NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30
Duke Valencius believed that the unknown third party or Jeilliris was responsible for killing Aquinas in his previous life.
However, with the circumstantial evidence suggesting that the Duke was aware of or had intended to use the illegitimate child, his thoughts changed in an instant.
“I was careless.”
Muttering that, the silver-haired prince closed the door, and the massive centipede thrust its mouth forward.
Bang!
He was shoved clumsily, the wooden door was ripped from its hinges, and the Duke rushed in.
Valencius instinctively stiffened his body in preparation for the Duke’s attack.
Thud!
But the Duke kicked the centipede’s body, pushing it out of the way, widening the distance before grabbing its nape and pulling it back into the room.
“There’s a bizarre aura. My lady, be alert. It is not a creature of this world.”
The Duchess gripped a thin three-foot wand with a stern face.
Subtle mana spread like ripples on a lake.
“Your Grace! Do you know anything?”
At Tenitia’s question, he pieced together the fragments of knowledge that came to him intermittently.
“Jeilliris was a tyrant… but she despised the eldritch things beyond the borders. She never compromised with the infiltrators.”
He lowered his voice and spoke quickly.
“Those sent by His Majesty the Emperor are not here. And looking at it, those summoned here by His Excellency the Duke are not either.”
“I’m asking what kinds of creatures they are and what their weaknesses may be!”
“How would I have seen such things? I have never even been outside the capital in my life.”
The coiled centipede reared up again, charging at him.
The Duke frowned and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Swish!
The sword swung like a bird taking flight.
Tenitia’s expression shifted to one of admiration for a moment, while Valencius worried that the sword might be aimed at him.
Thump, thump.
The centipede collapsed weakly to the ground.
A segment, about the thickness of a finger, was sliced off, and green fluids splattered across the hallway.
Crack, crack.
Immediately after, horrifying sounds began to echo from all around.
From above the ceiling, below the floor, and even from the far end of the hallway.
“Eeeek!”
The centipede leapt out from beneath the bed, making a shocking noise.
Thud!
Valencius reflexively stomped down on the centipede’s back and drove his sword down to pierce its head.
The white venom-filled fangs were right in front of the Duchess’s ankles.
“…Thank you.”
The Duchess grimaced but expressed her gratitude.
While the Duke sliced through a second centipede that came through the entrance, he said, “As you said, the security is indeed lacking.”
“I told you so!”
“If my wife or child gets harmed, I will hold you responsible.”
Valencius felt a drop in his heart.
This was the emperor’s property, and all authority and responsibilities belonged to the emperor.
‘Jeilliris?’
He seriously considered whether he should stab the Duke in the back.
‘The dead do not speak. It’s fine. I can do this. I’d rather see her rolling on the battlefield…!’
His left hand slid toward the knife hidden in his pocket.
“Your Grace.”
Just then, Tenitia grasped his left wrist.
“You don’t need to do that. I am here, the Duke is here, and you are also here.”
The knight with the sorrowful eyes drew his sword.
Thud!
Tenitia crushed a centipede aiming for Valencius’s heel with her reinforced military boot and swung her sword, cleanly slicing through another centipede that poked its head through the window.
Valencius stood up with a small sigh.
Unlike before his return, he was here now, not in the red-light district.
“Aquinas. Get on the bed and look after the child. Do not let go of them.”
“Got it.”
The young man, now a father, responded resolutely.
Valencius thought it was not a bad look and dashed to the Duke’s side, sword drawn.
“Be careful!”
“Huh?”
Ssssh!
A centipede raised its head to human eye level and sprayed white liquid from its mouth.
The Duke reflexively raised his left arm to block, and the tough uniform started to smoke and melt away.
“My lady!”
The Duchess screamed as she swung her wand.
Zing!
White flames burst forth, and a beam shot out, creating a hole in the centipede’s face.
The Duke grimaced and said, “It would have been much better had you told us to be careful.”
“I apologize.”
“But didn’t you say you had never seen such creatures in your life? How did you know it could spew venom?”
“What?”
