HSRD 09

Chapter 9

“Count Martin. I entrusted this casino to you because I trusted your judgment.”

The Duke looked down at Count Martin with sharp eyes.

Count Martin couldn’t even meet those cold, piercing green eyes and trembled.

“Baron Beko was expendable from the start—but the dealer wasn’t. Where am I supposed to find another technician of that level?”

“I-I will, without fail!”

Count Martin cried out desperately.

“I will absolutely fill the dealer’s position! I won’t disappoint you!”

“…Very well. I’ll trust you, Count Martin.”

The Duke’s tone shifted.

“This incident was unexpected for me as well, so I’ll let it slide.”

The true owner of the casino, hiding behind the puppet named Count Martin.

The mastermind behind the rigged gambling operating beneath the surface.

Duke Mayville delivered an unusually lenient judgment.

That was because—

He was in quite a good mood.

“First, the mages have realized that the casino’s alarm magic cannot detect ancient artifacts. And the Imperial Guard’s surveillance will tighten as well, so refrain from using ancient artifacts for a while. Issue an apology and announce improvements to the alarm magic system.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“This exposed cheating operation will be treated as the independent actions of Baron Beko’s group and that dealer. The casino must bear no responsibility.”

“Yes! I’ll handle it cleanly.”

After giving simple orders, the Duke left Count Martin’s office with a faint, amused smile.

‘Will I see that woman again?’

If they met again… he thought it might not be a bad idea to make her his.

* * *

When we stepped outside, the sun had already long set.

There were no clocks in the casino, so I hadn’t even realized how much time had passed.

‘No wonder adults say gambling is scary.’

Thankfully, Lishian’s state-of-the-art carriage was incredibly fast.

As expected, it passed through the gates of the Lafmen Ducal Estate without issue.

Up to that point, everything was fine.

“The time for entering the banquet has passed. No one is allowed inside now.”

Black-haired knights guarding the entrance blocked my path.

Beside me, Lishian frowned at them.

“Why are you standing guard out here? Where are the soldiers?”

At his question, one of the knights answered:

“By the Duke’s orders, the soldiers are on external patrol. The First Knight Order has been assigned to guard the banquet hall.”

“That makes no sense. Using the beastman knight order just to guard a banquet? Has my brother gone mad?”

He had a point—using elite beastman knights for a simple banquet was excessive.

But I knew exactly why the Duke had done this.

‘Because of Ijansel Lafmen’s assassination.’

Thinking back, even yesterday there had been black-haired black panther beastmen guarding the hall.

So the Duke had taken precautions.

‘And yet… it still failed?’

This wasn’t good.

The Duke clearly wasn’t reliable.

That must be why the divine messenger gave me this quest.

‘But what do I do now…’

The knights stood firm, unmoving even under Lishian’s persuasion.

I glanced at the system window.

The message had updated.

Third Sub-Quest
~Ijansel Lafmen is in danger of assassination! Enter the Lafmen Ducal Estate banquet immediately!~

Warning!
There is little time left to complete this quest. Failure will result in the main quest failing.

‘There’s no time…’

If the main quest failed—what would happen?

Would the divine messenger contact me again?

And if not… what would happen to the time loop?

This wasn’t the time to sit around without answers.

I quickly assessed the situation.

Lishian was currently distracting the knights.

This was my chance.

‘Now!’

I recalled the <Secret Art of the Evening Glow Nymph 1> that had been imprinted into my mind.

A warm energy I had never felt before flowed through my body.

As I guided that flow throughout myself—

Something incredible happened.

My body gradually became translucent.

‘Amazing…! So this is nymph magic!’

My presence completely vanished.

Mana truly was on a different level from ordinary magic.

Neither Lishian nor the knights noticed anything unusual.

This was it.

Carefully, I slipped past them and grabbed the banquet hall door handle.

Only after I opened it did they realize something was wrong.

“What—?!”
“When did she get there?!”
“W-Wait, Aigle! How did you do that?!”

Ignoring them, I rushed into the banquet hall.

Bright light flooded my vision.

The scene was identical to yesterday—

A grand chandelier, elegant music, and nobles dressed in splendor.

