[Aiden] Double-armed scales (4)
I didn’t have much time to spare.
Because the savvy and intelligence of the merchants are not to be underestimated, it would be an instant that the fact that Lortel was insane in this way would spread.
I can understand why Lienna, the chief secretary, was so concerned about information security.
Not only that, but in this case the enemy is on the inside. You should be the most wary of Slog Keldrux, a fellow merchant in the Elte Chamber who ate in one pot.
As someone in the same company, you’ll immediately smell it when you sense something suspicious in Lortel’s movement.
– ‘Still, Deputy Director Hoe-Joo used to go to the Roth Taylor mansion once for no reason. Let’s see Ed’s face. So, even if you suddenly went to the Duke of Roth Taylor, it wouldn’t look suspicious.’
First of all, Lortel’s condition is not normal, so it is urgent to hide it.
If it is revealed that Lortel has become like this, it is impossible to know what changes will occur in the power structure within the Elte Chamber.
– ‘A place where the deputy chief of Lortel can go without any doubts. Nevertheless, a place with the power and power to protect the deputy director of Lortel Hoeju.’
In fact, there is only one Duke of Roth Taylor. Lienna’s judgment was wise.
– Rumble, Rumble.
As a result, Lortel and I were seated opposite each other in the carriage heading to the Rothtailer Mansion.
Until Lortel recovers right away, Rienna says she will try to cover up her absence. Either way, he’s a competent henchman.
“…Stir…”
The wrathful woman, who always had an alluring smile and looked through the opponent, was looking at me with the pure eyes of the world.
A body swaying to and fro, guided by the vibrations of a rattling wagon. In his arms, he was holding something like an old and frayed ledger note. It’s very strange to see him holding it as if it were a treasure.
“Hey, where am I going? Lee, how about Lienna? Hey, can’t you see Lienna anymore…?”
Crying while holding an old notebook tightly, it is a terrifying figure. In the gap that had completely changed from my usual appearance, I was momentarily swallowed by breath.
“Lienna said that she would compliment her if she was kind and quiet… She said she would take her to the beach with her…”
The way he sniffs is embarrassing. I decided to take a deep breath and calm myself down.
“You really… you don’t remember anything…?”
Lortel buried her face in her notebook, revealing only her troubled eyes, and nodded. She let out a sigh, but she spoke as calmly as possible.
“Then… can you explain as much as you remember what happened in that old inn?”
“Yeah, yeah… I don’t really have much…”
It’s not unusual to see him crawling because it’s still a bit awkward.
“When I came to my senses… I was lying in a tumbled carriage… I was very scared, but Lienna came and calmed me down. And everything is fine, so please wait here. If you stay still, someone will come to your rescue…”
I don’t seem to have a good memory of myself.
I opened the document Lienna gave me and read it with my eyes. There was a detailed description of the situation at the time, but to summarize the key points, it is as follows.
Elte Chamber Central Branch Meeting to check the overall maintenance status of the Chamber. A simple story about being attacked while riding a wagon to attend.
On the way back to Old Deck after going out of the office, on the road along the remote valley, the whole carriage was directly hit by curse magic.
Fortunately, Lienna’s secretary, who heard the news quickly, went to rescue Lortel, and the story ended with this shape.
I read the letter, scanning my chin and wrinkling my brow.
There is not one or two things that are unnatural. The fact that Lortel allowed a raid so easily, and that the careful slogan used such violent means. In addition, he dared to use cursed magic … to the point that he used an ambiguous method.
If they wanted to raid and neutralize Lortel, they would either just capture it and lock it up somewhere, or, more extreme, plan an assassination.
Of course, the risk isn’t normal, but at least it’s more certain than neutralizing it with such a vague curse magic.
I haven’t met the merchant named Slog Kel’Dlux yet, but I’ve heard of that tendency.
I heard that even Lortel was a very cautious human being, so this situation itself is not well accepted.
“…As you may have heard, you are the leader of a large company.”
“Yes, yes… I know…”
“Did Lienna tell you?”
“Yes, yes, but… here… it’s all written…”
The ledger notes I hold tightly as if they were precious treasures. When I asked what it was, it was probably a work notebook that he had organized before he lost his memory.
The current Lortel read the journal and chewed the cud back on what kind of person he was in the past.
How did you work, how you governed people, how you made money, and how you lived.
Is there some sort of thought process written down?
I thought it would be a good idea to check it out, so I held out my hand and said.
“Can I see the note for a second?”
When he said that, Lortel was startled and hugged the notebook tighter.
“Oh no!”
“No…?”
“I, never… I can’t…”
Are you not aware of the seriousness of the situation?
“Lortell… you are so precious. Depending on how you are, many people’s lives are at a crossroads. So, if there’s a clue whatever happened, I’ll have to check it all out.”
“Well, that’s what I… I know… uh… Still, even if my head gets dizzy, I can tell for sure. Hey, you should never show Ed-nim the contents of this note… you shouldn’t…”
Isn’t there a state where I can’t even remember properly?
Nevertheless, unconsciously feeling that the notebook should be cherished, Lortel held her until the end and never let go.
