novelraw Chapter 30 : Chapter 30
Chapter 30 : Chapter 30
Chapter 30. Daniel (1)
“Ugh, the smell. What an annoying man.”
Anonymous, who had returned home, threw Alvarez at me as if she were throwing trash, fuming with irritation.
A foul smell emanated from the stupefied man.
‘Kuh. Did he wet himself?’
The crotch of his pants was damp.
I let go of the man’s shoulder I was holding and discreetly moved to the side.
Thud.
Alvarez immediately collapsed to the floor, as if he didn't even have the strength to stand on his own.
Anonymous kicked him far away with one foot and approached me.
Then she brought her face close and warned.
“I will neeever grant a request like this again.”
Anonymous, her face contorted in a scowl, was laying down the law.
Rather than scary, it was a little funny.
‘Why is she acting like this when she's old enough to know better? How childish.’
But for some reason, she didn't move away from me, as if expecting something.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and pat me.”
“Pardon?”
“Arus always patted my head when I granted his requests. Hurry up and do it.”
“……”
“Do you think I ask just anyone for this? Ten, nine, eight……”
Oh, first hero.
Why did you teach such a bad habit to an ancient dragon?
But what could I do?
My body right now was in no condition to do anything to her.
I gave a bitter smile and awkwardly patted Anonymous' head.
“Hehe. Now I feel calm.”
She grinned and went back to her room.
There was one person watching us with a face full of dissatisfaction.
It was Adel.
“Why is Master acting like that?”
“……I don't know either.”
Adel raised her eyebrows, wiped my hand that had patted Anonymous' head on her own clothes, and looked at the collapsed Alvarez in the corner.
A complex and subtle emotion could be read on her face.
“He wasn't always like this……”
“People change.”
“Does that include me?”
Huh? What does that mean?
At the out-of-context remark, I tilted my head, but Adel didn't say any more about it.
I pointed to Alvarez and said.
“Let’s move him. It'll be a headache if the servants wake up again.”
“Yes.”
Adel and I supported Alvarez from both sides and moved him to my room.
Ugh. What a foul smell.
If I had my way, I'd want to change his pants and underwear, but giving him mine feels a bit much.
Fortunately, Adel used Clean magic to dry the wet parts of his clothes.
“You know how to use magic.”
“What? Isn't that a given?”
Adel looked at me with a face that said she didn't understand.
Originally, Adel shouldn't be able to use magic.
‘It's because her aptitude for magic is too low.’
But the current Adel had mastered up to 3rd-tier magic.
When she had learned magic to this extent while also improving her swordsmanship skills, it was something I couldn't figure out.
‘The training process must have been that arduous. I can understand why she disliked me at first.’
What in the world was Frank thinking, being so hell-bent on tormenting his daughters?
No.
That was all the effect of me skipping the five-year process.
I apologized to Adel in my heart and immediately began to interrogate Alvarez.
“Hey, get a grip.”
“……”
But Alvarez was still in a daze.
I thought about slapping him, but I didn't want to use violence in front of my daughter.
Then a good idea came to mind.
There was an item in the treasury perfect for this situation.
Is there anything you need?
Come to our house right now.
I feel like our family's treasury is no different from an all-purpose cheat key.
***
When I returned with something from the treasury, Adel tilted her head.
“What's that?”
“Huhu. Just watch. An amazing scene is about to unfold.”
I opened Frank's mouth and forcibly administered the medicine into it.
Gulp, gulp.
He seemed to lack reason, but he wasn't in a state of complete mental breakdown, so all the medicine in the bottle went into Alvarez's body without much resistance.
Soon, the look in Alvarez's eyes began to change.
Like a zombie?
The thought that only the whites of his eyes were visible without pupils was even eerie.
“Ugh.”
“Can you hear me?”
“……Yes. I can hear you very well.”
Huhu. The effect is kicking in right away.
This, you see, is the so-called Potion of Truth.
Its real name was Veritas, which means truth and verity, but PP users called it the Potion of Truth.
As its name suggests, it was mainly used when interrogating someone.
“Why on earth did you do this?”
Alvarez answered immediately with a blank face.
“Adel. To protect Adel.”
“What does that mean? Be more specific.”
“Everything was to protect Adel from the wicked Frank.”
Ha? Are you kidding me?
It seems I have no choice but to recreate the Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office.
With a solemn face, I asked again.
“Why am I wicked? I have never harmed you.”
“Because you made Adel suffer.”
“What does that have to do with you, a third party?”
“Because I love Adel.”
Huh. This guy liked Adel?
In the game, he was just resident 1 of Rarc Village.
I glanced at Adel.
As expected, Adel looked very surprised by the sudden confession.
‘It seems she didn't know his feelings. Well, it's the first time I'm hearing it too.’
I knew why he disliked me, but that wasn't the important thing.
“How did you come to collude with Bruno? You shouldn't have any particular connection with him.”
“The Marquis introduced him to me.”
“The Marquis?”
“Marquis Moltke. The original owner of this place.”
I see. So that's how it happened.
Even in the game, Marquis Moltke would often vent his frustration about having his territory taken away.
Scenes of him secretly clinking glasses with surrounding nobles at a grand banquet and saying such things were often portrayed.
