Repeat Vice - The Villainous Noble Doesn't Want to Die, So He Swore to Not Die As One of The Four Heavenly Kings

Chapter 16: Steria Territory

The Steria territory in the north faces the border with the Empire, located to the north of the kingdom.

It is governed by the Steria Marquis, who is said to have achieved great feats in the past wars with the Empire.

The Steria territory, which also faces the icy mountains, is a cold land unsuitable for farming, and it is said to be a territory of constant hardship due to frequent skirmishes it still holds with the Empire.

On the other hand, each soldier is said to be strong and highly trained due to those factors.

As the light of the teleportation crystal fades, Yurika and I find ourselves standing in the center of a dimly lit room.

A magic circle is engraved on the floor beneath our feet.

This magic circle seems to be marked as the destination for teleportation.

In other words, this is already the Steria territory.

This long-distance teleportation using a teleportation crystal is my first time, but it really does move in an instant.

“R-Rofus-sama…”

Yurika collapses on the spot.

Her immaculate black hair seems to be slightly disheveled.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s not ‘what’s wrong’… Why did you resort to such drastic measures…? What will the head of the family say after this… Especially when he’s already so strict ever since the banquet…?”

Muttering something under her breath, Yurika hangs her head.

“What, are you dissatisfied with your workplace relationships?”

As I inquire, Yurika sighs deeply and stands up straight.

“Not at all. I apologize for showing you such an unsightly side.”

And with her usual tone, she gracefully bows.

She’s quite quick to change her attitude.

As we converse, we hear hurried footsteps from outside the room, and the door is forcefully thrown open.

Entering is an armed man.

Upon seeing us, the man furrows his brow in suspicion.

“Huh? Who are you guys? I haven’t heard anything about new arrivals…”

This guy must be the security guard hired by the estate’s slave buyer or something.

But I see, judging from his words, this must be the place where slaves sent through teleportation are received.

Teleportation crystals are used strictly for transferring slaves, and the slave traders and buyers probably negotiate through telepathy or something.

For a small object like a teleportation crystal, it can easily be smuggled amidst other cargo.

And from this man’s demeanor, it seems that the buyer here frequently purchases slaves.

Yurika gazes at the man with cold eyes.

“Rofus-sama, what should be done with him?”

“Just make sure not to kill him.”

“As you wish.”

Yurika swiftly approaches the man and swings her wand.

The man instinctively reaches for the sword hanging at his waist, but it’s too late.

Struck on the head, the man is slammed against the wall and collapses weakly.

Blood flows from the man’s head, dripping from the tip of Yurika’s wand.

…Hey, is he still alive?

“I-I didn’t kill him. It’s true.”

Yurika notices my gaze and explains herself.

Is it true? Well, if he’s just a simple security guard, it’s fine even if he dies.

Speaking of which, that wand, I thought it was some sort of conduit for magic, but it seems to be used for striking.

The corridor outside serves as a passage, and I can see snow blowing outside the window.

Come to think of it, it’s even colder inside than before teleportation.

Feeling this chill even inside the building, indeed, it’s the Steria territory’s cold climate.

“Who are you guys!?”

Perhaps noticing the commotion, another man in similar attire appears.

Another security guard, even though it’s already late at night.

Yurika swiftly deals with the second security guard as well.

It made quite a noise, but it seems there’s no sign of more guards coming.

Checking my pocket watch, it’s 3 in the morning.

Late at night, indeed, there wouldn’t be many guards around.

Probably just those on the nightly patrols.

“But, this is quite a large estate. It would be troublesome to search each room one by one for one specific person.”

This is just a corner of the corridor, but you can tell how large the mansion is just by looking at the length of the corridor.

I extend my magic over a wide area to perform magic detection.

However, there is no response from within the mansion.

Magic detection is used to locate individuals with magic.

It only reacts to creatures with magic or humans with magical abilities.

In other words, there is no one with magic inside this mansion.

The slave buyer mentioned in the records had an unfamiliar name, but it seems he wasn’t a noble with magic after all.

