I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 81

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Inheriting a Beautiful Wife and Estate Episode 081

81. Virtue 10

They monitored all the serfs. They thoroughly investigated from within their shadows whether there was anything even slightly suspicious.

But nothing came up.

‘Strange.’

Cliff’s expression hardened.

The Quest still wasn’t completed.

“We’ve already examined everyone we could investigate. I can assure you. There are no spies that the lord is looking for among them.”

Belgimov said to Cliff.

If he spoke with such confidence, there should be no more doubt. They had certainly rooted out all the spies who had infiltrated the estate. But the Quest wasn’t completed.

‘There’s still one more. If they didn’t turn up even after I told them to search…’

There was something they were missing.

Cliff, who had been thinking with his eyes closed, stood up from his seat.

“My lord?”

At Belgimov’s puzzled call, Cliff’s eyes lit up as he spoke.

“Ballard Village.”

If there was something they missed, it was there.

Hearing his words, Belgimov’s expression also changed.

“Ballard Village and the manor that the lord owns are currently recruiting many new people. Perhaps that might be the answer.”

That much was enough to hear.

It was worth investigating, and he looked into it before it was too late. This time it was more difficult than with the previous serfs, but he was able to find it more easily than expected.

Cliff’s lips curved upward.

Among the workers at the logging site where he had come with a frustrated heart.

“…Found you.”

The logging site became bustling with Cliff’s visit.

As the supervisor came running and people reacted with surprise, Cliff’s eyes were directed at only one person. One man who was flustered after making eye contact with him.

Cliff walked toward him.

“M-My lord…?”

The supervisor called out pitifully to Cliff as he passed by. But Cliff’s eyes didn’t turn to that person.

Instead, he kept staring at only one person.

That person was now looking at him and rolling his eyes left and right frantically.

‘What should I do?’

He could feel such emotions coming from him directly.

“You.”

“Y-Yes, yes, yes.”

He shouldn’t have panicked like that.

Cliff had come right up to him, and he bowed his head while stammering in confusion.

Still, this alone wasn’t particularly strange.

The other person was a commoner and Cliff was a lord. He had become somewhat close with the people of Elimis Domain, but not this person.

It would be normal to be surprised if a noble, especially the lord of this region, suddenly approached.

“What’s your name?”

“I-I am called Voltif.”

“Where are you from?”

Actually, he wasn’t very interested in the name.

He didn’t think he would tell him his real name anyway. The name Voltif was also a name that neither he nor anyone here would know.

‘That’s exactly why it’s strange and suspicious.’

Cliff’s eyes gleamed.

The reason he had identified Voltif and approached him like this.

It was visible to his eyes. The aura emanating from Voltif told him that he was someone who possessed magic power.

Someone with magic power was doing logging work here?

‘No matter how I look at it, it’s suspicious.’

It meant he had a past.

The man’s body trembled slightly.

“I… came from Harpus Village in the Godoreo Baronet.”

“Harpus Village?”

“It’s a very small village where about 30 households live.”

About 30 households meant the number of adult men was less than 50.

It was too small a village.

Cliff naturally didn’t believe Voltif’s words.

“Not from Serpal?”

At that casually thrown question, the other person’s pupils dilated.

‘His emotional expression is honest.’

The pupil earthquake that occurred in that state.

Seeing the other person show great surprise, he was certain. He was indeed a spy from the Serpal Family.

-Quest has been completed

-Lord level is increasing

Most importantly, this message appearing now.

‘Success.’

He had finally identified the last spy who had been hiding.

The other person probably wasn’t someone who had received proper spy training. Looking at the energy he possessed, he would have received knight training rather than spy training.

It was interesting that they had sent a knight as a spy.

The moment he had that thought, Cliff was startled.

Whoosh.

Clang!

“…!”

Voltif swung his hand through the air.

Looking closely, it wasn’t just his hand. A dagger was already in his hand, flashing with a blue blade light.

He threw his body forward and aimed at Cliff. However, a shield that seemed to sense its master’s crisis blocked the sudden attack.

“How dare you!”

Cliff had never come here alone.

As he was attacked, Adolf let out an angry shout. Adolf’s sword was drawn from its sheath and he immediately lunged at Voltif.

Clang.

The dagger blocked the longsword that Adolf had drawn.

“Ugh.”

It was strange.

When a dagger and longsword collide, the longsword should be more advantageous due to its weight and length. But it was Adolf who felt the stronger recoil from just one collision.

Adolf’s expression hardened.

‘My thinking was wrong.’

Cliff had been surprised all this time.

At first, he had seen the opponent as a simple knight. The Serpal Family had infiltrated a knight they had into his estate.

That thought became even more solid because the opponent showed too clearly that he had been caught due to his inability to act his expressions. But not anymore.

‘He’s not a knight. More precisely, he’s definitely not an ordinary knight.’

Dark Knight.

Some people commonly used that expression.

It was a term referring to knight-level forces who did shadow work. Looking at the opponent now, he understood clearly.

He could see exactly that Dark Knight appearance in the opponent. That surprised reaction of being caught wasn’t because he couldn’t act his expressions, but rather to induce his own carelessness.

His thoughts went that far.

“Bind.”

Cliff held his staff and cast magic.

New magic he had learned through Mellie.

The effects of the staff and estate skills worked together. His mana caught hold of his opponent’s movements.

“Kuk!”

The opponent who had initially seemed to overwhelm Adolf with just a single dagger was flustered.

