13 (28)

“My lord, I’m good at this. Just give me two silver coins. If you add three more, every hole I have is yours.”

Louis mulled over what the woman had just said for a very brief moment. Apparently taking that as a positive sign, the blonde woman grabbed Louis’s hand and placed it against her chest. Louis’s hand rubbed against something soft and full. Every one of the attendants behind him raised their brows, yet this immature prostitute still had no sense of the situation.

“How is it? Oh my, how is your skin this good…? Just give me two silver coins. I’ll send you to paradise today.”

It seemed the prostitute fancied Louis, and from that close position she lifted her head. It looked like she was trying to see the face hidden beneath the robe. Narrowing her eyes, she lost her voice in an instant. Just as the woman’s two hands moved to cover her own mouth, Louis caught her hand.

“Shh…….”

“………..”

Only then did the young blonde prostitute show the expression of someone who realized who she had been speaking to, and she soon nodded repeatedly. Louis casually took out a coin from his pocket. Perhaps because it was a robe once worn by an executive, there were several coins inside. He grabbed one or two at random and slipped them between her breasts. It was a shining silver coin.

“I’ve paid your fee, so you can pretend you never saw me, right?”

The prostitute nodded repeatedly again. A burly middle-aged mercenary, drinking rum straight as if he thought some trouble had broken out, was watching from the window. On one of his thighs he had a prostitute about the same size as the girl before Louis sitting on it. When he took another swig of rum, Louis stepped away from the prostitute. He made a face like a man whose mood had gone flat, as though he had wanted to loosen up a little, then turned his gaze elsewhere.

Louis then simply resumed walking down the street, and the prostitute, apparently dumbfounded by what had just happened, pinched her cheek and lightly jostled her chest. It was because if it was silver, she could recognize it by touch alone. If she took it out and someone else noticed, the money would be taken from her without fail. She stared blankly in the direction Louis had disappeared. Soon it was filled again with new crowds. Louis walked a little farther through the city as if savoring it. Along the way, he briefly thought it might be nice to try an ale of the sort commoners often drank. But he could not afford to linger any longer. The time was almost up.

‘It should be well heated by now.’

“Duke Louis is entering.”

It was a huge hall converted from a reception chamber. Inside were all the nearby nobles of some name, as if to prove just how much the chaotic arguments up to now had swelled. The moment Louis entered, all eyes in the room fixed on him at once. Gauging whether this place had become ripe enough to raise the matter, Louis walked to the especially empty center. When he stepped onto the platform, the nobles became visible at a glance as though he had stepped onto a stage. Some still had not relaxed their formal posture toward the duke. It was excessive to the point of seeming overdone, but that much meant they intended to swear loyalty to Louis. Louis estimated their number. Half.

“Your Grace. I am Baron Podek of House Iden. I ask that you release my close friends whom you had imprisoned.”

Louis looked at him. It was a tired face. For him, this place must have been hell, no less than the savage arguments here. There was a brooch pinned to his chest. It showed a throne wrapped in thorny vines, and even at a glance Louis could tell it was an emblem of a protected throne. Once, Louis had wanted to wear that brooch himself. That was when he had been very young. The people waited only for Louis to say a single word. Only a few seconds had passed, yet the one looking as though he might die was Baron Podek.

“So you want to see them before your eyes. Bring them.”

At Louis’s command, the door opened, and soldiers and prisoners filed out from there. The ones entering were Ron, Ensis, and Hermos, who had been arrested on the spot as assassins not long ago. In the meantime, Hermos had grown a thick beard and looked terribly gaunt.

Since outwardly they appeared unharmed, Baron Podek approached his close friend with a relieved smile.

“Are you well? Ensis. If anything happened to you in there, speak of it here. His Majesty has announced that this matter is groundless, and your false accusation will soon be cleared. So…….”

“Do not come near me. I am an assassin.”

“……..!!”

For nearly half a month, they had argued over whether it was true, and now the matter was made clear in an instant. The corners of Baron Podek’s eyes trembled.

