—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“He is the son of the baron.”
The two didn’t know much about etiquette, so they just bowed deeply to Banis and greeted him, and Banis waved his hand as if to say it was fine.
“Hmm, I see you were in the middle of a meal.”
“We were just about to eat.”
“I see. Sorry about that.”
“No, not at all. Have you eaten, Young Master?”
“I have.”
‘At least that’s fortunate.’
“I’m sorry for the interruption, but I have an urgent matter to discuss with Jimnis.”
“Jimnis… That’s too much of an honor. Hmm, first, I will guide you to a place where we can talk quietly.”
“Sorry again.”
At Banis’s words calling me Jimnis, the squire’s eyes twitched slightly, but when I declined, he showed a plain expression again.
Since there was no particular place to go, I took Banis and the squire to my room for now, and Kayla quickly brought something to drink.
Of course, there was no way we had tea or anything at home, so it was just plain water.
Fortunately, Banis didn’t seem to mind.
After sitting down and taking a sip of water, Banis quietly opened his mouth.
“I heard you’ve been busy lately?”
“Ah, yes. I’m in the midst of coordinating with my newly recruited comrade and helping them settle here…”
“She was a beauty.”
“Ability is more important than appearance.”
“Is that so?”
“Although lacking in combat ability, she is a versatile person in many ways.”
“Come to think of it, I heard from Kuman before. You prefer someone skilled in various things rather than outstanding in one thing, right?”
It seemed he had heard about what happened when I recruited Kayla.
“That’s how it is, given the nature of my work.”
Monster capture.
At the mention of the work I had done, the squire’s face slightly frowned.
In contrast, there was no emotional disturbance on Banis’s face.
‘Is he skilled at controlling his emotions?’
Suddenly, I recalled how his eyes had sparkled when he heard something similar to my exploits at our first meeting.
‘…Maybe he was simply captivated by the work I did.’
“Even though I know you’re busy, I came here because I judged that you are absolutely necessary for this matter of mine.”
The moment he came in person, I had guessed his purpose.
‘Refusal… would be difficult.’
Although not the lord himself, his one and only successor had come to see me in person.
In the process of coming here, all kinds of rumors must have spread…
‘Wasn’t it a request that required secrecy? Can he move like this?’
Or it could be that he needed my strength that much.
Unfortunately, it seemed difficult to refuse.
‘This is why you have to be strong.’
If you don’t have strength, you can only be swayed like this.
At least I had contributed to the territory and was useful and hard to replace, so they used this method, but if not, I could have been forcibly dragged away and used as a consumable.
“…I don’t know if I can be of help.”
“You will be of help.”
“Is it possibly a long-term request?”
“Something like that. Although there will be gaps in between, it could take over a month at the longest.”
‘Tsk.’
I didn’t like it, but there was no other way.
“I understand. I will do my best to assist you, Young Master, even with my lacking abilities.”
“That’s appreciated. I will make sure the compensation is not lacking.”
“I can only be grateful.”
Banis showed a satisfied smile at my answer.
“So, about the request…”
With my permission, he explained the details of the request.
“…Escort, you said?”
“That’s right. This time, the Siglen Count’s family has accepted the request of our Owalan Baron’s family to lend dwarf slaves for a certain period. Since dwarf slaves are rare and precious, they require thorough protection, but unfortunately, we are short on manpower.”
‘Is it because of the development?’
Kuman must be busy with the trade with the Magic Tower, and the baron’s family lacks manpower due to village development. Even the available personnel must be fully utilized for additional development preparations, so it made sense to be short on manpower.
That’s why the scouting was passed on to me in the first place.
I recalled the information I had extracted from Disan some time ago.
‘So this is how it connects.’
In a sense, it’s their own fault.
“Borrowing knights or soldiers from the Siglen Count’s family wasn’t feasible for us. So we ended up being fully responsible for the escort… Sir Rankbink will help when going back and forth, but he can’t stay with them for the entire month.”
Sir Rankbink was said to be busy with development preparations.
“…Will Sir Rankbink also participate in the escort mission?”
“That’s right. As I said, he will only briefly accompany us when going back and forth.”
Rankbink.
The only regular knight of the Owalan territory.
‘Maybe… It might not be a complete loss.’
I thought that the tasks I had planned to entrust to Athena might be resolved at once.
Banis ordered me to come two days later.
I made an excuse that Athena and I still weren’t in sync, so I decided to take the request with only Kayla, and Banis accepted my request, saying that I alone was sufficient.
After seeing off Banis and the squire escorting him, I announced to my companions that I had received another request.
“I didn’t expect the successor of the territory to come in person. Living in the pioneer castle does have such inconveniences.”
“It’s not a common occurrence. This is an unusual case.”
“Then Thea and I will be living together for about a month?”
“Probably. That reminds me.”
“There are a few things you need to do.”
“Okay. Just tell me.”
Originally, I was planning to have her investigate Rankbink or find a way to infiltrate the secret passage.
I thought it wouldn’t be impossible since I had found out the location from Disan.
‘But now that I’m going to escort the dwarves who are coming for repairs…’
If done well, I might be able to find an opportunity to enter myself.
Moreover, Rankbink will be with me during the travel, not all the time but still, it’s an opportunity to observe him closely.
‘It would be great if I could see him fight directly, but that might be difficult.’
