Chapter 140. Gold Coins Instead of Swords (2)
“A nail that sticks out will eventually get hammered down.”
Count Lacie raised a glass of red wine and looked up at the murals painted on the ceiling through it.
Seen through the red gaze, they looked as if they were flailing in a sea as red as blood.
“Though no blood will be shed.”
Count Lacie smiled at the sight.
“You will shed tears as red as blood, Count Blanc.”
Count Lacie lowered the wine glass and drank it in one go.
The rich aroma and tangy taste of the wine lingered on his tongue.
There was a scene visible beyond the empty wine glass.
A long line of carriages and merchants in front of the gates of Bigrove.
They were all processions heading to Norington.
***
“I would like to be accepted as a guest general of the Cadmus family.”
Hearing Adolf’s words, Blanc couldn’t help but feel a mix of complex emotions.
The knight named Adolf was skilled, but he had a bad history with him regarding Iselin.
And his family, the Maximilians, was in opposition to his maternal family, the Tolomes, so it was true that it was difficult to easily accept him as a guest general.
“To be honest, you know very well that you asking me this is basically dumping a very difficult problem on me, right?”
When Blanc spoke with an indifferent expression, Adolf just bowed his head and said nothing.
“You won’t explain why you’re doing this, and you won’t go back either. This is a difficult situation.”
Blanc cupped his chin with his hand and thought deeply.
Which would be greater, the benefits of accepting him or the losses?
“…Alright. It would be strange not to accept you, as you are a descendant of the prestigious Maximilian family and a capable knight.”
Blanc’s expression softened as he spoke to Adolf with a smile.
“…Thank you for accepting me.”
“I hope you won’t make me regret my decision.”
With those words, Blanc waved his hand and dismissed Adolf.
As soon as Adolf withdrew, Blanc gave Barzio a look.
Barzio, Blanc’s loyal knight, read his master’s intentions from his gaze alone.
-I understand, my lord.
Blanc decided to entrust the guidance and surveillance of Adolf to Barzio, who seemed strangely interested in him.
“This should roughly solve the problem, but…”
Seeing Blanc sigh, Nicholas asked.
“Why didn’t you just chase him away?”
At Nicholas' words, Blanc shook his head and answered.
“He’s still a descendant of the Maximilian family. If we rashly chase him away, it might become even more troublesome.”
Blanc sighed, clutching his head.
“…And there were things that were conveyed through the sword.”
Blanc, who had glimpsed Adolf’s sincerity through the honorable knight’s duel, had a feeling that he shouldn’t just cast Adolf aside like this.
It was an instinctive premonition that could not be explained by rational judgment.
“His sword skills are decent, so he’ll be useful somewhere.”
He couldn’t be used for sensitive matters, but he could be put to use for monster subjugation or simple security tasks.
“Adolf is a problem, but compared to this, it’s almost like a joke.”
Blanc held up the two letters and flicked them as if they were a headache.
The two letters sent from the Count Lacie family and the Baywood Autonomous Council.
“Wouldn’t there be a figure from the Kingdom of Felix on the Baywood council?”
He had expected this to happen with Count Lacie someday, but for Baywood to be this proactive was unexpected.
Because the members of the council were placed by various kingdoms and interest groups, it was difficult for them to show such a united action.
“I believe it is a person planted by the royal family, the Ulbricht family.”
Nicholas, who had established a close cooperative system with Vitelli, was able to get a glimpse of the situation in Baywood using his information network.
The intelligence was that a majority of the members of the Baywood Autonomous Council had approved of this action.
Among them was a person planted by the Felix royal family.
“‘Tear each other apart’… is that it?”
The Felix royal family, who had granted him the title of Count and had given Count Lacie the cooperation of Baywood.
Their intentions were as clear as day to Blanc.
“Sir Vitelli predicted that it would be difficult to reverse this decision with just Sir Berger’s support.”
The current Tolome could not perfectly fill Bartomyu’s vacancy, which had led to this situation.
Perhaps even if Bartomyu had been there, he might not have been able to stop the current situation.
Count Lacie was genuinely coming at Blanc, and the Kingdom of Felix was truly enjoying the situation.
Because the more the power of the southern lords was weakened, the stronger the influence of the royal family would become.
“For them to have moved at the same time means that Count Lacie has already done something.”
Blanc was lost in thought.
It was something that was bound to happen, something he had prepared for, and also something he had been waiting for.
Blanc spoke to Nilsen, who was standing before him, waiting for his command.
“This is important.”
