abcnovels
Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Chapter 15 – Discipline (1)
Count Arsene was being debriefed by Hans, who’d stormed in afterwards.
“We’ve just finished our preliminary investigation into the Vigri de Foltaine.”
“What did he say?”
“As expected, he’s denying it. He says he never ran anything like a slave trade.”
Count Arsene curled up one corner of his mouth.
“Even though the evidence is so clear?”
“Yes. On the contrary, the Marquis is furious that some knight dared to detain his innocent relative. Furthermore, the Marquis stated that he would not simply let this go.”
“You didn’t learn anything useful, huh. Thanks for the trouble, anyway. I’ll do the secondary research myself.”
“I apologize.”
“As soon as the investigation is complete, Vigri de Foltaine’s bastard will be transported to the capital. Be prepared.”
For a moment, Hans looked troubled.
“My lord, I hate to say this…… but there’s something I’m concerned about.”
“What is it?”
“If nothing else, shouldn’t the Marquis at least be notified of the arrest?”
It was a matter of course.
A child, even if illegitimate, is the blood of the house.
Even if there’s clear evidence of the crime, the arrest must be reported.
The detention of a blood relative is not just a matter for the individual, but for the prestige of the entire family.
‘Well, with his personality, if we handle things arbitrarily, we won’t be able to avoid trouble either. Even if he’s clearly guilty.’
Even if it leaves a bad taste in our mouth, what can we do?
This is a class society.
Count Arsene, who had come to a quick conclusion, spoke up.
“Inform him.”
“Will that be all right?”
“There are already plenty of witnesses. Even the Marquis of Foltaine won’t be able to snatch him up on a whim.”
“As you wish.”
Count Arsene hesitated for a moment, then spoke again.
“Furthermore, you must not speak of the child.”
“……!”
Hans’s eyes widened.
He had no idea who ‘the child’ was referring to.
“M-My lord. Do you mean that daredevil, Ancelot……?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Hans’s face grew more serious.
“Do we have to go that far for him? Rather, if we let the Marquis take care of him, we wouldn’t have to get our hands dirty— wouldn’t that be better, from our perspective?”
Instantly, Count Arsene’s eyes sharpened.
“Hans, do you mean what you just said?”
“……!”
Clunk!
The sharp words caused Hans to stand at attention.
“……Tsk tsk. It’s part of our job to protect our informants.”
“B-But, my lord. If we don’t have clear evidence on the crime, the Marquis might suspect our motives. This is what this subordinate of yours is worried about ……!”
Maybe so.
After all, this was Count Arsene, who wouldn’t mind being elevated to marquis any day.
But even if that were the case.
“Who says I have to walk on eggshells just because of a criminal’s status?! Will you have the same attitude if the Marquis was planning treason?”
“……!”
At the eardrum-piercing shout, Hans’ head hit the floor with a ‘thud!’ without delay.
“I’m sorry, sir. This subordinate has made a mistake!”
Hans knew from experience.
How terrifying the patriarch was when he was angry like this.
“Hans.”
“Yes, my lord!”
“Put yourself in his shoes. If a man, a high official in the Ministry of Public Safety, defends criminals, and punishes and persecutes informants instead of rewarding them, who will trust us in the future and report crimes?”
“I was too narrow minded!”
“Even if the guilty party is not your kinsman, but the Marquis himself, we must investigate without shame. It is up to His Majesty the King to decide whether or not to punish him afterward! When he asks about his crimes, will you say something like, ‘I couldn’t help but walk on eggshells because he was a marquis’?”
Thud!
Hans’s head hit the ground once more.
Blood trickled down his now broken forehead.
“Please kill me!”
“You’re lucky I don’t have a sword with me right now. For if I did, I would have dug out your busy little eyeballs myself.”
Tremble.
Hans dug his head into the ground even deeper.
“Do not be swayed by the fist or the profit before you. There are no secrets in the world that last forever. Do not lose yourself. I don’t know about the others, but there is no future for this country if we do such things.”
“I will keep that in mind!”
“They say a house’s character comes from its behavior. We are the Arsene County.”
“Yes!”
“……Get up.”
“Yes, sir!”
Hans jumped to his feet.
“When you see the child, make sure to thank him.”
“What? Y-You don’t mean……?”
The corner of Hans’s eye twitched in disbelief.
Doesn’t that mean that the Lord’s sword is in the hands of that daredevil?
‘How could he…… that great sword that he kept by his side, both night and day……?’
It was only recently that the lord had gotten his hands on the sword.
It was one of the few ‘dwarven-made’ weapons left on the continent.
Ever since the dwarves and humans had lost contact, the value of their creations had skyrocketed.
It was a sword that would make knights froth at the mouth.
The weapon the lord had acquired was the finest even among the dwarven-made.
How many times had I seen him polishing it each night by moonlight, holding it with the utmost care?
“Now that you mention it, I’m left with a bitter taste in my mouth.”
But he gave it to someone else.
A sword that was supposed to be passed down as an heirloom for generations.
A treasure that could easily be counted within ten fingers in the entire kingdom, if not the top ten swords in the continent.
“Is this why people say things have their owners?”
“M-My lord. No matter how you look at it, I think you should reconsider……!”
“Enough. If a sword can pay for our karma, it’s a bargain. Nothing that child said was wrong.”
