Chapter 567: Closed Doors (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 567: Closed Doors (1)
"B-Baron Yandel...?"
As I emerged back onto the surface, the handful of knights stationed by the village entrance froze when they noticed me. To be fair, to them I probably looked like a ghost coming back from the dead, considering the way Jerome had thrown me to the dogs after I passed out.
"Um... are you all right...?"
One of the knights seemed to have sensed something was off, as he didn't come any closer, keeping his distance. However, for some reason, he wasn't able to look me in the eyes.
Was he feeling guilty or something?
"Call Count Saintred here," I ordered. "I have something to say to him."
"Pardon? Oh... yes! I will go relay your message!" The knight, who had been standing guard around the tree with the others, quickly ran off.
Not long after, Jerome Saintred appeared with a huge band of knights behind him. He stared at me for a while, likely trying to figure out my identity, before turning to his subordinates. "Leave this to me. Go and rest."
All right, I guess I'm in the clear for now.
Even so, I did my best to keep my expression carefully neutral. This was the crux of our plan. I needed to make Jerome think I was the village chief.
Though we now had the privacy we needed to hold a conversation, we both fell into silence. I was the one to break it.
"Don't worry. The ritual was successfully completed."
I made sure to say it in a way that the barbarian warrior, Bjorn, son of Yandel would never say.
Only then did Jerome finally relax. "I'm relieved to hear it. Now give me the item as agreed. Or are you having second thoughts after coming all this way? If so, I suggest you rethink immediately. If you don't, you'll find it hard to have any sort of life out in the city, even with your new—"
"I'm having no such thoughts. It is just that there is one thing I couldn't tell you earlier..." As I trailed off, Jerome stared at me, silently demanding I explain. "That item is currently immovable."
"...What do you mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. When I awoke in this body, I was next to the portal stone. And... that item had fused with the portal stone. I've tried multiple times but failed to remove it."
Surprisingly enough, this story was half-true. According to the chief, the Heart of Karui had been attached to the portal stone and had fallen off only when he finally tried to open a portal to escape. That was the moment he realized he couldn't use portals while in the body of a monster.
However, with no way of knowing any of that, Jerome grew enraged.
"Damn you. Why are you telling me this only now?"
"There's an order to all things."
"Is this a joke to—?!"
"Is there a problem? I know that you're trying to retrieve this item on behalf of your king. Couldn't you just bring him here to use it? Besides, while I didn't find a way to separate the item from the stone, you might be able to."
As I held my ground against his anger, Jerome quieted down. Though rather than forcibly holding himself back, it seemed more like he was taking in the new information I'd given him with cold calculation.
"...I want to see for myself."
Soon enough, Jerome spoke.
"I will be personally examining the item."
"Hmm," I hummed in a show of contemplation, "then I'll take my warriors and leave the village. That way, you can take your time once we're—"
"No, until I have seen for myself that your words are true, you won't be going anywhere."
...I knew you would say that.
"As you wish."
Now, it was all up to the village chief.
***
After arriving at the tree that housed the entrance to the hidden village of monsters, the expedition group received an order. However, it was not an order to go down and attack or destroy it.
"Remain on alert until further notice!"
Instead, they were put on indefinite standby.
However, the knights, priests, and wizards of the expedition group all gulped at the order, their nerves plain to see on their faces. For as basic as the command was, the simple truth was that they weren't just on standby. No, they were standing off against a hoard of hundreds of warriors from the village, who all stared right back at them.
"Ebost, if those monsters make any moves or do anything suspicious, open fire and kill them all."
"Understood."
"And while I'm gone, make sure to assist Baron Yandel as well."
From the way Jerome stressed the word "assist," I could tell that the deputy commander was somewhat in on Jerome's plan. However, knowing the type of guy Jerome was, he would not have given his deputy all of the details. It was more than likely that he just told Ebost to keep an eye on me and keep me on a tight leash.
"But will you really be all right by yourself?" the deputy commander asked.
"Don't worry. So long as you do your duty up here, everything will be fine."
Though at a glance it may have seemed like Jerome was being reckless, in truth, he wasn't—at least not considering the assumptions he was operating under. Not only did he believe that the village chief was currently inside my body, but he knew that the rest of the village's monsters were up on the surface with us. In his mind, nothing in the village posed any danger to him.
"Ahem..."
So Jerome headed down to the village alone, and the deputy commander cleared his throat and awkwardly took up his post next to me.
I ignored him, choosing to focus on more important matters.
All right, then how's this going to play out...?
