten mercenaries to deal with the level of roamers that had attacked us so far,” Princess Lilisain said.

“And if they were traveling a long distance like us?” Eugene asked.

Another elven knight stepped forward and replied, “Some would definitely suffer injuries or die during the battle, so even ten would not be enough. Even if they managed to survive the first battle, they would be nearly annihilated in the second ambush.”

“Is that so? Then they would need about thirty men to safely cross the distance we have covered so far. They would need one or two knights as well,” Eugene answered.

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“…”

Eugene fell into contemplation for a minute before he raised his head and said, “We will head to Tywin Castle as soon as possible.”

“Yes!”

***

Eugene’s party was ambushed by another group of roamers, but they defeated the monsters without suffering any damage. Finally, they arrived at the foot of Mount Marcus, a place Eugene had crossed several times in the past. Back then, he had been involved in a dispute between Viscount Fairchild and Baron Bommel, which was the result of an incident he had been involved with while crossing Mount Marcus. In any case, Mount Marcus and the two territories now belonged to the Dukedom of Maren.

“We’re a little bit tight on food, so why don’t we stop by at a nearby village, Your Majesty?”

“Yes. I know a place,” Eugene responded. He led the group to the village at the foot of the mountain, where he had accepted a request to escort Delduan and a group of merchants.

‘Hmm? It has changed quite a bit compared to the past.’

The village had become slightly larger than before. The wooden fence surrounding the village, which had been as tall as an average adult male, was now twice taller than before. Moreover, sharp, wooden spears were embedded in the ground surrounding the village in a dense cluster.

“S-stop! Stop!” A frightened cry was heard from a watchtower inside the entrance when Eugene approached the village with the elven knights. Simultaneously, about ten men holding crossbows from either side of the entrance took aim at the group.

“Who are you sirs? This is Lord Bommel’s land and…”

“Don’t you remember me?” Eugene asked while taking a step forward and taking off his helmet. It was hard to forget Eugene’s beautiful face, and the village men became wide-eyed with shock when they saw him.

“S-sir knight!”

“Sir Jan Eugene!”

It appeared that news of the dukedom’s founding hadn’t reached the small village just yet. The villagers happily opened the wooden gate while calling out Eugene’s name in the same manner as before.

“I can’t believe I’m seeing you again! It’s an honor!”

“Welcome! Welcome!”

The villagers warmly welcomed the group. Eugene had previously taken care of the monsters on Mount Marcus, and he had even resolved the dispute between the two nearby lords. His heroic acts were still fresh in the villagers’ memories.

“How strange. People are usually afraid of knights in Brantia.”

“It’s all because of His Majesty’s virtuous, honorable character and actions, isn’t it? That’s why the city took the initiative to ask him to be king.”

“He is as generous as his unfathomable courage and bravery.”

‘That doesn’t sound quite right…’

Eugene felt rather awkward as he listened to the whispers of the elven knights. He had simply acted in pursuit of profit. However, there was no need for him to correct their misunderstanding, so Eugene stayed silent as the villagers welcomed him into the village.

Strangely, the reaction of the villagers seemed rather excessive. He couldn’t recall having done such a great service to the people here to the point that they would grovel and treat him as if he were a royal envoy. Fortunately, his curiosity was resolved when he entered the village’s pub.

“What?!” As soon as Eugene opened the door, shouts of disbelief could be heard. The men who saw Eugene stared blankly at him for a few seconds before immediately coming forward and bowing.

“W-we greet Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty!”

It was a group of merchants who had been creating the dark, dull atmosphere in the pub. Although they belonged to a small association, they frequented Maren, and as such, they were well informed about the current events and about Eugene.

“Y-Your Majesty?”

“About Sir Eugene? What are they talking about?”

“I’m not sure either.”

The villagers were uninformed, and as such, they were confused. However, they noticed that the merchants were acting unusual, so they bowed their heads in a hurry as well.

“What’s going on? Why are there merchants gathered here?” Eugene asked. He had a hunch that something had happened.

The merchants raised their heads and answered as if they had been waiting for his question, “It’s because of those roamers.”

“Mount Marcus has become a paradise for roamers, Your Majesty!”

The merchants explained the situation, looking as if they were about to cry.

“So, all of you escaped and returned to the village while the mercenaries dealt with the monsters?” Eugene asked.

“Yes, yes. That’s right. We lost our horses; we lost our goods… Only us and the porters barely managed to escape,” one of the merchants answered.

“To be honest, we also lost quite a few porters and slaves. We can write off lost goods, but… Keugh!”

The merchants appeared to be sorrowful at the fact that they had lost their people rather than their goods. It seemed that they hadn’t sold their humanity for money.

