Chapter 106
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Genius and the Vampire (3)
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‘I can just pick them up one by one as I head upstairs.’
After devising a simple plan for collecting the grimoires, I turned to Cedric and Perigal.
I had a favor to ask them.
“Cedric, I’m planning to add Ultan’s Tomb to our route. So discuss it with Perigal and rework the travel path. Think you can handle it?”
Nicholas, the head of the Eremus northern branch, was at Ultan’s Tomb.
Now that I knew that, I couldn’t just pass it by.
He was the leader of Eremus’s northern branch.
Taking him out would prevent the northern black mages from targeting me in an organized way.
It would also reduce the chaos in the north.
Just like in the east.
“Leave it to me!”
Cedric shouted energetically, while Perigal gave a lazy nod in response.
Once I’d confirmed their reactions,
I gave orders to the rest of the unit.
“Everyone else, gather the bodies in one place.”
Truth be told, I wanted to order the men to search the entire castle.
We could’ve looted a ton that way.
But doing so would undermine our legitimacy.
We’d be seen as bandits.
What about taking just a little?
That wasn’t a great option either.
There was sure to be a ledger listing every item in the castle, down to the number of spoons.
Any theft would be exposed in no time.
So the grimoires are the best I can take.
If the grimoires vanished, I could claim Patrick had read them and made them disappear.
They might not even be listed in the ledger to begin with.
The risk of backlash was low.
“Yes, sir!”
The men responded with vigor to my command.
And immediately got to work.
I watched them for a moment, then headed toward the grimoires’ location with the burly trio in tow.
Thud. Thud.
Once only the burly trio remained around me,
Conall suddenly asked me a question.
“Sir Heros, how do you plan to handle the cleanup?”
“Cleanup?”
“Killing a noble is a grave crime. If things go wrong, you could find yourself in serious trouble. We need to prepare for that beforehand.”
“I do have something in mind.”
What happens if a commoner kills a noble?
They’d likely be executed.
Hanging or beheading, depending on the judgment after capture.
But I was confident I’d survive.
The situation was turning in my favor.
“First, I’ll bring in religion. Fetch the village priest, show him the pile of bodies in the drawing room, and reveal the truth. Patrick was a black mage who tried to kill me, so we had no choice but to fight.”
This was the best plan I’d come up with.
Conall, who’d been listening quietly, shared his own thoughts.
“What if we also tell the priest that the current baron killed the previous one—a filial betrayal? The more we emphasize Patrick’s villainy, the more legitimacy we gain for killing him.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
I welcomed Conall’s suggestion.
At that moment, Bear, who’d been attentively following our conversation, spoke up.
“The fallout from killing a noble might be less than we fear. No need to worry too much.”
“Because of the chaos?”
“Yes. Since the empire’s founding, no era has treated noble lives so lightly. Killing one baron won’t cause much of a stir.”
This was sound reasoning too.
Both the east and the north where I was now
were utter bedlam.
A noble dying to roadside bandits while fleeing was no longer shocking.
If luck held, this incident would be buried too.
That’s reassuring.
Thanks to Bear and Conall chiming in so proactively, I arrived at the room with the first grimoire in a relaxed frame of mind.
“Found it.”
The first grimoire was...
The Beauty Grimoire.
This was the fourth time I’d encountered it.
It seemed I ran into this one more often than the others.
But its reaction was different from before.
"You traitor!"
The Beauty Grimoire spewed only curses at me, without stating its demand.
Why was it acting like this?
I had a guess.
Probably because I sacrificed it as an offering.
The expert magic grimoire.
To fulfill its demand, I’d offered up five grimoires as sacrifices.
One of them was the Beauty Grimoire.
It seemed to be holding a grudge over that.
“Sorry.”
I apologized sincerely first.
While doing so, I checked Bear and Conall’s reactions.
Having seen my eccentricities so often, their expressions didn’t change at the sight of me apologizing to a grimoire.
Still, it was embarrassing.
Do I really have to go this far...?
Doubt crept in for a moment, but I shook it off.
This was a chance to increase my magic power.
I had to seize it.
“I’m sorry! I’m really, truly sorry!”
I bowed my head to the Beauty Grimoire once more.
Then its voice came.
"Do you even know what you did wrong?"
I nodded immediately.
Right after, the Beauty Grimoire asked again.
"Then tell me."
I had to answer well here to soothe it.
