Kaen Stark. He was one of the leaders in the former Brave Swift Sword mercenary group, and his nickname was "White Eagle Knight".Unlike the other gra.s.sroots mercenaries that sometimes didn"t even have family names, Stark was the family name of a quite renowned local n.o.ble. However, in Kaen"s grandfather"s generation, the Starks had already become impoverished n.o.bles. Kaen"s money for studying and learning how to fight had all been borrowed from distant relatives.
His emblem of a white eagle was a n.o.ble emblem that had lost all meaning already. It was also the greatest symbol of irony for any useless son of an accomplished n.o.ble.
Kaen had grown up while listening to stories about his ancestors" heroism. Yet, all he grew up to receive was the reality that his family had fallen upon hard times. Apart from the martial arts pa.s.sed down through his family and his family armor, he basically had nothing else at all.
It was quite ordinary and common for a knight like Kaen with a family on hard times to become a mercenary. Ninety-nine percent of such people would end up dying in a random alleyway. However, Kaen was different. He was highly intelligent ever since young, and possessed grand ambitions. While other mercenaries always got drunk and only thought about what they would do today and tomorrow, Kaen was working his hardest in order to restore his family name"s honor.
Kaen experienced numerous battles without dying despite the fact that he led the charge every time. He wasn"t even forty years old yet, and already became a Legend-ranked knight despite starting out as a regular mercenary. He was quite famous around these parts.
Kaen was forthright and decisive. He was pa.s.sionate and loved to help others. He was extremely well liked within the Brave Swift Sword mercenary group, and he was also one of the group"s leaders, put in charge of negotiations with clients. In fact, Kaen was the one who personally signed the contract to join Marquis Stanley"s rebellion. It was also rumored that the current Brave Swift Sword leader was going to pa.s.s leaders.h.i.+p over to Kaen after his retirement. It could be said that Kaen was highly successful in his life, a cla.s.sical example of being an ordinary person who managed to achieve great success. There should have been nothing for Kaen to be dissatisfied about.
However, the old mercenary group leader who always treated Kaen like his son didn"t know Kaen"s real thoughts. While the leader treated the mercenaries as his family, Kaen Stark viewed the mercenary group as nothing more than a stain and restraint upon his family name"s honor. Kaen also viewed the mercenary group as nothing more than a stepping stone for his family to return to high status among the n.o.bles.
And then…
Actually, it wasn"t important to go through all the details. Basically, there was a series of schemes and betrayals. Since Kaen had the motivation and the ability to scheme such a betrayal of his own mercenary group, it was only necessary to look at the results to know what this schemer did in order to achieve his ambitions.
The Brave Swift Sword mercenary group that joined the rebellion was almost completely annihilated. Meanwhile, Kaen himself became the new knight domain lord of this kingdom. Despite helping to plan the rebellion in the first place, he was now an official n.o.ble himself. He instantly achieved his life"s goal, and was able to begin using his family"s long-pa.s.sed-down white eagle emblem and battle flag.
However, Kaen, whose life seemed to be at its greatest yet, was now filled with frustrations. This wasn"t because of the new report he"d just received of a small village in his domain being attacked, as this type of event was too common. Villagers in remote locations were all poor people that couldn"t afford to pay many taxes regardless, and he wouldn"t have cared about the losses even if all the villagers died to wild beasts. Kaen was currently frustrated because of the special envoy before him—Prince Link, the second son of the ruling Archduke of Sala Dukedom.
Prince Link"s older brother was currently warring with Marquis Stanley. It was rumored that Prince Link himself had previously studied in the Mage Country, and that he was renowned in academics and magic despite being only twenty years old. Prince Link"s arrival as a special envoy was quite unexpected, and he even brought along the Sala Dukedom"s most elite troops, the Cliff heavy infantry squadron. The moment Prince Link arrived, he demanded a map of Kaen"s domain and the most recent combat information. And, Prince Link ordered Kaen to summon all of his warriors. It was obvious that something important was going on.
