Chapter 70
Chapter 70
Translator: XZY
Chapter 70: Northbound (2)
***
Unlike the southwest of the continent, which had as many as three major ducal families, the north, always close to the battlefield, had only one person who held the title of duke: Lord Melverot.
He was the head of the Rochest ducal family and was also a figure who had made a name for himself as the only living 6-Star combat-type mage.
Furthermore, he was the very person who had personally killed the culprit of the greatest disaster in the north... the ‘Dawn War’s’ source of evil, the ‘Fiend Noir.’
Derek had heard of the horrific sight of that day countless times from Jayden, the mercenary captain who had directly participated in the Dawn War.
He said that renowned warriors from all over had gathered to catch the demon Noir, who was so massive that its form could be seen even from the far end of the horizon, but it only resulted in the mountain of corpses piling up higher.
The sight of the snow on the vast snowfield turning red with the blood of the fallen warriors seemed to be a trauma that remained with him for his entire life.
The story was famous that Lord Kalimpod, a 6-Star mage and a longtime friend of Lord Melverot, had also died in the Dawn War, and that Lord Melverot had used his sacrifice as a foothold to deliver the final blow to Noir’s heart.
It was truly a mythological anecdote and was also the reason why Lord Melverot still reigned as the hegemon of the north to this day.
“It’s a story I’ve heard so much since I was a child that my ears hurt, but it seems that even for such a mythological figure, raising a child is difficult.”
“Indeed. Still, we cannot make a rash judgment until we see Lady Siern in person.”
“Of course. Diella, too, might have seemed like an unreasonable ruffian if you only heard the rumors, but in reality, she also had a soft side, didn’t she?”
“...”
The swaying carriage.
The warm, sun-drenched climate of the southwest began to feel like a distant past. As the journey grew longer and they got closer to the north, the weather began to grow chilly.
Early autumn had already passed. In this season, there were places in the north where a severe cold was already setting in.
Realizing that fact, Derek had to switch the cloak he wore over his mercenary attire to a thicker one and even had to add some fur.
Aiseline, who was wearing a cape with a great many pretty flower decorations, also seemed to feel the chill in her fingertips and was requesting the servants to bring her gloves.
Derek took out the cold-weather gear he had packed in advance and handed it to Aiseline.
Aiseline, accepting the gloves and cold-weather cloth that Derek handed her, stared at him blankly.
“Please use them.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
He had just handed over some cold-weather items out of moderate consideration, but in Aiseline’s mind, all sorts of useless flights of fancy began to unfold.
Was handing over cold-weather gear in this cold weather a gesture that went beyond a simple sign of goodwill, perhaps containing a meaning like entrusting one’s life or holding your value in high esteem?
Did the fact that he deliberately handed over these well-used gloves mean that he trusted her enough to casually entrust her with an item he used daily?
And the fact that he did not specifically ask for them back might have been a subtle suggestion that they were on terms where he could give such things without a second thought.
To attach excessive meaning to each and every item given so casually was a characteristic of girls of that age who were becoming conscious of the opposite sex for the first time.
And Aiseline was the type whose such thoughts were openly revealed in her expression.
Derek rested his chin on his hand for a moment, then lightly bit his lower lip at the thought of whether he had to be careful even about this.
‘It is a good thing for the young lady of the Duplein family to show me goodwill, but if I cannot maintain a proper distance, it will become a misfortune instead.’
No matter who said it, Derek was indeed a bad boy.
Separate from thinking of Aiseline as a wonderfully good and respectable person, he also unhesitatingly had the calculating thought that her goodwill would work to his advantage in many ways in his endeavors.
It was the rule of the bottom to use everything that could be used.
For the innocent romantic feelings of a noble family’s young lady who still did not know the ways of the world, it was not a very difficult thing to play along under the pretext of teaching her a little about life.
However, separate from that, it was clear that if it went too far, it would backfire.
It was good to be moderately close, but if she really started to get serious, there was a high possibility that it would become unmanageable.
‘Felinne would be repulsed and hate it if she saw this.’
Thinking that, Derek quietly rested his chin on his hand and glanced at Aiseline out of the corner of his eye.
