“What’s with this long line?”
Venom was taken aback by the changes in his hometown after a long absence.
In truth, everything else was just as it had been, but one newly built structure stood out unusually.
A store with a sign that read ‘Somerset Goods Store,’ leaving him curious about what items it sold.
There was already a long queue stretching out there.
Most of the buyers were men, but here and there, he could see women and children, making it impossible to guess what kind of store it was.
Especially when he saw all those who had arrived with him on the teleportation pad join the line as if possessed by a ghost, he quickly realized this was the reason Goldfull Valley had become so bustling.
He couldn’t help but feel a tinge of curiosity himself and wanted to check out the store, but there simply wasn’t time to indulge in such whims, so he hurriedly exited the crowded area.
“Regardless of what I do, I need funds.”
Even as a dark wizard, he couldn’t survive without eating, and he needed a lot of money to rebuild his base of operations and organization.
Of course, dark wizards wouldn’t make money through honest labor, leaving him with only one option.
Unsecured, interest-free, and indefinite loans.
In simple terms, that meant plunder.
Typically, they would ambush a quiet village, taking people as sacrifices and keeping the goods for themselves.
But now, without chaos crystals to manipulate the ground burrowers and no allies to raid with, it was difficult to attack a village.
Venom’s dark magic skills were still quite lacking, so he would struggle to handle any villagers armed with sticks.
“I’ll have to threaten the offspring of some affluent family with curses to extort money.”
Curses were one of the representative techniques of dark magic.
Depending on the caster, it could be a terrifying spell capable of killing an opponent, but Venom’s meager ability could only manage to make someone bedridden for a few days at best.
For a healthy adult male, it might just feel like a minor illness.
However, the power could create significant trouble for weaker children.
So, Venom set his sights on targeting children.
If he cast a curse on the offspring of a wealthy family and went to their parents claiming he could heal them, they would surely plead with tears to save their child.
It was a deception possible because both the curse and its cure were in Venom’s hands.
After repeating this several times, he could gather a reasonable amount of funds and use it to resurrect his organization.
“I’ll rebuild the Abyss Cult. An organization with me as the leader!”
Venom’s gaze began to fill with hope once again.
He must certainly have been someone strong against ill fate. How coincidental that he happened to be out when the cult was attacked, or that he had possessed chaos crystals capable of manipulating ground burrowers.
“Rach! Why aren’t you running?”
The voice of a child snapped Venom back to reality as he had already started imagining himself as the future leader of the cult.
“What the…”
Was it around five or six years old?
A chubby blonde girl was perched on a cart, whining at a dog.
At the front of the cart, there was a dog tethered with a leash, looking utterly exhausted as it slumped on the ground.
“What kind of combination is this?”
Venom felt a sense of cognitive dissonance.
The girl seemed to be the daughter of a well-off family, yet there she was, riding in a cart.
Anyone would mistake it for a parade for a victorious general given how majestically she was sitting in the cart.
And it was understandable why it wasn’t being pulled by a horse.
But surely an ass or a cow would have been more suitable?
Why on earth was a dog doing the pulling?
And why did this puppy look like it was as big as a wolf?
Despite his attempts to reason through it, he couldn’t comprehend the combination of elements that shouldn’t logically coexist.
However, what mattered was that this odd combination indeed held significance.
“I smell the aura of a noble young lady?”
The important point was that this girl wandering alone seemed to be the child of a rather affluent family.
In fact, she wasn’t alone.
Having learned more about vigilance than dark magic, Venom noticed the clumsy figures hidden around the girl, acting as her protectors.
But having guards didn’t mean there was a way to stop a curse.
One of the advantages of curses was their ability to be cast from a distance.
Just as he was contemplating where to start, prey had presented itself. Venom’s spirits soared, feeling as if the heavens had smiled down upon him.
Now all he had to do was prepare to cast a spell on the girl from a suitable distance.
Imagining the scene of her dying and the expressions of her grieving parents made it hard for Venom to contain his excitement.
But to be thorough, Venom surveyed his surroundings.
It would be troublesome if any wizards or clergy were nearby.
While knights and ordinary people couldn’t sense the aura of dark magic, capable wizards or clergy could detect its foreign essence, so he needed to be cautious.
Fortunately, there appeared to be no wizards or clergy nearby.
“Little girl, you shall become the foundation for the new Abyss Cult.”
Venom stealthily hid behind a wall, ready to cast his curse and began chanting the spell.
“I have looked upon my enemy; now, darkness, bind and break her, curse her soul…”
He pulled out the wand concealed within his robes, with the curse nearing completion.
