BXBX NOVEL Chapter 168: Daydream (1)
The duke was sitting in his office, looking at his servant with an annoyed expression.
He was displeased by the story that came out of the servant’s mouth.
Tap. Tap.
He drummed his fingers on the table and glared at the servant.
“Say it again. Who came here?”
“The Earl of Kelters came from the duchy. He said he was following the order of Prince Ribore.”
“Why is the Earl of Kelters here?”
The Earl of Kelters.
The duke frowned at the name that was too familiar to be pleasant.
The Earl of Kelters was a busy man who barely had enough time to handle his own affairs in the duchy.
It was a joke that the duchy would not function properly without him.
And yet, he came here under Ribore’s order.
What did he do with his duties in the duchy?
The duke was irritated by both the son who sent him and the earl who obediently came here.
The servant, who met the duke’s eyes, answered him with a helpless expression.
“That is… I don’t know either.”
“Never mind. Bring the earl to me. I’ll ask him myself.”
“Yes, sir.”
The servant bowed and left to fetch the earl.
As soon as the servant left, Scollaus, who was standing next to him, turned his gaze to the duke.
He looked at the duke with his usual frivolous expression and said,
“It’s surprising. The prince sent someone himself.”
“It’s a stupid thing to do. Why on earth did he send the Earl of Kelters here?”
“Doesn’t that mean he trusts the Earl of Kelters very much?”
“I don’t understand the earl either. He’s not the kind of person who would abandon his work and leave the duchy obediently.”
The Earl of Kelters was one of the nobles that the duke sincerely trusted.
No matter how powerful Ribore was, he couldn’t openly threaten the Earl of Kelters.
But the earl had come here following the heir’s order.
The duke saw many suspicious aspects in this situation.
As they were talking about the earl, they heard the servant’s voice from outside the door.
“The earl is here.”
“Let him in.”
At the duke’s command, the servant opened the door and ushered him in.
Creak.
The face of the Earl of Kelters who entered with the door opening was very pale.
He looked so unhealthy that no one would say he was well.
The Earl of Kelters greeted the duke as soon as he entered the room.
“It’s been a long time since I saw you.”
The duke stroked his beard with a troubled expression at the sight of the Earl of Kelters, who looked worse than he expected.
He watched him for a while and then offered him a short consolation.
“I see. Are you feeling unwell? You look very pale.”
“I think I had a bad case of diarrhea from something I ate yesterday.”
“Tsk. Take care of your health. If you’re sick, it’ll be a big problem for the duchy.”
The Earl of Kelters was a talent of the duke’s family.
It would be troublesome if he ruined his health and had to recuperate for a long time.
Maybe he felt the duke’s concern.
The Earl of Kelters looked at him with a touched expression and praised his greatness.
“As expected, only the Duke of Colt recognizes me. Ever since we first met…”
“Ahem. Enough with the embarrassing stories.”
“Yes.”
Of course, his words were cut short by the duke’s order.
The duke, who stopped the earl’s talk, got up from his seat.
The brief greetings were over and it was time to get to the point.
Thud. Thud.
The duke rose from his seat and walked up to the Earl of Kelters.
He stopped in front of the earl and looked at his pale face.
Then he asked him the purpose of his visit.
“I heard Ribore sent you, but what are you here for?”
“My lord, this is a rather important matter…”
“Well, it must be important if you came yourself.”
“The prince entrusted me with this. Can we talk alone?”
When he inquired about his reason for coming, the Earl of Kelters unexpectedly requested a private conversation.
It was unlike his usual self.
The duke’s eyes turned to the servant and Scollaus.
He couldn’t send Scollaus away, who was guarding him.
The duke gestured to the servant after some thought.
Go outside for a while, he ordered.
“I’ll go down then.”
The servant bowed and left at the duke’s command.
The duke’s eyes returned to the Earl of Kelters.
But he still looked uneasy.
“My lord… It would be better if we talked just the two of us.”
“Are you asking me to send Scollaus away too?”
“If possible…”
It was a strange attitude.
The Earl of Kelters wouldn’t normally care so much about Scollaus.
He couldn’t think of any reason to exclude Scollaus from this meeting.
The duke shook his head and refused the earl’s request.
“Don’t worry. He’s tight-lipped. You don’t need to be concerned.”
Heh.
Scollaus smirked as he watched the earl’s demand.
It was a mockery of the earl who tried to get rid of him.
The duke ignored Scollaus and took another step toward the earl.
The earl, who looked displeased, lowered his head and opened his mouth.
“My lord.”
“Answer me. What business do you have on the island?”
“Now you don’t trust me. I’m disappointed.”
“What did you say…?”
The duke was bewildered by the earl’s incomprehensible words.
At that moment,
Swoosh!
The earl’s hand, with sharp claws sprouting out, lunged at him.
The duke stared at it with wide eyes as the earl suddenly attacked him.
The hand that came at an unreactable speed aimed for the duke’s throat.
“Die–!”
The duke felt death approaching from the claws that were close to him.
If he died like this, there would be no more futile life than his.
As he was about to close his eyes at his end, Scollaus’s swift sword strike cut off the earl’s arm.
Slash!
As the hand that was charging at him fell off, the earl’s blood splashed on the duke’s face.
