226 Chapter: Delicious, Indeed. (2)
‘W-What? Why isn’t he reacting at all?’
Brandel furrowed his brow, forgetting his plan to ambush. Even he was feeling the effects of the antidote, so there was no way that Ghislaine could drink two glasses and be unaffected.
As he stared blankly for a moment, he heard Ghislaine’s voice.
“What are you doing? Not drinking?”
“Ah, y-yeah, sure.”
He missed the timing for the ambush due to the sudden situation. Flustered, Brandel decided to down another shot and then strike Ghislaine.
Grrr…
A more definite reaction came from his stomach. It meant the antidote was pushing the limits of what he could handle.
‘Ugh, the poison is fine. Is that guy just slow to react to poison?’
The degree of reaction to poison varies from person to person. For Brandel, believing that was the best course of action.
But then Ghislaine poured himself another drink and downed it in one go.
‘T-This time, there should be a reaction…’
“It tastes good. Here, try another one.”
Brandel’s complexion paled noticeably. His hands started to tremble.
‘Damn, stay calm. Don’t make a mistake here.’
The knights beside Ghislaine were looking at him with a stern expression. Hesitating now would only raise their suspicions.
‘I’ll pretend to drink and strike him right away.’
Brandel forced a smile and raised the glass. He glanced at Ghislaine’s face, but his expression was completely calm.
This shouldn’t be happening. Just when he was perplexed, a thought suddenly crossed Brandel’s mind.
‘I’ve been deceived by the rumors! This guy has no mana or very little of it! That’s why he has no reaction!’
His previous feats must have been exaggerated.
Of course, he couldn’t deny everything due to the results. But despite his great command, it was clear that his strength was lacking.
Brandel slowly began to channel his mana. A sharp pain throbbed in his core due to the poison. He felt he couldn’t delay any longer.
Had he raised his glass too slowly? Ghislaine’s voice pierced through again.
“Not drinking? Can’t hold your liquor?”
Then Claude chimed in teasingly.
“If you don’t want to drink, can’t I have it?”
Claude thought both of them looked fine after drinking several glasses, so he assumed it was okay. Such high-end liquor was hard to come by.
Watching Claude drool, Ghislaine chuckled.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I think you’re being played a bit, so maybe it’s best not to drink?”
As soon as he heard those words, Brandel threw down his glass and reached for Ghislaine.
With that as a signal, four assassins, pretending to be his bodyguards, moved in.
“Ughhh!”
As Claude let out a scream, Wendy grabbed him by the nape of his neck and hurled him away. His body flew backward and tumbled.
Brandel, moving first, swiftly drew his sword from his sleeve, aiming for Ghislaine’s head.
‘Success!’
From the moment he moved, Brandel had no doubt about his success. There was no way a guy without any mana could block this strike.
He didn’t doubt it. There was no way a guy without any mana could block this strike.
‘Huh?’
In the split second he thrust his sword forward, Brandel saw Ghislaine yawning.
He had clearly aimed for the space between the brows, but when he regained his senses, his sword had veered to the side.
Thud.
Before he even fully comprehended the situation, something flew and lodged itself in his neck. It was the pen he had intended to use to sign the contract.
‘What… is this? A guy without mana… ‘
Just before Brandel’s consciousness faded, Ghislaine’s languid voice floated into his ears.
“My pen is stronger than your sword.”
Ghislaine pulled the pen out of Brandel’s corpse and placed it on top of the contract. The droplets of red blood that fell partially obscured the writing on the contract.
“The contract is canceled. I’ll need to collect a penalty.”
The assassins who had been moving alongside Brandel didn’t even bat an eye.
That was because Gillian and Wendy were already busy killing the enemies.
Clang!
Wendy lightly deflected the assassin’s sword aimed at Claude with her dagger.
“You little brat!”
Just as the assassin was about to attack again, Wendy quickly dove into his arms and reached out.
From her ring, multiple sharp needles sprang out, piercing through the assassin’s neck.
Thud!
“Grrr…”
The moment the assassin was hit by the deadly poison, he collapsed and began frothing at the mouth.
Swoosh.
Without hesitation, Wendy stepped back after killing her opponent. A sword from another assassin came flying toward the spot she had just vacated.
Clang!
Swiftly, the two daggers that Wendy now held sliced through the air as they returned to her hands.
Swish!
Clang! Clang!
The assassin managed to deflect the rapidly approaching daggers. After blocking two daggers in quick succession, he aimed to charge at Wendy.
