106. Hunting Competition (7)
Dan is about to follow disaster.
By any estimate, Deonhardt is a disaster.
So Dan follows Deonhardt.
‘What if Deonhardt isn’t a disaster?’
So what should I do?
While Deonhardt was away on a mission, Dan did a lot for him.
The title was changed from Master to Count. He obediently followed the deacon’s words that he should be called ‘Count’ even though he was following ‘Calamity’ and not ‘Honorary Count Hart’.
I learned the sword to be by his side without restrictions. I have reached a level where I can escort someone.
He set up a business to raise money separate from the count’s funds. It was natural.
‘If he starts acting like a disaster, it will be difficult to use the funds accumulated in the Count’s mansion.’
Dan knew that almost all of the occupants of the count’s residence were the emperor’s people.
I have done all of this. But what about you?
‘I did this, but what did you do? ‘Is it really a disaster?’
It’s not enough that an old shaman called you that. It’s time to prove it again.
and insulted him.
I really didn’t know, so I thought I was escorted when I got off the carriage. Dan wanted to see his anger.
‘An anger worthy of disaster.’
…On the contrary, I ended up receiving his kind consideration.
Reasonable doubt raised its head.
‘You are not.’
Is it really a disaster?
And now that doubt is gone.
What kind of person can control a monster? This is impossible without a disaster.
In a desperate situation, a plant-shaped monster moved. It pierced the attacker and drank its blood to grow in size. Then, it walked around using its roots and dealt with the remaining attackers with its freely moving trunk.
It’s a bit disappointing that Deonhardt didn’t handle the arrow himself, but that an unknown person came forward to save it…
‘Are… are your hands shaking right now?’
Like an animal that almost lost its cub, the fingertips of the opponent who held Deonhardt in his arms trembled slightly.
Was there anyone who cared about Deon Hart that much? From what I understand, his interpersonal relationships seem to have been extremely narrow and dry.
‘…Well, it’s none of my business.’
Dan, who was looking at the unidentified opponent and Deon Hart alternately with indifferent eyes, soon turned his gaze to see the strange creature and smiled faintly.
I’m a little sorry that I pretended not to know his danger just to watch this scene, but it’s okay since I saw the proof.
‘When I go back after finishing my work…’
I have to follow him faithfully.
From now on, Dan will never doubt Deon Hardt again.
‘Just watch this for now.’
I watched the exciting situation unfold.
Support arrives and an unidentified Rob hides himself. The self-proclaimed ‘real’ Count Hart, whose spirits were revived, aimed at Deon Hart and the plant moved.
Wrap their ankles to block their movements and hold their hands to suppress them from attacking. He wrapped his neck around his neck and acted as if he was going to kill him at any moment, and when blood poured out of Deonhardt’s mouth, he died in his hands.
Dan was impressed.
‘I can’t believe I escaped suspicion like this!’
They make it look like they are attacking me and kill me. It was a clean tail cut.
“No, well! “That monster is controlled by Deon Hart?!”
“The monster you mentioned attacked Honorable Count Hart.”
“It’s a self-made play!”
“I even vomited blood to say that.”
The doubt was cleared.
Deon Hardt, who neatly sheathed his dagger with a simple gesture, walked leisurely and approached Dan. Their eyes met and Dan froze.
Bright red eyes, corners of the mouth raised as if laughing. The eyes that seemed to be looking down at the other person from a high place were asking with mercy.
“Are you satisfied?”
“….”
You knew. haha. Dan laughed.
Are you satisfied? That’s right.
“Of course Master.”
***
Deon turned his head and looked at the stupid and annoyed sidekick.
There is no living. There is no blood-soaked madness. However, when Bang-gye, who instinctively felt an ominous look in his eyes that was obviously different from usual, hesitated and retreated, he clicked his tongue and walked up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.
The guy trembled as if bitten by a wild animal.
“If you are the head of the Hart family, you must be staying at Count Hart’s residence.”
Honorific.
Bang-gye raised his head in surprise at the friendly politeness that popped out in an atmosphere where he seemed to be speaking informally, but nodded for a moment.
Isn’t it natural for the head of a family to live in a count’s mansion with a long history? Cruel Hart and Deon Hart didn’t even go there anyway.
Are they trying to steal it now? Wary eyes turned to Deon.
Deon looked him straight in the eyes and smiled broadly. It was a smile so beautiful that it took your soul away.
“It looks like they cleaned it up properly.”
“Uh…uh what?”
“It was covered in blood so bad that you cleaned it up.”
“…!”
“Weren’t there a lot of spirits wandering the hallways at night?”
So the rumors were true! The collateral matriarch’s face turned white.
Deon Hart really killed all the people of the Hart family! And that too in the mansion where I am currently staying!
Deon smiled in satisfaction when he saw him bleached white and lost.
There was silence for a moment as the pleasant laughter fell low. Deon was looking at him with an expressionless expression, as if he had never laughed before.
“It would be good to be fair.”
Unless you want to die.
***
[I… I want to live in another mansion. Are there any other villas nearby?]
[Yes? No, Count, what is that… Count Hart is the symbol of the family head. Otherwise, they are in an unstable state because they don’t have the ‘Hart Territory’, the core of the Hart family, so you’re going to stay in another mansion.] [I don’t know… They say they ca
n’t live because I’m scared and uncomfortable, but what does that matter now…] [
Huh? what did you say? I didn’t hear you clearly.]
[It’s nothing! Anyway, you’ll be staying in another mansion, so take care of it! If I don’t have it, I’ll make one and stay somewhere else!]
[Count, Count?!]
I chuckled, casually listening to the conversation between the subordinates and vassals coming from afar.
