Chapter 164

"...After all, he just wants to check my face and have a talk to see if I have any impure thoughts, right?"

"I never expected you to speak so irreverently, but that's quite an apt description."

A crisp, high-quality letter held between his fingers.

On it was written content that Crown Prince Yurik had personally penned in an infinitely neat handwriting.

The opened envelope addressed to "Duke Arenheit Hartmann, Personal" contained a very roundabout letter.

[Dear Duke Hartmann,

During our previous meeting, you said you were unwell, but I trust without doubt that you have recovered now.

It seems we need an urgent discussion regarding the return of territories that are currently royal direct territories,

So I hope to see you at the royal palace in the near future.]

He handed the letter to Arndt and fell into thought for a moment.

If it was about returning territories, they had already set conditions, and his side was fulfilling them.

But the fact that he was bringing up a matter that was already settled meant he certainly had other intentions.

Arndt read the text meticulously several times before pursing his lips.

It was a sign of displeasure.

"What will you do? I've been postponing a reply as much as possible, but since then, three more letters have arrived from the royal family asking to set a date for your visit to the palace."

"I suppose I have to go. But there are some problems."

"Problems?"

"First, I have cracks in my ribs and leg, among other places, and I'm not sure if they've healed yet. Second, apart from that, my physical condition is terrible. I'm not sure if I can make it to the capital. Lastly, I think I need to deal with all these things before I go to the royal family."

When he pointed to 'these things' - the approval documents piled high on the office desk - Arndt's expression slightly darkened.

"I couldn't do anything about the Dikenter Mountains lease..."

"No, Arndt. I'm not blaming you. I'm just facing reality. If anything, I'm only grateful to you for taking on the work."

"Come to think of it, Mr. Aisling visited regarding the lease."

"Why? Was there a problem?"

"Not exactly. The purpose of the visit itself wasn't a big issue. But he brought information that the royal family's movements were a bit strange. I sent you a letter, but the carrier pigeon returned as it was."

"Strange, how?"

Arndt pulled out a single sheet of paper that was precariously sticking out from among the piled documents.

It wasn't an official document, but a memo with a hastily scrawled conversation.

"Here it is. It says Crown Prince Yurik has bought the rights to the wasteland. The rights to claim ownership of what's in the wasteland."

"Is that possible?"

"Land without an owner is the property of the royal family. So it's like he sold it to himself and bought it himself. Who could have said anything? Most merchant groups had withdrawn, so they couldn't even raise objections."

"Why did he do that?"

What did he want to do in a land without demonic beasts?

Arenheit slowly retraced his thoughts.

The Star Walker that had been in there was not what Yurik desired.

Judging from what had happened in the south and north, Yurik wanted deities far more dangerous than the Star Walker.

Ah, perhaps.

"...Is an empty vessel valuable in itself?"

East, west, south, north, and the capital located at the center of the kingdom.

A question that had intrigued him for a long time but which he had dismissed as unimportant came to his mind again.

Why the four directions?

He knew Yurik wanted to destroy this world to confront Leandros.

But the method was inefficient. Why did he need to run around east, west, south, and north to summon deities?

If it was just about efficiency, wouldn't it be better to put all the deities in the north and release them at once?

That's what he would have done.

Had he thought Leandros could eliminate them all at once if they were gathered in one place?

There must certainly be a special reason.

In the end, to find out, he had to approach Yurik on his own terms.

Yurik must have called him because he also wanted to discover something from him.

Something he had felt since the old days was that Yurik was quite similar to him.

Even down to these small details.

"This is the part that annoys me the most."

"Pardon? What is it?"

"Nothing, nothing. Anyway, I definitely need to go to the royal palace. If I refuse the Crown Prince's invitation as it is, that would be dangerous in its own way. I might arouse suspicion."

"That's obviously so. But Your Grace, as you mentioned earlier, your body isn't well right now... Shouldn't recovery be the priority?"

"Ah. Regarding that, I have something to entrust to Verde. You know, the physician who came with me earlier."

Arndt immediately frowned, as if recalling Verde.

