Ch#31
“B-Basto, you bastard, how……”
Kal staggered to his feet.
His struck cheek burned fiercely.
From the incident report in Ban-Anra Village until now, his grudge against Basto had grown from long-standing to downright rotten.
“……I wondered when and where I’d run into you.”
As Basto took a step forward, a thick shadow fell over Kal’s head.
“H-How are you here? You were definitely!”
“Shut up. Before I kill you for good.”
At that moment, a chilling touch pressed against Kal’s throat.
Startled, he looked down to see a pretty-faced woman holding a dagger to his neck.
“Do you know how much hell we went through in the Capital because of you? We had to empty out all the gold and goods our kiddo—no, our Unit Leader had to fix the mess you made.”
The woman ground her teeth as if furious just thinking about it.
In the meantime, the old man standing behind her approached Governor Marianne.
“A pleasure to meet you, Sub-Marquis Wavebrill.”
At his words, the gathered crowd all gasped in surprise.
They might not know the name ‘Marianne’ the governor, but everyone had heard of the Wavebrill family.
And rightly so—the Wavebrill Marquisate was one of the top five great noble houses in the empire.
“How is a noble lady like yourself out in the rain?”
Marianne sharply drew in her breath at the old man’s voice.
Innkeeper Rudy hurriedly stepped forward.
“Oh dear, we’ve been rude since earlier! Please, come inside first.”
Marianne glared at Kal once more before entering the inn.
Basto, Tiye, and Nordix followed behind.
Only after the four had vanished did Veil withdraw the dagger from Kal’s throat.
“You. Don’t even think about running. Stay right here. When our Unit Leader comes out, you’re done for.”
With that, he followed the other Agabert members inside.
Kal stared blankly at the door Veil had disappeared through, then narrowed his brow.
‘Unit Leader?’
Could Basto that bastard have finally set up his own mercenary group?
“That’s the Necrolord, right?”
But then murmurs reached his ears.
“Yeah. They say all that disguise stuff is just for show.”
“Disguise means magic, then?”
“They’re a grand archmage, so yeah. A necromancer handling dark attribute magic can do anything.”
“Then that skeleton summon at the gate? That real too?”
“Totally. I heard from <Jester> they didn’t just summon at the gate either. They took down mid- and small-sized Mana Stones in Tenebraum Cave all at once.”
“No way…… That explains it? Yesterday at the inn restaurant, even within their group, that Unit Leader had crazy status! Basto was totally fawning over them!”
Kal’s expression gradually hardened.
But the surrounding mercenaries didn’t notice his darkening mood.
“What about that, then? Someone said they saw the Necrolord crying while parading down the street yesterday?”
“That was a trap! They’re a total weirdo who sometimes pretends to be a real little kid. If you approach to help, they hit you with nasty magic that messes with your mind.”
“Messes with your mind……”
“I-Illusion magic?”
“Their tastes are twisted! Tesetan too—why are all the strong ones complete lunatics?”
“More than that, I’m jealous of Basto. How’d he find such an amazing Unit Leader?”
“Word is Agabert’ll hit the top ten ranks in no time.”
“Man, if only they’d subjugate that Mana Stone in the sea. We could watch the show.”
“Come to think of it, couldn’t Agabert handle that Mana Stone too?”
One mercenary pointed at something black and tall rising up.
Shrouded hazily in sea mist and rain, it was unmistakably a Mana Stone.
“Nah. Even from here, it looks mid-sized at least. Plus, we don’t even know what monsters might come out of it.”
“Fair point. A new group has no need to take that risk.”
“All of you shut up!”
At that moment, Kal shouted sharply.
The mercenaries looked at him in bewilderment.
“Necrolord? Agabert? Hilarious.”
Kal’s body trembled with rage.
“Some old hag, young woman, and weirdo pretending to be a kid subjugating that Mana Stone? Yeah right!”
Kal’s eyes blazed with jealousy and hatred.
“Watch closely, all of you. I, Kal, will prove it’s all bullshit rumors. That Mana Stone is mine!”
At his words, the <Death Hound> members flinched.
“U-Unit Leader. But that Mana Stone has no precedent. We don’t know the risk level……”
“Shut it! If you’re gonna act like scared kids, get lost now! I won’t stop you.”
The members fell silent.
Kal glared at the risen Mana Stone in the sea, brow furrowed tight.
“……Actually, perfect timing. Might as well rank up while we’re at it.”
Back when he’d been in Death Hound with Basto, he’d always been the Unit Leader.
But Basto had always enjoyed far greater fame than him.
‘Arrogant prick. Who the hell does he think he is, stealing the spotlight from me?’
Right up until Ban-Anra Village became a sea of flames, that idiot had always smiled at Kal good-naturedly.
Clueless to the thoughts Kal harbored inside.
‘Hoping his family ended up like that, that he’d quit mercenary work or drop dead somewhere.’
Even subtly stealing Basto’s achievements had become impossible at some point.
So he’d resolved himself.
To bury the guy completely in the industry, no matter the cost.
But.
‘Those Holy Knight bastards. The money I gave them back then wasn’t enough, is that it?!’
If they took the bribe, they shouldn’t have let him through the gate!
Kal ground his teeth and glared at the inn where Basto had vanished.
‘Word is Agabert’ll hit the top ten ranks in no time.’
Top ten? As if.
That was where his <Death Hound> sat.
He couldn’t share such a spot with a bunch of worthless rookies.
“Recar. Come here.”
Calling quietly, vice-leader Recar approached Kal.
“Listen well to what I say now. If those rookies say they’ll subjugate the mid-sized Mana Stone with us……”
* * *
Meanwhile, inside the inn.
“Governor, are you alright?”
Marianne raised her head.
Her handkerchief was completely crumpled from how tightly she’d gripped it.
“……Sorry. Where was I?”
Nordix smiled kindly as he replied.
“You asked if there’s been any word from the imperial family.”
Marianne shook her head with a troubled expression.
“My adjutant should have sent an urgent dispatch. But a reply will take time. As you see……”
Her gaze turned back to the window where thunder and lightning flashed.
The wind had grown stronger, whipping the rain sideways.
‘The boat Raoul and Enzo are on hasn’t capsized, has it?’
Marianne prayed silently.
Please, let the boat with Raoul and Enzo have already reached the pier.
Let the twins have safely gotten off and returned to the Governance Hall.
“Governor.”
But then a childish voice scattered her thoughts.
Turning with a worried face, she saw the little girl sitting across from her.
Platinum curls damp from the rain.
Green eyes shining with concern somewhere.
“Governor, your face looks all woof-woof gloomy……”
“Woof-woof gloomy……?”
“Did someone get lost at sea? Your eyes keep going to the ocean.”
Marianne’s mouth closed.
Her heart pounded, her breathing quickened.
“I-I……”
Actually, her vision had gone dark.
Her hands and feet trembled, and every breath made her head spin.
But Marianne had been repeating to herself all this time.
‘It’ll be fine. My sons will be fine. So I just need to do my job, just my job…….’
She couldn’t endure without denying the situation.
‘Raoul and Enzo aren’t in danger, aren’t in danger.’
They really aren’t in danger.
She thought of her husband’s death.
It had been the same back then.
When she thought he might really die, when she finally grasped the gravity.
That’s when her husband’s death notice arrived.
Marianne’s hand twitched in spasms.
Her rigid posture slowly crumbled.
“I……”
Her mind grew filled more and more with one thought.
Raoul and Enzo will return as corpses too.
The moment she rose to search for them.
