37 – 7-My friendly hometown
At the entrance to where Count Yakhok stayed, a foolish knight who had sparred with me during the day was standing guard with a serious face.
“I’ve been waiting for you, young master.”
“You were able to make other facial expressions besides grinning.”
“There was an order from the Count to provoke him as much as possible.”
Archen knocked on the door to let me know that I had come, and when he heard a voice telling me to come in, he opened the door.
Yak or was sitting in his chair and drinking tea.
I don’t know much about tea, but judging from the smell of rocks that fills the room in harmony with the sweet scent and the weak scent of sulfur, he seems to be drinking black tea maniac.
Perhaps because of prejudice, it didn’t look very suitable.
“Welcome. I’ve been waiting for you. Have a seat.”
Anyway, I’m an aristocrat familiar with the tea time culture.
But the tea utensils on the table were too professional even by my standards.
Without reasoning, the tea must be brewed by the person himself.
“Do you like tea? Are you sure you’re not an idiot who treats tea as something women drink when they socialize?”
Yakhok spread a chitak in front of me and put a teacup on it.
As he tilted the bowl, black tea flowed down his spout.
Even though there is a considerable difference in height between the teacup and the tub, the water flow gently filled the teacup without splashing.
“No, but I prefer alcohol.”
“Oh no, you already drink and use it at such a young age.”
It feels like the opposite of what each other is doing.
It seems that he couldn’t hide his expression, so he said with a big smile.
“Everybody thinks I’m not good at drinking tea. Just like you.”
Anyone would think that when they see the small handle of a teacup held in the shape of a pair of tongs with thick hands.
I looked at the yak hok and thought.
Aristocrats are originally made up of pretense.
A yak hok may also be acting delicately in front of me like an aristocrat…… I looked at him with such suspicion, but the skill of brewing tea was not a level that could be achieved by imitating it for a day or two.
And what benefit would there be to me by acting as a sensitive man?
Delicacy is not acting.
However, there is a certain intention behind him suddenly revealing his delicate nature after playing a violent temper.
For example, it could be to embarrass me and easily ask for what I want.
I sipped my yak or tea and brushed the water droplets from my beard.
“The yak spirit, as you know, has been plagued by monsters from the Gray Mountains for generations.”
Yakhoknyeong was the only place in the north that met the Gray Mountains.
The Gray Mountains are a huge mountain range extending from the southwest to the north.
It is famous for its high and rugged mountains, to the point where it has been compared to the spine of the Esteria continent.
It plays the role of filtering the ashes pouring down from Red Hill so that they do not pour straight into the Oxburg Empire.
Of course, there were not only good points.
Because under the influence of the enormous amount of mana emitted from Red Hill, many of the animals that settled in the Gray Mountains became mutants and monsters that could handle mana.
Thus, in order to prevent monsters from crossing the Gray Mountains and threatening humanity, the North built the Keldarin Fortress on the only pass in the North that could cross the Gray Mountains.
“At the same time, the Yak Hok Spirit’s main income was also a by-product from the corpses of monsters. The Yak Hok family grew up by distributing this by-product to the warriors according to the ball from generation to generation.”
Monsters are beings that can handle magic.
In order to properly dismantle the by-product, someone with a high understanding of magic was needed.
This was also the reason why butchers were given preferential treatment in Yakhoknyeong.
This is because they are basically those who have received the blessing of mana.
And the Yakhok family was also a knight with a great talent for butchering.
Power comes from distribution.
That is why the Yakhok family became the owners of the estate.
“Hunting requires bravery, but skinning and skinning requires delicacy. To leave no flesh on the bones, not to injure the hides, and to distribute them fairly among the warriors. Bravery and Delicacy. These are the two pillars that lead the Yakhok family.”
As I listened to Yakhok’s story, I also drank black tea in my mouth.
Sorry to him, but the tea tasted like licking moss on a rock.
I passed the topic quickly.
“Thank you at the Great Hall during the day. Thanks to you, I got through a difficult situation.”
“Nobles don’t say thank you twice.”
“If I do this, I think I will reduce the cost of the help you gave me.”
“Can you cut it?”
There hasn’t been anything important going on yet, but it’s true that we had a blast at teatime led by Yakhok.
In that case, isn’t it natural to return it?
I have a good understanding of embarrassing others.
And on that side, I have a knight with genius as a vassal.
“But that’s strange. All I can give Count Yakhok is the ass. Does the Count enjoy sodomy?”
“Whoop whoop!”
The black tea spouted by the yak hok created a small rainbow in the room.
