Chapter 45. Reason

“…I’ll be going then.”

Ecion finished his business and left Blackmore with weary steps.

He was clearly flustered by the endless demands, but he hadn’t had a choice from the beginning.

The corpse of Ouroboros was something he couldn’t obtain even if he searched the entire continent. The opportunity to research such a rare item was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so he was in a position to accept whatever I demanded.

I had asked for quite a bit, but to him, wealth was something he could acquire eventually, given enough time.

However, if he missed this opportunity, he would never be able to research Ouroboros’s corpse again.

How could he, a magician who had reached the Magister level, miss the one and only chance to approach the origin of the world?

“You’re milking him dry, aren’t you, Sixth Lord?”

“…Great Lord.”

Arkan approached with a smirk and plopped down across from me.

She looked at me with her usual expression and smiled sweetly.

“You seem determined to completely oppose the Holy Order.”

“Why, are you worried?”

“Hmm, not really. If that’s what you want, Sixth Lord, then so be it. The Holy Order is persistent, but they’re not worth worrying about too much. Besides…”

She glanced out the window.

Following her gaze, I saw the faint image of Elfriede emitting a golden light and healing people.

“Technically, what you’re doing isn’t wrong. After all, she’s the real Saintess.”

I nodded in agreement.

As Arkan said, the justification was on our side.

It was the Holy Order, not me, who was deceiving the public with a fake Saintess.

“Haha, I wonder how the Pope will react if things go south with the First Lord?”

He would have a fit, no doubt.

Considering the First Lord’s personality, he wouldn't reveal our deal, but the Holy Order, with their intelligence network, would figure things out eventually.

Immediately after sending me a threatening message to stop impersonating the Saintess, not only had his relationship with the First Lord soured, but that First Lord happened to be a member of the same Lord Council as me.

The moment he realized this, he would probably be gnashing his teeth and cursing my name.

“By the way, when are you planning to leave?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Duchy. You haven’t forgotten, have you? It was the real Saintess, who follows you around like a lost puppy, who saved the Duke, who was on the verge of death from the Formless Poison.”

…I had completely forgotten.

Come to think of it, I think Siron told me that the Duchy had invited me to give me a reward.

But going to the Duchy was a hassle, and with the mountain of tasks in front of me, I hadn’t given it much thought.

Seeing my silence, Arkan smirked slightly as if she understood the situation.

“You completely forgot, didn’t you?”

“…”

“Yes, yes. You’ve been very busy. Well, since things have turned out this way, do as you please, Sixth Lord. It’s not that urgent, is it?”

She was right.

Getting a reward from the Duke wasn’t a pressing matter for me.

Of course, I intended to squeeze every last drop out of him, but it didn’t have to be right now.

The fact that the Duke owed Elfriede his life wouldn’t change with time.

However, despite that, I couldn’t readily agree with Arkan. It was time for me to leave for the Duchy.

‘The original storyline will start soon.’

I was a transmigrator.

Therefore, I always kept the timeline of the original story in mind. If I remembered correctly, the protagonist would begin his activities around this time.

I could be certain of this because the starting point of the original story was a few months after the Duke’s death.

I had unintentionally saved the Duke, who was supposed to be dead, but the incident itself had already occurred.

Therefore, the start of the original storyline was imminent.

‘The protagonist will appear soon, too.’

The time when the protagonist of the original story became active could be considered the turning point where the world began to drastically change.

Even now, the continent was already heading towards destruction, but from the starting point of the original story, it would begin to accelerate rapidly.

I immediately called Head Butler Siron, who was waiting outside.

“Siron.”

“Yes, Sixth Lord.”

“We’ll be leaving for the Duchy as soon as the sun rises tomorrow, so prepare accordingly.”

“I’ll make the necessary preparations immediately.”

****

Time passed, and night fell.

Crackle, crackle.

I sat lost in thought in front of the vigorously burning bonfire.

Although I had unintentionally stepped into the demonic realm and become a Lord, my goal remained unchanged.

To live a peaceful life outside the framework of the original story.

Of course, the senile Emperor was a hindrance, but not all opportunities had disappeared yet.

Just because I was a Lord didn’t mean I couldn’t live an easy life.

In some ways, it might even be easier.

The essence of a Lord was to ‘give orders,’ so if I delegated all my tasks to others, I could achieve my goal to some extent.

However, there were still a few obstacles I had to overcome.

First, the Holy Order.

They were probably plotting all sorts of schemes, fueled by their anger towards me, but they weren't the type to back down after a few defensive maneuvers.

They would undoubtedly pester me until I retired.

Second, my background.

The Richter Earldom appeared to be just a long-established, ordinary family of magicians, but in reality, they were a complicated family in many ways.

In the original story, they were villains who hindered the protagonist and were closely related to the Holy Order.

They were also the center of the Noble Faction, which constantly opposed the Imperial Family’s policies.

And I happened to be an illegitimate child of this family.

The situation had become unexpectedly complicated.

What was clear was that if I left things as they were, it would only get more tangled.

Although I was a Lord, my influence was still insignificant.

My territory was just a demonic realm stuck in the middle of nowhere, and I hadn’t built up a reputation before taking office like the other Lords.

Therefore, the more powerful backers I had, the better.

‘In that sense, the Duchy is a must-visit.’

The Duchy, in terms of land alone, was an ideal territory overflowing with abundance.

But the royal family, the backbone of the Duchy, was a chaotic mess.

The cause lay in the volatile succession structure.

Because of the numerous seeds sown by the Duke, who was notorious for his womanizing ways, there were currently as many as ten contenders vying for the position of the next Duke.

The most likely candidate was the First Crown Prince, who happened to be one of the Holy Order’s pawns.

“So, should we just kill that First Prince guy?”

Rudine, who had been quietly listening to my explanation, tilted her head.

It was always surprising to see her simple thought process, which immediately jumped to the conclusion of ‘killing’ no matter what explanation she heard.

I answered her question, feigning the kindest tone possible.

“No, we can’t kill him right away.”

“Why?”

“He’s quite competent, so it’s a waste to just kill him.”

“…Shouldn’t we kill him all the more because of that?”

“Why bother when we can use him to the bone? We’ll just half-kill him and use him as a double agent.”

“Aha.”

The First Crown Prince of the Duchy was a thorough opportunist.

All his actions were focused solely on his own safety, which meant he was capable of anything if his safety was threatened.

In the original story, he initially sided with the Holy Order to check the protagonist but immediately switched sides and pretended to be loyal when the situation became unfavorable.

Therefore, manipulating him wouldn't be too difficult.

Besides, there was a more serious issue at hand.

Rudine was a Seed of the End, a living Calamity who possessed the soul of the Heavenly Star of Slaughter.

Until now, I had been gradually absorbing her Heavenly Star of Slaughter with the Ring of Yphrasia, but now that I had lost the ring, there was no proper way to control it.

I sat quietly and recalled the contents of the original story related to Rudine.

If she couldn’t control the periodically surging Heavenly Star of Slaughter, her soul would be consumed by madness and she would have seizures. Every time this happened, her latent aggression… and lust would be maximized.

Yes.

Just like now.

“…Ah.”

Rudine, who had been staring at me, gulped.

Her gray eyes were dyed red due to the aftereffects of her Red Eyes, and her crimson pupils, fixed on me, gleamed ominously like a hungry beast.

She approached me, breathing heavily.

“L-Luke…”

She managed to utter the words with difficulty.

Her voice was hoarse, and her words were broken, as if she was burning up.

She reached out, leaving words that were either advice or a warning,

“My… body… feels… strange…”

“…”

…This is a disaster.