Ripening (10)

Several days had passed after I ordered Matilda to push ahead.

Then I was able to receive an unexpected guest, and the problem was that guest.

“I am Duke Asilbar of the Dradnos Empire, Your Majesty.”

Duke Asilbar observed etiquette politely, and when I first heard that Duke Asilbar had visited Soil City, I could not help but be rather surprised.

That was because he had been active on the foremost front line against the Demon Tribe, and I had heard that he had recently suffered quite a large wound in battle against the Demon King and had withdrawn from the front. Even so, I had heard that he had not completely withdrawn from the front, and had only stepped down from the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces. So I could only feel puzzled at the thought that such an impressive person had come looking for me.

However, because Soil City had sent a messenger to convey the news, I could understand the circumstances for now as “he had come to commission the manufacture of medicine,” but I could not say that I did not feel somewhat uneasy.

It was because of “Mia.” If by any chance Duke Asilbar was related to Mia, I thought caution would be necessary, and I had sent Mia to Rad City for a while and had her work there.

Then the first impression I had when I met Duke Asilbar was that of a fine middle-aged man, and when he bowed his head and greeted me without servility and with a polite feeling, I could only think it was unexpected.

“It is good to meet you, Duke Asilbar. I am grateful that you praised me.”

“It was something worthy of praise.”

I did not think it went as far as praise, but from what I had heard from the evaluations of some historians, I knew that it was being evaluated as one “stroke” that changed the flow of the battlefield. It was an excessive evaluation.

“I am grateful for the praise, but thanks to it, I nearly ended up in a dizzying and difficult situation.”

“Is that so? I merely spoke of things as they were.”

When an appropriate conversation had gone back and forth like that, Duke Asilbar brought up the main subject.

“A noble called the ‘mayor’ of Soil City took the information, saying the news had to be delivered in advance… Was it properly delivered?”

“Yes. I heard that you asked for medicine to treat a Master’s injury to be manufactured. I heard it was medicine manufactured with mandrake.”

Pharmacy was informing me of the recipe, but the process was extremely complicated. Furthermore, the fact that the medicinal ingredients needed for manufacture were also enormous felt troublesome.

“That is correct. Is manufacture perhaps possible? Since it is a manufacturing method that only appears in literature…”

“Are you saying there is currently no one who can manufacture that medicine?”

“There are people, but… I heard that the probability of failure is very high. At present, if even one fails, that much Master combat power will leak away.”

“Mm… Was the battle against the Demon King that fierce?”

The situation at the time was not widely known. Only the fact that there had been a tremendous battle and that a large number of people had died was known.

There was even a story that they had let the Demon King escape. Therefore, I wanted to hear information from Duke Asilbar, who knew accurate information.

“Mm… To tell you the truth, the battle against the Demon King was humanity’s ‘defeat.’ However, during the battle against the Demon King, she went berserk due to something, and she chose to flee on her own, so she is currently missing. The fact that tracking her is difficult is also becoming a problem.”

“Tracking is difficult? I heard magic leaves traces.”

Duke Asilbar’s eyes shone, and he nodded and said.

“Because such an enormous amount of magic power was sprayed in all directions, tracking became difficult. I understand that it would take several months to check every single place one by one. So in effect… tracking is in an abandoned state.”

It was an unexpected story. Still, one thing was certain. It meant that the Demon King who had shown fixation on our territory was still alive. I felt troubled, but because of that, I thought about Duke Asilbar’s intention in telling me the information immediately, then nodded and said.

“Manufacture is possible. It will take roughly about a week, and I do not know the success rate well, but… it will almost certainly succeed. However, because it takes a long time and because I must do all the work myself, I must say that it would be difficult to manufacture it for a simple price.”

“Ohh… As expected, the words that you are the best in the world when it comes to medicine were not false. If it is payment, I am willing to offer enough. The value of a Master is the same as the military strength of that nation, so I shall offer compensation that is by no means light.”

Duke Asilbar politely observed etiquette.

“As for the payment for the medicine… I will receive your proposal after the manufacture is finished. From what I can see, Duke Asilbar’s injury is also not ordinary, so it would be good for you to present it after using it yourself.”

“I can only be grateful.”

After that, the number of mandrakes handed over to me totaled 18 roots.

Honestly, the amount of mandrake needed to manufacture medicine for 17 people was only three roots. The interesting thing was that, perhaps because their knowledge of medicine was insufficient?

It seemed they had thought one mandrake root would go into one person’s medicine. Without saying this fact immediately, I simply closed my mouth.

In any case, because others could not observe the manufacturing process, it was a structure that was very good for swallowing them whole. Furthermore, because I intended to replace most of the necessary medicinal ingredients with ingredients from the Forest of the Demon Dragon wherever replacement was possible, I thought perhaps an even better-quality medicine might be manufactured.

Because of that, even if I siphoned off the mandrakes, there would be no room for suspicion.

After that, I postponed almost all schedules to a later date and began working on the medicine manufacture in earnest. The fact that I had to cling to the medicine for more than 10 hours a day and that it would take a week was quite mentally exhausting, but when I thought of the payment I could receive, it was time worth investing.

The first thing I did in the process of manufacturing the medicine was processing each medicinal ingredient so that it would be easy to use, and because mana had to be infused into every part of this process, I had no choice but to do it all by hand myself.

The types of medicinal herbs that went into the medicine totaled 104, and although the process of preparing all those herbs for 17 people was arduous, it was becoming quite a beneficial time.

