chapter 18
After exiting the dungeon and going to a nearby city, I checked the time and found that I had been there for almost two years.
When Ether went to the palace of old Silimaron, Ether had already returned to her home country, as if the management of the conquered land had already been completed.
Even if I did other things, I thought I should stop by Ether at least once, so I decided to go back to the palace of Venus. On the way back to Venus, the territories looking back seemed to be doing much better than before.
It is unlikely that the exploitation of nobles suddenly decreased, and the royal family did something.
Then, he met Ether at the palace he arrived at. Ether had grown so much in just two years that she was now almost in the shape of a young man. It’s not my real son, and the time we’ve been together isn’t that long, but it feels like a son to me, so I was proud to see him.
When I told Ether about this adventure, Ether was very surprised. Isn’t that the legacy of Inclonius? I told her to prepare a seat quietly, and Aether prepared a seat in a corner of the palace.
There, he began to take out the things he had stored in the subspace. My private subspace wasn’t that big, so I first put things in the common subspace artifacts that Inclonius had made and put them back in my subspace, so it took quite a while to put them in. It would have taken at least several months.
And in the first place, subspaces cannot overlap. In other words, a normal wizard cannot put other subspace artifacts into a subspace. This was possible thanks to Inclonius’ perfected subspace magic.
In his research log, Inclonius said that this was magic that should never be known to the world, and he imagined and wrote down examples of abuse of this. After all, 300 years is a long time.
It’s a bit strange for a lich to be concerned about the dangers of mankind, but in the first place, Inclonius wasn’t such an evil person, and the only reason he became a lich was because he wanted to meet his wife.
Anyway, looking at the reason I wrote down, I was convinced, so I won’t teach Ether this magic.
I felt it when I put it in, but when I took it out, there was a lot of it. Even the clutter in the room where the Inclonius’ Life Vessel was was later found to be semi-treasure level items that could be called antiques, so I brought them all.
What I handed over to Aether were 13 subspace artifacts, books from Inclonius’ library, general artifacts, antiques, and other gold coins and jewels worth 20 million gold.
Ether couldn’t keep her mouth shut while watching the treasures that popped up endlessly, but in fact, she didn’t give them all away.
I didn’t know what the soul would spend money on, but I didn’t know if there was anything to do with it, so I left about 1 million gold, and I didn’t hand over the personal subspace artifact, which seemed to be the most masterpiece of Inclonius, because it was not public that anyone could use, but it was sealed. Besides that, I also decided to keep the two ring-shaped artifacts for now. And, perhaps the most important, he did not hand over the magic books and research journals written by Inclonius himself.
Ether didn’t specifically ask if he knew it or not, and the wealth he already gave him was considerable, so he would be distracted for a while to deal with it.
“Thank you, Guardian Spirit. But there are important things these days.”
Come to think of it, we met again and only talked about me, but I didn’t ask how Ether was these days.
[What’s going on?]
“Hey, my wedding talk is coming and going.”
Ether was very shy and said, but now that I think about it, she’s at that age.
[Have good candidates been selected?]
“Your father seems to be trying to connect with the noble families of the occupied territories if possible.”
[Politics is important, but people are also important…]
“At the same time, the candidates are staying in the palace. Can’t the Guardian Spirit take a look?”
[It would be a little better if I looked after it, but anyway, aren’t you the one to live with? What you like is the most important thing.]
It would be a little better if I looked at the soul, but unless you are an exceptional human being, the human soul is there anyway. That’s what I’m thinking these days.
No matter how dark the soul is, there are people who are good to their own people, and people who are light gray commit murder.
“And Elizabeth’s marriage talks are also coming in.”
[What? Who dares to cross Elizabeth?]
Ether’s face crumpled a little at the reaction that was different from her own. Of course I know, but I pretended not to know. Elizabeth is like a sore finger to me. I was asked by Isabelle, but I didn’t pay much attention to it compared to Ether. Of course, it wasn’t that I was being neglected, but I felt sorry inside.
And a son who marries and a daughter who marries is obviously different. Aether will find out someday when she marries her daughter, she will.
The family that had married Elizabeth was none other than the Marquis of Cantana Agass, who was in charge of the de facto commander of the expeditionary force, or rather, the place where he became the duke of Agass after winning the title.
It’s okay as long as you stop being the family head’s temper. He is not the kind of person who would scold his daughter-in-law for no reason. So, I headed straight to the Duke of Agus.
[Then, go to the Duke of Agass for a bit]
“No, guardian spirit, look at the candidates for the princess and go!”
Ether shouted from behind, but somehow felt impatient.
[I’ll be back soon]
For now, I ignored Ether and ran to the Duke of Agus. no it flew
Fortunately, it was the Duke’s house of Agass, located not far from the royal capital, so he was able to arrive in a few days. The Duke of Agus’s estate was small and could not be considered wealthy considering the ducal value. Even during his days as a marquis, he was an ordinary academy professor with little interest in politics.
When I went to Yeongji, the people’s heart wasn’t that bad. In places where people gather, it is common to curse at the person of high rank. Cursing the country, the lord, or the son of the lord, that’s normal.
In the evening, I went to the taverns of the manor, and there was nothing missing, but I didn’t hear any bad rumors or people swearing at the lord or the lord’s children.
