Chapter 176

Chapter 176: The Hound of Valdrova

— Ehehe! Hello!

The moment Ferda saw Echidna’s face, he felt a sense of novelty.

It wasn’t that lovely novelty he always felt from Valdrova.

“How strange.”

The gloom he had felt when he first saw her had deepened, yet her complexion had become lively.

Usually in humans, gloom and vitality go hand in hand, but this woman was the complete opposite.

The incomprehensible elements made it even more unsettling.

— I heard you completed the spell formula.

— Yes! I! Finally! At last! I did it!

Echidna waved her arms with joy.

— Try explaining it.

— Yes! Look here~.

A doll with a build similar to Jed’s caught his attention.

The pretty face, like that of a painting of a naive young girl, had disappeared, and a sculpture was taking the shape of a face.

He could tell where that obsession was heading.

— This may look like a simple doll, but on the inside~ I have trained it so it can perform the duties of a maid!

— A maid, huh…?

Basically, it meant a tall, male Ruri.

— Will you do a demonstration?

— Yes!

For the demonstration, Echidna deliberately dropped a cup that was on the table onto the floor.

Clang!

At that sound, the doll that was standing demurely raised its head.

At first, the doll moved with creaking movements, then began to clean the spot where Echidna had dropped the teacup.

Starting with sweeping, then mopping, it finished perfectly, including the post-cleaning.

— It is designed to respond appropriately to situations without the need for specific commands!

— I see.

It moved just as she had said.

— ……Although there are a few problems.

The flaw was that the entire process took 2 hours.

If Ruri saw it, she would have kicked it into scrap metal within 3 minutes out of frustration.

That wasn’t all.

Being terribly slow was a flaw, but it moved for about 10 minutes and then, plop!, dropped its head and stopped.

— We will also have to reduce the wasteful mana consumption.

— Yes… that’s true…

That issue could be resolved by consulting the optimization work of dollmakers.

They had researched dolls from the beginning to make them resemble invocation types.

“Applying the knowledge of dollmakers to magitechnology…”

Among the theories of dollmakers, there are things humans cannot do.

What would happen if those things could be applied and used in magitechnology?

They could be reduced to mere children playing with wooden dolls.

Would it simply end there?

Right now it is just a male body that learned maid work, but over time they will be mass-produced in adult male forms.

And if these learn the training and spirit of elite soldiers, they will be usable in real combat.

“However, there is a problem.”

The golems Echidna makes are similar to humans.

Which means they are closer to homunculi than to golems.

The reason homunculi are terrifying is because they cannot be controlled.

In fact, the homunculus from the legacy of the great alchemist Edgar yearned for freedom and nearly destroyed a kingdom.

Echidna’s golems would be no exception.

— If you ordered them to slaughter humans, would they start slaughtering?

— It would depend on the purpose… But they cannot be used as war dolls.

— Why?

— This world needs love more than hatred!

— …

He was left speechless before the irony of a witch who loved peace.

He thought: “How can she say that while emitting such a gloomy aura?”.

— What about monster extermination?

— That could be done! Monsters are bad things, after all!

That was enough.

That function was what Ferda needed most.

Suddenly, listening to her words, a question gnawed at him.

— You said you cannot wage war.

— Yes.

— Can you tell me why you cannot?

Echidna wasn’t the type to bluff, so her confidence meant she had something backing it up.

— It is because of this!

Echidna opened the built-in wardrobe.

Inside, instead of clothes on hangers, a single wooden doll was sitting on a chair.

Unlike the tall, lanky wooden dolls scattered around the witch’s gloomy room, this one had a small build.

In terms of height, like Ruri and Mori.

The model was obvious without even looking.

— Its name is Hive Mind!

— Hive Mind?

— So… they are children who learn this and that, very curious, right?

— Correct.

— For children like that, you need someone who says “No, you cannot do this~!” and stops them. This child fulfills exactly that role. It pre-screens them in advance.

— So it acts as the mother body.

A question that bites its own tail.

