The Hunter's Quiet Fury
“So you’re saying the orders are pouring in so fast you can’t keep up?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying!” Richel continued. “Haah… the merchant group is in complete chaos right now. We have to fulfill the Flower Soap orders, handle the Iron Ant antennae and iron ingots, and deal with everything else on top of that… Thanks to all this, the workers are dropping like flies.”
She rattled off her complaints one after another, sighing heavily. Her skin did look noticeably dull. She was clearly struggling to sleep because of the overwhelming workload.
Thank goodness.
I thought something serious had happened.
But… she’s losing some hair… Oh my… her crown…
Goodness… female hair loss.
She must have been under considerable stress. Business was going well, but the sheer volume of work was taking its toll. The first time she woke up to find strands of hair on her pillow must have been quite the shock.
Still, it’s nothing serious.
Albert had assumed something major had occurred when Richel rushed in so urgently, but it turned out she was simply complaining that the flood of orders to the Flower Merchant Group was killing her.
“So many things have happened, though. I heard the details, but still.”
Richel gazed out the reception room window as she spoke. Albert had already filled her in on everything that had transpired.
“I never imagined a dragon would actually attack…”
“Yeah, it was a bit of a headache.”
“What happened to the dragon?”
“What do you think happened?” Albert set down his teacup and flashed a wicked, villainous smile. “It got beaten to a pulp like an orc—by me.”
“Heh…”
She had beaten a dragon. If anyone else had said it, people would have told them to visit a temple for a mental evaluation, suspecting late-stage delusions. But this was Albert. It must be true. Because it came from him, she couldn’t dismiss it as exaggeration or a lie. The fact that even the territory residents claimed to have seen a dragon in the sky was proof enough.
“This territory really is full of ups and downs. How do things keep getting so tangled…?”
“What can you do?”
“And I heard the rumors. They say you caused quite a stir at the social party again?”
“That rumor’s already spreading?”
“Of course. Gossip in this industry travels at lightning speed! Thanks to that, people keep asking questions every time I go out to sell Flower Soap.”
Richel let out a small sigh. The Legrian family, once hidden in the shadows, was slowly drawing public attention. A territory that had fallen from count to baron due to treason. A place adjacent to Monster Land, long believed uninhabitable. That was how people had viewed it—until the events at the social party began to change everything.
“The nobles are starting to take an interest in the Legrian family.”
“Good. That means we can sell more Flower Soap and secure construction contracts.”
“Moderate interest might be fine, but too much could lead to trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Nobles don’t like seeing new powers rise. It threatens their own influence.”
Albert roughly understood what Richel was worried about.
Richel is probably concerned about interference from the nobles.
Too much attention does tend to create enemies.
Probably. But it doesn’t matter. I expected this.
“They might…” Richel’s expression turned serious as she stared at Albert. “They could target this place. You need to be very careful.”
The look on her face was deeply earnest—a warning born from experience. She had faced similar situations herself. While growing the Flower Merchant Group, she had endured countless obstructions and even been kidnapped. Death threats had become so routine that she was almost numb to them now. There were the troublemakers who stormed into the merchant group, and the no-shows who reserved goods but never appeared. The circumstances differed between the merchant group and the family, but the essence was the same.
“I know what you’re worried about. But there’s no need to fret.” Albert smiled. His approach was simple. He returned what he received. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If anyone interfered with him, they would pay a harsh price.
“If they get in the way, I’ll just beat them all down.”
No one could stop him—not even the king himself. His fists would find their mark. Albert set down his teacup with quiet confidence.
“Even if what you fear comes to pass, nothing you’re worried about will actually happen.”
“……Ah.”
Richel let out a small gasp. He’s beautiful. People said a face could be a weapon—those words were made for Albert. Delicate fingers, long lashes. A face she could look at for a lifetime without ever growing tired. Just seeing him felt like cleansing her eyes. There was no need to visit a temple. Looking at him eased her fatigue and seemed to improve her vision.
He’s so handsome. Strong, capable, eloquent, and gorgeous! He has everything.
She had repeated herself because he was so strikingly attractive. If anyone else said such things, it would sound insufferable. But coming from Albert, it felt completely natural. Everything he said sounded cool. Even if he shouted “dung” with that face, it would somehow sound like a refined word.
I like that.
She’s smitten. Completely smitten.
Look at that face. She’s totally lost it.
She’s even drooling.
Of course. I’m handsome, after all.
How obnoxious.
You’re getting harsher with your words lately.
Albert had no interest in romance. Though he appeared to be in his twenties, his mind housed a fossilized old man far beyond a mere stubborn elder—well over 110 years old. By egg-carton count, that was more than four dozen. Even if his actions and thoughts seemed youthful, his core was ancient. Perhaps that was why…
They’re all just kids to me.
Richel wasn’t particularly young, but from Albert’s perspective, she was merely a young girl. He didn’t see her as a woman. More like a cute granddaughter—that was as far as it went.
Richel has a thorny path ahead… Poor thing.
“By the way, what about the matter I asked you to look into? The reason our family fell.”
Albert had requested Richel investigate the Legrian family’s downfall in as much detail as possible. He had also given orders to the Blackout Guild, but they were currently occupied with reorganization.
“Ah! That?” Richel snapped back to attention at the sound of Albert’s voice and took a seat across from him. She tried to suppress her excited expression as she pulled a stack of documents from her bag.
“I looked into it. But there isn’t much information.”
“Really?”
“To put it bluntly, the official reason given for the Legrian family’s fall was treason.”
