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“The dukedom’s troops will take charge of the subjugation
?”
Camara’s expression stiffened slightly. Was he saying that the dukedom would take the profits from the evil land in his territory?
Eugene quenched his concern. “Naturally, the profit will be distributed the same as before. I am not planning to take your share, so there is no need to worry.”
“A-ah, not at all,” Camara stuttered after having his thoughts seen right through.
Eugene continued, “And I’m not saying that the dukedom’s troops will forever be in charge of the subjugation. Let’s try it for six months and up to two years at the longest.”
Camara answered, “Ah, yes. I will obey your command, Your Majesty.”
There was no need for him to refuse Eugene’s offer. There wouldn’t be any changes to his territory’s share of the pie, and Maren’s reliable troops would take care of all the hard work for him.
“Then I will be leaving tomorrow. See you in the morning,” Eugene said.
Camara answered, “Understood. Please make yourself at home”
After Camara left, Princess Lilisain asked cautiously, “With all due respect, Your Majesty, is there any reason to subjugate the dungeon on that lord’s behalf?”
“There is. We absolutely have to do it ourselves,” Eugene answered.
“I’m confused. I ask for an answer,” Princess Lilisain said.
Eugene responded, “Was Christian the only one playing tricks in an evil land?”
One of the elven knights answered, “No. He himself said that there were other members of the Dark Clan involved in the matter.”
Eugene nodded. “That’s right. He said there are at least two or three clans involved in the issue. There are usually seven or eight high lords in each clan. Of course, not all of them would have been tasked with carrying out this particular mission, but there had to be at least ten others who are still doing what Christian had been doing.”
“Well, that makes sense.”
“But as the princess and you sirs know, Christian alone occupied at least five evil lands and reinforced the monsters within before sending them out. Ten others would make at least fifty evil lands. How many monsters would have been released in the past year? Surely, they are much stronger than before as well,” Eugene said.
“
!”
The question required no contemplation. They had killed more than five hundred large and small monsters on their way from Maren to the Tywin territory, which had been caused by a single high lord of the Helmond Clan—Christian. However, similar things were apparently happening in at least ten other regions. Since the other regions were not privy to the changes just yet, it was likely that the number of monsters and the damage they were causing would continue to grow exponentially.
“Do you understand now? In the end, it means that the entire world will soon be suffering from monsters. That’s why we should prepare Maren’s troops in advance. Six months should be enough,” Eugene said. Six months would be sufficient time for Maren’s knights and mercenaries to become accustomed to fighting the strengthened monsters. Naturally, dealing with dozens of monsters inside an evil land and hundreds in the outside world would be different, but there was a huge difference between being familiar and unfamiliar with the enemy.
In particular, there were different methods of effectively dealing with different types of monsters, and it would bolster the power of an army for them to learn the different methods. If Maren’s troops traveled around the dukedom and subjugated the various evil lands for six months, they would be able to properly fight against the strengthened monsters in the future without panicking.
“What brilliant insight. As expected from Your Majesty,” Princess Lilisain exclaimed.
The elven knights nodded approvingly as well.
“So that’s what you were planning.”
“If everything goes according to Your Majesty’s plan, Maren’s soldiers will become veterans of monster hunting.”
“Hunting?” Eugene smirked.
The princess and the knights took on startled expressions, and Eugene spoke firmly, “It’s not a hunt. This is war.”
The elven knights took on resolute, determined expressions after hearing Eugene’s words. After a short moment, Princess Lilisain asked once again, “But, Your Majesty, this important piece of information, should you not inform Brantia at the least?”
“I was planning to do that, anyway,” Eugene answered. Although he had become the king of Maren, Brantia was his foundation and the place he considered most significant to him. Moreover, the profits he had gained from Brantia were slightly bigger than from Maren.
“Who among you is the best at the language of the Caylor Kingdom?” Eugene asked.
“I am
” One of the knights raised his hand. Eugene handed over a letter fixed with the seal of his ring.
Eugene continued, “Give this to the governor of Maren. Tell him to deliver it as fast as possible to Lord Markus of Mungard. Depart immediately.”
“Understood,” the knight responded and saluted before leaving.
“With all due respect, why don’t you send it directly to the King of Brantia? Isn’t Markus the vampire lord of Mungard?” Princess Lilisain asked with a curious expression.
Eugene answered, “I’m planning to bring those vampires here.”
“What?”
Eugene continued, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Vampires for vampires.”
Who was the natural enemy of vampires? A high priest? A holy knight? Perhaps, a stronger undead? No. Eugene thought that the natural enemies of vampires were also vampires. Higher-ranking vampires were smarter, and they had various countermeasures in place to guarantee their safety and victory from what people assumed were their natural enemies. However, vampires could not even breathe easily when faced with a vampire of a higher rank. As such, Eugene’s intentions were to summon Lord Markus and Banneret Randolph to Maren.
They would be perfect when it came to dealing with vampires below the lord rank.
“A brilliant idea. They will be very helpful in this fight. However, the opponents are likely vampire high lords. Do you think they will be strong enough?” Princess Lilisain asked.
The other vampires under Eugene’s command weren’t strong enough to beat a high lord, except Galfredik. Even among the elves, only someone like Swordmaster Pranbow would be strong enough to compete with a vampire high lord.
There was no way Eugene was ignorant of this fact.
“That’s why I prepared something else as well. You can look forward to it,” Eugene said with a grin. He was thinking of a race that knew vampires better than anyone and wasn’t particularly afraid of them.
‘They should be itching right about now. No matter how much they can stuff themselves with meat, it can’t be as good as a good fight.’
Eugene had prepared a powerful card to deal with the vampire clans of the continent and their high lords—the Perseus Beowulf warriors.
