I sheltered from the rain beneath a tree and gazed at the ruined library.
The battle and fire that night, coupled with the rain that had poured for days, had rendered the library completely irreparable.
Countless books that once rivaled those of Delphi Academy had been torn, burned, or soaked through.
“The underlings have their reasons for spouting nonsense at the Order of Knights. Look at this mess. The identity of the Squaret Duchy has been shattered by a single swordmaster. How chilling.”
“Do you think they see their own reflection in this ruin?”
“That’s why they want to bark at the loyal hounds guarding the house. They don’t realize they’re becoming nothing more than dogs themselves.”
“How do you feel, Your Grace?”
Before I knew it, Duke Squaret had stood beside me.
Perhaps because it was the middle of the night, his expression was difficult to read.
“Me? To be honest, it’s not much different from what they’re feeling. I’m angry, irritated.”
“At the civil officials and magicians?”
“They’re angry too, but that’s not the source of my fury.”
Duke Squaret walked slowly toward the ruins alone.
There was no attendant holding an umbrella to shield him from the rain, no butler informing him of his schedule, and no knights to protect him.
Countless noises emerged beneath his footsteps.
The splash of puddles on the ground, the clatter of fragments scattered all around.
Amidst the clamor, Duke Squaret spoke.
“Damn the Empire.”
I followed the duke’s steps slowly.
“You’re referring to Lumpen Hound.”
“I had planned to return two weeks ago. But suddenly, an Imperial Envoy arrived. Do you know a certain Count Samiocheu Krapi?”
A rumble echoed, and lightning flashed beyond the clouds.
“Samiocheu… Krapi.”
“You must have heard of him. The Empire’s Minister of Foreign Affairs—cunning to the extreme. He’s the one behind countless shady dealings and intrigues in the Empire. Suddenly, he showed up at the Capital, pretending it was a diplomatic visit.”
I couldn’t forget. Even now, just hearing that name stirred a boiling rage within me. He was Deon Craphy’s father—the enemy who had ruined my life and my family completely.
“That sly bastard burst into the Royal Palace under the pretense of diplomacy. He’s such a suspicious character that I was the only one who dared to confront him in the palace. I wondered why he wasted two weeks on meaningless topics…”
“What will you do about it?”
Again, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed in the empty sky.
At that moment, I caught sight of Duke Squaret’s expression.
He clenched his teeth so tightly that the muscles and veins on his jaw stood out, burning with rage.
“He thought he could mock me. Then I must show him he was wrong.”
“May I assist you?”
If not, I wouldn’t have been called out here at this late hour.
The duke’s eyes shifted over my shoulder.
This time, no lightning struck, yet his gaze was piercingly clear.
A fierce look as if blue flames of wrath were blazing within his eyes.
“I want to hear your thoughts.”
Following his gaze, I turned my head.
There, as if summoned like me, Senior Giselle approached, escorted by a single attendant.
“Tell me honestly. What do you think must be done to save this territory?”
Save it.
Over the past few weeks, I had diligently examined every corner of the territory and spoken with its people.
Thanks to that, I understood the deep-rooted corruption here.
To be honest, I was utterly at a loss.
But there was one person who could break this chain of filthy emotions.
Duke Squaret himself.
“Wipe it all out.”
The duke didn’t reply immediately to my words. He merely gave a glance to the attendant holding Giselle’s umbrella.
The attendant handed the umbrella to Giselle and hurried away.
It seemed the duke did not wish to share what was about to be discussed.
Giselle approached and gently slid the umbrella over me.
“I see. So, everything must be abandoned in the end.”
“You expected me to say this.”
“Before coming to meet you all, I encountered my children in my office. All they said was nonsense. I wanted to wipe it all away, but… people aren’t so easily hardened.”
The rain poured heavily.
Perhaps because of that, the duke standing at its center seemed to be crying with his whole body.
“That’s why I wanted to hear such words from you. Now, tell me, who do you think stirred up the knights?”
I recalled the conversation I had with Senior Giselle in the library a few days ago.
She seemed to suspect who was inciting the knights but stopped herself, saying that further confusion must be avoided.
That itself was a hint.
That night, I managed to pull out one name that could be leading all this turmoil.
The first clue came from the very existence of the knights’ unrest.
