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Chapter 274
The evil land disappeared with the closure of the passage to the Demon World, but there were still hundreds of monsters remaining in the Bemos territory. The monsters were mainly attacking travelers in the mountains and fields, but no one knew when they might start attacking villages similar to the one Eugene had stopped by before entering the Bemos territory. To take care of the potential problem and to keep his promise to Lord Bemos, Eugene decided to send the elven knights and the beowulf warriors with Princess Lilisain as their commander.
“You are more adept when it comes to hunting monsters, so I believe you will do well, Princess,” Eugene said.
“I will do my best to live up to your expectations, Your Majesty. And it won’t be just us either. The twin-headed ogre and the coco siblings will be with us as well, so it shouldn’t be difficult,” Princess Lilisain responded.
“…Right.”
Princess Lilisain often summoned the griffons by making sounds similar to a chicken. It appeared that she had decided on a related name for them.
“But the griffons. Why don’t you give them official names? Why are you just referring to them as… the coco siblings?” Eugene asked after suddenly becoming curious.
Princess Lilisain answered without any change in her expression, “You can get attached to them if you give them names. They should be the first ones to be sacrificed in the event of an emergency, so I couldn’t do such a thing.”
Eugene was surprised to hear her apathetic words. He looked back at the coco, or rather, the griffon siblings, just in case, and found that the griffons looked rather nervous, as if they had understood Princess Lilisain’s words.
“Good. Get going right away,” Eugene said.
Once the elven knights and the beowulf warriors left, Eugene looked back at Prince Localope and the other nobles.
“I think it would be better for you sirs to stay in Lord Bemos’ castle. It shouldn’t be a problem getting there with all of your guards and the troops Lord Bemos brought with him,” Eugene said.
The nobles took on bright expressions. Although they felt reassured when they had Eugene by their side, it was obviously much safer to be inside a castle rather than to travel outside.
“Hmm. Are we the only ones going? Will you not come with us, Your Majesty?” Prince Localope asked.
“I have something else to do,” Eugene answered.
“And what is that?”
Eugene turned toward Lord Bemos and responded, “The current situation won’t come to a resolution just because we’ll take care of the remaining monsters in the territory. We should return the water source to its original state as well.”
“Ah…”
Lord Bemos nodded along with the other nobles. The current predicament wasn’t just a matter that involved fiercer, evolved monsters coming out of the evil land in droves. The bigger problem was that the water source had become contaminated. As a result, the areas in the vicinity of the water source were in great danger. Even if all the monsters were eliminated, a large portion of the land would face an unprecedented disaster, unless the water source was returned to its original state.
“But how are you going to find the water source…?” Lord Bemos asked. As the lord of the land, he knew the approximate locations of the rivers and lakes on his territory. However, he didn’t know exactly where the water source was located.
“Don’t worry about that,” Eugene said with a smile.
He then continued, “I have someone who is as good at finding water as she is finding treasures.”
The order of his words appeared to be in reverse, but he wasn’t exactly wrong either.
***
“Sir, it’s that way!” the spirit exclaimed while excitedly leading the way. She was back to performing her original duties as a water spirit for the first time in a while. Mirian navigated through the deep, dense forest while locating the water flowing underground. Eugene, Galfredik, Christian, and Rohime diligently followed behind the spirit. The road was rough and unsuitable for humans to travel, so Eugene sent Selena and Edmund back to Lord Bemos’ castle with the other nobles.
“It’s getting shadier and shadier. Oi, evil spirit. Are you feeling anything like the energy of your kind?” Galfredik asked.
Mirian answered angrily, “I’m not an evil spirit! And no, I don’t feel anything like that at all. This is kind of weird. I think we’re almost at the water source, but I don’t feel any barriers.”
“Hmm. Right, that is a bit strange,” Eugene commented before expanding his senses outward. Mirian’s original wetland was currently being protected by a barrier erected by Juseppel, who had taken over her duties. Similarly, another water spirit on a similar level as Juseppel should be in charge of this water source as well. As such, the area should have a barrier protecting it.
However, Eugene couldn’t feel a thing. They were obviously approaching the water source, but instead of coming across a barrier, the atmosphere kept getting gloomier and shadier as they closed in.
“Let’s keep going for now. Mirian, are we not at the water source yet?” Eugene asked.
“I feel like… I feel like we might be almost there, maybe, we may be almost there,” Miran answered.
“…Say it more clearly, you incompetent goon,” Eugene said.
“Kieek! It’s only because this one is groundwater! And the water dried up because of the monsters!” Mirian fussed.
“Anyway, do your best,” Eugene said.
“Hmph! Hnnnng! Whatever!” Mirian continued to diligently search for the water source while grumbling.
Meanwhile…
‘I-is that spirit out of her mind?’
‘Is she crazy? Or does the spirit have a huge secret that I’m unaware of?’
The two high lords didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry at the spirit’s attitude toward the great Origin.
***
“Right here. The water source is right under here,” Mirian said with a victorious smile after finally coming to a stop. It took her around two more hours to locate the water source.
“Kihehehe! What do you think, everyone? This is just a glimpse of my true abilities. Hmm?! Other spirits may not even be able to find this! This was only made possible by my competence!” Mirian declared.
“Yes, good work.” Eugene half-heartedly praised the pretentious spirit before looking down at the ground where Mirian had pointed at. The soil was soaked with moisture, and he could see water spewing out from various places, though the streams were very weak. Judging by the traces of water, there was obviously more water here in the past.
Moreover, the water was filthy. A single glance was enough for anyone to judge that it was undrinkable. The state of the water was evidenced by the fact that no living creatures could be found in the surrounding areas.
