The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 88

Chapter 12: Submerged: The Upgraded Scoundrel

After concluding the Twin Tail Gorge battle with a resounding victory, a grand celebration was held throughout the military camp.

The soldiers drank and feasted on meat, reveling in their survival.

Around that time.

I gathered all my comrades at the command headquarters.

Listening to the boisterous cheers echoing from outside, I began, “Everyone, you’ve worked hard in this battle.”

My comrades waved their hands dismissively.

“Not at all. It was all thanks to the Viscount’s plan from start to finish.”

“That’s right. We simply performed on the stage our lord prepared.”

“The Young Master’s strategy was, as always, perfect.”

“Honestly, I knew the Vice Commander was smart and strong from the beginning. But I’m still surprised every time I see it in action.”

Sion, Campbell, Rakan, Aiden.

Everyone credited me as the top contributor.

As they said, the Twin Tail battle unfolded as I had designed it.

Still, it was only possible because my comrades properly concealed their presence when I entered the gorge and accurately timed their attack when the elves’ weapons were exhausted.

When I acknowledged this and gave credit where it was due, my comrades seemed embarrassed but showed me their firm trust and loyalty.

Even with close friends, it was important to continue building rapport in this way.

“So, what are the plans moving forward?”

Sion stepped forward and asked about the upcoming schedule.

“That’s a good question, but there’s something we need to address beforehand.”

I spoke about what had been on my mind throughout the war.

The baptism of Elder Richard, which I learned about through Sasha’s story, and the enhanced warriors who had become rapidly stronger after receiving it.

I also explained that those who gained unstable power harbored indiscriminate animosity towards humans.

“According to rumors I heard from bandits from Molte territory last time, the elves were mistreating the humans in the occupied territories more harshly than necessary.”

“I’ve heard of that.”

“At first, I thought it was simple. I thought it was just the elves, who only lived in the forest and had a narrow-minded view, being swept away by elitism and committing atrocities.”

I took a sip of warm water and continued.

“But after facing several enhanced warriors in recent battles, I felt it. It’s true that they hate humans, but is there another reason why they act so cruelly?”

While everyone was silent, Sasha, who had been listening quietly, stepped forward.

“Are you saying that Elder Richard’s baptism encourages the elves’ animosity towards humans, Uncle?”

“It’s too early to jump to conclusions, but I’m operating under that assumption for now. So, I want to investigate further with your help this time.”

Sasha questioned my words.

“Me? How?”

“I don’t know how the baptism is conducted. But if my hypothesis is correct, it might affect their spiritual state and cause a slight brainwashing effect.”

“You think I could solve it if it’s a spiritual matter?”

“That’s right. You broke through a fairly difficult illusion in the battle with Greed last time, so you should be able to handle this.”

“It won’t be easy, but I’ll try.”

After the conversation, I had a subordinate bring one of the enhanced warriors captured in the Twin Tail battle.

The warrior was quite strong, but his spine was broken when he fell off a cliff, leaving him paralyzed.

Even though his body was broken, an enhanced warrior is still an enhanced warrior, so he was tightly bound and presented before Sasha.

“Sasha, have you ever seen an enhanced warrior before?”

“I’ve seen them a few times from a distance, but this is the first time I’m seeing one up close.”

The enhanced warrior in front of us rolled his eyes and went berserk.

“Lowly humans! You should be torn to pieces! Do you think you can defeat the great elven race by doing this! The Elder will soon lead his army to conquer you!”

He was making so much noise that Sion naturally gagged him.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

“Good job, Sion.”

I gave Sion a thumbs up.

In the meantime, Sasha carefully observed the elven warrior.

Tilting her head and looking around, she came to a conclusion.

“Strange black lines are swirling near his temples.”

“So, the baptism was a process similar to spiritual brainwashing. Can you remove it?”

“It’ll take some time, but I’ll give it a try.”

Sasha closed her eyes and concentrated.

Everyone quieted down and created a peaceful atmosphere.

How much time had passed?

A faint spark flickered from the temples of the bound elven warrior, and Sasha opened her eyes.

“It’s done.”

My comrades glanced back and forth between Sasha and the elven warrior, as if they were amazed.

