CH 258

“When do you think the King of Maren will arrive?”

“Well, maybe in fifteen days? I think it should take about thirty days at the latest.”

“As if. It would be a miracle if he arrives anytime within the year. No, actually, he would just send his knights instead of coming personally.”

“Well, that’s true. He should be pissed drunk on the gold coins the merchants have handed over to him with the founding of the country and all.”

The three lords of the northeastern part of the Carls Baggins Peninsula, where the Cape of Pilo was located, conversed in a relaxed manner. Five days ago, they received a letter from Essandra Archivold, the official monarch of the peninsula. The letter asked them to actively cooperate in case the King of Maren arrived to negotiate the ransom of the Holy Empire’s delegation with the pirates. For that very reason, the local lords had gathered at the castle of the Groll territory, which was located closest to the Cape of Pilo.

“The marquis is too harsh. A high priest of the Holy Empire was disgraced by those wicked pirates, shouldn’t she have left the matter to us?”

“Exactly! Does it make sense that she has no trust in the lords loyal to her and the marquisate? Even though the high priest was on their way to attend Maren’s founding ceremony, the kidnapping took place here after all.”

The lords were unhappy. The King of Maren had provided Essandra with great help and had made a name for himself several years ago, but he was still an outsider. The territory he had briefly occupied in the Carls Baggins Peninsula had already been handed over to the Archivold Marquisate, so he had no real connection to the marquisate other than the fact that Essandra’s niece was the aide of his knight. Nevertheless, Essandra often showed more trust in the King of Maren, an outsider, than in her own vassals. No matter how famous and reputable the King of Maren was, this was simply disrespectful and a blatant display of disregard for the lords.

“We can’t simply wait. Sirs, let us gather our troops. This is a matter of honor before it is of pride. Does it make any sense that we can’t even save the high priest from those shabby pirates? How will the other nobles regard us when this becomes known later?”

“Hmm!”

The lords took on stiff expressions. The most important things for nobles were honor and reputation. The nobles wanted to appear honorable and prestigious in others’ eyes, even if that weren’t actually the case. A great priest of the Holy Empire was being held hostage and harassed by pirates right in front of their noses and in their own territories, to boot. So, how could they simply stand by and suck on their thumbs?

“…I’m ashamed just thinking about it. It’s just as Sir Groll said. This is not the time to be standing still.”

“My knight, Sir Etron, is a master of naval warfare. I will contribute Sir Etron, thirty soldiers, and a hundred gold coins to the cause.”

“Then I will personally participate and contribute two hundred gold coins.”

“Then, Leave it up to me to procure the ships and mercenaries. Let us take this as an opportunity to destroy the Dragonborn pirates once and for all and have our honor on display for everyone in the peninsula to see!”

“For honor!”

“For the safe return of the high priests!”

The congenial lords raised their glasses and cheered. Even if it was impossible to do alone, they could surely destroy the pirates if they joined hands. And they would then get to boast about rescuing a high priest of the Holy Empire.

The three lords were confident, at least, until Eugene’s expedition arrived at the Groll Castle later that afternoon.

***

“…”

The three lords were completely mesmerized when they saw the King of Maren in person. The confident attitude they showed half a day ago was nowhere to be found, and they simply stared at Eugene and the expedition with entranced eyes. They couldn’t tell whether this was a dream or not.

“Why are you all standing around like that? Hmm. Is it because I didn’t bring enough troops? I only brought so many because I didn’t think we would need more,” Eugene said.

“N-not at all, Your Majesty.”

The lords hurriedly waved their hands after being jolted awake.

Not enough troops?

It was somewhat true considering the number of those armed among them, as there were only about fifty of them including the king. However, it was an entirely different story if ‘armed’ meant being armed like knights. In addition, about half of the troops were beowulf warriors or elven knights. Words weren’t even necessary anymore.

However, that wasn’t the end of it...

“T-they look like knights from the Roman Empire, right?”

“Look at their clothes. It doesn’t belong to the Caylor Kingdom, so they have to be nobles from other countries. The equipment of the escorting knights is a little different from ours as well.”

