The Blood Knight’s Villains

My Villains Episode 122

32. Wizards and Druids (2)

In my opinion, Atalanta’s offer was attractive enough. But there were some parts that bothered me.

First of all, Baron Mallory.

It seems like they were trying to get rid of Atalante, the most likely winner of the Hunt Festival, but I was worried that we might get involved.

But on the other hand, I also wonder, ‘Could it really be the Atalante gang that the lord was aiming for?’ Of course it’s because of the money.

At first glance, it was said that if you spend about 2,000 silver coins, you can build a fort. It’s not just a small keep, but a proper fortress with a moat and a watchtower courtyard.

But now, the money Baron Mallory spent is 3,000 silver coins. It’s a simple comparison, but it means that half of the price was spent on the mercenaries for each fortress.

Thanks to that, the territory is enjoying a crazy boom, so I’ll be able to recover some of it with taxes. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that he spent a huge amount of money.

So, he suddenly said to the lord, ‘Isn’t it the intention to wipe out all the mercenaries after defeating the Anupad army?’ I even doubt that

If this suspicion is true, joining forces with the Nudans would rather be a way to deal with the threat of the lord.

“What is Poi thinking about for so long?” As soon as Ellen narrowed her eyes and spoke, Atalanta hurriedly stepped forward.

“Of course you have to think carefully. I will respect any decision you make.”

“…Really from a while ago.”

The blue eyes look as if they will burst into flames at any moment.

yeah that bothers me too

I can’t imagine how much trouble Ellen will have if she accompanies Atalante.

He’s not the kind of guy who just ignores my words, so his attitude has calmed down, but it’s true that I’m still worried.

“Think slowly. I have plenty of time anyway.”

Atalanta was grinning with her legs crossed. The smooth thighs catch the eye.

Eh, there are some elements of anxiety. Wouldn’t it be worth the risk if he could attract Atalanta, or even attract him as an ally? He’s not just an ordinary person, he’s a heroic character…

“That’s what I think.”

Just as I was about to answer, two pairs of men and women approached the table where we were sitting.

“Are you Lord Phoenix?”

The one who stepped forward and spoke was a woman with impressive eyes the size of a bell. Judging from the fact that he was wearing a robe with strange patterns, he seemed to be a wizard.

When I glanced around at the people sitting at the table, they all had puzzled expressions on their faces.

“I am Phoenix. What happened?” “You’ve come to the right place.” The woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties, continued with a slight smile.

“I came because I wanted to make a request to you.”

“…a request?”

“Your request.”

Big green eyes stared at me. She was a woman of average height by the standards of this world, so she was roughly eye level with me sitting in the chair.

“hmm. I don’t know why you came here, but we have something else to do.”

“I heard you. Are you participating in a hunting festival?”

I glanced at the people standing behind the woman.

A boy wearing a wizard’s robe like a woman, a slender young man wearing thin cloth, and a woman wearing leather and steel vauntlets and carrying a sword at her waist.

what is this combination?

“Yes, but…

“Our destination is Mount Graduil. I want you to escort me there.”

“You mean an escort?”

“yes. You have to climb a mountain to hunt monsters anyway, right? We will gladly pay you, so please take us safely to our destination.”

“…Where is your destination?”

“The top of Mount Graduil.”

normal? if it’s normal

Receiving my gaze, Ellen suddenly opened her mouth.

“Why do you want to go there?”

“…You are that fire witch, right? nice to meet you.”

The big-eyed woman pretended to be glad to see her, but Ellen remained expressionless.

“Why do you want to go there?”

“I have something to investigate.”

“……Are you trying to investigate the flow of mana

?”

At Ellen’s question, the woman’s normally large eyes widened even more. If you hit it on the back of the head, it will come out.

“How… do you know anything?”

“…I don’t know the details. I just felt that some magic power generated at the top was pushing away mana.”

“You felt it? Did you go up?”

“No, I checked halfway up.”

The woman’s mouth opened slightly.

“You confirmed the flow of mana from the top halfway up?”

“huh.”

“…How can that level of magical power be reached?”

Ellen’s face was still expressionless, but upon closer inspection, her lips were twitching. I guess he liked the woman’s fierce reaction.

