Count’s Youngest Son is a Warlock

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Is this how it goes? (3)

[Lucion, you better stop thinking like that.]

As if he had never been a gentle sheep, Russell looked so serious.

“You’re very quick-witted.”

[I’m not a fool. I can see your eyes rolling. What can I do?]

Lucion rose from his seat with regret.

‘If taking the Ratcho isn’t the problem and it turns out I need something else… ‘

Lucion stopped thinking as he ran out of time to ponder.

It was finally the right time to put an end to Vera.

“Ratta, I’ll be back for a while, so be quiet.”

Ratta, who was fighting the quilt, replied with a smile.

—Yes!

For the past few days, Lucion had been pressuring Vera to make mistakes.

No matter how much self-restraint Novio had, Novio was a rational man and not a fool.

He couldn’t blindly doubt Vera, but when the investigation was conducted at the mansion, she also happened to disappear.

—I’m holding the note now.

Because of the ghost’s two reports enunciated by Ratta, Lucion finally obtained one of her notes. She dropped it while running away in panic in front of his eyes yesterday.

‘It was a note with my information that she was going to give to someone.’

Lucion happily headed to Novio’s room.

Inside, Vera was already sitting on her knees.

“Good morning, Father and Brother.”

Lucion greeted Novio and Carson with a firm expression before putting his gaze upon Vera.

“Vera.”

Lucion beat her first, before she had the chance to make all sorts of excuses. “… I trusted you.”

Lucion’s tone was grim. “The more I see you, the more I find you interesting. That’s why I’m close to you, but I still can’t believe you would betray me,” he said.

[Wow! Lucion… You…]

Russell had goosebumps all over his body in an instant.

He wondered why Lucion didn’t bring Ratta. Now he knew it was for this reason.

Novio reached out his hand. It meant stop.

‘It’s perfect.’

Lucion suppressed his laughter and said no more.

“Who’s behind you?” Novio didn’t ask why Vera did it or why she had to do it.

Vera opened her mouth, trembling, “Oh, no, I don’t have anyone! It’s just because I’m short of money. Please trust me, my lord! I’ll…”

“Who were you going to give that note to?” Novio asked, cutting off Vera’s words.

“I do not know. I-I was just given instructions!”

“Where were you going to deliver it?”

The calm atmosphere was more frightening. The absence of angry shouts made the whole situation more tense.

Vera felt herself getting smaller and smaller, completely pressured. She unconsciously clasped her hands tightly.

“In the hallway on the third floor, between the farthest windows…” Vera’s voice trembled like her hands.

“There’s a note…”

“I see.”

Novio stopped asking Vera and said, “Do it as usual. If you want to be spared, then you will have to do it.”

Novio judged Vera to be nothing more than a tail he could cut off anytime. But she was at least all useful in the end.

“M-my lord, I-I was wrong! I was blinded by money.”

“I’m not asking for your reasons.”

Novio just gazed at Vera.

Subjected to the overwhelming presence, her breathing stopped, her mouth was agape, and her entire body stiffened. 

“Father,” Lucion said.

“Who can walk around the mansion without raising any suspicions? Who can enter and exit the estate freely?”

As soon as Lucion picked up the note that Vera had dropped, he saw a blue thread that was connected to someone.

He followed in his line of sight the thread that appeared, and there he was able to identify the weaver.

“It’s a knight.”

Lucion’s voice was full of power.

“Check who took the note and if it is a knight, as I expected, please attach him as my escort to this banquet.”

“What were you thinking?” Novio stopped Carson and asked.

“Can a knight do this alone? The enemies are moving just as my father and brother said,” Lucion said, smiling.

“I’m Cronia, too, aren’t I? I want you to leave it to me.”

The banquet he mentioned was the banquet held to celebrate the birth of a divine beast. It was the biggest banquet being held for several years now.

How could a person who was greedy for information missed that event?

* * *

“There’s a lot of people, so be more vigilant.”

Carson’s blunt remarks made Lucion nervous for no reason.

—Ratta likes to go outside. I like it best!

Lucion thought it would probably continue to freeze if it hadn’t been for Ratta, who was glued to his feet and was chattering joyfully. ‘It’s been a long time, except when I went out with my brother when I was very young.’

Lucion didn’t know what Carson was thinking about this situation.

He was about to run as usual after lunch when, suddenly, Carson came and told him to get ready to go out.

He could have refused, but the blue thread that connected him, Carson, and someone, suddenly appeared. So, Lucion said yes.

‘There’s already two blue threads wrapped around.’

One was to a knight. The other was the blue thread that just formed.

The uncut threads somehow bothered Lucion.

“I told you to come out because I have something to buy. Don’t worry about it.” Carson finally spoke of his purpose.

As Lucion had expected from the time Carson came to the city, something was odd. It just didn’t fit Carson’s personality.

‘Did you come here on purpose because of Vera?’

Lucion’s face soon became distorted. That was far-fetched.

“What are you going to buy?”

“There are only a few things in the mansion that suit you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Sword is heavy. The same goes for the wooden sword. If you want to wield a sword in the future, you have to get used to the weight.”

“Are you telling me that you sought for me so you can buy my personal sword?”

Lucion was embarrassed and felt a bit ticklish inside.

Carson and him had a relationship that was neither good nor bad. They only knew survival. However, his father and his older brother were also changing as his changes became more apparent.

“Yes. You asked me to teach you a sword, and I allowed it. I don’t plan on being a half-hearted mentor to my brother.”