“Look at him, the one who looks the most youthful. It seems to me that he’s being guarded by those who look like they’re knights of the Roman Empire…”

The lords quietly whispered among themselves while stealing glances at the nobles wearing luxurious clothes and colorful ornaments. Eugene smirked while eavesdropping on their conversation with his heightened hearing.

Eugene spoke, “Oh, come to think of it, I haven’t introduced everyone yet. Everyone, give your greetings. This is His Highness Localope, the third prince of the Roman Empire.”

“Hiek?!”

The three lords gasped at the same time. Their shaky eyes remained glued on the figure of Localope as he walked toward them with his escorts.

“Nice to meet you, sirs,” Localope said.

“I-it’s an honor!”

“I cannot believe that I get to meet a descendant of the glorious golden blood in person!”

The lords were deeply touched when they saw Localope hold out his hand first. They responded by bowing.

“Kieeee. Did we arrive? Is the party ready? I’m so tired and whatnot,” The spirit slowly poked her head out of her leather pocket after lazily lounging around the entire day. It was a spectacular sight to see her chubby figure.

“What?!”

“I-is it an evil spirit?!”

The lords exclaimed.

Eugene responded, “It can be a little confusing, but she’s not an evil spirit. She’s a spirit I have formed a contract with.”

The lords expressed their awe, and Eugene picked up the spirit by her head with his fingers, then spoke with a mysterious smile, “And you have to work for your meals, right?”

“Kieh? What’s that?” the spirit asked while tilting her head to the side, pretending to be cute in an abominable way.

Eugene continued while pointing at a certain place, “These are the grateful sirs who will support me and the expedition. Isn’t it only natural that we give them a small gift?”

Eugene was pointing at a well being used by the people of the Groll territory.

“N-no, s—Kieeeh!”

Eugene showed no mercy and threw the spirit into the well before speaking, “While we were busy dealing with the monsters, you were lazing around and shoving food into your stomach. So, you better purify this well.”

Kieeeee…

The three lords broke out into a cold sweat when they heard the echoing cries of the spirit as she fell deep into the well.

‘How could he handle a precious spirit like that?’

‘And that’s a spirit he had signed a contract with, right?’

‘He shows no mercy to anyone who’s useless, even if they are one of his own. W-what if he acts like that toward us as well?’

The three lords quickly shared gazes.

‘We would have thrown ourselves off a cliff if we had carelessly set off to eradicate the pirates.’

The plan to eradicate the pirates and rescue the high priest completely disappeared from the minds of the lords when they saw how Eugene had treated the spirit—a creature practically impossible to hire even with a thousand gold coins.

***

“What? You will be setting off tomorrow?”

“Is there any reason not to? Dragon bone or lizard marrow, whatever they are—you said their base is visible from the Cape of Pilo, right?” Eugene asked.

One of the lords responded, “T-that’s right, but…”

They were dumbfounded. The soldiers accompanying the king were truly great, but the lords couldn’t help but think that Eugene was a novice when it came to naval warfare.

“Excuse me, Your Majesty, with all due respect, sea routes are different from normal roads. On a good day, it is indeed possible to see the base of the pirates from the Cape of Pilo. However, the current around the island is extremely harsh, so it is difficult to approach with just any ships and sailors.”

“In addition, there are hidden reefs everywhere. You have to recruit a captain and crew who are familiar with the area…”

“Are you saying you sirs haven’t even prepared a ship and its crew? I’m sure Her Excellency Archivold gave you orders to actively cooperate with me.”

“...”

How could they have known he would arrive so soon!?

However, the lords didn’t dare to utter their thoughts. They only glanced at Eugene with cautious eyes while remaining silent.

“First, send someone to arrange a ship and crew right away. My expedition will be enough troops,” Eugene ordered.

“Ah, I-I understand.” The lords quickly bowed in response.

The door opened and a figure walked in.

“Sir Eugene…” Romari slowly slithered forward. She was one of the few people who could come see him without prior notice.

‘Can she act like that toward the king?’

