Chapter 63: Future Plans
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 63: Future Plans
Maybe it was because I’d slept for four days straight, but my body felt light.
I was incredibly annoyed because Diane had tried to pull some nonsense the moment I woke up, but I’d kicked her out quickly enough. Now, I just needed to clear my head.
As I ate the breakfast Rune had brought personally, I listened to what had happened while I was unconscious.
“Yobeste’s death has been officially announced by the Duchy. Only his death, though.”
Hah, those bastards in the Duchy are no different from the ones in the Kingdom.
“The Kingdom countered by announcing the murders Yobeste committed and revealed that the one who executed him was Alto Bertrand.”
“Does that mean Her Highness knows where I am now?”
“No. A letter arrived from Yarismal Bichante. She testified that you appeared out of nowhere, executed Yobeste, and then vanished. Apparently, the people in Lukart claimed the same. Bichante’s daughter likely blackmailed the Lukart branch into following that story. It wouldn’t do them any good if it came out that the entire city had been persecuting you.”
Yarismal.
It was a surprise to run into her there.
The last time I’d seen her, she was a tiny brat, but she’d grown to be about as tall as me.
“The Kingdom knows that a small elite force from Hus, including myself, was involved. There will likely be a summons soon, or someone from the royal palace will be sent here.”
My appetite vanished instantly.
When I set down the spoon I’d been using to stir my soup, Rune took it and held it to my lips.
“Come on, say ‘ah.’”
“I’m fine.”
“You need to eat well to recover.”
Faced with her firm attitude, I reluctantly opened my mouth. The spoon entered my mouth as carefully as if she were feeding porridge to a baby.
“Since Alto finds it uncomfortable, please proceed with a policy of refusing all visitors to Hus due to internal affairs.”
Rune directed the old man to implement an isolationist policy for Hus, but she was immediately met with opposition.
“My Lady, with all due respect, this old man is still the Acting Lord.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“My Lady. I am only waiting for the day you find a spouse and rule Hus directly.”
“Count, get to the point.”
“This is the point. It is desirable that you are developing the qualities of a Great Lord, but you are being far too emotional. Politics is no different from a masquerade. You must wear a mask, hide your feelings and thoughts, and make decisions based solely on the interests of the territory and its people.”
“Alto is the consort of the Great Lord.”
“You have not held the ceremony yet. Until it is actually performed, nothing is certain. You must always remain aware that the matter is not yet concluded.”
“Is it not already a foregone conclusion?!”
“Without a marriage contract and the blessing of the Church, Alto and you are not married. Be patient. It will not actually take that long. We ministers are preparing the wedding and the coronation simultaneously. However, if the parties involved are not prepared, the final period cannot be placed on the sentence.”
“What am I supposed to do, then?”
When Rune spoke with a slightly defeated air, the old man gave a thin smile.
“You must gain more social experience. Realize how little you can accomplish alone. Recognize that there is no such thing as maximum preparation, equal conditions, or a perfect state for anything. And face the fact that your opponent is a formidable foe who is using their head just as much as you are. Once you do that, you will be qualified to ascend as the Great Lord.”
“That just sounds like being an incompetent person.”
“Incompetent alone, perhaps, but together, you will become Hus itself.”
“…I don’t want to do politics. Can’t Alto and I just live quietly together?”
“Ho-ho.”
Marquis Dakuren used to say that because Janks was there, he had raised Rune to be nothing more than a refined young lady.
I could see the burden Rune felt, having become the successor overnight.
Knowing that, even the old man couldn’t push her any harder.
“I don’t want to run a business either,” Lady Narupa chimed in.
“If I could, I’d just study magitech in the Magic Tower or my own lab, start a family with a good man, and live quietly.”
“Right? Exactly.”
“But if we did that, do you think the world would leave us alone? We are the daughters of heroes and we are nobles. If we stay powerless, people will scramble to use us as symbols or political marriage pawns.”
It was good that she was giving sound advice, but why was Lady Narupa coming over to my side and holding a piece of torn bread soaked in soup to my mouth?
“We don’t need to put the world under our feet, but we must possess enough power so that no one can mess with us. Now, Alto. If I’m right, eat the bread. If not, feel free to refuse.”
What a dirty trick.
Once again, I reluctantly opened my mouth and ate the bread.
“Hehe, cute.”
“Narupa, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Rune, I was just giving you a simple example of what will happen when you have no power.”
Lady Narupa took a step back, weathering Rune’s fierce glare.
“Alto Bertrand, Airune Dakuren, Narupa Diberuper. Just hearing those names makes people’s mouths water. Do you think they’ll leave us alone just because we beg them to? If someone gets Alto, they can summon the war veterans by putting the greatest survivor of the war at the forefront. If they get you, Rune, Hus falls into their lap. If they get me, they get my father’s magitech knowledge at the very least.”
I wasn’t sure if war veterans would actually gather just because I was at the front.
After all, Levantello didn’t follow me; he went straight back to the Duchy.
Maybe it was because I’d passed out?
“It’s a shitty world. But to put it coldly, those are just excuses for the weak. Especially for people like you and me, who can obtain power if we want it—we have even less right to complain if we just keep running away.”
