BXBX NOVEL Chapter 63: The Road to King (3)
Chapter 63: The Road to King (3)
The sun was setting, I returned to my office after I inspected the territory and went to my desk to do some work. The most important thing I had to do was to make a decision regarding the budget.
Even though there were many treasures in the basement, money would disappear in a flash if I used them without a plan. Just as I was about to grab a pen and start filling out the paperwork, I was interrupted. Suddenly, the window shattered.
“……huh?”
What came through were five enemies.
“Die!”
They attacked right away without any greeting. There were four C-class warriors and one A-class. There are about 40 A-class warriors on the continent. What’s really rare is the S-class, of which there are only five in the continent.
Of course, 40 is not a large number. Besides, the 40 or so A-level warriors in the continent were all in the low 90s in terms of martial force. There were no more than 10 people in the continent with 95 martial force or above.
In any case, an assassination team with A-class warrior was not an ordinary group. It would be dangerous if I were caught by surprise. My strength without Daitouren was as low as ever. Even so, I was able to remain calm thanks to Yurasia, who jumped in from the window at almost the same time.
“Who are you people?”
Yurasia went straight to the masked man nearby and swung her sword mercilessly at him. The blue mana penetrated the masked man’s chest sharply. At the same time, she swung her sword from left to right, and the body of the masked man next to her was cut in half. Blood gushed into the office.
“No, Yurasia…….You don’t have to fight so aggressively.”
I don’t know why, but the corners of her eyes rose in anger as she dealt with another masked man who attacked her without answering. I couldn’t just sit back and watch. After all, there’s an A-class enemy. The man also thought that he had to kill me first, so he left Yurasia to his men and attacked me.
With 90 martial force he’s the most powerful person in this group of assassins. However, when equipped with Daitouren, my martial force is 99, which is the highest among the 40 or so A-class warriors on the continent. So this guy is no match for me.
Fighting the enemy with Daitouren was too easy. I swung my sword 2 times and the enemy died with a look of disbelief in his eyes.
“Wait, Yurasia!”
I wanted to keep one of them alive to find out who was behind it, but Yurasia had already annihilated them when I shouted. With Rossade equipped she had 91 martial force, it was too easy for her to dispose of them.
“What is it?”
She replied with an oddly refreshed look on her face. She looked as if she wanted to be praised for a job well done, or was I mistaken?
“I wanted to keep one of them alive. To find out who’s after me.”
“What?”
Yurasia puffed out her cheeks lightly. I guess she thought I had a point, because she sat down and started slapping the cheek of the masked man who fell in front of her with an expressionless face.
There’s no way that’s going to wake him up, he’s already dead. She puffed out her cheeks even more and said as she threw the dead masked man out and stood up.
“I was just pissed off and couldn’t adjust my strength.”
“Why were you so angry?”
“I don’t know.”
Yurasia said and disappeared through the window where she had come in.
＊＊＊
The vassals gathered in the office of the lord’s castle. Since the lord had been attacked, it was inevitable that everyone would gather. Yusen frowned when he saw the dead body and asked.
“Was he strong?”
“Yeah. He was a mana wielder.”
“Oh, no!……Then someone with a lot of power must have sent him to…….Do you have any idea who it was?”
That rang a bell. I killed everyone I had to, Ronen and the King still needed me, so there was no way they were going to do this. Of course, there were people who had a grudge against me. Not that I had any idea.
“Not particularly.”
But I couldn’t be sure, so I just shook my head.
“I guess I’ll have to look into it.”
I nodded at Yusen’s words. At that moment, Zint, who was examining the corpse with a serious face, lifted the corpse’s wrist and said.
“This is …….”
“What is it, Zint?”
“They said assassins, so I looked it up, and it’s……them.”
On his wrist was a tattoo that looked like a spider.
“Them?”
In response to my question, Zint showed me his wrist. There was a tattoo of a spider, just like theirs. I looked at it and realized.
“You mean the slavers who took Mirine?“
Zint nodded strongly, a fire rising in his eyes. It was only natural. That slaver was his archenemy.
“They’re called the Doro Trading Company.”
The Doro Trading Company, I knew that name. Since the fall of Lunan, they’ve been active in the Narja and Mateen kingdoms, trafficking people, kidnappings, and assassinations.
“The Doro Trading Company? Is there such a thing?”
Yusen, who was also from the royal capital, looked as if he had never heard of them before. The other retainers had the same reaction, even Haddin, a local nobleman, was the same.
“Think of them as black market dealers. As far as I can tell, if they are after me, the one who sent them is a noble from King’s Landing.”
“You think a noble from King’s Landing tried to assassinate you?”
Yusen asked back with a surprised look on his face.
“That’s what I’m thinking but I need to go out there myself and check.”
It wasn’t hard to get rid of the Doro Trading Company. I had even destroyed the Bridget Kingdom. The current me is more than capable of taking care of them. If someone is targeting me, I have to take revenge.