One party was part of the highest-ranked ruling royalty of Sala Dukedom, together with the Dukedom"s most elite troop squadron. The other party was a newly minted knight domain lord who had less than one hundred militia troops under his command. The prince made no explanations to Kaen, and Kaen could only follow Prince Link"s orders.
"Could it be that he came here because of that treasure map…?"
Kaen was feeling quite anxious inside right now. He had chosen this remote location as his domain primarily because of an ancient treasure map pa.s.sed down in his family. The treasure map indicated that the treasure was located in the nearby mountains, and the only path through those mountains just happened to be located in this domain.
Why didn"t Kaen immediately go to obtain the treasure after becoming the domain lord here? It was also known to him that there were powerful guards in the ruins that the treasure was located in, an issue that he wouldn"t be able to deal with instantly. Originally, Kaen had intended on developing his own domain and expanding his personal forces before considering how to adventure into the ruins for that treasure.
"Impossible, impossible, I"ve always hidden that treasure map so well!"
He always carried that treasure map on himself since the map involved the "endless amount of treasures" and "sleeping great power". This was what Kaen was relying on more than anything to restore his family"s glory.
Kaen kept rea.s.suring himself like that, but when he was summoned to Prince Link"s temporary command center, he was almost unable to conceal his panic. Posted right on the wall was a magnified version of his family"s ancestral treasure map. Even all the markings were exactly the same as the map he had already memorized.
"Prince Link"s destination is my family"s inheritance? How could this possibly be! Who leaked my family"s secret!"
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"…I noticed that Kaen was always up to something mysterious in his tent. Our Boss was worried that there would be a problem with him, so Boss ordered me to investigate. Then, I discovered his treasure map."
"Treasure map? No, this is only an ordinary cartographic map. The markings and words on here only explain this factory"s uses. "Endless amount of treasure" and "sleeping great power"? Only true academics will possibly understand words from the scholars" generation of Haletdam. Such a hazy description is obviously a prediction from a prophecy magic. Those ruins are actually a research facility from the scholars" generation. The secrets of knowledge and technology are already endless amounts of treasure and power, so a prophecy magic making such a prediction is perfectly understandable."
The sheepskin scroll I obtained from s.h.i.+nk was rather tattered. Still, the charcoal lines on it were rather clear to read. This was a hand-copied map that s.h.i.+nk had drawn himself. Considering the fact that many rangers were also experts in cartography, I found s.h.i.+nk"s story rather believable.
"…How many people know about this map? Did the Death Council obtain the map from you?"
I had now confirmed that this bandit group had indeed been doing business with the Death Council. In that case, perhaps the Death Council had been looking for the ruins because of obtaining the information from s.h.i.+nk. That meant that s.h.i.+nk"s information was quite valuable indeed.
Although s.h.i.+nk was the only survivor of h.e.l.l"s Door, he was still incredibly weak right now. In my eyes, his fragile soulfire appeared just like a candle being blown by a mighty wind as if it would flicker out at any moment.
Still, such an unconscious s.h.i.+nk wouldn"t possibly stop me from learning information from him. A simple unconscious suggestion magic spell caused him to directly tell me everything he knew. Still, I was worried that this unconscious ranger in bad shape would suddenly die, so I gave him some Holy Light, which improved his complexion slightly. However, his soulfire still appeared as if it would go out at any moment.
Holy Light was unable to heal the soul, after all. But, at least the improved vigor helped to give him enough energy to tell me what he knew.
"After that b.a.s.t.a.r.d betrayed us, I directly sold this map to more than ten merchant guilds and mercenary groups! I want everyone to know Kaen Stark"s greatest secret so that his treasure is stolen by others. I want him to experience what it feels like to have what he loves most being stolen away!"
Although s.h.i.+nk"s mind was currently being unconsciously influenced by me, it was still quite evident that he possessed a powerful hate for the person by the name of Kaen. When he uttered Kaen"s name, s.h.i.+nk"s listless eyes suddenly regained life again. I had to improve the power of my unconscious suggestion spell; otherwise, s.h.i.+nk would have broken free.
