The Path of Ruin

Chapter 90: Self-Given Mission

Previously, it had taken Kael twelve days on his horse to reach the Barony of Dolcan from the capital.

But after his escape, for some unknown reason, he returned even faster. In exactly nine days.

He had tried to return as soon as possible, without much rest. And he succeeded as well as he could.

At the same time, unexpectedly... he was a bit attached to his horse.

It was a fast and powerful horse. Only, in some situations... he could sulk like a human, at least that's what Kael felt from it, but other than that... it was quite friendly.

Still, these were all things he would have to think about later. After all, there was something he had to do now that he had made it back to the capital...

And he was standing outside Hakon's room right now to do exactly that.

He knocked gently, then stepped back slightly, waiting for an answer.

He had only just arrived to the capital. So Hakon might not have realized it was him.

Despite that...

"Come, Kael."

He rolled his eyes, then opened the door and walked in.

Hakon was at his desk. He had his feet up on his desk and was holding a glass with something Kael wasn't quite sure what was in it. He had that annoying smile on his face.

Kael didn't say anything, and also didn't wait for Hakon to speak. He simply approached the table, took out the letters he kept in his clothes, and handed them to him.

Hakon took the letters slowly, one by one, examining the appearance of each one. Then he took one at random and read its contents.

Then the second, the third... and the fourth.

When he had finished reading everything... he just put the letters down on the table and turned his eyes back to Kael.

"I assume you didn't get caught?"

"I didn't... at least they don't know who I am, but I may have caused a bit of a fuss when I ran away."

"Oh. A fuss, huh... Do they know you stole the letters?"

"If they checked, maybe, if not, no. But there were almost a hundred letters there, maybe two hundred. So even if they checked, it's still possible that they might not realize it."

He paused, his next words a question rather than part of his report.

"Has there been any news about the thing I did there?"

Hakon shook his head from side to side.

"No. They probably don't want anyone from the Empire to come and investigate for they are afraid."

That... made sense.

But he wasn't finished with his questions.

Normally he would have been a little hesitant to ask this question. Hakon himself had told him that some things in this world were better not to know, after all.

Curiosity was bound to end badly.

Still... since she was mentioned in one of the letters, there was no harm in asking.

And for his next question, he needed to get the answer to this one first.

"So... who is the Second Princess?"

Hakon's smile widened as if he had been expecting this question.

And indeed he had.

"The Emperor has three sons and two daughters, Kael. The Second Princess is, as you might guess, the younger of the princesses."

'So the Emperor has a family, huh...'

He didn't know why, but he found it difficult to imagine this man as a 'human being'. The existence of the so-called 'Emperor' was like a divine being for him.

He narrowed his eyes. He thought about what the daughter of the man he had difficulty even imagining, perhaps the most powerful man on the entire continent, might be like.

She was probably a monster in her own right. And... she must have been quite beautiful to be the daughter of an Emperor. At least that was what he thought.

He imagined someone so beautiful that no one on the battlefield would dare touch her, yet she would crush everyone in her path like an ant.

That's what the Second Princess was like in his mind.

"Oh, and also... I know you haven't forgotten what we talked about before, but the Second Princess... isn't particularly popular or supported. So be extra careful not to talk about her."

'Huh? She's... disliked?'

This... was information that he definitely did not expect and found quite strange.

Why would a princess be disliked?

Was she a brute? A disobedient, maverick, foul-mouthed person for example.

The woman who Kael had imagined changed in an instant. The delicate figure he had first thought of was replaced by a tough and big war maniac who smiled like a lunatic all the time.

He could almost hear her cursing incessantly as she fought!

After a short time, he shook himself out of his thoughts.

It was kind of fun to think about what the Second Princess was like, he couldn't lie. But there were more important matters at hand...

Turning his brown eyes back to Hakon, he asked his last and indeed most important question.

"Have you sent any troops to the Barony of Dolcan?"

Hakon paused for a moment. His eyebrows rose slightly as his smile faded.

His eyes seemed to speak for him as if he had guessed why Kael would ask such a question out of the blue.

