Two days passed since the duel between Eugene and Galfredik was held. During the two days, Eugene realized that people were starting to treat him differently than before. When he first arrived, the people of the castle had been afraid of him because of his status as a knight. But after he won a duel against Galfredik, he felt a different emotion in the eyes of the people.

It was very similar to the expression that Felid had shown.

“The humans here, they seem to respect you.”

“Respect?”

Mirian spoke while sprawled on Eugene’s shoulder. He frowned while responding.

“Yeah. I heard some stuff while wandering around. They fear you, but they think you’re super cool as well. I guess that big bear you beat up was really strong after all.”

Eugene concurred inwardly when Mirian mentioned Galfredik.

‘His swordsmanship was no joke.’

Galfredik wasn’t much weaker compared to the knight templars Eugene had engaged with in his previous life. In addition, just as he controlled his strength, Eugene was sure that Galfredik was also holding back.

“Anyway, I understand why you said we need to be careful of knights. If someone like him swings around swords and shields coated with silver, you could be in real trouble.”

It was obvious.

In fact, he had been killed by such knights before.

His body had been strengthened after drinking the wetland monster’s blood. He felt that he could not be killed by regular, metallic weapons, though he might feel pain.

But silver-plated weapons were an exception. 

He wasn’t entirely sure, but the pain inflicted on him by silver metals was likely several times the pain that regular humans would feel. Moreover, the wounds did not heal.

‘The question is, how far can Black Scales defend against such attacks?’

At least, he had a hunch that he would not be as helpless as he had been in his past life.

“Oi! Sir Eugene!”

Galfredik called out in a boisterous voice. 

“I heard all the mercenaries arrived. Are you heading there as well?”

“Hmm. The eldest son called.”

“Hehe! Since you have no previous experience with expeditions, let me tell you something.”

Galfredik drew closer to Eugene. After the duel, they had started speaking comfortably with each other. Galfredik was even acting quite intimate with Eugene.

“It’s important to make a strong first impression in front of mercenaries. They will be respectful outwardly towards knights, but what do you think if the knight seems weak? They will try to meddle and step out of their place. Besides, sir, I heard you weren’t very familiar with tactics, right?”

Knights were counted as aristocrats, although they ranked the lowest, and they weren’t only educated in combat. Knights were also taught how to command subordinates in combat, various strategies, and tactics, as well as other things.

But Eugene was a vampire, and he was ignorant of tactics. He made excuses by saying that he never had the chance to learn of such things because he lived alone in the mountains while training.

“Well, you only have to command three of them anyway, but you never know what could happen in an emergency. So make sure you break their spirits properly. Or you can learn by seeing what I do.”

“Thank you for the advice.”

“Hahaha! It’s nothing, nothing at all!”

Galfredik slapped Eugene on the back while laughing energetically. Although his gesture contained enough power to cause ordinary people to sway, Eugene remained immovable. Galfredik felt even more favorable towards Eugene.

He welcomed that he had a strong fellow knight whom he could rely on during the expedition. Moreover, he was rather fond of the red-eyed knight, who was quiet but powerful.

***

“Oh! There you are!”

“Sirs.”

Camara and Bertel greeted the two knights.

The mercenaries instantly stood up and bowed their heads.

“Hello there, Sir Galfredik!”

“It is an honor to meet you, Sir Galfredik!”

The mercenaries knew that he had placed quite high in Count Evergrove’s tournament. It meant that he was one of the strongest knights in the region. Therefore, the mercenaries were cautious in how they acted towards Galfredik.

‘That knight is…’

‘He’s quite thin. Doesn’t look very strong either.’

On the other hand, they seemed rather doubtful when they looked towards Eugene. Although it was a great feat to win in a duel against Galfredik, they had not seen the battle personally.

“Now, let’s get started.”

When Eugene and Galfredik sat down, Bertel started speaking while looking around.

“We will depart tomorrow morning. The dungeon is about half a day’s distance from here, so we should arrive by noon. We already sent soldiers but just in case, we will send a scouting party first before advancing. And…”

Bertel continued explaining in a dry voice.

