novelraw Chapter 26 : Chapter 26
Chapter 26 : Chapter 26
Chapter 26. Alvarez (3)
The Saintess' room, located in the innermost part of the Grand Cathedral.
This was a restricted area that only the Saintess and the highest-ranking nuns could access.
While the nuns were dressing the Saintess.
The Saintess muttered as if talking to herself.
“Why would Cardinal Daniel call for an emergency meeting?”
Daniel was the most unique among the seven cardinals of the Goddess Cult.
Generally, a high-ranking priest with strong magical power would become a cardinal, but he was someone with almost no magical power.
Instead, he had the ability to prophesize the future, which had allowed him to rise to the position of cardinal.
Thus, he held an authority comparable to that of the Saintess.
Isabel, intuiting that this was no light matter, soon thought of Frank.
It was after Cardinal Daniel had prophesied the appearance of a new Demon King that the two of them had become members of the hero party and played their active roles.
“Somehow, things don't feel right.”
His prophecies had never been wrong until now.
He always foretold the prelude to a tragedy, plunging those around him into shock.
Hence, the nickname he earned was the Prophet of Death.
If she had her way, she would have wanted to summon him here immediately, but due to the Cardinal's age, she had no choice but to travel to the region where he resided, which was truly regrettable.
Having changed her clothes, Isabel boarded the carriage, praying that it was nothing serious.
The reason Cardinal Daniel had called an emergency meeting was a problem, but
until now, she had been able to protect Frank from the clutches of the nobles thanks to her presence here.
However, if she attended this meeting, it was unclear when she could return here.
With a face full of anxiety, Isabel tried her best to calm her heart as she watched the royal palace grow distant.
Nevertheless, her heart would not settle down.
She felt as if something bad was about to happen.
***
There was someone watching Isabel’s procession in silence from a high place.
It was Bruno.
“Huhu. The thorn in my side is finally leaving. Without Isabel, someone like Frank is a piece of cake.”
He showed a vile smile and immediately instructed his subordinate.
“Carry out the tasks I ordered before, right now.”
“Yes, Count!”
Before long, Frank would be criticized by many and dragged to the royal palace.
After all, he had recruited a tremendous number of shills to stir up this incident, and he had the trump card, Alvarez, to back him up.
“By the way, how did Marquis Moltke know that the Saintess would be leaving this place now?”
The Saintess' schedule was a top-secret matter, not disclosed to anyone.
Perhaps the Marquis had planted a spy within the Goddess Cult.
It wasn't an impossible feat, as he possessed that much audacity, wealth, and power.
Bruno, unaware that the marquis considered him a mere pawn, felt proud that the marquis was supporting him.
“It would be best to maintain a good relationship with him in the future. Anyway, Frank is finished now. Hehe.”
Before long, the following rumor spread all at once throughout the capital.
It was because the shills, who had received money from Bruno, shouted loudly here and there without any pangs of conscience.
“What? The one who killed former Count Jorge was the Hero?”
“No way! The place where he died is far from Rarc Village, isn't it?”
“You fool. He must have had someone do it for him. Frank isn't a fool, why would he kill the Count with his own hands?”
“No, but still, that’s……”
“That's not all. I heard two of the Children of God are not at home.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“They say they ran away from home because they couldn't stand Frank's harsh abuse, but I don't know the specific reason either.”
At first, most of the populace ignored this story.
Frank was the hero who had defeated the Demon King.
If not for him, they wouldn't have been able to walk around so freely like this.
However, one rumor gave birth to another.
“There are talks that Frank disliked Count Jorge from the beginning.”
“Well, who would like someone who threatens to cut off support funds at the drop of a hat?”
“Besides, I heard this directly from a relative living in Rarc Village, he was famous for abusing his daughters for a long time, you know?”
“Hoho. Even the great hero is harsh on his daughters, it seems.”
Of course, not everyone believed this 100%.
But hearing it over and over again created suspicion where there was none.
In the end, the king had to raise the white flag to public opinion and the endless requests of the nobles.
It came to the point of him issuing an order to capture Frank and bring him to the royal palace.
The most crucial piece of evidence was a single document written by Alvarez, the knight of Rarc Village.
The document stating that two of the Children of God had left home and were gone.
