Chapter 52
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Bran River (1)
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“No way! What the hell is...”
Albert, who had been sketching his future fiancée, continued to shout something, but Blake and Annrose paid him no more mind.
Blake turned to Captain Roddy.
“Let's get going. Grime's ship will be here soon.”
“Tch! Fine! Hey! Cast off!”
Roddy bellowed toward the deck below and headed toward the stern.
“Aye!”
With a hearty response, the sixteen oars sprang into motion, and Glorista powerfully cut through the river.
“H-Hey, Blake! You're really taking Lady Veniard with you? Why not just wait for the Grime family's ship and hand her over...”
“No choice. No guarantee they'll take the girl and leave quietly.”
“S-Still...”
“Hmph! Didn't you hear him? Keep talking nonsense, and I'll shout to the Elberra gate guards that you kidnapped a noble lady of the Veniard Count family! And I'll tell everyone you tried to force yourself on me!”
“Urk!”
Annrose snapped fiercely at the relatively easier target, Lindelmann.
“Do that, and I'll tie you to a weight and toss you in the river, girl.”
“Hmph!”
But at Blake's heavy voice that followed, she said no more and sharply turned her head away.
In her eyes, Blake was more than capable of doing it, and she absolutely refused to relive the experience of falling into the water.
“Come to think of it...”
It suddenly hit her—the man who had saved her from the water.
The one who had made her float in the air with magic, giving her an utterly unbelievable experience, was slumped in one corner of the deck.
But with his hat pulled low and a handkerchief covering his mouth, his face was unrecognizable.
“You... you're Sir Zaroph, right? That guy over there... is he really a mage?”
Unable to ask the man directly, Annrose turned to the easier mark, Lindelmann.
“Pardon? Ah, you mean Rubens. Yes, he's a mage.”
“I knew it! Is he one of Prince Henrik's men, like Sir Blake? Sent by His Highness?”
“No. He just sort of ended up traveling with us.”
“Really? Hmm.”
Annrose eyed Rubens and Blake alternately with a hint of suspicion.
Blake was no longer paying her any attention, staring at the river.
His expression and gaze were as indifferent as when they first met, but he clearly seemed to be thinking about something.
Still, she didn't pry further.
'That's enough for today! I've got time, so I'll take it slow, one step at a time.'
A glint flashed in her eyes amid the cool river breeze, then faded.
“Wh-What? What did you just say?”
“We'll return to the capital. The lady ordered us there, so we must obey. And we won't report that the princess was taken hostage by the garrison.”
“What nonsense is that! Lady Veniard was kidnapped by those thugs! You saw it too! That brute wrapping his arm around Miss Annrose's waist... her waist...!”
Albert recalled the sight of Blake—whom he himself had never even touched—carrying Annrose over his shoulder as he ran, and trembled, unable to continue.
But Baran shook his head.
“It looked that way at first. But it was clearly his group that saved the lady from the water, and she stated plainly that he meant her no harm.”
“Obviously she was threatened into saying that! Think again.”
Even Samuel Luther stepped in.
But Baran remained steadfast.
“Absolutely not. The lady doesn't bend to ordinary threats, especially after such a harrowing experience.”
“Urgh!”
“Besides, that ship belongs to the Capital River Alliance. If she were truly threatened, the crew would have rushed to save her first. But not a single one did. So, her words must be true. In any case, for those reasons, we Veniard swordsmen must leave Elberra immediately.”
“N-No way! What about the engagement...?”
Albert muttered in dismay.
“I can't say anything until we see the lady again. As you know, she's the only direct heir and decision-maker in the Veniard family... So, we'll be off.”
“W-Wait, Sir Baran! Sir Baran!”
Gilmore Grime hurriedly called after him, but Baran and the Veniard swordsmen left the docks without delay.
“We'll take our leave as well. Sir Roderick Swent should arrive in Bricks soon, and we can't afford to miss him by being absent. Farewell.”
Even Samuel Luther gave a light nod and turned to go.
“Urgh!”
In the end, Gilmore Grime could only tremble with rage and disappointment, watching everyone depart without a word.
“Captain, is there really any need to rush like this?”
One of the knights glanced at Gilmore Grime—who suddenly looked a decade older—and asked Samuel Luther.
“Hmph! Of course. The Grime family is finished after today. That's why even the Veniards are hurrying back. We should get to Bricks as fast as possible to await Roderick Swent.”
“Pardon? What do you mean...?”
“Before the sun sets, today's events will spread through all of Elberra. Not only humiliated in their own front yard, but their future daughter-in-law—the heir to the Veniard Count family—stolen right in front of them. You think the Grime family can still hold sway in Elberra after this?”
“Hm! True enough. But what does that have to do with hurrying back...?”
“Tsk tsk! You dense fool. Do you think the Blue Magpie Knights will keep backing and shielding a Grime who failed his orders and got embarrassed in his own home like before?”
