Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: Oceanis (1)
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As Rad and the escorts retreated in what looked like a hasty escape, the icy expression on Elisa's face softened.
Letting out a faint sigh, she turned to Galen and grumbled.
"Now we really can't back down anymore."
"Were you planning to retreat?"
"No, but still."
After joining forces with Galen, she'd left the escorts more or less to their own devices, but just moments ago, Elisa had given them a direct order. They no longer needed escorts—return to the family.
She'd even sent the New Moon ledger along with Rad, which was as good as a declaration of war on Rius.
To outsiders, it would look like nothing short of madness: the next family head's near-certain successor effectively running away half-naked, only to pick a fight all alone.
If she'd only considered positive possibilities from the start, she never would have begun tracking down the culprit in the first place.
In her blind rage—what refined words called "seeing nothing before her eyes"—she had no reservations.
The only concern weighing on her was...
"Galen's helped me so much, so what if it all turns out to be for nothing? I'd feel terrible."
"It won't be for nothing."
Galen brushed aside Elisa's worries with ease.
"Even setting aside the Drauf family, now that the church's name has been invoked, they can't deny the ledger's existence."
"But couldn't they just deny it outright?"
"They could. They might shift the blame or reject the document itself."
"Yes. We can't expect them to admit their wrongs so easily."
The siblings hadn't personally come to Lua to place the commission themselves, so they could claim, "It was the underlings acting on overzealous loyalty—I had no idea!"
Or they could acknowledge the material came from the assassin squad but question its credibility. "Does that mean everything an assassin squad writes down is true?"
"But even you have to admit, those are pretty flimsy excuses, right?"
"They are, but people often pretend to buy them anyway. Honestly, this case feels like it'll be no different."
Politics was like that.
No matter how obviously wrong it was, allies would trot out every contrived logic to protect their own. It happened all the time.
Elisa's argument might sound more convincing, but backing her was a separate matter entirely.
"I know what you mean. If they have to cut one of you loose, more people would choose to sacrifice you over Rius, regardless of who's actually at fault."
"Sadly, I can't deny it. Rius outranks me in skill, achievements, and position by a wide margin. Frankly... the family wouldn't miss me if I vanished."
"That's why I brought up the need for a cause last time."
"Pardon?"
"We've prepared an irrefutable justification on our side, so they'll have no choice but to crush us with brute force. But what if our side is even stronger? Would they still choose to cast you aside then?"
"...Are you really planning to fight the entire Oceanis Family?"
"It'll end before their roots are fully uprooted, so don't worry."
Galen showed not a trace of fear as he spoke. Lilia, who'd been with him the longest, felt the same.
Elisa asked in a slightly cracked voice,
"Galen... how strong are you, exactly?"
"A little stronger than you imagine, probably."
Galen smiled gently.
She'd already witnessed so many breaches of common sense that she'd given up trying to gauge him, but she still couldn't fully escape the bounds of logic.
Leaving the bewildered Elisa be for a moment, Galen turned his head.
He faced Terti, who stood a step away wearing a complicated expression.
"This is the situation, Mr. Terti."
"Hmm."
"Are you interested in extending your escort contract with the young lady? It's entirely up to your convenience."
"Well, this is something. It'd be better if New Moon launched a raid instead."
Terti grumbled.
"That's the same question Lady Elisa just asked. Are you really thinking of clashing with the Oceanis Family?"
"It's an issue we can't avoid confronting."
"Sure, but the real question is whether it's a fight we can win."
"It's a bit embarrassing to say this, but..."
Galen scratched his cheek and added,
"I don't lose in water."
"...Hah."
Terti let out a hollow chuckle at the playful words that carried no jest.
His head knew it sounded like absurd bravado.
Yet his gut believed it. An inexplicable trust welled up.
Come to think of it, hadn't it felt similar during the New Moon subjugation? If so, then this meant he was dead serious about winning.
Galen shrugged at Terti, whose gaze had turned earnest.
"Besides, in a family squabble like this, they rarely kill outside mercenaries, right? Unless it's scrap-tier rabble getting swept up."
"A family that'd ignore gold rank or whatever based on their internal mess... Ah, sorry, Lady Elisa."
"No need. It's a family that kills its own blood, after all."
"Ahem!"
"It's fine, really."
"W-Well, anyway, it wasn't about worrying for our lives. I was purely curious about our odds."
Terti nodded, having gathered his wits.
"Alright. Let's see this through to the end."
"Wise choice."
Galen smiled and extended his hand. Terti clasped it firmly in a handshake.
"It'll be the easiest commission you've ever earned."
The tail end of late autumn.
With early winter right around the corner, it should have been cold, but the Sun Archipelago—the southernmost point even in the south—remained warm enough that snow never fell, even in the dead of winter.
Yet the meeting room's atmosphere was colder than the northernmost reaches of the north.
Not that Rad had ever been there, but that's how it felt to him. Facing the piercing gazes of Rius, Tarina, and Raven alone was pure agony.
"...".
After staring down at the prostrated Rad in heavy silence for a long while, Rius spoke in a hoarse voice.
"...You may withdraw."
"Yes, sir!"
"You all know to keep silent about this, of course."
"Of course!"
Rad bowed his head repeatedly before fleeing the meeting room like a man escaping hell.
As the door slammed shut, Rius pressed his temples firmly.
"This is a headache."
