Ch.773Friendship is an Open Door

Grand Duke Valdemar finally understood that I hadn’t come about compensation matters and asked what brought me here instead.

I told him my reason.

I was planning to search through the nearby mountain range for something, and I wanted to briefly impose on his hospitality before setting out.

“A search operation in the Sky Mountains…? I don’t understand. What could you possibly be looking for that’s worth such trouble…”

“Well… that would be difficult to explain. It’s confidential.”

I let my words trail off. I couldn’t predict how he would react if I revealed I was searching for the holy sword to hide it.

He might insist I deliver it to Leopold since it belonged to the Imperial House… or quite the opposite, he might suggest overthrowing Leopold, whom he already disliked, and installing a new emperor.

After the Great Invasion, when the north was nearly conquered by Rurik’s forces despite Leopold’s safety guarantees, Grand Duke Valdemar didn’t seem to think very highly of him.

“You can’t reveal it? Confidential, you say… Hmm, I see.”

So, it seemed better to conceal from him what I was searching for.

“Are you looking for Juwaieuzeu?”

…But he saw right through me.

—-

“Uh…”

Caught off guard by his direct question, I hesitated for a moment, unable to answer.

Wait, how did he know?

His tone and expression weren’t just random guesses—they were filled with certainty.

As if he had known all along that Juwaieuzeu was hidden in the Sky Mountains.

“So it is true. Has the House of Median also known about Juwaieuzeu’s whereabouts? No, if you’re only starting the search now… was it Landenburg’s secret? Perhaps Ludwig told you before he died.”

Seeing my inability to respond, Valdemar muttered to himself, nodding as if he’d figured it all out on his own.

He had correctly guessed what I was looking for, but he was completely wrong about the source of my information.

From what he was saying, it seemed the House of Faelrun had passed down through generations the knowledge that Carlos the Great had lost the holy sword during a battle in the Sky Mountains…

But I knew this fact not from any family records, but from my knowledge of the original story.

Anyway, there was no point in pretending now that I’d been found out.

“…There’s no use denying it. Yes, I plan to search the Sky Mountains for Juwaieuzeu.”

I clicked my tongue and nodded, confirming that I was indeed looking for the holy sword.

“If the sword performs as legend says, it would greatly enhance our fighting power.”

I added that I had no intention of offering it to Leopold or using it to start a rebellion—I only wanted to use it as a weapon, so he shouldn’t interfere.

“Hmm…”

“Is there a problem?”

“No, not at all. Even if you intend to privatize Juwaieuzeu, that’s a matter to be negotiated between you, Lord, and the Imperial House. It’s not for Faelrun to get involved.”

When I asked him as politely as possible if he was bothered by this, Valdemar shook his head, stating he had no intention of interfering.

Whether I could believe him or not was another matter.

“However…”

“However?”

“I can’t help but think it’s a futile effort.”

Ah, so that was why he was so calm. He thought I would fail anyway.

“Faelrun has searched for Juwaieuzeu for hundreds of years since settling in the north, but we never found it.”

So his family had also tried to find the holy sword. Without success, apparently.

“It’s only natural. How could anyone find a small piece of metal lost eight hundred years ago in those vast Sky Mountains? It must be buried deep in the frozen ground.”

Fair enough, it was an insane task by any reasonable standard.

I was only confident in my search because I had a general idea of where it might be. Without any clues, I would have been wandering aimlessly, not knowing where to even begin.

“Well… I have some free time now, so I’m just giving it a try. I don’t plan to endlessly search the mountains. If I can’t find it within a reasonable time, I’ll give up and return empty-handed.”

“In that case… I won’t try to stop you.”

Valdemar shook his head with a slight sigh.

—-

After concluding our discussion about the holy sword search, I requested temporary lodging and interrogation of the prisoners I had brought.

I explained the critical information I needed to extract and some precautions for handling them.

The precautions were simple enough—if they started acting up, there was no solution but to beat them down regularly.

“An elven guardian and a Dragonborn… interesting but troublesome. How far do you want to go? If you want them to maintain their sanity after the interrogation…”

“Once we’ve extracted all the information we need, I don’t care what happens to them. Kill them or spare them as you wish.”

