Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 113

113.

After giving Duke Mike some time to consider, I returned to my tent.

On the way, I told Riorden to come to my tent after he finished eating.

I ate alone inside the tent.

‘I wish I could have some hot soup.’

I missed spicy food, but I thought of the Westerners who couldn’t even get a decent lunch.

Just being able to eat something was a blessing in this world.

I tried to shake off the disappointment and finished my meal, then called for Riorden, who was waiting outside.

“Your Highness, did you call?”

“Ah, I’ve finished eating. Go and get Riorden for me.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As the middle-aged man signaled, two maids entered and cleared my table.

With the end of the war, the maids and servants who had worked in Duke Mike’s castle also returned.

Unlike before the war, they no longer had a castle to work in, but the number of people they had to take care of had increased.

Duke Mike, who had lost his wife and had no heir, originally only had his personal servants attending to him.

But now, with the Western lords who had not yet returned to their territories and even myself, there was several times more work than usual.

“Thank you.”

I simply expressed my gratitude to the maids.

Even with a passing word, the maids couldn’t hide their emotion.

“Ah, no, Your Highness.”

“We are just doing our jobs.”

After the maids left, Riorden soon appeared.

“You called, Your Highness?”

Riorden bowed deeply.

“Oh, sit down. Have you eaten?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Riorden sat down, and I began to speak seriously.

“About the wyvern hunting issue, I’m thinking of actively using Thompson’s and the mages’ items first.”

“The items, you mean?”

Thompson and the mages had a lot of items.

They had prepared a lot to kill me, and they also had many items they usually carried around.

Some of them were very rare materials, which was why I called Riorden.

“Attack magic items are almost useless. Wyverns have extremely high magic resistance on their skin.”

The magic scrolls with 3rd and 4th circle magic were attack magic items, but they were not effective for hunting.

“The useful ones are defense magic items. I’m thinking of supplying them to all the knights.”

Riorden agreed.

“The knights are responsible for protecting the archers, so it would be beneficial for them to have those items and use them appropriately.”

I mentioned an important point I had been thinking about.

“The archers’ attacks won’t work on the wyvern, right?”

“Fighting the orcs, I realized that the Western soldiers are indeed elite. They are not afraid of battle, and their skill level is high. But it’s different when the opponent is a wyvern.”

The Ruler of the Ruins, Wyvern!

The wyvern’s skin was on a completely different level from the orcs’.

Riorden pointed that out.

“Archers could kill orcs, but it’s different with wyverns. Moreover, the terrain for fighting is completely unfavorable.”

I picked up on the disadvantage of the terrain in Riorden’s explanation.

“When fighting orcs, the archers shot arrows from the top of the castle walls down. But wyvern hunting is the opposite. You have to shoot arrows at the wyvern flying below.”

“The power will naturally be reduced.”

As a way to solve that problem, I immediately mentioned the material items.

“There are material items. I think I need to show them to the artisans, but I believe if they are used on the arrows in some way, they will be completely different from ordinary arrows.”

“What kind of material items are they?”

Riorden wasn’t surprised and asked about the identity of the items first.

“It’s a material item called Silver Sand, but the quantity isn’t that large. As far as I know, if you apply Silver Sand to a weapon, the sharpness of the weapon increases several times.”

Riorden was surprised now.

“Silver Sand, you say?”

“That’s right. Do you know the item?”

“It’s not an extremely rare item, but it’s not a common item either. It’s mainly exported from the southern region with many coastal cities, and most of it is imported by magic towers.”

Riorden knew more about Silver Sand than I did.

Because it was one of the special items I had set, I only set it to enhance weapons.

Riorden explained it in more detail.

“Silver Sand not only increases the sharpness of weapons but also reduces side effects when conducting magical experiments. That’s why magic towers import it as their top priority.”

“I see. Anyway, we’re not planning on doing any magical experiments, so we’re going to use it to enhance the archers’ arrows.”

I took a sip of water and continued.

“We need to hand over the quantity to the artisans and find out how much can be used on the arrows. If that can at least allow the archers’ arrows to wound the wyvern, then the first part of the operation is complete.”

Riorden waited for my words.

I frowned and said.

“A head-on confrontation with the wyvern is impossible. Ambush is the best option. Fortunately, we know the Forest of Darkness pretty well now.”

“Ambush, you say?”

“That’s right. We have to ambush and hunt the wyvern. We need to allow the archers to shoot arrows from favorable terrain, and the hunt should proceed in a way that Gale and I deliver the finishing blow the moment the wyvern focuses on the archers.”

Riorden listened to my briefly summarized plan and paused to think.

I gave Riorden time to think.

After a while, Riorden opened his mouth.

“Ambush is a good idea, but the problem is how to lure the Ruler of the Ruins, the Wyvern.”

“That’s right. That’s the biggest problem. Its intelligence is almost on par with humans. Luring it with bait won’t work.”

Riorden was now deep in thought.

“Let’s discuss it with many people. It seems like this issue can’t be solved with just the two of us.”

Riorden agreed with my words.

“Let’s also listen to the stories of the Western soldiers. They have all lived in the West for a long time, so they must have heard rumors about the Ruler of the Ruins, the Wyvern, at least once. Surprisingly good information might come out.”

I accepted Riorden’s opinion.

“Good.”

* * *

After the meeting with Riorden, I also talked with the Western lords and Duke Mike, but no brilliant ideas came out.

“There is time, but……”

I muttered as I wrapped up the day in my tent.

There was definitely a lot of time to think.

Hamilton had just left for reconnaissance.

We could come up with a plan while Hamilton returned and we made various preparations, but strangely, my head hurt.

‘Ah, there seems to be something.’

I lay down on the cot and pondered.

