The Devilish Duke Can't Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

At those words, Ragdrill seemed quite surprised.

“Oh my…… What level of research achievements did the Santella family achieve?”

“Honestly, I have a lot to brag about, but if it leaks, it could cause disturbances or attacks from the Luave family. Please understand me for not going into detail.”

Now, even in Ragdrill’s head, the image that Santella is an angel and Luave is a devil has been solidified. Besides, the Luave family is helping Luahalla, and the hatred for them has grown even more. Even though it was a family that he called ‘our friends’ when they signed the Lylock export contract.

“The Sage’s Village will be devastated by hordes of monsters that have suddenly appeared for unknown reasons. After receiving the report ‘belatedly’, Your Highness sends knights to protect the village, but unfortunately the knights will arrive after the village is annihilated. Really, unfortunately.”

“Puhahaha! Yes. I always give preference to the Sage’s Village, so I will dispatch the knights as soon as I receive the call. Unfortunately, only the corpses of the sages will be recovered.”

Ragdrill continued to giggle, as if he was pleased with Liddell’s plan.

After more fine-tuning of the details, they concluded the secret meeting. Their meeting, as well as Liddell’s visit, were all unofficial.

Very satisfied with his meeting with Liddell, Ragdrill got drunk that night. He drank more than usual at the thought of clearing away the Sage’s Village, a thorn under his fingernails for many years.

“Your Highness. Is there anything good going on? You look happy today.”

The mistress, who had been pouring alcohol for him, asked in a mischievous manner.

“Hehehe. A good thing. Of course, it’s a good thing.”

“What’s going on? Can’t you just tell me a little bit?”

Embracing the mistress’ narrow waist, Ragdrill groaned as if he had succeeded in a great negotiation.

“Soon the Sage’s Village will be destroyed. It means that we will get back the Tanel Forest, which has been turned into a den of beggars.”

“Oh! Really? But those people are wizards. I heard that they are using some kind of magic to keep other wizards from entering…….”

“Hahaha! It’s different this time! They will be torn to death by monsters. I will send two knights as troops to defeat the monsters, but the knights will probably come back with only sad news. Kekekeke.”

“Monster? Is that possible?”

“That’s right, sweet Cassandra. I’ll let you know that in ten days a horde of monsters will suddenly appear in front of the Sage’s Village. But, this is a secret. If this rumor goes out, you won’t be safe either.”

“When was the last time I was careless with my mouth? I always obey your orders.”

“Hoo, right? So, tonight you’re going to follow my orders too, right? Hehehe.”

Ragdrill let out a lascivious laugh and got entangled with the mistress. Cassandra was, as she said, a clever woman with a heavy mouth, so Ragdrill trusted her.

But there are no perfect secrets in the world. The Sage’s Village, who were still suspicious of the royal family’s movements, had sent an ‘ear’ to the royal palace. It was an enchanted white bird, and what the white bird saw and heard was passed on to the Elder Hersh in the Sage’s Village.

The white bird tried to overhear the conversation between Liddell and Ragdrill, but was unsuccessful because Liddell surrounded the inside of the reception room with a magical wall. However, the white bird did not give up easily and chased after Ragdrill, and heard the ‘secret’ he had bragged about to his mistress.

“A liar full of greed!”

The middle-aged woman, with whitish hair, clenched her thin fists and clenched her teeth.

Everyone in power in this world was all the same. No matter how good their smile looks on the outside, she always has to think of what they look like on the inside. Because of that, even when she came out of the Magic Tower of the Tartan Empire, she emphasized over and over that she would ‘never go hand in hand with power’, but at that time, Ragdrill said ‘there is no such deep meaning’. They served the people by supplying various drugs to Hildebrunn, who lacked pharmaceutical knowledge, but it seemed that he had no interest in their merit.

Anyway, she couldn’t be bothered by sitting like this resting her hands. Hersh hurriedly gathered the village representatives.

“Ragdrill is going to hit our town soon. He said a swarm of monsters will appear, so what should we do?”

“Did, did you say monster? Are they going to release monsters? Is that possible with human will?”

“I’m not sure what he was going to do, but it seems to have something to do with the Duchy of Santella.”

Everyone was shocked by the bombshell remarks. It seems that Ragdrill, which had been quiet for a while, was acting again since last year, and it was ridiculous that he was now trying to attack by borrowing the power of a neighboring country’s Duchy.

“But, what’s with the Duchy of Santella!”

“I don’t know about them. Ragdrill may have asked for help from them. Anyway, we have plenty of time left till the attack on our village. Because he said ten days later.”

The meeting room was quiet for a moment as everyone was organizing their thoughts.

“If it’s monsters, what kind of monsters are they going to release and how much?”

