Capítulo 18: 012. Imperial Prince is Toiling Away -1 (Part Two)
I approached Charlotte and hugged her while behaving like a spoiled brat. "I was sitting on my butt, busy wetting my pants from the fright, you see. Oh my goodness...! It was so terrifying, I tell you! That damn chick! She was even trying to seduce me earlier you know? But then, she treated me like a stinking scumbag, so she really got what she deserved! Wowsers, what a relief that I didn't sh*t my pants back then...!"
I even yelled out loudly to amplify the effect even further. I didn't forget to sneak a couple of glances at the Paladins in the meantime, of course.
The leader Paladin was lowering his head, and I could hear him sigh grandly.
Nice! What a disgusting sight this must be for him!
This spectacle of me clinging onto some girl and shivering away in fear while loudly yapping on and on...!
Even I found such a sight rather disgusting, if I say so myself.
In any case, oh my dear Paladins! Report this sorry sight in its full glory to the Holy Emperor! Oh, and don't forget to send suitable greetings to my brothers too.
Please do your utmost best to convince them that there's no need to send more assassins like that witch in my way, okay?
The head Paladin pulled out a leather pouch from his inner pocket and placed it on top of the shelf nearby.
I asked. "What's that?"
"It's the reward for Morgana's head, your highness. There's 80 Gold in total."
About 50 Silver would be enough for a commoner to live off for a month in this world. When considering that fact, you could say this reward was quite a hefty amount, alright.
With this small fortune, I should be able to lounge around for a while.
"Huh, so there was a reward?"
"By any chance, did you find any magic-related tomes in the witch's possession, your highness?"
"What about 'em?"
"We need to confiscate them."
"Don't have 'em. Didn't like the way they looked, so I had them incinerated."
I was bullsh*tting, obviously.
Do you think I'd hand over such nice educational material like magic grimoires to the lot of you, just like that?
I risked my life to get my hands on those. I wasn't dumb enough to go 'Ohh, how wonderful!' and hand them over, you know? I could use them to their fullest myself instead.
Of course, it was unknown whether I could learn anything from them or not, seeing that I possessed divinity instead of the demonic energy needed for Necromancers.
"I see."
Before the Paladins left, their leader looked back at me for one last time.
"Winter is coming and the weather is only getting colder, so please do take care to remain healthy, your highness."
"I know. We're in the middle of a mountain and it gets so f*cking cold up here."
"Also, the 'Tide of Death' will soon be upon us."
"Yeah, I read about that just now. A wave of undead that happens every winter, is it? It happens around the 25th of December when it's so cold that it's more like a bloody Ice Age, and that's when this Tide thing is supposed to happen, right?"
I'd rather much prefer that Santa showed up on that date instead, but well, it was more like Halloween where all sorts of spectres rampaged about.
I spoke with a refreshing grin on my face, this caused the head Paladin to stare at me without saying a single word. He was probably sighing under his helmet from my lack of dignity.
"Please prepare to evacuate from here. We shall escort you."
"Oh, ohhh! Really? I'm finally leaving this boring, stuffy place for good? Where are we going, then?"
Were we headed to the nearest neighbouring country? Or to another city?
I'd love to go on a tour of this world. Didn't matter where, I was dying of curiosity anyway! Since the Paladins would be accompanying me, I might as well make them cough up the expenses, too.
The ultimate other-world travel log where the protagonist stays only in the best hotels and eats only the tastiest food! All the while protected by trusty escorts!
How romantic was that?
I was getting sick and tired of playing around with corpses anyway. Surely they wouldn't mind me going on a vacation, right?
"We shall accompany you to the Ronia fiefdom, your highness."
"What?"
Yo, hang on. What's this? That place... Isn't that right next to this village? Wasn't it a city only half a day's travel away?
It had no tasty local delicacies and nothing interesting to look at. No, it was simply a fortress built as a shield against the 'Tide of Death'.
About half of its populace were convicted criminals, so understandably, its public order was the absolute worst. It was even commonly referred to as the 'Abandoned Domain', or the 'Castles of Sacrifices' set up to appease the evil spirits.
