CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER 34 - UNDEAD GUEST

Andrei looked at the gathered guests with a proud smile. He sipped his glass of wine little by little, a look of satisfaction radiating from his face.

He sat on a chair in the corner, but the chair he sat on was high enough that he could see all the guests.

Unlike usual, the party that Andrei held this time was not in a banquet hall. The party was held in the front yard that had been rearranged in such a way. Like the tables that were spread out at various points.

With the party in the open air, of course, the capacity of the guests he could invite also increased.

Under normal circumstances, Andrei wouldn’t have been able to invite as many guests as he did now. However, there was one reason why he could invite so many guests.

Members of the royal family would be attending this party.

The news had already spread among the nobles, so they were willing to come to this party that Andrei had held.

From beside Andrei, Marquess Taranin, who was sitting in a chair with the same shape as Andrei, leaned in to whisper, "Are you sure that King Vlasdislav will come?" He spoke in a low voice.

"If I’m not sure, why did I prepare such a magnificent chair?" Andrei pointed at a chair similar to a throne not far from him. "Just relax and wait."

Although Andrei spoke with confidence, the main guest he was waiting for did not arrive. That made him unable to hide his irritation.

Moments before, he had sensed something odd when he saw something strange. The two knights he had left to guard the mouth of the dungeon underground suddenly joined the party like fools.

When he approached the two knights and asked them, they simply said, "Didn’t you give the order for us to come here, Master?"

Andrei wasn’t stupid enough not to understand what was going on. He suspected that someone was trying to get in that place. Unfortunately, he couldn’t go check that place out in person.

If Andrei, as the owner of the event, was not in a place that people could see, he could be considered unworthy of being a noble anymore.

His only option was to send Tozir while he hoped that Tozir could return quickly. It would be strange if, when King Vlasdislav came, yet he was not accompanied by the strongest person he had.

"Hey, shouldn’t you get this party started?" Mikhail urged Andrei. "Maybe King Vlasdislav will arrive late, but it would be rude to keep the guests waiting."

Andrei nodded in agreement as he saw the nobles begin to complain.

First, he stood up and mentioned that this party was to formalize the engagement between the Razanov family and the Taranin family.

As if Andrei was a professional wedding host, he invited Boris and Elizavet to stand in the middle of the guests. Not to give a speech, but just to make them the center of attention.

Despite Andrei’s words, which seemed to boast about his son and future daughter-in-law, Boris and Elizavet did not look happy at all.

The two main characters at the party, Boris and Elizavet, simply waved and gave handshakes to the guests with flat faces. Their lips lifted slightly only when Andrei reprimanded them with a joke.

"They must feel embarrassed that I insisted on throwing this kind of party, haha," Andrei said, trying to lighten the mood.

Engagement parties like this were not uncommon among the nobles. It just wasn’t as grand as this one, unless it was for the royal crown prince or the royal princess.

"Is Duke Razanov throwing this party to improve his image because his eldest son was caught useless?"

"It seems so, but why would King Vlasdislav want to come here?"

"Are you a fool? It’s not strange that the king would want to see the binding thread that determines the fate of the northwestern kingdom’s defenses."

"Your words make sense."

The invited guests who held wine glasses in their hands talked to each other. Most of them were nobles living in the royal capital so all the rumors in the world of the nobles could be caught up quickly.

If you had to use a bad word, they were good gossipers.

"However, who is that woman with big breasts?"

The invited guests’ gazes flowed towards a woman standing behind Andrei. Besides Irini, who they already knew to be Andrei’s legal wife, there was also another woman.

The woman wore a thin veil that covered her hair and face, leaving only her eyes to see through. The woman’s clothes were of the kind used by women who were about to get married.

The woman’s clothes were indeed neatly covered so that whether she was beautiful or not, couldn’t be seen, but what was a magnet for the eyes of the nobles was the woman’s very seductive body shape. Particularly her breasts that forced her clothes to swell.

The nobles who were present instantly remembered that this party was not only to formalize the engagement between Boris and Elizavet, but it was also written on the invitation letter that Andrei wanted to take a concubine.

