What is Justice? (1)
What is Justice? (1)
The day after our outing to the city, the lord's castle in the Marquisate began preparing for a party.
With the city outing over, Simon's schedule had come to an end. The discussions regarding Simon and Adria's engagement had also been finalized, which meant our party would be leaving the lord's castle tomorrow.
Tonight's party was the final farewell gathering before the party from the Duke's estate departed.
I didn't know why people around here loved parties so much, but they seemed to be putting extra effort into preparing for this one in particular.
Rather than a party to send off Adria's future husband, this gathering felt more like a celebration of the marriage alliance between the Gracia Dukedom and the Hierro Marquisate.
While the lord's castle bustled with party preparations and Simon and the others hurried about, I sat idly in the guest room, waiting for someone to arrive.
Time passed.
Tok. Tok.
"It is Juan. I am coming in."
The person I was waiting for had arrived.
He was proving to be much more helpful than I had expected.
Although he had cost me a lot of money, seeing him work so diligently made me feel like I should look after him a little more.
Juan entered the room and spoke with a stiff expression.
"It is just as you said. The mercenaries are gathering. The Red Bear Mercenary Corps and several other mercenary bands are reportedly recalling their members who were deployed outside."
A secret passage was enormous bait; there was no way they would ignore it.
A secret passage into the lord's castle that no one else knew about.
They had to exploit it before anyone else found out.
And since someone had eavesdropped on their conversation, they must have felt compelled to make their move before things went awry.
In my previous life, Adria had undoubtedly revealed the secret passage to Martin before she came to the Duke's estate.
After she left, Martin and the mercenaries must have infiltrated the lord's castle through the secret passage to set it on fire, while the other mercenaries rushed to the Duke's estate to eliminate Adria.
Looking at it now, their execution was incredibly radical, but since they ultimately succeeded, it was hard to call it a clumsy plan.
This time, too, they were moving in a hurry, just as expected.
Having witnessed it in my previous life, I had fully anticipated this. But thinking about it again, I couldn't comprehend what gave them the confidence to act so recklessly.
"Thank you for your hard work."
"Should I refrain from reporting this to the higher-ups myself?"
"Yes. I will report it."
"Understood."
Juan bowed politely.
His demeanor was different from when I had sent him off that morning.
It was as if he had transformed from an adult indulging a noble brat's whims into a subordinate receiving orders from his superior.
To ensure he investigated the matter properly, I had filled him in on some of the circumstances, and the way he looked at me had changed.
Well, it was a hundred times better than being ignored, so it wasn't bad.
In fact, it felt quite good. Is this why people crave recognition?
But I soon remembered my position and came to my senses. I could not repeat a failed life.
After sending Juan out, I left the room too.
From here on, it wasn't my job to handle.
I only needed to pass the information to the person who would handle it in my place.
I knocked on the door of a guest room a short distance away.
Tok. Tok.
"Excuse me, it is Alex. May I come in?"
"Alex?"
"Yes. Please enter."
Fortunately, the Chief Butler and the Knight Commander were both there. It seemed I wouldn't have to repeat myself twice.
I opened the door and stepped inside.
The Chief Butler stood there, smiling as always, while the Knight Commander looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"What is the matter?"
At the Knight Commander's blunt question, I spoke up.
"I have something to tell you about Martin, the Marquis's illegitimate son, and the mercenaries with him."
I told the two of them everything that had happened.
How much Martin hated the Marquisate, the secret history I'd heard from Adria, and the confidential conversation I'd coincidentally overheard after slipping out of the secret passage with her to visit the mercenary district.
And finally, the mobilization of the mercenaries that I had just heard about from Juan.
The two men, who had initially shown only mild curiosity, grew increasingly grave as my story unfolded.
"This isn't some story made up from your imagination, is it?"
The Knight Commander asked when I finished. As expected, it seemed hard for him to believe.
"I have no reason to lie about something you can easily verify."
