Ch.19EP.6 – On a Moonlit Night (2)

Count Rodan had a headache.

There were dozens of reasons for his pain, but among them, what was immediately causing his head to ache was:

“Darling! This needs to be addressed firmly! How is it that someone who hurt our child hasn’t been expelled! We need to take this up with the Order!”

His wife, who had spoiled their youngest son too much, was shouting and demanding punishment for the knight.

Having grown up as the daughter of a wealthy marquis family, she spoke foolishly, ignorant of politics.

Did she truly not understand what it meant to confront the Order, no, to fight against the Order of the Silver Lion?

…He had married her solely for her beauty; he should have listened when his late mother tried to stop him.

However, his wife’s whining was something he could simply ignore.

He could appease her later.

But there were more serious problems ahead.

“His life is not in danger. Knights are naturally resilient beings. However, it will take at least a year for him to recover. …If we had fresh troll blood with 80% purity, the recovery might be expedited.”

Another problem was the slow recovery of the vice-captain who was supposed to lead the territory’s knights after the soon-to-retire captain.

The Pollet family was a family of knights.

Free knights and mercenaries seeking fame challenged them almost daily.

Accepting these challenges was also a matter of pride for them.

And now, one of the important knights of the territory had fallen like this.

Moreover, it was the knight known as the territory’s champion.

It was natural for the Count to feel uneasy.

‘Troll blood, where on earth would I find that?’

They said recovery would be faster with 80% pure troll blood, but how easy would that be to obtain?

Trolls rarely emerged from the deep forests, and even if one succeeded in hunting them, their blood would coagulate or become cloudy immediately upon death. Even achieving 30% purity was considered fortunate.

To obtain 80% pure blood, one would need to be accompanied by an Aura user.

In other words, it was impossible to obtain.

‘My head hurts, it really hurts.’

As if this wasn’t enough to give him a headache…

“My lord, if you wish, I will bring you his head immediately.”

“Father! I will personally take action!”

“…Why are you all acting like this?”

Even the knights who should be protecting the territory and the eldest son who should continue the lineage.

They were so outraged by this incident that they seemed ready to draw their swords at any moment.

Seeing this, the Count felt dizzy.

‘Do these people have no sense?’

His wife’s ignorance about knights and politics was one thing, but these men were supposed to protect the family in the future, no, even Pendragon!

Had they forgotten that the Pollet family was royalist?

If they truly didn’t understand what it meant to provoke the Order of the Silver Lion, it would be right to behead them right now.

They would ruin the family.

‘…It’s my fault.’

After the three-year war with Britain ended, he had neglected family matters for a while, and this was the grave consequence.

To be surrounded by such pathetic individuals meant he had failed in governing his children and family.

He should have been stricter.

Then they wouldn’t be acting so recklessly.

‘Where should I begin to set things right?’

The Count’s worries deepened.

…Then.

“You seem deeply troubled, Count.”

“……”

“Heh heh, well, managing a family is no easy task. I understand.”

“……”

“Why don’t you answer? Is this old man so unpleasant to look at? How embarrassing.”

“……”

─Count Rodan could barely breathe.

No, he couldn’t respond at all and his hands and feet trembled uncontrollably.

How long had he been there?

An old man walking slowly from the deep shadows with the bright moon at his back.

On the surface, he appeared to be nothing more than a kind old butler.

But Rodan would never be deceived.

He would not be fooled by that gentle voice.

He would not be deceived by that kind face.

How could he be deceived when he could never forget the tragedy caused by ‘that old man’?

Rodan ‘dared’ to utter his name with a trembling voice.

“L-Lord Albert…”

“Heh heh, it’s an honor that the Count remembers an old man like me.”

“…Lord Albert! W-we haven’t done anything. Our family has no intention of going against the royal family!”

He made excuses as if screaming.

The baseless excuses continued.

That’s how much Rodan ‘feared’ him.

Was it because he was one of only three Aura users in the kingdom?

No.

Although his power was formidable, that wasn’t why he was so afraid.

