Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: The Wife Waited in the Wheat Field
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Dalton Nimrud did not like the situation he was facing at the moment.
Where had things gone wrong?
As he pondered it briefly, a clear point came to mind.
—Plans have changed. The assassination will take place on the day of the banquet.
It was Moon Shadow.
Those damn assassins had postponed the date of Elric Portman's assassination.
Originally, Dalton's plan had been to eliminate the annoying Elric Portman before the banquet and kill Elbus Graham right here.
Originally, Dalton had no intention of getting directly involved in the process.
But now that he had to assassinate both at once, didn't that leave him no choice but to step in personally?
When Moon Shadow asked him to lure them to the same spot, he had come out, and things had turned out like this.
It seemed heaven hadn't abandoned him after all.
"What a ridiculous coincidence."
When he actually stepped out into the garden, Elbus Graham and Elric Portman were conversing at the same spot.
How did those two know each other?
The question arose briefly, but he didn't dwell on it.
There was something Dalton already knew.
"Well, I've heard that Young Master Graham doesn't discriminate by status when making friends. I just didn't expect that temperament to extend to barons as well."
He recalled hearing that Elric Portman had spent ten years wandering.
Their connection must have formed during that time.
With a plausible chain of events in mind, Dalton began to convince himself of its credibility.
Whatever the case, the plan had changed, so he just needed to handle it quickly and return.
Just as Dalton smiled, feeling a bit pleased about that,
The two began speaking to each other.
Elbus started it.
"Who are you?"
"Count Nimrud."
"I don't memorize every noble from foreign lands."
"Would you understand if I said I'm the one targeting you?"
"Oh?"
Far too relaxed.
Dalton clicked his tongue and spoke.
"You two look like bugs, not knowing what's coming. Half-paralyzed and lame—a perfect match."
"Is that so?"
"I'll recover soon enough. Unlike you."
"You're quite rude."
Dalton's expression soured.
'These guys?'
Were they onto his scheme? Did they have other guards nearby?
They couldn't be that stupid.
Dalton fiddled with the small crystal orb in his pocket.
Woooong—
The response meant Moon Shadow had already arrived.
So that confidence was just bravado?
Yes, it had to be.
Dalton spoke in an angry voice.
"…Enough games."
Dalton pointed at Elbus Graham.
"Young Master Graham, you'll have to die here."
"Me?"
"Yes. No hard feelings. A sacrifice for the greater good… that should cover it."
Staying away too long might arouse suspicion.
Dalton moved to action immediately.
"It's for the glory of the East, so don't grieve too much."
Dalton deepened his crooked smile as he imagined a bright future.
Assassinating Elbus Graham at the royal banquet would give them cause for war.
Dalton's goal was to prevent that war amid the kingdom's turmoil and seize power for himself.
If he could depose the king in the process, establishing a new Nimrud royal line wouldn't be far off.
He was confident he could do it.
The deal with 'them' regarding that matter was already done.
"Allow me to introduce."
Dalton felt a thrill at the thought of pulling the trigger on his grand plan with his own hands.
"Moon Shadow. The Western envoys."
Fwaaah!
He raised the crystal orb high, and pale gray light spread from it.
It was a kind of signal flare.
"Now! Kill them!"
Even after his excited shout, counting to five passed.
Dalton anticipated the sight of them being butchered before his eyes and swelled with expectation, but
"…?"
Nothing happened.
Panic rose within Dalton.
He looked around frantically, but all was silent.
"What is this…?"
There was something Dalton didn't know as he muttered in dismay.
First, the two already knew his entire plan.
Second, Moon Shadow had already attempted the assassination once and failed.
And third,
"That should do it."
Moon Shadow, having failed the assassination, was now under Elric's command.
"Deal with him."
"You bastard!"
Boom!
Danal, the Moon Shadow branch leader, leaped from the bushes with gleaming eyes and kicked Dalton in the head.
Not just once or twice.
Danal's furious kicks continued with intensity matching his boiling rage.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Eeek!"
"You! Tried! To kill me!"
