Chapter 56
Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Belverk's Masked Young Master
"Hello!"
Schwarz, who had been approaching the bushes radiating a chilling killing intent, suddenly froze when Kairen popped his head out from within.
"Young Master?"
"Hehe."
"What are you doing here?"
After a brief dazed expression, Schwarz asked in a low voice.
"Over there..."
"Sorry, but everyone, please step back."
With that, she quickly turned around and ordered the approaching servants and guests to retreat.
"Why are you covered in scratches and panting like that?"
Once everyone had fallen back, she shielded Kairen with her body and tilted her head, asking again.
"Mmph, mmph..."
Just then, a muffled, choking voice came from the bushes.
"J-Just go away."
"......"
"Just this once. Yeah?"
As Kairen squirmed and opened his mouth with a sullen look, Schwarz's expression began to cool into ice.
"...Young Master."
A moment later, she spoke in a deeply sunken voice.
"Am I not pretty enough, by any chance?"
"Huh?"
"Or is messy hair not your type?"
Her signature dead-fish eyes darkened as she leaned in toward Kairen, her face serious as she pressed him.
"I like Big Sister Schwarz!"
But Kairen, who had tilted his head for a moment, simply answered with an innocent smile.
"Hah, then why?"
"......?"
"Why wasn't I the first servant you pounced on..."
Her eyes darkened even further, and she muttered so softly Kairen couldn't hear.
"Young Master, if you get all worked up like that, just call for me."
"Huh?"
"If you keep doing it... I have my limits too, you know?"
She began whispering to Kairen in a sweetly pressed voice, as gently as possible.
"Because I really like you, Young Master..."
"......"
"Yeah? Pretty please? ...Fuck."
But in the end, she let slip a curse too quiet for Kairen to hear, then stiffened her expression, forced up the corners of her mouth, and turned back.
"It was just a stray cat. Let's be on our way."
The group, puzzled and tilting their heads, soon passed by the bushes and continued on.
"...Should I just pounce once and reincarnate?"
Schwarz quietly followed behind, then paused for a moment, muttering softly before hurrying to catch up.
"Haa..."
Having somehow escaped the crisis, Kairen, who had been crouching tensely in the bushes with his head down, sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
"Pup. Sit."
He sternly commanded Uriel's main body, who had been forcibly flattened atop him in the bushes with her mouth covered the whole time.
"Mmph, mmph!"
"Hey, quiet."
But as Uriel's main body struggled fiercely, Kairen frowned and stuffed a handkerchief from his pocket into her mouth as a gag.
- Thud, thud...
Even then, Uriel's main body kept pounding at Kairen's chest with a murderous glare, but since her true body was so frail, she couldn't shake him off.
"It's no use. Today, I'm going to train you properly."
In the end, Kairen bound Uriel's main body tightly with a leash he'd brought just in case, his eyes glaring as he spoke.
"I won't untie you until you sit and put your hands up."
"...!!!"
"Tsk. Keep it up, and I'll spank you?"
As he reached out with a somewhat stern face, she trembled quietly, grinding her teeth with narrowed eyes.
- Shiver...
And about a minute later, Uriel's main body, her face pale and darkened, sat demurely and placed her hands atop Kairen's.
"Good girl."
"......"
"Such a good pup."
Kairen stroked her head, praising her, then gently caressed her chin and smiled brightly.
"Good, good..."
"......"
"You listened well, so how about a walk?"
With that, Kairen slowly rose to his feet.
Wait a moment.
As Kairen stood and rummaged in his pocket, he read the message floating before his eyes and tilted his head.
Could you pick up the mask over there?
Sure enough, as the System said, a white mask lay abandoned in the flower bed of the secret garden beside the bushes.
"......?"
Kairen blinked in confusion for a moment before nodding as if it made sense, picking up the nearby mask and muttering inwardly.
'To use in emergencies?'
Thank you.
A brief thanks came from the System, leaving Kairen puzzled once more.
"Alright, let's go. Pup!"
He scratched his head, pulled out a fancy poop bag from his pocket, placed it over Uriel's main body's head, and began dragging her along.
'...This way, no one will know who it is.'
Uriel Big Sis had broken their promise and vanished first, so Kairen couldn't just leave her main body behind.
"Kyaang?"
Soon after, the real pup, back to her cheerful self and wagging her tail, slipped quietly into Kairen's shadow from behind.
"We've finally arrived."
Meanwhile, the guests who had made it to the Belverk estate without getting lost again.
"...What a sight."
"Whoa..."
Maids lined up along both sides from the entrance, pitch-black Black Knights surrounding the mansion, and the Captain of the 1st Knight Order standing right by the gate.
"Then that must be..."
The three ladies, dazedly scanning the head of the house's guard oozing killing intent behind the knight captain, tensed up as a woman approached them.
"Welcome to Belverk."
The next moment, Astridje, the 49th head of Belverk, halted and spoke in her signature cold, emotionless tone.
"I'm Sigrune von Hafkreut, the eldest daughter of the Hafkreut family."
"Artel von Sharhen. Granddaughter of Marquis Sharhen."
"L-Lanya von Magnaris... I'm being raised as the heir to Marquis Magnaris."
The three ladies bowed their heads in unison to the empire's shadow emperor.
"What the? Artel? That bitch is here too?"
Just then, Lilien peeked out from the entrance and spoke up.
"...Tch!"
"Hey, long time no see?"
Artel, granddaughter of Marquis Sharhen, spotted her, gritted her teeth, and reached for the sword at her waist.
"Oh? Touch that hilt and see."
"......"
"If you wanna get beat like last time, bring it."
But before her hand reached the hilt, Lilien drew a knife and glared chillingly.
