novelraw Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121
Unlike Haitry, who couldn't hide his excitement, Sara answered calmly.
“Since my abilities are lacking, I feel I might be a burden.”
“The Viscount said otherwise, though.”
“What ability would a girl who hasn’t learned anything have? Viscount Haitry is a person who is generous to his subordinates.”
Seeing how naturally that answer came out, it was clear she had been in similar situations before.
‘And yet he brought me here?’
Is that guy stupid, or is his mental age just low?
When I looked at Haitry with pathetic eyes, he muttered like the tragic heroine of a betrayal drama.
“I-I believed in you…….”
Believed?
Who?
“Clearly, you were the same kind as me…….”
When Sara, who was next to him, stepped on Haitry’s foot with all her might, Haitry hiccupped and slumped down.
‘Same kind? Does he mean he also sponsored the 2nd Prince?’
Just as I was tilting my head, I saw the Marquess standing in the center of the banquet hall behind the slumped Haitry.
The Marquess, calmly conversing with dozens of nobles gathered around him, was practically the specimen of a high-ranking noble.
On the other hand, if one were to discover a noble hiding in a corner, covering his body with a robe that didn’t suit the banquet hall.
‘They would never think he’s a high-ranking noble.’
Even a Count would have forces following him.
There’s no way he would be alone like me.
As I stared at the blankly slumped Haitry, Sara quickly supported him and said.
“It seems the Viscount is not feeling well. May we excuse ourselves now?”
It was a good strategy.
If anyone gets their foot stepped on with the force to crush their toes, they are bound to feel unwell.
But unfortunately, my interest had been piqued.
“Then why did you approach me?”
“Pardon……?”
“Not you, you.”
Ignoring Haitry, whose mouth was twitching at Sara’s gesture, I looked at Sara, and she spoke calmly.
“Since the Viscount has almost no interaction with other families, he wished to obtain information.”
Ah.
Is that so.
Since anyone asked would know more than him, they targeted me because I looked the easiest.
The problem is that stupid guy thought I was the ‘same kind’ and introduced Sara to me.
“Hmm…….”
I grinned while looking at Sara and Haitry.
“There probably isn’t anyone who knows better than me, so why don’t you ask me?”
“…Can you give us an answer?”
Seeing her voice tremble, it was certain that Sara knew who I was.
I didn’t know how on earth she found out, though.
‘Even the soldiers of the fortress didn’t know my face.’
I genuinely admired the fact that Sara, who works under a local noble and not even a central noble, recognized my identity.
It meant she had prepared thoroughly to come to this place.
“Of course. If you grant me just one favor.”
“I cannot leave the Viscount’s family.”
“Ah, this favor is different. Just a very trivial thing.”
“……?”
“I’ll change your fate, so just lend me Haitry for a moment.”
When Sara turned her head, the pale-faced Haitry desperately shook his head.
“Is it a dangerous task?”
“Mm. Not really?”
She pondered for a moment, looked at Haitry, and asked again.
“Is there nothing slightly dangerous?”
* * *
The frowning Marquess looked at the lord of the domain.
“Countess Natasha, when on earth is the Knight Commander coming?”
“I will send someone again.”
The Marquess, who pondered for a brief moment, shook his head.
“No. Let it be. Since we sent someone, he will come when the time is right.”
He didn’t really think that.
They had even contacted him before arrival, so the fact that he hadn’t shown himself until now meant he was intentionally avoiding the Marquess.
‘It must be His Highness’s will.’
There is no way the Royal family doesn’t know the Marquess headed to Obsol.
In other words, it means the Royal family does not want the Marquess and the Knight Commander to meet.
‘Do they not want to show that my opinion differs from the Royal family’s?’
For the Marquess, who simply wanted to stall for time, it was baffling.
It meant the King was doubting his loyalty.
Although he wondered if they would go that far, considering the current King, it seemed entirely possible.
For the Marquess, who is called the center of the Royalist faction, to show behavior opposing the Royal family would be fatal to the royal authority.
‘Whatever the case, it is fine. If the Knight Commander does not show himself, the nobles gathered here will naturally follow my words.’
Just as he thought that, someone approached him naturally and spoke.
“Marquess, have you been well all this while?”
“Ah, Count Saite.”
The Marquess’s face crumpled.
