My Villains Episode 184
43. Struggling (4)
Time flew by quickly riding the autumn wind.
A fortnight after the last battle at Longville. While the wind from the west was slowly drying up, many things happened.
First, Count Tristan’s army withdrew to Multingham. It was natural since most of the troops were killed or injured, but the name was different.
A dozen or so people gathered in the hall of the Yeongju Hall.
“They say Count Tristan was poisoned.”
“…do you get poisoned?”
The old knight, Sir Ariad, handed me a letter and continued talking.
“They say they confirmed that there was a Confucius in Japan behind the assassin. They say the evidence is clear, so they will be decapitated within this month at the earliest.”
“That is nonsense.”
I skimmed through the letter and burst out laughing.
“There is no reason for Doyle to kill Count Tristan, is there? Killing my father, who will be the only backup while I settle down.”
“He may have held a grudge because he lost his position as heir to his sister.”
I said, ‘Are you serious?’ When I looked at him with a smile, Sir Ariad smiled bitterly.
“Anyway, the baroness was with Miss Clarissa, Countess. They stop caring about the man they were once enemies with.”
…yes what. The successor of Count Mullin’s politics is not something I care about.
Sir Langboldt, with a bandage wrapped around his shoulder, put on a thoughtful expression as he stroked the tip of his mustache.
“It bothers me that the battle was so intense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t there more than 600 dead? If the baroness and Countess Clarissa join hands, there will be disgruntled people under them.”
“…Isn’t it because of that bastard Doyle that we fought?”
“That’s right, but beheading one Doil will clear all of your grudge?”
Dionea, who had been listening to the story silently while sitting on the chair of the
W Ring Cross, opened her mouth.
“As soon as the repair of the gate and barrier is finished, we will have to rebuild the army first.”
Was it because of the terrible war? She looked more haggard than before.
In fact, it’s all better now. Until a week ago, I had been confined to my bedroom with almost no food or drink.
If I hadn’t diligently stopped by and comforted her, she would have been imitating a hikikomori even now.
“I need to at least double or even quadruple my troops.”
At Dionea’s declaration, Editta, the steward, expressed disapproval.
“But ma’am. As I told you before, the estate budget has already run out.”
“Then we will resume gold mining.”
“ma’am.”
The middle-aged woman in charge of Longville’s estates and lands had a deliberately stern expression on her face.
“After my husband disappeared, Longville was attacked by Anupard and even fought a war. In addition, everyone is busy trying to reap the harvest that is not much left now. What the estate needs right now is peace and stability, not mine development.”
“no. There is no stability.”
Dionea firmly shook her head.
“We must prepare for war.”
“What is that, ma’am?”
Edita was momentarily taken aback by the unexpected answer, then raised her voice.
“A word worthy of the wrath of the Lord of Light! Do you want war, not peace?”
“I wish you peace. very eagerly So we will prepare for war.”
“Madam…
Dionea turned to Lord Langboldt.
“I believe that the resentment that is brewing in Multingham will fade with time and dissipate in conversation. However, if one day that trust is betrayed and we face swords again, then I will ask Prince Ulkar to intercede.”
Even though she had a very pitiful impression due to drooping eyes and small tear points, Dionea spoke out confidently.
Lord Langboldt, who met Lord Ariad’s eyes for a moment, smiled and bowed his head.
“I will gladly convey the words of the regent. Your lord will be pleased.”
Suddenly, I met Dionea’s gaze.
Secretly winking, she smiled faintly.
Apart from this, a few other interesting things happened.
Is it about three days after the battle? Suddenly, a freckled mummy came to visit.
I was eating breakfast in the middle of the day, and a mummy came running to me with saliva marks on the corner of my mouth. Then,
“Phoenix-sama, I can’t stand it.”
He said this and sent an intense look.
“…What is it all of a sudden?”
“If I just close my eyes to sleep, I can’t stand the pain in my dreams.”
Ellen, who was sitting next to her, began to emit blue flames with her eyes.
“What do you mean by that?”
“…I don’t know.” Before his misunderstanding deepens, I quickly asked Mira.
“What nonsense are you talking about in the morning wind? What do you mean by dream?”
“Equipment. Magic tools!”
Saying so, Mira’s brown eyes were shining with lust.
