Levian Marigold.
Yuto smiled bitterly as he recalled her name.
After the funeral of the Marigold family head, Yuto returned to the Kingdom of Belkain. The person he had wanted to meet in Merchant City was the Marigold family head who had died of illness, not his children.
Back in Belkain, he heard rumors about Marigold. With a new family head on its throne, the house was rapidly losing its former glory and sliding into decline.
Once the young lady of House Marigold, the wealthiest family in Merchant City, she had left Marigold of her own accord after her elder brother Kaien became the family head and opened a shabby apothecary in the city's back alleys.
That course of action piqued Yuto's interest after his return to Belkain. So he concealed his identity once again and visited Merchant City.
The favored next family head had been Levian, not her elder brother Kaien. It was the daughter, not the son, who had inherited their father's talent for commerce.
Yet this young lady of Marigold had cast aside everything she could enjoy as a noble and opened a shabby apothecary among the poor in the back alleys. Instead of using her innate talent for commerce, she spent her days treating impoverished people she had never associated with before. That was more than enough to arouse his curiosity.
So Yuto procured a poor man's clothes, put them on, and sought out Levian's apothecary. He wanted to know why she had changed the shape of her life and what kind of person she was.
Her hands had grown rough, unlike those of a noble lady. Her expression always seemed weighed down by darkness, while her eyes gleamed with venomous determination.
She had been extraordinary from the very first impression. He felt certain she had some compelling story. In a sense, Levian overwhelmed him.
Yuto revealed his identity and spoke with Levian alone. Why had she left House Marigold? Why had she opened an apothecary after leaving?
[My father's death wasn't from illness. He was poisoned.]
Faced with Yuto's identity, Levian poured out the pent-up indignation clinging thickly to her heart.
[My brother...... Kaien did it. He poisoned Father to seize the position of family head. That was how he slowly wasted Father away until he died.]
Levian realized the truth too late, long after her chance had passed. In the end, her father languished and died.
Levian had no power with which to expose the truth and punish Kaien. She might have been the favored successor, but Kaien was the eldest son. He asserted that legitimacy, seized control of the family, and took the family head's throne as soon as the funeral ended.
Levian had not even secured any evidence in the first place. The poisoning was only a suspicion. If she alleged a conspiracy in that state, she would plainly be branded a madwoman and lose her head instead.
So Levian left the family. She had judged that remaining there was dangerous as well. Her vicious elder brother had poisoned even their father to become family head. There was no chance he would hesitate to kill a younger sister who stood in his way.
Even after leaving, Levian could not let go of the grief over her father's death. Though he was already dead, his death remained a powerful regret within her. To identify the poison whose nature she did not even know, Levian swallowed many kinds of poison herself and used her own body as a test subject. On that basis, she devoted herself to developing a cure. She treated the poor to further improve her healing magic.
Of course, Yuto did not believe Levian's claims unconditionally. It was entirely possible that Levian, driven into a corner, was spouting nonsense. So Yuto summoned his subordinates from Belkain and had them secretly investigate House Marigold.
In the end, Levian's claim proved correct. Kaien's confidants, whom Yuto's men caught, confessed under threats and persuasion that Kaien had orchestrated the poisoning.
Black Serpent Venom. A new deadly poison blended from dozens of virulent toxins. That became the evidence that stripped Kaien of his position as family head and sent him to prison. Levian then returned to House Marigold.
Marigold flourished again after Levian became its family head, yet even while leading the house, she remained obsessed with an antidote. Even though everything was already too late. Even though she knew developing a cure would not bring her dead father back.
‘Levian Marigold.’
Every time he recalled that name, Yuto felt the bitterness of old memories. She was a person tied to many memories in more ways than one. In the past, Yuto had helped her become family head, and that bond endured even after he left Merchant City. Marigold, led by Levian, became Belkain's greatest patron family.
‘Now that I have returned to the past, the Marigold family head is still alive.’
Yuto stared at the Black Serpent Venom Antidote he had made. At this point in time, the antidote did not yet exist. Levian had obsessed over it even after becoming the family head of Marigold and eventually succeeded in creating it.
