Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Grabbing the Tail
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Boom!
The room, filled with ornate decorations, shook violently.
All because of the aura emanating from a single person: Valdemar von Rustal.
“P-Patriarch. P-Please calm down.”
Pierre, the secretary in charge of the family’s administration, forced the words out with difficulty.
For an ordinary person like him, just brushing against Valdemar’s aura was enough to choke the breath from his lungs, but he still did his utmost for his lord.
Perhaps because of that effort, Valdemar soon withdrew his aura.
“Sorry, Pierre. I showed you an unsightly side of me.”
“N-No, sir. It was a situation more than worthy of your anger.”
Secretary Pierre hurriedly replied.
Hadn’t he himself been genuinely flustered when he heard from Stefan Rustal that an audit was coming?
And with other issues erupting on top of that, he fully understood Valdemar’s rage.
“No matter how I think about it, I can’t make sense of it. Why is Elder Oriana cooperating with that Martin brat? She’s been kicking up such a fuss all this time about building her own branch family.”
When they had chased Martin out of the grand assembly under the pretext of 100 days of training, the branch family patriarchs and the three elders had reached an agreement.
To cooperate until the Adalbert main family collapsed.
Yet Elder Oriana had suddenly sided with Martin.
He couldn’t fathom why she would abandon her own dream to do so.
“This is just my personal speculation, but it seems Young Lord Martin has grasped Elder Oriana’s weakness.”
“That brat found a weakness we don’t know about?”
“We must also consider the possibility that the former patriarch told him.”
“Hmm. True, if it’s the former patriarch, he might know things we don’t. He scurried about everywhere just to keep ruling as patriarch.”
“As you say. But right now, Elder Oriana isn’t the important one.”
“Indeed. What we need to focus on now are the White Dragon Knights and Golden Dragon Knights. When are they arriving?”
“They’re scheduled to arrive tomorrow night, and Young Lord Martin says he’ll visit the main family via portal at that exact time, accompanied by Miss Sien Egret. But no matter how I look at it, something’s off. It’s no small matter, but tax evasion and slush funds aren’t enough to warrant mobilizing two knight orders together.”
“I thought the same as you. From the circumstances, it seems Martin has checked the contents of the ledger.”
Valdemar glanced at the safe in front of him.
The safe door stood wide open, and its contents were scattered messily across Valdemar’s office.
Artifacts made of top-grade magic stones, jewelry crafted with utmost care by dwarf artisans—each one boasted an enormous value.
These weren’t things money alone could buy.
Yet neither Valdemar nor Secretary Pierre spared them a glance.
They were fixated solely on the fact that the most crucial item—the ledger—was missing.
This alone had ignited Valdemar’s fury, and now an audit had erupted on top of it.
“I’ve lived over fifty years, but the world still doesn’t turn the way I want. What a pity.”
Clench.
Contrary to his calm tone, Valdemar gripped his fists tightly.
The Blood Sword Unit had collapsed, and two days had passed since then.
During that time, he had focused on解除 the magic and curses on the safe, all while sincerely praying.
That the ledger would be inside the safe.
But Valdemar’s wish did not come true.
Just as he had feared at first, the ledger had fallen into Martin’s hands.
This meant Martin now held the Rustal family by the throat.
“Even Space Domination alone was absurd. Young Lord Martin noticed the secret safe and plucked out only the ledger. But the real thing to watch is his brain. Who would’ve thought he’d decipher the cipher language this quickly.”
“No matter how smart he is thanks to the dragon’s curse, this is just ridiculous.”
Over the past century, there had been at most two people per generation who could read the Blood Sword Unit’s cipher language.
The patriarch of the Rustal family at the time and the leader of the Blood Sword Unit.
And the cipher had grown more complex with time; even Valdemar himself had needed a great deal of time to learn it.
Yet Martin had deciphered the ledger’s cipher in a mere two days.
It was hard to believe, but he couldn’t deny the fact.
The movements of the White Dragon Knights and Golden Dragon Knights were proof.
Soon, all his misdeeds—all the sins borne by the Rustal family—would be exposed.
Far from ascending as the main family’s patriarch, they would face annihilation instead.
“Either way, we can’t avoid the fight.”
“Yes.”
“And we won’t get help from other factions.”
“……That’s true.”
The successive patriarchs of the Rustal family had assassinated many political rivals through the Blood Sword Unit.
They had even targeted the direct line of the Adalbert family this time.
Even if Martin had been an incompetent back then, a direct descendant was still a direct descendant. If it got out that they had targeted him, the Rustal family would be utterly isolated.
No— he had to consider the possibility that the other branch patriarchs might aid Martin in subjugating him and the Rustal family.
“Fight doesn’t scare me. I’ve been prepared for this since I swore to go independent. But there’s one more thing that worries me.”
“What might that be?”
“I can’t shake the thought that Martin might know about the slush fund warehouse. Of course, I know that doesn’t make sense. There’s no way he’d know something even the successive Adalbert main family patriarchs couldn’t uncover for 300 years.”
Using the Blood Sword Unit to kill rivals or Martin was a problem, but it was still an internal family matter.
The imperial family couldn’t intervene in the Adalbert family’s patriarch issue over that alone.
