Chapter 86
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: New Generation
Early morning.
Before breakfast time had even arrived, Zeke Fryline went to visit the marquis.
"Yes, young master. I'll let him know right away."
The butler, who wasn't particularly familiar, bowed at the waist. Father's personal butler had definitely been Sir Pardo, so had he gone on vacation or something?
While he pondered that for a moment, the butler quickly returned.
"He says to come in."
"Thanks."
Passing by the butler, Zeke entered the marquis's bedroom and bit his lip at the sight of his father's gaunt face.
"Father."
"Yes, Zeke. What is it?"
"Just... something I wanted to say."
After a brief pause, Zeke slowly recounted the events of the previous night.
Following Enoch to meet Mother's spirit. The words Mother had conveyed through Enoch. The rambling things he'd poured out to her for a long while.
Even though his emotions had welled up midway, making it hard to follow at times, Father listened silently, nodding occasionally.
"I see. Idalian..."
"Yeah. Why do you think Mother said that?"
"She was a woman who cherished you deeply. It doesn't seem strange at all."
The marquis ran his hand over his face a few times, then stood and took a bottle of liquor from the end of the bookshelf.
"Sit down. Let's have a drink, just the two of us."
With a quick glug-glug, golden liquor filled the clear glasses. As Zeke sat across from the marquis, fiddling only with his glass, the marquis, who had been silent, finally spoke.
"I've done a little investigating myself."
He had investigated countless times back when Idalian first went wrong, but even so, he went over everything once more, step by step.
"Perhaps because I could view it more objectively this time, or maybe because time has passed and the butler's guard is down, I learned one new fact."
"...The butler?"
A new butler's face suddenly flashed in Zeke's mind.
"Yes. Sir Pardo. No, that bastard who deserves to be chewed up and spat out."
The marquis's distorted face trembled faintly.
"As you know, Idalian was a commoner. A simple woman from a rural village at the edge of the marquisate."
"Yeah."
"That repulsive noble supremacist bastard. He lost all sense of propriety and tormented her just because she was a commoner."
Of course, he still had a brain, so he didn't commit anything too severe.
They were trivial harassments, insignificant by some measures.
But Pardo was the most influential servant in the marquis's household. Did the other servants not notice his attitude?
The others might have shown her similar subtle disdain as well.
One could only imagine how much that hurt a sensitive woman.
"If only she'd said a word to me. No, it was my failing for not even noticing that."
"So, does that mean the butler...?"
"No, that's not it. I've confirmed that for sure. Back then, and now. Idalian's issue wasn't due to any external factors like that."
Not murder. But it was hard to call it suicide either.
Countless doctors and priests had all testified the same.
"So what did you do with the butler?"
"First, I shattered his dantian and had him imprisoned."
"I see."
It was a strange feeling. A man he'd known almost his whole life, treated like that...
Zeke let out a sigh and downed the liquor in his glass in one gulp.
It felt like hot fire burning down his throat. But the resentment knotted in his chest burned even hotter, so he reached for the bottle to quench an innocent thirst.
"Enough. Drinking too much first thing in the morning isn't good."
The marquis snatched the bottle away and placed it back on the bookshelf.
"More importantly... yes. How about having breakfast with your friend? You could thank him too."
At the marquis's words, Zeke nodded.
"Yeah. I'll ask."
*
After finishing breakfast with the marquis, Enoch sat in the training grounds, staring blankly into the empty sky.
There is a sky above the sky. A common saying.
But Enoch always thought that even a sky above the sky could be stepped on and surpassed.
That conviction grew firmer once he reached Grandmaster. There are no insurmountable walls. Not for others maybe, but definitely not for him.
But this ghost incident. What on earth was that move that swapped the space without him noticing?
No matter how much he overused his divine eyes and grew fatigued, it didn't make sense that he hadn't noticed at all.
Irritation surged from the frustrating mix of bafflement and anger.
As he idly manipulated the mana in the air to draw lightning sketches, he heard footsteps from behind.
"Enoch."
"Yeah."
It was Zeke. Not turning his head, focused on his drawing, Enoch heard him naturally sit nearby and speak.
