The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 36

‘My goodness…….’

Rabbits, the spirit merchant, had internally cheered when he first inspected this dungeon with his spirit eyes.

It was because there was a highly rare Banshee.

Both spirits and humans showed disgust towards the act of buying and selling beings that were once spirits themselves.

However, for a spirit merchant like himself, they were nothing more than bundles of money.

But Rabbits couldn’t believe his eyes.

‘Is that human for real?’

Each Banshee had its own story, making it as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack to find a special act to imprint a master onto them.

Yet, he had managed to imprint himself as the master onto the Banshee in an instant.

– Ah, my money……

The rabbit mumbled in dismay.

“Rabbits.”

Then Aden spoke to Rabbits.

“I would like to proceed with the transaction.”

– ……Are you going to sell that shield to me?

A spirit shield imbued with a Banshee was worth the information about the location of the Ent settlement and 4,000 gold.

In fact, it was somewhat cheap even at that price.

But Aden shook his head. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have bound it to himself.

“No, what I’m selling is that.”

Aden pointed at the Dungeon Core.

Rabbits’ face stiffened as if he had been struck.

“The Dungeon Core. That gigantic mana stone is your real target, isn’t it?”

The reason spirit merchants came to dungeons.

While money was a big reason, the core was their true number one goal.

Once the dungeon was cleared and people left, the spirit merchants took the core of the dungeon.

Then the dungeon would go into a dormant state for decades until enough mana gathered to create a new core.

– Wh-What do you mean…….

Rabbits laughed awkwardly, feigning ignorance.

It was obvious to anyone who looked.

He didn’t know why they wanted the Dungeon Core.

However, it was clear that it was something they desperately wanted.

Aden’s lips curled into a wide grin.

“Is that so?”

– Dragon Slayer, your smile is rotten.

Aden ignored the Demon Lord’s voice and approached the Dungeon Core.

He drew his sword.

A deep blue Sword Aura surged like flames around his blade.

“Then it’s alright if I break this, right?”

– Waaiiit! You can’t do that……!

As Aden genuinely attempted to strike the core with his Sword Aura, Rabbits screamed in terror.

“Why not?”

Aden lowered his sword and spoke as if he didn’t understand.

“All wealth and by-products from a dungeon belong primarily to the conqueror.”

In other words, the Dungeon Core also belonged to Aden, the conqueror of the dungeon.

– No one has ever considered the Dungeon Core a by-product!

“That’s their problem.”

It was difficult to locate the Dungeon Core, and it was also well hidden with security measures, making it hard to acquire.

Even if found, it was too large, and its value was unknown, so people often passed it by.

“If I want to break my own thing, why is there so much talk?”

As Aden raised his sword again, Rabbits panicked, twitching his ears.

– W-Wait! Okay, I’ll trade! I’ll trade!

In the end, Rabbits backed down.

Aden spoke to Rabbits.

“The exact location of the current Ent settlement, 5,000 gold, and I will trade the Dungeon Core.”

– What? Didn’t you say you would sell it for 4,000 gold earlier?

“6,000.”

– No, I mean……

“7,000.”

– W-Wait. Okay. I will pay, so let’s agree on 6,000 gold……

“8,000. If you delay, it will go up more.”

Rabbits had no choice.

Sweating profusely, he closed his eyes tightly and shouted hastily.

– I understand! 8,000 gold! I’ll pay, so please!

“Alright. Since you delayed by 2 seconds, an additional 10 gold for contempt. Make it 8,010 gold.”

One of Aden’s mottos was to extract as much as possible from those he could.

Rabbits clenched his blunt rabbit paw into a tight fist out of anger.

Though he was a novice compared to other spirit merchants, he had never been humiliated and shaken down to this extent before.

Barely suppressing his anger, Rabbits summoned 80 platinum coins worth 100 gold each and an additional 10 gold, summoning them one by one onto a piece of paper.

– Here are your desired items……customer.

Though the word ‘customer’ at the end seemed to carry some emotion, Aden cheerfully ignored it.

Rabbits summoned the paper with the location of the Ent settlement and the pouch of money, throwing them irritably.

Aden caught them effortlessly.

The transaction was complete.

“Good. You may now take the Dungeon Core.”

He wasn’t worried about the authenticity of the information. At the very least, spirit merchants might overcharge customers but never deceive them about the product.

Rabbits, who had been glaring at Aden, sighed and approached the core.

As he touched the surface of the core……

Shoooook.

The core quickly shrank to the size of a marble and fit into Rabbits’ hand.

Woooooong.

The light that had dimly lit the dungeon extinguished all at once.