"This is no simple matter..."
The Knight Commander let out a low groan.
He must have been troubled. It would be difficult to simply dismiss it as the babbling of a young child.
"It would be best to inform the Marquis. This doesn't seem like something we should agonize over ourselves."
The Chief Butler spoke to the hesitating Knight Commander. He was absolutely right.
After all, this was not the Duke's estate. Just as I had told the Knight Commander and the Chief Butler, they simply had to pass the information along to the Marquis.
Was this the wisdom of old age?
"That is correct. I must speak with the Marquis."
The Knight Commander rose from his seat, and the Chief Butler gazed at me intently.
"As you know, please keep everything a secret. The Marquis might summon you separately."
I nodded at the Chief Butler's words.
After the Knight Commander left the room, the Chief Butler stood up as well.
"I should go and speak with him too."
He turned to me before leaving the room and said,
"If the information you brought is correct, Young Lord, our Gracia Dukedom will place the Marquis under a significant debt. Since this is thanks to you, Young Lord Alex, the Duke will be very pleased."
The old man bowed to me as he always did, then slipped out of the room.
I shook my head, clearing the Chief Butler's words from my mind. The matter wasn't finished yet, so there was no need to think about the aftermath already.
Well, my part was done. Now it was time to watch how things unfolded.
Once the two of them had left, I returned to my own room.
On the surface, the atmosphere in the castle remained unchanged.
The party, which had been prepared with such effort, went off splendidly.
Simon and Adria, completely oblivious to the situation, attended the party and received congratulations from guests eager to build connections with the Gracia Dukedom.
Not only Simon, but also the Knight Commander and the Chief Butler were busy exchanging greetings with people.
Naturally, no one approached me, the illegitimate son.
With time on my hands, I could observe everything as if from a third-person perspective.
Sure enough, looking closely, I could see that things had changed.
The Chief Butler wore his usual expression, but the Knight Commander and the other knights looked slightly awkward, while the Marquisate's knights and soldiers also showed signs of tension.
The party guests praised the discipline of the Marquis's knights and soldiers, noting how different they seemed from before. The Marquis's expression as he replied was somewhat strained as well.
As the party wound down and everyone was about to retire for the night, the Marquis summoned me.
Unlike the Duke, who would summon me to his office even late at night, the Marquis had called me to a private parlor.
The butler who escorted me waited outside the parlor. Inside, the Marquis was alone, and he stared at me with a tired, aged face as I entered.
He frowned upon seeing me.
"He is still just a child. A kid like this brought back such information?"
It was a comment I had fully anticipated. I bowed to him.
"I am Alex."
"Hmph, at least you are a branch member who knows your place."
He received my greeting with an unpleasant expression.
"I do not understand why those from the Duke's estate credited this to a young illegitimate son like you. Should I ask Adria about the secret passage instead...?"
Even the Knight Commander and the Chief Butler, who had watched me closely at the Duke's estate, had been skeptical, so there was no way the Marquis would readily acknowledge a young child like me.
Instead of answering him, I walked over to a corner of the parlor.
I had already heard from Adria how to find the entrance to the secret passage.
Fortunately, the secret passage ran beneath this room as well, and the marking for the secret door was easy to see.
In the corner of the parlor, I pushed the regularly cracked bricks inward, one by one, starting from the top.
An ordinary person's strength wouldn't have budged them, but for a noble who could use mana, it was entirely possible.
Thunk.
Once they were all pushed in, the floor in the corner began to sink.
A flight of stairs leading underground came into view.
After confirming that the secret passage had opened, I turned back to look at the Marquis.
"It would be best not to inform Adria. She was close to Martin, and since she will soon depart for our Gracia Dukedom, leaving her with regrets about her maiden home would likely do little for the relationship between our two families."
The Marquis's expression had already changed by the time I turned around.
His bored look gone, his eyes, sharp as an old, crafty weasel's, scanned me up and down.
