episode_0132

After the two women were branded, their daily lives continued peacefully without any major incidents.

The stigma engraved on Gienna and Amy has completely settled into the bodies and souls of the two women, and has begun to take full effect. Of course, using the dark magic power I had filled it with as fuel.

And, at the same time that the stigma began to show its effectiveness, they used it very usefully.

“Go to the warehouse and take out twenty arming swords. You bring out ten pots and twenty pans. The goblin skeleton over there can clean the floor with a broom.”

Just as Giena wanted skeletons to use in the store from the beginning, she worked hard on the skeletons.

Since it was now possible to operate regular objects without having to use a separate Skeleton Mage, they were being utilized to their full potential. Skeletons were used for everything from simply bringing items from the warehouse to the shelves to cleaning the floors that became dirty as many customers came and went.

Thanks to this, Jiena was very happy that she no longer had to hire the mercenaries or workers she had occasionally hired. They said there was nothing they could do about the service side, but Jiena was reluctant to spend money on something that only used power. He went so far as to say that he would use his mana to carry the luggage and save on labor costs.

Anyway, just like Jienna, who used the stigma effectively, Amy was also using the stigma effectively.

Although Amy was in a position to supervise the mercenaries in my territory, she often carried out requests as an active mercenary. It was only natural that he still held the position of leader of the Hooded Mercenaries.

I occasionally went out with my members to carry out various requests, and they said they found it very useful.

When camping, I used black magic to start a fire because I had a hard time starting a fire and wasted time, and I eliminated the watchdog that added to fatigue by using the surveillance skeleton I gave them. And, it wasn’t just for practical use. Occasionally, when encountering enemies, including monsters, paralysis curses were used to quickly dispose of the enemies.

Thanks to this, it used a larger amount of black magic than Jiena, so it had to be recharged frequently, but that wasn’t a problem.

And, Gienna and Amy weren’t the only ones who found stigma to be very useful. I also put the labels on the two women to good use. It was perfect when used to amplify the senses twofold.

Of course, I wasn’t the only one who liked it. It was so pleasurable that it made their whole bodies tremble, and even though they didn’t show it on the outside, the two women were secretly enjoying it. After spending the night and waking up in the morning, he would be held in my arms like a well-fed cat and even act cute.

Literally, the stigma was everyone’s satisfaction. Me, Gienna, and Amy were all satisfied with the stigma. Amy, who was initially apprehensive about having a pattern engraved on her stomach, now responded as if she even liked the brand’s pattern.

“Andrew! I don’t even have half of my dark magic left! Charge it!”

“Oh, I guess I used black magic again because I was bored.”

In particular, Amy seemed to really like the fact that she could use black magic, so she used it quite often. Because I was bored, I lay in bed and started a firework, to the point where I almost burned my hair and bedding.

Still, thanks to that, I seemed to quickly get used to the stigma, so I stood up while hearing the sound of Amy’s footsteps running towards my room. Just use it to your advantage.

“Andrew, give me dark magic!”

“Did you leave it to me?”

I looked at her in bewilderment as if she was asking for the dark magic that had been entrusted to me, and Amy slowly approached me and fell into my arms. At the same time, he made a snoring noise and rubbed his body.

I smiled at Amy’s behavior and slowly lifted up my clothes to look at the brand, and found that only about 1/3 of the stored dark magic remained. The heart pattern in the center was only about 1/3 full.

“I’ll fill you in in a bit. And now I will refrain from writing that I am bored. There may be times when you can’t use it later when you need to use it.”

“What do you think? That’s what I do at home. And, when I’m in the city, there’s no problem because you’re there, right? When I go outside, I fill it up steadily and use it sparingly.”

Amy, with her hands on her waist, looked very confident. The brand symbol was clearly visible through the clothes I had lifted.

I shook my head at that and led Amy to the bed. It was easiest to replenish black magic while lying down. Although it is possible to do it while standing or sitting, lying down was the most comfortable.

However, at that moment, the dark magic wavered slightly. There wasn’t any other problem, but one of the skeleton mages under my command had sent a message using dark magic.

“… … Amy, I guess I’ll have to charge it later, right?”

“Why? Is something going on?”

“There is an uninvited guest. They say they’re heading straight for the city, so I’ll have to check for accuracy.”

The message the Skeleton Mage sent was very simple. The story was that there was an uninvited guest moving towards the city.

“Did they invade from the noble faction? I think the only uninvited guests suddenly heading to the city are the nobles.”

“Well? That’s a high possibility, but we’ll have to wait and see to know for sure. The only message the Skeleton Mage sent was that there was an uninvited guest.”

To be honest, I thought it might be from the aristocratic faction like Amy said. The main reason for strengthening the territory’s defenses was that the noble faction might try to keep me in check.

