Chapter 46: Because We've Come Too Far (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 46: Because We've Come Too Far (4)
After Hina left, Calian dispatched Kyrie and two knights to Hanson Village. He was concerned that Hale Latran might take Norton's wife hostage to threaten him. Of course, there was also a high probability that Hale would try to harm Norton himself, so Calian made sure the prison was heavily guarded as well.
Then, he contacted Alan, who had just left the palace after meeting with Lemain.
– Master. I don’t think you should go to the Brissen Trading Company.
He could feel Alan’s confusion through their connection.
Hadn’t the plan been to visit the Brissen Trading Company to subtly hint that Hale had turned his back on the Brissens? Alan had even told Lemain beforehand that his visit would cause quite a stir, as he didn’t know how the Brissens would receive him. It was only natural that he found Calian’s sudden change of plans strange.
– Has something else been confirmed?
– Yes. You may proceed with the other matters as planned, but as for the trading company…
Pausing for a moment, Calian recalled what had happened after he had left the dungeon earlier.
After coming up from the prison, the person he had sought out before returning to his room was none other than the butler, Malcolm. It had seemed strange that Malcolm, a priest of Tensil, was so subservient to Hale, so Calian had decided to approach him behind the count’s back.
Until then, Calian had only assumed that Hale held some sort of leverage over Malcolm. He figured that if he resolved that issue, Malcolm might help him find whatever Hale had hidden—perhaps a ledger that could prove the transactions.
“Please save me, Your Highness!”
So, when Calian entered the room and Malcolm immediately prostrated himself at his feet with those words, he was quite taken aback.
To put it simply, Malcolm did have a weakness. It wasn’t anything grand, but a very common problem: money. He had run up a massive debt to Hale, and the count had used it to keep him under his thumb.
Calian told him that since Tensil was recalling its priests, the debt would no longer be an issue. But upon hearing this, Malcolm didn’t look relieved at all.
“I know,” he replied. “But that is not my problem.”
His plea for his life was for an entirely different reason.
“If the Count is truly punished for this, and it’s discovered that I was involved in the buying and selling of the Sacred Artifacts, I’m a dead man the moment I return to Tensil.”
It seemed the various pressures Calian had applied to corner Hale had ended up terrifying Malcolm instead. At the butler’s unexpected words, Calian’s expression grew complex.
“I understand buying the Sacred Artifacts. But selling them? Are you saying he didn’t buy them to present to Tensil and win their favor?”
Hadn’t he believed that all this time? That Hale had sent the Sacred Artifacts purchased from the Blue Warbler to Tensil, thereby maintaining his connection with Randel?
“They were not sent to Tensil.”
Surprisingly, Malcolm shook his head. Perhaps believing Calian was his only lifeline, he began pouring out an incredibly interesting story.
“The Count is completely despised by them, so he has no way of directly contacting Tensil. However, when it seemed that Prince Franz had drifted away from the position of Crown Prince this time, he searched high and low for a way to reconnect his severed ties.”
Hale had turned his back on Tensil once before. With Franz’s future looking bleak and Calian’s own response to him being lukewarm at best, the count must have grown anxious. Thus, he had tried to reconnect with Randel, but neither Randel nor Tensil would grant him an audience.
While interesting, this wasn’t particularly shocking. Malcolm, observing Calian’s relatively calm face, seemed to steel himself before revealing the next part.
“The Blue Warbler is completely in the Count’s pocket. She uses information obtained from Kairisis to find Sacred Artifacts and sells them to him in substantial quantities. That is why she suggested hiding the fact that I am a priest from you, Your Highness; she feared the truth might come to light. In any case, the Count bought the artifacts and resold them elsewhere at a low price. He made a deal: if they connected him with Tensil, he would give them the artifacts for free from then on.”
“Where did he resell them?”
Recalling the shock he’d felt upon hearing the answer, Calian spoke to Alan.
– It seems Marquis Brissen did a rather poor job of raising his children.
