Toward the Capital
In a mansion dining hall decked out in lavish ornament and crowded with waiting servants, Evankal sat alone at the center and laughed to himself.
"Hahaha."
Before him sat dirty dishes.
"Young master… rather than eating first, it would be better to wait for the family head…"
A servant approached with a worried look and tried to speak quietly.
But there was no chance the boy would listen to such advice.
"Get lost! What's wrong with me eating first? Don't you know I'm Father's only heir left?! I can do whatever I want now—I'm the next head of the house anyway!"
He snapped, shoving the approaching servant hard enough to knock him down.
Even that wasn't enough to cool his temper; he lifted a foot and stomped on the man's face.
"I'm sick of making useless efforts just to look good!"
"I-I'm sorry! Young master…"
The servant pinned under his foot pleaded, but Evankal's face was twisted with a cruel smile.
"Heh. You're in luck. I've been developing a new torture method lately—I'll let you be the first to experience it. Consider it an honor."
"I-I'm sorry! Young master! Just once…! Please spare me just once!!"
Evankal kicked the tearfully begging servant into a corner, then laughed brightly.
"No more need to bother acting properly! That fucking brother is already dead, and the defective Sirius will be executed soon! Hey! Bring me wine!!"
The servants glanced around and trembled with fear.
"What? No one's bringing it?! Do all of you want to die?!"
Just then, someone approached Evankal slowly.
"…Young master, wine is inappropriate at a meal shared with the family head."
It was a black-haired maid with an expressionless face.
Evankal frowned at her.
Not because he knew she was a Shadow.
Because he simply disliked her telling him what to do.
"What?! Do you know who I am, you bitch?! Do I still look like the old me to you?!"
Crash!!
He snatched up a glass and hurled it, roaring in fury.
Even so, the maid kept her blank expression and simply stared at him.
"Aren't you going to lower your eyes, you whore?!!"
Evankal was about to shout even louder—then stopped.
"The family head is entering!"
The person he had been waiting for had arrived.
"Father's here!!"
Evankal turned toward the opening dining hall doors with a bright face.
But that smile didn't last long.
"Why the hell are you here!!!"
Evankal bellowed loud enough to shake the vast hall.
"You shouldn't be here!!"
Sirius—who should have been waiting for death in the underground prison—was walking in alongside the family head.
In my previous world, I had been a rather famous hero.
Countless nobles and kings had bowed their heads in respect, and knights had wept at the mere sight of me.
But fame is not always a good thing.
The higher your reputation climbs, the more exponentially the number of battlefields you get dragged onto increases.
Combat on those fields became the source of my strength—yet it also left me with this miserable PTSD.
I react to loud noises.
Noises like the howling that was currently filling the dining hall.
"Why are you here?!!!"
Evankal jabbed a finger at me and screamed.
"How are you even here?! You should be locked in a cell!"
Then his shouting reached the family head as well.
"Father!! Why did you bring that bastard with you!!"
At Evankal's vulgar, uncontrolled display, the family head's brow furrowed.
He looked thoroughly irritated.
Before the duke could speak in a stern voice, I stepped forward first.
It wasn't because I wanted to.
My body simply reacted on its own to the racket.
"Shut up."
A cold killing intent flooded the air around us.
This was a symptom of my PTSD.
Loud noise dragged up memories of war.
My body tensed involuntarily and forced itself into a state of high arousal.
Which was why my words came out a little more vicious than usual.
"If you don't close that mouth, I'll kill you."
At my threat, the shouting Evankal clamped his lips shut.
From his perspective, my words wouldn't have felt like a mere warning.
I had, after all, cut off his brother's head right in front of him.
"…Killing intent of that level. So you really did live while hiding it."
Duke Ares regarded me with one eye raised.
Even though I had released killing intent in front of the family head, he did not scold me.
If anything, he seemed pleased.
"Now sit."
"Yes."
Ignoring Evankal—whose face had gone livid as he pressed his lips together—Duke Ares and I took our seats at the table and picked up our utensils.
The servants moved in time with us, bringing out steaming dishes and withdrawing in silence.
"F-Father, wh-what is this? Pl-please explain…"
Beside us, Evankal asked in a voice as thin as a crawling ant.
The duke answered coldly.
"Is there something wrong with a father coming to eat with his son?"
There was.
From Evankal's point of view, the current situation was thoroughly wrong.
Never mind that I—who should have been in prison—had come out; the real problem was that I had arrived here together with the duke.
Duke Ares never walked with anyone.
Evankal must have had a thousand thoughts the moment he saw me following behind the duke.
"F-Father."
"Do not speak during the meal."
"I-I'm sorry. But Father… Sirius killed Brother Azehar. So why is he eating with us?"
Clack.
The sound of utensils being set down rang through the space.
It was a small sound, yet everyone present focused on it.
Because the one who had made that noise was Duke Ares.
"Evankal."
"Y-yes!"
"Do you intend to make me say it twice?"
"Wh-what?"
"I said do not speak during the meal."
"H-hiiik…!"
Under the family head's killing gaze, Evankal trembled.
Even so, he did not give up and opened his mouth once more.
