Chapter 134

Chapter 134 - Omen (8)

After resurrecting Might, the flesh flower exhausted its power and withered.

Although a good scent faintly remains even after a flower falls, this was a lump of meat imitating a flower.

A tumor bloomed from the agglomeration of Hell's malice and the living castle's primal desire to reproduce. Even if it was a living organism, it was by no means a normal existence.

Therefore, the stench it emitted as it rotted was also bizarre. Going beyond simply stimulating the sense of smell, it possessed something that stimulated the fundamental desires of a living creature.

"Strange smell."

Valda covered her nose with a handkerchief.

"We should burn it right away or something."

"I would like you to reconsider that... Because it might be a structure where a new flower blooms using the rotten flower as nourishment."

"It is certainly too useful a function to just use once and be done with."

"It is a mystery that even restores a body encroached by such a terrible curse... One never knows what happens in the world, so it would be best to preserve it as much as possible."

Perhaps because of the smell the meat flower emitted, Valda's face was flushed. Her long ears were also burning red.

"It doesn't seem like a place that attracts bugs, so it should be fine... Come, let us get out quickly... I am worried it will have a bad influence on your precious body."

Eugene led Valda outside while wrapping his arm around her back. The slender yet deeply sinking sensation was as enchanting as always.

"I feel like you're treating me too much like a child..."

Despite saying that, Valda's eyes were curved like crescent moons.

Although she is an elf lady who always displays a modest appearance, in Eugene's eyes, she harbors a thirst for pampering. Even if she would strongly deny it herself.

"I will seal off the path heading to this place henceforth."

Just like cysts of various sizes forming on a human body, this castle also had spots like this existing here and there.

Puddles where power difficult to explain with human cognition had agglomerated. Although fundamentally harmless, they could be useful depending on how they are used, but a needle-like malice lays hidden when abused.

'To think I believed everything in the Moving Castle had become wholly mine... Strictly speaking, it feels closer to a majority shareholder.'

The strongest decision-making authority was in Eugene's grasp. However, if he merely signed off on immediate profits and moved on, he could suffer a severe predicament.

Even in this instance, had it not been for Goddess Vanas's help, Eugene would have had to personally sever the neck of Might, who had turned into a monster.

Once they were sufficiently far from the room, Valda lowered the handkerchief blocking her nose.

"I fully know your cautious personality, but... I would like you to preserve that room at all costs, even if there is danger."

Was it because they had known each other for a long time and she was always by his side?

While others paid attention to Eugene's bravery and toughness, Valda had a quite accurate grasp of Eugene's essence.

Although praised as a great knight, in some aspects, he was also the figure furthest from the creature known as a knight.

"That's unexpected... You were always wary of unnatural power."

"Because that room might become our sole hope in the future."

"What do you mean?"

"...An Elf's lifespan is long... However, a human's lifespan is short."

Valda, who always spoke making eye contact with the other person, avoided Eugene's eyes just this once.

"Spending peaceful days passing by like flowing water was my life until now... However, recently, I often think about the distant future."

"By distant future, how distant?"

"A future I can instead picture clearly because it is so distant."

Valda sighed.

"I always stop my imagination halfway... Right around when the smile on my lips rising higher and higher suddenly vanishes."

Eugene was neither an idiot nor tactless. He could fully understand what Valda's ambiguous words were implying.

"Even so, it's still a long way off from now."

"Yes... It's an event over half a century away."

Valda stopped her steps.

"But it feels like time flows truly fast while I am with you... As time goes by, even more so... It wasn't like this when I was living in the Emerald Forest."

Was it because she was reminiscing about the past?

Her golden eyes, which always reminded one of gold, looked as fleeting as fallen leaves receiving the autumn sunlight.

"When autumn comes, the leaves fall, the world turns white as winter arrives, and when spring comes around, green sprouts rise... Days that have no distinct difference to me."

To an elf with a long lifespan, the seasons were trivial changes like the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening.

"But from a certain point onward, the changing of seasons started bothering me... It will probably get even worse in the future."

Valda's slender hand brushed the wall of the corridor.

When he first entered, she was merely joyous over the power he would enjoy as a lord upon Eugene coming into possession of the magic castle.

'Two bodies and one soul, you say.'

However, as time passed, she realized true joy lay elsewhere.

"I am simply grateful for the fate of you becoming the owner of this castle."

If it was here, there were many ways to resist fate. That rotting flesh flower room was merely one of them.

'Am I an unfilial daughter?'

When it was Grace's time, even if parting was sad, she ultimately accommodated the providence of nature befitting a mage of the forest.

However, she did not have the confidence to do so for the parting that would come next. She felt absolutely no reluctance harboring thoughts that defied nature.

