Chapter : 86

“Magician Agpiel.”

“Hmm? What is it.”

“What are the uses for an ogre? You said earlier that its value is immense.”

After the triumphal ceremony, I rested in the mansion provided by the magistrate. Fatigue had thoroughly accumulated in my body from the successive marches and battles.

Thanks to that, I was able to relax for the first time in a long while, enjoying a massage from the attendants.

“An ogre is a monster where there is truly nothing to discard. Its blood and flesh are excellent tonics with many uses, and its sinews are so tough they are often used to make ropes for catching large beasts. Besides that, its claws, nails, teeth, and fat are also quite useful as alchemy or magic ingredients.”

“Oho?”

It was more substantial than I thought. As expected, there was a reason why it was so rare to catch one.

“But the real prize is the hide.”

“The hide, you say? Well, it certainly seemed decent, seeing as how my sword didn’t cut it well.”

Even as I said it, I was indifferent.

During our life-and-death struggle last time, I had managed to cut the ogre’s hide with my sword. In fact, wasn’t it the fat and muscle beneath the hide that broke my sword?

“That’s because you don’t know.”

But Magician Agpiel’s opinion was different.

“The ogre’s hide is as closely related to mystery as the wildness of the beast itself. After soaking it thoroughly in oil and subjecting it to a magical treatment during the tanning process, it becomes incredibly hard.”

“So there’s a big difference before and after processing?”

“Indeed. Worn under chainmail, it is truly the best leather armor. If you have it made, I will enchant it for you, so just get it ready.”

At Magician Agpiel’s explanation, I wore a satisfied expression. If an ogre possessed this much value, didn’t that mean it would also make a fine gift?

“By the way, why did you ask?”

“I was planning to share it with the influential figures of the city. I was just checking, in case its value was low and I ended up giving them trash.”

“What?!”

At that, Magician Agpiel shot up and shouted.

“Why would you give something so precious to those scoundrels?”

“Yes, because it is precious, wouldn’t it be good for currying favor? Haha.”

“Uuuuhm….”

Then, Magician Agpiel made a face as if it were a waste.

Precious things like that should be appreciated by those who know their value, and the city’s nobles were only greedy; there was no way they would recognize its true worth.

It would have felt less of a waste to give it to that half-wit magician captured as a prisoner.

“Haha, well, I’ll give the best part to you first, Agpiel. Please cheer up.”

“Ahem. I am not saying this because I want it, you know?”

“For someone who says that, you look far too pleased, don’t you? Aren’t the corners of your mouth turning up even now?”

“A-ahem.”

At my words, Magician Agpiel let out a dry cough and subtly turned his head away. I asked again with a mischievous expression.

“Then shall I just not give it to you? If you don’t need it, I’ll just give it to the city nobles.”

“The, the heart….”

“Yes?”

“Give me the ogre’s heart! There is something I wish to experiment on.”

* * *

The battle was over, and the situation was settled, but the city was bustling.

Especially the Tulung City magistrate; he was running around, struggling to drum up support for the war.

He was publicizing the Emperor’s treachery, expelling pro-Emperor figures, and confiscating their property to diligently expand his power.

Thanks to this, the city’s people began to view the magistrate negatively, seeing him as a dictator mad with power.

Tulung City, which had been a peaceful rear area, was gradually beginning to fall into a complex mire.

Of course, separate from that situation.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, you faithful Excellency. For you to visit in person like this, thank you so much.”

“Hoho, what do you mean, thank you? This city belongs to you all, does it not? As a guest, it is only natural that I should visit.”

I was busy meeting the city’s nobles and fostering amicable relations.

Tulung City was a major trading hub connecting the Elang Kingdom and the Kingdom of Aragon, as well as the numerous city-states of the Apennine Peninsula by sea.

As I was trying to create a great relay market in my domain connecting the north and south of the continent, Tulung City was a city whose cooperation was absolutely necessary.

“Uhut hut. Your Excellency. This is a 30-year-old distilled spirit from the East. I’ve been saving it to treat a distinguished guest like yourself.”

“Ooh. Is that so? May I really drink something so precious now?”

“How could this mere liquor be more precious than this meeting?”

“You are truly a noble who knows honor!”

The city’s nobles were nobles in name only; in reality, they were people who were not treated with respect outside.

Within the city, they could put on airs and be treated as powerful figures, but their origins were as heads of trade guilds, union leaders, blacksmiths, money changers, and so on; there were few families who could be called true nobility.

Therefore, a traditional noble.

And on top of that, me, a great lord, visiting them and even giving them the ogre’s corpse as a gift, my popularity exploded.

“Your Excellency, would you not honor our family’s event with your presence?”

“The merchant guild would like to invite Your Excellency.”

“Ahem! If you’ve come to Tulung City, you must see the workshops of the artisans’ union. We have prepared a banquet and beautiful arms for Your Excellency.”

Each family and faction in the city was desperate to build a relationship with me.

Without the magistrate even knowing, I was steadily winning over the city’s influential figures.

He would surely be startled and regretful when he found out later.

* * *

‘Hmm, I think it’s about ready….’

The atmosphere was slowly ripening.

