Chapter 41 : Chapter 41
Chapter 41
On his way to the Magic Tower within the domain to meet the prince, Count Obsol, though hurrying his steps, was busy formulating a plan.
‘I don't know why the prince came all the way here, but there's no way that madman came here to actually work, so I'll entertain him with some liquor and women and use the working-level officials to keep the ducal family in check…….’
The nobles who supported the first prince and the nobles of the king's faction passed through his mind.
‘There's no way Marquess Dmitry would move with the second prince… Count Rothsun?
Would they have dispatched a count for the ducal family's affairs?’
If the first prince had come in person, he would not have had to worry at all.
His head was so complicated it felt like it would explode.
‘Whoever the working-level official is, I must persuade them to send a request for mediation to the royal palace.
I'll have to throw a party so big that the second prince can't even move.’
A grand welcoming ceremony was already being prepared in the castle.
The working-level officials might find it unpleasant, but they would not be unaware of the royal palace's mistake in dispatching the second prince for such an important matter.
The Count was confident that he could persuade them.
That is, until he came face to face with the second prince, who was sitting on the floor of the Magic Tower's entrance, waiting.
“…Your Highness?”
Around the prince, there was not a single attendant or servant.
It was customary for a member of the royal family to hide their identity as much as possible when receiving a mission from the king, but the prince, without hiding his brilliantly shining golden eyes and golden hair that symbolized his legitimacy in the Reime royal family, nor his splendid formal attire with dozens of golden embroideries, stood up, dusted off his dirt-stained clothes, and casually greeted him.
“Count Obsol, it's been a while.
Is this the first time since the last banquet?”
“Your Highness, it is a great honor to meet you like this.
By any chance, the people who came with you are……?”
“The people who came with me?
Ah, it seems you haven't received the message yet.
The king has entrusted me with full authority over this matter.”
In that instant, the world in front of the Count went dark.
To think that the prince would visit the domain alone, without a single working-level official.
‘It's fine.
If I send a petition to the royal palace while he's drunk, they'll have no choice but to dispatch someone else.’
Perhaps the first prince or a marquess would visit instead.
The Count, who had started to move while escorting the prince, quickly signaled to the butler and the adjutant with his hand, and the two scurried away.
After confirming that, the Count looked at the prince with as natural an expression as possible.
“I apologize, but I did not expect you to arrive so quickly, so the preparations are not yet complete.
Since Your Highness has come a long way, in the meantime, perhaps a meal……”
As the Count wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and asked for his understanding, the prince bared his teeth, smiled, and shook his head.
“A meal is fine.
How can I, who have come under the command of His Majesty the King, waste my time?
Even the reception room will do, so first, I would like to hear in detail about what has happened so far.”
At the prince's much more proactive attitude than he had expected, the Count's face hardened.
‘I was told he was a man who couldn't live a single day without liquor and women……?’
He had heard that the prince had personally requested it from the king, but the Count, who thought there was no way the prince would have come to this remote domain to work, opened his mouth once more.
“Your Highness, you have come a long way, and I am concerned that your health may suffer if you attend to your duties immediately.
How about attending to your duties after taking a short rest?”
“Hmm… do you really think so?”
At the prince's appearance, as if he were genuinely contemplating, the Count inwardly rejoiced.
“Of course.
You will be lonely while you rest, so a little liquor and some snacks……”
The moment the Count, who thought there was no way the prince would exercise self-control in front of liquor, opened his mouth excitedly, the prince's cold gaze turned to him.
“Strange.
The king ordered me to help you, but you don't seem to need any help at all.
Could it be that you lied to the king?”
At the prince's sharp voice, as sharp as his gaze, the Count flinched for a moment.
“Or are you trying to deceive me?”
“How could that be?
Your Highness, I was just worried about your well-being……”
The prince, who nodded at the Count's words, pointed ahead with his chin and said.
“Then that's settled.
I have many things I want to hear, so let's go in.”
The prince did not even wait for the Count's reply and strode towards the castle.
* * *
“Sit comfortably, Count.”
