Rowan looked at the completely unmotivated Esdeath, nudged her with his foot, and casually cast a healing spell on her.
Her injuries immediately vanished.
"Why would I kill you? If I wanted you dead, I would've killed you last time."
"You can go."
Rowan made it clear that he had no interest in Esdeath.
Esdeath was somewhat surprised.
After all, she had just launched a sneak attack on Rowan. Even if he had killed her on the spot, she would have had no complaints.
Yet she never expected him to simply let her go.
Could it be that he was kindhearted?
Was he actually a good person?
But in the next second, Esdeath dismissed that thought.
Rather than saying Rowan was a good person, it was more accurate to say that he simply did not consider her a threat at all.
In his eyes, her attack had probably been no more threatening than a kitten hissing at him.
That was likely the real reason he was willing to spare her.
If someone posed absolutely no threat to you, there was no harm in being generous.
Esdeath herself was the same.
When the mood struck her, she would occasionally spare weaklings too.
After climbing to her feet, Esdeath did not turn around and leave.
Instead, she said decisively,
"Since I lost, I'm now your spoil of war. You can do whatever you want with me."
Good grief.
Rowan could not help sucking in a breath.
He had never met someone who actively volunteered to become someone else's spoils of war.
What exactly was going through this woman's head?
Was she simply honoring the result of the battle?
Or was she plotting something?
Rowan glanced at Esdeath and rolled his eyes.
"Fine. Since you don't want to leave, stay here and become my maid."
Whatever scheme she might have had, Rowan did not care.
Her strength was simply too weak—
No.
It would be more accurate to say that Rowan himself was simply too strong.
Even if Esdeath had some elaborate conspiracy in mind, she could do nothing to him.
Esdeath glanced at the other maids around Rowan and calmly replied,
"I can be a maid, but I want to be the head maid."
As the loser, she naturally had no right to bargain with the victor.
But even if she had to become a maid, she would at least be the head maid.
That was her final bottom line.
She might not be able to defeat Rowan, but beating these other women would not be a problem.
"Fine. Then stay here as the head maid."
Rowan agreed and used Archive Magic to implant barbecue techniques directly into Esdeath's mind.
How could one of his maids not know how to grill meat?
That was Rowan's bottom line.
Feeling the unfamiliar knowledge suddenly appear in her mind, Esdeath glanced at Rowan again.
What was going on?
He could actually make her master an entirely new field of knowledge in an instant?
Could it really be magic?
Unfortunately, Rowan did not explain.
Instead, he tossed a Danger Beast toward Esdeath and ordered her to grill it.
And just like that, Esdeath became the head maid under Rowan, accompanying him outside to hunt every day.
To be fair, for Esdeath, who had been born into the northern hunting tribe known as the Partas Clan, hunting was practically no different from going on a picnic.
Every trip brought back an abundant harvest.
However, those peaceful days did not last very long.
Esdeath had three fairly powerful Imperial Arms users serving beneath her.
They were known as the Three Beasts—
Liver, Daidara, and Nyau.
The three were absolutely loyal to Esdeath.
When they heard that Esdeath had stayed behind at Rowan's residence to work as a maid, they hurried over to persuade her otherwise.
In their eyes, Esdeath had been born to be a general.
She belonged on the battlefield, commanding armies and crushing enemies.
Becoming a maid was simply absurd.
Therefore, all three tried to persuade Esdeath to abandon the idea.
Unfortunately, once Esdeath made a decision, she never regretted it.
After meeting them, she simply drove all three members of the Three Beasts out.
This left the three completely helpless.
They could not understand what General Esdeath was thinking.
Why had she suddenly become someone's maid?
Could that man have used some strange ability to control her?
After thinking it over, the Three Beasts decided that they had to rescue General Esdeath from her predicament.
As for how?
It was simple.
All they had to do was kill the man who had reduced General Esdeath to a maid.
That same night, the three infiltrated Rowan's residence with the intention of assassinating him.
When Rowan learned about this, he almost laughed from sheer anger.
He could not understand what these people were thinking.
Even Esdeath could not defeat him.
Did these three insignificant nobodies truly believe they could assassinate him?
What was wrong with them?
In the original story, they had not seemed like brainless idiots.
So why did everyone suddenly seem to lose half their intelligence whenever they encountered Rowan?
Especially Liver.
This man had once been Bulat's superior.
He was a former imperial general known for possessing both wisdom and courage. He had been falsely accused and imprisoned because he refused to pay bribes, only to later be rescued by Esdeath, after which he became completely loyal to her.
How could a former imperial general renowned for both intelligence and martial ability make such a stupid decision?
Did Rowan possess some kind of Idiot Aura that reduced the intelligence of his enemies?
He genuinely could not understand it.
But no matter how incomprehensible their decision was, the three really did infiltrate his residence in the middle of the night.
It was worth mentioning that after entering the estate, they did not even manage to find Rowan.
