Chapter 115. Things Wriggling Underneath the Feet (1)
Two groups of forces were staring at each other in confrontation on a wide plain.
The breath emitting from the knights and the horses they rode settled on the earth frozen white like frost.
They were holding high the flags each held, but the two flags only differed in color; the crest embedded inside was the same.
“I should have burned you with your mother back then!”
A young man with silver hair shouted loudly.
A crown symbolizing the King of Gartaria was placed on his head.
He was Georg Claudio, the 1st Prince of Gartaria and the one currently calling himself the King of Gartaria.
“Aleid! Do you not know that the only reason you were not burned like the witch who worshipped Evil is simply because you inherited the royal blood!”
Georg was shouting loudly and degrading his younger brother, but Aleid did not oppose him.
“My mother did not worship Evil.”
He just muttered quietly.
In a small voice that even Nasgoer beside him found hard to hear.
“Mixing the noble royal blood with wandering things that ride horses was a mistake itself!”
“……Was it not you people who reached out first.”
No one heard, but with desperate sincerity.
“Soldiers following Aleid, listen! That guy’s mother is a dirty wench excommunicated by the Goddess Order! Why do you follow a one born from the body of an impure woman!”
Aleid inhaled deeply and calmed his trembling chest.
He could endure it.
Because they were words he had heard all his life.
He always wanted to shout that it was unfair, but Aleid had forcibly swallowed it into his heart.
Because he had to survive.
Every time he swallowed the hot and sharp things forcing their way out of his heart, Aleid felt like he was swallowing fragmented sharp iron pieces.
Every time he swallowed them, Aleid quietly shed blood inside.
Aleid knew well.
That even if he shouted loudly like Georg and claimed unfairness regarding himself and his mother here, those people wouldn't listen.
That was why he simply muttered quietly.
He decided not to consume mental strength in expressing his unfairness and anger anymore.
“Ensadu, prepare the knights.”
“Yes, my Prince.”
He simply decided to prove it.
When Aleid’s order fell, his knights aligned themselves.
Wearing thick armor and with visors pressed deep, their aligned appearance was magnificent and solemn, but.
An unknown incongruity was felt from them somewhere.
The soldiers aligned beside the knights simply swallowed their saliva in tension at the pressure they gave.
“Knights who do not fear death. Listen.”
Aleid commanded without even turning his head toward the knights.
“Sitting and occupying the Late King’s corpse without following proper procedures…….”
Aleid stopped while speaking.
The soldiers wondered at his sudden silence, but Aleid was simply organizing his thoughts quietly.
“It is a time when a single sword stroke is needed more than meaningless utterings.”
He stopped shouting loudly to boost soldiers’ morale like Georg.
“……Go and deliver my words.”
He simply decided to say what he had to say.
“That I have come to break everything.”
Aleid’s red eyes shone eerily.
The time had come to pour out the sharp things he had swallowed all this while.
When Aleid’s words ended, the hundreds of knights behind him drew their swords simultaneously.
Above their deeply pressed visors.
White breath did not rise.
***
Berger’s reception room prepared in the Neudorf mansion.
There were three men sitting there.
They were looking down at a single map spread out.
It was a map recording Norington and the surrounding territories, and the words Count Cadmus Territory were written on that map.
A piece symbolizing the Black Wolf and Broken Banner was placed on that map.
Blanc quietly placed two more pieces on that map.
A lion-shaped piece symbolizing Tolome to Langketa.
A Golden Balance piece symbolizing Neudorf to Kamora.
“Tolome and Neudorf stood on the winner’s side, so they deserve to enjoy the rights.”
Berger and Vitelli quietly watched Blanc’s fingertips moving the pieces.
“The wish my ancestors dreamed of has finally come true.”
Tolome and Neudorf.
Families as old as the kingdom’s history, but they were half-nobles stripped of the right to own territory.
