Chapter 55
Chapter 55: Spoils of the Hunt (4)
The head of a faction has a duty to protect the nobles under their command.
Well, it's natural for any leader of any organization to take care of and protect their subordinates...
'Will he really protect me from the Execution Bureau?'
So Marquis Aaron had contacted Duke Raffin as his last resort, someone with whom he shared secrets, and fortunately, the Duke welcomed him, saying he would protect the Marquis.
"First of all, I'm not protecting you for free."
The Duke immediately thrust a contract at him, demanding the Marquis's signature.
Without hesitation, the Marquis completed signing the 'equity transfer contract' the Duke presented with a single stroke.
Only then did the Marquis bring up his situation.
"Your Grace, suddenly the Execution Bureau—"
"Shh."
The Duke destroyed the Marquis's mana circle, then gagged and bound him before tossing him on the floor.
The Duke's eyes were directed toward the distant horizon.
'I must maintain friendly relations with Saint Erik.'
Rather than protecting the Marquis, who was the third-in-command of the Magic Alliance, the Duke prioritized his friendship with Erik.
'What tremendous magical wavelengths.'
The Duke had noticed the presence of the calamity-grade black mage that appeared in the southern Empire.
In the midst of this, the Great Cataclysm Patch occurred.
While it was widely known that the Great Cataclysm Patch would happen, no one had expected it to occur so suddenly.
And then a massive black dragon appeared on top of that.
'Did it even descend?'
Duke Raffin watched Erik's battle from the top floor of his magic tower.
He thought about helping if necessary, but...
'The power of a god—'
Watching Erik create a single ray of light within the black magic power that darkened the sky, the Duke stopped all his actions and gazed at the Saint's majesty, something that would only happen in Genesis.
As a result, the gagged Marquis Aaron was left unattended until Erik's battle ended.
[Labyrinth Floor Master appears in Imperial Capital]
[His Majesty the Emperor's Northern Expedition, Undead Crisis Occurs]
[This weekend, Imperial Crisis Council to be held]
The Duke watched all of Erik's battles while forgoing food and drink.
Meanwhile, information about the Empire's situation was being delivered by the intelligence department.
The Duke only briefly checked this as well, continuing to watch the scene of divine light driving out darkness.
'Mixing divinity with magic power.'
Just as the Imperial Magic Tower Master dreamed of harmonizing divinity and magic power in the form of a War Mage, Duke Raffin wanted to implement this using magical tools.
Such magical engineering desires dominated the Duke.
Only after three days had passed and he looked at the clear sky did the Duke realize there was a Marquis before his eyes.
The words he uttered immediately after were:
"Marquis Aaron, I'm sorry about this."
"Mmph, mmphph!!"
Still gagged and with his mana circle destroyed, the Marquis trembled on the floor.
"Your stake in my magic tower was about 30%, wasn't it?"
Duke Raffin looked down at the Marquis with a cold smile.
"Now that the Great Cataclysm Patch has occurred, what does faction matter?"
Blue eyes shone through the Duke's narrowed slits.
The Marquis trembled, not knowing what to do with his sense of injustice.
"The contract for equity transfer was signed by you, Marquis, in exchange for protection, so there shouldn't be any problem. My magic tower must be entirely mine. I'd appreciate your understanding."
The Duke didn't expect an answer from the Marquis, so he didn't remove his gag.
He just spouted what he wanted to say arbitrarily.
"Hmm, but are you curious why I'm keeping you alive even so?"
'Mmph!'
The Marquis nodded frantically.
"That Saint Erik asked me to hand you over."
The Marquis's eyes widened.
"Didn't you see him eliminate that calamity? That monster is only fifteen. When he asked me to hand you over, what choice did I have?"
The Marquis had also seen the battlefield scene through the magic tower window.
The owner of that power had asked to capture him...
The Marquis's struggling stopped.
'Could it be that the problem was the clothes I gifted?'
Watching the Marquis's face contort as if he'd realized something, the Duke said:
"I don't know what you did to Priest Ruelle to make him so angry, but..."
The Duke trailed off.
Because he thought that anger shouldn't splash onto him.
"You know this as a noble, don't you? An insult to one's house and family is like an insult to oneself. And you must never touch the family of someone with the power to protect them. Farewell, Marquis."
The Marquis was still alive, but the Duke bid farewell as if he were already dead.
And then.
Buuuu!.
A faint trumpet sound was heard.
When the Duke looked down from the window, he saw a massive green flow cutting across the distant horizon.
