Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: #9 The Capital (5)
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Aman was flustered.
Right after Tiria and the madam disappeared, his complexion had changed completely, and he was acting so insolently. Aman even wondered if they hadn't gathered proper information on him.
‘They definitely said he was a nobody.’
It was information from a reliable source.
Tiria’s husband, who had returned to Weibin territory… in other words, the Fortman family head was supposedly a complete rube who’d never received a proper noble education.
On top of that, he had no backing and had to call in knights from a neighboring territory just to hunt magic beasts.
But what was this display?
‘What….’
He didn’t look like a nobody at all.
Instinct is always more honest than reason.
Aman’s body stiffened rigidly.
His gaze was so sharp that Aman couldn’t muster a proper rebuttal.
It was a sensation too alien for Aman, who had lived as the Nimrud heir.
The unfamiliar fear from a stranger, an unfamiliar situation, an unfamiliar opponent.
As is human nature, Aman began to react on instinct.
“How dare you!”
“How dare I?”
“Do you not know your place and dare to defy the Nimruds!”
He was furious.
In Ferdin, the Nimruds held such prestige that they could get away with it.
After all, wasn’t his father, Count Nimrud, connected enough to enact a new law in the kingdom all by himself?
He threw his shoulders back and shouted loudly, but it rang hollow.
No matter how much a frightened herbivore puffs itself up, to a predator, it just looks like fattened prey.
Oblivious to that, Aman’s outburst continued hysterically.
“Do you think the likes of Weibin can protect you! What? Manners? Refinement? Do you think you’re in any position to question me about that!!!’
His finger-pointing tirade reached its conclusion.
“Know your place! If you’re a baron from some backwater territory, bow your head! With that mouth of yours….”
“Pfft!”
A scoff escaped Elric’s lips.
No, it was a sneer.
“Khuhuhu….”
His shoulders shook with laughter, and the vibe was oddly unsettling.
“Mouth… your mouth….”
He stroked his chin, letting out a thoughtful hum, but his gaze wasn’t on Aman.
It was as if he were lost in other thoughts.
That impression was spot on.
“Sorry for laughing. An old memory just popped into my head.”
Elric leaned back on the sofa.
Only then did Aman no longer have to look up at him.
But he felt no relief.
It was like his breath was being choked off.
His knees felt like they’d buckle.
It was a natural reaction to the aura Elric usually suppressed leaking out.
“A bit from the old days. It was autumn when I was sixteen, I think….”
Elric suddenly started reminiscing.
“Back then, I was really immature. Still am, but it was worse. And the neighborhood I grew up in wasn’t exactly the nurturing type, so my temper got downright nasty, you know?”
“What….”
“My mouth was filthy. I’d curse out everyone regardless of rank… That’s when the guy in charge of me said this.”
Thud, thud. Elric tapped the floor with the tip of his cane.
A flicker of nostalgia crossed his face.
“Words are a man’s vessel. No matter what you think inside, try speaking politely. That way, your vessel will grow accordingly.”
“….”
“So from then on, I started changing my speech. I figured the old folks’ way of talking was polite, so I mimicked that. Before I knew it, it became a habit, and now I unconsciously talk like an old geezer.”
Aman couldn’t grasp the point.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that Elric was mocking him.
Just as he was about to move his lips—
“Well, putting that aside, the key is I became someone who can at least pretend to be polite on the surface.”
His gaze turned to Aman.
It seemed a bit redder than before.
“But a person’s true nature doesn’t change easily.”
The words lodged in his ear.
“Sometimes my temper slips out. Human words aren’t all that reliable, it seems.”
Whoosh—
With that sound, the world Aman saw flipped upside down.
Crash!
Only after the impact slammed into his head did Aman realize his body had been smashed into the floor.
“Urk!”
Head-first into the ground—the pain was indescribable.
For Aman, who had never felt such agony, it was utterly bewildering.
His eyes rolled.
He was trying to figure out why his body had slammed down.
Then he spotted the cane now slung over Elric’s shoulder.
