Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

145 – Summon the Four Great Houses

“…It’s true, then.”

“Is it… really?”

“Yes, unlike a moment ago,

the wound is healing.”

Ultimately, this situation

concluded with the priest who’d left the room

just moments prior being dragged back in.

The same priestesses who’d been

raising a ruckus with faces drained of color

finally understood that every action I’d taken

…by realizing it, that is.

“…What oppa said, it’s true?”

“Yes…that’s all I can

tell you.”

“…”

*Shooosh*—

The moment the golden-hued sacred power touched my body,

my chest, which had been utterly

torn to shreds,

began to sprout new flesh, and color returned,

until not even a single scar remained on my body.

“How…do you feel any better?”

“Yes, I think I’m alright.”

“That was…an utterly unorthodox method, excavating the wound completely…”

“…”

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen a treatment like this that I had nearly forgotten it existed.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes…of course, I’ve only heard of this method from the fighting arenas, though.”

The fighting arenas.

A place frequented mainly by the Empire’s criminals,

the only place within the Empire where

it is permitted for a person to kill another.

At first, it was practically

a prison for the worst criminals,

those beyond redemption,

but thanks to the suggestion of a certain noble,

it has now degenerated into a source of entertainment for the nobility;

as such, the basic facilities were extremely poor.

After all, they’re just guys who don’t matter much even if they die.

There was no one to worry about

criminals, was there?

Especially since they were all heinous criminals to begin with.

The meals provided consisted of

rotten meat and spoiled eggs.

Battle training that continued

like hell all day long.

Let alone bathing…

There wasn’t even respite offered there,

so screams were ceaseless,

and only those that cleaved

and tore flesh gathered,

it was already, in truth,

a slaughtering field.

Mercy was nowhere

to be found amongst those within.

Naturally, the weapons they carried were the same.

Most of the weapons they bore

were often coated with immediate-acting poisons,

and it was said that lancing the wound

and treating it anew

was a very effective method.

“If only I had recalled this method sooner…”

“….”

“The Master’s companions

might not have had to suffer

so much heartache.”

“….”

“Haha… I always thought I had a good memory, though…”

As he spoke thus,

on his face, a slight flicker

of regret was visible,

an emotion he seemed well-acquainted with.

The expression of one who, beside countless lives,

had saved and cared, but then

had no choice but to let countless others go.

At that moment, that was the expression he wore.

“No, you have already been

a great help, simply by

treating us up until now.”

“Even so…!”

“Besides, this is rather distant

from medical

knowledge, is it not?”

“….”

“It is understandable that the Preceptor may not be familiar.”

“..I am truly grateful that you would say such a thing.”

Because he was so tall,

he had been continuously

His waist, which I’d always had to look up to,

began to slowly lower towards me.

His face, filled with what seemed like

apology and guilt.

If the people in this place

were high-ranking nobles who’d swallowed

all their manners for breakfast, they might have

chastised and humiliated him, demanding

why he hadn’t thought of this method sooner.

But seeing him like that

didn’t sit well with me.

Well, maybe he hadn’t learned it,

or simply didn’t remember?

In a world where a single burst of divine power

healed every kind of wound, who in any era

would bother studying and remembering

something like this folk remedy?

A hundred out of a hundred, a thousand out of a thousand,

they’d all focus on developing their own divine power instead.

And besides, I hadn’t even known

this kind of treatment

actually existed.

I simply thought that if this wound was gone,

everything would be alright.

So, at least for me,

there was no reason to blame him.

Of course, the same was true for the women

who had been watching over him

all this time.

“Oh, it looks like it’s all healed?”

“Ah, Lady Sino.”

“..You’re calling me by my first name now?”

Ah, come to think of it, I had

always addressed her by her surname,

so it was no wonder she was surprised.

“..You were a great help in

rescuing Aria this time.”

“….”

“Truly, I thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Just another debt, anyway!”

She smiles brightly, as if

the past is of no consequence to her at all.

I heard she, too,

sustained severe injuries.

How can she laugh

so vibrantly like that?

Indeed…she and I are ill-suited.

For I’ve long forgotten

how to laugh so vibrantly.

“..Anyway, Shino-ssi.”

“Hm?”

Looking directly at her,

a momentary sneer crossing my face, I

began to ask all the questions I’d held back.

Clearly, I failed

to kill that old man. So

how am I still alive?

Where is the Saintess

who was with me there?

