Chapter 11 - I Threw a Stone at the Duke's Family (3)
I Threw a Stone at the Duke's Family (3)
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 11. I Threw a Stone at the Duke's Family (3)
Whoooosh—
The driving blizzard dug sharply into the skin like the teeth of a starving beast.
A sensation as if every breath inhaled pushed ice shards deep into the lungs.
In the northernmost permanent frozen soil of the continent, where human laws and warm ethics do not reach, a bloody war was now rushing toward its end.
What embroidered the white snowy field were only the rough breaths of barbarians and the crimson blood frozen before it could even cool.
In the middle of that gruesome battlefield, a man wearing a wolf fur cloak of the northern barbarians was looking down at the pile of corpses with indifferent eyes.
Leorel Piace.
Even though he was wrapped in bloody wolf skin, the sharp spirit emanating from the swordsmanship he wielded was still that of a noble aristocrat.
"Phew…."
As the breath burst out splitting his lips met the blade-like cold, it shimmered like a white ghost and embroidered the empty air long.
The heavy voice carried the dignity of a ruler.
"Finally, the end of this tedious fight is in sight."
Shing—!
As he drew his sword, the surrounding air screamed and overwhelming pressure covered the battlefield.
He raised his energy and shouted toward the giant warrior standing firm in front.
"Do you intend to drive all your tribe members to death! Beshutang, son of Mantailun! If you are truly the Great Warrior representing the barbarians, do not hide behind warriors but come out and receive my sword yourself!"
It was before the lion's roar even faded.
Vwooom—!
Along with the rupture sound tearing the air, a giant figure fell from the sky.
A giant shadow covered Leorel from above as if to swallow him.
Crash—!
Just with the impact of the fall, the earth screamed and split apart.
Beshutang's massive axe smashed the spot where Leorel stood without leaving a trace, but Leorel had already escaped the fatal trajectory like a wisp of smoke.
All noise on the battlefield stopped at once, and all eyes focused on the momentum emitted by the two monsters.
"How dare you!! A girlish guy from the center blabbers so well!"
At Beshutang's roar, Leorel wore a fishy sneer on his lips.
"I am a warrior who legitimately passed the Great Warrior's trial. Such cheap provocation doesn't work on me."
"Bullshit!!! I will kill you and re-establish the sullied pride of barbarians!"
"Captured by old traditions and obstinacy, you can't see an inch ahead. What future is there in this frozen land of death? Unless you win the abundance of the continent, all that remains for you are the coldly cooling corpses of your families."
Beshutang spat out phlegm mixed with blood in anger and gripped his axe.
"Sophistry!! Do you think we don't know you intend to use us barbarians as tools for your ugly desire!"
Leorel's eyebrow twitched minutely.
'Sharp guy.'
"Let's say our interests overlap. I need a powerful axe to break the Empire's walls, and you need fertile land to solve your hunger."
"Kuhahahaha!! Is there any fool who doesn't know that's a poisoned chalice!! No need for words. Everything will be solved if only you die!! Die here!!"
Beshutang swung his giant axe and rushed again.
Leorel accepted that momentum with cold eyes and recited.
"With that precious skill, do you truly rush into the pit of death."
"You are sorely mistaken!! You can never defeat me!! Kuaaaaa!!!"
Boom—!
Crash—!
Kaboom—!
The destructive blows unleashed by the giant Beshutang and Leorel's movements, soft as wind yet sharp as an awl, crossed dozens of times.
However, the scales of victory were already tipped.
Because Leorel had already reached the state of 'Master' by gaining enlightenment amidst the harsh trial of the Barbarian Unification War over the past 10 years.
Even for a Great Warrior of barbarians, it was insufficient to face him who had already transcended the human realm.
"Think again, Beshutang. Your skill is too wasted to die in a place like this."
"Shut up!!! You viper-like bastard!! Do you try to deceive me with that split tongue!! I cannot live under the same sky as you!!"
"Is that truly your resolve."
"It is!!!"
"It's a pity…. I have no choice but to humbly accept that resolve."
Instantly, Leorel's figure disappeared like a mirage from Beshutang's vision.
And what followed was a rupture sound heard chillingly clearly.
Squish—!