As the prince sat at the Count's office desk and spoke confidently, the Count looked back and forth between the prince and the sofa with a flustered face.
He had no intention of insisting on the seat of honor in front of the prince in the first place, but to think he would sit in his chair when there was a perfectly good sofa where the two could sit facing each other.
The Count, who had slightly frowned in displeasure, naturally pulled up a chair and sat down.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Alright, I've heard the report, but there are many parts I don't understand.”
The prince, who had stretched out his body as if to interrogate him, looked at the Count.
“That ruffian has changed?”
The Count was flustered for a moment at the out-of-the-blue question.
The Count, who had been a noble from the moment he was born, naturally took the words.
“Yes.
It seems his condition has worsened from before.”
“His condition has worsened?”
The Count swallowed his saliva and opened his mouth.
“Just before the Moner family completely cut off their trade with us, they contacted us through my subordinate's emergency contact network and threatened to kill my second son.
It is clear that the young lord's condition has deteriorated.”
“The young lord's condition……”
Seeing the prince with a serious expression as if in thought, the Count continued to drive the nail in.
“As you know, Your Highness, it is no great secret that the young lord of the Moner family suffers from insanity.
No matter how displeased one is, to threaten to kill the legitimate son of a ducal family.
It is something that can only be done with insanity.”
The Count's words poured out like a torrent.
He did not mention a single thing that Obsol had done, and instead cast doubt on the young lord's actions.
“…This is more serious than I thought.”
At the sight of the prince nodding with a serious expression, the Count forced himself to hold back his laughter and said.
“That's right.
The atrocities of the Moner family have crossed the…….”
However, the prince's following words were completely different from the Count's expectations.
“To think that the authority of the royal family has hit rock bottom, to the point where a noble of Reime would ignore the legitimate son of the royal family in front of his eyes.”
As the prince's cool golden eyes turned to the Count, the Count unconsciously flinched.
“I came here to conduct as fair a mediation as possible, following the king's command.
However, if you continue to try to use me like this, I will have no choice but to take one side.”
“What is that supposed to……”
The Count tried to protest, but the prince's voice was firm.
“Is the young lord really running wild for no reason?”
“Th-that is……”
Sweat trickled down the back of the flustered Count.
Since he could not proudly say that he had sold sand-mixed food, he had to give another reason.
“The merchant guild that my son is running owed a little debt to a fledgling guild, and the young lord, who had extorted the bond, caused this commotion, demanding that the money be paid back.”
“Debt?
A debt can just be paid back.”
“If it were a reasonable amount, we would have done so.
The amount that the Moner family demanded from us is 150 million gold.”
The prince stared at the Count with wide-open eyes.
“150 million?
That's a much larger amount than I thought, but still, it's strange.
If they couldn't get the money, they could have taken the food, but instead, they cut off the food trade?
Why did they do that?”
As the Count rolled his eyes and avoided the prince's gaze, the prince rested his chin on his hand and continued.
“Count, let me be clear, I plan to hear both sides of the story.
If you're going to hide something from me, you'd better be sure that you'll never be caught.”
“H-hide?
We just didn't mention it because we haven't grasped the situation accurately yet.”
“Tell me what you know.”
“Th-that is, the Moner family claimed that the food we sold was mixed with sand.”
In that instant, the prince's body stiffened.
“In the food?
Sand?
Why?”
The prince, who was looking at the Count with an incredulous expression as if he could not understand at all, asked slowly.
“Don't tell me, you sold sand-mixed food to the Moner family, the vanguard that protects the Forest of Demonic Beasts?”
Even as he spoke, the prince had a look of disbelief on his face.
No matter how much the Duke had disappeared, to think of selling sand to the Moner family.
The Count, who met the prince's disgusted gaze, quickly sold out his son.
“Th-that part is managed by my second son, so I don't know well.
How could I possibly do that intentionally?
There must have been some inevitable mistake that I am unaware of……”
Seeing the Count biting his lip and making up excuses as they came, the prince quietly muttered.
“Madmen.”
