Chapter 66: A Duke's Rage & A Paranoiac Knight
Chapter 66: A Duke’s Rage & A Paranoiac Knight
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As Ervas and Veronica’s party were about to encounter a mysterious rabbit-eared person, back in the Duchy of Sapphira, reports about what happened to the mercenary group sent to the Evergreen Village reached Percy Miller, who then reported it to the Duke.
“What did you say?! They were all killed?! And not even their corpses or items were left?! But how?!” Duke Frank of the duchy of Sapphira shouted while spitting saliva over his assistant and servant, Percy Miller.
“Yes… my lord. It is the truth. The whole mercenary group was… annihilated. According to the villagers, the Half-Demon Boy, his father, and a mysterious black knight, alongside a dozen of monsters that they seemingly tamed killed them all,” said Percy, cleaning the saliva on his face with a handkerchief. Alongside the saliva, he was also sweating nervously.
“If news about a Half-Demon and his party of heretics trampling over my duchy spread around, the Bright Gods Extremist will surely force my father to change the Duke of Sapphira! My whole life will go upside down!” shouted Duke Frank, spitting even more saliva, his eyes were almost falling off his face, large veins filled with boiling blood could be seen across his wide forehead.
Duke Frank would often touch his little blue mustache when he was nervous. He did this repeatedly while walking in circles around the room.
He then stopped and glanced at the window, sighing.
“My lord… what… what should we do?” asked Percy.
“WE?! T-This would not have happened if you would not have sent such an incompetent band of rats! Didn’t I told you to enlist your family for this task?! Why did you disobey me, Percy?! Who told you to find some lowly mercenaries to do such a task?!” Duke Frank shouted, glancing at Percy once again with a crazed expression.
“But my lord, it was impossible to know how strong that Half-Demon boy was… and even less about his father, that mysterious knight and his band of monsters… Even my lord assumed that it would not be a hard work to kill such a young toddler, even if it were to be a demon…” muttered Percy.
“Hah?! Are you talking back to me, Percy?!” shouted Duke Frank, approaching Percy and pointing his index finger at Percy’s nose.
“A-Ah! N-No! That was not my intention, my lord! I humbly apologize!” shouted Percy, kneeling on the floor.
Duke Frank laughed as he put his foot over Percy’s head, he was a weak man, but Percy was not an adventurer either and had not changed many Jobs, even the foot of a weakling such as the Duke of Sapphira hurt his head a bit.
Bump!
“Good, that’s how you should be, you’re nothing more than a rat in the Miller family! And it was your fault for not obeying my orders! Now, call your father and siblings, and do the work that I am paying your family for! Track that Half-Demon brat! Call magicians, diviners, spiritualists, ANYTHING! Make sure to bring me his head, AT ALL COST!” shouted Duke Frank, kicking Percy’s head as small droplets of blood fell over a shallow wound on Percy’s forehead.
“Yes, my lord…!” shouted Percy, fearing for his own life as he rushed outside of the office.
Duke Frank moved to his chair as he sat down, sighing.
He then opened a small cabinet on the table and took out a bottle with whiskey, drinking it directly from the bottle.
“Haahhh…! God damn it!” he shouted, throwing the whiskey to the wall, the bottle cracked into pieces and the costly and expensive liquor fell over the ground…
Clash!
Duke Frank was known for his child-like tantrums, which he would follow by drinking several bottles filled with expensive whiskey and then throwing it to the walls, wasting the precious beverage.
Two maids quickly appeared from the door that Percy left open, cleaning the mess, as Duke Frank kept drinking bottles of whiskey and throwing them around the room.
“Clean that too! And that!” he shouted.
Clash! Clash! Clash!
“Y-Yes my lord!”
The two maids had to play around with Duke Frank, evading the bottles of whiskey while also cleaning the constant mess that he would leave all around.
Duke Frank knew very well of the influence that the church of the Bright Gods extremist had over the entire Kingdom of Aquaria, if he were to ignore the Half-Demon Kid doing as he pleases while killing whoever he wants and walking to whatever place he wanted, the church would most likely blame Duke Frank for being an irresponsible person and his father, the King, would be forced to expel Frank from his seat as the Duke, replacing him for a more responsible person, or one of Frank’s siblings.
