Chapter 126 – Yes?
Chapter 124
Elred Bathory. A man more commonly called Duke Bathory.
He, the lord of this huge Bonaparte City, was doing his business in his office even today. He had a lot of work to do as the territory was large, and it was up to him, as the lord, to resolve incidents and accidents.
In addition, today is the day when you have to check the business that you are working on without others knowing. It was a day with a lot of work to do.
Elred, who was quickly looking through the documents and stamping them, felt something strange and tilted his head.
“…What is it?”
“Why is that, Duke?”
The butler who assists him expressed his doubts about Elred’s question-filled words. Then, Elred said to the head butler, Dandel.
“Dandel, are these all documents?”
“Yes, it is. I brought everything without omission.”
“…The papers about the business are missing.”
“Yes?”
Dandel was a very loyal follower of Elred. That’s why he knew about the two dark businesses of Eled Bathory.
Elred was asking about the fact that there were no reports on the slave business and the shift stone distribution business, and Dandel said it couldn’t be the case.
“I can’t believe it. You mean they didn’t report it? Your Excellency, by any chance these ungrateful guys betrayed you…”
“…Send someone. Let’s find out what happened. It is not too late to judge after that.”
“Okay, sir!”
Smart.
It was then. Just as Dandel was about to leave the office following orders, he heard someone knocking. Dandel was taken aback, and Elred said in a puzzled voice.
“Were there any guests waiting for you?”
“Yes? No. No one was there when I came in…”
“Duke Bathory, this is the hero Abel. I have something to tell you, could you please let me in?”
The warrior Abel.
At that name, not only Dandel but also Elred were taken aback. Why would he, who is currently staying as a guest at Bathory’s mansion, suddenly visit the duke?
However, Elred immediately smiled. Perhaps the reason he came was to tell me the answer to what he had hinted at earlier.
“Dandel, go away. And tell me to prepare some tea to drink with the hero.”
“Yes?…Okay, sir. I will figure out what you said and report it.”
“So be it.”
Dandel politely greeted Elred and opened the door. Then, in front of the door was a gray-haired, red-eyed handsome man, the warrior Abel.
Dandel greeted Abel politely and said.
“Hero, please talk. I will leave my seat.”
“…It doesn’t matter if you listen.”
“How dare I. I’ll just go away.”
“Really? Then….”
Abel whispered something to Dandel, and Dandel blinked her eyes at Abel.
“Go ahead.”
Looking a little flustered, Dandel politely greeted Abel and then slowly left. With that, the door was closed and only Elred and Abel were left in the duke’s office.
“Sit down, warrior. Isn’t it quite a long conversation between us?”
“…Do you have any guesses?”
“Yes, I know.”
“Well then, shall we talk at the same time? I wonder if we really have the same thoughts.”
Abel’s remark made Elred tilt his head. The answer was obvious, but why play such a riddle-like prank?
I wondered, but Elred decided to hang out with me. She could have changed her mind if she didn’t agree with him.
If I could link him to the Bathory family by just fitting in these pranks, that was enough.
“hahahaha, that sounds like fun. Then let’s count to three and talk at the same time.”
“Oh, nice. Then I will count.”
“Good.”
Abel said with a smile.
“One, two…”
The timing for the word three to fall out of your mouth. Elred and Abel presented their thoughts.
“Which of my daughters did you decide on…”
“Elred Bathory. With the authority of a warrior, I have come to judge you for your crimes regarding the distribution of the Metamorph Stone.”
Eled widened her eyes, and Abel grinned. It wasn’t what I expected. She was thinking completely different thoughts.
Suspicion of distributing Byun Maseok. Upon hearing her words, Elred’s expression hardened. How the hell did this new warrior know about it?
“Ha…hahahaha, I don’t know what you mean…”
“Are you going to pretend?”
“Byeonma-seok, how do you think I got involved in the distribution of such a dangerous item?”
Eled said that Abel was mistaken about something, she said with such a nuance.
“I am Eled Bathory, head of the greatest family in the country. How can I do something that harms the country?”