Dalton collapsed pitifully under the kicks, barely able to groan.
Even as Danal trampled Dalton, he felt no joy.
No, he did feel relief at having survived.
'Damn it! Why did the original target have to be Elbus Graham of all people!'
Even if Elric hadn't come, it would have been a problem.
He would have had to kill Elbus Graham on orders from above, and when Kasha found out later, he would have faced something worse than death.
In short,
'I got thrown away!'
He had been used as a discard.
Thoroughly, at that.
Crack!
"Arrrgh!"
Danal crushed Dalton's knee joint and turned, panting.
There stood the expressionless Kasha and Elbus Graham, smiling as if amused.
Danal's mind raced.
'Mission failed anyway, and Kasha knows everything. Returning to Moon Shadow will be impossible.'
Danal the assassin of Moon Shadow—his rise to branch leader had been thanks to nothing but survival instinct.
Or sharp intuition, as one might say.
'This is my only way to live!'
Thud!
Danal dropped to his knees and bowed his head.
"Sir! I've handled it as ordered!"
Might as well join Kasha's side now!
Danal prepared to accept his new master.
*
Elric gazed calmly at the fainted Count Nimrud and Danal.
Elbus asked.
"Did you buy off Moon Shadow?"
"I didn't spend any money, so it's hard to call it buying them off."
"I see. You subdued them by force, then?"
"They came to me first."
A deep sigh escaped him.
"More importantly, aren't you fearless? Knowing there might be assassins, you came here…"
"I trusted you."
Elbus grinned and brushed off Elric's words.
Elric felt a vein throb at the back of his head.
It had ended well, or it could have been a disaster.
"I have no face to show your wife."
Elric said, and Elbus replied.
"Is that so? I'd love to have a deep talk with her. About Sword Ghost Kasha, for instance…"
"I'd rather not lose you as a friend."
"Oh dear."
Elbus shrugged.
Elric frowned.
His gaze soon returned to Danal.
What to do with this one?
As he thought, Elric asked Elbus.
"Does a proper solution come to mind for you?"
"Solution?"
"There's definitely a faction targeting the East. As for me…"
"I understand. You don't want your homeland dragged into war."
Elbus patted Elric's shoulder and added.
"Do you remember the proposal I made earlier?"
Elbus's voice had turned serious again.
"I wasn't joking. Of course, whatever you choose, I'll respect it. So let me ask."
His face was resolute, as if determined to hear the answer he hadn't before.
"Do you have any thoughts of returning to the battlefield?"
Elric fell into deep hesitation at that moment.
From the end of it, his twitching lips uttered a response filled with turmoil.
"…Give me time to think."
Elric couldn't give an immediate yes.
*
He couldn't quite understand why he had given that answer.
Hadn't he always resolved to head straight to the battlefield once his knee healed?
Yet when the choice was laid before him, he couldn't bring himself to say he would go.
—…Alright, leave the cleanup to me and head back first.
Elbus sent him off without much concern.
Elric hurried back to the banquet hall, leaning on his cane.
An inexplicable unease urged his steps onward.
His knee throbbed sharply, but the pain felt trivial.
The only thing stifling his chest was a persistent question that turned into an intense thirst, pointing toward one woman as its cure.
"Lady."
Elric reached Tiria.
The woman sitting alone in the corner of the banquet hall, watching the dance, finally met his eyes.
"Ah, you're here."
She spoke softly.
Elric's lips pressed tight, then curved faintly.
"…Sorry for being late. I got lost."
"That can happen. The palace is quite large."
Only now did his heart ease.
With the two paths he had always postponed now looming before him, seeing her made Elric realize something.
"What were you doing alone?"
He didn't like the idea of leaving her behind.
"Waiting for the Family Head."
Elric wanted to know Tiria.
Deeper than he knew her now.
What she thought, what she liked, what she hated.
Beyond that, he wanted to know everything.
Somehow, he felt he couldn't leave Tiria Portman's side until he did.
"Sit here."
The moment she indicated the seat beside her, Elric felt all thoughts of the battlefield vanish from his mind.