Chapter 449
Chapter 449
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Into the Storm (8)
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Gideon Glenn.
As his name attested, he was a member of the venerable Glenn family. Though that name was so distant a branch it was barely to be found in the family registry, and though he merely served as lord of a seaside fortress city on the outermost fringes of the family's living banner, he was nonetheless a noble brimming with pride as a member of a great house.
“Using people—that's the essence of nobility. A noble commands, and thus must become a master of employing the right people in the right places, more than relying on his own abilities.”
Gideon gazed out the window of his study, recalling the suspicious figure who had entered his service just a few days prior.
Hyde. After shelling out a fortune to an informant across the sea, it turned out the man was indeed infamous for wandering aimlessly from place to place, just as he had claimed.
“They called him the Pathfinder. Common orphanage stock from a temple. Nothing remarkable in terms of combat prowess, but apparently exceptional at uncovering hidden things. They say he's achieved remarkable results in relic exploration several times over.”
“My lord. If I may be so bold, digging into a vassal's background goes against noble decorum.”
“Isn't throwing your domain and family into peril through careless trust the true breach of a noble's duty?”
Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap—
“The perfect spy. His observational skills go without saying, quick judgment, sharp instincts. He's the ideal man to ferret out news on those traitor domains that have gone quiet lately.”
“Didn't the family already order a halt to such intelligence operations?”
“Sometimes, on-the-ground judgment is the right call.”
“Over twenty loyal knights have already met their ends.”
“And thanks to that, we learned a Warlord soul mage had infiltrated their ranks.”
“And then he got caught and spilled all our secrets! My lord! At least dispatch him to another domain! Melbas is too much!”
“...”
“The spies sent to Melbas couldn't even get past the gates! This is—”
Bam!
“I'm sending him to die! Yes! I know! I know damn well!”
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap—
Fierce desk-slamming interspersed with that rhythmic intrusion.
Only then did Gideon realize the man had been jittering his leg nervously. Such a frivolous gesture, utterly unbecoming of a noble.
“That bastard—he's a monster!”
Gideon raised his voice, picturing the man's ever-present smirk.
It had started with something utterly trivial.
“Hahaha. So, how do you like your lodgings?”
“Don't ask. The bedding was so soft, I could've had my head chopped off and not noticed.”
“Good to hear. The reason I summoned you at this early hour is because I have a little task for you.”
The very next day after a hasty induction in the underground jail. Gideon had summoned Hyde without warning, before dawn, and addressed him kneeling before him.
“You've no doubt seen it yourself, but ever since knight training became widespread, plenty of disloyal sorts have started strutting around with it. Clean them up for the city's security.”
“Clean them up—how thoroughly?”
“Not many, so do them all. Come back when it's done.”
Not the deferential tone one used with knights or vassals, but the curt command reserved for hirelings. After a full day of ordeals and finally drifting off to sleep, he'd been dragged out before dawn for pleasantries like “Did you sleep well?” And the task he'd been handed? City security management—something you'd foist on the guards.
He'd said “not many,” but finding the few such scum in this vast city was no easy feat. The guards had some intel on a few, but overburdened as they were, they weren't about to cooperate easily. And those thugs they'd just tangled with—hadn't the guards washed their hands of them?
It was a test and a lesson. To check if he would obey Gideon Glenn's orders as a vassal, without showing disloyalty, while firmly establishing the hierarchy. At a glance, it seemed like hazing with menial labor, the sort of initiation a local mercenary band might pull. But Gideon firmly believed this was profoundly noble, an exemplary method of organization management.
“Yes, understood.”
Hyde had bowed without protest, smirked, and vanished into the predawn city. And exactly the next morning, at breakfast, he reappeared.
“I'm back!”
“...Hyde. I recall ordering you not to return until the task was complete. Do you take my commands lightly?”
“No such thing! Perfectly—well, I can't say for absolute certain. But for now, I've rounded up every arrogant fool in the city strutting around on knight training credentials.”
Gideon thought it a lie. Until his gasping butler burst in: “My lord, dozens of battered commoners are hanging outside the gates!”
A lifetime of noble etiquette barely kept him from vomiting in shock.
“Bu, but you must've investigated beforehand, before grabbing them. Part of intelligence work?”
“Nah~ What secrets would those punks have worth investigating? They weren't even hiding, not even fifty of them, so I had to show off a bit. Meant to report before breakfast, but I got lost—not familiar with the layout. Heh heh.”
“Ahem! Ri, right.... Truly a trifle, and you're late besides.”
Scratching his head awkwardly, Hyde had asked if there was more work. To hide his fluster, Gideon assigned another task.
“Among the trains that entered the city, find one from about three months ago that passed through a traitor domain, and get the passenger manifest...”
