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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Aftermath
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Step, step.
He strode forward.
Through the dense forest of tents.
He had first visited to participate in the groom competition, and of course, had returned several times to use the gate.
The high-ranking territory where the Waryong Fortress had been stationed until Orr Kai contracted with the basilisk.
Nakrang Fortress.
It was now an exceedingly familiar place to Dion and the people of the Waryong Fortress.
But not at this moment.
The place they now set foot in was the very heart of Nakrang Fortress.
A sanctuary that even the Cortell clan, the ruling family of Nakrang Fortress, could not easily enter.
Perhaps that was why.
The orcs lined up on either side watched them with piercing eyes.
Yet the half-masked boy, unfazed by the countless stares, walked on calmly.
The boy finally stopped before the largest and most magnificent tent in all of Nakrang Fortress, a city of hundreds, even thousands, of tents.
He was there.
The one who had invited Dion.
An old but powerful, massive orc whose mere presence exuded a pressure that seemed to weigh down one's shoulders.
—Urk, the Lord of Nakrang Fortress.
"Hello, Mister Orc."
"Khuhu, I never expected to see you in a place like this, Gongja."
"I know. I guess that's why they say it's a small world."
Urk projected an aura so intimidating that most would not dare meet his gaze.
But Dion treated him as casually as a neighborhood uncle, sitting down across from him with perfect composure.
And Urk did not fault his impudent attitude.
"I hear my daughter is indebted to you."
"Oh, please. It's no big deal. Pandora would have been fine whether I was there or not."
"Physical wounds can be healed, but a crumpled reputation cannot be smoothed out. Isn't that right, Pandora?"
"You speak the truth, Father."
The beautiful, eye-patched woman sitting demurely beside Urk.
Pandora continued politely.
"Had you not helped me, Gongja, it would have been difficult to clear my name of the accusation that I murdered the lord of the Goemok Ranch."
"Hmm, is that so?"
"No need to be so modest. A true man should know how to claim his achievements."
"Hmm… Well then, I'll consider this my way of repaying you for the Waryong Fortress."
"Khuhu! You won the Waryong Fortress fair and square through the competition. That calculation doesn't add up."
He laughed loudly for a moment, as if he'd heard an amusing joke.
Then, as if a thought had just occurred to him, Urk spoke.
"By the way, I never imagined Ras would die like that. A pity."
"Were you close when he was alive?"
"We're both old. Live long enough, and people become either enemies or friends."
As lords who had been active around the Deformed City for decades, it would have been stranger if they hadn't known each other.
Especially since they had been discussing a vassal contract, for which he had originally sent Pandora.
Perhaps that was why.
Urk, who had been clicking his tongue as if mourning Ras, turned his gaze to Dion.
"Still, it's a relief. Now that you've taken over the Goemok Ranch, Ras can rest easy in the afterlife."
"Aren't you disappointed?"
"About what?"
"The Goemok Ranch. You could have had it, Mister Orc."
"Khuhuhu. Yes, that's true."
Urk nodded.
One can never have too many territories.
Separate from money and profit, simply having the loyalty of a ruling family was a great source of power.
Despite this, Urk grinned.
"But what does it matter? If my son-in-law has gained a territory, that's not so bad either."
"I'm not your son-in-law yet, Mister Orc."
"That can be rectified right now."
As if it were a simple matter.
Urk calmly turned his head and looked at Pandora beside him.
"Pandora, isn't it about time you made the decision you've been putting off?"
"…Are you referring to the reward from the groom competition, Father?"
"I am."
When Dion had passed the groom competition for the dowry of the Waryong Fortress.
And declared he would take Pandora as his second wife, as he already had a fiancée from one of the Hundred Great Families.
Urk had given Pandora the authority to decide on the betrothal with Dion.
Thus, Pandora had kept that right in reserve, leaving her in a delicate state of being neither his fiancée nor not…
"I heard you grew quite close to the Gongja during your stay at the Goemok Ranch."
"That is correct."
"And you even owe him for clearing your name."
"As you say, Father."
"Most importantly, from what I can see, I doubt the Gongja would treat you poorly, even as a second wife."
"…"
"So, make up your mind now."
A young lord with two territories was a rare find.
Even if she wasn't the first wife, the two of them would make a perfectly suitable pair.
As Pandora fell silent at Urk's words.
Dion spoke up casually.
"Don't put your daughter on the spot, Mister Orc."
"I am merely giving advice to my shy daughter, as her elder."
"That's my point. There's nothing uglier than a parent meddling in their daughter's love life."
"…Ugly?"
"Yes. Whether you meddle or not, Mister Orc, Pandora will be mine in the end."
"…"
Making her fall for him was his job, a right belonging only to him, who had passed the groom competition.
Seducing the hesitant Pandora was an amusing task in itself, so he shouldn't spoil his fun with unnecessary interference.
Pandora was left speechless by Dion's words, which were so absurd they were almost embarrassing.
Urk, who had been watching Dion with his deep-set eyes, burst into laughter.
"Khuhuhu, indeed. Are you saying a true beast only eats the prey it hunts itself?"
"I do prefer taking things for myself over being spoon-fed."
"Indeed. It seems our tastes align quite well."
"I think so too."
As if pleased by that unbridled confidence.
To the grinning, nodding Urk, Dion said with a bright smile.
"On that note, there's something I'd like to ask you, Mister Orc."
"What is it?"
"Mister Orc, are you perhaps interested in a territory war?"
"…"
In that moment.
All expression vanished from Urk's face.
***
After their long yet short conversation.
Dion left Urk's tent.
The boy walked just as he had upon arriving… no, with an even more leisurely pace than before.
