Reincarnated User Manual

Chapter 223: Barnacle (2)

A few days later, in the Alhyeon Room of the Imperial Palace.

“So, how’s the slave-making coming along?”

Victor, sitting on the throne, spoke with a playful expression.

A person who stood above everyone must be dignified and revered. Especially for the young, they were advised to be careful with their speech and actions to avoid being seen as frivolous. However, Victor could not maintain that demeanor in front of Shiron.

The only response she could muster was to recall childhood memories and warmly greet an old friend.

“No.”

Shiron gave a simple answer and turned around, indicating he was leaving the Alhyeon Room. Victor hurriedly stood up from the throne with a panicked expression.

“Why are you leaving already?!”

“I’ve said everything I needed to. So, I’m leaving.”

When he had agreed to make a terrorist a slave, there was no one more charming in the world, but now that he had let him go, Victor seemed like nothing more than a pervert obsessed with men.

“Come on, we haven’t seen each other in so long. How about a cup of tea? Think of my dignity, please.”

“…Let go. We both know how busy we are.”

“I’m not busy! I canceled all my appointments when I heard you were coming.”

“I’m the one who’s busy.”

“You’ll get sick if you keep living like that. How can a person be busy all the time?”

“Standing there showing off while I’m tired…”

“I, I was wrong. There’s a room next to the Alhyeon Room. Let’s go there.”

Reluctantly, Shiron decided to go along with Victor’s hand. Although being alone with Victor wasn’t appealing, he wasn’t the kind of person who would do anything inappropriate, so there was no need to completely distance himself.

Shiron trudged along and plopped down on a chair adorned with gold and jewels. Originally a masterpiece made for the emperor, Victor personally brewed tea for Shiron, despite his status.

“The reports I’ve been getting these past few weeks are incredible.”

Victor, placing the teacup down, couldn’t hide his delight and smiled broadly.

“In the back alleys, headless corpses are displayed, and since there are no signs of struggle, there’s a rumor that the Grim Reaper has been through. I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time I read them.”

“…Sip.”

“And just the other day, there was a report about the ground shaking at midnight, and the plaza was completely overturned. It seems like it will cost a lot to restore it. I had a heated debate with the ministers, but… of course, I’m not blaming you. Everyone is satisfied that you cleaned up all the troublesome trash!”

Shiron tilted his head slightly at the mention of “troublesome trash,” but it wasn’t entirely wrong.

Although the original plan to capture ‘Yoru, the Barbarian Princess’ and turn her into a battle slave didn’t work out, there was no one to complain about the results other than Shiron and the wanted criminals.

The wanted criminals Shiron dealt with in the past few weeks were not civilians who had turned bad; they were elite, professionally trained individuals. None of them were without the ability to wield sword energy, and while not all were as powerful as Yoru, many were high-level warriors capable of emitting strong energy.

Professional criminals were hard to deal with. Especially if they were hidden among the populace, it’s not easy to send in forces to eliminate them.

To kill elites, you needed to send in elites as well.

Dealing with the monsters in the north was already difficult enough, and having to use the empire’s carefully trained elites in a war of attrition with wanted criminals remains a significant problem for the empire.

But those troublesome rebels disappeared without much effort.

Was this how the previous emperor felt about Hugo Prient?

Victor couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that overwhelmed her whenever she thought of Shiron.

“Is it okay that we missed the barbarian princess?”

Shiron, feeling a bit more alert with the hot tea in his stomach, met Victor’s gaze.

“The spark of terror hasn’t been removed yet.”

“The empire isn’t so shameless and insolent. Even if you, a person capable of overturning the board, have been around for hundreds of years, we’ve been running smoothly.”

Victor, who had been smiling broadly, changed her expression and replied.

This was an aspect she rarely showed Shiron.

“We’ll advance to the border in two days. Let’s see how they react, if they have the nerve to split their forces in this chaos.”

“…That’s sooner than I thought.”

“I’m not trying to refute your opinion, but the ministers and I think it’s not too fast. In fact, it’s seen as a bit delayed due to the cleaning up.”

It’s a matter of bringing in the barbarian leader. There’s no way they wouldn’t notice, so the empire had to prepare for a local war that hadn’t happened in 500 years.

‘It’s fortunate that it seems well-managed.’

Sipping his tea, Shiron felt an odd sense of relief about Victor. He had worried a lot, thinking Victor had become the emperor unprepared, but thanks to the emphasized imperial administration system, Victor was showing the qualities of a proper emperor.

‘If only he didn’t have that penchant for men, we could have been closer…’

“Not only the border but the expeditionary force will also focus on defending the empire…”

While Shiron harbored some regretful thoughts, Victor continued with an ambitious look.

