Chapter 20 - A Performance with All One's Heart
Chapter 20 - A Performance with All One's Heart
In the original work, a major incident occurs after the Prince visits the North.
It is because the Northern Barbarians installed a magical tool that summons a dungeon inside the Northern defensive wall and committed a monster terror attack.
As a result, massive hordes of monsters swarmed Northern civilian homes, and the North fell into chaos.
The protagonist's tribe, pointed to as the culprit, struggles to prove their innocence and prevent a war between the North and the barbarians.
It is later revealed that this terror attack was carried out by the 'Merkit tribe,' the most brutal and belligerent among the barbarians, and it was the Court Count Albert who commissioned it with a massive amount of gold.
Fearing that the value of the magic stone mines he owned in the South would drop once the North stabilized and magic stone mining began in earnest, he committed this act.
Honestly, even in my opinion, Albert is a total piece of shit.
Once caught up in this event, there was only one way for Natalia and me to survive. It was to fool those bastards with my acting.
Ah... I'm not good at acting... what do I do...
"Now, shall we talk business? Urchi-nim."
I stepped forward as if tossing Natalia aside, and smiled very politely, but with my eyes narrowed like a sycophant the likes of which the world had never seen.
Urchi glared at me like a jackal, still not letting his guard down.
"...Your boss didn't even show his face once to conduct this business, so why did a coward like that step up personally?"
"It's a symbol of trust. And to ensure the job is done right. My name is Snake."
"Yeah, a name that suits your face well."
Urchi was convinced by my alias. What the... that's unnecessarily annoying.
I controlled my emotions and said, looking at the two dead Northern knights.
Looking relaxed, I even took out a small flask and drank from it while speaking.
"If I hadn't lured them into chasing us, they would have chosen to go back and report. If that happened, you would have had to fight countless Northern knights on your way back, and in the worst case, the plan wouldn't have even started and would have failed. Don't you agree?"
"Hmm..."
Urchi fell into thought for a moment, then sheathed his sword.
It seemed he believed me to some extent because my words matched the situation.
"Yeah, thanks for the help, Snake."
"It's fine. It's all for business."
"Then we'll install this and escape as planned."
What he took out was the 'Skull of Agon,' shimmering with ominous magical power.
That was a dungeon-generating magical tool made with black magic. If you install that on a ley line with a certain amount of magical power, you can create an artificial dungeon and turn the surroundings into a monster-infested zone.
In short, it's committing a monster terror attack, like a biochemical terror attack in reality.
"The plan has changed. Install it where I designate."
"Designated place? What are you talking about?"
I said to Urchi, whose expression was hardening.
I pointed in a direction closer to the Northern castle and said,
"If you go a bit deeper from here, there is a ley line with three times the magical power of this place. If you use it there, you'll be able to crush the North much more definitively than the target."
"It's too dangerous. If we get surrounded after going deep in..."
"Hahahaha!"
I laughed loudly at his words.
Truly, like a vile villain.
I could see the expressions of the other barbarians stiffen at my laughter.
I sneered and took a step closer.
"Are the world-renowned Merkit tribe scared of just a few knights?"
"Who says I'm scared! I was just worried about the life and death of my brethren."
"We have a noblewoman taken hostage. And you have me."
"You?"
I drank another sip of alcohol and sat on a suitable rock.
Looking at Urchi like that, I said,
"After the installation, if you guys retreat, I will be the one discovered first. And I will tell them the opposite direction from where you fled. The situation will fall into chaos, and you will escape. In an emergency, you can just use the Grand Duke's precious daughter as a hostage to open the path and the gates."
I could feel Urchi's pupils shaking at my words.
He said, as if making a final confirmation.
"What about the additional reward?"
"I'll give you double the down payment."
"Kwahahahaha!!!"
I don't know how much that tribe received, but it seems like a lot.
It's fine. It's not my money anyway.
Urchi laughed loudly at my words, then clicked his tongue as if he were fed up, looking at me.
"I'm a bad guy myself, but you're truly a human who belongs in hell. Fine, lead the way."
"Let's do that."
Great! It seemed to be going according to plan.
The barbarians quickly prepared to move, and Natalia had her hands and feet tied, and just in case, her mouth was gagged too.
By the time the preparations were finished, Natalia came to her senses.
"...Mmm...Mmm!?...Mmm!...Mmm!"
Having regained consciousness, Natalia looked at me and the barbarians, trying to shout as if confused.
But her whole body was already bound, so she couldn't say anything, and Urchi and the barbarians sneered at such a Natalia.
"Hahahaha!"
"This Northern princess's state is quite a sight."
Natalia looked at me as if resentful. If I show emotion here, it's over.
I indifferently brushed off her gaze.
"It's all just business, Natalia."
A look of despair settled in her eyes at my words.
Seeing that, Urchi mocked her while hoisting her up like luggage.
"To trust a guy like that, you're quite pitiful too. Hahaha!"
"In the end, the world is for fools who trust others. Let's go. We don't have much time."
I led the barbarians and started moving.
Since there were no horses, we moved on foot, and it was pitch black with no lights.
But because of that, I could feel it. These barbarians were truly the elite of the elite.
Their footsteps were barely audible, and the image of them laughing vilely was gone; before I knew it, they had become warriors, guarding their surroundings.
And I could feel it for sure. The killing intent that if any problem arose, they would kill me first. They really are paranoid... though I would be too.
I carefully prepared the next plan in secret so they wouldn't notice.
...But why do I sound so much like a villain?
Following the collaborator in front of him, Urchi kept doubting.
From the start, it didn't make sense for them to trust the Imperial bastards.
He had a rough guess about the identity of the mastermind who gave him this request.
Because there were only a few people in the Empire who could profit from such actions.