Wilhelm I, the Pioneer King and Founding King and the brightest hero in the Kingdom of Felix, had no hesitation in purging founding contributors who didn't follow his proposal to strengthen royal authority.
The founding contributors who could survive were only those who gave up the right to own territory.
Thus, the Kingdom of Felix could start with strong royal authority, but the thirst and desire for territory of the meritorious nobles who weren't allowed a place to stand for that long time were beyond imagination.
But it would be different from now on.
The brilliant time had passed, the strong royal authority had disappeared, and from now on was the era of lords each finding their own way to survive.
Two meritorious families obtained territories where they could take root through their grandson and son-in-law, Blanc Cadmus.
Berger, looking at the map, spoke with a flushed face.
“If the three families gathered here support each other like one through these territories, our future will be bright.”
Blanc and Vitelli nodded, agreeing with Berger’s words.
Three families gathered here.
Tolome, Neudorf, and Cadmus.
They were families possessing what each other lacked.
Tolome, which possessed a powerful order of knights and a private military force.
Neudorf, which dominated the Alchemy School and was capable of coordinating deployments with mages.
Cadmus, which held vast lands, encompassing a total of four territories within its countdom.
The synergy effect created by the three families tightly bound by blood and marriage uniting would clearly be larger than something like the Southern Union created by a motley crew uniting.
“I should bring out the liquor I saved to celebrate our future.”
Watching Berger’s back as he took out liquor, Blanc lowered his gaze and looked at the map where the pieces were placed.
‘It is done.’
From Berger’s direction, the four pieces meaning each family were gathered facing the Kingdom of Felix, but.
From the direction Blanc was looking, Quiesco, Tolome, and Neudorf were embracing Norington and building a solid wall, and were in a formation sharply stabbing Prince Aleid’s formation.
Blanc obtained a solid blood alliance to be with him by giving away territories.
They would protect Blanc in the threats to come and make the ground he stood on solid.
***
The three men representing each family raised their glasses rejoicing in the achievement they made, but.
Since the liquor containing the Alchemy School’s secret recipe was sweet and potent, Vitelli, who liked liquor but whose tolerance didn't reach that level, ended up leaving the seat first.
Thus, the counts are left alone.
“There is always a priority at work.”
Berger poured the strong liquor and spoke to Blanc in a serious tone.
Although his face was flushed, Berger’s eyes were clear.
“I saw your recovering Norington as the most important and first thing to solve.”
Count Berger’s eyes shaking the liquor glass were deepening.
“So I sent my son Franz to you urgently.”
“I truly thank Neudorf’s choice to send Sir Franz.”
Blanc sincerely thanked Berger and bowed his head.
If he hadn't been there, they would have paid a great sacrifice in escorting Iselin to Moirai.
Furthermore, since Franz gave great help through explosive reagents in the war with the three barons, it was enough for Blanc to bow his head to Berger.
“Now that your long-cherished wish and task, the recovery of Norington and revenge regarding the three barons, is over.”
Berger raised the liquor glass and drank it at once.
He wasn't the Berger showing a gentle impression until now.
“It is time to solve the matter I have been planning and waiting for.”
Berger’s eyes became fierce.
Blanc felt that the story to be told hereafter was unusual upon seeing his eyes.
“Please speak.”
Neudorf and Cadmus became blood allies.
Even if it was a worry each had, the two had become a relationship where they had to solve it together now.
“Was there not a lot happening in my workshop before?”
“……That was so.”
Berger looked at the red liquor glass and recalled that night which was like a nightmare.
That time when he knew that Evil hiding in the other side of the world had attached itself to Ciella’s soul.
That day, Berger felt the fear that he might lose Ciella.
At the same time, he also fiercely burned with anger toward the things that dared to sow the seeds of Evil in Neudorf.
Berger did not forget the anger of that time.
He just stored it in his chest like the liquor he was drinking now and was letting it ripen.
