The number of people in the expedition heading to the Palleton territory was considerably less compared to the beginning of the expedition. Although the number of troops remained the same, the delegations from the Viseche Dukedom and the Hisain Countdom were no longer with the expedition. Moreover, the delegations of several other nations had also departed to their respective countries due to various circumstances. As such, the general atmosphere within the expedition was rather subdued and quiet compared to before. Naturally, the absence of Eugene was the biggest reason for the solemn ambiance, but his substitute greatly contributed to it as well.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” Georg said.

“I’m following the master’s orders, but I honestly don’t like you,” Galfredik responded with a grin. However, his smile did not spread to his eyes.

“Being too honest can’t be considered a virtue. There are too many who chattered their way into damnation because they couldn’t help but speak what was on their mind,” Georg said.

“Is that right? I’ve been fine until now,” Galfredik retorted.

“Don’t you know that having experience doesn’t guarantee your future?” Georg asked.

“I don’t. Why? Are you planning to teach me?” Galfredik said sarcastically.

“If you want, I can educate you right now,” Georg rebutted. A prestigious devil of the Demon World and the Origin’s vassal revealed their fangs while facing each other. No one dared to intervene due to the contentious atmosphere—all except one.

“Stop. Do you intend to disobey His Majesty’s orders?” Princess Lilisain said, and the two figures paused. Even though Princess Lilisain was weaker than either of them, her position in the expedition was rather special. Although Galfredik had been entrusted with the command of the troops in Eugene’s absence, Princess Lilisain had been granted the overall authority of the expedition.

“Our mission is to take care of the monster uprising. Anything that goes against His Majesty’s orders is prohibited. An act that defiles His Majesty’s honor is unacceptable. I will not stand for it,” Princess Lilisain stated curtly. Her attitude was extremely formal, even icy. The devil and the vassal were forced to shut their mouths, although they weren’t afraid of her.

“I will make sure to keep my promise with the Demon King of Blood, so let’s not push it,” Georg said.

“Well, I’m going to follow my master’s orders,” Galfredik said.

Prince Localope and the few remaining foreign nobles finally breathed a sigh of relief when the two overwhelming figures backed down. The status and prestige of the prince and the nobles meant nothing in front of the two figures’ astounding power. Even though they could talk and communicate with Galfredik after knowing him for a while, they found that the unidentified man named Georg was truly unpredictable.

It could be called instinctive fear. Everyone except Galfredik and Princess Lilisain had a hard time even meeting Georg’s eyes. Even the vampire high lords openly avoided the mysterious figure.

“Wizard. Do you think he will stay faithful to His Majesty’s instructions?” Prince Localope asked with a sigh, and Romari nodded in response. She was the only one in the expedition who was uninterested in the conduct of the two men.

“Yes. That man is only afraid of Sir Eugene. Besides, his goal aligns with ours, so he won’t do anything suspicious,” Romari responded.

“Hmm. I’m relieved to hear you say that, wizard. By the way…” Prince Localope paused. He then continued after lowering his voice, “It seems to me that you have an idea of his identity. Can you tell me?”

“I cannot,” Romari answered bluntly.

Prince Localope was taken aback by Romari’s firm answer.

“And why is that?” he asked.

“That man’s identity. To be precise, his true name is a powerful mystery in itself. If anyone but Sir Eugene speaks of his identity, the act in itself could bring misfortune,” Romari responded.

“Huh? What does that mean?” Prince Localope asked.

“It’s a little hard to explain. Anyway, a wizard like me or someone with special blood like Your Highness has all the more reason to stay away from him. It could have a bigger ripple effect. So, it would be better not to speak of him or even think about it for that matter,” Romari answered. Even if Romari was Eugene’s wizard, it was a rather rude thing to say to a prince. However, Prince Localope accepted her advice with a stiff expression. A wizard’s advice was something to keep in mind. It was even truer since Romari had spent a long time with someone as special as Eugene.

“Hmm…” Prince Localope had many questions, but he had to keep his mouth shut.

