Chapter 138
Chapter 138
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: The Young Heir
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Unexpected."
In one corner of the estate hall, in the guest room.
Those were the first words Eloise uttered upon entering Arsen's room.
Arsen asked her calmly in return.
"What is?"
"About giving us the medicine."
As she said, Arsen had handed over the antidote to them. He had even kindly added a few precautions for its use.
The amount of medicine was generous.
He had secured plenty of eggs, and on the way there, he had made more every time Eloise's mana recovered.
There were several large barrels' worth, and since just a sip was enough to cure someone, that quantity could easily serve thousands.
"I thought at first that Sen wasn't going to give it to us."
Until then, he had acted so coldly, as if he would leave immediately without some price. So it seemed hard for her to understand how he had given it just for kneeling.
Seeing Eloise's ambiguous expression, Arsen spoke in a deliberately gloomy tone.
"I must look like such a bad guy to you. I'm not villain enough to toy with people's lives."
"No, that's not what I meant..."
Eloise, flustered by his attitude, spotted the faint smile on Arsen's face and finally realized it was a joke. She kicked his leg hard.
Arsen accepted it with a laugh and replied.
"I planned to give it from the start. I just had a little power play."
"Why bother?"
"Bestowing favors is a right of the strong. If you're going to give to others, you have to first prove your superiority. Otherwise, people think they've earned it because they're special."
"Hmm..."
"If I'd just offered it from the beginning, they would've called me a coward or a fool, and doubted if the medicine was real. But now, they don't suspect it's fake, right?"
"...Ah, now that you mention it."
"Since we showed confidence that we could take this place without tricks, they believe the medicine isn't fake."
As she nodded in understanding, Arsen smiled softly and continued.
"Anyway, the proxy showed such humiliating deference. If I'd kept weighing it out, I'd have earned resentment even after giving the medicine. It's useless junk anyway if we just sit on it."
"Hmm."
The magic beasts that spawned the plague had all been wiped out by Arsen's group. Unless new ones appeared somewhere, the antidote wouldn't be of much use.
The only way to use it would be to infect a water source with cryofluke eggs and then deploy it, but he had no intention of resorting to such inhumane methods.
Not against irredeemable villains like bandits, anyway.
To Eloise, who seemed deep in thought, Arsen smiled kindly.
"If it doesn't make sense, just think of it as some trivial game adults play."
"I'm not a kid, you know?"
That was a childish retort itself, but Arsen didn't point it out.
"Anyway, we bestowed a favor, so we should receive payment. The flying Jin—wingless bird—and ideally one more."
"What are you planning to get?"
"I have a few ideas in mind. Still sorting them out, so I'll let you know once decided."
Eloise narrowed her eyes at Arsen's vagueness, then flopped her head onto the bed.
Then, as if it just occurred to her, she said.
"By the way, that estate proxy guy looked really scary. What if he holds a grudge over already being knocked out?"
"Who knows. Once he sees people recovering, he'll probably forget all about it."
* * *
The next morning, Arsen's words were proven true. Through the completely changed treatment.
First came breakfast.
Until the previous evening, they had been given roughly baked bread, dried meat, and wilted vegetables as "provisions" and told to fend for themselves. Of course, even that was fairly luxurious for an estate crumbling under plague.
But seeing the hot stew and richly seasoned meat dishes served for breakfast today, one could easily guess how their view of the group had shifted.
Of course, Arsen didn't let his guard down and instructed them to keep the antidote spell ready for any contingency.
After the meal, Arsen finally got to meet the estate lord alone.
Or rather, not quite alone. There was one other person right beside.
"B-Ba-Bal-Baltres, th-the es-estate l-lord, n-nice to m-meet you... nice to meet you..."
She looked about ten years old. Pale from her recent recovery, with a slender frame like wooden chopsticks, the young girl was there.
Dressed in a gown embroidered with golden thread and adorned with lavish jewelry, it was still hard to find any estate lord's dignity on her tense, trembling childlike face.
'No wonder they couldn't show her off.'
Parading such a lord would invite disdain from anyone.
Of course, there are geniuses who show extraordinary talent even at ten, but she clearly wasn't one of them.
The reason the knight who introduced himself as the estate proxy, Dalpion, stood beside her was surely that.
"First, allow me to express my sincere gratitude. The medicine you provided is undeniably effective. We couldn't save those whose illness had progressed too far, but most patients are improving."
"I'm glad it's working out."
He had thought they might test it on a few first before distributing, but apparently they had just handed it out wholesale.
Well, leaving them as is meant death anyway—what choice did they have?
Ordinary plagues might recover on their own sometimes, but this disease had a 100% fatality rate.
Because it wasn't a disease—it was a murderous parasite.
"I mentioned the preventive measure, right?"
"We heard. Always boil water before drinking to dispel impure energies instead of drinking it raw... Does that really work?"
"Of course. Just like the antidote we brought worked."
"Hmm."
Dalpion nodded in acknowledgment, then cautiously asked.
The question carried extreme deference, as if treating the other as a superior.
"By any chance, could you tell us how the antidote was made?"
"It's made using magic, but the details are hard to share. Teaching your estate's mage would take time too."
As he said, the spell was intricately designed by Luden, making it tough to pass on. Eloise was a genius, so she learned easily, but even Separatebroom's mages had struggled.
"Does the estate have a mage?"
