CHGD 30

Chapter 30

“Still, we’ve managed to shorten the time.”

After realizing that Deliana needed a substitute, Haster quickly ordered the jailer to speed up production. Thanks to the vast amount of magical power and materials provided, the production time was indeed shorter than originally expected.

“Guide me. I’ll go confirm it myself.”

The jailer slowly led Haster deep into the dungeon.

The castle’s dungeon—once a place to imprison criminals—was now being used as a facility to mass-produce necessary beings.

After swiftly passing through the dungeon littered with blood, flesh, corpses, and monsters, Haster reached his destination.

The very last room in the basement. Purgatory, created to remodel the one who had once been his nemesis.

“Ah, nice to meet you for the first time, Lord Haster.”

As he opened the door to that place, a familiar voice greeted him.

Haster slowly raised his head to locate the one who had spoken.

A large tank occupying most of the room caught his eye first. The tank emitted an intense blue light, the source being all sorts of organic matter swimming inside it.

And the voice came from above that tank.

“Did you come to see me?”

“Yes, Valos.”

The owner of the voice, a head placed atop the tank—Valos—smiled brightly, looking pleased.

Despite his composed voice, his body had yet to take on a human form.

Instead of a body, a head with tentacles attached floated above the tank, and the tentacles moved slowly but steadily to feed on the organic matter inside.

Grotesque organisms, resembling a fusion of shrimp, fish, and shellfish, were caught by the tentacles and absorbed into Valos’s throat.

Crunch, crunch. The tiny teeth around his neck moved incessantly.

Frowning at the unpleasant sound, Haster scowled.

“Your address is wrong. Valos calls me ‘Head of the Household.’ Deliana is also called ‘Mistress of the Household,’ so remember that.”

“Okay, I’ll remember. But isn’t it more correct to call you Count or Your Excellency instead of Head of the Household? And for the mistress, isn’t it right to call her Milady?”

“You’re a bit smarter than the previous Valos. But for Deliana’s sake, correct it.”

“Okay, I will.”

The new Valos was smarter than before, thanks to the jailer’s extra care.

But what Haster desired was the previous Valos, not a clever one. If the address changed, Deliana would surely become suspicious.

He ordered the jailer to tamper with the brain if necessary, to make him like the previous Valos.

“So, Valos, how much longer until you’re complete?”

“Hmm, probably about three more days. But the internal organ composition isn’t finished yet, so I’ll need some materials…”

“I’ll have them sent later.”

“Can’t you just bring people from the city?”

Haster frowned. As expected, this Valos was too clever.

“That place is where Deliana spent her happy days. I can’t touch it.”

“Aha, so that’s the priority. Alright, I understand.”

Unable to nod, Valos blinked his eyes slowly instead.

Although his intelligence was unexpectedly high, it seemed he would be born according to plan. Just as Haster thought to finish his confirmation and turn around, someone suddenly came running from the other end of the corridor.

“L-Lord Haster!”

“Icabel?”

With a flushed face, Icabel was carrying a small box. Arriving before Haster in an instant, he flinched upon seeing the new Valos behind him.

“Oh, that is…”

“Why are you here? This isn’t your work area.”

“Ah, ah! I came to give you this! I thought I should bring it straight to you, Lord Haster…”

Icabel carefully held out the box.

“……!”

Opening the lid, Haster’s eyes widened. Inside the box lay Valos, peacefully closing his eyes.

Where this head had been attached was obvious.

It was the previous Valos, who had been killed by Loaz.

“Where did you get this?”

“W-Well…”

Icabel stammered, explaining how he had found the box. But even hearing it all, the story didn’t quite add up.

*’He said he found it by chance in the well next to his lodging.’*

Since Icabel didn’t seem to be lying, it was highly likely that someone had deliberately placed the box there.

Someone had intentionally led him to find it.

Was it Loaz’s trap, or the work of a third party?

There were too few clues to identify the culprit.

But what needed to be done immediately was clear.

“Jailer.”

“Hmm…”

“Use this to ‘recreate’ Valos. This contains his previous memories, so Deliana won’t have any reason to suspect.”

