The Gift from the Guardian of the Nation Proves Surprisingly Useful
The gift Hogukgyeong gave me turned out to be more useful than I expected.
“Werther oppa. It’s getting pretty dark now. Wouldn’t it be dangerous to keep traveling by carriage?”
“You’re right.”
Horses are more skittish than people realize. Riding in the dark isn’t the best idea. In the old days I would’ve just pitched a tent at a campsite and called it a night, but now that I’ve got money to burn, there’s no need for that.
“Let’s park the carriage in the nearest village and find a place to stay.”
“Got it.”
Luckily, there was a fairly decent town nearby. It wasn’t the capital, but the buildings were flashy enough to suggest plenty of rich folks and nobles lived here.
“This is Versailles.”
“You know the place?”
“It’s a resort town for nobles.”
“Huh. No wonder I’ve been seeing so many people in fancy clothes. But how do you know about it?”
“Vanessa used to be a slave for a certain count. I came here with him once.”
A count’s slave, huh.
“That’s weird. Usually once a noble gets their hands on a slave, they don’t let them go.”
“Vanessa worked really hard, saved up money, and bought her freedom.”
The power of money works in any era, any world. Even the noble pricks on the Pangaea continent need a constant flow of cash to maintain their extravagant lifestyles. If someone offers to buy something at full price, of course they’ll take the money. Slaves are just another commodity to them, so naturally they’re for sale. The story of a slave saving up wages to purchase their own freedom isn’t that unusual. It takes a hell of a lot of persistence and effort, though.
“Then you must know the area pretty well.”
“Vanessa has an excellent memory.”
“We’ve got more money than we know what to do with. Find us the most expensive, best-equipped lodging in town.”
“Yes. Leave it to Vanessa.”
“Ah, wait a second.”
I stopped Vanessa just as she was about to dash off.
“Don’t get more than a hundred meters away from me.”
“?”
“Don’t go too far.”
“…??”
Vanessa tilted her head, her green eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“Does Werther oppa have a surprisingly strong possessive streak?”
“What?”
“Well, you did go to war to resurrect your dead little sister. So once you decide something is yours, you get pretty obsessive about it, huh? You don’t have to worry—Vanessa isn’t going to run away or anything.”
That’s not what I meant. I was worried the buff would wear off. Damn it, I can’t exactly tell her that.
“Vanessa is your personal attendant now, oppa.”
“I’m not treating you like some servant. Until this mission is over, think of yourself as an equal party member.”
“No no. Vanessa is literally in the position of a body servant.”
Vanessa stuck her tongue out so far I could see her uvula. A rather oppressive-looking tattoo was engraved on it.
Brand of the Body Servant
A powerful geas that forces absolute obedience to any command from the master. An extremely vicious form of black magic that only high-level dark mages can cast.
“This is the Brand of the Body Servant. As long as this exists, Vanessa has no choice but to obey any order, so you really don’t have to worry.”
“I’m not worried about that, it’s just…”
“And this was something the count—Vanessa’s former master—had engraved so he could play with my body. Vanessa secretly saved up money and bought freedom right away, so I didn’t actually suffer anything terrible.”
“That’s… good to hear.”
“The count was fat and ugly, you know. If he’d been a sleek, handsome man like Werther oppa, I might have just enjoyed it as part of some SM play. Vanessa has a thing for faces, after all.”
“…Just go find us a room already.”
“Yes. Since oppa is getting embarrassed, I’ll disappear quickly.”
Was that girl really a slave? She’s way too brazen for one. This continent has a strict class system, so you do run into slaves from time to time. Sharon the elf used to be one, for example. When I first met her, she was the most pathetic, spineless coward imaginable. Even now she still has that habit—she’s always reading the room and barely has any backbone of her own. Compared to Sharon, Vanessa is so lively and full of energy that it’s hard to believe she was ever a slave. Well, I guess that’s exactly why she was able to think positively enough to buy her own freedom.
The Brand of the Body Servant is one of the nastier types of geas that forces behavior. It’s not something any old noble could learn on a whim; they’d have to pay a considerable sum to a black mage with connections. Normally no one goes that far with a slave. What a piece of trash. After going through all that trouble to brand her, I bet he threw a fit when Vanessa suddenly paid her own price and left.
“…So in the end, I get to benefit from the brand that some unknown count put on her. Well, I have no intention of using its power, though.”
Vanessa came back in just ten minutes. She said there was a hotel nearby that only millionaires and high-ranking nobles stayed at. Perfect stage to really feel the power of a million shillings.
“—I’m sorry, but we have no vacancies tonight.”
“What?”
I was ready to spend good money, but the counter clerk’s response was this. No vacancies? In a hotel this big? Bullshit.
“I’ll pay whatever the lodging fee is. Just one room.”
“I’m sorry, but there really isn’t a single empty room. Perhaps you could try the establishment across the street?”
“The only thing across the street is a rundown inn, oppa.”
Between Vanessa’s whisper in my ear and the clerk’s thinly veiled sneer, I was sure. It wasn’t that the hotel had no rooms. They just didn’t want to give one to us.
