David blinked, thinking to himself: "Do you also have voyeurism?"
The prince continued: "I considered making a second move on you, but then I discovered you weren't just a simple waste, so I gave up early on."
"Are you this merciful to your other enemies?" David sneered.
"Heh, not necessarily..."
Roland shook his head slightly and continued pacing forward. "I admit I misjudged you at first. I never imagined that the real David Frank was actually someone who used his evil reputation to disguise his forbearance.
If I hadn't made up my mind to force Viscount Hein to pick a side, others might never have discovered your true face... I shouldn't have used you as the breakthrough point for the Viscount."
If you hadn't killed the original David Frank, I wouldn't have had the chance to occupy his body either... But for Prince Roland to so openly admit his conspiracy really impressed David—what thick skin!
In fact, whether it was the prince misjudging someone or him proactively admitting his mistakes, these things had never happened before.
Fourth Prince Roland O'Brien Goliath was recognized throughout the Empire as a genius. He'd never done anything wrong—including assigning Videns to kill that damn scumbag David Frank.
If not for David's transmigration, Viscount Hein would definitely have been forced to join Roland's camp under those circumstances.
It was precisely last year's failure that gradually sparked Roland's great interest in David, until McKinley went back and told him that David's strength had exceeded his expectations.
Roland discovered he'd actually misjudged the same person twice in a row, which is why tonight he specifically came to meet David.
Then he discovered he was wrong a third time.
This person actually planned to set aside his father's position and follow him...
Did he really understand what this meant?
Roland looked at David's deep, calm black eyes and slowly confirmed this point—the other was very clear about what it meant.
"So, Lord David, what do you want to gain?" This was a question Roland had to figure out.
"Power..."
David answered without hesitation.
He had no interest whatsoever in the struggle for royal succession. Worldly power and wealth weren't what he was pursuing either. Under the invasion of darkness, only supreme power was the eternal and unchanging truth.
What Prince Roland could provide was a shortcut to accessing power.
David had already suffered enough from the curse's torment. No matter how many monsters he killed or how much life energy he devoured, it had no effect whatsoever against that mysterious threat.
He was like a newborn with nothing but "health points," lacking Hunter Videns's kind of supernatural power and mysterious knowledge. No amount of limb grafting could save him.
Sometimes he even felt he couldn't unleash the power of those grafted limbs at all!
So he had to go out, step into the wider world, seek the true path... even if it meant plunging into a deep vortex.
Roland reached out and plucked a blood-red rose from before him, saying softly: "In that case, come north with me. You'll get what you want there..."
And I, it's also time to return to the center of that vortex.
"Alright."
David nodded without hesitation.
"McKinley said you're an incredibly devout follower of the goddess," the prince suddenly smiled again. "Would you be willing to become a holy Church Hunter?"
"I'd be honored..."
Going north with the prince, approaching the Goliath Empire's capital, using the prince's means to directly infiltrate the Church Hunters—all of this was what David craved.
At least during this year in the viscounty, he hadn't found a way to solve his problem. Those cultists' half-baked dark knowledge couldn't help him at all.
Now he only had one path left: deeply engage with the core of all the Empire's supernatural beings and absorb orthodox mysterious ritual knowledge.
Besides, he still wanted to figure out the Hand of Divine Corpse's origins. So far, he only knew it came from the north...
Prince Roland left the viscounty under cover of night. He'd already obtained everything he wanted, including the loyalty of the entire border noble group.
Even if Viscount Hein still hadn't clarified his position, as long as David Frank was willing to leave with him, that was enough to prove this point to everyone.
...
Perhaps His Lordship the Viscount had seen David's contact with the Fourth Prince in the castle. When David told him his decision to go to the capital, he seemed somewhat lonely, but his gaze remained cold.
"Whatever you want..."
That was the last thing the Viscount said to David.
A day later, David, bringing the twin maids and Doug, still traveling light, departed from the viscounty.
They joined Prince Roland's entourage at Green City's steam locomotive station. While His Highness was still making small talk and saying goodbye to local nobles, the low-key David took the two maids aboard first. Doug was still the one doing manual labor, responsible for hauling their luggage.
