Schubert was furious, his anger rising to the very crown of his head.
It was only natural.
Anyone would find it unpleasant to discover that someone was impersonating them.
‘Which bastard is it?’
Schubert vowed that he would never give the bastard impersonating him an easy death.
He was destined to become the Grand Duke.
No one dared impersonate him, the man who would become the head of one of the illustrious Four Great Houses.
“Young Master.”
“What?”
Schubert glared at Number Two, who was following behind him. His nerves had been on edge ever since he learned of the imposter’s existence.
“……Would it not be better to wait a little longer before going down? It is nearly impossible for the imposter to escape this place anyway.”
“How can you be certain of that?”
“That is…….”
“Besides, that bastard impersonated me of all people.”
Schubert’s face twisted. He glared at Number Two as though he might tear him apart at any moment.
“Am I supposed to forgive that?”
“……No. However, the Shadows do not fully believe that the Young Master standing here is the real Young Master.”
“…….”
“This is not a good situation. Other than me, none of the other Shadows are completely certain that you are the real Young Master.”
“Tch.”
Schubert frowned at those words. It was not as though he was unaware of that obvious fact.
His haste to descend was not simply because he was angry.
‘His technique is so good that even the Shadows couldn’t tell.’
If his skill was that refined, then an ordinary person would never be able to distinguish him from the real thing.
Even now, the Shadows were looking at Schubert with doubtful eyes.
Just how perfectly had the imposter mimicked him?
“……That bastard has to be caught here. The same one might be involved again this time.”
“If you mean that one…….”
“The bastard who eliminated Number Eight and Number Nine and has repeatedly interfered with my plans.”
Number Two said the situation was dangerous, but Schubert did not see it that way.
If anything, now was the perfect opportunity.
This Shadow Training Facility had only one exit. If the bastard wanted to leave, he would inevitably have to face Schubert.
“Number Two, is your skill so lacking that you can’t even protect me?”
“No.”
“Then am I so weak that I would fall to the bastard down there?”
“……No.”
It was not mere flattery.
Even in Number Two’s eyes, the First Young Master Schubert possessed outstanding talent. Opinions might differ if he were compared to Lady Arwin, but there was no denying that he had been born with exceptional talent.
“Then stop trying to hold me back with your ridiculous nonsense and obey.”
“……Yes, Young Master.”
Number Two finally bowed his head.
Schubert led the forces of the Shadow Training Facility downward, following the imposter’s trail.
The farther down he went, the more he began to realize what the imposter was after.
“The Nymph descendant is gone. Did that bastard take her?”
Then how had the imposter known that a Nymph descendant was being kept here?
And if he knew that much, exactly ‘how much’ did he know?
Schubert soon realized that the imposter had not stopped at taking the Nymph descendant.
His face twisted horribly when he realized it.
“He even knew about the dragon?”
“Young Master.”
“We’re going down immediately.”
Schubert’s expression twisted. If the bastard truly knew about the dragon, Kravalt, the situation could become far more serious.
Kravalt himself might have fallen into a miserable state, but the value he possessed had not disappeared with it.
They could not afford to lose that yet.
Schubert’s steps grew more urgent as he headed toward the lowest level.
Before long, he reached the lowest level of the Shadow Training Facility.
And there, he came face-to-face with the ‘imposter.’
The imposter looked no different from the First Young Master.
Naturally, a question arose in the Shadows’ minds.
‘……Which one is real?’
***
“……It really is the First Young Master.”
Deckard let out a low groan as he stared at Schubert and the Shadows who had come crowding onto the staircase above.
“Are you truly going to be all right? No matter how well you play the part, there is a high chance they will see through you.”
“Trust me.”
I said that, then turned my gaze toward Kravalt.
“Kravalt, can you do it?”
“I can. No matter how far I have fallen, I am still a dragon.”
As Kravalt spoke, he slowly began gathering mana.
“How humiliating. To think I must gather mana through such a cumbersome process.”
