Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Duke Epheli (2)
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“Almonde?”
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“...What am I doing?”
“Aren’t you harassing these Summoners over some trumped-up charge?”
“Wh-what trumped-up charge...”
“Aren’t you getting angry because they drank some cola?”
Epheli’s expression hardened into a scowl.
“We have plenty of our own provisions, yet they’re eating food they begged for over there...”
“They didn’t beg. They came to thank us for lunch earlier, so we gave them a gift. Are you two alright?”
“W-we’re fine.”
“It’s nothing...”
Although Kang Ji-seon and Jeon Shin-wook both answered with their heads still bowed, Almonde clicked his tongue.
“Just how hard do you ride them on a daily basis?”
“Look, Almonde, these two belong to the Forest of Beasts, so mind your own business.”
As Duke Epheli answered crookedly, Almonde’s expression hardened.
“It seems you’ve completely forgotten the past. Then again, you wouldn’t have been able to speak to me like this back in the day.”
As Lord Almonde set the mood and stared directly at Epheli, Epheli faltered and stepped back.
The air subtly vibrated, a sign that he was building up his aura.
“Are... are you suggesting we fight right here? A duel between dukes is...”
“I’m aware. I’m saying this because I’m worried about you. What will you do if someone else who persecutes Summoners like you stops at the 80th floor—the ‘Human Tide,’ was it, by the Forest of Beasts’ standards? What happens when someone like that shows up?”
According to the system, one can become a duke by stopping at the 80th floor.
If a new duke is born, is the existing one kicked out?
“Don’t forget that you were once a Summoner, too. Epheli Ricarde.”
“Mind if I talk with your Summoners for a bit?”
“Do whatever you want!”
Epheli shouted, his face turning red, and stormed into his tent.
“...Thank you.”
Kang Ji-seon bowed her head deeply to Lord Almonde.
Jeon Shin-wook, beside her, did the same.
“Don’t mention it. I’m sorry. You might face even worse retaliation later because of me.”
“It’s alright.”
“We’re used to it, so it’s fine.”
“Still...”
“Oh? Hyeon-ung, you’re here too.”
So our Lord Almonde was an angel.
“Ah, hello. The Commander-in-Chief of the Forest of Beasts has quite a personality.”
“...Even back when he was a Summoner, he was known for being a pain, so he wasn’t popular with the newcomers.”
He was dissing him right out in the open.
“...Is it really alright for you to say that?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? When that guy was a Summoner, he couldn’t even speak to me.”
Well, it made sense. In any guild, there was bound to be a difference in treatment between the core combatants fighting on the front lines and the administrative staff.
“I played a big part in making him a duke, so in a way, I suppose this is my karma...”
“What do you mean, you played a big part...”
“It’s a long story. To sum it up, the guild master was against it, saying we didn’t have the resources, but I insisted I’d take care of him and brought him along to the 80th floor.”
So his flustered state wasn’t just because of the difference in power or authority.
“I’d better go and soothe Epheli so this doesn’t come back to bite you. You Summoners can talk freely amongst yourselves.”
With that, he entered the tent Epheli had gone into.
“The Lord of the Kramis Labyrinth seems like a genuinely good person.”
“I’m envious that such a man of character is your administrator.”
They both praised him, and I felt the same way.
“It’s give and take. To be fair, he never picked on us for no reason before either. Is the Commander-in-Chief always like that?”
“Yes. He gets angry and irritable a lot.”
“Well, what can we do? If we get on the Commander-in-Chief’s bad side, we get assigned to a difficult position.”
From our conversation, I learned that the Forest of Beasts had a completely different structure from the Labyrinth, one where the Commander-in-Chief held a great deal of influence.
There were ten routes into the Aurelian Forest of Beasts, which was divided into seven regions.
Aside from the two official routes, the rest were entrusted to guilds for them to conquer.
But even if they spent years diligently conquering a route and building a foundation, they had to move immediately if the Commander-in-Chief gave the order.
They were also frequently drafted to help with the official route conquest.
