Chapter 598 (1/2)

When we spoke to him, we found out that Gregory was a nobleman of the Raidos Kingdom. To my surprise, he was actually a Viscount.

However, he said that he had never lived like a nobleman since he entered the Belios Kingdom disguised as a merchant more than twenty years ago.

I thought it was amazing that he remained loyal to the Raidos Kingdom, but it seemed that his fear of being killed if he betrayed them was stronger than his loyalty.

In fact, some of his fellow spies had been killed for trying to betray their homeland.

Maybe there were even spies watching over other spies.

Besides, spies from the Raidos Kingdom were somewhat unique. Instead of always conducting operations against the other country, they usually worked earnestly so that they could move easily in case of emergencies.

He mentioned that a Knight named Saruth, who had infiltrated the Kingdom of Philias, also worked normally in peacetime to gain trust.

Gregory was the same, and it seemed that he was really a decent merchant, except for the fact that he sent information to the Raidos Kingdom once every few years.

Because of this, he had gained the trust of the people around the lake, and their scheme involving the Scarlet Waterweed medicine had been able to proceed smoothly.

Gregory and the others were under the command of the Eastern Duke, and they were helping the alchemists under his command with their plans.

「Who is this alchemist you’re talking about?」

「Zelyse, a man who behaves like a child」

「Zelyse!? He’s in this country?」

「Y-yes…」

Fran’s eyes widened. She never thought she’d hear his name here.

He was the crazy, psycho, good-looking alchemist, who had done several things to us in Barbra. Well, we did manage to thwart his plans as well, so I’d say it was even between us.

But still, is he on the Raidos Kingdom’s side? Or did he originally belong to the Belios Kingdom? But he also said something like he was raised in the Kranzel Kingdom at that time…

「Is Zelyse a subordinate of Raidos Kingdom?」

「I-It would be more accurate to say that he was a subordinate of the Eastern Duke…」

「Even though he’s being hunted elsewhere?」

「Criminal records in countries that are hostile to our country are irrelevant. Besides, in the Raidos Kingdom, where there is no Adventurer’s Guild, the bounties issued by the Guild is meaningless…」

In other words, they would accept criminals from other countries as long as they were capable. On the contrary, it was even possible that they were actively accepting those who were wanted in the Kranzel Kingdom. Just like that saying went, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

『Could it be that that undead are under Zelyse’s command?』

When Fran asked him about it, he said that it had nothing to do with Zelyse. He said that the undead was loaned by the Black Skeleton Army, an organization under the control of the Southern Duke.

To my surprise, it seemed that the Black Skeleton Army had created a technique to transform necromancers into undead while retaining their human consciousness.

「How is that even possible?」

「I-I don’t know. But even that Wight King was still able to hold a decent conversation. Although his mind was greatly corrupted…」

It seemed that it was not possible to tell which class of undead a slave would turn into depending on the affinity of the person who became the base body, so the current method was to force a slave to turn into an undead after making them learn necromancy.

After they were turned into undead in this way, they were then controlled by higher-ranking necromancers and made to swear allegiance to the Raidos Kingdom.