* * *

Because they successively carried out operations in an uncharted territory where they couldn't receive proper supplies, fatigue had piled up in the army.

After ordering them to take a rest, Eugene departed for Tripol City accompanied only by his elite escort.

Because he needed to bring the subordinates waiting there and collect as much as he could receive from the city, there was a need for him to go personally.

"The ride feels truly great, but it stands out too much."

Eugene, mounted on Might, scanned his surroundings as if flustered. All his subordinates around him were looking up at him.

He was originally a large warhorse, but he grew even larger going through rebirth. Now, if he walked along with other cavalrymen, he stood out alone.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

Hind wondered why he was worrying about such a thing.

To a knight, showing off is not arrogance but a duty. Especially for landless knights where catching the eyes of lords was important, it was common to enter the battlefield wearing exaggerated decorations.

Gord Knights attached horns to their helmets or armor shoulders, and in Samur, they hunted peacocks to tie flashy feathers to their helmets. Barcia Knights, styling themselves as the nobles among nobles, galloped across the battlefield fluttering flashy cloaks.

"You look like you would collect quite the amount of arrows when you appear on the battlefield."

"If you soar up like that alone, it's hard for others to protect you."

"Do you not lack air up there?"

The tribal warriors, who valued the virtue of stealthiness, giggled and threw in a word of joke each.

However, their voices also contained unconcealable envy.

Contrary to their cold-blooded image, the Dark Elves were domestic and possessed incredibly strong family love. But they didn't share their horses even with their wives or children.

The thirst for an outstanding warhorse is as important as one's life. No coercive chieftain could demand them to hand over a fine horse obtained as booty. That was considered a tyranny worse than stealing a subordinate's wife.

"Are you uncomfortable?"

When Eugene stroked Might's neck covered in horse armor, the fellow shook his head.

Besides his increased size, there were teeth sprouted 살벌하게 like an alligator's and a more deeply split mouth. Covering them somewhat when entering the city would probably prevent unnecessary commotion.

* * *

Eugene entered Tripol City, swiftly received his payment, and prepared to leave taking his subordinates.

When the Lamia Queen's taxidermy exhibited in the plaza was retrieved, voices expressing disappointment rang out from everywhere.

"Oh my! It's barely been a day..."

The street vendors who paid an expensive spot fee to enter and start their businesses particularly let out wails.

"Do you not have any intentions to stay longer?"

Holding out several letters that arrived to Eugene, the magistrate asked.

"This is the amount after moderately filtering out the chaff and picking only the valuable ones."

"Rumors seem to spread fast."

"The Desert Orcs, Rakshasa, Dwarf race, Lamia... Every single one of them are enemies entwined with grudges from start to finish in Samur's history... Especially when a champion appeared, even great lords or kings died like flies on the battlefield."

The taxidermy of the Champion hung in the plaza of the largest city in eastern Samur. That exerted a far stronger ripple effect than Eugene had thought.

"There are more than a few powerholders trying to form connections with you, Lord... A few great nobles will likely try to offer you a title with a fief as standard."

"That is probably a Barony, isn't it?"

"Unless you intend to form a marriage alliance, that would be the case."

It is common for great nobles, including the king, to hold multiple titles concurrently. Bestowing a title meant granting one of them.

And excluding special cases, a title came attached as a set with a fief.

No matter how great a noble was, bestowing a Viscounty or higher was practically unprecedented. Because it was akin to having chunks of the family's power torn away by an outsider.

However, in this world where the path to rising in status was almost completely blocked off, even just a Barony was a tremendous thing.

"Are you not inclined?"

"I must have shown it too much."

As Eugene stroked his face, the magistrate gave a bitter smile.

"Because it is news that even a mercenary captain commanding 1,000 subordinates would tremble in joy over, but you look far too calm."

"Since I possess roughly everything I need as a lord, I am not that greedy."

Strong and loyal subordinates, a majestic fortress that wouldn't lose even if compared to a royal castle, sufficient wealth, and a comfortable village he could return to anytime.

He already possessed those things, and only top-tier ones at that.

"As a noble and a knight, you must possess something called ambition."

"I cannot see everything at a glance or embrace it all in my arms anyway... Having excessively will only make me tired."

All nobles inevitably desire wider fiefs and higher titles. Those who wage bloody battles to secure even a single piece of small land more made up the absolute majority of powerholders.

Although the magistrate was experienced, Eugene's way of thinking was incredibly fresh. Because it wasn't something a young knight burning with boiling blood in his prime would say.

"I wouldn't have believed it if it wasn't words spoken by someone of your caliber, Lord."

"Every organization possesses the instinct to divide... Conquering and reigning is akin to trying to build a sandcastle on a beach where waves crash in... Even if one possesses fiefs here and there, when the waves wash them away, you are simply busy attempting to restore them... Rather than doing that..."