Blanc handed Nilsen a freshly written letter and said.
“The final destination is Moirai, but before that, you’ll have to stop by Count Lacie’s territory, Bigrove.”
Nilsen accepted the letter from Blanc with both hands.
Blanc, his life’s benefactor and a shining hero, had long since become a great reason for Nilsen’s life.
“I will do my best.”
“Take care of yourself.”
Nilsen quickly left Blanc’s office with his characteristic agile movements.
“The arrow has just been shot.”
Blanc had shot an arrow named Nilsen at Count Lacie’s gleaming tongue.
“Now, I have to catch the incoming arrows.”
Blanc’s eyes grew cold as he looked at the letter sent by Count Lacie.
***
“My father always felt heartbroken that he couldn’t help Count Blanc, his junior and the torch of this era.”
Gornas spoke to Blanc with a playful smile.
Blanc tried to read the true meaning hidden behind his smile, but as expected of a son of a ducal family, his smile was flawless.
“I wanted to challenge the Knight’s Sword, but I was robbed of the first time.”
Hearing Gornas' words, Blanc smiled.
Because Gornas, an existence he couldn’t even dare to look at in his past life, had come to him and was saying he wanted to cross swords.
It was a secret glory that only he, a regressor, knew.
‘Finding your form is the most important thing.’
Gornas from his past life, who had not spared his advice on swordsmanship to Blanc along with the vision of Assinsao.
What would he say if he saw this situation now?
Perhaps he would be smiling just like the Gornas of this life, who was smiling faintly in front of him now.
“For you, Sir Gornas, the path of the sword will always be open.”
Seeing Blanc say he would accept his challenge at any time, Gornas' smile began to take on a different meaning.
In his smile, his fighting spirit and the boiling blood of a knight were visible.
“…It’s truly a shame, but seeing the currents surrounding the Count, it seems now is not the time.”
Gornas, who had seemed as if he would draw his sword at any moment, did not forget the reason he had come to Norington.
“…What is this?”
Blanc couldn’t help but be flustered as he looked at Wesler’s reply, which Gornas had handed him.
“What is it?”
Because there was nothing written in that letter.
Seeing Blanc flustered as he looked at the blank letter, Gornas laughed heartily.
“It is the answer to the letter the Count sent.”
Blanc, who had anticipated that Baywood would at least show a hostile attitude, if not the united one it was showing now, had considered all possible alternatives.
One of them was to ask for help from Wesler Balthazar, a duke and influential figure in the Kingdom of Anton.
Because the two shared a strong senior-junior relationship as Knights of Aselheit, he thought that he would surely help him, even if just a little.
“There is nothing written on it?”
Hearing Blanc’s words, Gornas smiled faintly and replied.
“My father’s answer to the Count’s request is me.”
Gornas, who was looking at Blanc with a confident expression and saying that he would solve it.
“I will solve the Count’s worries.”
Seeing him, Blanc couldn’t help but naturally recall the Gornas of his past life.
The middle-aged Gornas, who was complete in both personality and skill, had always shown the qualities of a hero and led the Liberation Front, but the young Gornas of now was a little different from him.
“You can just take me with you when you go to Baywood.”
His ever-present smile made him seem frivolous at a glance, but Blanc found it pleasing to see.
His true self, unburdened by the heavy weight of being the last hope of humanity.
***
The journey to Baywood didn't take long.
In a straight line, it was a distance that could be covered in less than a day, so for knights riding on horseback, it was a distance that would take less than half a day.
In other words, Baywood had no time to prepare for the sudden visit of Blanc and Gornas.
Passing through the guards in front of the gate, who were as good as non-existent, and breaking through the streets full of pickpockets and prostitutes, Blanc and his knights arrived at the largest and tallest building in Baywood.
“This city always feels disgusting, no matter when I come.”
Blanc, who only had bad memories of Baywood, naturally frowned.
“Who are you and where are you from…”
“I am Gornas from the Balthazar family. I have come to see Commissioner Erlin.”
Gornas proved his identity by showing his sword, which was engraved with the seal of the Balthazar family.
The guard confirmed the emblem and was about to quickly contact the commissioner named Erlin, but.
“I’ll go in first.”
“B-but!”
The guard, who could not dare to stop the young master of the Balthazar family, could only stomp his feet and watch the departing Gornas.
Blanc could not hide his surprise as he watched Gornas boldly make his way through the center of Baywood as if it were his own home.
“It’s nothing much.”
Gornas looked at Blanc and answered with a smile.
“Because Baywood is a place my father has paid a lot of attention to.”
