Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
Jerno clicked his tongue when Lucion disappeared.
‘It seems that young master still hasn’t completely recovered.’
Jerno made a regretful face, looking at the corner Lucion disappeared behind.
Because he had by now become familiar with Lucion’s occasional actions, like staring into the air or acting as if he was talking with someone, it wasn’t that strange.
But those actions drew harsh gazes from others who didn’t know Lucion, just like before.
‘But He got a lot of better. Really a lot.’
Jerno sighed and returned to the training grounds.
“Wasn’t it the youngest young master just now?”
One of the knights opened his mouth as if waiting when Jerno appeared.
“Right. It was young master.”
“Perhaps… was He suppressed because of us?”
“Must be. When He went out alone last time, I had no idea what kind of face I should make or how much I could approach him, so I was extremely nervous.”
A long-haired knight recalled that moment and licked his dry lips.
“You look like a bandit just from your face.”
When the knight standing at his side mumbled, the knights chuckled, agreeing.
“Shut that mouth! If I smile, I have a very honest face!”
“What honest? Don’t try to secretly take a break. Get running!”
At the sight of the slacking subordinates, Jerno raised his voice straight away.
“Please give us some slack, Vice Captain.”
“Right. We’re talking about the youngest young master coming here for the first time. Isn’t it something for everyone to be excited about?”
The knights were all happy to see Lucion after a long time.
At least among the people employed at this mansion, there were no people who didn’t take pride in the name Cronia.
Because the Cronia family was the spear and shield of the Teseal Empire.
And Lucion was the youngest of the Cronia family.
There was no person who didn’t feel pity for the young master who couldn’t wander outside because of an illness, or who believed the absurd rumors about cursing others or killing them if they made eye contact.
In addition, these days, Lucion recovered from the illness he was suffering from to a certain extent and showed up in the mansion here and there, so as Cronia’s knights, they naturally had to be happy.
Jerno unknowingly giggled at the sight of the truly excited knights.
But he quickly controlled his expression.
“You must have heard that the youngest young master was almost in trouble two days ago.”
At Jerno’s words, the training ground instantly turned eerily silent.
How could they not know when Novio called the knight order over and exploded with quiet anger.
— Today, I felt some unknown power around Lucion’s room.
It wasn’t a rebuke nor a warning.
Even so, the knight order itself exploded in anger.
What nonsense it was that someone sneaked past them and infiltrated the mansion?
“We’re the blade of Cronia.”
The knights continued Jerno’s words, shouting:
“The blade must always be sharp!”
They suddenly started to run again as if lining up.
***
[Where are you going?]
Russell looked at Lucion, who put on the hood one by one, and asked.
“I’m going to buy latchou before it withers even more.”
As his morning training time was emptied, he thought it was a perfect time to replenish latchou.
At the name ‘latchou’, Latta, who was chewing on the blanket, pricked up her ears.
[How about ordering servants to do it?]
“I hate it. I hate them digging into things for no reason, and I hate it reaching Father’s ears.”
Lucion shook his head.
The town was close and if he rode Syandra, it would be just a moment.
— Lucion, Lucion.
Latta hastily jumped from the bed and bit Lucion’s pants.
“What?”
— You can’t die!
“Master-nim. Please don’t teach Latta strange things.”
When Lucion looked at Russell, he responded as if dumbfounded.
[Huu.]
But he couldn’t say anything.
“Latta, go in.”
Lucion pointed at his shadow and called Latta.
— Latta hates latchou.
Latta dragged her front paws and very slowly moved to melt into Lucion’s shadow.
[Ah. Did you hear the news?]
Russell opened his mouth.
“What news?”
Lucion turned the doorknob as he asked.
[About the bastard whose ear you bit.]
“Are You talking about the bastards of Viscount Hellion?”
[Yeah.]
“I know that Father surely postponed those bastards coming here. Did they perhaps invite themselves?”
[No. That bastard had been making noise since yesterday that he has hearing problems.]
“Is that so?”
Lucion smiled quietly, pulled down his hood, and left the room.
***
Just after Lucion rode Syandra and left the mansion, Russell spoke:
[Go left.]
“The right road is shorter.”
[On the right road, there are… no bandits, but anyhow, there are quite a lot of people.]
The moment Lucion heard those words, he sneered.
How big of guts the bandits would need to dare extort money around the Cronia family’s mansion?
Lucion turned Syandra while he spoke.
“Anyhow, I guess the viscount Hellion’s family is getting angry.”
[It’s worthy of anger. The oldest son is in trouble.]
While listening to Russell’s words, Lucion looked at Latta, who at some point grabbed Syandra’s mane.
— Wooo!
“And there is a rat inside the mansion leaking the information.”
Lucion’s eyes became sharp.
The fact that he, who stayed in his room all the time, was going outside the mansion these days was only known to the people inside.
Lucion tightened his grip on the reins.
‘Yeah. The dickhead is selling my information again, right?’
His insides churned as the incident, which became a decisive reason why he didn’t keep a servant at his side, was about to present itself again.
— Heup!
Latta, who admired the surroundings, was startled and looked at Lucion.
Tak!
Russell erased the Darkness that was slowly penetrating Lucion’s surroundings.
[Lucion. Don’t act rashly. You’re a warlock.]
“… I know.”
Lucion’s voice lost its strength.