"One. But he's barely up to succeeding the previous court mage... Learning that would be difficult."
"I recommend just boiling the water properly. Making the antidote is too finicky."
Thus, the estate lord was essentially treated like scenery, with the conversation between the proxy and Arsen.
The lord kept staring at the floor, as if wanting to sink into it and vanish. When Arsen looked at her, she startled and raised her head.
"Estate Lord."
"A-Ah, wh-what is it...?"
"I'd like to reconfirm the promise I received through your proxy. Within three days, if the wingless bird—the flying Jin—returns, you'll hand one over, and one more request... Can I confirm both will be fulfilled?"
The lord turned anxiously to her proxy, who nodded. She seemed to gain a bit of confidence.
Perhaps because of that, she expressed herself much more clearly than before.
"Of course. The heirs of the Crimson Bloodline never forget such grace. Your wishes will be fulfilled."
It sounded rehearsed, but he didn't point it out.
As Arsen turned back to the proxy, she sighed in relief and shrank back.
"The estate lord is quite young."
"Hmm."
With the lord right there watching, the proxy glanced at her, closed his eyes briefly, and confessed honestly.
"The estate lord's bloodline couldn't escape this catastrophe either. She is the sole survivor..."
Indeed, was she the only option?
As Arsen stared pointedly, the proxy realized the question and cleared his throat awkwardly.
"I had no intent to hide it, but I am also her father."
The picture became clear.
The legitimate bloodline had all perished, leaving this young girl as the sole survivor. And with her father being a knight with some vigor left, seizing the estate's power wouldn't have been hard.
"I can see why you'd think of your daughter."
"Hmm."
He scratched his face embarrassedly.
Amused by the sight, the tense lord giggled at her father.
Soon after, her tension eased, and the young estate lord began chattering happily.
Thanks to Eloise, Arsen was used to handling children and conversed with the girl attentively.
Thus, the meeting with the estate lord ended quite pleasantly.
* * *
Two days later, they departed Valtres.
The ground welcoming them was unfamiliar. Dark blue pebbles embedded like stars, faintly shimmering.
It was as if the night sky had been laid upon the earth—a bizarre landscape they had never trod before.
The land beyond the Eldarin River greeted them.
"Wooow!"
Before they could take in the scenery, a booming shout echoed from high in the sky.
Looking up, they saw Bazkal riding a wingless bird.
He flailed his arms excitedly while flying, but sturdy harnesses kept him secure.
His wobbly flight was far from smooth.
Unlike the graceful flights demonstrated by other Valtres knights, Bazkal's was crude and clumsy. Arsen's, Anun's, and Rino's were the same.
Handling these wingless birds was incomparably harder than ordinary Jins. Anyone could run on the ground as a human, but no one had flown the skies.
After dozens of minutes in the air, the wingless bird finally approached the group to land—but unsteadily.
Arsen, prepared, charged as Bazkal failed to slow and was about to crash.
A scream came from above.
"Eeeek!"
Just before impact, Arsen thrust his axe blade between the wingless bird and the ground, deftly cushioning it and redirecting—like the plum-blossom catching technique from wuxia tales.
Sliding across the empty plain, the wingless bird flapped its legs a few times, then succeeded in landing by dragging its rear on the ground.
The most pathetic landing in the world.
"Ow ow..."
"Handle it carefully. This thing's more expensive than you."
"Aw, that's harsh."
Arsen flicked Bazkal's forehead, then ordered the wingless bird stored.
A soldier with a large space pouch took it in.
Confirming that, Arsen asked Bazkal.
"So, how's the mana consumption?"
"Feels like I didn't fly long, but I'm pretty drained. Even rotating riders, we'd need half a day rest."
"That much, huh."
Only through direct use did they learn the wingless bird had terrible mana efficiency. Compared to it, the black lion was nothing.
Ordinary knights tired after thirty minutes to an hour; even Arsen with exceptional mana fatigued after two or three hours.
Well, if efficiency matched regular Jins, round trips to other estates wouldn't take so long.
Marches took time due to terrain detours, but flyers ignored all that.
Thus, the wingless bird was too burdensome for one person, so all knights would learn to use it as needed. Except one.
"Knight Marun?"
"I'm fine! How could I presume!"
"No, I didn't call you to ride. Just to discuss future plans."
Marun vehemently refused to ride, and Arsen didn't press.
A fall like last time was one thing, but acrophobia would make the already hard control impossible.
'Too bad.'
Truthfully, Marun was the most suited to handle it.
As knight-mage with more mana than most, he was freer from efficiency issues. Skilled with mana-infused arrows, his ranged attacks were exceptional too.
Marun raining magic arrows from the sky would trouble even Arsen.
Unfortunately, acrophobia made it impossible.
Noticing Arsen's thoughts, Marun coughed awkwardly and said.
"Come to think of it, the ruins aren't far now."
"Should be. They say a regular knight takes two days at full gallop to Spike Mountain, so us three days. Could be longer or shorter."
"Finally..."
Marun—and Separatebroom's other mages—smiled happily.
Joy at soon reuniting with their separated kin.
Of course, Arsen couldn't share the joy.
His mind was tangled, ceaselessly refining prepared plans.
'It's finally coming...'
Steel yourself for the showdown, Arsen thought anew.
In a few days, they would contact Separatebroom's main force at this estate's ruins.