Chapter 99
She shouted loudly.
“Take that too!”
Normally, Ludwig believed everything Ariella said—even if she claimed the sun rose in the east backwards. But this time, even he resisted.
Still, Ariella was firm.
“We must bring it with us!”
In the end, they packed up a huge magic stone and the strange foul-smelling lump before flying back to the Demon King’s Domain.
“Alright, let’s go home!”
It was the moment their long, exhausting sea expedition finally came to an end.
A few days had passed since Ariella and her companions returned to the Demon King’s Domain.
Despite their great achievement, the people of the domain still didn’t know what had happened.
They had slain the Sea Serpent that ruled the coastal waters and even brought back treasures from it, yet no word had spread.
“If others find out we’re preparing trade with the North, it’ll cause problems. Especially Delrak.”
The ultimate purpose of opening a new trade route was to secure a supply of Dark Iron.
And if Delrak, their neighboring Demon King, learned that they were trying to obtain military resources right next door, he would never stay quiet.
“We must keep things as quiet as possible.”
Except for a very small group of retainers, no one even knew Ariella had gone to sea.
Of course, the head butler Gruve was among that small trusted circle.
“Lady Ariella, I’m relieved you returned safely.”
“Gruve, nothing happened in the castle while I was away, right?”
“Of course not. Though I heard the serpent hunt wasn’t easy.”
“Well, it’s over now. That’s all that matters.”
Ariella answered with a bright smile.
“As expected, home is the best. Now I can finally breathe.”
She naturally called the Demon King’s Castle her “home,” and Gruve nodded as if it were obvious.
Ariella wasn’t exaggerating when she said she could live peacefully now.
On her very first day in the Demon Realm, she had fainted just from seeing her room. But now, she could stretch out and sleep there more comfortably than anyone else.
It felt like everything that had gone astray was finally settling back into place.
Everything—except one strange change in a certain man.
“Ludwig?”
A few days later, she ran into him in the hallway outside her room.
“…Ariella.”
Since returning to the castle, this was the first time they’d met alone, without others in a meeting room.
“I was just about to go to Cecile’s workshop. We need to discuss the things we obtained last time.”
“Oh? Oh.”
His reply was oddly stiff and broken.
Ariella casually suggested,
“Want to come with me?”
Ludwig hesitated for a moment, then answered.
“…No. It’s fine.”
“Why not?”
“I’m busy.”
“Busy? You look like you’re just wandering down the hallway to me.”
“Well, that’s—”
He fumbled for an excuse.
“Not wandering. I’m… patrolling the castle.”
“This hallway?”
“Yes. Patrol. Very important.”
He muttered as if convincing himself.
“…Yes, that’s right. Can’t let my guard down. I must check inside the castle carefully too.”
What he said wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t exactly something the Demon King himself needed to do.
When Ariella folded her arms and stared at him silently, Ludwig quickly turned his shoulders away.
Awkwardly avoiding her gaze, he showed her his back.
“I’m busy, so I’ll be going now.”
With stiff and clumsy steps, he walked away.
Watching him go, Ariella gave a faint laugh.
“What a strange personality he has.”
Her guess was correct.
In truth, Ludwig wasn’t busy at all.
As she pointed out, he had just been pacing the halls of the castle.
What she didn’t know, however, was that until she opened her door, Ludwig had been circling the hallway near her room over and over again.
That was something even Ariella hadn’t realized.
“Cecile, I’m here!”
“Oh~ Lady Ariella!”
Cecile, who was working in her workshop, immediately joked when she saw her.
“Congratulations! Your titles keep piling up. First the Demon King’s Contractor, then the Caretaker of the Hatchling, and now—Slayer of the Sea Serpent!”
“What are you saying! Strictly speaking, it was Ludwig who cut off the monster’s head.”
“From what I hear, though, you set up everything for him.”
After chatting for a bit, Ariella signaled to the demon soldiers waiting outside.
They came in carrying a tightly sealed box.
“What’s this?”
“Before we open it, maybe we should open all the windows first. We’ll need fresh air.”
Cecile gave her a puzzled look.
Once the soldiers left for security reasons, Ariella opened the sealed box.
“Ugh!”