In a situation where he couldn’t even vent his anger properly, Lucion felt suffocated.
‘I … need something that can calm down my mind while I use black magic.’
***
Just after Lucion bought latchou and left the shop, he stopped seeing the two people who had just passed him by.
Because their figures looked somewhat familiar, Lucion thought for a moment.
‘If they wear masks, aren’t they exactly like those bastards?’
[They’re those bastards.]
Russell also looked at the two people.
— Who are those bastards?
Latta asked, but Lucion only raised a corner of his mouth.
They were the robbers from the Luteon Bank incident.
After they escaped, he didn’t expect them tonot leave this land.
But it was a great opportunity.
“Master-nim.”
Lucion lowered his voice.
It was better to move before Jerno or another knight joins him as a late escort.
Russell responded to Lucion’s gaze, staring at the two people as if it was ridiculous.
[No way, you want me to follow them?]
“Aren’t You curious?”
At that time, he missed an opportunity to learn who originally put their hands on his earrings.
But as the chance came to him again, he didn’t want to miss it.
‘And I can expect there to be some sort of change linked to it.’
[I’m naturally curious about it. Those are bastards who didn’t rob just any bank, but a magic bank.]
Russell rolled his eyes while stroking his chin.
“Please eavesdrop.”
Lucion covered his mouth with flowers.
What is the greatest strength of ghosts?
It was the fact that other people don’t see them.
[I knew it.]
Russell soon sighed.
[Instead, you move slowly in the distance. Don’t show that you’re following them.]
“Yes. Please don’t worry. Going slowly is my favorite thing these days.”
Lucion grinned.
Because of Russell’s contract with him, Russell couldn’t leave a certain distance from him, so Lucion also had to move.
— Latta can also eavesdrop.
Latta’s upset voice was heard from Lucion’s shadow.
Latta was originally his Darkness, so she was quite fond of him as a basic.
Lucion didn’t feel particularly bad about this situation.
“If you want to eavesdrop, follow Master-nim. But if it were me, I would slowly go sightseeing outside.”
— Heup! That’s right! Latta is outside for the first time!
Latta at last shouted loudly as if excited.
— Wooo! A person!
Lucion walked slowly, leaving Latta’s voice behind.
He didn’t feel it a moment ago, but the voice of people walking down the street were pretty loud.
Even though it wasn’t nauseating like in the past, it was still uncomfortable.
Lucion took a deep breath as he rolled his eyes.
Thinking that among them were quite a lot of people whose names come out in the novel, even if they were just minor roles like Tella, was somehow depressing.
He had to use what he could use.
[Are you okay?]
At Russell’s voice, whom he didn’t even know when came back from eavesdropping, Lucion quietly asked.
“How was it?”
[It seems they aren’t robbers but mercenaries. They were talking bullshit about being forced to rob Luteon Magic Bank again because they’re in debt over the failed job last time.]
‘A debt?’
Lucion smirked.
Seeing that smirk, Russell suspiciously half-closed his eyes.
“Do You know their names, perhaps?”
Lucion knew that he had an unusually good memory of the content of the novel.
Whether they were extras or not, he would be certain if their names appeared in the novel.
[I think they said Hellon and Shutra?]
Russell answered with a bit icky face.
‘Hellon, Shutra…’
Lucion quietly thought about those names.
Soon, he smiled ominously again.
‘Right. Hellon and Shutra. Those bastards are Hellon and Shutra, huh?’
[…Lucion.]
“Yes.”
[You’re not thinking what I’m thinking, right?]
“Of course. Honestly, besides money, what else do I have?”
Lucion responded as if it was funny.
His father, Novio, was a count who protected the borders of the Teseal Empire.
As a count with power equal to that of a marquis, he got a monthly pay to maintain dignity equal to that, under his name.
As he almost didn’t buy anything, how much money would he have gathered?
‘With even interest added. There would be quite a lot.’
Suddenly, thinking about the money, Lucion felt quite at ease.
He thought that the term ‘financial therapy’ had some merits.
“I’ll employ those guys.”
Lucion spoke resolutely.
Hellon and Shutra were extras in the novel.
His interest was in their master, ‘Krone Zell’.
Krone Zell managed his own force and was the head of the group called the Third Force.
It was a force that was hidden almost so perfectly that no one knew for sure what they were doing.
‘With it, can’t I do whatever I want?’
The biggest reason he couldn’t let it be found out that he was a warlock, was because of his surname, Cronia, and social status.
But supposing he hid it and could act freely, what there was to worry about?
‘Anyhow, neither society nor my family expect anything from me.’
For his own happiness, Lucion Cronia’s name must be safely preserved.
‘I like those punks who are crazy enough to try to rob a magic bank for money once again.’
After realizing that this world is exactly like the novel he read, ‘Clutches of Darkness’, he thought of several ways.
In the case he changed his fixed fate but revealed the fact he was a warlock, wouldn’t everything be destroyed?
As such, he didn’t have plans of obediently dying to the protagonist or to this world.
It wasn’t a bad idea to create his own, not this father’s or his family’s, force as a last defense.
‘Although it means deceiving the world every day, what does it matter?’
Lucion’s eyes sparkled.
There was something he wanted for a really long time.
*~*~*
Translator’s note: Author-nim’s name philosophy is so profound, that I can’t even begin to comprehend it.
Also, Happy New Lunar Year~!
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