Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 290: Chapter 93 Perast Is a Thing of the Past

Charles thought for a long time before he finally understood Hill’s meaning, ”You mages are the most annoying, making me guess every word you say. Did you bring any knights this time? It wouldn’t be a problem if I fought them, right?”

”The Undead Tribe isn’t very good at controlling the power of their skills, and they always pursue the greatest lethality,” Hill said weakly. ”In a one-on-one fight, they’re definitely no match for you, but if you fight more than one, do you think life is too long?”

Charles shrank his body a bit, ”Tch, why do you sound so much like Claude.”

The magister who followed Charles? It was said they had grown up together since childhood and Charles had fed him well, so he always stayed with him. Otherwise, it was hard to imagine any mage willing to assist this giant baby.

”I must ask, Duke, to facilitate the activities of the Undead Tribe within your territory,” Hill stated, feeling that it would be better coming from Charles.

”No problem,” Charles said languidly. ”I too hope they can find something. I would be sad if something happened to the Kral Clan.”

Hill suspected that Charles came just to ask if he could fight a battle with the Undead Tribe Hill had brought, because after Hill had vehemently stopped him, he soon lost interest and left.

But a big part of it was for the Kral Clan, right?

When the Undead Tribe examined things, they actually used the Appraisal Magic given by the Deities, a fact now almost universally known in Saral.

They could easily distinguish the false from the real.

”Duke Charles still places great importance on the Kral Clan,” Hill said, looking at Manton.

”The Kral Clan, where my uncle is,” Manton said softly, ”so he treats me really well, much better than those from other branches of the Kral family. That’s why at first, I thought that woman was pushed forward by those of the Kral Clan to trap me.”

Only then did Hill understand why Manton hadn’t taken action against that woman.

He had felt that Manton was not a person of such kindness and gentleness.

”I’m worried about people watching me,” Manton confessed. ”I don’t dare to act rashly, especially since the Earl was always there. If I really took action, I would only be accused of patricide.”

Hill nodded. It seemed Manton had made quite a few enemies within the Kral Clan.

”It’s meaningless to talk about this now,” Hill stood up, ”I’ll be going back first. Remember to be polite to the Undead Tribe.”

”You can rest assured about that,” Manton smiled bitterly. ”I’ve seen how difficult they are to deal with when they helped construct the territory a while ago. I got assigned to defend the castle because during those days, all the self-righteous idiots were wiped out. What is a Grand Knight in the eyes of the Undead Tribe, huh? They’ll kill anyone who bares their teeth at them.”

”The Undead Tribe wouldn’t easily kill someone who hasn’t provoked them, right?” Hill found it strange.

”During that time, it was chaos. Spies were even trying to provoke Duke Charles, so there were a lot of troublemakers,” Manton shrugged. ”Duke Charles became unhappy and said that he wanted the Undead Tribe to set up that Divine Array for monitoring factions. Soon everyone behaved. Nobody wanted to provoke him.”

Hill looked at Manton’s eerie expression and felt that they were all not very sure their own faction could remain neutral.

Probably the neutrally evil here were seen as good people.

As Manton saw him to the door, Hill turned back and said, ”Your castle has too few Defensive Magic Arrays. Take advantage of the many Undead Mages arriving and hire more of them to carve some. They engrave Arrays easier than us mages, since they have Innate Elemental Bodies.”

Hill swallowed back his words; the Undead didn’t have to worry about misremembering, their power was stable, and their hands didn’t tremble.

Manton nodded, ”I plan to clear out the property left by the Earl and use it up.”

He suddenly sighed, ”The Earl knew that his marriage to Lady Melanie didn’t have the blessings from Master Fran, so he didn’t care about her dowry. He also didn’t know who talked him into that foolish idea, thinking a Junior Mage into alchemy would just burn through money, leaving little for you. After learning how wealthy an Alchemist could be, he regretted it. Did you also sell the Alchemy Jewelry made by Lady Melanie to the Undead?”

Hill nodded, ”Who would tell him about the affairs of the Undead Tribe?”

”People from the Kral Clan. When the Undead Tribe came to help, they were the ones receiving them. After knowing this, they purposely told him that not taking care of Lady Melanie then resulted in him losing enough wealth to buy a Marquis title.”

Manton looked at Hill, ”He wants to have another child. Then, he hopes to get some good stuff from you, especially since he did not seize Lady Melanie’s belongings, he feels you still owe him. So, I’m not surprised he would approach a woman from the Kral Clan. Others, he knows that I am capable of ensuring he wouldn’t even be able to have another offspring!”

Hill said somewhat perplexedly, ”Has he forgotten who my mother’s father is? Did he voluntarily give up back then? He felt it was unnecessary to truly anger an Archmage and be relentlessly pursued. Does he really think I would believe his nonsense?”