The real reason he feared him was…

“I’m not here to conduct an inquisition, so rest assured. How long has it been since I retired, hmm?”

Because he remembered how terrifying his ‘former position’ was.

Inquisitor John Ray Albert.

The murderer who had ‘exterminated’ ninety families in the past!

And Rodan still remembered.

How that old man used to carry a cross on his back and impale countless people on stakes…!

But he laughed.

As if it were merely a fantasy from a time long past.

“That’s all in the past. I’ve washed my hands of it all, so the Count need not worry. The past is just the past, isn’t it?”

Nonsense-!

“…The elders who remember those days wet themselves at the mere mention of your name, and scratch their heads until they bleed from fear. Yet you say it’s just the past?!”

“It was the impetuousness of youth. Everyone has a field they become passionate about in their youth, and this old man’s passion was the teachings of God. It was my entire life back then. Well, now I’m just an old man who has burned through all his youth and has nothing but bones left.”

“……”

“Heh heh, laugh, Count. This is the moment when you should laugh. Heh heh! With such a lack of sense, how will you ever get along with the younger generation?”

Albert placed his hand on his face.

One might question whether it’s acceptable for a baron to touch a count’s face, but there was no one who would dare say such a thing in front of this old man.

Before he knew it, Albert forcibly lifted the corners of Rodan’s mouth to create a smile, and Rodan’s eyes became so moist that they seemed about to form dewdrops.

With each touch of his hand, Rodan’s body was drenched in cold sweat, and he trembled as if shivering from the cold.

As his lips formed a forced crescent.

“Hmm, a nice smile.”

Albert withdrew his hand, satisfied.

“…W-why have you come here?”

The Count asked, trembling with fear.

He needed to know what wrong he had committed so that the old man would never appear again.

“Heh heh.”

Was this the right answer?

He seemed pleased.

A shrewd judgment worthy of the head of a family.

Therefore, changing his ‘original purpose’, he said:

“Ah, it’s nothing much. This old man has been keeping an eye on a young man, and I heard that this young man recently had some involvement with the Count’s family. So I came to see.”

“C-could it be!”

“Count. You are an excellent nobleman. Unlike the fools of the aristocratic faction who think the world belongs to them, or the psychopaths of the neutral faction, you are a member of the royalist faction who understands the times well. So, ‘please’ don’t make this old man pick up his cross. Can you do that for me?”

“……”

“Heh heh, I’ll take that as your answer.”

Swoosh.

The next moment.

He disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.

“……”

Rodan remained silent.

It was as if he had been possessed by a ghost, but Rodan felt the warmth remaining on his face and the forcibly raised corners of his mouth, realizing that what he had seen was not a ghost but reality.

And the evidence that he had met him was:

“…Blood?”

Blood.

Blood that hadn’t even dried yet.

It wasn’t his own blood. Nor was it Albert’s blood.

If he had to guess, this was definitely…

‘Someone else’s, other people’s blood.’

Shudder!

He realized a fact he didn’t want to know.

That old man had already been stained with blood before coming to him.

The blood of others, not his own…!

Realizing this, Rodan slowly bowed his head and trembled slightly.

He understood what would have happened to them if he hadn’t bowed first.

Too terrifying to even speak of…!

Bang.

“Darling, I’m telling you again, we need to take this matter to the royal family immediately, …darling?”

“……”

“D-darling? W-what’s wrong with you? Darling…?”

“……”

“A-are you crying?”

The Count sobbed, and his wife was bewildered.

She had never seen him cry in all their married life, as he was always so firm.

But how could she possibly know?

How relieved he was that he, no, the entire family had narrowly escaped death.

How grateful he was that they were still breathing.

So the Count wept, and his wife, confused, could only slowly approach to comfort him.

And the next morning.

News arrived that more than six newspaper companies and a merchant guild that sponsored a newspaper had been engulfed in flames and burned to ashes overnight, and the Count silently picked up a wooden sword and went to find his son.

This was the conclusion of a ‘minor incident’ that occurred on a moonlit night.