Chapter 128: Fateful Battle (3)

“You’re slow, even in falling.”

Just as Ian said, Pa- Father fell onto the bed as if time had slowed down around it.

It wasn’t just my imagination; Father was trying to resist falling, which made it seem that way.

As Father collapsed onto the bed, losing consciousness as if falling asleep, a cold silence enveloped the hut.

While everyone stared blankly at Father on the bed, unable to speak, the one who caused this silence casually said:

“Oh, I got blood on my hand. Jessica, do you have a handkerchief?”

“A handkerchief…?”

I was about to take out a handkerchief from my pocket to hand to Ian when I suddenly came to my senses and shouted at him.

“No, why are you calmly asking for a handkerchief?! Have you forgotten what you just did to Father?!!”

“It’s not ‘Father,’ it’s ‘Papa.'”

“Is that really what you should be saying right now?! You just punched an injured person’s wound, and that’s your response?!!”

With these words, the ice of silence shattered, and everyone in the cramped hut began speaking at once.

“Th-that’s right!! Lord Ian!! Even if you came to help, we can’t tolerate such an outrageous act!!”

“Ex-exactly!! Answer quickly!! As servants of the Count, we can’t let this incident slide!!”

My brother and the knights shouted as if ready to draw their weapons, but Ian responded as if it was no big deal.

“Then what should I have done?”

“What?”

“I mean it. If an injured lord insists on coming along for the sake of family honor, how would you have persuaded him?”

“…Oh.”

Even if asked how they would have persuaded Father, no one could give a clear answer.

After all, everyone in this hut, from my brother, the heir, to the lowest-ranking knight, was under Father’s authority.

Even my brother, as the family heir, couldn’t refuse if Father insisted.

The only person in this hut who could refuse Father was Ian, an outsider and a fellow count.

“St-still, you could have tried to persuade him with words before resorting to violence…!!”

“Someone as stubborn as Jessica’s papa wouldn’t listen to a few words from me.”

“No, how can you assume Father is stubborn when you barely know him?!”

“Well? For example, forcing his daughter of marriageable age to call him ‘Papa’? That alone tells me a lot.”

“Ugh…!!”

I had no comeback for that. This man was always like this.

Just when you think he’s doing something crazy without thinking, he responds with an argument that’s hard to refute, using logic as a shield and reason as a sword to corner his opponent.

‘He’s really irritating…’

If he couldn’t speak, he wouldn’t be so annoying. Would it kill him to yield a little?

As I hesitated, thrown off by his seemingly reasonable argument, he started speaking even more loudly.

“I did what you all wanted to do but couldn’t, and you’re drawing your weapons?! Such ingratitude…!!”

“No, that’s not what we meant…”

The knights who had been reaching for their weapons at their waists quickly withdrew their hands at Ian’s words.

Watching this with a satisfied smile, Ian said one last thing before leaving the hut:

“You can’t even thank me, and instead you make me out to be some scoundrel who beats injured people… I expected better from the descendants of a hero. How disappointing.”

“What nonsense… You don’t even think of our ancestor as a hero.”

“Ahem… Anyway, I’m disappointed. Well, I have some preparations to make, so I’ll go ahead. Hori, let’s go.”

“Huh? Oh, okay…!!”

Seemingly unable to bear this stifling atmosphere any longer, Miss Hori quickly ran out when Ian called her.

After Ian left the hut, everyone remained silent, perhaps due to what had just happened. In the midst of this, Mother spoke with an incredulous tone:

“Jessica, just who is that man? Putting aside whether his actions were right or wrong, how can a person be so brazenly shameless?”

“Ah, well… Ian hasn’t been a high-ranking noble for long, so he hasn’t received proper etiquette training…”

“I don’t think it’s an etiquette problem. He’s just completely out of his mind!!”

Following Mother’s comment, others began to chime in.

They said he was mentally unstable, or that he must have had poor home training. While not entirely wrong, and I somewhat agreed with parts of it, for some reason, the more I heard these comments, the more heated I became. Forgetting my own manners, I shouted loudly:

“Everyone, stop it!! No matter what mistake he made, how rude is it to badmouth someone who came to help us?!!”

“Je-Jessica?”

“And he may speak thoughtlessly at times, but he’s not such an ill-mannered person!! Don’t speak so carelessly about someone you don’t know well!!”

After this outburst, I came to my senses and realized everyone was staring at me.

Oh, come to think of it, had I ever raised my voice like this in front of my brother and mother before?

Thinking about it, this was the first time. I had shouted at Ian many times, but never in front of my family, so it felt strange.