“Before sending Franz to you, that child was investigating the Evil related to Ciella. He almost caught a clue, but I sent Franz to you first for Norington’s recovery.”
Even after Franz went to Blanc, Berger put a lot of effort into investigating the Evil threatening Neudorf persistently.
“I allied with the Torch Knights.”
Berger continued the investigation on Evil through close cooperation not only with Neudorf’s power but also with the Torch Knights, and thus could find a clue.
“And the result found was shocking.”
Berger’s eyes deepened.
“There were a few children like Ciella. Although they didn't show extreme forms like Ciella, anyway, we could find out the fact that Evil was attached to several noble daughters of the Kingdom of Felix.”
“Hmm…….”
Blanc was listening to Berger’s words with a frown.
“Are you saying Evil like Ciella’s was found in several noble families’ daughters?”
Until now, Blanc thought the matter regarding Ciella was simply due to a grudge related to Neudorf, but Berger’s words were exceeding his expectations.
“That is so. Such patterns were found not only in nobles but even in commoners.”
Berger was calming his anger while caressing the liquor glass.
“It means someone was plotting something using our daughters while deceiving the eyes of nobles and the Order.”
Berger spoke looking at Blanc with red bloodshot eyes.
“I feel we are missing something.”
Berger drank the red liquor at once.
“……It makes me think perhaps peace has lasted too long.”
The head of the Alchemy School and the Archmage who saw through the Void from a human perspective in the past life was noticing that something was moving deep in the ground he stood on right now.
“It seems like a time when a torch to light the darkness is needed.”
Berger rolled up the map Blanc had spread, moved it aside, and placed a ring engraved with the Golden Balance, the symbol of Neudorf.
“This is?”
“I will give this to Franz.”
That ring was a ring symbolizing Neudorf’s full authority, allowing the use of Berger and Neudorf’s influence spread throughout the world.
“Please burn the things that tarnished the honor of my daughter and your wife, Ciella, together with Neudorf’s legitimate successor.”
Berger’s brown eyes shone sharply.
The anger of a father whose daughter’s safety was threatened.
And the anger toward evil things challenging the family’s authority fluctuated within Berger’s eyes.
“I think if we find those things and set fire to them, we will be able to illuminate the identity of the malice hiding and squirming down there.”
Inside Berger’s eyes.
Along with the anger of a father whose daughter’s safety was threatened, the insight of the Archmage who saw through the Void in the past life was revealed simultaneously.
“Understood. Count.”
Seeing Berger’s unusual reaction, Blanc decided to check the identity of the malice wrapping around not only his wife but also the Kingdom of Felix.
Although he couldn't be certain if it was related to the Void, he could feel that it was an existence that would shake his foundation if left alone.
“Thank you.”
Berger faced Blanc’s blue eyes and ended up feeling relieved.
Because those blue eyes had never disappointed him.
Just as Berger was about to quietly lift his liquor glass, there was a person knocking on the reception room door.
“Count, people from the Torch Knights have arrived.”
There were guests who arrived cutting through the darkness despite it being late at night.
“They have truly arrived just in time. Let them in.”
And Berger was waiting for those guests.
The butler letting the late-night arrivals into the reception room according to Berger’s order.
“Oh…….”
Blanc ended up smiling without realizing it upon seeing the people opening the door and entering.
Because they were familiar faces and people like comrades-in-arms.
A man and woman pair wearing gray cloaks entered Berger’s reception room late at night guided by the butler.
Fabiano, who led the members to him despite being wounded in the decisive battle with Barzio.
“It has been a long time. Count Blanc.”
And the female knight who allowed Blanc to build the basics regarding Evil.
It was Tarania, the Demon-breaking Knight of the Torch Knights.
“My joy is doubled seeing you after a long time. Tarania.”
At Blanc’s words, Tarania untied the eyepatch wrapped around her left eye and smiled gladly.
Torches that would illuminate the Evil coiling deep for a long time held each other’s hands.