Then, a merchant?

“Please wait…”

Perhaps sensing my magic detection, Yurika performs her own detection magic.

It’s an unfamiliar magic, incorporating a spell into the magic circle. Is it a type of sound detection magic?

“I found it. Probably the one who seems to be the owner of this mansion.”

“Oh?”

She invoked the magic, and in just a few seconds, it’s quite impressive.

Not only the highest-level healing magic but also high-level detection, huh?

“…So why aren’t you a Named individual?”

“Um, I’m not good at combat…”

“Not good at combat? Coming from a woman who just struck a big man with a wand.”

True, she’s good at fighting even though she claims to be bad at it.

Certainly, the Dark Knights are a group specialized in combat, and their evaluation criteria might lean towards combat skills.

Yurika guides me, and I open the door to the room where the buyer is supposed to be.

“Huh!?”

A chubby man in nightwear holding a lantern looks at us in astonishment.

Did he wake up from the noise?

I stop Yurika, who was about to act, and use my Dark Hand, extending countless dark hands from my shadow to quickly restrain the chubby man.

The dark hands pin down his arms and legs, and also cover his mouth to prevent him from screaming.

“Well done.”

“Don’t flatter me. You should also have a means to neutralize someone without harming them.”

I say with a hint of sarcasm, visibly disappointed.

“Yurika, heal this girl. And then, clean her up.”

“Understood!”

Ordered by me, Yurika immediately starts casting healing magic on Norun.

Yurika is a master of healing magic, capable of regenerating even lost limbs.

She should have no problem healing the bruises on her body, as well as her throat and Achilles tendon.

Indeed, bringing Yurika along was the right choice.

With Yurika around, most injuries can be healed as long as the person is still alive.

When Norn was sold as a slave, I assumed that she might still be alive, but I also considered the possibility of atleast limb loss or even not resembling a human anymore.

Indeed, in the third chapter of the story, Norn appeared as a creature transformed by experiments, standing before the protagonist and others.

However, was it through this man that Norn was sold to the Empire?

After being used as an outlet for the man’s desires, she ended up as a creature after being subjected to human experiments.

Quite a tragic fate.

While contemplating such matters as if they were unrelated to me, I went to the man I had restrained and asked:

“Was it the slave merchant from the Lightless territory who bought that girl?”

The man nodded obediently.

It seems he has no intention of resisting or rebelling.

“Do you have a teleport crystal to go to the Lightless territory?”

The man shook his head.

Well, that makes sense.

If teleport crystals were used for the transfer of slaves, it would most likely be only a one-way trip from the Lightless territory to the Steria territory.

It seems there is no quick way to return from here.

I wanted to return to Rougvelt by morning, but it seems I’ll have to endure Carlos’s complaints again…

Feeling gloomy about the troublesome future, I suddenly looked out the window.

I could see a blizzard, the snow-covered streets, and the towering icy mountains in the sky.

Flying over those mountains, spreading its wings, I saw a shadow.

I’ve heard that Wyverns inhabit the icy mountains of the Steria territory.

If I recall correctly, in Steria, there’s a custom of taming those Wyverns as riding dragons.

“Hmm…”

I pondered.

About how to return from Steria to the Land of Lightless.

No teleport crystals.

Overland travel is out of the question because it takes too long.

What about by sea?

Now that the threat of the magic sea has subsided, if I could get a ship out, I could reach Rougvelt much faster than by land.

But that’s also difficult.

First, obtaining a ship is challenging.

This is another territory.

Unlike my own territory, causing trouble here would inconvenience my father.

Even if I claim to have defeated ship-eating demons in the magic sea, no one would still lend me a ship.

No one would believe the complaints of a mere kid.

At least, not if I werent a resident.

Then how about using the shadow familiar obtained in the magic sea?

If it’s a large one, there should be enough space on its back to carry a person.

But honestly, that’s not an option either.

There are no sea creatures suitable for riding, and I don’t want to get soaked in seawater.

Above all, I had a terrible experience on my first voyage just recently.