Of course, if they refused to be drafted, they would be forced to switch routes, losing their entire foundation and having to start over from scratch.
“It’s a system where you can’t help but walk on eggshells. Ah, wait a minute. Then can you summon your companions from your residence in the Forest of Beasts?”
“Companions?”
“Ah, you mean summoning companions. It’s possible if you’re at a garrison inside the Forest of Beasts. Once you leave the forest, it’s impossible.”
Hmm, but still, doesn’t that mean you can hunt continuously?
In the Labyrinth, we can only go for 20 days a month.
I thought the Forest of Beasts might be decent after all, but the explanation that followed proved me wrong.
Unlike in the Labyrinth, you couldn’t use the Summoner Shop inside the Forest of Beasts, so you had to periodically return to the central garrison.
“How much do you pay in taxes? Is it also proportional to the time you’ve been in Elsia?”
“Proportional to time?”
“What’s that?”
They both tilted their heads, suggesting the tax system in the Aurelian Forest of Beasts was also different.
I calmly explained Kramis’s tax system.
“That’s it?”
“That’s incredibly conscientious. For us, that’s the minimum standard.”
“What?”
Conscientious? Everyone back home complained about it nonstop...
And that was their minimum standard?
“We pay half of our guild’s annual income.”
“H-half? Then the minimum standard is...”
“The minimum amount is the standard you just described.”
“If you pay close to the minimum, auditors show up. If they find even the slightest discrepancy, the guild master is executed.”
It was incredibly strict.
Kramis truly was a paradise.
“We should have chosen the Kramis Labyrinth from the start...”
“No. We were able to establish ourselves this much because we listened to you and came to the Forest of Beasts.”
The monsters that appeared didn’t seem to be drastically different, but these environmental factors seemed to make the Forest of Beasts a much tougher place.
I was about to ask a few more questions when the Lord emerged from Epheli’s tent.
“How is the Commander-in-Chief?”
“He said he’s going to sleep. I’ve smoothed things over with Epheli, so you shouldn’t face any major disadvantages.”
““Thank you.””
They both bowed their heads deeply.
“Did you have a good talk?”
“Thanks to you, yes. Thank you.”
“I’d like to give you more time, but we should probably start getting ready for bed if we’re to leave tomorrow.”
The Lord yawned, looking tired.
It was a little disappointing, but it wasn’t like today was our only chance.
“Let’s talk again next time we have the chance.”
“Today was truly enjoyable.”
After bidding them farewell, I started walking back with the Lord when I saw the cola can rolling on the ground.
“My lord, just a moment.”
I went back toward Epheli’s tent and gave them a few more of the snacks, ramen, and drinks I had brought from Kramis.
“Hyeon-ung?”
“Try not to get caught this time.”
“No, you really don’t have to...”
“Thank you.”
“I think I’ll wait until we get back to eat them.”
A life where you can’t even eat snacks or drink cola as you please...
Feeling a pang of sympathy, I returned to the Lord.
“What were you doing?”
“I saw the discarded cola can from earlier, so I gave them some more cola and ramen. I also told them to be careful not to get caught...”
“Well done. The more I think about it, the more I feel sorry.”
“Pardon?”
“That fellow Epheli has always been very conscious of me. I think he was even more so because you, who gave him the food, are from Kramis.”
“That’s not your fault, my lord.”
Thinking about it again, I felt truly fortunate that Lord Almonde was the administrator of Kramis.
****
After a simple breakfast early in the morning, we boarded the carriage and crossed the bridge. About three hours seemed to have passed since then.
Outside the window, the endless procession of the forest continued.
I could occasionally spot things that looked like monsters, but Erdia was so fast that it was hard to even make out their shapes.
Besides, the carriage itself had a barrier constantly active, so I was told there wouldn’t be a problem unless a particularly strong monster attacked.
“The Lord is in last place again.”
“Ugh, isn’t this cheating? How many times has this been for me...”
About an hour ago, feeling bored of just sleeping, Elaine had suggested we play a board game.
