abcnovels
Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Chapter 25 – Clouds of War (2)
“State your names!”
Jan, who had approached the wall, shouted harshly.
“……!”
“……!”
Two shadows.
They were both familiar faces.
After all, they were none other than the stable keeper and the gardener of the household.
“Y-Young master!”
“What are you doing here? You must have heard the emergency summons from the head of the household?”
“That’s……”
They were visibly flustered, clearly not expecting such a situation.
This only deepened the brothers’ suspicion.
Just then.
“What’s that……?”
A faint light shimmered in Jan’s view.
A giant rectangular brick that made up the wall.
One of them was not fully fitted, creating a gap.
“You scoundrels! Were you planning to escape through that hole?”
“……”
There was no answer.
Their flustered expressions, too, vanished without a trace.
Suddenly, the faces of the stable keeper and gardener were grim.
Shhhing.
Jan thought quick and acted fast.
He drew his sword without hesitation.
“……”
The two, who had been silent, exchanged glances and quietly nodded.
“……Kill and silence.”
Suspicion turned into certainty.
“You bastards……!”
Jan, now completely enraged, exuded a murderous aura.
He had expected them to make excuses or try to flee.
But contrary to his expectations, they drew small daggers from their waists with the intent to kill.
“Forget interrogation— I’ll kill you with a single strike!”
His mother had been murdered.
He had no intention of letting them die an easy death.
He went all out from the beginning, intending to tear them limb from limb and throw their remains to the pigs.
‘They only have a knife!’
Boooom!
“……!”
Jan gasped.
Steel clashed with steel.
But instead of a ‘clang!’ sound, it was a booming explosion that echoed.
What was this immense recoil he felt at his fingertips?
“M-Mana?”
Jan’s eyes widened in shock.
The dagger, which he had dismissed as a mere kitchen knife, was enveloped in ‘mana’.
Refined energy, perfectly formed, unlike his own.
This could only mean one thing.
‘He’s on the level of an Expertat the very least!’
As he realized this, Jan urgently strained his vocal cords.
“Hersen! No!”
Slice!
But he was a step too late.
A chilling sound of flesh being cut pierced Jan’s eardrums.
Like paint flowing down.
Thud!
His brother, slashed through with a sword, fell to the cold ground without even a scream.
“Herseeeennnnn!”
“You shouldn’t let your guard down in battle, young master.”
“……!”
A chilling voice echoed.
Jan instinctively turned his head.
But he couldn’t completely avoid the incoming attack.
Stab!
“Aaaaargh!”
“……Oh, dear. I missed.”
The dagger, leaving its owner’s hand, deviated from its original target, the center of Jan’s forehead, and pierced his right eye.
Despite this, the two assailants retreated without hesitation towards the wall.
“Oh, well.”
The gardener, who had cut down Hersen with a single strike, kicked a part of the wall.
Bang!
A hole opened up, and the two quickly disappeared through it.
It was a swift and decisive action.
“Aaaaargh!”
In excruciating pain that blanked his mind, Jan rolled on the ground.
“Young master!”
And soon, the commotion reached the other knights in the main garden.
***
At the Count’s meeting room.
Count Arsene, seated at the head of the table, repeatedly wiped his dry face.
There were still many empty seats in the room.
Most of the members were out chasing the culprit behind the incident.
Thus, only one person was seated on either side of him.
“How are the children faring?”
“Not well.”
The knight on his right answered gloomily.
“……Be more specific.”
“First… Young Master Jan has completely lost vision in his right eye.”
Count Arsene involuntarily clenched his eyes shut.
A swordsman losing sight in one eye.
This was an extremely fatal handicap.
It would be better for him to give up the sword altogether.
Then, the knight on the left hesitantly spoke.
“I regret to inform you, but Young Master Hersen’s life is in critical condition. The physician said tonight will be crucial……”
“……Enough.”
