Chapter 96
Chapter 96
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: The True Pilgrim
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Hello?”
Red hair—it was Berik. The ones who had followed him up were the Cheonryeo Tribe warriors he’d only heard rumors about.
The knight panicked at the sudden appearance and stumbled back. Dive, watching from the bedroom, slowly lowered his hand and frowned.
“What’s going on?”
Creak.
Dive and the butler fully opened the door and poked their heads into the hallway. There were five Cheonryeo warriors, each said to be worth a hundred men. The lady seemed curious too, but she made no move to get up.
“Has Berik arrived?”
Romandro asked as he neatly stacked his papers. The butler stammered in bewilderment.
“No, Lord Romandro. What in the world…….”
“It’s nothing much. Lady Rien was worried about her safety, so we’re offering a little help from our side. There’s so much to do preparing the funeral, and if something happened to her in the meantime, that’d be a real problem.”
“What do you mean ‘something’? What could happen in the manor…….”
“Something happened that killed the count.”
Romandro replied calmly as he tucked the parchment into his inner pocket. He turned to the knight, who had stopped his hesitant retreat.
“What was that loud bang just now? My comrade was downstairs.”
“Comrade? Ah. Yeah. He was.”
“…He was?”
“Lady, have you dismissed all the knights?”
Neither the Three Knights, Dive, nor the butler could guess Berik’s intentions. Romandro answered in her place.
“Yes. You just declared it verbally. They’re no longer connected to Merelrof.”
“Aha. Perfect timing.”
Perfect timing? What?
Then, from afar, two more men climbed the stairs. It was Ian and one warrior, with a familiar body slung over the warrior’s shoulder.
“Kell! Fuck, no way!”
It was one of Merelrof’s Three Knights. The reason he was only identifiable by his body was that his head was a bloody mess, facial features completely unrecognizable.
Shing!
Another knight drew his sword in horror, but the atmosphere didn’t shift. If anything, it felt like a desperate flailing from the victim, the power gap overwhelmingly one-sided.
“Hey, you keep blocking the way and won’t move. Even after I said he’d die if he didn’t let us in, he wouldn’t budge. So that’s what happened.”
It had been instantaneous. The impatient Cheonryeo warrior had grabbed the head and smashed it into the door. Whether due to carelessness or not, a single blow had pierced right through.
“Oh, he wasn’t careless or anything. I’m telling you, he was tough.”
“Yeah, no. I could’ve broken through too.”
“Berik, the hole’s in your gut. That guy from the Great Desert back then was about the same level as this one, wasn’t he?”
“Again! You bring that up again? I’m so sick of it I could die. I’ll prove it in a match!”
“Fine, fine. Geez, you talk too much.”
“That’s ’cause you look like you don’t believe me!”
Thud!
The warrior bantering with Berik tossed the corpse to the floor. Ian glanced smoothly into the bedroom, confirming Romandro and Lady Rien.
“No issues here, I see.”
“Uwaaah! Lord Ian! Do you even know what you’ve done, a-ah, do you?!”
Dive screamed at the limp body and fled back into the bedroom. Cold sweat dripped down the back of the sword-wielding knight.
‘Ian wasn’t supposed to intervene directly. Damn it.’
That had been Sir Pulu’s opinion, the leader of the Three Knights. Ian was under scrutiny at the imperial palace and would soon head to the capital, so he couldn’t meddle in Merelrof affairs, or so the analysis went.
It had made perfect sense from start to finish and seemed to be working, but variables always existed.
“Yes, Lord Dive. I know full well, but those three knight-born scum insulted me terribly.”
“Insulted? You?”
Dive’s voice trembled faintly. He’d thought the funeral would go smoothly and he’d inherit the title, but this bloodbath……
“The butler heard it too. When I rushed here worried about the count’s passing, they asked if I wasn’t in an improper relationship with the lady. It was my first such insult in life, so I’ll prove my innocence with their deaths.”
“No, usually innocence is proven with your own life on the line, isn’t it?”
“Is that how it’s usually done? Not for me.”
Ian eyed the knight with drawn sword.
“You have to be alive to confirm your innocence is proven. Whereas impudent thoughts only vanish when the thinker dies. Berik.”
“Okay.”
Berik slowly grasped the door handle with both hands. The nearby butler naturally stepped back, and soon, with one of the Three Knights who had drawn his sword, the bedroom door closed completely.
Creak.
“What in the…….”
“Y-You, lowly scum!”
Unlike the overwhelmed butler, Dive quickly grasped the situation. Hadn’t Ian said he’d brought the barbarians for the lady’s safety?
“You, you’re trying to ruin the family!”
Dive grabbed a decorative item at hand and lunged at the lady. It was definitely an affair. Otherwise, why would Ian help her? The knights had suspected it from the start, so everything fit like puzzle pieces.
“No, Lord Dive.”
