Jerni Houston, who I thought had fallen victim to a demon’s trick, turned out to be perfectly fine.
Unable to hide the rising doubts, I asked her right away.
“Why didn’t you catch the demon yourself?”
“For a simple reason. I couldn’t tell who the real demon was.”
I furrowed my brows slightly.
The demon we’d just tortured was nearly impossible to detect unless one was a priest versed in magic or holy arts.
Sensing their stench like I do, or deducing it through experience and intuition from years on the frontline against the Demon Army, is an art one can only acquire by spending most days in direct opposition to them.
“You couldn’t do that… But aren’t you capable enough to be called an Honor Knight?”
Yet, from what I knew, Jerni Houston was supposed to be a Knight at that level.
Was I mistaken?
“An Honor Knight, huh. Yeah, that’s what people call me.”
She replied with a wry smile.
“Sorry, but I’m actually the weakest among the kingdom’s three knights. They say I’m closest to being a Sword Master or whatever, but the gap between me and the others is so vast that it’s almost overwhelming. That’s why I had to change my methods to survive.”
“You changed your methods?”
“I managed my image so that even touching me would make enemies hesitate. So, most nobles who are sensitive to public opinion don’t dare provoke me.”
“I see.”
It didn’t concern me.
“Anyway, I understand that you couldn’t capture the demon with your own power. Then let me ask you one more thing… Why go through all this trouble?”
“Hm?”
“Even if you couldn’t catch them yourself, aren’t you a lord? Surely you have at least some command over the military. If you’d turned the tables and caught the demons, you could’ve earned great merit. So why act for two whole months just to call me here?”
Jerni Houston spread her fingers.
“There are two reasons. First, the demons weren’t acting alone. Second, they were following the Demon King’s orders. Both risks were too great for just me and my estate’s Knights to handle.”
So, if it were just one demon, she’d have gone for it, but with another around, the potential damage was too high, so she avoided fighting.
And since they were acting on the Demon King’s orders, she had to consider the possibility of an even stronger presence behind them.
“This is my estate. But at the same time, it’s where rookie Knights receive their training. The farmland here is small, so food supplies aren’t plentiful. If I threw those chicks into danger just for glory, wouldn’t that tarnish my honor?”
“…That’s not something someone called an Honor Knight would normally say.”
“I only say this in front of the Special Task Force Captain who serves the Royal Family alone. With your sharp eyes, figuring out who I really am is only a matter of time, so I might as well not hide it and gain your trust.”
“How can you say that when you barely know me?”
“When you work in this field, you find out things whether you want to or not. That includes reading people.”
“…Fine. Have it your way.”
There’s no point in arguing for nothing.
“Let’s move on.”
Changing the topic, I locked eyes with Jerni Houston and asked.
“Why did the demons target the Houston Estate?”
“Huff, huff.”
A deep mountain valley.
A man with a ragged voice was sweating coldly as he climbed the cliff.
Without any safety gear or magical aid, he scaled the rock face with only his bare hands, reaching up toward the top.
“You’re here.”
Sitting on a rock near the edge of the cliff was a green-haired demon.
Franken puffed on his pipe as he approached the man climbing the cliff.
“The goods?”
“Huff, huff. Grrr.”
The man panted and growled like a beast as he opened his hand.
There, a blue, glowing jewel rested.
Franken, the green-haired demon, picked up the jewel and asked.
“The Impersonator?”
The man shook his head.
Franken frowned.
“Strange. Jerni Houston shouldn’t have the ability to spot an Impersonator, should she?”
[Strange. Strange.]
[There’s a smell. A smell.]
[Smells like a twisted plan. Hehehe.]
The red smoke rising freely from the pipe formed into eyes, drifting around them.
Ignoring the mocking gazes, Franken reached out and grabbed the man’s head.
Crack.
Then he tore it off.
With his other hand, he reached beneath the severed neck and pulled something out.
A fragment of the Magic Sword that Owen had shattered before appeared.
“Assistants. Check it.”
The surrounding eyes gathered around the Magic Sword fragment, circling it closely.
Soon, one of the ‘assistants’ found something at the sword’s core and spoke.
[Hehe, Franken! Franken! The plan is ruined!]
[Ah, as always, the bad feeling comes true…]
[Demonic Sword Destroyer? Why is that here?]
At those words, Franken’s frown deepened.
“Demonic Sword Destroyer… Could it be that one I saw before?”
[That’s right! That Special Task Force Captain guy.]
[Hm, are we screwed?]
[Wow, the Impersonator got taken out instantly? Wasn’t he a high-class demon empowered by the Demon King himself?]
“……”
Franken quietly rubbed his forehead.
Then, looking at the jewel in his hand, his expression changed as if he’d realized something, and he murmured softly.
“Open the way. Open the way. May radiant glory shine upon our future.”
At that moment, the blue jewel began to shine brilliantly.
[Huh? Franken? What are you doing? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t activate that here?]
Just as the assistant asked, the shining blue jewel cracked and scattered in all directions.
