Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Red Stone Revelations
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From the day Eugene returned, the feast began.
The king and nobles eagerly opened their coffers with funds and supplies to celebrate the kingdom's true beginning.
Wine barrels were stacked in plazas everywhere, and poems and songs praising the king and duke wafted through the entire city on the sweet scent of alcohol.
As clowns and dancers showed off their skills, actors in the central plaza reenacted the exploits of the young king and vampire duke with exaggerated acting and song.
People of all races, genders, classes, and statuses gathered at the royal castle and in the city, praising the young king and reveling freely in anticipation of the kingdom's bright future, eating and drinking to their hearts' content.
Eugene, the star of the feast, mingled with the nobles in the castle's central courtyard.
After fulfilling his duties as a pillar of the kingdom for about an hour, he quietly slipped away.
It was for something far more important than the feast.
Moving to a secluded annex officially named the Duke's Palace, Eugene dismissed all the servants and consumed the Lizardman King's red mana stone.
Ziiing....
A scorching heat surged through his entire body, and a sound like cracking glass echoed in his mind.
Eugene naturally closed his eyes.
His vision flickered with afterimages and darkened, soon dyeing a reddish hue.
With it, the scene he had seen several times before faintly reappeared.
'I see it.'
Until now, he had only glimpsed fragmented scenes in a dazed state, unsure if they were dreams or illusions.
But now, the embedded memories replayed in his mind, showing the overall scene, albeit hazily.
Two men and one woman in ornate, antique attire.
Snow-white skin, blood-red eyes, and protruding fangs below their lips proved they were of the same Night Clan.
The gaze within Eugene's consciousness turned to the man among them with thin silver eyebrows.
As if staring straight at the Eugene in his consciousness, his face clearly held mockery.
His scarlet lips moved as if speaking, but unfortunately, no sound came through.
From his expression and gaze, however, it was clear it wasn't anything good.
Eugene's gaze shifted to the other man standing with hands behind his back beside the silver-browed one.
The man with black curly hair hanging like seaweed was nearly as massive as Galpredic.
Uniquely, his entire face was covered in grotesque tattoos.
He too spoke to Eugene, but again, no sound.
Unlike the silver-browed man, though arrogance filled his expression, there was no mockery.
Eugene slowly turned his gaze to the last figure, the only female vampire.
She had burning red hair and looked somewhat young.
And utterly dazzling.
Like a ruby shining proudly alone.
'A red, glamorous queen....'
It wasn't just her appearance; the emotion felt within his consciousness defined her that way.
At that moment, the corner of her mouth twitched upward.
Mockery?
No.
He had thought it was mockery when it was hazy before, but her fully revealed face held no such emotion.
The feeling in her eyes, clearly fixed on Eugene, was concern and expectation.
'Why?'
The moment that question arose.
Clang!
A sharp noise like shattering glass rang out, and the red vision vanished in an instant.
* * *
Whoosh....
As the bloodlust surging over his shoulders gradually subsided, Eugene slowly opened his closed eyes.
For a moment, a fiery glow seemed to burst from them, then quickly receded back into his pupils.
"Hoo...."
With eyes deeper than before, Eugene exhaled a long breath.
"Master. All done?"
Mirian, who had been lounging nearby watching, scampered over.
"Yeah. Did you check?"
"Yeah, yeah! The one on the back of your neck is gone."
Eugene checked his back in a mirror. One tattoo drawn in strange shapes and ancient script had cleanly vanished. Now seven tattoos total had been removed.
Eugene clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly.
'Power overflows.'
It wasn't just a feeling. He clearly felt the rough pulsing of power coursing through every corner of his body.
Something innate within him had finally awakened. It was an instinct, a mystery beyond words.
"Master, what ability did you get this time? Turning into a dragon or something? Becoming a real demon king? Or turning stones to gold and jewels? Kyaa~ Just thinking about it makes my chest swell!"
"Not something that ridiculous, but I got a very good ability."
"Kieak! What is it? What? Show me quick!"
Eugene shrugged.
"But I can't show it right now."
"Huh?"
"You'll know when we go to the sea."
The ability from the Lizardman King's red mana stone was resistance to all water constraints.
It eliminated one of the vampire's greatest weaknesses: limited power in the deep sea. Now, he wouldn't need a specially made coffin to cross oceans.
"Tch. What's that? Lame."
True to a spirit of desire that valued flashy visible spectacles above all, Mirian grumbled.
Eugene chuckled.
"But beyond that, I gained a pretty useful authority. Something I can show right now."
In truth, this time Eugene had awakened one more of his high vampire authorities.
"Ho-guk!? Quick! I wanna see too! Show me!"
Grinning at the spirit's eager urging—its disappointment forgotten—Eugene took a light breath.
The next moment.
Fwoosh!
"Kieek!?"
So startled was the spirit that its body froze in place.
Eugene's body, which had been standing right in front of it moments ago, was instantly enveloped in black smoke.
It was the ability once shown by the vampire high lord Frederick, whom Eugene had killed: the mist body.
Rumble....
The billowing black smoke.
The living black mist took on a specific form.
Wings spread wide, in the shape of a bat.
"M-Master? Where are you? Where'd you go?"
Fwoosh!
Just as Mirian recovered, the mist Eugene created swirled like caught in a gust, swiftly reforming into a human shape.
"Kieee.... How'd you do that?"
To Mirian, now elongated into water with a dropped jaw, Eugene shrugged.
"I don't know. A memory suddenly came to me, so I tried it and it worked."
To others, it might be an inscrutable mystery.