Of course, we had asked for the Lord’s permission and he had agreed, but now he didn’t look fine at all.
“Maybe you’re just terrible at games, my lord? Hurry up and present your back.”
As the Lord leaned over the table set up in the center of the carriage, my companions descended on him like a pack of wolves, slapping his back with their palms.
*Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack—THUD!*
Oh dear. That one, Elaine, even used her elbow to slam his back.
“My... my back... who was that?”
“The first-place winner is allowed to do this.”
“Is... is that a rule?”
Well, I don’t think I ever taught them that, so I suspect Ha-young might have.
“I hit you gently.”
“I believe you. Let’s play another round!”
I was close with the Lord, but I don’t think we were ever *this* close...
This trip seemed to have brought us even closer.
My companions’ friendliness also played a big part.
Except for one person, of course.
We had invited Misha to play, but she refused and continued to stare blankly out the window.
It seemed she had a lot on her mind after learning that her goal was impossible.
We continued our game, and after what felt like another 30 minutes, the carriage began to slow down.
A small window connected to the driver’s seat opened.
“My lord, Averk Fortress is just ahead.”
“Is that so? We’ll have lunch there before we continue.”
A fortress?
“Is it some kind of temporary base in the forest?”
“Not a temporary fortress, but a hub city. It’s about the size of a decent viscounty.”
“In the middle of a forest?”
“We need to maintain the road, and if we don’t deal with the monsters in the forest periodically, their numbers will grow out of control.”
About five minutes later, the carriage came to a brief stop. Looking out the window, I saw a massive wooden palisade that looked well over 10 meters tall.
It seemed we had arrived at the fortress entrance.
A moment later, we must have passed through, as rows of stone houses, similar to those in Kramis, stretched out before us.
I could see many people walking about, including children.
“There are a lot of people.”
“It’s the size of a decent viscounty, after all.”
“My lord, is it possible to wash up here?”
“Oh, yes! I want to wash up too.”
Until now, we had only managed to wash our faces with Seril’s magic.
I hadn’t said anything, but my head was starting to feel a little itchy.
“Let’s do that. I need to wash up as well.”
A short while later, the slowly moving carriage came to a complete stop. When we got out, we were in front of a three-story wooden inn.
“This is the best place in the fortress city. We can finally have a proper meal.”
We followed the Lord inside and were immediately guided to the third floor.
Duke Epheli’s party had already taken their seats.
Lord Almonde invited them to join us, but they refused, so we just exchanged nods and took a separate table.
It seemed it would be difficult to talk during lunch this time.
“Wh-what can I get for you?”
Perhaps because of Almonde’s status, the girl taking our order was trembling.
“Am I going to eat you?”
“What? No, I... I don’t taste good.”
Even his lighthearted joke made her jump and look like she was about to cry.
He may have been getting his back thrashed just moments ago, but it was a stark reminder that he was indeed a high-ranking person.
“No need to be nervous. Just bring us the special for everyone. And could you prepare bathwater as well? Four women and three men.”
It seemed the Lord planned to wash up too.
“Understood.”
After finishing our meal, I was the first to wash up and come out.
We weren’t all bathing together; they had given each of us a separate room.
It wasn’t as nice as Kabisa, but it was clean and decent enough.
I sat on a chair near the entrance to wait, and Ji-seon approached me with a stiff expression.
“Hyeon-ung, can we talk for a moment... Oh? You’ve cleaned up nicely.”
“I just finished washing up.”
“For us, only the Commander-in-Chief went to bathe. Shin-wook went to the restroom.”
“What? The bath doesn’t even cost that much.”
“We can’t help it. He’d throw a fit if we were even a little late.”
He claims to care about his image, yet this was just absurd.
“Anyway, is it alright if we talk for a moment?”
“Of course. Is something wrong?”
“...Could you possibly withdraw from the upcoming martial arts tournament?”
“What do you mean by that...”
“This morning, during breakfast, he ordered Shin-wook to kill all the Summoners from the Kramis Labyrinth in this tournament.”