“Mysterious.”

“The magic of different races is full of unknown knowledge.”

“Looks like she just closed her eyes and opened them.”

“I think so too.”

The elven warrior’s gag was removed.

The warrior, who had been rampaging with bloodshot eyes since entering the tent, was now much calmer.

“Are you conscious?”

“Ugh… Cough!”

The elven warrior frowned as if he had a headache, and his eyes filled with tears.

“Ah! What have I done! Ughhhhh!!!”

It took some time to calm down the elven warrior, who was now going berserk in a different way.

I waited until he was able to talk and then asked.

“How do you feel now?”

“I feel like I had a bad dream. Why did I do that?”

“Do you hate humans?”

“I hate them. But…”

“But?”

“I didn’t want to do that.”

“Tell me what you did.”

The story that came out of the elf’s mouth was so terrible that it was beyond words.

Perhaps because he was a high-ranking officer, he confessed to much more detailed and diverse atrocities than the bandit leader’s testimony.

“My god.”

“Dirty bastards.”

“I’m ashamed that they’re the same intelligent beings as us.”

Seeing us clicking our tongues, he cried out.

“I don’t know why. I don’t know! Why did I do that? Of course, I hated humans. I thought elves were superior. But even so, why did I…”

Listening to the elf’s words, I felt like I understood how Elder Richard’s baptism effect was being manifested.

It seemed to maximize the negative thoughts existing in the subject’s unconscious and bring them to the surface.

Humans are the same.

Even people who live normally can suddenly pick fights, commit impulsive acts, or even commit crimes when they are severely drunk.

Perhaps the elf in front of me had fallen into such a pit.

“Sniff! Sniffle!”

“It’s okay.”

“Sasha… I’m sorry…”

The elven warrior, recognizing the high elf Sasha, wept.

Sasha hugged and comforted the warrior.

However, the comfort did not last long.

Blood began to flow from all seven orifices of the brainwashed elven warrior.

“Kyaaak!!”

Sasha screamed in surprise, and Sion reflexively pulled her away to protect her.

The elven warrior, who had been shedding blood like a waterfall, soon dropped his head.

Campbell approached him, checked his pulse, and shook his head.

“He’s dead.”

“What happened?”

“It must be a side effect of the baptism.”

I thought it was strange.

Even though it was incomplete, it was a huge leap for a user-level expert to become an expert-level expert [In this context, ‘user-level’ and ‘expert-level’ refer to tiers of skill or power].

In the end, the elven warrior paid the price for forcibly raising his level.

In this case, all the elven warriors who had been baptized so far had to be considered as good as dead.

Sasha, realizing that the entire race was in danger, became furious and shed tears.

“How could Elder Richard do this? This isn’t for the elves, and it’s not for the humans. It’s just a way for both of us to die together!!”

I was a little puzzled by that part too.

I thought that elves would prioritize their own race above all else.

He turned his subordinates into irreversible berserkers, instilled animosity towards humans, and made them kill each other indiscriminately.

As Sasha said, this was a suicidal plan for both humans and elves.

“I’ve been treated badly by Elder Richard, but I’ve been understanding it in my heart because there are always greedy leaders everywhere. But I’ve never seen or heard of a leader who openly wants everyone to die together.”

It’s even more devastating for the elves.

There are many humans, but there are far fewer elves.

In the meantime, he baptized all the elite warriors and ruined their minds, so it was no exaggeration to say that they were on the verge of extinction.

“Let’s investigate this further.”

The only way to resolve the question was to meet Elder Richard in person.

Rakan, who had been folding his arms, asked me.

“Lord, how do you want to proceed? Are we going to lead the 6,000 troops into the Eastern Great Forest as it is?”

I shook my head at Rakan’s words.

“No. That’s too much of a gamble.”

Raven Forest and the Eastern Great Forest are forests of completely different scales.

To put it bluntly, Raven Forest is like Seorak Mountain or Jirisan Mountain in Korea [Famous mountains in South Korea], and the Eastern Great Forest is like the Amazon rainforest.

It was too risky to go there with a large army.

“Have Aiden and Rakan lead the troops and besiege Molte Castle.”

