abcnovels
Chapter 53
Chapter 53
Chapter 53 – Kingdom of Hart (1)
How much time had passed?
“……Ha.”
What finally broke the silence was the sound of Duke Herman’s laughter.
“Hahahahaha!”
He laughed like a madman, clutching his stomach and even shedding tears.
“Aha! Ahahahahahaha!”
“……”
In contrast, the person in question, Marquis Foltaine, subtly furrowed his brow.
“……You got us. Are you refusing our recruitment proposal in this manner? Even swallowing the precious mana pill?”
“That was just a gift, wasn’t it?”
The expression on Marquis Foltaine’s face said it all.
He wanted to slit my throat right this instant.
In response, I lifted my head a bit more confidently.
Return expression for expression.
‘What can you even do right now?’
Snap.
A vein bulged on Marquis Foltaine’s forehead.
“An ego sword, with its own will, also chooses its own master. Regardless of this current battle, if you want me, prove your worth.”
“……It seems you’re looking down on me.”
In a lowered voice, Duke Herman quickly interjected.
“Ah, wait, wait. Don’t take your anger out on the kid. There’s nothing more unpleasant than that. Plus, he hasn’t said anything wrong so far, right?”
“You’re being too much. Weren’t you on my side, Duke?”
“In this situation, there are no sides. Since Count Arsene accepted the proposal, we are all subjects of the Hart Kingdom.”
“This child is from the Duchy of Meeke.”
“He will soon be a subject of the Hart Kingdom. I will make sure of it.”
As you wish.
Soon, I’ll become a subject of the Hart Kingdom and make you work to the bone, you old fools.
“Enough. Where are my knights now?”
“First, a retreat and an apology. If you are ‘uncomfortable’ with retreating right away, I’ll be satisfied with a blood oath from the Marquis. Please write that you will never invade the Arsene family.”
Marquis Foltaine’s lips twisted upward.
“……Child, why should we trust……?”
“Here it is.”
I quickly handed over what I had prepared in advance.
“This is Count Arsene’s handwritten blood oath. No matter what happens in the palace, it states that we will not interfere, sworn on the Arsene family’s honor.”
“Hahaha! You’ve been outplayed again. It can’t be helped.”
Unlike Duke Herman, who was elated and was even slapping the ground, Marquis Foltaine’s eyes were now filled with rage.
“……I’ll be back soon.”
“Are you planning to go alone?”
“Do I need to drag these children along just to apologize to someone else?”
“Don’t take him to some secluded place and take your anger out on him.”
“I won’t.”
Finally, Marquis Foltaine nodded toward me.
“Lead the way. We’re going to meet Count Arsene right now.”
* * *
Reaper Scans
[Translator – San]
[Proofreader – Abstract]
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* * *
Gulp.
The sound of swallowing echoed throughout the room.
“M-Marquis Foltaine?”
“H-He actually crawled in here alone.”
“Just what’s going on in that head of his?”
I thought the same.
This man was certainly no ordinary person.
“……Welcome, Marquis.”
Count Arsene, who had come to meet him at the entrance, greeted him with a tense expression.
“I must apologize for the intrusion.”
“Don’t mention it. Would you like to meet the knights first? They are in the underground prison of our main house.”
Count Arsene also displayed a fitting presence.
Even though his family’s killer stood before him, he kept his emotions under control.
“Thank you for your consideration.”
What followed was swift and decisive.
Just a few days later, the Marquis Foltaine was able to meet the White Lion Brigade.
“Marquis, sir……?”
“H-How are you here……? Have we surrendered after all?”
It was an unbelievable situation for them.
Therefore, such a misunderstanding was understandable.
One of them, thoroughly delighted, chimed in.
“Y-You’ve come to rescue me, Father!”
A pig-faced boy with a look of deep gratitude.
He was Vigri de Foltaine, the illegitimate son of the Marquis.
Having been starved for some time, his cheeks were sunken, giving him an almost hollow look.
“Hahaha! You’re dead now!”
He then pointed at me and started shouting.
“What are you all doing!? Open this damned door!”
“Now that you’ve confirmed the condition of the goods, let’s start with an apology.”
I ignored the pig’s words and looked at the Marquis.
At this, Count Arsene looked flustered.
“Ancelot, I’m fine. Let’s open the doors first……”
“No. A promise is a promise.”
Thud!
There was no hesitation in the Marquis’ actions.
The hopes of those around were shattered in an instant.
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
Vigri de Foltaine, who had stopped laughing at some point, and the hundreds of White Lion Brigade members.
All stunned into silence.
“Although it was for the greater good, I, Draksir de Foltaine, deeply apologize for the wrongs I have done to you.”
Thud!
The Marquis knelt and bowed his head to the ground.
