Episode 9 – An Unexpected Event

*

Flavis’s downtown area is always a busy and noisy place, but recently it’s been especially bustling.

This is because preparations for a festival celebrating the visit of Jennifer, a member of the Hero’s party and someone who was with them even at the moment of killing the Demon King, were in full swing.

Although it wasn’t the Hero himself, Jennifer’s visit, as the leading figure in the Empire’s magical research and the Hero’s party’s mage, was a big topic.

The unfortunate incident in front of the Academy quickly dissipated in the festive atmosphere.

News of the festival quickly spread throughout the country, and new merchants and tourists flocked from all over.

The city was soon overflowing with people peeking into various inns, looking for vacant rooms.

At the edge of the commercial district, there was a building with a wonderful view of the sea.

A luxurious lodging establishment with white marble walls decorated with beautiful sculptures and plants arranged neatly, creating a cute atmosphere.

The first floor operates as a restaurant and bar, but unlike other taverns, it was decorated with expensive tablecloths, white fabric chairs, and other items favored by noble ladies.

As expensive as it looked, this luxury inn had been fully booked every day recently.

This was because the famous Baron Salvie was staying there.

Wealthy nobles among the tourists were spending time on the first-floor terrace and in the bar, looking for an opportunity to meet Baron Salvie.

I was getting a little tired of this situation.

Baron Salvie, a famous figure in Flavis.

However, Baron Salvie’s name was spreading even outside the city.

A mysterious rich man who helps the poor and laborers.

A mysterious atmosphere that feels like it comes from a distant foreign country.

A gentleman who maintains etiquette even though he was stranded in this unfamiliar place.

I had planned to spread Baron Salvie’s reputation to go to the capital where Robin and Mela are someday,

I was wondering how rumors about me were already spreading so quickly.

“That just means the lives of commoners are that tough right now.”

“Ha, that’s clear, Lara.”

I was lying on the bed in Baron Salvie’s room on the top floor of this inn, resting.

Lara, officially my maid and secretary, was wearing a female secretary outfit and sipping on a fancy fruit-flavored beer while sitting on the bed next to mine.

People think that Baron Salvie has been staying here since he first appeared in the city.

However, I used to secretly use other inns to avoid people looking for the Baron.

Since I didn’t need to sleep as an undead, I would just lie down and rest or review my revenge plans.

However, when Jennifer visited the city, there were no vacant rooms left anywhere in the city, so I had no choice but to quietly stay in my room.

It was so uncomfortable to see the nobles on the first floor glancing at the stairs, waiting for me to come down, but there was no other way.

Pretending to breathe non-stop was a much more difficult mental task than I thought.

Besides, I had a guest scheduled to visit today anyway.

Lily had already gone to meet them, so they would probably arrive soon.

I was lying in bed, looking at the ceiling, and listening to Lara’s words.

“Since this is a trading city, there’s so much money circulating here that you don’t really feel it, but if you drive along the road for just one day, there are people who can’t even eat a single potato a day.”

“Huh, so free food distribution became the basis of my reputation.”

“Yeah, it’s the same as showing off rice to commoners and endless wealth to nobles.”

She said without looking at me.

Ever since that day three days ago when I pressured her, there has been a strange distance between Lara and me.

After meeting Jennifer, I apologized to Lara and Lily, but I guess there’s still some discomfort left.

I decided to play a prank on Lara.

That’s our way of reconciling and communicating.

“Lara. By the way, how was it?”

“What?”

“Jennifer, who you saw after a long time.”

I was the only one who faced Jennifer that day, but Lara and Lily were also watching her from afar.

I kept talking to Lara with a playful face.

“Maybe seeing Jennifer’s face after a long time made women’s friendship spring up, and you wanted to quit?”

“…”

Ah, I made a mistake.

Lara’s expression turned to stone.

She slowly put the luxurious glass beer glass on the bedside table and looked at me quietly with a sad face.

“Ed…”

“Uh, yeah…”

“Right now, the most important thing to me is Ed, you and… friendship… that’s just… that’s all.”

“Friendship with me?”

“Yeah. Because you’re the most precious to me right now.”

How much does she think about me?