A tingling sensation swept across my skin.
As expected, there was no way someone of the Marquis's caliber could be an ordinary man.
"I heard you were a genius, and it was indeed no lie. To possess knight-level skill at that age..."
Indeed, showing one's skill once was far better than explaining it a hundred times.
"That is also true. Just as you said, the fewer people who know of this blemish, the better."
His attitude toward me had shifted as well.
With his demeanor changed, he asked me several questions, and I answered them all while concealing a few details.
"Your depth of experience is far too vast to be called mere genius... Is there an ability of this nature as well...?"
Hearing my answers, the Marquis tilted his head in confusion.
If it was an ability, then it was indeed one, but it wasn't the kind of ability he was imagining, so I calmly met his gaze.
After making a few more suggestions and continuing our conversation, the Marquis sent me back.
Before I left the room, the Marquis's voice drifted from behind me.
"What a pity. What a shame. If only things hadn't gotten so tangled, Martin would have been of great help to the Marquisate as well..."
Though barely audible, his voice carried a deep, heavy sorrow.
The following afternoon, the guests from the Gracia Dukedom departed from the lord's castle amid the people's farewells.
Some of the servants, having finished cleaning up after the previous night's party, took time off and left, leaving the lord's castle far quieter than usual.
That night, perhaps because the Marquis's guests had departed, security between the lord's castle and the city was more relaxed than the day before. Thanks to this, the mercenaries were able to gather in front of the temple without being seen by the soldiers.
Dozens of mercenaries clad in black pressed themselves against the temple walls, scanning their surroundings.
At their front stood Benjamin, commander of the Red Bear Mercenary Corps, along with Vice-Commander Noah and Martin.
"Is everyone gathered?"
"Yes. Everyone we initially agreed upon has arrived."
In response to Mercenary Commander Benjamin's question, Vice-Commander Noah replied.
"Has the Count also been contacted?"
"Yes. He is waiting outside the territory. The moment we send the signal that we've succeeded, he will rush in."
Benjamin's eyebrows twitched as he looked at Noah, who had answered clearly.
"Are you really in that bad of a condition? If you sit this out, some targets might slip through our fingers."
"I am sorry. The internal injuries I sustained during that fight back then aren't healing well..."
There were no visible wounds on the outside, but since she claimed to be in such poor shape, it was difficult to force her.
"It can't be helped. Just be ready to assist immediately once the signal is given."
"Yes."
Benjamin turned to look at Martin. He found him just as displeasing.
"Young Lord, wouldn't it be better for you to remain with the Count?"
"No. I am going with you."
Martin shook his head with a firm expression.
Originally, Martin wasn't supposed to participate in the operation and was meant to wait behind.
Yet for some reason, he had undergone a change of heart recently and stubbornly insisted on taking part.
With Noah sitting out, they had no choice but to bring Martin along, but Benjamin was highly concerned that Martin's death might cause a major setback to the plan.
If only they had been in contact with the higher-ups, he could have worried less...
The situation had progressed far too rapidly, leaving no time to make contact.
But surely, there would be no issues. This was a plan prepared long ago, and the instructions from the higher-ups had never been wrong so far—including finding out about the secret passage a few days ago.
This operation would undoubtedly succeed as well.
He led the mercenaries toward the open doors of the temple.
The mercenaries followed behind him, while Noah stepped back with a peculiar expression.
Just then, one of the mercenaries entering the temple spoke up with an anxious face.
"By the way, there is a rumor that if you enter this temple, you lose your manhood..."
At his words, the other mercenaries' expressions darkened. It was a story they had all heard.
Setting fire to the castle of the Marquis, the lord of the territory, didn't scare them, but losing their manhood was an entirely different story.
"It is a baseless rumor."
"Right?"
At Benjamin's reply, the mercenaries nodded, but their faces were still filled with anxiety.
With stiff faces, the mercenaries vanished into the temple building.