novelraw Chapter 107 : Chapter 107
Chapter 107 : Chapter 107
Chapter 107. Untimely Amusement
Butler Haman exited the office.
Watching his retreating figure, Yohan tapped the armrest of his chair.
‘Hmm.’
He fell into brief thought.
‘……The Count hired someone that sloppy as a butler?’
No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
The Count was an extremely meticulous man.
He paid attention even to the smallest trivial tasks.
He would never treat a personnel issue carelessly.
‘Maybe he wasn’t hired for the Count’s household, just temporarily?’
Didn’t seem likely.
Right now, Yohan was quite an important figure to the Count.
The Count had to tread carefully around him.
He wouldn’t want to risk displeasing Yohan with a petty mistake.
He had to do his best, at least when it came to matters concerning Yohan.
Because he had to save his wife.
And yet, he hired such a sloppy butler. Yohan found it difficult to comprehend.
He sat thinking for a moment, then flipped through the pile of documents.
‘Found it.’
Among the documents the Count had given him, there was a personnel sheet for the mansion.
Yohan examined the section related to Haman.
Haman von Legersch. Youngest son of the Legersch family, and top graduate of the Office of Ceremonial Affairs Academy. He was such a promising talent that the royal court had scouted him directly.
Suspicion crept into Yohan’s expression.
‘……A noble? And the top graduate of the Academy?’
Occasionally, there were butlers of noble origin.
Usually, these were the youngest sons of lesser noble families who would not inherit any wealth, and so entered service under other nobles.
Haman was one of them.
That alone made him a rare case, but what really caught Yohan’s eye was a particular line:
Top graduate of the Office of Ceremonial Affairs Academy.
That academy was a gateway for commoners and low-ranking nobles.
Graduating from there allowed even a commoner to attain public office.
Usually, they were hired by high-ranking nobles or given minor duties in the royal court.
But for a top graduate, it was a different story.
They were directly appointed to minor administrative roles in the royal court.
Talent among talents.
Yohan let out a quiet scoff.
‘That guy graduated at the top of his class?’
The gap between his first impression and what was written in the documents was too large.
Yohan stared intently at the paper.
The portrait drawn matched Haman’s real face exactly.
‘Good at studying, but terrible in practice?’
There were people like that sometimes.
The so-called bunglers.
Yohan clicked his tongue and closed the file.
It seemed the Count had hired Haman based solely on his grades.
‘Pretty sloppy for the Count.’
The Count must have been very busy recently.
He probably hadn’t had the time to handle everything perfectly.
Yohan left it at that.
He had no intention of dismissing Haman.
Truthfully, Haman’s professionalism wasn’t important to Yohan.
They would only cross paths a few times anyway.
Yohan was simply curious about the Count’s personnel decisions and the man named Haman.
His questions had been answered.
The Count had been sloppy for once, and Haman was just naturally a bungler.
As soon as that conclusion was drawn, the issue vanished entirely from Yohan’s thoughts.
Another concern took its place.
‘……Horentz Marcano.’
He will be meeting him tomorrow.
The objective of the meeting was simple.
Make a good impression. Yohan needed to establish favorable relations with the Marcano family to keep his plans on track.
They were part of the royalist faction loyal to the king.
Royalist families would never recognize the Miyatro Domain’s autonomy.
If Yohan wanted to become a public king, he had to win over the royalist nobles first.
There were four such families on the Council.
Of them, the Marcano family was the easiest to recruit.
Unlike the other royalist houses, bound tightly by loyalty, the Marcano viscountcy moved solely based on interest.
As former merchants, the Marcanos were exceptionally shrewd with calculations.
They would likely agree to Yohan’s offer.
Yohan was well aware of the Marcano family’s desires, and confident he could exploit them.
He began reviewing the documents the Count had provided.
He was mentally going over the information on the Marcano family one last time.
Sssk, sssk.
For a while, only the sound of papers turning echoed.
“This should be enough.”
Mapheltan stretched out his limbs. The arms that extended from his sides were pitch black.
At some point, he had transformed into a demon.
He checked the window.
The sun had fully set.
Mapheltan stared blankly outside.
Beyond the mansion wall, the streets were still filled with light.
True to its nickname as the City That Never Sleeps, the capital was bright even at night as if it were day.
Only the space around Mapheltan was shrouded in pitch darkness.
A sudden emptiness rushed in.
“What now?”
Back in the barony, there hadn’t been a moment of boredom even at night.
Raguel, Ilea, Zal’karin, Gaf, Hakain, and the rest—whether it was chatting, training, or something else—Mapheltan’s surroundings had always been lively.
The capital was different.
Once night fell, there was nothing he could do.
He couldn’t step outside the mansion, nor roam the city.
The moment a demon walked the streets, it would be a death sentence.
The capital was filled with powerful beings, and Mapheltan had to operate entirely outside their gaze.
In short, he was chained to the mansion.
Mapheltan swallowed a sigh.
“……This is going to be boring for a while.”
Wasting this much time felt unbearable.
He had to find something he could do at night.
Mapheltan blankly stared up at the ceiling.
Lost in thought.
Time passed.
How long has it been? Mapheltan’s brow suddenly furrowed.
‘What’s this?’
A rustling sound came from somewhere.