I had previously said I would receive compensation when I helped the magistrate subjugate the band of thieves.

But people are different when they enter the restroom and when they leave.

At that time, he had acted as if he would give me his liver and gallbladder, but now the magistrate’s attitude was far from it.

Having secured power internally, he was feigning ignorance and subtly backing out.

‘That’s why I’ve been buttering up the city’s influential figures.’

If the city council members and influential figures applied pressure, he would surely be unable to refuse my proposal.

Even more so considering my army that had entered the city.

Just as I was thinking that.

“Your Excellency. A visitor has arrived. Shall I let them in?”

An attendant asked cautiously from outside.

“Hm? Who has come?”

“She says her name is Azella.”

“Azella? Ah, that half-wit magician. Why is she here to see me?”

After being joyfully pelted with filth and mud at the triumphal ceremony, I had set the captured Emperor’s knight and the magician Azella free, though they were still prisoners.

This place was beyond the Emperor’s reach anyway.

They couldn’t run even if they wanted to, and they had to just stay quietly in their rooms and wait for the day the Emperor’s envoy brought their ransom.

So why would she come to see me again?

It was rather puzzling.

The attendant, sensing my mood, asked again.

“Shall I send her away?”

“No. Let her in. She must have something to say.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

A moment later.

“I greet Your Excellency.”

A very haggard-looking Azella entered the room.

‘Are people not feeding her?’

Her cheeks were more hollow than last time; she seemed to be going through a lot.

I hid my curiosity and asked with a smile.

“Oh, yes. You seem to be in poor health. Are the effects of the mud-pelting from last time still lingering?”

“No, Your Excellency.”

‘You evil bastard.’

Azella cursed inwardly. Did he really have to bring that up now? Thinking about the hardship she had endured… it was a memory that made her tremble with rage.

“Hm? Your gaze seems a bit insolent. Was it perhaps not enough?”

“Hic! Absolutely not, Your Excellency. Not enough? It was enough. Far too much!”

What a devil!

Azella was startled and waved her hands in denial. She had no desire to experience that again.

She could somehow endure the mud, but that rotten tomato! She really couldn’t stand that.

The thought of that sickening texture and smell was truly….

“Yes, it seems it was enough.”

I chuckled at her desperate appearance. She was a magician who was quite fun to tease.

“By the way, why did you come to see me?”

At that, Azella scrunched up her face and bowed her head to me.

“Your Excellency. Please, allow me to treat the injured in your mansion.”

“Hmm?”

Hearing that, I tilted my head, even more perplexed.

In the first place, I had set Azella free in the city as a gesture of consideration. What would the Emperor think if she treated the elf knights as promised last time?

And now she wanted to treat them again.

“Can you handle the aftermath? The Emperor will not like it.”

“Uh….”

It seemed she hadn’t thought about that. Seeing things like this really made me doubt whether this half-wit magician was a real magician at all.

Be that as it may.

“It-it doesn’t matter. Please, let me treat them! Your Excellency.”

Azella was very desperate.

Lately, Azella had been nothing but anxious. The gazes of the attendants who looked at her and the influential people she met occasionally were unusual.

A gaze as if looking at a very ominous being. The problem was that she had been branded an evil magician who commanded monsters during the last triumphal ceremony.

It felt like someone would send an assassin to kill her in secret at any moment. In such a situation, it was impossible for food to go down her throat.

Moreover, the knights who were captured with her were also neglecting her, leaving her in a truly terrible situation.

‘Fuck! You evil bastards.’

Thanks to that, earning the Emperor’s wrath by treating the elf knights was a problem for later. The important thing was to live right now.

Azella’s intention was to get on my good side, prove her usefulness, and receive protection.

“Hmmm. Well, if you insist, I won’t stop you.”

“Thank you! Your Excellency.”

“However….”

“However?”

At my words, tension appeared on Azella’s face.

Nobles often thought of magicians as all-purpose pouches. So she seemed to be worried about what kind of unreasonable request I would make.

Of course, I had no such thoughts at all.

‘I had no expectations in the first place.’

On the contrary, I was worried.

“Can you… provide proper treatment? Really?”

“…I am a magician who has awakened the mysteries of healing and herbs, Your Excellency.”

“Ah, well…. That’s true, but…. Alright, I understand. I’ll trust you this once. But just in case, be sure to report the progress directly to me.”

“……”

Azella thought that ever since she got involved with me, she had only experienced humiliating things.

* * *

“Why did she say she came? She left with a very peculiar expression.”

“Ah, Agpiel. She said she wanted to treat the injured.”

“What? Treat them?”

At that, Magician Agpiel asked in surprise.

“Yes. She said she would treat all the injured with the mysteries of healing and herbs she possesses.”

“Hah….”

“It’s certainly strange, isn’t it? To try and help me even at the cost of incurring the Emperor’s wrath. Should I just tell her not to? Magician Agpiel.”

Then, Magician Agpiel frowned and answered.

“No. The reason I was surprised was because that magician was confident in her healing.”

“Hmm, that’s certainly true, isn’t it?”

“Of course. She’s not going to make the illness worse, is she? You should check on her carefully.”

“I’ve already told her to report to me every step of the way. Haha.”

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