Without even realizing that the tips of her ears had turned red, Aiseline’s appearance as she had a useless staring contest with the gloves Derek had given her looked like that of a rodent that had met its natural predator.
It was also hard to say that such an appearance was not cute, so Derek let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
Derek was a cold-blooded man who could nonchalantly apply the yardstick of profit and loss even to a person’s emotions.
However, separate from that, it was a fact that could not be denied that Aiseline was a good person and that the gap she showed at times was quite a charming trait.
That was why Derek let out a light sigh, and cast his gaze to the scenery outside the window, which was slowly turning white.
<><><>
“I am Layton, the head butler of the Rochest family. And this is the head maid, Serena.”
“...”
It was when Derek, who had gotten down from the magnificent carriage with his luggage, met the two managers who oversaw the Rochest mansion. The location was a gate situated at the entrance of the northern Rochest territory.
There was still some distance to the Rochest mansion, but it seemed the two had come out in advance to greet their distinguished guests. It was clear that Lord Melverot had personally given the order.
‘What is this...?’
Derek felt an unsettling feeling.
Layton, dressed in a neat suit, was a gentleman with a cleanly, well-maintained beard. His appearance, standing erect in the snowfall wearing a fur-lined coat, was well-ordered for a northerner.
However, the head maid Serena was not quite so.
She was well-dressed in a neat maid uniform, but she had bandages wrapped around one forearm, her ankle, and near her neck.
One of her eyes was also covered with a bandage, and her knuckles were full of all sorts of scratches.
“I apologize for showing you such an untidy appearance.”
As Serena bowed her head in greeting, Aiseline, who had gotten down from the carriage, shook her head.
“No, it’s alright. Wounds don’t heal on a desired schedule, do they? It seems you were badly hurt, are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, thank you for your concern. For Lady Aiseline, the most aloof lily of the Duplein family, to visit us in person, we of the Rochest family also consider it a great honor.”
The rumors about the decline of the Duplein family must have already spread to the north.
The severity might not have reached them, but they would certainly know the fact that their authority and prestige were faltering compared to before.
Nevertheless, the Rochest family’s treatment was truly courteous. As they say, a sea bream is still a sea bream even when it’s rotten; a ducal family was a ducal family, even if it was faltering.
Derek’s expression hardened as he looked at Serena’s condition.
He could only give a cursory glance at the wounds on her forearm, ankle, and near her neck, but the times they were inflicted seemed different, and the shapes of the wounds also seemed varied.
‘These are not wounds from a temporary accident or attack. She has been consistently harmed, or even tortured...’
If she had introduced herself as the head maid, she would be a person of high status among the servants inside the Rochest mansion.
And yet, if she had to work while revealing such wounds, he could not even fathom what state the junior maids were in right now.
Derek thought that this job might be more difficult than he had thought.
“Was this Lady Siern’s doing?”
Derek did not beat around the bush in these matters. When he asked the two of them confidently, they both avoided his gaze with troubled expressions.
Even Diella in her prime had not laid a hand on someone who had risen to the position of head maid.
However, this seemed to be beyond a simple slap and closer to torture.
‘What on earth were Lord Melverot or the other high-ranking vassals doing? If she’s causing this much trouble, shouldn’t she be confined somewhere...?’
Although he was a war monarch, Lord Melverot would be a person with at least a minimum of common sense.
There must have been a reason for him to leave his daughter alone in a situation where the servants’ lives were at stake.
“We will discuss the details when we get to the Rochest mansion.”
And so, Derek and Aiseline were guided by the two servants and transferred to a magnificent carriage.
It was finally the road to the Rochest mansion in earnest.
“I’m getting a little scared...”
“I did tell you beforehand that it would not be an easy task.”
“Yes... I’ll have to get my head on straight...”
Aiseline made an anxious expression, but then she once again bit her lip tightly and put on a resolute face.
She was in a situation where she wanted to secure as much money as possible. The number of family members on her shoulders was not one or two, and the family was also faltering.
She was a person who carried a heavy sense of responsibility that did not suit her delicate frame, but she did not particularly show it.
