Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: Social Gathering (4)
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“Ah, you look like you have a ton of questions, but hear this story out first!”
Still looking flustered, such a sentence flowed out.
The guy immediately pulled something out from his breast pocket.
‘...A key?’
It was a key lavishly adorned with jade.
Judging by the crest embedded in it, it was an item used to open and close facilities inside the imperial palace.
“With this, you can enter anywhere in the imperial palace! Since it’s managed by the Elder Council, I’ll grant you ownership of it!”
“...”
“And, probably.”
Marquis Bogart winked as he held the key out to me.
“The imperial palace is packed with people, full of fun toys, and as complicated as can be! It won’t matter if you take a thing or two that catches your eye!”
“...”
“If you get caught, just say the Elder Council ordered it—no problem!”
This wasn’t something you’d just casually toss over based on words alone.
And the follow-up words were even more so.
“...Why would you do something like that?”
“So you can pass the final trial of the hero selection, of course!”
“...”
“You must have a clear grasp of what’s ‘sleeping’ inside the imperial palace, right?”
Marquis Bogart continued with a beaming smile.
“There’s bound to be something helpful for making plans!”
“...”
Something.
Something was off.
Even setting aside why he was suddenly showing this favor.
This guy seemed to have a remarkably clear understanding of my ‘motivations’ and ‘goals.’
Collecting items to easily resolve events ahead of time, planning in advance—
He seemed to know full well that I already had knowledge of this world.
“...There must be something I need to retrieve.”
“Yes!”
Marquis Bogart’s gaze flew over and fixed on the amulet tied to my arm.
“...With the ‘Guardian,’ it’ll definitely be helpful!”
“...”
This guy.
He knew about Caliban too.
I stared at him silently, my expression hardening.
I had no idea where this guy had popped up from or what his intentions were.
“...Why are you doing something like this, Marquis Bogart?”
I murmured to him in a low voice.
“You must know best that I could become your enemy. I’m an associate of the rivals you’re opposing.”
How desperate must I be to say something like that.
This guy’s very existence was so enigmatic that it made me probe him, hoping he’d spill at least a little.
“...That doesn’t seem to be the question you most want to ask, though?”
He even said it as if he knew everything.
“If you ask that, I might be able to give you an answer about why I’m doing this too?”
“...”
I gritted my teeth slightly.
I didn’t like feeling like I was dancing in the palm of his hand.
Still, I couldn’t help voicing my biggest question.
“...Do you know my mother?”
If it was about my father, Viscount Armin Campbell, it wouldn’t be strange even if he knew in detail.
Considering the shady habits of the empire’s nobles, from the moment I started drawing attention, my personal info had probably been dug up from A to Z.
However.
Talk about the ‘other side’ parent was a different story.
“Of course I do.”
At my question, Bogart shrugged and replied.
He maintained that relaxed demeanor even as he posed the follow-up question.
“And you?”
It was a question that stabbed deep into my vitals.
“...Judging by your reaction.”
Such a sentence followed.
“You don’t know ‘everything’ either, do you?”
I shot him a glare without answering.
“I thought so.”
Marquis Bogart continued with a grin.
“Armin’s not the type to willingly tell you about that side. He never has been, since you were little.”
“...”
“A bear of a man. Steadfast, diligent—and Astrid must have been drawn to that for sure.”
My fist clenched tight.
Astrid.
Astrid Campbell.
My mother’s name.
The only piece of info I had ‘for certain’ about her.
“And I respect Armin’s decision.”
Marquis Bogart continued in a gentle tone.
“If he hasn’t told you, I have no intention of blabbing on about Astrid to you.”
“...You’ve already dropped plenty of hints, though, Marquis.”
I threw the words at him coldly.
What was this, openly showing he was deeply connected to my father and mother in some form, then pretending otherwise? It wasn’t even teasing.
But even at my attitude.
Marquis Bogart just shrugged as if it didn’t matter.
“...Since I’ve already let that slip, shall I benevolently tell you one more thing?”
Then, the smile faded from his face.
Marquis Bogart continued expressionlessly.
It was the first heavy demeanor I’d seen from him since we met.
“...Astrid asked me to do something for her. I did.”
Irritation surged up.
“You’ve been beating around the bush this whole time—”
“You came to gauge my intentions, right? Since His Majesty and the Prime Minister must be planning to keep me in check.”
“...”
My eyes narrowed.
‘His Majesty’ was omitted.
For a subject of the empire, this was outright treason-level audacity, enough to warrant punishment on the spot.
In other words.
It was tantamount to openly declaring ‘hostility.’
“...What are you thinking, Marquis Bogart?”
I couldn’t fathom why he’d suddenly say something like this.
Of course, I knew the Emperor and Prime Minister didn’t think highly of him.
But I couldn’t understand why he’d show such a blunder to me, someone openly aligned with their side.
“The current state of the empire’s Elder Council is far from normal. In a situation split between the Emperor, the Prime Minister, and the Elder Council, if one side starts a major fire, it’ll spark an uncontrollable civil war. Isn’t that right?”
“...”
I knew all that already.
It was the backdrop for Chapter 5, after all.