The Duke's eyes narrowed even further.
The landscape of that distant horizon became clearly visible.
"Erik brought the elves?"
Erik at the forefront with his sword drawn showed the majesty befitting a great general.
The army of elves following behind exuded the spirit of warriors risking their lives.
At this, the Duke looked at the Marquis he had been about to treat as dead.
"Marquis, what on earth did you do?"
***
"Why go this far?"
Yuren felt truly bewildered.
This was the first time since being incorporated into the Empire that the elven army had been mobilized.
"We're not attacking an Imperial magic tower with elven forces, are we!"
Erik's majesty with his sword drawn at the forefront was impressive, but separately from that, Yuren couldn't understand this insane act.
So she uttered words of defiance.
"Yuren, do you intend to defy Mother's will?"
The King glared at Yuren.
The other guardians standing beside him did the same.
"A High Elf who defies the World Tree's will—"
As Erik lightly stroked his chin and muttered toward Yuren:
"It's due to my insufficient education."
The King bowed his head.
It was natural that the master of the World Tree was a figure higher than the King.
Moreover, Mother's will had descended.
"It seems my World Tree has struggled with raising her child."
Yuren shut her mouth tight like a mute who'd eaten honey.
'What's wrong with everyone's minds?'
She felt like she was the only sane person in this crazy world.
She too was in a position of supporting and following the World Tree infinitely, but even so, she couldn't easily accept the command to follow a saint from another religious group.
Yet everyone else had accepted it as is.
"Yuren, we've sufficiently accommodated your opinions. We even understood the construction of that Chinatown city. But this time, it's hard to tolerate."
Rather, Yuren started being treated as the strange one.
Even the elder elf who raised her said such things.
Yuren felt wronged but had no particular way to explain herself.
'That crazy bastard...'
Recalling Erik's statement about using the World Tree as firewood, Yuren felt like she was going insane.
'Mother World Tree, what on earth are you thinking—'
Because he called such a person her master, she couldn't accept Mother's will...
"Yuren, shoot an arrow at that top floor."
At Erik's strangely continuing statement, Yuren had no choice but to draw her bow.
'If I refuse here, I'll become the crazy one.'
Yuren maintained the taut bowstring while looking at Erik.
Really shoot?
That was her expression.
"What are you doing not shooting?"
Erik only urged Yuren.
"Ah! Be careful of the factory facilities on the lower floors."
As the words continued to this point, Yuren had no choice but to keenly realize the seriousness of this situation.
'The elven army launches a preemptive strike on an Imperial magic tower?'
Well, thoughts were thoughts.
For now, Yuren released the bowstring.
No, she let it slip.
Erik scattered divine power to subtly apply pressure.
'Ah! Damn it.'
At the pain that penetrated her [Pain Resistance] for the first time in a long while, Yuren let slip the bowstring she'd drawn.
Swiiiiish!
An arrow without any special skill flew straight toward the top floor of Raffin's Magic Tower.
Ting!
A magical wavelength occurred and the arrow vanished in mid-air.
"As expected, quite good defense."
Raffin Duke's Magic Tower guarding the southeastern Empire.
Called a magic tower, it was actually no different from a large-scale magical tool production factory with automated facilities.
Erik had tested that factory's defense.
"This time, use that power."
Erik urged Yuren to use her skill.
At the words "that power," Yuren squeezed her eyes shut.
Only Mother World Tree, Pilgrim Riferoze, and Erik knew that Yuren was a possessor.
'Is he grasping my weakness?'
While Erik had said it without much thought, from Yuren's position it felt like strong pressure.
If Erik even raised his divine power, Yuren would burn up.
And the other elves seeing that scene would surely regard her as a traitor.
Because half of the dark elves were possessors similar to Yuren.
Yuren ground her lower lip and drew her bowstring.
Twang!.
[Inevitable Hit]
[Price of Penetration]
[Attribute Bestowal]
[Sonic Arrow]
Since destroying an Imperial magic tower could cause big trouble, Yuren appropriately controlled her power and combined skills.
The bowstring was released.
Swiiish!
Another arrow flew toward the magic tower's top floor.
Ting!
The layered magical barriers were penetrated and finally the arrow reached the magic tower's surface, but...
The arrow vanished the instant it made contact.
"Nothing particularly special about the defense to worry about."
Erik nodded satisfactorily.
'He won't make me do this anymore, right?'
As Yuren let out a sigh of relief, a change occurred on the magic tower's side.