“Naturally, we do not know what kind of monster we will come to face since we haven’t opened the dungeon yet. But based on the location of the dungeon and the size of its entrance, we are expecting goblins, gnolls, and kobolds for the low-ranking monsters. For intermediate-ranking monsters – trolls and large cave spiders. Obviously, we cannot predict the high-ranking monsters.”

The mercenaries nodded.

Even among some of the dungeons and labyrinths that had long been discovered and constantly cleared, it was unknown what kinds of high-ranking monsters dwelled in many of them.

“Anyway, take a good rest today. Alcohol and women are prohibited, but I promise you a feast when you return. If you want to gain wealth, fame, and want to enjoy the feast, come back alive.”

The mercenaries knew the weight of opening a dungeon, so they felt motivated even under moderate tension. 

A mercenary with a shaven head raised his hand.

“Sir! I have a question.”

“What is it?”

Despite Bertel’s sharp gaze, the mercenary asked undauntedly.

“How will we divide the units? Although it may not be as complicated as a maze, we are sure to run into some crossroads in the dungeon.”

“That’s…”

Bertel’s eyes turned towards Eugene and Galfredik.

Galfredik stepped up.

“Division of units will vary depending on the circumstance. However, we will always divide into two. If we split up into more than three groups, it will become difficult to deal with unexpected situations.”

“Will Sir Galfredik and… Sir Eugene take charge of the groups?”

“Why? Do you have any complaints?”

“N-not at all. It’s just that… we all know of Sir Galfredik’s abilities, but Sir Eugene… is relatively unknown. The opening of a dungeon isn’t just a regular mission and…”

“Hooh? So are you looking down on a knight? You don’t trust him? Your brain must have turned to mush from all the alcohol. Shall I take it out and see it for myself?”

When Galfredik reached for his rondel dagger while slowly standing up, the expression of the bald mercenary turned pale. 

“N-not at all! I did not know my place, sir!”

The bald mercenary hurriedly bowed his head.

But Galfredik kept his hand on the dagger as he slowly looked through the mercenaries.

“Watch yourselves, all of you. If you challenge the authority of Sir Eugene or myself one more time, I’ll make sure to check the contents of your head, expedition or not. Do we understand?”

“Yes! Sir!”

Galfredik finally loosened up after hearing the mercenaries’ unified shout, then grinned while lifting his face.

“You cheeky bastards, do you see the swelling here? I have Sir Eugene to thank for landing a good blow on my chin.”

“…..!”

“You all know that no one was my match in last year’s swordsmanship competition besides Sir Lugates, right? But this man right here, Sir Eugene, almost blew my chin off.”

Galfredik’s smile deepened as he placed his arm around Eugene’s shoulder.

“I believe that none of you are foolish enough to not realize what that means. You don’t have to believe me. There’s no more sure way than to experience it with your body. Well, I guess it’s a little problematic that experiencing it in the dungeon means most of you will end up dead.”

The mercenaries gulped nervously after finally comprehending the situation.

‘Why did that bald fucker say something so useless?’

‘Did he not know Galfredik’s temperament? What an idiot.’

The bald mercenary received the stinging gazes of other mercenaries, except for his own group. He was finally forced to turn his head.

Galfredik grinned and whispered to Eugene.

“See? This is how you break their spirits, sir.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Eugene nodded. Although he wasn’t completely convinced yet, Eugene thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to build up his relationship with Galfredik. 

***

After concluding the meeting, Eugene returned to his room along with Partec, Glade, and Lavan.

He was greeted with an unexpected presence in front of the door.

“Huh? That bas… mister.”

“We will go ahead and retire, Sir Eugene.”

Partec led the two mercenaries away after seeing Felid.

“What are you doing here?”

Eugene approached Felid. They had not seen each other in the past few days, since Felid had resided in the main building of the castle.

“How are you, Sir Eugene?”

