Chapter 70: The Turning Wheel (2)
Chapter 70: The Turning Wheel (2)
Leaving only those meaningful words behind, the crown prince departed.
After seeing the crown prince off and returning to his office, Deon sat down at his desk and picked up the documents as if nothing had happened. Contrary to his composed attitude, the gaze he fixed on the documents was subtly unfocused.
His slick, blood-red eyes glaring at a corner of the document, Deon thought.
'What does he know?'
And just how far did that knowledge extend?
What intention did the emperor have in making him deliver such words?
"......Master?"
"......."
His thoughts broken by the voice, he froze for a moment, then let out a small sigh and set down the documents he'd been holding.
Just how out of it had he been not to even notice someone's presence?
He looked at Dan with an expressionless face.
As the dry, indifferent gaze fixed straight on him, Dan, who had been rising hesitantly from the sofa and watching him cautiously, flinched slightly and took a step back.
"......Are you alright?"
His voice was faintly trembling.
During his stay at the mansion, while learning various skills, he had heard well that the master's personality swung wildly between extremes.
In fact, when he had abruptly asked the man to take him in, he had witnessed that side of him firsthand.
'What on earth could have happened?'
But now, this was on a completely different level.
The atmosphere leaking out subtly, as if his mood was foul, was sharpened to a razor's edge, aimed in all directions as if about to tear everything to shreds.
And how was he supposed to explain the feeling that, the moment he opened his mouth, countless blades seemed aimed right at him?
"......Come to think of it, you said you had something to say."
"Huh? Yes!"
"Go on."
"Well, it's nothing much, but......."
Was it really okay to bring this up when he was in such a mood?
After rolling the words around in his mouth several times, agonizing over whether to speak or not, Dan finally squeezed his eyes shut under Deon's glare and opened his mouth.
"I was hoping you could... lend me some money."
"......What?"
A voice full of incredulity came back.
Now that it had come to this, he had to see it through. If he stopped now, he'd only invite an enormous misunderstanding.
Dan hastily added.
"It's not that I'm greedy for money. I just......."
"......?"
"......I want to, try my hand at investing."
Deon tilted his head.
Having listened silently to Dan's words — that he would give all the profits from investing to him — he slowly rose from his seat.
He circled around the desk, sat down on the sofa opposite Dan, slowly crossed his legs, tilted his head, and touched the corner of his mouth.
It was an action that even looked innocent at a glance, but the voice that followed was low enough to give goosebumps.
"Did you always know how to manage money?"
"......No."
"Then that means you learned it here. Strange, isn't it? What you said you wanted to learn was swordsmanship. Did I mishear, or did the butler disobey my orders?"
His crimson eyes gleamed bloody red.
In that gaze, as the characteristic gleam of a madman surfaced silently, Dan momentarily held his breath.
A gaze that, just by meeting it, felt as if it constricted his throat — a gaze mingling with all sorts of chilling emotions: damp, sticky, sinister.
Separate from his held breath, a smile began to bloom at the corner of his mouth.
It wasn't a fake smile. Deon's eyes narrowed at the genuine smile, but Dan was too preoccupied to notice.
Because he was truly glad.
'If he's the Calamity, this is exactly how he should be.'
He hadn't been wrong after all.
As Dan quivered with uncontrollable emotion, having even the last shred of doubt blown away, Deon uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.
Like a predator advancing toward its prey, he braced himself on the table and leaned his upper body across, bringing his face close to Dan's.
The red eyes that filled Dan's entire field of vision slipped behind lids curved in a subtle smile.
"I've thought about what your goal is. You said you'd follow me, but you asked for nothing."
"......."
"It's the same now. You came all this way to ask for that? That you want to try your hand at investing? And all the profits go to me?"
This didn't even fall into the category of 'wanting' something.
He'd accepted him because the emotion in his eyes suited his taste, but that didn't mean he was completely unthinking about it.
There was no way a complete stranger would follow him without reason.
Deon knew that almost truistic fact very well, and so he brought up two hypotheses.
"There are two possibilities I've thought of."
"......."
"Either the thing you want is so big that you're trying to build up trust first—"
"......."
"Or following me itself might be your objective."
And now, seeing his smile, he could vaguely sense it.
Deon straightened his slowly bent upper body, returned to his seat, and leaned back against the sofa. A meaningful smile lingered at the corner of his lips.
"I won't interrogate you about how you seduced the staff of this mansion and what you learned."
"......!"
"More importantly, you said you want to try your hand at investing, right?"
* * *
Rememver entered, a stack of documents tucked under his arm.
He beseeched me with no superfluous words — I was still dazed and unable to shake off the shock of the crown prince's sudden visit — and then abruptly dropped something completely out of the blue.
"The fact that you called this old man means a conclusion has been reached, I take it."
?
"It seems the conclusion was to invest. Am I right?"
"......Invest?"
My fugitive mind snapped back to attention. Sudden investiture?
I was spacing out and suddenly felt like a bolt from the blue had struck.
Even I, with no interest in investing, knew full well that one bad investment could send you straight to the grave. What in the....
I was about to press for more details when someone cut me off.
