Thud.
The moment Lumpen Hound’s sword grazed the edge of my throat, leaving a faint scratch.
A sword wrapped in dense black sword energy suddenly burst through his side.
“Raward!”
“Sir Raward!”
“Gah?”
Shouts rang out from all directions as people finally grasped the situation, and amid them, the groan of Lumpen Hound echoed as he slowly turned his head.
Standing there was a small woman clad in a black stealth suit that clung tightly to her body.
“Y-You…”
I can’t miss this chance!
Hellfire, as if sensing my will, throbbed violently within me.
At the same time, the temperature of the flames rising from the blade surged insanely.
The fire blazed white-hot, beyond red and yellow.
“Diiieeee!”
I swung Hellfire with all the strength I had left.
With a sharp snap, I distinctly felt something being cut through in my hand.
Is he finished?
Yet even in that brief moment, Lumpen Hound desperately twisted his body.
Below the elbow of his right arm, a section shot up into the air, immediately engulfed in flames, and within seconds turned to ashes, scattering into dust.
“Uwaaaaaaahhhhhh!”
A horrific scream echoed through the manor.
The flames erupting from Hellfire’s blade were truly infernal.
Not just his arm—the fire began consuming his entire body as if ready to engulf Lumpen Hound whole.
Suddenly.
The assassin woman who had retreated from the flames approached us.
Had her sword been coated with poison?
The purple blood dripping from Moere’s skin hissed and steamed upon contact with the boiling heat.
“Ughhh! You—only you, only you!”
Is that person truly a monster?
Even after such an assault, Lumpen Hound’s fighting spirit had not diminished.
If anything, his onslaught intensified and grew more savage.
His eyes rolled back, revealing only the whites as he swung his sword wildly with his left arm.
Raw mana clusters flew everywhere.
Not aimed at hitting anyone in particular, but a furious explosion of hatred, burning even his own life to vent his rage.
“Just a little more strength! This is the chance to kill the kingdom’s nemesis!”
But actions like risking one’s life in such a manner were proof the war was nearing its end.
Knights, soldiers, and we all surged toward Lumpen Hound.
Then strange noises interrupted.
“Save the captain!”
“Healer! Bring a healer!”
“The mage must extinguish those flames!”
“Damn it, even if our hands burn, pull the captain out!”
“We can’t let them join with Moere!”
“Stop them! Even if it costs your life, stop them!”
“Raward!”
As I heard my name called, my vision suddenly shifted.
I found myself rolling on the ground, and where I had been stood now stood a massive wall of flames, separating Lumpen Hound and us.
Everyone.
“Damn it, what the hell is going on?!”
“Mercenaries!”
“The Miss, the Young Master, and the soldiers have also arrived!”
Those were the subordinates who had come in with Lumpen Hound!
They must have heard the commotion and rushed straight to the manor.
Naturally, those trying to evacuate also gathered here to see what was happening.
I understood their feelings, but in this situation, their presence only made the chaos worse.
“Damn it, we need to catch that bastard!”
“No way! The flames are too severe! We need to retreat first!”
Just as Sir Albert said, scattered books and shelves had become fuel, intensifying the blaze.
Despite the deep night, the entire area was brightly illuminated.
“Senior, where is Senior?!”
“Raward!”
“Senior Giselle!”
We called out for her, and her voice answered.
It seemed the woman who had stabbed Lumpen Hound earlier was supporting Senior Giselle.
“Who are you?”
“Alice… Butler-in-Chief… came to assist the Chamberlain…”
So she’s from the Helpion Duchy!
I looked at Senior Giselle with newfound respect.
If I hadn’t heeded her advice earlier, my neck would’ve been pierced in that instant.
Unconsciously, I touched my neck with my right hand, feeling the burning pain.
My palm was soaked red with blood.
This is insane.
“Alice. Can you track him? We absolutely have to kill Lumpen Hound here!”
“Understood…”
Before she finished speaking, Alice disappeared back into the shadows.
Since the Steward was a former assassin turned Swordmaster, that woman must be an assassin too.