‘After entrusting myself to the King of Maren, I’m experiencing stronger and more dangerous mysteries day by day.’

Prince Localope felt rather shaken, but he inwardly shook his head. However, his distress was nothing compared to what Georg was feeling.

‘I get it for his vassal, but has the elf also been influenced by him? How could she not be afraid of me…?’

It wasn’t just that either. Georg found his gaze naturally drifting to a certain place. He saw the overwhelmingly large, hideous monster wearing ridiculous, completely inappropriate clothes—the twin-headed ogre.

‘It’s only natural that it takes orders from the Demon King of Blood since it’s undead. But how can it keep following orders even though he’s not here? How strong is the power contained in his commands that such a thing has been made possible?’

As a devil, Georg knew exactly why the undead twin-headed ogre obeyed and followed Eugene. There were quite a few high-ranking devils in the Demon World who could use the Power of Word to control demonic creatures. However, those figures used evil energy as the source of their power. In the absence of evil energy, one could only rely on the Power of Word and their authorities, so exerting control over a creature like a twin-headed ogre in a place like this was impossible even for Georg. However, the Demon King of Blood had achieved the impossible.

‘He’s capable of doing something like this here. If he returns to our world, there will be a complete, absolute disaster. If nothing else, all the undead might immediately start taking orders from the Demon King of Blood…’

Georg felt awe and fear after once again confirming that Eugene was truly the ‘Overlord of Undead’.

‘But once he discovers the truth, he will be as baffled as I am now. I could never win against him, but I can have some fun, at the least. Hoho.’

Georg thought that he was one, or even two or three steps ahead of Eugene, and he derived simple joy from that fact. Eugene—the Demon King of Blood—still didn’t know the truth that could be said to be the source of his existence in this world. It wasn’t just him either. No one in this world seemed to be privy to the ‘truth’. Only he knew the truth that was capable of shaking the entire world, and Georg was pleased about it.

‘Well, I can just tell him when I leave after keeping my promise. That will benefit both the Demon World and me.’

Until that time came, Georg planned to faithfully and fully cooperate with Eugene. Those responsible for his trip were a headache for the Demon World as well.

‘I will rip you to shreds.’

The eyes of the devil burned with malice.

***

Petrucca, a port city of the Roman Empire, was once the capital of an ancient dynasty. In consideration of the fact that Petrucca was once the capital of a kingdom the Roman Empire had destroyed, the previous emperors did not take the city as a direct territory of the empire but rather appointed a governor among the nobles with lineages in the city. As such, Petrucca boasted a rather free and lively atmosphere with various races populating the city. It was different from the rather rigid atmosphere of the Roman Empire.

However, the soldiers and knights of the empire could be seen throughout the port and the city, and their presence clearly demonstrated that this was a territory of the Roman Empire.

“Identification token,” Guards wearing surcoats with the crest of the Roman Empire atop their chainmail greeted the visitors entering the port in small boats. A huge number of people entered and left the city every day, and the disinterested, formal attitude of the guards evidenced the dullness of their daily work. The guards barely glanced over many of the identification tokens that were shown, but they made sure to carefully examine tokens belonging to those equipped with armor and weapons or those from other races possessing peculiar appearances.

“Your identification token,” a guard asked with a rather exhausted look. Eugene and Edmund handed over tokens bearing the crest of Maren. The governor had ordered an extra token to prepare for situations like these, so the two men were allowed entry without any problems.

“Welcome to Petrucca, sirs,” the guard said before returning the two tokens. From the rather formal but bothered show of courtesy, it appeared that the guard considered the two to be ordinary nobles of Maren.

“Thanks,” Eugene responded. Soon, Silion and Edmund’s horse, as well as baggage containing their equipment was brought over by another boat. The two hired a porter before heading to a place where carriages could be seen lining up.

“So, where do we go now, Your Majesty? I apologize, but I do not know my way around Petrucca…” Edmund said apologetically while placing his identification token back into his pocket. He was born in the Roman Empire, but he had never been to Petrucca.

