[Report]
Year 320 of the Shinhae Calendar.
Identified an individual exhibiting atavistic traits of the nymphs, a species believed to be extinct.
The individual is believed to reside in a nearby territory.
Investigation confirmed some manner of connection to the Commander of <Red Serpent>.
…….
By order of His Grace the Duke, proceeded with the forcible capture of the target.
…….
Day 14, dragon rampage.
Day 20, the Empire designated the dragon responsible for this disaster as the ‘Berserk Dragon.’
Can be utilized.
Can be guided if necessary.
…….
Day 29, secured the nymph bloodline.
…….
Expected to become an excellent chess piece for the bloodline of the main house to be born in the future.
***
“…….”
Deckard remained silent for a long time.
His eyes were wide as he stared fixedly at the booklet. I could practically feel the countless thoughts racing through his mind in that brief span of time.
A short while later.
“Th-This…… This, no, is this really…… true?”
“Yes. There’s no doubt that these are Ralke’s classified documents. For reference, I haven’t even shown them to Father.”
At my words, Deckard lowered the journal with trembling hands and covered his face with both hands.
“No, but…… at the scene, my wife and that child’s…….”
“Judging by the fact that the journal says nothing about your wife, her fate is probably exactly as you believed. But your daughter is different.”
“B-But the Magic Tower clearly said that the remains they found included part of my daughter……!”
“Ralke is a black magic house with power surpassing even the Magic Tower. If they truly set their minds to it, deceiving the Magic Tower would be entirely possible.”
Deckard’s eyes trembled violently at those words.
I immediately continued.
“Judging from the contents of these documents, what happened to your daughter, and even the incident involving your wife, were part of a ‘plan’ carried out under the direction of the Ducal House of Ralke.”
“…….”
“They may even have deliberately exploited Kravalt’s rampage. If they obtained information about it beforehand, it wouldn’t have been impossible.”
If so, that meant.
“Are you saying…… Ralke deliberately caused the deaths of my wife and daughter……?”
“That’s possible.”
Deckard’s fists tightened.
He gritted his teeth and desperately tried to suppress his agitation.
But perhaps the emotions boiling inside him were too difficult to contain.
Red blood dripped from between his tightly clenched fingers.
Deckard spoke with bloodshot eyes.
“Young master, forget all this talk of possibilities and tell me what you think. Your predictions have almost never been wrong, have they?”
“…….”
“Tell me plainly. I trust your judgment, young master.”
Deckard ground his teeth.
Was it truly right to tell him what I was certain of?
After considering it for a moment, I nodded.
“From what I’ve confirmed, there were many strange things about Kravalt’s movements when it attacked Valed that day. Ralke probably had nothing to do with Kravalt’s rampage itself, but…….”
“You mean it’s true that they guided him.”
“Yes.”
That was the truth.
Even without records like these, I knew what Ralke had done back then.
Ralke had used Kravalt.
They had exploited Kravalt’s rampage to thoroughly destroy houses and territories that could become obstacles to them.
The moment I finished speaking.
SHATTER—!
The glass in Deckard’s hand shattered into pieces.
And with that as the beginning, the entire room shook.
“That day…… all of that…… those bastards did all of that just to satisfy their pathetic desires?”
“Sir.”
“My wife got caught up in that worthless shit…… I couldn’t even protect my daughter, because of that…….”
Deckard muttered in fury before his eyes suddenly flashed.
“Ralke……!”
CRASH—!
A storm swept through the room.
I could protect myself with Aura, but the room itself had been reduced to chaos.
Even after overturning everything around him, Deckard stood there for a long time, unable to contain his emotions.
I waited quietly for his anger to subside before calling to him softly.
“Sir.”
“…….”
“Have you calmed down a little?”
Deckard weakly looked around the room and spoke.
“……My apologies. I made a disgrace of myself because I could not even control my own emotions. How shameful.”
“No. I understand.”