I sighed inwardly and opened my mouth.

“Even if it’s not us, there are a lot of mercenaries in Longville. Go and get to know the other guys.”

“…It’s great. I’ve already looked into it. I asked a scribe to check all the mercenaries with high scores, but there was not a single gang that could accept the request.”

“…You mean none?”

When I made a puzzled expression, the woman nodded and replied.

“yes. It seems that three or four of them have already left here, and most of the rest of the gang have been waiting for the lord.”

“Waiting for the lord, what is that?”

“They say they’ll break through the road soon. I heard that you are gathering people because you have to defeat the Anupad army.”

“…This is the first news I’ve heard.”

The woman said, ‘Ah, is that so?’ He shrugged his shoulders and continued talking.

“In the end, the only thing left was the nude people and the police, but to entrust the work to the nude people… A female swordsman wearing armbands touched the woman’s arm. The woman who had been talking for a long time muttered ‘Oh…’ when she finally found Atalante and her companions.

“Um, are you guys with me?”

“We were discussing that until you came. To be together or not.”

“okay. Uh… I wish we were together. I heard that the nudein warriors are very brave.”

Atalanta looked at me and shrugged. Reading the slight displeasure on her face, the woman quickly took something from her bosom.

“I’ll give you this for that reward.”

” hmm?”

What the woman took out was a small crystal sphere. The transparent crystal ball, slightly smaller than a tennis ball and slightly larger than a ping-pong ball, emitted a subtle blue light.

“That one.”

Ellen, who had been sitting silently, jumped up and flew up.

…hmm. I think I just took a step or two, did I look wrong?

“Can I take a look at this for a second?”

Seeing Ellen suddenly rise from the ground, the woman gave a surprised expression for a moment, but then handed over the crystal ball.

“……and.”

Examining the handed crystal ball, Ellen opened her mouth in a daze. Blue eyes twinkle with admiration.

“There are no flaws. The amount of mana contained is staggering. First time seeing something like this.”

At Ellen’s muttering, the woman with big eyes smiled.

“It’s what every wizard dreams of.”

“…There are only a few places in the Middle World that can make a crystal ball of this level. Where the hell did you get it from?”

The woman’s smile deepened a little.

“It’s something made in our family.”

“……droughty?”

“My introduction is late. My name is ‘Siren Rao’.”

Siren Rao. It’s an odd name.

But what about Lao?

“I think I heard it somewhere.”

At my muttering, the woman who introduced herself as Siren nodded vigorously.

“That’s right, the Lao family. The current head of the family, Toulon Rao, will be my uncle.”

At Siren’s words, Ellen as well as Amias’ gang and the Nudein warriors were startled and opened their mouths.

There are three powerful wizard groups in the Milanol Kingdom.

The first is the Palace of La Palais, famous for its elemental school. It is rooted in Tirin Mel, a mysterious island next to Ireland, and Ellen’s hometown is also this palace.

The second is the ‘Council of Dawn’. It is famous for fantasy magic and is based in the royal capital. The last one is the ‘Lao family’. Masters of golem production and earth magic located in Baden in the north.

Siren, a woman from the Lao family, was sitting down and introducing the party one by one.

“This is my younger brother Ethan, this is my lover Zanavas, and the last one is the mercenary Simos.” I took a good look at the three men and women.

Ethan Rao was a boy with brown hair and green eyes, just like my older sister. She’s probably around Ellen’s age. He had a very cold impression and somehow gave off an arrogant atmosphere.

Zanavas was a young man who looked to be about twenty years old. She was wearing thin clothes around her slender body, but she gave off a sickly impression, perhaps because the area under her eyes was slightly sunken.

Lastly, Simos was a female swordsman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. Leather armor, steel vauntlets, dark gray hair, dark blue eyes.

As I stared at him, Simos slightly turned his head away, as if the gaze was burdensome. Around that time, Siren opened her mouth again.

“so. Will you accept the request, Sir Phoenix?”

“…Would you please wait a moment? I have a story to finish first.”

“I see.”

After asking Siren for his understanding, I looked at Atalante.

“If you accept this request, what will you do?”

“Nothing changes. My conditions are the same.”

“…good. Then let’s go together.”

