Chapter 80: From Me, to You (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 80: From Me, to You (3)
Calian stood still, his gaze lowered.
Yan recognized the look. It was the one Calian wore whenever he was lost in thought. And Yan knew exactly what had plunged him into that state.
So, Yan waited quietly for Calian to sort through his thoughts.
A long silence stretched between them.
Then, the very thing that had triggered Calian’s deep contemplation stirred to life, moving and making noise once more.
“Welcooome to the home of Great Mage Alan Manasil!”
Calian slapped a hand over his face as he watched the stone statue sing a cheerful song while performing a slow, wriggling dance.
He was trying to stifle a laugh.
Only moments before, Calian had told Lemain everything: his confrontation with Silike, his suspicion that she was behind Aisha’s death, his new alliance with Franz, and even the cold words he’d spoken to his brother.
After listening to it all, Lemain had simply replied that he had much to apologize for.
That apology had weighed on Calian’s heart, making it even heavier as he made his way to Alan’s estate. He had people to meet “outside.”
And then, the stone statue standing guard at the entrance to Alan’s mansion had suddenly burst into song and dance.
“This is ridiculous,” Calian muttered, barely holding back his laughter.
At this, Yan, who had been suppressing his own amusement to match Calian’s somber mood, felt his lips twitch. “I said the exact same thing when I first saw it.”
“When were you at my master’s estate?”
At Calian’s question, Yan glanced around to make sure no one else was nearby. They were outside the royal palace, after all. Since they had slipped out secretly in Alan’s carriage, Yan was not wearing his attendant’s uniform. He answered, briefly stepping into his role as Shiroian Siegfried.
“On the day a certain someone decided to chug poison simply because he didn’t care for poisoned tea.”
After all, no one held more grievances about that day’s incident than Yan.
Standing beside them, Alan nodded in profound sympathy, while Kyrie, a step behind, let out a soft chuckle.
Having already been scolded by Alan and Arsen over the incident, Calian blinked in surprise to hear it from Yan now.
As another moment passed…
“Welcooome to the home of Great Mage Alan Manasil!”
Finally, Calian burst out laughing.
“Since you like it so much, I shall place one in front of your room, Prince.”
“No, no. That’s quite all right, Master.”
Calian waved his hands in hurried refusal and stepped inside.
Several people were already gathered in Alan’s house. Veronica was preparing lunch, while Melfir, the chairman of the Polun Magic Academy, and Euria, the academy’s principal, were discussing school operations. Right next to them, Arsen was doing Veronica’s magic academy homework for her.
“I was bored, so I offered to help, Prince,” Arsen explained, offering a flimsy excuse. He was casually doing a student’s homework right in front of the academy’s chairman and principal while looking at Calian—the academy’s actual owner. Calian decided to believe about half of it.
After the group had lunch together, Calian, Arsen, Melfir, and Euria sat around a table in the drawing room.
“I heard everyone worked very hard while I was away.”
Calian had faced his share of trouble outside Kairisis, but those who remained behind had been far from idle themselves, all thanks to the tasks he had left them.
Calian felt a pang of apology as he looked at Melfir. The baron’s face was no longer round; he had clearly lost weight from the lack of rest.
“Viscount Redington has arrived, Prince. Thank you for sending such a capable person. Thanks to him, I finally have some breathing room.”
Even though the initial chaos was entirely Calian’s fault, Melfir spoke considerately to put him at ease.
Calian nodded in response. “I plan to meet with the nobles who possess their own knightly forces at the upcoming hunting competition. The time has come to find a force that can replace the Brissen knights.”
With those words, Yan handed a sheet of paper to both Melfir and Euria. It was a list of noble families with knightly forces who had sent gifts to Calian.
Calian continued as the two scanned the names.
“Baron Polun.”
“Yes, Prince.”
Calian gestured to the paper. “From your perspective, I need you to weed out anyone who can’t be trusted.”
Having conducted countless transactions with various noble families while running his trading company, Melfir replied as if it were a simple task. “Understood. I will look into it.”
Next, Calian looked at Euria. He wasn’t asking Euria as the academy’s principal, but as the head of an information network.
Euria nodded before Calian could even speak. “I remember the details of our investigation into Brissen well. I will exclude anyone associated with them from the list.”
Calian looked at them both with trust and gratitude.
Of course, the best method would have been for him to meet and judge each person individually, but his movements were restricted. It was difficult for him to meet so many people one by one. Therefore, he would borrow Melfir’s and Euria’s eyes and ears.
If the list, already filtered by Yan, also passed through Melfir and Euria, only the most reliable individuals would remain. It didn’t have to be a perfect screening.
After all, the only people I can truly trust are the ones in this room right now.
Calian’s closest confidants: Alan, Yan, Kyrie. And Arsen. These were the people to whom he could completely entrust his back.
The next circle included Melfir and Euria, who sat before him now, as well as Lemain and Suleiman. He could safely show his true intentions to them.