He cursed inwardly but smiled innocently.
“I know nothing! I’ve only lived drinking every day, how could I know?”
He thrust his sword into the ceiling, dislodging stone dust and debris.
The sword quivered as green fluids dripped down.
-2 hours and 30 minutes until the inheritance right is revoked.
* * *
The fight continued, and he rolled his eyes, surveying the surroundings.
Tenitia was guarding around the bed and the Duchess, while the Duke was blocking the open door, with the Duchess preventing creatures from coming in through the windows or ceiling.
‘Control aside, commanding this many creatures is not easy. However, I doubt they would breach the Duke’s defenses with this quantity. Is there a reason to waste such valuable summoned beasts like this?’
He glanced at the corpse of the centipede.
It was about 4 meters long, with segments roughly 40 centimeters in both width and length.
Each 40cm segment was coated with silver powder, inscribing some sort of spell.
“Silver powder?”
Silver is known to be a material closely associated with mana, frequently used when constructing magical circuits.
Valencius quietly observed the spell.
He felt he had seen something similar before his return.
He thought he might have drawn it himself once.
Suddenly, he felt genuine pity for Sererassie’s subordinates.
With her true prowess, like Chain Lightning or Chain Strike, these centipede monsters would be obliterated in a single blow.
“Carving it with silver onto a slate, infusing it with mana, then throwing or dropping it right in the midst of the enemy ranks…”
Suddenly, past memories surged back.
“Duke! We need to leave immediately. Tenitia, take care of the child and Duke Aquinas!”
“Pardon?”
“There’s no time to explain, quickly!”
“Wait—!”
The Duke roared, blocking his path.
Liquid from the centipede dripped from the sword he held.
“I would like to point out that the cause of these monstrous creatures gathering here is you, Duke Valencius. It was you who summoned us to this room and also opened the door.”
He felt breathless with the weight of that accusation.
It was a plausible suspicion.
“Where to go, what you’re thinking, and what in the world are all these monster-like creatures?”
The Duke’s voice rose louder.
“To be frank, if you don’t answer, I’ll consider you one of them.”
Valencius glanced at the piles of centipede corpses around.
Utilizing the lives of sacrifices to activate spells was an extremely traditional method.
Whirr, crackle, thunder.
Outside the window, stormy winds howled, accompanied by flashes of lightning.
If he were too late, he thought, gritting his teeth, and stepped forward into the room with restrained movements.
“Tenitia, can you hold the door for a moment?”
Tenitia ran to the door, while the Duke and Duchess looked at him with suspicious eyes.
Crack, crack.
Just as he heard another centipede crawling on the ceiling, he raised his sword again and stabbed into the ceiling, twisting it.
“Kiiik!”
With a scream, the green liquid flowed down.
Drip, drip.
The moment that liquid touched the ground, Valencius had a gut feeling.
“I will tell you why I said we need to leave.”
The spell was complete.
Crack!
From the clouds, a yellow lightning bolt shot down like branches.
Boom!
The window and brick wall shattered, and the heated air burst, shredding everything in the room to pieces.
If Aquinas hadn’t shielded the baby with his body, the child would have been crushed under the pressure.
Though he avoided a direct hit, the Duke, caught by the residual force near the wall, fell over like a wooden block, mouth agape.
Only Valencius, who had planted his sword into the ground to conduct electricity, and Tenitia, whose boots were reinforced with steel spikes, remained trembling slightly.
Whirr.
Rain poured in through the collapsed walls and ceiling.
In an instant, the centipedes fled, leaving the room in silence.
“Ah… that was close to death.”
Valencius turned to leave.
“Your Grace, what is, what is this…?”
Tenitia asked, her expression moving from panic to bewilderment.
He shrugged and replied.
“It’s a lightning summoning spell. It’s used to mark coordinates in the enemy command during battle and drop chain lightning, or setting it up near buildings where lightning often strikes to serve as a lightning rod. The mana required for activation… I utilized the death of these centipede monsters through sacrifice spells.”
“That’s not what I was asking…”
“Just take care of the baby and Aquinas first. Another strike will surely come soon.”