If there is a watchman, who watches the watchman?

— Then who controls the mother body?

— I made it so that no one can interfere, only remembering absolute principles. Only three things.

The three principles she spoke of were these:

First Principle: All golems are tools, not humans, and tools have the obligation to benefit humans.

Second Principle: Absolutely comply with the First Principle and obey the Hive Mind.

Third Principle: Comply with the First and Second Principles, and golems must protect themselves.

— Not bad.

— Right?

Echidna smiled broadly at Ferda’s reaction.

If the clause about having the obligation to benefit humans is an absolute rule, they could not fight against humans.

“Maybe that’s better?”

Echidna is a witch with a Red Circle.

If.

Highly unlikely, but if she went mad and became a warmonger, turning the armies she created into her own, that itself would become a catastrophe.

— Ahem…

While Ferda imagined anxious scenarios, Echidna grew restless, her lips twitching.

— Since I worked so hard… Now… will you transfer custody to me?

— Custody?

— Yes!

Echidna shook her head vigorously.

— That damn lizard interfered over and over, picking fights, suffocating me time and again, and I wanted to strangle her, but I endured it and worked hard. Is this a mother’s heart?

— …

— Hehe, ehehe…!

Echidna laughed creepily.

Ferda could understand what that strangeness he felt upon entering this room was.

“That was it.”

A strange sensation of being gloomier while brimming with vitality.

Since Echidna was sincere with Mori, and Isabella was equally sincere, they must have fought a truly uncompromising battle of spear and shield.

And finally, Echidna had completed an invincible shield.

“…Now that I think about it, that’s insane.”

Using a witch’s obsession to get the work done.

Ferda felt the situation was becoming troublesome.

He held Mori hostage, but Mori herself was a useful resource.

“Mori’s efficiency is the problem.”

Ever since Echidna and Isabella started taking turns caring for her, efficiency had improved.

If he declared he would entrust her to Echidna, Mori would be treated like a toy again, and efficiency would drop.

Ferda asked like this, unable to make a decision easily.

— Can I ask Mori and decide based on that?

Ferda evading responsibility.

— Of course!

Echidna accepted it quite happily.

— Are you serious?

To Ferda’s question, Echidna beat her chest and said:

— No matter what happens, I am much better than that lizard woman!

Only then could Ferda understand what Echidna was thinking.

She thought it was a forced choice between Echidna or Isabella.

So she did not consider any other possibility as an option.

— I judge that neither is suitable.

— Whuuut?!

It was the natural outcome.

The only one who didn’t know that outcome was Echidna.

— T-then, at least tell me who the guardian should be. For example, Echidna, or Echidna Philias, or Gloomy Witch…

She threw out several options, but Mori cruelly gave her the answer.

— It is appropriate for the maid Ruri to become my guardian.

— Ruri, you say?

When the two fought fiercely, Mori was handled by Ruri’s hand.

Unlike the two who cared for the child with utmost devotion, Ruri only gave her the minimum care a tool needed.

From the point of view of a rational tool, that was the best environment, and obtaining the best efficiency was only natural.

— Since you said you would actively reflect Mori’s opinion…

— Uuuuugh…

Echidna groaned like a mother who lost her child, and Ferda sighed.

— We will continue as we have so far.

Echidna cheered up again.

She probably never knew that maintaining the status quo could be so welcome.

Conversely, Mori’s expressionless face contorted strangely.

— This is for the best.

Ferda placed his hand on Mori’s head, wanting to comfort her.

Then Mori carefully removed Ferda’s hand from her head and wrote this:

— An action that reduces efficiency.

Mori turned her body sharply and walked away.

Ferda could faintly distinguish what was on that face.

The Far East is a land under the Archduchy.

Since it was the land that served as a base for demons, called the enemy of the Serdes Continent, it was a region with strong specificity.

Therefore, the powerful autonomy and military power possessed by all the margraves of the kingdoms were key.

In that aspect, the Arken Empire was different from other kingdoms, and the power of the margraves was not strong.

The Far East was the weakest.