The current Marigold family head lay bedridden. If Yuto administered the antidote, the man would swiftly recover from the poisoning, his son Kaien's scheme would be exposed to the world, and Levian would be confirmed as the next family head.
The lifelong regret that had haunted Levian before Yuto's return would be set right.
But that was not its only significance. Unlike before his return, Yuto no longer possessed the status of Belkain's king, leaving him without any backing or support.
‘By preventing the assassination of the Marigold family head, I will become his lifesaving benefactor.’
That would allow Yuto to secure the wealthiest family in Merchant City as his patron. If he saved the family head and exposed the eldest son's atrocity, House Marigold would owe Yuto a debt it could never repay.
“Let's go, Flokiro.”
Yuto tucked the Black Serpent Venom Antidote into his clothes and set off. His gaze fixed upon the heart of Merchant City, where the largest and most magnificent estate of Marigold stood.
*
The Marigold estate.
A silence as heavy as lead hung within.
“How is his condition?”
Outside the family head's bedroom, a tall young man with ornate epaulets broke the silence before the tightly shut door. Kaien Marigold, the eldest son of House Marigold. His handsome face was filled with worry, but his eyes were cold and sunken.
“My apologies, Young Master. The family head's condition...... continues to worsen.”
The chief physician, known as the finest doctor in Merchant City, bowed his head as cold sweat ran down his face.
“This is no simple fever. His vitality is draining away like water through a bottomless vessel. No medicine has brought any improvement. At this rate.......”
“Are you saying the family head might die?”
Kaien asked with his face twisted. The physician hesitated at the sight of that expression before answering.
“We are doing everything in our power...... but even at the longest estimate, I do not believe he will last a month.......”
“Ah......”
Kaien let out a long sigh and pressed a hand to his forehead. The servants and knights lined up in the corridor watched him with sympathetic expressions. He appeared every bit the devoted heir worried about his father.
No one knew that Kaien was covering his face with his hand while the corners of his mouth twitched in a smile.
‘The old man is finally on his way out.’
That tiresome old man. Kaien glanced at the closed door. Black Serpent Venom was a new poison he had commissioned, one the world did not yet know. Naturally, there was no antidote and its symptoms were unknown, so even a renowned physician had no way to recognize it.
‘One month. In one month, I will become the Marigold family head.’
Just as Kaien celebrated inwardly, urgent footsteps sounded from the end of the corridor.
A girl came running with her orange-tinted blond hair disheveled. Levian Marigold. Her dress was soiled with herbal stains, and she precariously clutched a stack of old books to her chest.
“Levian.”
Kaien blocked his younger sister with a deliberately stern expression.
“Do not make a commotion. Isn't Father gravely ill? If you raise your voice like that, you will make him suffer even.......”
Before Kaien could finish, Levian lowered the pile of old books while panting for breath, then opened one of them and held it out.
“Father's symptoms aren't from a simple fever. According to this old text, they resemble aether poisoning or exposure to a rare poison.”
“......”
“The herbs I blended might neutralize the poison. If they do......”
“Enough!”
Kaien roared. Levian flinched in surprise at his shout.
“How old are you, yet you still pick grass and play with it as though you were a child?”
His damned younger sister had been gifted in many ways since childhood. Her talents extended beyond managing the family and its merchant guild to an innate gift for blending herbs and healing magic.
Had she not been born into House Marigold, she could have made a name for herself as a healing mage. There was no chance his young sister could counteract the Black Serpent Venom he had spent a fortune developing, but Kaien guarded against even the slightest possibility.
“I cannot entrust Father to your superstitious folk remedies. Even the finest physician in Merchant City cannot identify this illness, so what could you possibly know? It was bad enough that you ran around doing vulgar things with herbs. Now you mean to use Father as your test subject?”
“B-but...... at this rate, Father will.......”
“Stand aside.”
Kaien spoke in a cold voice.
“What if your treatment goes wrong and Father's condition grows even more severe? Can you take responsibility for that?”
