The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore - Chapter 68

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈

Chapter 68: Grave Site

──────

We had overcome the expedition’s greatest obstacle, reaching the center.

From here, our task was clear.

First, we had to build sturdy walls here and fortify the base.

Then, we needed to secure a safe route running in a straight line from the center to the outskirts.

Only then could the follow-up contingent, including merchant guilds, architects, and technicians, arrive safely.

Well, I was not too worried about clearing the safe route.

We had cleared the path as we advanced and set up palisades along the way. Once we assigned people to expand them, it would be finished in no time.

The most important thing was mining mana stones.

I drew up a blueprint in my mind.

Starting from this center, we would drill for mana stones and carry out purification work at the same time, gradually expanding our territory.

The expedition had been difficult because we had to fight magical beasts with our lives on the line, but from here on, everything would go smoothly.

And with merchant guild head Irina here, turning it into cash would be quick. We would practically be printing money.

We would let the Sirius Mage Tower have a share as well, since they had supported us.

“Young Lord, I’ll report the casualties.”

Mana stones and business could wait. There was something I needed to focus on right now.

I nodded, keeping my eyes on Lucia.

“About 3,200 people were seriously injured. If you include minor injuries, everyone in the combat units apart from the supply corps has been injured.”

“The dead?”

“A little over 700. Not even a tenth of the total. It can only be called a miracle.”

A miracle. That was not wrong.

Considering we had broken through a magical beast wave of tens of thousands, the exchange rate was absurdly favorable.

I glanced over Lucia’s condition. She hardly had any visible wounds.

“I’m glad you were not hurt, my lady.”

Lucia let out a small laugh.

“Me too. If I had been hurt, His Highness the Crown Prince would have made a huge fuss.”

Officially, Lucia was only the expedition’s “training instructor.”

It was known that she would not join the main force after departure.

We had hidden her involvement thoroughly because the Crown Prince and the young lord of Winterhardt would obviously raise hell.

“Of course, I came prepared. I was ready to lose an arm or even an eye.”

At her calm words, I looked at Lucia’s left eye.

Unable to say anything, I could only smile bitterly.

Soon, I gathered all the troops who had been resting apart.

Ten thousand pairs of eyes looked up at me.

I could tell just by looking at them. Their trust and admiration for me had reached their limit.

“Look at those eyes. You might even forgive me if I skimmed some of your pay.”

The moment I finished speaking, silence fell.

“I’m joking. Now, I’ll talk about the pay you’ve all been waiting for.”

As stated in the original recruitment notice, we had agreed to settle payment after the expedition was complete.

I paused for half a beat.

That brief silence drew the expedition’s full attention.

“I promise each of you twenty million shillings.”

“...!”

The soldiers looked at one another with stunned expressions.

Twenty million shillings.

It was two years’ salary for a central official, enough to comfortably buy a small house in the imperial capital.

“Waaaaaah!”

Like a delayed explosion, cheers loud enough to make their ears ring erupted.

Nothing was easier than handling mercenaries.

Leading from the front, taking the vanguard, and offering enormous rewards.

If you met those three conditions, they would willingly lay down their lives.

They were difficult conditions to meet, but for me, the formula already had an answer.

“The families of the fallen will receive three times the compensation.”

Now the soldiers cried out like singing birds.

The honor of the friends who had died fighting back-to-back with them.

Simply recognizing the noble sacrifice of the fallen changed everything.

Lucia, who had been standing beside me, leaned close and whispered.

“Young Lord, is it really all right to spend that much money?”

“It does not matter. Before long, we’ll have more money than we know what to do with.”

Considering the value of the mana stones buried in the Ashen Forest, this amount was pocket change.

“As I said, the vanguard that accompanied me will also receive triple pay.”

Applause and cheers broke out among the vanguard as well.

Amid the commotion, Clank. Metal rattled.

Black Knight Bagot pushed through the crowd and walked toward me.

He knelt before me and placed his black iron greatsword at my feet.

“Young Lord Astin. I do not need money. I want to work under you.”

I had intended to do that even if he had not said it.

Of course, I still planned to pay him. It was not as if I were some exploitative employer.

“We can discuss that privately.”

Tap.

I patted Bagot on the shoulder.

“Rest for today. Your task is to build the camp and focus on recovering.”

I ordered not only Bagot, but the entire force to rest.

They would rest for the day. Starting tomorrow, they would guard the follow-up contingent and work to fortify the base.

Once the specialists arrived, mana stone mining would begin in earnest.

“Ugh, I’m dizzy.”

“I feel like all my strength has been drained...”

“It makes sense. All that tension just left you at once.”

Most of the soldiers sprawled out flat. I understood exactly how they felt.

The underground mermen’s attack, the cordyceps and fungal-armored magical beasts, and the battle with their leader.

We had gone through three major incidents in less than a week. Of course everyone was exhausted.

Leaving the sprawled-out soldiers behind, I summoned the Engineering Corps.

“The Demon King’s remains should be buried somewhere around here. Finding and dealing with them is our top priority.”

“Yes! We’ll begin immediately!”

The Engineering Corps gathered with pickaxes and equipment. They immediately began digging into the ground and cutting through the bedrock.

Ariel’s elven scouts joined them as well.

“Do you really want to do such dirty work?”

The scouts had volunteered of their own accord.

Ariel brushed dirt from her cheek.