In the centralized Arken Empire, they exceptionally achieved recognition of their autonomy.

It was a miraculous story, like the wise king’s victory rate against the giant troll, Goliath.

It should have been a moment of pure happiness for the allied nobles of the Far East.

Except for one person.

— Hurry up and move forward!

— Rushing won’t help if the horse gets tired, it will all be in vain! It won’t be easy until we reach the relay station and change horses!

— Don’t talk back to me, coachman! If we arrive late, you will die too, understood!?

Baron Giyot urged the coachman like a man with fire under his feet.

He was attempting a midnight escape.

Hearing that autonomy was secured meant Alexander had lost.

That meant staying here was a situation where his head could fall at any moment.

He knew what happened to the man who sold the savior for 30 silver coins.

He didn’t want to end up like that.

— A-are you alright, my lord?

His loyal servant wiped the sweat from his face and asked.

— I’m fine.

— What are your plans from here on?

— As I said, first I have to go north. I will sell some goods there, use imperial information, and secure a position somewhere.

He thought life as a frontier baron was the worst, but it could get even worse.

Baron Giyot sighed at his miserable fate.

— Damn it…… why do I have to suffer like this……? I, of the lineage of the Giyot family…….

— Indeed. You lived for this Arken Empire, how can this be?

— That bastard…… that rolling stone, why did everything go wrong because of him…….

Baron Giyot lamenting his fate and the servant flattering him.

Amidst the hurried pace, he felt the carriage’s movement gradually slowing down.

It wasn’t his imagination.

The carriage had stopped.

— Coachman! What are you doing!?

The coachman did not answer.

Baron Giyot yelled at the unresponsive coachman.

— You son of a bitch! Do I no longer seem like a noble to you!? I asked what is going on—!

The door swung open and his words were cut short.

Under the carriage’s lighting, a face he knew well appeared.

Among them, the face he least wished to encounter.

— C-Count Consillus…….

— It has been a while, Giyot. To meet like this.

— T-that is true. How are you here……?

How is that man here?

Behind Giyot, who made that face, he looked at the servant sitting opposite.

— Good job.

Saying that, he tossed a pouch of money.

Unlike the bewildered Giyot, the servant grasped the situation and nodded his head.

— ……Thank you, Count-nim.

The servant rushed out in a hurry as if fleeing.

Where the servant had been reassuring him that things would go well just moments ago, Count Consillus now sat down.

— What brings you…… here?

— What do you think brings me? I only came to pay my respects.

He spoke with a cold voice.

— Since I am here, I will also greet your son and your wife.

…….

— Are they in the rear carriage? I haven’t checked.

Count Consillus slightly raised his eyes.

Death dwelled in those eyes.

Baron Giyot’s body trembled like someone sprayed with cold water in the dead of winter.

— Since we will not see each other after today, we should say a proper farewell, don’t you think? I should check once.

As he shifted his hips, Baron Giyot, who had been trembling, fell to his knees.

— P-please, spare at least the lives of my son and my wife. They did nothing wrong……. It was solely my arbitrary action, Count Consillus-nim.

Consillus sat back down.

— Can an arbitrary action make someone innocent? Where beans are sown, beans grow; the son of a demon becomes a demon, the son of a traitor becomes a traitor. What reason would I have to spare your wife and son who would only be harmful?

— Does our past affection not exist? Did you not come to the baptism ceremony and wish for my son’s future?

Giyot appealed to affection.

— As human beings, as servants of Alte, please, have mercy. I swear by Alte, the Father, and the name of the Emperor, that I will never speak of this to anyone and will live in silence.

And he laid all the honor he could offer before him.

— As you say…… the children are innocent. The wife as well.

He reached into his back pocket, pulled out a bottle of liquor and two glasses, and placed them on the simple table.

— I also know they are innocent to that extent. It is not a reason to die.

Consillus said, while pouring the liquor.

— But in times of war, how many die with reason? War is leading ten thousand to death for a single man.

He carefully raised the glass filled with amber liquid.