“......”
“Levian Marigold. The only thing you can do is shut yourself in your room and pray for Father. Treatment is the physician's work. Now leave.”
“Brother......!”
“Nale. What are you doing? Escort the young lady to her room!”
At those words, the hulking knight standing behind Kaien moved. When his confidant seized her, Levian twisted her face and shook off his arm.
“Let go! I can go on my own.”
Levian could not understand her brother's behavior. It had already been over a month since her father collapsed and began wasting away. They had summoned many physicians, yet not only had his condition failed to improve, but no one had even managed to diagnose his illness clearly.
Then they should be trying anything they could, even if it meant grasping at straws. Yet her brother did not. He acted as though he wanted their father to die.
‘Father.......’
Levian bit her lip and looked at the bedroom door, sealed tightly shut. Despair surged over her like a wave. Since her father collapsed, Levian's standing within the family had narrowed terribly, while Kaien's authority had become absolute. The helplessness of being unable to do anything crushed her.
Holding back her tears, Levian left the estate and headed for the courtyard. There was a medicinal herb garden she had tended since childhood. After her father collapsed, Levian acquired rare herbs from all across Callisto and planted them there. She had done all of it to treat her father.
“......?”
Levian stopped on her way to the courtyard. A commotion was stirring beyond the estate's main gate.
In front of the main gate of the Marigold estate, a boy in a black hood and an Evomon stood before the guards, whose faces showed their discomfort.
“Look, didn't I tell you we can't let you in?”
The guard blocking the gate snapped. This was a visitor who had shown up unannounced. He held no great status, either. From his clothes, he looked like an ordinary adventurer one might find anywhere.
Yet the guard could not treat him with the hostility he normally showed others. Strangely, he did not want to point the spear in his hand at the boy. He felt as though doing so would be wrong.
It was due to the Charisma stat Yuto had invested in. Charisma was not merely an ability that made others feel a favorable first impression. It amplified Yuto's unique presence and could also make others feel intimidated. That was why the guard could neither shout abuse at Yuto nor level his spear at him.
“What is going on?”
The gate opened from within. At the voice, the guards turned their heads.
“My lady!”
The guards bowed respectfully.
“Our apologies. Some boy adventurer showed up asking to see the family head.......”
“The family head?”
Levian looked at the boy in puzzlement. He wore the clothes of an adventurer so ordinary they were unremarkable, but...... for some reason, Levian could not take her eyes off him.
Thump.
Her heart skipped a beat. The eyes beneath the hood stared directly at Levian. They were like an abyss of unknowable depth that threatened to swallow even light. The instant she met that gaze, Levian felt as though her breath had caught in her throat.
“Who...... are you?”
Levian asked in a trembling voice. Instead of answering, the boy slowly removed his hood. His hair scattered in the sea breeze.
“Yuto.”
The boy, Yuto, briefly gave his name. He stared intently at Levian, whom he was meeting for the first time since returning to the past. Her face was younger and more innocent than when he had last seen her, but the characteristic stubbornness and venom in her eyes remained unchanged.
No, she looked even more desperate now. Unlike back then, the Marigold family head was still alive. Levian wanted to save her father by any means possible.
“I came because I have business with you, Levian Marigold.”
“With...... me?”
Levian's eyes widened. She was surprised that an unfamiliar boy knew precisely who she was and flustered by the strange conviction in his voice.
“What business do you have with me? This isn't a good time for me to meet anyone.......”
“Do you not want to save your father?”
In an instant, the air around them froze. All color drained from Levian's face. Even the guards stopped breathing and stared at Yuto.
“What do you mean......?”
“You must know that your father's illness is no simple fever.”
Yuto stepped forward.
Levian's heart pounded violently.
“H-how did you know that?”
Levian's voice trembled faintly. The possibility that her father's illness was related to poison was nothing more than her personal suspicion.
Even the exact details of her father Rufus Marigold's illness had not been made public. Marigold was a powerful family that dominated Merchant City's trade. If word got out that the head of House Marigold was gravely ill, the city's commercial world would be thrown into upheaval. Naturally, the family had to conceal it.