“Ah!”
“Gilmore Grime was capable, sure, but without the Blue Magpie Knights' support and Count Darlington's backing, could he have grown in a big city like Elberra? Heh! Grime is done. And the Blue Magpies will need someone to fill that vacancy...”
“Oh! Then...?”
“Exactly. No law saying it can't be us. So, we hurry back, wait for Roderick Swent, and report in exquisite detail just how pathetically Grime was crushed today—and how incompetent Gilmore was. Heh heh!”
A cold smile crept across Samuel Luther's lips as he strode quickly away from the docks.
“Urgh... Those bastards! Urghhh! Kgh... Ack!”
And as if confirming his prediction, Gilmore Grime, shaking violently, suddenly lost control and clutched his throat before collapsing.
“Father!”
“Family head!”
The Grime family, which had built its power in Elberra for over a decade, absurdly met its downfall at the hands of a single man.
Unverified rumors began to slink around.
A few tales originating from Elberra, the largest city on the upper Bran River, were the sort anyone would doubt at first hearing.
—The Knight of Stratagems, Second Prince Henrik, would break his long silence and enter central politics!
—A knight bearing Prince Henrik's handwritten letter was heading to the capital, Alteria!
—The Grime family of Elberra had already been utterly humiliated by that knight!
—Moreover, the princess of the Veniard Count family had joined hands with Prince Henrik's knight instead of Grime!
—The great mage who once gifted a magic sword to His Imperial Majesty was aiding Prince Henrik's knight!
Most dismissed these rumors as nonsense.
But another story, carried south by merchants and mercenaries from the north as full spring arrived, proved the Elberra gossip wasn't mere hot air.
And...
The crowning jewel was how an imperial army dischargee had single-handedly defeated three men in an honor duel against a northern noble house—one of whom was a promising young knight of the Blue Magpie Order.
Even Roderick Swent, seen as the next captain of the Blue Magpies, had been present.
A massive event: the terrifyingly ascendant Blue Magpie Knights taking a real hit in the north!
And rumors swirled that the dischargee who felled the three knights, including the Blue Magpie prospect, might be the same as the knight carrying Prince Henrik's letter.
Everyone perked up at the intriguing tale.
High nobles especially.
They sensed that this series of events from Elberra and the north would bring no small waves of change to the imperial politics, which had flowed stably without major incidents since the founding.
And shifts in central politics directly affected flows of money and power.
Courier birds flew daily, and relays dashed about.
To their liege houses, allied groups, or key trading clients...
Mixtures of unverified rumors and credible intel spread across the empire far faster than usual.
And at the center stood a discharged soldier from Northernrocks Fortress—no, a knight trusted by Prince Henrik.
Blake.
Many whispered of the incidents Blake had caused, wondering at their truth.
But a tiny few cared not just for the surface facts.
What they truly wanted to know was separate.
The contents of Prince Henrik's handwritten letter that Blake possessed, and the identity of its recipient.
For they intuited it would be the direct key influencing their fates—and the empire's.
And now...
Not in the central regions where Blake rumors raged, but in a spot in the north he had already passed—the ripples were already meddling in 'someone's' fate.
Two men whom Blake knew well, but whom even he could never have imagined as the subjects.
“Die, you fucker!”
Thwack!
With a booming curse, a head flew spinning through the air before thudding down.
Whoosh! Thud!
“Gah!”
“Kek!”
Sharp whooshes of air followed by two death rattles, then two men with rocks embedded in their skulls crumpled.
“Done?”
A delicate-faced man, leather sling slick with blood wrapped neatly around his wrist, turned his head and asked curtly.
“Yeah. But these bastards weren't much either?”
The bald giant, spinning an axe the size of a man's thigh, smacked his lips in disappointment.
The delicate man's brow furrowed deeper.
“Idiot! The problem isn't that—it's why these damn flies keep buzzing around us!”
“Is it?”
“Obviously, you blockhead! With only two months—scratch that, ten days gone, so fifty days left—why are these pests blocking our path nonstop! And it's been like this since leaving Headgates!”
“Right, yeah it has! Heh heh! Hey, you think about that stuff. I hate thinking altogether. What good's my brain anyway? Kek!”
The bald brute with a face uglier than 'ugly' could describe grinned sheepishly, baring yellowed teeth.
“Fair enough. I'm the fool for asking.”
“You know it. Heh heh! Why'd you let that first guy escape? What if he brings his gang? Sure, we can kill 'em all, but it's a hassle.”
“Crazy! That one was obviously a local villager. You gonna chase down and kill a farmer just to avoid trouble?”
“Whoa! Was he?”
The giant scratched his bald head sheepishly, alongside the delicate-faced man who didn't match him at all.
They were Rickbear and Damian—Blake's former subordinates who had seen him off from Northernrocks Fortress.
(Continued next episode)