102
Chapter 102
An incredibly luxurious mansion.
An interior so elegant that anyone would marvel at it.
Everyone would assume the owner of this mansion lived a life as glamorous as the estate itself.
"Haa......."
But reality was a bit different.
Premium black tea served in a craftsman-made teacup.
Even with such things before him, only sighs escaped Kishua's lips.
The reason was quite simple.
Black Fang hadn't come looking for him.
'Why on earth? Where did things go wrong?'
Black Fang's relief activities in the slums.
Kishua had considered that an invitation.
He interpreted it as a message to support those relief efforts if they were willing to work with him.
That was why Kishua had participated so desperately.
He had been careful not to be discovered by the Empire while successfully supporting and saving countless people.
He could confidently say no one had achieved results comparable to his.
But. Even so.
Black Fang hadn't called for him.
'...Was I lost in a futile delusion?'
Perhaps Black Fang had no purpose like invitations or finding collaborators. Maybe they just purely wanted to help people.
Like a critic assigning bizarre meanings to a painting that an artist drew without much thought.
He might have misinterpreted Black Fang's intentions.
Thinking about it now, Black Fang's actions had felt a bit strange.
The Black Market terror incident, the slums relief effort, the Holy See incident.
They always produced results that far surpassed common sense and turned the world upside down. But how should I put it—it didn't feel like there was any planning behind it.
Perhaps Black Fang was a group with a slightly different nature than what people thought. Maybe they were just incredibly lucky.......
'No, this is all just my ugly self-rationalization.'
Kishua let out a deep sigh and erased the illogical speculation from his mind.
Black Fang being an impulsive group acting without plans—that's nonsense. There's a limit even to foolish talk.
The Empire was undeniably the center of the world.
It wasn't that Kishua thought so out of overflowing patriotism—it was simply a fact no one could deny.
No nation was as powerful as the Empire.
No nation was as developed as the Empire.
It would be no exaggeration to say that virtually everything in the world revolved around the Empire.
Yet Black Fang alone stood against such a nation. They even held the upper hand beyond merely opposing them.
Just because Kishua failed to grasp what intentions such an organization had, didn't mean Black Fang was a thoughtless organization.
Just as a mere mortal could never understand the thoughts of a genius.
It was only logical to assume that Kishua simply couldn't comprehend the grand scheme of the Black Fang Leader, who had far surpassed the realm of humanity.
So in other words....
"It means I failed, I suppose."
Kishua muttered to himself in a lonely voice.
That was the only logical conclusion he could reach.
He had given away half of his fortune.
Even now, he was working tirelessly behind the scenes, sacrificing sleep to spread faith in Black Fang.
There was no way they didn't know.
If it were revealed that he had helped Black Fang, he would face severe oppression from the Empire. Naturally, he had hidden his identity while proceeding.
If it was Black Fang, whose intelligence capabilities far surpassed the Empire's, they surely would have grasped all his information long ago.
The man named Kishua must have been thoroughly dismantled and analyzed under the Black Fang Leader's discerning eye.
But he had been rejected.
In the eyes of the Black Fang Leader, he simply wasn't valuable enough to be taken on as a comrade.
He tried drinking the black tea to calm his mind.
But as always, his mind wouldn't settle.
It was bitter.
So incredibly bitter.
He was approaching the age of fifty.
He knew he had to maintain his dignity as the Family Head of the Arhangel family, but why was time so cruel?
Kishua desperately suppressed his weakening tear ducts.
*****
The work progressed smoothly.
I was a bit worried since even dwarves couldn't build all those facilities overnight.
But they were more capable than I had thought.
To avoid drawing attention, they built a makeshift model to restore just the exterior of the mansion before diving back into the detailed work.
I had some conscience, of course.
I was cooperating with the dwarves by squeezing out every memory of the settings and blueprints I saw in the artbook.
It happened while I was completing the general framework of the blueprint.
When I looked up from the parchment, I saw Ms. Rubia.
She looked a little....
No, she looked extremely exhausted.
Well, it wasn't exactly surprising.
This incident had revealed to the world that Ms. Rubia was the mastermind behind the potion business.
Most of the people involved in the potion business had been dealt with, but the emergence of a heavyweight who had monopolized an entire industry had many people on edge.
