Journey of Vampire Lord
Copyright© 2025 by Vamp
Chapter 11
“Then have a safe journey back. I apologize for not being able to finish the job personally.”
“It is fine. You’ve done plenty for me until now. I am sure Miss Priscilla will understand as well. Anyways, take care. May God bless you.”
“God bless you.”
Bilmoa climbed onto the coachman’s seat after saying his farewells to Partec. The three mercenaries had already said their goodbyes the night before, so they left alongside the carriage after wordlessly shaking hands with Partec. Once the carriage completely crossed the drawbridge, Partec, Glade, and Lavan approached Eugene.
“Let us go, Sir Eugene.”
“Hmm.”
Eugene headed towards the main structure of the Rose Castle along with the three.
“Ah, you’re here.”
Camara welcomed Eugene in a bright voice. He had been waiting for the knight’s arrival since earlier on. After stealing a glance at the two mercenaries and Partec, he continued in a slightly excited voice.
“So you decided to accept my offer?”
“That is correct. I have decided to hire these three men as well.”
“Hahaha! You made the right choice. By the way, how much are your wages?”
Eugene answered instead of Partec.
“One hundred silver coins for all four of together. And after we succeed, give us our pay in the materials gained from monsters. I don’t need any mana stones, so give us half of the materials gained from monsters.”
“Huh? You don’t need mana stones?”
“They are hard to dispose of. I prefer other materials.”
“Well, if that’s the case...”
Camara accepted the proposal with puzzlement.
It had been Partec’s proposal to ask for the raw materials from monsters rather than mana stones if they succeeded. Mana stones had to go through a purification process. But if an individual requested purification from the church, rather than an organization or a merchant association, the process became complicated, and the church took thirty percent of the products as the fee. It would be better to be compensated with materials that they could sell off to a merchant association.
Materials gained from monsters were quite useful. If they could acquire half of the total gains from the expedition, they would not be making a loss.
‘It’s a good thing I chose to bring Partec along.’
In addition, Partec already had a plan to deal with the materials. It also had to do with why Bilmoa returned to Maren without making a fuss, although three of the six original members had deserted the mission halfway.
Bilmoa was worried about his performance within the association, so Partec had promised him to sell all of the monster’s materials to the Palin Association through Bilmoa.
“But are you sure you don’t need any more men? We could hire two or three more.”
“Thank you for your concern, but it will be fine. Wouldn’t Sir Galfredik hire over ten men anyways?”
“We are short on numbers on our side, so he will likely hire around twenty men. Tsk! It will be troublesome if our side contributes less...”
Although Camara complained, he had no choice. Where could he find another knight who was capable of killing five armed robbers alone? Galfredik was an unusual case, and outstanding knights usually headed to serve under rich, high-ranking aristocrats. They would rarely visit a place like this.
‘Knights or mercenaries. If any of them are too outstanding, they could covet the territory as well.’
It would be better to sit on a pile of debt after failing to explore the dungeon. He could not risk such a horrible outcome.
“Ah, and this is a meaningless condition, but.”
“Hmm?”
Eugene shrugged while speaking. It felt as if he was verbalizing a flitting, unimportant thought.
“If I kill any high-ranking monsters or anything stronger in the dungeon, I will keep its mana stone.”
“Hahahaha! A truly meaningless condition. Do as you want. Haha!”
Camara, as well as the mercenaries, felt rather amused. Humans did not journey into the evil lands only for the sake of gaining mana stones. It was to control the population of the monsters in advance. If left alone, the number of monsters would continue to increase, which would ultimately result in the monster encroaching on human territory.
Humans usually killed a few intermediate-ranking monsters before withdrawing. High-ranking monsters usually resided in the heart of the evil lands, and if the humans messed with such creatures without thinking, it could cause the entire group to be annihilated.
But now, a no-name knight was claiming he would kill a high-ranking monster after entering a newly discovered dungeon.
It truly was a meaningless condition.
“Haha! Well, I like your confidence. You need to have at least this much guts to call yourself a knight. Anyways, let’s do our best. Hahaha...!”
Camara did not stop chuckling, seemingly finding the situation quite amusing and ridiculous.
“Sir Eugene?”
“That’s right. It will be better to have more knights than not, right? The others were hired by the Palin Association, so they should be decent as well.”
“What about their terms?”
“The down payment will be 100 silver coins, including Sir Eugene and the three of them. They want half of the monster materials as the success pay. He said he doesn’t need mana stones.”
“Is that so...?”
Bertel stared at Eugene with cold eyes.
He had heard about Eugene from Felid as well during the dinner last night. Although it was likely exaggerated, the fact that he defeated five robbers with a single short sword was enough to prove his identity as a knight.
‘The terms are not bad either. But I don’t have a good feeling about this.’
He would have been rather relieved if Eugene was as arrogant and reckless as other knights, but it was difficult to gauge the unknown knight’s true intentions. The eyes that shone from inside the knight’s helmet felt ominous to Bertel.
“What are your thoughts, Sir Galfredik?”
Camara shifted his attention to Galfredik.
“I always welcome a skilled knight. Good to see you, sir. I am Rowan of Galfredik.”
Galfredik was even bigger than Partec. He stepped forward and extended his hand forward.
“Nice to meet you. Jan Eugene.”
The two knights shook hands with their gloves on.
Squeeze!
Eugene strengthened his grip after feeling Galfredik’s powerful grasp.
“...!”
Galfredik’s raised his thick eyebrows in surprise.
“Your strength is quite formidable. I look forward to your performance.”
“Likewise.”
Galfredik grinned while speaking to Bertel after letting go of Eugene’s hand.
“I do not know about his swordsmanship, but I can guarantee you his strength.”
“I see.”
Galfredik himself was reassuring Bertel of the man’s capabilities. As such, Bertel had no justification to refuse Eugene’s cooperation. Furthermore, it was just as Camara said. It was much better to have another knight.
‘My older brother’s influence will increase slightly, but it’s not a bad outcome. More than anything ... there is no guarantee that man will come out alive.’
Bertel decided to accept Eugene.
“Welcome to the opening of the dungeon, Sir Eugene.”
“Haha! Now that we have everyone here, why don’t we start discussing things in earnest?”
At Camara’s words, Eugene, Galfredik, and Bertel each took their place at the ends of a square table.
“Sirs, we will be outside.”
“Yes.”
Partec’s group left after bowing, and Bertel started the conversation.
“As all of you know, we have three knights – Sir Galfredik, Sir Eugene, and me. But I cannot participate in the expedition. Someone has to protect the castle.”
It appeared Camara and Galfredik already knew of the fact, as they nodded in acknowledgment. But Eugene heard this for the first time.
“There will be twenty-three men in total, including the three that Sir Eugene brought, and the men gathered by Sir Galfredik. The down payment will be paid as discussed previously, as well as the success pay. The minimum conditions for clearing the expedition will be 70 low-ranking and three intermediate-ranking monsters. Feel free to make judgments accordingly for anything past that.”
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