“Let go! You, you filthy bastards. You’re in cahoots with Ian and that wench, aren’t you? Divine punishment from the Subterranean God will strike you!”
“You’d best calm down. If you harm the lady now, think about what’ll happen when that door opens.”
At that moment, a vibration like the floor collapsing rang out.
Boom! Bang! Thud!
Crash!
No need to look—he could sense it with all five senses. The knight’s body thrown, slammed into the floor, window shattering, repeatedly smashed into walls.
Dive’s face paled, frozen like stone.
“Damn it.”
Then, shaking off Romandro’s hand, he dropped to his knees and began praying. Mumbling incomprehensible words nonstop, begging mercy from his Subterranean God.
“Ha, really.”
Romandro knew of the Subterranean God faith, but seeing a real devotee like this was a first. Half fascinated, half baffled, he kept watching Dive’s antics.
“Let him pray. Better than him charging at us again. Looks disgusting, though.”
“Shut your mouth, wicked demon!”
“Bullshit.”
Lady Rien flipped him off without a care now. Dive, flushed red from the insult, bit his lip hard but chose prayer over profanity. He prostrated himself fully, crying out.
Boom! Bang!
“Uwaaah!”
“Ehey! Hey! That’s not allowed!”
Dull thuds and screams syncing with the prayer. Not an even fight—clearly one side dominated in strength.
How much time passed?
The commotion gradually died down, then stopped completely.
Everyone except Romandro stared at the firmly shut door. Eyes filled with dread—would it open, and if so, what horrors awaited?
Creak.
Through the slowly widening gap, the hallway wall came into view. Bloody handprints. The long trail of blood spoke for itself……
Romandro crunched on his candy and asked.
“It’s over?”
“There’s one knight left, but he seems to be out of the manor, so I’m sending Berik after him.”
Of course, some Cheonryeo warriors would accompany. Dive, terrified of seeing another corpse, whipped his head away.
Ian sat across from the lady and gestured.
“Please, sit over here. I have something to say.”
It felt just like being called by strict parents as a child. Unwilling, no escape, heart pounding so hard his stomach churned.
Dive forced himself to sit calmly.
“First, I apologize for the disturbance. But as you heard, those men are no longer connected to Merelrof.”
“Do you think that’s a reasonable thing to say right now?”
“Lord Dive. I’ll make a few proposals from now on. Please think carefully and make a wise choice. Lady. That goes for you too.”
Ian neatly ignored Dive and pressed on. Lady Rien sipped her cold tea with a blank expression.
“You two don’t seem willing to coexist. Correct?”
“Yes. Not at all.”
“Ha, who’s talking!”
The most peaceful option was Dive inheriting per custom but delegating all authority to the lady. That way, they could settle it without reporting to the palace. But with them like this……
“For mutual safety, one of you should leave Merelrof—precisely, Bariel. Personally, I’d prefer it be you, Lord Dive.”
“You bastards, what scheme is this! Outside! Is no one outside?!”
Dive exploded, bellowing. The door opened, and two or three Cheonryeo warriors poked their heads in.
Creak.
“You called, Lord Ian?”
“No. Focus on cleanup.”
No one would help a fringe manor’s pseudo-heretic heir who only prayed.
Slam!
As the door shut firmly, Dive squeezed his eyes shut and began mumbling an unknown prayer.
“The cleanest would be for everyone with the Merelrof name to vanish, but that’d burden the lady. An imperial investigator would come, reexamine everything, and she’d need the emperor to appoint a new title like me—proving competence is no easy task.”
Even if she proved it, she might not be chosen. High chance Gail or rivals would push their own, like with Erika.
“By then, I’ll be in the capital, unable to help actively.”
“And then?”
“The ideal is for you to vacate the territory for a very, very long time. Isn’t Tollun in the northern hemisphere the origin of the Subterranean God? How about a pilgrimage? That’s my suggestion.”
A pilgrimage meaning leave for there.
“About 1,000 gold coins should cover the journey without issue.”
“…Do you know how far that is?”
“They say three months on foot.”
A kind of vacancy. If Dive left before succession after the count’s death, the lordship would truly float empty. The palace wouldn’t have grounds to intervene, and the lady wouldn’t need to struggle through authentication and maneuvers.
“What if he leaves, you go, and he returns? What if he whispers to the palace about this?”
“Him? You said ‘him’? Right now?”
Lady Rien didn’t even glance at Dive. Veins bulging like he’d keel over, but before Ian and Romandro, he couldn’t yell.
“No need to worry about that.”
“You have something in mind?”
“Yes. Though the lady will need to spend some money. I judge it’s no issue. The key is your decision, Lord Dive.”
Ian smiled brightly at Dive. Romandro and Lady Rien’s gazes poured in too. Dive, cornered, chewed his parched lips.
Refuse Ian’s proposal, and what befell him was clear—even without the Subterranean God telling.