"I apologize, Your Grace. Since he's a physician vouched for by Your Grace, his skills must certainly be reliable. But I've never seen such a filthy physician."

"...W-well, he's washing up so it's fine. The journey was a bit tough. Once he's clean, give him new clothes and call him here right away."

"Would Your Grace be alright without taking rest?"

"I'm trying to get through as much work as possible while I can still sit..."

Ah, to think he would experience again the feeling of an office worker who should be hospitalized but has to work.

So this was what a medieval fantasy society without labor laws was like.

Arndt, with dark circles under his eyes, looked at Arenheit who was rubbing his face dryly with a sympathetic expression, then left the office with staggering steps, saying, 'I'll bring tea that helps with fatigue recovery.'

While reluctantly going through his duties with a warm cup of tea, a refreshed Verde, who had cleaned up in the meantime, came to the office.

As Verde entered the office, he flinched upon seeing Arenheit buried in papers.

"Your Grace, I'm asking just in case, but you're not dying today or tomorrow, are you? If you collapse, could I dissect you right away...?"

"I'll really die."

"Why did you call me?"

"Make me some medicine."

"What kind of medicine do you need? I can make poison, by the way."

"It's for me to drink. I need a fatigue recovery potion and a tonic."

"Eh. For that much, why don't you just buy it from the village?"

Arenheit suppressed the urge to punch Verde, who was suggesting this with an already casual posture.

In front of Leandros and Amelia, he was quiet as a dead mouse.

Look at how he got all cocky depending on who he was talking to.

"I need something much better than that. Something like a tonic that could make a dead person jump up."

"Whaat?"

"What's sold in the market won't do. I need something that would let me move normally even if I'm about to faint right now."

"No, Your Grace. Is that really what you've thought through? Such a thing isn't a fatigue recovery potion or a tonic, it's like 'drinking ten slaps to the face.'"

"Drinking slaps. That sounds good. Make something like that."

"Even though it won't be good for your body? Even though there might be side effects?"

"Doesn't matter. You know I wake up right away even if I die. If I die, wouldn't that be better for you? You can dissect to your heart's content."

"This is the first time I've heard such a request. Will you really die? Are you in your right mind?"

Verde tried to intimidate Arenheit with all sorts of words, dumbfounded, but they had no effect on Arenheit, who was on the verge of dying from fatigue due to having to face Yurik right away on top of the work piled in front of him.

"Anything will do. Use whatever ingredients you want. If you need specific materials or equipment, tell Arndt I gave permission to purchase them. All I want is a definite effect."

"Geez. Alright, alright. I'll try my best."

"Good. You may go now."

As Verde was leaving the office, he scratched his head and turned back to look at Arenheit.

"Your Grace. Sometimes you talk like someone who's really going to die tomorrow. It's creepy when you make such statements with a face that's barely dry behind the ears, you know? Have some self-restraint."

"When did I ever?"

"Just now. And right now."

Verde said that and disappeared.

Arenheit stared blankly at the closed door, not knowing how to respond.

* * *

He delivered a contract with confirmed renewal clauses to Aisling,

Responded to the palace visit summons with a clearly stated date,

Received the Dikenter Mountains rental fee or gathered small consultation matters,

Sought advice from Aisling along with the northern mithril transportation plan,

Settled the castle operation-related costs that had accumulated,

Derived the anticipated expenditure budget for the next quarter and notified Arndt,

Inquired about construction materials from nearby villages for Gallo's reconstruction and delivered them,

And while he hadn't been able to meet the representative who was said to be in Valentine, he also sent a letter saying that the Hartmann ducal residence would actively support village reconstruction.

There were many other miscellaneous tasks, but thanks to Arndt's wholehearted assistance, most of the chores could be quickly dealt with.

All his attention was focused on the actions of Leandros's trio and Crown Prince Yurik, so he couldn't devote much energy to miscellaneous tasks.

And at night, he would drink tea that acted as a painkiller and carefully read the grimoire Pnakotic.

During those times, Aphoom-Zhah, who was playing around in his bedroom, would often tell him various stories.

