Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: Joint Attack #7
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Elga and Mirna were growling at each other.
In my eyes, it looked as though spears and blades were clashing every which way behind them as they traded barbs.
This was a kind of war.
A tragic battlefield from the long history of the Angmar Kingdom was now unfolding right here at this café table.
Elga was the first to provoke.
Asking Mirna out of the blue, “Can I like this guy?” It was such a shocking confession that I couldn’t help but tense up.
Damn it...
Elga was completely out of control.
Then Mirna spoke up amid all this.
“Then let’s add a condition. Or you could call it a proposal.”
A condition?
I’d assumed Mirna would flat-out refuse, of course. Something like, “Aiming for my fiancé? Lady Lioness, have you no pride?”
But instead of rejecting Elga’s provocation, Mirna seemed utterly confident as she made a counter-proposal.
“Lady Lioness. You’re not scared of my proposal, are you?”
“You think I’m a coward like you? Fine, what’s this proposal?”
Elga lifted her chin slightly, as if to say, go on, spit it out. Mirna then spoke from behind her fan, which she’d unfurled with a flourish, her expression haughty.
“Let’s pick a date.”
“A date?”
“We pick a date. On that day, we ask Theo Gospel to decide the winner. Whoever he chooses that day gets everything.”
“Hmm, every-thing? You really wanna lose that badly?”
Elga kept provoking Mirna, acting like she couldn’t possibly lose.
Now that I thought about it, Elga wasn’t great at logical debates, but she had a real talent for pissing people off.
Having roamed the battlefields, she probably had a gift for trash talk to lure out enemy commanders.
Whether she’d fallen for Elga’s bait or truly believed in herself, Mirna smiled leisurely in response.
“300,000 gold.”
“What?”
“The loser pays the winner 300,000 gold as a consolation prize. What do you think?”
“Hey, do the math. 300,000 gold could build and run a fortress outpost. You’re really wagering that on this bet?”
Elga seemed genuinely flustered by Mirna’s massive proposal. And understandably so—300,000 gold was an overwhelmingly huge sum.
It rivaled a family’s budget for several years.
With that kind of money on the line, the gap in fortunes between winner and loser would widen dramatically.
“It’s about the same as the reparations the loser paid after the War of Dragon and Lion. Any objections? Or should I lower the amount for you, since you’re going to lose?”
Now it was Mirna doing the provoking.
Elga ground her teeth with a crunch. I wondered how anyone’s mouth could make a sound like that.
“Fine. Objection. It wasn’t the War of Dragon and Lion—it was the War of Lion and Dragon. We won way more times. Don’t you even know that?”
“And your side had way more casualties.”
“Oh yeah, casualties. So where’s your family now? Did they all end up in the graveyard playing with necromancy?”
“What did you say!?”
Mirna slammed the table, looking genuinely furious.
Startled, I thought we needed to wrap this up before things escalated into an actual war.
“Both of you, maybe we should stop here. It’s getting late anyway. Arguing more will just raise voices.”
* * *
Elga and Mirna went their separate ways.
I returned to my dorm, too.
My head felt like it was boiling from everything that had happened today, so much to think about. As I replayed events alone, trying to figure out how it had come to this, someone knocked on my door.
━It’s me. Open up quick.
It was Elga.
I had a ton to say to her anyway.
I flung the door open, and there she stood—makeup off, changed into comfy clothes.
“Hey, I know you’ve got stuff to say to me. But give me a minute first.”
Elga seemed to sense I was about to unload on her. Her boldness despite that made me curious enough to hear her out.
She glanced around, shut the door, and came in.
“To completely win Mirna over, this is the best way. Stir up her jealousy and competitive spirit.”
As expected, this whole thing seemed like Elga’s scheme.
“This is me helping you, got it?”
She defended herself, claiming she’d done it for my sake.
I pushed my swirling emotions aside for the moment and asked coolly.
“So that’s why you wagered 300,000 gold? We even signed a contract—you can’t back out now.”
“300,000 gold... wasn’t something I planned on. But I’m not gonna lose anyway, right? You’ll pick me.”
“No...”
Neither Elga nor Mirna seemed to think they could lose.