“Well, I’m curious about that too. Since I keep pretending, if I show you…”
Abel took something of hers out of her arms. Seeing that, Elred’s mask shattered, revealing a genuinely bewildered expression.
“You know what? You probably know.”
“That’s…”
Abel grinned.
“A ledger containing the distribution details of Byeonma Stone. If you look here, it’s all written where you bought the change magic stone. Of course, the Duke of Bathory’s name isn’t written on it.”
“…I didn’t know that such evil was being committed in my estate.”
Elred immediately came up with an excuse when he heard that the name of the Bathory family was not left on the ledger. However, Abel smiled and talked to Elred.
“By the way. Who is this?”
“…!”
The two letters of the name written on the ledger that Abel opened. It was the name of Dandel, a very loyal subordinate of Elred and the head of the mansion.
Anyway, whenever he purchased a transformation stone under Elred’s order, he seemed to have put his own name on it since he couldn’t name the Bathory family.
“The butler bought quite a lot of metamorphic stones.”
Elred glared at Abel, who seemed to have seized her victory. Then Eled relaxed his eyes, and she gave her a troubled look.
“…I never thought our butler would do such a terrible thing.”
“…Huh.”
It was the so-called tail cutting. In the ledger that Abel showed, there was only the transaction history of the change magic stone in Dandel’s name, so Elred wanted to use Dandel as a throwaway hand.
“So the butler-nim is doing it his own way, is this?”
“Yes, warrior. Since the hero has the right to judge cases involving monsters such as the shift stone, please punish the butler Dandel sweetly.”
“…Really?”
Abel sighed and turned away. Then he trudged to the door, grabbed the doorknob, and talked.
“I hear that, Mr. Dandel?”
“…!!!”
Abel opened the door, and the person who opened the door and appeared was Elred’s faithful subordinate, Chief Butler Dandel, who had stepped aside a moment ago.
“…Your Excellency…”
“All, Dandel.”
#
This was my design. Before the owner of the Dandel house intentionally left, he spoke to him and caught him and said so only he could hear.
[Wait outside the door for a moment. Because there is a story that the butler also needs to hear.]
Dandel written on the ledger, I’ve been aiming for this situation since I knew the owner of the name by looking at these two letters. If it was Duke Bathory, he would surely throw out even his most loyal subordinates.
He’s a nobleman who is trying to sell his own daughter, but can his subordinates do it?
From noble mtl dot com.
In the end, the plan to use that point was a huge success. It caught on nicely.
Perhaps Duke Bathory would not have thought that my subordinate, who had just left, was actually standing in front of that door. Unless you can see through the door, you don’t know.
“Chief Dandel, according to the Duke, it seems that the butler alone purchased so many mutation stones… What is the reason?”
“…I…”
Dandel looked at the duke once. Eyes of great loss. That would be natural It was because the lord whom he believed in and was loyal to abandoned himself as if he had abandoned himself.
“All, Dandel.”
The duke spoke in a voice that seemed to be taken aback no matter who heard it.
“If the Duke is right, I only need to judge Mr. Dandel here. The head of the house speaks for himself. Are these things you bought alone?”
“…Your Excellency.”
Before answering me, Dandel called the duke. Then, the duke spoke to Dandel with a very embarrassed expression.
“Dandel, I didn’t mean to abandon you…”
“…I have looked after you since childhood. From that childhood until now, I’ve followed His Excellency in whatever he did. Even if you accumulated sinful karma, you turned a blind eye to it. I learned from my father that covering the burden of the owner is also faithfulness. But….”
“Dandel! Misunderstanding!”
“…I didn’t expect this kind of treatment, sir.”
Dandel looked straight at me and said.
“All purchases are as ordered by His Excellency.”
“…Isn’t it?”
“Dandel!!!”
The Duke, who hit the desk in the office with a bang, jumped up from his seat. Then, as he pulled out the sword hanging on the wall of his office, he said.
“How dare you disdain the Bathory family!?”
“…Are you pulling out your sword right in front of me, Duke?”
“Brave Abel, I am innocent! It was all done by him alone!”
“Huh.”
I can’t believe you’re this confident. He’s so strong that if anyone sees him, he’ll know that he’s a really unfair person.
