Chapter 54: The Start of One Incident After Another
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 54: The Start of One Incident After Another
As usual, we were asleep in each other’s arms.
Whenever one of us stirred, the other would open their eyes slightly to check, and if it was nothing, we’d share a kiss on the lips or forehead before falling back into a repetitive cycle of slumber.
“Mmm…”
“Rune, what is it?”
“Nothing. I want to sleep more.”
“But shouldn’t you be heading back to the castle soon?”
To be honest, it had been three days since we became a couple, and we had done nothing but have sex. I only realized this after coming to my senses and asking Aslet.
“Why should I go?”
“What do you mean why? That’s your home, Rune.”
“This is my home too.”
“Your lover’s home?”
“My home~. Since it’s my husband’s house, it’s my house too.”
Calling me her husband… it was embarrassing.
Over the past three days, I had received what felt like a complete psychological overhaul of education and affection from Rune.
The main points were: never self-deprecate, regard her love as absolute, and finally, never stop her when she eventually takes revenge on Mirei’s party from Lukart to restore my honor.
All of them were important, but she emphasized the fourth point repeatedly.
“You’re not planning to kill them, are you?”
“What’s the point in killing them?”
Rune smiled with a cold expression I had never seen before.
“Death would only make those bitches objects of pity.”
Even I felt a chill down my spine.
Anyway, Rune was staying at my house, and it was currently around noon, not morning. Rune stayed glued to my side, and I had no intention of pushing her away. I had even done housework while carrying her as she clung to me like a cicada while sleeping.
Then, the sound of hurried footsteps reached our ears.
Knock, knock.
“Is that Eris?”
Rune reacted first.
For the record, Eris had already been somewhat accepted after she started helping Rune with her morning wash in addition to my shaving. She was surprisingly good at catering to people’s moods. Since she and Rune already knew each other, they seemed to have become close quickly.
However, this visitor was not Eris.
“It’s Aslet! My Lady, the Count and Countess Dakuus have requested that you return with the Master!”
“What’s happened?”
“I haven’t heard the details. I have prepared a carriage. Please, hurry.”
Urged by Aslet’s uncharacteristically frantic tone, we quickly got up and dressed. It would have been nice if Eris were here, but unfortunately, she said she had things to do today.
“Aslet, come in and help me dress.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Having changed relatively quickly, I stepped out of the house, and Aslet went in as if passing a baton. As I was fastening my remaining buttons, I noticed a figure crouching by the doorway.
“Miss Arasen?”
“Hello…”
I was horrified to see her waving awkwardly. One of her eyes was bruised a deep purple. It looked like it had happened a while ago, as the bruising and swelling were severe.
“Who did this to you?”
When my voice came out stiff, Arasen hurriedly covered her eye.
“It’s just… we just had a bit of a fight…”
“And he hit a woman for that?”
“It’s a common occurrence here!”
As I stepped closer, Arasen backed away and shouted.
“You’re the one who’s strange! Comforting a crying woman, putting up with all her whims… what kind of man in this world does that? It’s like… you’re like a prince from a fairy tale…”
What was wrong with her? No matter how hard or grueling things were, Arasen was someone who would smile as long as she thought of money, but today she seemed incredibly unstable. Thinking the aftermath of the fight with her boyfriend was still weighing on her, I didn’t say anything more.
“Arasen? What’s wrong with your face?”
“Ah… it’s nothing. Please, get in.”
“…”
The look in Rune’s eyes as she watched Arasen was not kind. After a moment of thought, Rune shook her head firmly.
“No, we’ll just walk today. Aslet, pay Arasen for a one-way trip.”
“But My Lady, the Count and Countess said it was urgent…”
“This is my decision.”
“Understood.”
At Rune’s declaration, Aslet stepped back, and Arasen quietly drove the carriage away. Her retreating figure looked lonely, which bothered me.
“Don’t look at other women.”
Rune reacted sharply even toward me.
“You’re mine.”
I felt saved by that possessiveness and snapped back to reality.
“Of course.”
