Chapter 14 : Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Before long, Seirei returned with a refreshed expression, as though nothing had happened.

“How did you deal with them?”

“As My Lord commanded, I dealt with that arrogant Escort Knight very cleanly and buried him. As for that fellow named Owen…….”

Seirei answered briefly, just as I had ordered.

It seemed my commands were finally starting to work properly.

It was not as though her chatter had disappeared entirely, but one could say it had become restrained to a certain degree.

Perhaps I was slowly getting used to this amount of chatter, because it was now somewhat tolerable to listen to.

‘Good. From now on, it will be a fight against time.’

I steeled myself once more.

From the moment I decided to deal with Owen, a clash with the Viscount’s House of Hennes had been all but inevitable.

I did not know when or how they would turn their blades toward our house, but we needed to begin preparing thoroughly for it right now.

“My Lord. You do not have to worry even slightly about such an insignificant viscount’s house. If they are truly an eyesore, I will simply step in quietly and clean them all up…….”

Seirei began explaining in depth the eleven ways to erase a viscount’s house.

If someone heard her, they might mistake her not for a Heresy Inquisitor, but for an Apostle of the God of Destruction.

Of course, her words were likely not empty boasting.

Her skills had already been proven.

“Seirei, I appreciate how you feel, but we cannot handle matters that way yet.”

I firmly shook my head.

This was only my personal conjecture, but Seirei was, at minimum, a Sword Master-class powerhouse who had far surpassed the limits of humanity.

She had cleared an F-grade Dungeon in three minutes. No, recently, she had reduced even that to one minute.

On top of that, she was strong enough to finish an E-grade Annihilation Dungeon in five minutes.

There was no way someone capable of racing through Dungeons at such an absurd speed would be weaker than an ordinary Sword Master.

But imagine what would happen if rumors spread that such an overwhelmingly powerful person had suddenly appeared in our Lake territory.

If we were lucky, it might be wrapped up nicely as “an eccentric recluse who had been living in hiding somewhere has appeared.” But if things went wrong, a dreadful and dangerous rumor might spread instead, something like, “The House of Lake summoned a demon through forbidden black magic,” and the entire house could fall into crisis.

The world has been rather dangerous lately, after all.

Especially for a weak house like ours, we had to be even more careful.

In any case, for that reason, having Seirei stand at the forefront and confront the viscount’s house was not currently an option.

The same applied to Sharon, who had been quietly watching the situation from the side.

If the fact that her true identity was a Witch became known, an even greater wave of trouble would arise.

In some ways, she might be even more dangerous than Seirei.

“For now, let us focus all our efforts on making my younger brother Simon stronger.”

I reached that conclusion carefully.

For the moment, this was the most realistic and safest method.

Before long, the Viscount’s House of Hennes would use some kind of pretext to challenge our house to a Territorial War in order to hold us responsible for Owen’s disappearance—no, for the fact that he had been reduced to a crippled wreck.

They would likely be consumed by revenge and attempt a direct armed conflict without caring about the consequences.

‘A successor’s life for a successor’s life.’

They were almost certainly thinking something that cruel.

That was just how nobles tended to think.

Since Owen had become little better than a ruined man, they would surely try to kill Simon, the sole heir of our house, or make him end up in the same state as Owen.

Considering their cruelty and twisted pride, it was entirely possible.

I was the one who had caused this, yet my younger brother Simon would end up bearing the danger.

The more I thought about it, the more I could not help feeling sorry.

‘In exchange, I will make Simon strong no matter what. That should be good enough, should it not?’

Yes. I would have to convince myself that this was the greatest gift I could give my younger brother as his older brother.

“Sharon. For now, make as many Mana Elixirs as possible in the shortest amount of time.”

I gave Sharon her instructions.

This was the first and most important step in making Simon stronger.

“Yes, understood, Master Summoner. I will do my best.”

Sharon nodded without complaint.

Manufacturing Mana Elixirs required a considerable amount of time and concentration.

For the time being, I would have to make Sharon focus solely on making elixirs.

“And Seirei, you will continue focusing on Dungeon Conquest with me. We are farming Magic Crystals.”

I assigned the next mission to Seirei.

For Sharon to keep making Mana Elixirs, we needed to steadily supply the Magic Crystals that served as the ingredients.

In the end, this meant Seirei and I would have to keep running Dungeons nonstop for the sake of gathering materials.

The tedious grind had begun.

* * *

Grand Duke Alexius Loenheim finally ended his tiresome effort to shorten the F-grade Dungeon record and returned to the imperial palace with a triumphant expression.

His face was filled with overflowing confidence and arrogance, as though he were shouting, “I am the strongest on the continent! Who dares challenge my record?”

“Ohh, is that not Grand Duke Alexius! It has truly been a long time since I last saw you. From what I heard, you have been terribly busy patrolling your territory. Your face looks quite worn.”

Emperor Amita Blit welcomed him with a sly smile.

“You honor me, Your Majesty. I merely inspected the security situation around the outskirts of my territory for a short while.”

Alexius tried to answer calmly, but the emperor did not miss the way his cheeks flushed slightly.

