Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Rantarik Entry 5
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Azadin whispered to Guillaume Balt what he had investigated.
"So? Sir Guillaume Balt. What will you do?"
An elf merchant named Kefka, who had been watching the scene, asked.
"I'll release the salt monopoly rights for three years."
"The salt monopoly? That's weak. And it's time-limited, to boot."
"I already know you're smuggling salt. You know full well that granting you the monopoly for three years won't bring you much profit."
Guillaume Balt said this and jutted out his chin.
His face was naturally long, making his unusual chin protrude sharply forward. He wasn't the sort of man anyone would call handsome, even as flattery, but there was a dignity born from that very grotesqueness.
"You wouldn't want Adler's retainers to resent you, would you? If you guide me to Adler, I'll kill him. The retainers will submit to me once Adler is dead, but I wonder if they'll look kindly on you for aiding me and taking excessive rewards."
"If you give us excessive rewards, the retainers won't let us get away with it? Is that what you're saying?"
Kefka smiled as he saw Guillaume Balt subtly threatening him. It wasn't displeasure so much as surprise at how elegantly the man was doing it.
"But if I grant you the salt monopoly for three years, heh. It would make it hard for anyone to harm you without making salt scarce, wouldn't it?"
In other words, the three-year monopoly wasn't just to boost their income—it was also a guarantee of safety for those three years. That was what Guillaume Balt was saying.
"What do you say? Just guiding me to Adler, and these are pretty good terms, aren't they?"
"Understood. Hmm. This Count of Rantarik won't be easy."
Kefka said this and handed over their goods.
"It's our merchant company's attire. You'd better have it altered to fit beforehand. And don't expect too much from us. We'll just get you inside. After that, whether you kill Adler or whatever, that's on you."
"Got it."
The negotiations with the elf merchants of the Telbarin Guild were complete.
*********
Azadin's group changed into the porters' outfits of Kefka's merchant company and headed for Rantarik.
The road to Rantarik was lined with brutal checkpoints, crawling with soldiers, and even included members of the Herald Clan. But thanks to Kefka's pass, they passed through all those checkpoints smoothly.
In the end, the group safely entered the town at the base of Rantarik Castle.
"I can't believe it. How did you manage this?"
Azadin asked, astonished by the effortless journey.
"Because we're transporting drugs on Young Master Adler's orders. If they rummage through our cargo in front of everyone and the drugs come out, it'd embarrass Young Master Adler. You think they'd touch us?"
"......"
"From here on, it's your territory. What's your plan?"
"No need to tell you that far. How do we handle the cargo handover?"
"Deposit it in the warehouse by the river, and that's it. People from the castle come pick it up separately. For reference, Young Master Adler isn't among those who take delivery. Meaning this is as far as we can help you."
"Understood. No choice, then. As promised, if I become count, I'll recognize your three-year monopoly in Rantarik."
"If you do. Don't say anything stupid if Adler catches you."
"Heh heh. You won't sell us out to Adler?"
"If we've let you this far in, even Adler isn't stupid enough not to realize we were involved. Our reputation isn't bad, but we're bad guys, not idiots."
"That's a relief."
Guillaume Balt gave a wry smile.
Guillaume Balt had safely entered Rantarik through his deal with the elf merchants of the Telbarin Guild, but the real trouble started now.
If the heir apparent didn't agree to his succession, all power in Rantarik would transfer to Guillaume Balt now that the count was missing.
But Adler had accused him, claiming his father's disappearance was proof that Guillaume Balt had murdered the Count of Rantarik. In that case, his powers as heir apparent would be suspended until the trial ended—and with the retainers already turning on him, there was no way they'd leave him alone.
Gathering his own followers or hiring mercenaries with money to fight Adler would be foolish. Adler's retainer knights would step in, and killing them would leave the Rantarik County an empty shell.
They had already lost many soldiers, talents, and funds invading Sarasma. Guillaume Balt couldn't afford to take Rantarik only to have its retainer knights decimated.
If he could cleanly capture and eliminate just Adler, his fame from pacifying Newheight Fortress would make the retainers switch banners without hesitation.
"Let's use the secret passage."
"Secret passage?"
"There's a secret passage known only to Count Rantarik and his family. However..."
"Adler knows it too, I suppose?"
"Yes. But he wouldn't have told the retainers or soldiers about it."
It was an escape route made in case the retainers betrayed him. No reason to reveal it to them otherwise.
But both Guillaume Balt and Azadin knew what might be waiting there.
"He might not have posted retainers to guard it, but he could have placed undead there."
Judging from the goods Adler had purchased, it was clear he was a necromancer.
"Looks like it's my turn again, Scott McGreen, specialist in undead."
"......"
"What? Got a problem? Holy knight? Gonna smash them with your proud holy magic, boom boom? Loud enough to echo a thousand miles away?"