Where did all that confidence come from? I could use half of it.
As I fell silent, Elga added excuses.
“Trust me. This is the fastest way. Without something this extreme, you think you’d ever get to touch that miser Mirna’s thigh?”
Elga was convinced that fomenting drama like this was the optimal strategy against Mirna.
She had a point. Without an extreme move like this, there was no clear path to advancing things with Mirna.
Unless I revealed I was Solomon’s grandson.
But that risk was way too high.
“Don’t like my help?”
For a moment, Elga eyed my expression. Thinking back, she’d probably done this in her own way to help me.
“Honestly, I’m just flustered right now. In the future, could you consult me before starting something this big?”
“Hmph. Did you consult me before cozying up to Mirna?”
Touché. I had nothing to say to that.
Handling women was no easy task.
I could see why Angmar kings had such short lifespans. If stuff like today blew up between wives every other day, no one would live long.
And if a bunch of kids were born, fighting over the throne? That’d be a nightmare.
「Composed Situational Judgment!
Talent 《Composed Thinking》 gains experience points.
All job experience +5」
No... I hope that’s not true.
I shook my head lightly to dispel the floating text. Then I turned to Elga, who looked somewhat sulky and downcast.
“Still, thank you for helping me, Lady Elga.”
“Wow, groveling now?”
“No, I mean it. Honestly, I couldn’t quite believe you’d be okay with me taking multiple wives.”
“Hmph...”
Elga snorted instead of answering.
An awkward silence followed.
Then, reluctantly, she spoke.
“I don’t think you’re just some womanizer who likes girls, Theo Gospel. You taking multiple wives must be for political or ambitious reasons. Politicians often have many wives.”
“......”
“So, you can’t tell me the reason? Can’t share the big picture you’re painting?”
“That’s right.”
“But I get the gist anyway. I’m not stupid. Toras. Belmen. Colossus. Demetri. Olondo, Scol, Ardyuna, Bellos. Katar-.”
Elga started listing names. I recognized some—Olondo, Scol, Ardyuna, and so on. They were place names or something.
“Names of fallen houses.”
“Yeah. Houses that fell with the Angmar King and got wiped out. Demon King supporters. You’re probably from one of them, right?”
Elga had apparently investigated fallen houses on her own while I wasn’t around. Studying to figure out my identity?
“You hate Lioness and Draco for destroying your house. So you’re using me and Mirna for revenge.”
Pretty damn close to the truth.
Maybe I’d given her too much info.
She hadn’t guessed I was an Angmar survivor myself, but someday she might figure it out before I told her.
Elga continued.
“But one thing’s clear: Angmar’s Demon King was a madman. He set fire to a fortress full of people. Loved hearing screams. A slaughterer.”
“Stories you heard?”
“From my grandfather. He never lied. Total opposite of you. He said the Demon King impaled captives on spits like a lunatic—.”
The gruesome tale made me furrow my brow.
I knew plenty about the Demon King’s atrocities—they were infamous. No need to hear more.
“Why tell me this?”
“Houses that followed that madman got what they deserved. Trying revenge now? No one’ll back you.”
“So you’re saying I should drop the revenge.”
“Yeah. Honestly, they deserved to die.”
Elga had a point.
I wasn’t even a real Angmar descendant.
Just someone who’d possessed such a body by chance.
Sometimes I felt the original owner’s thirst for vengeance in this blood since awakening to my fate, but I could control it because my soul was from somewhere else entirely.
Even so, I followed fate because I had a hunch there’d be some kind of ‘answer’ at the end of this path. An explanation for my absurd situation.
The reason I was going through this.
Yes.
I craved reasons more than anyone.
So I understood a bit why reason-craving Elga was frustrated.
Lately, I’d even thought maybe I could tell her the truth.
But seeing her despise the Angmar Demon King earlier? Nah, that idea was out.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked, interrupting my thoughts.
━Theo Gospel. Are you asleep?
The soft, familiar voice. Mirna.
Elga glanced around and whispered.
“See? Mirna’s here.”
“See?”
“I came, so of course she would. I’ll hide in the wardrobe. Act like I’m not here. Got it? If she knows I came first, she’ll get mad and make a scene.”