Leorel's sword pierced Beshutang's heart without a single inch of error.
"……A pity. You were truly a great warrior."
Beshutang laughed grotesquely even while vomiting blood.
"Cough….! Kuhuhu…. Damn bastard. In the end, you drag us to hell. Ancestors!! Forgive me!! Beshutang, son of Mantailun!! I could not stop that snake-like bastard……!"
Leorel raised his sword high with an indifferent expression.
"Whether it becomes hell or a new heaven remains to be seen."
Slash—!
Leorel cut off Beshutang's head in one stroke.
"And, wasn't it hell even now in the first place."
Beshutang, whose head was cut off, closed his eyes as if acknowledging that.
Leorel held up the severed head high and declared so all directions could hear.
"Beshutang has fallen! I do not want any more vain sacrifices of brave warriors! Those who throw away their weapons and surrender now will see a new dawn! Freezing to death here, is that truly the tradition your ancestors wish for!! Follow me!! I will give you the territory of that fertile continent!! I will show you that we too deserve to live under the warm sunlight!!"
Thud—
Flop—
Clatter—
Overwhelmed by Leorel's lion's roar, the warriors' weapons fell to the ground like rain.
Leorel looked up at the pale sky with that sound as a background.
'10 years…. It was too long….'
The wandering that began from the cruel day when his family was framed as traitors to the Empire and purged finally bore the fruit of 'Northern Barbarian Unification.'
The Piace family, once founding contributors of the Empire, but castrated by the Emperor and treacherous subjects due to becoming too powerful.
Leorel survived alone and sharpened the blade of revenge in this land of the north wind.
Was it because he suddenly recalled when his family collapsed 10 years ago.
A faded fragment sunk deep in Leorel's memory floated to the surface.
'Come to think of it…. There was such a thing too.'
That little brat who blocked his way.
A heterogeneous guy who used incredibly seasoned techniques for a child.
Impressed by that strange talent, he remembered showing one of the family's secret techniques despite being a fugitive.
'Is that guy still alive.'
At the time, Leorel had to massacre the mercenaries blocking his way to shake off pursuers.
Mercenaries mobilized under the pretext of a noble's territorial war chased him knowing nothing.
To avoid being caught, he had no choice but to kill.
It was slaughter without justification, and an indelible karma for him too.
But he spared just one.
It was partly because he didn't feel like cutting a child, but more so because of the strange glint in the brat's eyes and the vivid talent, he couldn't bear to cut the sprout.
Even if it returns as a blade to him.
'He was a guy with quite the talent. If I had brought him then, he would be a great asset by now. Of course, he might rush at me to take my head.'
Because to that brat, he would be the sworn enemy who killed his comrades.
'Huhu, revenge….'
In the end, didn't he himself crawl up here for revenge.
That brat or himself, the essence was no different.
Leorel chuckled and shook off his thoughts.
He looked toward the South, where the impregnable wall of the Empire stood.
"Right, I finally crawled up here. Just watch, Empire. How big a ripple the stone I threw will cause."
May the small ripple become a tsunami and swallow the Empire.
Leorel hoped so.
I was sitting on the sofa in Lady Lorraine's private office, facing her.
The scenery of the Duke's residence reflected outside the window was peaceful, but Lorraine's complexion sitting in front of me was dark.
"Ah, dinner with Arisa?"
"Yes. It turned out that way. May I go?"
At my question, the space between Lorraine's eyebrows narrowed slightly.
Anxiety.
In her clear eyes, fear shimmered that she might lose me, the only trump card she held, to her sister, the genius of the family.
I pierced through her shaking psychology and threw a word indifferently.
"Don't worry too much. I have no intention of changing the rope I've already grabbed."
"……Was it that obvious?"
"Very much."
Lorraine smiled bitterly and fidgeted with the rim of the teacup with her fingertips.
"Fufu, it's natural to be worried. Arisa is the genius swordsman most loved by the family, and I am… as you can see, a nuisance with neither martial power nor talent. It would be natural logic for a strong person like you to want to go to a brighter place."
'She's a strong woman.'
Facing one's own weakness and fear straight on and revealing it is never an easy task.
Usually, the more afraid one is, the louder they bark, but Lorraine was conveying her anxiety to me in a calm tone. I opened my mouth quietly.