Thud!
If not for the third dagger embedding itself in his forehead.
“What the… when…?”
He muttered as he fell to the ground.
Seeing this, Claude murmured as well.
“You’re really strong, huh? But that seems a bit cheap…”
Wendy shot a contemptuous look at Claude. He shrugged and lowered his eyes, pouting.
Meanwhile, the other two assassins on the other side met a far more anticlimactic demise.
Gillian didn’t dodge; instead, he approached them even closer and reached out.
Thud!
He didn’t even pull out a weapon. He merely grabbed both assassins by the face and slammed their heads together.
Kaboom!
The assassins never even got the chance to launch a proper attack before their skulls cracked open and they died.
The Knights of Penris gawked at the scene.
‘What the heck? That old geezer is getting stronger by the minute.’
‘What on earth has he been eating?’
‘Look at those muscles twisting around! Has he undergone some sort of revival?’
Gillian’s skills had been growing rapidly since he met Ghislaine.
He was already strong, but Ghislaine filled the gaps he had.
The wisdom passed down by Ghislaine, who had even risen to one of the top seven in the continent, was far more beneficial for a strong fighter like Gillian than mere training.
In an instant, Brandel and the assassins were taken care of. The Knights of Penris stood by, with nothing to do, and had no intention of getting involved.
Why jump in when there are monsters right next door?
They weren’t worried at all about what the lord might be eating.
‘What can’t someone who has consumed the poison of the Blood Python handle?’
It was already a well-known fact among the close associates that Ghislaine’s stomach was powerful enough to digest steel.
The assassins disguised as laborers also began to pull out their weapons in various places. They aimed first at the administrators, who were busy counting their numbers.
Or at least, they tried to.
Thud!
Suddenly, the administrators pulled out their weapons and ambushed the assassins first.
Among them was a particularly large and glistening-headed man who tore his clothes and shouted.
“I am the muscle-born Gordon!”
“Ugh! No wonder you’re so big for an administrator!”
“Ugh! I knew it, the administrator is way too big for his title!”
The assassins fell into chaos. It seemed like the enemies already knew the plan and had prepared for it.
Even though the administrators ambushed them, they couldn’t easily handle the assassins. High-level knights from Desmond were mixed in, after all.
As the battle dragged on, the surroundings turned into a mess. Ghislaine spun her arms while laughing.
“Alright, it’s time to collect our penalty. This all belongs to us now, right? Let’s sweep up the rest quickly. Our kids might get hurt.”
With such tremendous resources falling into their hands for free, it was no wonder she was overjoyed.
Ghislaine already knew the owner of Brandel Merchant Group was Count Harold Desmond. That was common knowledge in her previous life.
Since the Duke Faction had succeeded in their rebellion and Harold had taken control of the North, there was no reason to hide it.
But for the owner of such a merchant group to want to meet her directly? Suggesting they should meet outside because he had too much stock?
“Well, that’s obvious.”
Even if she didn’t know the true identity of Brandel, she wouldn’t have been easily fooled. The enemies didn’t fully grasp her real abilities.
The poison was the same. Ghislaine was naturally resistant to most poisons. Her outstanding mana manipulation skills allowed her to separate and confine toxic elements within her body.
However, after consuming the Blood Python’s poison, there was no need for that anymore. Just drinking it turned everything into flesh and blood.
“I should finish off the rest of that later.”
It seemed to be quite a potent poison, as it even slightly increased her mana.
Once Ghislaine jumped in, the assassins were swiftly mopped up.
Worried about the still-beginner-level knights from Penris, she used a bit more power. So, there was no way the assassins could hold their ground.
The last assassin to fall trembled and said, “S-some of the rumors were true…”
They were incredibly strong. They themselves were no pushovers, yet they treated their opponents like children, making them feel like they were facing a monster.
She had heard rumors about the castle gate being smashed single-handedly, but she didn’t believe it. It was normal for those exceptional in their skills to be recognized for their sword talent since childhood.
But the rumors about Ghislaine were merely that she was a wild child, so the common expectation was that she would be somewhat lacking in swordsmanship.
Still, they had carefully selected skilled individuals and practiced several times beforehand.
They never imagined they would be taken down so easily.
Urgh!
Without saying a word, Ghislaine decapitated the assassin.
Once everything was sorted out, Claude rushed over, panting, and asked, “How did you know? Why didn’t you tell us? You disguised the knights as administrators for the first transaction just in case, right? You knew about this one too, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. But if I told you we were going to fight, you’d have been too busy thinking of ways to escape.”
