Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
Bang!
The emperor slammed the chair’s armrest, and then clenched it.
“Is everything you just said the truth?”
The documents Carson brought were full of unspeakable things.
“It is, Your Majesty.”
After Carson confidently replied, the emperor’s expression finally crumpled.
“How could such a thing… Even though such a thing happened, We didn’t know.”
The emperor pressed his temples.
Even though warlocks were killing his people, he didn’t know.
How many had died to complete the curse?
And how horrible would it have been that curse spread?
The emperor sighed deeply.
“It was made in secret and systematically.”
“Even so, We should have found out first. We didn’t know that warlocks made themselves at home in Our country. We were stupid.”
“It’s not too late, Your Majesty. We have swiftly imprisoned Count Roberio and captured his entire family.”
“You’re right. Hey, you.”
The emperor shouted outside.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The imperial chamberlain entered and bowed.
“Call the 3rd and 4th knight orders right now, and contact the Grand Temple to call priests.”
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
At the emperor’s enraged voice, the chamberlain also felt anxious to move.
“Then I’ll take my leave, Your Majesty.”
Carson bowed to the emperor.
Now the problem was out of his hands.
With the Pizzat family’s destruction, there was no way that Marquis Twello , who was with Roberio, would be safe, was there?
“Lord Carson. Did you contact Lord Novio?”
Before Carson left, the emperor asked.
“Naturally, Your Majesty. The border is prepared for an attack by the enemy at any time.”
“I’ll never forget Lord’s contribution.”
“It’s not my contribution, but my dongsaeng Lucion’s.”
“… You mean it was the saint who dug it up?”
An emotion of surprise showed on the emperor’s face.
Carson hid that Lucion discovered it while exploring, and replied:
“That’s right.”
“Haha! Our saint already brought something big!”
The emperor laughed happily.
It was just the other day that he became a saint, but he already grabbed a chance to catch the tails of warlocks, and not only that, he also pulled out those who conspired with them.
25 years ago, black magic spread by one warlock erased an entire kingdom.
And 10 years ago, while it was still unknown whether it was a warlock or not, didn’t something similar happened in the small kingdom of Ceortia?
Even in the empire, they knew the fear of black magic.
‘Saint Lucion Cronia will become the undying flame of our empire.’
The emperor smiled.
***
“Achoo!”
Lucion’s nose suddenly felt ticklish, and he sneezed.
“Did You catch a cold?”
Hyum, who was putting down colorful macarons, asked worriedly.
“No. It’s probably because of dust.”
Lucion rubbed his nose while he picked a macaron and ate it.
— Latta aaa too.
When Latta opened her mouth wide, Lucion threw her one.
Nom, nom.
The eyes of Latta, who perfectly caught the macaron and ate it, gradually lit up.
— Latta likes it.
‘…Let’s see.’
Lucion stopped himself from almost sinking into his thoughts, and hesitantly asked at the gaze of Bethel, who was staring at him.
“What? Have something to say?”
[Lord’s day is really busy.]
“It seems so to you too, huh?”
Lucion sighed.
Since leaving his damn corner, it was but a few times it had welcomed back his buttocks
‘However, this will soon come to an end.’
First of all, didn’t he obtain his biggest goal, Light resistance, and the titles of the ‘person blessed by the Divine Beast’ and ‘Saint’?
The situation where he would be recklessly accused of being a warlock, like in the novel, disappeared.
Second, the situation where information about him was leaked outside was now completely settled.
In particular, almost all of the bastards who sold Cronia’s information were dead, and once he returned to the border, he planned to organize the things at the mansion, so now the ways for the enemies to learn information about him would grow sparse.
And now, because he manipulated the information about himself and the Hand of Void, even if they somehow replaced that information, they would have to do so gradually.
‘Now what remains is… to raise my strength, and to cut off the red thread connecting me with Heint?’
He was bothered by the black thread that appeared and disappeared for a moment not a long time ago, but there was no way he could do anything about it right now.