This unfamiliarity seemed to extend to my brother and mother as well, as they both stared at me with bewildered expressions.

“Jessica…”

As my brother began to speak with a serious expression, I lowered my head, expecting to be scolded.

However… the words that followed were not what I expected.

“…Do you perhaps like Ian?”

“…Pardon?”

This unexpected question left me speechless.

How should I respond? Should I confirm it? Or deny it?

Under the focused gazes directed at me, I could only lower my head, unable to say anything.

—Raei  Translations—

It didn’t take long to find the von Grund family castle.

Even without looking at a map, it was easy to spot from afar, being as massive and majestic as the old Japanese Government-General Building in Korea.

Riding Silence, who had been resting, we arrived at the castle to find an elderly man in a neat suit waiting at the entrance.

Well, he probably wasn’t actually waiting for us since we hadn’t announced our arrival, but that’s how it seemed to me.

“Wh-who are you?”

The old man could tell from our attire that we weren’t barbarians or bandits, but he seemed wary, seeing me covered in blood.

“It’s a bit complicated to explain… To sum it up, I’m here to take down the barbarian occupying the castle. But who are you?”

“Ah, I am Putt bin Bark, a servant of the von Grund family. I’ve been waiting here in case the master returns with royal reinforcements to defeat that vile man.”

“Oh, so you’ve been hiding here this whole time to avoid him?”

Puzzled by his neat appearance and lack of signs of hardship, I asked, but the old butler shook his head.

“…No. I was captured along with the other butlers and maids, unable to escape.”

“Then how are you out here?”

Though he hadn’t killed them, it seemed unlikely he’d give them freedom. Finding this odd, I asked, and the old butler cleared his throat embarrassedly.

“Well… You might find this hard to believe, but Koraea allowed me to be here. Or rather, he ordered me to wait here…”

Listening further, it turned out Baek Jeong-nam had ordered the butler to guide anyone who came looking to challenge him to his location.

“He’s insane. Any other orders?”

“Yes, he had us make a strange flag. It had an odd circular shape in the center, mixing blue and red, with black lines at the edges…”

“Enough… I think I know what it is just from that description.”

Witnessing the creation of a Taegukgi(kr flag) this far from Earth, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person he had been back on Earth.

Was he a descendant of independence activists or something?

No, even such a person wouldn’t engage in such nonsense as making a Taegukgi in another world.

Frowning at this excessive madness, the old butler asked me puzzledly:

“But surely you didn’t come just the two of you? I don’t see the master or the young master…”

“How could they come with those injuries? I came alone to catch him.”

Having heard all I needed to know, I left the bewildered old man behind and entered the castle. Unlike the seemingly intact exterior, the garden inside bore traces of a fierce battle.

The ground was pockmarked with craters, and dark bloodstains that hadn’t faded despite days passing were visible everywhere.

The fate of those who had shed that blood was easy to guess from the bodies that hadn’t yet been cleared away.

“…This is truly horrific.”

The heads of the corpses were crushed as if trampled by elephants. Even if the bodies were recovered later, identifying them would be nearly impossible.

Covering my mouth and turning away from this gruesome sight that seemed to deny even the peace of death, I asked:

“Is the medicine ready?”

Nodding, Hori handed me two cartridge-style vials from the small bag at her waist.

“This one has a much longer duration but lower potency than before. The effects last about 30 minutes. And this one is the opposite – shorter duration but far more powerful than what you used that day.”

So, I should inject the long-lasting drug first to test the waters, and if that’s not enough, use the second one…

“I understand. Well, I’m off.”

“Yes! I’ll be waiting here for your victorious return, Ian!”

“…It’s not Ian.”

“Huh? What do you mean it’s not Ian…?”

“Right now, I’m not Ian Barthow, but the Josenjing Slayer here to exterminate a Josenjing. Remember that.”

“Jo… Well, okay, I got it.”

Hori nodded puzzledly, and I turned to look up at the upper levels of the castle where Baek Jeong-nam would be waiting.

Then, to boost my morale and strengthen my resolve before setting out, I shouted with all my might:

“Yoshi (Alright)!! Tobatsuda (It’s time to subjugate)!!”

Tremble, Josenjing.

The Josenjing Slayer is coming to exterminate you.

—

Author’s Note:

Am I really crossing the line?! Fuck, I really am crossing it?!

There’s an extremely valid reason that anyone would nod their heads to for why the protagonist became an Ilbong (Japanese enthusiast), so please wait a little longer!!