Blood God Reborn as the Mudblood Heir

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Celia nodded, though her expression was tense.

Robi continued, "I will write down Garran’s habits. Fire marks, delayed traps, fake surrender, poisoned wine, borrowed witnesses, paid duel referees, false formation stones, all the ugly little things he calls cleverness."

Lucard’s eyes showed satisfaction.

"And the invitation?" Celia asked.

Robi smiled coldly. "When Ravencroft’s messenger comes, we will accept."

Celia’s face became serious. "You are really going?"

Robi’s metal hand closed slowly.

"Yes."

Lucard looked at him.

Robi’s smile became sharper.

"One old fox wants to kill another. It would be rude not to attend."

Lucard gave a faint smile.

"Good. Then let us prepare the ground before he buries you under it."

Celia looked at Lucard, then at Robi, then toward the locked cabinet where the spell pages waited.

Outside, the night of Gravehold deepened.

Inside the Marovain shop, the next trap began to take shape.

Lucard spent the next hour inside the secure writing room of the Marovain shop.

The room had no windows. The walls were thick. The door was guarded from outside by two Marovain guards, and the shelves inside were covered with locked boxes, old paper rolls, special ink bottles, small carving knives, silver rulers, mana stones, and empty scroll tubes. It was a room made for recording expensive things. A normal customer would never be allowed inside. Even many branch officers could not enter without permission.

Lucard sat at the central table with the four trap spell pages in front of him.

Celia stood on one side and watched.

Robi stood on the other side with his metal hand resting on the table. He had given Lucard the materials he asked for. Old paper, blood ink, a thin black brush, powdered mana crystal, silver dust, grave ash, bone powder, and a small bottle of binding liquid made from monster glue. Celia had also brought a map of Gravehold and its surrounding lands.

Lucard did not rush.

He studied the map first.

The map showed Gravehold city, the eastern tomb road, the surrounding grave hills, old shrine ruins, abandoned burial grounds, and several broken mountain paths. House Ravencroft had ruled this land for many years, so many places had death mana gathered under the ground. Some places were weak. Some places were dangerous. Some were protected by old law because nobles had buried ancestors there. Others had been forgotten because no one wanted to dig too deeply and wake up something stupid.

Lucard looked at the eastern side for a long time.

Then his finger stopped on a dark mark outside the city.

"What is this place?"

Celia leaned closer to look.

Her shoulder almost touched his.

She realized that and quickly moved back half a step. Sadly, her mind still noticed the faint smell of blood and smoke on him. That made her angry at herself again.

Robi noticed her tiny movement and pretended not to. He was a kind uncle when the situation was not about political disaster, unpaid debt, and a young man who pulled out hearts. Sadly, this situation was about all three.

Celia looked at the map and answered, "That is Black Barrow Hill. Some people call it a small mountain because it rises higher than the other tomb hills. It is outside the eastern tomb road. House Ravencroft uses the lower burial grounds sometimes, but the upper part has been mostly abandoned."

"Why?"

"The death mana is too dense there," Celia said. "Old records say there was once a shrine to a forgotten death god near the top. Later, several noble families used the mountain to bury failed heirs, cursed soldiers, and mages who died during experiments. After too many strange things happened, the place was sealed for ordinary people."

Robi added, "It is not fully forbidden, but nobody goes there without a reason. At night, lantern flames turn green. Animals avoid it. Some people say they hear voices from under the stones."

Jake would have called the place very rude if he heard that.

Lucard looked at the map with calm eyes.

"Good."

Celia frowned. "Good?"

"Yes."

"For a normal person, dense death mana is not good."

"I am not asking a normal person to fight there."

Robi’s eyes sharpened. "You want the meeting to happen at Black Barrow Hill."

Lucard nodded. "The trap spell uses surrounding mana. In the city, it will draw from weak stone, market air, and mixed human mana. On Black Barrow Hill, it will have death mana, buried resentment, old bone force, and ground pressure. That will make the trap stronger."

Celia looked at him. "The spell was written to use ordinary surrounding mana. If you let it absorb too much death mana, it may change."

Lucard looked at her.

"That is the point."

Celia became silent.

Robi smiled faintly. "You are not planning a simple trap."

"No."

Lucard turned back to the paper. He picked up the brush and dipped it into the blood ink. Then he started adding small changes to a second copy of the spell circle. The first circle he had sold was clean and balanced. This new version was not. It had small hooks hidden inside the outer lines. It had break points that looked like mistakes but were not. It had a delayed bite placed inside the mana flow.

Celia watched carefully, but she did not understand everything.

Robi understood a little more.

He leaned closer. "That line was not in the original."

Lucard said, "It controls the first pull of mana."

"And this hook?"

"To stop the death mana from spreading too early."

Robi pointed at a thin red mark near the center. "This is dangerous."

Lucard looked at him. "So is Garran."

Robi laughed softly. "Fair."

Celia crossed her arms. "You are both speaking too calmly about setting a trap for a Fifth Circle battle mage."

Lucard did not look up. "Would panic improve the circle?"

"No."

"Then stay calm."

Celia’s eyes narrowed. "Do not order me."

Lucard continued writing. "Then do not need it."

Note: I tagged the book which tell the story about Null (where lucard used to live). If you are interested check it out. 👇