The young knights would leave for the Helpion Duchy, and only the old and powerless would remain.
Normally, the Order of Knights wouldn’t allow such rumors to spread unchecked.
If left unattended, such rumors would turn the knights’ atmosphere grim, and eventually, the order would be torn apart into half or more fragments.
Yet these rumors persisted without being caught?
That meant the upper echelons of the knights were deliberately allowing them.
So, who would benefit from allowing such rumors to sow discord?
But when I reached that point, my thoughts stalled.
Who profits from conflict?
That was the very point where we kept suspecting Lumpen Hound.
Then suddenly, a thought struck me.
What if no one profits?
What if, while everyone else suffers losses, one person merely holds their ground and breaks even?
That led me to a single person.
Ironically, someone who would lose the most power and status if Lady Titania married Duke Helpion and left the Squaret Duchy.
Coincidentally, that person knew the exact routes and timing of me and Lady Titania’s movements.
So they could have coordinated the timing of the territory war in Hesedia.
They were well aware of the internal conflicts of the territory and could easily use them to shake the knights.
Furthermore, if my guess was correct and this person was the culprit, stirring up Teron Squaret and provoking him wouldn’t have been difficult at all.
Only one person fit all this.
“I believe it’s Knight Commander Brunello.”
Yes. Knight Commander Brunello, Lady Titania’s guard and the leader of the First Order of Knights, must be the culprit.
Of course, this does not mean that Knight Commander Brunello is the vicious criminal behind all this.
He was simply a petty man who sowed discord among the knights to reorder their ranks, shedding the image of being Titania’s protector and maintaining his power even under Teron’s leadership.
Perhaps, like the rumors he spread, he hoped to lead the knights along with Lady Titania into the Helpion Duchy.
But into that pit of ambition had crawled Lumpen Hound—a parasite feeding on that very ambition.
The result was this ruin.
Someone must be held responsible for all this, and that someone was Knight Commander Brunello.
“What will you do with him?”
“Everything.”
“Will you allow me to assist?”
The duke asked, and I nodded.
From his reaction, it seemed he had already decided how to punish Brunello.
“Thank you. And… Giselle.”
“Yes, Chancellor.”
“Such a nostalgic title.”
Senior Giselle still used the title from our days at the Academy when addressing the duke.
Perhaps it was because of the time and history they shared.
She wore an expression I had never seen before.
Like the youthful look she might have had back at school.
Perhaps because of that, the duke’s anger momentarily softened, his face becoming gentle yet tinged with wistfulness.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. You’ve done nothing wrong, sir.”
“That charlatan drew a shabby magic circle and merely bragged about it. What was it? That if an eight-circle mage like him didn’t come, the circle would easily last a hundred years?”
It was a strange sight—seeing the duke struggling to defend himself.
“…I will send you to the Helpion Duchy.”
Then the duke revealed his trump card.
He seemed unable to meet Giselle’s eyes.
“When I served as Chancellor, I shivered at your talent. A world and future I had never seen unfolded in your books. So I brought you here under the pretense of protecting you, but all I’ve done was confine you to this old, musty place for fifteen years… and now I’ve even put your life in danger.”
His face showed clear guilt as he confessed.
“No matter how great your power or knowledge, it’s useless if you don’t have the strength to protect it. Yet the young nobles in this territory are squabbling over scraps.”
Then—
“No, I won’t go.”
Senior Giselle’s firm words interrupted Duke Squaret.
“Giselle.”
The duke called her in surprise, but she had already returned to the confident expression I knew—
The same one she had when she stood firm against Lumpen Hound in the library, refusing to run.
“Why do you think the vassals have become such cowards and cowards?”
“That’s…”
“Because of you.”
Giselle’s words struck the duke like a dagger.
“That’s undeniable. I kept ignoring their faults…”
“No. They didn’t become cowards because you showed mercy. It’s because you didn’t fight.”
“Fight?”
“You brought me here and watched silently for fifteen years. You never fought against the Empire.”
Giselle slowly lowered her umbrella.
The rain that had been tapping on it now poured down on her head.
“Even when trouble befell my family fifteen years ago, you abandoned everything and resigned from your position as Chancellor. And now, you’re trying to send me somewhere safe, avoiding the fight with the Empire.”