Even though she left Robin after realizing the truth about my death, she was still full of guilt about me.

Didn’t she love Robin enough to have a child and start a family?

When I apologized to Lara a few days ago, she said to me as if making an excuse,

‘I had a crush on Robin, but it was just because there was no reason to refuse.’

I thought that was just a consideration to ease my discomfort.

But now her words and expression feel like she wants to say something else.

I thought the reason Lara was helping me was because she also felt betrayed by Robin.

Of course, she would have guilt, debt, and pity for me too.

But Lara said this now.

Not because of all those feelings, but because of ‘friendship’ with me, she is participating in the plan to destroy her own husband.

Because of me, she is helping with this revenge.

I must have been a really good friend to her.

I never thought I would hear these words.

I put my hand on her shoulder and said.

“Wow, Lara, I’m so touched.”

“Hehe, you’re so easily touched by this much. Really.”

“You damn elf.”

“A fool who can’t say anything but ‘elf’.”

She teased me, lifting her chin as always.

I was glad to see the distance between us back again.

I smiled and made a heart with my fingers to show her.

“Hey, Lara- you know I love you, right?”

“…”

“…Lara?”

Uh, not yet?

Lara asked me very slowly.

“…Don’t you know? …That I love you.”

“I know, of course- I’m always grateful.”

“… Ha,”

“…What’s wrong?”

“… It’s nothing. I’m always grateful too. Ed.”

*

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Lily knocked slowly and then spoke slowly.

It was to give me time to put on my mask.

I got out of bed, put on my mask, and sat in the chair in front of the table.

Lara straightened her secretary uniform and stood behind me.

“Baron-nim, I have brought the guest. I will come in.”

“Come in.”

Peek-

Someone peeking out from behind the door, showing a bit of their green hair and eyes.

Small ears sticking out from the green hair are twitching.

“… You can just come in. Banata-yang.”

“Hehe, hello, Baron-nim.”

Banata appeared with an embarrassed smile, scratching her cheek with her index finger.

The cleanly laundered white dress reflected off Banata’s skin, making her already fair skin look even brighter.

Perhaps that’s why her slightly flushed cheeks were even more visible, and the cute curve drawn by her lips just below them was even clearer.

She was holding a large, beautifully wrapped box under her arm.

No, she was so small that the box seemed even bigger, and that appearance was quite cute, so I smiled without realizing it.

She came up to me with quick steps and put the box on the table, saying.

“It’s a fancy confection that I received with an apology from Rose!”

“It seems to have been resolved well.”

“Yes! It’s all thanks to Baron-nim. Thank you so much.”

She bowed to me at a 90-degree angle.

Why does she look more like a child today?

“But, why did you bring this to me?”

“It was resolved well thanks to Baron-nim, so I wanted to taste it with Baron-nim.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Of course, Baron-nim has probably tasted a lot of these fancy sweets, but please accept my sincerity.”

With those words, Banata opened the box.

Various sweets were neatly arranged in separate compartments.

The fruits and jams on top of the sweets glittered like jewels.

It was definitely quite an expensive confection at first glance.

Banata paused for a moment and took a deep breath.

As if determined, her ears stood up straight, and she took out a sweet from the box and held it out to me.

“…?”

“Th-that… Ah…”

“Banata-yang?”

“Say, ‘ah’… Baron-nim.”

That’s right. I forgot because of Rose,

She was really a weird kid.

The eyes of Lara behind me and Lily behind Banata became sharp.

Why are you guys doing that again.

“Banata…yang?”

“Ah, no, that, that’s because Rose attacked? Your hand? Was injured? So, I’m? Feeding you…?”

Whether she was saying each word in a question form,

Or whether she was constantly going out of tune while speaking,

Banata was rambling in an unknown tone.

She was also Robin’s daughter.

Lily, Rose, Banata.

What is it about Robin’s genes that make his daughters so different?

Perhaps because I was dumbfounded, I started to think strange things.

“That’s something for me, the maid, to do, so Banata-yang doesn’t have to worry about it.”

“Ah, that, that’s…?”

Lily snatched the sweet from Banata’s hesitating hand as if grabbing it.

