Chapter 42

Chapter 42 - Lining Up (1)

Goldhill was magnificent, true to being the main castle of the deeply historical House of Morad. A gold vein existed within, and it was so abundant that it was said gold dust flowed on the surface of the land in the past.

"The castle sure looks sturdy."

"The kids working there must be living in a honeypot."

One of the jobs mercenaries prefer most is being a guard at a great noble's main castle. Because it is safe, and they can utilize good facilities without sleeping outdoors. If luck follows, they might even enter as formal private soldiers.

The territory had entered a state of wartime readiness. Beside the farmers who had begun harvesting in the endlessly stretching vineyards, post horses came and went.

"Lady Roxanne."

The guards defending the castle gates pulled their shields to their chests and paid their respects. The clerk dedicated to visitors was also working in shifts. He alternately looked diligently at his notepad and Eugene, then ran over.

"Sir Eugene? By chance, are you Sir Eugene who came from Bonyard?"

"...I am. Here is the Count's invitation."

As Eugene, with a slightly reluctant face, showed the letter, the clerk nodded.

"I sincerely welcome your visit. I have heard much about you from Lord Benjamin."

The clerk also discovered Roxanne behind him and bowed politely.

"You have worked hard traveling such a long distance. Sir Roxanne."

"Where is Father?"

"He is in a meeting with the vassals. A formal declaration of war has arrived from the House of Duran."

"Striking gleefully here and there, and only now?" Roxanne found it absurd.

A war between great nobles is not a matter of life and death. It was closer to a combative negotiation where the side that was pushed back after exchanging blows with the surplus resources they could mobilize would concede. Thus, even while killing and being killed, they adhered to formalities, and a declaration of war is one of the most important manners.

"If they did not do it at all, they would be tremendously condemned, so they must be trying to at least keep up appearances. Do you not know well how petty the Duran fellows are?"

The clerk stood before Eugene.

"Let us go. The Count is waiting."

"Did you not just say he was in a meeting?"

"He ordered that if you arrive, Sir Knight, I should guide you regardless of the situation. So as not to make a great knight wait. Do you perhaps need time to prepare?"

"No. I can go immediately."

He was not going to a social gathering. If he was invited as a knight, his only adornment was his armor.

"You must have truly caught Father's fancy? It's not common for him to personally summon a guest, but there is no case of him treating one like this. I hope you have a good time." Roxanne waved the back of her hand and left.

* * *

Eugene, together with the clerk, passed through a hallway where portraits of past lords hung. Perhaps it was a family trait, but they all had good-natured impressions like Benjamin. To speak slightly ill of it, they seemed to look like Thomson's gazelles.

"It is here."

A large door appeared. The entrance to Panis's office had also been flamboyant, but compared to this, it was at the level of a toy.

"Are you ready?"

"Of course."

Upon holding the knock and opening the door, there were nobles surrounding a large rectangular table. On the table lay the most elaborately detailed map Eugene had seen in this world. A middle-aged man sitting at the head of the table stared at Eugene.

'Is that person Count Morad? He is the exact opposite of the portraits I saw in the hallway.'

The Count had an impression resembling a black eagle. The sight of his lips pressed tightly together suited him better than anyone else in the world, and his lips seemed hard without a speck of warmth.

While everyone else wore armor, the Count alone wore a leather suit. Yet, it felt as if the smell of blood wafted the thickest from him here. For it was the appearance of a great noble who realized that killing enemies with ink and paper was more efficient than killing them with a sword.

"My Lord Count. The Victorious Knight and Demonic Beast Slayer of Bonyard, the successor of the Prophetic Knight. Sir Eugene of the House of Meyer has answered the call and sought you out."

At the clerk's introduction, the gazes of the nobles gathered in unison.

"He is that young?"

"That is just a child."

"If it's a demonic beast, what manner of fellow...?"

The whispers of the nobles subsided as Count Morad raised his hand.

"Come here and sit beside me."