"Did you... see a troop?"

Kael nodded quickly.

"It didn't have a crest other than that of the Empire, so I'm sure it wasn't some random noble. And I thought it might be the Second Princess since she was mentioned in the letter."

Hakon's expression suddenly turned serious.

"How many days ago did you see them?"

"Eight days ago."

And this was when the Hakon Kael 'knew' was completely changed into someone new.

His eyes suddenly became colder than ever, the annoying smile he always had on his face was gone. His feet were not on his desk anymore, he had put them down.

He... looked like a cold-blooded murderer now.

"Haaaaah..."

He didn't even look at Kael. He was in the midst of other thoughts, and this... was telling Kael again and again the seriousness of the situation.

"She will threaten the Baron, gather evidence of Feria Lockhend's illegal dealings, and use it to protect her position as a princess."

As Hakon muttered these things to himself in a low voice, he folded his arms on his chest and leaned back in his chair.

"We were planning to use Feria Lockhend for ourselves... This is certainly not good. If it's eight days ago, she probably already gathered the evidence she wanted, sorted it out, and is on her way back to the capital."

He clicked his tongue and stood up, ignoring Kael and heading for the door.

But then, as if suddenly remembering his presence, he paused, turning to him out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah, right..."

Kael's eyes involuntarily narrowed at the words he heard.

'This man... had he really forgotten me?'

It seemed so.

The moment he encountered something that could seriously interfere with his plans, Hakon completely ignored Kael's presence.

'Then he doesn't include me in his plans at all...'

That meant... that in their eyes, despite what he had done so far, he was still untrustworthy.

He didn't matter to them.

"You may return to your room, Kael. Even though the mission I gave you was unofficial, you have earned our trust even more, proving your abilities once again. So I will arrange your reward, and it will be a good one for sure... don't worry."

Then, he turned and prepared to leave.

But...

"Stop."

And... he did stop.

This time, instead of looking at Kael out of the corner of his eye, he turned completely around. His eyes, which were completely black... really resembled those of a serial killer.

"The evidence the Second Princess has... if I destroy it, there's no problem, right?"

He narrowed his eyes, his expression cold. Just like Hakon.

"They can't accuse the daughter-in-law of a ducal family without hard evidence, after all. And we have the only proof."

If no one trusts him...

He would make them trust him with his own hands.

"Even if a few of her men die in the process, it will not be a 'success' for her, but a 'failure'. And you don't seem to like this Second Princess very much... so it suits you."

If no one sees him as a valuable asset...

He was going to raise his value with his own hands.

"And if I can't... you can make me look like an agent of Feria trying to destroy the evidence about her. So, nobody suffers from this. Only me..."

Rather than waiting for someone else to take him to a certain point...

He had to scrape himself to that point with his fingers.

And he was going to do it.

"Am I not the Follower of Ruin, after all? Let me personally ruin the Second Princess's plans... What do you say?"

A deep silence fell over the room. A long one in which neither Kael nor Hakon said a word.

But, then...

"Follower of Ruin, huh..."

Hakon's lips suddenly curled upwards. The implication of his eyes had not changed, but...

"Sure, Kael."

He certainly liked Kael's suggestion.

"Go. Destroy the evidence the Second Princess has. If you succeed... I'll put you in the reports as the main figure in this whole Feria Lockhend mess. The Empire will be quite pleased, that's for sure. Me and the General included, even."

Kael did not smile, did not react in any positive or negative way.

He simply... nodded. But he had one last thing to say before he left Hakon's side, about his self-given mission.

"I need to get some plants from the greenhouses in the garden, is that okay?"

At first, Hakon didn't understand why Kael would ask such a thing... but he couldn't find a reason to refuse.

"Take what you want, I'll cover it."

When he confirmed after a brief silence that Kael had nothing more to say, he turned and opened the door of his room, just as he had done at the beginning.

Before leaving, though...

"Good luck, Kael. I… hope you succeed."

And then, he just left the room. He left Kael just like that.