Hang on a minute. Were they actually planning to send the Holy Emperor's grandson to that kind of place?
"During the dark days of the Tide, many casualties will rise, your highness. Therefore..."
E-eiii, there's no way! Please tell me it ain't true. Don't you dare say anything else!
"...For the sake of those noble sacrifices, we'd like you to perform their funeral rites, please."
"..."
"This is the will of His Majesty, the Holy Emperor."
Oh! My! God!
It wasn't just "You, go there" but instead, "You, go there and perform hard labour."
Ahh, you crappy rotten grandfather of mine!
Well, you aren't my real grandfather, but biologically we're still blood-related, anyway!
Are you planning to kill your poor grandson through overwork?
W-wait, could it be that Morgana was sent by him instead?
I could only sincerely pray that wasn't the case.
If the Holy Emperor decided to kill me for real, then I'd die without making a sound, that's for sure.
Once the Paladins left, the villagers came to see me.
**
They were hammering away. Tools and materials were quickly brought in as the worn-down and weathered furniture were taken out.
The monastery was currently going through the necessary renovation/repair work.
"What a relief that it'll be the undead attacking us and not some bandits."
The undead advancing forward due to the 'Tide of Death' would ignore run-down houses or buildings that lacked tangible signs of life.
This meant that the village or the monastery would be spared as long as no one remained in them. So, there was nothing to lose by fixing up the old building and filling it up with new furniture.
"These are the village's best carpenters. Although it won't be like a brand-new building, they should at least ensure that there are no more leakages and help prevent the roof from collapsing."
The village chief showed up to honor our prior agreement.
Not only did he bring people to fix the monastery, he even brought along enough firewood to last through the winter too. As a bonus, there were new ingredients for food waiting for me to collect them as well.
Cooking used to be my hobby in my previous life, so you could say that fooling around with the various local ingredients found in this world had become my new past-time. Having said that, Charlotte was taking care of my meals lately, so I didn't really have to lift a finger anymore.
I pushed forward a small coin pouch towards the village chief.
"Your highness, this is...?"
"There are five Gold Coins inside."
My words caused the old man's eyes to open up extremely wide. "S-such a large amount of money is..."
"Apparently, there was a reward on the witch you guys hunted down. This is a portion of that."
Of course, I took the liberty of swallowing up the rest for myself. Sure, the villagers killed that witch, but didn't I play a huge role in her capture in the first place?
It was a fair percentage, I thought. It should also be seen as the price for not soiling my hands too.
"We can't accept this. We're all in your debt as well, your highness. So this money..."
The village chief formed a bitter smile.
"I'm not just giving it away, you know," I responded.
"...?"
"I'm paying you upfront."
"For the repair work on the monastery?"
I shook my head.
You mad? That's for free, innit?
I pointed at the various headstones that were haphazardly erected here and there in the cemetery. "Look, you can see that they're all pretty sloppy, right? Bring in some people and materials from the nearest town, and have them make proper ones. I've already performed the necessary purification ceremonies for all of them, so the only thing you gotta do now is to tidy up the graves. I can't be bothered to work on them anymore, so do what you think will be okay."
What I was saying here was that, since I couldn't be bothered, the chief should go and hire some labourers. With their share of the reward no less.
"I understand."
The village chief accepted the money.
"If you try to pocket some, Imma break your hands, okay?"
"But of course."
The village chief chuckled good-naturedly.
With that, the work was all done. The bothersome Paladins left too. I also took this time to study some magic as well.
In a month's time, this world's version of Halloween would begin. Although, it wasn't some fun festival of sorts but a real march of the undead, which was a big bummer, I guess.
The season of rampaging corpses that wouldn't rot. And the time when they would try to spread to the rest of the Continent.
To prepare for my future which was potentially filled with endless labour, I should utilise this off-peak season to rest my weary soul and further increase my skill proficiency.
If I don't, I'd probably suffer hellish torment with no respite later!
That's why...
"I guess I should start experimenting, then."
Now was the time to learn all those Necromancy skills found in the grimoires that Morian or Morgana, or whatever her name was, had left behind.
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