Then, she stared at the sweet in her hand for a moment,

“Baron-nim, say ‘ah’.”

Why are you doing that again.

I know the wound is all healed,

I spread out the opposite hand of the injured hand and held it out in front of Lily.

“Give it to me. I can eat it.”

“…Yes”

Lily looked somewhat disappointed and placed the sweet on my palm.

I bit into the sweet.

I came from a thief background and lived a rough life, so I wasn’t really picky or sensitive about taste.

I wasn’t very good at distinguishing tastes in the first place,

But even to my tongue, this sweet was very delicious.

The outside is crispy, but the inside is moist, and the jam on top melts smoothly and spreads throughout the mouth, naturally mixing with the sweet crumbs.

Is something slightly tangy the acidity of the fruit?

It was definitely a delicious confection.

Lara quietly opened her mouth.

“Now that we have such a wonderful confection, I will brew some tea.”

“Ah! Thank you!”

“But, I’m not yet familiar with this lodging, so I don’t know where the tea is stored. Would Baron-nim help me?”

“Uh… Me?”

“Um… No, Secretary-nim, that’s my job as a maid…?”

“No, I would like Baron-nim to help me.”

I looked at her questioningly.

‘Lara… Usually, the maid doesn’t ask the Baron for help, you’re from a Count’s family, how can you not know that?’

At that time, Lara said quietly, only with her mouth.

‘Just follow me.’

Thinking that she might have something to say, I quietly got up and walked to the kitchen with Lara.

Turning the corner of the wall, as Banata and Lily disappeared from view, Lara whispered to me.

“Banata. She’s flirting with you right now.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Oh my god, how can’t you tell? The white dress, the fluttering ears every time she talks to you, she even put on makeup on her face, have your eyeballs rotted because you’re undead?”

“There’s a parent-child age difference between Banata and me, what are you talking about.”

“…Ed, did you forget that you look 21?”

“Ah.”

That’s right,

Living with Lara’s daughter, Lily, makes me feel like her peers are like daughters.

I always forget that my time has stopped for 20 years when I talk to Lara.

By the way, why is Banata suddenly acting like this?

As expected, it was Lara’s clear explanation that immediately resolved my question.

“That kid seems to think of you as some kind of prince on a white horse.”

“… Hey, why me?”

“A suddenly appearing, unidentified rich Baron saved her from a child who was bullying her, made her receive an apology, and even offered to be her sponsor, it’s like a novel happening to a girl her age.”

“Are you serious? Ha,”

“It’s not a situation to laugh about. Ed”

“How is it not?”

I really laughed.

Absurdity, mockery, or malice.

“… Ed?”

“Robin’s daughter has a crush on me?”

“…!”

How can I use this?

Of course, she is not the daughter of the main wife.

However, the news that the Hero has an illegitimate child whom he secretly sent to an orphanage, if revealed at the right time, could definitely inflict a shameful blow on Robin.

I felt like I had unexpectedly obtained a material to harass Robin, so I couldn’t help but laugh.

Lara was looking at me with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“Yeah, Lara, my eyeballs must be rotten as you said, I almost missed this opportunity.”

“…Ed.”

Lara was hesitating as if she had something to say, when suddenly, Banata’s sharp scream was heard.

*

“Kyaa!!! B-Baron-nim!”

“…?”

Lara and I ran to them.

Banata pointed at Lily with a pale face, looking at us.

I shifted my gaze towards the end of that finger.

Lily was convulsing on the floor with her eyes rolled back and foaming at the mouth.

“Get out of the way!”

I knelt on the floor and placed her head on my lap.

The foam that Lily was spitting out was gradually turning red.

I looked at Banata and asked.

In such a desperate situation, I didn’t even realize that I had forgotten the honorifics I usually maintained.

“What happened.”

“I… I don’t know. Before you two came, I offered the maid a sweet…”

“Sweet…?”

Lara looked at the bloody foam that Lily was constantly spitting out and muttered, dazed.

“It’s poison… probably… from the Whirlpool Forest scorpion…”

“Poison… where suddenly?”

Surely when I ate it, nothing…

Ah.

I was okay because I’m undead.

Dull taste.

What acidity of fruit, you idiot.