Yet this adventurer boy in ordinary clothes was talking about her father's illness. That was more than enough to startle Levian and put her on guard.
“High fever and black blotches on the skin.”
Yuto continued.
“A steady depletion of aether. A metallic sound with every breath and a burning stench.”
Every symptom Yuto named was exact. They were the very phenomena Levian had witnessed through sleepless nights at her father's side, only for the physicians to dismiss them as symptoms of an unusual fever.
“How...... do you know all of that? You have never even met Father.......”
“How I know is not important.”
The guards' attitudes were growing restless at Levian's appearance, and distinct hostility had begun to arise among some of them.
There was no need to ponder why. At this point, the family head still lived, but he was little more than a breathing corpse. Kaien, who had orchestrated the poisoning, would already have extended his grasp to seize control of the family's forces. Those now directing hostility at Yuto had been won over by Kaien.
But not all of them had been bought. That was why Yuto revealed his hand first, seeking to win the support of those around him.
“What matters is that I have the answer to treating that poison.”
Yuto pulled a small glass vial filled with purple liquid from inside his clothes and held it up.
“What is that......?”
“An antidote.”
Yuto answered impassively. Levian's gaze fixed upon the glass vial.
“An antidote......! H-how did you......?”
“You ask a great many questions. Do you not want to save your father?”
Levian's eyes shook.
“Choose.”
Sensing Levian's uncertainty, Yuto spoke forcefully.
“Will you trust me, open the gates of this estate, and guide me to your father? Or will you cling to your doubts and watch him die?”
It was a cruel choice. Levian hesitated for a moment, but ultimately made her decision. She did not know who the boy was. She could not verify whether the vial in his hand truly held an antidote.
Even so, Levian's intuition whispered that she should trust him. It was an innate instinct her elder brother Kaien did not possess. At the same time, Levian knew how to be bold when boldness was needed.
“Open the gates.”
Levian bit her lip and turned to the guards.
“He is my guest.”
“M-my lady! You should ask Young Master Kaien's permission first.......”
“My father is gravely ill. I will take responsibility for everything that happens from this moment onward. Now open the gates!”
The guards flinched at the usually demure Levian's shout and opened the way. The strange pressure emanating from Yuto also pushed them to comply.
“Follow me.”
Levian led the way, and Yuto followed behind her. Flokiro's eyes glinted as it watched their surroundings.
*
On the third floor of the estate, where the family head's bedroom lay, a group blocked the path of Levian, Yuto, and Flokiro as they walked down the corridor.
“Stop, my lady. You may go no farther.”
Kaien's bodyguard, Nale, spoke with a resolute expression. Levian's eyebrows shot upward at his manner. No matter how much Kaien favored the knight, Levian was the young lady of Marigold. Nale's attitude was excessively imperious and rude.
“Sir Nale. Stand aside.”
“I cannot.”
Nale did not budge, as immovable as a boulder. The knights arrayed around him were no different. In fact, their demeanor was even worse than Nale's. Several toyed with the swords at their waists as though they might draw at any moment.
“How noisy.”
Just then, a voice sounded from behind the knights. The men who had refused Levian's request stepped aside one by one and opened a path.
Kaien Marigold walked forward with irritation on his face. He stared at Levian with a displeased frown before seeing Yuto beside her and curling his lips. Judging by the wretched state of his clothes, the boy looked like a pauper who had crawled in from some back alley.
“What is that filthy rat bastard? You truly have lost your mind. Now you are even dragging some lowborn pauper into the estate?”
“Do not insult him. He came here to treat Father.”
Levian shouted without backing down.
“He knows Father's symptoms precisely. Father isn't suffering from a simple fever. He was poisoned......!”
“Ha!”
Kaien burst into mocking laughter.
“You truly have gone mad. Poison? You say poison? Levian Marigold, enough of your delusions. Just who could possibly poison the family head of Marigold?”
Kaien's voice carried deep disgust and anger. To conceal the alarm he felt at being struck where it hurt, Kaien heightened his emotions all the more.