Having passed through Raven Forest, it was only half a day’s journey from here to Molte Castle.

“Wasn’t the Lord’s original purpose the elven base? I know you had a conflict with Viscount Piento because of that.”

“That’s right. We’ll only pretend to besiege and attack Molte Castle.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying…”

Looking at my comrades who didn’t understand my words, I smiled and took out an ancient artifact from the subspace gourd [A gourd with its own pocket dimension].

It was a one-hole generator, one of the gifts Tom had given me after the work in Liang was over.

“We’re going to cross space. The 6,000 troops in Molte Castle will be teleported to the Eastern Great Forest overnight.”

“!!!”

Aiden and Rakan were speechless, their mouths wide open. I added, “So, while Sion, Sasha, Campbell, and I enter the Great Forest and install the wormhole generator on the other side, please draw attention in a stylish way. I’m counting on you.”

* * *

Deep in the Eastern Great Forest.

The elves’ sanctuary.

Elder Richard was holding scissors and trimming the overgrown boxwood branches.

Behind him, Amelia, with gritted teeth, knelt with her head bowed.

“So you lost all 2,000 troops?”

“……”

“I can’t believe it. Did you perhaps let the enemy pass through Raven Forest and then smash all your troops in the vast plains?”

“……”

“Say something. Has the cat got your tongue?”

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

Elder Richard strode forward.

A shadow fell over Amelia’s head.

The Elder, who had been looking down at her intently, finally raised his right hand and slapped her cheek hard.

Smack!!

Her head turned.

Perhaps because he hit her so hard, her cheeks quickly swelled up.

“At least look at why you were hit. Tell me what made a venomous child like you so pathetic and miserable.”

“It’s because of Viscount Lloyd.”

Viscount Lloyd.

The person who made the war with humans, which was thought to end simply, so disadvantageous.

He gave him the task of dealing with 6,000 troops when he thought it would end with only 5,000, and makes it difficult with continuous unpredictable movements.

In addition, losing 2,000 troops composed of pure elves in Raven Forest meant that there would be a significant setback in the future.

“You lost as many as 2,000 people to just one guy… Don’t you think it’s a pathetic excuse even to you?”

“But he’s really something else. That inhuman bastard pulls out a new trick every time I see him and makes a fool of me with extraordinary strategies.”

“Now you’re praising the enemy general in front of me. You’ve really gone mad.”

The furious Elder Richard indiscriminately assaulted Amelia.

Amelia silently endured the beating.

After hitting her for almost ten minutes, Richard, who had barely relieved his anger, took a long breath and opened his mouth.

“Have you heard from Scott, your soul rival?”

“I don’t know much.”

“I heard that he has already annihilated more than half of the human army. He plans to annihilate all the remaining remnants within half a month.”

Amelia grabbed her sore stomach and remained silent. Elder Richard said to her.

“Amelia.”

“Yes?”

“Will you refuse the baptism even now?”

In the end, the topic of the baptism came up again.

After thinking for a while, she shook her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t want to?”

“I want to achieve my strength on my own, not with the help of others.”

“……”

Elder Richard, who was staring at Amelia, who had expressed her firm will, smiled crookedly.

“Amelia, the situation has changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“From now on, baptism will be mandatory, not optional.”

“!!!!”

Surprised, Amelia raised her head.

“I was originally going to proceed like this. But since you lost, I’ll have to move up the schedule even further.”

“Elder! That’s unfair.”

“No. This is right. All elves born in the future will be required to receive baptism, so be aware of that.”

“That can’t be!!”

Amelia openly opposed.

Her instincts were screaming that it shouldn’t be done.

“What good is it for you to object? You’re also subject to baptism, so wait quietly until your turn comes.”

Elder Richard nodded.

Then, two sturdy elves came forward and dragged Amelia away.

“Elder! Please reconsider one more time!”

Her voice gradually faded away and soon disappeared.

The garden became quiet again.

The Elder picked up the scissors that had fallen on the floor and continued to trim the boxwood.

The name of one person flickered in his head.

‘Viscount Lloyd… I’ll have to get rid of him this time.’

Hennon was upgraded to the top priority for disposal in the Elder’s mind.