Count Saite was from a family that had pledged loyalty to the Royal family for generations.
Among them, the current Count was a man who clung to the King so closely that he was called the King’s lackey.
“What business brings you here? I heard visits were only permitted to families that provided troops to the 2nd Prince.”
“Ah, I visited as a messenger of the Royal family.”
“A messenger of the Royal family?”
As the Marquess’s voice rose at the news he was hearing for the first time, the surrounding gazes naturally gathered.
“His Highness commanded me to confirm with my own eyes the culprit targeting Moner in order to quell the absurd rumors.”
Count Saite, who spoke with a good-natured smile, raised both hands as if it were truly regrettable and continued.
“However, the Duchy did not permit my visit, so I had no choice but to wait here.”
What do you mean, no choice.
The Marquess, seeing that snake-like tongue, clicked his tongue.
There was no way a guy like him came to find real Orcs; his purpose must have been this place from the start.
Because the Royal family would have wanted to show that they were making every effort to resolve the misunderstanding.
‘Groan…….’
What was more unpleasant than the Count’s existence was the fact that he hadn’t known about this.
‘The King suspects me.’
It must be because he brought up the minority opinion that they should support Moner at every meeting.
‘Haa…….’
Just as he sighed and was about to open his mouth, the Count lowered his voice with a serious face and asked.
“I heard that Moner is refusing visits from other nobles as well, but…….”
Since everyone’s ears and eyes were already focused on them, when the Count lowered his voice, the banquet hall became as silent as a dead mouse.
“Doesn’t it seem strange to you? That they say they are preparing for battle inside with the northern nobles, yet they are excluding other nobles.”
These were words spoken by the Count who received a special order from the King.
Whatever he said would have sounded plausible.
The Count’s real mission was to grow small doubts uncontrollably and draw out the unity of the nobles.
“If Moner is truly facing a great threat, shouldn’t they accept the help of even one more person? To refuse those who stepped forward for Moner like that…….”
The Count naturally twisted the information.
Although there was no one who gathered to help Moner, the fact that they provided troops was true.
“Unless they are really preparing a rebellion with the northern nobles, there is no reason for that, is there?”
“What kind of nonsense is that!”
The Marquess shouted quickly, but he couldn’t take back the words already spilled.
Since the nobles had already clearly heard the Count’s words, it was best to settle the situation before other words came out.
“Moner is practically the guardian who has protected the Kingdom from the Demonic Beasts for generations! How can you, who received His Highness’s command, accuse the Guardian of the Kingdom as a traitor?!”
The Marquess’s gaze, having shouted thunderously, scanned the faces of the nobles.
‘Is it slightly effective?’
The honor and reputation Moner had built up until now shone.
Among the nobles gathered here, there must be those who provided troops to truly help Moner.
Just reminding them that the opponent was Moner had an effect.
“I saw their sacrifices with my own eyes! The warriors who fight to protect the Kingdom while eating sand-mixed bread despite the persecution of other families!”
The Marquess recalled the Young Lord of Moner he saw just a few months ago.
The young master of Moner who summoned a god against the three Counts and killed the father and son of Obsol right in front of him.
‘He is not a guy whose leash can be held and controlled.’
If the nobles colluded and the army moved, he was a guy who would really start a rebellion.
The King was convinced that would absolutely never happen, but doesn't even a mouse bite a cat when cornered?
‘If it’s him, he would really take the family and move.’
He was a guy who would giggle saying it serves them right while watching the Kingdom’s people and army collapse to the Orcs.
So right now.
I have to buy time.
So that the King and the Royal family cannot think in vain.
The Marquess, having organized his thoughts, opened his mouth again.
“Would such people really target the Royal family? Do you think the swords of heroes who protected the Kingdom while chewing on sand-mixed bread would really aim for the Royal family!”
He slightly raised one corner of his mouth toward the Count who was looking at him with a rotten face.
‘Kid, this is how you use a tongue.’
The moment he thought the momentum had shifted.
“Th-that… You are right, but.”
At the voice of a young noble who had no presence, the gazes of the nobles moved once again.
“Th-that isn’t a reason to refuse the Kingdom’s special envoy, is it?”
Trembling as if he would collapse at any moment under the Marquess’s cold gaze and the interest of other nobles, the guy did not stop speaking.