However, since we could not necessarily conclude that the noble faction had arrived, we decided to connect with the surveillance skeleton to understand the situation. Through the Skeleton Mage, I connected with the surveillance skeleton closest to the uninvited guest. And, the situation I found out through the surveillance skeleton was a little different from what I expected.

Fortunately, the noble faction did not attack me. No, it was a bit ambiguous to call this fortunate. The identity of the uninvited guest currently approaching the city was a ‘Minotaur’, one of the large monsters.

After confirming that the uninvited guest was a Minotaur, I immediately moved. It was very unfortunate, but I didn’t have time to flirt with Amy and say that I would replenish my dark magic power.

“Go, let’s go together!”

Amy, who saw that I was moving quickly and realized that the situation was not good, ran after me first.

After taking Amy with her and getting on the skeleton horse, we headed straight to the iron fence. Although it was a long way away, the iron tree was already busy because it was such a large monster. The territory soldiers appeared to be busy running around, preparing for the attack of a large monster.

“Lord! Now the Minotaur… … !”

“I know. Because that’s why I came.”

He nodded at the shout of a young soldier and immediately climbed onto the iron wooden fence. As I climbed up the iron wooden fence, I could see a rather large mass moving, although it was very far away.

Although it wasn’t visible in detail, it was clear that it was a Minotaur. The surveillance skeleton that was connected a little while ago was nearby.

“Is that going straight into the city now?”

“That’s what I think. If I see you walking here now… … Could it be that people followed traces or smells as they passed by?”

Amy, who lived as a mercenary and had a keen knowledge of monsters, deduced the reason why the Minotaur was approaching the city. In the book, the Minotaur was described as a monster that often ate man-eating, so there was a very high probability that what Amy said was true.

My territory was not only a place where regular traffic was carried out, but also where various merchants visited as if they were going to my house, so it was natural that it seemed like a very desirable food to the Minotaur.

“Lord, what will you do?”

And, as if at some point, a sergeant major, the successor to the recently retired guard captain, and now commanding the soldiers, approached. At the same time, the Skeleton Knight, who commands the skeleton soldiers protecting the territory, also arrived.

When the two appeared, I looked at the Minotaur in the distance for a moment and then gave instructions.

“Restrict going out of the city from now on. Well, if they let people know that that guy exists, no one will want to leave. And, the commander of the military mobilizes the local soldiers to reassure the citizens so that they do not become agitated, and takes care to ensure that no one takes advantage of the commotion to commit crimes.”

“Aren’t you sending territory soldiers to subdue the Minotaur?”

“It’s okay if it’s a goblin or a wild beast, but those are just piles of damage for no reason. I have to take care of that myself.”

The territory soldiers could not be pushed into a large, man-eating monster. They were not special people with retinue, but they were all ordinary people who had trained a little. In front of the Minotaur, even trained soldiers were nothing more than a meal.

The soldier commander seemed to be aware of that as well, nodding his head and leading the soldiers into the city. If it became known that the Minotaur was approaching, it was obvious that there would be a commotion, so we had to move quickly. There was a possibility that some people might come out and loot to escape from the Minotaur.

Anyway, after sending out the commander, I gathered the undead to subdue the Minotaur, which was getting closer.

Of course, I didn’t summon all the undead under my command like I did when I defeated the troll before. Previously, you had to project all your power to hunt a large monster, but that is not the case anymore.

Still, it was true that strong power was needed, so the Death Knight in charge of press processing at the blacksmith shop was summoned. Although press processing was temporarily halted, there was no problem because not all items made at the blacksmith shop are made through press processing.

Additionally, among the undead in charge of defending the city, there were many skeleton knights, so they were all called in as well. The plan was to subdue the Minotaur using the powerful Death Knight and Skeleton Knight.

Then, after calling in the Death Knights and Skeleton Knights, I connected the ritual to Jiena, who was busy serving customers at the store.

I could feel Jienna startled by the sudden connection, but given the situation, I hurriedly gave instructions.

“Ziena, is there a weapon you kept for the Death Knight to use? With that, just take out twenty arming swords and come to the ironwood book. Oh, the location is between the east gate and the south gate.”

Because Jiena didn’t yet have the knack for linking consciousness, I could feel her moving in a hurry as she answered yes out loud.

And, just as the Minotaur, which had appeared to be the size of a little fingernail’s fingernail, appeared to be the size of a thumbnail’s fingernail, Amy came to where I was, leading a group of skeletons carrying a lot of luggage.

At the same time, Death Knight, who was working on press processing in the blacksmith shop, also appeared. However, because the orc’s appearance could cause a commotion, the death knight was currently wearing a helmet made of crushed iron plates over his face.

Up until now, I had been confined to the blacksmith shop so I wasn’t paying much attention, but I thought I should take measures to prevent a disturbance even if Death Knights wander around the city, just in case it is needed in this way.

Of course, the priority would be to subdue the Minotaur approaching the city.