While walking alongside Dion to see him off.
Pandora suddenly spoke.
"—How did you know?"
It was an abrupt question, if anything.
But the half-masked boy answered leisurely, as if he had expected her to ask.
"The vassal contract."
"…Are you saying you figured it out just from the fact that I was trying to form a vassal contract with the Goemok Ranch?"
"There's no such thing as a free lunch."
"…"
"That's why you were secretly negotiating behind the scenes, wasn't it, Pandora?"
She was not wrong.
A vassal contract was not a one-sided pledge of loyalty.
If a vassal was exploited excessively, they could flee with their territory at any time. To prevent that, a lord had to consistently guarantee their safety and support.
In that respect, the very act of trying to recruit the Goemok Ranch revealed Urk's objective.
There were very few reasons to take on the Goemok Ranch—a magic stone-devouring hippo that handled a large number of mounts—as a vassal.
Among them, the most common and representative reason was war.
Above all…
"Like I said before, Mister Orc is a tyrant."
"…Indeed, a wise answer to a foolish question."
A tyrant is never satisfied.
More power.
More territory.
More strength.
They wage constant war to obtain it, viewing even peace as a mere preparation for the next conflict.
Wasn't it stranger for an ambitious man like Urk *not* to be preparing for war?
Dion, speaking leisurely, asked as if a thought had just occurred to him.
"On that note, Pandora, isn't it interesting?"
"What is, Gongja?"
"The fact that Nakrang Fortress showed up at such a perfect time."
"It is embarrassing to say, but it is because my father cherishes and worries about me so."
"Hmm, for that to be the reason, your arrival seems a bit too fast."
"…"
"—As if you knew there would be trouble at the Goemok Ranch."
Dion smiled brightly.
Nakrang Fortress was a territory without a driver.
Led by the divine beasts of other small and medium territories, its travel speed was on the slower side.
This meant they must have departed *before* Pandora's return was overdue to have arrived by now.
The tragedy at Goemok Ranch was an event that occurred with the death of Lord Ras, so how could Urk have predicted it?
How very curious.
To the smiling boy, the witch, after a short silence, retorted.
"It is certainly an interesting story… but by that logic, isn't the Waryong Fortress's side even more interesting?"
"You have a point."
"…"
"Anyway, there are just too many interesting things happening in Odobaekryeong."
Perhaps because they had been walking while they talked.
The two had reached the drawbridge connecting Nakrang Fortress and the Waryong Fortress before they knew it.
There, Dion offered a light farewell to Pandora, who had stopped walking.
"Thanks for walking me out. See you next time."
To the boy who spun around and crossed the drawbridge without hesitation.
Pandora spoke without thinking.
"Gongja, thank you for keeping your promise."
Perhaps because Pandora's words were unexpected.
As she watched the back of Dion, who glanced back, left only a bright smile, and then continued across the bridge.
Pandora paused.
The dark elf mother and daughter who had come to see Dion off.
Because the elegant dark elf among them, from behind Dion, bowed her head politely to her.
As if to say thank you for keeping the promise.
After even the dark elf, who had been watching her with calm, golden eyes, disappeared into the Waryong Fortress.
Pandora finally turned and walked back the way she came.
***
And what greeted her upon her return to the tent was a question from Urk.
"What did he say?"
"He said it was simple deduction."
"…Without any clear evidence or grounds, he was just testing me?"
"Rather than that, it seemed he believed it was something a tyrant like you would inevitably do, Father."
"That I would not stop waging war?"
He remained silent for a moment.
Urk reached out to his side.
He picked up the skull goblet of the previous Lord of Nakrang Fortress, gulped down the drink, and then spoke.
"He truly is a formidable Gongja."
"Do you find it displeasing?"
"Why would I? Because he is capable enough to read my intentions and even make such a proposal?"
"…"
"Pandora, I am fond of talented people."
Thud.
Setting down the empty goblet, Urk looked at Pandora with his deep-set eyes and said.
"Enough to have adopted you when everyone else shunned you."
"…"
"And regardless of his true intentions, the White-Masked Young Master is a talent worthy of me joining hands with."
"…"
"That is, until he becomes hostile or gets in my way."
The previous groom competition.
The subjugation of the Deformed City's bandits.
And now, resolving the dungeon break and even consuming the Goemok Ranch.
Acknowledging the abilities of Dion, who had proven himself time and again in such a short period.
Urk looked at Pandora with deeply sunken eyes.
"But Pandora. You have been failing continuously as of late."
"…"
"To kill that traitor, Ras, and still fail to acquire the Goemok Ranch. Do you have any excuses?"
"After repeated failures, what could I possibly say…"
Urk's gaze on his cherished adopted daughter was far too cold, but Pandora met it calmly.
Ras had been secretly contacting other families, trying to sell the Goemok Ranch for a high price.
Her job had been to acquire it from him as cheaply as possible.
—By any means necessary.
In that sense, losing the Goemok Ranch was a clear failure.
It was an unavoidable reprimand, even for her, but Pandora herself paid it no mind.
Instead, she merely brought up a report she had been holding back.
"However, I have a conjecture as to the cause of this failure."
"What is it?"
He shouldn't have needed to bring his territory all the way here just for a hunting festival.
Why had Dion secretly had the Waryong Fortress, which had been docked at Nakrang Fortress, follow them?
From where did his astonishingly accurate information originate?
And…
Who on earth had murdered Lord Ras before she could and framed her for it?
The single answer that would resolve all those questions, Pandora calmly revealed.
"—That the White-Masked Young Master may in fact be the Deformed City's greatest assassin, the Master of a Thousand Faces."
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