‘I hope it’s a simple bug.’
[… So you wake up in the morning, run, eat breakfast, then train black magic, eat lunch, run again, train, eat dinner, take a short walk and then train?]
Each time Bethel folded a finger, the sound of clashing metal was heard.
[He is my disciple no matter what, but he truly is amazing, right?]
Russell nodded.
He knew all of it.
There couldn’t be a disciple more perfect than this.
[I agree with you. Among the nobles I’ve seen, he would be the most diligent one.]
At Russell’s words, Bethel agreed, and then a moment later, sighed deeply.
[On that subject, if I wasn’t locked up, I would also take a disciple like Lord.]
[He is my disciple, so don’t even think of coveting him.]
Russell hurriedly put Bethel in her place.
He couldn’t tolerate some newcomer snatching his disciple.
[With such a mindset, I…]
[Okay. Keep that posture and don’t spit.]
Russell cut off Bethel’s words with a flustered voice.
Lucion observed the absurd situation between the two, while he bit into another macaron.
Wasn’t Carson his swordmaster teacher already?
Though he still couldn’t hold a sword.
‘I have no problems with having a few masters… uh?’
He suddenly recalled a certain fact, and Lucion’s eyes grew wide.
‘Surely there was one villain organization in the central region…?’
The main villain group was the ‘Hand of Void’.
The group created by mages was ‘Luminos’.
And for him, there were priests.
Even excluding those three, two years later, when the country fell into fear because of the warlocks running wild, both big and small villain groups appeared in crowds.
The one who united them and accepted them was the in-novel Lucion.
Thanks to him accepting many villains, the power of the Hand of Void grew quickly.
‘Thinking back, the in-novel Lucion was truly capable.’
However, he didn’t want to join the Hand of Void, much less get involved with those bastards.
‘Should I clean up just once before going back to the border?’
Thinking about it, wasn’t it still before those villains grew?
‘Even if I can’t stomp them out completely, I can’t let them hold hands with the worst of the worst Hand of Void. Um, right.’
Lucion glanced outside.
‘The festival ended. I should go say goodbye to Young Lady Tella and attack just once.’
The villains that occupied the capital and acted in dark corners were ‘Ratmen’.
In the future, they would side with the Hand of Void and turn a whole country, including the large part of empire, into a wasteland, so with such a great place at stake, he couldn’t leave them alone.
‘Those bastards’ power came from the Hand of Void, so before joining hands with the Hand of Void, they are just pushovers with big numbers. Good to squander.’
After finishing the macarons, Lucion stood up.
[Lucion.]
Russell frowned deeply at Lucion’s expression, which was excited about something.
[You’re planning to do something again?]
“How is it that nothing can escape Master-nim’s notice?”
Lucion didn’t deny it.
As he would obviously be found out after he denied it.
[So, where are you going? No, can you go right now? You will soon be departing to the border.]
Russell looked at the clock.
“Yes. As I spent two days at home, my body has recovered and my Darkness is also full.”
After Lucion wiped the macaron crumbs from the comer of his mouth, Hyum hurriedly offered a bowl.
— Oooh.
Latta’s eyes sparkled at Hyum’s agile movement.
[Lord Lucion. Can I accompany you this time?]
After Bethel asked, Lucion replied while standing up from his seat.
“It won’t be particularly fun for you, will it?”
Even if he wanted to use body-sharing, he couldn’t check it out because there was no connection between him and Bethel.
[If you’re worried because of the warlocks, you don’t have to. If Lord permits, I’ll observe from a distance, avoiding causing harm to Lord.]
“Okay. Follow me then. But as I said, it won’t be particularly fun.”
The only fact Lucion knew was that Bethel was one of the death knights the final boss had.
As, at that time, she was a mindless puppet that could only say ‘Yes, understood’, he knew nothing about her.
However, it wasn’t an urgent problem because he could gradually find out.
If he didn’t go to that banquet.