“……”
At the same time, a suffocating silence engulfed the area.
“F-Father……?”
Vigri de Foltaine’s mouth hung open.
Until then, Count Arsene, who had been wearing a strange expression, helped the Marquis to his feet.
“Please, rise. You’re in the presence of your subordinates.”
It was indeed a surprising situation even for me.
‘No matter how much he values practicality, he’s still a noble…… Does he not care about things that don’t cost money?’
No.
From experience, that’s probably not it.
Creak!
Soon, the sound of rusty hinges echoed everywhere.
Immediately, the knights walked out of the iron bars as if they had been waiting.
At that moment.
Hummmm!
A low resonating sound that only I heard.
“……Ancelot?”
I quickly stepped in front of Count Arsene.
“……Stay back.”
Someone’s sword was crying.
As if reflecting the owner’s feelings.
Immediately.
Slash!
A round object flew through the air.
It was the head of Tripier, the leader of the White Lion Brigade, who hadn’t even realized he had been cut.
That was the beginning of the massacre.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
“M-Marqui……s!”
“……Ugh!”
“Arghhh!”
A sudden bloodbath erupted in the underground prison.
The curved saber continued its relentless dance.
Like an emotionless machine, it cut down its subordinates without end.
Slash!
Finally, when he had cut down the last of his subordinates.
“……”
Amidst the countless corpses, the Marquis, drenched in blood, smiled, baring his teeth.
“I apologize for causing trouble in your household. I have a bad habit of having to break defective goods with my own hands to be satisfied.”
“……”
His voice was unbelievably calm for someone who had just massacred hundreds of people.
“F-F-F-F-Father……!”
Of course, the one most shocked was someone else.
At the very back of the prison.
Vigri de Foltaine had wet his pants.
“Oh dear. I missed one.”
“P-Please spare me!”
“A worthless scum who can do nothing but eat and defecate.”
There was no mercy in the Marquis’ sword.
Slash!
He decapitated his own son.
Splash!
He shook off the blood from his sword.
“Count.”
“……Yes, Marquis.”
“Although the head of this old man isn’t worth much, I cut off my own fingers for the loss of your precious 350 subordinates and your child.”
“……”
“Therefore, please forgive this old man who doesn’t have much time left.”
Count Arsene, who had been silent for a moment, spoke again.
“……You didn’t have to go this far.”
“To a commander on the battlefield!”
The Marquis’ voice echoed like a rebuke.
“Failure in a mission is worse than death.”
“……”
“Our Marquis household has no need for failures, so you need not worry too much. This is my way of atonement.”
Indeed.
He couldn’t end it with just an apology.
This was the pride of a noble that I knew.
“Ancelot, I look forward to five years from now.”
“……!”
For the first time, the Marquis called me ‘Ancelot’ instead of ‘child’.
A broad smile spread across my face.
“Yes. I will also eagerly await the day I meet you again, Marquis.”
***
With that, Marquis Foltaine went back home.
He had faithfully kept the promise he made.
As a result, peace soon returned to the count’s family.
Though everyone had sworn revenge, even at the cost of their lives, how many can remain indifferent in the face of death?
Given the clear disparity in power, it was nothing short of good news.
And another day passed.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Under the blazing sun.
Harun, shirtless, was continuing his training.
“Harun! Let’s call it a day for morning training and go eat!”
“Oh! Yes, young master!”
“……Come on. We agreed to speak informally when it was just the two of us.”
Kirian lips pouted.
“Ah, my bad. It still feels a bit awkward, so without realizing……”
Harun, looking embarrassed, quickly changed the subject.
“But where did our young master Jan go during mealtime?”
“To the grave.”
“The grave?”
Harun asked back, his eyes wide open.
Kirian nodded with a bitter smile.
“Today is Hersen’s birthday.”
“Ah……”
The mood quickly darkened.
From Harun’s perspective, the situation had become even more uncomfortable.
Fortunately, there was a benefactor who saved him from this.
“How is your training going?”
“……!”
“……!”
Both of their heads turned simultaneously.
“Master!”
Harun’s face brightened instantly.
Ancelot was walking over from a distance.
Carrying various items.
“What are all those armors?”
Harun ran over and received the items.
“A present.”
“A present……?”
“I was going to give them during the war, but it ended too quickly. They will probably be quite useful for you all in the future.”
For Harun, who came from a commoner background, it was the first time seeing such pitch-black armor.
However, it was clear at a glance that it was no ordinary item.
“It shouldn’t be uncomfortable. It’s lighter than most clothes.”
“I-Isn’t this Blackworm armor?”
Of course, Kirian, who came from a wealthy family, recognized it immediately.
“I-Is it really okay to receive such a precious thing from you……?”
“More importantly, where is Jan?”