“We can't just let that commoner who stole my territory be. His downfall will be the justice of our kingdom.”
His words were laced with strong venom.
But when the old Demon Tribe invaded and Frank defended against them, he didn't launch any particular attacks afterward, but, ‘Now, no one knows the fact that the old Demon Tribe invaded. Because Noemi wiped them out in an instant using ancient magic.’
So it was like this.
The Marquis, who had to hide his ambitions due to foreign invasion, was now pulling strings behind the scenes without anyone knowing, since that event didn't happen.
This was more serious than I thought.
‘Bruno is a nobody, but Moltke is different. His title is much higher, and his influence within the kingdom is great.’
Even so, if I were to eliminate him, it would mean the disappearance of a noble with one of the largest territories in the kingdom, which would only lead to a decline in the kingdom's competitiveness.
In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that the Benedict Kingdom was maintained because he was protecting the eastern border.
‘This is a problem. He threw the first punch, so it's hard to pretend I don't know.’
It seems I need to discuss this matter in detail with Saintess Isabel.
The Marquis' influence is too great for me to handle alone.
While I was pondering this, Adel suddenly said.
“Um, Father.”
“Yes?”
“What are you going to do with Alvarez?”
“We'll have to lock him up in the house for the time being. It's too dangerous to let him go.”
Adel suggested renovating an empty room next to the treasury and using it as a prison.
“Not bad. He won't be able to escape easily from there either.”
A powerful barrier was cast around the treasury in the basement, and it didn't just cover the inside of the treasury but the entire basement of the mansion.
That was why no one could go down to the basement without the key to disable the barrier.
Adel said she would take Alvarez there herself and asked me for the key.
Not the treasury key, but just the basement key.
“Will you be okay?”
“I'm fine.”
Would she be okay?
It's a job of locking up a man who likes her, and though she seems strong on the outside, I don't know if the soft-hearted Adel can handle this.
But if I don't trust my daughter, who will?
I readily handed the basement key to Adel.
***
Adel, who had quickly cleaned the empty room, laid Alvarez on the old bed.
“Keuuung.”
Alvarez only let out a groan, as if he still had no reason.
Adel looked at him with pity in her eyes.
“Just when did it start……”
If she had known that Alvarez liked her, she would never have taken the knight examination with him.
Adel recalled her childhood with Alvarez.
‘Because you were by my side, I could endure the difficult training.’
But now, Alvarez had already crossed a river of no return.
To think he would join hands with another high-ranking noble and plot to oust her father.
Adel was about to leave the room with a bitter face.
Just then.
“Ugh.”
Alvarez clutched his head and writhed in pain.
“Are you coming to your senses?”
At Adel's question, Alvarez was startled and tried to sit up.
But perhaps the medicine her father had forced him to drink was too strong.
Or perhaps the journey with Master Anonymous was too painful; Alvarez couldn't easily get up.
Adel maintained her distance from him and said.
“You'll have to live here for the time being. I'll bring you food separately, and there's a toilet attached, so you won't have any inconvenience in living here.”
After saying that, she was about to leave the room again when Alvarez grabbed her.
“Be careful of Frank.”
“……”
“He's not even your real dad, is he? You can't trust him.”
As soon as those words ended, Anceps' voice was heard.
But for some reason.
Adel couldn't just brush off his words.
‘Certainly, there's so much I don't know about Father.’
Suddenly making Iris and Noemi appear, and having a medicine that makes one confess the truth in a state of lost reason.
She had never heard of such a magic tool.
‘Why does Father always hide everything? Is he really acting solely to protect us?’
Another small crack began to form in her heart.
In a way, she was also a knight of the same kingdom as Alvarez.
She also wondered if it was right to support her dad.
‘Is it okay to keep trusting Dad?’
Adel found herself envying Iris, who wasn't here, for a change.
***
Meanwhile, Iris was spending her busiest time since coming to the empire.
“So you're the new master that Number 1 spoke of. I look forward to working with you.”
“Hmm. I wonder if a woman is okay as the master.”
“She is a Child of God, they say. There should be no problem.”
The Unseen Ones, who had been scattered all over the world, were gathering one after another.
Surprisingly, the location was not within the empire, but the Kingdom of Asturias, the central nation of the north.
The Kingdom of Asturias.
A kingdom built on an endless desert after crossing the great river that divides the north and south, it was friendly with the Durani Empire due to geographical influence, but in any
case, this was the land of the north.
It wouldn't be strange at all if they turned against the empire's people at any time.
Nevertheless, there was a reason why the Unseen Ones chose this place as their gathering point: an emergency meeting of the Goddess Cult was scheduled to be held here soon.
One might ask what the Goddess Cult and the Unseen Ones had to do with each other, but surprisingly, the two were deeply related.
Iris, trying hard to hide her surprise, exchanged a light greeting with the man in front of her.
“It's truly surprising that someone like you is a member of the Unseen Ones.”
“Huhu. What you see is not everything.”
The opponent's name was Daniel.
One of the nine fingers of the Unseen Ones.
That is, he held the single-digit number, Number 7, and on top of that, he held the position of Cardinal, second only to the Saintess within the Goddess Cult.