“It-It’s not difficult to confirm the enemy either. Can’t we just find the traces?”
Tsk.
That guy is a moron who doesn’t even have a grasp on how difficult it is to ‘confirm the enemy’ in a war.
The majority of the nobles gathered here were such morons.
Even if I explained how difficult it is to discover the enemy’s traces and figure out their location now, it wouldn’t make a dent.
“…You, what is your name.”
“M-my name, why, why…….”
The guy, who glanced at the Marquess with a voice trembling more than a decent opera singer, squeezed his eyes shut like a madman and shouted.
“If! The Knight Order! Directly! Confirms! The enemy’s traces! The misunderstanding will be resolved!”
The Marquess lightly trembled at the ominous feeling felt in that instant.
‘What is this?’
It was a shouting that cut off in segments.
Just like reading a script.
‘Who sent him?’
Was he even sent by someone?
The guy looked too naive and stupid to be believed as a spy.
If it were a sane human, they wouldn’t use a guy like that even if paid.
‘Is it a coincidence……?’
He gained the focus of others by speaking at a ghostly timing, but that was all.
Unless he knew the Royal family’s plan, the guy couldn’t participate in this play.
“Right. It would be resolved if the Knight Order checks directly. Isn’t that so, Count?”
At the Marquess’s nonchalant voice, the Count, chewing his lip, spoke.
“That cannot be done. How could we disobey the King’s solemn command?”
“N-nonsense! Didn’t you say both the Count and the Knight Order came to find traces of the enemy?!”
At the stupid remark, the Marquess and the Count clicked their tongues simultaneously.
Because there was absolutely no way the Count would crawl into the forest of demonic beasts to find traces.
The one who opened his mouth first was Count Saite.
“That is correct.”
Nodding his head, he looked at the naive noble with a feigned unpleasant face.
“By the way, I believe the Marquess asked for Sir’s name…….”
“I, I am…….”
Rolling his eyes frantically, he shouted.
“I am Haitry!”
The gazes of the Count and the Marquess collided in mid-air.
‘Is that bastard perhaps… a commoner?’
Other nobles aside, the number of people who knew the Viscount family just by the name Haitry could be counted on one hand.
* * *
“K-Khm! Sir Haitry.”
The Count, who soon calmed his mind, nodded.
Since being in the banquet hall made it certain he was a noble, he considered him a bloodline of a Count family in name only.
“That is correct. I came to find traces. But as I already said, Moner refused my investigation.”
The Count spoke confidently.
“Even though they could receive the help of the Royal Army stationed at the three Counts’ territories and the Kingdom’s 1st Knight Order if I discovered traces, they refused my investigation.”
At the voice implying it was certain they were hiding something, the word ‘rebellion’ flashed through everyone’s minds once again.
The Marquess, furrowing his brow at the changed situation and glaring at Haitry, opened his mouth again.
“Khm! Since you say that, I will ask again. Do you mean the Royal Army and the Knight Order will really move if traces are discovered?”
Toward the Count looking at him as if asking what he meant, the Marquess continued nonchalantly.
“If you say yes, even if I have to kneel before Moner, I will go with you. Let us go and find the traces directly.”
At the final move the Marquess thrust forward, the Count’s face went cold.
Traces left by Orcs, which a noble Count couldn't distinguish.
In the first place, he had no intention of sticking even a single toe into that infamous forest of demonic beasts.
But he couldn’t say he had no intention of finding traces now.
Since he had already revealed it was a royal command.
The Count, glaring at the Marquess and Haitry as if to kill them, finally opened his mouth.
“…Traces alone are insufficient to move the Royal Army. At the very least, shouldn’t we spot an Orc directly or discover a corpse?”
That stupid Young Lord said the seed of monsters had dried up since he started training in the forest of demonic beasts.
Even if we investigated in reality, we wouldn’t be able to find a single hair of a monster.
Just as he finished speaking with that thought.
A cold voice came from beside Haitry.
“You change your words every second; you’re not even a market swindler.”
The voice of a handsome young man who grinned while looking at the Count rang clearly in everyone’s ears like magic.
“I hope you are sincere this time. If a person who received a Royal Command committed fraud in front of me.”
Ian’s cold smile was directed at the Marquess.
“Even I would have no choice but to misunderstand.”