She seemed timid, but I hoped she could take down Lumpen Hound.
“Count! His condition… Healer!”
“Miss.”
Among the chaos, Lady Titania approached at a brisk pace.
She must have cut through her own hell of turmoil, as her work dress was torn in places, and her drawn sword was stained with blood droplets.
“What on earth happened? Why is the Count here personally…? No, more importantly…”
She looked around in disbelief and fell silent.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure how to explain this situation either.
“His wounds are serious. Please sit here for a moment.”
As I sat beside Senior Giselle, receiving Healing Shower from the healer Lady Titania called over, I watched the flames raging across the battlefield.
Beyond the fire, the uproar gradually died down and faded away, but there was no way for us to confirm anything further.
I could only pray that Lumpen Hound would succumb to his injuries.
I glanced quietly at Senior Giselle sitting beside me.
She didn’t once avert her gaze from the burning books and shelves, or the ruins of the library building.
“Do you regret it?”
“Why?”
“Because your favorite books are burning.”
After a moment of silent watching, Senior finally spoke softly.
“It’s okay. They’re all books I finished reading long ago.”
Her expression was complicated, unreadable.
The day that could be called the end of the Squaret Duchy had passed.
The inferno that engulfed the manor burned more than half of the Squaret Duchy estate to ashes.
Still, the damage was limited thanks to the rain that began falling at dawn.
Starting as a few drops, it had turned into a downpour by noon and continued unabated.
Perhaps because of the relentless rain, the manor’s atmosphere was heavy and somber.
The Order of Knights lost twelve members, with forty-seven moderately injured.
For the roughly hundred-strong squad, it was a crippling blow.
The military suffered even more.
About 400 soldiers sustained injuries serious enough to prevent further service.
It was a disaster.
Yet, in one way, it was fortune that such damage occurred without a Swordmaster to counter an Intermediate Swordmaster.
Of course, no knight would utter such thoughts aloud.
With the torrential rain still falling, they hadn’t even recovered the bodies of their comrades who had been laughing and joking just the day before.
No one would dare make such reckless remarks.
Still, that was only the knights’ affair.
“Damn it, the entire library burned down… What the hell were those muscleheads even doing?”
“Tch, you should be grateful we held out as well as we did against an Intermediate Swordmaster.”
“What the hell do you mean by that? It was all destroyed by just one person! Grateful? We got paid to guard the house in a crisis like this, yet we just lazed around!”
“Exactly. How lazy must those knights have been, letting a single man humiliate the whole place like this?”
Most of the clerks had been off duty and resting at the manor, unaware of the harrowing events that day.
Their ignorance made them spout nonsense as usual.
That became the breaking point that snapped the already frayed nerves of the knights.
“Hey.”
“Hm?”
When two clerks turned around at the call, Albert stood there with a clenched fist, his expression unnervingly calm despite his anger.
Pow!
I later learned through attendants that Albert’s punch had caused a commotion.
People rushed to intervene, only to escalate the uproar further.
Sir Albert had pummeled the two clerks so badly they were soaked in blood, and then, when three others tried to stop him but spoke carelessly, he also beat them up.
The problem was one of those clerks was Gerik, co-leader of the Strategic Planning Office.
Gerik, who already harbored deep resentment against the military, said something to Sir Albert that no one dared repeat.
All that was certain was that despite receiving Healing Shower, Gerik would need over half a year of recovery due to the physical and mental damage.
They said he probably wouldn’t return.
Healing Shower couldn’t restore the lost teeth or uprooted hair follicles.
The rain that had started a few days ago had become a monsoon.
The ominous atmosphere in the Squaret Duchy seemed destined to persist.
Amid this, Lady Titania came to see me.
“What should we do about Sir Albert?”
“As you know, he must not be punished. He didn’t act out of anger but for the sake of his subordinates.”
“I know. That’s why I’ve been firm in my answers, but the Strategic Planning Office insists on absolute punishment.”
“They’re truly insane. Are they out of their minds? Didn’t they even know what happened that night because they were asleep?”
Sigh… I don’t even want to offer excuses.
