Chapter 13
** Cliff and Theobald**
‘Finally, he moves!’
Cliff had not withdrawn the surveillance on Aren.
He had merely pretended to withdraw it. He had made sure it wasn’t the same people as before, and since Aren had noticed them, this was the only way.
Cliff had, from the start, assigned two groups to watch Aren.
And this idea proved correct.
Aren, believing the surveillance was gone, had left the village.
“What should we do?”
“What else? You go and report to the Acting Lord. I’ll follow him.”
The one watching Aren quietly tailed him.
The process went smoothly.
Aren’s group, moving with torches in the distance.
They were few, but their movements were as clear as will-o’-wisps.
‘Just as expected. He’s going into the mountains?’
Old, who was following him, admired Cliff’s insight.
As expected, Beluman had hidden many assets. Or if not that, Aren was hiding something.
Now was the time for those hidden things to reveal themselves.
‘So there was a lodge here.’
A lodge built in the territory of the Shadow Wolves.
Seeing this, Old’s expression darkened. But what followed flustered him even more.
Aren had come all this way.
He met some man at the lodge, only to be cut down instantly.
“……!”
Old couldn’t even follow the movement with his own eyes.
Fast.
And strong.
This was truly a man who had survived in the land of the Shadow Wolves.
‘Who is he?’
He was flustered.
His heart pounded heavily.
He couldn’t determine the man’s identity. What made him even more nervous was that the man’s eyes were looking right at where Old was hiding.
‘No way… he hasn’t spotted me, has he?’
That couldn’t be.
Even if he wanted to think that, the situation didn’t go his way.
“I know you’re there. You don’t seem to be one of these rabble’s lackeys… Did the lord send you? To follow them?”
A flinch.
“If you keep hiding… that’s fine too. But then I’ll consider you my enemy and cut you down as well.”
“I-I’ll come out!”
Old hurriedly came out of hiding.
In that moment, Old met Theobald’s eyes.
‘What kind of human eyes are those…’
Theobald’s eyes reminded him of ruins.
Empty eyes that seemed to have lost all color. Old himself was reflected in those eyes.
From Old’s position, he was conflicted.
It wasn’t yet clear to him which side Theobald was on.
“Did the lord send you?”
Theobald asked Old again.
After a moment of thought, Old soon nodded with a resolute expression.
He didn’t know Theobald’s true intentions anyway. He didn’t know his identity either. In that case, there was no benefit to hiding unnecessarily.
“As you say. I was under the orders of the new master of Elimeas, Acting Lord Cliff, to watch Aren.”
“Hmph. I’ve heard rumors of a new person coming. That he was to marry the lord’s daughter. So he’s arrived. Then, is he my new master now?”
Theobald spoke, nodding his head.
He was a tense and unreadable presence for Old until the very end.
That suspicious Theobald opened his mouth.
“Guide me. I wish to meet this Acting Lord.”
Having said that, he took something from Aren’s chest.
Old couldn’t see it clearly, but it looked like parchment.
Theobald tucked it into his own chest and urged Old.
“Let’s go. To meet the Acting Lord. You need to report this matter anyway, don’t you?”
“Th-that’s true, but…”
Could he really bring Theobald before Cliff like this?
‘Ah, whatever.’
He was right anyway.
Aren, the target of surveillance, was dead, so he had to report it.
In that process, it was easier to say he was killed by this man than to say he was killed by some unknown person.
‘Please, just let him not be dangerous.’
Seeing him cut a man down without hesitation, he was clearly dangerous, but Old decided to ignore that.
And so they headed back toward the village.
Even on the way back, Old observed Theobald.
‘I thought he might say something, but…’
It was a very uncomfortable companionship.
First of all, Theobald didn’t utter a single word.
In that silence, the two simply walked toward the village. They arrived in the dead of night, before dawn.
He went into the village and headed for the lord’s residence.
“……Huh?”
Arriving here, Old was surprised again for a different reason.
Nigel, known as the second-in-command of the territory, was standing in front of the mansion.
“You’re here now?”
As if he had known Old would come.
His eyes widened slightly upon seeing the suspicious Theobald following behind, but he showed no further reaction.
“Guide the guest. I will bring the Acting Lord shortly.”
It was a series of bewildering events.
Nigel’s words suggested he already knew a guest would arrive.
At this attitude, even Theobald showed a hint of doubt on his face. But he didn’t open his mouth further.
He was merely guided by Nigel to the reception room of the mansion.
“Please wait here for a moment. The Acting Lord will be here soon.”
“……Understood.”
“Old, come with me for a moment.”
“Yes, Steward.”
Nigel and Old went outside.
Presumably, Nigel would question Old about Theobald. Theobald grinned.
“……For an old man, he’s quite something. This is unlike a butler from such a backwater territory.”
He thought Nigel’s handling was excellent.
A stranger had appeared.
But Nigel’s face showed no agitation. There was a momentary surprise, but even that was fleeting.
He guided Theobald with a calm face, then set about gathering information from behind.
‘It feels like we had an appointment.’
An attitude as if he had known a guest would come.
That was intriguing. Amidst this, the sensitive ears of Theobald caught voices outside.