They would take a safe route, so there would be no reason to fight.
He probably wouldn’t step up unless it was extreme.
Still, there was a big difference between seeing in person and gathering information only through rumors.
Moreover, Rankbink was a knight. Even if it was a situation where he had to escort secretly, he wouldn’t come alone.
I expected to be able to indirectly assess his combat level through the people around Rankbink.
Therefore, what I was going to ask Athena to do was what I had planned to do.
“I’d like you to hunt the monsters I requested. With the map, it shouldn’t be difficult.”
“You want me to capture them?”
“No, not that. I want you to kill the monsters I specify and collect some of their byproducts.”
It probably wouldn’t be a very appealing task for her.
That’s because it wasn’t just collecting byproducts after normal monster hunting, but required separate processing for my undead creation.
I would prepare it so that she could just input them, but it would still feel bad to contribute to black magic.
‘Still, it won’t be difficult.’
She knew I was a Warlock, and her sister was treated by my black magic, so her perception of black magic wasn’t too bad, allowing me to make such a request.
“Okay…? I understand for now.”
Although I didn’t give a detailed explanation now, she seemed to have noticed that it wasn’t an ordinary task.
“And if I’m late, I’d like you to receive the items I ordered.”
“Ah, the ones you ordered this time?”
“Yeah. Most of them are expensive.”
“Okay. I’ll receive them.”
“Lastly, I’m going to entrust the management of the basement to you.”
“…The basement, you mean, there?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you the details tomorrow.”
There was enough time to inform her since there was still some time left.
Athena showed a slightly pleased expression at my words.
I didn’t know why she was showing a happy expression when I was assigning her tasks, but I thought it was fortunate that she didn’t dislike it.
‘She probably won’t like it when she hears what she has to do.’
The monster byproducts I had asked her to collect earlier need to be processed in the basement.
That’s why I wanted to entrust her with the management all at once.
After eating the completely cooled dinner and finishing the day early, I spent the whole day leading Athena around outside.
Therefore, I had no choice but to leave most of the preparations to Kayla.
Fortunately, since the preparation period was tight, Banis said he would provide the basic items, so Kayla didn’t have much to do.
“So, you want me to process the monsters, collect their byproducts, and put them in here according to this?”
“…Why are we doing this?”
“It’s necessary for undead creation.”
Naturally, Athena’s expression wasn’t good after hearing my detailed instructions.
Well, she had the perception that I was a Warlock, and she had seen me use black magic and raise zombies, but directly assisting in an experiment that could cause such biological disgust was a very different story.
Still, she soon composed herself and started asking me actively.
“You’re saying to cut off the goblins’ wrists and put them here?”
“Yeah. Collect all the nails separately. Besides that, put the deer antlers here, and the body fluids of 3 types of magical beasts here, mix them…”
There were many miscellaneous things to do.
Unlike raising a normal skeleton, what Athena was helping with was the creation of a specter.
Unlike when I first raised the skeleton, it wasn’t a situation where failure was okay, so preparations were needed to increase the success rate.
Fortunately, the quality of the core material, the shadow of the soul, was good, so even if the other materials were lacking, success itself would be possible.
“Just in case, I’ll place a skeleton in the basement. But since you never know, please keep the security tight.”
Moreover, due to circumstances, I couldn’t take the staff with me, so I had to leave it here as well.
It would also be in charge of supplying magical energy, so it couldn’t be helped.
Therefore, security had to be even tighter.
“Of course. It definitely won’t be a pleasant sight to fill the byproducts one by one according to your instructions. Even if you’re an honorary soldier, they probably won’t let it slide easily, right?”
She said that she could newly understand my previous words about the perception of Warlocks being worse than imagined.
“Still, it’s interesting. I know you called me to assist in undead creation, but I don’t feel as bad as I thought.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Funny, right? I’m surprised too. I never thought I would look forward to assisting in undead creation. Is it because I can finally repay you a little after only receiving help?”
She wasn’t happy about assisting in undead creation, but rather happy that she was trusted by me and could help me.
‘It’s not a lie that I trust you.’
If I didn’t trust her, I wouldn’t have made such a request.
I wouldn’t have allowed her to enter the underground laboratory, and I wouldn’t have left the skeleton and staff here.
It was no different from entrusting her with everything I currently had.
“Move all the items I ordered to the basement as well.”
In addition, I handed over the map that started with Nenson and was completed by me, teaching her the roughly known points.
Thanks to that, the day passed by in an instant, and Athena was still smiling happily despite being tired.
“Take care of things while I’m gone.”
At my words, Athena nodded her head as if to say not to worry.
On the day of leaving for the request, Thea said regretfully,
“We finally entered the pioneer castle…”
She seemed to regret having to part without being able to spend time together properly.
“You have to return safely.”
Although I would be away for a long time, I thought the risk would be low.
There was also a knight accompanying us.
Wearing my equipment and carrying the bag prepared by Kayla, I headed to the meeting place.
The meeting place was a vacant lot quite far from the pioneer castle, and Banis was already waiting there with a few people.
“Oho, you’re here.”
“I’m late.”
“No, not at all. You’re rather early. We just arrived as well.”
He still spoke like a precocious child.
Hearing such a way of speaking in a clear boy’s voice, it couldn’t help but feel incongruous.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
