Chapter 140 – Underground City – 1
“Haaa…”
I sigh deeply and slowly look at the paper.
I returned home after a long time, but the official documents sent down from the kingdom were full of not-so-pleasant content.
[···Follow your duty as a nobleman and investigate incidents that occurred in the area.]
To summarize the details, it was simple.
As the Demon King has become more active recently, it is important to investigate as a noble.
“It happened to be the most troublesome place.”
The place written in the document was a place that any sincere person would be reluctant to go.
A place where everyone can be seen, from people making money illegally to vicious criminals.
It was an underground city, the so-called back world.
“It will be difficult to end it simply.”
The underground city is not an officially recognized place.
It was a place that naturally formed as people who fled for some reason or criminals gathered.
As a result, it was naturally a place where all kinds of crimes took place.
‘Who should I take…’
First of all, Karin wasn’t very suited to this kind of work.
She is more suitable for office support, like her secretary.
Then, there were three remaining options.
Agnes, Melissa, Leia.
‘Leia is already investigating the Demon Lord’s army, so take her aside for a long time, and Melissa…’
Melissa had excellent abilities, but her personality did not match.
Given her interest-oriented and spontaneous personality, it was obvious that she would not be very inclined to conduct such an investigation.
Ikeik-
In fact, when the candidates had been narrowed down to one, the door opened and the person in question entered the room.
“You’ve come at the right time. “Master.”
A female knight with beautiful blonde hair.
Agnes, who had one of the best swordsmanship skills in the kingdom, looked at me with a puzzled look.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing special, but I received an order from the kingdom and had to go to the underground city.”
“I have been given a very troublesome task.”
She approached slowly, frowning her pretty forehead.
The notoriety of her underground city was such that she, with her sincere nature, revealed her displeasure.
To put it bluntly, it could be said that all crimes taking place in the kingdom begin there.
“So, Master, can you come with me and help me?”
“Sure. But what kind of command is this?”
“It seems like a suspicious group has appeared there recently.”
A document handed down from the kingdom stated that strange movements had been captured.
A fairly large group, not a small criminal group commonly seen in the backworld.
Moreover, for something created recently, it was overly systematic and secretive.
“I definitely can’t just leave that alone.”
“Besides, the kingdom seems to think that there are collaborators among the nobles.”
The kingdom’s suspicions were reasonable.
It was an impossible move for a suddenly formed criminal group.
If so, there is a high probability that someone is controlling it from behind.
“In that case… There must be a reason why I personally chose Eugene.”
“Well… That’s the way it is.”
In the current Kingdom of Lumis, I was a very different being among the nobles.
There are many nobles who only have signs and no fiefdom to rule.
However, among them, there is not a single person with a strong influence except me.
They had no soldiers or knights, or only a few them, and of course, due to their lack of strength, they could not afford to take on such a task.
“It would be better to dispatch the Kingdom Guards or something similar.”
You suspect that there is a traitor among the nobles, but you dare to entrust such a troublesome task to me, a nobleman.
No matter how much I was trusted, I couldn’t help but feel strange.
But Agnes quietly shook her head.
“That will probably be difficult in its own way. It hasn’t been long since I started aiming for the princess’s position.”
“Well… That’s true too.”
An incident where an attempt was made to replace the royal family of a country.
It is not surprising if the country is turned upside down if it is someone who is not an ordinary royal but has the right to succeed to the throne.
Although it failed along the way, it was natural to prioritize protection for the royal family.
‘For all that, I had a great time at the villa…’
Of course, this was done without anyone knowing, and was only possible thanks to Sylvia’s trust and a little bit of coercion.
It must be said that it is on a different level from openly moving troops directly under the kingdom.
“In the end, one way or another, I was the right person…”
“Moreover, the underground city is not suitable for deploying soldiers.”
“What does that mean? “Master?”
At that moment, Agnes’ words gave me a strong feeling that work would become more troublesome.
What I know about the underground city is only a small part.
Since it’s so famous, I just found out about it naturally.
“It’s kind of like a maze, so it’s difficult to deploy many troops, and even if you do, there’s a risk of being annihilated by individual groups or traps.”
“Keueuung…”
Is there really a reason why the government cannot mess with it since it is a den of criminals?
It is certainly inefficient to deploy large-scale troops in such a space.
Even more so if the place is full of hostile criminals.
Her Majesty, the Wicked Queen, must have decided that the most efficient way would be to resolve the issue with a small elite force.
“Haa…”
A deep sigh escapes again.
This is absolutely annoying.
But there was no right of veto.
“You only suffer losses because of the demon lord.”
If it weren’t for him, I would not have belonged to the kingdom and would have been enjoying a lazy and debauched life to my heart’s content.
I stand up, repeating meaningless resentment.
“Well, since there is no separate period, I can just enjoy working with my teacher.”
When we made eye contact, Agnes responded with a bright smile.
A beautiful smile that seems to be filled with sunlight.
Her noble face turned red and joy surged at her shy appearance.
“Okay then, let’s go before it becomes more of a hassle.”
Lightly pull Agnes’ arm and hug her.
She was held in her arms without any resistance, and her fresh fruity scent tickled the tip of her nose.
*****
“What I said was true, right?”
A nobleman’s office full of luxury.
Even though it was late at night and most of the servants were asleep, the two beings were talking to each other.
Still, it wasn’t that special because one person was the noble Sorian, the owner of the office, but the person on the other side of him was not.
“Do not worry. “
A being that looks like a mixture of a turtle and a human.
He looked like anyone would recognize him as a monster and was a member of the Demon King’s army.
But Sorian’s attitude, already aware of the fact, was calm.
“It’s a poison that can even kill dragons… I never thought they would use something like this.”
Sorian looked closely at the red liquid in the small bottle.
An item that not only ordinary people but even royalty do not have.
If it were him in the past, he wouldn’t have looked for such a powerful poison.
“It is a product that is difficult for us to obtain anymore, so it would be better to use it when we are sure.”
“If we fail anyway, we’ll both be dead.”
Sorian, a nobleman of the Kingdom of Lumis.
He was the most influential figure among the nobles.
However, recently his influence has been noticeably decreasing.
There is only one cause.
It was the appearance of Eugene.
‘If he hadn’t been that damn bastard, he wouldn’t have made such a dangerous deal.’
Sorian was not very happy dealing with the Demon King’s army.
But there was no other way to maintain his power.
As Eugene, who was an ally of the royal family, became excessively active, the royal authority grew stronger day by day, and the position of the nobility was decreasing accordingly.
‘I will definitely kill you with this.’
To him, Eugene, who suddenly appeared, was someone he wouldn’t mind beating to death.
The power he had built up all his life was collapsing like a sand castle overnight, and he was feeling angry for the first time in his life.
If he were weak, he would have attempted assassination, but Eugene was the strongest human in the history of the Loomis Kingdom.
In fact, his record of defeating Lich in other countries proved this, and it was impossible to kill Eugene alone.
‘If I just kill him with this, everything will go back to how it was before.’
Sorian also had no intention of joining hands with the Demon King’s army until the end.
Dealing with them only goes so far as to kill Eugene.
Right now, we were just cooperating for a while because our interests were aligned.
“Now let’s get ready to welcome him.”
A creepy smile was on Sorian’s face.
It was a trap he had set that led Eugene to investigate the underground city.
An opportunity that will never come again.
He thought this was an opportunity given by heaven.