***
Eugene left the Rose Castle under a grand farewell from Camara and the residents of the Tywin territory. Seventy percent of the mana stones and by-products obtained from the recent subjugation were to be given to Eugene. As such, Camara had promised to send Eugene’s share of the spoils to the Palin Association.
The next destination of Eugene’s group was a remote village located in the corner of the Tywin territory. He had obtained useful information from Christian and had even made a small fortune during the journey.
Broadwin—it was the hamlet where Eugene lived for quite a long time and was also the starting point for Eugene’s current life.
“Is that the place? Your Majesty’s hometown?” Princess Lilisain asked.
“I wouldn’t really call it my hometown. Anyway, that’s where I took my first step as a knight,” Eugene responded.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Princess Lilisain said with sparkling eyes.
The spirit flew to the princess’ side and started jabbering, “Phew! That’s also my home as well. Should I call it the place of fate where the legend of Sir Eugene and myself started?”
“Ha, ha
 The beginning of His Majesty’s legend? I want to hear more,” Princess Lilisain responded with an airy moan.
Mirian continued, “The moment I saw him! I came to an immediate realization! Now this—this is fate! I knew that someone like Sir Eugene needed a wise, competent subordinate like myself! Of course, he had also recognized my value at first sight. Should I say we connected by simply sharing a gaze? Destiny? Fate? Anyway, we must have been deeply immersed in the heat of our youth.”
The spirit completely and perfectly distorted the truth, and Eugene immediately corrected her. “When I killed a monster in the swamp, some firefly suddenly started cursing at me. I ignored it because it looked useless, but this thing kept on sticking with me. What was it? You could make water faster by excreting it rather than spitting it? I told it to get lost because its offer was ridiculous, but it kept following me.”
“Hmm~ Fwee~” The spirit avoided Eugene’s gaze and started to whistle rather poorly.
Princess Lilisain gazed at the spirit with a hot gaze and spoke, “
Even better.”
Mirian responded, “I knew that the princes would recognize my true value! Salute! Salute!”
“
” Eugene couldn’t find any words to say as he looked alternatingly at the spirit and the princess. It appeared that the two had started to get along at some point.
After a while, Eugene arrived on the road overlooking Broadwin alongside the elven knights. The hamlet had become significantly larger compared to the past several years ago when Eugene had last seen it. There had been a little more than twenty households during Eugene’s stay, but now, there were more than fifty households at a glance. A decent wooden fence and stone walls were protecting the compound as well.
At this point, it was appropriate to call it a small village rather than a hamlet.
‘It seemed Camara had kept his promise.’
Broadwin was the hometown of Camara’s half-brother, Felid, so he appeared to have lowered the village’s taxes and provided adequate support as well.
Eugene slowly rode Silion toward the village at the forefront of his group.
“A-a knight!”
“The knights are here!”
The villagers immediately fell into a frenzy as knights with extraordinary appearances approached their village. The people working in the fields fled into the village in a hurry, and after a while, the chief and the village men came stampeding out and fell on their stomachs.
“S-sirs! We are the people of Lord Tywin, and we are simple, poor, ignorant villagers! We will serve you with all our heart, so please don’t hurt us!” the chief exclaimed while trembling. He was struck with fear—unable to even lift his head.
“It has been a long time, chief,” Eugene said.
“What?” The chief barely managed to his head at the words of a knight who stood out from others. The knight’s armor looked incomparably expensive, even compared to the other knights.
Eugene took off his helmet.
“S-s-sir Eugene?!”
The chief’s eyes filled with disbelief after seeing Eugene, the one known as the “Red-Eyed Monster” in the past.
***
The chief and the people of Broadwin truly served Eugene and the elves with all their hearts. The original residents of the village, as well as the newcomers, couldn’t keep their eyes off Eugene’s group.
“An elf. A real elf.”
“They look unreal. How could they look so beautiful?”
“That lady yonder is supposedly the princess of the elf land.”
“Look at the sword and armor. It’s so flashy.”
Although Eugene had always been with members of other races, residents of a small village like Broadwin would almost never have the opportunity to see other races. They would be filled with wonder just seeing knights in chainmail or plate mail, so when they saw elven knights they only ever heard about in stories, they couldn’t keep their jaws from dropping.
The villagers gathered in the village’s one and only pub, and they busily discussed Eugene’s group.
“It’s an incredible honor to have you visit our village again, Sir Eugene. You have truly accomplished quite a lot.” The chief could not hide his excitement and joy as if it were his own success. He would sometimes hear rumors regarding Eugene and Felid when he visited bigger villages after the two had left his village, but he had stopped paying attention to the two after about a year.
The priority of rural villagers was to make a living. Knights, evil lands, and wars were completely unrelated to them.
“Well, I guess I did manage to accomplish quite a bit,” Eugene said with a grin. It was obvious at a glance from the chief’s response that the chief was completely unfamiliar with Eugene’s feats.
“As I expected! I knew you would do well, Sir Eugene! Oh, well, you have been extraordinary even when you were still in our village. Don’t you all think so?” the chief said.
“Mhm! It was easy to get through the winter because he always caught beasts!”
“He also beat the black wolves and the bandits who invaded our village, didn’t he? If it weren’t for you, we would have been in big trouble.”
The long-time residents of the village shouted, and the chief spoke with an even friendlier smile, “See? We have always missed you ever since you left. Anyway
 did you join a powerful knight order? Ah?! Did you perhaps become a lord?”
“Hmm. Well, I guess you could say I’m sort of a lord,” Eugene responded.
Ohhh
!!!
The villagers exclaimed while crowding him. A knight from their village had become a lord! The villagers felt an indescribable sense of pride. However, they had never imagined that the red-eyed knight was actually their ‘king.’