“…….”
It was frustrating, but he had no words to argue back. In truth, from the moment the knights disguised as administrators showed up, he had considered not coming at all.
Feeling awkward, Claude changed the subject.
“Anyway, this is all free, right? Total jackpot!”
Just as happy as Claude was, Ghislaine was quite satisfied as well. As much as she gained, Harold would suffer a massive loss.
With this amount, the finances were bound to wobble for a bit. Plus, the real laborers, not the assassins, had survived, so unpleasant rumors would likely spread on that front too.
She planned to give a little consolation money to those who lost their jobs and stir up some talk here and there.
‘By the way, now they’re openly targeting me. If that’s the case…’
Harold discarding such resources and a precious merchant group meant something else entirely.
‘Amelia must be out of the picture now. Either she’s ready… or she’s delegated her authority.’
Raybold’s rebellion was one of Harold’s top priorities. There was no way the Duke Faction would give that up, so Harold stepping back ultimately meant Amelia would soon make her move.
With Lee gone, Harold stepping back meant that Amelia would soon take action as well.
Even though a lot of the future had changed, this was not much different from what Ghislaine had anticipated.
“Ah, now that I think about it… the rebellion will happen on the same day as in my previous life.”
Nodding several times, Ghislaine murmured while looking at the towering resources.
“If it’s Amelia, she’ll definitely succeed no matter how I interfere. I do have some gratitude towards her, but I still need to hold her back a bit.”
Imagining Amelia getting annoyed made Ghislaine chuckle.
*
Construction of the roads progressed without a break. As the network of roads sprawled tightly between the castles, fortresses, and towns, Claude raised another issue.
“The construction is going smoothly, but it seems unlikely to be usable right away.”
Ghislaine knew what the problem was.
“Is it because of the transport vehicles?”
“Yes. Most of the horses in the territory are being used as war mounts. We’re significantly short on horses.”
No matter how good the roads are, they’re useless without horses to travel fast.
But horses were a precious resource. They were expensive and hard to obtain.
This was because they were animals widely used in combat, transport, and agriculture.
Still, having roads was better than having none at all.
“In exchange, it will definitely help with the movement and supply of the army.”
“Hmm, right. To spark a transport revolution, horses are essential. That will also invigorate the economy.”
Seeing Ghislaine’s seemingly nonchalant response, Claude timidly asked.
“Do you have plans to acquire horses?”
If none are available, nobles create them, or if that doesn’t work, they simply steal them. However, no matter how he thought about it, it was impossible to create horses, and there was nowhere to steal them from.
Still, he asked, hinting at a slight hope, but Ghislaine replied dismissively.
“Of course, I plan to acquire horses.”
“Ooh! Our lord is amazing! What is it? I promise I won’t oppose this time, so please tell me!”
“Are you really not going to oppose?”
Her tone shifted slightly to a more anxious one.
She had not faced much opposition regarding recent projects like the incubator manufacturing and road construction. Yet, the way she asked made uneasy premonition creep back again.
Still, taking advantage of the moment, Claude shamelessly pressed on.
“Yes! I won’t oppose!”
At that, Ghislaine chuckled. Even if he said that now, it was clear that once Ghislaine taught everyone her methods, they’d all blow up in opposition.
So for now, she had no intention of sharing any details.
“I’ll tell you later. I have some things to do first.”
‘Geez, you’re not telling me, which just makes me more curious. What’s with that?’
Claude smacked his lips in frustration.
“What do you need to do first?”
“Let’s host a feast. Invite some young lords from the neighboring territories.”
“A feast?”
Claude and the retainers tilted their heads in confusion.
Ghislaine wasn’t particularly fond of the stiff feasts held by nobles. Even if she threw a feast, she preferred to mingle with the territory residents casually.
So it was only natural for them to be puzzled by the idea of her suddenly holding a feast for the nobles.
“I just want the young folks to strengthen their friendships. We’ve grown up quite a bit, haven’t we?”
“Well, that’s true. It’s time for our lord to manage connections.”
Even now, despite being just a young lord, most of those people would inherit something. There was no harm in building connections with them while they were still young.
While Claude was lost in thought, Ghislaine smirked as if to emphasize her next point.
“But there’s someone you absolutely must invite. Use any means necessary to get them here. Even if you have to kidnap them.”
Before acquiring horses, she planned first to rattle the minds of their enemies.