“Can you not sense the spirit who should be guarding this place, even now?” Eugene asked.
“That’s the really weird part. This is strange. There should be one for a water source this size,” Mirian answered.
“Hmm.” Eugene looked around for a moment before turning his head. The two vampire lords immediately came to attention when they met Eugene’s gaze.
‘Come to think of it. They haven’t really done anything until now, right?’
“You two, come this way,” Eugene called out with an idea in mind.
“Yes, Great One,” they answered.
“I have something for you two to do,” Eugene said.
“Ohh! Please give us your orders!” The two vampire high lords bowed deeply, rejoicing at the anticipation of finally getting to do something. The two vampires hadn’t been given the chance to contribute after submitting to Eugene, even though they were nobles of the empire and vampire high lords. They normally escorted Prince Localope, and even though they had helped in fighting against monsters, most of the work was usually performed by the elven knights and the beowulf warriors. In addition, they had failed to perfectly accomplish the mission that Eugene had bestowed upon them in the Bemos dungeon. It was just natural that their pride was hurt.
Eugene was going to give them an order at the opportune moment. This was the perfect chance to redeem themselves.
‘I will succeed no matter what!’
‘I will accomplish this task to perfection with my honor and life on the line!’
Rohime and Christian burned with determination.
“Dig,” Eugene said.
“…What?” The two made the mistake of questioning the orders of the great one.
They immediately bowed. “F-forgive us! Please give us your orders again!”
“Dig the ground,” Eugene said.
“….” The two vampire high lords took on dazed expressions.
Eugene pointed at the ground spewing contaminated water and continued, “If we want to check it out, then it needs to be dug out. Get to it. I will give you until sunset”
“H-honor!” Regardless, it was a task entrusted to them by the great King of Darkness.
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” The two vampire high lords extended their claws before beginning to dig like crazy.
“Wow! Look at them go. They’re basically a pair of moles!”
“Human moles! No! Vampire moles!”
Galfredik and Mirian exclaimed while resting comfortably on the ground.
‘C-calling us moles…’
“What humiliation!’
Unfortunately, the two high lords weren’t in a position to retort or complain. As such, they pretended as if they couldn’t hear the comments and focused on the task at hand.
“That’s right. You guys are quite useful, aren’t you?” Eugene commented.
“I’m flattered!”
“For the King of Darkness!”
Whenever Eugene praised them, the faces of the two laborers would instantly shine with gratification. Thanks to the efforts of the vampire high lords, who possessed superhuman strength, stamina, and grit, more than ten meters of the ground was excavated in just less than an hour.
Crack! Craaaa…!
A stream of water soared upward with a roar. It appeared that they had finally found the water vein. When the water slowly died down, the vampire high lords resumed digging. Soon, a large hole was made in the ground, where mud and debris drizzled down.
Christian pushed his head inside the hole.
“I found it. It seems to be a large, hollow underground lake,” he said.
This seemed to be the true water source of the Bemos territory.
“Let’s descend.”
The four vampires and the spirit descended down the hole one after another.
***
The dark underground cave was without light, but it wasn’t a problem for the vampires. Moreover, although the surface of the water was large enough for it to be called a lake, it was very shallow. As such, Eugene and the vampires easily waddled out of the water.
“No bats, no fish,” Galfredik said.
“I don’t think there’s anything alive here. I can’t detect any life,” Christian chimed. He had just returned from scouting the vicinity with Rohime.
“So it’s a dead lake,” Eugene said after taking his helmet and looking around. He stroked his chin. He had already realized that there was no life nearby even before Rohime and Christian left to scout the surroundings.
“Sir. I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Mirian stuck closer to Eugene as her wings trembled somewhat exaggeratedly.
“Stay in your pocket,” Eugene responded. Normally, he would have smacked her away, but this time, he was protecting her as her contractor. It was because he had also felt a strange sensation the moment he entered the underground lake. And when he realized that no sound could be heard aside from the noises his group made as they moved around, Eugene finally discovered the identity of the strange feeling.
‘It’s similar to the wetland where I first met Mirian.’
Of course, there were fish and other creatures in that wetland, but the feeling was very similar.
And that meant…
‘Something had already swallowed them up.’
He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it was most likely a monster.
‘No, not a monster.’
No matter how much stronger it had become after evolving, a monster couldn’t possibly break the barrier of a spirit and transform a water source to this degree. The monster in Mirian’s wetland had also been unable to kill the spirit, so it had chosen to suppress her with force instead. So, how could a monster completely take over a water source when a proper water spirit like Juseppel would have been protecting it?
‘It would have been impossible. And it would have been hard to go underground in the first place. In that case…’
The moment he found a hint—
“…?!”
Eugene jerked around. He could feel an energy emanating from a winding corridor opposite from where his group was standing. It was a passage of smoothed rock.
“That’s what I thought…” Eugene muttered.
“Hmm? That’s what you thought?” Galfredik asked with a puzzled expression.
Shhhhhh…..
A strange, eerie sound reverberated from down the corridor.
“…!”
Galfredik and the two vampires unsheathed their weapons like lightning.
Shhhhhhhh… Shhh…..
The expressions of the three vampires hardened. The unpleasant noise was enough to make all the hair of an ordinary person stand on end. An Origin’s vassal and vampire high lords had failed to detect anything until now. They weren’t sure what it was, but it certainly couldn’t be an ordinary enemy.
However, Eugene seemed to know the identity of the mysterious enemy.
“Demon. No, a demonic creature.”
The water source of the Bemos territory—this place was transformed into a lake of death by a ‘demonic creature’ that had crawled out of the Demon World. In addition, the monster was strong enough to kill a spirit of water.