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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: The Red Saint Intruder
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“R-Really?”
Solles looked visibly relieved.
Meanwhile, the emperor lowered his eyes sadly.
“I knew the Lubeo President wasn’t ordinary, but…”
“She landed a solid hit on the marquess, didn’t she?”
“I’d momentarily forgotten. It wasn’t for nothing that she was called the ‘Crimson Blood Ice.’”
The emperor shuddered dramatically, as if recalling something. Nibelria and Arep let out soft chuckles.
The emperor looked back at Nibelria.
“So, can you give us permission?”
“Just promotion?”
“Promotion and investment.”
“Hmm…”
Nibelria pursed her lips like she was kissing them, deep in thought, then stretched out her hand.
“Wait! Meeting time!”
She then beckoned Arep and Solles behind the sofa.
The three small heads huddled together, whispering and discussing something.
Solles mainly presented ideas, while Nibelria and Arep listened intently, asking questions here and there.
Emperor Ferrator watched them fondly.
They’re sharp. I like that.
Majia likewise couldn’t hide his admiration.
That foul-tempered old geezer can make that face too, huh.
The emperor thought it was a truly worthwhile spectacle in many ways.
The children returned.
“Okay!”
Nibelria nodded.
“But there’s a condition!”
“Nini.”
“There is!”
At Solles’s reminder, Nibelria switched back to polite speech and stated the condition.
“The condition is…!”
The counterfeit down coat scandal from the perennial snow duck feathers.
The incident that shocked everyone this winter now had an official name.
The shop owners and employees were arrested one after another. A search of the shops began immediately.
Inside the shops was another winter altogether. The air was far colder and more biting than the sharp wind outside that stung the skin.
This was due to the fake coats.
The storerooms and warehouses stocked with inventory had gotten soaked through, freezing solid over time.
Icicles had even formed on the ceilings.
“We found the ledger!”
During the cautious search, they discovered a secret safe hidden in the floor.
The ledger was, of course, a double set of books.
The investigators collected the evidence as if they’d expected as much. Crooks like these never kept proper records.
“Ha, would you look at this?”
“They even set up ghost companies for money laundering.”
“Where does this lead? Hurry and trace the fund flows!”
It took several days to track where the siphoned money had gone.
When the investigators finally traced it to the end, they were speechless.
“That’s why they ran.”
Someone let out an incredulous chuckle, and everyone deeply empathized.
The profits from selling the counterfeits had passed through a trading company and ghost firms, emerging as clean money.
Its final destination was a subsidiary of Petra Yeong-sik.
The news spread quickly through the press.
Ardores Dayamor walked down the hallway wearing a brown sweater that clearly screamed handmade.
In his hand was a letter sealed with wax.
He stopped a passing servant.
“Deliver this for me.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll go right now.”
“Have a warm cup of tea on the way back. The weather’s cold, so take it easy.”
He handed over the letter along with a pouch containing a bit of money.
The servant refused at first, saying it was fine, but soon accepted with joy. It was practically permission to slack off.
“…I’ll still hurry back.”
The servant rushed off to prepare.
Alone again, Ardores fiddled with the sweater he was wearing.
She’s got no talent for this stuff, honestly.
The sweater had been knitted by Muniel over a month.
Threads stuck out everywhere, the stitches were crooked, and her attempts at patterns remained hopelessly plain even after decades.
Still, Ardores always wore the sweaters she gave him.
Until the neck stretched out and the seams at the shoulders unraveled.
Her nagging me to stop wearing them is half the fun.
He wondered what scolding she’d give him this year to make him laugh.
It was his grumpy annual ritual, one he couldn’t give up even in old age.
“…Hm?”
Just then, something caught Ardores’s eye.
It was Nibelria and Arep.
Back from Magic Tower kindergarten and academy, the two were together as always.
Ardores concealed his presence and watched what game the little ones were playing.
“He’s coming in here! What do we do?”
“How about we keep the fire going? He’ll burn up and get hurt bad.”
“Good idea! Then let’s light a fire here and stick something super sharp in too. Grandpa said back in the day he put his sword in the fire and stabbed bad guys in the legs…!”