The jailer took the box without a word. No curses or other seeds were visible on the severed head. If they used this to regenerate, they could perfectly reproduce the previous Valos.

*’Good. I can save the fragment of C****. This is better.’*

He had been reluctant to use a fragment for Valos’s resurrection anyway, so whoever’s scheme this was, he had benefited.

And now that this had happened, the Valos he had been planning to create anew no longer needed to live.

“Valos.”

“Yes, Head of the Household.”

The Valos on top of the tank smiled and waited for the order.

*’If resources remain, having one spare wouldn’t be bad, but…’*

From now on, the jailer had to work for the previous Valos.

In other words, there was no longer any point in reviving the new Valos.

“I no longer need you.”

“Does… does the Mistress not need me either?”

“Yes, Deliana doesn’t know you.”

There was no point in bringing someone with no connection to Deliana into the household.

Because from now on, that thing would no longer be Valos.

Haster gave the order lightly, as if putting back an item he had considered buying.

“Kill yourself.”

“Okay, I understand.”

Valos—no, the one who failed to become Valos—smiled and blinked without any resistance.

At the same time, the tentacles attached to his neck rose above the tank.

Crunch.

One of the tentacles grabbed his head.

Another tentacle grasped his crown, another his ear, another his mouth, nose, and cheeks, tearing and crushing them bit by bit.

And then, seizing the torn pieces, it shoved them into his throat.

Crunch, crunch.

Crunch, crunch.

Haster clicked his tongue in displeasure at the sound of eating and turned his back.

Despite various incidents, the first villager’s request was concluded well.

After secretly handing Valos’s head to Icabel, a village representative came to express gratitude upon receiving some news.

He offered to stay at the annex and serve as a servant to repay the favor, but Haster sent him back, telling him to focus on relocating the village instead.

Valos’s resurrection seemed to be proceeding smoothly.

*’It will get a bit complicated if the resurrected Valos remembers me, though.’*

To ensure he wouldn’t suspect my memories, Haster had Icabel report everything that had happened from his first meeting with Valos until just before they parted.

Fortunately, Icabel had been appointed as my guard and received information about me from the Count, which was a great help.

Moreover, according to Icabel, Valos was a monster with great strength but somewhat lacking in intelligence—a childlike, innocent type, apparently.

Actually, a bigger question than Valos was the condition of the villagers.

“Icabel, do the villagers have any desire to hide the fact that they’re monsters?”

Specifically, the villagers’ reactions. The Count seemed to have strictly silenced them, yet the villagers showed no signs of tension.

Icabel tilted his head in puzzlement.

“Didn’t they hide it well?”

“Pardon?”

“They didn’t reveal their true forms, didn’t mention any other great being besides Lord Haster, and even spoke human language… I see no problem.”

“……”

Only then did I realize they were operating under orders.

Honestly, the sloppiness was excessive. Did they think they could pass as human just by watching their words a little?

As I fell silent with a complicated expression, a voice tinged with pity came from behind.

“What are you being so serious about? Haster probably doesn’t care about those villagers anyway.”

At Loaz’s appearance, Icabel tensed up. I patted his shoulder to comfort him and faced Loaz, who was walking over from the annex.

Now fully recovered, he had returned to his post as my guard knight.

“What if I had noticed?”

“He would have erased them from the castle. He needs that species, but it’s not like there’s no substitute for them.”

“…You talk about them like they’re objects.”

Loaz shrugged.

“Aren’t humans with their slavery system the same?”

It was an irrefutable logic. The Empire’s class culture was too base to even enter such a discussion.

“Anyway, if there’s anything suspicious, he’ll erase it and pretend it’s normal. Do you still not know Haster?”

Was he thinking that as long as the monsters’ true forms weren’t shown, he could erase and hide them?

Loaz seemed to despise the Count, but I couldn’t readily agree with that assessment.

*’Am I taking my husband’s side?’*

To me, the Count was frightening, but he wasn’t an unpleasant man. It was hard to put into words, so I naturally changed the subject.