“So medicinal ingredients I normally did not use can be utilized in this way too…”

In the case of Pharmacy, it was a talent that only gave me the necessary information. To put it bluntly, if I wanted to make an invigorator, it would only provide knowledge related to invigorators.

So even with the same medicinal ingredient, there were many cases where I did not know that other uses existed. No, it was right to say that I almost did not know at all.

But this time, while trimming the medicinal ingredients for the treatment medicine I had been commissioned to make, I was able to learn various uses for the same medicinal ingredients, and by organizing them separately on paper, I could broaden the range of my knowledge about medicine.

Furthermore, in the case of mandrake, it truly had many uses, and I could understand why it was called a universal medicine.

‘In this medicine, its effect is to rapidly increase the efficacy of the 103 medicinal ingredients…?’

It seemed that mandrake was probably used in order to treat a wide range all at once, and it was almost fascinating that a Master’s body could be damaged to the point where as many as 103 medicines would have to act on it.

No, was the fact that they were still alive even after being damaged what was fascinating?

I could understand why Masters were evaluated so highly, and I also wondered what it would feel like to live with such a body.

Meanwhile, there was something that bothered me in contrast to that.

‘The Demon King’s disappearance, huh… The timing overlaps strangely.’

What I was thinking about was “Mia’s” identity. I could not ignore the possibility that she was deceiving us by saying she had lost her memories. What if her identity was the “Demon King”?

If her identity were discovered when she had lost her power, she would find it difficult to avoid death, so I could not ignore the possibility that she was hiding it under the pretext of memory loss.

If Mia was the Demon King… I would be facing a serious situation. So as much as possible, I arranged it so that Duke Asilbar’s group and Mia’s movements would not overlap, gave them a detached hotel annex to rest in, and provided dedicated maids there so they could recuperate comfortably.

Even so, I could not help but keep worrying about it.

“Hehe, that bitch has fallen.”

At Dias’s words, Hesna sighed and opened her mouth.

“Do you think that means the throne will come to us?”

If it was based on the order of succession for becoming Demon King, Dias and Hesna were similar. They were outside the top ten, and in most cases, it was certain that the higher-ranking demons, the archdukes, would be appointed as Demon King.

Furthermore, Hesna had many things that bothered her about the process by which the Demon God dealt with the Demon King.

“There is a way to track that bitch. And… she is already being tracked.”

“What…?”

It was an unexpected story, so Hesna was surprised, and Dias looked at Hesna and said.

“I will definitely become the Demon King. What will you do?”

“What… do you mean?”

“Are you not blood-related to the Demon King of the east? Would it not be all right for you to become greedy?”

“…What are you trying to say…?”

“How about cooperating? If you and I step forward together, the probability of killing that bitch rises. If possible, I intend to kill her myself, but… if we join forces, we will be able to deal with her easily. Moreover… if the one who finds her first gets her, then there should be no complaints.”

Hesna agonized because Dias was making an unpleasant proposal. However, she could not help but feel greedy. She was an abandoned Demon King, but if Hesna killed her and offered her head to the Demon God?

She thought that perhaps her achievements would surely be recognized, and she might at least rise to the rank of archduke.

To put it bluntly, Hesna knew that neither Dias nor she could surpass the five archdukes who currently claimed to be servants of the Demon God.

Because the Demon King of the east was Hesna’s blood relative, she had often been able to see archdukes, and at that time, she had faced the power of archdukes and despaired. Since the situation was like this, Hesna thought she would be satisfied if she could obtain only the same level of power as them.

However, the problem was Dias’s true intentions.

‘This bastard is rotten inside. He is trash who can kill even fellow demons without hesitation… But his ability alone is remarkable… If looking only at combat ability, he is almost equal to an archduke… The possibility of only being used by him… cannot be ignored.’

However, it was a good opportunity. She agonized and hesitated, but in the end, she could only accept.

“You had better keep your promise…”

Dias showed a smile filled with rotten intentions.

At that time, the hastily improvised Terakan army of three million had begun moving.

It was because of one tip-off, and the place that army was moving toward was the border region between Ingrad and the Ishtain Region.

Agnes looked down at that army and asked the Empress with a voice mixed with concern.

“Are you truly… thinking of waging war?”

“If they do not yield, they will turn the entire continent into their enemy.”

“…It is only a simple tip-off.”

“Although it is a simple tip-off, it becomes a justification. Moreover, if the Demon King is truly there, we can erase Ingrad from the continent. Taking in the Demon King means making enemies of all humans. Do you not know that?”

Agnes squeezed her eyes shut. The one tip-off had come from Jillien de Atoon. While he had been taking refuge, barely moving along the border of the Forest of the Demon Dragon, he felt a sudden flow of magic power and went to find out the reason. At that place, he witnessed an unbelievable scene. And at that time, he recorded the situation as footage and sent a secret letter to the Empress, presenting a deal.

‘Is it revenge… or desire…?’

Furthermore, Agnes had heard from the Empress what Jillien demanded. But its contents were so absurd that she could not possibly believe them, and because of Jillien’s insane proposal, she could not understand the Empress’s intention in moving a great army.

“If Ingrad is simply able to prove its innocence, then we need only clean up Ishtain as planned. But… if they cannot prove their innocence and avoid us… we will be able to erase them from the map.”

The Empress showed a slight glimpse of madness. Just what was the problem…?

Agnes was confused. Furthermore… the Ingrad she had seen was not an opponent that simple.

‘It is not a country that can be solved with numbers… Your Majesty…’

Agnes had no choice but to close her mouth as she watched the Empress become stained with madness.