I Died and Became a Noble's Heir-Chapter 312: Gathering Materials

The guards’ weapons trembled slightly. One of them, the young one with the fresh face, looked like he might vomit. The older scarred guard’s eyes kept darting between the head in the box and Annabelle’s cheerful expression, trying to reconcile the two things and failing.

"What have you done?" Lady Josephine’s voice came out strangled, broken by sobs. "That’s our son. Our boy. What have you DONE?"

"Delivered a gift," Annabelle replied brightly. "Like I said. Jack was precise about the presentation."

Joseph III’s shock was crystallizing into rage, his face flushing red as comprehension replaced horror. "You... your brother murdered my son. My heir. You bring his head here like some kind of..."

"Trophy," S supplied helpfully. "The word you’re looking for is trophy. Though ’message’ also works. ’Warning’ has a nice ring to it as well."

His red eyes swept across the assembled guards with the casual disinterest of someone assessing insects. "I would recommend lowering your weapons. Immediately."

The captain of the guard, a grizzled man with a scar bisecting his left eyebrow, snarled. "You murdered Lord Joseph. You come here with his head, threaten his family, and expect us to..."

"I expect you to lower your weapons," S interrupted, his voice never rising above conversational volume but somehow cutting through the captain’s anger like a blade through silk, "or you’ll find yourselves in a heap of trouble that makes your current situation look pleasant by comparison."

He smiled, revealing his sharp teeth.

"I’m being polite right now. Providing you with the opportunity to make informed decisions. Please don’t mistake my politeness for weakness. Don’t mistake Annabelle’s youth for vulnerability. And most importantly—" his voice dropped lower, carrying weight that made the air itself feel heavier, "—don’t make me explain to young master Jack that I let harm come to his sister because some guards with delusions of competence pointed sharp objects at her."

Red energy began seeping from S’s body like blood leaking through bandages. It pulsed outward in waves that made the guards’ stomachs lurch, made their throats close, and made every instinct scream that death was standing in front of them wearing a pleasant smile.

The young guard dropped to his knees, retching. The scarred veteran’s sword arm trembled, sweat breaking across his forehead despite the cool afternoon air. One guard stumbled backward, his face going green.

S’s aura pressed against them like a vice. The sensation of drowning in blood, of suffocating, of every violent death they’d ever imagined happening simultaneously.

His teeth gleamed, sharp and predatory, and the pleasure he took in their fear was evident in the way his smile widened.

"So I’ll ask once more, very politely," S continued, his red eyes gleaming with something hungry. "Lower. Your. Weapons."

-----

Jack’s boots thudded against the wooden planks of the factory floor, his eyes tracking the organized chaos surrounding him.

Crates lined the walls like soldiers at attention. Monster parts sorted by type and quality.

Minerals filled barrels like a rainbow.

Herbs, bundled and hung from the ceiling rafters, left a pleasant aroma in the factory.

The operation ran with clockwork. Fighters cleared paths, gatherers stripped resources, and everyone returned before the dungeons reset their populations.

The results spoke for themselves.

Raw materials filled the factory to near capacity. Enough components to fuel construction projects for months.

Enough alchemical ingredients to stock an entire guild of potion makers.

This brought Jack to his current project.

Loryn materialized from shadows near the factory’s back wall, his presence announced by the way darkness seemed to thicken and coalesce into a humanoid shape.

His black eyes found Jack immediately.

"Young master," Loryn said sheepishly. "The construction proceeds ahead of schedule. The garrison foundations are complete. Magic tower bases are seventy percent finished. We’ll be ready to raise structures within a week."

"Good," Jack replied. "But I need you to handle something else. Ice crystals from Floor 24. I need a significant quantity transported to Floor 25."

Loryn’s head tilted slightly. "How significant?"

"Enough to fill this factory floor twice over," Jack said. "Send a team. The crystals are fragile, yet powerful. Tell them to establish a staging area on Floor 25 near the castle. I’ll collect everything from there."

"Understood." Loryn paused, shadows rippling around his shoulders. "May I ask what requires such volume?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Jack’s lips curved. "Alchemy. I’m making something that will change how humans view something important."

"Cryptic," Loryn observed. "But effective motivation. The team will depart within the hour."

He dissolved back into shadows, leaving Jack alone with workers who’d stopped to watch the demon appear and vanish.

They’d grown somewhat accustomed to supernatural manifestations, but seeing it still made them pause.

Jack clapped his hands once, a sharp sound cutting through the factory’s ambient noise. "Back to work. Production schedules don’t pause for demon sightings."

The workers returned to their tasks. Sorting. Cataloging. Preparing materials for the next project assigned by Jack.

Jack walked to the factory’s side entrance, stepping into the afternoon sunlight that felt warm after the building’s perpetual dimness.

He moved perhaps twenty feet from the doorway, planting his feet in grass that hadn’t been trampled by constant foot traffic.

After 5 minutes, Jack opened a portal.

Jack stepped through.

The transition felt like walking through a waterfall made of ice. A little disorienting. Then his boots hit stone, and the portal sealed behind him with a sound like tearing silk played backward.

Jack was perhaps half a mile away from the trees. A cluster of trees that glowed faint silver in the purple light. Jack started walking, his hand resting casually on a knife hilt.

Not because he expected trouble, but because he needed something here.

The herb trees waited. Jack approached carefully, examining branches that grew in spirals rather than straight lines. The leaves were silver-white, translucent, veined with gold that moved like liquid under the skin of each leaf.

Aetherion trees.

Rare even in Tartarus Spire. Their sap—called Aetherion nectar—was one of the most potent magical binding agents that existed. A single drop could stabilize potions that would otherwise tear themselves apart through conflicting magical energies.

Jack withdrew a collection vial from his storage, uncorked it, and pressed the opening against a branch where sap beaded at a natural break in the bark. Golden liquid dripped slowly, thick as honey, glowing with inner radiance.

One vial. Two. Three. Jack collected until he had six vials of nectar, each one worth more than a skilled craftsman earned in a month. Then he corked them carefully and returned them to his storage.

Jack returned to the castle to find the Ice crystals.

The crystals were beautiful. Each one was roughly the size of a man’s head, perfectly geometric, radiating cold that made the air around them shimmer with frost. They glowed pale blue, pulsing with each passing second.

Touching them would give you frostbite within seconds. Holding them without protection would freeze your hands solid in under a minute.

But they contained concentrated water mana in its purest form. Perfect for alchemy. Essential for what Jack intended to create.

Approximately two hundred crystals had been transported already. Demons were still hauling more from Floor 24, creating a growing pile that represented more alchemical power than most kingdoms saw in a year.

Jack nodded approval to the nearest demon. A hulking creature with four arms. It grunted acknowledgment and returned to its task.

The ice crystals were ready. The demons had transported enough that Jack would need multiple trips to move everything.