“Good!”
Rune, who had her arm linked with mine, finally relaxed her expression.
“Let’s walk leisurely to the castle like this. Aslet, go ahead and clear out anyone who might trip us up.”
For some reason, from the moment we left the house, Rune was showing more of her side as a lord than as a young lady.
* * *
A rumor had spread.
A rumor about a male adventurer from Lukart.
A rumor that although his appearance was plain, his behavior was gentlemanly and he cherished women.
A rumor that when his beautiful fellow adventurer, Rene, came to the salon and caused a scene, crying and shouting, he didn’t scold her but instead comforted her.
And another rumor spread as well.
A rumor that the Four Handsome Heavenly Kings of Dakuren had been targeted by Count Dakuus.
Coincidentally, one of those Four Heavenly Kings was Fran, Arasen’s childhood friend and boyfriend.
“Arasen, what should I do? If I get exiled like this, people will look down on me!”
Arasen felt like she was falling into an abyss. When she grabbed Fran and asked what happened, it turned out he had been trying to pull a stunt on her new high-value clients, Alto and Rene. She also found out he had been spouting nonsense about the “Aesthetics of Sharing.”
“How could you do that to me?”
“What? A man can do that! If you and the other girls were a bit more curvaceous and decent, would I have wanted another guy’s woman?”
“That’s not the point!”
“You’re yelling at me? Have you lost your mind!”
“Ack!”
Arasen collapsed after being hit by Fran’s blind fist as he lost his temper. Fran, startled, checked on Arasen.
“Are—are you okay…? No, it’s because a woman dared to talk back to a man!”
Tears streamed down her face. Even if he didn’t comfort her like Alto, even if there was no apology for that “Aesthetics of Sharing” nonsense, she had hoped he would at least say he wouldn’t do it again.
This was normal.
This was the treatment women received, and this was the way of the world. Arasen repeated this to herself several times as she held her eye and stood up.
“Those people… they’re the ones who’ve been making me money lately…”
“Why are you only saying that now? Hey, then go and beg them to save me. If you can, ask them to show mercy to the other guys too. If they avoid exile because of me, the way people look at me will change!”
Seeing Fran smiling brightly and shaking her shoulders, his pretense of worry completely gone, Arasen couldn’t even muster a sigh.
Where did the childhood friend go—the one who was frail but kind? Where was the cute boy who had blushed and nodded when she confessed to him? All that remained was a leech of a man who caused all sorts of trouble and neglected her, his primary wife.
“I’ll be at the station clearing out other jobs so I can be there when they call me.”
“Eh, then you won’t make much money, will you?”
At those words, Arasen took all the remaining money from her wallet and gave it to him. It was the money meant for the interest on the loan she took out for her carriage upgrade.
“I knew I could count on you, Arasen! I love you!”
With that, he went back out. Looking at the space Fran had left, Arasen didn’t know whether to be moved or feel hollow at the words “I love you,” which she hadn’t heard in so long.
All her motivation had vanished. She just wanted to be loved; why did it turn out like this?
Question after question arose, and Arasen remained slumped in the carriage station, leaving her swollen eye unattended. Eventually, she was called by Aslet and drove the carriage, but she ended up taking her frustration out on Alto and getting on Airune’s bad side.
After parking the carriage at the station, Arasen walked to the plaza and slumped down on the street. No one spared a glance for the dust-covered woman. Arasen just sat there, staring blankly at the street.
While wondering what she was doing, a part of her wanted Fran to find her like this and help her up.
A wind mixed with sandy dust blew. As it brushed against her struck eyelid, it stung, bringing tears to her eyes. Her vision became so blurred that she had no choice but to wipe them away, and that was when a couple entered her sight.
It was a pair walking slowly, the woman wearing a new pink dress prepared by Aslet and linking arms with a man in simple attire.
The woman was, of course, a beauty. She was already beautiful, but the smile she wore as she clung to the man, looking as if she had the whole world, made her even more stunning.
And the man…
Was he always that handsome?
