Episode 59
* * *
The soldiers, workers, and tavern owners of Hebron gathered together.
Workers were forcibly deployed, soldiers were ordered to mobilize, and tavern owners were kidnapped as they were leaving their shops.
The place where the three gathered was a gold mine in the wilderness.
Although it was a bare land where no gold ore had been discovered, there was a tunnel about 10 meters deep and security was tight.
It was a prison disguised as a gold mine.
“It has been confirmed that Dior Upper had nothing to do with this incident.”
“Don’t let your guard down just in case.”
“insect!”
Dior’s upper body simply behaved as usual.
A merchant operating in the Hebron market sold all the brooches he had prepared and went to Zailson to replenish his stock. An informant who was watching this went to Srein and reported the news.
The three men blinked in thought. They had to guess their situation based solely on the voices they heard in the darkness.
I kindly turned on the light.
Summoned Inferno to heat up the air inside.
“You did a good job. Thanks to you, I was able to lure Viscount Srein out.”
The Hebron soldier fell to his knees and shouted,
“S-Save me! Count Srein is using my family as an excuse… … Whew!”
I stabbed my sword deep into the soldier’s chest. I didn’t kill him. I still had something to say. I leaned over him and spoke to his ear in a clear tone.
“I know your circumstances. But you should have told me about your situation. You should have trusted me and relied on me. You are mine, and you have abandoned me.”
The sword was twisted, and the soldier’s breath was cut off.
The smell of blood hit me hard.
When I winked, Solon killed the laborer and the innkeeper. The reputation that he was not accustomed to killing was only relative. He was a knight who had been through battles, although he had few opportunities when he was young.
“There will be a lot of people coming here for a while. Until then, do your best.”
“insect!”
* * *
Even after that, Srein did not give up and continued to send workers. The spies he sent were known to be stationed in the mines, but Srein stubbornly tried to find out the truth.
They were all sent to the mines. It was something they had volunteered to do. Whenever they were recruiting for mine work, Srein’s spies would rush forward.
They were selected on the condition that they would not see sunlight for a while, and were assigned to digging. They had nothing to do, so they were left to dig endlessly.
-We will give mining work opportunities to those who work hard!
The soldiers who managed the workers went around shouting like this. Then the workers sent by the Srein side put all their effort into digging a waterway and planting trees.
Thanks to Srein sending skilled workers, the work speed increased day by day.
‘It’s time to start realizing that all of this is nothing more than a scam.’
The tunnels dug in the middle of the wasteland were thoroughly managed. Slave soldiers were placed in layers to prevent even a single rat from escaping. Among them were Verni, the earth spirit, and El, the wind spirit.
It was impossible to break through their encirclement.
Even so, it was unreasonable to expect that the secret would be kept strictly secret.
The truth was bound to leak out somehow.
“Is Hebron’s intelligence reliable?”
Amy nodded, her face confident.
“I’ve pushed it to the limit. The financial expenditure is not small, but thanks to not sparing any money, I’ve been able to figure out not only the Hebron territory, but also the Srein spies who are secretly active in Zailson. I’ve also been able to check the movements of the surrounding territories. Thanks to the Serpens Headquarters pledging their loyalty to the Lord, I’ve been able to use them to expand my information network. The first batch of data will arrive from the Serpens Headquarters within a few days.”
“Don’t worry about money… … .”
Amy shook her head.
She was deeply involved in Hebron’s administration and finances, so she was particularly sensitive about money.
“No, my lord. This is too much.”
“Is that so?”
“Your Majesty, everything is fine, but you tend to spend money too easily. Should I say that you seem like someone who has never had to worry about money your entire life?”
It was stinging.
After all, it would have been logical for someone from Hebron, who lived off of grass, to tremble at the thought of a single gold coin.
“The Prime Minister will take care of that part.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I think it’s time to start.”
“I think the same as you, my lord.”
“There’s no reason to hesitate. I’ve definitely made a vent hole, so I’ll have to move Lucy.”
* * *
Among the Hebron residents and slave soldiers, Lucy was the best. Watching his brilliant acting, I even had the illusion that the character in my script had been possessed by Lucy.
No, I didn’t think my script was that great.
-When Hebron is stabilized, you should run the Hebron Theater.
That’s what I told Lucy.
Unlike when he was acting, Lucy didn’t show any emotion when he talked to me. He just nodded.
Lucy teamed up with a young man selected from Hebron. The two of them practiced acting whenever they had time, and the young man said that his dream was to join the royal troupe.
Lucy and the young man stayed in the soldiers’ quarters deep inside the mine. In the wall next to the table where they sat was a small hole, a ‘wind hole’ that had been painstakingly created by the earth elementalist Bernie and the wind elementalist El.
“… … That much?”
The young man’s voice trembled thinly.
Fortunately, the tremor was not heard in the voice transmitted through the hole.
Lucy glared at me coldly and replied calmly.
“That’s right. I heard that all the carriages on top of the serpent were mobilized. I heard that they were in their 30s.”
The two voices entered the vent and came out through the vent on the other side. The vent seeped into a corner of the space where the workers were staying.