“You know that one out of every ten Anupads was holding a magic orb, right?”
“What is one out of ten? It wasn’t quite like that.”
“Where are all those magic tools now?”
It seems you can’t hear me.
I swallowed my beer and shrugged.
“It will burn. At that time, Utequai was so shitty that he burned it all.”
“The bodies must have been burned. But if you look carefully, there will definitely be some useful equipment left.”
“…Uhm. what so?”
“It’s not long before the upsurge will start again. If you do, the merchants who have been rolling in from somewhere will pick up all those equipment!”
“Looking at that makes me sick to my stomach, so you’re going to pick it up?”
“It’s not me, it’s us.”
“we?”
“Yes we!”
I leaned back on the backrest and shook my head.
“I’m not going.”
“to? why?”
“bothered.”
“…No, it’s the mountain road right in front of you, isn’t it? You can just think of going for a walk.”
I sat down on a chair and waved my hand.
“Walking is crazy. You’re asking the horse to pick it up, you’re trying to rummage through the pile of charred remains. When did you turn over the mountain and sit down? bothered.”
“It’s not a problem that you’re bothered right now, there will be magic tools!”
“How great can a magic tool be? And it’s been a while since I relaxed like this? Don’t think about interfering, go by yourself.”
“…I think it’s a bit dangerous between us.”
“Oh, you said you just went for a walk?”
Mira looked back at Ute Kwai for a while before she was even crying.
The guy who was eating the grilled pheasant with bandages all over his body had a sad expression on his face.
“What do you see?”
“…How is Mr. Hatanka? Don’t you like magic tools?”
Utequai wiped the grease from the corners of his mouth and gulped down his beer.
“Big. When you feel better, you should fix the Lufte kapuQ.”
“yes? What cappuccino?”
Ellen, who was eating porridge made with chickpeas and cheese eggs, answered instead.
“I mean the mother-in-law. The feather hat Utequai wore.”
“ah. Are you fixing that?”
“right. the frame was bent It has to be corrected with sincerity.”
‘Rikuwa’s Long Hair’, which Utequai inherited from Hatanka, gives bonuses to various resistances and increases health by 2 points.
Thanks to that, no matter what build you ride, it’s an item that is treated as essential equipment for berserkers in the early stages. There are so few equipment that can be replaced, so even if you use up to level 40, it’s a joke…
Oh wait.
There is a replacement equipment… you know?
What I came up with was ‘iron storage (寶冠)’. An item that drops with a low probability from Chapter 3’s boss, ‘Anu Pad Queen Ramashda’.
In the game, the drop rate is low, but in reality, there is no way that the item you were wearing on your head would suddenly evaporate. Then the equipment was abandoned somewhere… After
thinking for a while, I pulled out my pocket and pulled out a large handful of silver coins. Then, it poured out in front of Mira, who was making a puzzled expression.
“Oh Phoenix?”
“I have something else to do, so use this to find mercenaries and workers and search them.”
“Phoenix-sama…
For some reason, I smiled at Mira’s expression of emotion.
“Instead, bring all the magic tools you got.”
“……yes?”
“Why don’t you like it?”
“No, um, that’s it.”
“What is it?”
“Uh, if I had to argue, it’s true that Phoenix-sama is claiming ownership. Also, since he said it so directly,
I mumbled a little bit.
Before gathering people together, Mira persistently persuaded U Tequai.
Mira told Utequai that, as I had been tipped off, she might be able to get some useful things to repair her mother-in-law.
Utequai eventually accepted the offer, and people quickly gathered at the news that the red bear was with them. They were mainly farmers who had ruined farming due to the recent upheaval or passers-by who were stranded.
That’s how the search began, and Mira hit the jackpot in just three days. Seven magic tools were found. The first magic tool was ‘iron storage’, a rare level of equipment.
The horse was a ‘crown’, but it was a wide item like a headgear, but as a fixed option, it was an item that gave resistance to magical powers of another dimension and immunity to lower-class curses.
I gave this to Utequai as I had thought of beforehand. Utequai has low magical power, so her magic-related resistance is a bit lacking.
The guy seemed to like it, so he hung the feather ornament on his long hat on the iron storage box.
…I’m not sure if it’s not a combination of some item or something like that. I’ll keep an eye on it.