Only then did his ankle start to throb.
Elric had swept his ankle with the cane, tripping him.
“Th-this….”
“Suppressing curses is hard. Don’t you have to treat inhuman trash like people? I guess I’m not the type with that kind of patience.”
Aman was back to looking up at Elric.
No, it was even more pathetic now.
Aman had to crawl on the floor to look up at him.
That was the moment.
“This seems like the right eye level for us.”
Elric said with a chilling smile.
“Who are you to look up? You don’t know your place.”
Thud. Elric’s cane touched Aman’s forehead.
It was humiliating.
Yet he couldn’t resist.
Elric’s presence was utterly alien compared to any human Aman knew.
Even his fearsome father hadn’t intimidated him this much.
His eyes dropped involuntarily.
But that damn pride—despite his lips trembling, Aman spat out one more word.
“Y-you think you’ll get away with this….”
“What will you do about it.”
Elric pressed the cane tip against Aman’s forehead, tilting his head to meet his eyes.
He was still chilling, composed, and brutal.
“Run to your mighty count and whine for punishment? Or hire a knight for a duel? Or maybe… fight me yourself? Personally, I like that last option. I’ve got some expertise here. Won’t even kill you.”
What was the source of that confidence?
That build? The strength to topple a man with a cane?
Whatever it was, all Aman could do was tremble with humiliation.
It was only natural.
How could the heir of a rustic eastern noble house stand on the same level as one of the Continent’s Seven Strongest, dubbed the lord of the battlefield?
He couldn’t even leverage status or backing.
Gold Duke Edward might hesitate, but Sword Ghost Kasha was not a man cowed by such things.
Everyone in the west who knew him agreed without exception: he had the most savage temper a human could possess and was farther from worldly status than anyone.
In vulgar terms, he was a madman who’d draw his sword first if something didn’t sit right.
“I don’t think we have more to say. What I want isn’t really conversation anyway.”
Thud, thud.
Elric tapped Aman’s head with the cane as he spoke.
“Go on. Rack your brains and figure out how to pay back this insult. I’ll wait eagerly. Just keep one thing in mind.”
That instant,
“Gurk…!”
Aman’s throat was crushed.
It was killing intent made manifest, but Aman’s knowledge couldn’t comprehend it.
His whole body just shuddered, breath cut off.
Terror only grew.
“As long as it doesn’t affect my wife, you can try anything you want against me.”
The words were delivered deliberately, as if to burn the proposition into his brain.
It worked.
Aman’s untrained, feeble mind welled with tears, affirming it even amid the ordeal.
“Khuhuh….”
Trembling, Aman began crawling toward the tailor's door.
Elric didn’t bother stopping him.
He just watched the trail of liquid he left behind.
“Like a snail. Trailing slime wherever it goes.”
Aman had pissed himself.
Elric waved him off.
“See you at the banquet. I’ll wait with bated breath for your counterattack.”
Click. As the tailor shop door opened, Aman bolted without looking back.
*
Elric let out a long breath, staring at the door Aman had fled through.
‘What now.’
He’d done it in the heat of the moment, but had he gone too far?
The regret didn’t linger long.
‘Worst case, negotiate with the count.’
Aman Nimrud’s speech convinced him once more that his father, Count Nimrud, wielded considerable power.
Elric knew their type.
They usually valued their own and their family’s gain over their child’s face.
If needed, Elric could even offer a contract to swing a sword for the man.
‘No need to overthink.’
What’s done was done; he could figure it out when the time came.
Aman Nimrud’s schemes held no fear anyway.
While waiting for Tiria’s return with such thoughts, Elric finally learned why Aman Nimrud had come all this way to court her.
“…Back in our youth, he was someone the Weibin family had picked as my fiancé candidate. Of course, they refused, and with Weibin’s situation being poor, it fell through.”
Hearing that, the last shred of regret in Elric vanished.
“Is that so?”
Elric’s mood soured completely.
It was an unexpected emotion, even to himself.