"There's that gathering, right? They're leaving tomorrow—want to come?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you. Are you going yourself?"
Mother held no great significance for him, but it was different for Zeke. It was probably similar to the kind of affection he felt for Lione.
If it were him, he'd wrap up this matter first, gathering or no.
"It's something I committed to. A noble's word must never be taken lightly."
"You say a lot of casual things usually."
"It's a different category."
"Hmm."
He needed time anyway. If things went well, it might even help resolve this incident more smoothly.
"Then I'll go too. I'm curious, and I can pick up afterward when I get back."
"Thanks."
Zeke closed his eyes for a moment, thinking something over, then continued.
"While we're at the gathering, Father will keep investigating."
Then he shared the new facts he'd learned. Even though the detail about the butler tormenting the lady of the house wasn't something an outsider needed to know.
Enoch nodded simply and put the finishing touch on the picture in the air.
"Got it."
A massive picture drawn in the air. Zeke looked at it and thought.
'Sword portrait? Magic circle?'
It was incredibly intricate and delicate, yet something he couldn't recognize.
It resembled a sword emperor's portrait in one way, or thousands of overlapping magic circles in another.
"Feels reassuring. Thanks."
To think he'd meet a friend who helped him this much over something trivial. And such an amazing friend at that.
His eyes welled up unexpectedly, so he looked up at the sky, when a gruff voice came.
"How many times are you going to thank me? It's nothing, so cut it out."
*
New Generation
There exists a gathering where those called by that name come together.
It wasn't for any grand event on the streets, just young people from nearby territories attending, but its value was inexpressible nonetheless.
Because they were the protagonists of the next generation.
Thus, simply being able to attend was a tremendous honor, and it was only natural that those who did grew arrogant.
"Did you hear? Apparently, the Demisto heir is bringing a guest this time."
"A guest? I hope it doesn't lower the gathering's caliber."
"Who knows... It's the Demisto heir, after all. You never know where he'll bolt off to."
Among those who arrived early to mingle beforehand, all sorts of rumors spread from mouth to mouth.
But even rumors, spoken by these people, were no ordinary fare.
Much of that information was quite accurate, and even if untrue, plenty would become reality once they left this place.
"More than that, did you hear the other talk? You probably did."
"What talk? Why the suspense?"
"It's big news."
One young man took a sip of wine and spoke.
"Carsten de Pearson."
"Carsten? The second son of the Pearson count family?"
"What? You haven't heard? You're slow on the news, friend."
The young man leisurely scanned the surroundings and lowered his voice.
"They say he's reached Master this time."
"...What? Isn't he still mid-twenties?"
"He's twenty-four this year."
"Incredible. The kingdom will be in an uproar. Who'd have thought the genius of the century would come from Pearson."
Master at twenty-four. Not quite the emperor, but who was the emperor to begin with?
The fact that he wasn't far off already proved his genius.
"So, is that Pearson heir attending this gathering?"
"Of course. I heard it straight."
As the rumors spread, the attendees grew rowdy, just then, a carriage passed through the castle gates of the territory hosting the gathering.
*
"Here?"
"Yeah. Close, right?"
Enoch looked out the carriage window.
Slightly less than Demisto, but compared to the towns near Lione's forest, it looked several generations more advanced.
"Oh ho... Human cities have developed quite a bit. I thought Demisto was the exception."
Tsukiyo was practically sticking her whole body out the window, sightseeing.
With cat ears atop her head, how could gazes not concentrate on a girl like that? Amid countless stares, the carriage soon stopped.
"Get out?"
"No. It'll head out again now."
The carriage completed simple procedures at the inner gate and entered. After a short while, the group disembarked and, following the guide to their assigned rooms, kept glancing around.
"Lots of people."
[Yeah. More than I thought?]
At Eri's words, Zeke nodded.
"People attending the gathering don't come alone. It turns into something like an event, so even ordinary folk tend to crowd a bit."
[Oh ho.]
Eri, peeking out from atop Enoch's head, tilted her head.
[But I don't see any particularly high-level humans. Isn't this supposed to be a gathering of impressive people?]