Seeing her in fear makes me feel relieved. I don’t think I said anything, but I’m a little curious as to why he was so scared.
“They say Honorary Count Hart controlled a plant-type monster.”
Ah, this is not pleasant at all. Damn collateral guy.
If you’re scared, you should keep your mouth shut. He was so light-hearted that he easily fabricated what I saw and spread it as if it were true.
Honestly, it’s pathetic. What even demons cannot handle are monsters. Of course, it wasn’t a plant-type monster, it was just a plant, but in any case, other people knew it as a ‘monster’, so who would believe that…
“If you’re the honorary Count of Hart, you deserve it.”
“I guess the rumors about him being a vampire are true.”
Do you believe it?
“I heard they brought in a plant-type monster and caught it to win the hunting contest.”
“They say they used that monster to get rid of those who bothered them.”
“Is it true that we have been secretly dealing with plant-type monsters behind the scenes for a very long time?”
I’m so dumbfounded.
No, it doesn’t make sense in common sense. Why on earth do you believe this? Even the rumors are ridiculously exaggerated!
I swallowed the laughter that was about to escape and pretended not to listen to their voices, but a huge figure approached me.
“Ah…”
I reflexively shook my shoulders.
A strong presence. Heavy and sharp atmosphere. It was obvious without needing to see who the owner of this presence that was weighing down people was.
At first glance, a red cloak appears in the field of vision. Before I could make eye contact with the fierce golden eyes, I quickly got down on one knee and bowed my head. I felt the nobles who discovered him belatedly kneel down one by one.
“Glory to the Empire.”
“Get up.”
The emperor, whom I had seen for the first time in a long time, looked quite emaciated, as if he had a lot of work to do. Is it a problem or a good thing that the gauntness made the impression sharper rather than sad?
From the emperor’s point of view, you could say it’s fortunate that it doesn’t look ridiculous, but for me, it’s a problem.
‘You’ve become more scared…!’
Even if it wasn’t, I was scared!
Tired, beautiful golden eyes scan the nobles. Everyone who caught his gaze shrank like a startled snail as his eyes became more fierce than before.
After a short silence, the emperor broke the silence.
“…Okay…”
It was a sigh-like voice filled with deep fatigue.
“I was busy so I couldn’t participate, but it looks like things went well. “It looks like the crown prince did a good job.”
“I am honored.”
“I’ll let Jim take charge from now on.”
The Emperor, who fluidly took over the baton from the Crown Prince, raised his gloved hand and pressed his ever-distorted eyebrows.
“Let’s hurry up and announce the results and conclude. Please give me the results sheet.”
A sheet of paper listing the shapes and sizes of monsters passed into his hands.
What rank am I in? Because of the title of ‘Hero’, I couldn’t go back empty-handed, so I only caught two monsters that I saw on the way, so I guess that’s just average. It seems that the average number of monsters hunted by nobles was two.
Since I have no intention of attracting attention, I am satisfied enough with the fact that I did not damage the hero’s name value.
The emperor seemed to be in a very bad mood, so he should just stay silent and disappear like this. In the current situation, if I stand out for no reason, I may not have a neck left.
“Third place. Cruel Hart.”
“?”
When the fuck did he participate?
The results of his hunt are piled up in front of everyone.
Because it is cluttered and there is not enough space to place all hunting results in one place, only the first to third place results are placed in the center in hunting competitions to prevent suspicions of ranking manipulation. In short, if you haven’t caught this much, don’t complain.
In that sense, Cruel’s ranking was annoyingly understandable. Four monsters. I definitely caught quite a lot by the average person’s standards. That’s rough considering he’s a hero with a hero’s fragment. Unlucky.
The ranking announcement continued.
“Second place. Elpidius Desert.”
“…?”
I was surprised in a different way. No, the crown prince participated, but there was a human who won first place without giving up? What kind of crazy person are you?
Five monsters. Even if you don’t intend to make any concessions, it will be difficult to capture more than that. The crown prince said it was possible because he had four good assistants, but it wouldn’t be easy for an ordinary person without even the fragments of a hero to surpass that.
I really did this with my teeth clenched, but I’m really curious about who it is…
“1st place. Deon Hardt.”
It’s me.
I was that crazy person who gritted his teeth.
“…?!”
why not? why?! I only caught two monsters…
Three monsters piled up in front of me in confusion. Not two, but three. Among them, my expression fell into an indescribable form when I discovered a monster with a familiar appearance.
“I caught a plant-type monster. “It must have been quite difficult as it was my first time seeing this type, but you did a great job.”
“No… no…”
I barely answered. It wasn’t picky at all. Because this guy died for me. I deliberately left it behind, even if it was because of my conscience.
What kind of guy brought this guy?
The softened golden eyes take a look at me, then harden again and face the front. A step behind him, another Geum-an who looked like him smiled softly at me.
‘Prince…’
Why are you smiling? At first glance, it seems like it’s meant as a compliment.
But I won’t take it literally! Because I learned that the social world is a place where people wear the mask of laughter and exchange swords of words.
So that smile probably means a warning. For example, ‘How dare you defeat me? ‘Your future will be very tiring.’ Or something.
‘The crown prince looks at me hatefully…’
…If he’s really hateful, he should escape to the demon world forever. The empire, not the human world, is bad.
“Then let’s say the hunting competition ends here and I have something to tell you.”
The emperor attracted attention again.
He frowned and waved his hand in the air as if there were a fly in his eye, then gently closed his eyes and then opened them with a light sigh. His eyes, which had become even more harsh due to the dark shadows under his eyes, were aimed directly at me.
“It looks like we will be going to war with the demon world.”
“!“
