Chapter 181 : Chapter 181
Chapter 181. The Observer (4)
This was not a sports match; it was a war.
Moreover, it was a head-on collision between the armies of great empires that had once unified the east and west of the continent, respectively.
Even observation required preparation.
This wasn't an event one could watch by casually sitting on a suitable vantage point, munching on popcorn.
Such high grounds would have already been occupied by the enemy's scout forces, or small-scale skirmishes would be taking place for their control.
Two things were most important.
Equipment to observe from outside the enemy's watch.
And the means to transport that equipment.
Neigh-
The Wraith Steed shook its pale mane.
It was today's means of transport and conveyance.
The Wraith Steed was a semi-ethereal warhorse I had ridden once before when visiting Karnhorst, and though it looked like a horse, each one was a level 5 unit.
In Imperial terms, they were comparable to a knight belonging to a decent knightly order.
Not only were they several times stronger than ordinary warhorses, but they could also shower their targets with spells.
That meant they possessed high intelligence.
And being ghosts, they did not tire.
Three groups of twelve stood in formation before the Lord's castle.
One of those groups, twelve of them, was pulling a massive mobile altar.
“Using that, we can conduct reconnaissance even from within my territory.”
“Is that so?”
“I've plastered it with auxiliary magic circles that dramatically increase the control range of necromancy.”
The plan was simple.
The Duke and Hebrun would send dozens of skeleton vultures, controlled by necromancy, into the enemy camp.
Like reconnaissance using drones, we planned to scatter them high in the sky and observe the enemy's battle.
To avoid any potential enemy attacks, we would control the skeleton vultures from dozens of kilometers away, aided by the altar.
“The only drawback of that altar is that it consumes too much mana, but thanks to the Soul Core production method you taught me, we were able to secure fuel easily.”
The Duke said.
Another twelve Wraith Steeds pulled a cart.
The cart, the size of a decent container, was piled high with purplish Soul Cores like a heaping bowl of rice.
The final twelve pulled the carriage carrying me, the Duke, and Hebrun.
The three twelve-headed carriages departed from Karnhorst.
Crack!
“Giddy-up! Giddy-up!”
I learned an interesting fact.
Wraith Steeds were also driven by a whip.
Despite having the intelligence to understand human language and use spells.
“They like it.”
Hebrun added.
“They like it? Being hit by a whip?”
“Isn't it a form of amusement?”
“Amusement?”
“Living humans are always reminiscing about the past, saying how the old days were better, right? Those things are also recalling their time alive. The whip doesn't hurt them anyway.”
Is that so.
It sounded like sophistry, but it also seemed to make sense.
With the crack of the coachman's whip, the scenery outside the carriage window began to change.
From the ducal castle to the zombie-filled streets, through the castle gates, and out into the open fields.
The carriage sped eastward.
Before long, it passed the old imperial highway and entered the wilderness.
Surprisingly, the ride was comfortable.
Despite the hills and plains being strewn with rattling stones.
This was because the carriage itself was floating a couple of handspans above the ground.
I once saw a Rolls-Royce test drive on YouTube, and though I've never ridden in one, I think this would win in terms of ride comfort.
Of course, it lacked the state-of-the-art ventilation system of a Rolls-Royce, so the air unique to the Vampire Archduchy, filled with miasma, blew fiercely into the carriage.
Still, it wasn't particularly uncomfortable.
Before, just walking would make my throat feel clogged, but now I could breathe comfortably no matter how thick the miasma was.
“I heard that Wolfskrig has been freed from Viscount Ash's hands and has become the Imperial Capital.”
While we were traveling through the wilderness in silence, the Duke broke the quiet.
“Are you alright?”
I turned my head towards him.
His face was filled with genuine concern.
It was hard to believe he was the king of over a million undead.
Well, to them, I was the true emperor of the Lumer Legion.
A wandering emperor betrayed by his legion commanders, who was now using Viscount Ash as a puppet to regain his strength.
I looked into the Duke's red eyes and chuckled.
“Even an emperor is just human, isn't he?”
“N-no way. You've even made the Iron-Blooded Emperor of the Empire your pawn….”
