Chapter 180 : Chapter 180
Chapter 180. The Observer (3)
Since becoming a lord, my schedule had always been thoroughly streamlined.
In the beginning, Bart had managed it, and now, a carefully selected and verified secretarial staff was in charge of it.
As a person with many secrets, I didn't entrust all my schedules to them, but you could say that my general public schedule went through their hands.
Route optimization was one of their most important tasks.
I once heard a businessman say that time is money.
No.
Time is more precious than money.
There is a huge, unbridgeable gap between the two: one is replaceable, the other is not.
Perhaps it was something I only came to feel keenly after rising to a high position.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was that all the routes in my official schedule were designed for optimal efficiency.
There was absolutely no waste of movement.
No unnecessary movements or short-term duplicate visits.
Going out of the city twice a day was something that should never happen.
That absolute was happening right now.
I was heading south.
Leaping through space repeatedly.
Hwoook-
A dizzying sensation of being sucked in.
A momentarily distorted and reversed vision.
Although I had long become accustomed to spatial teleportation, the sensation itself was new every time.
A change in location was not just a change in physical coordinates.
The entire surrounding environment changed.
Wind, humidity, temperature, light, sound, mana concentration, and so on.
Of course, except for vision, these were minute changes, but they were changes I could feel clearly because I had obtained numerous sensory traits.
After moving like that, the first thing to do was to search.
Waiting for my feet to touch the ground would cause a time delay.
I lifted my head and chose the next destination.
And moved again.
Hwoook-
The scenery changed continuously.
The ridge of a hill.
The entrance of a forest.
The thick branch of a large tree.
The top of the forest.
And the plain where the forest ended.
Hwoook-
Not raising the altitude above a certain level was a matter of safety and security.
If I went to a high place, I could move farther at once with a wider field of view, but I would also be more conspicuous and would be helpless if I were attacked.
Let's say I was sniped by a spell or a bullet while exposed in the air.
No matter how superhuman, I was still human.
If there was no place to stand, it would be very difficult to maneuver my body in general.
Now that the enemy was at my doorstep, there was no need to invite unnecessary risks.
And even without doing so, my travel speed was already fast enough.
Hwoook-
I arrived quickly.
The rendezvous point.
The heart of the vampire duchy.
A low-lying forest not far from the ducal castle I had visited before.
“…….”
There was no sign of anyone.
It seemed they hadn't arrived yet.
Well, it had been less than 20 minutes.
Since I had sent word of the rendezvous after receiving the letter via crow.
Even if they had left the ducal castle immediately, it would still be a while before they arrived.
I could wait.
Chirrr- Chirrr-
I sat down, leaning my back against a suitable tree.
Listening to the chirping of the insects, I took a short rest and focused my consciousness on the doppelgänger's side.
If there was any work I could help with, it would be good to help in my spare time.
Even with the same brain, two heads were better than one.
For reference, there were now two of my doppelgängers in Wolfskrig.
One in the form of Count Ash, and the other in the form of the Emperor.
They said that the more you used a sacred relic, the more new powers would be unlocked.
Just as Kkumteuli's transformation ability had expanded from his face to his entire body, there had been some changes in Starfish's power as well.
The doppelgänger, which could only be operated one at a time, could now be up to two.
The operating distance had also increased considerably, to the point where it was practically unlimited.
It meant that I no longer had to leave everything to Olif or Archduke Gabir and leave abruptly like before.
By the way.
“……Hmm.”
It seemed there wasn't much I could do to help on the doppelgänger's side.
The emperor's side was looking through a mountain of documents.
The Count Ash's side was studying the historical records on ancient war history and the footsteps of the sacred relic owners, which Bart had previously selected and had been steadily supplementing.
It was a difficult task to put our heads together on.
From my experience of operating a doppelgänger for a long time, there wasn't much I could give or receive in terms of help with tasks that involved reading and writing, such as reports or books.
Whether I had one head or two, I only had one pair of eyes to read letters with.
Just because I had two brains didn't mean I could perform the feat of moving both eyes separately and reading letters.
It would just double the stray thoughts.
In times like these, doing nothing and just listening to the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves of grass would help with smooth work….
‘Master.’
‘?’
‘Aren't you just trying to space out?’
From my long experience of working with the sacred relics, their characteristic was that they were clueless.