“Let us suppose Father truly was poisoned. Then we should have a proper physician examine him again and seek a treatment. Does it make any sense to entrust Father to some lowborn rat bastard whose origins we know nothing about?”
“But, Brother......!”
“As Father's son and the next family head of Marigold, I will not play along with your nonsense.”
Kaien's eyes flashed.
“I will remain open to the possibility that Father's condition is poisoning rather than fever. I will summon a new expert, so take that rat bastard and leave.......”
“Money certainly is wonderful.”
Yuto, who had listened silently to their exchange, opened his mouth.
“There is nothing money can't do. Isn't that right?”
“What is this rat bastard suddenly babbling about......?”
“Even physicians sworn to treat and save their patients will turn a blind eye if you stuff their mouths with enough money.”
Kaien's mouth opened and closed soundlessly.
“It must be nice to be a wealthy young master with so much money. But isn't it funny? Every coin you have came from your father, yet that bastard of a son used the money to brew Black Serpent Venom and kill him, then called in blind physicians to pretend they were treating him.”
At those words, Levian's eyes flew open as she stared at Kaien. Maybe. Just maybe. Her suspicion caught fire at Yuto's words.
“B...... Brother poisoned Father......!”
“What preposterous nonsense are you spouting?!”
Kaien bellowed. Veins bulged on his neck as he stabbed a finger at Yuto.
“How dare a lowborn rat bastard mock me with that mad tongue?!”
Kaien's gaze, filled with murderous intent, snapped toward Levian.
“Levian, Levian Marigold! Yes! Now I understand. I wondered, where did you find a pauper rat bastard like that? But this was all your plot!”
“Brother, what are you talking about.......”
“Do not pretend ignorance! Do you think I cannot see your scheme to use his nonsense to frame me and become the Marigold family head?!”
Kaien no longer intended to waste time on unnecessary conversation. He did not know whether that pauper truly had a way to treat the family head, but the word Black Serpent Venom had come from the rat bastard's mouth. That meant the rat bastard unquestionably possessed firm evidence of the poisoning itself.
“Nale!”
Kaien shouted.
“Your master has been insulted by a rat bastard. As his knight, what will you do?”
“I will cut down the rat bastard.”
Nale answered in a chilling voice. Levian panicked and stepped in front of Yuto. At that, Kaien's eyes widened as though this suited him perfectly, and he shifted his accusing finger toward Levian.
“Levian Marigold! The fact that you shield that rat bastard proves you truly conspired with him to frame me!”
“Brother! Stop talking nonsense. More importantly, did you truly do this to Father......?”
“Nale!”
Kaien shouted again. With a sinister metallic hiss, Nale drew his sword. Levian's face paled as he strode toward them.
“H-he came here to treat Father! And you would still have him cut down?!”
“You conspired with the rat bastard to frame me.”
Kaien glared at Levian with bloodshot eyes.
“You say the medicine that rat bastard brought is an antidote? Do you truly believe Father was poisoned and that I poisoned him? Why would I, his eldest son, do such a thing?!”
“Because you cannot become the family head.”
Yuto stepped past Levian, who had blocked his path.
“Rufus Marigold chose Levian Marigold, not you, his eldest son, as the next family head. You learned of it and made your father swallow Black Serpent Venom.”
“You rat bastard!”
Nale stepped forward with a roar. BOOM—! The corridor shook beneath the hulking man's foot, and savage aether coiled around the sword he had drawn. Yuto's eyes remained calm and cold as he watched.
“Yuto.”
“I will handle this.”
Yuto answered Flokiro's whisper. Nale charged before Levian could stop him.
‘Insolent rat bastard.’
Nale thought to himself. The boy stood empty-handed, without even drawing a weapon. It was pathetic. He was clearly frozen in fear, but Nale had no intention of showing mercy. The boy had not only insulted his master but uncovered their conspiracy. He had to die here.
‘But...... something is.......’