The Moner family, though it had not obtained the title of a duchy, was no different from one.
No one in the royal family could set foot on Moner's land without the Moner family's permission, and the Moner family also rarely left Moner's territory without the royal family's permission.
The leash that connected the royal family and the Moner family was the control of food using the three domains.
They had carefully maintained a loose control using food, as if taming a wild wolf.
“It seems you're not afraid of the royal family's wrath?”
The prince, who let out a smirk at the incomprehensible situation, glared at the Count.
“Th-that is not it……!”
“Wait, but why didn't the Moner family report to the royal family?
If the three domains were playing with the food, they could have sent a personal letter and requested mediation like they are doing now……”
The prince's face, who had been pondering, hardened.
If the three domains united, it would not be difficult to mess with the food, but to do that, they needed help from the central government.
Since there was no way the Moner family, which had been mixed with sand, would stand by idly, they would have requested mediation from the central government, and the royal family would have sent a suitable person for mediation.
“Is it my brother……”
It was clear that the first prince, who had suddenly received the loyal support of the three counts a few years ago, was behind them.
“My, I came here because I was so tired of seeing my brother act up, but to think I'd hear something I never expected.”
He could now understand why the crown prince had wanted to come here.
Since it was a matter he was involved in, he probably wanted to clean up the mess neatly.
The problem was.
“What on earth was he trying to do in this situation?”
He could not see any way to resolve this situation smoothly.
The Moner family had already cut off trade with Obsol.
If the relationship had deteriorated to the point of threatening to kill the Count's second son, it was not a situation that could be improved with promises or contracts.
The prince's gaze, as he looked at the Count who was blabbering to make excuses again, sank low.
* * *
Ian, who had left the Obsol Lord's Castle, entered an inn room near the castle, and Reina and Akasha, who had been waiting, greeted him.
“Welcome back, Young Master.”
“Yes, I'm back.”
Ian turned his head and looked at Akasha.
“The rangers?”
“They are on standby outside the domain.”
The number of rangers who had come this far was a total of 12, including Akasha.
As they were masters of tracking and assassination, there would be no such thing as losing their target.
“Good.
The elf hunters seem to be with the eldest son of Obsol.
Have 10 of them track him, and release the remaining 3 into the domain to gather some information.”
“Information, you say?”
“The road here was empty.
I don't know who it is, but it seems someone important has come.
It might be a problem when we're cleaning up, so just find out who it is.
When you find the hunter's location, be sure to tell me first.”
Ian grinned at Akasha, who had clenched both her fists, showing his white teeth.
“Then, may you have a happy hunt.”
He was confident that when the prey, who had been hunted for so long, finally bared their teeth, not a single hunter would survive.
* * *
The prince, who had entered the room prepared by the Count, could not shake off his thoughts even as he lay in bed.
“Strange.
The young lord's sudden extreme actions, and the events happening around here, are too much to be a coincidence……”
Asking the king for this mission had been an impulsive choice.
He had thought it was a good time to ruin his reputation, and the annoying first prince had been eyeing this mission.
He had come here to fail in the first place, so he had just looked around with a light heart, but the situation was turning out to be more interesting than he had thought.
“The Moner family did not interfere in the succession of the throne.”
All the people of the Reime Kingdom would know of their noble sense of purpose in protecting the Forest of Demonic Beasts and saving everyone.
“I wonder if that will still be the case when they find out that the first prince has been feeding them sand?”
For the unfolding situation to be a coincidence, it was too exquisite.
Bandits roaming Failsafe at the moment the Moner family would want it most, and plundering the merchant guilds of the three domains selectively?
The Count was suspicious of Lyt, but the only one who had benefited from all this was the Moner family.
Since there was no Duke to move the Moner family, no one was suspecting them.
“The young lord must have moved.”
There was another person who, like himself, had lived wearing a mask stained with disgrace to hide his true self for a long time.
“Then why now?
Why did he move now of all times?”
No matter how much he thought about it, he could not find an answer to the question, and he could not fall asleep at all.