“I’m so grateful to you, Commander. We should at least do this much.”

Tears glistened in Ariel’s forest-green eyes.

The elves standing behind her lowered their heads toward me.

“If it had not been for you, Commander... we would not even have been able to set foot on this land.”

Their faces said they had no idea how they could repay me.

I shrugged as if it were nothing.

“You seem to want to repay me, but there are plenty of ways. Let’s maintain a good relationship from now on.”

Ariel’s eyes widened. I placed a hand on her slender shoulder.

“Let’s help each other.”

“...Yes!”

Ariel smiled brightly.

I intended to ease the elves’ treatment somewhat. They had been a great help in securing our advance route.

To me, the Ashen Forest Expedition was only a stepping stone for setting the board.

Ultimately, I was looking toward a war against the Outer God. Naturally, the elves’ help was indispensable.

And not only the elves. I was even seriously considering borrowing the aid of demonkind.

Then I felt a familiar presence behind me.

When I turned around, Selena stood some distance away, staring blankly.

I had wondered when she would come over. Since yesterday, she had only watched from afar.

“Did you have something to say to me, Sister?”

Selena moved her lips for a long while. Then she could not say anything and turned her gaze away.

She truly could not be honest to the end.

Ah.

There had been one time when she had been honest.

“When spring comes, let’s go see the flowers.”

“...”

“You, Celine, and me. Just the three of us. You have to pack the lunch yourself, Sister.”

Selena turned her whole body away.

She had said it herself, yet she must have been embarrassed.

Thud. Thud.

Selena walked over and sat leaning against a supply wagon.

Then she awkwardly began undoing the buckles of her plate armor. Lucia, who had approached in the meantime, naturally helped her remove it.

‘They seem to have gotten quite close.’

I had heard that they had even stood watch together.

Or perhaps camaraderie had blossomed after they faced death together.

“Commander! You need to come here!”

It was Ariel’s voice.

When I turned, I saw a deep pit.

As I approached and looked down, I spotted blackened bones at the bottom.

A skull as large as a grown man’s body.

Between the gaunt ribs, in the center of the chest where a heart should have been, was a crystal.

The Demon King’s remains. The Demon King’s long-rotted heart.

This was the source that had created the Ashen Forest.

‘Knowing the backstory makes this ridiculous.’

The Demon King could have died in the Demon Realm, but instead came all the way here because he wanted to find a clean grave site.

The elves’ faces twisted horribly as they looked at the remains. They looked ready to desecrate the corpse.

But we could not let our emotions dictate how we treated the Demon King’s remains.

They were nourishment and a priceless elixir that could not be bought at any price.

“Ugh, why am I suddenly so dizzy?”

“Yeah. It feels like all my strength is being sucked out...”

The soldiers who entered the pit began clutching their foreheads one after another, complaining of dizziness.

Some even sat down on the ground as if their legs had given out.

They had crossed the line of death repeatedly, so of course they were exhausted. Every soldier was the same.

“How should we deal with it?”

The Engineering Corps Commander asked me.

Without hesitation, I jumped into the pit.

I grabbed the ash-gray crystal floating above the remains’ chest.

“I’ll use this crystal.”

The Demon King’s heart had been rotten for a long time, but I had a use for all of it.

The remaining bone fragments would be used as nourishment.

“Plant the World Tree Seed right here.”

The elves flinched, their shoulders trembling. I was telling them to plant the sacred World Tree atop the unholy remains of the Demon King.

“Yes, understood.”

Only Priestess Ariel seemed to understand what I was thinking.

An ordinary seed would quickly rot after being consumed by demonic energy.

But the World Tree Seed was different.

Life blooming from the Demon King’s death.

I believed it would use the remains as excellent nourishment and grow rapidly.

If it adapted to the Ashen Forest quickly, the purification work would accelerate tremendously as well.

“Then I’ll plant the seed right away.”

Ariel took the World Tree Seed from inside her robes. She stepped toward the remains.

Rumble...!

Without warning, the earth began to shake.

“Argh!”

“I-Is it an earthquake?!”

The soldiers screamed and tumbled across the ground.

I kept my balance and looked around.

The texture of the vibration traveling through the soles of my feet was different.

It was a pulse, as though some kind of energy were surging upward.

Only then did I realize where the tremor came from.

Right here. Beneath the bedrock I stood on.

“...Ah.”

The moment I turned my head, chills ran down my spine.

Where my gaze fell stood the Demon King’s remains, which had been nothing but pitch-black bones.

A crimson gleam flashed from the empty sockets where its eyes should have been.

Click.

The dead bones began twitching on their own.

“Everyone...”

Crash!

A massive explosion swallowed every sound in the area. The ground beneath our feet could not withstand the impact.

Crack!

Fissures split open, and the central area collapsed with a thunderous roar. The sensation of falling as the ground gave way wrapped around my whole body.

Even as I fell, I heated my Sun Ring.

Thud!

I barely canceled out the impact and rolled across the ground.

Cough, cough!

Harsh coughing rang out through the thick cloud of dust.

I quickly got to my feet and got a clear view of my surroundings.

In the darkness, those who had fallen with me lay scattered around, groaning in pain.

“Commander! Where are you?!”

Ariel’s voice.

“Do not panic! I’m here!”

My thoughts raced frantically.

The Demon King’s remains had revived as undead.