It wasn't certain that Frank had killed Jorge, but as long as Alvarez hadn't lied, this was a difficult issue to overlook.
After all, one of the main reasons Frank could be a noble was because he was taking care of the Children of God.
***
Meanwhile, in Rarc Village, which was unaware of these facts, there was a vibrant atmosphere.
“Hahaha. Finally, our village is producing some useful resources.”
“What do you mean, useful resources? Do you think gold is that common?”
“Stop with the pointless wordplay. Isn't it a matter of having work, not something else?”
“He's right. Now I can finally see a way to make some money.”
In their hands were pickaxes, and all around them were nuggets of gold mined from the mountain.
The Elburz Mountains gold mine had begun full-scale mining.
Their faces were filled with pride.
“I feel like I can finally hold my head high as the head of the household.”
“Keke. That goes without saying. The best money is the money you earn by working.”
“Right. I couldn't say a peep and had to walk on eggshells around my wife all this time,but now I can clearly see that even my wife can't ignore me. Haha.”
For generations, there hadn't been much for the men of Rarc Village to do.
Because of the Ancient Dragon Anticus, no monsters appeared, and there were no particularly useful resources.
Thus, the women would go down to nearby villages to take on odd jobs.
Naturally, the men of Rarc Village were often subjugated at home.
Life was no life at all, being cursed at for being nothing more than freeloaders who couldn't even earn a single penny properly.
However, as the mine's development drastically increased the work available for men, the men of Rarc Village repeatedly praised Frank in one voice.
What was more surprising was the fact that Frank paid for this work with gold instead of cash.
And as a daily wage, at that.
“He's a truly amazing person. To think he'd pay us in gold instead of cash.”
“Absolutely. There's no one else like the Hero. He's the pride of our village.”
“Hey. Still going on about the Hero? Call him Baron.”
If they were to hear the nasty rumors about Frank currently circulating in the capital, they might have protested, saying it was nonsense.
Anyway, it wasn't just the villagers who had been busy lately.
The one leading the mine development was none other than Frank himself.
“Hey, you there! Did I tell you to go in with safety gear on, or not?”
“S-sorry, Hero.”
“Not Hero, Baron.”
“Ye-yes, Baron!”
I understood their desire to mine more gold all too well, but not a single person should get hurt.
These were the residents of my territory. And this was no longer, ‘A game, but reality. I can't treat people's lives carelessly.’
In the game, I didn't care much whether an NPC died or not, but these were people who breathed and lived just like me.
I had to prevent any accidents happening because of something I had started.
By the way, why did that guy Alvarez come here every day and stare at me so intensely?
It felt like he was watching me.
I stealthily approached him, not hiding my discomfort.
“Why do you come here every day? Did Adel order you to do something?”
He shook his head, saying that wasn't the case.
“I am here of my own volition.”
“Without your superior’s permission?”
“My duty is to protect the people of Rarc Village. I don't know what might happen here, so it is only natural to stand guard.”
Guard my foot.
He was nothing more than a beggar who mooched off meals.
He didn't even help with the mining work, so I couldn't for the life of me understand why he would shamelessly mix in with the group of miners at mealtime and eat vegetable soup with them.
I should probably ask Adel to get rid of this guy.
Even he wouldn't be able to refuse Adel's words.
What's the basis of being a soldier?
Repeat after me. Obeying superior's orders.
***
……There was a time when I thought that.
“What? He doesn't listen to you?”
Adel replied with a troubled look.
“Yes. He says protecting the villagers is his mission and doesn't even listen to me.”
Ha. Wasn't the virtue of a soldier to do as they're told? This was clearly grounds for a court-martial.
‘He didn't show any particular behavior in the game, so why is he like this these days? Before, he followed me all the way to the Demon Territory talking about some useless stuff, does he have some kind of bad feelings towards me?’
I could fully understand Bruno.
That guy was beaten black and blue by Frank as a child, so his animosity towards me would be no joke.
But when it came to Alvarez, not a single scene came to mind.
‘I have so many things to worry about, and now this trivial thing is bothering me.’
Perhaps my expression showed on my face, as Adel said with an apologetic look.
“I'm sorry, Father. I'll give Alvarez another warning. Okay?”
As she said this, she made a face that pleaded for me to let it go just this once, and phew.