The Balthazar family, the ducal family of the Kingdom of Anton.
Just as Horst, the duke of the Kingdom of Felix, had planted people in Baywood, Wesler, the duke of the Kingdom of Anton, was also a person who had invested in Baywood.
A title that only nobles with royal blood could possess, a duke.
They were in a place that the influence of baronial and comital families could not reach.
Gornas' steps stopped in front of a certain door.
It was the highest place in Baywood and the place where Commissioner Erlin, whom Wesler Balthazar had planted, was.
“Let’s go in.”
Gornas naturally grabbed the doorknob and turned it, as if guiding him into his own room.
“Commissioner Erlin.”
The people, surprised by the suddenly opened door, looked at Gornas.
“Wh-who?”
“I am Gornas from the Balthazar family. This gentleman here is Count Blanc Cadmus, the lord of Norington.”
Gornas, who had introduced themselves before the servant could finish his question, turned his gaze to a certain middle-aged woman sitting at a desk.
The woman, with heavy makeup and a pipe in her mouth, didn’t even bat an eye at Gornas' appearance and just took a drag from her pipe.
“It’s the first time we’ve met.”
Gornas walked into the room without hesitation, picked up a nearby chair, and placed it in front of Erlin’s desk.
Judging by his actions alone, Gornas was no different from a good-for-nothing loitering in the back alleys, but there was a strange sense of discipline about him.
Confidence, not bravado.
Self-esteem with substance.
There were things about Gornas that fakes could never imitate.
Erlin put down the pipe she was holding and answered.
“It is also the first time I am meeting you, Sir Gornas.”
Even though she hadn't specifically checked his identity, Erlin was certain that the young knight sitting in front of her was Gornas.
Her judgment, honed by a lifetime spent in the rough and dangerous city of Baywood, told her so.
“Why are you ignoring our instructions?”
Gornas got straight to the point.
The ‘we’ he was referring to probably meant Wesler and the nobles who followed him.
Listening to Gornas' words, Blanc was wondering if he should even be in this place.
It felt as if he had gotten too deeply involved in the affairs of the Balthazar family.
“As you know, there are various and complex interests at stake in Baywood, and I also have my limits as a commissioner…”
Erlin continued to speak cautiously, glancing at Blanc behind Gornas, but.
“Commissioner Erlin.”
Gornas had not come here to listen to Erlin’s excuses.
He was a man who had come here to put Blanc in his debt.
“It is we who decide that. You are merely a follower.”
His eyes, as he tapped the desk, were deeply sunken.
“I raised a dog to guard the house, but it seems it was deciding for itself whether to bark or not.”
At Gornas' sudden change in attitude, Erlin’s eyebrows twitched.
No matter how much he was the eldest son of the Balthazar family, this was Baywood.
He had to respect her territory.
“Are you insulting me now…”
“Withdraw your ill will towards Norington immediately.”
Gornas was no longer smiling.
He drew the sword in his soul, brought it to Erlin’s neck, and growled.
“I don’t know what you took from Count Lacie, but I have no intention of turning a blind eye any longer.”
Gornas Balthazar, a knight with the makings of a Sword Saint.
Faced with his undisguised hostility, Erlin could only tremble.
No matter how much she had rolled around in a rough place her whole life, the killing intent Gornas exuded was on a different level.
“I-is that an order?”
At Erlin’s question, which she barely managed to utter, Gornas smiled fiercely.
“You seem to be full because you ate the food given by another. How dare you ask a question.”
Gornas' sticky smile changed from that of a human to that of a beast.
Everyone in the room could not even breathe under the killing intent Gornas exuded.
“…”
Except for one person, Blanc Cadmus.
“If you ask me another question like that, I will cut off your head.”
Blanc, with a cold smile, watched Gornas threaten Erlin and recalled the Sword Saint of his past life, who was warm to his allies but cruelly cold to the Void.
His essence had not changed.
“If you’re a dog, then bark as Balthazar tells you to bark.”
At Gornas' murderous threat, Erlin had no choice but to quietly bow her head.
The Balthazar family was not the master of the city of Baywood, but at least they were her masters.
Erlin, sweating coldly, had no choice but to reply that she would do so.
“Will this be enough?”
Gornas, who had subdued Erlin, an influential figure in Baywood and a subordinate of the Balthazar family, with just his momentum, smiled and looked at Blanc.
Seeing his smile, Blanc felt as if he was reminded of Gornas from his past life, who had smiled at him with a sword stuck in the Void.
“Excellent.”