“……”
At Count Arsene’s heavy word, the knights who were reporting simultaneously closed their mouths.
“And the bastards?”
“They are fleeing towards the north gate of the city.”
“……The direction the culprit who killed Isabelle escaped.”
“Yes.”
Count Arsene had grasped the general situation.
The culprit’s name was Jake.
Whether that was his real name was uncertain, but on the surface, his status was Isabelle’s personal attendant.
The one who killed his wife had completely escaped through the north gate of the city about 10 minutes ago.
And now, his accomplices were following him.
“As soon as their escape route was confirmed, we sent people to the north gate guards. They will not be able to escape.”
“……They must be caught.”
“Yes, sir! We will definitely capture them alive and bring them before you. The entire family’s forces, except for essential personnel, are pursuing them.”
“……”
A moment of silence followed.
“……I wonder, since when?”
Count Arsene’s voice, which soon broke the silence, was exceedingly bitter.
“By that, what do you……?”
“I heard the culprits were all insiders. It means they must have been hiding as spies in this house for a long time.”
“……”
The two knights bowed their heads with guilty expressions.
“How could this happen?”
“Please, kill me!”
Count Arsene’s face gradually twisted in agony.
Now he could somewhat understand what the child had said.
No matter how important outside affairs were, he had never imagined the household would be so chaotic.
No, this was too embarrassing to dismiss merely as a father who was indifferent to household affairs.
He was incompetent and ignorant.
It is said that only after the house was properly managed could the country be governed.
One must guard against internal chaos more than external invasion!
“I have wasted my life.”
Count Arsene let out a hollow laugh.
Of course, he had never expected the Marquis of Foltaine to go to such lengths.
Such complacent thinking had played a big part in this disaster.
Weren’t they fellow countrymen?
No matter how much Count Arsene’s family was challenging the marquisate’s stronghold, who would have imagined they would plant spies among their own allies, not enemies?
The recent behavior of the noble faction had been alarming.
From the Foltaine Marquisate’s perspective, they would not want to create such a risk in these times.
‘If we look back at history, internal rebellions always occurred during such peacetime.’
Naturally, during a war with an enemy country, there was no time for other thoughts.
On the surface, this was the most perfect peacetime in history.
The mighty empire claimed to be the continent’s guardian, watching over the entire continent.
If one waged a war between countries without their permission, they could not escape the emperor’s wrath.
Given the circumstances, other countries could only build their power internally.
Conquest wars were out of the question due to the presence of the mighty empire.
And when power expanded in a limited space, it eventually exploded like this.
‘Perhaps the emperor was aiming for this situation.’
Since its rise, the empire had faced numerous checks.
Relatively weaker kingdoms had tightly united.
However, as ten and then twenty years passed, the vigilance among the kingdoms had significantly diluted.
The formidable enemy was satisfied with playing the role of guardian instead of thinking about conquest wars.
‘If all of this is the empire’s scheme and the emperor is targeting the most opportune time…’
It might be a speculative viewpoint from a result-oriented perspective, but Count Arsene could not help but feel chills down his arms.
“I regret to inform you, but…… There is information that the spies are all experts skilled in handling mana. It means they excel at hiding their presence.”
Unable to endure the long silence, one of the knights made an excuse.
“……So, even though there were expert-level spies capable of taking my life at any moment walking around my front yard, I did nothing and left them unattended like a fool.”
“C-Count.”
“That’s enough.”
No use crying over spilt milk.
Mistakes can be corrected later.
The mourning for the deceased can also be postponed for a while.
Now ks the time to regain composure more than ever.
Above all, at this moment, there was an overwhelming sense of unease in his chest.
It felt as suffocating as eating a whole sweet potato without a sip of water.
“……My wife has been murdered, my eldest son, who was designated as the heir, is crippled. Another child is hovering between life and death at this very moment.”
“……”
“Anyone else would be extremely agitated and unable to think clearly.”