But to Eugene, the abilities manifested through red mana stones were like an absolute law or causality, no different from a newborn instinctively breathing.
"Just turning into a cloud? That's it?"
"For now, I can move anywhere except completely sealed spaces, and blades don't work on me."
If black scale mail defended against physical attacks, this nullified them.
However, it wasn't total invincibility. Weapons infused with powerful magic, stronger bloodlust or auras, or those made of pure silver could still harm it.
In any case, Eugene's own martial prowess and vampire abilities had grown far stronger than before.
Black scale mail, camouflage, blood mist that vaporized and absorbed blood without direct sucking.
Transformation into monsters that ate red mana stones, language deciphering for all tongues, berserker ability he hadn't needed yet.
Now adding the black mist he named and water resistance.
"A-Awesomeee! As expected of my master!"
Eugene felt a bit burdened by the spirit clasping its hands, eyes sparkling.
But then.
"Hm?"
"Huh?"
As Eugene suddenly narrowed his eyes and stared piercingly, Mirian tilted its head, then grinned.
"Heh! Finally fallen for this little one's true charm, Master? Aying~ If you keep staring so hotly, this one's too embarrassed... Kieak!?"
Eugene snatched the wriggling spirit with its obnoxious expression.
"You got bigger?"
"Kie?"
"And you grew an extra pair of wings?"
"Kieeek!?"
Startled, Mirian frantically examined itself once released, then bulged its water eyes twice normal size and cheered.
"R-Really? Wooow! Kieet! Kieet!"
Once half a palm-sized, now palm-length, it zipped through the air madly.
With the extra wings, its flight speed was much faster than before.
As its contracted master grew, the spirit had evolved too.
"Kihihihihi! This body evolved too, you see. Hot! From today, this body isn't Mirian. It's Neo King God Revolution Mirian Mark II or something. Kihihet!"
The spirit spouted nonsense with an elongated nose.
As Eugene considered smacking it, a thought struck him.
"You evolved, so your abilities overall got stronger, right?"
"Kihihut! Foolish Master. Of course. I, Neo King God Revolu... whatever, have advanced in every way, enough to aim for next spirit king~ That's what. Unless Master becomes demon king level, will the ranks match? Kihuhuhu!"
Mirian raised its nose, now two finger joints longer. Suppressing a surge of violent urge, Eugene narrowed his eyes.
"Oh? That impressive, huh? Then you can make more water faster too."
"Kihihut! No need to ask twice. I, Neo King God Revo... Kie?"
Despite its arrogance exploding from evolution, its intelligence unchanged, the babbling spirit paused.
"The castle's short on drinking water. They plan to channel river water from nearby. But you'd dig wells faster and easier."
"....Ha!? W-Was it a dream? Master, this one thinks it dreamed of evolving just now. Phew! A weak, incompetent lowest water spirit like me evolving? Nah, better stay Master's cute little spirit and sweetly return to the spirit realm... Kweek!?"
"Next spirit king Neo King God whatever, I believe you can handle it. I'll give you three days. Dig three wells."
Eugene grinned, grabbing the deflated would-be spirit king.
"Kheek! B-But if this one overworks and dies...."
"Three days."
Eugene gripped Mirian tight and hurled it out the window.
"Maaasteeer! Keeeeek...."
The blue water ball of a spirit flew away, its pitiful voice fading.
* * *
"Demon realm subjugation, you say?"
"Yeah."
Only five of the original twelve body tattoos remained.
With Brantia unified, now was the perfect time to freely scour demon realms and hunt mid-to-high-tier monsters without restraint.
'I have to erase all the tattoos somehow. Then I can use the last of the four ancestral treasures, the armor.'
Recalling the demonic armor Artemis stored deep in the royal vault, Eugene said to Luke.
"Find places no one's fully explored, suspected to have high-tier monsters. About a month? Anyway, I want to clear them as fast as possible."
"Uh... Of course, Master. But."
"Hm?"
No matter what anyone said, original Eugene fanboy Luke wore a deeply guilty expression.
"I'm truly sorry, but Brantiia's demon realms with high-tier monsters are few. Or rather, hard to even confirm if they have them."
"What?"
"Mm. The king's words are true, Duke Bartla."
Pitamoras stepped forward.
"As the duke knows, this land's knights are unquestionable in skill and bravery, but their equipment is the issue. Moreover, outstanding knights focused solely on wars for decades, barely bothering with demon realms. So they were mostly handled by novice knights and mercenaries."
"Hmm."
"In short, even identifying demon realms meeting your conditions will take a full month."
"...."
Eugene felt deflated.
As expected of a remote island nation, Brantia lagged behind continental powers like Kailer Kingdom in nearly every way.
'Damn. Have to check them one by one?'
As disappointed Eugene thought that, Princess Lilisein stepped forward confidently.
"Your Grace the Duke. Take me with you."
"What do you mean?"
As another Eugene devotee, thrilled at the chance to aid her revered duke, Princess Lilisein stepped up, unable to hide her joy.
"I'm pure Elrand royal blood. I can sense evil beings birthed from magic."
"Oh....?"
Princess Lilisein's nose twitched as her body heated under Eugene's surprised gaze.
"I'll scout high-tier monsters for Your Grace. Hoo, hoo!"
"We leave tomorrow. The princess enters the demon realms with me."
With me...
Enters with...
With...
"Y-Yes, sire! Hooook!"
Hot breath twice normal volume snorted from the elf princess knight's widened nostrils.
But Princess Lilisein's thrilled expectations went unrealized.
That night, a single vampire arrived at the royal castle after a long journey from Kalsbaegin Peninsula to Brighton.
(To be continued)