The dungeon had entered a dormant state.

– Haah.

Rabbits sighed again and looked back at Aden.

– Customer, what is your name?

Aden responded curtly.

“Aden.”

– I see, Sir Aden. I will remember that.

“Alright, I’ll be off now. Until we meet again.”

– I hope we don’t meet again!

Then he turned his head sulkily.

Aden ignored that and retraced his steps.

Moments later.

– Keuhuhuhut.

As Aden disappeared from view, Rabbits let out a sinister laugh.

– Do you think you can fleece a spirit merchant and get away with it?

Rabbits had indeed informed Aden of one Ent settlement.

However, he had hidden the fact that it was the most dangerous one, where the survival rate of Ent hunters was the lowest.

– Let’s see if you can survive. Keuhuhuhut, keuhuhuwoat! Kehahahah!

The evil laughter of the rabbit echoed in the empty dungeon.

* * *

– That rabbit has no idea how good the hearing of a Sword Aura master is.

“An inexperienced novice merchant.”

Even from the entrance, they could hear the rabbit laughing his head off inside.

Of course, he had expected this level of betrayal.

Spirit merchants were a particularly petty lot.

“But it doesn’t matter.”

The most dangerous Ent settlement? If he couldn’t handle that, revenge on his old comrades would be a distant dream, just a joke.

“Moreover, when we meet again, that rabbit won’t be able to utter a word.”

Gaining a psychological upper hand over a spirit merchant was important.

* * *

Aden exited the dungeon and descended the mountain path.

When he entered, the sun had been high, but now it was dusk, the sun setting slowly.

Aden fiddled with the pendant he had picked up.

The surface of the pendant was engraved with strange patterns.

It looked like an ordinary piece of jewelry.

But……

‘Faintly, there is mana imbued in it.’

Aden considered this pendant a type of artifact.

He had tried to open it to see what was inside.

‘It won’t open.’

It didn’t seem to be due to rust, but from the structure, it appeared to require a key.

“Hey, do you know what this is?”

– How would I know?

“Useless.”

Despite acting like he knew everything, it seemed he didn’t.

Aden put the pendant away, patting his dimensional pocket pouch with satisfaction.

A pouch where anything could be stored.

It was sure to be useful in the future.

– You, who have so much money, shake down others so thoroughly. Truly an admirable personality.

“Shut up.”

Aden removed his leather armor and changed into his elegant young master’s attire, then headed back to the village.

As if nothing had happened, he appeared as composed as ever.

“Have you returned, Sir Aden?”

“Lowe, I’ve finished my business. Let’s go.”

Aden, along with Lowe, headed to the village inn where their attendants were staying.

* * *

The warlocks who had attempted to overrun this village with undead.

Thud.

They now sat in fear, unable to achieve their goal.

They had intended to summon undead and turn all the villagers into the undead.

But then, a woman in a robe had suddenly appeared and ruined everything.

“This, this is impossible.”

Now, they were bound and sitting on the ground in terror.

By the very Skeleton Soldiers they had summoned.

“Dead ones.”

The unidentified woman’s voice was clear yet emotionless.

“I command you in the name of Florence.”

At her words, all the undead moved.

– Your command.

From Skeletons to Death Knights, they all followed her orders.

They surrounded their summoners, pointing swords at them.

The woman reigned in the middle like a monarch.

She pronounced their sentence.

“Punish them.”

Originally, warlocks could only control the undead they summoned.

But here she was, controlling the undead they had created.

Moreover, she controlled all the undead, which were divided among three masters, with a terrifying ability.

There was only one person capable of such an absurd feat.

A heretic, a renegade, a monster who opposed warlocks despite being one herself.

The faces of the warlocks turned pale.

“You, you can’t be……”

“The Silver Ma……!”

The warlocks couldn’t finish their words.

Shwack!

Their heads were cut off one by one by their own Death Knights and rolled on the ground.

She commanded the undead.

“Return.”

At her words, the Skeleton Soldiers that had crawled out of their graves moved.

Clack, clack.

They crawled back into their graves.

Thud, thud.

The armor fragments of the Death Knights fell apart, and in an instant, their forms crumbled.

All the undead returned to rest.

The graveyard returned to its quiet state as if nothing had happened.

The woman then moved to another place.

She discovered the hidden dungeon where Aden had entered and went inside.

“So this was the answer.”

Passing through the room of the Skeleton Soldiers and the Knight’s room, she reached the wizard’s room where Aden had killed the Lich.

What she saw was only the Lich’s ragged clothes and some ashes.

She then made a troubled expression.

“……It’s not here.”

What should have been there was missing.