"So if you sold it to so many others, wouldn"t this map become an open secret known by everyone?"
At first, I laughed out loud in surprise, but then I was rather peeved. From s.h.i.+nk"s standpoint, this was indeed the best possible method of revenge. Such an obvious source of treasure would of course attract greedy villains of all sorts. As long as this information was exposed to everyone, it was only natural that Kaen Stark"s chances of obtaining the treasure would become infinitesimally small.
But from my standpoint, it would have been fine if there was only one or two other treasure-seeking adventurer teams as a random treasure map with no stories behind it backing it up would be seen by most veteran adventurers as unworthy of their attention for being a likely waste of time. But with the information so widely spread, there would always be some out there that would recognize this map for what it really was. It would really become a huge problem for me if this Haletdam generation ruin attracted the attention of some major faction.
"The internal civil war of Sala Dukedom started this year. So, this information has been exposed for six months at most. That"s still not enough time for foreign factions to come over here. However, time is of the essence. I need to get there faster."
After taking care of the official business, now was the time to satisfy my personal curiosity. I was really curious why this s.h.i.+nk fellow had been able to survive my h.e.l.l"s Door.
From the information that I already knew, it was no coincidence that s.h.i.+nk had been able to survive the instant death spell h.e.l.l"s Door. All instant death type spells would check for the target"s resistance. Such a negative energy death spell would always be a dual attack against both the physical body and the soul, but it would still primarily attack the physical body.
h.e.l.l"s Door naturally had strong control over the soul. Such a strong soul attack would be impossible for any ordinary physical body to resist. In that case, only a strong enough soul that could resist h.e.l.l"s Door could possibly survive it, meaning the stat cla.s.sified by my system as Will, or willpower.
[He has 14 Strength, 22 Dexterity, 14 Const.i.tution, 12 Intelligence, 14 Will (Oath of revenge +4 bonus for a total of 18), and 12 Charisma. He"s of pretty good quality as raw material.]
Revenge was one of the greatest stimulants for willpower. Any man who had sworn an oath of revenge against somebody would be able to endure the harshest trials in order to temper himself. The pain from what he lost due to Kaen"s betrayal must have strengthened his soul.
s.h.i.+nk possessed a powerful desire to obtain revenge and a soul with an ironclad will. This allowed him to survive h.e.l.l"s Door"s attack of stripping away his soul. However, his flickering soulfire indicated that he wouldn"t be able to remain alive for much longer.
"…That doesn"t matter at all. For us undead mages, life itself is completely meaningless. Only the soul is the foundation of everything."
That was right—for any undead mage, a powerful soul with a great desire for revenge would be an irresistible temptation. Plus, s.h.i.+nk already had a great physical body that he could use, making this an even better combination.
I extended my arms, releasing black mist of death which bloomed into a black rose. This aura of death helped to energize s.h.i.+nk somewhat for the time being.
"If you"re left alone, you"ll die very soon, and perhaps your corpse will even be desecrated by the villagers you attacked for their revenge. However, I have a contract here for you to sign. If you agree, not only will you be able to continue living… well, in a different manner. I"ll even give you the power to take the revenge that you desire. You can take the revenge that you want against the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who betrayed your mercenary group."
What did s.h.i.+nk choose? Heh heh, there was no choice for him to make in the first place. Since s.h.i.+nk had such a bone-piercing hatred for Kaen that he had been able to survive h.e.l.l"s Door due to his willpower alone, it was only natural what s.h.i.+nk"s choice would be from the start.
"I agree! I"m willing to do anything it takes as long as I can take my revenge!"
Meanwhile, I was busy calculating things in secret as I watched the others a.s.sisting in saving the villagers.
"…Originally, I had only thought that this would be like a leisurely vacation. But, it would seem now that not only are there other compet.i.tors for the ruins, the ruins" own defense system is likely to be highly dangerous. Perhaps I need to get some extra combat strength."