Chapter 19 : Chapter 19
Chapter 19. Marriage Alliance (1)
Afternoon sunlight was entering through the gap in the open curtains.
Blanc was eating the soup Emilia brought, enjoying the incoming sunlight.
‘I really slept in after a long time.’
Blanc had lived a life lacking sleep all his life.
When he was a slave, when he was a mercenary, and when fighting the endlessly surging Void.
However, last night couldn't be helped.
Since he had exhausted his stamina extremely and was even wounded.
Moreover, Blanc’s body was an incomplete fourteen-year-old young body.
“I said I will feed you.”
“I said I can eat.”
Since Blanc had bandages wrapped around both hands, holding something was uncomfortable.
‘It’s fortunate there will be no aftereffects.’
It was Blanc who had struck down the sword stuck in the centipede madly to pierce the crown of the giant centipede with a hard exoskeleton.
“Who do you resemble to be so stubborn as a bull?”
“Either father or mother.”
Blanc ate the soup inserting a spoon between the wrapped bandages, rejecting Emilia who said she would feed him until the end.
“So. Iselin is okay now?”
Blanc going through such hardship was solely for Iselin.
Moonlit Grass appearing only in legends.
When he first thought of the Moonlit Grass, he thought he should use it to raise the Cadmus family by selling it at a high price.
Since it was a precious flower, the asking price would be the price, Ulrich even said he covered research expenses for several years by selling just one of those flowers.
And he could have obtained something other than money.
For example, he thought he might be able to form a connection with influential nobles through the Moonlit Grass, but.
‘I used it on the brat…….’
It was the precious Moonlit Grass paid with numerous opportunities he could have obtained and his own hardship. So Iselin who received it had to live unconditionally.
“They say she stabilized a lot. Just yesterday it seemed her breath would stop soon, the flower called Moonlit Grass must be really amazing!”
“It should be…… Of course it should be…… How I brought it…….”
Although he used the precious Moonlit Grass on Iselin, this was not only a bad choice.
Instead of making connections with influential nobles, he left a definite impression on Bartomyu, the head of the Tolome family.
Instead of preparing money by selling it at a high price, he could make Weird Tolome, the fourth son of Tolome, owe a big debt.
Since Iselin’s father, Weird Tolome, exercised quite large economic influence in the Felix Kingdom operating the Tolome family’s merchant group, he was someone who could sufficiently help Blanc in financial parts.
“Do you know Count Berger Neudorf came yesterday? They say he processed the Moonlit Grass. They said if it wasn’t for Lord Berger, they couldn’t have used the Moonlit Grass even if they had it.”
“Who?”
“Lord Berger Neudorf! Indeed, seeing him in person, it seemed light was coming from his face! He is really handsome!”
‘Berger Neudorf!’
-The Void propagates through gaze and is transmitted using fear as a medium.
When the Void was first revealed to the world, when humans were helpless against unknown entities, there was a person who analyzed the existence called Void from a human perspective for the first time.
Berger Neudorf, a Meritorious Noble of the Felix Kingdom, the head of the Alchemy School, and one of the ‘7 Sages’.
If not for him, the organization called Liberation Front wouldn’t have even been created.
Because they wouldn’t have known the method itself to oppose the Void.
If Gornas Balthazar who handed the White Thunderbolt to Blanc was a hero active on the front lines, Berger Neudorf was a hero who tried to promote human survival by revealing the secrets of the Void.
“I, I want to see him once.”
Gornas, who was active on the front lines, he had chances to see several times, but there was no such chance for Berger.
“Just now you were a bit like Rakshar?”
“Did he leave already? If not, guide me.”
When the opportunity to see the figure of the hero he admired came, Blanc’s heart beat like a fourteen-year-old boy.
***
“Can I really take it?”
Although he was asking politely if he could take it, strong will to take it was embedded in Berger’s eyes.
“Not only did you save my granddaughter’s life, but you even forgave my son’s rudeness of knocking on the Count’s mansion in the middle of the night, so I wonder if it is rather insufficient.”