“To the master of the Brissen Trading Company, Viscount Lennon Brissen—Queen Silike’s older brother. He is the one gifting the Sacred Artifacts to Tensil.”
Lennon Brissen.
He had aligned himself with Tensil.
He had betrayed Franz and sided with Randel.
This meant that Lennon had turned his back on his own father, Marquis Brissen, and his sister, Silike. A soft gasp escaped Calian’s lips.
He had merely met an elf child and gotten stranded by the rain.
Yet, he had stumbled upon the path of a storm that would soon become the second great typhoon to strike Kairis. He asked quietly:
– What should we do?
The wise mage, Alan Manasil, could not answer his disciple’s brief question and simply massaged his temples.
Alan turned the carriage around.
He had to immediately tell Lemain that his youngest son seemed to have caught a bear in a trap set for a fox.
* * *
While Alan and Lemain held a very lengthy discussion on how to make use of the bear they had accidentally caught, Calian, the source of the whole affair, returned to his room after finishing his evening banquet.
Lennon was one thing, but dealing with Hale was the priority, so Calian decided to proceed with his original plans.
He had asked Hina, whom he met that morning, to leave the birdcage open around this time. If the bird had returned straight to its owner, a most welcome guest should be waiting for him inside.
Calian stopped Yan, who was about to open the door for him.
“Bring me a cup of tea.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I will bring it right away.”
Yan nodded without suspicion and turned back. Calian slowly opened the door himself and stepped inside.
As expected, she was there.
He saw the open birdcage and the open window. And instead of a white dove, the Blue Warbler was sitting on a chair. Locking the door with magic to prevent anyone from entering, Calian smiled.
“You got here incredibly fast.”
The Blue Warbler lacked her usual leisurely demeanor. Even though the two swordsmen who could assist Calian were absent, her expression was stiff and tense.
The reason was simple.
She had read the letter Calian had sent via her carrier pigeon. Standing up, the Blue Warbler spoke to Calian.
“The contents of your letter were just so moving.”
If you do not want the fact that you lined your own pockets by helping a Kairisian to be delivered to the Naeransha bird shop, come find me. That was what Calian had written.
“I figured as much.”
She had no choice but to answer his summons. The moment the White Eagle learned of this, she would spend the rest of her life being hunted—how could she ignore such a threat? Confronted with this unexpected turn of events, the Blue Warbler frowned and asked, “Why are you blackmailing me?”
“I need evidence of Hale Latran’s transactions of the Sacred Artifacts. And evidence that he sold information.”
“You could just confirm it with the Count. Why come to me?”
According to Malcolm, Hale had left no evidence of the transactions, likely fearing it would come back to strangle him if discovered. Calian didn’t fully trust Malcolm’s words and would still conduct a search, but there was a high probability that nothing would be found.
That was why he had summoned the Blue Warbler.
Since there was no need to let her know that Hale had no evidence, Calian simply smiled and replied, “First, let’s start with yours.”
With that, he pointed to the oath paper he had placed where the Blue Warbler had been sitting. It was the same kind he had used when dealing with Silike, bearing the Seal of Oath.
“If you hand over the evidence, I will keep your secret.”
The Blue Warbler tapped her toe against the floor. She was weighing her options: hand over the information and leave, or kill Calian to silence him.
Her foot stopped.
At the same time, a suffocating killing intent surged toward Calian. Instead of being crushed by the pressure, he asked in a calm tone, “Is this your answer?”
“Because you’ve become a troublesome loose end.”
Calian’s eyes darkened. “You have no idea what kind of mess you’ve dragged me into.”
The Blue Warbler smiled brightly.
At that moment, a soft click sounded, and three bead-like objects shot toward Calian.
They were mana bullets, created by condensing the power of fireballs. Their destructive power was so immense that if even one hit him directly, his body would have to be gathered piece by piece with tongs.
Despite the sudden attack, Calian quickly deployed a Shield and threw himself to the side.
– Boom! Boom! Crash!
The mana bullets struck the wall and detonated, echoing with three loud explosions.