“…….”
Hans wanted to say something, but he was too guilty to say anything more.
Of course, the actual owner himself had no regrets.
‘He was certainly no ordinary child.’
Count Arsene was a man who could be said to have risen to this position with his eyes alone.
Indeed, his eye for talent was renowned throughout the kingdom.
This was why he was considered the closest to a marquis among the counts.
“Th-Then your subordinate will take his leave. In addition, I’ll report any information about Ancelot as soon as I have it…….”
“Put a hold on that, too.”
“……!”
“Isn’t it a matter of course? Hans, would you develop any trust for someone that smiles and extends his hand in front of you but snoops around behind your back?”
In the end, even Hans had to swallow hard.
‘What on earth does the lord see in this child to give him such high praise……?’
As it turned out, Count Arsene had a kind of certainty.
Since he trusted his instincts more than anything else.
“I’ll tell you when I know for certain.”
In another sense, however, Count Arsene would later regret this day.
For a very long time.
***
Woosh.
Green No. 4, who had just dropped down into Count Arsene’s garden, stiffened.
“…….”
In the middle of the garden, where even the wind was still.
The surroundings are completely silent.
There’s nothing unusual in sight.
Just one thing.
Except for a boy standing in the middle of it all.
‘What the hell is he doing?’
His client.
The eccentric 7th Prince of the Duchy of Meeke stood silently, sword in hand.
For what seemed like an eternity.
For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt.
Instinctively, he felt like he shouldn’t.
And then, suddenly.
Flash!
The oddball opened his eyes.
Swish!
A single swing.
An ordinary sideways slash, nothing special.
It was just a simple wave of the sword.
Yet, even he, who had never been formally trained in swordsmanship, felt a strange emotion at the simplicity of the action.
Extreme concision.
The solid white line that still remained in the air left a deep impression in his mind.
‘Have I ever seen such a clean move in my life?’
Suddenly, he was overcome with a desire to watch the transverse slash one more time.
Just then.
“Watching someone train in secret is in bad taste.”
“Ah…….”
Coming to his senses, he hurriedly jumped down from the trees.
“You’re bold. You may be from the Mask of Night, but I didn’t think you’d sneak into the middle of a count’s estate.”
“……Count Arsene just assigned a commission to the Mask of Night. He asked us to find homes for the girls who were held as slaves.”
The oddball smiled with satisfaction at that answer.
“Seems the mister was a man of his word.”
“Judging by the fact that you’re still alive, your conversation must have gone well.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“Of course not. Oh, my name is Ben.”
He smiled and introduced himself formally.
“It’s damn hard to hear your name once.”
“The Vice Lord himself will be here to see you soon.”
“Not the leader?”
“The leader is…….”
“Well, I suppose it would be strange for the leader to come forward when the authenticity of the information hasn’t even been confirmed.”
The words bothered him, for some reason.
“Please don’t misunderstand. Because of some circumstances……”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
“…….”
Immediately, Ben’s forehead twitched with the faintest of muscles.
‘Don’t get swept along.’
After repeating the ‘breathe’ three times under his breath, Ben changed the subject.
“More importantly, Marquis Foltaine has learned of your existence.”
“……What?”
The child’s eyes turned sharp, as if this was an extraneous variable.
Inwardly, Ben was pleased.
‘Should I dig a little bit more?’
If he used this information to get a little more information about the colorless mask, all the better.
However.
“……The slaves are all dead, and there’s no way my eyes are wrong, so…… the answer must be the lady.”
“……!”
Ben’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Judging by your reaction, guess I hit the mark.”
Ben quickly adjusted his facial expression.
His face wasn’t visible under the mask anyway, but he made sure to keep his voice calm.
“Are you ruling out the possibility that Count Arsene stabbed you in the back?”
“I told you. If that’s true, it would mean that I’ve misjudged him, and I don’t think that’s the case.”
“One of his knights could have done something out of loyalty…….”
“Doing something like that because of loyalty without your lord’s permission? The Arsene family doesn’t strike me as a family lacking discipline.”
“…….”
Eventually, Ben was forced to shut up.
It seemed like the child had complete trust in his eyes.
‘What’s more, he’s not saying anything wrong, is he?’
Ben had done some research and found out that he’s only 14 years old.
However, from the sheer amount of things he was doing, it was like dealing with an elderly politician.
“Maybe it’s because she’s the mistress of the count? I don’t know about anything else, but the way she acts leaves me at a loss for words.”
“……You don’t seem particularly worried. Please be careful. It’s always those who have nothing to lose who are the scariest. Can’t you tell from how she asked the Marquis for help, with the intention of going down together, rather than dying alone?”
Ben’s voice was serious.
“I can assure you, the Marquis of Foltaine would even kill to silence witnesses, especially you, for the sake of their honor.”
At this, Ancelot’s expression grew strange.
“Silence, you say……. How?”
“…… I’m sure they wouldn’t do it openly in this situation. They’ll most likely send in some high quality killers.”
“There’s something I’m curious about.”
“……?”
“In this country, is it a problem for a commoner to cut off the head of the assassin who is trying to kill him?”
“…….”
Ben stared at the child blankly for a moment, then shrugged.
“……No, of course not.”
The child’s smile widened.
“There you go.”