"It looks like it’s Duke Razanov’s future concubine. But how does his wife feel?"

"Who knows? It doesn’t matter if Andrei is a competent noble. However, I feel a little jealous if a useless noble like him has a concubine with such a body."

At the sight of the nobles’ gazes, Andrei immediately wanted to introduce the woman. He wanted to say that she was his new concubine.

But everyone’s eyes suddenly shifted somewhere.

They were all also pointing their bodies in the same direction simultaneously—what they were doing was almost like marching.

Seeing that no one was listening to him, Andrei also felt curious. He was a bit annoyed by the fact that everyone was suddenly ignoring him, but when he saw what everyone was looking at, he understood why they were all suddenly standing still.

"What is that?"

"Is that a monster?"

"Why are there monsters here all of a sudden?"

Everyone was talking amongst themselves in a panicked tone.

The person who originally wanted to swallow a drink suddenly spit out their drink, the person who originally ate the festive dishes suddenly choked, and the person who originally danced beautifully ended up with weak legs and fell to the ground.

***

"Let... me go!"

Lev was still trying to break free from Tozir’s grip.

A person generally only takes five to ten seconds to pass out when strangled. More than that could be life-threatening.

"Hmm?"

Tozir’s hand suddenly loosened. He frowned and his eyes looked up as if sensing something.

He threw Lev’s body until Lev’s back hit the steel door.

"For now, I’ll let you go, Young Master!"

"Ukhuk~ You don’t have to worry. I wasn’t lying when I said I was lost here. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me. You can just tell my father. As for punishment, I’ll accept it later."

Hearing Lev’s explanation, Tozir seemed to relax the frown on his forehead.

He must have felt that Lev’s explanation was quite reasonable.

After all, it was not Tozir’s place to judge the son of the person he served.

"I’ll ask you briefly. Did you not encounter any guards when you came here?"

"...No."

He would have fully believed that Lev had come here by accident if he hadn’t discovered the fact that the knight who was supposed to guard this place had suddenly left to join the party—which Andrei had never ordered.

He probably suspected the part where there was a soldier who lied to the two knights guarding the mouth of the dungeon.

"Ah, I saw the soldier who fainted in front of the dungeon mouth."

"If it’s that, I’ve already finished him off. Did you find anyone else—someone quite suspicious during your exploration of this place?"

"...."

"Tch."

Before Lev could answer, Tozir’s face and eyes immediately only focused on looking up. He had already completely ignored Lev’s existence.

He seemed to feel a sense of urgency to immediately go upstairs and help at Andrei’s side.

He probably sensed the strange magical energy that suddenly appeared around the mansion.

"For now, you’d better get some sleep, Young Master. As you said, I will leave the decision on your actions of coming here to Master Andrei later."

Thwack!

Tozir hit Lev’s neck with enough force to knock ordinary people unconscious.

He didn’t seem to want Lev to open the steel door so he was forced to render Lev unconscious.

Lev’s body instantly became weak and he fell to the ground—only to hear the sound of Tozir’s footsteps moving away.

Lev opened his eyes to confirm that Tozir had disappeared from his sight.

Lev leaned his body against the steel door and began to catch his breath.

’Just feeling the Aura of a third-level knight is already very hard.’ He complained inwardly.

It was fortunate that Tozir did not use an Aura-layered attack.

He could still minimize the impact of the blow to his neck thanks to Tozir’s restraint.

He massaged and tilted his neck to ensure there were no other side effects. After twirling his neck, the pain in his neck finally disappeared.

A mysterious smile appeared on Lev’s lips.

’It’s a good thing I’ve made some preparations.’

He looked at the air in front of him.

Some time ago, when he realized that his Dark Mana attribute had increased due to successfully completing the mini-revenge quest, he began to awaken a skill that he had planned to unlock.

[Dark Mana: 7.1.]

The skill he chose to unlock when his Dark Mana attribute reached 7.1 was the Necromancer skill.

[Necromancer Skill - Activated.]