episode_0205

“Envoy? Why are you suddenly an envoy?”

After checking the village chief’s message, I couldn’t hide my surprise.

We haven’t had much interaction with Viscount Tar since the land near this city was taken from me. Well, I heard people grinding their teeth against me, but it was at a level that was vague enough to be called an interaction.

In any case, it was natural to feel puzzled by the sudden visit of an envoy from Viscount Tar.

“Boss? Did something happen?”

Perhaps because she had become more attentive while dealing with many customers at the store, Jienna immediately realized that something had happened.

But I didn’t think it was a big deal, so I just shrugged.

“I heard that Viscount Tar sent an envoy.”

“Viscount Tar… … Is this?”

“Uh. I don’t know why they came, but an envoy has arrived.”

Jiena frowned at the mention of Viscount Tar. It seemed like a memory of an attack by a son of Viscount Tarr came to mind.

Amy also explained how I was able to make this city my territory, so she nodded as if she understood Jienna’s reaction.

“But why did Viscount Tar suddenly send an envoy? Andrew, do you have any guesses?”

“Well? Although I contributed to the cause, my child was cursed by me, and the person concerned was threatened by me and even had his territory taken away, so I didn’t think I was going to have a relationship at all.”

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of any reason why Viscount Tar would send an envoy to me.

“… … Didn’t you come here to declare a war over territory because you couldn’t forget the humiliation of that time? Why, the nobles are so amazing.”

“Huh?”

“Boss. Why does Amy’s words sound so plausible? … ?”

“So… … .”

For some reason, I agreed with Amy’s words and thought that the possibility was very high.

“Ah, really? What kind of idiot would wage a territorial war on a warlock? Soldiers will die and become undead. He’s probably just resigned himself to the fact that he can’t do anything about it and wants to get along well from now on.”

However, Amy, who actually said those words, waved her hand as if it was a joke and waved her words back.

Of course, the retracted words did not seem credible at all. In my head, I still had the thought that I had come to declare a territory war.

No matter how much I thought about it, I never thought it would have come for a good purpose.

There is a saying that there is no permanent enemy or permanent ally, but I really had no idea that Viscount Tarr would be an ally. Rather, all I could think was that Viscount Tarr had used some trick.

In the end, we gave up our leisurely leisure and decided to return to the mansion to meet an envoy from the Viscounty of Tar.

I felt full of regret, but since the Battle of Yeongji was such a big deal, I had no choice but to suppress my regret.

Perhaps because of that regret, Jiena and Amy held my hand and wouldn’t let go while I was riding the zombie wyvern back to the mansion.

Of course, in the meantime, the zombie wyvern flapped its wings vigorously, and we were soon able to land gently in the garden of the mansion.

“You really came… … .”

Near the entrance to the mansion, there was a carriage with Viscount Tarr’s seal emblazoned on it. It looked a little plain, as if it was not Viscount Tarr himself, but his agent.

Both Ziena and Amy looked at the carriage with expressions of extreme displeasure, perhaps because their leisurely time had been interrupted.

And, as I looked at it for a moment, a skeleton mage used as a butler suddenly appeared.

“Master… … . The magistrate has sent the visitors to the parlor… … .”

“Yes. Okay.”

When I heard that the visiting envoy was in the parlor with the village chief, I went straight to the parlor.

In the reception room we visited, the village chief and several other people were looking at each other sharply across a table, as if they were having a confrontation.

“Lord!”

“Village chief, an envoy from the Viscounty of Tar has arrived?”

“Yes. Those are the ones over there.”

The village chief pointed to the people sitting across from him. There was a slight but unpleasant expression on the village chief’s face as he looked at them, as if he didn’t like something about them.

I was very curious about what happened, but I decided to sit down and talk slowly.

However, before I could start the conversation, the person called the envoy, although I don’t know if I should call it rude, spoke first. As if he was waiting for me to take a seat.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Baram Matter, one of Viscount Thar’s vassals. I will convey Viscount Tar’s words.”

A man named Baram, who was looking at me with a very upright posture, said that these were Viscount Tarr’s words and began to speak as if he was reading a letter.

And, all of those stories were absurd and could only be called sophistry.

I’m calling in a lot of hunters and mercenaries in the name of securing monster corpses to make the Viscounty of Tar run out of prey, or that the death energy emitted by my undead has disrupted the Viscounty’s agriculture, etc. These don’t seem to be saying anything at all. It was a sound.

He even talked nonsense, bringing up things that were already over. I was now shouting that it was my responsibility to pay compensation for the curse that Viscount Tarr’s son had previously inflicted upon my store.

At the same time, he threatened to surround the entire territory and declare a territorial war if sufficient compensation was not paid.