“I won’t give in my Duchy, not at all! Heh! Those fanatics will be so please when I serve them the head of that Half-Demon boy on a plate! Gahahaha!”
Duke Frank was very weak to alcohol and had already become drunk, laughing, and fantasizing about his triumph. He began to throw more and more bottles to the ground, making the maids evade his attacks.
“Gahaha! Dance, dance! Gahaha!”
Clash!
“D-Duke Frank, please have mercy!”
“My lord!”
“Shut up and dance! Gahahaha!”
As Duke Frank immersed himself in his sadistic games, Albert Miller, head of the Miller family, and Percy’s father glanced at his son, whose forehead was dripping in blood.
“My son?!”
“Father, the Half-Demon boy…! He survived the mercenaries!” shouted Percy, catching breath on the floor as he had run from Duke Frank’s manor to his family territory without any breaks.
“What? That is impossible! Wasn’t it just a boy on his two years of age?! Even a Half-Demon would never develop at such a fast pace…!” shouted Albert, he was a stoic man with a short gray beard, shining aquamarine eyes, and white hair, he wore a white-colored armor made out of silver with gold decorations, which was incredibly heavy. He liked to wear the armor of the Miller House proudly every day, even when he would not put it at use.
“But it is true, father! We got a confirmation from the villagers who saw everything and were somehow spared from the boy’s rage… however, he was not alone, his father ended up being incredibly strong, said to kill the mercenaries with a single blow! He was also assisted by a mysterious black-armored knight that appeared out of nowhere… a-and he also had a whole army of plant monsters, a Rank 5 Slime, and a Giant Armored Spider! And not just the villagers, but detectives we sent to investigate detected that the place where the battle was held left large amounts of Mana impregnated in all the vicinity… that Demon Boy even saw to be floating in the sky while firing Mana Bullets of the size of cannons! “
Percy’s father was shocked by such news, and could not doubt his son anymore, as it seemed that Duke Frank had already punished his weakling son with a few kicks on his forehead.
“Could it be…?! If that boy had so many monster followers and even his father was strangely strong… and that black-armored knights… Then…”
“Father…? What is it?”
“We need more assistance than just our family, we must exterminate that Half-Demon and his group as fast as possible! Call the Eustace Family and the other knight families… and if possible, Battle Popes of the Church of Bright Gods!” shouted Albert.
“Even the Battle Popes?!”
“Yes! We will not fight a simple enemy, my son! If that Demon Boy was capable of so much, it must be a new Demon King! How unfortunate of us that it was born right in our Duchy!”
“A D-Demon King?! Father… could you be exaggerating things?!”
“No, Percy! It all matches! His amazing Mana capacity, his ability to tame so many monsters like nothing, his father becoming so strong due to his ‘Strengthen Followers’ Skill, and lastly, that black-armored knight, that was the armor of a demon! She most likely came to retrieve the Demon King from the Demon Continents; she must be an elite amongst elites! If we let him run away to the Demon Continents, the Demons might end up acquiring a powerful asset, a new ruler that will lead all demons against humanity!” shouted Albert.
“No… it can’t be… is it really that bad?!”
“Yes, Percy, is terrible! Hurry up! I will contact the knight families and set everything… we must begin our crusade as fast as possible… but so many preparations, it will take at least a week or two…!”
“Will we be able to catch up with them by that time?!”
“I am not sure… but time is gold, Percy. I will leave with you the task of contacting with the Popes and Priest of the Bright Gods church!”
“B-But the Duke didn’t want them to know about the Half-Demon Boy, father! We can’t ask for their help, if they were to know about it, the Duke will be punished for being irresponsible, and I will also end up succumbing to his rage!” said Percy.
“Damn it all, Percy! It will have to be with us… no, we still have more mercenaries, and adventurers… even bandits will do! All the force we can muster to eliminate the young Demon King!” shouted Albert, bewildered.
“Y-Yes father will do!”
As Percy rushed towards the adventurer and mercenary guild, Albert decided to contact the knight houses.
However, the two quickly realized that to accomplish everything they were going to do, a massive amount of paperwork was needed, which would end up prolonging preparations for way more than two weeks.
Even with Duke Frank’s entire support, even the Duke could not avoid the massive paperwork needed to properly prepare against such a menace without having to tell the church.
It would be months by the time they would finally be ready… and Ervas might not be even in the Devil Forest anymore.
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