“Oh? Is that so? It seems the security around the F-grade Dungeon has been rather poor lately.”

The emperor deliberately put on a surprised expression and asked again, as if scraping at his nerves.

Through intelligence reports, Emperor Amita Blit already knew that Grand Duke Alexius had recently shut himself inside his territory for several days and cleared F-grade Dungeons as if his life depended on it.

The reason was also extremely obvious.

It was to reclaim the Shortest Clear-time Achievement for the F-grade Dungeon, which had been taken from him not long ago by the mysterious person known as Shadow Knight.

There was no way someone as prideful as him would simply stay still.

His pride as the strongest on the continent must have been properly cracked.

“So, how many minutes did it take you to clear the F-grade Dungeon Annihilation Mission this time? I am curious.”

The emperor asked, pretending to be full of curiosity.

“I recorded 2 minutes and 30 seconds, Your Majesty. I was fortunate.”

Grand Duke Alexius’s mouth said it was luck, but his expression clearly said, “This is my skill.”

“Ohh! 2 minutes and 30 seconds. As expected of you, Grand Duke. You must have truly made a bloody effort all this time.”

The emperor praised him with exaggerated admiration.

His eyes were full of mischief.

“You flatter me, Your Majesty. It was not a bloody effort. I merely exerted myself a little more.”

He spoke humbly, as though it were nothing, but after receiving repeated praise, Grand Duke Alexius’s face clearly revealed a pride and satisfaction he could not hide.

“However, ha ha… What are we to do about this, Grand Duke? From what I have heard, just recently, the achievement record time for that F-grade Annihilation Mission was renewed yet again. And overwhelmingly, at that.”

The emperor spoke with a deliberately regretful expression, as though delivering the final blow.

At those words, the smile vanished instantly from Grand Duke Alexius’s face, which had been full of confidence until moments ago.

A cold chill surrounded him.

It felt as though the temperature had dropped sharply.

“What do you mean by that, Your Majesty?”

His voice sank low and cold, like ice.

“Ha ha. From what I hear, that person called Shadow Knight recently reduced the F-grade Dungeon clear time to a mere one minute. And that is not all. The clear time for the E-grade Dungeon Annihilation Mission was also shortened to the five-minute range, renewing that achievement as well. Your record has now become a thing of the past.”

When the emperor said this with a grin, as though he were watching an amusing play, Grand Duke Alexius’s patience finally seemed to reach its limit. Blue veins bulged on his forehead like worms.

“Your Majesty, forgive me, but I have just remembered that I must stop by the Great Temple and offer a prayer. I shall take my leave first.”

He spoke coldly and, without even waiting for the emperor’s answer, left the audience chamber at a brisk pace, as though he were hurrying off to put out a fire.

From his retreating back, one could sense blazing rage, unbearable humiliation, and an intense competitive spirit toward the mysterious being known as “Shadow Knight.”

Emperor Amita Blit watched Grand Duke Alexius’s back and, in the end, could not hold himself back. He burst into roaring laughter.

It seemed a truly amusing spectacle had appeared after quite some time.

* * *

The Escort Knights and hunters who had received Viscount Bradley’s command desperately tracked Owen’s final movements and, at last, reached the border of Lake territory.

They barely managed to discover faint traces that showed he had crossed into Lake territory, but unfortunately, his whereabouts afterward had vanished as completely as smoke.

Further tracking seemed impossible.

In the end, after searching the area near the last traces for several days, they were able to find Owen deep in the mountains, where he had been discovered and protected by a couple of slash-and-burn farmers.

However, his appearance was so wretched that it was difficult to look at him with one’s eyes open.

He was no different from a living corpse.

“Is… Is this… truly my son Owen? No… This is not my son…!”

Viscount Bradley repeated the words in despair, as though he could not bring himself to believe that the being before his eyes was the son he had cherished and raised so dearly.

His voice cracked miserably.

“Hee~ Hehehe… a treat… want a treat…?”

White drool streamed from Owen’s mouth, and his eyes had lost all focus, completely empty.

Anyone could tell that his mind had been utterly destroyed.

He was no longer the arrogant and cruel Owen of before.

He was merely a ruined shell, a lump of flesh that did nothing but breathe.

“Graaah! Who was it?! What monstrous bastard dared do this to my precious son? I will find that bastard no matter what and tear him to pieces!”

Viscount Bradley screamed as though he were coughing up blood.

His eyes were bloodshot red, and his entire body trembled violently with rage he could not control.

Unable to look directly at his master’s wretched state, the Escort Knight lowered his head and carefully reported the circumstances from when they had found Owen.

“When we discovered the Young Master, he had been taken in and protected by a couple of nearby slash-and-burn farmers. Forgive me, but according to those farmers, he was already in this state when they first found him.”

“Then are you saying you do not even know who made my son like this?”

Viscount Bradley’s voice was edged with Killing Intent like a blade.

“Before the Young Master went missing, it is certain that he crossed into the territory of the Count’s House of Lake. In that case, is the culprit not already decided? It must have been Simon Lake’s doing.”

The Escort Knight cautiously, yet with conviction, added his own conjecture.