“A pawn. Not quite to that extent. It's just that where my hand moves, the emperor's hand naturally follows.”
“Haaah……”
The Duke and Hebrun gasped in admiration at the same time.
Well, wasn't it true?
It was true that even an emperor was human.
And it was also true that my own hands and feet moved according to my will.
‘Are you seriously pulling this scam? Master, you truly are…….’
Strange.
It had only been a few hours since I quelled the disturbance in the subspace.
‘Truly what?’
‘…Truly admirable, is what I mean.’
‘The mana stone production rate hasn't dropped, has it?’
‘O-of course. Of course not.’
‘Tick, tick, tick-tock?’
Good, that's how it should be.
I leaned back against the plush seat and rested for a moment.
Even on Earth, when riding a train or bus, I liked to stare out the window and zone out.
The passing natural scenery allowed me a moment to reflect on the past.
Yes.
The past year.
Looking back, it had been a year filled with many events.
Among them, the biggest was undoubtedly the change in Wolfskrig.
First, the population grew.
Even before, it was the fastest-rising pioneer city in the Empire.
This was due to various favorable factors such as the reclamation of vast farmlands with the priest's blessing, large-scale mine development, the introduction of factories, and various benefits for immigrants.
But that was a natural influx.
The population bomb from a year ago was of a completely different nature.
That's right.
It was a population bomb.
Not a few thousand, nor tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of people became citizens of Wolfskrig overnight.
Of course, not all the refugees from the Imperial Capital settled in Wolfskrig.
Some went to other cities in the Ash County, to Burken just above, or to the southern regions farther away.
Still, the majority chose to settle in the new Imperial Capital.
The atmosphere was that since they had nowhere else to go, settling in the new capital offered more opportunities than other territories.
Well, even when it was just a viscounty, it was said to be on the verge of becoming the largest city in the south.
Now that it had become the Empire's capital, it must have seemed like its ‘stock soaring’ was a sure thing.
Of course, from my perspective as the Emperor and Prime Minister of the Imperial Capital, the population bomb was not an easy problem.
What should I say.
It was a double-edged sword.
For this part, let me borrow the words of a senior from the army who looked after me, a peculiar but good person in many ways.
‘Wanna know something interesting? It's something I realized while dabbling in crypto. A tenfold gain isn't the same as another tenfold gain. Turning a hundred thousand won into thirty million by multiplying it three hundred times doesn't feel like much. But when a hundred million becomes a billion? That's a different world.’
That senior also said this.
‘You think having a lot of money is all good? Nope. If your mentality isn't ready, your worries just increase. You have more to lose.’
At the time, I thought he was just being a typical boomer, having experienced a bit of the real world before enlisting.
But looking back now, everything he said was right.
The change was greater when the Imperial Capital went from 10,000 to 480,000 people than when a settlement of two hundred immigrants became a large city of ten thousand.
The things I could do in a short period increased.
Accordingly, the problems popping up everywhere also grew exponentially.
I spent countless nights dealing with a mountain of issues like food, security, jobs, housing, and transportation.
That I managed to solve them with the help of the dwarves, tax revenues from across the country, my traits, and the unexpected discovery of natural gas is another story.
Anyway, the important thing is that even in the midst of that chaos, I did not forget the purpose of all this.
Right now, I have two objectives.
To stop the army of the Eastern Empire, led by the Eastern Emperor and the Church.
And to confront the unknown adversary lurking behind all of this.
To this end, even with a schedule planned down to the minute, I spent a considerable amount of time delving into the history of the Sacred Relics, the Outer Gods, and the Church.
Bart and Brol's contributions were significant.
Bart, despite his administration being directly hit by the population bomb, managed to acquire a substantial amount of historical material on the Sacred Relics and their wielders whenever he had a spare moment.
Brol, after taking over the intelligence organization of the Imperial Secret Knight Order and establishing an intelligence network across the entire empire, collected all sorts of rumors and tales passed down orally within the Empire and beyond.
The two of them worked tirelessly for the past year.
Thanks to them, I believe I have gathered all the information I can.