Leaving Kravalt behind, I stepped forward.
With every step I took, the air around me changed.
‘I know you well.’
I had been Number One.
Being ‘Number One’ meant being a slave who protected Schubert from closer than anyone else and handled all manner of work on his behalf.
I had dirtied my hands for the First Young Master, and when necessary, I had even acted as his stand-in.
For someone like me, imitating the First Young Master was as easy as breathing.
Schubert flinched when he saw me.
“You bastard…….”
“What?”
I looked around the top of the staircase with open displeasure.
“I gave no order. Why have so many of you come swarming down here?”
“Who the hell are you?”
Schubert asked in a voice lowered to a dangerous pitch. He was not showing it openly, but I could see that the bastard was barely suppressing his rage.
I did not look at him.
I looked at Number Two and the Shadows gathered behind him.
‘The Shadows don’t seem certain which one is real.’
It was only natural.
Number Two, however, had clearly decided that I was the ‘fake.’
Of course he had. He had never left Schubert’s side.
“My identity? What about you, bastard? And…… Shadows, why are you bastards standing behind that fake?”
“You’re the fake, you bastard.”
“Ha, I’m the fake?”
I snorted and looked Schubert straight in the eye. Then I walked toward him one step at a time.
“Do not come any closer!”
Number Two stepped forward in Schubert’s place.
Number Two glared at the other Shadows and shouted.
“What are you doing?! Seize him! Get him now and capture that vile imposter!”
“B-but…….”
“The man beside me is the real Young Master! If he were not the real Young Master, why would I have been attending him all this time?!”
“……!”
The Shadows flinched.
Their demeanor immediately changed. They looked back and forth between Schubert and me, then raised their swords and pointed them at me.
Of course.
For now, ‘Number Two’ was the one keeping everyone grounded in this situation.
The Shadows had no way to identify the real Schubert except through Number Two.
But.
‘What happens if even Number Two can no longer be certain who is real?’
I grinned faintly and looked toward Kravalt.
Just as the Shadows were about to charge at me all at once.
WHOOSH.
The mana that had been concentrated around Kravalt was released in an instant.
The vast cavern on the lowest level was illuminated by light-emitting magic devices. Dozens of them were scattered throughout the cavern, filling the room with light.
But.
‘What if every one of those magic devices goes out?’
Everything goes black.
If there were even a little light, perhaps it would be different. But without the illuminating magic devices, the lowest underground level was pure darkness, without so much as a single speck of light.
Even trained Shadow agents would find it difficult to secure their vision in such darkness.
“<Go out.>”
Kravalt’s words became magic and spread across the cavern like a gentle breeze.
And then.
CLICK.
The magic devices illuminating the underground level all went dark at once.
Darkness descended in every direction.
“Th-the light……!”
“W-what? Why all of a sudden……!”
The Shadows fell into confusion when their vision was cut off in an instant.
I did not miss that confusion.
There was not a single speck of light, yet everything remained clear to my eyes.
These eyes that pierced through the darkness were one of the assassination techniques that had made me Number One.
I slipped through the Shadows, grabbed Schubert by the collar, then kicked him hard enough to send him flying far away.
In an instant, Schubert and I had switched positions.
And at that moment, the lights came back on.
I glared at Number Two, my breath heaving.
“You incompetent bastard! I’m being attacked, and you just stand there watching?!”
“Y-yes……?”
Number Two hurriedly looked toward Schubert.
Schubert stared blankly at me in stunned disbelief, then belatedly shouted.
“H-he’s the fake! Don’t be fooled, Number Two!”
“What……?”
Number Two hurriedly turned back toward me.
I twisted my face and glared at him.
“Don’t be fooled by such ridiculous nonsense. Do I have to call you by your name before you’ll believe me, ‘Ret’?”
“……!”
Ret was Number Two’s name, known only to Schubert.
The moment that name came from my mouth, Number Two nodded.
“……No. Forgive me for doubting you, Young Master.”
“What are you doing, Number Two?!”