So I went to Yeongju Castle. Duke Cantana was already a verified person, so I decided to look at the people around me. First of all, the duchess who would become her mother-in-law was a typical noblewoman.
She was the kind of woman who was moderately extravagant while making it her goal in life not to lose her aristocratic dignity. The color of his soul wasn’t too dull, so he didn’t seem like a bad person.
The Duke of Cantana had four children, and of course, the eldest son was the one to whom marriage talks came and went. Looking at the eldest son who turned 21 this year, it was a typical article. However, when I looked at my soul, my talent wasn’t that good, so I didn’t think I had any chance of becoming a master.
I kept looking at him, and he didn’t seem to have a bad temper, he was fine, but the problem was that he didn’t like the brothers.
The souls of the second son and the youngest daughter were very black. The youngest daughter would get married when she got older, so it didn’t matter, but the second son was a problem. The size of the soul is lousy, so you won’t be wise. Haven’t you experienced firsthand what happens when your second son is stupid and harbors a dark mind?
For a moment, I thought, ‘Should I just kill him?’ Not a bad way to think about it. Still, I decided to wait and see, and dug a little deeper into the Duke’s family.
Upon investigation, the duke’s finances were not very good. Of course, money is not a big issue. If I asked Elizabeth to hand over a few million gold out of the money she gave to Ether, she wouldn’t be able to refuse. Of course, the treatment of Elizabeth, who is suffering from a major coma, will be better, and rather good.
The second son was doing a lot of bad things without knowing it. It was common not only to harass the servants and maids, but also to engage in drinking with the nobles of the estate every day. It seems that this is the duke’s madman I’ve only heard about. So I decided.
It is actually the first time to kill a person directly, but the method has been researched for a long time. The human body breaks more easily than you think. Moreover, it is even more so when there is no defense.
What is the greatest strength of the soul? Of course, there are many things, but it is passing through an object without any resistance. However, if this soul can use magic, it can bring about truly terrifying results. Of course, such a soul seems to be the only one in the world.
The second son of the Duke of Agass, who was returning to the manor’s mansion late at night after drinking alcohol with the hanryangs, felt a strong shock as something exploded inside his body. That was it.
Gathering mana in his heart, he fired a magic bullet. A person’s heart breaks so easily. Of course, there are people who can prevent this. It is expected that a master-level knight or archmage will be able to stop it.
But who has a lower level? It is virtually impossible to prevent. Of course, I’m not a soul that kills anyone, and I don’t intend to, but maybe I’m the best assassin on the continent?
Anyway, after researching and cleaning the Duke of Agus, I returned to the palace.
Aether was officially preparing to receive the princess. Every day, he had to face the noble ladies who came to the palace as candidates for the princess.
There were young ladies who actively approached, and there were also young ladies who stayed away, either because they were shy or because they were not interested in the wedding talk. I approached Ether, who was surrounded by young ladies and couldn’t come to her senses, and spoke to her.
[So who do you like?]
Ether was startled by my sudden sound from the side.
“Oh my prince, why are you suddenly like this?”
“Aren’t you sick?”
As Ether flinched and trembled, the young ladies next to her made a fuss.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Suddenly, the Guardian Spirit spoke to me.”
When the guardian spirit appeared, the young ladies made a fuss. Isn’t it the famous Guardian Spirit that we’ve only heard about? Even the young ladies who were not interested in this side came closer, and in an instant, Ether was surrounded by dozens of young ladies.
[It’s a very flower garden]
Naturally, all the young ladies who were chosen as princess candidates had outstanding looks. Aether’s face turned red. This guy has less tolerance for women than I thought.
“Don’t make fun of me.”
Aether murmured very quietly, but the ladies around her heard it and made a fuss again, saying that they did not dare to make fun of the prince.
I laughed inwardly and looked at the gathered young ladies one by one. Some young ladies had dark souls, while others did not. This is normal. There is a young lady who has three resentment spirits connected to her, regardless of what kind of life she has lived. First of all, that child is eliminated.
Then a young lady caught my eye. It was a young lady with long black hair like ebony, shyly standing outside rather than close to Ether.
The size of her soul was incomparable to the other ladies gathered here. have some good talent. The color of the soul is also relatively bright and not very shiny, but a halo was also shining from the soul. First of all, looking at her soul, that young lady is superior.
[Who is the dark-haired young lady over there?]
“Then let’s end today’s meeting here.”
Also, since it was obvious that he would get in trouble if he answered without thinking, Ether seemed to have made up his mind to escape.
Ether, who returned to her room, let out a big sigh as if she had lived.
“Are you by my side?”
[okay]
“The black-haired lady is Lady Eren from Odyssey. Fossey is the eldest daughter of the count family.”
[Originally, he was an aristocrat with power, but he managed not to get involved in the war.]
“I understand that it is a family that runs a large group. They say that wealth is the best in Odyssey.”
It’s not a bad condition if you stop. A family with good wealth is more useful as an Ether mate than a family that is politically or militarily large.
[Isn’t there a young lady you like?]
“Yeah, I didn’t know. Wouldn’t it be better to use the young lady chosen by the guardian spirit?”
[Let’s meet a little more and think about it. If you still don’t know, that Lady Eren is the best in my opinion.]
Ether nodded, and the issue of Ether’s marriage was settled. Now it’s time to settle the rest of Elizabeth’s marital problems.