I pushed through the crowd, searching for Ijansel Lafmen.

Thankfully, she was in the center, speaking with her attendants.

The moment I found her—

The system window chimed and changed.

Third Sub-Quest Complete!
Reward: Judgment of the Sun (Temporary)

Suddenly, a spear appeared out of thin air.

Instinctively, I grabbed it.

It had an orange shaft and a blade as red as a ruby.

“What is that?!”
“A weapon? In the banquet hall?!”
“Where did that girl even come from?!”

The hall erupted in shock.

“Unni! Where were you?!”

I even heard Lily shouting from somewhere.

The entire hall turned chaotic.

Knights rushed toward me—but I didn’t have time to care.

Before they could reach me, I pressed a small button on the spear.

Judgment of the Sun (One-time use)
A temporary weapon modeled after a sacred artifact created by the Sun Dragon to judge sinners.

Effect: When a target sinner is designated, purifying flames will burn away their sins.
Limit: One-time use

→ Please designate the sinner to be judged.

The moment I read it, I shoved aside the knights trying to restrain me and slammed the spear into the floor.

Then, without even thinking, I shouted:

“I judge the sinners who attempted to assassinate Ijansel Lafmen!”

At that instant—

A hazy orange light flickered from the spear’s tip.

The light spread across the floor—

And formed a massive magic circle throughout the entire hall.

“That’s a magic circle!”

The glowing circle vanished moments later.

At the same time—

Several people suddenly dropped to their knees.

Then—

They were engulfed in enormous flames.

Among them… was even one of Ijansel’s closest aides.

The banquet hall erupted into chaos.

“Ahhh!”
“F-Fire!”
“People are burning!”
“Help—… wait, that’s not real fire!”

That’s right.

It wasn’t fire.

“That’s mana shaped like flames!”
“What an enormous concentration of mana…!”

Amid the stunned voices, those engulfed in flames began to speak.

“Please forgive my sins… I was blinded by greed and betrayed you…”
“I was ordered to kill Ijansel Lafmen… punish me…”

They repeated their confessions as if entranced.

Ijansel Lafmen threw her wine glass aside.

Then she grabbed one of the kneeling men by the collar.

“What are you saying?! Betrayal?!”

“I’m sorry, Lady Ijansel… I poisoned your wine just now…”

Ijansel glanced at the spilled wine.

“So if I had drunk that… I would have died?”

“Please forgive me… O Dragon…”

At that moment, the flames extinguished.

The man collapsed unconscious.

The same happened to the others.

After confessing, they all fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Ijansel shouted in fury:

“To betray me—your comrade and fellow beastman! Knights! What are you doing?! Arrest them immediately! I will interrogate them myself!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The black-haired knights swiftly subdued the fallen traitors.

Meanwhile, the knights near me hesitated and stepped back.

“W-Who… exactly are you?”

At that moment, the spear in my hand shattered with a sharp sound.

“Haha… well…”

Excuse me, Mr. Divine Messenger—

You never said I’d catch criminals this dramatically.

How am I supposed to clean this up?

‘Why am I not fainting at a time like this?!’

I want to collapse like those guys being arrested!

Under the suspicious and questioning gazes, I felt awkward.

‘Aigle… why are you always at the center of chaos?’

Trying to stay calm, I looked around—

And felt an intense gaze.

When I turned, I met eyes with the Duke of Lafmen.

He was staring at me in shock, his amethyst-like eyes wide.

It was the first time I had ever seen him show such clear emotion.

As I looked at him—

My mouth moved on its own.

“I-It’s been a while… Alkydes!”

One of his eyebrows twitched.

“As you requested, I caught the group trying to assassinate Lady Ijansel Lafmen! Hahaha!”

Even I didn’t know why I said that.

Was this… the “final struggle” of a criminal?

‘But I’m not even a criminal…’

The hall erupted again.

“What did she just say?”
“The Duke requested this?”
“Isn’t she Count Atlas’s niece?”
“Yes, that’s Aigle Atlas.”
“What’s their relationship?”

Ignoring all the whispers, I smiled brightly.

Then—

The Duke of Lafmen, his expression cold and rigid—

Walked straight toward me.