“You’re right.”
“...”
I stared at the man before me, doubting my ears.
It felt like I’d been hit hard.
Of course, in the current situation, this guy was the only one who could cause Chapter 5’s ‘great upheaval,’ but admitting it so calmly was another matter.
‘...Why?’
In the end, it circled back to that question.
What did he gain by saying this at this timing?
“Dawood Campbell.”
As that thought crossed my mind, those words dropped.
“You asked what Astrid requested of me.”
“...Yes?”
“It’s a promise with her, so I can’t say for sure... but I can give you a hint.”
Marquis Bogart said as he sipped the wine from the glass he’d brought out.
“Astrid entrusted ‘you’ to me. Her greatest masterpiece, the one she created.”
“What does that—”
“Simply put, I plan to make you ‘great.’”
“...”
It was all incomprehensible nonsense.
Since possessing this body in the Sера world, this was the first ‘variable’ as unpredictable as the foreseer.
I scowled deeply at him.
Then.
Before I could even respond, the next sentence followed.
“Pass this on exactly to the Emperor and Prime Minister. Listen well.”
This, too.
Was absolutely not within my ‘expected range.’
“I will burn the empire to the ground. All of it.”
“...”
Honestly, his tone was so calm that it took a while to grasp the meaning.
“Not some petty civil war. My goal isn’t the throne, after all.”
Lightly, as if stating an obvious fact.
“I’ll kill every imperial citizen over ten years old. Men, women, children, adults—without exception. Fairly. Hundreds. Thousands. Tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Millions. All of them. Not a single one left out.”
As if conveying that he’d go for a morning stroll tomorrow.
“I’ll reduce this entire country to nothingness.”
“...”
So.
By the time I understood, my breathing hitched violently.
“...You.”
If it had been a madman’s declaration or a great villain’s resolve in plotting a massive conspiracy.
At least then, I could have understood.
But this guy right now.
Perfectly sane.
Announcing an insane lunatic’s plan.
Dryly.
As if it were a task assigned to him that he absolutely had to fulfill.
“And I want you to stop it.”
Truly.
“Please.”
It was a calmly uttered plea.
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“...Haaa...”
After parting with Marquis Bogart.
As I stepped out onto the terrace and walked the corridor.
A deep sigh escaped my lips—one I hadn’t let out once since coming to this side.
In my hand was the key I’d received from Marquis Bogart at the social gathering hall.
‘...What the hell is that guy?’
I truly had no clue.
It was the most baffling feeling I’d had since meeting the foreseer—almost the first time.
Especially knowing info about my mother that even I didn’t—it was chilling.
[...Come to think of it, you said not long ago it’s better if you don’t know about your mother’s side.]
Such a voice flew out from within the Soul Linker.
[But you said that because you know at least something about her, right?]
“I don’t know.”
[What?]
I replied to the baffled Caliban in a strained voice.
“I’ve never even seen her face. There’s only one thing I know.”
When I was young.
Very young.
A story from before I possessed ‘Dawood Campbell.’
When the original owner of this body was so gravely ill he couldn’t even move properly.
[Ah, right. You were miraculously healed at seven?]
“No. I wasn’t healed.”
I took a breath and continued.
“Strictly speaking, I died once back then.”
I’d looked it up in my father’s study.
At six years old, Dawood Campbell had succumbed completely to his chronic illness.
Records even remained of calling in mourners to prepare the funeral.
‘Miraculously’ coming back to life wasn’t an empty phrase.
“...And that miracle was performed by our mother.”
[...What do you mean?]
“She brought a dead person back to life.”
Of course, I’d pulled off resurrections from death multiple times myself, but never from complete death—that made it different.
Astrid Campbell.
Had revived her son, who had died completely.
[...What?]
Caliban responded in a dazed voice.
[Even the high priests of the Holy Kingdom, who perform all sorts of miracles, can’t do that crap. Not even the Pope himself. What novel bullshit...!]
“But she did it, so I’m here now, aren’t I?”
[...How?]
That’s.
What I didn’t know either.
“...”
Yeah.
Even in a fantasy world, it was a fantasy-level event.
Resurrecting the dead—it was a miracle not even found in the powers of demons.
The most plausible guess was that I hadn’t actually died but fallen into a coma they mistook for death. But common sense said my father wouldn’t fail to distinguish that.
‘...I don’t know. Anything about Mother. Nothing at all.’
How she revived a dead body, exactly.
What happened to her after. Where she was now.
How she met my father in the first place, where they married, what life they led.
I knew nothing.
That was all the info my father had ever given about her.
Just as Bogart said, Father had been ruthlessly tight-lipped about Mother.
“...Whatever the case.”
I sighed and said.
“If I don’t know, I have to find out, right?”
That was the only way.
To figure out what this guy was up to, how he knew about my mother.
I had to confront it head-on.
“I’ll get permission from His Majesty and the Prime Minister. Shall we escape this social gathering right away, Caliban?”
[...Where to?]
“There’s a place I need to stop by.”
I spun the key from Marquis Bogart once in my palm.
“It concerns you too, Caliban.”
Precisely.
A place I couldn’t go without you.
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