Black Dragon caught them first.
The Three Beasts were not weak.
Every one of them possessed an Imperial Arm.
Liver's Imperial Arm was the ring-type Imperial Arm known as Water Dragon Possession: Black Marlin.
It had been created from the organ of an aquatic Danger Beast that controlled water currents, allowing its wielder to freely manipulate any liquid they came into contact with.
Its secret technique allowed the user to weaponize their own blood.
In the original story, Liver had used this ability during his duel with Bulat, poisoning his own blood and ultimately taking Bulat down with him.
Daidara's Imperial Arm was the Two Great Axes: Belvaac.
Only someone with extraordinary arm strength could properly wield it, but in exchange, its destructive power was tremendous.
It could also separate into two individual axes.
Once thrown, the weapons could continue pursuing an enemy as long as the wielder still possessed enough strength.
As for Nyau, he possessed the flute-type Imperial Arm—
Scream: Heavy Pressure.
It allowed him to freely manipulate the emotions of anyone who heard its music.
Although it was best known for boosting morale on the battlefield, it could actually manipulate dozens of different emotions.
However, repeated exposure to the same songs would eventually allow someone to develop resistance.
The Imperial Arms of these three were genuinely powerful.
Against most Imperial Arms users, they would have been able to put up a solid fight.
The problem was that Black Dragon was absurdly overpowered.
Just like Rowan, Black Dragon was essentially invincible in this world.
Even if all forty-eight Imperial Arms users joined forces, they still would not be his opponent.
It was true that Esdeath had previously frozen Black Dragon with her ultimate technique.
But that had only happened because she launched a surprise attack and caught him completely off guard.
And even after freezing Black Dragon, Esdeath still had no way to kill him.
She could not even break through his defenses.
Moreover, given a few minutes, Black Dragon could break free from the ice on his own.
So what kind of ending awaited the Three Beasts after encountering such an absurd creature?
The answer was obvious.
They practically had their brains beaten out of them.
By the time Rowan discovered that someone had broken into his residence, Nyau had already been killed on the spot by Black Dragon.
Daidara had survived, but he had lost both legs and one arm, leaving him permanently crippled.
The only person who remained completely intact was Liver.
Seeing this, Rowan was speechless.
He simply threw the two survivors, along with Nyau's corpse, in front of Esdeath.
He told her to deal with them herself.
Although Esdeath was a sadist, she treated her own subordinates extremely well.
She looked down on the three for overestimating themselves, but she did not make things unnecessarily difficult for them.
Instead, as punishment, she confiscated their Imperial Arms and sent them back to the army.
She also gave them a large sum of money so Liver could find someone to treat the unfortunate Daidara.
The gesture moved the two survivors so deeply that they left Rowan's residence in tears.
Rowan: "…"
As for the Imperial Arms they had left behind, Esdeath handed all of them over to Rowan.
"Why are you giving these to me? I don't need this stuff."
Rowan looked at them with obvious disdain.
Imperial Arms might be treasures to other people, but to Rowan, they were nothing special.
He possessed far more valuable things.
He truly had no interest in second-rate toys like Imperial Arms.
Esdeath was stunned.
He did not even care about Imperial Arms?
What exactly was wrong with this man?
Still, she said nothing and silently put the Imperial Arms away.
The next day, everyone went hunting again.
This time, Rowan set his sights on Super-Class Danger Beasts.
Danger Beasts in this world were divided into Third-Class, Second-Class, First-Class, Special-Class, and Super-Class.
Super-Class Danger Beasts were monsters standing at the very pinnacle of this world.
For example, Esdeath's Imperial Arm, Demon God Manifestation: Demon's Extract, had been created from the blood of a Super-Class Danger Beast from the far north.
Another example was Tatsumi's Demon Armor: Incursio, which had been created using the ferocious dragon-shaped Danger Beast Tyrant as its primary material.
Tyrant was also a Super-Class Danger Beast.
The reason Rowan wanted to hunt Super-Class Danger Beasts was because, after accumulating energy for some time, the Golden Gate in his mind had located yet another new world.
That meant Rowan no longer needed to remain in this bizarre world.
He could go explore somewhere new.
However, before leaving, he intended to hunt several more Danger Beasts and store them as food.
Super-Class Danger Beasts in particular should be extremely delicious.
Unfortunately, Super-Class Danger Beasts were incredibly dangerous.
Even a monster like Esdeath found herself at a disadvantage against one.
So in the end, Rowan personally stepped in and killed it, then stored its corpse as food.
After returning home, Rowan personally prepared a portion of the meat and turned it into plate after plate of delicious dishes.
He ate until his eyebrows practically danced with joy, his lips gleaming with oil and his stomach completely satisfied.
This stuff was genuinely far more delicious than he had imagined.
And Super-Class Danger Beasts were enormous.
Hunting just one would provide enough meat to feed Rowan for several months.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 70 Chapters Ahead of Others!