This steam locomotive was very similar to steam trains from David's previous life. The difference was it had an even more massive engine, using a power system based on some steam circulation pressurization principle David couldn't understand. It consumed less fuel but was incredibly powerful.
Clearly, this was a kind of alchemical black technology belonging to this world.
As a noble, David had an independent small compartment in the front carriage. He sat by the window, looking at the wilderness outside, quietly waiting for the train to start.
At the same time, Roland also boarded the train under the guard of the royal guards. He sat in the most spacious compartment and casually opened a letter in his hand.
This was an urgent message from the capital that just happened to reach him before he left Green City.
"...Fifth-tier Fallen Hunter, the Undying Montaigne has disappeared from the death prison, heading south..."
Roland looked at this single sentence in the letter, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Fenris, do you have any results on that matter you've been investigating?"
He put away the letter and asked a middle-aged man in gorgeous silver hunter attire beside him.
"Your Highness, we've been tracking down the suspicious ritual activities you mentioned, but there haven't been any similar discoveries near Green City in the past year..."
The hunter named Fenris answered softly.
Behind him stood an entire team of supernatural beings escorting Prince Roland back to the capital. Thirteen people in total.
Not only that, this train exclusive to Roland also carried a three-hundred-person guard unit. These elite royal guards were all tall and mighty, constantly wearing heavy armor, and equipped with heavy steam-powered rifles. Armed to the teeth, you could say.
But after seeing the letter, Roland still didn't feel the slightest sense of security...
Standing at the back of the hunter squad, Veronica's mouth moved, wanting to say something—she'd actually been involved in the investigation task Roland had assigned to the hunters' guild.
They'd tracked down similar leads nearly a year ago, traced them all the way to the border, until the dark tide arrived...
Though in the end those cultists were silenced by void hounds, and the location where the cultists held their "suspicious ritual" had already far exceeded the range His Highness specified.
So she hesitated and closed her mouth.
The young female hunter was also one of the members on this train, but in reality, she was just a failure who hadn't passed her trial mission and was being sent back to the capital.
Videns, who was originally responsible for guiding Veronica, had died outside the border. Her and Muken's trial mission was therefore shelved. Over the following year, they screwed up two more missions until Muken was seriously injured and bedridden...
Losing her companion, the female hunter could only struggle through the year in Green City, then received a "failing" evaluation result.
Such a "failing" hunter really had no face to say much in front of Prince Roland...
...
The train started moving with roaring and whistle sounds. David watched the slowly moving scenery outside the window and somehow suddenly thought of that stranger of a father, Viscount Hein Frank.
Speaking of which, the reason David and his father had such a poor relationship was because of that mother who'd passed away many years ago.
Young David Frank loved his mother very much, that beautiful Viscountess.
Until when he was eight, the Viscountess suddenly contracted a strange incurable disease. But at the time, His Lordship the Viscount, to deal with border unrest, didn't take his wife back to the capital for treatment.
Originally Mother could have survived. With the Church of Light's mysterious powers, with the Empire's advanced alchemy, Mother should have been saved.
At least, that's how David Frank saw it.
But Father, for his territory, for his power and wealth, abandoned Mother's life... David Frank had hated Viscount Hein ever since.
But when David said he was leaving that night, he saw something different in Viscount Hein's eyes.
At some point, the Viscount's temples had turned gray...
"Screech screech..."
As David pondered, an annoying screeching sound rang in his ears. The sound was like someone using a saw to cut through bone and flesh.
He frowned and looked toward the partition ahead, thinking could the dining car be up front with a chef preparing lunch?
"Squelch! Bang!"
Then an even louder commotion came, like something heavy had fallen to the floor in the front carriage.
David froze for a moment. The compartment door beside him slammed open with a whoosh. A tall figure wearing a blood-stained brown coat and a filthy hunter's hat appeared outside the door.
He held a dripping saw blade in his hand, his beast-like pupils locking onto David sitting in the compartment...