“On it!”
.
.
.
.
“Back!”
This time, half a day. He'd even dragged in not just the suspected spy from the list, but a porter who'd taken bribes to help.
“Th, there's a waitress named Amy in the city! Find her and deliver this document—”
Dash-dash-dash!
“Back!”
Two hours to track down the family contact who regularly changed names and identities.
“The whereabouts of retired Shard Knight Proud—”
“Pretending to retire, holed up in the city!”
“The smuggler Jack—”
“Hiding spot by the seaside!”
“Th, the lost family signet ring—”
“Here it is!”
“That was buried with my late father—no one was supposed to know!”
“Ah, sorry. You asked me to find it. Shall I bury it back?”
No matter the task, no matter what he sought, the man handled it in a flash.
“I, impossible. How many such monsters does the Warlord command?!”
No wonder Lordric's domains had fallen so easily. This was like holding the city in your palm and peering inside. Gideon was certain: ask this Hyde the city's weaknesses right now, and he'd rattle them off without batting an eye.
“...Too dangerous to keep close. I was too hasty. Even without formal notarization, I've taken him as my man!”
His superhuman ability sparked equal alarm. The sword wasn't even properly in his grasp yet it was too sharp—and discarding him now? He'd already accepted him under Knight Berkt's witness. Word had spread among the knights.
A truly great man might embrace such talent, but Gideon Glenn wasn't bold enough to reach for perilous opportunity.
“What? A dungeon?”
“Yes. Near Wind Hole, there's the infamous Mutation Lord dungeon. Long a headache for the area—go scout it. Mutation types, entry routes, weaknesses, that sort of thing.”
“...Tsk.”
After days of agonizing, he issued an impossible suicide mission. Refusal would be natural—he planned to revoke the hasty induction for insubordination. Preserve honor, ditch the headache. Write a recommendation to another Glenn domain, play the gracious lord. Better for Hyde and his crew to join a central domain near the Ser Empire's power centers than rot in this coastal backwater.
“Sure, why not.”
“Wha—what?”
But he accepted it.
As Gideon wondered if he was the loyal sort to stake his life on true devotion, guilt creeping in, one of his knights arrived with a grim face.
“My lord. A somewhat disloyal question, but may I ask one thing?”
“Did you order vassal Hyde to scout the dungeon alone?”
“How did you know?”
“...He sought wisdom from the knight order. Said since he'd been ordered alone into the dungeon, knights with large-scale subjugation experience might know key precautions, and asked for guidance.”
Deliberately, absolutely. Pretending to seek knowledge, he'd informed the knights of this unreasonable order!
“My lord. We understand your concerns, and sympathize fully.”
“But Hyde has carried out these potentially unreasonable orders without complaint these past days! Hasn't he executed them diligently and properly, even if they seemed unfair?”
“...If I may overstep, further mistreatment might stain your honor, so I come unannounced.”
“Ah, understood. I'll consider it...”
In mere days, he'd even earned the trust of his knights! Softening those stubborn lot in a week!
“My lord, a word if I may...”
“My lord, the guard captain has a letter for you—”
“My lord.”
“My lord!”
.
.
.
.
.
“Knight Berkt. You're the only one I can bare such intimate thoughts to—the one who's thrown his life away for me. The only one who knows this weak side, this petty nature of mine.”
“My lord...”
“Hyde is extraordinarily gifted. For a fringe lord like me, tossed into a mage-reviled city at the family's edge, he's too much.”
“No. Wind Hole stabilized after the last lord's assassination and the ensuing chaos—all thanks to your efforts! I stake my honor: in my life, I've seen no finer noble than you!”
“I merely flailed to avoid conflict out of fear. Mildness isn't competence. And it's not just Hyde. Do you know what his troll companion's been up to?”
“We haven't really surveilled him...”
“From the day they arrived, holed up in the library, debating mages on history, culture, arithmetic, astronomy, magic... Especially magic theory—the mages were floored. Unstable-minded elf? Cleared the invasive red tide plaguing the coastal walls in ten minutes flat. And that beastkin woman.... Aside from seeming overly suspicious, nothing special. But who knows. We've already misjudged the erudite troll and the alchemy master elf as a mere nutcase.”
“My lord...”
Recalling the past week where he'd keenly felt his inadequacies, Gideon spoke to his loyal knight.
“Yes, I'm afraid. If he turns, I won't even notice. I lack the confidence to handle a subordinate so vastly superior. But casting out an accepted retainer without cause would breed distrust among my other sworn kin.”
“...So, Melbas.”
