Entering Lantarique (5)

Azadine whispered his findings to Guillaumevalt.

“So? Sir Guillaumevalt. What will you do?”

The elf merchant Kefka, who was watching the scene, asked.

“I will lift the salt monopoly for three years.”

“The salt monopoly? That’s weak. And it’s only for a limited time.”

“I already know you’ve been smuggling salt. You know as well as I do that lifting the monopoly for three years won’t bring you significant profits.”

Guillaumevalt said this as he jutted out his chin.

His face was naturally long, and his distinctive jaw protruded forward. Though he couldn’t be called handsome even as a courtesy, there was a certain dignity that stemmed from his bizarre appearance.

“You wouldn’t want Adler’s retainers to resent you, would you? If you guide me to Adler, I will kill him. The retainers will submit to me once he is dead, but whether they will view you favorably after you help me and take an excessive reward is questionable.”

“You’re saying that if you reward us too generously, the retainers won’t leave us alone? Is that it?”

Kefka smiled as he realized that Guillaumevalt was subtly threatening him. Rather than feeling offended, he was surprised by the refined manner of the threat.

“But if you grant us the salt monopoly for three years… hmm. If anyone tries to harm us, wouldn’t it become harder for them to get salt?”

In other words, the three-year monopoly was not just an economic benefit but also a guarantee of safety. That was what Guillaumevalt was implying.

“What do you think? Just guiding me to Adler in exchange for this is quite a fair deal, don’t you think?”

“Fine. Hmm. This Count of Lantarique won’t be an easy opponent.”

Kefka said this and handed over some of their goods.

“This is the uniform of our trading guild. You’d better get it tailored in advance so you can wear it. And don’t expect too much from us. We’ll only get you inside. What happens with Adler afterward—whether you kill him or capture him—is up to you.”

“Understood.”

Thus, the negotiations with the elf merchant of the Talvarine Guild were concluded.

Azadine and his companions changed into the porters’ uniforms of Kefka’s trading guild and headed toward Lantarique.

The road to Lantarique was lined with brutal checkpoints, heavily guarded by soldiers—some of whom belonged to the Messenger Clan. However, thanks to the transit permit Kefka possessed, they were able to pass through each checkpoint with ease.

In the end, they safely arrived at the village below Lantarique Castle.

“I can’t believe this. How did we get through so easily?”

Surprised by the effortless journey, Azadine asked.

“Well, we’re transporting drugs under the orders of Lord Adler. If they search our cargo in front of everyone and find drugs, it would disgrace Lord Adler. Would they dare do that?”

“……”

“From here on, this is your territory. What will you do?”

“There’s no need to tell you that. How should we handle the cargo?”

“Just store it in the warehouse by the river. The people from the castle will come to retrieve it later. For your information, Lord Adler himself won’t be among them. That means this is as far as we go.”

“Understood. It can’t be helped. As promised, if I become Count, I will grant you the three-year monopoly in Lantarique.”

“If you become Count, that is. Just don’t get caught by Adler and say something stupid.”

“Haha. You won’t sell us out to Adler, will you?”

“Now that we’ve let you in this far, even if Adler isn’t an idiot, he’ll know we were involved. We may have a bad reputation, but we’re not fools.”

“That’s reassuring.”

Guillaumevalt let out a bitter smile.

Though he had successfully entered Lantarique by making a deal with the elf merchants of the Talvarine Guild, the real challenge began now.

As the rightful heir, if he did not agree to leave, then with the current Count of Lantarique missing, all power would naturally fall to him.

However, Adler had already accused him of being responsible for the Count’s disappearance, using it as evidence of murder. If that happened, his authority as heir would be suspended until the trial ended, and given that the retainers had turned against him, they wouldn’t just stand idly by.

Gathering supporters or hiring mercenaries to fight Adler would be foolish. Adler’s retainer forces would intervene, and if Guillaumevalt killed them, the Lantarique domain would become an empty shell.

Moreover, they had already suffered significant losses in their attack on Salasma—losing troops, talented individuals, and money. Even if Guillaumevalt took control of Lantarique, he needed the retainers intact to maintain power.

If he could just capture Adler cleanly, then, thanks to his reputation for conquering Saenopi Fortress, the retainers would have no trouble switching sides.

“Let’s take the secret passage.”

“The secret passage?”

“There’s a hidden route known only to the Count of Lantarique and his family. However…”

“Adler knows about it too, doesn’t he?”

“Yes. But he wouldn’t have told the retainers or soldiers about it.”

The passage had been created as an escape route in case the retainers betrayed them. It wasn’t something they would share unless absolutely necessary.

However, both Guillaumevalt and Azadine knew what they might find inside.

“Even if he hadn’t posted guards, he could have filled it with undead.”

Judging by the supplies Adler had purchased, it was clear that he was a necromancer.

“Well, looks like it’s time for me, Scott McGreen, the undead specialist, to step in.”

“……”

“What? Do you disapprove? Holy Knight? Want to smash them to bits with your sacred magic? That would echo for miles, you know?”