"Lady, do you know how I, with insignificant skills, came to be called by the grandiose nickname 'Mercenary King'?"
Lorraine pondered for a moment and answered carefully.
"Surely… it must be because you solved countless requests that others couldn't solve?"
"That is correct. Then what do you think is most necessary to carry out those many requests to the end?"
"Hmm… An interesting Q&A. Ah, wait a moment! I'll guess, so don't tell me."
I unknowingly smiled a smirk.
Seeing this side, she was cute like a girl her age without fail.
Lorraine groaned for a long time and gave an answer.
"Overwhelming martial power? Or tenacity not to give up? Or if not that… kindness towards the client? Ah…! Sorry. I don't know after all."
I laughed lightly at her child-like reaction.
"Fufu, such elements are important too, but what I consider most important is 'Trust'."
Lorraine's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"Trust… you say?"
"Yes. Lady, would you want to entrust a request to someone you can't trust?"
"Certainly… that seems difficult."
"There is a standard I have kept like an iron rule while performing thousands of requests. It is 'Never betray the first client.' Guys tempting me with ten times, twenty times more money are scattered everywhere on the battlefield. But if you follow such sweet temptations, the end is never good. Because a mercenary without credit is just a consumable."
"……."
"I won't force you to trust me unconditionally from the start. But I'm not a guy without manners to that extent. And actually… there is a separate decisive reason."
Lorraine tilted her head and opened her eyes wide.
"A decisive reason?"
"Wouldn't the sense of accomplishment be much greater to crawl up from the bottom and spectacularly break the noses of noble bastards who looked down on us? I happen to have such a twisted hobby."
"W-What did you say? P-Pfft!"
At my arrogant declaration, Lorraine's eyes became round and big.
Soon she tried to maintain her dignity, but eventually couldn't hold back and burst into laughter.
"Haa… How unrefined…. Danel, you are truly a wondrous and strange person."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Lorraine's expression relaxed much more softly.
"Alright, go ahead. If possible, it would be best if Arisa doesn't become hostile to me. She's at least the child who holds even a little bit of goodwill towards me within the family…."
"You won't have to worry about that. Probably from tomorrow, Arisa will hold onto the Lady's skirt and beg 'Sister! Please I beg you!'."
"Yes? What does that mean…?"
"You will know soon. Then I will also have some personal time until dinner."
"P-Please do… Danel."
Leaving Lorraine's puzzled gaze behind, I left the office.
My official guard duty only occurs when Lorraine goes outside the castle.
Inside the castle, Kailey and the maids assist her, so I was guaranteed quite free movement rights.
This was the condition I argued for most strongly at the time of the contract.
Because alone time was absolutely necessary to collect secret information inside the castle and capture the timing to use 'Ahisha's Eye' most effectively.
Winning Arisa over completely to my side. That is the first step for now.
And….
'That person, surely one of Lorraine's brothers.'
I recalled the man who was watching the duel between Arisa and me hiding behind the pillar earlier.
Not a novice like Arisa, but an Expert-level knight who can definitely handle Aura.
He showed deep interest in me.
Therefore, I deliberately exposed Leorel Piace's swordsmanship, which was excessive for Arisa.
To be precise, it was my original modified to fit my body from Leorel's swordsmanship, but that trajectory is bound to be deeply imbued with something a swordsman can see.
A person of that skill would have noticed the peculiarity contained in this swordsmanship.
Repeating the name 'Piace,' the killing intent buried deep in my heart raised its head again creeping.
Scraping together information on the continent for 10 years, I already heard the news that the Piace family, the strongest swordsmanship family in the Empire, was purged.
However, only the family head and the eldest son were executed, and the whereabouts of the second son of the Piace family were unknown.
Leorel Piace, that bastard was the second son.
Surely that guy wouldn't be dead. No, he shouldn't be dead.
If I dig deeper into the core of the Duke's family, I will definitely find clues about that guy.
'Phew, let's calm down.'
If I emit killing intent like this in the middle of the Duke's residence, all plans will come to naught.
I shook my head lightly to quell the killing intent, and recalled cute Arisa's face again.
'Now then, what would be good as bait to fish our cute little lady?'