The chief had told me that so long as I could get Jerome Saintred to head down to the cave alone, he'd be able to take care of the rest. He'd sounded so confident that I decided to give it a shot, and even if the chief failed, it wasn't like I had anything to lose anyway. Whether the village chief overpowered Jerome and stole his body or Jerome fought back and killed the chief, either outcome was a win for me.
Of course, if Jerome returned alive, there was a chance that the fact that I plotted against him with the village chief would be made public.
But he was the one who tried to betray me first.
This was just payback.
There'd definitely be some hard feelings between us, as we had both acted against the other's interests, but we could talk it over and work past it later.
And if the village chief wins, I still stand to gain.
The outcome of this operation was thus in the village chief's hands. After all, the whole body-snatching plan had been his MO in the first place. The only thing I was worried about was the possibility of them forming another alliance and betraying me yet again.
"Hmm," I hummed in a show of contemplation, "then I'll take my warriors and leave the village. That way, you can take your time once we're—"
"No, until I have seen for myself that your words are true, you won't be going anywhere."
...I knew you would say that.
"As you wish."
Now, it was all up to the village chief.
***
After arriving at the tree that housed the entrance to the hidden village of monsters, the expedition group received an order. However, it was not an order to go down and attack or destroy it.
"Remain on alert until further notice!"
Instead, they were put on indefinite standby.
However, the knights, priests, and wizards of the expedition group all gulped at the order, their nerves plain to see on their faces. For as basic as the command was, the simple truth was that they weren't just on standby. No, they were standing off against a hoard of hundreds of warriors from the village, who all stared right back at them.
"Ebost, if those monsters make any moves or do anything suspicious, open fire and kill them all."
"Understood."
"And while I'm gone, make sure to assist Baron Yandel as well."
From the way Jerome stressed the word "assist," I could tell that the deputy commander was somewhat in on Jerome's plan. However, knowing the type of guy Jerome was, he would not have given his deputy all of the details. It was more than likely that he just told Ebost to keep an eye on me and keep me on a tight leash.
"But will you really be all right by yourself?" the deputy commander asked.
"Don't worry. So long as you do your duty up here, everything will be fine."
Though at a glance it may have seemed like Jerome was being reckless, in truth, he wasn't—at least not considering the assumptions he was operating under. Not only did he believe that the village chief was currently inside my body, but he knew that the rest of the village's monsters were up on the surface with us. In his mind, nothing in the village posed any danger to him.
"Ahem..."
So Jerome headed down to the village alone, and the deputy commander cleared his throat and awkwardly took up his post next to me.
I ignored him, choosing to focus on more important matters.
All right, then how's this going to play out...?
The chief had told me that so long as I could get Jerome Saintred to head down to the cave alone, he'd be able to take care of the rest. He'd sounded so confident that I decided to give it a shot, and even if the chief failed, it wasn't like I had anything to lose anyway. Whether the village chief overpowered Jerome and stole his body or Jerome fought back and killed the chief, either outcome was a win for me.
Of course, if Jerome returned alive, there was a chance that the fact that I plotted against him with the village chief would be made public.
But he was the one who tried to betray me first.
This was just payback.
There'd definitely be some hard feelings between us, as we had both acted against the other's interests, but we could talk it over and work past it later.
And if the village chief wins, I still stand to gain.
The outcome of this operation was thus in the village chief's hands. After all, the whole body-snatching plan had been his MO in the first place. The only thing I was worried about was the possibility of them forming another alliance and betraying me yet again.
This is eating me alive. I can't trust the village chief or Jerome.
But the more I thought about it, the less likely a deal between them seemed, so I shook off the thought. It wasn't like I didn't have plans in place for that exact scenario, anyway.
For now, I just needed to see how things played out.
"Ebost, could I talk to my clanmates for a moment?" I requested, figuring I might as well test my bounds.
Unsurprisingly, my request was summarily rejected.
"I apologize. When the commander returns, I will request that he allow you to speak with your clanmates, so please wait until then."
"...Sure."
I was worried about my captured comrades, but I quickly set that aside for now. Judging by Ebost's firm response, I doubted I'd be able to get him to budge no matter how hard I tried.
...I really need to ask Missha about the Stone of Revival.
Of course, when I said I was going to "ask about" it, what I really meant was that I wanted to confirm some suspicions I already had. The Stone of Revival had almost certainly come from Baekho Lee—I was nearly 100 percent certain of that. I also had a guess as to why he gave the stone to Missha at all.
Hah... Every time I think I can trust the guy, he pulls something like this.
To be honest, I couldn't even say I felt betrayed. I was just getting fed up with how obsessive he could be.