‘Who is that man? At a glance, he doesn’t look like an ordinary person.’
‘There was a lodge on the mountain of wolves. I met that man at the lodge.’
‘There’s a lodge?’
‘Yes. Given that Aren went there, perhaps…’
‘It was Beluman’s hidden hideout.’
‘That seems to be the case.’
Their conversation.
Speculation about his identity continued without pause.
Meanwhile, a new presence intruded among them. And according to Theobald’s senses, this person was different from the others.
‘The scent of mana.’
He was definitely a mana user.
His skill itself wasn’t at a very high level.
But in this territory, merely possessing mana was praiseworthy. And although the energy this mana user carried was weaker than Theobald’s, it was pure.
Mana learned from a high-level secret art.
‘At a glance, he looks like someone from a prestigious family…’
The identity of that person could be discerned from the words of Nigel and Old.
Acting Lord.
The person Old had mentioned on the mountain.
That Acting Lord, with an air of fatigue, listened to Old’s report.
No, could it even be called listening to a report?
‘Aren is dead, isn’t he?’
‘Huh? Ah, yes. He’s dead…’
‘And the one who killed him seems to be the guest here now.’
‘Yes, that’s correct…’
Old looked at Cliff with curious eyes, wondering how he knew this.
And the same went for Theobald, waiting quietly in the reception room.
‘Did he sense my presence?’
If his senses were sharp, that might be possible. And since his presence appeared together with the watcher, did he assume Aren was dead?
While he was pondering this, Cliff entered.
“Yawn. What a shame. I was hoping for a beautiful female knight, but a man… tch.”
“Hah. Sorry to disappoint.”
Cliff entered.
He checked Theobald along with a yawn.
He seemed genuinely disappointed.
Then he continued with his peculiar words.
“A stoic-looking female knight beside the protagonist, ready to say ‘Tch. Kill him,’ that’s the unspoken rule, you know. But instead of that, we get a rugged man oozing with a beastly aura. Well, I heard you killed one of my people. Could you tell me why you killed him?”
“……I feel like I’m being interrogated.”
Theobald frowned, as if displeased.
Even though he had suspected Aren, and even at the moment that suspicion was confirmed, Cliff still called him ‘one of my people.’ That attitude was absurd.
First, coming in and going on about female knights was ridiculous enough, but to then go on about ‘my people.’
And Cliff probably knew.
The difference in skill between them.
‘Even knowing that, he’s trying to pressure me?’
It was absurd.
Theobald looked at Cliff with that emotion. However, in that moment, Theobald also felt a strange sensation.
‘Somehow… I feel like I’m being rude.’
As if he was doing something he shouldn’t.
Faced with Cliff, who simply shrugged his shoulders, Theobald ended up answering his question.
“Sigh. He claimed to be my master when he wasn’t, so I cut him down.”
With the answer, the tightness in his chest was relieved.
Theobald felt something strange.
He examined Cliff again. A young, noble-looking, handsome man with blonde hair.
He still only sensed a faint scent of mana, though it was pure.
‘He must have learned a fine secret art, but his mana reserves are negligible. He’s clearly not a threat to me.’
It was strange.
This time, Theobald asked.
“Did you know… that I would come here?”
The other was a noble, but he didn’t want to bow just yet.
He intended to eventually offer his slave contract willingly, but until then, he planned to maintain this attitude.
Cliff, who received the question, did not answer this time either.
“……Slave Knight?”
Instead, as if guessing his identity, he spat out a single word.
And seeing Theobald flinch, he nodded.
“I see. So Beluman had hidden a knight-level asset. I don’t understand why he used such a man as a storehouse keeper instead of his personal guard, but well… I suppose it’s not entirely incomprehensible.”
Because a man like that would value his wealth more than his own body.
And with just the hired swords he had, his safety within the territory would have been guaranteed.
‘Above all, he couldn’t entrust his wealth to just anyone.’
He had to entrust it to someone who wouldn’t betray him.
Cliff opened his mouth.
“Perhaps that’s why you killed Aren. Was it the last order from your master? Something like, if I die, kill the one who killed me.”
“……Damn. The Acting Lord of this place is a ghost.”
How could he reveal so much just by saying a few things?
Theobald let out a crude remark, and Cliff spoke to him.
“If that’s the case, then first of all, you must have something to give me, don’t you?”
Cliff said this and looked at Theobald.
As if resigned, Theobald handed over the document he had kept in his chest. The document he had taken from the dead Aren. It was Theobald’s slave contract.
Receiving it, the corners of Cliff’s mouth curved upward.
‘I never imagined a man like this would be here.’
It was a shame it wasn’t a female knight, but a rugged man wasn’t so bad.
Because this was the moment that supplemented what Cliff lacked: military strength. Cliff reached for the slave contract.
“So, now… will you tell me? Didn’t you already know I was coming?”
Theobald’s tone had become much more polite.
Cliff opened his mouth.
“Rather than knowing someone would come, I knew that Aren was dead.”
“……?”
To Theobald, who looked curious, Cliff smiled.
That was all it was.
‘Because the quest suddenly completed.’
With the quest complete, his status window had also changed.
This time, his lord level had risen.
And before coming here, he had invested points into his lord status window.