I don’t want to sail for a while.

So, there’s the Wyvern flying around those icy mountains.

Since Wyverns are used as riding dragons, their riding comfort shouldn’t be bad.

If I kill one suitable in the mountains, turn it into a shadow familiar, and use magical force to reanimate it, I’ll have an untiring riding dragon flying at top speed at all times.

Hmm, that’s a good idea, even if I say so myself.

Let’s go catch one right away.

I turned to Yurika, who was still being treated.

“Yurika, how much longer will the treatment take?”

“I’m sorry. Please wait a moment. It will take time to restore her throat and leg tendons but they are close to being completely healed.”

“I see. Then I’ll be out for a bit.”

“Huh? W-Where are you going?”

Yusrka looked puzzled, and I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m going to secure a way back home. Don’t worry, I’ll be back in an hour.”

“But…!”

Yurika looked at the man restrained by the dark arm Dark Hand with anxiety.

“Don’t worry. That restraint won’t come off even if I’m away. But if any unforeseen event occurs while I’m absent, deal with it yourself. I’ll even permit killing if necessary. Got it? Protect that girl at all costs.”

Yusrka smiled with a somewhat resigned and tired expression and looked into the distance.

“…It’s tough for Lord Carlos too.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing profound. Please take care.”

“I see, then I’ll leave the rest to you.”

I jumped out of the mansion window and headed towards the mountains where I saw the shadow of a Wyvern earlier, riding on the palm of the dark arm I created.

“Did it escape..?”

When I was watching from afar, it was flying around here, but when I came closer, it was gone.

Are they sensitive to danger?

Even though it’s a dragon species, it’s surprising that it would flee just because one little kid like me approached.

However, visibility is low due to the blizzard.

Thanks to the magical barrier, the fierce wind and snow don’t directly affect me, but it’s still cold.

I don’t have the equipment to come to a snowy mountain like this, and I don’t want to stay in such a freezing snowy mountain for too long as well.

I search the mountains while expanding my magic detection to find the Wyvern.

Occasionally, I see Wyverns flying from a distance, but whenever I get close, they always flee.

With the speed of the Dark Hand, I can’t catch up with Wyverns flying at high speed.

Even if I switch to the flight magic Fly, I doubt I can match the speed of a Wyvern.

Feeling frustrated, I aimed a Dark Ball at a Wyvern I saw from a distance, but it easily dodged.

Moreover, after that, the Wyverns stopped showing up.

Damn, acting all clever with just a pair of wings like a lizard.

Should I just blast this mountain range with magic?

If I do that, the Wyverns driven out of their habitat will come out in droves.

But I shouldn’t cause trouble in another territory.

And besides, I’m not in perfect condition right now.

Even though my magical power has somewhat recovered, it’s only about ten percent of what it used to be.

Even if it’s advanced magic, I can’t use it freely.

I can’t even continuously cast intermediate-level magic if I use it carelessly.

“Never thought I’d be hesitating to use intermediate-level magic…”

My current limited magical power situation is reminiscent of when I fought as the Shadow Wolf against the main protagonist’s forces in the second chapter of the story.

At that time, to conquer the kingdom, I had used most of my magical power to summon a large number of wolf shadow familiars, so I couldn’t use ancient magic or even advanced magic properly.

If my magical power had been at full strength, I wouldn’t have lost to that damn protagonist.

Anyway, I won’t let myself run out of magical power like that again.

Acting boldly based on emotions is my bad habit; I must refrain from it.

Let’s patrol the mountains a little more, and if we still can’t find anything, let’s think of another way.

Seriously, who would have thought that Wyverns would be so cowardly and elusive?

I wish they could learn something from the more aggressive sea monsters.

Well, that was only because of the influence of the sea dragon whale making them more aggressive.

Wyverns are creatures meant to be tamed as riding dragons, so maybe they are surprisingly gentle despite their fierce appearance.

“…!”

As I circled around the vicinity of the mountains, my magic detection picked up a new reaction.

This magical power is of human wavelength.

“What are you doing!”