"Quiet."
Astridje, who had been watching silently, spoke lowly, and the two girls glaring at each other lowered their hands wordlessly.
"Even though you're outsiders, as guests, you'll receive the minimum courtesy."
As silence fell, Astridje's eyes glowed red as she began a welcome laced with warning.
"As long as you don't wrong us first, no one in Belverk will harm you."
The maids lining both sides and the knights bowed their heads quietly.
"Just don't wander near Belverk at night."
"...Eek."
"The explanation ends there. Ask if you have questions."
Astridje glanced at the utterly shrunken Lanya after her ominous warning.
"S-Sorry to interrupt, but..."
Artel, who had been gauging the mood, raised her hand to ask.
"Where is the birthday boy?"
Astridje glanced around briefly at the question, then spoke with a cold expression.
"...Who knows. Seems he's not in the mansion right now."
The ladies tilted their heads in confusion at her words—right then.
"You mean Kairen?"
Lilien stepped forward with a sly grin.
"Haha, you girls better watch out?"
All eyes turned to her as she spoke.
"Kairen is awfully ferocious and dangerous."
"...More than you?"
"Huh? Of course. He's a monster incomparable to me."
The ladies first wore disbelieving looks at her words.
"Last time he rampaged, all of Belverk was under Young Master Kairen's tyranny."
"What?"
"We barely survived day by day offering a maid as sacrifice each day."
Schwarz, standing beside them, glanced around before darkening her expression and speaking, chilling the atmosphere instantly.
"What were Belverk's knights doing then...?"
"Knights? Think they'd stand a chance?"
"...What do you mean?"
Lilien smirked amid the tension, glancing at the 1st Knight Captain, who coughed awkwardly before speaking reluctantly.
"I've already lost to the Young Master once."
"...What!?"
"A defeat with no excuses. I gave it my all."
The gathered crowd nodded at her words, and Artel's face paled in shock.
"No way, you're the Empire's Greatest Sword..."
For her, who aimed for the Empire's Greatest Sword and dreamed of the World's Greatest, it was shocking news.
"So, keep that in mind."
Lilien, even more thrilled, mimed slitting her throat with a menacing glare.
"If you approach or touch Kairen carelessly... even we can't guarantee your safety."
Silence hung before the gates.
"That ends the explanation."
Astridje, frowning amid the quiet, spoke indifferently.
"Welcome once more as guests after 300 years."
With that, Belverk's grand gates swung open wide, but none of the three ladies dared step inside first.
Quite some time later.
"I'd heard the rumors, but... Belverk's youngest young master really isn't ordinary."
"Yeah. Who'd think the Empire's Greatest Sword lost."
The three ladies, mustering courage to enter Belverk, walked the long corridor while chatting.
"He took my first goal..."
Artel, silent until now, muttered gloomily, and Sigrune, focusing intently to suppress her ability, spoke up.
"...Come to think of it, that earlier situation was a bit off too."
"Right, that maid Schwarz wrapped it up too hastily."
Artel nodded in agreement.
"Maybe the out-of-control youngest young master attacked a servant..."
As the two walked tensely, exchanging theories, they turned at a strange noise from the side.
- Rattle, rattle...
Lanya, Marquis Magnaris's prized disciple, trembled pale-faced.
"What are you doing?"
"Shouldn'thaveshouldn'thaveshouldn'thavecome..."
"Weren't you the most excited of us?"
Sigrune muttered quietly, eyeing her pitifully.
"Anyway, this is bad."
"What?"
"Our goal here is scouting, sure, but mainly to connect with Belverk's youngest young master..."
Artel frowned at her words, muttering lowly.
"...I kinda wanna spar him."
- Rattle, rattle...
"Hey, you still shaking?"
She glanced back at Lanya, who had frozen mid-step.
"I'm definitely getting kidnapped and drained of blood..."
"......?"
"Haven't you heard? The rumor that Belverks are actually vampires is famous..."
Artel chuckled and patted her.
"It's fine. You don't look tasty."
"Really?"
"Nah, kidding..."
"Waaah..."
As Lanya froze again despite that, the two ladies moved to continue—right then.
"Wait."
"Y-Yesyesyes?!"
"What's that?"
Sigrune spotted something ahead and spoke tensely.
"Eek!?"
Artel instinctively turned, eyes widening as her hand went to her sword hilt.
"......"
A boy in a white mask stared silently at them from the corridor's end.
- Shiver...
He dragged along the arm of a trembling woman with a bag over her head, tightly bound with rope.
- Click...
Moments later, the masked boy silently dragged the bagged woman into a room, leaving silence in the corridor.
"......"
They stood pale-faced in the quiet before passing the room wordlessly.
"Hey, did I just... not the only one who saw that?"
"...Shh."
"...Be quiet."
Unbeknownst to himself, Kairen had perfectly embodied the romance fantasy cliché of the monstrous duke's masked, savage young master.
"...That was close."
I tossed the mask aside upon entering the room and slumped onto the bed with a sigh.
'They probably didn't recognize me.'
I'd slipped in through the back door just in case, but I felt like our eyes met with someone far off at the end—still, with the mask, it should be fine.
"What a mess because of the pup..."
"Kyaang!"
"Hm?"
As I scratched my head lost in thought, I heard a sound from below and looked down quietly.
"Pup?"
The pup had poked her head out from my shadow, panting happily with her tongue out.
"Uh..."
I stared blankly at her—she looked exactly normal—then slowly turned to Uriel Big Sis's main body standing beside me.
"......"
In the ensuing silence, one fact dawned on me.
"...Big Sis?"
The thing I'd gagged, stroked, and dragged here wasn't the pup—it was Uriel Big Sis's actual main body.