Lady Titania shook her head, clutching it in frustration.
Her face had grown haggard in the few days we hadn’t seen each other.
“For now, I told him to rest at home until things calm down. But there’s another problem with Albert…”
“Problem?”
“Mages.”
We had been discussing the conflict between clerks and soldiers, so why suddenly bring up mages?
“I heard Lumpen Hound took a kid named Chechil hostage. They say Senior Giselle provoked Lumpen Hound too much, causing serious injuries to Chechil, and they demand punishment for Giselle.”
Insane!
I slammed my fist down on the table without thinking.
“Shouldn’t the anger be directed at Senior Giselle?! That bastard blabbed recklessly, exposing Senior’s identity! He was the one who dragged the bastard into the library!”
“Exactly. That’s obvious…”
Ultimately, Lady Titania sighed deeply and squeezed her eyes shut.
The turmoil inside her was written all over her face.
Just then, a teacup was quietly placed before Lady Titania.
No matter when or where, its overwhelming herbal scent soon filled the room.
Startled, Lady Titania glanced sideways.
There stood Alice, upright and composed.
“Thank you. Is this Selbinas Tea?”
“Yes.”
Having answered that, Alice vanished silently once again.
“She’s amazing. In many ways. Wasn’t she a Sword Master Beginner?”
“Yes. They say she’s the Steward’s protégé.”
Alice was an unusual person.
How to describe her? Probably the most extremely timid person I’ve ever met.
She always looked half-asleep, viewing the world with indifferent eyes and never changing expression no matter the situation.
Even when fighting that bastard, and even when returning late at night to report missing Lumpen Hound, she remained that way.
Her entire body was filthy with dirt, drenched in sweat on her head and forehead from exertion, yet her expression seemed like she had just woken up.
Her personality contrasted sharply with her appearance.
Light sky-blue long hair, a petite stature barely reaching 150 cm, and a face so pretty it would make anyone glance back once.
She was an unbalanced person in many ways.
“Is Senior Giselle adapting well to her work?”
“Without her, the Strategic Planning Office would have completely stalled. She’s truly overwhelming.”
Senior Giselle had strongly requested to help in any way for the Squaret Duchy, and soon began work in the Strategic Planning Office.
With her natural intellect, she adapted swiftly, covering the work of five missing staff members effectively.
I heard that despite losing their leader, the Strategic Planning Office’s productivity increased by over ten percent.
But that wasn’t what worried me.
“Are they bothering her there?”
“At least, not while I’m around.”
“And when you’re not?”
“I don’t really know. She says nothing’s wrong, but…”
Among the clerks, perceptions of Senior Giselle were ambiguous at best.
She was the century’s genius brought in by the Duke himself, yet also a major cause of the library’s destruction.
Moreover, Giselle was close friends with me—called ‘the lowly, vulgar merchant from a military duchy who’s given in to violence and befriended the soldiers’—and she didn’t hide it.
Because of that, the clerks openly displayed their uneasy, even hostile attitudes toward her.
If her performance faltered even slightly?
Ugh, I don’t want to think about it.
“Nothing is easy.”
Lady Titania gave a bitter smile and sipped her tea.
Neither of us could find an answer to the matter, so drinking tea was all we could do.
“I want to see my father soon.”
“Any news from the capital?”
“I sent word about the duchy’s situation, urging him to return quickly. Honestly, he should have been back by now.”
She smiled wryly.
“Thank you for listening.”
“No, I’m sorry I couldn’t be of help.”
“No, just agreeing with my feelings has eased my heart a little. Once my father returns, everything will work out. Until then, I’ll endure.”
Lady Titania left my room, exhausted.
That night, news came that the Duke of Squaret had returned after a long absence.
He came back in such a hurry that he brought only one-tenth of his retinue.
Upon arrival, he immediately inspected the state of his domain.
Despite the late hour, he summoned Lady Titania, Young Master Teron, and all key retainers to his office.
And then.
Knock knock.
“Chamberlain, the Duke of Squaret requests to see you in front of the library.”
“Let’s go.”
The Duke has summoned me.