Franken and the assistants fell silent as they watched.
The eyes that had been teasing Franken grew cautious and asked.
[Franken? Did we just get outplayed?]
[Professor Franken. Are we losing?]
[Are we screwed?]
Franken twitched his lips.
“So much for ‘Honor Knight.’ Honor, my ass.”
He scattered the powdered jewel carelessly on the ground.
“Let’s go. We’re done here.”
[Weren’t you after the Houston Family’s treasure? You’ve been here for two whole months for that!]
“The golden opportunity is gone. Now that the Demonic Sword Destroyer’s made his move, and Jerni Houston slipped out the treasure without me realizing, I lost.”
Franken puffed on his pipe as he turned away.
“Still, the important part succeeded, so I suppose we can call it a win for the war.”
[Ah, right, you were supposed to speed up the Demon King’s plan.]
[But that wasn’t even your plan, was it, Franken? Are you just coping?]
Franken answered, pipe between his lips.
“Coping? Even I get hurt by those words.”
[But it’s true, right? That plan was the Demon King’s from the start. Trying to steal the treasure was your own idea.]
“If you put it that way, I don’t have much to say… Whatever. We hit the minimum goal, so let’s move on to the next plan.”
Franken trudged away, disappearing into the smoke.
“To bring down the Kingdom of Lumin, there’s still much to be done.”
Soon, nothing remained on the cliff.
“The Key?”
“Yes. What they were after was our family’s treasure, the Key. All those attempts to swallow up the estate or bring me down—they were all aimed at this treasure.”
Jerni Houston produced a blue jewel from her hand.
Even at a glance, the magical aura it radiated was anything but ordinary.
“At the very least, it’s from the ancient era.”
“Oh, you recognize it?”
“More or less.”
The Great Sage Ryuk, in his quest to oppose the Demon King, had turned over every ancient relic, and I’d learned a thing or two standing at his side.
“If that’s what the demons were after, then maybe they wanted to dig up ancient ruins.”
“That’s likely. That’s why I hid it away in advance.”
Most legacies or ruins from the ancient era contained relics of humanity’s greatest powers from the time when the world was invaded by beings before the Demon King’s Army.
If the Demon King’s Army went after those ahead of time, it was imperative for humanity to stop them at all costs.
“I see…”
Now, I finally understood what Jerni Houston had truly been after.
“Were you planning to hand that jewel over to the Royal Family unofficially?”
“…Oh?”
Jerni Houston looked at me with interest.
“You caught on already? Impressive.”
“You already said as much yourself.”
Unlike those nobles obsessed with maintaining their facade for honor and fame, Jerni Houston manipulates the media and manages her image for her own benefit.
For her, the family’s treasure—the Key—was nothing more and nothing less than a troublesome asset that had to be protected from the demons.
‘So, she’s offering it to the Royal Family.’
What does it mean to hand over your family’s symbol to the Royal Family?
If the Royal Family ever disappears, her own house would vanish along with it.
A noble who loses their symbol and declines is what we call a Fallen Noble.
For those who were born nobles, Fallen Noble is the greatest of insults.
There’s almost always a reason for a house to fall so low.
“Doing it unofficially must be to minimize the risk that comes from handing your house’s symbol to the Royal Family.”
Suppressing the rumors and the disgrace that come with willingly choosing the path of decline.
If you asked whether that’s worth giving up the family’s treasure, I can’t answer.
It all depends on how Jerni Houston thinks.
The Marchioness, who so lightly parted with her family’s treasure, added with a smile,
“And now that I no longer have a symbol that could give the demons great power, I’ll have more peace of mind. In the future, I can always deny ever having such a symbol. I can replace it with something else if I have to.”
This, too, was part of her public image strategy.
“Sigh, just one last question.”
“What is it?”
“When did you find out about the Chimera Research Facility being built?”
“From the start.”
“……”
As I stood there speechless, Jerni Houston gave a mischievous laugh.
“I’ve got my own share of political rivals, you know? Some guys wanted to operate on that land, and when I looked into them, I found they were connected to one of my rivals’ financiers. I kept an eye on things thinking they’d try something, and, surprise surprise, demons were involved.”
“You couldn’t recognize the Impersonator, but you still realized there was a demon connection?”
“Well, I didn’t figure that out. The investigators I sent did.”
Jerni Houston gave a slightly bitter smile.
“Except, over eighty percent of that branch was wiped out. They were regulars too. A real shame.”
“…Haa.”
Having finally grasped the general situation, I let out a heavy sigh.
In the end, the incident concluded without any real problem.
“Looks like it’s time to settle accounts.”
“Settle accounts?”
“For summoning the Special Task Force Captain so recklessly. For using the demons as bait to do it. And even running your little ‘errand’ of handing the family treasure over to the Royal Family.”
I narrowed my eyes at the viper in the mask of honor.
“You owe me quite a lot.”
She grinned and asked,
“So, how do you feel about my daughter?”
“You crazy woman?”
It slipped out before I could stop myself.
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