I thought about it for a while, but eventually said I got it and admitted it.
I don’t know what clues are in the notebook, so I’ll have to check it out first, but it doesn’t have to be now.
read at https://noblemtl.com
More than anything else, I didn’t want to make Lortel, whose psychological state was unstable, more frightening. After all, you can check it out after you go to Roth Taylor’s mansion. You can’t hold the notebook 24 hours a day just because it’s a lortel, so you just have to tell the user to bring it to you.
I looked at Lortel quietly and sighed in resignation.
“Okay… Anyway, let’s go back to the mansion and talk more.”
Now is the time to consider Lortel’s condition. From Lortel’s point of view, it must feel like I’ve been kidnapped by a wagon out of nowhere with all my memories gone.
“Anyway, I’m on your side, so be aware of that. Even if I suddenly ask you to trust me, who is the first person I have met with a fuzzy memory, it would be a bit disappointing…”
“Ah, no… I believe… it’s scary.”
It can be said that it is like Lortel, no matter how much you go back to your childhood, to say what you need to say with certainty while hesitating.
“I know that Master Ed is on my side. That… it’s a little different from what I imagined… the scary part remains…”
“…imagine?”
“Rice, it’s nothing… just… just… yes, yes”
Looking down and sweating profusely.
I just watched the scene and nodded because I didn’t want to ask any further questions.
“This is… it happened.”
The meal prepared by the chef at the mansion is quite delicious.
Of course, I scouted the person who worked in the Imperial Kitchen.
That’s right, seeing Lortel’s soufflé pancakes and vegetables churning through her mouth with a fork in her hand… it was unbelievable for anyone who knew her true nature.
Perhaps the same for Yenica, looking at Lortel, she was astonished.
“This…is this… Lortel…?”
Yenika was bewildered, but sat quietly at Lortel, sitting at the edge of the large table, and eating a lively meal.
As Yenica, who was not on good terms with Lortel, is not sure how to deal with it.
“I fell into a ruse after a struggle between merchants, so this is what happened?”
“Yes. From what I’ve learned, it’s a cursed magic called ‘Regression’. It’s not that high-level magic, but I’ve heard it’s not very practical because the conditions for using it are very strict and the efficacy is limited.”
“I, I think I heard it in a magic class before. I heard that it is a culled magic because there are a lot of magical materials to prepare and a lot of environmental requirements… Is there any reason to use such a magic?”
“Well… what is certain is that Lortel is now completely incapacitated. It’s not all that you can feel when you see what you’re doing, and there’s almost no magical power that you can actually feel. It seems clear that he was directly struck by the curse.”
First of all, as it is a cursed magic, the effect is not permanent. The problem is that you never know when it will return to its original state.
“I didn’t hear the exact details. All I know is that I got hit by a wagon on the way.”
“That’s right… Lortel has a lot of trouble… I’ve heard many stories of merchants arguing with each other, but I didn’t know it would end up like this…”
“Delicious!”
Lortel, who cried so with the purest face in the world, turned on the lights and spoke.
I couldn’t believe this girl could have such a candid expression on her face.
“You are so delicious! I’m happy… Ooh, woow. Can, breath…”
“My wife, eat slowly…”
In front of Lortel, who was devouring food out of happiness, Yenica slipped a sip of cold water and carried it.
Lortel, who took the water and drank it, smiled broadly with a pu-ha-haha sound.
“Thank you! Sister!”
“Your sister is so kind!”
A bright smile.
When you see the overlapping smiles that you’ve always done cunningly like a serpent, you get a deeper sense of how pure that smile is like a blank sheet of paper.
The gap is really scary.
As much as I know what a normal Lortel looks like, the pure Lortel now looks even more fatal to Yenica.
Seeing her anxious and anxious appearance, as if a small mammal was whining, Yenika turned her head to see if her unique protective instinct had been manifested…
“Aww…”
“Sorry, I’m sorry… I, Baron… I was so rude… Joe…”
“Lord, I don’t know the subject… Sin, I’m sorry…”
Lortel puts down her fork and bows her head in embarrassment. Yenika looked at her still and grabbed her chest as if she had been shot by her.
Lortel’s appearance is pretty and cute no matter what. In particular, the sullen face characteristic of a young child has a feeling of tickling a person’s heart.
Yenica took a deep breath and slowly stood up from her seat, holding Lortel’s hands and talking.
“Oh no…”
And let’s talk while calming down the trembling pupil…
“That, that… that, just… call me sister…”
Is that right? Yenika…..
Really…is that correct…
“Yeah, it looks like I was struck by the cursed magic. Above all, the energy of magical power itself has visibly weakened, and the traces of forced regression due to external factors are evident.”
There are many people you can consult about magic, but first of all, there is an expert near you.
Now, because of the recoil using Professor Glast’s Phoenix Ring, he can’t handle magic properly, but he is a figure comparable to that of most professors in terms of his knowledge.
I asked where Lucy was, and she was hanging out in the gardens of Roth Taylor’s mansion. He looked like he was being harassed by the maids, and barely ran out and sat on a bench.