The nobles he was about to meet belonged to an even wider, more distant circle. He would have to work with them while always remembering that any one of them could turn their backs on him at any moment. That was why a perfect screening wasn’t necessary.
“I will be here until evening, so you can let me know by then.”
With that, Calian turned to Arsen, his eyes curving into a smile.
“Sir Hertz. May I assume that five days was enough for a good rest?”
Arsen, who had been doing Veronica’s homework out of sheer boredom, grinned. He could sense he was about to get busy again. Whatever it was, it would surely be more entertaining than magic academy homework.
“Yes, Prince. It was more than enough.”
Calian smiled back, his expression mirroring Arsen’s.
* * *
Melfir Polun sent a gift first thing in the morning.
Once again, it caught Calian completely off guard.
Hearing that a very special gift had arrived, Calian stepped outside as soon as he finished breakfast. He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of two large creatures and one small one in front of Chermil Palace.
“That Baron Polun…”
The gift was to celebrate Calian’s return and to express gratitude for sending a talent as perfect as Tessid Redington. The first gift Melfir had ever sent was Raven’s necklace—an accessory more expensive than anything Calian owned, which he still hadn’t dared put on the horse.
This gift, too, was not for Calian.
Thanks to this, Yan’s mouth stretched from ear to ear. Kyrie didn’t show it openly, but he didn’t seem to dislike it either.
“How does he even come up with these things?”
The two large creatures were none other than Raven’s siblings. It seemed that when Melfir acquired the Brissen Trading Company, he had also taken over the contract with the horse breeder who had originally sent Raven to Franz.
One horse was light brown and the other dark brown, gifts for Yan and Kyrie respectively. The amusing part was that both were incredibly gentle.
Which begged the question: why on earth was Raven the only one with such a terrible temper?
“I heard the dark brown one was originally meant for Prince Franz. But he liked Raven so much that they had no choice but to send Raven instead.”
Hearing Yan’s words, Calian scratched his cheek. That meant Franz had lost out on such a fine horse because of him. Then again, Calian had injured his hand that day because of a knife Franz had thrown. Instead of feeling sorry, he decided to consider the horse compensation.
In any case, Yan and Kyrie would have many occasions to leave the palace now, and Calian had been thinking of getting them horses soon. This worked out perfectly.
“You can ride them to the hunt today,” Calian said, nodding to Yan to accept the horses. Then, he chuckled as he looked at the small creature.
“And here I was, wondering whether to buy her a bird or a dog.”
When Calian had last met Melfir, he had asked if the trading company sold any animals suitable for Kyrie’s younger sister to raise in the palace. He had, after all, made a promise to Hina.
This was apparently the answer.
It was a silvery-white kitten with odd eyes—one blue, one brown. At a glance, its fur resembled Hina’s hair, and its eyes bore a striking resemblance to Kyrie’s. It was amazing that Melfir had found such a kitten in such a short time.
“Baron Polun is extraordinary in many ways,” Yan remarked.
Calian nodded, deeply agreeing.
The one most delighted by the mewing kitten was, of course, its new owner, Hina. Watching her, Calian scooped up the kitten and handed it to her.
“It’s fine to keep a cat in Chermil. Take good care of it.”
Hina’s face lit up with a brilliant smile that, as always, could make an onlooker forget all their worries.
“Tell Baron Polun that we accept his gifts with gratitude.”
“Yes, Prince.”
That Melfir. First, he sent a gift for the horse Calian cherished, and now he sent gifts for the people Calian cherished.
“I wonder if the day will ever come when the Baron sends a gift for me,” Calian, who had yet to receive anything for himself from Melfir, muttered with a chuckle before bursting into laughter again.
In any case, Melfir was an entertaining man.
* * *
The rain had already stopped.
The late autumn weather was beautiful, and the hunting competition was not canceled.
“It is an honor to meet you, Prince. I am Aizen Aprin.”
And so, they finally met.
The hunt was a group competition; the team of nobles that caught the most game would win the grand prize.
Earlier, Yan had compiled a final list for Calian. After excluding those flagged by Melfir and Euria, the list of nearly thirty nobles had been whittled down to eleven.
That was more than enough. Once their respective knights and the mage corps gathered, they would possess enough power to counter the forces of Brissen and their allies.
Calian had delivered that list to Lemain. Consequently, all eleven individuals on it were grouped with Calian.
Looking at Count Aprin, who had previously sent him a basket of sour, dry rye cookies, Calian smiled with genuine warmth.
“The cookies were delicious. I enjoyed them thoroughly.”
Then, as Calian met the eyes of the other ten men gathered around him, a strange gleam flickered in his gaze. The looks they returned were not those of men who had simply come to hunt.
Looking at the faces around him, Calian knew they understood what this gathering was truly about.
They knew that Calian was about to begin a full-scale war against Brissen.
“I am Calian.”
And so, for the second time, Calian introduced himself first.