”Do you remember that Duke Charles has a half-sister? After she left Saral, she went to Noah. Later, when something happened in Noah, she ran off again. And then where she went next, I don’t know, but recently someone came to the Duke with a letter from her. Then the Kral Clan started saying how rich you are, wealthy enough to rival countries.”

Hill looked coldly at the sky, ”No matter. The wealthy one is my maternal grandfather. Of course, compared to the average noble, I indeed have a lot of money. They aren’t after the money, but rather because I’ve made some nice things for the King, and I provided the manufacturing techniques. I suppose some people want them. The Earl, having taken my potions and bearing Nature’s Blessing, would have his soul guarded even in death.”

Hill felt that if they were coming after him, they probably didn’t intend to kill the Earl. The Countess might have known something, so she tampered in the middle, directly causing the Earl’s death.

Manton nodded. What he feared was exactly that, as demons are adept at manipulating souls, and they knew it. Of course, it would require the soul of an evil being who willingly falls into the Abyss.

As for an individual like the Earl, wasn’t he inherently a seed of the Abyss?

He surely wouldn’t sacrifice his life for his descendants.

Manton absolutely did not want a day to come when a demon would emerge and call him father.

He looked at Hill, guessing that he also bore such a blessing. As a Child of Nature, Hill should have no problem protecting a bit of his soul from demons.

He was very aware of himself; the Abyss did indeed harbor many demons mightier than Hill, but none would favor such worthless fellows. Those with the capability had long sought out William.

”That princess?”

”She did not participate in those treasonous acts, so His Majesty the King will not bother with her. Anyway, anyone who clearly does nothing, yet dares not stay in Obastian, can forget about returning to Saral in this lifetime,” Hill said to Manton, ”Whatever they do, just stay out of it. Those are just His Majesty the King’s ways to make money, only fools would reach out.”

After bidding Manton farewell, Hill sat on the ship flying back.

He had thought he’d need to stay for a couple of days. Who would have thought the Earl would die like this, and Manton wasn’t willing to wait even a minute longer than necessary, so he hurriedly buried him.

Hill sat quietly by the window, lost in thought.

Had he not recognized the Countess, his attention would definitely have been on that princess.

But that princess, surely harbored no good intentions towards Hill.

Manton must have heard something from the Earl, that’s why he said that.

Realizing that Hill had completely lost interest in keeping in touch with him, he hurriedly spoke those words.

Otherwise, once Hill completely ignored him, all his plans would become useless.

Hill also indirectly told him that he had already helped them save their souls from falling into the Abyss, and he would not interfere in other matters.

But what exactly did Manton want to say?

Informing the Earl that the ones who said Melanie had no money were the real culprits behind the Earl’s final loss of patience with Melanie?

Indirectly crying poor, trying to explain that even if he obtained all of the Earl’s properties, he couldn’t keep them?

Assuming that since Hill was so wealthy, he shouldn’t bother pursuing those matters?

Hill sneered slightly. Since relying on the Kral family to defeat Melanie, they should not think about using Melanie’s son against the Kral family anymore.

Hill had no interest in playing any games of solidarity with him.

Hill had to admit, his silence and not mentioning the Countess’s affairs to anyone was because the timing of the Earl’s death was indeed very advantageous for him.

Before his ascension to a Legendary status, the last bit of potential trouble had been eliminated.

No matter how indifferent he was to Earl, he could not just watch the Earl die because of him.

Though he would not compromise with enemies for the Earl, Hill would still try his best to save this man’s life.

Deep down Hill understood the Earl was no good, but materially he had never mistreated Hill.

It was just indifference; he didn’t want to see him and had never thought about giving him much wealth.

But the basics for a noble’s child, those he still provided to Hill.

No one would consider, what a child growing up in an environment where they are ignored and ostracized by their biological father would turn into.

This world doesn’t consider psychological damage; being not strong enough, sensitive, and easily hurt are just synonyms for weakness.

Hill now being a victor, no one would think those childhood experiences were torment; at most, they’d say it was his unfortunate youth that forged his strength.

In a Fantasy World where the World Will was very active, Hill did not want to easily change his faction, so there were many things he also couldn’t do.

He had always maintained contact with Manton’s side, also because he had to keep an eye on the Earl to prevent him from causing any major troubles.

Luckily, Manton was a penny-pincher.

Hill could feel the underlying meaning in Manton’s last words.

It’s not that I didn’t want to inform you about the Earl’s matter, it’s just that if you had come, the Earl might have thought about taking his money to you.

You’re so wealthy now, so don’t bother with me, besides, I still helped you dodge a trouble.

Hill looked up at the stars in the sky, smiling sincerely.

Of course, he wouldn’t hold a grudge against Manton; he was more inclined to thank him.

For Hill, Perast was finally just a term from the past.