Chapter 127 : Chapter 127
Chapter 127:
"It's been quite a while since we've seen each other at Headquarters, Ms. Regina."
Regina answered Valheit's greeting with a slightly annoyed laugh.
It was almost respectable how he could make that expression even when they both knew exactly what he had done.
"Oh my. You don't look well."
"I wonder why."
"Oh dear. Who on earth made our Ravens lady so angry?"
"......."
As I watched Valheit tilting his head with a laughter that turned my stomach, a string of curses rose to my throat, but I managed to hold them back.
At least today, I hadn't come here to fight.
The attack on the Imperial merchant ships under the name of Leitche was annoying, but it was a more important issue for the Duke than it was for her.
"How is my brother doing?"
"He's doing great! I even got a doctor from Vestol to take care of him."
"That's a relief. That quack from the village was just… disgusting."
Just thinking of the physician who insisted that the problem was caused by a weak mind and that he needed to be beaten, she unconsciously frowned.
"He's a proper doctor, right?"
"He even trained under Professor Zain for a while...."
"Pardon?!"
"Ahem, he was a temporary apprentice who came out and did medical volunteer work at a place called the People's Medical Center in Vestol. You don't have to worry."
What on earth made me trust a guy who had been under a professor obsessed with experiments?
Was my brother even alive?
Just as a dazed Regina was about to protest, the door opened.
"You called for me."
A young man with an innocent face, who didn't seem to belong at the Eight Council Headquarters, entered and awkwardly bowed his head to Regina.
"Ms. Regina, this is Ernesto… Raphel, the doctor who will be in charge of your poor brother."
"Hello."
He seemed normal on the outside, but Regina knew better than anyone that you couldn't judge a person by their appearance alone.
"Can we change the schedule? I need to see my brother first."
"Of course. What reason would there be not to?"
Surprisingly, Valheit readily agreed.
Regina, who had expected him to threaten her by saying he wouldn't agree until she had resolved other issues first, was slightly flustered.
"Why are you so surprised? What's more important than family?"
Valheit patted her on the shoulder and smiled brightly, but Regina felt even more uneasy.
He wouldn't do this for no reason.
"Don't just sit there. Let's go. Raphel, please guide her."
"Ah, yes."
Still, she couldn't say she wouldn't check on his condition.
Because of that quack, Benjamin's condition had only gotten better with the medicine Regina brought herself.
With a sigh, Regina followed the leading Raphel with an uneasy heart.
Since he was being so brazen about it, there must not be any major problems.
For now, that was all she could believe.
***
"How was he?"
"Better than I expected."
Regina answered with a sullen expression as she came out of the hospital room.
This made it difficult to tell if he was genuinely okay or if she was just being polite.
"Do you think the new doctor is trustworthy?"
"...Maybe?"
"Answer me honestly."
"That is my honest answer."
When I asked again, Regina answered with conviction.
Raphel must have gotten on her good side somehow.
I let out a silent sigh of relief as I had been a little worried.
"The environment in the hospital room was much more organized than before, and my brother's condition looked better. At least he wasn't rampaging enough to harm himself."
"I told you he was a doctor you could trust. Of course, I understand your concern since he was under Professor Zain."
"Still, he shows signs of having learned under that eccentric professor."
Regina pulled out an empty medicine bottle.
I could guess what had been in it.
"Isn't that a truth serum?"
"To be precise, it's a substance that has been improved to be used as medicine. Truth serum isn't something that's used for good, so I can't keep giving it to a patient."
Even so, I remember hearing that it had addictive symptoms.
As if she had read my mind, Regina immediately added a word.
"The new doctor showed a lot of interest in this."
"Isn't it normal for a doctor to be interested in medicine?"
"He said that if he improved it, it could be used as a common drug and asked for a sample. The way he got excited was exactly like the professor who came to Leitche and found something interesting."
So that's why he asked for research equipment.
If I played my cards right, this could be a good source of money....
"Now it's time to settle up, isn't it?"
"I was the one who offered to help Mr. Benjamin, so why are you bringing that up now?"
"Then can I just go back?"
"That won't do."
I flatly refused.
I hadn't agreed to her request to see Benjamin first just to earn some points.
"I hear you and your father are at each other's throats here and there."
"Oh, isn't that a common problem that arises when you run a large organization?"
"Even so, the Ravens are on high alert, and you even touched the Imperial merchant ships under our name."
"Oh my, you even found that out. The Ravens' skills are not to be underestimated."
I spoke in a playful tone, but it was a situation I had already expected.
The Ravens weren't a foolish organization that couldn't even figure that much out.
"Looking at the news from Leitche and the things you've pulled this time, it seems like you're preparing for an all-out war with us…."
"Yes, you're right."
"...Huh?"
Regina blinked and looked at my face.
She seemed genuinely surprised.
"If you're planning to turn against the Ravens, why did you call me here?"
"I have two direct reasons. I need an accomplice within the Ravens."
"And the other one?"
Regina asked back with an uneasy look.
She seemed to have already roughly guessed what the other reason was.
"I want your brother, who is lying in that bed, to take the position of Duke."
***
Noah, who was sitting on the stern and looking at the calm water, let out a long yawn.
"Things are going too well, you know?"