I didn’t care about Eirnesia or Makaoros’ fate once all their information was extracted.

Whether they ended up as vegetables dying of old age in prison or disappeared in the blood of the execution ground—it was all their karma.

“That’s a very satisfactory answer.”

Valdemar smiled.

Yes, I knew he would like that.

He clearly enjoyed torturing and dissecting Werebeasts just like Frider, though he stopped short of taxidermy. I imagined he’d treat other non-human races with similar cruelty.

The lodging issue was resolved when I was informed about a recently completed mansion for me.

He said he could treat me as a guest at Faelrun Castle if I preferred, but the mansion would be better if I wanted to avoid the bustle.

Since Frider would guide me to the mansion, I bid farewell to him and returned to Lena and Demian who were waiting outside.

“Ah, sis! Are you done talking?”

“Yes, it went well.”

Lena, who had been waiting outside the reception room, ran over with a bright smile and linked her arm with mine.

Perhaps because she had grown too tall to cling to my waist like before, Lena had recently taken to walking arm-in-arm with me like this.

“Where are we going now? I heard Faelrun’s hot springs are really warm. Should we take a bath first?”

A hot bath. Well, we hadn’t had a proper chance to wash up lately. I was fine, but Lena might have been feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“Hmm… let’s meet Frider first, then go home to wash up and rest properly.”

“Home?”

“Remember how I made a big contribution during the last Great Invasion? I received a mansion as a reward.”

I hadn’t visited it yet, but since Frider said she would take care of it, there should at least be a bathroom…right?

Probably…?

…If I get there and find there’s no bathroom, I’ll dunk Frider in ice water.

—-

Afterward, we walked through the castle corridors toward Frider’s room.

After staying in the islands for a while, she had returned to the castle and recently started hunting Werebeasts that had begun to slink back into the area.

Werebeast hunting. How very typical of Frider. It was a three-birds-with-one-stone situation for her:

It was the only hobby for friendless Frider, a duty as Faelrun’s heir, and practical training to improve her skills.

– Knock knock.

When we arrived at Frider’s private room and lightly knocked on the arched wooden door with a “No Entry” sign hanging on it,

“Who is it? I believe I said not to disturb me while I’m working.”

Her irritable response came back like a high school student annoyed at being interrupted during self-pleasure.

Apparently… she was so absorbed in her hobby that she didn’t even know I had come.

What work? At most, she was probably just taxidermying some Werebeast.

“Who else would it be but your ‘only’ friend? I’m coming in-“

“Huh? Haschal? No, wait-“

Only then did Frider realize who her visitor was and tried to urgently call out something, but by then I had already flung the door open.

– CRACK!

…Well, I had tried to fling it open.

If only it hadn’t been locked.

“What is this?”

I let out a hollow laugh, holding the half-broken door that had been torn off its hinges. A familiar sense of déjà vu flashed through my mind. This time it wasn’t intentional, though.

“You broke my door again?! I told you to wait a moment!”

Frider, who had been staring at me with bewildered eyes, burst out angrily. She was clutching a small saw dripping with blood in her right hand.

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t expect it to be locked. I’ve never met someone who locks their room door in their own home when they’re not having a secret rendezvous.”

What was she doing? She wasn’t a teenager but a full-grown adult.

I shrugged awkwardly, offering an apologetic excuse, then leaned the broken door against the wall and entered the room.

It wasn’t a bedroom but seemed to be used as a workshop of sorts. The surprisingly spacious interior was filled with a mixture of metal, blood, and chemical smells.

Like her personal room at the academy, one wall was lined with various weapons and surgical tools, and next to it, shelves displayed Werebeast organs preserved in glass jars.

The difference from her academy room was that, thanks to the larger space, it was decorated with all kinds of taxidermied animals. Bears, wolves, leopards, and even deer. Quite a variety.

She must have been creating a new specimen just before I arrived, as a large wooden table in the corner of the room held a neatly arranged Werebeast corpse with its belly split open.

“What a hobby.”

I sighed and shook my head.

She hasn’t changed at all.

She’s stronger than before, but still the same.