It had been over a year since Elisa had essentially walked out on the family, wandering aimlessly through the south and southeast.
Then, out of nowhere, she'd gone up to the east and holed up there for months.
Early autumn, Galen popped up from somewhere and joined her; mid-autumn, New Moon was obliterated; and now, late autumn, she'd delivered a sort of declaration of war.
Situations were unfolding far too quickly over the span of a single season.
If that were all, he might have scraped together some countermeasures, but the incomprehensible events kept piling up, driving him mad.
Especially since they occurred in places so remote that messages took two months round trip, leaving him powerless to intervene.
"Every report left me dumbfounded, and now you're saying the same nonsense in person."
Raven clicked his tongue.
"A servant suddenly turning gold rank? In less than a year?"
"Jerbon might have trained him in secret."
"Does that guy have the brains for it? Even if so, how many years could it have been? The servant's about the same age as Elisa, isn't he?"
Even in prestigious families with multi-generational training methods, master teachers, and ideal support from childhood, some never reached gold. Talent varied wildly.
Typically, gold came around age forty, prodigies shortened it by a few years.
Hitting gold in one's twenties earned a place in family history as a genius.
So what do you call it when someone in their early twenties achieves it without any support?
Raven, who was expected to reach gold soon but hadn't yet, had no desire to acknowledge Galen's existence.
"Must be some mutant genius."
Tarina shot back curtly.
Having finally broken through to gold this year, she was more relaxed than Raven but equally displeased with Galen.
He was a decade younger yet more renowned than her. Tarina hadn't yet had a chance to properly showcase her golden mage prowess.
"I have plenty of doubts about his talent myself. But right now, what matters isn't his talent—it's his actions."
Rius glared at the ledger Rad had presented on the table and continued.
"I don't know who approached whom first—him or Elisa—but the result is New Moon wiped out and this blasphemous ledger leaked. And of all things, backed by the church."
"If only sister had ordered things more cautiously, none of this would have happened."
"Shut up. How much more cautious could I have been? You didn't manage the funds properly and left a trail!"
"Enough. If we're assigning blame one by one, you'll get to me for choosing New Moon."
Rather than any one of them being at fault, it was bad luck that faint traces had surfaced while Elisa rampaged around like a madwoman.
Honestly, without the assassin squad's base being raided, it wouldn't even qualify as evidence. New Moon's annihilation was practically a freak act of nature.
"But isn't the church pulling some scheme on our family? Using Elisa as a front? And a priest joined their group, conveniently."
"Can't rule it out. Or maybe Elisa dragged the church in first, hoping to take us down with her. Either way, we can't just roll over."
"We need to tighten internal security first. If she turns this into a public opinion war, it'll get messy. No clue what she really wants."
That was when the three were discussing countermeasures.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A racket erupted from the meeting room door—not a polite knock, but as if someone meant to smash it down.
The three furrowed their brows in unison at the insolent fool, but before they could react, the door burst open without permission.
Their expressions snapped back to normal in an instant. The intruder was one who could get away with it.
"Uncle."
The Oceanis Family's eldest: Cled, the current family head's brother, bedridden by illness.
Even nearing seventy, he was hale, but he'd semi-retired and lived quietly. His presence in the meeting room was unprecedented.
There was good reason for it.
"Explain yourselves."
He slammed the ledger he carried onto the table and growled lowly.
Rius's face stiffened slightly upon seeing it.
It was identical to the one delivered through Rad.
He panicked briefly but quickly regained composure. Cled's white eyebrows twitched at the shift.
"Where did you get that, Uncle?"
"Kalia Merchant Guild delivered it just now. So tightly wrapped, I thought it was a gift from Elisa. What a shocker it turned out to be."
"We received the same item moments ago."
"Coincidence? You call this a coincidence?"
Cled retorted incredulously.
"Am I so senile I misread it? Or deaf and misheard?"
"If you're referring to the contents, yes. I won't deny it."
"Hah, hahaha."
Cled let out a deflated laugh at Rius's unflinching admission.
"I thought it an unfortunate accident. I knew your relations were poor, so I tried to understand your attitude toward Jerbon's death. But..."
"Then keep thinking that way."
"...What?"
"Even if we admit fault, Jerbon won't come back. Or will you side with Elisa and take our heads?"
"Rius, you bastard!"
Cled bellowed. Rius replied coldly, unperturbed.
"If you wish to punish us personally, we'll accept gladly. But consider the bigger picture first. Elisa has declared war on the family."
"On you three, not the family."
"Same difference, isn't it? She's not alone anymore. Just the obvious members include a gold-rank mage, warrior, and bishop. We can't even confirm who's backing her or if her actions are truly her own."
Cled was momentarily speechless.
Separate from his anger at Rius, the argument rang true.
He could understand Elisa's fury, but if venting it destroyed the family... it had to be stopped.
"Since you've stepped in at the perfect time, Uncle, why not verify it yourself?"
"...What?"
"Our intel is too murky for clear judgment. See for yourself and decide. Surely Elisa won't turn you away."
In a situation begging for apologies, the audacity to delegate made Cled swallow his rage with effort.
"...Fine. I'll go myself."
Cled spat through gritted teeth, turning away.
"I'll deal with your sins after."
"Understood."
"Take care."
The siblings bowed with impeccably courteous manners.
They knew full well a semi-retired Cled held no real power to punish them.
They didn't yet know who truly could.