But at that moment…
Bark!
The dog’s gaze sharpened as it lay sprawled on the ground, suddenly tearing away its leash.
“Rach! You’re going to get scolded by big brother for that!”
Ignoring Aida’s words, Rach focused intently on a single point.
In an instant, Rach sprang toward where he was looking, leaving Venom dumbfounded.
“What the hell! What’s with this crazy dog?!”
Right as Venom was about to cast his curse, hiding behind the wall, he found himself tumbling down as Rach unexpectedly charged at him.
“Bark! Bark!!!”
Rach’s athleticism was remarkable for a dog of considerable size.
Venom had thought he wouldn’t have any trouble dealing with a single dog, but shocked by Rach’s speed and strength, he struggled to fend him off, barely managing to complete one spell.
“Veil of Darkness!”
A basic dark magic spell that binds the target through the shadows.
As the spell was completed, Venom thought he had succeeded, but he could only watch in disbelief as Rach effortlessly leapt above the black hands emerging from his own shadow.
“What kind of dog jumps that high!!!”
However, he couldn’t afford to continue complaining. The opponent he thought would be easy turned out to be quite formidable, and realizing he couldn’t guarantee victory even with all his effort caused cold sweat to run down Venom’s back.
Moreover…
“What the hell is that? I’ve never seen someone like that in the territory?”
The soldiers hiding around Aida began to approach Venom, responding to Rach’s sudden actions.
“Dammit, if those guys get involved, I’m truly done for.”
Had even the goddess, or perhaps the dark lord, abandoned him?
Contrary to Venom’s prayer to finish this quietly, they had already fallen under the watchful eyes of someone—or someone’s.
*
“The Saintess is here for a visit, so we have no choice.”
“I’m sorry, Princess Bluewell. I apologize for not being able to escort you to the reception room, but would you be willing to wait by taking a look at the workshop?”
Alain spoke to Amelia with a courteous demeanor.
Normally, when the reception room was empty, other nobles would guide their guests to their estate’s garden or zoo.
However, Rupert and Count Klein, who were practical and focused more on utility, didn’t see gardens as a priority.
“A garden? Why not just use it as a factory area?”
“I think the same, Young Master.”
“Absolutely not!! How could one entertain guests without even a garden in a noble’s residence?”
Count Bradley gasped in horror, but none of the servants dared to step in, only gazing on regretfully.
In truth, if they were to have gardens or zoos, it would all turn into their responsibility, and they thought it would be better to have a factory instead.
As a result, only factories filled the vast estate of the Somerset family, and showing guests around the factory had become a kind of course.
“Thank you for that. I’ve been curious to see the place where you create those beautiful books.”
When Amelia willingly accepted the proposal, Alain first guided her to the book workshop.
“May I introduce you to everyone about the Young Lady?”
“No need. I don’t want to disturb their work.”
As soon as Alain brought her into the workshop, the artisans glanced up, nodded slightly, then focused back on their tasks.
It was quite a common occurrence for guests visiting the Somerset family to take a look, so the artisans had long since become accustomed to it.
Of course, a few couldn’t help but be enthralled by Amelia’s captivating appearance, but upon catching Alain’s fierce glare, they finally managed to avert their eyes.
“Who is that person?”
“Ah, I failed to introduce you. This is ‘Kroon,’ the Dwarf artisan who has begun working in our workshop.”
As Amelia’s gaze fell upon the Dwarf, who was busy fiddling with a metallic arm in one corner of the workshop, Alain added his explanation.
A workshop where a Dwarf, rarer than an Elf in the Empire, worked?
“So this is where the beautiful books are created.”
Having only received the finished books before, seeing the artisans crafting them filled Amelia with new emotions.
The scene of them discussing over their respective processes appeared incredibly impressive.
“This must be another beautiful landscape created by that person.”
It surely must be that he was a warm-hearted person, despite the tough exterior he showed.
Although all the artisans looked exhausted from their work, their expressions were radiant, and the air was filled with laughter.
If Rupert had been a bad boss, such a natural scene would be impossible.
“Could I cook for these people?”
“You mean you want to do it yourself, Young Lady?”
“Yes, I brought plenty of ingredients, and since I’ve been learning to cook lately, serving others has become my humble hobby.”
“Seeing the Young Lady cooking for them… It would surely be a miraculous joy for the artisans.”
At Alain’s response, Amelia smiled shyly.
Seeing that, Alain thought to himself that a beautiful person like her preparing a dish with a beautiful heart would certainly taste divine.
(TN: No way. Lol)
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