[I like his sense of responsibility. If you’re a true teacher, this is the right mentality you should have.]

Russell nodded and sympathized with Carson’s conduct.

“And as you expected, the knight was indeed involved. His name is Shen.” Carson quietly continued.

“Is that so?”

“Maybe he’s going to escort you as you asked him to.”

Silence ensued between the two as the short and simple conversation ended.

Lucion, however, was not as uncomfortable or awkward with Carson as he used to be.

?“I’m sorry. …I’m sorry, Lucion. I’m late. I came too late.”?

In the novel, the character Hamel hugged the body of Lucion, an intermediate boss. He later identified himself as Carson. That memory was as vivid as if it happened today.

‘Wait a minute.’

Lucion hesitated at the sudden fact.

‘When did my brother and the main character get involved with each other?’

Carson, disguised as Hamel, was an early colleague of the main character.

‘You don’t really know each other, do you?’

“What’s wrong?”

At Carson’s question, Lucion shook his head, setting his thoughts out of his mind.

“No, I was just thinking about something else for a second.”

“Don’t mindlessly gaze everywhere and just follow me.”

Carson knowingly guided him to a place where there weren’t many people.

Following him, Lucion noticed something strange.

He had been in the city for a few days, but it was the most tumultuous of all.

‘Did something happen?’

Lucion glanced at the blue thread wrapped around his body for no reason.

[The Priests.]

Russell’s eyes became sharp.

Then, even Carson halted his steps.

“What’s wrong?” As Carson’s expression hardened, Lucion reluctantly asked.

“Why are the priests here?” Lucion heard Carson mutter.

Like Russell, he seemed to have noticed the priest’s existence.

“Lucion,” Carson called Lucion with a stiff look.

“Yes.”

“We are going back.”

“…Yes?”

“It looks like the priests are here.”

“Is today the day?”

They believed that there was only one god in this world—the god of light.

The Kingdom of Nevast, who received the most blessings of light, called itself a holy nation and raised priests. Those who wanted to become priests naturally flocked to Nevast.

Nevast was recognized as a neutral nation by countries that had been forced to receive a priest because of the power of light to increase natural healing and heal wounds faster.

Therefore, the priests dispatched from Nevast had to remain neutral, especially in the frontier.

“No.”

At Carson’s answer, Lucion felt a frown of his own.

‘The priests broke their promise with our father and moved on?’

Novio was more cold-hearted than Lucion thought.

Until now, the priests who had moved outside the date and time set so far, were kicked out of the area and returned to Nevast.

Since Novio had absolute power in the frontier, the priests had no choice but to keep an eye on him.

It seemed that something big had happened, even carrying the risk of being deported.

‘The only warlocks that have moved this far are probably the only warlocks that… ‘

Ting!

The thread connected to himself, Carson and someone became tense.

It actually led to a crack in the alley.

‘Who’s over there?’

Something was happening over that alley.

‘Come to think of it…’

Lucion swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.

He remembered a scene from the novel.

?”Lucion, it was an honor to serve you.”?

He was only in a few lines, but he devoted his allegiance to Lucion in the novel and was the one he was trying to find.

[……?]

When Russell, who was on high alert, felt a strange sensation. He turned his head.

Something felt both familiar and unfamiliar.

—Huh?

At the same time, even Ratta, who was spinning around Lucion, pricked up her ears.

“We’re going back.”

Carson opened his mouth again and turned his back on the path he had come.

“Follow me, Lucion.”

Carson rushed Lucion, who stood absentmindedly. He hurried him to go a little farther this area.

Tak!

At that time, Carson quickly looked back at the loud footsteps.

Lucion was running down the alley.

“Lucion!” Carson called Lucion and ran.

[Lucion! A priest is coming from there!]

Russell grabbed Lucion’s hem.

Even though they hadn’t seen the priests yet, the peculiar fishy smell of the priests had already flowed in, making Lucion’s stomach churn.

Lucion resisted the nausea and shouted, “Just a moment. Just a moment!”

Carson, who caught Lucion at once, surprised Russell and Ratta and their eyes grew bigger.

Lucion moved his eyes with a blue thread that seemed to break at any moment.

When Carson let go, Lucion ran again.

At the intersection of several alleys, Lucion went back into one alley along the thread without hesitation.

?“The day he was captured by the priests… If he knew that Lucion was in the same place, he would not hide like an idiot, even if he screamed for his life.?

The lines in the novel rushed in Lucion’s mind.

Lucion saw the boy crouching next to the trash.

That boy and himself were connected by a blue thread.

‘I found it.’

Lucion felt his darkness suddenly wriggling for a moment of pleasure.

In a strange sense of alertness and delight, Lucion took a short breath.

[This feeling…]

Russell opened his eyes wide.

[Was it coming out of him? But this… I’ve never felt this before.]

Russell was perplexed.

Even Lucion himself, who knew the identity of the boy, was embarrassed by the sense of being pushed from the boy.

—Aha! Ratta will help you.

Lucion was relieved for a moment as he heard Ratta’s cheerful voice.

Ratta approached the boy and climbed onto the boy’s shoulder. She stretched out her front paws toward his face.

—Yap.

“Ratta, what are you doing?”

Lucion’s eyes shook.

He felt that Ratta was infusing darkness into the boy.

—The darkness is unstable. That’s why Ratta is helping.

‘What do you mean, darkness?’

Lucion was cautious of Carson’s presence and held back what he wanted to say.

‘Isn’t he a warlock?’

In the first place, that boy wasn’t a human.