Chapter 272: You’re Working Hard (1)
Chapter 272: You’re Working Hard (1)
They say life is full of ups and downs, don’t they?
Even though a major issue had arisen—a knight of the Duchy falling for a dark mage’s temptation—the Schneider Duchy itself hadn’t suffered much damage.
So, for the time being, Patrick should just calm do—
“Ugh, the more I think about it, the more pissed off I get.”
…Never mind. He couldn’t.
Why? Because he was Patrick Schneider.
“Causing a ruckus in my territory? How am I going to find this cockroach bastard and crush him?”
Patrick spoke while grinding his teeth.
Beside him, Isabella, who had been lying in bed, pulled the blanket up to her chest and leaned back against the headboard.
Then she spoke.
“Are you going to think about that all day?”
“It’s infuriating, isn’t it?”
“…….”
Goodness, whose husband is he to have such a consistent personality?
Isabella let out a sigh and said, “We’ve already tried everything we can, haven’t we?”
“Well, that’s true…”
After hearing Jason’s testimony, they had immediately created a montage of the suspect believed to be the dark mage.
His name was Reed. They had distributed wanted posters throughout the Duchy, filled with information about the man disguised as a priest. They had also sought cooperation from the Elves and the mages of the Tower of Truth to find him. However…
“The problem is we can’t find him.”
Indeed. It was impossible to track a dark mage who was determined to stay hidden.
Isabella let out a small sigh.
“If they were that easy to find, the entire continent wouldn’t be struggling so much to eradicate them.”
“I know that. I know, but…”
“But?”
“We still have to get it done.”
“…….”
“Shouldn’t we make the impossible possible through indomitable willpower? Right? Isn’t that right?”
“…….”
Does that even make sense, you husband of mine?
Sigh, whatever. I’m going to sleep.
* * *
“My, my… things are going awry.”
The dark mage, Greed, let out a sigh.
Recently, the Schneider Duchy had been plastered with wanted posters searching for him.
Because of that, he could no longer use the identity of Priest Reed, one of his favorite fake personas. It was an identity he had put a lot of effort into crafting.
But the bigger headache was that his plan had completely fallen apart.
“This wasn’t the original plan.”
When Greed first discovered Jason and strengthened his power, his plan was as follows:
Turn a man full of inferiority—someone who seemed like the weakest link in the knight order—into a powerhouse.
Then, when the other knights became curious about the secret to his strength and asked, Greed would use Jason to get introduced to several other knights of the Double Dragon Knights. He would then plant mana in them and proceed with their enhancement.
After winning over the knights one by one, he intended to meet and recruit the Double Dragon himself when the time was right.
But that plan had been shattered at its foundation.
Jason had been suppressed by Patrick on the very first day, and it was even discovered that there was dark mana inside his body.
Thanks to that, the fact that he, a dark mage, had infiltrated the Schneider Duchy was now exposed.
Things had become complicated—very complicated.
“What should I do? I can’t face the Jonsa if I return like this…”
Just then, the shadows beside Greed flickered, and another figure appeared.
“You seem to be in a bind, Greed.”
“Rust? Why are you here?”
The person called Rust was a man wrapped in a black robe, just like Greed.
He covered his mouth with his hand and spoke with a mock-sorrowful tone.
“How cold. I rushed here from the other side of the continent so as not to ignore a comrade’s plight.”
“Mind your own mission, Rust.”
“Hehehe. Don’t worry. I’ve done more than enough on my end.”
Greed’s eyes widened.
Rust.
He was someone performing an important mission in the direction of the Holy Kingdom. For him to show up here meant…
“Don’t tell me, you succeeded?”
“Hehehe. It was a boringly easy task.”
“Hahahaha!”
Greed burst into laughter.
Considering the mission Rust had been assigned, Greed had wondered if it was even possible. But Rust had succeeded in that absurd task.
Greed couldn’t contain his satisfaction and laughed out loud.
“Excellent. It’ll be much easier to operate in the Holy Kingdom now.”
At Greed’s praise, Rust shrugged as if it were nothing.
“Since my mission ended early, I came to support you under the Jonsa’s orders. However…”
Rust let out a sigh and continued.
“To think you couldn’t even win over the heir of a tiny duchy like this…”
“Hmph, it couldn’t be helped. The plan went wrong from the start, so I have to begin all over again.”
“Right. Then there’s something I can help with.”
“Are you planning to use your specialty? I heard the Double Dragon has three beautiful wives. Will it really work?”
When Greed spoke skeptically, Rust chuckled.
“This is why people who have never dated are so…”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
To the bristling Greed, Rust said, “Just as a person with plenty of money still wants more, a man who already possesses beautiful women is bound to be swayed when he sees a new beauty.”
“Well, I suppose…”
“You’ll see.”
Then, Rust slowly slipped off the robe.
An astonishing sight was revealed.
The figure that emerged from the robe was not a man, but a woman.
She was a delicate, pure-looking blonde girl who looked as if she couldn’t even pluck a single flower with her own hands.
No one would ever associate this fragile young girl with dark magic.
But her true identity was indeed Rust.
Among the seven disciples of the Jonsa, she was the witch of witches who had ruled the flip side of the world from the continent’s shadows, handling secret missions.
She gave a dizzying smile and spoke.
“Watch closely. Watch how I wrap the Double Dragon around my finger.”
* * *
Even if Patrick made a lot of money through various businesses and Grand Duke Schneider practiced benevolent rule to help the people as much as possible…
A state cannot completely eliminate poverty.