“In any case, it seems Lady Siern is not an easy person.”
“I was expecting it, but I think we need to think of a more concrete policy. It doesn’t seem like she’s someone who will listen just because we talk to her nicely.”
“I have a policy in mind. There are three in total.”
Derek, thinking it would be better to organize all the methods he had thought of before arriving at the Rochest mansion, spoke.
“The first is to try to connect as human to human. We exchange such connections, become friendly, and proceed with the lessons smoothly.”
“That’s a very ideal method. I really hope it turns out that way...”
“It’s highly likely it won’t turn out that way just by looking at it. Then we have to go to the second method. Whether we shout, get angry, or try to persuade her... we try our best to move Lady Siern’s heart.”
“That’s also theoretical, but that’s why it’s plausible. I... will try my best too... but what if it doesn’t work even then?”
As Aiseline asked with an anxious air, Derek clenched his fist tightly and said.
“Then we have to use the third method.”
“...”
“Historically, this has been the medicine.”
“...”
Sometimes, Aiseline thought.
Derek’s methods were sometimes too crude for a noble young lady to handle. He was truly a man who advanced like an iron horn.
In fact, that was also why it worked so well. The aloof young ladies who grew up in a greenhouse did not know how scary a fist was.
...If he were to lay a hand on her wrongly, there was no telling what the family would do at a family level, but Derek was a person who had already transcended that level of problem.
In the first place, it was because there were many cases where people who could not even be handled without mobilizing such means came to him.
There was no need to look far for the first beneficiary. It was her own sister, Diella.
“That might not be easy.”
At that moment, the head butler Layton, who was sitting opposite them, spoke.
Right in front of him were people who were plotting to do something to the young lady he served, of all people.
Derek thought that he should have chosen his words more carefully, but also thinking that what was wrong was wrong, he immediately shook his head.
“Not easy, you say?”
“You two do not know Lady Siern well yet.”
Layton spoke in a subdued voice with his head bowed.
“The north is a perilous land where high-ranking demonic beasts pop out whenever one is bored. That’s why the people are rugged, the exclusive atmosphere is severe, and it is a land where people are on edge to the point of devising their own means of survival.”
“Yes, I have heard that.”
“If you stand tall in a land where there is no fertile land, and you live only by hunting demonic beasts or receiving subsidies from the Imperial Family, in the end, only the tough and strong can survive. Lady Siern is a person who is like a symbol of such a north.”
Just from his words, it seemed she would be overflowing with wild beauty.
In Derek’s mind, the image of Lady Siern was already overlapping with the mercenaries in a tavern who chugged rum and showed off their muscles. It would probably be rude to the person in question.
“What on earth kind of person is she for you to say such things?”
“She is none other than the only daughter of Lord Melverot. To put it simply...”
It was the moment Layton was about to add a more concrete explanation.
Kugung, kung— !
Without any warning, the carriage rattled, and then a large impact struck.
Kwang! Kagak! Kagagak— !
Kuuung! Kwadangtang! Kwang— !
It happened so suddenly that Aiseline could not even scream. The body of the carriage suddenly tilted greatly, and all the various items inside began to pour to the side.
Jjaenggeurang, kwadangtang! Kwang— !
“Kyaaaaak! Wh-what’s happening!”
“Hold on tight! The carriage is shaking!”
Kugugung— !
In the midst of the sudden chaos, the body of a monster covered in white fur was seen outside the window.
It seemed a monster of enormous size had attacked the carriage. The overall shape could not be grasped with just the view from the window, but at the very least, he could tell that they had to get out of the carriage immediately.
“Young Lady Aiseline! We have to get out of the carriage right now!”
“Kyahheut!”
Derek shouted, kicking open the door of the carriage at the back.
He practically threw Aiseline out of the carriage, evacuated the servants as well, and then rolled out himself.
Hwiiiiing— !
A cold blizzard was pouring down amidst the snowfall. Derek, who looked up at the form of the monster that had attacked the carriage there, narrowed his brow and frowned.
After rushing outside to check, he saw that it was not an attack by a monster.
It was true that a monster of a large size, like a polar bear, had struck the carriage, but that monster was already a corpse, spewing blood from its neck.