“Kids!”
Ardores called out loudly.
The children, who had been murmuring in front of the fireplace, came toddling over and hugged him.
Ardores quietly swallowed a sigh.
“Grandpa! Big trouble!”
Oblivious to his thoughts, Nibelria huffed.
“A thief’s coming!”
“A thief?”
“A really dangerous, bad thief!”
She glanced around suspiciously, then lowered her voice.
“I think it’s a magic beast…!”
At the words “magic beast,” Ardores’s eyes sharpened.
“A magic beast?”
“Today at kindergarten…!”
Nibelria shared what she’d learned there.
“A fat old man in blood-red clothes comes down the chimney at night!”
“A stranger breaking into the house. That’s super dangerous…!”
Arep chimed in eagerly.
“Ah…”
I see.
Ardores was certain his face looked utterly foolish right now.
“He leaves a present. But that’s not a present! I know! It happened before!”
During the war, magic beasts used every trick to deceive humans.
One of them was “presents.”
To tempt war-weary humans, they created exactly what people desired most.
A food crate dropped at the forest edge.
Or an ideal partner collapsed injured in an empty house during a search.
All traps set by magic beasts.
Exhausted people approached without suspicion. And the beasts snapped their necks and devoured them.
“Nini. Arep.”
Ardores said.
“First off, it’s not a thief. Or a magic beast.”
“But a fat old stranger is coming into the house…”
“That’s the Red Saint. He visits good children every winter to give presents. He’s on our side.”
You got one last year too.
Don’t you remember? Ardores asked.
“……”
Unfortunately, Nibelria didn’t remember.
She’d already forgotten her aunt’s gifts, let alone last winter’s.
Besides…
“I got tons from Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, um, and lots more.”
So she had no interest in whatever the red creep brought.
Nibelria had one thought only.
She had to stop some unknown creep from invading her territory.
Nothing else.
Cats are territorial animals.
“I’ll kill him…!”
Nibelria growled low, imagining the big red geezer she’d never seen.
“So, for that reason, the Dayamor family will have to handle the Red Saint Festival differently this year.”
“……”
“What do you think?”
“W-Why tell me…!”
The secretary, with dark circles under his eyes, struggled to escape Ardores’s grip.
But breaking free from a former holy knight’s large, strong hand was impossible.
Ardores was still twice his size.
“I’m just a mere secretary! A secretary!”
“Tch. Fair enough.”
“Why click your tongue! I’m the wronged and scared one here!”
The secretary grumbled after finally breaking free.
“Anyway, does the young lady hate it that much?”
“She’s even hunting for that sword she’s so scared of. She plans to light fires in every fireplace he might enter and stick the blade up the chimney.”
“……”
“The kid’s got spirit, that’s for sure.”
Ardores felt quietly pleased.
“…Not sure that’s something to be pleased about?”
But the Red Saint Festival wasn’t just for kids.
It was a joyful day for the Dayamor employees too. They received bonuses and gifts that day.
The tradition, started when the family began amassing wealth, boasted over 30 years.
“No time to change it now, even if we wanted. We’re swamped.”
The secretary showed the thick stack of documents he’d been clutching.
“The young lady and young masters made the recognition of Philia Telle employees’ existence and rights a condition for using the magic stone mine.”
The day they visited the palace.
The children had demanded recognition of all witches working at the pharmaceutical company Philia Telle as the price for letting the imperial family use the magic stone mine.
Not a request. A demand.
An absolute condition.
“This could stir up quite the controversy.”
“You against it?”
“Ardores, sir. Have you forgotten I’m dating Radia?”
The secretary visited the witches often for the pharma company issue.
Naturally, he spent more time with lawyer-witch Radia.
They’d been dating since this fall, marriage in mind.
“I’m working on minimizing the backlash.”
Even if the emperor declared them under national protection, idiots would oppose.
Those fools would band together, spouting sophistry rather than admit their twisted beliefs.
“Muniel will handle that.”
“Muniel?”
“Forgot to tell Kaleo. She’s with Della right now for it.”
“Auntie?”
No wonder she’d been going out so much lately.
The secretary finally breathed a sigh of relief.