He looked at his face reflected in the liquid.

— My son too…… had no reason to die there.

Consillus felt bitterness in his mouth.

— If only he had been a little more selfish…… he would have had no reason to be there.

He swallowed the bitter taste lingering in his mouth along with the neat liquor.

This time he filled the glass placed beside Giyot.

— Drink.

— ……Hic…… sob.

— Better drink now, the road ahead will be a bit easier.

Baron Giyot raised the glass, sobbing.

His lips moved, but swallowing it down his throat was not easy.

— Is this necessary?

He asked the only thing his head could not understand.

— Do you need to do this for that bastard Ferda? Do you need to carry that weight and karma?

After slitting the throat of a fellow noble, Count Consillus would not be able to live as before.

The trust and honor he had built would crack, and one day he himself would suffer the same fate as Giyot.

At those words, Count Consillus let out a hollow laugh.

— Compared to the karma I will carry from now on, your neck is just one of the trivial stones.

…….

— Wait in hell. I will follow you soon.

Baron Giyot finally drank the liquor.

Slash!

The moment the burning sensation of the neat liquor enveloped his throat, a cold line wrapped around his neck.

Baron Giyot’s head flew through the air and rolled on the ground.

Count Consillus’s hand was holding a sword before he even realized it.

Blood dripped drop by drop, and Consillus shook off the blood.

Consillus carried Giyot’s head and stepped down from the carriage.

In front of the carriage, men in lacquered armor were waiting.

— Wife and son?

— As you ordered. They departed without pain.

Consillus reflexively checked their countenances.

Since it was their first time killing a child and a woman, their expressions were grave.

— I’m sorry, for making you do difficult work.

— It is work that someone had to do.

Just as Consillus did the work Ferda had to do,
the knights do the work Consillus has to do.

Because they knew the weight their lord carried.

Consillus handed over the head and mounted his horse.

— Apply the prepared charges of conspiracy of rebellion and embezzlement for the announcement.

— Yes.

— Where next?

— The Granduchi Family.

— Where is the baron?

— Waiting inside the castle. Intelligence says he is evacuating his family. Shall we pursue?

Consillus nodded.

— Pursue and bring back the head. No mistakes will be tolerated.

— I will obey your order.

From that day on, the two families that ruled within the Grand Duchy of Valdrova disappeared.

Count Consillus gained a new nickname from that day on.

— The Hound of Valdrova.

Ferda pronounced Consillus’s new nickname out loud.

— Rumor has it they have been calling you that lately.

— Hound? I feel honored.

Consillus laughing out loud as if it were a good thing, even though it is a derogatory term.

Ferda could not laugh with him.

— Did you have to make that decision?

Ferda knows everything he did.

Of course, through the shadow department, and Consillus told him directly in this meeting.

— Fear creates unstable situations, and new power is forged in unstable situations. I am someone who must disappear one day.

— Is that new power me?

— Yes.

Consillus answered calmly.

— Of course, not everyone will believe in you and follow you, Regent-nim. But they will think you are an option worthy of sufficient consideration.

…….

— If there is an opportunity, you can become the focal point at any time.

All of this was for Ferda.

Ferda did not doubt that work for even a moment.

Consillus risked his life to perform the aura reflux and buy time.

However, even though it was a good intention, he could not simply rejoice over it.

“If Consillus disappears one day, I will have to lead alone.”

Where there are meetings, there are partings.

When that time comes, what choice will Ferda himself make?

While a vague anxiety tried to torment Ferda, he deliberately chose to ignore that thought.

— I will definitely repay you for all the help you have given me.

Normally Consillus would have said humbly: “I only did what was natural.”

— Since you mention it…….

Yet unlike the automatic phrase, a reluctant reaction.

— In fact, something came up recently and I need help.

— What is it?

— Well…….

Consillus let out a long sigh and explained.

Upon hearing his explanation, he understood why he sighed like that.

Even Ferda, upon summarizing it, was left dumbfounded.

— ……He assaulted a young lady?