Number Two’s eyes turned cold.
A moment later, he asked me a question.
“However, Young Master, do you remember the contents of the report I gave you yesterday?”
“I do.”
I had no memory of any such report, but I answered first and immediately began thinking about how to continue.
‘A second verification.’
The real Schubert would remember what had been reported to him yesterday.
It had only happened yesterday, so there was no reason Schubert would have forgotten.
If it was something recent…….
‘Flora.’
There was a high probability it had been a report about the ancient magic device intended to subjugate Flora.
After all, there was no other reason for Schubert to visit the Shadow Training Facility under the circumstances.
‘No point wasting time thinking.’
I immediately spoke.
“It was about the magic device. The means of subjugating the Nymph descendant.”
Was that right or wrong?
If it was wrong, I would immediately rush toward Schubert and take the bastard hostage.
A moment later.
“……Correct.”
Number Two nodded calmly.
I growled and pressed him.
“If you’re done checking, shut up and bind that fake.”
At that moment.
Schubert sprang to his feet, his face horribly twisted.
“Shut up, fake!”
Schubert drew his sword.
The instant he did, I realized what he intended to do.
‘He’s going to prove it with the Sacred Flame.’
It was only natural.
The Sacred Flame was a power that only a Messiah could wield, so it would serve as proof that Schubert was the ‘real’ one.
But.
‘I’m not going to let that happen.’
The moment the bastard drew up the Sacred Flame, I raised a finger and fired a small, condensed bullet of Aura.
THUNK!
The Aura projectile struck his body cleanly.
More precisely, it struck the ‘channel through which the Sacred Flame flowed.’
“Kgh?!”
The flow was cut off in an instant.
And what happened when someone who had not yet reached the level of freely wielding the Sacred Flame was disrupted on top of that?
“Kghk!”
The bastard coughed up blood.
“Ah.”
Naturally, no Sacred Flame appeared on his sword.
While he stared at his unresponsive sword with a dumbfounded expression, I signaled Number Two with my eyes.
“Take him alive. He’s obviously going to babble useless nonsense, so gag him as well.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Number Two lunged forward and bound Schubert.
Schubert was helplessly subdued in Number Two’s hands as he glared at me.
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
“Stupid bastard. Did you really think you could come all the way down to the lowest level and make it out alive?”
I snorted while acting as Schubert.
The bastard thrashed violently at those words, but so what?
With his mouth gagged, there was nothing he could do.
I continued imitating Schubert with practiced ease as I brought the situation under control.
“Now that this damned bastard has released Kravalt from his restraints, we can no longer keep Kravalt here.”
“Then what will you do?”
“We are taking Kravalt with us as well. It seems I will have to ask my maternal family for another favor.”
With those words, I glared at the Shadows as if I might tear them apart at any moment.
“……Because of you bastards, I will have to demean myself by fawning over them again. You worthless pieces of trash.”
“W-we are sorry, Young Master!”
The Shadows all bowed at once, pressing their heads to the ground.
I slung Schubert over my shoulder.
“Young Master, surely you can leave something like this to me…….”
“You expect me to trust you? You couldn’t even tell which one was real.”
“…….”
Number Two lowered his head, unable to say anything more.
Instead, Number Two looked toward Deckard.
“……What should we do with those people? The Nymph descendant should be taken alive, but…….”
“Take all of them alive. The more people we have to interrogate, the better.”
“Yes.”
Number Two nodded at my words and quickly got to work.
Deckard and Raul were bound on the spot.
Flora was as well.
I quietly watched them for a moment before turning my gaze toward Schubert.
“Mmph, mmph……!”
I could kill him right now.
That would certainly be easier.
But.
‘That’s too easy.’
I also had a plan prepared for the bastard, and this entire incident was only one part of that plan.
There was no reason to kill him already.
There was still plenty left to squeeze out of him as well.
So from now on, all you have to do is suffer and despair.
Little by little, little by little.
Because that is what I have arranged for you in this life.