The second was the ‘Crystal Ball of the Rao Family’.
Yes, it is the same crystal ball I received from Siren. Ellen has been quite useful.
It was lost during a battle with the magicians of La Palais Palace, but it seems that it was found during the search. There are cracks here and there, but it’s not to the extent that I can’t use it.
This, of course, was returned to Ellen.
Next was the ‘Synthetic Palace of Seeds’.
It was used by Anupard’s named ‘Half-Blood Juama’, but I’m not sure about the options.
I know the appearance, name, and rare grade, but I can’t remember the effect. Bows weren’t my interest originally.
And it was unknown whether it would be able to exert its full power because the demonstration was burnt and the bow rod was also broken.
For now, I left it to the manor’s excavator, and I plan to give it to Cole, who is recovering at the church, when it is repaired.
The fourth was ‘The Sword of Hunwol’.
It looked like an ordinary pulse, but it was extremely heavy, so it was a bit unreasonable for an ordinary person to use it with one hand.
It seemed to be quite usable, but it wasn’t rare and it wasn’t magic grade, so it wasn’t to the point of messing around with flunting. So
I gave it to Steedman, who could handle it with both hands.
The fifth was the ‘flaming ax spear’.
It was a weapon used by the name ‘Red Pshakah’, and befitting its name, it was an item that caused sparks whenever it was wielded.
If the distant Booney and the docile Genesa had been fine, I would have given it to one of them….
Booney, whose arm was cut off, was appointed to serve as a magistrate at my manor, Lavalton, and Genesa, until her lung wound healed. I decided to quit my mercenary job.
I decided to keep the ax spear that couldn’t find its owner for a while.
Lastly, I didn’t know what the sixth and seventh were.
They were a long sword and a ring, but they didn’t seem that great. If it was a game, I wonder if it wouldn’t have been just a trip to the store.
I told them to just keep it because Mira would burst into tears if I took these too. Feeling sorry for some reason, he gave me a handful of gold coins saying that he had worked hard. In any case, the search initiated by Mira’s suggestion ended very successfully.
And this again went viral, and it became fashionable for peasants with nothing to do to search the nearby mountains and forests.
They say that if you pick up useful metal or clothes from the corpses of mercenaries or monsters and sell them, you can make a profit. Well, the monsters in the area aren’t that dangerous since they’re dry.
The least dangerous factor that comes to mind is the blood knights who followed Heila…
But strangely, it’s been 15 days since they captured Heila, but the blood knights didn’t even show their noses.
When I asked Heila about the reason, I was able to get a pretty nasty answer.
“Because I didn’t call.”
“……what?”
“Because I didn’t call.”
Heila sat with an expressionless face, shackled on her arms and shackles with steel balls around her ankles.
Heila was imprisoned in a small room in Yeongju-gwan, but she didn’t look like a prisoner because of her neat clothes, noble appearance and calm atmosphere.
Seeing her repeat the same words, I frowned slightly.
“So you’re saying you’re stuck somewhere waiting for your call?”
“Because you’re stuck?”
“Are you hiding?”
Heila nodded quietly.
“…that’s absurd.” I scratched my eyebrows and asked the question again.
“So you’re hiding in silence when there’s no word from the escort?”
“I told you not to move until I tell you to.”
“And what if you die?”
“I will return to Ireland and report to Caisis.”
“Looking at what you’re doing now, I don’t think you’ll know whether you’re dead or not.”
“There is a way to know. Eordan will notice if my heart stops.”
‘Eordan’ was a middle-aged blood knight belonging to the Baluin family and Heila’s uncle. He is a person who is familiar with Phoenix, so he is very close to the Royal Blood of the twin royal family even among his direct descendants.
“…Then how will Eordan act if you leave Longville like this?”
“I will wait for another 15 days before going out to find me.”
“Fortnight…. What if I don’t find you then?”
“I will return to Ireland and report to Caisis.”
“O uh”
I fell silent. Heila sat still and looked out the window.
She had bandages on both her wrists and her right ankle. Perhaps because I crushed her so mercilessly, Heila was barely recovering.
In fact, it was an injury that would not be strange even if it remained disabled, so it is surprising that the bones are still attached without any special treatment.
I knocked on the table in silence and opened my mouth.
