Chapter 20 - Oops? (2)

A couple of hours later I reluctantly went to the dining room and joined the Duke for lunch. It was awkward when I came in, we shared a greeting but that was about it. Eventually, Asher and Victor came in and gave us a progress report and Asher told the Duke what meetings he had to attend.

Asher and Victor then handed the both of us a few papers and some maids took our dishes, two minutes later a butler came in and brought the both of us some tea and scones.

After a few minutes of silence and more awkwardness, Oryn finally said something, "I…I want to apologize for the events of last night."

"..." I stayed silent and took a sip of tea while continuing to read the document in my hand.

"I shouldn't have forced myself on you even if I was drugged, and I feel ashamed of myself. Please, would you give me a chance to prove myself to you?" He begged.

"..." I stayed silent for a while before sighing, "Alright, I suppose I could give you another chance, on one condition. I would like some herbs, and considering I am now a Lieutenant, I would like some new armor and technically a uniform. Do that for me, and I will forgive you."

"Consider it done!" Duke Casilda then called in a Maid and ordered her to put in a request for both of the things I requested, "Come meet me two days from now in the gazebo in the courtyard and I will hand those things to you!"

The Duke then excitedly ran off, leaving me alone in the tearoom. 

'Heh, rotten fool. I plan on leaving that night, I'll just tell Asher to send it to my estate without telling the Duke.'

I then got together the papers and left the room, I went back to the bedroom I was staying in. I planned to finish my work by tomorrow afternoon so that I'd have some time to kill, but clearly, that asshole God Hunapo had other plans for me. Just about 2 hours after I had continued my work, Victor came in carrying what seemed to be a letter.

"My Lord! A letter from the palace just came."

"Ugh, what does that prick want now?" I mumbled as I took the letter from him.

=======

The contents of the letter were as stated:

Viscount Lev Andraste, 

You are to escort Crown Prince Emeric to the Ender Empire for the monthly peace council, which will be in three days. Make sure to be there on time, you will be riding in the same carriage as him, so I advise you to be on your best behavior in front of my son.

-Much Obliged, King Roman Fortunata

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`Bang!` I slammed on the table, 'Petty bastard!'

"Umm, are you alright Your Grace?" Victor asked.

"It's fine, I'm fine, everything is fine," I started to mumble to myself, "Victor, tell someone from the Viscounty to bring another case of clothes. I am apparently going to escort the Crown Prince to the Ender empire for a Peace council, so make sure they wash my clothes that I have here as well."

"Understood, should I inform The Duke as well?" He confirmed.

"...No, it's best if he doesn't know till the day we leave."

Victor then nodded his head, turned around, and left the room. After he left I went back to sorting the files on my desk, there were more than 4 stacks of them, and I for one, wanted to go to bed as soon as possible.

A couple of hours later I was finally able to go to sleep after rushing to put the files in their respective spots, but around midnight that night, I awoke with a plan in mind.

After I had gotten the divine power 'Earth's Eternal Rest' and the skeletons, I realized one crucial thing about both a necromancer and a dark elf that I had forgotten. In order for a Necromancer to be able to manipulate the dead they needed dead mana, and dark elves, whether a hybrid or not, also needed dead mana.

Unfortunately for me though, I had neither in my storage. And Lev didn't seem to have enough in his system to control those skeletons, so if I wanted to manipulate their bones at least, I needed to somehow get dead mana.

The novel had mentioned that the only way to get dead mana was through the corpse of a monster, that is if you wanted the less potent kind. There were other ways and various different varieties of qualities, one of which being from a dead human.

It described dead mana from a human as being, 'What negative feelings were for spirits' meaning that it was of the utmost quality, but there were various ways of harvesting them from humans, it was harvesting it during certain emotions. The happier the less dense, the more despaired the more dense and potent.

I wasn't exactly a fan of getting dead mana from humans, since I was one myself before. But I wanted the dead mana to be stronger and last longer in my system, so that was unfortunately the kind I had to go for.

'I'm going to hate myself for the rest of my life for doing this, but right now it's kill or be feasted upon by the angry villain in my body.'

I put on a white button-up, brown jeans, and a belt. I then put on a trench coat and a mask to hide my face. I tucked my hair into a ponytail that was in the middle of the back of my head and wore a robe with a hood to conceal the rest of my features.

After I was done getting changed I put some brown leather gloves on and grabbed a bag, a dagger for self-defense, a pouch full of money, and a pair of combat boots that had a silence enchantment on them.

Then I was on my way to the black market, while still trying to convince myself that what I was about to was for the greater good.

***

The walk through the market was pretty nice, the black market was a few underground streets with some restaurants and shops here and there, some entertainment facilities, and stills lining the streets. The tops of the buildings had fairy lights connecting them and the stalls had merchants handling them, it was rather lively down there despite it being the middle of the night.