When I decided to work under Valheit, I was quite resolved.
After all, a stereotypical narrow-eyed character wouldn't just leave a windfall alone.
My prediction was half right and half wrong.
Valheit definitely made good use of the Demons.
But at the same time, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being cared for in some way.
'I guess you could say it feels like he's not making proper use of us.'
The most dangerous jobs are never given to Noah and the other Demons.
Not having to risk your life was a good thing, but it was also a bad thing.
At this rate, I was nothing more than a simple laborer.
In a world where you are despised just for being a Demon, being a simple laborer meant that you could be thrown away at any time.
Noah wasn't the only one who thought this.
Karl also often worried that we might end up being a discarded card.
'In the end, it means we have to go higher.'
While working, I had roughly grasped the structure of the Eight Council from eavesdropping.
On the surface, the Eight Council seemed flawless, but internally, it was unstable.
Valheit was managing them with skill, but they were like a team of grains of sand that could turn their swords on each other at any moment.
A chaotic internal situation also meant an opportunity.
From what I had experienced so far, there was no other group as friendly to Demons as the Eight Council.
It was closer to them not caring than being friendly, but in a world where people threw stones at you just for the horns on your head, that was a decent condition.
'There's even a member who's a Demon, like Avantnik. If a spot opens up somehow….'
A sharp whistle woke Noah from his reverie.
I jumped up and headed to where the sound came from.
"What's wrong?"
"A single Imperial ship is approaching."
Hillia pointed to a ship that was coming toward us.
"Merchant ship? Warship?"
"It's barely a fishing boat."
The werewolf, who was sleeping with his tongue out, glared at Hillia for waking him from his deep slumber.
Hillia didn't back down and pointed her finger at him.
"I have eyes, too!"
"Then don't make a fuss. Our target is merchant ships, not this rickety boat."
"It's coming straight for us!"
Indeed, a small boat was approaching us.
Yenoki, who had scanned it with a telescope, scratched his head and bared his teeth.
"It is strange. They must know that Imperial merchant ships are being attacked around here, but they're still flying the Imperial flag. What should we do?"
"Just leave it be for now. Just in case, raise the Leitche flag and change into our uniforms."
I had a gut feeling that something was not right.
Without any interference, the rickety boat approached Noah's ship.
There was a single boatman and one ineffably unpleasant human on board.
"Hello!"
"Piss off."
"Hey, don't be like that, and just listen to me for a bit, people of Leitche."
While I was debating how to respond, the strange human nimbly climbed aboard our ship.
All the bladed weapons were pointed at him, but he just raised his hands as if he didn't care.
"I came in peace, so don't be like that and just listen to what I have to say."
"Who are you?"
At Noah's question, the human, who had swayed with an exaggerated gesture, bowed his head deeply.
"I was wondering why the atmosphere was so hostile. It's because I haven't introduced myself. My name is Falsh, a merchant."
Falsh?
That was the alias Valheit used before.
Is it a coincidence?
"I've come to sell some good information. You're the people of Leitche who have been thoroughly raiding the Imperial merchant ships recently, right?"
"What if we are?"
"For people of Leitche, there sure are a lot of Demons. Oh, I don't mean that I hate or find you disgusting. I'm just surprised that Leitche, who abhors Demons, lent their flag to them."
The chattering human began to look around with interest.
He had to stop, however, when a blade was put to his throat.
"If you try anything funny…."
"Alright. Let's get to the point quickly! I have some information your boss will like! You just have to pay me a good price!"
"My boss?"
"That… Count Valheit, I mean."
The corners of Falsh's mouth, which was speaking slyly, stretched into a long grin.
***
Blaiher pressed down on his temples.
So many things had happened all at once in the past few days, giving him a headache.
The Dukes were already a problem, but now Leitche was starting to stir up trouble.
The only good thing was that Vestol was quiet.
He had intended to leave the matters concerning the Dukes to Valheit, but ever since Valheit returned from Ruhindorf, he had cut off all contact under the pretext of taking a vacation.
In the end, dealing with the greedy Dukes was left entirely to Blaiher.
"Why do they demand so much?"
Muttering to himself, Blaiher read through the petitions sent by the Dukes and various self-proclaimed influential figures, one by one.
The contents were mostly the same.
They wanted him to return their power to the Dukes because the Empire was facing a crisis.
From the brief training he had received in the Strategy Division and what he had learned since becoming Emperor, he knew that if the Dukes' power grew, the Empire would only become more unstable.
However, he lacked the political justification to stop the flood of petitions.
Even though he had established himself to some extent, Blaiher's position outside the Imperial Palace was still far from solid.
"I wish you would help me at times like this, teacher…."
As he grumbled, he heard a strange, unfamiliar sound.
He turned his head and saw a single black Raven sitting on the window sill.
If the Raven hadn't raised its leg to show him a letter tube, he might have just ignored it.
When he took the letter out of the tube, the Raven flew away without even looking back.
He knew that Valheit and Til often used this method, but this was the first time Valheit had ever contacted him using a Raven.
Blaiher frowned as he unfolded the letter.
As if it had heard his grumbling, Valheit had extended a helping hand.
It was a dirty and ugly kind of help, but it was a time when even that kind of help was needed.