58 — 6 (8)

‘H-how do I get out of this? D-damn it—how do I survive? Think… think! Come up with a way to get away from this mad dog!’

He had spent ten years as a slave-hunter and had weathered every sort of hardship, but he had never been driven into such a pinch. A strange, despairing feeling kept tightening around him. Until now he had only ever taken—never once had anything been taken from him. And now, he was on the verge of losing the most important thing.

His life.

His one and only life… about to be taken for an absurd reason.

‘What did the worms… do again?’

For petty reasons he had killed people like taking meals and sold them as slaves. The situation was reversed, but surely in his memories there were weaklings who had slipped from his hands.

‘…Damn it, I can’t remember!!!!’

No wonder—this slaver’s methods were cruel enough that even among his underlings, not many truly followed him.

Through the space thick with the smell of blood, the slaver’s underling, Lupin, stepped carefully forward.

‘Hah… you always looked down on border nobles—one day this was bound to happen. Idiot.’

Lupin looked at the slaver. His face was contorted, and in that brief span he had stripped off his clothes to wrap his hand. If he stayed still, he would bleed out. “That hand’s finished,” Lupin muttered under his breath, and a reflexive, secret smile rose inside him. One way or another, this could only profit Lupin. A number two always coveted the number one’s seat.

“Good. Sit there.”

“Understood, my lord. Would you have that fellow back off a little? It’s hard to speak with death breathing down my neck.”

Pointing at Kaiser, Lupin spoke, and Louis granted the request.

“Kaiser, step back a little.”

“……Understood.”

Kaiser, for his part, was having a very hard moment. The Slaughterer skill born of his gladiator life had made him a man starved for blood. His homicidal impulse came in cycles—he had even killed a few in secret without Louis knowing—and what he had barely been suppressing had been razor-awakened by the killing just now. Without Louis, he would have filled the room with such killing intent that he’d have razed the place.

When Lupin had taken his seat, Louis flicked his gaze toward the slave girl. Everything Louis had done was for the sake of acquiring her. The affair had grown big, but Metallurgy Talent 9 was worth it.

‘If I secure that girl too, I’ll exceed my goal.’

Louis had come this far to recruit smiths who could produce heavy equipment. Given time, the girl—or rather, her talent—would craft armor beyond mere heavy gear.

‘If I pair her with Jerome, we might make heavy gear imbued with magic.’

It was a mouthwatering plan. The Empire’s strength was grounded in excellent equipment churned out through the Mage Tower’s full cooperation.

If he trained Jerome and the girl well, Louis thought he might do something similar.

‘Well, first I need to wrap up what I started.’

There was a reason Louis had called Lupin to the table. Louis had seen the clear number two get publicly humiliated. Louis, who had two strong elder brothers, knew exactly what Lupin held inside.

“Lupin!!! Hurry up and ask for what you want! Damn you—can’t you see I’m bleeding?!!!”

At the slaver’s prodding, Lupin broke into a cold sweat and opened his heavy mouth.

“……Then what must I do to satisfy you, my lord, so that I can take my boss away?”

Louis held silence for a long beat, then spoke.

“……That man is no longer your boss.”

“………”

“………”

An awkward hush brushed past Louis, Lupin, and the slaver.

‘What does he mean?’

Lupin had to ask himself, and Louis answered at once.

“Exactly what I said. He’s injured and in no condition to resist.”

‘Don’t tell me…’

No one but a fool would miss Louis’s meaning. He was telling Lupin to kill the bald man.

Lupin’s long-suppressed desire suddenly surged up, and he instinctively cut his eyes toward his chief.

‘Wh… what… what is this supposed to be…?’

Of all present, the slaver understood best what was happening. He too had killed his own boss like this and taken the seat. History repeats, and now it was his turn.

“Huff… huff… Lupin. Do you want to die? You damned wretch… Who raised you, and you hesitate? Y-you ungrateful cur.”

The bald man staggered up, grinding his teeth, but Louis ignored him and continued.

“What I want is a clean road home. And what you’ve wanted for a long time—is right there. You can refuse my offer and go back to lick his toes. If you want to live as a dog forever, that’s what you should do. So… your answer?”

Lupin did not readily open his mouth.

“……………………”

“Y-you… you crazy bastards… you sons of—!!!”

He—whether aiming at Louis or Lupin was unclear—charged madly at Louis’s table. Louis was faster.

The flat of Louis’s sword whipped up into his belly.

Thud…!

The bald man’s eyes rolled back. Struck in the solar plexus, he couldn’t draw breath; his momentum vanished and he panted for air.

