[Lord of Abundance] Chapter 57: Returning to the Spiritfolk World
Chapter 57: Returning to the Spiritfolk World
“But we still have to thank Lord Kun. Before he came here, just staying alive was difficult. Now, as long as we work, we can support ourselves and our families. And if we work a little harder, we can live even better. Life now already feels like paradise.”
“These foods that only nobles used to eat... It's not that we can't afford them anymore. Lord Kun said that if we work hard, we should also enjoy the good things life has to offer. That's why he had the kitchen start making these rare treats. It's just... everyone still finds it hard to spend the money. We've lived in poverty for so long, and we've known hunger too well. Maybe someday I'll buy one... during a festival, so my family can share it together.”
His coworker's heartfelt words only made Betty fall even deeper into silence.
No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she had to admit the truth.
The cruel, cunning, greedy, shameless Lord Yalan she saw...
And the perfect lord revered by his people...
Were two completely different people.
Forget it.
She wouldn't be staying here much longer anyway.
As long as that man had the sense to hand over the Ancient Dragon Egg and let her leave...
She...
She supposed she could refrain from taking revenge on Fengrao Territory in the future.
Hmph.
Only because of this kind-hearted coworker.
Dong... Dong... Dong...
A clear, melodious bell rang through the cafeteria.
Her coworker hurriedly stuffed the rest of his meal into his mouth, swallowing it in a few quick bites before saying through a full mouth,
“Take your time eating. Evening classes at the academy are about to start.”
“Today's lecture is Lord Anton's account of the Dwarven Highlands.”
“If we're late, we'll have to stand in the back to listen.”
Betty felt as though she'd been struck by lightning.
An academy?
Classes?
Hearing those utterly incompatible words come from the mouths of these plainly dressed, rustic farmers felt almost absurd.
Every noble on the continent—and even the churches of the Six Gods—accepted one unquestionable truth:
Learning and knowledge were privileges bestowed by the gods upon the higher classes.
Royalty.
Nobles.
The wealthy.
Priests.
The elite of every profession.
But never...
Slaves.
Or farmers.
If everything she'd seen before could still be explained as that crafty fellow trying to make these simple-minded people devote themselves wholeheartedly to building his territory...
Then he had already succeeded beyond imagination.
Betty had no doubt that if Lord Kun declared tomorrow that he intended to rebel against the kingdom and crown himself king...
Not a single person in Fengrao Territory would oppose him.
Yet despite desperately lacking funds during the territory's earliest stages of development...
He had chosen to build an academy first.
And he allowed farmers and slaves to enter such a sacred place.
What... exactly is he trying to accomplish?
For the first time...
Betty felt genuine fear.
Assigned to a dormitory shared with the female workers, Betty found herself sleeping on a soft bed again for the first time in over half a month.
Yet she couldn't sleep.
She tossed and turned the entire night.
In the end, driven by curiosity, she followed her coworker, Ciro, to Emerald Heart Grand Academy.
There were too many people.
The lessons themselves were rather dull.
The teacher wasn't particularly skilled.
The students were illiterate, many unable even to write their own names properly.
But there was one thing Betty could never forget.
The eyes.
Every pair of eyes burned with an overwhelming thirst for knowledge.
It was as though flames blazed within them...
Waiting for the day they would burn through the ancient sky, unchanged since time immemorial.
Betty was now almost certain.
That man—the quietest and most peculiar member of the illustrious Yalan family—
Was doing something every noble in the world should fear.
“But... even if I know that... what can I do?”
“Aaaaah!”
She buried her head beneath her pillow, pretending to be dead.
She was trapped.
Powerless.
No matter how many clever plans she could devise...
None of them could be put into action.
She had disliked him from the very first moment she'd met him as a child.
She had even persuaded her father to abandon the idea of arranging a marriage between them.
Because after only one glance...
She knew.
Unlike his brothers...
This one was far too intelligent.
And intelligent people hated dealing with other intelligent people.
Especially those who might be even smarter than themselves.
The Golden Family needed a marriage partner they could control.
In Count Breton's eyes, Kun—with both royal and marquis blood, quiet, timid, and seemingly weak—had been the perfect choice.
Reality had proven Betty right.
Weak?
Incompetent?
Kind to the point of naivety?
Those were lies.
The kind of lies only fools would believe.
Yet somehow...
The entire royal capital—
No.
The entire Dansu Kingdom—
Had believed them.
“That terrifying man... he wants... he wants...”
Betty clamped her mouth shut.
She didn't dare say the words aloud.
She feared she might never leave Fengrao Territory alive if she did.
She was convinced that the shameless scoundrel had hidden eavesdropping magic inside her room...
Or perhaps even on her person.
He was simply waiting for her to reveal something before using it against her.
In reality, Betty was overthinking things.
Kun certainly appreciated a goose capable of laying golden eggs.
But only to that extent.
He had never believed a prisoner could stir up any real trouble under his watch.
Compared to Betty herself...
He cared far more about when those one thousand gold coins of "daily expenses" would finally arrive.
Besides...
Kun was busy.
Extremely busy.
Too many matters demanded his attention.
Whether it was Betty—the count's daughter who had nearly become his fiancée—
Or the famous Golden Family...
Neither ranked as highly in his priorities as Old Jili's trade caravan.
And at that very moment...