“Please stop lying.”
“It’s not a lie…!”
“We have already secured the testimonies of those who were at the Byeonmaseok trading place. That you looked after an organization with a tattoo of a black scorpion. And as the biggest proof…”
I took out Elena’s ID card that I borrowed from Elfriede and showed it to her.
“I used Princess Elena’s identity card, so they let me in and out. What does this mean?”
“…Helena!”
“Well, you should have been nice to your children. How come you have no one on your side?”
“Such ungrateful birds…!”
Did you stop all the formalities because you were cornered?
The Duke glared at me vigorously with his sword in his hand. If you look into my eyes, will you stab me?
“…They put the name of a hero, but it looks like they’ve lost sight of the commoners.”
“Is that your true intention? He was no different from Levius.”
To the duke who put down the formality, I also talked to the formality. You don’t have to respect the person who gave up respect first, right?
The Duke held his sword straight. Seeing that, I burst into laughter.
What are you doing now?
“Are you going to try it?”
“Did you think I didn’t know that a hero can’t cut people!?”
“Just because you can’t cut doesn’t mean you can’t kill, it doesn’t mean you can’t hit.”
I pointed at the duke’s sword.
“Put that sword into it. If you don’t put it in, I will pull it out too.”
“…Kuh!”
The Duke couldn’t move hastily. No matter how much I live listening to Estelle say I’m stupid, I’m a warrior who defeated a high-risk monster. The duke knew that, so he couldn’t rush into it.
As the nervous warfare continued, a voice came from the side of the open door.
“Are you doing something interesting?”
“…Are you here?”
“…What.”
Those who appeared beyond the door were Estelle and soldiers wearing colorfully patterned capes and neat armor. The duke recognized their cloaks and trembled, dropping the sword from his hand.
“Why are the court soldiers here…”
They were the court soldiers belonging to the royal family of the Kingdom of Vesta. A group of elite soldiers who always move only when there is an order from the king. The reason they are here, of course, is because of our accusations.
Estelle sent an urgent letter directly to the palace through the Lunaria Temple in Bonaparte City, and upon receiving it, she dispatched soldiers to the gate of the palace. Because the city of Bonaparte was a place where gates existed because of its size.
One of the court soldiers stepped forward and said.
“Duke Elled Bathory.”
“You are urgently arrested on charges of trading and selling slaves. This is a royal order, and if he disobeys it, he will be immediately disposed of on the spot.”
“……Slave trade?”
Estelle threw the ledger right in front of the surprised Duke. It was a ledger with a list of slave trades that we had secured along with the shift stone ledger.
“The slave trade in the city of Bonaparte. The saintess and hero here have secured evidence that you, Duke Bathory, were behind the scenes. Therefore, the duke must be investigated and judged according to the king’s order.”
“Wait a minute…I never did that…”
“Are you disobeying?”
At the soldier’s question, the Duke kept his mouth shut. He clenched his fists and shook him, but made no reply.
“Arrest.”
“Yes!”
#
“You are well-timed.”
“No way, I didn’t expect to even pull out the sword.”
Estel and I were at the front gate of the duchy. The duke, the head butler, and Dandel were taken over, and the evidence was handed over to the soldiers.
The captain who was leading the soldiers asked me.
“Can we judge the case of the change stone in our royal family, warrior?”
“Sure. That’s comfortable for me too.”
“Thank you for your deep consideration, warrior.”
“What will become of the Duke of Bathory now?”
“… Perhaps the duke will lose his title, but his family line will not perish. No case of abuse of the transformation stone has been found, so considering the status of the Bathory family, there will be no damage to the family itself. The prestige of the family may diminish a little.”
That was fortunate. What I wanted was the expulsion of the duke, not the extinction of the Bathory family.
“However, the entire Dukedom of Bathory may be punished for trading and using slaves.”
“Yes?”
“Of course, the ringleader, the duke, will be punished the most severely, but anyway, if some of the servants of the Bathory family were slaves, the duke who made them work cannot escape the punishment.”
“…What kind of punishment?”