And that old man,

where has he vanished to?

Everything that happened after I collapsed.

And to my questions, she

replied with sincerity.

“Haa…”

“Oh, it’s a shame, I guess, but

aren’t you glad you’re alive?”

“Yes, Oppa…you’re alive, so…”

“..That’s right, Master…truly…”

“..Yes, so it is.”

I promptly let out a sigh.

Of course, I could thank Duke

Charlotte a hundred times over for

saving me and the others.

But the fact that I

failed to kill that b*stard was,

for me, a significant disappointment.

“..Of course, harboring such thoughts is surely impolite—”

“Ah, almost forgot?”

“…?”

Was she trying to

organize this terribly

unruly mind of mine?

She held something out to me.

A brilliantly radiant,

azure blue crystal orb.

“What is this?”

“Academy, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“….”

I lower my gaze, looking down.

At the crystal orb still

gleaming its beautiful blue.

Crafted so exquisitely it almost looks like a magical artifact…

[Academy Student, Baron Jenison.

Attendance required at your earliest convenience]

…Didn’t know it was an actual magical artifact.

“B-Brother, here… it says Baron, what does that mean?”

“M-Master, have you become a Baron?!”

The inscription seems

to be visible to everyone else as well.

Judging by Aria and Ella’s astonishment beside me.

“Yes~ Probably the first person

to receive a noble title at that age, I reckon?”

“..Really? If my brother

really did become a noble again—”

“Congratulations… congratulations, Master!!”

“This truly calls for celebration!! L-Lord… no, Young Master!”

For the first time in a

long while, I found myself

yearning for the dense, acrid

smoke of a cigarette.

I wanted to slap my head with that pitch-black smoke right away.

*

*KWAANG—*

With an earth-shattering crash, the chair skidded backwards,

and at the same instant,

the numerous stacks of documents

piled on the desk

Without rhyme or reason,

each drifted through the empty air in their own way.

“…Is it truly so?”

Even now, a red aura

poured forth from his very being,

because of this, the most noble of all in the empire.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Truly, is there not

a single falsehood in your words—”

“I will gladly swear upon it.”

“You dog!! How dare you interrupt His Majesty…!!”

Until this moment, never had anyone

presumed to cut him off,

and for the one who did

to be but a vice-captain of the knightly order,

it was all the more outrageous.

Leindel could not

forgive such an act.

So much so that he drew

the sword he still bore strapped to his back.

The Golden Lion’s Blade.

Leindel’s personal weapon,

a weapon other knights

called a war-engine in itself.

A sword so massive that

an ordinary man could never lift it,

now, it was aimed

at a single man.

“I am well, Leindel. Desist.”

“But…!”

“It is well. Now is simply not

the time to quibble over such matters.

Time itself is too precious.”

However, the one who

blocked his path was

none other than the Emperor, himself,

and with the wronged party not seeking

punishment, Leindel

could no longer raise his blade.

He could only vow to give the man a thorough re-education later.

“I am grateful for your grace, Your Majesty.”

“Enough with the pleasantries.

Are you truly, truly certain?”

Certainty.

The Emperor pressed again.

You truly,

are certain of what you heard,

and you truly,

can stand by what you said?

Such meaning was woven into the question.

“Yes, I pledge it upon the honor of my knighthood.”

And so came the Vice-Commander’s vow.

A knighthood more loyal than any other,

more diligent, more steadfast.

He was the Vice-Commander

of the Reinel’s directly-sworn knights.

In his manner of speaking, there was

not a speck of vanity,

nor a single grain of pretense,

not even a hint of falsehood.

Only then did the Emperor

begin to believe his words.

Of course, that alone

was not enough to soothe

the throbbing ache in his head.

“..Your Majesty, are you alright?!”

“Yes… just a bit of a headache.”

“….”

“I never imagined that scoundrel would go so far.”

“….”

“But you say it’s certainly

not a lie… damn it.”

It was no wonder his head ached.

No, perhaps it was fortunate it ended with just a headache.

The things to come

would be far more arduous than this.

Undoubtedly so.

“Haa… Reinel.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“The four great houses…gather them all.

“Summon them in secret.”

“..All of them, you say?”

“Ah, naturally…excluding the Reinhardt family.”

“Your will, shall be done.”

For the Imperial Family, who had maintained a long-standing

rivalry with the nobles,

to strike against a Ducal House was an issue of immense consequence.