The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns
Chapter 260

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 260

The capital of Bata was bustling with festivities, but not everyone could join in the celebration.

Some were tasked with conducting trials for the Coral nobles and royals who had been captured during the war.

A large number of individuals, including the king of Coral, were currently imprisoned in the underground dungeon.

The disheveled king of Coral, slumped powerlessly on the ground, slowly lifted his head at the sound of approaching footsteps breaking the still silence.

Even Radon, his last hope, had shown no reaction.

Before the mobilization order could even be issued, the fortress walls had been shattered by a massive being and completely collapsed.

How could something like this even happen?

That was the only thought swirling in his mind.

The kingdom had fallen in a single day.

Objectively and subjectively, there was no reason for Coral to lose the war against Bata.

And yet, they were defeated—in such a short span of time.

It was all because of that damned variable.

Leon Cascadia.

If it hadn’t been for that wretched man, things wouldn’t have ended in such humiliation.

Step... step...

Then, at the sound of faint footsteps, the king turned his gaze.

“You are...”

The king of Coral widened his eyes at the appearance of an unexpected figure.

“Ah… ah! You’ve come to rescue me!”

Even the once-arrogant king now spoke respectfully to this person.

Crawling toward the bars, the king looked up in anticipation.

And at that moment, the black-gloved hand of the person standing before him began to move slowly.

* * *

At the request of the Princess of Bata, I headed down to the underground prison and frowned at the dreadful stench that filled the place.

It smelled like blood—but not fresh blood.

It was tainted, foul.

“There were no signs of intrusion. But when the guards entered for the shift change, they found things already like this.”

Despite being raised delicately, the once-frail princess did not flinch.

She stood her ground, eyes wide open.

So this is what they mean when they say experience changes a person.

I looked at the grotesque mass of flesh inside the cell, where the bars had been completely melted.

Blood had splattered everywhere.

The body it belonged to was now so mangled that it no longer retained any recognizable form.

It was hard to imagine what kind of force could reduce a person to this state.

No—this wasn’t just beating or slashing.

[Facial features have shifted. This is closer to deformation than external trauma or slicing.]

The blood smeared around wasn’t ordinary—it was horrifically corrupted.

Someone had been here.

And not just anyone—someone extremely dangerous.

“What do you think?”

“This wasn’t done by a human. Neither aura nor mana can do something like this.”

“The investigators submitted similar reports. Sigh, this has gotten complicated. Even if he was the enemy, he was still the king of a nation...”

Of course, the Coral king would’ve likely been sentenced to death after the trial anyway, but still, this was not a good outcome.

The king of Coral—once hailed as a divine descendant and a figure of absolute power—was now nothing more than a pitiful lump of meat.

In the end, we would learn nothing from him.

“I’ll try to get some intel elsewhere.”

“Understood. I trust the Guardian’s judgment.”

Unable to bear the stench any longer, the princess left first.

I stared at the mangled corpse and spoke.

“Librarian.”

[Acknowledged.]

“Was it Nyala?”

The librarian remained silent for a moment.

Then, a message appeared.

[100% confirmed.]

“Shit. Seriously.”

The message held no emotion, but somehow, it felt filled with hostility.

That bastard was spreading his influence throughout the Middle Realm now?

This was really bad.

“I need to meet with the cultists.”

I couldn’t put it off anymore.

This wasn’t just about Nyala showing up, or an outer god’s subordinate making a move.

Nyala—while not as powerful as an outer god—was still dangerous enough that if he was moving freely, I needed to eliminate him before it was too late.

If possible, I’d also need to arrange a meeting with Diablo—the faithful demon in the Holy Kingdom.

* * *

“Congratulations, my lord!”

“Congratulations!!”

The many retainers of House Cascadia knelt on one knee in unison, showing their respects to Melissa.

Once just a borderland count family, the Cascadia house was now a grand duchy with vast territory.

Noble ranks aren’t something easily attained.

Even those with great achievements often stop at baron or viscount.

It’s usually the marquises and dukes who are considered the founding families of a nation, with all the power and influence that implies.

Naturally, such families also governed immense tracts of land.

“Ah! Enough! Everyone get up!”

Though it was post-victory, Melissa still seemed unaccustomed to this kind of scene.

And understandably so.

She hadn’t even fought on the front lines.

All she did was assist a little and keep in contact—and suddenly, she had gained a massive domain and a dukedom overnight.

“Ah... ahh! To think I’d live to see House Cascadia rise so high... The former head would surely be overjoyed to see this! My lady!”

“Chamberlain... please stop saying things like that.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“How could I not be overjoyed! To see our young lady grown into such beauty!”

“Aaagh!”

Melissa shivered and shrieked in embarrassment.

At this point, I had to step in too.

“Wow. Looks like that statue in the center of the estate is finally serving its purpose.”

“Damn it, I should’ve destroyed that statue when I had the chance.”

As if she meant that.

What a lie.

“Everyone, get up! No matter what, we’ve got a mountain of things to take care of! But first, by royal decree! Since we’ve defeated Coral, who plagued us for so long, open up the storehouses and let the people of the territory eat and celebrate to their hearts’ content!”

