NOVEL NEXT Chapter 96: Arrival in Fortress City
"..." After that, the journey continued in silence for the next few weeks. I didn't try to talk to Laplace, and he decided to just ignore me, so when we stopped, I only spoke with Eve and Syl'Vyr.
And during the stops, he would check the cargo and sometimes take the fairy again. When he did that, I walked away and spent the time staring at the sky so I wouldn't have to see, hear, or know what he was doing.
Syl'Vyr watched most of the time, but I didn't want to ask, and Syl'Vyr didn't want to talk to me about it, knowing I wanted no part of it.
I'm not angry, I just understand that talking to Laplace would be pointless, so I quietly kept doing my escort mission as I should, and we're finally arriving at the fortress city where our mission ends.
'Oh...' I see the walls of the fortress city, and it looks like an amazing place. According to the deal with Laplace, getting back to the kingdom is my own problem; he won't take me back.
Normally, I would return to the kingdom by taking a separate carriage, but it turns out I can't go into dungeons there since there's that whole thing about someone hunting adventurers, and the dungeons were locked for anyone below Rank S.
So, I think I'll live in this fortress city for a while and hunt in the dungeons here, since it's another city and the dungeons probably aren't blocked. After all, it's not possible for someone to be hunting people in dungeons so far apart from each other.
"Laplace, as soon as we enter the city, I'm getting out of the carriage. The deal was just to get to the fortress city, right? That means once we enter the city's territory, I've fulfilled my part," I say, watching the road as we approach the gate.
"...Yes. But remember, I'm not taking you back. You'll receive 30 million gold coins. Pay for your own trip back," he says disinterestedly as I agree.
"Yes, I'll pay to go back." I can't stay away from that kingdom for too long, or my father might come after me, since it could be classified as "fleeing" my responsibilities.
I'm a competitor for the throne and need to actively show that I'm competing. Our father would never let any of us quit; the competition has very strict and heavy rules.
So, at most, I can spend a few months away, and then I have to go back and spend some time there before I can leave again and stay out for a while.
"Hey, Coachman, you can stop here. Evelyn is getting out of the carriage," Laplace says, opening the window. Immediately, the carriage stops at the city gate where the guards see it and recognize it as a noble's carriage rather than a normal one.
"You can leave now, Evelyn. Your money should be on your card within two hours at most... that's how long it will take for me to confirm you've done your part." He practically kicks me out of there.
But I decide to accept it because I know he can't lie. Normally, in games and such, the guild is a self-owned "organization" not affiliated with anyone.
But in this world, the guild belongs to the authority of each continent, meaning the guild on the demon continent belongs to the Demon King, and he set a lot of rules for it.
Laplace, as a candidate for the throne, can't just lie to the guild, since our father analyzes almost all of our actions, and a negative action towards the guild would be "problematic."
"Laplace, do you know where the city guild is?" I ask, wanting to go to the guild to pick up a quest and head to a dungeon. I'm going to focus on my personal growth. Before I go back to living in the castle with all the others, I want to at least have Rank S puppets and a good amount of money saved up.
"It's in the city center. It's not hard to find. If you need help, just ask the commoners or something." Once he informs me, I get up with the others and exit through the door.
"I..." I was going to speak, but he slams the carriage door in my face, and the carriage starts moving, entering the city, passing by the guards who don't stop it.
"...You bastard." I curse him. He totally ignored me and didn't even let me say what I was going to say to him.
'Having siblings is so hard! Especially this kind of sibling!' Thank goodness he's gone! That perverted clown!
"Evelyn-chan, what now?" Syl'Vyr asks as I start walking towards the gate. Now that we're in the city's territory, we've completed this mission, so I can look for another mission.
"Let's go to the guild! I want to find another dungeon quest! This time, I want to try facing a Rank B boss-type monster and take its core to fortify you guys," I say excitedly as I pass by the guards, who give us a brief look and ignore us.
"Here, Eve, your mask." I take Eve's mask from the storage ring and hand it to her, which she quickly accepts. I also take mine and put it on my face.
"Now, everyone, let's make the name of our group unforgettable in this city! To the point where everyone knows who the group [Twilight Bloodline] is!" I say with a smile, entering the city and feeling the cold air because the cold season has arrived.
The new year has already begun, and although the cold weather is still acceptable, it will get much worse over time, becoming so cold that we'll need items and clothes to deal with the snow and ice.