“Yes. The traitor hub— even a prodigy like Hyde can't evade capture there. The emergency signaler I gave him links to the Glenn Iron Blood Knights, rivaling the Emperor faction's strongest Silver Lion Order. If he's lucky, rescue. Our greedy patriarch won't let talent like him slip away....”
“They'll force your hand, making it seem you had no choice but to revoke the oath. Our vassals' loyalty stays intact, and the shame of revocation falls on the head family for their overreach.”
“A grave dishonor to us, but trifling to them. Honor's complexities—must scheme so elaborately just to discard one man.”
Berkt sought words to comfort his lord, then simply bowed silently.
“...Sending Hyde to his death remains unchanged. Even if you feel disillusioned, I can't help it.”
“You complicate it wishing him exiled alive. Life or death? You could order me.”
“...Serving such a weak lord must pain you.”
Grateful for Berkt's unwavering loyalty despite knowing all his flaws, Gideon turned to gaze at his domain beyond the window.
Turmoil and change ill suited him.
Preserving the status quo sufficed. Mages causing periodic uproar, citizens evacuating as routine. That was the Wind Hole he knew.
“The Warlord comes. My lord, turn away as you will—you can't avoid war. He's too powerful for mere preparation.”
“You must prepare. To face the monster swallowing the world.”
The lord could never forget that one moment when Hyde turned deadly serious.
He wanted to. He was no warlord fit for battle.
****
“The lord seems decent enough.”
“You think so? Hard for me to say.”
“Yeah. Makes you wonder how a softie like that popped up in that stuck-up noble world. Branch family thing? Bullied as a kid, learned some empathy?”
Having received Lord Gideon's orders, I chatted about him with my packing companions.
“Decent greed, decency, not mindlessly dumb-nice—can even act a bit. City life made his spine weak, that's the flaw.... But still, pretty damn good.”
Gideon thought he'd tested me, but I'd been vetting if he was worth working with.
The saying about a stinger in your pocket: talent shines through anywhere.
Nobles? Creatures who suspect everything around them forever. Spot the stinger poking out? Assume it'll stab their thigh first and chuck it.
“In that sense, our Lord Gideon passes.”
“Ugh. Sent Hyde solo into a dungeon, now just us four infiltrating enemy turf.”
“Intentions are obvious. Dungeon then, now too.”
I eyed the small necklace the lord had personally pressed into my hand with the orders, recalling the moment.
“...Your loyalty proven this past week. Now, your most vital task: what you're best at.”
“Costs covered, your identity shared with local agents, other Emperor faction contacts. It'll aid your work.”
“This necklace is an emergency talisman. Smash the central gem, signals the Glenn Iron Blood Knights—rivals to the Emperor faction's top Silver Lions.”
“Oh. So the knights come rescue me?”
“...If you don't plunge too deep. Melbas is the traitor fringe—rescue feasible.”
Stressing “too deep” and “fringe,” hyping Melbas's terrifying security—like outright saying “schmooze a bit then bail~.”
Dungeon time: mumbling “Can't do it? Of course not. Solo? Might die. Will die. Though I ordered it.” Like screaming “Mutiny! Please mutiny!”
“People clutching something beyond their caliber bare their true nature starkly.”
Gideon tried breaking me with tasks, so I overdelivered to unsettle.
Ambitious? He'd clutch me desperately. Coward? Snuff the spark. Like Gideon now.
“So. Verdict?”
“Precarious pass? He's a good guy. Rare virtue outweighing countless demerits.”
But fearing me, Gideon sought a way to oust me bloodless. In Ser domains, ossified a millennium in knightly honor and such, steering clear of unrest in his own turf.
“Let's raise him.”
“Huh?”
“In these chaotic times. Peaceful era? He'd hear 'wise ruler' plenty. Wind Hole's location prime, foundations solid—tradition aside, nobles shunned it. Sea access, great house Glenn blood. Nest-worthy?”
Lord finds me burdensome? Not my problem.
“Great houses—traitor or Emperor, their core nobles are set in stone. Too rigid.”
Nobles fundamentally sacrifice morals, lives for family—like rags.
Future unknown, but facing coming chaos? Most defensive, selfish.
“If this soft-headed lord gains real pull in great house Glenn.... Big help?”
Gideon was weak, but more awake than most nobles.
“Mmm, can't let go. No way. Even dying, I'd scream 'I'm Gideon Glenn's vassal!!!'”
“Ugh, leech.”
“Feels too familiar.”
“Same here.”
Whatever the lord thought, I liked him. Nurture well? Solid backing.
Whooooosh—!
Magic train whistle at last.
Far off, the oblivious lord waved us off on our “forced promotion” scheme.
Train departs, gates open.
“Right! Time to spy and feed our lord some influence!”
Charging enemy heart for my superior.
Ah, such a loyal vassal.
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