The building shook. Thick dust obscured the vision of both Calian and the Blue Warbler. Calian frowned and spoke.
“Did you come here with the sole intention of killing me?”
Considering she had prepared such expensive items, it was clear she had never intended to accept his deal from the start. He had prepared for an attack, but he hadn’t anticipated mana bullets.
She used to use a sword. Why mana bullets?
She was highly skilled with a sword, not the type to fight by launching projectiles. Even in the heat of the moment, he realized the reason.
The one who had advised the Blue Warbler that she could become strong enough with just a sword was none other than Bern himself.
Damn it!
Soon, another click sounded, and a mana bullet flew toward where Calian’s shadow was visible. Calian dodged again, and another explosion rang out.
– Kaboom!
Ultimately, the wall, having taken four direct hits from the mana bullets, collapsed.
Through the massive hole, the panoramic view of Latran City was laid bare. Looking at the VIP room wall, which no longer needed a window, Calian let out a dry laugh.
“You’re going to kill everyone at this rate.”
He could hear the voices of Yan and the knights approaching from outside the door. The room wasn’t large enough for a group fight, and the blast radius of the explosions was too wide. Therefore, Calian locked the door once more with magic and called out, “Do not come in!”
As the dust cleared, he saw another mana bullet in her hand. Dumbfounded, Calian wrapped himself in a Shield as the bullet flew toward him with the speed of a hidden projectile.
– Whoosh!
Drawing his sword, Calian did not dodge this time. This castle was different from the Kairis Royal Palace. If another mana bullet struck the walls, he felt the entire building might actually collapse.
Keeping his Shield active, Calian swung his sword and deflected the mana bullet. Flying out through the shattered wall, the deflected bullet erupted in a massive explosion in the distance.
The Blue Warbler took another step toward him.
Calian let out an annoyed sigh. “Do you have more?”
Drawing her sword, the Blue Warbler replied, “No.”
In that exact moment, her body blurred. Her sword lunged forward like a bird in flight, rushing straight for Calian’s throat. He raised his own sword to block the strike.
– Clang!
The sound of the two blades clashing was unsettling.
His was an ordinary iron sword, already strained multiple times during his practice sessions with Kyrie. It was clear it wouldn’t be able to withstand a proper clash of Aura.
Therefore, instead of channeling Aura into his sword, Calian wrapped his body in it. He twisted his blade to deflect the Blue Warbler’s attack, then immediately slashed downward. She swung her sword again, parrying his blade away.
And in that split second, Calian vanished from her sight.
Startled, she hastily pulled back her sword and spun around. Having slipped behind her before she knew it, Calian’s sword was already flying toward her, the tip a mere blur. Sensing the danger, the Blue Warbler instinctively twisted her body but couldn’t prevent a deep gash from being sliced along her arm.
Calian raised his sword once more.
In response, the Blue Warbler pulled something from her breast pocket and launched it again. A click echoed.
“I thought you said you were out.”
The distance was too close. There wasn’t enough space to deflect it.
Making a decision in a fraction of a second, Calian’s sword began to glow intensely.
– Hummm!
A clear, resonant sound rang out alongside a subtle vibration. A blue Aura enveloped the blade, shining with a cold light.
Calian raised his Aura-infused sword and slashed down at the mana bullet that had already reached point-blank range.
– Slice!
The mana bullet, swirling with red energy, could not withstand the power of the Aura. It was sliced cleanly in half and fell to the ground. A blue afterimage lingered in the air for a long moment before slowly fading away.
There was no explosion.
Instead, with a sharp shattering sound, Calian’s sword burst into pieces, unable to endure the strain.
Calian looked down at her.
“What should I do with you?”
For a brief moment, he looked at the Blue Warbler through the eyes of Bern before returning to himself. Then, in a cold voice, he called her name.
“Eila.”
The Blue Warbler didn’t even register that Calian had just used her real name. She was staring blankly at his shattered sword, her eyes filled with utter shock.
The sixth Sword Master was standing right before her.