"Yes, the master said he would entrust the money to me."
What the—! Dan, was it? Since when had he been here? No, more than that....
I said that?!
"I see. It's not a bad decision. After all, I've personally confirmed Dan's abilities."
These people were carrying on a conversation that sounded incredibly important, completely without me. Should I butt in pretending to be crazy and stop them?
I was rolling my eyes around to grasp the situation when something snatched my gaze.
It was the documents tucked under Rememver's arm.
Not because the amount was insanely huge. On the contrary....
"Those documents... seem rather thin......."
"Ah, you mean these. It's all thanks to that fellow Dan."
Dan again.
Just what had happened while I was away? Unlike the initial wariness, Rememver was now looking at Dan with warm eyes and starting to ramble on without being asked.
"He saw the backlog of paperwork, said he wanted to help and asked to be taught, so I only taught him the basics, but he handled the work very well."
He looked at me as he said this, for some reason.
Somehow I could hear his voice adding, 'Even more so than you, my lord.' But that must be my imagination.
So that's why he was so favorable?! Because the paperwork decreased?
"He even identified inefficient systems and made them more efficient. This is the result."
His finger pointed at the stack of documents placed before me.
A stack that, unlike before, was an amount I could finish processing in four or five hours.
......No way.
I snapped my head up. I met Rememver's pleased expression.
Afraid of getting my hopes up only to be disappointed, rather than asking outright, I cautiously asked with my eyes.
'Don't tell me this is all?'
"Yes, that's right."
"......Pass."
The word slipped out before I knew it.
I understood why Rememver had been so favorable.
You have to hold onto a guy like this! Anyone who lets him go should get slapped silly.
"So... you want me to entrust the money to you?"
"Yes."
"Alright. Why don't you give it a try. Rememver will allocate the budget."
"Ah...! Thank you. I will never disappoint you."
"Then get out."
Success or failure, it didn't matter. Rememver would surely provide an amount that wouldn't hurt even if lost.
More than that, seeing that Rememver wasn't leaving, it seemed he had something more to say.
And sure enough, as soon as Dan exited with his final thanks, Rememver placed the drastically thinner stack of documents on the office desk.
Though the amount had decreased, I still hated paperwork. I let out a small sigh and sat down in front of it.
As soon as I picked up the top document, Rememver's explanation followed.
"The handover regarding the Hart territory has been completed."
Ah.......
So that's what he wanted to say. My expression immediately soured.
They were taking it away, yet they even went through the proper handover. It felt even more disgusting. It was as if I'd agreed to it, wasn't it?
'Well, I did agree, but still.'
Not wanting to hear any more, I gave a half-hearted nod and changed the subject.
Still, he was my butler, so I should at least tell him I'd be going somewhere.
I couldn't say I was going to the Demon Realm, but I couldn't just vanish without a trace either.
"I'll be stepping away again for a while."
"Is that so? Just when you've finally reclaimed your former appearance as a count, it's a pity."
He said that, but why was he looking at my dark circles? Was my haggard face my original look?
Still, I should probably be thankful he didn't ask where or for what purpose I was going.
I swallowed a sigh, touching my darkened eye rims again.
"I'll depart as soon as preparations are made. So please prepare as quickly as possible."
"Shall I set the expected travel time to the same as last time?"
"Yes."
"Understood."
Rememver, who was about to turn and leave, let out an 'Ah' as if he'd forgotten something and turned back.
"And about that Dan fellow you've taken in."
"......Yeees."
That Dan who even got me to invest.
That Dan who was only supposed to learn swordsmanship, but learned paperwork and then talked me into investing, that 'Dan.'
Not that him learning accounting was a bad thing, but now that I thought about it, I felt a bit hooked. Anyway, it left a slightly mixed feeling.
"As per your orders, I've been monitoring him for any suspicious behavior, but there's been nothing out of the ordinary."
"Huh?"
"Perhaps because he's still in the phase of building trust, or maybe there truly is nothing — I can't be certain......"
"Huh?"
"From this old man's personal opinion, I believe it's the latter."
Wait, hold on. I ordered that? Surveillance? When on earth?
And Mr. Butler, about your 'personal opinion.' It's truly a personal opinion, literally. Your gaze is dripping with fondness.
"He also has quite a talent for swordsmanship. Not a genius, but I've heard he's at least gifted."
This was practically the image of a grandfather completely smitten with his grandson.
To get Rememver like this with just paperwork. Was that guy amazing, or was I that awful at paperwork...?
"Above all, where he truly stands out is paperwork. You know this for a fact."
"Ah... yes."
Well, I saw that reduced paperwork and even invested, so yeah.
It felt a little off, but I had no regrets. You have to hold onto talent like this. Even more so if all he wanted was to be entrusted with some of the money.
......But, just earlier I'd figured Rememver would handle it wisely, but now I felt a bit uneasy.
"Anyway, that Dan fellow, he seems like quite a decent kid."
"......."
He wouldn't hand over a fat wad of cash just because he's cute, would he...?
I could only eye the grandfather who'd become a doting fool in his later years with a suspicious gaze.