'This place is pretty nice, it's a shame it's referred to as the underground.'

A few moments before I arrived I had recalled that the protagonist and his party referred to this place as the Underground, which was quite a shame. But to be fair they were deceived and fooled a lot while down here, but it's mostly their fault for being dumb enough to believe everything the people down here.

'If I had to remember, there was a merchant down here that sold dead mana at a reasonable price.'

My real goal down here was to not only get dead mana while I was down here but to also meet a man by the name of Octavius Ayrmyne, he was someone whom the protagonist had encountered while in the underworld.

Octavius was a half-demon, so it was hard to trust him, but he made honest deals. Well, minus that one time, he scammed the protagonist. But all is said well that ends well, right?

Walking down a dimly lit path I came across a building that was just barely described in the novel and was where Octavius held trade. The building wasn't too shabby, it was a black-bricked building with a clerestory roof shape and a domed vault roof tower attached to the side. The only light on the land was from the windows and a few candles in candle posts, going up onto the porch, there were three seats at a tea table and the door had a brass ring door knocker with a snake design on it.

'Let's just hope this is the right place.'

I then used the door knocker and took a few steps back, mostly to have room to avoid any flying objects, more specifically, knives.

A few moments later someone opened a hidden slot in the door, and a glowing red eye popped out.

"State you're name and business," A deep but harmonious voice said.

"My name is Desmond," I looked around to make sure no one was watching then I leaned towards the door, "I'm here because I heard you sold dead mana."

'It's best to use a fake name when dealing in the underground.' I reminded myself.

The person behind the door then closed the peephole, and a few moments later the door opened into a dark corridor. I contemplated a bit before deciding to walk through, the corridor was rather long, but I eventually entered a room that was lit with only candles.

The only things in the room were a few shelves with herbs and alchemy equipment on the counter, and in the corner was a processor of some kind. The one on the wall on the opposite side of the door was a stovetop and oven, it was attached to a small counter with tea bags and a portable kettle.

"Sorry about the mess, I wasn't expecting a visitor at this hour," Someone with the same voice who answered the door sounded behind me.

Turning to the side I saw a man sitting at a table with a tea set in front of him, he had his legs crossed with his hands folded over each other in front of him.

The man had curly blonde hair and pale skin, his eyes were a glowing red. He had pointed ears and sharp nails like a demon, but I didn't feel any sort of demonic aura from him. He was wearing a gray suit, with a black coat that had fur in it as a cape, he also adorned black monk-style dress shoes. 

"Please, have a seat," He motioned with a malicious smile on his face, "You were interested in buying some dead mana, yes?"

"...Yes, I am," I confirmed while taking a seat and taking off my hood, "I'm looking for dead mana made from humans."

"Ho? Well, I take it then that you're a dark elf, or at the very least someone who depends on dead mana for their abilities," He questioned.

"I'm a quarter dark elf actually, and I am indeed of dead mana for an ability of mine," I paused for a second, "Is there a certain reason you're asking?"

'I might have made a slip-up, I need to make sure not to tell him anything too personal.'

"Hehe," He smiled and chuckled, then he leaned forward and put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his knuckles, "Well, I'd like to get an idea of what sort of quality you would need. It helps with the business."

"..."

'This guy's rather cunning'

"I see, maybe I was being a bit too suspicious then," I smiled, "What would you're recommendations for a necromancer be?"

'It's best to be honest at this point, it's not like this guy doesn't know my intentions anyway.'

The novel briefly mentioned one specific thing about Octavius, and that was his knack for reading people, and their emotions. It helped him with business, and he knew just how to use it to manipulate his sales and customers.

"Hmmm," Octavius paused to think for a second, then stood up and walked over to a curtained doorway, "I think I have just the thing, wait right here."

A while later Octavius reemerged, holding a small black sack. He gently sat it on the table and I could hear just the slightest 'clink' of glasses hitting each other.

"What's in there?" I asked, not sure whether it was empty vials or vials half-full of dead mana.

"Dead mana," He replied while taking out a few vials to show, "The dead mana he was made of decomposed bones of humans who died in very gruesome ways, the bones they were made from are over a decade old. Care for a taste test?" he teased.

"..." I hesitated a bit. 

It was my first time even seeing dead mana, and knowing how it was made, made my stomach churn a bit. I was indeed curious about the taste and feeling of consuming dead mana, but I was afraid of what would happen. Usually, species who aren't built to consume dead mana die on the spot, but Necromancers usually have a resistance, and dark elves consume it like water.

"You don't need to worry, this one's on the house!" Octavius reassured.

'Thats not what I'

m worried about, but I suppose I have to.'

"Haaaa, alright…don't mind if I di then" I then took the vial from him and down it in an instant.