The Duke’s Madness

Just look at it, you crazy bastard.

Ginny muttered this to herself and sighed.

“I do kill people after being commissioned, but I don’t do that unless I’m officially hired.”

“… … .”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear this story, so ask someone else. And I’m on vacation.”

Arthur scratched his head.

“How much money can I give you?”

“yes.”

“Even if I give you 100 gold?”

“… I don’t.”

Arthur rolled his eyes as if in trouble.

‘hmm···. I didn’t expect Mr. Ginny to refuse.’

To be honest, dealing with four mages, including Ares, was ambiguous.

‘I don’t know if there is a lightning lineage… It’s hard to say that it’s definitely overpowered in the current state.’

But with Genie’s help, you’ll be able to subdue them very easily.

A sniper is a wizard’s natural enemy, and if that genie, the sniper, marks the four wizards, killing Ares will not fail.

‘Even assuming they steal the lightning lineage, it’s better to have a genie… hmm.’

Arthur, who was worried, eventually decided to go with the regular method.

The biggest reason mercenaries refuse to accept a request is that the unit price is not right.

If that’s the case, it’s enough to raise the unit price so that you have no choice but to accept the request.

“200 gold?”

“I don’t.”

“How about 300 gold?”

“… … .”

“Ginny, how about 300 gold?”

Ginny, who had been silent, distorted her expression.

“Are you kidding me? If it’s 300 gold, B-class mercenaries who went out during the war get it for the price of their lives.

Arthur nodded.

“yes. I’ll give it to you.”

“Ha, really… I still don’t.”

“400 gold.”

“… … .”

“You still don’t like this? Then how about 500 gold?”

Ginny’s ears prick up.

Arthur, who caught that subtle reaction, raises the corner of his mouth.

“500 gold plus 250 gold advance.”

“… … .”

“I’ll give you the rest of the gold as soon as I finish the job. how is it?”

Ginny jerks her head again.

Her pretty face was flushed red.

“No, are you kidding? You want me to give you 500 gold?”

“I don’t joke about things like this.”

With the answer, Arthur lowered his head.

At that moment, the smile disappears from Arthur’s lips.

“Does this still look like a joke?”

“… … .”

Ginny couldn’t answer.

Arthur’s expressionless face.

Because that face was really scary.

However, in the back of my mind, I had this thought.

‘500 gold…?’

A dream that was far away.

I also thought that the opportunity to achieve that dream came at once.

* * *

A bizarre smile lingered on his lips and his blurry features.

An unrealistic face that made it hard to breathe just by looking at it disturbed my head.

However, what preceded fear was greed.

Once this job is done, you can retire.

You can buy the house of your dreams and live without worrying about money anymore.

Of course, he is the crazy guy who offered the money, but he was also strangely honest in this respect.

‘At that time, when I was president of Tartan… I could have run away, but I didn’t run away.’

Because of that, Jini is conflicted.

My heart told me to accept it, but my head warned me to reject it.

In the end, Ginny, who couldn’t decide, decided to try Arthur a little more.

“If you accept, you’re our colleague, right?”

“… yes?”

“Since you’re my colleague, you’re not going to shoot me with a knife, are you?”

Arthur groaned.

“sure. Why would I do that to a genie that I hired with expensive money?”

“… … .”

“If you betray me instead, I’ll stab you with a knife. If I don’t do that, I will never attack the genie.”

At the firm answer, Ginny loosened her clenched fist.

At the same time, a drop of cold sweat trickled down.

I was so nervous that my jaw ached.

‘Yeah f*ck. Anyway, if I’m on this floor, I’ll keep getting involved with these guys. If that’s the case, just close your eyes and take a bath… If you think it’s one shot…’

Then Arthur holds out a gold coin.

It was a sack of gold coins that looked heavy at first glance.

Ginny finished her thoughts and snatched the sack.

“From now on, I am the C-class mercenary Genie hired by Dunn.”

“… … .”

“I will do anything except the order to die. I won’t even betray you.”

Arthur raises an eyebrow.

“Then, anything except the order to die?”

“… … ?”

“That is good. To be honest, the role to be entrusted to Ginny wasn’t great… hmm. I’ll have to reconsider.”

Ginny, not understanding Arthur’s words, blinked.

At the same time, the train stops.

Arthur got up from his seat and looked away.

Boo-!

Boris village.

We finally arrived at the town, one of Arcane’s best resorts.

* * *

500 gold.

To be honest, it was a huge sum of money from Arthur’s point of view.

‘Because it’s money I have to save for a year’s worth of pocket money.’

But if you think about it the other way around, it’s only a year’s worth of pocket money.

Ares Arekis.

Considering that it was spent on killing the wizard, it was not a waste of money at all.

So Arthur hired Ginny, and his judgment seemed right so far.

“They are suspicious.”

“… … .”

“Boris Village is not a very developed village except for the main street. Even if we are going to the villa, it is not this way.”

Ginny, who sticks close to me and talks about this and that, constantly told me information with the unique observation and judgment that I had seen at that time.

It wasn’t that good information, but looking at it on the contrary, it means that even a trivial thing is considered.

‘Looking at this, it was right to hire Mr. Ginny. by the way···. Why was the lightning lineage mentioned in the overheard story?’