His body, reinforced by aether, raced down the corridor. At Nale's speed, he should have closed the distance and cut Yuto down in an instant. Yet something felt wrong. Simply being stared at by those cold eyes seemed to distort his physical senses.
Yuto's Charisma stat was bearing down on him as an oppressive pressure, but Nale did not realize it. He felt an inexplicable wrongness. Amid his tangled sense of distance, Yuto's gaze pressed upon his mind.
That made Nale's sword waver. He swung in desperation, but his accuracy was abysmal. The blade would have missed even if Yuto had not moved to evade it, but Yuto did not merely stand by and watch.
Void Hand.
The black haze rising around Yuto's body formed the shape of a gigantic hand and seized Nale's sword. CRUNCH—! The Void Hand crushed the aether wrapped around the sword, and the sturdy blade shattered like glass.
“What......?”
Nale let out a baffled sound. Void Hand was currently LV3. As before, Yuto could create only two Void Hands, but their power was incomparable to when he had first gained the Skill. In truth, Void Hand had even blocked a Flock Knight's sword. There was no reason it could not stop a sword wielded by the likes of Nale.
CRUNCH—!
Before Nale could do anything more, a second Void Hand slammed into his body. His sturdy breastplate crumpled hideously, and blood burst from Nale's mouth. CRASH—! Nale's body flew backward, tumbled along the corridor, and smashed into the wall.
“What......?”
Kaien's eyes bulged. His mouth hanging open like a fool, Kaien could not understand what he had just witnessed. Clatter! Fragments of the sword that Void Hand had caught fell across the corridor.
“N...... Nale? No....... What in the......?”
Only then did Kaien come to his senses. He looked back at Nale, whose mangled body twitched on the floor, then recoiled in terror.
“W-what......? What are you doing? Go kill that rat bastard!”
Nale had fallen, but ten knights remained. Every one of them had sworn loyalty to Kaien and joined his conspiracy. At Kaien's shrieking command, the knights charged as one.
“Grrrr......”
Yuto did not stop Flokiro from stepping forward. Yuto could deal with a mere ten knights by himself, but he could not rob Flokiro of its role.
Flokiro kicked off the floor. Despite its small body, the charge was explosive. It reached the knights in an instant and swung a hand. CRASH—! The knight could not even swing his sword before Flokiro struck him and smashed him into the wall.
“U-uaagh!”
The knights swung their swords while shouting like men screaming in terror, but not one blade touched Flokiro. It moved swiftly, making full use of its small build. THUD—! Another knight fell to Flokiro.
“This is insane......!”
Kaien turned in horror. He meant to flee this absurd situation, but Flokiro did not allow it. WHOOSH—! Flames wrapped around Flokiro's hand.
BOOM—! The flames Flokiro hurled shot past Kaien's shoulder. A blazing wall of crimson fire rose across the corridor he had tried to escape through. Kaien recoiled from the ferociously burning flames and collapsed onto the floor.
Meanwhile, Yuto entered the battle as well. BOOM, BOOM—! Every knight fell before the violently swinging Void Hands and Flokiro's assault.
Kaien, sitting collapsed on the floor, looked back. Yuto approached him with a tranquil expression. Those eyes did not belong to the lowborn rat bastard Kaien had kept calling him. Faced with the gaze of an overwhelmingly superior predator, Kaien's eyes filled with fear.
“Ugh...... urgh......!”
Kaien wrung out his paltry courage. In truth, it was closer to a last desperate struggle than courage. At this rate, the whole truth would be exposed. As Kaien drew up his aether, the crest of an Evomon Contract appeared on the back of his gauntleted hand.
Space rippled, and an enormous three-headed serpent manifested before Kaien. Levian cried out in surprise at the sight.
“An E-Evomon?! Brother, when did you make a contract with an Evomon.......”
“Shut up!”
Kaien shouted, his reason paralyzed by fear.
“You dare frame me! Defeat my-my knights! Set the estate on fire! As the next family head of M-Marigold, I will not forgive you!”
Kaien struggled wretchedly, praying that the other knights and soldiers in the estate would hear his shout and come running.