What are the powers of the Outer Gods dwelling in the fourteen Sacred Relics?
What disasters befell the conquerors who expanded their power with the Sacred Relics?
Above all, what did the two monarchs who were the only ones to survive those disasters and preserve their power to some extent have in common?
The Eastern Emperor and the Emperor of the Lumer Legion.
Based on that information, I formulated our strategy.
Anyway, the carriage is slowing down.
“Whoa, whoa!”
After it stopped, I got out of the carriage.
I raised my head.
It was the entrance to a mountain range.
Amidst the sheer cliffs and ridges soaring in the distance, the three carriages stood side-by-side on a secluded hill.
“This is the Tifon Mountain Range. Beyond it lies the point where the Eastern Wastelands and the Great Desert meet.”
The Vampire Duke, who had followed me out, said.
We had arrived.
A secluded hill at the southeastern tip of the Vampire Archduchy.
Today's observation seat.
***
“Judging by the reconnaissance report of a ghost knight who was incinerated by the Eastern Empire's artillery an hour ago, the two armies are expected to clash beyond the mountain range.”
I listened to the Vampire Duke's report.
While feeding sugar cubes to the Wraith Steed.
Seeing it quickly devour a handful of sugar cubes and lick my palm, it seems it really does like them.
After licking my palm, the Wraith Steed started to lick my face with its tongue for the last bit of sweetness.
It felt damp, but no moisture was left behind.
Perhaps, as Hebrun said, it was recalling memories of its life through each of these actions.
“Your Majesty, the altar and the spell are ready.”
I followed the Vampire Duke to the altar.
On the hill, which the Duke's subordinate vampires had neatly weeded.
In an area with a radius of about a hundred meters centered on the mobile altar brought by the Wraith Steeds, various curves, straight lines, and all sorts of hieroglyphs were drawn.
A large-scale magic circle.
The Vampire Archduchy's specialty.
In siege warfare, they would create several of these and use mid-tier necromancers to pound castle walls with spells like [Infernal Meteor].
Today, however, we planned to use a simple reconnaissance spell.
In the center of the magic circle, along with the altar, a viewing area had been prepared for us.
But this viewing area.
Its condition was a bit strange.
Three sofas, a table, several drinks and snacks, and even a Grave Knight holding a fan.
“……?”
Though it was called a viewing area, this was strictly a long-range reconnaissance mission.
Finding it absurd, I asked the Duke.
“Did we come here to see a show?”
“Well, since it's been several years since I last served Your Majesty. I wanted to show my utmost sincerity……”
“……”
Well, what's good is good.
I sank into the viewing area's sofa.
It was as plush as the one inside the carriage.
However, I couldn't feel entirely comfortable.
Uuuuuh----
The mournful groans and screams flowing from the altar continuously stimulated my eardrums uncomfortably.
As the cart of Soul Cores supplied a massive amount of fuel in real-time, the dregs of negative thoughts, the source of the fuel, were scattering into the air.
The Vampire Duke, sitting opposite me, activated the magic circle and explained the production process of the Soul Cores.
“The method Your Majesty taught me was good, but it was somewhat difficult to implement since you ordered us not to capture human prisoners.”
“The enemy we must focus on now is not the living humans, but Lumer, and by extension, the Eastern Empire. There is no need to create more enemies.”
“Your Majesty's words are correct. So I pondered. How could we create the Soul Cores Your Majesty taught us without making more enemies around us? It was then that young Hebrun came up with a good idea.”
The Vampire Duke, who had begun to form hand seals, smiled faintly and gestured with his eyes towards his daughter.
I turned to look at the Princess of Blood, Hebrun von Zarhill.
“Hm? It was nothing special. If we can extract negative thoughts by torturing living sacrifices, couldn't we also absorb the negative thoughts soaked into the land and air?”
“Are you talking about the negative thoughts dwelling in the Archduchy? The ones that cause natural undead to rise?”
“Yeah. There are negative thoughts everywhere, right? It's just a matter of scooping them up like water from a river.”
Hebrun said, scratching her head.
She acted as if it was no big deal, but it was.
If it could be made that way, wouldn't it be a perpetual motion machine?