“When did I say that I would accept s*xual favors in return?! Did you bring that maid in for that too?! If so, leave immediately! I have no intention of talking to a pimp!”
Yakhok responded with a reaction that only a delicate man can do.
Let’s skip the fact that the maid he pointed out was Mion.
Because men have no choice but to be conscious of their looks.
“So it’s even more strange. You hate indigo, but why do you take the price of gratitude with your own body? It doesn’t match.”
“…….”
“There’s nothing the Count can do but give you a discount. Didn’t I accomplish my goal just by being here?”
How many people are in this castle?
How many people saw me going to Count Yakhok’s room, and how many people were talking about it?
“In short, the Count wants to stop me to protest to His Excellency? I don’t know what the House of Haenrel is doing behind the scenes, but hurry up and finish the meeting… Don’t you need a clown to deliver that message?”
It was misleading for me and Count Yakhok to meet at night.
For example, delusion that he even dipped his toe in the fight for the successor.
For the Haenrel family, especially Eileen, it must have felt like a fire had fallen on their feet.
Perhaps you have heard the news by now and are ready to come here.
At that, Yak or he cleared his throat once and said.
“His Excellency is a man without balls.”
“That’s a very difficult proposition for a child to agree to.”
So what am I, a cuckoo?
“Your Excellency does not want to go against the imperial family, nor is he prepared to speak ill of the unruly Haenrel family. He is like a greedy little boy who wants to grab something else with his hands full. To move such a man, you have to touch his wife. No choice but.”
Yakho brought the tea that no longer steamed to his mouth.
“To be honest, I don’t care who the heir is. You, whose blood flows from the imperial family, and Count Haenrel, who will abandon his successor and stand on the side of the imperial family unless he appoints his grandson as heir, are the same. The difference between late and early In the end, the north will fall into the arms of the Empire.”
I have no intention of going against the trend of the times.
As Yakhok said, he looked out the window at the garden of the Djeevitz family.
“The only thing I care about is monsters.”
“…….”
“Recently, the movements of the monsters are not unusual. Some problem has occurred in Red Hill. The monsters are rushing towards the yak spirit as if they were being pushed away by something. I don’t know what’s going on, but something is happening beyond the Gray Mountains.”
Yak Hok’s guess was wrong, but his concerns were correct.
It is true that there is a problem with Red Hill.
However, the sudden rampage of monsters is not because of the volcano, but because of the intervention of the Great Devil.
Because the great demon of beasts is gathering intelligent monsters beyond the Gray Mountains and waiting only for the command of the demon king.
“Now that the territory is in danger every day, there is no time to waste on useless meetings like this. In particular, the Yakhok family is not ignorant enough to stand by the sidelines on the issue of the successor of the Dejeevitz family and the Haenrel family.”
My family isn’t fooling around like a cow.
Stroking his beard, the yak continued.
“Yes, as you said, I have been rewarded. Just because you met with me, Mrs. De Jejeitz will lash out at you. Soon Aidan will be the successor. If the Haenrel family cooperates, the meeting will proceed quickly, I can get out of this nonsense.”
If I keep procrastinating, I could bet on Bjorn and fall.
Even if Count Yakhok threw such a message, the House of Haenrel would be eager to persuade.
Kanniel can’t hold back any longer.
“I feel sorry for you.”
He was indeed a man more suited to a furry serpentine than a bear.
But there is something Yakhok didn’t see.
I put my mouth to the lukewarm tea once again.
The scent was better than when it was hot, so it was worth drinking.
“There is no need to be sorry. After this meeting, you will meet the same fate as mine.”
“That sounds interesting. Go ahead.”
Yakhok asked me back with a relaxed face.
Will I be able to relax even when this story is over?
“As the Count said, monsters are the problem. In the future, the number of invading monsters will increase. Right now, the goods obtained from the by-products are greater than the damage, so it is tolerable, but in the end, it is people who kill monsters.”
Those who can hunt monsters are those who have received the blessing of mana, especially those who have been trained for a long time.
“People will continue to get hurt and die. The more people become unable to fight, the less goods they acquire, and the less they can defeat monsters, the greater the damage they cause. The yak will fall into a vicious cycle.”
“That’s an exaggerated guess. Although the number of monsters is increasing, it could suddenly decrease at any moment. There have been several cases like this in the past.”
“But now, isn’t it intermittent? The critical point. That’s why they even messed with me and made irrational arguments to end the meeting quickly.”
Yakhok’s hand as he headed towards the car stopped as if he had been hit.