His back was straight, and his stride was confident yet careful to match the pace of the woman walking beside him, making him seem like a much greater person than before. His face, now filled with dignity instead of a world-weary bitter smile, was much more attractive despite nothing having physically changed.
That was a charm that could not be found in Fran.
People’s eyes followed the two of them constantly. The more they did, the deeper the woman’s smile became. Airune was flaunting her man.
Look, this is the man from the rumors.
The man who practices romance, who cherishes me and cares for me.
Something you don’t have.
A wonderful man you can’t possess.
See for yourselves that this man is by my side and that he is mine.
And do not even think of coveting him.
Airune was issuing a warning at the same time.
Arasen didn’t even realize she was crying. It was miserable. She resented the world and her life, wondering what the difference was between her and Airune that allowed that woman to be loved while she was not.
Her eyelid felt hot. Arasen closed her eyes. She thought it would be better if she just kept them closed and never opened them again.
* * *
The drawing room of the Dakuren Lord’s Castle.
Karen, the Dakuren Adventurer Guild Branch Manager; Nasian, the Bank Manager; and Count and Countess Dakuus were waiting there.
“The Young Lady is arriving!”
At Aslet’s shout, everyone’s eyes turned toward the doorway. Soon, the door opened, and upon seeing Alto and Airune enter, the Countess took out a handkerchief, overcome with emotion.
“You two have finally become one…!”
“Yes, Mother. Thanks to your foresight and arrangements, I was able to be united with the one who loves me. Thank you, Mother.”
“Now this old woman can die without regrets…”
“You must live to see grandchildren from this daughter.”
“Of course, of course…”
The Count felt bad for the two who were holding hands and sobbing, but he faced Alto with a grim expression.
“Old man, that look on your face is very ominous.”
“It’s not just ominous, Alto. It’s a mess.”
At the Count’s gesture, Nasian, the Bank Manager, took out a broken spear handle and placed it on the table. Seeing the unique pattern engraved on the handle, Alto’s expression also turned serious.
“This is…?”
It was something he could never forget. This belonged to none other than a former comrade.
“Reporting.”
Instead of the Count, Nasian spoke with a formal posture.
“Three women and one man were killed by a single man stationed at the northern border of Lukart.”
The bloodstains on the spear handle finally became visible.
“The culprit is Yobeste of the Bierma tribe, the owner of this spear. Known as ‘Yobeste of the Javelin.’ He is also a war veteran and a National Merit Recipient.”
“Old man, what on earth is this?”
“I don’t know either. But if you want to find out, there’s only one way.”
Count Dakuus’s monocle glinted gloomily.
“We have to go there ourselves. I will handle the persuasion, and you will handle the combat.”
Then, Airune stepped forward and stood beside him.
“If Alto is going, I must go as well.”
“Normally, I would object since it would leave the Dakuren leadership vacant, but this matter is heavily entangled politically. My Lady, I was actually going to request your presence.”
“I see.”
Sensing that this was no ordinary matter, Airune also grew tense, and silence fell over the drawing room. However, that silence was soon broken by a woman who suddenly burst in.
“Excuse me, but I need to go to that border area as well.”
“Lady Narupa?”
A mage with a navy-blue ponytail was dressed in combat gear.
“My mana summons, which I sent to monitor Lukart, all turned toward the border and were destroyed. There’s something there. Branch Manager Karen? Can you put me in Rene’s party? In a case like this, even if it’s an external matter, it involves a war veteran, so the Adventurer Guild can issue its own quest, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Branch Manager Karen’s eyes sparkled at the prospect of being active after a long time.
“By the authority of the Dakuren Branch Manager, I request a quest. Rene’s party, to which National Merit Recipient Alto Bertrand belongs, shall go to the border with Count Dakuus to investigate the truth behind the killings committed by the war veteran Yobeste and apprehend the suspect!”
Cruelly, that very day, as they were traveling in Arasen’s carriage, they received more tragic news.
The news that a man from the Duchy had lost his life to Yobeste’s spear.
And that was exactly one day before they arrived at the border.