“Perhaps…Confiscation of some of the estates belonging to the Bathory family, or demotion of the title of the next duke. I’d rather not be punished that way. Of course, this is just my guess.”
…Still, that was good enough. It doesn’t matter who dies.
I turned around after hearing the story from the soldier.
“Are you okay with that?”
“…Yes, that’s fine.”
Standing behind me was the brilliant blonde warrior, Elfriede. Next to her was her sister, Elena, who looked just like her.
“Thank you, Abel.”
“No. I did something to harm the Bathory family, what?”
“No, what you did was a good thing. If left as it is, it would fester and explode someday. If it had exploded at that time… It really could have ruined our family.”
“…I feel comfortable when you say that.”
Elena spoke while biting her fingernails.
“I never imagined my father would do something like that…”
“Who would have known.”
Especially if it was Elena, who always stayed in her mansion because she was sick, she couldn’t help but know more. Estelle and I discovered them in the first place because we had the experience of clearing out this gang in Athens.
If I hadn’t found the exact same tattoo, I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out.
“But what is that organization?”
“What organization are you talking about?”
“Ah, the ones caught this time. They have the same tattoo as the guys I wiped out last time in Athens. It was a tattoo of a black scorpion…”
“…A black scorpion?”
“Do you know anything?”
Elfriede gave her a slight nod.
“Black Pandinus.”
Black Pandinus? What do you mean
“Roughly translated, it means a big black scorpion.”
“Ah.”
She nodded at Estelle’s explanation. It must have been a tattoo of a black scorpion, just like the organization’s name.
“Originally, it is not this continent, but an organization that moves secretly in the underworld of the Uros continent. It’s an organization that handles all the dirty work, including contract killings, trafficking in illegal goods, kidnapping, and slavery. It seems that the Uros continent has already decided that it is too large to wipe out.”
“Yes?”
The Uros continent across the sea? But why are you here?
“I’m thinking of reaching out to the Gaia continent as well. We’ll have to root them out before they’re fully established… Abel, you’ve helped in your own way.”
“…How did that happen?”
I didn’t mean to, but…If it helped me in a good way, I’d be happy too.
“Elfriede, then how will you be appointed?”
“…It would be better if my younger brother took over.”
“Is Elfriede’s younger brother trustworthy?”
“Well, he’s not close to me…But he’s a wise kid. Half-brother, but also cares for her sister.”
Elfriede said so and she stroked Elena’s hair.
“Really?”
“Still, until he finishes studying abroad and comes back… I guess I’ll have to take charge of it temporarily.”
“You must have a lot to do.”
“Hmm, I guess. All the servants who entered the mansion through the slave trade must be freed. That’s why we’ll have to bring in new employees… There must be a lot to do.”
“Can I help you?”
“You?”
“Not me, but Estelle here. I can’t read.”
When I said that, Estelle was taken aback and then frowned.
“Wait, why are you giving Abel his own way?”
“Can I help you a little? Anyway, if I want to learn swordsmanship, Elfriede needs some time. If she thinks she’s doing it for me… How can I not?”
“…If you say that, you have nothing to say.”
Estel sighed, and I gently hugged her shoulders and said,
“I’ll give you a massage when it’s all over.”
“…Aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am good at massage.”
Even when she did it to her parents in the past, she was praised for her good massage.
“…Are you trying to touch my body here and there under the pretext of massage~♡.”
“…Yes?”
“This pervert♡”
When did I do that, b*tch.
I shook my head to mean no to Elfride and Elena, but Elena somehow nodded her head in understanding.
…Not like that.
“By the way, Abel.”
“Yes?”
Elfriede asked me with a suspicious attitude.
“Where is Saint Celine now?”
“…I’m at the inn for a while.”
“Hmm? Why?”
“…There are some circumstances.”
“Ejaculation?”
When I couldn’t answer properly, Estelle slapped me on the side.
“Evil.”
“Celine is taking care of her child for a while.”
“……A child?”
“Yes, child.”
Elfriede blinked her eyes, and Elena put on a surprised look for some reason. And Elfriede, who blinked her eyes for a while, shouted.
“A child!?!?”