“Yes, my Lord!”

As the retainers all scattered at once, Melissa let out a deep sigh.

“Next time, try not to stir up so much trouble. I feel like you’re shaving years off my life.”

“Little sister.”

“Oh… crap. Don’t start.”

“Since it’s come to this, let’s just raise Cascadia to the status of one of the Thirteen Great Houses.”

“What the hell?!”

At my teasing suggestion, she looked genuinely horrified.

It was understandable.

After all, we’d been told time and again by our father and mother that greed only leads to ruin.

If it's something beyond what she can reasonably manage, Melissa can't help but worry.

In any case, ever since Duke Melissa returned, the territory has been brimming with vitality.

And now, in Melissa’s office—

Luna sat on a chair, holding Arsha on her lap and feeding her snacks.

Grivy, watching them intently as if struck by inspiration, suddenly climbed onto my lap.

Lastly, Melissa sat in a corner, her expression complicated as she exchanged glances with everyone.

“Um… Brother?”

The first to speak was Arsha.

Staring wide-eyed at Grivy, she cautiously asked me,

“Who is that girl?”

It was Arsha’s first time seeing Grivy?

Well, I guess that made sense.

I patted Grivy’s head, prompting her to introduce herself.

“Grivy is Daddy’s daughter.”

“Daddy?”

Arsha tilted her head in confusion, and Grivy looked up at me.

“Yup. Daddy’s daughter.”

“…Brother. When did you marry Luna?”

At those words, Luna averted her eyes and blushed.

“We haven’t yet. This is your first time seeing her, right? Grivy is a spirit of the earth I made a contract with.”

“A gnome?”

“No, she’s a little different from those kinds of spirits.”

At my explanation, Arsha quietly looked at Grivy again.

Maybe because they were around the same age, her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“I’m Arsha! Let’s be friends from now on!”

“Okay.”

Arsha leapt down and grabbed Grivy’s hand, and seeing that Grivy didn’t mind, she nodded vigorously.

“Come with me! I’ll show you my treasures!”

Watching the two of them dash off hand-in-hand, I chuckled softly.

“Alright, let’s get down to business. Now that the capital of Coral, Kalis, and part of the Valt Plains have been incorporated into Cascadia, we need to manage those lands too, right?”

“Right. But the distance is pretty far, so even the royal family asked if we were sure about this.”

Before Princess Bata awarded us, she had summoned me and Melissa to ask what kind of reward we desired.

I asked for a portion of Coral’s land.

Otherwise, I would’ve had to accept a noble title by default.

“That’s how I ended up becoming a duchess.”

“The distance makes it hard to manage both territories through normal means. So, for now, we’ll create permanent gates that link the three locations.”

Not teleport gates activated by mages, but a system where the spaces themselves are physically connected.

“Like the one the Imperial Academy uses?”

There’s already a permanent passage between the Imperial Academy and the Cascadia estate.

Melissa caught on quickly and seemed to realize what I was suggesting.

“Similar, but the efficiency isn’t always the best. This time, I want to build it properly.”

The plan was simple:

Construct gates in Kalis, the Valt Plains, and Cascadia.

Then link them so that the three regions are connected in real-time.

That way, traveling between Valt Plains, Kalis, and Cascadia wouldn’t take days or weeks—it would take no time at all.

Like making them feel like one massive territory.

“Considering the population and resource flow, it can’t be anything small-scale. So it’s going to be pretty massive.”

“Got it. What about the materials?”

“Orichalcum will help a lot, but it’ll still cost a good deal of money. For supplies, I’m thinking of reaching out to the Planetaria Trading Company and the Mage Association. Remember them?”

“Ah… yeah. We got tangled up with them because of that mine.”

“I have some ties there, so I’m hoping to source some materials from them.”

The Mage Association, Bergal.

I used to have connections with their twin siblings, Raida and Ravena.

If the Mage Association is like merchants of the magic world, they probably deal in rare materials too.

“How much money are we talking?”

“Definitely not a small amount. It could cost anywhere from hundreds of billions to maybe even trillions of sel.”

“Ugh… that much? With a project of that scale, we’ll probably use up most of the funds we have right now.”

The funds we received from The Queen’s Twilight were substantial, but they were promised to us in scheduled installments.

Even for the Lavren family, suddenly pouring out that kind of money could cause issues in multiple places.

If the money flow dries up, the first to suffer would be the merchants who circulate currency across the continent.

Plus, the Bata royal family is already heavily borrowing from Lavren.

If we drain Lavren’s resources, that’s not going to help anyone.

This isn’t like my past life.

Here, large-scale circulation of sel, the currency, creates real aftershocks.

I have no intention of triggering a Great Depression.

Melissa looked pale.

Then Luna started rummaging through her subspace.

“You need money?”

“Huh?”

Clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter!!!

An enormous pile of precious gems spilled out onto her hand.

“I have lots of money.”

At her words, Melissa and I threw away our pride and bowed flat in front of her.

“Thus spake the goddess.”

“‘Let there be money,’ and lo, there was money.”

Without saying who started it, we both began to worship her as she crossed her legs and spoke with regal composure.

“I think I’m starting to like money now.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]