The story was cut off in the middle, so it wasn’t accurate, but the lightning lineage was definitely mentioned.

A blood with a unique ability to handle lightning even if you are not a wizard.

A lineage of lunatic killers who will destroy the future village of Boris.

There’s no way such a lineage would be common, so the lightning lineage that Ares was talking about would most likely be the same lineage Arthur wanted.

‘Looking back, it looks like they did some kind of experiment with that lineage… hmm. I’m curious. It’s the same as last time and this time, why are you researching so much?’

Along with the question, Arthur felt the need to solve this case even if it was a little overworked.

Ares’ neck and lightning lineage.

The chance to get both of these things is rare.

That was when the idea was over.

Ares, who had left the village of Boris and headed for the deep mountains, stopped walking.

thud-!

At that moment, a heavy echo spread through the foot of the mountain.

Ginny, who was spying on the scene from the side, murmured in surprise.

“Barrier? her···. It’s rare to find a wizard who knows how to use a barrier like this.”

Arthur nodded.

As Genie said, barriers that change the terrain itself were not common.

But on the other hand, it was said that he was hiding something with such a barrier.

In the meantime, four wizards, along with Ares, enter the barrier.

When Ginny gets up and tries to follow her, Arthur grabs her by the wrist.

“… Oh why! Why are you suddenly grabbing me!”

“… ? You want to enter the barrier? Genie?”

“Aren’t you following them?”

“That’s right, but if you go inside the barrier, there’s a high probability you’ll be caught?”

Ginny narrowed her eyes at Arthur’s words.

“Then will you wait here? until it comes out?”

“no?”

“then?”

“I have to call. I have things to do in there too.”

“… how?”

Arthur raises an eyebrow.

“Like this.”

With these words, the pistol that was drawn spits fire.

bang-!

The barrier is shaken with the resounding gunfire.

Ginny opens her mouth in amazement.

“Ah, no, we’re going to fight from the front? Against five wizards?”

“… .”

“In that case, it’s a little safer to ambush, to surprise… huh? Dunn Jonqingyi, you suddenly became Mr.?”

Ginny turns her head.

Arthur, who had been with him a while ago, was nowhere to be seen.

Because of that, the moment I raised my eyes, I heard the voices of the wizards who had just entered the barrier.

“… Did you shoot the dwarf?”

The corner of Ginny’s mouth trembled at the question.

“Would you believe me if I said no?”

“f*ck.”

With these words, a huge ball of fire rose from the hands of the wizards.

Ginny was tearful as she watched the scene in a cold sweat.

“I am crazy. I’m a crazy b*tch who believed in a crazy guy…”

With these words, a huge explosion envelops the forest.

bang!

sorcerer and sniper.

Two beings in conflicting relationships collide.

* * *

The original plan was to deal with wizards like Genie.

However, when Arthur discovered the laboratory beyond the barrier, he changed his mind.

‘I’m curious. What on earth did you build something like this in the middle of a mountain like this?’

In the end, Arthur, who could not stand it, fired a pistol and entered the laboratory relying on Frakil’s ring.

‘I’m sorry, Ginny. I must repay you later.’

After passing through such a dark passage, it was time to enter the laboratory.

Arthur raised his eyes and exclaimed.

“… … .”

The fishy smell of blood smelt through the tip of the nose.

And several bodies distorted beyond recognition.

Looking at his physique, it was unreasonable to see him as an adult.

“I expected it, but… really did It is against children.”

Arthur’s gaze sinks low with a murmur.

After that, I turned my head and looked around the other place.

Various high-tech equipment that is not commonly seen was lined up everywhere.

Some of them were so-called capsules, which contained a group of children with respirators put to sleep in a yellow liquid.

Arthur shook his head as he pondered whether to destroy the capsule and save the children.

‘It could be more dangerous trying to save it.’

Arthur, who decided to be careful, goes a little deeper.

In the process, they found other children sleeping on the white sheets.

There were about 30 of them, most of them dead.

Even the children who survived were in serious condition, and even using Undine’s healing ability seemed hopeless.

Arthur pondered and approached the child who seemed to have a chance to live.

The child who was being supplied with a suspicious liquid through an intravenous drip looks away.

‘Please kill me.’

He didn’t say anything, but his eyes seemed to say so.

Arthur pondered and closed his eyes.

“I don’t know about your other friends, but you can live.”

“… … .”

“So hold on a little. I’ll finish it soon and come back.”

The child fell asleep after hearing that.

Arthur turned around and started walking again.

At the end of such a long hallway, a room that appeared to be an office appeared.

When I opened the door and went inside, I saw a more spacious laboratory than before.

And numerous papers scattered on the floor also came into view.

Arthur picked up one of the documents and read the contents.

[Project L: Lineage Replication]

It was written in quite complicated words, but I could understand the context without difficulty.

Then a strange voice was heard.

“who are you?”

Arthur raised his head.

A child trapped inside a capsule was looking at him.

Arthur’s eyes widened.

“who are you? you are?”

It was because the face of the child who came to greet me was somehow familiar.

Arthur, who was worried, was able to recall where he had seen this child.

“uh···. This is a bit surprising.”

A lunatic killer who attacked the village of Future Boris.

And Julie Proski, the madwoman who was the owner of the lightning lineage.

She was looking at herself as a child.