‘Who in the world is that wizard?’

The lords were unaware of the relationship between Eugene and Romari. As such, they were surprised, but Eugene did not care about their reaction at all.

“What is it?” Eugene asked.

“I did it…” Romari answered.

“Did what?” Eugene asked.

“The twin-headed ogre. I can move it now,” Romari responded.

“Hooh.” Eugene rejoiced at the good news. As expected, the raccoon functioned best when nagged. He had been urging her every day since she received the undead twin-headed ogre from Moffern, and it appeared that she had finally succeeded.

“But there is a little problem…” Romari muttered.

“Problem?” Eugene asked with a cold gaze.

Romari hurriedly explained, “Well, it’s just that… It moves, but I can only make it move literally according to my commands. I’m ashamed, but my powers are still quite weak. It’s not like I can just accept the mystery of black magic just like the one who created the undead, right?”

“Hmm. That’s true,” Eugene said.

Regardless of school, all types of magic followed one absolute rule—equivalent exchange. Black magic was no exception. In addition, black wizards all paid the same currency in exchange for power: their life and soul. Eugene couldn’t simply ask Romari to sacrifice her life and soul.

“Well, then how do we get it to move at the same level as it did when I fought it? Is there no way?” Eugene asked.

“Oh, yes, well, there is a way, but… But there’s a tiny little problem,” Romari responded.

“Stop beating around the bush. Just tell me,” Eugene said.

“Uh… I just need Sir Eugene to share a little bit of your precious blood…” Romari said.

“Huh? What’s so hard about that? I’ll give it to you right away,” Eugene responded.

“Well, no, what I’m saying is that you need to make it your servant… No, your thrall,” Romari explained.

“…” Eugene was struck speechless. He had never imagined that he would have to take an undead as his vassal.

“Ah! Of course, it would be different from Sir Galfredik! You could say that it would essentially be a slave. You could say that it would be a loyal servant who only takes your orders after taking your blood. A-anyway, that’s what I expect to happen,” Romari said.

“Expect to happen? So, you’re saying that it might not work at all. You—do you know how much money and time you’ve wasted so far?” Eugene asked while staring at her expressionlessly. He was looking at her as if she were helplessly incompetent.

Romari jumped up in surprise and quickly responded, “Oh, it will work! I’ve performed all kinds of experiments, and I’m certain it will work!”

“…I’ll take your word for it,” Eugene said. Of course, he couldn’t fully trust her words. If he could mobilize the undead twin-headed ogre, it would help in successfully completing the mission of rescuing the delegation of the Holy Empire and eradicating the pirates.

“Then let us go. Sirs, why don’t you come along? There’s nothing else you want to add to my plan, right?” Eugene said.

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

The lords could only smile awkwardly while nodding.

‘I don’t know what you’re saying, so I’ll stay the fuck still.’

It was one of the truths of life.

***

The beowulf warriors stood guard. Eugene entered the carriage containing the undead twin-headed ogre along with Romari. The sight of the undead twin-headed ogre sitting in the middle of a bizarre magic circle was grotesque, to say the least. However, it seemed even more freakish that a monster with two heads and four arms was wearing a luxurious priest uniform.

“First, you have to let your blood flow on the incense burner,” Romari said.

“Hmm.”

Eugene took off his gloves, deactivated Black Scales, then drew a line on his palm with Wolfslaughter. A thin line of red quickly appeared.

‘A-as expected…’

Romari was amazed at the faint mystery emanating from Eugene’s blood. It wasn’t just any blood, but the blood of an Origin vampire. It was blood of enormous value, something that every wizard would die for even a drop.

Drip, drip, drip…

Eugene squeezed his fist, and the droplets painted the skull incense burner. Although he had cut himself with Wolfslaughter, a king among swords, he knew his wound would heal in just a couple dozen seconds. As such, he quickly moved his hand and let his blood drip on the other incense as well.

“That’s enough. Thank you so much. Now…” Romari took her place in front of the undead twin-headed ogre. And the ritual of the Origin vampire and the successor of the Blood Shadow School finally began.