He perked up his ears.
The Apostle’s sharp sense spread through the entire mansion like a spider web.
He heard tiny footsteps.
And faint whispers along with them.
Someone had entered the mansion.
Mapheltan’s face twisted.
‘Haman, you idiot. I warned you.’
It seemed some of the staff had stayed behind in the mansion.
Mapheltan let out a deep sigh and activated his Authority.
His form vanished like a mirage.
He hid within the Authority Chimya.
No one could perceive Mapheltan’s presence.
Blending into the darkness, he pushed his senses to the limit.
Voices.
Too distant to make out the content.
Gliding through the shadows, Mapheltan exited the office.
A long corridor unfolded before him.
No one was visible.
Only the sound of footsteps.
‘The stairs?’
Mapheltan slid silently toward the second floor landing.
‘Hah!’
Two figures, faces masked in black, were carefully climbing to the second floor.
They were unmistakably thieves.
Mapheltan was speechless.
‘Thieves on the first night?’
He was utterly taken aback.
And then something even more absurd happened.
One of the thieves pulled out a map from his coat.
Mapheltan approached and examined its contents.
‘What the…’
The map displayed a detailed layout of the mansion.
Information about the place had already been sold.
The thief pointed somewhere on the map.
The other nodded.
They snooped around briefly before heading toward the office.
Mapheltan quietly followed them.
Creeeak.
The thief carefully opened the office door.
As expected, no one was inside.
The two immediately entered and began rummaging through the room.
One of them raised his voice slightly in excitement.
“Here, look at this.”
He was holding a large backpack.
Through the open slit, several dazzling holy relics could be seen.
They were items taken from the Forbidden Archive.
The other thief’s eyes gleamed.
“I found one too.”
He was holding a bundle of parchment.
Council-related documents the Count had given to Yohan.
“What’s the use of paper scraps? Just leave it.”
“You idiot. Read a few lines here and you’ll change your mind.”
The documents were filled with information more valuable than gold.
“Fine, let’s get out of here.”
“What’s the rush? Let’s look around more. When else will we strike it this rich?”
“This is making me nervous. It’s going too well. Doesn’t it bother you that there’s not a single guard in a mansion this big?”
“The intel came from the Guild. What’s weird about it? That Watcher of the Abyss guy or whatever, probably came up from some hick town and doesn’t know how dangerous the world is.”
Mapheltan listened closely to their conversation.
Judging by the talk about a Guild, information on the mansion had been completely leaked to the Thieves’ Union.
Only a day after arriving in the capital, and the state of the mansion had already spread publicly.
Mapheltan chuckled quietly in the shadows.
‘Unbelievable.’
Who had sold the information? Probably one of the staff.
One thief spoke.
“Anyway, I’m too spooked. You finish the rest alone. I’m leaving.”
“Tch, coward. Fine, get lost. Don’t come begging later.”
Mapheltan swallowed a sigh.
The thieves were incredibly low-quality.
There wasn’t a trace of professionalism in them.
They were likely just bottom-rung members of the Thieves’ Guild.
That such rabble would dare infiltrate a Council family mansion—this was not a normal situation.
If they were seriously targeting this place, higher powers should have moved.
That was Mapheltan’s conclusion.
One of the thieves slung the relic-filled pack over his shoulder and began walking.
“I’m out. Wrap it up and don’t get caught, or don’t drag me down.”
Just as he was about to leave the office, a chilling voice rang out.
“I have a few questions for you.”
The thieves froze in place.
The voice had a power that could freeze a person’s soul.
The thief holding the relics stammered.
“W-Was that your voice just now?”
“……No. Behind you. That thing.”
The thief holding the parchment was visibly shaking.
His retina reflected a monstrous being.
A massive, jet-black back, wings that covered the entire office, and two sharp white horns protruding above the nape. A creature from a Cursed Scripture had somehow taken place between the two of them.
“Behind me? What are you….”
The thief turned his head with a creak.
His pupils dilated.
He locked eyes with blood-red irises.
The thief dropped his backpack with a thud.
An overwhelming fear devoured his entire being.
He couldn’t even scream.
Mapheltan slowly opened his mouth.
“First question. From whom did you buy information about this mansion?”
No reply.
“H-Haaah…”
Only harsh breathing echoed.
Mapheltan gently tapped the thief’s forehead with a long claw.
“Answer, and you’ll die in peace.”
Still frozen, the thief couldn’t speak.
Mapheltan clicked his tongue.
He lightly dragged his sharp claw downward.
Blood trickled down the thief’s forehead.
The crimson liquid seeped into his terrified eye.
One of his eyes turned red, just like Mapheltan’s.
Suddenly, he screamed.
“D-Demon! A demon! It’s a demon! Demon!!”
The thief bolted.
Running faster than he ever had since birth.
His fleeing form looked rather ridiculous.
Mapheltan’s lips curled into a smile.
“A bit of amusement on a boring night.”
He shouldn’t have enjoyed it—but he could barely hold back laughter.
Laughter echoed through the dark mansion.
Mapheltan slowly turned around.
His eyes curved like crescent moons.
“You’d better run too. Now.”
The remaining thief stumbled back, then dashed out.
And thus began a game of tag in the middle of the night.