Chapter 374 - Everything on the Menu Please (Patreon)

After killing an Arrogant Young Master, the backer of said young master would come out to seek revenge on the MC, usually in the form of a big brother, father, grandfather, or ancestor. This was a common trope in cultivation novels.

With that knowledge, after defeating Marvin, Viers had anticipated Duke Lucan would act. After all, he treated the son-in-law important enough to put a sliver of his power to protect him. Then there was the complete Divine Weapon, which was arguably more precious. The odds were high that the Level 5 would come with fire and fury.

After killing Marvin, his cleanup at the volcano was thorough. Marvin’s pleasure slaves were also not spared and their souls were taken. No witness. Solany got away but he would take what he could get.

At first, as revenge for his burned-down flying carpet, Viers wanted to take Marvin’s golden yacht for his own. But it couldn't be shrunk or put into an inventory item. Viers couldn't carry it so he had to let the luxury vehicle go, but not before he stripped it out of everything of value. The golden yacht was not golden anymore when he was done. Its mana engine was missing too.

The issue was Solany, whose actions Viers couldn't foresee, but he made the plan to strike the duchy regardless. Of course, there were separate contingency plans in place for other situations but plan alpha was the one with the most potential benefits.

Viers wasn't satisfied with defeating and capturing the 40th prince alive, looting all valuables that he had, soul searching the man, and selling it to a devil cult who clearly had insidious designs, no. He wanted more.

So he sold the info on the Lucan Duchy defenses, including the location of the treasuries and warehouses to Izabella for no small sum. He also gave the freebie of info that in the near future, the duke would be away. Knowing Viers, Izabella trusted him. Not the man, she trusted his self-interest.

Of course, even if the Level 5 went away, his territory wouldn't be undefended. That was why Viers gave the Blood Church a piece of the pie, to bring in the numbers. The more chaos they create, the better opening he would have.

After setting up, the timing was next. He didn't know when the duke would choose to make an appearance after all. Hopefully, it will be soon. As expected, it was.

Since Viers did such a good job erasing his presence and evidence of actions, he suspected the duke would aim for Croix next. As Croix’s vassal, he had to accompany him. Which was just fine; Viers had hoped the countess would serve as a shield should her nephew be threatened.

The sending to the Shore was a bit unexpected but tolerable. When Viers first caught the duke’s presence, he crushed a seed in his pocket. It gave a signal to Dia in her Biome who relayed Viers’ “go” signal to Izabella.

In case the Level 5 threatened Viers’ lives, or it was getting dangerous, he would crush another seed. It was a signal for SOS. In which case Dia and the others would go full force to rescue Viers. The odds of success were slim, but not impossible. And Viers didn't think he would be the main focus of the duke anyway. He was just Croix’s vassal, under his shadow.

During the duke’s soul search, he also saw Viers, Boram, and Alfred with Croix as they weathered Marvin’s Divine Weapon, then got away. This gave Viers an alibi.

At any rate, the crisis was over. Time for the mice to play since the cat was away.

This was how it should have ended in the AYM’s backer coming out after the AYM got offed in the story. Viers architected so it would happen.

“Kin, three seeds are crushed,” Dia said. This meant the rescue was no longer necessary.

“All right ye mateys! We loot and plunder! Pirates for’evaaaa!!!”

Arsène, disguised, but not as Tanael, exited Dia’s Biome. Farley was with him, and Clarissa was inside his soul space. Paina, however, stayed behind. She didn't want to do acts of evil. Viers respected her decision. She did not want to stain her karma with bad deeds, then so be it. He made it clear though she wouldn't get any part of the loot and she was okay with that.

The three familiars were with Arsène too as back up.

They emerged near the duchy. Dia’s space 2 affinity jumped her Biome-assisted teleportation capabilities. Izabella’s buddies were hard at work, there was a lot of commotion.

“Come on,” Arsène urged his party. They went deeper into the central part.

“Halt! Who goes there?” He was stopped by the guards.

“It’s me.” Arsène removed his cloak’s hood.

“P-Prince Marvin? I thought you were missing! The duke has been searching for you!”

“Yeah, now I’m back. More importantly, we’re under attack! From the devil cults!”

“What? So it's those bastards!”

“Beware of their demon summonings. I’m going to lead the defense. Where’s Knight Commander Heckmann?”

“Sir! He’s in the war room, sir!”

“Very well. Don't let those bastards through,” Arsène gave a salute.

“Absolutely, sir!” the guards salute back. “And this is…?”

“She’s the new girl that I picked up. Not as good as Solany but better than the usual catch I get.”

With soul search, Arsène mimicked Marvin’s personality quite well. The face-changing part was easy because of the Impersonator mask. Since he was a shady fellow, methods like changing aura and the like were gathered and improved for situations like this.

He had already briefed Farley before the sortie so she wouldn't take offense. She understood and didn't mind.

After going inside, he traversed the familiar luxury environment of the manor in Marvin’s memories. Arsène stayed clear of the war room, avoiding dangerous individuals such as that Heckmann fellow.

The Blood Church was attacking the treasuries and other strategic places to allocate the duchy’s wealth for their own. The buzz reached here. Izabella seemed to be bringing quite a force with her.

Arsène’s aim was similar but the things he wanted to get were far more precious than the contents of the vaults that Izabella was attacking. The treasure placed in the main compound was naturally more valuable.

Besides, how could Viers sell truly valuable things to outsiders like the Blood Church?

Not only did Viers aim to multiply his wealth by hitting the rich Lucan Duchy’s treasure vaults, but he also wanted to steal their living conditions.