But siphoning off dungeon byproducts was a different story.
It was the crime the Empire viewed most gravely, and if it came to light, the imperial family would intervene.
Even if they defeated Martin, it would become difficult to remain as imperial nobles.
“There’s no way. If the former patriarch had truly found the slush fund warehouse, he would have exposed it immediately. After all, he was the kind of man who did everything to suppress the branches. There’s no way he’d let an opportunity to crush us pass.”
“True. I guess I’m just getting old and overly cautious. Anything else we could get caught on besides the slush fund warehouse?”
“If the main family’s auditors come and comb through everything, they might find some minor issues. But that’s the extent of it.”
“Is there any chance they could falsify the books during the audit?”
“That’s impossible too. To falsify perfectly, they’d need to tamper with the Adventurer’s Guild records as well, and no matter how much a young lord he is, interfering that far is difficult. At best, they can only check the records.”
Secretary Pierre spoke with conviction.
Only then did Valdemar fully relax and nod.
“For now, we focus on crushing the White Dragon Knights and Golden Dragon Knights and capturing Martin Adalbert.”
“I’ll summon the Green Dragon Knights and all the family’s forces.”
They were on a collision course with the main family, but Valdemar von Rustal remained composed.
He never imagined the day would come when the Rustal family’s forces alone would battle the Adalbert family.
But he wasn’t worried.
The White Dragon Knights and Golden Dragon Knights were strong, but not enough to overwhelm the entire Rustal family.
Valdemar maintained his calm and vowed to crush Martin.
But the next day in the afternoon.
His composure shattered in an instant.
“Martin Adalbert has led the White Dragon Knights and Golden Dragon Knights to seize Chelloti Mountain!”
The moment they heard “Chelloti Mountain,” Valdemar and Secretary Pierre went pale.
Only two members of the family knew.
What lay on Chelloti Mountain.
“A-And……”
“Stop dragging it out and speak! Do you intend to keep the patriarch waiting?”
“I’m sorry! Martin Adalbert has declared that you, Patriarch, commissioned the Blood Sword Unit to assassinate him. And that the Rustal family has been embezzling dungeon byproducts for hundreds of years……”
Grind.
Valdemar ground his teeth without realizing it.
The Blood Sword Unit was one thing, but how the hell did he find out about the Rustal family’s slush fund warehouse?
“Martin Adalbert!”
Unable to hold back any longer, Valdemar finally exploded.
* * *
On the outskirts of Talonia City, Chelloti Mountain.
Martin stood midway up the mountain.
He had originally planned to take a portal to the Rustal family during the day today, but yesterday afternoon, he had left the main family with Sien.
From the mountainside, he looked down at the Rustal family’s mansion in the heart of Talonia City.
It was a strange feeling.
Seeing again the place he had personally burned down in the past.
‘It’ll meet the same fate this time too.’
Once desire began to rampage, it wouldn’t vanish until death. Even if it led to ruin, Valdemar was sure to rebel.
“He must be dumbfounded, Valdemar von Rustal. His prized brain is utterly useless.”
Valdemar was undoubtedly a fearsome opponent.
He excelled at schemes and plots, and with his 7th Circle prowess, he could handle problems on his own.
In his previous life, Martin had barely survived several near-death experiences due to his machinations.
But no matter how clever, without information, one couldn’t act properly.
Since Martin monopolized future knowledge through his regression, Valdemar had no choice but to suffer helplessly.
“Still, I’m taking you down first because I acknowledge you. Feel proud about that.”
“Ugh, what a personality.”
Sien muttered from behind, but Martin neatly ignored her.
“Now, shall we loot the slush funds?”
“There’s really a warehouse here, Martin?”
“Yeah. To be precise, it’s below here.”
“Underground? ……We don’t have to dig it out or anything, right?”
“Of course not. There’s a separate portal. We go through that.”
Martin answered without hesitation.
Before his regression, he had personally beheaded Valdemar von Rustal.
And Karyne had hacked Valdemar von Rustal’s subspace, successfully uncovering everything about the slush fund warehouse.
That’s why he still remembered.
Its location, of course, and how to enter.
Hum.
Martin immediately activated Distortion of All Things, and golden rays of light spread out.
The web-like rays expanded continuously, providing Martin with a wealth of information.
Soon, he detected a spot where mana was compressed and withdrew his mana.
That was when it happened.
Step, step.
Lucas Hoff, leader of the White Dragon Knights, approached Martin and Sien with his knights in tow.
“The Golden Dragon Knights will stand by here and monitor the Rustal family’s movements. If they show any suspicious signs, Captain Philip will attack immediately.”
“That’s enough.”
After replying to Lucas, Martin headed toward the portal’s location.
Upon arrival, he channeled mana through his soles.
Flash!
A brilliant light bloomed, and a circular magic circle appeared on the ground.
It was a portal that transported people to their desired location.
Hum.
The light grew brighter, warping space.
The light swallowed the group, and everyone, including Martin, felt their senses jumble.
But it didn’t last long.
The light faded first, and their senses returned to normal.
They opened their eyes and immediately saw it.
The vast underground cavern and the massive building erected within.
The Rustal family’s slush fund warehouse.