“Aaaargh…!”
“Ke, Earl of Kelters! What the hell are you doing!”
Thump. Roll roll.
The jaws that were targeting him disappeared with the blood that scattered.
It was a situation where he might have died if Scollaus hadn’t reacted quickly.
Whew.
With a sigh of relief, the duke reflexively touched his neck as the earl’s arm accelerated forward again.
“Ugh… Aaaah!”
“Guh…!”
The severed end was jammed into the duke’s mouth, and something unknown flowed into his body.
The Earl of Kelters, who had lost his arm, had attempted a surprise attack on the duke, ready to die.
Ignoring the pain, he shoved the end into the duke’s mouth, his eyes overflowing with madness.
He gave a nasty laugh and shouted in a loud voice.
“For the great ancestor!”
“You bastard!”
Of course, Scollaus wasn’t just watching.
As soon as the Earl of Kelters stuck his arm into the duke’s mouth,
Slash!
Scollaus’s swift sword strike cut off the earl’s head.
The duke pushed away the headless body in a hurry as he saw the head rolling on the floor.
He barely escaped from the Earl of Kelters and collapsed, gasping for breath.
“Puah! Ha, ha…”
“My lord! Are you all right?”
Scollaus, who had cut off the earl, came over to support the duke.
He looked at the duke’s condition with a worried face.
The duke slowly checked his own body as he sat on the floor.
His arms and legs. Even his neck that had been directly targeted.
He couldn’t find any wounds on his skin.
“Ha…”
He was just startled by the sudden attack.
Thanks to Scollaus’s quick response, he seemed to be fine.
The duke opened his mouth to tell Scollaus his condition.
“Ha… Don’t worry. It’s nothing…”
Thump.
He frowned at the throbbing that spread through his heart.
His mouth didn’t move easily as he tried to say he was fine.
Thump. Thump.
The irregular beating was signaling a bad change.
“…”
“My lord?”
Something was wrong with his body.
It felt like it wasn’t his own flesh.
In this dire situation, the duke forced his lips open and spat out his words.
“There’s… a problem.”
***
The gloomy sky with no sunlight.
I looked at the depressing weather today and let out a short yawn to chase away my sleepiness.
I leaned on the railing with my smartphone in my hand, playing a game.
The screen of my smartphone showed the same idle game as always.
Lately, I felt like I only played this game.
When did I stop playing other games?
I couldn’t remember a clear point in time.
“Well, I must have gotten bored of them.”
It was natural to neglect games that lost their interest.
When I thought about it, it wasn’t something I needed to worry about deeply.
Yawn. I turned my eyes to the screen of my smartphone.
I could see the apostles looking at the glass tube on the other side of the screen.
Led by Elbon, who was standing in front of the huge tube, Eutenia, Evan, Pluto, and Perrin were watching the character.
“He’s grown a lot since then.”
The character in the tube had also grown considerably over time.
He used to look like a young child, but now he was closer to a boy.
He felt like he would become an adult soon.
As the apostles expressed their impressions of the developing character, Elbon, who was operating the tube under many eyes, raised a speech bubble above his head.
“All I have to do is activate this magic circle and my work is done.”
He was almost finished with making the character.
“What happens next?”
“Next, we just wait for the avatar to grow.”
Elbon finished his words and infused light into the magic circle.
Whirring.
Light rose from the base that wrapped around the tube, and a brilliant light covered the whole tube.
The character closed his eyes as he was enveloped in light. He looked pious to anyone who saw him.
I uttered a short admiration as I watched the shining character beyond the screen.
“It’s magnificent.”
I remembered the character jumping around the village wrapped in light.
He looked cool even without the flashy outfit he wore when he roamed the city.
It made my heart swell just thinking about it.
That was surely the end content of this game.
“I’m done with my work.”
As I imagined a bright future while watching the glowing character, Elbon stepped back from the magic circle.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. He must have worked hard.
The tube was emitting light on its own without Elbon’s touch.
Evan thanked Elbon as he looked at him finishing his work.
“Good job. Elbon Claude.”
“…If you really think so, I’d appreciate it if you returned Enia first.”
“I’ll summon my disciple to the sanctuary soon.”
Thud.
Elbon nodded at Evan’s words and sat down on a chair that was placed in a corner of the temple.
It had been a long time since he brought Elbon here.
He had been living on food alone for a while due to the lack of materials, but now he was no different from an honorary disciple of the cult.
He felt like giving him some reward for his hard work.
“Should I give you one of the dolls in my inventory?”
The first thing that came to his mind was a doll.
[Eutenia] had eaten all the [cakes], so he thought he might as well give him one of the remaining [beast dolls].
As I smiled contentedly at Elbon’s finished work, messages started to appear on the bottom of the screen.
My eyes naturally moved from Elbon to the message box below.
-The body for <Descent> is ready.
-The progress of <Descent> is updated.The progress of <Descent> has reached stage 3.
-<Divine Power (Lv.1)> is unlocked.
The last quest of the <Descent> skill was cleared with Elbon’s work done.
And with that, a message popped up saying that I had acquired a new skill.
The name of the new skill was <Divine Power>.
I couldn’t help but wonder as I looked at the new skill I had obtained.
“…Huh?”