Chapter 28: Featherwing Fortress III

"So? What's taking you so long? I thought you would have already gotten everything settled once I had returned."

With his eyes narrowed, Herman gazed deep into Herbert's eyes. It was as if he was staring straight right into his soul, ready to extinguish it once he gave a wrong answer.

"I have my arrangements for her. Despite no longer being a cornerstone for our plan, she still has her uses. I intend to take the chance to cash out on everything that we had spent on her by taking over everything she has that is of value. As Ravenmoon's, we can't just let her off after we had tried nurturing her now that she's useless now, can we?"

Although Herman did not look impressed by his answer, he had momentarily dropped his clear hostility towards Herbert.

"I thought that you have finally gotten rid of that worthless obsession that you had towards her…"

Herman clicked his tongue before he continued.

"Fine, but I want you to completely focus your attention on the new plan once spring begins. Never lose track of what's more important. I had never raised a worthless son, keep that in mind, Herbert."

"Understood, father."

"You may leave now."

"About that, there's still something that I would like to ask."

Herman raised an eyebrow and gave Herbert a sharp look.

"I want to go to the Featherwing Fortress this winter."

Herman remained silent. He did not immediately answer Herbert's request, so, Herbert continued to explain.

"I think that it's a good opportunity to train myself and Ingrid. And I also want to use the opportunity to completely make Amelia's servant girl betray her master and convert her into one of our spies."

"Do you already have the poison and antidote?"

"Not yet, but I would also like to ask for your permission to get a drop of poison and some antidotes from the spymaster, around a year's worth would be good enough."

"Alright, when are you leaving?"

"If possible, tomorrow."

Once the two had finished speaking, Herbert finally got to exit the room. He felt relieved as if his entire body had just experienced a life-and-death scenario. As he took his leave, Herbert swore that he would one day get rid of that old geezer. But now, he still needed him in his plans to neutralize the protagonist so he could only let it be for now.

In the entire Ravenmoon Duchy's armed forces, three particular troops are considered the cream of the crop. The first is the Unkindness, which contains the most basic soldiers of the territory, they are unawakened soldiers that are armed with standard weapons imbued with Monster Cores of Ranks 1 to 3. As regular soldiers, they are the backbone of the armed forces of the territory and are considered to be the main part of the standing army that is supported by the Ravenmoons.

The next is the hidden trump card that the Ravenmoons intends to use to fight against the forces of the royal family's faction. This is a group of Awakened elite soldiers that makes up the Treachery troop. Most of its members come from the Ravenmoon's bloodline which usually comes from the side branches that had naturally awakened or are part of the small percentage that had received the chance to awaken using an Awakening Crystal. Due to their low number, they are usually only deployed on occasion and could be viewed as the special forces of the Ravenmoons.

The next troop is considered the most secretive and illusory troop. Due to the nature of their tasks, this particular troop has an uneven mixture of civilians, soldiers, and awakened in their midst. The troop is named Conspiracy and is mostly in charge of infiltration, spy work, information gathering, assassination, and other dirty jobs. As the troop with a large amount of responsibility, it is only normal for it to have a lot of members. This was why it is considered to have the troop with the largest scope with members active around the entire kingdom, with some even infiltrating other countries.

This time, Herbert needed to communicate with the Spymaster from the Conspiracy troop in order to prepare Lady Elena into becoming a spy that will work for the Ravenmoon family. Once he received what he needed, Herbert had the slight urge to convert Ingrid into a loyal subordinate, however, he quickly got rid of this thought as he knew that they were still bound by the Watchman's rules. Until she had helped him in getting the treasure from the Rozenbloods, the two of them would not be able to betray each other.

As the brightness of the day turned into the darkness of the night, Herbert was once again in his room. Every night before he fell asleep, he would reminisce and feel sick, it was as if he had been feeling physical pain despite it being only psychological. This happened whenever his consciousness had lingered between his transmigrated self and the original host. The sense of dissonance that he had was gradually getting stronger the longer he stayed in this world, but at the same time, he also believed that he would eventually get used to it once his two consciousness had completely merged.

He really couldn't explain this profound feeling. It was as if the world had conspired to keep him alone and isolated with his thoughts slowly devouring a piece of him. With each second that passes, he could feel himself slowly sinking deep into the boundless abyss that he had created himself. If he could ever think of a word to describe it, all that would come into mind was a watered-down version that could not encompass the exact value at which he experienced such dread, misery, and despair.

When he was just a reader, he never really placed himself in the shoes of the villain. After all, it was only natural that most would empathize more with the protagonist rather than their enemies. In the end, he only viewed himself as an ordinary human who is ever so vulnerable to the environment in which he lived. As the original Albert, he never really viewed himself as the villain, rather he had the perspective of a victim who was trying his best to make do with what he had. Although he was a little vengeful, he was never the sort to have sky-high ambitions in the first place, however, his position could not afford him the leeway to be mediocre so he tried his best and eventually lived to be recognized as a villain by the Ninth Princess which he had obsessed his entire life over. It was sickening and uncomfortable but he persevered and thought that it would be fine if he kept on working hard for his goals.

Minutes passed and he soon entered dreamland, this time, he had another dream about being stabbed in the chest. The one who stabbed him had a face that he did not recognize as it was covered by a hood, but he was sure that this person must be the protagonist that he had been so wary of. His deep golden eyes with vertically straight pupils that gazed at him seemed to linger, just remaining where it was, ready for it to take his life at any moment. Together with his red and scaly skin that covered his hand, he was holding a long sword that glistened brightly under the moonlight. Herbert felt breathless as if all the air was sucked out of his body.

As he woke up, he felt the wetness on his back. It had been another nightmare but he had already been far too used to seeing this kind of thing ever since he had merged with his memories, so much so, that he did not have that much of a reaction. Once the day started, he quickly set everything in motion. He first decided to meet up with the Ninth Princess and Lady Elena for a talk.

"Princess Amelia, although it is unfortunate, we would soon have to part again."