Why were their senses so dull when they had lived for tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of years combined?
Let the broad-minded me understand.
They were creatures stuck in a distant, empty alien world.
Weren't they the ones who had been destroying continents with their cosmic powers day in and day out?
Without even tasting a single piece of cotton candy, the product of the civilization they had destroyed.
It would be like the arrogant and hikikomori youngest child of a royal family spending his childhood years tormenting his dedicated servants.
‘Hiki…what are you saying? And arrogant? It's not like we're free from all constraints and relationships.’
‘Tick-tock…?’
‘Just look at Tick-Tocky, he can't even stand up to me, can he? Why do you think that is?’
Indeed.
Why was that?
I was curious.
As a result of scraping together the empire's historical records, I had learned a little about the sacred relics.
As the Emperor had said, the origin of the sacred relics was an existence called the ‘Warrior’.
No one had witnessed its true form.
However, when the fourteen sacred relics appeared in history, the name ‘Warrior’ was mentioned in all of them, despite being in different regions and time periods.
Cross-verified historical records said that the ‘Warrior’ was a god of war who had subjugated the Outer Gods.
And also that he was the one who had created the sacred relics and scattered them throughout the world.
However, knowledge about the Outer Gods, the origin of the sacred relics, was still in the realm of the unknown.
Very rarely.
Don't myths usually have settings for the birth of gods and such?
‘…I cannot say.’
“No, why did you bring it up then?”
‘Th-that was because the master misunderstood us!’
“Isn't it true that you're clueless? I'm confiscating your candy.”
‘……!!’
Anyway, the timing was good.
Just as I was quelling the restless public opinion of the subspace, another sound was heard.
The light sound of footsteps on damp earth.
The faint scent of blood.
The protagonist who had sent me the letter, the Princess of Blood.
Although many things had happened, she was now the hero who had become my most steadfast ally.
Soon, the red-haired vampire revealed herself from between the bushes.
She looked at me, who was leaning against a tree, and showed a slightly surprised expression.
“Huh? How did you get here so quickly?”
“Have you forgotten who I am?”
“Ah, right. Your Majesty. But what does that have to do with anything? I thought you were training skeleton wolves or something when you told me to come to the rendezvous point right away. How…”
“Do you train skeleton wolves like stray dogs?”
“…Huh?”
“You don't know the phrase ‘stray dog training’?”
“……?”
This is why it's difficult to talk to foreigners.
I got up from my seat.
“Let's go to Karnhorst.”
Before I took on the shell of the emperor, my second identity was Tribus.
A human necromancer and the resurrected emperor of the Lumer Legion.
To the vampire duke and his subordinates, I was the true ruler of Lumer and the master of all undead.
To them, the emperor currently leading the Lumer Legion was a fake set up by the traitorous legion commanders.
So.
“I will hear the report from the duke, and I will personally go and see the situation of the traitors.”
First, I had to subdue the troublesome traitors.
After that, there was one more thing to do.
***
Karnhorst.
The city of the vampire duke.
Once the center of southern trade and the capital of the Zarhill duchy, which had a power greater than the current Northern Archduchy, it was now the holy city of those who had returned from the dead.
This was my second visit.
As I stood before the massive city gate, it began to open smoothly on its own.
By the way, something had changed since last time.
Uuuuuh….
Awoooh…….
Even before the gate was fully open, I could hear the mumbling of the dead.
Along with the characteristic smell of the undead.
The scenery inside the fully opened gate was indeed worthy of being called the city of the dead.
There were many corpses.
From zombies of various races to wights, skeletons, and necro ogres.
Above all, zombies.
It was surprising to see dwarf and elf zombies, but the number of humans was beyond imagination.
Not only were the buildings filled with zombies, but even on the central thoroughfare, which was comparable to an eight-lane road, a countless crowd of corpses was wandering aimlessly.
To the extent that it easily overwhelmed the rush hour of the Wolfskrig factory complex.
Although I had told them to prepare an army, they wouldn't have been able to increase their numbers through war, so how did they do it?
“They are refugees who came up from the south.”
As if she had read my thoughts, the Princess of Blood, Hebrun, spoke first.
“Since the Lumer Legion was pushing up, the survivors who fled from Indika, the small cities in the desert, the nomads, and the wandering merchants were all pushed up.”