Eugene sneaked a smirk looking at the magistrate listening attentively.

"It is not a bad life to tend to it into a perfect paradise after taking care of only what is within my reach."

"If all monarchs thought like you, Sir, the world would have been a slightly better place to live... Especially people like the Emperor of Roman."

"Dynasties lasting 500 years, let alone 1,000 years, are rare... I do not wish to dedicate everything to build glory that will be forgotten before the waves of time... I simply wish to walk a path laughing and chatting, spending a little more time with the people staying by my side right now."

He was a magistrate who dealt with anyone with a dry and public mindset. However, he felt a human-like favorable impression toward the knight right before his eyes alone.

Eugene, who quickly read through the major letters, requested the magistrate to send polite letters of refusal.

"I will hire the best scribe to reply so it does not tarnish your honor, Lord."

"Thank you."

"Please visit our city again if the opportunity arises."

Handing over a single document stamped with the seals of the city nobles, the magistrate requested a handshake.

The jewel of eastern Samur. It was a certificate guaranteeing several privileges, including tax exemption, in trade going through Tripol City.

Rights permitted only to a very few people in its long history. As the magistrate making the final call on whether or not to grant it, he had no choice but to deliberate until the last moment.

However, the knight right before his eyes had established befitting achievements and was not overflowing with enough greed to abuse it.

Did he not put away the letters containing all sorts of temptations from great lords after a single glance? To think he was a wandering knight immediately preparing for his next journey right after.

The magistrate handed over the certificate with a comfortable mind.

* * *

"So you're saying you came back after refusing all the proposals from the great lords?"

"I still accurately received the trade privileges I didn't even expect much of on top of the original promised payment, no?"

"No, that's that, and a fief is a fief."

On the way returning to the Moving Castle, Marbas burst into hearty laughter. He knew he was an unusual knight, but this was beyond his imagination.

"There is nothing free in the world... Proposing either a territory or title means I must cũng do something to that extent."

"Isn't that a given?"

Everyone looked at Eugene as if it was strange.

"Therefore, it means what you truly covet shouldn't be received from others, but stolen... Because if it holds enough value to satisfy my heart, what the opponent wants in return will be a lot too."

"No, your thought process flows like that?"

Marbas was dumbfounded by Eugene's words suddenly leading to invasion and looting.

"Hahaha! As expected of the Lord... You truly understand!"

On the other hand, Rex, a born looter, cheered while clapping his hands.

"Above all, Samur doesn't seem like a particularly good land to occupy."

"Phew, don't even talk about it... It's full of sand, water is precious, and there are many poisonous insects."

"Besides, the bugs are so huge... It hasn't been just once or twice I almost fell back in surprise going to the bathroom at night... Some moths are the size of my face."

At Eugene's words, the other tribal warriors also chimed in.

To the Dark Elves who lived galloping across the plains much further north, this land where deserts and all sorts of bizarre bugs grew wild truly didn't suit them.

"Most importantly, the future is uncertain... I assume both of you felt it while staying here?"

Both Marbas and Valda nodded.

"The spiritual high tide is surging in much deeper... Evil god champions springing up successively in a short period is an extremely unprecedented event."

"This place was originally a barbaric land ruled by monsters and beastfolk... I suppose it means it's an area prone to receiving otherworldly influence to that extent."

They drove out the immediate danger, but they didn't feel this would be the end.

"Do you see this?"

Eugene tapped Might's forehead with his hand. The protrusion sprouting in the shape of a crown.

"The Lamia Queen and the Gnoll Chieftain possessed the same thing as well."

"It's bizarre to call it a coincidence."

It was a part Marbas had also been paying attention to. Because aside from simply an outward characteristic, mystery could be felt from that area.

"Whether it becomes God's blessing or something else... It seems to be a change occurring when accepting a mighty energy that does not belong to the present world."

"Because the head, especially the forehead, is the most spiritually sensitive area."

"Might's ability to be reborn as a World Charger wouldn't have just been because of the Moving Castle and Goddess Vanas's existence... The timing aligning so well must be a huge factor as well."

Eugene looked up at the sky. Whether it was a sunny day or a clear night, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was crawling around.

It felt much closer than when they were in Roman or Gord.

An ominous sensation that perhaps this monster calamity was nothing more than the first wave threatening Samur.

He couldn't shake off those thoughts every morning he woke up in the bed in Tripol City.

In short, it meant it was slowly time to leave this place.

"You have worked hard, Lord."

Receiving the welcome from the guards, Eugene returned to the Moving Castle and entered the Core Room.

Accepting the waves welcoming its owner's visit with his whole body, he pictured their next destination in his head. Toward a location far away from this land.