“Wh… what did you say?”

“I am an assassin. I, no, the three of us planned and carried out an attempt to assassinate Duke Pontina Louis with a poison called Chilbosa.”

“Wh… what are you… speaking so freely with that mouth!”

It was an old man. He was a white-haired noble who looked nearly eighty. He was so agitated that his face had turned red, and the veins stood out on his neck as if he might collapse at any moment.

“I can’t believe it.”

“They conspired together, you say? Then who was behind it…?”

“Were they not threatened?”

“If they were, they look far too intact.”

The crowd, which had been quiet for a moment, shook as though struck by an earthquake. Louis spoke softly, lacing his voice with mana. It was a feat only a Sword Expert could perform, and in truth, among the nobles here, let alone Sword Experts, even those who had properly learned mana were rare, so only a handful including Louis could do such a thing.

“Silence.”

It was as if cold water had been thrown over them, and the flames went out. Louis continued,

“Proceed. Ensis, tell them the course of events.”

“I will speak to you all about this matter. Judging that Duke Louis’s power was growing too great, King Gridio Orpendius summoned the three of us, gave us Chilbosa, and ordered that if an opportunity arose, we were to assassinate Duke Louis by any means necessary.”

“Th… that’s a lie. His Majesty would never have given such an order…!”

“It is the truth.”

“Ensis!”

Baron Podek suddenly shouted, and Ensis had no choice but to look at him.

“Look me in the eye and say it. Is it true?”

“Yes.”

Without realizing it, Baron Podek brought his right hand to his forehead. The matter had grown far larger.

Louis liked that scrawny hunchback. Even if these men made some sudden move here, there were any number of next steps available, but that torturer had handled the work better than expected. Louis had already heard all the information from them. The king had stood by, and the true mastermind was Boarne Gregory. Therefore, even if this matter grew larger, the proper order was to settle things with Boarne Gregory. Even if it grew, at most it would become a territorial war. But Louis wanted to create a justification through this incident. A justification to kill the king.

Atila had formed an alliance with Louis, not with Gridio Orpendius. Louis possessed a resource Atila would covet. Food produced in explosive quantities. He would send mercenaries to Louis, and Louis would send him overflowing food, seeking profit for both sides. Would Atila agree? Louis had already gotten the answer during their previous meeting.

“Your Grace, hear this. This is the message sent by the king.”

Thinking he had to step in, a special minister came forward before Louis. He was a bear-like man, but what he held was not an ordinary letter. It was a royal missive demanding the execution of a grave order or obligation. Therefore, whether duke or marquis, one had to show the minister bearing that letter the same respect as if the king himself stood there. The envoy waited for Louis to make his next move, but in return Louis released a thick killing intent. What he had suppressed until now burst out. Since one incident had already broken out, two or three more meant little. Rather than dying in a hunting ground like his father, Louis’s thinking was that he would fight before that happened.

The source of the mana was Louis. But what flowed within it was not mana. It was emotion. Every noble present here could read Louis’s emotion. It was so clear that it was impossible not to know it. The minister standing foremost had his legs trembling, and along with that, the royal letter shook as well. The nobles felt both awe and fear.

“I will not say it twice. Speak. Otherwise I will cut off your head and read the letter myself.”

The envoy took out a handkerchief from his chest and wiped away his sweat, only to drop the handkerchief. With trembling hands, he broke the red seal and unfurled the message with a snap. Stammering in a shaking voice, he read the royal message aloud. Louis could not suppress a sneer. In short, first, that he himself was not the culprit. Second, that Louis had slandered him and should formally come here and apologize. Third, the amount of compensation to be offered. It had already been no small amount, yet it had been greatly increased. Louis stepped forward and took the message from the envoy. Then, before everyone’s eyes, he tore it to pieces. The envoy’s mouth fell open.

“Tell him this. I shall now receive what my predecessor, Pontina Valpur, never received.”