Though small in scale, the Schneider Duchy also had a slum where the poor gathered to live.
Because the knight order patrolled intensively, public order wasn’t that bad, but the characteristic gloomy atmosphere of a slum was unavoidable. However…
“Please eat slowly.”
“Oh, thank you, Priestess.”
“It’s nothing. Next person, please come in.”
The atmosphere of this gloomy, dark alleyway had brightened.
It started when a female priest came to this very alley to perform volunteer work.
Wearing a simple white low-ranking priest’s robe without any decorations, she had blonde hair that looked like melted gold and blue eyes as clear and transparent as a lake.
Appearing with the innocent, angelic face of someone who knew nothing of the world’s filth, she began her volunteer work by distributing free meals to the poor in the slums.
At first, only a few people came by word of mouth, but as rumors of her dazzling beauty and kind heart spread, soon countless people in the slums were lining up to receive meals.
And rumors of her existence continued to spread.
The knights intensified their patrols just in case.
And lately, some knights had even started watching her volunteer work from a distance.
“Hey, why is a patroller just standing still in one spot?”
“Well, isn’t this place densely populated right now? I have to guard it because I don’t know what might happen.”
“Did you receive such an order?”
“This much is a field judgment. More importantly, why are you here when you’re not even on duty today?”
“Ahem… It’s my business where I spend my day off.”
“What’s that in your hand? Surely that’s not an object called a flower?”
“Why? Is it weird for me to have a flower in my hand?”
“Yeah.”
“You want to die?!”
As always, a beautiful flower called a woman is bound to attract bees called men.
Numerous knights had already lost their hearts to that nameless priestess.
In fact, the Double Dragon Knights had very high standards.
For a long time, they had seen countless beauties, starting with the Lord’s wife, Ava, followed by April, Isabella, Elione, and so on.
But here was the thing.
What good were many beauties?
Not a single one of them was their woman.
In the midst of that, the appearance of this mysterious, beautiful, noble, and holy angel, who seemed untainted by the world, was enough to set the hearts of many knights aflutter.
I must confess today.
Mother, I’ll be bringing home a daughter-in-law soon.
I wonder how many children would be good?
The knights loitering around were looking for a chance to push past their competitors and step forward.
What should I do?
Ugh. There’s no opening. No opening.
If this were a novel, some thugs would show up right about now to threaten that beautiful lady, and then I’d save her…
Sorry to ruin the fantasy, but unfortunately, the Schneider territory had such unnecessarily good public order that there were few thugs.
And even if it were a place with poor security, no one would dare show their face where knights were watching with eyes like hawks.
Because of this, the knights were anxious, and…
What are you doing, you idiots?
Rust was getting annoyed.
It goes without saying, but this blonde girl disguised as a low-ranking priest was the dark mage Rust.
She was drawing attention by acting like an innocent girl and doing volunteer work in the slums.
She thought that once her presence became known, the influential figures of the territory would naturally approach her.
Grand Duke Jacob Schneider.
Or the man in power and his son, Patrick Schneider.
She intended to hook whichever one fell into her net and strike with her venomous fangs immediately.
However, at that time, Grand Duke Jacob Schneider was…
“Ava, you grow more beautiful with each passing day.”
“Oh, you… I’m at an age where I could become a grandmother any day now.”
“Even if an eternity passes, to me, you are still the sixteen-year-old girl I first met. Your smile from that day will always remain eternal within me.”
“Really, now…”
Similarly, at the same time, Patrick Schneider…
“Are you in your right mind or not?”
“I’m sorry, Young Master.”
“April, do you know what you did wrong? Or do you not?”
“That is… I’m sorry. I’m not quite sure.”
“I clearly told you to stop being so cute and lovely, didn’t I?”
“…….”
“But you just keep getting prettier and more lovable every second… Ow, ow! Don’t pinch me! That hurts!”
“…….”
As you can see…
The two of them were busy.
They had no time to spare for some mysterious, peerless beauty who had appeared in the slums.
So, Rust decided to change her method.
The Jonsa said that if you want to take down the general, you must first shoot his horse.
Thinking back, even in the Holy Kingdom, she had reached her goal by going through several humans as stepping stones.
She just had to do something similar this time.
So, Rust lowered her standards and tried to entice just any knight first, but…
Come here, you bastards!
The knights of this territory were all hovering around like boys fumbling over their first love, acting completely frustrating.
To think these were the knights of the Double Dragon Knights, famous as one of the top ten knight orders on the continent…
In the end, unable to watch any longer, Rust decided to take the lead herself.
She gave a soft smile toward a nearby knight and spoke.
“Sir Knight. If you don’t mind, could you help me for a moment?”
“Me… Me?”
“Yes. I need to move this pot of soup, but it’s a bit heavy for me. Ah, is this too rude a request for a knight…?”
“No! It’s not rude at all!”
The knight who was called out straightened his shoulders unnecessarily and stepped forward.
With the corners of his mouth reaching his ears, he flashed a rotten smirk at the other competitors around him.
Hehehe, how’s that, you bastards? This is what it means for the brave to win the beauty.
What exactly did you do?
But the knight, feeling proud that his other colleagues were looking at him with tragic expressions…
“Should I move this?”
“Oh, it’s dangerous to do it with one hand.”
“Hahaha. This is nothing.”
“You’re so reliable.”
“Hahahaha.”
“May I ask your name?”
The knight, who now had the beauty’s undivided attention, thanked his lucky stars and said, “I am Oliver A. And the Priestess’s name is…”
“I’m Rita Preiner.”
And so, the lucky(?) man was decided.