And that's why I want to be as active as possible before it gets too cold, since there will be two months of bone-chilling cold.
"It's good that you're excited, Evelyn-sama. You seemed bothered before," Eve says as I nod, feeling much lighter now that I'm not near that pervert.
"Yeah... It's just that I have siblings who are very difficult to deal with... but I'll put that aside and focus on my life! We need to get very strong! And I already have the perfect idea for who can be our new companion, and we'll just need materials! But first, I'll fortify you two!!" I say, already thinking about creating another puppet.
My plan is to have 4 special puppets for now, and then focus on making an army of general-purpose puppets for me to use. With the money, I'll also buy a mansion for myself and possibly a small territory, so I need a lot of money.
"By the way, we have to think about what class this puppet will be! I'm thinking of a healer to heal us, apply buffs, and focus on defensive barrier magic, or someone from the Tank class to take the hits for us."
"Although having a Tank without anyone to heal the Tank seems to literally go against the idea of progress, so I'm strongly thinking about a healer!" I say quickly to them, and they agree.
Although my puppets can be restored quickly with materials, and they can also be restored slowly with vitality, this is still bad in the long run.
After all, the stronger the puppet, the more costly it is to heal them with materials that need to match the puppet's strength, and letting them heal on their own with my vitality takes too long, which we won't have in fights.
So it's better to get a healer, who will heal us quickly and without material costs.
For me, a team with a swordsman focused on fast attacks and thrusts to deal damage and break the enemy's defense. An elemental mage for area control and attack support, as well as attacking groups or masses of enemies.
A healer to provide healing support, general defense, and mainly apply buffs on allies. A Tank to attract enemies and block attacks that would be dangerous for the team.
And a backline strategist to control how everyone moves and acts, as well as who each one focuses on, seems very good.
After all, it's a formation that complements itself, and with me as the strategist, I can maximize each one's individual and group abilities and strengths using my orders for that.
So I think this seems like a pretty good formation, even if it's relatively basic. Sometimes the basics are always very good and should be used.
"Now, let's hurry! I want to do this quickly so we can go buy a wonderful dinner! I'm tired of the standard food we have in the storage ring!"
...
...
...
"Elizabeth... she left the city..." I say, looking at Elizabeth with anger.
"...Y-Yes, E-Esther-sama, she left the city... she should have already arrived at the Fortress City of Pristion in the north by now... she left on a guild mission; the client for the mission was Laplace..." Elizabeth says fearfully.
"..." I bite my lips so hard that blood starts to trickle out, dripping onto the paper that describes how Evelyn left the city, which reduces the reach I have to influence her.
"Elizabeth, tell me the delay." I say, already irritated by this.
"W-Well, since she's in another city... i-if she stays there, I'll only be able to deliver reports once every two to three weeks... but i-if she decides to go into dungeons, I might only manage to deliver once every 1 month..." She says, bowing profusely to me.
'Knowing Evelyn... she'll probably choose to go to that city's dungeons... 1 month... I'll have to go 1 month without knowing about her...' I start tapping the table with my index finger, a sign of impatience.
"Can't you be faster?" I ask with... "hope"? I'm not sure. This should be good, since I wanted to receive reports less frequently so she would stop occupying my mind so much, but it doesn't feel good. It feels like something that was mine is being taken from me.
"N-No, even with communication relics, sending detailed paper reports is something I can't do... I-I'm sorry." She says as I ponder this.
Elizabeth was never the best at collecting and sending information. I chose her to watch over Evelyn only because Elizabeth can perfectly revive a dead person, but for that, she needs the body, so she must always keep track of Evelyn in a way that she can retrieve her if she dies.
"...Fine. Before you go to Evelyn, stop by any place good enough at creating relics and have them make something to help with this... the price... well, I'm willing to pay up to 1 billion gold coins." I state a price that leaves Elizabeth shocked.
"...E-Esther-sama, isn't that a bit too high just for watching her... m-my apologies for speaking out of turn." She presses her head to the floor with more force upon seeing my gaze.
"Money is not a problem." I have more than enough money. While my siblings wasted their time when they couldn't increase their strength by our father's orders, I focused on making connections and, above all, accumulating wealth and territories.
I am easily among the top 30 nobles in terms of wealth and amount of territory available. Some I managed to buy after making those nobles lose their positions due to "treason."
And others I bought using favors owed to me, accumulating monetary and territorial power alone, which is why I know I can spend to not lose my entertainment.