“How many mercenaries did you employ?” Eugene asked.

“Four teams, and eighteen people in total. We had quite a big group, so…”

There had been a total of more than thirty people, including the six merchants and the porters. It certainly wasn’t a small group of people. However, even such a large group rarely hired as many as three teams of mercenaries.

Eugene asked, “Don’t you usually hire just one or two teams of mercenaries? Why did you hire so many?”

“Well…”

Eugene’s expression turned stiff as he listened to the story of the merchants’ representative. The number of roamers on Mount Marcus had begun to increase at some point. At first, everyone disregarded the small change and simply increased the number of mercenaries they were hiring from three or four to five or six. However, the frequency of attacks only increased as time went by, and even medium-sized monsters started to occasionally make their appearance near the roads.

The merchants had pondered calling the knights, but a large number of knights had left for the Brantian expedition at the time. Therefore, they had been stuck with a shortage of mercenaries and a complete deficit of excellent knights. But even then, they were able to cross the mountain by hiring more than twice as many mercenaries as usual—that was only until a short while ago.

“The number of roamers suddenly doubled. There were about twenty at most before, but since a few months ago, groups several times larger started to ambush travelers.”

“And that’s not all either. Before, they wouldn’t even approach us when they noticed the number of mercenaries, but now, they are relentless.”

“Hmm…” Eugene recalled the similar things he had experienced throughout his journey.

The representative of the merchants, who was the oldest and the most experienced, spoke with a worried expression, “Your Majesty. The most worrisome thing is that this isn’t just a problem in Mount Marcus.”

“…?”

“Areas near deep forests and rugged mountains have all seen an increase in the number and aggression of roamers. From what I heard, some villages in remote areas have already been destroyed by roamers,” the merchant explained.

“Why wasn't there any news of that? Shouldn’t the lords organize an expedition?” Eugene asked.

The merchant responded, “Well, that’s because the villages that had been destroyed only had populations in the dozens. From the perspective of the lords, they have no reason to care for small villages that they would only visit maybe once a year. Moreover, there had been a recent civil war as well, right?”

“That’s right. Fortunately, the lords in the nearby areas have already sided with Maren early on, so they’re making an effort to take care of the issue. That is why we are also waiting for Lord Bommel’s troops,” another merchant chimed in.

“I see…” Eugene nodded. He could not believe that such things had been taking place without his knowledge. He was glad to have left Maren, although he had set off with a different purpose in mind.

“Do you know anything about the Tywin territory?” Eugene asked.

After Eugene’s first aide, Felid, left for Mungard, the tight relationship between the Tywin territory and the Palin Association had deteriorated. As such, even Priscilla wasn’t privy to the internal situation of the Tywin territory, as another member of the association had been put in charge of matters related to the Tywin territory. This was all because she had no reason to personally look after such a small territory, especially after the Palin Association’s explosive growth. After all, she would soon become the association’s successor.

“W-well, I’m not sure. I don’t conduct business with them, so…”

“I don’t know either.” The merchants shook their heads.

Their representative carefully spoke up, “It’s the same for me, but I have heard rumors.”

“Rumors?” Eugene asked.

“Yes,” the merchant answered.

Realizing that Eugene’s aura had changed, he gulped before continuing, “Apparently, the lord hired knights and mercenaries and sent them to the dungeon, but not a single one survived, including the porters and the dismantlers.”

“…!”

“I heard that the lord did his best to bury the issue, as rumors wouldn’t do him any good. And since the Tywin territory is so remote, the incident didn’t really spread out,” the merchant continued.

“I see…” Eugene nodded while recalling Camara Tywin. The man was moderately ambitious, moderately mischievous, and moderately servile. Someone like him would have made sure to keep the matter hidden.

‘But Camara isn’t this unreasonable. He personally hired a subjugation force?’

Being moderate meant he wouldn’t overexert himself. Moreover, the Camara Tywin that Eugene knew wasn’t a man who would go this far.

“Excuse me, Your Majesty,” one of the villagers said cautiously. The villagers had only been stealing glances at Eugene, and the merchants with their heads lowered.

The villager continued, “With all due respect, please defeat the monsters of Mount Marcus!”

“Please take care of us, Your Majesty!” the rest exclaimed.

“Understood,” Eugene answered as he stood from his seat. He had been planning to do so, anyway. Roamers unafraid of knights were attacking people everywhere, and it was happening in almost every region. Perhaps it was related to why Camara Tywin had gathered a subjugation force on his own.

Moreover…

‘The higher a vampire’s rank, the more they prefer the blood of intermediate and high-ranking monsters. But as an Origin, I… chanced upon magic weapons optimized for killing monsters.’

He was sure of it.

The abnormal events he had encountered so far were deliberate.