“Not too bad. Hmm? Did someone hit you?”

Eugene narrowed his eyes when he saw Felid’s face, which was slightly swollen red in various places.

“Well, brother Bertel wanted to teach me swordsmanship…”

“Teach you swordsmanship”

Something was off.

Felid was a boy who farmed and raised pigs in Broadwin. Why would anyone suddenly try to instruct him in swordsmanship?

“He taught you swordsmanship as soon as you arrived in the castle? Did you get to meet Lord Tywin? Did the lord give permission?”

“I have not had the chance yet. Apparently, his disease is too severe. He is not in a condition to meet anyone. And for learning swordsmanship…”

Felid continued in a trembling voice after hesitating for a moment.

“Brother Bertel told me to enter the dungeon as a porter. Since it’s a family affair, that at least one person from the family needed to enter…”

“Wow! Look at that ice-hearted demon! Sir Eugene! Isn’t this straight up telling the brat to go die in the dungeon?”

It was as Mirian said. Felid’s experience with monsters would be limited to when he saw goblins snooping around town to steal the chickens or the pigs. But he was going to be joining the expedition group to open a newly discovered dungeon?

“Let’s go in first and talk.”

“Yes…”

After the two people entered the room, Felid quietly continued telling his story.

***

“…So he said he would let me see the lord when I returned from the expedition.”

Felid’s story was rather shocking. 

During the past two days, he slept only three or four hours each day, performing all sorts of chores in the main building. It appeared that Bertel had a hand in the matter, seeing as the servants addressed him as ‘young master’, but weren’t hesitant in bossing him around. Moreover, he was discriminated against because he was of different status.

“I can bear being worked and bullied. But no matter how hard I think about it, I really don’t think I should be part of the expedition. That’s why… Sir Eugene was the only one I could talk to, so that’s why I am here. I apologize.”

Felid bowed his head while stealing a glance at Eugene.

“Eugene, he is a bit of a weirdo, but he’s not the one to lie or do bad things. Let’s go find those bastards who did this to the brat and whip the... Kiek!”

Eugene grabbed Mirian like lightning and forced her into his leather pocket. Felid had missed the gesture with his head held low.

Eugene spoke.

“I’m only telling you this now, but the mercenaries who came to pick you up. They were probably sent by your brothers, not Lord Tywin.”

“What!?”

Felid abruptly raised his head.

“You know that Lord Tywin collapsed about half a year ago and that your brothers have been in charge of the estate since then, right?”

“Yes. I heard from the people of the castle.”

“So the mercenaries were sent by either of them. And eight mercenaries couldn’t even kill two black wolves and were wiped out.”

“What? What do you mean by…”

“The black wolves. It was me who actually killed them. The mercenaries were wiped out because they couldn’t even deal with two.”

“…..!”

Eugene told Felid a concoct of truth and lies, and the young man became wide-eyed with shock.

“If they had been Partec’s group instead, they would have killed the black wolves without much trouble. But those who came to pick you up were third-class weaklings that I would feel sorry to call mercenaries. So why would they hire such a group of weaklings?

“Ah…”

Felid seemed to have caught on. Eugene continued explaining the hypothesis he had been storming up until now.

“One of your brothers, perhaps both. They did not want you to safely arrive at the castle. And now, they are telling you to join the expedition. I feel quite certain of something. How about you?”

Felid shuddered with shock.

Eugene knew Felid to be quick-witted and intelligent from their trip to the Rose Castle. He was certain that the boy understood his words.

“Then…. Are they sending me to the dungeon to die? Am I going to die there?”

Eugene did not answer.

But he was certain it was highly likely. 

There were no good-hearted mercenaries who would protect a mere porter in a dungeon, even if they were the bastard son of the lord. Since he had grown closer to Partec’s group, perhaps they would protect Felid if they were facing a crisis.

“There is a way for you to live.”

“What? H-how?”

Eugene had devised a plan to meet Lord Tywin before he decided to enter the dungeon.

“Felid Tywin, you just need to become my aide.”