“I heard they would know where to take us if we ask for the Black Dragon Manor,” Eugene responded.

“Manor? How much money does Your Majesty’s administrator have…” Edmund commented with an astonished expression. He knew well how expensive things were in a city as large as this.

Eugene responded, “I gave it to him. Well, to be exact, I got the money from the vampires of Brantia.”

“Ah…”

It seemed Eugene was referring to Lord Markus and the other vampires of Brantia. They had been robbed clean by Eugene after they had pledged their loyalty.

“Anyway, with all due respect, I wonder if it was really necessary to prepare a manor. It's not like we are going to stay here for a long time,” Edmund said. He knew that Delmondo had crossed over to the Roman Empire under Eugene’s secret order, but he didn’t know exactly why Delmondo had gone over here. That was why he was wondering if purchasing a manor had truly been necessary.

Eugene resolved his curiosity.

“I needed to make sure Delmondo became famous here. Everyone wants to be friendly with someone rich, right?”

“Ah, that’s true. So, the administrator was sent here to acquire information…?” Edmund asked.

“That’s one thing, but it was also to entice. And if he succeeded, we might stay here longer than expected,” Eugene said.

“Hmm. I’m afraid I am not competent enough to fully understand your words, Your Majesty.” Edmund responded. Although he was a knight born in the empire, he was slightly clueless when it came to the workings of the world.

Eugene explained calmly, “It is the high-ranking vampires of the Roman Empire that we are trying to entice and lure. Wouldn’t a foreign, intermediate-ranking vampire who spends money like water look very appetizing to them?”

“…!”

“They covet power, honor, and money more than anyone else. Moreover, they are ruthless to the weak. Of course, they wouldn’t attack Delmondo openly since he’s posing as a Brantian noble, but they should have ordered lord-class vampires to build up a friendship with Delmondo to try and expose his weakness,” Eugene continued.

“T-then couldn’t something have happened already?” Edmund asked.

“That’s unlikely,” Eugene answered.

“What? Why is that?” Edmund asked.

“I told him to scour the atmosphere of this place and to reveal my name once I became famous. I told him to reveal his relationship with me, and I told him to tell stories of what I had done to the Brantian vampires,” Eugene answered.

“Ah…!”

Eugene was currently the most famous knight and monarch in the world. Moreover, it was also known that he was one of the highest-ranking vampires. Once it became publicized that Delmondo was serving Eugene as his administrator, even the high-ranking vampires could not have acted carelessly toward him. The moment they stepped out of line, they would be making an enemy out of an existence known as an unparalleled knight, someone who could possibly be standing on equal footing with a clan master.

“Then, the administrator must have become an influential, important figure among the vampires in Petrucca?” Edmund asked.

“Most likely. And the disappearance of some of the empire’s vampire high lords should have been reported by now,” Eugene responded.

Moreover, the rumor would have it that their disappearance had something to do with him. The issue couldn’t be publicized since Prince Voltaire was responsible for causing the issue, but higher-ranking vampires would have come to Delmondo to find out the truth.

“Then that means… Are you saying that a big fish might bite?” Edmund asked excitedly after finally understanding Eugene’s plan.

Eugene responded, “That’s right. It’s time for the clan masters to step forward.”

“I finally understand why you sent your administrator here a long time ago and had him prepare a manor. That much preparation is certainly needed to lure the vampire clan masters,” Edmund commented.

“Not exactly. I didn’t send Delmondo here because I only wanted them…” Eugene answered.

“What? Then…”

Edmund was puzzled. Eugene resolved his curiosity with a smirk, “Clan masters will step forward when we catch the high lords. So, who do you think will step up when we catch the clan masters?”

“…!!!”

“Now, do you understand why I said we might be here longer than planned? This is a very large fishing ground, Sir Edmund. Well, of course, it’s only a fishing ground for me. My opponents might feel like they’re in an endless cave,” Eugene said with a smile. For some reason, Edmund felt evil oozing out of Eugene’s smile.