That was ‘poison’.

“P-Perhaps… the confection I received…!”

“…… Rose.”

“Ah… Ah! Aaaah!”

This is fucked up.

Banata stomped her feet and screamed, then fainted.

Lara’s legs gave way and she knelt on the floor.

She seemed to know about this poison.

But seeing her just blankly watching her daughter’s death means that this is definitely a deadly poison.

I don’t know anything about medicine.

But I had been poisoned by worse toxins when I was adventuring as a Hero’s party in the past.

At that time, I was definitely facing death,

How did I survive?

[Ed!]

I hear Mela’s voice in my head.

Her orange hair seems to be within reach, flickering before my eyes.

She hugged me, who had collapsed, and took off my top.

‘Ed! It’s okay now.’

“Lily, it’s okay now.”

‘Slowly, take a slow breath.’

“Slowly… take a slow breath.”

‘Th-This is only to save you! Don’t misunderstand!’

I supported her head with my right hand and loosened her clothes.

Her small, bare chest was convulsing violently, and the intermittent breaths she was exhaling were so faint that they seemed about to stop.

I placed my left hand on her bare chest.

[Ed. Breathe.]

“Lily, breathe.”

[You can’t die in front of me. Because I’m a Saintess]

“You’ll be okay.”

Holy prayers and blessings flow through my hand into her chest.

“Cough! Haa! Haa… Haa…”

Lily spat out the last of the bloody foam with a rough breath, and then a low and quiet breath,

“Haa…… Haa…… Haa……”

Slowly, but regularly, began to flow.

“…Is Lily okay?”

I didn’t answer Lara’s question.

My head was already full of thoughts.

Rose.

“Ah… Lily… I’m glad…”

I silently gave Lily’s head to Lara.

Lara was just quietly supporting her head, afraid that Lily’s small breathing would stop, without daring to hug her.

Feeling a strange sensation in my mouth, I slowly opened my mouth.

My teeth were clenched so tightly that shattered teeth and tattered gum fragments fell to the floor with blood clots through the gaps in my open lips.

‘Rose…’

The inside of my mouth slowly recovers again.

‘Rose…!’

I might have been a fool for not even thinking about harming Rose, even if I used her.

That’s right, it’s Robin and Jennifer’s fault, what sin do those kids have,

I thought so.

Maybe I couldn’t let go of the human mindset.

For an undead

I might have been mistaken about what I was doing.

Revenge is not like a walk.

The Demon King takes over my head? I’ll give it to you as much as you want.

Conscience? Did they have such a thing when they killed me? I’ve become a monster, do I need such a thing?

My life? It’s almost like there’s only a few embers left in a shattered life, what’s there to save?

That’s what revenge is.

Revenge is destroying yourself and breaking your opponent.

It’s rather fortunate.

“Now I can kill you without any hesitation.”

I took out a handkerchief and wiped Lily’s mouth.

They wanted to embrace my wounds, so I had been enjoying living with them for the past 4 months.

Lara and Lily wouldn’t have wanted me to become obsessed with revenge, turn dark, and lose my humanity.

That’s why they had been looking at me with such worried eyes.

So, what happened?

In the end, they saw blood.

Because I had vowed revenge but acted clumsily, Lily almost lost her life.

I stared intently at Lily.

Lily had already closed her eyes and was sleeping, breathing heavily.

The sound of her breathing sounds like a cracked, metallic sound.

Some permanent damage may remain in her body, and she may suffer for the rest of her life.

Lara touched Lily’s cheek and quietly recited.

“Rose…”

Lara slowly turned her head and stared at me.

Her gray eyes seem to have lost their light and look empty.

I’ve seen those eyes before too.

It’s my eyes.

I forcibly swallow the warmth left by the memory of Mela that came to mind a little while ago.

I swore anew at this moment.

Robin and Jennifer will pay the price.

Rose will also pay the price.

And I don’t care if anyone related to the Hero gets hurt in the process.

I will no longer care about the countless innocent victims that may arise from my revenge.

I spoke to that guy, who obviously wouldn’t be here.

“Robin.”

Robin… If your sons and daughters are all brutally torn apart,

Will you be in pain?

.