Tenitia moved with an expression that seemed to have many things to say.
Valencius pushed the paralyzed Duchess out of the room and reached out to the Duke, smiling brightly.
“Are you starting to consider leaving the room as I suggested?”
It was a smile that made him want to hit him.
“You reckless bastard…”
The Duke muttered as he slowly stood up.
“Alright. If I leave here, where do I intend to go? Just so you know, if you mention the imperial palace, I will cut you down.”
Valencius shrugged.
“Why would I go to the imperial palace? I’ll be going to Wyvernfit.”
“Oh.”
“It’s sturdy enough that lightning is no issue, and usual monsters cannot even approach due to the intimidation of the wyverns.”
With a single roar, wyverns could send even well-trained warhorses fleeing from their masters.
At least there wouldn’t be huge centipedes there.
“Once the rain stops, you can return immediately, with your new child and grandchild.”
“I mentioned I would register the birth at the church here. Looking at the rainfall, it doesn’t seem like it will last long, so can you bind me and take me to the church?”
In the empire, there coexisted secular laws made by lords, church laws related to the scriptures, laws understood by peasants, and local ordinances established by cities.
Birth and death were overseen by church laws, with the church considering the rising sun as the start of a new day.
A victorious smile rose once again on Duke Marthe’s face.
“I will set off as soon as the sun rises. I have no intention of waiting for you to return with my grandchild. I will handle the birth registration when I return to my province.”
“Oh.”
“You look quite dissatisfied. But what’s to be done? Endure it.”
“That’s not it.”
Valencius smiled brightly again.
His yellow eyes glimmered in the darkness.
“What?”
“At Wyvernfit, there’s a bishop-class monk who stays to heal knights and oversee magicians.”
The church was merely a space; what mattered was the priest.
To be exact, the space proclaimed by the priest is the church.
“All births, marriages, and deaths can be handled there.”
Valencius spoke like a kind administrative officer.
The Duke’s face contorted with confusion.
He briefly tightened then loosened his grip on the sword.
His wife and new child, along with the grandchild, were all with Tenitia.
* * *
Since only one among the five of them could wield mana, their movement was swift.
Even on a rainy night, there were security guards at Wyvernfit. They stared in bewilderment at the wet and bedraggled nobles but soon allowed them entry, following the regulations.
Without thinking, they headed towards the conference room they had used the day before.
They dried themselves off with towels brought by the soldiers from the duty room, added firewood to the fireplace, and sprawled out on the sofa.
In the room was a grandfather clock, and the hands pointed to 12:30 AM.
“Congratulations, Count Aquinas.”
I greeted Aquinas with his new title.
Typically, siblings or children of the emperor were regarded as dukes, while relatives of dukes or marquesses were counts, and relatives of counts were barons.
“I’m no longer legally a member of the royal family, am I?”
Aquinas murmured, as if entranced.
“Thank you for protecting me, Your Grace Duke Valencius.”
I received his gratitude with a strange feeling.
“Of course. Until this morning, just don’t think about going anywhere, just stay close.”
For a moment, our eyes met.
He frowned, but did not grip his sword.
Tenitia sighed in relief.
Ssssh…
Just then, the fire in the fireplace went out.
“Ah, wait, please.”
I sighed and drew my sword.
From the chimney above the fireplace, massive centipedes began to fall.
They weren’t as large as before, but they were still over 2 meters long.
Creak, clatter, they emerged in a flood, coalescing into a human shape.
Dressed exactly like knights in painted black plate armor.
The Duke and Tenitia crossed themselves, gritting their teeth at the insulting sight.
There were three bug knights formed from the centipedes: one bore a war hammer, another a sword, and the last wielded a cutlass.
The one holding the cutlass slowly raised his visor.
I thought a horrible bug face would emerge, but to my surprise, the face was that of an utterly ordinary man.
“Eh?”
“Hand over the child!”
But what he said was as I had expected.
So I did what I had originally planned.
“Ptooey!”
I spat at that bug bastard’s face.