“…No. Tch.”

Zebec had no choice but to accept it, though he feared dulling his own instincts.

The secret passage leading to the Count of Lantarique’s castle was connected to a hidden crypt. Guillaumevalt struggled to turn a rusted mechanism.

“If… if I turn this, the hidden door in the crypt will open, allowing us to enter the castle.”

“Wait. Step aside.”

“Brand?”

Sir Brand stepped forward, grasped the crank that Guillaumevalt had been struggling with, and turned it. The gears creaked, and the door began to open. The door, which hadn’t budged when Guillaumevalt was hanging from it, now opened effortlessly.

Scott stood up from his wheelchair and cast his shadow into the open passage.

“As expected, it’s crawling with undead. But…”

“What?”

“They’re the corpses of young children. And they all look eerily similar.”

“……”

At those words, Brand’s expression twisted strangely.

“Well, at least none of them have empathy.”

“Empathy?”

“If the necromancer links their senses to the undead, then the moment the undead detects something, the necromancer does too. But keeping such magic active is exhausting. Simple necromancy using corpses doesn’t allow for that kind of control. However, even if they lack empathy, the necromancer will still notice if too many of them are destroyed.”

“Can you suppress that?”

“Make it so the necromancer doesn’t realize when the undead are taken down? Heh. That’s my specialty. Actually, we won’t even need to take them down. Here, this…”

Scott pulled a talisman from his robes.

“If you stick this to your forehead and hold your breath, the undead won’t notice you. We’ll slip past them using this.”

“……”

Azadine smirked at Scott’s confidence.

‘This guy is incredibly useful. Not something to say in front of Sir Zebec, but I can see why people are drawn to necromancy.’

Upon entering the crypt, they found it teeming with the corpses of young children.

The bodies, mostly of four- to five-year-old boys and girls, had been grotesquely altered through sinister magic. Bones had grown from their shoulder blades, resembling the remnants of wings.

“Necro Angels. Impressive.”

“Necro Angels?”

“Corpses infused with the blood of the Divine Gods. They may look small, but they’re incredibly powerful. Be careful. Their perception skills are weak, though.”

Scott pressed a talisman to his forehead and strode forward.

“Damn. My muscles are cramping.”

He approached a Necro Angel blocking their path. The grotesque creature did not seem to detect Scott’s presence.

Scott formed a blade of shadow at his fingertips and casually stabbed it into the back of the Necro Angel’s neck.

“!!!!!”

The creature trembled violently but didn’t even let out a scream. Scott picked up its paralyzed body and moved it aside.

“Follow me.”

“……”

Sir Zebec followed, glancing at the fallen Necro Angel. It was a deformed child, its silver hair marking it as a descendant of the Yaegas God Tribe.

“This is…”

“The work of the Count of Lantarique. They’ve been selectively breeding to create the ideal Adler.”

Azadine explained.

“Selective breeding? You mean… these were the Count’s children? Why?”

“They likely needed to mature a bit before determining their potential growth and intelligence.”

“So they raised them to four or five years old before deciding whether to kill them?”

Zebec scowled at the horrific evidence of a noble practicing dark rituals—the very people the King’s Church was meant to uphold.

“If you ask me, this is a clean, scholarly approach. Humans, on the other hand, are feral. More like beasts than men. How can they use necromancy in such a filthy way?”

Scott muttered as he continued neutralizing Necro Angels blocking their path.

Just then, Ismail stopped him.

“…There’s a trap.”

Ismail carefully removed a wooden trigger box from the floor. It was connected to a spring mechanism, which, if disturbed, would have released a tensioned wire—likely activating an alarm somewhere.

Ismail fastened the tripwire securely to a nearby rock.

“Good. We’ve cleared the crypt. Just the undead alone here would be enough to burn Adler at the stake.”

Guillaumevalt frowned as he spoke.

“But… this is shocking. My father was a cold man, but I didn’t think he was capable of this.”

“That just means he’s desperate.”

Shati scoffed.

“The great Yaegas God Tribe? Ha! The more they have, the more they fear losing. When the day comes that they stand to lose everything, they’ll turn to necromancy, Nether magic, whatever it takes. Pathetic.”

“……”

Zebec had no rebuttal to Shati’s scornful words. Even Ject the Arbiter himself used Nether magic.

“Alright, that’s enough. We need to stay quiet now. We’re beneath the castle.”

Azadine signaled that they had reached the end of the crypt and arrived below the fortress.

They emerged into an underground chamber beneath the castle, where soldiers were stationed.

At Azadine’s signal, Mediam and Ismail silently maneuvered through the shadows, positioning their daggers at the soldiers’ throats.

“Hghk?”

“Shh. Quiet. What’s happening above? Where is Lord Adler?”

“L-Lord Adler… is in the reception hall, meeting with a member of the Messenger Clan.”

“A Messenger Clan member? Who?”

“T-the leader… a woman.”

“……”

Azadine tilted his head.

“Could it be… Arael is here?”