Having seen such a cute expression on my daughter's face, how could a father say NO?
I smiled brightly and told her not to worry about it.
As I was exchanging idle chat with Adel, Anonymous suddenly entered my room with a stiff face.
Without even knocking.
If I entered her room without knocking, she would get mad like crazy; hypocrisy was her default setting.
I tilted my head and asked back.
“What is it?”
But for some reason, her face was different from usual.
Her face, which was normally stern, solemn, and serious, was only dark today.
She glanced at Adel, then, “I want to talk to you alone.”
I said I understood and dismissed Adel.
Adel looked like she was about to say something, but after checking my and Anonymous' faces, she left my room without a word.
“Please speak.”
“……”
Anonymous remained silent for a while even after Adel had left the room.
She just stared out the window silently, setting the mood by herself, ‘What on earth is she trying to say that she's being so serious?’
Surely she wasn't going to say that the gold mine was hers and ask for it back now, was she?
Did her mind change after seeing all the shiny gold?
It's true that there are stories about dragons loving gold and treasures.
While my head was spinning with all sorts of thoughts.
Anonymous turned her back to me and slowly opened her mouth.
“How much do you know about the creation myth?”
“The creation myth?”
“I am asking about the Goddess creating this world. A man like you, well-versed in history, would surely know about the creation myth as well.”
Of course.
At the very least, I knew everything about this world's lore that the developers had revealed.
Anonymous fluently recounted information I already knew.
In the beginning, there was darkness, and the Goddess who pitied it descended upon this land, blah blah blah.
‘Yawn.’
I was about to yawn.
At that very moment.
“Unlike what humans think, Primus is still alive.”
Huh? What kind of nonsense was this? Primus? Wasn't he a character whose name appeared in a single line in the prologue and that was it? But Anonymous, perhaps thinking I knew him well, added these words.
“He has started to move. Now that he has moved, this is no time to be worried about the likes of the New Demon King.”
Her gaze was so serious that I had to swallow dryly without realizing it.
***
Adel, who had returned to her room, felt her heart grow heavy at the thought that Anonymous-seonsaengnim's expression was different from usual today.
‘What did she want to talk about with Father that she kicked me out?’
Then her thoughts turned to Alvarez.
Come to think of it, hadn't her teacher suddenly entered without knocking while they were talking about Alvarez?
‘My teacher has very sharp ears. She must have been listening to my and Father's conversation and kicked me out to complain about it.’
The original owner of the mine, no matter what anyone said, was her teacher.
And she was Alvarez's superior.
A subordinate's mistake was the same as the superior's mistake.
There was a high possibility that her teacher did it because she would be put in a difficult position if she were to argue about Alvarez's rights and wrongs to her face.
Adel, deciding to correct Alvarez's wrongdoing before the matter got bigger, immediately left for the guard post.
As she ran at a fast pace, she caught sight of Alvarez releasing a carrier pigeon in the distance.
‘Huh? Where is he sending that without reporting to me?’
The person in charge here was her.
She had let him go to the gold mine under the pretext of protecting the villagers, but sending a carrier pigeon without her permission was a clear act of exceeding his authority.
Was he sending it to family, or an acquaintance?
No. That red carrier pigeon could only be used by the Royal Knights.
Ceps, who had read Adel's thoughts, grumbled in a displeased voice.
Only then did Adel recall that Alvarez had been showing suspicious movements recently.
A series of things like staying alone at the guard post late into the night without going
home, or constantly asking about her father or the family.
An encouraged her, saying her intuition was right.
Adel killed her presence so that Alvarez wouldn't notice and ran in the direction the carrier pigeon had flown.
Once she was far from the guard post, she took out a small whistle from her pocket.
This was a device that sent a signal only trained carrier pigeons could hear, to lure the pigeon over.
Bbiik!
The carrier pigeon, gliding through the sky, immediately descended to the ground upon hearing the sound and sat on Adel's hand.
“There, there. Good boy.”
Coo coo!
Adel gently stroked the carrier pigeon's head and carefully untied the note tied to its leg.
Soon, her pupils widened like a startled cat's.
An unexpected content was written inside it.
Furthermore, the recipient of the letter was Count Bruno, the kingdom's Finance Minister.