Count Arsene’s eyes, as he said this, were colder than ever.
“What if this is all part of their plan?”
“……!”
“By killing Isabelle, they achieved their goal. But why were they loitering around the scene?”
Only then did the two knights realize something was amiss and widened their eyes.
Clatter.
Count Arsene stood up from his seat, knocking his chair over.
“The underground prison. We will go there immediately.”
***
After achieving my initial objective and exiting the prison, I tilted my head in puzzlement.
There were noticeably fewer guards than when I had entered.
“Did your conversation go well?”
“Yes. But, where did everyone go?”
I asked the guard, who had consistently shown me a friendly gaze.
“They say accomplices have been found. So, all remaining personnel are currently pursuing them.”
“What? They found the accomplices? Where?”
“They discovered an escape route behind the mansion. Apparently, the accomplices were loitering around that area.”
“……”
I fell into deep thought.
There is a common trait among shadowy figures like assassins and spies.
They prioritize their ‘mission’ over their own lives.
But what if the escape route was discovered before they completed their mission?
‘If it were me, I would use that opportunity to create even more chaos.’
The culprits would have initially been divided into two groups.
One would secure the escape route while the other carried out the mission.
‘In other words, the remaining culprits will definitely show up here.’
With that thought, the long, damp, and eerie corridor before me appeared even more ominous.
It felt as if the pitch-black darkness was baring its fangs at me.
‘If I leave now, the pig is likely to die.’
Unconsciously, I glanced behind me.
Having already received his handwritten blood letter, there was no issue with declaring war.
In other words, he had no further use for the pig.
‘As much as I’d like to just let him die.’
The pig had committed countless capital crimes until now.
However,
“……I boasted quite a bit, and it would hurt my pride to let them play me like a fool.”
So, even if I kill him, it won’t be now.
Moreover, even with the handwritten blood letter, it’s better for the pig to stay alive a little longer.
For the sake of the justification that the nobles love so much.
“They might claim he was tortured and coerced.”
No, it’s highly likely the Marquisate will make that argument.
Thud!
As soon as I made my decision, I collapsed on the spot and made myself comfortable.
“Wh-What are you doing?”
“The culprits will come here soon.”
“Pardon?”
The guard, wide-eyed, looked down at me.
“J-Just a moment, sir!”
“Ah, a moment. Apologies, but I don’t have the leisure to convince you right now. If you don’t believe me, how about we make a bet? How does 100 gold sound to you?”
“……!”
Only then did the guard close his mouth.
Not long after.
“I-I’ll request reinforcements immediately.”
The guard hurriedly tried to dash into the darkness.
“Did you say your name was Paul, sir?”
My words made the guard hesitate.
“Sorry? Ah, yes. Just call me Paul.”
“You thanked me earlier for saving girls who were about to be sold into slavery.”
I straightened my posture and looked at Paul.
“Strictly speaking, it was someone else’s business, so why did you thank me?”
“Well…… I have two daughters of my own. I couldn’t help but empathize……”
“I thought so.”
As I expected, he was a father of daughters.
“Let me give you some advice; stay right there.”
“Pardon?”
“You won’t see your precious daughters again if you go any further.”
My keen senses were telling me.
I could feel it throughout my body.
The killing intent emanating from the darkness was growing stronger.
“Y-You don’t mean……?”
Paul looked into the darkness with fearful eyes.
“Yes.”
“N-No.”
The guard’s legs gave way, and he stumbled.
“Just stay put, and you’ll be safe. Don’t worry too much.”
“That’s not the issue! These culprits are all experts who can handle mana. We can’t stop them on our own……!”
I waved my
hand lightly.
“It’s fine.”
“Sir!”
“Trust me. Even if those riff raff come in droves, they won’t be able to do anything to me.”
Thud!
At that moment, loud footsteps echoed from beyond the corridor.
My eyes darkened and focused.
“They’re finally here.”