Something far more important occupied all of his attention.
As for Betty?
Apart from briefly noticing the mud-covered "little monkey" digging by the pond that morning...
Kun had immediately forgotten about her.
He had already handed her over entirely to Old Tate.
Whatever she thought...
Couldn't matter less to him.
“Interesting.”
“Very interesting.”
“This little thing is almost as fast as a Third-Rank speed-type magical beast.”
“Even my instant-trigger mana trap couldn't catch it.”
Before Kun floated a magical projection replaying the events that had occurred not long before.
Within the image...
A blurry figure no larger than a hamster flashed across the screen.
At the exact same moment...
The desserts sitting on the table vanished.
The magic scrolls Vittorio had hidden beside the bait had indeed activated.
But the creature's speed was simply unbelievable.
It escaped with a pastry larger than itself just before the magical cage snapped shut.
Without the replay spell...
Anyone would have sworn it was haunted.
“But if it's stealing food...”
“Why does it always leave a leaf behind?”
Vittorio held several strange, dark-colored leaves, utterly puzzled.
“Is it trying to provoke us?”
Kun's expression turned odd.
“If I'm not mistaken...”
“That leaf is actually payment.”
“Payment?”
“Leaves from an Ancient River Tree.”
“A rare magical plant.”
“They're a key ingredient in high-grade restorative potions.”
“The handful you're holding...”
“Is probably worth around ten gold coins.”
“What?!”
Suddenly feeling that the leaves had become much heavier, Vittorio adjusted his glasses and declared with utmost seriousness,
“In that case...”
“They're not despicable thieves.”
“They're distinguished guests.”
“Polite.”
“Generous.”
“And remarkably considerate.”
“I'll have the castle cooks prepare more delicious desserts and place them throughout the village.”
“Then we'll patiently await the arrival of our honored visitors.”
Kun: ...
Tax Officer...
Could you look down for a moment?
Your dignity just fell on the ground.
In the end, Kun didn't stop his tax officer's shameless change of attitude.
Vittorio cared about the value of those "leaf coins" and how much gold they could bring to Fengrao Territory.
Kun, however...
Was interested in the creatures themselves.
The Yimi.
Through the replay spell, he had clearly seen the tiny figures' clothing.
It looked almost identical to the equipment he had discovered in the ancient elven ruins.
“I never imagined that the mighty Ancient Elven Empire...”
“Or even the powerful Titans...”
“Would both become dust in history?”
“Yet among the Three Allied Races, the weakest—and almost completely forgotten—Yimi people have survived until today.”
He suspected these little beings still lived somewhere within the Forest of Eternal Darkness.
Perhaps they had been secretly guarding the ancient elven ruins all along.
Only after he had entered those dangerous ruins and returned alive...
Had they begun paying attention to him?
The timing.
The location.
The historical records.
Everything fit together perfectly.
And they didn't seem hostile.
They were simply...
Food lovers.
Unable to resist the temptation of sweets.
That was the only reason they had accidentally revealed themselves.
They were still wary, however.
Rather than openly appearing, they seemed to be cautiously announcing their presence.
So Kun decided to let nature take its course.
He approved Vittorio's Dessert Diplomacy Initiative.
If they continued interacting peacefully...
He was confident that those little people would eventually step out from whatever hidden corner they occupied and meet him face to face.
After all...
He was famously the kindest, most benevolent lord in all of Fengrao Territory.
...Or so he liked to think.
“Strange...”
“Why hasn't this True Spirit Flower withered yet?”
“Did the Eye Bug simply consider me too insignificant to bother crushing?”
“Or...”
“Has it already laid a trap, waiting for me to walk right into it?”
Back inside the secret chamber beneath Blackstone Castle, Kun stared thoughtfully at the still-blooming True Spirit Flower.
After a long period of deliberation...
He decided to enter the Spiritfolk World once more.
With the True Spirit Flower serving as insurance, the worst possible outcome would be only the destruction of his flesh puppet and the loss of the portion of his consciousness that inhabits it.
As long as the flower remained...
Not even a demigod could trap him.
Sitting cross-legged at the center of the Soul Transfer Array, Kun once again descended into the Aether Sea.
This time, the process was effortless.
He smoothly entered his flesh puppet.
Then...
He was completely stunned by what he saw.
The Eye Bug—which had originally possessed a flattened body with a single enormous eye covering more than seventy percent of its form—
Had swollen to more than ten times its original size.
Grotesquely overgrown flesh had expanded to the point that the giant eye was now completely buried beneath layers of meat.
The flesh puppet no longer resembled an eye creature.
It looked more like a gigantic fleshy cocoon attached to the wall of the colossal Flesh Mountain.
An overwhelmingly violent current of power surged continuously through the enormous mass, further mutating its body.
Even more energy flowed in endlessly through the blood vessels embedded within the fleshy walls.
“That was close.”
“If I'd come any later...”
“This flesh puppet would've exploded from the excess energy.”
The grotesque overgrowth existed because the Eye Bug simply lacked the capacity to absorb and digest so much power.
Now, however...
Kun had arrived.
To him, even enough energy to burst apart a Third-Rank magical beast was manageable.
Just as before...
Part of the power would strengthen the body.
The rest...
Would be used to forge a magic core.
A Fourth-Rank magic core.
One belonging to a Super-Rank Magical Beast.
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