Chapter 8
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 8 - The Fox and the Wolf
That evening, inside Edric’s temporary office within the Livia government building.
The heavy door opened, and Count Wilhelm barged in.
Instead of his usual relaxed smile, a chilling tension lingered on the wily Count's face.
"You have arrived... Count."
"Thank you for sparing such precious time, Sir Edric."
Wilhelm sat opposite Edric.
He fiddled with his teacup and opened his mouth.
"Sir Edric, the security of the South these days is not what it used to be."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes, it is because thieves aiming for precious goods are running so rampant. There are even rumors of them snooping around near my personal warehouse."
It was a blatant, direct pitch asking if the bastards rummaging through his ledgers and logistics hubs were Edric's doing.
However, Edric replied to Count Wilhelm's words while maintaining an outwardly indifferent expression as much as possible.
"To think thieves would break in near someone of such high prestige as the Count. You must truly be careful. There certainly are many fearless bastards in the world."
At Edric's brazen reply, Wilhelm's brow twitched.
Look at this thick-skinned bastard?
He set his teacup down with a clack and lowered his voice.
Clack-!
"Sir Edric... It seems the flow is going very differently from what was definitely discussed with Sir Albert. Or is it just my imagination?"
It was pressure telling him to just put on a moderate act and get lost since they had already bribed his father.
Cold sweat flowed down the back of Wilhelm's neck.
But momentum was important in a fight. If he was pushed back here, it was the end.
To such a Wilhelm, Edric opened his snake-like narrow eyes and spoke.
"Count... am I in a position where I must report such things to you one by one?"
"Wh... what?"
Wilhelm's eyes widened in shock.
Edric's smile was more ominous than anything Wilhelm had seen so far.
Edric fiddled with Erpis, the treasured sword given by the prince that he wore at his waist, and spoke.
"I am the Chancellor who acts with all the authority of His Highness the Prince. Currently in the South, excluding His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Prince, there is no one who can issue orders to me, nor is there anyone to whom I must submit reports. You do not happen to be unaware of what that means, do you?"
The air inside the office froze in an instant.
Wilhelm felt as if the breathing of a snake, which shouldn't be audible, was ringing in his ears.
A terror slowly tightening around his neck approached him.
He couldn't understand.
They had already given bribes to his father.
In this situation, unless he was truly pursuing justice, there was no benefit for him to gain by investigating them and contacting the Saintess.
What is his goal?
What on earth is his scheme?
'Could it be!?'
At that moment, a single possibility flashed through Wilhelm's mind.
Up until now, he had only thought of this Edric Noel as the son of Count Palatine Albert Noel.
But... what if... this Edric Noel possessed a greed that surpassed even his father's?
What if he intended to seize his father's power for himself through this incident?
The reason why he gathered evidence related to their corruption while pretending to be on their side was all explained.
'I see... so that was it.'
Count Wilhelm looked at Edric.
Blazing red hair and snake-like eyes...
And the bottomless obsession with life visible within that gaze!
It was a mistake to think that such a man would be satisfied with merely being his father's lackey.
This bastard did not come to help us.
This bastard came to devour us.
Wilhelm swallowed dry saliva and asked with a trembling voice.
"What do you... want from us?"
Glaring at Wilhelm, whose voice was trembling, Edric took a sip of tea.
That appearance was exactly like the gaze of a snake slowly evaluating its prey, causing Wilhelm to feel goosebumps rising on his spine.
Slowly setting down his teacup, Edric spoke.
Clack-
"Count... I do not want anything."
At that moment, the teachings his father had imparted to him in the past flashed through Wilhelm's mind.
‘Wilhelm, remember this. A true person of power does not speak of what they want with their own mouth.’
‘Then how do you obtain it? Father.’
‘You just have to create a situation where you cannot help but win, and then watch the opponent in silence. Then the opponent will be terrified and offer up everything you want on their own.’
Recalling his father's teachings, Wilhelm felt chills run down his spine.
This young Chancellor... this son of the Count Palatine... was desiring everything.
He was telling them to hand over to him what they had offered to his father.
'I thought he was a fox cub... but he was a wolf...'
Looking at the fiercely burning Edric, Wilhelm was certain.
He harbored a massive greed, enough to consider the bribes his father ate as mere snacks.
If they could not satisfy that greed, he was ready to swing his blade at them at any moment.
Thinking he had judged the situation far too lightly, Count Wilhelm admitted his defeat.
"...I understand. I have sufficiently understood Sir Edric's intentions."
Count Wilhelm exited the office with staggering steps.
He thought the situation had come where the Southern nobles had to make a choice.
Whether to remain attached to the old fox, or to switch over to that newly rising wolf.
Count Wilhelm bit his lip as he looked at Edric, who had toyed with him.
"Phew……."
After Count Wilhelm left, I exhaled the breath I had been holding back and buried my body deep into the backrest.
My shoulders, which had stiffened from tension, collapsed, and my back was drenched in cold sweat.