So I gave the response I’d prepared.
“I sacrificed you as an offering for another grimoire.”
I looked at the Beauty Grimoire after answering.
An awkward silence followed for a bit.
Finally, its voice returned.
"That’s right. Heros, you should never sacrifice one grimoire for another. It betrays the trust and goodwill of grimoires. The sacrificed one just fattens another. No way to feel good about that."
The Beauty Grimoire lectured in a solemn tone.
I replied with sincerity.
“I’ll be careful from now on.”
Did my honesty get through?
The Beauty Grimoire sighed deeply and revealed its demand.
"To change, you must know your current self. Take time to quietly observe your face—long and carefully."
Its tone was still cold, anger not fully dissipated.
But it had told me its demand, so it was clearly less upset than before.
I let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank you.”
I expressed my gratitude to the Beauty Grimoire.
Unfortunately, no reply came.
I didn’t expect it to get this mad.
Sacrificing a grimoire for another
would provoke such a bad reaction—I hadn’t realized.
I’d made a huge mistake out of ignorance.
If even the seemingly petty Beauty Grimoire was this furious, the others would shun me entirely.
I need to think twice before using grimoires as sacrifices from now on. Good lesson learned.
With that thought, I moved to the next location.
The second grimoire I found
dealt with fire magic.
It had the unique name of Red-Hot Hammer Grimoire, and its demand was just as peculiar.
"One who wields fire must cherish it. Build a campfire and keep it burning until dawn. That is the trial I give you."
A straightforward demand.
Easy enough to fulfill.
Just one grimoire left now?
After acquiring the Red-Hot Hammer Grimoire,
I moved right away to find the next one.
The third grimoire I discovered
also contained fire magic.
Patrick, who’d seemed so greedy for magic, had left two fire grimoires?
He must not have had any aptitude for it.
If he did, he’d have read them long ago.
Flame Flower Dancer Grimoire, huh.
The third grimoire’s name was Flame Flower Dancer.
I listened to its voice right away.
"No need to seek light afar. Spend the night alone in contemplation of your inner self. There, surely, you’ll find illumination."
Another undemanding request.
I could fulfill the Red-Hot Hammer’s while handling the Flame Flower Dancer’s at the same time.
Looking forward to tonight.
The three grimoires from the castle.
Two of them had night-only tasks.
So I’d wait until nightfall.
In the meantime, my job was
to summon the priest and villagers and inform them that Patrick was a vampire black mage.
Make him out to be as evil as possible.
The worse Patrick seemed, the lighter my punishment.
So I planned to paint him as black as I could.
“Oh, Creator God...!”
The elderly priest from Densfog and the village’s notables.
I showed them the drawing room horror.
Numerous undead sprawled with heads and limbs severed.
Patrick and Goph’s headless corpses.
The room wrecked by magic’s aftermath.
Seeing it all, they recoiled in shock.
The priest especially clutched his chest, breathing raggedly from the impact.
I hurried to support him.
“I thought it odd so few came out from the castle, but to think such a thing...”
“Without the mage, we all might’ve turned undead soon?”
“Thought our village was safe amid the northern chaos. Damn, guess not.”
The villagers conversed with shocked faces.
I ignored them.
The priest was the key figure.
Until a higher noble sent a new lord, he’d manage the territory temporarily.
So I focused on him.
“Father, I’m afraid.”
I spoke to the gasping elderly priest.
He looked at me and asked,
“What frightens you so?”
“I’m a commoner who killed a noble. Knowing punishment awaits, I can’t stop trembling. What should I do...?”
Resolve sharpened in the old priest’s eyes at my words.
He pulled away from my support and stood tall alone.
Then he bellowed in a booming voice,
“Mage John, what you slew was no noble. Just a patricidal wretch, a beast fallen to vampirism forsaking humanity, and a villain steeped in black magic.”
His voice brimmed with power.
The chattering villagers soon fell silent, hanging on his words.
“Fear not. No harm will come to you. I stake my name on it.”
“Thank you!”
I thanked the old priest.
He shook his head and replied,
“Thanks? We owe you greetings! John, we thank you for all you’ve done here to save us. Truly grateful.”
The priest finished and bowed deeply to me.
The villagers, listening intently, followed suit with their own bows.
It tickled my heart seeing that.
I hadn’t taken down Patrick for their thanks.
Still feels good.
Helping others
made me happy.