It was the bedside of a worker who had just entered the mine.
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
Five days ago, a worker who was about to go to bed noticed that he could hear the soldiers talking. He listened to the voices coming from the vent hole, losing sleep at night. As a result, he got tired more easily than the other workers.
The reason he was able to last so long was because he was an assassin.
“Fill thirty wagons with gold ore? Who would buy that much?”
“I heard you’re moving to Viscount Zielson’s estate?”
“Hebron will become wealthy.”
“Will we get some soybeans too?”
“Of course! You know how much our lord cares for his soldiers, don’t you?”
The worker pricked up his ears at the story of gold ore. If he didn’t concentrate, their conversation would have sounded like the sound of ants.
However, the assassin was able to understand what the two were saying. This was because their pronunciation was clearer than that of a formally educated nobleman, and the assassin did not doubt this but rather considered it a stroke of luck.
“That’s why large villages were formed near gold mines.”
“I heard that there is so much gold that even if you dig for decades, you will never see the end. The gold is buried so deep that you will have to dig a long tunnel. Anyway, we have to finish this escort safely. Then we can use the money from the gold ore to build a mining town and mine more gold.”
“Well, if a bandit group comes, it’s going to be a big deal. Even if we combine the escort of the upper class and our forces, there are only 50 people. The lord has gone out to hunt the branded monsters.”
“For the time being, I must keep my wits about me. For Hebron’s sake.”
That night, a man disappeared from the workers’ quarters without a trace. He was a former assassin who was skilled at stealth, concealment, and infiltration. However, he did not realize that there was a gust of wind watching him.
* * *
-A branded monster has appeared in the Nurhha region!
It was nothing special news.
Monsters continued to appear in other regions, and the lords of each place put their heart and soul into replenishing their troops. It was thanks to monsters that the Srein Viscounty, which was on the verge of collapse, was saved.
They mobilized the troops they had painstakingly gathered to subdue monsters in the nearby areas, and in return, they received considerable rewards.
Hebron’s army gathered at Nurha. The rumors of the branded monster’s appearance were true.
“Syang, we don’t have much time, so let’s kill him in one go and go to the wasteland.”
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
In the meantime, the furry Syang roared loudly. The boy’s cries penetrated the thick bushes and stimulated the wild beasts and monsters in the hunting grounds.
Unlike when we first met, Syang’s fur was well-maintained and remained a pure white color.
When exposed to sunlight, the fur appeared to glow softly.
Doo doo doo doo doo doo!
As Syang started to run, he felt a heavy aura coming from the bushes. It was the tension created by fear.
That terrified feeling seemed to expand the atmosphere of the area.
“Solon, Adol, lead the way.”
“insect!”
Solon and Adol were knights from Nurha. They were familiar with the terrain of this area. The two rode their newly assigned warhorses into the forest.
Although it looked like a dense forest, there was a forest path that had been maintained continuously. Recently, monsters were running wild and it had not been groomed, but it was more than enough for galloping on a war horse.
“The branded monster is an acid slime. It corrodes iron, so you must attack it with an aura on your sword. Its ability is believed to be monster domination. Two days ago, it was determined that there were over 100 beasts and monsters under its command, but that number may have increased even more now.”
Although I had already explained this once, Solon and Adol listened to what I had to say.
“… … That’s not bad for a training partner, right? Isn’t it?”
“Yes, my lord!”
The experienced Adol took the lead, followed by the relatively young Solon.
“Let’s go too.”
The stray went off the path. It delved into a pathless forest, smashing small trees and rocks with its horns.
The heron created a new path in the forest.
Meeeeeeeee!
The sound of Suyang’s cries shook the forest.
Kuwaaa!
“I caught one.”
The stray turned. The fact that he responded to the roar meant that he had the skills to do so. The others held their breath and waited for the stray to pass by.
Syang ran towards where the cries were coming from. There was a tree twice my height, but the guy smashed it with his horns.
Eventually, I came face to face with a gigantic being. It was a beast bigger than Syang. No, it was a monster that was beyond the category of a beast.
White saber.
I had seen the skin of a White Saber hanging on the wall of the reception room of the Duke of Breyo. It was not dangerous, but it was sold at a high price because it was rare and difficult to hunt.
One White Saber killed without a scratch could be exchanged for one Magic Stone.
Meeeeeeeee!
Syang tried to swipe the White Saber. The creature’s smooth fur stood upright. Its eyes widened and its long tail stood upright. It was a miracle that it didn’t faint.
“no!”
I grabbed the stray’s horn and turned it hard to the left.
The guy’s head tilted sharply and he lost his bearings.
The swan transformed into a giant ball and rolled towards White Saber.
Kwaaaaang!
The accelerating and rolling Syang was no different from a giant rock. White Saber was known to be quick and smart, but he had no time to show off all his strengths.
I got crushed by Syang.
Kwaaaaang!
Whitesabelle writhed. It tried to bite the swan with its long fangs, but the swan’s thick fur blocked its fangs.
White Saber flailed around like a fly caught in a flytrap, but Syang shook his head and pushed White Saber down with both of his legs.