But they accepted this mission.
It was partly because the amount of the reward they gave was large, but the most important thing was that he could contribute to collapsing the Empire.
If he could mock the Imperial bastards who were ruining their own Empire with their own hands, Urchi was confident he would even go to hell.
And that was also why he followed the words of the collaborator in front of him.
He smelled of truly vile schemes.
Urchi was very much looking forward to how much disaster it would bring to the North if it was a plan spoken by such a guy.
Moving through the snow and darkness for 30 minutes,
when Urchi also felt it was a dangerous location, he stopped moving.
When looking at the map in his head, Urchi found this location convincing.
If you go 20 minutes from here, you reach Tokuna, one of the largest civilian residential areas in the North.
To think that Agon's dungeon would appear right next to it, countless Imperial citizens would become food for the crazy chickens.
"Yeah, is this the place?"
"Yes, this is the place."
At Edric's words, Urchi signaled his subordinates.
Urchi's subordinates took out the Skull of Agon and began the installation. But the barbarians started to panic.
"So... something is strange! We can't feel the magical power... from the ley line!"
"What!?"
Urchi was flustered at his subordinate's words. Without a ley line, the Skull of Agon was just a monster's skull.
Urchi glared at Edric and said.
"Hey, Snake! What is going on? Was the information wrong?"
"No. The information wasn't wrong."
"You said this was the place!? It's land with no magical power!"
"Yes, this is the place."
Edric slowly turned his body.
The moment Urchi saw Edric looking at him with a vile smile with the moonlight at his back, he got goosebumps.
There is a folktale among the Northern barbarians.
The snake 'Sillarha' from legend, who visits warriors who betrayed their tribe on dark moonlit nights and kills them slowly with poison.
Edric's face was exactly the same as that Sillarha's.
"This is exactly... the place where you end."
The moment those words ended, Edric took a flashbang out of his pocket and fired it into the sky.
Along with the sound of an explosion, a red flash burst in the night sky.
Kwaang—!
"A flashbang!?"
"Are you crazy?! What is this...!"
Urchi was furious and tried to swing his sword at Edric.
But at that moment, he felt the strength draining from his body.
"W-what! My hands..."
The abnormal phenomenon didn't end there.
Behind him, his subordinates started collapsing one by one.
"Ugh, I'm dizzy..."
"Strength in my body..."
Thud- Thud-
"You... what on earth did you do?"
Urchi looked at Edric, who was wearing a fishy smile.
Edric approached him and said.
"I used my skill a little. You shouldn't have put me in the lead."
"What!?"
Edric made poison little by little with <Drinking Bird> and had the barbarians following behind absorb it.
What was the poison Edric made?
In the past, a hostage crisis occurred in Moscow. To safely rescue 700 hostages from terrorists, Russia used gas.
It was Fentanyl gas, which is also used as a drug.
That incident caused a tragedy due to excessive use, but Edric sprayed that poison gas very carefully.
He sprayed an amount necessary for the barbarians to be incapacitated without causing harm to Natalia over 30 minutes, and the barbarians started to collapse from sudden headaches, hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, and muscle stiffness.
"Y-you bastard...... this vile......!"
Urchi didn't know the details, but he seemed to know that Edric used poison.
These vile Imperial bastards, are they trying to use us like this and throw us away!?
But we haven't done anything yet!
What on earth does this snake bastard want?
In his fading consciousness, Urchi desperately racked his brain.
And he witnessed it. The human look in his eyes toward Natalia... Urchi, who couldn't go alone even if he was going to die, gathered his remaining strength and magical power into his sword and threw it straight at Natalia.
"Let's die together!!"
"Mmm! Mmm!?"
Natalia hadn't lost consciousness, but her body was paralyzed by Edric's drug just the same.
Watching Urchi's sword flying slowly, Natalia prepared for death. But at that moment...
"I knew you would."
Edric rushed toward Natalia.
He tried to protect Natalia by using his own body as a shield, and Urchi was satisfied with taking at least the snake bastard with him. But...
[Protection of the White God is activated.]
Buwoong ——— !
"What!?"
The moment the sword was about to touch Edric's body, a white light wrapped around him and deflected Urchi's sword.
Urchi, with his last resort blocked, made a look of despair and eventually lost consciousness.
"Phew... is it over?"
I looked back.
The barbarians were all asleep, drugged, and the sound of the Northern Knights' horseshoes was getting closer from the surroundings.
"Mmm! Mmm—! Ugh-!"
"Natalia! I'll untie you right now."
I sat on the ground, panting, and untied Natalia's bonds.
I quickly apologized to Natalia, whose bonds were released.
"Natalia, are you okay?"
"Yes... I'm okay."
"I'm sorry. You were scared, right?"
"No... I wasn't scared."
"What?"
"Because I trusted you... I wasn't scared."
"Natalia..."
Natalia looked at me with sapphire-like eyes and said.
There was real trust in that gaze.
"Don't forget, a Northern woman does not doubt her husband."
"I got it. I will never forget."
I untied all her bonds and neutralized the poison, saying,
She tried to stand up and suddenly fell into my arms.
Puk—!
"Na...Natalia?"
"M-my body has a cramp! It's definitely not because I'm relaxed!"
"...I see."
"It's true!"
"I got it. Let's stay like this until the cramp goes away."
"Yeah... let's do that."
Her trembling shoulders were telling me her emotions.
Although she pretended to be strong, I could feel the fear and relief she felt.
Feeling the knights approaching and the texture of her hair, I thought.
If they don't give me my severance pay, I'm going to sue them later.
Coming all the way to the North and going through all this trouble...
Thus, the Agon monster terror incident, which almost made the North tremble in fear, was suppressed by Edric.