If he didn’t cultivate Light resistance.
If he didn’t destroy the Pizzat family.
He would have never known the happiness of watching the unchanged fate changed with his own eyes.
‘Nothing I did was in vain.’
Lucion smiled and went out.
***
‘… Blue thread?’
Lucion momentarily hesitated.
The moment he saw Tella, suddenly a blue thread connecting him and her appeared.
‘What? What happened? Or is something about to happen?’
“Won’t You have a cup of tea before going?”
Tella suggested to Lucion with a slightly anxious smile.
“And you, too?”
She stroked Latta, who was wagging her tail like a puppy and circling around her as if trying to erase her anxiety.
— Ye! Latta likes it!
[That’s a good idea. You should at least drink tea after coming all the way here.]
Russell strongly agreed.
He was going to go back riding a carriage anyway, and there was still time until he had to depart to the border.
“I’m fine. I only came to see You for a moment.”
Lucion softy rejected Tella’s suggestion.
He had to go to suppress ‘Ratmen’ before they did something big.
Because the work of Ratmen was information warfare and information collection, and they dug holes in the ground like real rats, if not now, it would be really difficult to eliminate them.
But Lucion knew where their main base was.
In the middle part of the novel, after Heint obtained an ability to chase Darkness, it was revealed that the main base of Ratmen was in the center of the Tesealla Empire’s capital.
“Then, seeing as You’re in good health, I’ll come meet You again.”
Lucion smiled.
Even if it wasn’t an excuse, he truly wanted to say a last goodbye to Tella.
Because she was his first close friend.
However, Tella didn’t readily open her mouth.
Rather, she was busy glancing at the knights standing at the gate.
Soon, she lowered her voice.
“Young Master.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
“Do You perhaps have a moment?”
“A moment…”
“Please just help me slip out of here.”
Tella earnestly requested.
Because he couldn’t refuse her first request, Lucion pretended to converse, and asked.
“How can I help You?”
“If You just suggest going for a brief walk with You, it will be fine.”
Tella urged him, and Lucion called her with a louder voice than a moment ago.
“Young Lady Tella.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“If You have time, may I take You for a short walk?”
“Yes, thank You. Will it be okay if it’s around here?”
After Tella moved, the few knights standing at the gate followed after them.
Lucion only then realized the reason for Tella’s request.
He didn’t know why, but she was under tight protection and surveillance.
The last time he met with Tella was the Divine Beast birthday banquet.
‘At that time, I heard that there were some problems at the bank…’
“Thank You, Young Master. I can take it from here, so please don’t worry.”
Tella slightly bowed.
“No way, are You trying to run away?”
“Uh, how did You know?”
Tella was startled.
“Can I hear the reason for all of this?”
“Um…”
Tella hesitated over her words as she grabbed the hem of her skirt.
“I don’t know if You remember, but there were problems at our bank. I couldn’t contact You because of those problems.”
“Are they big problems?”
“Yes. Someone leaked our customers’ information.”
Tella bit her lips with a depressed face.
[… Ah. That’s a really big deal.]
Russell clenched his fists in pity.
Looking at Russell, Lucion was dumbfounded.
Even when he vomited blood after seeing the black thread, he wasn’t this worried.
‘But were things like this originally?’
Because Tella was only an extra, whose name only appeared, no events at the Luteon bank appeared in the novel.
“If this fact becomes known to the public, our bank will be finished.”
“Young Lady… isn’t a person to take such drastic actions. Do You perhaps know something?”
“Yes. I know who leaked the information, so my life is under threat right now.”
“Who the hell are those bastards?”
Lucion couldn’t stay quiet.
Who the hell was blocking Tella’s way to become the family head?
The name that came from Tella’s lips was a name he knew.
“Ratmen.”
“… Yes?”
“That’s what they call themselves.”
*~*~*
Translator’s note: I wish Misters and Misses Ratmen told me who the hell Count Totlen is and if I rightly turned him into Marquis Twello.
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