“No! Not at all! This alone is sufficient. Lord Bartomyu.”
Inside the reagent bottle Berger was holding, liquid emitting silver light was contained.
Although the person who brought the Moonlit Grass was Blanc, he naturally handed over ownership, so now the owner of the Moonlit Grass was Bartomyu.
Bartomyu was proud that his commendable grandson handed over the treasure with courtesy, so he intended to return this entirely as Blanc’s profit, not Tolome’s profit.
So he put it in the hand of Berger, a fellow Meritorious Noble family.
Berger was smiling happily looking at the reagent bottle in his hand.
Although it was only one Moonlit Grass, that alone was more than enough to treat Iselin’s poisoning.
Berger thought maybe he administered the Moonlit Grass excessively.
Seeing that Iselin who was blond became silver-haired.
However, since Berger handled the flower called Moonlit Grass for the first time, such a mistake was unavoidable.
“Looking at Lady Iselin’s condition, she seems to be in a stable state now. The attending physician of the Tolome family also agreed with my opinion. It seems she passed the critical point.”
“Really, how should I repay this grace…….”
Even if they were fellow Meritorious Nobles, they were two families active in different fields. Therefore, Bartomyu and Berger didn’t have a chance to open their hearts and interact deeply like now.
“By the way, I heard the one who brought the Moonlit Grass is Baron Blanc who newly became the Baron of Norington this time?”
“Hahaha. That is correct. Baron Blanc of the Cadmus family. He is also my grandson.”
As the topic of conversation naturally shifted from Moonlit Grass and Iselin to Blanc, Bartomyu shrugged his shoulders.
“I have a few questions I want to ask him, would that be okay? It’s nothing special, just to resolve academic doubts.”
“Of course. I also haven’t heard the detailed backstory since I was distracted, let’s listen together at this opportunity.”
***
What Blanc first saw entering Bartomyu’s office was a handsome middle-aged man with reddish-brown hair.
Although he must have stayed up all night examining the condition of Iselin poisoned, his innate appearance didn’t go anywhere, it was literally dazzling.
‘Indeed, worthy of being called Berger blessed by God.’
Brilliant brain, handsome looks, and even inheriting the blood of a Meritorious Noble family, Berger Neudorf.
People called him Berger, blessed by God.
Although Berger was looking towards old age past middle age, whenever he smiled, some women nearby would still clutch their hearts.
“I came to receive the Count’s summons. Blanc Cadmus greets you.”
Blanc would have visited Berger with an appropriate excuse even if Bartomyu hadn’t called him.
“Oh oh! Are you Blanc! Glad to meet you. I am Berger Neudorf.”
Berger approached Blanc who was bowing and asked for a handshake.
Berger didn’t care much about formalities or etiquette despite being a Count.
It was possible behavior because Berger placed more weight on the scholar side rather than focusing his identity on nobility.
“How dare I shake hands with Lord Berger, a Meritorious Noble of the Kingdom…….”
“No. You naturally have the qualification. Aren’t you the person who found the Moonlit Grass appearing only in legends? I am rather honored to shake hands with a person who did such a heroic act!”
Although Blanc and Bartomyu wouldn’t know, there would be infinite experiments possible with this Moonlit Grass.
As an alchemist moving to find the truth, having obtained an item appearing only in legends, the Blanc who brought it couldn’t help but look pretty.
Perhaps because of that, the black-haired boy wrapping bandages around both hands looked reliable.
“Right, where did you find this? Explain the circumstances and process in detail.”
“Right! That is what I’m curious about Baron Blanc Cadmus!”
Blanc started reciting the detailed schedule until finding the Moonlit Grass according to Bartomyu’s words.
If he just changed the matter regarding Ulrich to a tradition passed down in the Cadmus family, the rest were only truths with nothing to hide.
“Lord Thommel Cadmus, the first head of the Cadmus family and my great-grandfather, once went to the cliff now called White Claw in his youth. There…….”
The story was that Thommel Cadmus, who discovered the Moonlit Grass which was still a young flower bud there, judged it was not the stage to harvest yet and left a will to pass down the location of the Moonlit Grass from generation to generation and use it when the Cadmus family is in crisis…….