Harun and Kirian both flinched simultaneously.
Besides the items given to them, there were still two sets of armor in Ancelot’s hands.
“Even Jan’s……?”
“Since we’re all on the same side now, it wouldn’t be right to leave him out.”
Kirian looked touched.
“Honored guest……!”
“Don’t make such a disgusting face. Where is he now?”
“Ah, he should be in the backyard of the mansion.”
Hersen’s grave was in the sunniest spot at the count’s estate.
The very place where they had been attacked by the enemy spies.
“Honored guest, I feel a bit bad saying this, but……”
“It’s okay, go ahead.”
“……Thank you. Jan considers the outcome of this war a ‘cowardly victory’.”
“A ‘cowardly victory’……”
Indeed, it might feel that way now.
It wasn’t that ‘we won’, but rather that ‘we were allowed to win’.
However,
‘Soon, I’ll make sure you won’t think like that anymore.’
Ancelot, after organizing his thoughts, walked briskly toward the backyard.
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
***
Jan was quietly kneeling in prayer.
While blessing his deceased younger brother starting a few weeks prior to his birthday.
“……Hersen, I couldn’t prepare a birthday gift for you.”
He was there to report the outcome of the recent battle.
“Marquis Foltaine came to Father yesterday and bowed his head in apology. I don’t know if this is right…… but someone told me that powerless justice was just incompetence. That if I was dissatisfied, I should get stronger.”
Additionally, it was to fortify his own resolve.
“In order that I never have to go through such a terrible experience again…… I’ll get stronger.”
At that moment.
“You already knew the answer.”
“……!”
Startled, Jan shot to his feet.
“You…… Ancelot……?”
Upon confirming his visitor’s identity, Jan frowned.
Then, noticing what Ancelot was holding, he tilted his head in confusion.
“What’s up with those armors?”
“One’s yours.”
Thud.
Ancelot tossed it carelessly, and Jan quietly picked it up.
Soon after.
“B-Blackworm armor?”
Like Kirian, Jan recognized the item instantly, and his eyes widened.
“Why are you giving me something like this……?”
Step, step, step.
There was no reply.
Ancelot simply walked toward his brother’s grave.
And then.
Thud.
He placed the armor he was holding in front of the grave.
“One is for your brother.”
“……What……?”
“It was originally a condolence gift, but let’s count it as a birthday present now that things have turned out this way.”
“……”
Jan, who had been stiff, quickly regained his composure.
“……You’re weird, giving gifts like that to the dead. You must have money to burn, huh?”
“Did you know? In ancient times, people considered the ‘Blackworm’ a symbol of eternal life.”
“Eternal life……?”
“A material that is hard to break and doesn’t show signs of burning. There wasn’t anything else quite like it in the world. So, it’s not surprising that they thought of that tough thread as an unbreakable lifeline.”
“……!”
Jan’s single remaining pupil gradually widened.
“May it help him live long in the next life. If there’s an afterlife, this armor might save his life at least once.”
“……”
After a long silence, Jan smiled faintly.
“……You’re quite the strange one.”
“Am I? Heh heh, sometimes I think so too.”
“…… Still…… Hersen would’ve probably liked it.”
Ancelot gazed quietly at the grave.
In his past life, he’d never managed to give Andy a proper birthday gift.
Then he died, just like that.
He’d breathed his last with holes in his stomach, just like this boy in front of him, resenting his father.
“……Thanks.”
The voice was smaller than an ant’s.
Glancing over, a glint of moisture reflected the sunlight on Jan’s cheek.
Ancelot deliberately did not turn his head as he replied.
“Don’t mention it.”
***
“I’m back.”
Marquis Foltaine looked up as he returned to the forest.
“You’re back?”
Duke Herman, who had been lying lazily on a tree branch, looked down.
“I waited quite a while.”
“You could have gone back first.”
“I wanted to return to the palace with you.”
“By the way, how is the situation in the palace?”
“Pretty much settled. Soon, a delegation will be formed, and we’ll attend international exchanges with the new king.”
Duke Herman laughed as he spoke.
“Did you handle things well?”
“As best as I could.”
“Hahaha, try to gather as much information as you can about that kid. He was so arrogant; you should at least give him a good flick on the forehead.”
Marquis Foltaine shook his head.
“A mere flick won’t suffice anymore.”
“Hahahahaha!”
Duke Herman’s cheerful laughter continued.
A month later, astonishing news spread across the entire Hart Kingdom.
The king retracted his previous will and installed a new crown prince.
At the same time, he abdicated the throne.
It was a bewildering situation for the citizens.
It was too sudden, far too sudden.
Amid the confusion, a controversy erupted throughout the continent……
Rumors that the ‘Empire’ had intervened in the Hart Kingdom’s affairs.
***