I sighed.
In any case, I passed the time thinking through next steps under the watchful eye of the knights. And then, finally...
"The count has returned!"
Jerome Saintred returned from the village alone, just as he had left, and came to a stop in front of me. Despite myself, anxiety crept up my spine.
Is it the village chief, or still Jerome?
I soon got my answer.
The commander of the expedition group stared into my eyes as he held out his hand. "Baron Yandel, thank you. I was able to defeat him thanks to you."
All right, it worked.
***
I had no way of knowing what exactly happened between the two of them down there, but I did know one thing for sure:
The village chief won.
The village chief had successfully overpowered Jerome Saintred and taken over his body. In other words, the expedition group, which was made up of some of the palace's most loyal lapdogs, was suddenly under the purview of some random guy. We now had control of the entire thing.
"Ebost, free Baron Yandel's clanmates."
"...What? But..."
"It's all right. My conflict with the baron was simply a ploy to fool the village chief."
"...To fool him?"
The deputy commander seemed flummoxed by this sudden plot twist, so I quickly jumped in. "The village chief had a way of seeing everything that happens on this island. So to fool him, we needed to fool you all first."
"What? Then..."
"From the beginning, it was all an act meant to help us kill that village chief." I left off there and didn't offer up any more details. Not only did we not have time for that, but I might end up slipping up and saying the wrong thing if I kept talking.
"Great work, Baron Yandel," the commander said cheerily. "Pulling off an act like that definitely wouldn't have been easy."
"Haha! It was nothing!"
Though the deputy commander was unable to fully buy our explanation, he remained silent as the two of us let out hearty laughter. We were the ones saying everything was fine, so who was he to argue?
Plus, people tended to prefer when everything worked out for the best.
"Huh... I did think things seemed a little odd. I had faith you had a plan and followed orders accordingly... but it looked almost like you were abandoning Baron Yandel for a moment there, Commander..."
But if this conflict was just a collaboration between me and Jerome, well, then everything was totally fine, right?
Perhaps for that reason, even as some of the members of the expedition group questioned our plan itself, they didn't doubt that we were telling the truth.
I guess we've cleared the first hurdle.
Honestly, convincing the expedition group of our story was critical. This would ensure that the village chief, who was now Jerome Saintred, would be able to live his new life without further complications, and it would also make it easier for us to proceed with the next few steps of our plan.
The problem is we need to make sure we aren't found out before then...
Of course, I wasn't particularly worried about that part. I knew firsthand just how thorough this guy was in everything he did.
"Commander...! The monsters are starting to rampage!"
"Looks like they finally realized that their leader is dead."
Soon enough, the monsters we'd been standing off against started shouting in the ancient language, and the village chief gave the order without a second's hesitation.
"Charge! Kill the monsters!" he commanded, signing the death warrant of the beings he'd called his people until just minutes ago.
"Nia Rafdonia!"
Once the expedition group took up the charge and attacked them, the monsters were slaughtered without much resistance. They didn't even put up a proper fight, and it couldn't have been because they had lost their leader, the village chief.
"They aren't resisting at all..." I realized. "Just... what did you do?"
"Nothing much. I just told them beforehand that they only needed to struggle a bit before dying. They're useless now anyway, no?"
...What the hell?
Despite feeling a chill go down my spine, I could see the logic in what he was doing.
...They're intelligent and can communicate through the ancient language, so this is the most surefire way to shut them up.
After all, dead men told no tales.
The problem was that I was now the only person in the world who knew the village chief's secret. But even though I would always have to keep my guard up against him, I didn't let myself linger too much on the negatives.
There were some positives to take into account as well.
"It's all over..."
Once we'd cleared out the village, the chief spoke to me in Jerome's voice.
"Your contributions in this battle were significant indeed, Baron Yandel. As such, I wish to grant you a suitable reward... The essences we've gathered so far? Mana stones? Equipment? Tell me if there's anything you want."
I now had an official way to leech off the royal family's coffers.
This is eating me alive. I can't trust the village chief or Jerome.
But the more I thought about it, the less likely a deal between them seemed, so I shook off the thought. It wasn't like I didn't have plans in place for that exact scenario, anyway.
For now, I just needed to see how things played out.
"Ebost, could I talk to my clanmates for a moment?" I requested, figuring I might as well test my bounds.
Unsurprisingly, my request was summarily rejected.
"I apologize. When the commander returns, I will request that he allow you to speak with your clanmates, so please wait until then."
"...Sure."
