Ch.132132. The Drawing

“Commander. We’ll arrive soon.”

“Alright.”

Royal Order Commander Lufus Waynelight was returning to the imperial capital after completing a long-term mission.

On his slowly advancing warhorse, Waynelight was deeply absorbed in reading, not even holding the reins.

The book covered the history of the Kingdom of Ether’s downfall—once a powerful nation, now extinct.

It might seem surprising, but he had quite enjoyed reading in his youth. He mainly devoured biographies of great knights and generals who had distinguished themselves during the conquest wars, or heroic tales of knights who had come before them.

However, at some point, he stopped reading.

It was because he realized that he himself had begun to achieve feats similar to the heroes in those books.

No, perhaps he had even accumulated more accomplishments than many of them.

There were historically few Masters who had remained active for nearly 35 years. Masters, with their immense power, were often deployed to dangerous battlefields and frequently died young. They were also common targets of the Demon Lord’s forces.

Not that Waynelight had spared himself to extend his lifespan.

In fact, he was now returning after accomplishing another feat worthy of historical record. It was a task the Hero had personally requested a few weeks ago.

– Commander. Actually, while transporting Iclit, I discovered the whereabouts of several vampires. One of them has taken over an old fortress on the outskirts of Duke Tomen’s domain… I believe you need to handle this one.

– It’s apparently over 600 years old. While not a pure-blood, it’s close to that rank. It seems relatively quiet in nature, but someone must be becoming its food, so it should be eliminated.

– I’m asking for your help. I should go myself, but I’m not in a position to undertake a long-term mission. I need to prepare the lottery system.

He had gladly accepted the Hero’s request.

A high-ranking vampire over 600 years old.

While it could be said to be similar to a succubus in that it lived off humans, it had to be considered different in every respect.

Indeed, it had proven to be quite a formidable opponent.

It had freely manipulated blood energy to threaten Waynelight’s life, and even boasted about its age by saying, “I’ve eaten a member of your family,” mentioning his father’s second cousin who had disappeared about 55 years ago.

Whether it was truly his family’s enemy or not was uncertain, but its strength was undeniable. Though he had won without injury, there had been several close calls.

Normally, he would have returned triumphant, filled with satisfaction.

But Waynelight couldn’t feel even the slightest sense of achievement.

The scene at the fortress where the vampire had been living kept coming back to him.

‘No, “living in hiding” isn’t the right expression.’

An old, small fortress that had been abandoned for a long time after the era of wars. The vampire had been living a truly aristocratic life there.

It had about a dozen minions, and in its bedchamber, several men and women presumed to be food were left mindless.

An old vampire living luxuriously without concern for humans.

The implication was simple. The domain’s security was failing. So much so that dozens, perhaps hundreds of domain residents had become the vampire’s minions or food without anyone noticing.

This had happened in the domain of one of the Empire’s top five families, one that had never even directly invested in Cordana.

When confronted by Waynelight, Duke Tomen confessed the situation in his domain with a self-deprecating tone.

Half of his vassals and retainers had become beggars due to Cordana.

They had been blaming and antagonizing each other, creating a vicious cycle.

Eventually, after an unavoidable human purge, problems in domain management arose.

In short, it was a mess. It could be called a miniature version of what had happened in the imperial capital. It was no wonder that ‘Garland’ had left the Duke Tomen’s family to serve Erick.

‘Either collapse or rot. Is that the only choice?’

Even now, returning to the imperial capital, Waynelight couldn’t shake off the shock.

From small rural domains with populations under eight thousand to duchies with nation-sized power, each was rotting away for different reasons.

Perhaps that was why he was holding a book about a fallen nation’s history.

‘Well, I need to return anyway.’

Waynelight entered the imperial capital with mixed feelings.

Fortunately, the atmosphere in the capital was relatively good.

No, not just good—it was excessively excited. Not only Waynelight but also the knights following him looked puzzled. When they witnessed the enormous crowd gathered in front of the old Cordana exchange, they wondered what on earth was happening.

“What… is this?”

“Well, I’m not sure either, Commander.”

Surely Cordana hadn’t been revived, so what was going on?

Fortunately, he was able to resolve his questions shortly. Today was apparently the drawing day for the “Empire Lottery” that had been in preparation when he left for his expedition. It only seemed unfamiliar because he had been away from the capital for several weeks.

Even now, he could hear the voices of lottery ticket buyers.

“Whew, 20 minutes left? I thought I’d go crazy waiting.”