At the words of my consent, flowers bloomed on Atalanta’s face.

“Good idea, Nix.”

“Instead, you must absolutely follow my orders while accompanying me.”

“of course.”

Atalanta leaned back on the backrest with a satisfied face. I glanced at Ellen, but fortunately she was preoccupied with the crystal ball.

I turned to Siren and asked.

“I know your true identity. By the way, what is the exact reason you want to investigate the summit of Mount Graduil?”

“…if you accept the request, I’ll tell you.”

“O uh”

—M3

Utequai, noticing my hesitation, opened his mouth.

“Cheaters are very useful. It will help you in your hunt.” The trickster he’s talking about is a wizard. These are the beings who deceive mothers.

“And there are those who are in mother’s arms. I have to help.”

“…the one in mother’s arms?”

When I turned around with a puzzled expression, Siren and her lover, Zanavas, were looking a little surprised.

Zanavas, a sickly-looking young man, hesitated for a moment, then looked at Utequai and asked in a hoarse voice.

“Urwha iya ti tanka’ute?”

“Zui. Rec’ne heplan somae riquwa ti hatanka.”

When Utequai replied, Zana Vath fell silent for a moment and then lowered his head.

“Rec’ne bota enden aunka dirldi. Nje lavdi tille ur.”

At Zanavas’s words, Utequai nodded quietly.

“…what. What did you say?”

“Author dirldi. A wandering druid.”

“Druid?”

“right. Druids came to the human world because something bad happened. We must help him in his work.”

Druid Dra.

It was not a playable character in the game, but I remember that some of the main NPCs’ jobs were druids.

But I don’t remember the name Zanavas…

When I stared at myself, Zanavas hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.

“I will tell you why I want to go up the mountain.”

“Janabas.”

“It’s okay, Siren. Since the great warrior of the steppe is here, he will notice even if I don’t speak.”

The young man who overcame Siren’s worries coughed lightly and continued.

“About a month ago, I had a dream while passing Abiden far away. It was a dream that illuminated the summit of Mt. Graduil.”

“…is it like a precognitive dream?”

At my question, Zanavas shook his head slightly.

“It’s a little different. It is not a foresight, but a distant view. In that dream, I saw souls gathering toward the mountaintop.” Ellen, who had been listening silently, narrowed her brow and opened her mouth.

“Souls are gathering, so you’re saying there’s a necromancer?”

“It was not a human soul. The spirits of the old nature, spirits in the process of being spiritualized, were gathering.”

Ellen asked again with a puzzled expression.

“Isn’t it rare that the spirits gather at one point? Besides, if the mana is clear and rich like a mountaintop…

“This case is different.”

“Is it different?”

“yes. The phenomenon that is happening in Graduil Mountain right now is extremely artificial. Some powerful sorcerer is twisting the law.”

“A sorcerer powerful enough to twist the course of things…

Zanavas, noticing the uneasy look on Ellen’s face, deliberately lowered her voice.

“It is something that must be done. Disaster will happen if we leave it as it is.”

“disaster?”

“yes. Perhaps the spirit realm may come into contact with the real world.”

“…Dimensional collision? It can’t happen that easily.”

As Ellen muttered with a dumbfounded expression, Zanavas looked at Utequai and said,

“The Grand Master will know. ‘Gitgullah Ti Akanku’.”

“…He was banished from the meadow. Could it be that he did this?”

“yes. That evil bastard is pulling the spirit realm. If we don’t stop him, this area and possibly the entire Marva region will be ruined. In the aftermath of the dimensional collision.”

Oh, it’s frustrating. Why are there so many unknowns today?

“What else is Gitgullah Ti Akanku?”

“It is the name of the tribe of Kitgula grasslands. It refers to a very powerful shaman who controls the spirits of Akanku.”

…A shaman who controls souls?

Wait a minute, Akanku?

“…Couldn’t that shaman’s name be ‘Karamek’?”

Utequai gave a surprised look at my question.

“How do you know that?”

“Right?”

“That’s right. Akanku Karamek is the name of the one who was banished from the plains for greeding for evil power.”

I unknowingly covered my face at Utequai’s answer.

“…Such a fucking foot.”

Akanku Karamek.

This is the default name of a male soul shaman.