“Where is the location! How are the temperature and climate? How was the condition of the soil? I understand the place called White Claw is a granite area?”
As soon as Blanc unpacked the story, Berger rushed in aggressively.
Of course, Blanc who respected Berger deeply in his heart was answering his questions faithfully, but.
“Black centipede? I’ve never heard of such a monster existing. So what did you do to the monster? You killed it by driving a sword into its crown?”
As Bartomyu’s question offensive poured in as well, it was hard for Blanc to maintain his senses.
While answering questions holding onto his fleeing mind amidst the extreme question offensive of two masters with completely different interests where his soul seemed to drain out, he was also a Regressor who rolled for 30 years.
While he answered questions biting his lips not to lose to the questions pouring incessantly from the two people.
Time passed before he knew it and the sun was setting.
***
Bartomyu hurriedly sent Blanc back as he staggered with his legs giving way after standing and receiving questions from the two people for several hours.
Anyway, Blanc was also a patient who suffered injuries, so he worried if he overworked him too much.
“Then when sending the investigation team to the place called White Claw, I will contact the Neudorf family.”
“Thank you.”
Tolome agreed to form a joint investigation team from two families, to verify the black centipede Blanc caught, and Neudorf to investigate the cave where the Moonlit Grass was.
“By the way, he is a truly excellent boy. Bringing the family’s secret treasure to save his cousin’s life. Moreover, according to Baron Blanc, didn’t he almost die fighting the black centipede?”
It was decisiveness and achievement unbelievable to say a fourteen-year-old boy not yet an adult did it.
“Right? Certainly, inheriting Tolome’s blood, it is certain he harbors unusual talent.”
Bartomyu accepted it as if waiting as soon as Berger praised Blanc.
An ordinary person might think he did so because he felt good about his grandson being praised, but Bartomyu was a Count occupying a high position in a country.
Not a simple grandfather doting on his grandson, but a noble who knew how to convey meaning even in a single word.
“How about it?”
“About what?”
Although Berger was also a person lacking nothing to be called the head of a family, he had to be small in front of Bartomyu, rich in age and experience.
“Isn’t he an excellent young man? I am not praising him like this because he is my grandson. Baron Blanc is timber with potential. Although now it is only a nominal succession right to Norington, isn’t it land that can be reclaimed as much as we want if we lend strength?”
“We……?”
It is true Berger viewed Blanc favorably, but naturally Blanc was not included in the fence called ‘we’.
Therefore, Berger was feeling baffled at Bartomyu suddenly putting him inside one fence.
“I understand there is a daughter in the Berger Count family matching Blanc’s age range. I heard she is a lady resembling Lord Berger exactly in talent and beauty.”
“Ah, aaaah! I realize now what you are saying. But Lord Bartomyu, that child is…….”
“I know well too. But isn’t that not that child’s fault? It is just a tragedy that happened due to bad luck. I, Bartomyu, am not a person swayed by such superstitions.”
“But since it hasn’t been long since she lost her husband, finding a new marriage partner is still burdensome. Moreover, that child is also sick and tired of marriage now…….”
Not giving a definite answer was an action like instinct for nobles to preserve their safety by making the responsibility unclear.
Therefore, one could be called a true noble only by matching the context back and forth, examining the atmosphere, and grasping the true intention of the speaker accurately.
And the two people sitting in Bartomyu’s office right now were people lacking nothing to be called true nobles.
“Hahaha! That, time will solve! Isn’t Baron Blanc a boy who hasn’t even had his coming-of-age ceremony yet? If a handsome man and a beautiful woman meet over time, emotion is bound to move.”
Bartomyu could read his true intentions through Berger’s non-verbal actions.
“Well. I will have to ask my daughter once.”
That Berger, tilting his head as if troubled right now, was thinking seriously about the marriage alliance with the Tolome family.
Bartomyu had handed over the Moonlit Grass to Berger exactly for this moment.
Because the Neudorf family would become a very reliable in-law for Blanc.