Translator: Nox

60 - The Time of the Blind Beast (15+ Revised Edition)

Chapter 60

After a moment of blankly losing himself, he soon burst into giggles.

"It's good to be a war hero, isn't it? Why, do they expect you to miraculously open your eyes? Even when you do nothing, they create legends for you. The lame walk, the blind see—I've only ever seen such legends in scriptures."

There must be many people who miss him. The fact that he is still mentioned, even though he lives like a corpse hidden away in the countryside.

"They really saw him."

"They must have seen things."

"Surely not, if one has eyes, they could never mistake that face for..."

The government official, about to retort in frustration, noticed Achenaus's expression and quickly changed his tone.

"...More importantly, he's a well-known public figure. The North has been a constant battleground, after all. In any case, he visited Cielsa. The witnesses are making quite a fuss about it. They said his face and build were exactly the same... Cielsa is close to the border, isn't it? Some are speculating he might have returned to the army and gone on reconnaissance."

"If that were the case, the news would have reached my ears first..."

...it would have.

...would it?

Suddenly, his certainty vanished.

Hadn't the series of incidents that occurred previously also ended with an unsettling aftertaste? He vividly recalled unfamiliar soldiers, whose faces and names he didn't know, challenging him to duels regardless of location, or firing shots in directions with no targets, then offering flimsy excuses about making a mistake while betting amongst themselves.

He really should have chased after him to Derosa immediately back then.

The one who stopped him at the time was his father. With the Valdemara family already the subject of gossip due to the fratricidal strife, he had been berated for not acting more discreetly, for intending to expose their family feud further.

There was a messenger who brought him news, shuttling between the main house and the branch, to quench his thirst, but that person wasn't chosen by Achenaus. Of course, he had considered sending people himself. However, the messenger, upon learning of this, subtly dissuaded him.

He argued that if someone had served as a soldier, their instincts would be as sharp as a beast's, and sending many people to rummage through the mansion might even eliminate the chance to scout the situation there.

And so, he had only received indirect news through the eyes and mouths of others. Moreover, what Ezekiel lost wasn't an arm or a leg, but his eyes, wasn't it? Sight is the most critical sense for survival. Because of this, he had been somewhat complacent.

A chill ran down his spine. The taste of alcohol soured. The hazy intoxication vanished.

Achenaus abruptly stood up.

He felt he had to confirm it with his own eyes.

Upon returning to the Valdemara mansion, Achenaus flung open the door to his father's study and entered.

The study was empty at the moment.

He began by searching the desk. All news arriving at Valdemara generally passed through this desk.

Where could the clue be on this desk?

Achenaus pulled out a filing cabinet and overturned it. Fern Valdemara. Various documents and mail, signed with his father's strict handwriting, poured out. Achenaus quickly scanned the contents, reading only the front and middle sections of the documents. There was no particular news about Ezekiel within the filing cabinet.

Rattling open drawers and quickly scanning the top and bottom of the bookshelves, including the desk, Achenaus discovered a basket where mail for incineration was collected.

Mail usually slated for incineration was one of two things: either completely useless, or so important that it must not leave any evidence.

In the cold winter, they always kept the fireplace lit and burned documents as they came, but since the cold hadn't reached that point yet, they collected them in batches and burned them all at once.

But was that news important enough to be classified for incineration?

While harboring doubts in a corner of his mind, Achenaus diligently unfolded the papers. It was then that an envelope fell from the stack of documents he had grabbed.

He examined the envelope front and back. The letter, with no markings on the outer cover, appeared at first glance to be a blank envelope mistakenly sent. Achenaus thought so too and was about to discard it.

However, the envelope felt subtly thick.

There was clearly something inside, yet it was a blank envelope with no recipient or sender name.

"Ah, now that's suspicious."

Achenaus opened the letter. The letter was written in a very elegant hand. Before even looking at the contents, he was momentarily captivated.

By all appearances, it was the writing of a well-educated woman.

Then, the moment he read the first sentence.

We bring news of Ezekiel from Derosa. The surgery was successful.

"...What?"

An expletive escaped his lips.

Surgery? Could surgery be possible if he was blinded? And with poison? What happened? Did that woman do a shoddy job? But he had watched him stumble around blindly and flee north; could that be the case?

