Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Banshee and Blood-Flesh Magic

Now it was Hughes's turn to be dumbfounded. He had just sent the pirates away; he couldn't possibly invite them back, could he?

Fortunately, it wasn't a major crisis. Although Hughes couldn't come up with the money at the moment, lords of this era had their own methods—defaulting on debts.

Yes, defaulting was an incredibly useful tool. As long as one conscripted the commoners to work and deferred their wages, the people of the territory could be set in motion.

He was, after all, a lord—a noble lord. No one dared to disobey his words. Even if he openly stated there would be no wages, the people of the territory would still have to grumble and come to work for him, even though they were nominally free men.

How could free men ever truly be free?

Still, it was for their own good; after all, the school would be free once it opened, Hughes thought, feeling a twinge of guilt.

It was easy to stiff the commoners, but his own civil officials were perhaps not so easily swayed. Hughes turned to look at Alexei and gave a sheepish smile.

"My Lord, my salary is paid by the royal house." Alexei naturally understood Hughes's intention and sighed. "Besides, I serve you not merely for the sake of a salary."

He could see that Hughes would never be confined to a small island in the future. Both his insight and his methods had impressed Alexei; he was willing to follow such a lord.

"It's fine. I have money here. If I run out, just go to Connor to draw funds," Hughes said, his heart aching as he thought of his nearly empty vault. "Spend what is necessary; do not let the development of the territory be delayed."

Alexei nodded. Most lords were extremely stingy with their wealth, preferring not to touch their own pockets if they could make the city treasury pay. A lord like Hughes, who spent his own money to develop the territory, was already considered generous.

Especially since he was building a school, something that yielded no immediate returns.

The pained expression on Hughes's face didn't seem feigned, revealing his determination to build up the territory. Alexei couldn't help but feel a surge of enthusiasm; with Hughes handling his worries, he could now act with a free hand.

This time, he would show the lord that although he was a graduate of the Royal Military Academy, he was no mere brute who only knew how to fight.

After a brief handover, he took his notebook and excused himself. With everything needing to be rebuilt from scratch, there was much work to be done.

Hughes sighed and called for Connor. Under his rather surprised expression, Hughes told him that Alexei could draw funds directly from his personal vault.

After hesitating, Hughes added, "Give him whatever he asks for... Yes, don't look at me like that. I know the vault is nearly empty, but this is a necessary expenditure."

A necessary expenditure.

Every word of that phrase made his heart ache.

The development of the territory hadn't even begun, yet the money was already flowing out, and his troubles were as numerous as ever.

"Let me think about what to do next..."

Hughes looked at the map of Castell, leaning back into the soft armchair, lost in thought.

After some time, his expression suddenly shifted. He glanced at the oak floor beneath his feet and stood up.

"I am going to the study. From today on, I will be working there. Without my permission, no one is to enter," Hughes instructed the butler at the door.

Connor nodded in acknowledgment. A maid standing nearby opened her mouth as if to say something, but seeing Hughes's retreating back, she finally just lowered her head in gloom.

Hughes walked along the stairs to the study. He made a show of directing the servants to place various island documents and annual ledgers on the table, ordered the others to stay out, then closed the door himself and gently slid the bolt shut.

The study was not large. Hughes walked around it, pulled all the curtains tight, lit a lantern, and walked over to the fireplace.

The fireplace here had a secret passage leading directly to the sea. He had used it to meet Ashe during his night stroll last time.

Back then, she was still a bloated monster.

Hughes shook his head with a smile, pushed open the hidden door with a long-handled axe hanging on the wall, and stepped inside with light footsteps.

Descending to the very bottom, he looked at the sea surface before him, closed his eyes, and gently channeled the symbiotic contract in his heart.

A response came almost immediately. A shadow gradually appeared in the sea, and then, with a splash, it broke through the waves.

Ashe looked down at Hughes standing on the reef. "My lord, you are calling me."

Seawater fell from her long, silver-white hair and slid into the sea along her snake-like tail, which was covered in fine, dense scales.

Her body, as if cast from silver and meticulously polished, possessed an indescribable, harmonious beauty.

The scales and skin, which had a slightly metallic texture, reminded Hughes of polished plate armor. Under the dim light of the lantern, she was covered in a halo, cold, hard, and sacred.

Hughes was stunned for a few seconds. It was his first time seeing Ashe's form on land. Her tall stature resembled a divine statue, and the streamlined, graceful lines of her body made her feel less inhuman.

A Banshee. Only when standing before her could one feel that kind of oppression. If she were to charge at him from the enemy ranks, each of her six hands wielding a weapon...

The name was truly fitting. Their appearance was a tolling funeral bell, announcing the enemy's impending doom on the battlefield, before crushing the ants in their way with their massive bodies.

A Banshee, an angel of death—such a warrior was willing to fight for him. Thinking of those scenes, Hughes felt his blood boil for a moment.

But he quickly calmed down, lowered his head to think for a moment, and then asked, "Ashe, are you unable to leave this place?"

Ashe's gaze flickered, and she lowered her head. "My... lord, once the symbiotic contract is signed, I cannot stray too far. Through the contract with you, I have gained the ability to survive on land. Unless you are with me, I... I cannot return to the Abyss."

She hesitated, wanting to say something to express her dedication, but Hughes waved his hand to interrupt her.

"What happens if you leave too far? I remember when I was unconscious, you tried to go deep into the Abyss yourself."

"I would continuously lose vitality. The further I go and the longer I stay away, the greater the loss."

So that was it. Hughes nodded. No wonder she hadn't reached the bottom of the Abyss to end that bloated state at that time... Wait, that wasn't right!

"Then why didn't you... when you came up this time?" Hughes gestured with a bloated motion. "I saw you in your current form the whole time."

"That is flesh-craft magic, my lord," Ashe said softly, her tone heavy.

"Flesh-craft magic is one of our innate abilities. It allows us to maintain vitality in harsh environments or when severely wounded. We use it to resist water pressure, which allows us to barely survive, but it cannot stop for a moment. Without a contractor, the moment the flesh-craft magic ceases is the moment death arrives."