Coming to see his face after a while, he didn’t show a noticeable change of color, but he swung his feet like excited. I’m glad you’re still in good health.
“If you are really under the ‘regression’ curse, the answer is to just wait for it to come off. I don’t think it will take that long, but the problem is that you don’t know what the other person’s intentions are…”
“I mean that.”
If Slogue’s tactic was to neutralize Lortel, it worked.
If so, it was clear that Lortel would make some move at a time when he couldn’t take appropriate action.
“Lienna’s chief secretary said she would do something right away, but I don’t think she’ll be able to handle that old colossus, which Lortel is also wary of…”
“Aren’t you supposed to do it yourself? It’s me… I can’t even use magic, so there’s nothing I can do to help…”
“I don’t really want any help. You must take good care of your body and work hard to restore your magic.”
Lucy grunted and looked over the garden.
Lortel, running on the lawn alongside the dogs of the housekeepers, was just an innocent girl of her age.
Like Yenica, Lucy broke out in a cold sweat at the disjointed sight.
“It’s embarrassing to see in person.”
“Yeah… do you know anything more about the ‘regressive’ curse? Whether it’s a way to speed up Haeju, or something like after-effects…”
“Ummm… to be honest, it wasn’t that efficient magic. There are too many things to prepare, and there are many conditions… You know the basics well…”
Lucy yawned with a groan and then rubbed her eyes and buried her head in my lap.
And waving your feet in the air, saying, you can’t do anything right now.
“The good news is that with time, everything will be back to normal. The merchant is also strangely kind. It feels like you are moving in a line that does not subtly endanger your life.”
“I also feel a strange sense of incongruity.”
“Anyway, once things get back to normal, all the memories of the past will come back. It’s not like the memories I’ve experienced in the present state will disappear. So it won’t be a big problem…”
A moment… I heard words that I couldn’t take lightly.
In a nutshell, what Lortel in her present state experiences and talks about will be imprinted in Lortel’s memory after the curse is lifted.
The image of that lively girl running around the garden with the workers’ pet dogs and jumping into the arms of Belle, who was escorting her…
If the memory comes back, it will be a story of remembering everything he did…
“Now… you are building a dark history…”
Lortel, running around with a bright smile hahaha, made eye contact with me, waved her arms and greeted me warmly.
In the carriage, he hides his face like that, and at the most is smiling as if it’s only been half a day. The adaptability unique to a child was clearly revealed.
Then he fell down on the lawn and eventually got up with tears in his eyes…
Lortel…
What are you going to do after you wake up…
I’m telling you, but I’m really… I don’t know…
“If I could get my memories back… if it were me, I would just want to die.”
I couldn’t refute Lucy’s feelings, which I uttered without adding or subtracting.
Since then, time has just passed. Because there wasn’t much I could do from my point of view in the first place.
I’m not in a position to go all the way to the Old Deck and take the lead in handling the business, and if I intervened unnaturally in the first place, it would only be considered more suspicious.
Because of that, I decided to leave the work of Oldek to Lienna’s secretary for now, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t worried. It seemed necessary to visit the Old Deck one more time when this work was completed.
However, for now, it was my first priority to protect Lortel until she recovered, so I instructed Bell to look after her as best as possible.
As a result, for five days or so, Lortel spent her time running around the Roth Taylor mansion.
Sometimes they are found rubbing their faces with their pet dogs, rolling the garden, or taking a nap under a zelkova tree with Lucy…
Sometimes it seemed as if Yenica was taking her to bathe, dress up, and even provide meals.
I quickly became close with the people of the mansion… Even when I was running around the hallways, I always greeted them with a cheerful smile.
At some point, it naturally melted into the mansion, becoming a mascot-like existence with an innocent look and a smiling hahaha.
“You know, Yenica is a really nice person! When I grow up, I want to become a nice and beautiful person like Yenica unnie!”
However, the occasional cold sweat is due to the fact that the black history that Lortel is building is getting bigger than it can handle…
“Lucy unnie too! It is said that when he was at the peak of his magical powers, he even faced that giant Sung Chang-ryong! I want to be that cool and great wizard too!”
Now… please… stop…
I don’t know why I should be worried with you…
“Me! When I grow up… I want to be a princess! A princess who wears a nice dress and lives happily in the palace with the prince!”
Please…
Please… stop…
You really…how are you going to handle this…
The situation changed around the end of the fifth day.
When I received a report on the working conditions of the employees and was walking around to inspect the mansion… Bell rushed to me.
He pulled out a letter from his arms from the side of the hallway and presented it to me with a serious expression.
“A distinguished guest from the hometown of Roth Taylor applied for permission to visit. He said that he would like to meet Tanya-sama, the owner of the Roth Taylor family, and Ed, who is his older brother.”
“Who are you?”
Bell looked around and lowered his voice and spoke.
“This is Slog Keldrux.”
Did you smell something?
It was the story of the squirrel, the current owner of the Elte Chamber, who would come to the Roth Taylor mansion directly.
Regressed Lorthel is a clear 10/10 ngl hahaha