Naturally, all sorts of checks and interferences would be pouring in.
"...Don't worry, Ms. Rubia. Just tell me the names of the people bothering you, and I'll handle it."
That included mobilizing all the knowledge from my previous life, of course.
I would use every means at my disposal to get rid of anyone causing her trouble.
That was my intention when I offered.
Hiccup! The sound of a hiccup reached my ears.
For some reason, Ms. Rubia looked utterly terrified and rejected my offer in a panic.
Instead, she handed me something.
"I-I'm really fine! It's true that I've been a bit busy lately, but I've prepared my own solution...."
It was a file containing information about a person.
"If I just had one person to assist me, I think I could manage somehow. What do you think?"
Ms. Rubia asked me that.
I definitely wanted to help her out since she was asking, but....
I couldn't help but be a little skeptical about this.
This wasn't just a matter of casually hiring someone.
The importance of the work she was handling.
A single mistake could lead us all to ruin.
We needed someone capable, along with enough loyalty not to betray us. And someone like that wasn't just going to drop from the sky.
Without much expectation, I read through the file Ms. Rubia had handed me. And.......
"......Huh?"
A dumbfounded groan slipped out of my mouth. It couldn't be helped.
[Kishua Arhangel.]
That name.
That name was all too familiar.
Even the face in the photo matched my memories perfectly.
...A key figure in the Empire revolution route.
A noble character who backed the protagonist. A good character from the previous work was right before my eyes. He was originally supposed to die in every route, but it seemed he had survived due to the story getting twisted.
Excitement surged within me at his sudden appearance, but I quickly calmed myself down.
Certainly, Kishua was a very capable person. You couldn't even enter the Empire revolution route without recruiting him in the first place.
But recruiting someone like him wouldn't be easy.
A difficult personality.
High pride.
And the stubbornness to never follow anyone he didn't acknowledge. He was essentially harder to win over than the heroines.
So I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.
I really shouldn't have.
[Presumed to be the person who secretly supported the Relief Center in the past. High probability of cooperation.]
That phrase caught my eye.
He wasn't a bad person, but he wasn't exactly a purely benevolent philanthropist either. What could have caused such a change of heart?
I wasn't really sure about that.
But that wasn't what was important right now.
I spoke in an urgent voice.
"Let's bring this person in immediately."
*****
Recently, disturbing rumors had been circulating among the servants of the Arhangel family.
Rumors that the Family Head's condition was a bit strange.
Rumors that he seemed to be going senile.
However, despite such rumors, Sebastian, the butler of the Arhangel family, remained unshaken.
It was true that the Family Head had looked a bit haggard lately, but his duties remained unchanged nonetheless.
"......."
An anonymous letter sealed with luxurious sealing wax.
As soon as he delivered the letter, Family Head Kishua looked at him. The meaning behind that gaze was clear.
He was telling him to leave the room.
He bowed politely and exited the room.
'Rumors are just rumors, after all.'
The Family Head's core nature hadn't changed.
He never let his guard down, even around Sebastian, who had worked in this mansion for a long time.
Thorough and calculating.
Because of that, he often overworked himself and ended up looking haggard, but it was definitely not senility.
The other servants gossiped freely, claiming his condition was strange and that he was acting incomprehensibly. But on the contrary, that was actually proof of the Family Head's competence.
It meant he was doing everything so thoroughly that even the servants remained completely oblivious, ensuring his actions didn't leak outside.
So there was absolutely no need to worry.
With that in mind, Sebastian continued walking, intending to immerse himself back in his work.
"I-It's done!!"
Until such a bizarre shout reached his ears.
The voice came from the direction of the door he had just closed. In other words, the Family Head's office.
But... why would the Family Head let out such a vulgar shout?
He couldn't understand the situation at all.
He knew he shouldn't, but his hand moved on its own.
He secretly cracked open the office door.
And....
"I knew it! Who do you think I am? I never lose my edge, no matter where I go!"
He closed it.
He had no choice but to close it.
If he had made eye contact with the silver-haired middle-aged man throwing punches into the air and celebrating with a vulgar little dance, things would have gotten very complicated.
With a soul-departed look on his face, Sebastian processed the current situation.
So it seemed like....
'I might need to start looking for another job.'
The Family Head really had gone senile.