***

Infrastructure.

In this world where the Level of someone was so crucial, something like cultivation infrastructure was also necessary in addition to the likes of roads and buildings.

A grand formation carved into the earth that will improve the ambient mana in the city, training facilities where young talents could be nurtured to become precious manpower, unique cultivation resources for the citizens, and so on. Unlike magic potions or natural treasures which were usually a single-use type, these cultivation-assisting features had continuous use or could be used repeatedly.

The Lucan Duchy had stood for a long time, they had an established cultivation infrastructure. It allowed them to train their soldiers and reel in talent from outside.

Viers was aiming for two things today. He deduced it was possible to acquire after he perused Marvin’s memories compared to other choices.

The first was the Everflowing Jug. It looked like the thing a fountain’s statue had, where water streamed from it. However, this magical device with ancient origin truly created endless streams of liquid. The jug was the source of clean water that the duchy’s citizens used.

If it only created ordinary water then Viers wouldn't bother. Minor though it might be, the water contained mana and vitality. This contributed to the health of the people, the children also had a higher rate of becoming Pathseekers compared to other areas.

Should the endless fount of energy be placed in Viridis… the thought made Viers grin. The Everflowing Jug would continuously improve the pocket dimension. In addition, the dryad land god of Viridis would also become stronger as she drew power from the land.

Arsène and Farley entered the protected place where the jug was installed, where multiple aqueducts carried the water to other places in the duchy. Using Marvin’s clearance he could bypass some security but even the prince wasn't given permission to enter such a crucial place willy-nilly. It only carried the duo partway.

This was where Arsène’s expertise as the Heavenly Thief was of use. Besides, his other self used to play many stealth games. As a camouflaging, form-morphing, face-changing, Jedi Mind Trick-using individual, he was well-versed in sneaking into restricted places.

The Everflowing Jug was obtained anticlimactically easy.

Arsène moved to his other objectives without delay. He was on the clock; who knew how long until the duke returned.

“Demons sighted on the east side! Get some men over there at once! Hurry, you want me to throw you there instead!?”

Arsène barked orders to the guards as Marvin. Not a moment too soon, the demonized monsters appeared from the corner.

The Blood Church members employed demons, just like a demon cult does. So did Arsène.

Creating demons without summoning wasn't hard if one had demonic mana, its nature was to corrupt other things into demons. Viers still had bullets made from demon souls. He used a few to kill Max in the Valkut arc. He had demon body parts too, for research purposes. Using monster-containing magic items not unlike his familiars’ badges, he easily released the demons at a suitable time and place to create distractions.

From the jug to the second objective, Arsène passed by a small spirit garden where various spirit herbs were grown. Of course, he took them all, including the loam. All those decades-old potent herbs were his, one was even a hundred-year old plant. Bumper crop indeed.

The second objective was in the pantry. The pantry for a castle-like main dwelling of the Lucan Duchy was similarly huge. Servants and cooks went to and fro regularly, though since there was an attack, most had gone to hiding. There it existed, instead of some vault, because of the nature of its use.

It was called the Eternal Breadwall. The size of the wall was seven meters long, twenty centimeters wide, and two and a half meters tall. It was perfectly edible and no matter how much the bread was removed, the breadwall would regenerate to its fullness after a day.

The bread never spoiled or grew mold while it was still connected to the whole wall. The whole thing would remain in good condition. but once part of it was removed, the removed parts would begin to decay like normal food. It was a mystery.

Like the water from the jug, the healthy brown wall was a little special in mana and composition. What made Viers set his eyes on it was two-fold, the infinite food source for him and his monster forms, and the bread was suitable for various magical recipes.

When the otherworldly dungeon core got invaded, Viers obtained the food-cultivation inheritance from a guy he killed. So far Viers only made use of the part to improve the food that he ate, but a true user of this particular food method was also capable of creating cultivation-enhancing food.

A century-old magic ginseng might be incredibly valuable and nourishing but if a Pathseeker chef was able to process the ingredient, the resulting cuisine would have an even greater effect.

To become stronger by eating delicious things, Viers could hardly wish for anything better. Let us not forget Viers’ Horizon ability. Just like the culinary world was an endless wilderness, so too was Viers' Horizon ability.

Currently, there was no one that could make use of this… food path inheritance. Originally, he planned to make the Pukupukus cultivate this power. He didn't give it to them yet because the Aranara-inspired life forms were still very new and he was still observing their developments. Perhaps a certain someone would be a good candidate.

Even raw, the Eternal Breadwall would lessen his monster forms’ need for food. The more they eat, the stronger they get. It was the quirk of monsters in this world.

From where the duke got this thing Marvin had no idea and neither did Viers. Viers was also skeptical of the eternal part. He believed one day the magic bread would run out, but until then, he would be content to eat the thing.

The breadwall was big, but Arsène had already prepared a suitable inventory item to carry the thing.

While Viers struggled to bag the wall of bread, Farley pillaged the pantry. All those high-quality ingredients that would grace the palate of important people in the duchy, were sucked into her bag of holding, like a black hole gobbling up space debris. The state of the pantry's aftermath was worse than Bilbo Baggins’ own.

Unlike the thirteen dwarves, the two didn't tidy up before they left. When two soul-tricked kitchen hands that were hiding came to, they saw a barren world.

“Big bad duke’s still not here,” Arsène said to Farley. “Next we raid Marvin’s secret stash.”

Farley nodded. She had to admit. The things they already had gotten thus far were considerable. What could be next? She was slightly trembling from excitement.