“Should I ask the spirits?”

Thinking that I hadn’t summoned the spirits today, I immediately got up to summon them.

“Your Highness!”

Hearing a voice from outside, I answered without summoning the spirits.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Duke Mike.”

“Bring him in.”

Soon, a servant opened the tent door, and Duke Mike appeared.

What was unusual was that there was someone I had never seen before behind Duke Mike.

I offered both of them a seat.

The person who followed Duke Mike was an old man, and he looked at me with eyes asking if he could sit down.

“Please, sit.”

At my words, the old man bowed as if he was overwhelmed and carefully sat down.

“It’s late at night, what brings you here?”

Duke Mike smiled and said.

“I knew you were very worried about the wyvern hunt, so I came to you, even at the risk of being rude, to help you solve it as soon as possible.”

My eyes widened.

“Did you come up with a solution for the wyvern hunt?”

Duke Mike turned his gaze to the old man.

“Tell him yourself.”

“Yes, yes.”

I also looked at the old man.

He was an ordinary person you could see anywhere.

He looked even older than Duke Mike.

“I am Urban, living in Baron Hamilton’s territory.”

The old man introduced himself first.

I nodded and tried to ease the atmosphere.

I even brewed tea myself and tried to make the old man comfortable enough to speak freely.

“Please speak comfortably while drinking.”

Since becoming the Crown Prince, I had developed a habit of speaking casually to everyone, but I still automatically used honorifics to people who were much older than me.

Urban seemed both touched and burdened by the fact that he, a commoner who had never even stepped in the shadow of a noble in his life, was drinking tea given by the Crown Prince and being spoken to with respect.

‘Just because it’s the West doesn’t mean the nobles recognize commoners any differently.’

Urban took a sip of tea and began to speak.

“When I was young, there were rumors about the Ruler of the Ruins, the Wyvern.”

I exclaimed in surprise.

“Really?”

Duke Mike subtly interjected.

“It seems that wyvern lives much longer than the average wyvern. That’s why it has the infamous name of Ruler of the Ruins.”

Urban nodded.

“If you’re a Westerner, you’ve probably heard the rumors of the Ruler of the Ruins at least once.”

I fixed my gaze on Urban as if telling him to continue.

“When I was young, the wyvern once rampaged. At that time, all the monsters living on the border of the Forest of Darkness came down at once because of its rampage.”

Duke Mike clapped his hands.

“That’s right. I think I remember that too.”

“Your Excellency’s territory wasn’t here at the time, was it?”

Duke Mike received the title of Duke for his contributions in the war.

Originally a noble, his title was upgraded, and he was given a large territory in the West, taking on the role of Margrave [a military title, in some European countries, ranking above a count].

“I’m a Westerner too, after all.”

I nodded at Duke Mike’s words.

Urban continued.

“Many Westerners died at that time. I lost my son then too.”

It was a sad story.

“Fueled by revenge, I recklessly went into the Forest of Darkness to find the wyvern.”

Urban’s expression was suppressing anger even though it was an event from over a decade ago. The eternal, unforgettable enemy, the powerlessness of having to bury his son in his heart because he was powerless, was evident in his expression.

“As someone who hadn’t even learned proper swordsmanship, it was impossible for me to even survive in the Forest of Darkness.”

“How did you survive?”

Perhaps the circumstances of Urban’s survival would be of great help in this hunt.

“The wyvern appeared, and all the monsters retreated. The wyvern focused on something else, not on a small human like me.”

“Something else?”

Urban nodded.

“Yes. It was a Black Ogre, but after recalling it, it wasn’t an ordinary Black Ogre.”

‘If it’s a Black Ogre, it’s the ogre that attacked us with the wyvern back then.’

Of course, there wasn’t only one Black Ogre.

The Black Ogre that Urban met and the Black Ogre that I met were definitely different ogres.

The Black Ogre I met didn’t look very old.

Monsters were also living beings, and they grew and aged according to the laws of nature.

The Black Ogre was also a special ogre living in the Forest of Darkness, but it didn’t live forever.

“I don’t know much about Black Ogres, but there was a clear difference between the rumors I had heard while living here and the Black Ogre I saw.”

“What difference?”

“There was a jewel embedded in its heart. It was so big that I still remember it.”

I hurriedly asked.

“What kind of jewel was it?”

“I’ve never seen a jewel before, so I don’t know, but it didn’t seem like a natural jewel, but rather like someone had embedded it. I don’t know how that ogre embedded the jewel and lived.”

I quickly handed Urban a fountain pen.

“Can you draw it?”

“Yes.”

While watching Urban draw, I didn’t just pass it by and asked a question.

“Is it true that the wyvern focused on the Black Ogre because of that jewel?”

“Yes. I thought it would kill and eat the Black Ogre, but it didn’t eat it. It even saw me but just left. It just held that jewel in its mouth.”

Urban’s hand movements were slow as if drawing itself was awkward, but the picture gradually became clear enough to recognize.

“That’s it.”

Duke Mike muttered in a low voice.

“The Reinhide’s symbol.”

“What is that?”

Duke Mike’s voice was mixed with suppressed groans.

“It is the symbol of the destroyed wizard kingdom. It is known as the kingdom that ruled this West in the ancient era long before the empire was founded.”

“Reinhide……”

My head tingled.

I felt like I had heard it somewhere.

I immediately got up.

‘Reinhide! The kingdom that made Karen’s mithril sword!’

When I was writing the novel about the hero Karen, I explained that all the treasures had the Reinhide symbol.

“That wyvern, could it be……”

The two of them looked at me with questioning eyes as I muttered unknown words, but I couldn’t say anything.

This was knowledge that only I knew and couldn’t tell anyone else yet.