The chair to the Count's left was empty, and the chair to his right had been removed entirely. Solely to seat Eugene alone by his side. Considering it's a seat prepared during a war council between the lord of a great noble family and his vassals, it was an exceptional treatment.

'It's a bit burdensome. I only expected a private meeting in a reception room.'

Eugene sat down.

"Will you accept a glass?"

"It's an honor."

The Count poured the wine.

Trickle.

"Even among Victorious Knights, there are levels. To win against Volks, Badel, and Lipton without a single scratch is an impossible task even for an Ogre. You are truly amazing."

"It was the city where I first set out into the world and formed ties. I merely did my best to protect them."

"You value ties... then will you also value the ties with us, the first noble family you've become entangled with?"

"Of course, Your Excellency."

Count Morad gave a faint smile.

"I heard you executed a demonic beast during the subjugation of the bandit pack; everyone is curious."

"I caught a Wendigo."

A servant waiting behind him placed a large book on the desk. On the cover was written, 'Supernatural Creature Illustrated Guide.'

"It's a book dealing with things other than naturally occurring monsters."

"So you also know how to read script." The Count's faint smile became slightly clearer. "If one is in a position like mine, reports about all sorts of monsters come up every day. The majority are manageable monsters."

The Count pointed to a spot on the map. "For example, two weeks ago, a Warg appeared here. It's a tragedy for the shepherds, but it is a fellow that disappears once its belly is full and its desires are satisfied. It's enough to consider it as a temporary disaster."

This time, he pointed to a village adjacent to the mountains. "Here is where a Minotaur was discovered half a year ago. Though woodcutters and farmers died, it soon disappeared to another region."

Eugene realized that the Count, unlike the other nobles, did not wear a single small ring on his fingers.

"Sometimes the damage grows, but that is all. A monster does not touch the most important thing. Do you know what that is?"

Eugene, who pondered for a moment, opened his mouth. "Is it not roads and castles? For those fellows covet blood and flesh, not human interests."

"That is the correct answer."

Perhaps because the desired answer came out accurately? The Count now had a face that anyone could see as smiling. He ran his index finger down the table of contents and found the Wendigo.

"A demonic beast is different from a monster. Depending on the understanding of the one who created it, it can attack and occupy roads or castles. For a ruler, a single demonic beast might be more dangerous than ten Ogres."

The Count, who stopped his finger at the part written as Wendigo, opened to that page. "The Palace War, the greatest threat created by humans. A demonic beast, the greatest threat created by magic. I wished to meet you, who easily defeated those two things."

It was a somewhat philosophical reason. It felt slightly different from a martial artist's desire to meet a strong knight, or a lord's need for martial power in wartime.

"Did the fellow you faced look like this?"

On the Wendigo page, detailed illustrations and explanations were written densely. The other nobles, perhaps also curious, lifted their rears and stretched their faces.

"It is generally similar, but the antlers were much longer and thicker. For dozens of veteran mercenaries were killed or injured by its antlers alone. Judging from the wounds, three knights also fell to the fellow."

"Among monsters, I have never heard of a fellow that uses its antlers so well. It's a pity I could not see how amazing it was."

"If you wish, I can show it to you now."

"Hmm?"

Eugene pointed to the entrance. "Beside the door, my squire is holding the taxidermy made from the Wendigo's head. I brought it thinking you might be curious, My Lord Count. Shall I have her bring it in?"

"Ha! I think I know why Benjamin liked you so much. You are different from other knight fellows whose heads are made of iron."

The vassals were amazed. Because Count Morad was a person who rarely showed even a small smile. It had been a truly long time since he had laughed aloud, however briefly.

At Eugene's call, Homi entered the meeting room. Exclamations of wonder were heard from all directions. The giant antlers flashing with a black luster stole everyone's gaze.

"My goodness!"

"To think such a monster existed in the world."

"With antlers of that size, it could even skewer and lift a warhorse." Exclamations of wonder were heard from all directions.

They were all nobles with sufficient experience in monster hunting. Just by looking at the thickness of the Wendigo's neck, they could immediately grasp how massive its build was, and just by looking at its antlers, how dangerous a fellow it was.