“……Treason?”
Albert’s hand paused as he reached for the documents. Treason. This world was still in an era of absolute monarchy. Treason was a direct challenge to the king’s supreme authority, a grave crime that even nobles could not escape execution for. Yet treason? It was a word utterly foreign to the Legrian family.
“What kind of nonsense is that? Treason?”
“I couldn’t find the details either. I’ve been asking around, but it seems someone deliberately erased the information.”
Richel stared at the documents. “There isn’t much to go on.”
“……”
Albert examined the papers. Indeed, there was little information—just the charge under which the Legrian family had fallen.
“Treason, huh…”
Albert knew better. His father had talent with the sword but was hardly the type to dream of rebellion. He was a devoted family man and an armor otaku. His mother had simply enjoyed squeezing money out of people as a merchant. Neither of them had any real interest in power or politics. There was no way those two would have plotted treason. They would rather spend their time…
Polishing armor or researching how to most efficiently extract money from others.
They were the type to focus on their hobbies. At that point, one might wonder if they were acting as family heads or lords purely as a hobby. Their hobbies and professions had completely swapped places. For such people to commit treason? It was absurd nonsense.
“What were the details of the treason?”
“It’s written in the documents—they were accused of smuggling weapons.”
“Weapons?”
Albert read through the papers. “Smuggling weapons from the Risen Kingdom? That’s ridiculous. Do you know how far away the Risen Kingdom is from here?”
The Risen Kingdom was currently hostile to the Crosen Kingdom, to which the Legrian family belonged. The war between the two kingdoms had continued for five hundred years. They had once been a single empire, split into two kingdoms due to circumstances. And each side coveted the other’s land. After the split, both kingdoms fought endlessly to claim more of the former empire’s vast territory. The cycle of conquest and reconquest had lasted centuries, deepening the grudges between them. They watched each other like hawks, ready to strike at the first opportunity. Then, something forced them to halt the war—the barbarians in the northern regions. The barbarians, once ignored, suddenly grew powerful enough to intervene, throwing everything into chaos. That’s why so many resources were lost to the barbarians. The war had to stop. War inflicted deep wounds and drained a kingdom’s strength. If the two kingdoms clashed again, the casualties would be immense, severely weakening their national power. And if they were weakened and lacking elite forces when the northern barbarians attacked…
They’d collapse.
Exactly.
That was how the triangular standoff had formed. If only the two kingdoms existed, they would have already gone to war. Ironically, the barbarians’ presence maintained a precarious peace. Thirty years had already passed in this tense standoff. The grudges between the two kingdoms remained unresolved and had only deepened. That was why a noble of the Crosen Kingdom smuggling weapons from the Risen Kingdom constituted treason.
Albert spoke incredulously. “There’s no way our family could have smuggled weapons from the Risen Kingdom.”
It wasn’t like they had rocket delivery or even regular courier service. The distance was far too great for smuggling weapons. Armor, maybe…
So armor would be possible?
……Maybe?
This he couldn’t be certain about. If it were armor, his father—the armor otaku—might have lost his mind and gone through with smuggling it. But weapons? His father had no interest in weapons. It was impossible.
He really was an extraordinary man in many ways.
Because of that, I almost had to sign divorce papers multiple times…
Even now, thinking back made him break into a cold sweat.
“That’s true. I found it strange too, but it seems those above didn’t care much.”
“……They just needed a pretext.”
“Yes. All they needed was an excuse. And sure enough, weapons were discovered in the mansion.”
“There must have been an informant.”
Richel nodded. Albert didn’t need to hear the rest to guess what had followed.
“Who was the instigator?”
Richel’s expression darkened. “That’s… there’s no information on that.”
“No information?”
“No.”
“Why? For something like fabricating a treason charge, it should have been quite…”
“Everyone except the nobles was killed to silence them. We can’t even identify which nobles were involved.”
The documents listed those who had died. All of them were orphans, or if they had families, those families had also been killed. The cleanup had been thorough. There were even traces of information being deliberately erased by information guilds. Even if some records remained, their credibility was low.
“Even if we wanted to find out who the instigator was, false information is mixed in, so it won’t be easy to sort through.”
“I see.”
The Flower Merchant Group’s current intelligence capabilities had their limits. They would have to wait.
“Good work.”
“It’s nothing. I was curious too. But couldn’t you just ask Lady Elena about this? After all…”
“No. I don’t particularly want to ask her.”
Albert had deliberately avoided mentioning this matter to Elena. He didn’t want to burden her. The nanny had told him, “Even though the young lady pretends to be fine on the surface, she often wakes up from nightmares. She’s much better now, though.” It must have become a trauma. She was finally doing better—he didn’t want to risk reopening old wounds. That was why he avoided bringing it up as much as possible.
“I understand. Still, it’s nice to see right now.”
“What is?”
“Your expression, Lord Albert. It’s the face of a brother who cherishes his sister. It’s different.”
“My face is pretty handsome, isn’t it?”
“Haha, yes, it is.”
“Well then.” Albert deliberately relaxed his expression to change the mood and shifted to another topic—business. How to secure contracts for plumbing fixtures and construction work, and various other matters. As he spoke, he slowly clenched his fist. I don’t know who it was… He didn’t know who had pinned such an absurd charge on his father and mother. But if I ever find out… Albert quietly clenched his fist, suppressing the fury that threatened to overflow with superhuman willpower. I’ll kill them. The strongest hunter’s rage quietly closed its eyes within him, waiting patiently for its prey to take the bait.