He was the family head's son, after all. He must have thought he would be cut some slack.
"B-but Father… this is an important matter…"
But there was still a fact he failed to grasp.
Duke Ares did not go easy on someone simply because they were his son.
If anything, he treated them more strictly.
Not because he loved his children, but because they were people who carried Everhart blood.
And so, when they failed to act like Everharts, the family head grew angry.
"Azehar died like a complete fool."
At the duke's icy words, I stopped moving my utensils.
A faint killing intent was threaded through his voice.
Dangerous.
There were plenty of times when the duke deliberately unleashed killing intent to dominate someone.
But he never scattered it this softly.
He crushed the other person's spirit under a massive wave of killing intent so that they would notice.
The fact that a fine thread of killing intent was seeping from Duke Ares meant he truly harbored murderous intent toward the Evankal before him.
Yet Evankal still had not realized it.
"Brother was ambushed! He couldn't even react!"
"The more you speak that way, the more your own inadequacy shows."
The atmosphere grew colder still.
"Sirius, who had never stood out, suddenly cut off Azehar's head. He had been hiding his strength. Do you understand what that means?"
"That's because he's the strange one, not us!"
Duke Ares wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked at Evankal.
It was the look one gives something pathetic.
"You idiot. You can't even understand this much. Close that mouth. If you provoke me any further, I'll tear it open."
"What do you mean by—!"
"I told you to be silent."
"Fath— Aaargh—!"
Evankal collapsed to the floor. He thrashed in pain, clamping both hands over his mouth. Blood poured out too freely for his hands to stop it.
He actually tore it.
Truly an Everhart, I supposed. He never made empty threats.
And fast, too.
I turned my eyes to the black-haired maid standing behind Evankal.
In her hand was a dagger smeared with blood.
A Shadow, then.
The Shadows of Everhart.
A household led by that butler who had been suspiciously eager to get on my good side.
From the way she held the dagger and the speed with which she carried out the family head's order, she too seemed to be a servant belonging to the Shadows.
"Aaaargh!!! Father!! Father!!!"
Evankal rolled on the floor, wailing.
That filthy display should have ruined anyone's appetite, yet strangely the food went down just fine.
"Drag him out."
"Yes!"
The servants hauled Evankal up and carried him away.
It looked for all the world as if he were being thrown out of the dining hall.
Evankal sobbed and stared at the family head as if the injustice of it all were too much to bear.
"It hurts! Father!! Father!! It hurts!!"
But the family head never looked his way.
Thud.
The dining hall doors closed, and Evankal was gone.
Then a brief silence settled.
Only the family head and I remained at the table.
"Bring new dishes."
The cooled food was cleared away, and fresh dishes were prepared.
As I prodded the steaming food with my fork, I suddenly felt the family head's gaze.
It was different from the eyes that had looked at Evankal—full of interest and expectation.
"Is there something you wish to say?"
"Next week you head up to the Capital to enroll in the Academy, do you not."
"That is correct."
The family head studied me for a moment, then spoke.
"I believe there must be a reason you chose to reveal the strength you have been hiding now."
As the black-haired maid poured me wine, I listened.
"You wanted Lowell purged. To firmly establish Everhart's prestige."
"………."
"Very well."
The family head's eyes flashed as they locked onto me.
"In exchange, take the top rank at the Academy. If you do, I will consider it favorably."
At those words I paused a beat.
Then I met the family head's gaze and opened my mouth.
"Mere favorable consideration is not enough. Give me a firm answer."
At my insolent demand, a chill settled over the room.
I could feel the servants' stares. They must have thought I would be thrown out just like Evankal.
But the family head's next reaction made their eyes go round.
"Fine. I promise."
The family head laughed as if entertained.
Yet the words that followed were the exact opposite of the smile on his face.
"However, if you fail to take the top rank… I will hold you accountable for the crime of beheading Azehar."
Killing a noble meant hanging.
Knowing the family head's nature, he would almost certainly put a noose around my neck for real.
Even so, I remained perfectly calm.
It was not mere acting.
I truly was confident I could take the top rank at the Academy.
"That's nothing special."
"Nothing special?"
"Do you think I, an Everhart, would miss the top rank?"
It was nothing more than lip service.
I did not consider myself an Everhart, and I took no pride in this body's bloodline.
But the family head, who knew none of that, wore a satisfied smile at my confident words.
"And I have one more condition."
"A condition?"
"When you purge Lowell, send me."
The family head looked at me with interest and asked,
"The reason?"
"Is it not my fiancée's family? Handling it myself would be proper courtesy toward her."
The real reason I wanted to take care of it personally was to make certain it was finished properly.
The Lowells had cockroach-like vitality, after all.
"I like that. Yes. An Everhart should do exactly that."
The family head smiled in satisfaction.
So I pressed further.
"While you're at it, throw in ten thousand gold as well."
"That is no difficulty. Take it with you when you go up to the Capital. An Everhart of the bloodline must never look poor for lack of money."
Startup capital secured.
Now I would head for the Capital.
I had finished all my preparations within the family, but I still could not afford to relax.
There was still far too much left to do at the Academy.