A bewildered expression appeared on his face. He had never expected to be caught by such magic.

“Magic Missile.”

The battle wasn’t over yet.

Cliff additionally deployed the basic magic he possessed.

The fundamental magic among all magical attacks.

A sky-blue mass of mana gathered and spun in the air before flying toward his opponent.

“Eek!”

Voltif dodged that magical attack.

The magical binding that had prevented him from moving was quickly released as well.

Voltif was a more skilled Dark Knight than expected. However, even he hadn’t anticipated one thing.

“I’ll prepare a major spell! Hold the opponent!”

Cliff said this and concentrated his mana.

“Yes!”

Adolf followed Cliff’s words, holding his longsword and checking Voltif’s charge. Voltif observed the two while gradually stepping backward.

Then he turned and began running swiftly. Since Adolf had approached Cliff to guard him rather than pursue other matters, Voltif intended to escape through that gap.

That was his mistake.

Slash.

“Kraaaah!”

Voltif’s scream echoed through the logging site.

A blade that rose from his shadow as he fled had severed his ankle tendon.

As he collapsed, he was shocked.

‘What… what hit me?’

Few people witnessed that moment.

Cliff and Adolf, who had been focused on him and was about to give chase.

Aside from those two, there was virtually no one else. However, after being wounded and his senses becoming more acute, Voltif also noticed.

“Hup!”

In front was Adolf’s sword strike that drew his attention.

But at that moment, there was a rippling movement within the shadows.

“So you were here!”

The dagger first attacked his own shadow.

The dagger that should have struck the ground made a different sound.

“Kyaaaah!”

A woman’s scream expressing pain.

Along with that scream, one shadow separated from his shadow.

Then the shadow shot upward and formed the shape of a woman.

“Dark Elf!”

It was Lin.

Covering her bloodied shoulder with one hand, she glared at Voltif. Voltif was surprised to see her and hastily rolled his body.

It was too crude a movement for a knight, but it saved his life.

Whoosh.

Otherwise, his body would have suffered greater injury from Adolf’s sword strike.

Moreover, with the injury to his leg, he couldn’t even stand properly. Rolling his body on the ground to dodge like this was the best he could do.

But that didn’t mean he could survive.

“Magic Arrow!”

Cliff’s magic, which he had initially threatened to prepare as a major spell, was Magic Arrow again this time.

But this time was different.

Thud.

“Kuhek!”

This time Voltif couldn’t dodge the Magic Missile.

The impact struck his body directly, making him tremble violently.

Thump.

Meanwhile, Adolf approached and kicked Voltif’s hand with his foot.

With a clang, the dagger he was holding flew elsewhere.

“Kraaaah!”

In that state, like an experienced knight, Adolf subdued his opponent so he couldn’t move properly. Adolf shouted while restraining him by twisting his arm behind his back.

“Soldiers, bring something to bind him!”

“Yes!”

Only then did the surrounding soldiers become urgent.

Fortunately, there were ropes at the worksite for securing logs to carts. Using those, Adolf ruthlessly bound Voltif.

“Kuk. Heh, hehe…”

Voltif wore an expression as if he had lost his mind after being captured.

He looked at Cliff with a dejected expression.

“I never would have expected… that the Elimis Family was hiding Dark Elves.”

He hadn’t anticipated it.

That emotion was visible in him.

Dark Elves. They were objects of fear due to their racial trait of shadow stealth.

The highest-level assassins were precisely Dark Elves.

‘So this is why everything we’ve done until now was bound to fail.’

Following the Shadow Wolves, now Dark Elves.

“Ha, haha.”

He laughed as if dejected.

Meanwhile, Cliff approached Lin.

“Heal.”

This too he had learned through Mellie.

Though it was magic he wasn’t yet accustomed to, the magical light touched her wound and regenerated the injured area.

“Ugh.”

Lin grimaced as if there was stinging pain in the process.

Cliff looked at her with concern.

-Don’t be surprised. I’ll be a bit forward.

Cliff said this and embraced her waist.

“Kyah?”

Lin, who hadn’t expected Cliff to engage in such physical contact, was flustered.

While she was surprised, Cliff stood with a rather confident expression.

“That’s right. By my side, there are Dark Elf women like Lin too.”

Cliff boldly held her waist like a lover.

“…Do you have some kind of preference for other races?”

Voltif seemed to have completely misunderstood. He probably saw Lin not as a Dark Elf guard dispatched to protect Cliff, but as a slave he had somehow obtained from the homeland.

Even if not that, he would find it hard to think there were other Dark Elves besides Lin by Cliff’s side.

‘Actually, others would be the same.’

They would just think that among Cliff’s women, there happened to be a Dark Elf.

Not just him, but the rest would likely think the same.

This was the logging site that had been public.

The fact that they had fought openly with even a Dark Elf appearing in such a place was difficult to hide. So he should at least conceal the number of Dark Elves he had.

“Adolf. Take him and interrogate him. Well… I don’t think there’s much information we can extract from him.”

“Understood.”

Adolf first stopped Voltif’s bleeding.

Then Adolf left, taking Voltif with him.

[Name: Cliff Elimis]

[Level: 13]

[Dignity: 12]

[Refinement: 1]

[Virtue: 8]

[Remaining Points: 2]

The Quest was completed.

And if his thoughts were correct, he felt like he could finally obtain the next skill.

Cliff invested his points in Virtue.

-The lord’s Virtue has reached 10, awakening a dormant skill

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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