Vvvvvv.
With a blue flash, the first floor main gate of the magic tower opened and Duke Raffin and mages holding staffs began approaching Erik.
Among them could be seen a man bound all over his body.
At the forefront, Duke Raffin adjusted his clothes and gently waved his hand toward the Elven King.
"King, long time no see."
Instead of greeting the Duke back, the King looked at Erik.
"Duke, you betrayed the Empire."
Erik stepped forward in front of the King and faced the Duke.
At Erik's rudeness of blocking the King's front and the shocking words about betraying the Empire, the Duke's narrowed eyes opened halfway.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
The Duke was flustered by the unexpected situation, but intelligently analyzed the current situation.
'The Elven King is under Erik.'
Though he didn't know why, it was clear who owned this place, so the Duke hastily instructed his subordinates to bring Marquis Aaron forward.
Then he began making excuses.
"I wasn't hiding him. Did I have time to hand over the Marquis from that calamity-grade black mage's battlefield?"
At Duke Raffin's excuse, Erik snorted and unleashed sharp momentum.
Bang!
At the descending divine power, the Duke wondered if he should counter, but...
At Erik's next words, the Duke's words were blocked.
"You watched all that and just spectated?"
From Erik's position, it was quite natural to think of the Duke as a traitor.
'Even if teleportation was blocked, it's a distance he could rush to in an instant with Blink.'
Erik was certain that Duke Raffin had only watched his battle.
It was absurd that he'd just watched for three straight days while being right nearby.
"...Th-that."
The Duke tried to think of an excuse but couldn't come up with anything appropriate to say.
The Duke, who had read scriptures for research, had his eyes stolen by the mythical battle that would only occur in Genesis.
Because of this, he thought of the great work of mixing divine power and magic power as he watched that battlefield.
'Whatever I say...'
The conclusion the Duke reached was:
No matter how much he explained his detailed circumstances and personal feelings, all those actions would clearly be struck down by the two words 'spectating.'
'That army was aimed at me.'
Duke Raffin realized he had made a huge mistake.
"I apologize."
Duke Raffin, who has lived longer than the Emperor, doesn't bow his head to anyone but the Emperor.
Duke Raffin, who holds his head stiffly high even toward the Elven King...
"..."
Was he not bending his waist toward Erik while offering words of apology?
At this, Erik recited words of forgiveness to the Duke with magnanimity.
"If you give me your magic tower, I can forgive you sufficiently."
***
The existing contract was to pay Erik 50% of net profits from the divine magical tool business.
To this was added 50% equity in the magic tower.
The tax rate for ducal houses called the Four Pillars was 0%, so thinking about receiving dividends matching the magic tower equity...
'I can stably obtain large sums.'
Erik felt great satisfaction at Duke Raffin's wise judgment.
'Actually, for just spectating for three days, it's a cheap price.'
If Erik made an issue of this publicly, it was something that could cause sparks to fly to the entire ducal house.
Knowing this, Duke Raffin accepted the conditions Erik presented without much resistance.
"Our grievances are now gone."
The magic tower was built on a high hill.
The hill in front of the magic tower was a prime location that captured nature's scenery as is, with the great granary zone as its backdrop.
There, Duke Raffin and Erik clasped hands holding the magic tower equity transfer contract.
Click!
A magical crystal orb recorded that scene, making it official evidence.
In the recorded video, the elven army decorated Erik's background like a folding screen, and the Elven King appeared as a witness to this transaction.
"So how did you come to have the elves following you, Lord Erik?"
Unlike before, Erik didn't tell him to speak casually.
In rapidly changing circumstances, to prevent his young age from holding him back, he was solidifying his position more firmly.
"The World Tree is mine."
"...Pardon?"
At Erik's words, the Duke hesitated for a long while before expressing his question.
As if proving it was true, the massive World Tree visible in the distance shook its leaves and sent a cool breeze toward Erik.
"In terms of noble rank, I suppose it would be about Southern Archduke."
"S-Southern Archduke, you say?"
He'd heard of Northern Archduke, but Southern Archduke was a first.
Within the Elven Autonomous Territory, the King of elves was the King, but from the Empire's perspective, he was called Duke-King.
Calling this Archduke meant the elves had completely become part of the Empire.
"If Saint Erik becomes the Empire's Southern Archduke, His Majesty the Emperor will be very reassured."
Duke Raffin burst into hearty laughter.
The meaning behind Erik's actions was clear.
'Making the Empire truly one.'