Chapter 101 – Dragon Creek (6)
They say rumors are words without feet. As I was escaping the thieves, it seemed that the news had also gone up to the castle. Neuban, who called himself the representative of the Grand Duke, bowed to me. I was very tired right now, so I wanted to finish the business as quickly as possible.
“What are you doing?”
“I came to hear the news. Are you Lord Peta Lucius, the Southern Priest of the Archangel Church and the lord of the Southern Peta Territory?”
Unlike his tired expression, he had a clear and soft voice. A stubble of unshaven beard was visible on his rough, rough jawline. Neuban looked at my carriage, and he said to me:
“I know you’re tired, but would you like to get in the carriage right away? I’ll see you at the castle tonight.”
If you could sleep in a castle, there was no reason to refuse. I made up my mind to go to bed early, but in fact the sun hadn’t fallen yet, and if I were to sleep, I’d prefer a soft bed in the Grand Duke’s castle to an old bed in a run-down abandoned house. In addition, if the knight and the deputy lord went together, there would be no thieves. I nodded and the coachman got into the carriage with a teary face.
“Take care of your expression.”
“Yes Yes!”
The look on the young coachman’s expression reminded me of when I was in the army. A fucking successor who used to work with his mouth sticking out like a duck’s snout. The coachman took the reins and the knights matched my carriage. Neuban’s complexion was pale, and dark circles descended heavily on his face. I checked his stats.
Name: Alt Neuban
Occupation: Agent of the Northern Territory
Level: 25
Strength: 41
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 30
Luck: 10
Characteristic
Loyalist
When [Adjutant], All stats receive a bonus proportional to the stats of [Owner].
Assault soldier
Deals double damage against solid structures and objects.
Accountant
As a result of being engaged in a money-making business for a long time
I have become very good at accounting work.
Automatically organizes the operating costs of the manor.
As you can see, it wasn’t a fighting child’s stat. Although the loyalist trait was subtly fraudulent, it was a meaningless stat at the point of acting as an agent of the territory. The knights also looked extremely tired. It must have been unavoidable since they said that the gods were pushing down every day.
The atmosphere on the way to the castle was gloomy. The whole north was overshadowed by the melancholy of death. Looking out the carriage window, crows were circling in the sky. If you follow your gaze down, there are corpses hanging down below. No Ivan looked at me and opened his mouth.
“It’s embarrassing. Under the reign of the Grand Duke, this never happened…”
I said nothing. First of all, in order to get even a map of the northern mountains, I had to make the best of it here. There was no need to provoke him by talking nonsense about whether it was my fault that the archduke died.
Smoke rose from another village. The knights made a noise and turned their heads in that direction. The adjutant shouted in an urgent voice.
“Please go first. I’ll settle things and come back.”
The adjutant did not listen to my answer and rode along with the knights. Only one knight to guide me remained on the side of the carriage with me. I squinted my eyes and looked far away to see bandits like ants attacking the village. Are there thieves across every village?
“Policy has deteriorated rapidly.”
It was very different from the northern part I knew. Even in the capital, there were no humans who knew the realities of the North. There were only rumors that the demons had invaded and destroyed it. In fact, the northern part was not at the level of being smashed. It was a devastating situation.
“As the Grand Duke, who was in charge of the defense of the frontier, passed away, the adjutant temporarily took over. However, since there are no nobles willing to follow the Grand Duke to the North, our Adjutant is in charge of everything in the North.”
“Are the demons that powerful?”
“The number is not large, but the soldiers’ sword skills are not even flawed. In addition, the children are so smart that even when the Grand Duke was around, if the Grand Duke came forward, they would run away unconditionally. Now that the Grand Duke has passed away, the tactics are even more vicious. They are attacking us from all sides by changing their. As if they are trying to kill us.”
“Drying to death…”
The article continued.
“Since the casualties of the soldiers are endless, young people are being requisitioned from all over the North. If the border is breached, the North is doomed. “The older men are conscripted. The quality of the soldiers is poor, so more die. The more dead, the more men are conscripted.”
It was a vicious cycle. Young people who will be farming are killed by Ain on the battlefield, and soldiers are requisitioned to fill the empty space. The more the soldiers are taken to the battlefield, the more there is no one to take care of the farmland, and the soldiers who refuse to die pointlessly escape and become bandits.
The knights were cutting their way through the bandits. Said the article.
“If the borders are broken, the North is doomed. But, even if this state is maintained, the North will be doomed. Now everyone is at their limits.”
In the days of the Archduke, the subhumans were a threat in name only, but after the Archduke died, the subhumans moved in earnest. It seemed that it would be difficult to stop the Ain with the adjutant’s capabilities.
“We have arrived at the castle.”
Castle was visible. The knight opened the castle gate. The soldiers also had deep pensive faces. They greeted the driver and opened the door. The knight sighed without reprimanding the soldiers for their insensitive attitude.
I leaned against the drawing room inside the castle. A coachman had a separate room for the coachman. The driver ordered a servant to bring his car and said.