I had never experienced anything like it myself, but if I had been in his position, I would have been just as furious.
“To be frank, I’m currently thinking about using your anger.”
“……You are certainly honest.”
“If that happens, you and I will share the same objective.”
A common enemy called Ralke.
Deckard would cooperate with my plans far more actively.
There was no real need to reveal that fact, but I did.
Because I believed that was the right thing to do.
The decision would be Deckard’s.
“Let me ask you one thing. What is your objective, young master? Is it to push aside the First Young Master and become the heir? Or perhaps…….”
“I’m not interested in becoming Grand Duke. If anything, I’d rather leave that troublesome job to Sis. I just…….”
My true feelings.
“I want the First Young Master to get fucked. In the most miserable way possible.”
“Huh…….”
“Was that phrased too crudely?”
“Well, I cannot exactly deny that…….”
Deckard smirked, his eyes still bloodshot.
“But I like the phrasing. I want Ralke—and everything connected to that incident—to get fucked as well.”
“Looks like we’re on the same page.”
We looked at each other and laughed.
Deckard glanced around the wrecked room, then lightly waved his hand.
The objects strewn everywhere floated back into place.
“……Did you just move all of that with Aura?”
“Yes. It is not particularly difficult. If I could not manage this much, I would not deserve to call myself a Special-Grade mercenary.”
After answering, Deckard checked that the room was mostly restored, then asked me, “Where is Flora?”
“Your daughter is being treated as a particularly valuable talent. She was chosen to serve as a dagger for someone of Ralke’s bloodline. And that person is…….”
I thought of Schubert.
“The First Young Master, Schubert Messiah.”
“Ha!”
Deckard laughed.
He looked like a beast steeped in murderous intent, or perhaps a vengeful ghost driven mad by revenge.
“So they chose her as a chess piece to dirty her hands in his place.”
“Yes.”
“Heh, heh, hahahahahaha!”
Deckard laughed for a long time.
I couldn’t tell whether he was mocking himself for failing to realize that his daughter was alive, or whether his laughter was filled with murderous intent toward Ralke.
Perhaps it was both.
“Then where is my daughter?”
“Coincidentally, she’s nearby. It seems they’re training her to become an assassin for the First Young Master.”
“So she is in a training facility.”
“Yes. From what I heard…… she has an intense aversion to killing. I imagine that’s because of her nymph blood.”
Proving he was no Special-Grade mercenary for nothing, Deckard immediately understood what I meant and reached the conclusion.
“You have no intention of leaving things as they are, do you?”
“Of course not. If I followed my heart, I would charge in right now, kill every last one of them, and bring my daughter back.”
“That is one option, but let’s try something a little more refined and aristocratic. First…….”
With that, I explained my plan to Deckard.
The smile on Deckard’s lips deepened as he listened.
“Ho?”
“What do you think?”
Instead of answering, Deckard immediately rose from his seat.
“Let’s do it right now.”
***
The room was filled with darkness.
One of the guards grumbled.
“Damn it, what kind of mental barrier does she have that magic won’t work on her?”
“What can you do? That’s how nymph bloodlines are.”
“Tch…….”
Behind the guard, beyond the iron bars, a girl sat curled up in a corner.
As though she found the darkness filling the room comforting, she remained there without moving in the slightest.
“Mm…… right…… It’s okay, for now. Thank you…… It won’t be easy? ……It’s okay.”
The girl muttered incomprehensible words.
She looked almost as though she were conversing with some unseen ‘something’ beyond the darkness.
The guards’ expressions twisted at the girl’s barely audible voice.
“Who the hell is that thing…… talking to? Is it really those spirits or whatever?”
“Who knows? Honestly, every time I see it, it creeps me out. Gives me chills.”
“What the hell are the higher-ups thinking……? It’s already been well over ten years. Shouldn’t they have given up by now?”
“What can you do? They say she’s too valuable to waste.”