‘H-hagh… hagh… I’m going to die like a worm?’

The faces of those he had killed over the years paraded through his mind. His last desperate resort surfaced by reflex—and he toppled backward. He didn’t faint, but Louis didn’t see what face he made; instead, Lupin suddenly gave his answer.

“…I’ll do it. I will.”

“Good. I’ll take the goods. No objections?”

He nodded mutely, and Louis rose and went to the girl shivering in the corner.

“Stand. You are mine now.”

She was so terrified she couldn’t move. When Louis reached to lift her, she flinched tight and spoke.

“I—I’m sorry. I’ll get up now. Please don’t hit me.”

‘Hmm…’

Louis began to worry that the girl’s mind had gone a little off. Even with Metallurgy Talent 9, if she was this cowered…

‘No—that can come later.’

“Kaiser. Carry her and follow.”

“Yes.”

Kaiser cut the leash from the girl’s collar, slung her over his shoulder, and moved after Louis.

“See the lord out!”

When Louis and Kaiser strode out, the household troops started to block them—then flinched and split to either side.

“…………”

“What troubles you, Lord Louis? If you are concerned, I can go finish it.”

“No.”

He had just learned the bald man’s name—Garimus—but more surprising was that a hidden quest had appeared after a long while. And a bomb at that… two of them cleared. The great blacksmith was one thing, but getting 1,500 points off Garimus was unexpected.

‘So he was filthier than I thought?’

If he hadn’t struck first and nailed that hand, it might have been dangerous.

Word of Louis’s deeds in Aiwood spread on the sly. The gist, though imprecise, was: don’t get cocky with nobles from the east. Thanks to Louis, eastern nobles were receiving rather decent treatment—and by then Louis had left Aiwood and was returning to Proia.

‘…Twenty regular technicians, a hundred with talent in metallurgy. And…’

He looked at the girl sleeping on the floor like a dog.

‘One woman of overwhelming talent.’

At this level, he could upgrade not only heavy equipment but the soldiers’ arms as well.

Louis opened the city info window.

The Wonder Library’s science output was piling up science points beyond imagination. Choosing the Library Wonder had indeed been excellent, Louis thought. With another Wonder, perhaps gold or food would be abundant—but he wouldn’t have been able to unlock new techs this fast.

‘Now—Mathematics or Horsemanship. This is the fork.’

Mathematics and Horsemanship lay on the same tier. To field cavalry, he needed Horsemanship. Mathematics—because of the pact with Fred—was something he had to raise sooner or later; only by unlocking it could he build siege engines.

In any case, with many technicians secured, if he forced them through sixteen-hour days of hard training, they would quickly reach the skill to make siege engines. With ordinary technicians, problems would arise—but that was why Louis had come all this way to buy them.

‘Given the promised timeline for making siege engines…’

Even being generous, he had to open Mathematics now. Once again, a choice. Because he had already accepted the heavy-cavalry quest, the best scenario was to raise Horsemanship to field cavalry, then take the heavy-gear tech path.

In the end, prioritize the quest—or prioritize good faith toward his brother.

The option was simplicity itself for the points spent. The astonishing part was the knowledge itself. The Civilization System began sharing Horsemanship with Louis. He had never executed a cavalry charge, but with the knowledge shared, he felt he could.

As he traced this surprising knowledge, he discovered something curious.

‘What is… this?’

The knowledge Louis found differed slightly from real-world horsemanship: the stirrup.

A stirrup was a footrest attached to the saddle—very simple in design—used to mount easily and, more crucially, to keep balance on a violently moving horse. Louis immediately grasped how tremendous that balance was.

Why were cavalry always few? Because keeping balance on horseback was not something one could learn without uncommon knack.

Cavalry had to break through fields of arrow rain. If the rider lacked balance, he would fall just from the act of striking during a fierce charge.

In Louis’s world, stirrups had not yet been invented; no state used them.

‘I need to test this.’

If effective, he could deploy cavalry in large numbers. Even if the quality was lower, he could amass a cavalry force rivaling Fred’s…

‘If only I can keep this card hidden…’

It would be like dropping a joker on the battlefield.

‘So—I won’t be able to keep my promise to my brother.’

It seemed he could not deliver siege engines by the deadline. If he lost Fred’s trust, maintaining a military alliance might become difficult. The second-best plan: delay the deadline and pay compensation. He would form heavy cavalry, then use the quest points to raise Mathematics—such was Louis’s next plan.

The next tech he raised was Bronze Working. It did not mean much in itself; its value was as a stepping-stone to the next tech. The core lay in the following node—Iron Working.