Aftermath
The situation was resolved in the blink of an eye. Afterward, Ricardo and the knight order under his command arrived after receiving the report. They cleaned up the remnants of the Black Round Table and the corpses. From what I heard, every last one of those remnants had consumed Ji Hyo-seong’s poison, and the structure was such that they would die if they failed to complete their mission. There was no meaningful gain to be had.
In other words, I had deliberately let myself get hurt and gone through absolute hell, yet there was no real profit. If you could even call it a gain, it was the recovery of Enoch, Werner’s holy relic magic book. Even that had been handed over by that Lancelot son of a bitch as compensation after he sliced open my chest. The wound he left still burned, and Glacia, who was carefully applying medicine to it, spoke up.
What kind of treasonous talk was she spitting out so casually? Even if he was a grand duke, the gap between a martial family guarding the north and the imperial household was obvious.
I really had to admit it. Glacia genuinely liked me. Honestly, in my entire life, there had only been one person who ever liked me, so I had no idea how to respond to this kind of goodwill. Sure, I was a warrior who protected love, but… I was completely useless in situations like this. Well, I had seduced women or even danced with them for work before, but still.
Certainly, both the original Werner and I had zero practical life skills. We were hopeless idiots who couldn’t even do laundry or cleaning properly. Well, at least the family wasn’t poor. Oh, right—we had plenty of money.
"Ahaha… That was an embarrassingly direct question."
When she answered like that, it felt a little overwhelming.
"I intend to head to my personal office. There are many things to investigate and organize regarding this incident…"
That was obviously an excuse. In truth, I was planning to go torture the captured underlings we had taken alive. My truth-creating torture could make even a god writhe in agony. Passing the skill on to the torture technicians there was also a small, simple pleasure of mine.
"Wow, Sir Werner! They started screaming without a drop of blood or a single broken bone!"
"Ah… This one is technically called Water Play. You pour cold water directly into the ear. Don’t forget to shake their head later to drain it out."
"Ohhh! Incredible! Then what was the torture you used earlier? The one where you hung that piece of trash upside down."
"Ah, that’s… not Kkorung. In technical terms, it’s called Dining with the Nose. You pour hot soup straight into the nostrils."
"As expected of Sir Werner! You casually do what we can’t! We’re trembling with awe! We admire you!!"
They simply enjoyed torturing people and constantly smelled of blood, but the kids themselves were good-natured. With such an earnest attitude toward learning, how could I not teach them? Confucius once said that learning something and then practicing it frequently is a joyful thing. Those torture technicians number one and number two were truly my Zaro and Anhoe. What torture should I teach them today? The water droplet method? Wall contemplation?
No, was Glacia also about to receive instruction from this torture artist…? No, that couldn’t be it.
"Well, you could leave that to Irina and Lorsha…"
Irina was my disciple, so teaching her torture wouldn’t be a problem. Lorsha already knew the dark side of my profession, so that was fine too. But Glacia probably thought my job was simply that of an overworked magician. She had no idea it was a position that received filthy orders like torture and murder. If she ever found out, she would oppose it one hundred percent.
Among those who hadn’t come along yesterday was also Camellia, but she happened to be busy contacting her colleagues today. What a perfect checkmate. Fuck. I had no choice but to postpone the torture lecture. A master should not try to teach everything but instead wait for the disciple’s growth. I decided to entrust this matter to torture technicians one and two. My Zaro and Anhoe, this master believes in you. Well done, Kim Zaro and Kim Anhoe. Turn those remnants of the Black Round Table into cripples with your own hands.
I extended my hand to Glacia, and she grasped it tightly. Her hand was warmer than it looked.
"Haa… This fucking report format…"
Why were there so many rules to follow just to write a single report? From prohibited words to the exact order for listing events, circumstances, and evidence, plus all the precautions for noting additional details. Where was the literary form in any of this? It was an insult to literature and an insult to Mr. Shakespeare. And since there was a saying that one wouldn’t trade Shakespeare even for India, this was also an insult to India.
"This shitty… imperial standard… fuck…"
Writing each character while constantly checking the manual made rage bubble up inside me. Damn it… Should I just run away from the imperial family again? No. If I did that, I had no idea how Lorsha’s magic would activate.
Glacia, who had been sitting on the sofa watching me after looking around my office, spoke up.
"Haha… I’m really not talented in this area…"
Werner had only shown talent in magic development and was useless when it came to politics or practical affairs. That wasn’t much different for me.
"Hmm… Well, there’s nothing I can’t tell you."
I told her everything except the part about that Lancelot bastard. To be frank, it was embarrassing that I had been injured by his hand blade, and since it was related to Camellia, I didn’t want to spread it around.
"No, what are you…"
"I learned these kinds of tasks from my mother since I was young, so I have some basic proficiency."
That Melia had taught her daughter practical work like writing reports? The same person who had torn up and refused such annoying tasks even back in Dragnity Fantasy 1? It seemed she had learned diligently in order to teach her daughter after giving birth. So this was why people said mothers are great.
Glacia began writing the report with a quill, the pen moving smoothly for five whole minutes. It was so fluid that at first I thought she was drawing a picture.
"No, in only five minutes…"
The idiot I knew took two hours to write three thousand characters, yet she had finished an entire report in five minutes… I carefully read through the report Glacia had written.
"Hmm…"
Fuck. It was perfect. The format was flawless, and while strictly following that idiotic structure, it contained only the necessary information and was written in an easy-to-understand manner. Even a three-year-old child would probably read this report and shout, “Ah, so the Black Round Table are a bunch of son-of-a-bitch bastards who sold out their own parents!”
"Lady Glacia, you really are perfect in every way."
"You flatter me."
"Moreover, not only your appearance but even your handwriting is beautiful. It’s enough to make me jealous."
I had a soft spot for people with pretty handwriting. That guy had beautiful handwriting too. On top of that, Glacia’s script somehow resembled his.
"No… Not exactly…"
There was still a mountain of other work I had to handle.
As she spoke, Glacia unfastened one of the buttons on her shirt. Her pale chest was revealed.
Ah, so that was it… Yeah, I definitely needed to rest…
Right then, some idiot who couldn’t read the atmosphere called for me from outside. Glacia hurriedly began buttoning her shirt again.
What kind of bullshit was this?
What the hell was that idiot?
I didn’t know what kind of bastard this world’s goddess was, but she seemed absolutely insane about stirring up chaos.