Sure enough, our clothes were completely out of place with the surroundings. Everyone else was in formal military uniforms or elegant dresses, while I was the only one in a tunic. And Vanessa was openly wearing a maid outfit. Apparently we didn’t match the hotel’s standards.
Still, a customer is a customer, right? I’m offering to pay fairly. There’s no reason to discriminate.
“Hey. Your job isn’t to pick and choose customers. It’s to provide a room for people who want to rest after a hard day of travel, isn’t it?”
“Sir, if you cause a disturbance, we won’t be able to treat you with any further courtesy.”
“When did I cause a disturbance? And when exactly were you being courteous?”
“There is a vagrant causing a scene at the counter. Requesting immediate assistance.”
The clerk had completely given up on me and was now sending a telegram somewhere. Looks like the schools in Lydorphia don’t teach people not to judge others by their clothes.
“What’s your name?”
“Why should I tell you? The imperial soldiers are already on their way, so you’d better get ready to be dragged off.”
The name “Jack” was clearly written on the clerk’s name tag.
“I’m warning you, Jack. You’re going to regret this.”
“This isn’t a hotel for commoners like you. Do you even know how much one night costs? You look like you don’t have two coins to rub together.”
Even after my warning, Jack just whistled and pretended not to hear. The imperial soldiers who received the report arrived shortly after. Heavily armed men in silver armor and helmets. It seemed like overkill for dealing with one vagrant who wandered into a luxury hotel. There were only two of them, and they looked visibly annoyed. It wasn’t so much dereliction of duty as the impression that they were too busy to waste time on trivial matters like this.
“Ah, perfect timing, soldiers. This guy has no money but is throwing a tantrum demanding a room. Please throw him in jail. Business is suffering because of trash like him.”
“We don’t have time for that right now. We’re here on orders from Count Donkest.”
At the name Count Donkest, Vanessa’s whole body trembled. She subtly hid herself behind me. Like a squirrel.
“Count Donkest is the lord who rules this entire region, isn’t he? What does he want?”
“You’ve heard the news that the Demon King’s army is approaching the border, yes?”
“Is there anyone who hasn’t?”
“We have intelligence that members of the Demon King’s army have infiltrated Count Donkest’s territory as well. His lordship has ordered all guests to gather in the plaza. Refusal to comply may result in being branded a spy for the Demon King’s forces, so even nobles are not exempt.”
“Oh no… a spy for the Demon King’s army.”
Jack glared at me with beady eyes.
“Couldn’t it be these two? Their appearance is so shabby they look exactly like the type who’d cling to the Demon King’s army.”
“His lordship has a method to identify members of the Demon King’s army, so refrain from baseless speculation and come along.”
The soldier whose face was visible under the helmet was quite handsome. He spoke to me with a surprising degree of courtesy.
“You too, sir. Outsiders are the most likely to be suspected. Though to be honest, this place is so full of vacationers that outsiders are practically tripping over each other.”
“Damn it. I just wanted to sleep here for one night.”
“It is a direct order from the Count. Please bear with us even if it’s inconvenient.”
“I’m not some noble’s subordinate. And the imperial army isn’t supposed to be private troops that nobles can command at will, right? Looking at your armor, you seem to belong to the imperial forces. Why are you following a count’s orders?”
“There are circumstances.”
The soldier who introduced himself as Alex, the second son of Duke Bourbon, led us to the crowded plaza. Count Donkest, with his noticeably protruding belly, was already in the middle of a long speech. The content was the same stale nonsense everyone already knew—how the Demon King’s army had invaded and humanity was now hanging by a thread.
Alex pointed at the pocket watch in the count’s left hand and said,
“That is a pocket watch entrusted to him by the commander of the Eagle Knights. As long as he has it, we have no choice but to follow the count’s orders. You must have heard of the Eagle Knights’ reputation. They’re a military organization with enormous influence in the Lydorphian army, second only to the Hero Party.”
It seemed the pocket watch engraved with an eagle emblem was binding the freedom of Alex and the other soldiers. Alex muttered bitterly in a voice the count couldn’t hear.
“By borrowing the prestige of the Eagle Knight commander, one can effectively command nearly half the imperial army. There probably aren’t even five people in the entire empire who can stop Count Donkest’s tyranny. As much as I hate to admit it, whether you’re a duke or a millionaire, right now we all have to bow to the count.”
“Among those five people… does the Guardian of the Nation, Zero, happen to be included?”
“Pardon? Guardian of the Nation Zero?”
Alex let out a hollow laugh as if he’d heard something absurd.
“Of course he is. Can you even compare them? Even the Eagle Knights are nothing more than ordinary civil servants in front of the Guardian of the Nation. Hahaha! Maybe this wasn’t a topic I should have discussed with a commoner. Guardian of the Nation Zero. Hahaha! Do you even know how lofty that title is? Hahaha!! If the Guardian of the Nation Zero so much as breathes on them, the commander of the Eagle Knights is finished. Of course, a man that busy would never have time to help with something like this. But why are you asking about that?”