“I’d rather the drawing day came later. The chances of losing are high anyway, so I’d prefer to just look at my ticket and imagine…”

“Hey, don’t jinx it! You can always buy another lottery ticket anyway. Building up experience with losing will help you pick better numbers later.”

“Is that so?”

People with excited expressions waiting only for the number drawing. They didn’t even pay attention to Waynelight, who was returning after defeating a 600-year-old vampire.

While he hadn’t expected a victory parade, he couldn’t help feeling deflated.

And his sense of disappointment deepened when he met the Hero Erick, who was both the architect of the lottery system and the manager of the lottery fund.

“Commander. The Demon Lord has provided us with a good opportunity.”

The Hero said he would likely leave the capital within a week. He had found a way to lure one of the Tetrad out of the Demonic Land to the realm of mortals.

“After capturing Chief of Staff Bynessa, I’ll infiltrate the Demon Lord’s castle immediately. As for the duration… well, I can’t be certain, but I won’t be away for months at least. I can’t leave the capital for that long.”

Up to this point, it was good news.

However, what followed was not so pleasant.

“Ah, Commander. I’ll be skipping the departure ceremony. Not for security reasons. It’s just that with the current atmosphere, if we held a ceremony, people would be more interested in the Demon Lord’s treasury than in the Demon Lord himself.”

He meant he would leave quietly to prevent people from harboring false hopes.

Waynelight was tactful enough not to say something like, “Why did you create something like a lottery and bring this upon yourself?”

But he couldn’t help feeling bitter. Just looking at Erick’s expression, he could tell that the Hero didn’t trust the people of the Empire at all.

‘This too is a sign of decline.’

He didn’t want to think this in front of the Hero who had just announced his plan to depart within a week, but that was the reality. At nearly sixty years of age, he felt he was witnessing something ugly, though he also thought it fortunate that he had been born early enough to avoid the worst.

***

At the same time, at the lottery sales office.

“…We will now begin the drawing!”

“F-Finally…!”

“Please be quiet!”

The drawing ceremony to select four winning numbers from 1 to 50 began.

The process was so solemn it resembled a religious ceremony. This was to demonstrate that the drawing process was transparent.

First, wooden balls (with numbers written on them) made of beech were shown one by one to the gathered buyers before being placed in a jar-shaped glass container.

Next came the mixing of the balls.

When the court magician created a gentle breeze inside the container, the balls rattled as they mixed, and the spectators watched intently, not wanting to miss anything.

Immediately after, the drawer who would select the numbers appeared, guided by an employee.

It was a random passerby brought in 20 minutes before the drawing, and naturally blindfolded. Their only job was to pick the balls.

“Now, please begin.”

With this instruction, the drawer’s hand plunged among the fifty balls. The spectators’ gazes all focused on that hand.

“…7!”

The first number was 7, considered lucky since ancient times.

A considerable number of buyers’ faces lit up with expectation, but it didn’t last long.

“…8!”

Consecutive numbers came out right away.

From this point, most expressions turned to disappointment, but regardless, the drawer silently picked the third and fourth balls. The employee announced the numbers written on them loudly.

“45!”

“16!”

The first winning numbers of the Empire Lottery were confirmed.

It took only one minute to select the four numbers—ridiculously short compared to the anxious wait the buyers had endured.

In any case, the winning numbers were 7, 8, 16, and 45.

“Ugh…!”

“Sigh. Damn it…”

Disappointment appeared on the faces of ‘all’ the buyers in the sales office.

Regardless, the winning numbers were posted at the entrance of the sales office, and the office manager used a magical device to announce the winning numbers again loudly. This was because the number of buyers gathered outside was dozens of times greater than those inside.

“The winning numbers are 7, 8, 16, and 45!”

The crowd in front of the sales office also reacted with disappointment. Everyone just looked at each other’s faces with expressions of “Maybe?”

Regardless, the winning numbers began to be transmitted throughout the imperial capital and nearby directly-administered cities.

This was done to save the tens of thousands of buyers the trouble of coming to the sales office to check their numbers.

“If you have a winning ticket, please pay special attention to keeping it secret!”

This warning was also included. It had already been warned at the time of purchase.

Of course, secrecy or whatever didn’t matter to the losers, but about a thousand people still lingered around the sales office, unable to let go of their hopes. Some were already studying numbers for the next drawing.

…

After some time had passed.

“Wooooaaah!!!”

Suddenly, a scream erupted in front of the sales office.

When people turned to look, a young man was running toward them like a madman, holding a lottery ticket in his hand.

His face was filled with joy.