"I have a question. This book makes people go crazy if others read it. Leandros is your apostle, but can he read this book?"

"Worshipper, curious? Test it."

"...No. I'll stop, because if something goes wrong, I might not be able to handle it."

"Worshipper. No courage."

"By the way, seeing other book names mentioned here, it seems like this grimoire isn't the only one. Is that right?"

"Correct. Books recording otherworldly beings and deities. Many brave humans. But this book. Recorded by the Elder Things. Directly."

"The Elder Things?"

"Ancient times. Worshipper, not understand. But their memoir? Useful. Objective. Observational notes."

"Sounds like there are other books that aren't objective."

"Correct. Humans, biased. Great wizards, worshippers. Write books? Biased. Write only what they want to know. Strange humans. Pnakotic. Best. Worshipper who went to Ultar, fortunate."

The snowman kept praising the grimoire Pnakotic.

As Arenheit stroked the snowman's head, he fell into thought for a moment.

If there were more grimoires besides the Pnakotic, where would they be?

It would be good if he could read something that described in more detail the beings wizards served and those from whom they borrowed power.

It might help Leandros in the future.

It was while he was deeply immersed in such thoughts.

-Boom!

"What's this!"

"Worshipper! Collapsing? Dying?"

Suddenly, a loud explosion resounded.

As he jumped up, the snowman clung to his nightgown and climbed up.

Whatever had happened, commotion began to gradually spread from outside.

It seemed all the employed staff who had been asleep had also woken up.

An intrusion? An attack? Who? From where? Perhaps demonic beasts or a deity?

Arenheit dashed out of the bedroom, tightly holding both the grimoire and the snowman.

In case of an emergency, he would need to evacuate all the people in the castle to the back garden.

After passing through the dimly lit corridor with sparsely hung lamps and descending the stairs, Arndt, who was urgently coming up from below, screamed.

"Your Grace!"

"What's happening? Is it an attack? Have demonic beast herds come down?"

"No, it's, it's-"

Arndt just opened and closed his mouth before taking Arenheit down to the lower floor.

The lower floor, mainly the guest room floor, was filled with employed staff who had woken up in the middle of the night.

Just as he was trying to assess the situation and understand what was happening, Arndt shouted sharply.

"His Grace is here, what are you all doing standing there like idiots! Don't dawdle and return to your places! Right now!"

Even Arenheit felt intimidated by Arndt's intensity.

The employed staff, sensing that Arndt was unusually serious, hastily paid their respects and left.

And what was revealed before his eyes was.

"...That's Verde, right?"

"...If you're referring to that man who crashed through the wall and collapsed, yes. It's that physician Your Grace brought today."

The door and the nearby wall were shattered and completely blackened.

There was no need to look inside the room.

The carpet laid inside had also turned black and was emitting a terrible burnt smell.

That was the carpet Arndt had recently laid in the guest rooms and had said he liked...

After staring blankly at the guest room, Arenheit gently poked the collapsed person with his toe.

"Your Grace, is he perhaps dead?"

"No. I don't think so. Look, his foot is twitching."

"Shall I kill him? I can do it well right now."

"I understand the carpet is regrettable, but please hold back for a moment."

While Arndt was grinding his teeth, Verde, who they thought had fainted, slowly got up.

With trembling hands, he gave Arenheit a small glass bottle he had been preciously holding close to his chest.

A dark brown liquid swished around inside the transparent glass bottle.

"Verde?"

"Tonic... test... sample, first one..."

"You want me to drink this now?"

Didn't you just say with your own mouth that this was a test sample?

As Arenheit was suspiciously looking at the glass bottle, Arndt strode over and snatched it.

Then he shoved the glass bottle into Verde's mouth and said coldly.

"You drink it. You would-be assassin of His Grace."

After drinking the suspicious prototype, Verde's eyes rolled back, and he slowly sank.

Arenheit could only offer a quiet moment of silence beside him.

Afterward, thanks to Arndt's prompt handling, Verde came to live with a bed and drug manufacturing room in the basement,

And after a month of 16 explosions and producing 28 prototypes, he was finally able to produce "Verde's Special Tonic."