They deserved to disappear but there was something I had to find out. If I was right, I could use that to get Elheat on my side, since the Doro Trading Company had deeper ties to the Lunan nobility than I had imagined. If I could get my hands on Elheat, there I had no reason to hesitate.
The problem is that I don’t know where their headquarters is. In the game, they moved their headquarters when Lunan was destroyed but until then their headquarters was in Lunan’s capital.
＊＊＊
Mirine was reading a book. She had learned to read thanks to Erhin, and she read as many books as she could on various subjects.
Mirine said she would do anything, even sew, to repay his favor but Erhin made her learn to read and write. She had thought that only nobles could learn to read, but since he was the benefactor who saved them, she decided to follow his advice. Surprisingly, she began to find letters interesting.
[Mirine]
[Age: 21]
[Martial force: 5]
[Intelligence: 59]
[Command: 10]
When she first came to Aintorian, her ability values were like this. But that changed after she learned to read.
[Mirine]
[Age: 21]
[Martial force: 5]
[Intelligence: 70]
[Command: 20]
She had basic wisdom, but she didn’t know how to use it. By learning to write, her intelligence increased by 11, in addition, it increased her command by ten. Her ability values were like that of a child. Because only children’s attributes could grow so quickly.
“Mirine.”
“Oh, my God. When did you get here?”
She was reading a book and stood up in surprise to greet Zint.
“I just got here.”
“I was reading this. I don’t know if this will be of any use to you, my lord……”
Mirine smiled unsurely as she said this. Zint was just happy whenever he saw her like that. She had been living as a fugitive, but now she was able to live happily doing something she liked.
There was a moment of crisis during the Roserun war. Zint was willing to lay down his life for me but ended up saving me. That was the second time he had let himself go back to Mirine. And today he finally had a chance at revenge for her and for himself.
“Zint, what have you done this time?”
Sensing something strange in Zint’s expression, Mirine put her hands on her hips and yelled out loud.
“I didn’t do anything! But I have to go to King’s Landing for a mission. That’s why I came by.”
Zint didn’t tell her about the slavers. There was no need to remind her about her past wounds.
“Yeah. Then you’ll need food. I’ll be right with you!”
Miline ran into the kitchen, oblivious to Zint’s clenching his fist.
＊＊＊
“Alright, is everyone here?”
I decided to go into battle and gathered my vassals. This was because I wasn’t only going to fight, but also had other things to do.
[Merja Haddin: 60 Martial force, 57 Intelligence, 70 Command]
[Bente: 49 Martial force, 38 Intelligence, 82 Command].
[Zint: 94(+2) Martial force, Intelligence 41, Command 52]
[Yusen: 82 Martial force, 69 Intelligence, 90(+2) Command]
[Givens: 70 Martial force, 34 Intelligence, 76 Command]
[Roserun Yurasia: Martial force 89(+3), Intelligence 57, Command 95(+2)]
Looking at the attributes of the vassals brought tears to my eyes. That being the case, I first called Haddin, the only one of my retainers who was from a noble family.
“Haddin!”
“Yes, my lord!”
“I take it the border barrier has been repaired?”
“Yes, my lord!”
“How’s the wall extension towards King’s Landing coming along?”
“It’s going to take a little longer.”
I was building walls not only on the border with the Narja Kingdom, but also at key points on the way to the royal capital of Lunan. Considering the chaos that was about to ensue, it would be meaningless to defend only the Narja side.
“Keep up with the expansion, make sure you don’t let public sentiment drop. Continue to take in refugees, give them jobs, and provide as much food as you can.”
“Yes, sir!”
I didn’t have to worry that Haddin would exploit the people. That was why he was the right man for the job.
“Yusen!”
Yusen is truly a man of many talents. He was the best of all my retainers.
“You and Givens will go to Berthaquin. I’ve told Earl Fihatri, who is stationed in the old royal city of Bridget, to send some soldiers. Your job is to make sure the iron ore and transportation routes are secured.”
I didn’t have enough time to go out there myself. So I decided to leave it to Yusen, who was very careful about everything and could be trusted completely.
“Yes, sir. We’ll leave immediately!”
“Zint and Bente will go into battle with me!”
[Do you wish to go into battle?]
[Aintorian Territorial Army: 20,000]
[Training level: 89]
[Morale: 80]
I don’t need that many troops.
[Cavalry: 100 men]
I couldn’t train iron cavalry until iron was supplied from Berthaquin, but I had no problem handling about 100 cavalrymen.
“I’m coming with you.”
At that moment, Yurasia appeared. She’s not a subordinate yet so I’m letting her do what she wants but I nodded, because I was sure she would be useful.
[The morale of soldiers going into battle has temporarily increased by +10.]
Suddenly, the morale of the soldiers who had decided to go into battle rose, was this the power of 97 Command?