"No. Tsk."
Zibek had no choice but to accept, even as he feared his senses growing numb.
*********
The secret passage leading to Count Rantarik's castle connected to a hidden mausoleum. Guillaume Balt strained to turn the rusted mechanism.
"Turning this opens the hidden door to the mausoleum, and we can enter the castle from there."
"Wait. Let me."
"Brand?"
Brand grabbed the crank of the rusted mechanism in Guillaume Balt's place and turned it. With a grinding screech, the door began to open. It hadn't budged when Guillaume Balt had tried, but it opened effortlessly now.
"There we go."
Scott rose from his wheelchair and sent his shadow into the opened passage.
"As expected, it's crawling with undead inside. But..."
"Why?"
"They're children's corpses. And they all look eerily similar."
"......"
Brand's expression turned strange the moment he heard that.
"No undead with empathy links, at least."
"Empathy links?"
"It connects the caster to the undead's eyes or senses, so if the undead notices something, the caster does too. But that's exhausting to maintain. Simple necromancy on corpses can't do it anyway. Still, without it, the caster can tell if a lot of undead go down."
"Can you disable it?"
"So the caster doesn't notice even if we take them down? Heh. That's my specialty. Actually, no need to take them down at all. With this..."
Scott pulled a talisman from his pocket.
"Stick this on your forehead and hold your breath, and the undead won't notice you. Let's slip past them with these."
"......"
Azadin gave a wry smile at Scott's confident attitude.
'This guy's incredibly useful. Not something to say in front of Sir Zibek, but I get why people are drawn to necromancy.'
*********
As they infiltrated the mausoleum, it was indeed swarming with children's corpses inside.
The cadavers, mostly four- or five-year-old boys and girls, had been twisted by bizarre magic into horrific shapes. Bones had sprouted from their shoulder blades, resembling the remnants of wings.
"Necro Angels. Not bad."
"Necro Angels?"
"Corpses mixed with divine blood. Small as they are, they're extremely powerful, so watch out. Detection's their weak point, though."
Scott said this, stuck the talisman to his forehead, and proceeded.
"Ah, damn. Muscles aching."
He approached a Necro Angel blocking the path. The grotesque creature didn't seem to notice Scott drawing near.
Scott formed a black shadow blade at his fingertip and lightly stabbed the nape of the Necro Angel's neck.
"!!!!!"
The Necro Angel convulsed without even screaming. Scott picked up the paralyzed creature and shoved it aside.
"Follow me."
"......"
As Sir Zibek followed, he glanced at the fallen Necro Angel. It was a malformed child with silver hair, a trait of the Yaegas divine tribe.
"This is..."
"Count Rantarik's doing, no doubt. Traces of repeated breeding to produce an Adler."
Azadin explained.
"Breeding? The count's children... you mean? Why these kids?"
"Probably couldn't tell success from failure until they grew enough to show potential growth or intelligence."
"So he raised them to four or five and then killed them for that reason?"
Zibek frowned at the evidence of the horrific dark magic committed by a noble he was supposed to defend in the King's Church.
"Even I'm neat and academic about it compared to this. Humans are too feral. Like beast cubs. How do they do necromancy this filthy?"
Scott muttered as he methodically cleared the Necro Angels obstructing the path.
Then Ismail stopped Scott.
"...There's a trap."
Ismail spotted a wooden box on the floor and carefully disarmed it. It had a spring mechanism inside; releasing it would pull a connected cord, likely triggering an alarm somewhere.
Ismail secured the cord from the wooden box to a sturdy rock.
"Good. We've cleared the mausoleum. With just the undead here, we could burn Adler alive."
Guillaume Balt said this and grimaced.
"But... shocking. My father seemed cold to me, but not to this extent."
"That's how desperate he is. In the Age of Jupiter."
Shati said this and snorted.
"Well-bred Yaegas divine tribe types have so much to lose, they're the most cowardly. When the day comes they've lost it all, they'll use necromancy or nether magic without discrimination. Pathetic."
"......"
Zibek had no real retort to Shati's sarcasm. Even Judgment Zekt used nether magic.
"Come on, enough. We need to stay quiet from here. We're under the castle."
Azadin announced that the mausoleum section was over and they'd reached beneath the castle.
*********
The underground area they reached via the mausoleum had soldiers.
At Azadin's signal, Midiam and Ismail swiftly moved through the shadows to the soldiers' backs, pressing daggers to their throats.
"Huh?"
"Quiet now.... What's the situation upstairs? Where's Young Master Adler?"
"Y-Young Master Adler is... in the audience chamber, meeting with the Herald Clan."
"Herald Clan? Who?"
"Th-their leader, a woman."
"......"
Azadin tilted his head.
"No way... is Araeli here?"