“I don’t even know. But since they’re sending two knights’ troops to pretend to subdue a swarm of monsters, the number of monsters won’t be one or two.”

“Monsters…… How crazy are they? The thought of releasing such dangerous things upon this land!”

The inside of the meeting room was cluttered with murmur.

The wizard group was powerful. So, Ragdrill has not been able to do anything yet. It was because the physical collision caused too much damage to Ragdrill’s side.

However, if monsters functioned as his troops, the story would be completely different. Humans can use spears and swords, but that was completely different from slaying ordinary beasts. If it takes five or six arrows to kill a normal beast, it takes five times as many arrows to kill a monster. Even if it was a small monster.

If it was a large monster, they couldn’t even think of catching it with an arrow. Normal arrows could not pierce their thick hides, and only crossbow-sizes could be embedded.

It was magic that could properly attack such a monster. Whether it was slashing by pouring magic power into the sword, or attacking with magic itself, magic was needed anyway. However, simply because they possessed magical powers did not mean they were able to face the monster’s attacks. Magic is not something that can be used endlessly, and once they draw it out, they have to rest their body until it fills up again. It had to be if it wasn’t the blood of the two Duchies.

“I think we should ask for help from the Duchy of Luave. It is said that Duke Luave hunts the monsters that appear in Sharden every winter.”

At someone’s suggestion, Hersh took a deep breath.

“What kind of price would they want?”

It may be possible to arouse the Duchy of Luave’s interest by saying that the Duchy of Santella was probably involved, but that will not be a sufficient condition for the Duchy of Luave to move. And, as far as Hersh knew, those in power never moved without a price.

One mistake was enough to believe in unpaid favors. However, she was afraid of what price the Duchy of Luave might want. In fact, it was questionable whether they could give the Duchy of Luave a price to move.

“No matter what happens, the annihilation of the village must be stopped, doesn’t it? There’s no way we can run away from the investigation and research we’ve been doing in Tanel Forest. First we have to send someone to the Duchy of Luave.”

A village elder said in a confused voice. And through the heavy sighs, a roaring voice echoed through the conference hall.

“I will go to the Duchy of Luave.”

Everyone’s eyes fell on the still young boy.

“Dashar…….”

It was Dashar, Hersh’s son. Although he was still a fifteen-year-old boy, he was also the most powerful wizard in the Sage’s Village. From birth, he was a child born with all the conditions necessary to be the best wizard, including abundant magical powers, a knack for understanding magic, and a good heart to seek the truth. So, not only the villagers, but also the elder and his mother, Hersh, respected Dashar.

But Dashar had never been out of the Sage’s Village ever since he was born. Because their research takes place within nature, Dashar never even wanted to go out to a place where worldly humans lived.

“Let me go.”

So, it was quite unexpected to see Dashar, who said that he would go to the Duchy of Luave himself. But if he did, there must have been a reason. He wouldn’t say it right now, but he must have a reason to go anyway. Because Dashar was also born with a foresight ability. Although he was still young and he was not able to actively use his foresight ability, he still had a very good sense of whether he should do this or that.

Dashar was still in her womb at the time of coming to Hildebrun, but the night when Hersh decided to go to Hildebrunn, the fetal movement was severe. At that time, Hersh thought that Dashar was also happy to go to Hildebrunn, but afterward, she only thought that it was a fetal movement to warn his mother.

“I understand. If you want to go, there must be a reason for it.”

“Thank you for your permission.”

Dashar prepared to depart for Logos.

* * *

“I must go up to Ardennes.”

Kahel, who looked down at the Queen’s handwritten letter brought by the emissary, handed it over to Damien and said so. Damien, who read the letter carefully, sighed and nodded his head.

“If we don’t find a way quickly…….”

It was evident even at the last banquet that the Queen’s power was fading. This is because the blood relatives of the Duchy’s family were born with the most sensitive constitution to her power. However, they did not know that it would mean such an early ‘extinction’. With no successor, the current Queen’s life expectancy is at most one year, so any news of this will quickly plunge Logos into chaos.

Moreover, it is said that the Santella had foreseen a day like this, and as soon as the banquet was over, they proposed the marriage of Liddell and the 1st Prince. It was said to be a way to continue the lineage of Ardenia, but it was quite dangerous for Liddell Santella to rise to the position of Queen.

“The escort to Marquisate Ravel was further reinforced. In particular, I told them to be careful not to let the two Ladies ride the same carriage. There are also two royal family members who died in a carriage accident.”

Each of the Queens’ bloodlines had a daughter. So, even if the Luaves asked the Queen’s family to succeed the throne, they didn’t really have many options. However, even those few options started to die from accidents or diseases. They were fine all the time, until suddenly three years ago.