The guards clicked their tongues as they muttered among themselves.
Rumors concerning that girl had quietly spread throughout the training facility.
She was said to be a talent on whom ‘someone high up’ had placed considerable expectations, and they had spent years trying to brainwash her into submission.
But her mental barrier was so strong that no one could even count how many black magicians had already failed.
One of the guards spoke.
“Still, it’s only a matter of time now. I heard things are different this time.”
“……Different?”
“Yeah. Apparently they recently excavated some incredible magical device from an ancient dungeon…… and supposedly it works on the mind.”
“Ho.”
The guard’s eyes gleamed with interest.
If that information was true, then perhaps this time they really could completely break the girl’s mind.
“Then it really is only a matter of time.”
“Yeah. Probably.”
The guards continued their conversation.
Regardless of them, the girl buried in the darkness continued speaking to something with empty eyes.
“……Mm, I see. So this is my father. Thank you.”
“This helps a lot. I really only have you guys.”
“Mm…… You think it’ll…… be okay? This time……? What do you mean, ‘this time’?”
“You can’t…… tell me?”
“Y-Yeah…… okay.”
The girl quietly nodded and gave a faint smile.
“I’ll wait.”
The girl’s murmur never reached the guards.
With those final words, she quietly closed her eyes.
It was time to sleep again.
For the day that had been promised, whenever it might come.
***
A few days later, I met Raul, Vice Commander of <Red Serpent>, once again.
“……Just as you said, we confirmed that there is a connection between the First Young Master and Flora. The evidence is still somewhat lacking, though.”
“I expected as much.”
Exactly the reaction I had anticipated.
I quietly nodded and looked at him.
“So what’s your conclusion?”
“To be honest, I’d like nothing more than to overturn the whole place right now. It isn’t as though we lack the strength to do it.”
“But realistically, it won’t be easy?”
“For one thing, it is Ralke’s territory.”
Raul tapped the table with his index finger as he continued.
“The biggest problem is that we have no idea what kind of measures they might have prepared. As you know, Ralke is a black magic house.”
“That’s right.”
“And we lack hard evidence. You could say we do not have enough justification to charge in recklessly under the name of <Red Serpent>.”
“So you intend to give up?”
“That isn’t what I said. I mean we’re going to approach this more carefully.”
Raul spoke firmly.
“We have no intention of giving up. We cannot back down this time either.”
“So you need justification?”
“Exactly.”
I smiled.
It was precisely the answer I had wanted.
“I understand. So all you need is sufficient justification.”
“That’s right, but where are we supposed to find something like that? If we intend to interfere in Ralke’s affairs, ordinary justification will not be nearly enough…….”
“What if it’s the person involved?”
“What?”
Instead of answering, I used Disguise Art on the spot.
Not ordinary Disguise Art.
It changed more than just my face.
My body changed as well.
My arms and legs lengthened, and my overall build shifted to match.
And the person I became was.
CRASH—!
“F-First Young Master!”
None other than Schubert.
The moment Raul saw the face I had created through Disguise Art, he shot to his feet in shock.
As expected of <Red Serpent>’s Vice Commander.
He recognized Schubert’s face immediately.
That made explaining things easier.
“Calm down. I’ve only changed my appearance to that of the First Young Master.”
“Ch-Changed it? This accurately?”
“I happen to be rather talented.”
In any case, I immediately got to the point.
“It might not work twice, but then we simply don’t use it twice. The First Young Master himself makes for a rather excellent entry pass, doesn’t he?”
“Th-That is true, but…… Are you really not the First Young Master? Just what kind of person are you……? No, are you even human?”
“My identity doesn’t matter.”
I spoke to Raul.
“Let’s put on a little performance.”
“A-A performance?”
“Yes. The scenario is…….”
I continued with a grin.
“How about a young master who got tired of waiting and came personally to select his assassin?”
“……What?”
Raul’s expression as he asked again could not have looked more dumbfounded.