Even from a distance, he could see that its life had already been cut short. How could a dead monster attack a carriage? He could not help but have such a question.
“Wh-what is this...!”
“Are you alright!”
The servants, startled, checked on Derek and Aiseline’s condition. Fortunately, neither of them were hurt, but Aiseline was so surprised that she was gasping for breath.
Derek looked up at the corpse of the demonic beast in the middle of the snowfield where a cold wind was blowing.
He wondered if someone had used necromancy-type magic to control the dead demonic beast’s corpse, but a taboo was not something that could be encountered so easily.
It seemed more correct to think more simply. Someone had thrown the corpse of that giant demonic beast at this carriage, which was heading towards the mansion. The intention felt malicious.
‘Why would they specifically throw the corpse of a demonic beast?’
The carriage, which had tilted and was stuck in the snowfield, looked like it would be difficult to move anymore. The two luxurious-looking white horses were also badly injured and could not get up from the ground. The struggles of the two beasts looked tragic.
‘It’s not possible with human strength, is it magic?’
And so, Derek quickly closed his eyes and manifested the detection-type magic ‘Mana Detection.’
If it had not been long since the magic was used, they could not escape Derek’s detection-type magic.
Basically, to hide oneself from a mage’s detection-type magic, it was necessary to be on a much higher rank.
A mage who could hide from the detection of Derek, who had already reached the realm of 3-Star, had to be considered non-existent at a general level.
Indeed, Derek felt the trace of mana from the top of the tree behind him.
Derek, without delay, manifested a mana arrow and attacked the top of the tree branch where the suspicious person was hiding.
Hwaak! Pak— !
A blow without even an incantation, without even a preparatory motion.
The assailant in the tree leaped greatly and dodged the swift blow that was difficult not only to evade but even to perceive. It was an almost animalistic sense.
Kwadeudeuk! Kwak— !
The assailant, who spun greatly once in the air like that, had a more slender frame than he thought. Just by her frame, she looked similar to Diella.
He, no, she, turned her body once and landed in the middle of the snowfield beyond the carriage. Pok, the sound of her stepping on the snow seemed smaller and lighter than he thought.
“...”
Aiseline, who saw the assailant who had landed, opened her eyes wide.
Derek also still had his brow narrowed.
Bluish hair spread out on the snowfield, and the hem of a pretty dress also lay beneath it.
As the girl, who had lowered her posture and quietly raised her body, slowly opened her eyes, brilliant white pupils like ice crystals revealed themselves.
Up to that point, it was like seeing an ice princess who had settled aloofly on the snowfield.
However, if one looked at what she was holding in both hands, such an assessment quickly disappeared. In one hand, she held a deer with its neck twisted and bleeding, and in the other, she was clutching a blood-soaked wolf cub.
The sight of her clutching the corpses of beasts larger than her own frame was bizarrely unrealistic.
The blood of the beasts was thick on both her hands. The dark red blood of the dying deer was also splattered below her left eye. She was not even wearing shoes, so the bare feet of her jade-like skin were buried in the snowfield.
The smell of blood was sure to rise, but she showed no sign of caring.
Judging by the circumstances, there seemed to be no need to guess whose doing the corpse of the giant beast that had struck the carriage was.
“L-Lady Siern!”
The head maid Serena trembled all over and lowered her posture. The other servants also bowed their heads in unison and trembled.
Derek glanced at the prostrating and trembling servants out of the corner of his eye.
That knife-like movement was not an expression of loyalty. What moved them was the fear that flowed through their skin.
Looking at her standing in the snowfield where a blade-like wind was blowing, he had a strange feeling as if he were seeing a wild animal wearing a dress.
The only daughter of the currently existing greatest 6-Star mage, Lord Melverot, who had inherited his devastating magical talent.
A lunatic that even that great mage could not tame and had to take a step back from, and a crazy slaughterer who regarded human life like a stone on the roadside.
A psycho that no one could control even if all the tough people of the north rushed at her.
All those expressions were what described her, Siern Aleyna Rochest.
Derek narrowed his brow and silently took his stance.