Cecile wrinkled her nose.
Inside was a large magic stone, and beside it, another lump from the serpent’s body.
‘I insisted on bringing it, but the smell really is terrible.’
Ariella pinched her nose with a handkerchief while watching Cecile’s reaction.
“No way, Ariella, is this…?”
Though it had been quite some time since they cut it from the monster’s belly, it was still wrapped in damp membranes.
Its surface was dark, rough, and slick as if covered in oil.
“Can I take a sample?”
“Of course.”
Cecile fetched her tools and scraped a bit off the surface.
Inside, a faint golden hue appeared.
She carefully broke off a tiny piece and smelled it.
At first, the sharp saltiness and fishy odor made her frown. But then—she caught a different scent.
Rich, heavy, warm, and sweet.
The fragrance of sun-dried herbs.
“Could this be… from inside the Sea Serpent?”
“Yes.”
“Then this must be…”
The word left her lips like a gasp.
“Ambergris!”
That was exactly what Ariella hoped she’d say.
Unlike the indifferent reaction of the retainers at the meeting, Cecile immediately understood its value.
“Ambergris? But we didn’t kill a whale. It was a serpent.”
“Even in the human world, ambergris used in perfumes comes from whales. The name is just symbolic.”
Ambergris was a rare substance produced in the guts of large sea creatures.
In monsters, it often combined with magic to produce special effects.
And this wasn’t just any monster—
“It’s ambergris from a Demon King–class monster.”
Ariella’s voice was full of excitement.
“It must have unique effects. And you’re the only one I trust to test it, Cecile!”
In truth, Cecile had been very busy lately. Ariella had given her many assignments.
But her curiosity outweighed her fatigue, and she eagerly nodded.
“Yes! If I can research this, I’d be delighted. But… one thing worries me.”
“What is it?”
“Did Richmond say it was okay for me to handle this? Surely he would be interested in such a treasure.”
“He said it smelled so disgusting he didn’t even want to touch it.”
“Hah! That’s strange. He has no problem handling corpses that smell ten times worse.”
“I don’t think anyone really understands what Richmond considers ‘dirty.’”
Since Cecile had long known Richmond as a customer of her shop, she wasn’t afraid of him at all.
The talk soon returned to the ambergris.
“We can’t use it as a lump like this. First, it needs to be refined into liquid form.”
“In the human world, they would dissolve lumps like this in alcohol.”
“Same in the Demon Realm. But… there’s no high-purity alcohol in this domain.”
“Then what will you do?”
“There’s only one answer. If it doesn’t exist, I’ll make it myself. A distiller is simple to build. The real problem is the raw material. What should I use?”
Ariella had already prepared for this question.
“I heard the castle has a surplus of grapes lately.”
It was one of the problems Gruve, the head butler, was struggling with.
Since the domain’s economy and farmland had improved, they had been cultivating various crops. Grapes were the main one.
Fermented grapes made the most popular drink in the Demon Realm—wine.
But Ludwig’s vineyards were still in rough shape.
“People say wine made with our grapes tastes terrible.”
“Well, just because the soil is fertile doesn’t mean everything works out. Technique matters too.”
The southern trade companies also found the wine unprofitable, so exports were abandoned. Now the surplus grapes were left to rot.
“If we’re going to throw them away, we might as well use them for alcohol.”
So the plan was: ferment grapes, distill them into alcohol, and dissolve the ambergris inside.
With that, one issue was resolved.
But Ariella brought up something heavier next.
“Then… what about the other request I made?”
“…”
Cecile’s face darkened.
Instead of answering right away, she hesitated.
Looking back, everything had begun with a single request from Ariella—
Just before leaving to hunt the serpent, Ariella had given her one mission.
Cecile recalled that fateful conversation.
“Cecile, I have one request.”
“Of course! After all you’ve done—saving my father, helping this domain—I must repay you. Just tell me.”
“Great! I need you to make something.”
“A weapon? Or armor?”
“A ship.”
“…What?”
“You heard me. A ship. Just one is enough. It must be strong enough to withstand coastal storms and sail a route that hasn’t been used for hundreds of years—all the way to the northern Demon Realm. Can you do it?”
“…”