Actually, when I set the cup down earlier, I was nervous so the 'clack' sound came out loud, but to the Count's eyes, it seemed to look like an action I did on purpose to engage in an emotional battle.
Goodness, with a liver that small, how has that old man acted as a noble up until now?
'But why was the old man's expression like that? Is what I investigated that scary?'
Of course, considering what I would do in the future, he did have to be scared like that.
But what I just said was simply asking to keep our boundaries with each other.
There was no need to be that terrified.
Why was he so scared? Does he have an underlying illness?
Just then, a sound came from the office door.
Knock— Knock—
"Come in."
The door opened, and a servant entered.
The servant bowed and spoke to me.
"Lord Edric, a messenger has arrived from the Saintess's side. She wishes to see you again tonight at the ruins from yesterday."
My heart sank with a thud.
The Saintess calling for me again meant she intended to settle the matter.
I hurriedly stood up from my seat, called for Liesel, and headed to the meeting place.
"Liesel, get ready. We are going immediately."
"Understood!"
The abandoned ruins on the outskirts of the village.
In that place where a fog even thicker than yesterday lay heavily, Saintess Azelia stood alone.
Broken stones were scattered at her feet, and the faint divine power she exuded was pushing the fog away.
And in that place, Edric appeared.
"You have arrived, Lord Edric."
"Yes, I apologize for being late. Saintess."
"Not at all. I have also just arrived."
Azelia spoke while looking at Edric, who was sweating as if he had come in a hurry.
Edric met her eyes. Her gaze was much firmer than yesterday.
"Saintess, have you made a decision?"
At Edric's question, Azelia slowly nodded her head.
She pulled out something carefully wrapped in silk cloth from her embrace.
As the cloth was removed, a transparent sphere emitting a bluish light revealed itself.
"This is..."
"Yes, this is the evidence I possess... the 'Soul Crystal Sphere'. Lord Riere left it to me."
Viscount Riere, the noble called the last conscience of the South.
He was a noble who stood on the side of the commoners and clashed with Count Wilhelm.
Then he was attacked by unidentified bandits, and his entire family was annihilated.
Azelia, who arrived belatedly, witnessed that scene.
It was a far too gruesome sight.
Regardless of whether they were adults or children, everyone had died, and Riere, who was the only one still breathing, did not have much breath left.
He left this crystal sphere containing the memories of his soul to the Saintess and spoke.
"This... will be able to ruin those bastards... Just one chance... please..."
With those final words, Riere lost his life.
After that, Azelia had secretly kept that crystal sphere.
She waited until the one chance Lord Riere spoke of came, and she judged that the chance had come now.
"I do not know what is contained inside this... or how to use it. But Lord Riere definitely said it. That inside this... the 'truth' that will drive the Southern nobles to ruin is contained... he definitely said so."
Azelia carefully placed the crystal sphere onto Edric's two hands.
The cold glass texture touched Edric's palms.
The sight of Edric smiling greedily while looking at it as if it were a truly precious treasure was exactly that of a fox.
'No. Do not doubt him. Azelia... you decided to trust him, didn't you.'
Brushing off the negative emotions rising in her heart, Azelia braced herself.
Edric looked at Azelia and spoke.
"Saintess... thank you so much. For trusting me... truly... thank you very much."
"I trust Lord Edric. Please... save us and the people of the South."
"Yes, of course. I will uphold the will of His Highness the Prince and definitely save the people of the South from misery."
At that moment, a bright smile spread across Edric's lips.
It was exactly like the smile of a victor who was certain of victory after a long, long battle.
Azelia, who received that smile head-on, flinched and her shoulders trembled.
Because in her vision, the image of the 'Red Snake', curving his snake-like narrow eyes and smiling so beautifully it was cruel, was reflected.
For a moment, a bad thought crossed her mind.
Was she actually being deceived... and wasn't all of this just him trying to get his hands on the evidence from her that could turn the Southern nobles into slaves?
'No... no! Lord Edric is not that kind of person! Oh God... please give me faith.'
Azelia shook her head and shook off the negative emotions.
She recalled.
The words Edric had spoken to everyone on the podium...
The sincere persuasion he had spoken to her yesterday...
When she closed her eyes, his voice could be heard.
And that voice could be understood even without the authority of truth.
He was sincere.
He was struggling desperately to save the people.
Even if others didn't know, she could tell.
Because she was exactly the same.
Not because she was a Saintess, but as an ordinary girl of the South... she merely struggled desperately because her neighbors and family were precious, and had come this far.
At the very last moment... Azelia decided to trust Edric not with the authority of a Saintess, but as the ordinary Southern girl, 'Azelia Wisp'.
"Lord Edric, may god's blessing be with you..."
"Yes, may god's blessing be with the Saintess as well..."
After finishing their short conversation, Edric and Azelia returned to their respective places.
The end of the Southern peasant rebellion was approaching.