I was worried about my captured comrades, but I quickly set that aside for now. Judging by Ebost's firm response, I doubted I'd be able to get him to budge no matter how hard I tried.
...I really need to ask Missha about the Stone of Revival.
Of course, when I said I was going to "ask about" it, what I really meant was that I wanted to confirm some suspicions I already had. The Stone of Revival had almost certainly come from Baekho Lee—I was nearly 100 percent certain of that. I also had a guess as to why he gave the stone to Missha at all.
Hah... Every time I think I can trust the guy, he pulls something like this.
To be honest, I couldn't even say I felt betrayed. I was just getting fed up with how obsessive he could be.
I sighed.
In any case, I passed the time thinking through next steps under the watchful eye of the knights. And then, finally...
"The count has returned!"
Jerome Saintred returned from the village alone, just as he had left, and came to a stop in front of me. Despite myself, anxiety crept up my spine.
Is it the village chief, or still Jerome?
I soon got my answer.
The commander of the expedition group stared into my eyes as he held out his hand. "Baron Yandel, thank you. I was able to defeat him thanks to you."
All right, it worked.
***
I had no way of knowing what exactly happened between the two of them down there, but I did know one thing for sure:
The village chief won.
The village chief had successfully overpowered Jerome Saintred and taken over his body. In other words, the expedition group, which was made up of some of the palace's most loyal lapdogs, was suddenly under the purview of some random guy. We now had control of the entire thing.
"Ebost, free Baron Yandel's clanmates."
"...What? But..."
"It's all right. My conflict with the baron was simply a ploy to fool the village chief."
"...To fool him?"
The deputy commander seemed flummoxed by this sudden plot twist, so I quickly jumped in. "The village chief had a way of seeing everything that happens on this island. So to fool him, we needed to fool you all first."
"What? Then..."
"From the beginning, it was all an act meant to help us kill that village chief." I left off there and didn't offer up any more details. Not only did we not have time for that, but I might end up slipping up and saying the wrong thing if I kept talking.
"Great work, Baron Yandel," the commander said cheerily. "Pulling off an act like that definitely wouldn't have been easy."
"Haha! It was nothing!"
Though the deputy commander was unable to fully buy our explanation, he remained silent as the two of us let out hearty laughter. We were the ones saying everything was fine, so who was he to argue?
Plus, people tended to prefer when everything worked out for the best.
"Huh... I did think things seemed a little odd. I had faith you had a plan and followed orders accordingly... but it looked almost like you were abandoning Baron Yandel for a moment there, Commander..."
But if this conflict was just a collaboration between me and Jerome, well, then everything was totally fine, right?
Perhaps for that reason, even as some of the members of the expedition group questioned our plan itself, they didn't doubt that we were telling the truth.
I guess we've cleared the first hurdle.
Honestly, convincing the expedition group of our story was critical. This would ensure that the village chief, who was now Jerome Saintred, would be able to live his new life without further complications, and it would also make it easier for us to proceed with the next few steps of our plan.
The problem is we need to make sure we aren't found out before then...
Of course, I wasn't particularly worried about that part. I knew firsthand just how thorough this guy was in everything he did.
"Commander...! The monsters are starting to rampage!"
"Looks like they finally realized that their leader is dead."
Soon enough, the monsters we'd been standing off against started shouting in the ancient language, and the village chief gave the order without a second's hesitation.
"Charge! Kill the monsters!" he commanded, signing the death warrant of the beings he'd called his people until just minutes ago.
"Nia Rafdonia!"
Once the expedition group took up the charge and attacked them, the monsters were slaughtered without much resistance. They didn't even put up a proper fight, and it couldn't have been because they had lost their leader, the village chief.
"They aren't resisting at all..." I realized. "Just... what did you do?"
"Nothing much. I just told them beforehand that they only needed to struggle a bit before dying. They're useless now anyway, no?"
...What the hell?
Despite feeling a chill go down my spine, I could see the logic in what he was doing.
...They're intelligent and can communicate through the ancient language, so this is the most surefire way to shut them up.
After all, dead men told no tales.
The problem was that I was now the only person in the world who knew the village chief's secret. But even though I would always have to keep my guard up against him, I didn't let myself linger too much on the negatives.
There were some positives to take into account as well.
"It's all over..."
Once we'd cleared out the village, the chief spoke to me in Jerome's voice.
"Your contributions in this battle were significant indeed, Baron Yandel. As such, I wish to grant you a suitable reward... The essences we've gathered so far? Mana stones? Equipment? Tell me if there's anything you want."
I now had an official way to leech off the royal family's coffers.