“I…”
“I know you worry about me. But worrying alone won’t change anything. You have to become strong enough to overcome your worries. So, I’m going to stay here. I won’t hide anymore.”
I felt the same spirit when she fought Lumpen Hound.
How could such a small, frail body carry such unwavering will?
More than just will, it radiated a determination to not yield an inch.
The duke must have felt that too.
“I must have lived not knowing anything.”
He lifted his head to the sky.
“So, I must fight… I was a coward, so everyone lived as cowards.”
Giselle’s words had clearly resonated with him.
“Laward.”
After standing silently for a while, the duke called my name.
“Yes.”
“I originally planned to entrust Giselle to you and the Helpion territory, but… I must change that plan.”
“Please tell me.”
“I intend to dismiss nearly all the vassals of this territory tomorrow, leaving only the minimum necessary.”
Dismiss… truly a bloodbath in the making.
As I thought this, the duke continued.
“Could the Helpion territory temporarily take in the dismissed vassals?”
Those civil officials in the Helpion territory?
Of course, I could take them in.
Normally, I would welcome that with open arms.
Since there were hardly any proper civil officials here, I handled most of the work alone.
But that was only from my perspective; adapting would be another matter.
If they acted like they did in the Squaret Duchy, it would cause serious trouble.
Swordmasters there were busy fighting over their own territories.
“Of course, I don’t mean sending them all. Only those who wish to continue working will be sent. After rolling around in the front lines, even fools might learn a thing or two.”
“And once they mature, you want them back.”
“I know they can be a burden.”
“I should ask Duke Helpion’s opinion… I will return and consult, then send a letter.”
“Thank you. I will surely repay the favor.”
Favor.
Normally, I would have brushed off such words, but not now.
Perhaps because of everything I’d experienced in the chaotic Squaret Duchy, I too had changed.
Deon Craphy and Samiocheu Krapi.
The Craphy Marquis Family was a more formidable enemy than I had thought.
So, I must move more actively, more diligently than them to exact my revenge.
Speaking of moving actively… I found myself curious about Senior Giselle’s next steps.
“Senior, you said you would actively use your imagination. How do you plan to do that?”
“Well… it’s not exactly science, but some people know it—Magic Engineering. I thought maybe I could ask them if my ideas are even possible.”
True.
Magic Engineering was the discipline that delved into magic formulas and the composition of the world—some kind of magic science, right?
If there were people obsessed with that…
Coincidentally, I knew someone who was a Magitechnologist.
“There was a genius Magitechnologist among my peers. I’ll introduce her.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Barbara de Palseus, the eldest daughter of the Palseus Marquis Family, famous for Magic Engineering in the Kingdom of Ragna. Since we were close, she’d come running if I contacted her.”
“Barbara de Palseus?”
“Wait, Your Grace knows Barbara as well?”
But the duke’s expression was strange.
“Didn’t you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“Tch, I guess you didn’t know. The Palseus family’s prestige isn’t what it used to be. In fact, they might close their workshop any day now.”
“The great workshop of such a powerful family is on the brink of closure?”
The Palseus Marquis Family was one of the representative houses that laid the foundation of the Kingdom of Ragna.
For such a family to be on the verge of shutting down in just six years was astonishing.
“That’s all due to the bombings and the terrorist bomber from the Empire’s nobility.”
“Were the bombs products of the Palseus workshop?”
At my question, the duke smiled wryly.
“Were you unaware of the incident that shook the entire world? Goodness, you’re truly inscrutable. Four years ago, a bold terrorist set off a dozen bombs in the Craphy Marquis Family’s estate.”
“Terrible… what was the damage?”
“Fortunately or unfortunately, only a few knights were injured. The terrorist only set off bombs in the garden, perhaps due to tight security. Damn those Craphy Marquis bastards—they should have died there too.”
An unsettling fear had been creeping up on me ever since the story began.
Because the most crucial piece was missing.
“What happened to Barbara? Barbara de Palseus?”
The duke answered with an expression that seemed almost pitying.
“The terrorist in the incident I mentioned was none other than her. Barbara de Palseus. She is currently imprisoned in the Fortress of Tefalo in the Kingdom of Ragna on charges of terrorism against the Empire.”