Chapter 156

"What was the 'secret mission' you received?"

Godhand had mentioned that he received a secret mission before being dispatched here.

What was that secret mission and who gave it?

I had to find out.

"Yes, Your Highness. I will tell you everything."

Godhand shared the details of the secret mission he received from his superiors just before he was sent to the southern front from his incarceration as a convict.

"Indeed."

It was nothing remarkable. Melt into the southern front lines. Observe the movements on the front and report anything unusual. Cooperate closely with the pontiff and carry out espionage.

"And there was one last order."

"What was that?"

"That... I didn't quite understand it myself."

Godhand, watching my reaction, cautiously let the words out.

"To keep an eye on Aider, the aide-de-camp of the province lord..."

"...?"

Suddenly, a most unexpected story had me frozen in place.

Why Aider? Why? Not me?

'Could it be...'

Did they know... that Aider is someone connected with the system of this world?

I quickly asked more.

"Who gave this order?"

"It was the second prince, His Highness Fernandez."

Indeed, it was the accomplished one.

I narrowed my eyes. As my brother had said, it seemed I would soon need to have a face-to-face chat. We both seem to have quite a bit to discuss.

"I apologize for not telling you this earlier. I am truly sorry, Your Highness..."

Godhand murmured, his head almost touching the floor in apology. I clicked my tongue quietly.

"If you're sorry, stop banging your head and show it in your future actions."

"Of course, Your Highness! What should we do? How should we proceed?"

I simply answered Godhand, who was asking desperately.

"Be my spy."

"...!"

To the startled Godhand, I gave a thin smile.

"You know what I mean, don't you? From now on, you'll have to be a double agent for me."

Just a while ago, Margarita said this in communication with Central.

- 'I have been' exposed. I am sorry.

In other words, only she was caught.

In other words, she subtly hinted that Godhand's intelligence line had not been exposed. Of course, this was at my instruction.

Central will determine that 'Margarita has been exposed, but Godhand has not been discovered yet.'

And they would try to use Godhand, the only remaining intelligence line in this southern front, by any means possible.

I planned to exploit this and make Godhand a double agent.

"Take separate contact with Central through your communication network. Tell them that you have not yet been discovered by Prince Ash."

"..."

"From now on, report to me every task that Central orders you to do, and deceive Central as I command. Can you do that?"

"Of course, Your Highness."

Godhand did not hesitate.

"I will do it. Upon the honor of our race."

I smiled lightly at Godhand, who nodded heavily.

'Well, it won't be that easy.'

The opponent is the imperial secret force, directly under the royal family. Moreover, it is an intelligence unit led by the chief administrative officer.

Now that Margarita has been exposed, it's natural to suspect the existence of Godhand's intelligence line.

From now on, Godhand will be incessantly questioned whether he is a traitor or not, from the royal family and from this front line as well.

I was even planning to transfer Aider's surveillance to Godhand immediately.

And if there was any sign that he would betray me and harm the southern front, I planned to use the 'leash' I received at first to eliminate them.

'Well, that's the fate of an undercover agent.'

Besides, I could also dig up a lot of information from Godhand, such as the intelligence system of the Aegis special forces and information about Central.

Godhand, as if wanting to prove that he was completely on my side, revealed all the information he knew, not even sparing those I didn't ask for.

After digging up all the information I could, I nodded at the three Shadow Squad members around me.

"Lastly, I have one more task for you."

I murmured heavily to the three who were watching me with focused faces.

"It's something only the three of you can do, but it requires all three of you to risk your lives."

***

About an hour later, I came out of the reception room.

"Senior."

Outside the door, Evangeline, Damien, Junior, and Lilly were waiting.

I nodded my head at each of them, making eye contact.

"I reckon everyone's mind must be a mess after all the sudden events of today."

No one responded, but it seemed they felt exactly as I had said. Everyone looked downcast, their gazes lowered.

Lilly's face was especially pale. The fact that Godhand had deceived her seemed to have shocked her deeply.

"Let me start with the conclusion."

I talked about the point where the central forces had decided to send reinforcements, and our decision to tolerate rather than oust Margarita and Godhand.

"The fact that they deceived us is true, but those guys... they were just following the orders of the royal family."

Regardless, they had been loyal to the empire. They just happened to side with the central forces in the feud between the central and the Margrave.

But this place was the Margrave's, and the party members who were making eye contact with me now were also the Margrave's people.

Even if we were all ultimately moving for the sake of the Empire, there had to be differences in the way we viewed the empire.

"I'm not saying you should trust them again right away. Everyone, keep your eyes wide open and watch them."

"..."

"Whether they can become our comrades again, they will have to prove themselves."

The party members nodded their heads silently.

To lighten the heavy atmosphere, I clapped my hands.

"Now, now, I understand everyone's down, but we still have work to do."

The defense battle begins in a week.

I didn't think Fernandez would ignore my threats and not send reinforcements, but you never know.

'We can't just rely on the reinforcements and do nothing. In case the reinforcements don't come or are late, we need to prepare our defenses.'

We should equip ourselves to be able to carry out the defense battle on our own, having as many defenses as possible.

I assigned roles for the next defense battle to the party members and informed them of the preparations they needed to make.

After a brief meeting was over.

Before dismissing everyone, I asked.

"Also, tell me what kind of equipment you each want."

Everyone looked at me with round eyes. I grinned.

"I'll make them all for you."

There was a lot to gain from stage 5, despite the losses.

It was time to open the reward boxes and ask the blacksmith to craft the equipment.

***

Considering farming efficiency, it would be best to open the boxes first and then request equipment crafting from the blacksmith, but this time there was a reason to visit the blacksmith first.