“… … Chief. Did I hear it right?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer you because I’m not sure if I heard correctly.”

As Baram spoke in such a confident and confident manner, the village chief and I even thought that we might have been hallucinating.

No, maybe a guy named Baram was spraying something like a colorless, odorless hallucinogen into the air.

However, Baram seemed to have guessed that the village chief and I had heard correctly, and once again repeated something that did not sound like words.

“… … Are you seriously going to declare a territory war now?”

“If Viscount Steel admits his mistake and pays appropriate compensation, there will be no declaration of territorial war.”

“So, you are now declaring territory war against me, the warlock, right?”

“It doesn’t matter that Viscount Steel is a warlock. In the past, I had no choice but to pass over because the master’s safety was at stake, but Viscount Tarr is a man who never gives in to evil.”

I felt a sense of absurdity at the sight of Baram, who looked so confident and talked about not giving in to evil and all that. Just listening to him, he was talking as if I was some kind of evil warlock.

I was almost wondering what on earth he had prepared for to be able to look so confident.

But I couldn’t figure out why. Showing confidence, whether it’s bluffing or anything else, means that you can do anything, but it was stupid to make it known.

Of course, it wasn’t a problem if you didn’t know what moves your opponent had.

Because I had no intention of giving in to Viscount Tarr’s request from the beginning. Giving in to such ridiculous demands was nothing more than being a pushover.

Moreover, looking at Baram’s appearance now, it could be seen that Viscount Tarr was fully intent on waging a territorial war. Otherwise, it would not have been possible to mention Yeongjijeon so easily.

Yeongjijeon was an activity where you could gain a lot, but at the same time, you could lose everything. Like a hedgehog’s thorns, it couldn’t be used as a bluff to threaten others by saying, ‘It won’t be fun if you mess with me.’ In fact, I was mentioning Yeongjijeon because I had something prepared and was confident.

One way or another, it was said that it was essential for a territory war to take place.

“Okay, let’s do territory warfare as you wish.”

“Okay. So as of this time… … .”

“Wait.”

When I saw Bar-Am talking as if he had been waiting, I raised my hand to stop his actions.

“Let’s leave it to me to declare war. It feels bad to stay still and get hit all of a sudden, but shouldn’t it be like this?”

“Yes, do whatever you want.”

Perhaps because a territory war was now scheduled, Baram’s attitude became even more arrogant.

Seeing that, all thoughts of declaring war disappeared.

At the same time, a memory from my past life came to mind. It was knowledge that from ancient times, war was declared by killing or torturing envoys.

‘Should we turn them into zombies and send them back? Or do you make him a Dullahan and make him cut off the head himself and carry it?’

For a moment, I wondered how I could properly declare war by sending back the arrogant envoy named Baram. However, it seemed like it would not be possible to educate the arrogant Baram just by turning him into an undead.

And, as an envoy, I felt that I had to convey my message properly by coming to me and returning.

In the end, after thinking about it for a while, I immediately unleashed strong black magic and used several curses in combination.

“Well, what… … !”

Baram looked shocked, as if he had figured out that the situation was going strangely, but the curse I had sent had already hit him.

The curse of petrification made his entire body stiff and unable to move, and at the same time, it amplified his dulling sensation and saved him. And, he started carving a brand on his back, which was the only thing that prevented him from being petrified. It was a literal stigma, completely different from the one engraved on Gienna and Amy.

“Keuuu!”

Baram, who was unable to open his mouth due to petrification, let out a suppressed scream as if he was struggling in pain. But that didn’t change anything.

The dark magic continued to burn Baram’s back with a curse, drawing a literal brand. To be precise, several letters were being written.

Naturally, the text being written was a declaration of war. The content included saying nonsense, arguing, expressing myself as evil, etc., and ultimately declaring a territorial war.

And at the same time that the declaration of war was written and the curse of petrification that had hardened his body was pronounced, Baram’s body, which had already fainted, fell over.

After watching for a moment the sight of Bar-am falling while standing upright like a piece of wood falling, he sent the skeletons to send Bar-am back to the carriage.

Viscount Tar’s soldiers who were guarding Baram were frightened and pulled out their weapons, but they did not swing their weapons, perhaps because of the undead creeping out from the walls of the mansion.

“Then, like an envoy, I will return with my reply.”

Those who were trembling with fear were driven out. The soldiers of the Viscounty of Tar, carrying Baram like a piece of luggage on a wagon, fled my city as if in a hurry.

After watching Viscount Tarr’s soldiers fleeing for a moment, he immediately called Gienna and Amy to the living room.

A territory war suddenly took place, but since it was something that could not be avoided, I planned to listen to Jienna and Amy’s opinions.