“Did you hunt them?”
“What are you talking about? Didn't Your Majesty say not to touch the humans first? I did as you said. If possible, I scared them away and chased them towards the city-state alliance in the west.”
Hebrun stopped one of the staggering zombies.
I looked at the zombie.
The thin, wide-fitting clothes characteristic of the desert people.
And, though it might sound strange, it was quite fresh.
It hadn't been dead for long.
On the zombie's back was a deep, large wound presumed to be the cause of death, which was not hidden even by the loose clothing.
Unlike the other fresh parts, that place alone retained the infection and festering it must have experienced in life.
It seemed that he had sustained a large wound from a thick blade, but had not died and had attempted treatment, prolonging his life, but had eventually died of infection and sepsis.
“The healthy people reached the city-state alliance, but there were more who were injured or starved from the legionnaires' attacks. We had no way of solving that.”
“So you took them in.”
“Because Your Majesty told us to prepare for war.”
I nodded.
Hebrun let go of the zombie and led the way again.
The ducal castle was in the very center of the city.
It wasn't just the number of undead that had changed.
The appearance of the ducal castle had also changed.
It wasn't that new walls had been built or a moat had been dug.
It was a non-material change.
A powerful magic surrounded the entire castle.
To exaggerate a little, it was on a level comparable to the barrier of paradise.
Considering that the one who had placed the barrier on paradise was a 12th-level arch-shaman, that magic meant one thing.
“Your father, he seems to have become worthy of being called an archmage.”
“He recovered his strength with the method Your Majesty taught him, and even became stronger.”
That's right.
Before I left for the Eastern Expedition, I had given him a hint about the ‘improved necro core’ that Tribus had developed.
It was the price for giving up a vast territory for Wolfskrig's eastward expansion.
Personally, it was also a kind of arrangement.
Originally, Tribus' ‘improved necro core’ was the ultimate weapon that brought a second golden age to the fallen duchy after losing the vampire duke in the game.
I thought that if the first duke were to obtain it now, while he was still whole, he might be able to stop the Lumer Legion even if they invaded.
Even so, I couldn't have told him the principles or operation in detail, but it seemed he had researched it on his own and achieved such an accomplishment.
“You seem to have gotten stronger too. Have you regained all your power from when you were alive?”
“I wonder.”
“Hmm?”
“Where do you think my power from when I was alive came from?”
Hebrun tilted her head.
I lifted my head.
Inside the tallest spire in the center of the ducal castle, I could feel a gaze watching me.
I immediately leaped through space.
Hwoook-
“…The one who will shine for eternity.”
The duke was waiting inside the spire.
He knelt.
“Congratulations on recovering your strength.”
“…….”
“The loser of the legion was said to inspect the legion in the south of the continent in the morning, and visit the legion at the northern end of the continent in the afternoon.”
That must be so.
The Emperor of the Lumer Legion also had eight sacred relics, and he had conquered the continent with that power.
In a way, I was probably closer to the Lumer Emperor in his prime than the current emperor.
“Raise your head. Report. The Lumer Legion is heading east?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The legion of traitors is marching towards the army of the Eastern Empire. They might have already clashed by now. We have not yet figured out the reason.”
“They want to secure legitimacy.”
I answered immediately.
It was not difficult to find the reason.
“By obtaining the sacred relics I possessed.”
In the end, what created the Lumer Legion was the eight sacred relics the emperor possessed.
Therefore, it was a natural step for the emperor to try to reclaim the sacred relics to recover his strength.
According to the historical records, intelligence, and various information assets I had scraped together so far, the Eastern Empire possessed multiple sacred relics.
Probably a number similar to what I had now.
The Emperor of the Lumer Legion had gone all-in on defeating the army of the Eastern Empire to obtain multiple sacred relics at once.
He must not have known that I had recently collected the sacred relics and had not revealed it.
Anyway, while the two ancient empires were clashing, my course of action was decided.
“By sacred relics, you mean…”
“The sacred relics of the Outer Gods. The source of my power. Let's talk on the way.”
“To the legion of traitors? They are probably clashing with the army of the Eastern Empire by now. It is a battlefield.”
“That's why we have to go.”
They say there are two most interesting things to watch in the world.
A fire.
And a fight.
From now on, it's observer mode.