The Wendigo trophy was placed before Count Morad.

"Ho."

He looked at the antlers flashing with luster as if finding it interesting. The Count, who had been turning his head this way and that to observe the waves of luster, opened his mouth.

"I heard that you executed the robbers pillaging a village and even repelled the Duran knights who captured our envoys."

"As a knight who received Your Lordship's call, it's naturally what I should have done."

"If everyone accomplished what they naturally should do, my head would not ache every day."

Count Morad withdrew his gaze from the antlers and gestured behind him. "For accepting my invitation, for avenging our enemies to save the face of our family and rescuing my vassals, for taking on the escort of Roxanne, and for bringing splendid feats and a spectacle. I shall bestow a reward befitting all of this."

Two servants brought a large chest and placed it on the floor.

Clink.

Judging by the loud sound it made the moment it was set down, it was certain that it was full of coins inside.

'There is no way a person at the level of a Count would stingily fill it with copper coins.'

Thinking of the silver coins that would fill the chest, it felt as if the fatigue of the journey completely vanished.

"Usually, weapons or horses are gifted, but it seems you already possess things better than what I can give."

The Count seemed to have grasped Eugene's equipment by receiving information in advance.

"The armor you are wearing. I have seen it in the past." The Count spoke with an expression of tracing his memories.

"I inherited it from my master, Godfrey."

"There was a time when he stayed as a guest in our family as well. I directly requested him to be the family's swordsmanship instructor, but I was refused. Since he is a knight who also rejected the royal family's request, it's naught strange."

"Because he was an exceedingly stubborn person."

The more he traveled the world, the more his respect for his master grew.

"But he accepted teaching you."

"There were several reasons why you would wish to meet me, My Lord Count."

A great noble's interest is a shortcut to success, but Eugene raised his guard. The opponent is an overwhelmingly strong person. He had to be careful that that goodwill could change into something else in an instant.

"How was the atmosphere while you were coming?"

"The aura of war wafted from all directions. It seems the situation is worsening more rapidly than I thought."

"Roman has been stagnant for too long. The cracks caused by that greenhorn Emperor fellow will spread throughout the entire continent."

At a glance, they were words cursing the Emperor, but no hostility was visible in the Count's tone.

"How we fill that will determine the future of this family. Whether we sink into the cracks, or use other families like clay to fill them and stand even higher."

Rather, it was closer to a positive emotion. Like a sort of hostile symbiotic relationship.

"Only God knows in what form and how far this family will advance, but I will always leave a place for you empty. Just as I welcomed you today."

"It's an excessively generous treatment for a mere knight. I sincerely thank you."

A young knight who maintained his composure even after receiving treatment that would make other knights bawl and fall to their knees. The vassals could not help but newly acknowledge Benjamin's discerning eye.

* * *

After conversing a bit more, Eugene was told to go and rest, and left the meeting room. Homi followed behind, holding the Wendigo trophy.

"Phew, it drains my energy."

Homi rubbed Eugene's back as if she felt sorry for him. A conversation with a super-superior entity is this agonizing. One cannot accept goodwill simply as goodwill and must strive to grasp their true intentions. Whatever question is asked, one must answer immediately, and taking it back is impossible. It was more tiring than fighting the Wendigo.

"Pfft! Homi, what is that?"

He had wondered because her tail wasn't visible, but she had it wrapped around her waist. Since it was thick white fur, it looked like a high-class decoration. She seemed to have paid attention because it was an important occasion. Because a Beastkin's tail sometimes tends to move of its own accord.

"It really looks natural. It's like a fur belt."

"Hehm!"

The thick white tail that had been wrapping her waist softly unfurled and wagged cheerfully. She was genuinely joyful.

It was because of a single sentence the Count softly whispered in Eugene's ear right before he left the meeting room.

– I wish to keep you not as a knight, but as a lord.

The bestowal of a territory!

The Count seemed to have the intention of solidly investing in Eugene. Although he seemed to have only floated the idea for now to give him time to think.