As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot, I went to see the magic blacksmith that night.

Lake Kingdom Dungeon. Safe Haven Base Camp.

This time, I came alone.

Flash!

As soon as I arrived here through the teleport gate, pulling a cart full of luggage, Kellibey ran over hastily, his beard bristling, and squawked,

"Hey! We thought you guys were all dead, you bastard! We had no news!"

I chuckled wryly.

"I'm sorry. I was so mentally and physically drained that it took me a while to come see you."

"You damn kid! You should consider the people who are worried about you! Is it too hard to send a message saying you've done well?!"

"I got it, I got it. Next time, I'll contact you right away."

As Kellibey spat and ranted, I quickly handed over the things I'd brought, still in the cart.

"I'm a bit late, but I brought a gift."

"What's so special about what you brought that you're this cheeky?"

Kellibey, who had been grumbling, stiffened when he saw what was loaded on the cart.

It was a coffin.

A long wooden box for a corpse.

"This is...!"

As Kellibey, frozen in place, couldn't move, I gave him a smirk.

"We agreed that I would bring you the neck of their lord in exchange for making a weapon to kill vampires."

"..."

"I kept my promise."

Kellibey, who had been holding his breath, carefully approached the cart and opened the coffin.

Needless to say, the corpse inside was of Celendion.

Ordinarily, the principle was to incinerate monster corpses on the spot after recovering their magic stones and loot, but since I had promised Celendion's neck to Kellibey.

"..."

After looking at the face of his sworn enemy for a long time without saying anything, Kellibey looked back at me with a slightly scared expression.

"...But this bastard, he's definitely dead, right?"

"Yes, definitely."

"Damn, seeing this vampire bastard lying in a coffin, I can't tell if he's dead or just sleeping."

Bang!

Kellibey, having sealed the coffin, lifted it up with a grunt. I asked out of sheer curiosity, 

"What are you going to do with that?"

"Do what? It's not like I've got some morbid hobby of playing with corpses. There's nothing useful to extract from a vampire's body."

With the coffin in hand, Kellibey approached a large furnace.

"Have to burn it."

When he blew air into the furnace with a bellows, the flames inside grew fiercer. The magical blue flames in the furnace belched out intense heat.

Kellibey put Celendion's coffin in front of the furnace and sprinkled shimmering silver dust over it.

It seemed to be fragments and dust left over from making holy weapons.

"Ha!"

After he finished scattering the silver dust, Kellibey shoved the coffin into the furnace with both hands.

Whoosh—!

The coffin, drawn into the flames, was consumed in an instant.

"Look, brothers. The damn vampire lord who sucked your lives is no more."

Kellibey's voice croaked out in a hoarse whisper.

"Now free from his curse, fly far away with peace of mind, far, far away..."

I watched the blacksmith conducting a soul-soothing ritual for his brothers from a distance.

"Whew! That's a relief."

It wasn't until the coffin had completely burnt that Kellibey turned around. To him, wiping his face with a towel, I asked cautiously,

"Are you crying?"

"Damn! It's the heat, you twerp. Can't you see how hot that fire is?"

Kellibey, his eyes still red-rimmed, threw the towel aside irritably and slapped the table in front of him with his big hand.

"Stop teasing the old man! Let's take a look at the loot we've got this time."

I had come to him intending to commission him to make equipment from that loot.

I placed three Magic Power Cores, each emanating a red glow, on the table one after the other.

All three were emitting a terrifyingly vivid light, but one in particular was pulsating with an extraordinary crimson glow.

From the last battle, we had obtained seven SR-grade Magic Power Cores and three SSR-grade Magic Power Cores.

Here were the three SSR-grade cores: the 'Vampire General Magic Power Core' from Alpha and Beta, and the 'Vampire Lord Magic Power Core' from Celendion.

"Monstrous beasts. Spitting out such formidable Magic Power Cores after centuries of consumption."

Kellibey, who had examined the three Magic Power Cores in turn, clicked his tongue after inspecting the 'Vampire Lord Magic Power Core', which was emitting a particularly ominous crimson glow.

"It's the essence of Celendion. With this, we can make a Nightmare Slayer!"

"Nightmare Slayer?"

I remember Celendion saying something like that.

"What exactly is a Nightmare Slayer?"

At my question, Kellibey chuckled, pulling at his beard.

"What do you call a weapon or a person that kills dragons?"

"Um, Dragon Slayer...right?"

"Right. So, what if we switch the target from a dragon to a Nightmare Legion Commander?"

Ah, indeed.

"So, if we create a weapon with a Magic Power Core from a monster at the level of a legion commander, that would be a Nightmare Slayer."

"Right. And these weapons possess powers that are far beyond ordinary equipment."

In the game, it was just a slightly better boss weapon. But here, it was distinguished enough to warrant such a grandiose name.

Definitely, the magic gun 'Black Queen' does have a rather insane performance.

'So, I can prepare another piece of equipment at the level of Black Queen? This is really awesome.'

While I was thinking, Kellibey added,

"Though, it also harbors a darkness befitting its power."

"Darkness...?"

At my question, Kellibey's brows furrowed.

"What, your sniper friend has been wielding a Nightmare Slayer and you didn't even know what it does?"

"Excuse me?"

"The more you kill with a Nightmare Slayer, the more the nightmare within the weapon awakens."

I felt a chill down my spine.

I asked hesitantly,

"And what happens when it awakens?"

"Well, that depends on the nightmare. It might lend you its power obediently, or it might..."

Kellibey shrugged, grinning mischievously.

"Swallow the user whole."