“I’m sorry. I can’t assign you a room in the castle under my authority… The adjutant will be here soon, so would you wait for me?”
“All right.”
At a glance, he seemed busy. So I just said I knew. Let the driver close the door and leave. I muttered.
“Fuck Mommy.”
It was the worst. Because the North had catfish. It’s only about 4 months since the trial ended. Seeing how bloody the situation was, it seemed that the demons were holding a Black Friday event as humans on the borderline. The adjutant alone was not capable of blocking all areas of this border, so it seemed like he was being robbed when he left his seat.
The hand drinking the tea was shaking. This seat was extremely uncomfortable. There were cushions of thorns everywhere, and eyes full of resentment. The lieutenant didn’t say anything, but I could clearly see the knights’ eyes change when I said Peta Lucius.
I sipped my tea while shouting, “Fuck you Erina” Once again. Looking at the situation, the plan itself to explore the northern mountains as quickly as possible felt like a mess. If the children were that crazy about murder, A.A could have really gone to the underworld, and it was impossible for me to just open the road when I was wandering around the mountains.
Fuck. What do we do? Should I just jump right now? Should I pick up a roughly broken sword and call it A.A. The choice must be made quickly. I decided to just fry. I thought about it, but it wasn’t this either. Tonight, I’ll roughly lock the door and go to sleep, and I’ll get out of here as soon as possible.
Anyway, Erina didn’t know if I had investigated there or not. The state of the northern part of the country sucks, so I have no choice but to say that it is impossible to investigate and lie down on my stomach. I’d rather send a formal letter of protest to the Elven Kingdom and enter the Elysion when Erina was even more squeamish.
At best, that would mean being cut off at the recory, but this is fucking dangerous for my throat.
Knock. Knock.
As I was determined to jump, the door opened. Neuban came in. As soon as Neuban entered, he lowered his head and said.
“Sorry for the poor hospitality.”
“No. I didn’t know it was such a serious situation, so it seems like I came here for no reason.”
Since I was restless, I got up and stopped Neuban. Fatigue and helplessness itself, Neuban had dark circles all the way down to his cheeks. Noiban, who was staring blankly into the air, spoke to me at once.
“Lord Peta Lucius.”
“Tell me, Lord Neuban.”
“Actually, there was one thing I wanted to ask earlier.”
“What is it?”
I knew roughly what it was. The Archduke’s lieutenant had only one question to ask the duel opponent, in a situation where the two of them were alone.
“I heard about the death of our grand duke.”
As I passed through the capital, I confirmed that the rumors about the Grand Duke had spread. That the archduke was a human who used poison during a duel, or that he did not admit defeat until the end of the duel and died ugly while using the group. Rumors like that were floating everywhere.
I can only say that it was a really terrible rumor.
In the royal palace, it was said that discussions were underway to remove the Grand Duke, who had caused such controversy, from the list of ‘honorable warriors’, and Noiban’s face was darkly pensive. He said.
“My lord. I do not blame you. But I want to know the truth. The vicious rumors spread by the magnates are tarnishing the honor of the old grand duke. No. Lord Lucius. How was your duel with our elder? Please, please tell me the truth.”
His tone His was desperate. I’m in trouble. What should I do? To tell you the truth, here I am getting stabbed. So I had to lie first, but I couldn’t figure out how far I had to lie. Because it was a sensitive part where I would get in trouble if rumors spread.
Right away, the Archduke applied poison to his sword his, and the Archduke scoured and swarmed, all of which I said. I didn’t know where sparks would fly if I denied that with my mouth. So I kind of ran around.
“I have nothing to explain.”
“Ah…”
Neuban sighed. This bastard must have misunderstood something. What the fuck am I supposed to do? I desperately shook my head.
“So. It’s just rumors or speculation that the Archduke used poison. Nothing has been confirmed.”
“It’s okay, lord. Thank you for your words.”
“Noivan. Listen. As the Grand Duke passed away…”
“It’s okay. Really. Thank you for your words.”
Neuban muttered with a face in despair. Are the lies obvious? It seemed that something was wrong. There was an uncomfortable silence in the drawing room. Neuban sat there rubbing his hands for a while, then got up.
“Thank you, lord. I’ll give you a room, so please take a good rest there.”
Would you like to rest in peace? Even when I went up to the castle and was guided to the bed, it was too uncomfortable. The gloomy atmosphere that gripped the castle seemed to drive me crazy. With a face like that of a terminally ill patient, Neuban told me to rest in peace. I couldn’t help but stay up all night with my eyes open because the words sounded like an assassination notice.
Fortunately, no one knocked on my door or an assassin flew through the window.
But the next day. The castle was in an uproar.
It was because Neuban, the Archduke’s deputy, committed suicide by hanging himself.
Leaving a note behind.
In the will, it was written:
– I hate the world. I can’t stand it any longer.
If the grand duke’s honor is fake, then what on earth have I believed in?
Oh my gosh. Fuck.