Confusion followed confusion. He felt he needed to see the content of whatever report had come in previously.

Achenaus frantically searched his surroundings for another envelope of the same appearance. However, the mail he was looking for was nowhere to be found. It seemed all the previous mail had been incinerated, and this one was all that remained.

"Damn it."

He had no way of knowing what had happened while he was distracted from him, but one thing was certain.

If his sight had truly returned, he would never be lurking in Derosa.

Ambush, surprise attack, shooting.

A chill ran down his spine as he recalled the characteristics of the 37th Regiment, which had made Ezekiel's name renowned in all directions.

"...Ah, damn it."

He didn't even realize he was crumpling the letter. He shoved it into his pocket and looked around. The opulent mansion, filled to the brim with furnishings, suddenly looked like a sniper's hideout. The atmosphere couldn't have been more ominous.

What if a bullet suddenly flew at his back? Or he was stabbed with a knife while sleeping?

The mere thought sent a shiver down his spine.

What's more, he had no allies in this mansion. They were all in on it.

Even though his father was secretly receiving reports on Ezekiel's whereabouts, he hadn't breathed a word to Achenaus. The messenger had also lied with a brazen face.

That's right...

He often heard criticism that his method of checking his brother was not fair. But that was said by those who didn't understand. That man was a soldier trained to kill professionally. He excelled at subduing opponents with a rifle, a sword, or even hand-to-hand combat. The mindset of a soldier and a civilian in combat was entirely different. Naturally, the civilian side had to employ new tactics, hadn't they?

Once he recognized the danger, his own state of being unarmed felt as precarious as a naked child. Furthermore, the study was structured with one wall connected to the garden through a large window. Carelessly, he had been exposing his back to the outside all this time. It was madness.

Achenaus recalled the day Ezekiel lost his sight. The woman who had been hired to kill had fled without explanation, and Ezekiel had remained silent and barricaded himself in. Though he didn't know the specifics of what happened in that room, the trigger that gathered everyone in the mansion at once was a single gunshot that rang out from the bedroom. Later, the employees found the bullet that had shattered the window and lodged itself in a tree in the garden. Therefore, if he intended to snipe, the study was a perfectly targetable location.

First, he hastily drew the curtains, and then Achenaus surveyed the dimly lit study. Fortunately, his father's collected rifles were in a display case. He took out a rifle and thoroughly searched the study, gathering spare gunpowder and bullets.

Still, there was a problem. Experience. He had rarely handled a rifle properly, and his memory was hazy.

"Is this how it's done?"

He had heard that soldiers used easy and efficient loading methods because they fired from horseback, but Achenaus had never learned. As he pushed the gunpowder and bullets in, he wasn't sure if he was loading it correctly.

Even the feel in his hands was unfamiliar. So, as he shouldered the loaded rifle and aimed it around, it was then.

Suddenly, sensing a shadow move, Achenaus glanced towards the doorway. Someone was opening the study door silently.

Achenaus moved stealthily towards the slowly opening door and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang!

A loud gunshot echoed.

"Ahhh!"

The maid, who had been hiding behind the door and moving cautiously, screamed and collapsed.

"Ah, so this is how it's done."

Seeing that it had fired successfully, the loading was a success. The recoil was stronger than expected, but manageable.

Achenaus examined the barrel and blew on it to cool it.

"I, I... I heard a strange noise from inside the study..."

The pale maid stammered her excuse, looking up at Achenaus. She seemed too terrified to speak properly due to the sudden gunshot. Achenaus replied kindly.

"I was practicing."

"Yes... Yes?"

"If an uninvited guest makes an unauthorized entry, the homeowner must stop them, even with a gun, right?"

"Wh-what on earth are you talking about..."

"You're bewildered because you don't understand, right? So am I. This situation is utterly absurd and ridiculous."

Just then, employees who had heard the gunshot came running from various parts of the mansion.

"What was that?"

"Where did that roar, ugh..."

The employees, spotting Achenaus and the maid, gasped.

Although they wondered what kind of incident this was, the fact that Achenaus was the one holding the rifle caused the employees to exchange looks of fear and bewilderment.

It was then. A stern voice cut through the crowd and reprimanded Achenaus.

"What do you think you're doing!"

It was Fern Valdemara, Achenaus's and Ezekiel's father.