“This will shorten the expedition period and increase job satisfaction among knights and soldiers. Public security will also improve. The wild lands, almost lawless except for Rien, will fall within the knights’ range of activity.”

“…Other countries will have a hard time.”

“We’ll send surplus troops.”

“Without pay?”

“No.”

“We’ll be hated.”

“The empire is strong.”

Victor answered with a sly smile.

“And also wise.”

Shiron sensed cunning and ferocity in that smile.

That night, returning from the imperial palace, Shiron faced a beast that made Victor’s ferocity seem like child’s play.

“Brother.”

“Uh, yeah…”

“Don’t cheat on me while I’m gone. Got it?”

With hair drenched in sweat, Siriel asked this while exuding a chilling aura.

“You didn’t answer.”

“I never learned wind magic.”

“……Ahaha! Brother, you’re so funny!”

Siriel, laughing heartily at Shiron’s nonchalant answer, planted a deep kiss on his face.

“Why is my brother so perfect? Handsome, smart, funny… It’s amazing~”

“Ahem, I’m pretty great. So could you move a bit? I’m thirsty.”

Shiron tried to escape from Siriel, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Despite learning mana and having strength, and not getting tired thanks to blessings, just dealing with Siriel left him exhausted.

‘I thought she was weak, but it seems she’s been building up a lot. This might drain me to death.’

“Wait… Ugh.”

However, Siriel had no intention of getting off despite Shiron’s request. Perhaps inspired by his mention of thirst, her eyes lit up.

No idea where she learned this perverse behavior, Shiron couldn’t help but be taken aback by the warm sensation flowing into his mouth through their kiss.

“H-H-How is it…? Do you dislike it because it’s lukewarm?”

Despite her extremely embarrassed face, Siriel asked Shiron for his thoughts. If she was so embarrassed, she shouldn’t have done it, but Shiron silently shook his head for his fiancée, who was about to go on an expedition.

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

“Yeah…”

Dizziness swept over him.

Engaging intimately with such a beautiful woman was a rare fortune, even worth millions, but being forcibly drained multiple times made his lower body feel numb, giving him goosebumps.

Was it the 64th time… or the 65th? It’s a wonder the bed legs haven’t broken.

Smooch♡

…Just when he thought it was over, Siriel slid down and started making slurping noises. Shiron felt like all sensation in his lower body was being sucked out, unable to close his mouth.

‘66 times…’

Only after three more times did Shiron finally manage to break free from Siriel.

“Kid? You…?”

The next morning, as Seira came out of the annex, she covered her mouth upon seeing the staggering Shiron.

Thanks to that, the dented lead bullet and the revolver covered in mud floated in the air in her white hands.

“Did a vampire get you? How did you get so skinny overnight?!”

“……The results, how did they turn out?”

Shiron, putting strength into his trembling legs, leaned on Seira for support.

The first thing he did upon returning to the mansion was not to rest, but to meet Seira, who was analyzing the lead bullet.

“It took a while… but are you sure you’re okay? You look lighter.”

“Yeah, great sorcerer Seira, the strongest mage on the continent. Just tell me the results.”

Shiron, escaping Seira’s arms, felt a strong sense of dizziness and collapsed onto the sofa.

A look of concern appeared on Seira’s face as Shiron urged her for an answer.

“Um… first, don’t be surprised.”

“What did you find?”

“I’ll show you.”

Seira carefully placed the floating lead bullet and revolver on the ground, then began to inscribe a complex spell at one point.

[Catalyst Circle]

It’s a magic used in research facilities to see the reaction results early. Shiron could easily guess that the result wasn’t good.

The reason being, Seira hadn’t touched the gun or the lead bullet since earlier.

As Seira mentioned, an eerie phenomenon occurred with the lead bullet.

Thud-

Grayish-white spots appeared on the clustered metal fragments. It didn’t stop there. As Seira flicked her fingers a few times, the spots grew as if they were going to engulf the lead bullet.

“…Is this why it hurt?”

Shiron shuddered at the creepy sight.

He had suspected something was wrong since there were only five lead bullets instead of six, but seeing the phenomenon made Seira’s concern more understandable.

“It’s a curse. An old-fashioned but effective one that requires direct contact.”

Seira, treating the item with barnacles as something that shouldn’t exist, incinerated it.

“Didn’t you say the barbarian shot this?”

“Yes. But why? Am I under a death curse?”

“You won’t die. You have the Holy Sword.”

There were many types of curses unknown to her, but having experienced countless curses over 700 years, Seira could easily say, even without being a curse expert.

“But the person who carried this for a long time will die.”

Especially if it was something experienced during the great chaos 500 years ago.