She held out another piece of soup-soaked bread to me.
“It’s just like how people say the Demons endlessly trampled us while we were just standing still.”
She had a point.
I sighed and accepted the bread, but I felt unpleasant.
“More importantly, if you just stay like this, someone might steal Alto away, you know?”
“Ha!”
Rune let out a scoffing laugh.
“Let them try.”
She glared at Lady Narupa with a truly chilling expression.
That look was practically a trademark of the Dakuren bloodline.
The Marquis was like that, and so was Janks.
“Fine, fine, I get it. So, what are we supposed to do right now?”
“We?”
“Alto and me. Even if it’s unofficial, we’re a couple, aren’t we? Naturally, we should move together.”
Oof, she got her there.
This time, Lady Narupa’s eyebrow twitched.
“I will explain that.”
The old man’s monocle glinted as shadows cast over his face.
The sun was shining brightly; how was he even doing that?
“As I mentioned, there will be a summons from the royal palace to Hus soon. I intend to respond to that summons, hide Alto’s whereabouts as much as possible, and shift the topic elsewhere.”
“Old man, you look like a total villainous mastermind when you rest your chin on your hand like that.”
“…The patient should just focus on eating.”
“Seeing you like that gives me PTSD as a war veteran.”
“You little brat! I’m trying to set the mood here!”
“Every time you took that pose, you came up with some weird plan that wasted troops for nothing.”
“That’s in the past, you rascal!”
“Ah! Ah! Let go! Let go! What are you doing to a patient?!”
“Then shut your trap like a proper patient!”
The old man pulled on my cheek, and I pulled on his ear.
“I’m telling you this now, but do you know what your nickname was during the war? It wasn’t Dakuus, it was ‘Da-Dead-Uus’!”
“Don’t use those lame old-man jokes that even this old man wouldn’t laugh at!”
“You’re not laughing because it’s the truth!”
“Stop it, both of you!”
Rune, unable to watch the increasingly childish fight, intervened.
“So, Count, what topic will you use to divert the palace’s attention? It won’t be easy with just any ordinary matter.”
“There is a definitive matter.”
The old man spoke meaningfully as he straightened his clothes.
“That bastard Yobeste ultimately destroyed the reed field where the darkness dwelled. That means he has granted freedom to a new darkness.”
As if he hated even mentioning it, the old man let out a deep sigh.
“I intend to raise the issue of the return of the Demons.”
“The return of the Demons? Old man, you shouldn’t say things you can’t take responsibility for.”
“Don’t lie, Alto. Didn’t you feel it clearly before you passed out from the explosion?”
For the first time, I was left speechless by the old man’s rebuttal.
“It was very faint, but I felt it. A fragment of that disgusting energy. That was demonic energy.”
“For the record, I felt it too, Alto. This is no trivial matter. If we leave it alone like a disease in the body, by the time it becomes visible, it will be irreversible.”
With Lady Narupa adding her weight to the argument, my appetite vanished completely.
Pushing away the spoon Rune was offering, I looked at the two of them.
“What’s the plan?”
“We will investigate the largest dungeons spread across the world. The four dungeons located here in Hus, Lukart, Zakium, and the Magic Tower. Lady Narupa, would you care to explain?”
“The Hus Dungeon has already been spawning higher-ranking monsters than before for the past four days. Even the floors that adventurers used to breeze through now require their full effort. They’ve even discovered commander-class monsters among them.”
Hoh.
That’s very bad news.
So don’t get excited, you hunting dog.
Don’t start acting up like you’ve seen a bone just because you heard the word ‘Demons.’
“Now that you’re awake, Alto, the adventurer party ‘Rene’ must explore these four major dungeons to their very end.”
“Old man, we’d like to, but a party of only two isn’t allowed entry.”
“Do not worry about that.”
Shadows cast over the old man’s face once more.
“Lady Narupa will be joining your party.”
“It’s temporary, but I look forward to working with you.”
I see, I see. They’d already finished talking this over amongst themselves.
Rune looked dissatisfied, but the fact that she wasn’t saying anything meant she’d already been briefed.
“Fine, then… how far do we have to explore?”
At my final question, the old man’s monocle flashed.
“To the very end of the dungeons.”
“Huh? Are you serious?”
“Excluding you, the highest-ranking adventurers in terms of skill would be Lady Airune, Lady Narupa, and perhaps Yarismal Bichante.”
“The ladies you cherish will be in danger, you know?”
“And they are also those whom you cherish.”
This old man really has a knack for saying the right things in the most annoying way possible.
“You as well—none of you must get hurt, no matter what.”
“And yet you want us to clear the dungeons to the end?”
“To be precise, you must obtain the Essence of the Dungeon.”
“Hmm.”
“You know what that means, don’t you, Alto? We will obtain the Essence of the Dungeon—the Essence of the Demon Race—and bring in the Adventurer Guild, the Magic Tower, and the Church to purify it. We will sever this persistent, cursed tie with the Demons once and for all.”
“Sigh.”
A sigh escaped me involuntarily.
“In the end, we’re the ones doing this again. The remnants of the war.”
“What choice is there?”
The old man shrugged his shoulders.
“Are those other men out there even human?”
Haha.
Fuck.