The Regressor of a Fallen Baronial House

Chapter 42. The Woman in the Black Veil (1)

"Don't do that and come in."

A young silver-haired girl was holding onto Blanc’s door, looking at Blanc who was getting dressed.

She looked as if she was debating whether to enter or not.

"……"

Even though Blanc told her to come in, Iselin just tapped her toes on the ground.

Children’s growth was a fast thing.

Blanc, who arrived at Tolome at the age of thirteen, had now become a fifteen-year-old adult.

It wasn't just simply aging. Entering his growth period, Blanc’s body was also becoming similar to an adult's.

It was the genes of the Cadmus family, which had strong bodies to begin with. Blanc’s father, Pallard, was a man over 190cm tall.

Blanc, who inherited those genes intact, had already caught up to the height of an average adult male.

Furthermore, having finished his coming-of-age ceremony yesterday, Blanc looked quite different in young Iselin’s eyes even though it was only a day’s difference.

And her cousin felt quite unfamiliar.

"……Is Blanc an adult from now on?"

"I was an adult from the beginning."

And Iselin was feeling disappointed at the sight of Blanc entering the world of adults first, unlike herself who was still a young child.

"And getting married too?"

"That is right."

Even young Iselin knew well that Blanc was marrying the daughter of Neudorf.

"Then you will go out and live separately now?"

"They said they have prepared a mansion."

Getting married meant becoming the head of a household.

Since Blanc was a person who would go beyond a head of a household to become the head of a family, he could not live off the Tolome family anymore.

Therefore, Berger Neudorf had prepared a mansion in Baltimere rather than preparing separate dowry items.

If Blanc married Ciella Neudorf, he would have to move there.

"Then who do I play with……?"

Big teardrops quickly formed in Iselin’s eyes.

Iselin, the youngest Tolome, was a child who could not mingle among the siblings with a large age gap and lived lonely alone before Blanc came.

Although her father, Weird, paid more attention to her now than back then, it still could not fill all the meaning that Blanc, who was similar in age, gave her.

'When did I ever play with you?'

Hearing Iselin’s words, Blanc was dumbfounded. Because he had never treated her well enough nor played with her enough for her to be that sad.

However, there was a point Blanc did not know.

Although Blanc treated Iselin bluntly, the other cousins did not even do that much.

They felt uncomfortable with the young girl who acted as Bartomyu’s eyes, and they were people who essentially did not know how to properly deal with a young girl.

The symbol of Tolome is a lion.

Because they were a family of knights.

Although Noel and Aubert, who recently returned to the family and were recovering from injuries, adored Iselin, there was a gap of awkwardness between them that was hard to fill.

The teardrops that had been welling up in Iselin’s eyes began to fall.

Normally, Iselin would have cried loudly asking for her crying to be noticed, but perhaps she didn't even feel like doing that now, as she was just shedding tears silently while clutching her dress with both hands.

'So what do you want me to do?'

When Iselin started crying, the servants around them all looked at Blanc.

It was a silent protest to quickly resolve this situation.

"……You should also prepare to become an adult."

"Adult?"

Iselin looked up at Blanc with eyes full of tears.

"You also have to become an adult in a few years. If you are an adult, you must have ability."

Blanc continued speaking while looking at Iselin.

"Lady Ciella, whom I am marrying this time, possesses outstanding elegance, but above all, she is famous for having a brilliant brain. You know that too, right?"

Berger, blessed by God.

His outstanding genes were passed down intact to his daughter as well.

In the past life, even when she was called the Red Widow Spider, Ciella had played the role of an excellent assistant by Berger’s side.

She was a woman who made distinguished contributions enabling the Liberation Front to hold out against the Void by creating drugs that prevented transmission from the gaze to fight against the Void, and drugs that heightened emotions to prevent infection by fear.

That was the result of combining Ciella’s brilliant mind with the characteristics of the discipline called Alchemy.

This was because Alchemy was the magic lineage with the least restrictions on mana.

Some even said that delicate hands handling materials and vast fundamental knowledge were more important disciplines than the talent to handle mana.

Therefore, although Ciella was not a wizard who handled mana, she possessed extensive knowledge of Alchemy.

"But I have a bad head……"

Perhaps the person named Ciella that Blanc used as an example was too high of a standard, as Iselin became sullen again.

"Do not forget that you are also a person who inherited the blood of Tolome. Iselin."

Blanc approached Iselin, who had her head bowed, and lifted her delicate chin with his finger.

"Do not bow your head. You are still young and we do not know what you will become. You are a lump of possibility."

The boy who just became an adult decided to encourage the girl who wanted to become an adult.

She was a girl who would become lonely again when he left this mansion. Since their places of residence would be different, they wouldn't be able to see each other as often as now.

"I look forward to what you will become. And even if you do not become anything, the fact that you are Blanc Cadmus' younger sister does not change."

When Blanc comforted her with warm words, Iselin looked at him with a wide-eyed face.

"So stop running away from tutors and learn whatever you can."

"……"

Blanc knew well that the reason she visited him was partly because she liked her cousin who wasn't much older, but also because it became a good excuse to run away from her tutors.

"Eat the cookies and mint candy here and go back. Go and learn anything."

Blanc spat out those words and turned back to look at the documents on the desk.

Iselin listened to Blanc’s words and quietly sat at the table.

Then she picked up a cookie and munched on it.

However, while her mouth was eating the cookie, her eyes were looking at her cousin sitting at the desk reviewing documents.

She looked at him for a long time.

***

Antonio, the regional commander of the Torch Knights, stayed for a few more days even after the coming-of-age ceremony ended.

Personally, he had curiosity about Blanc, who became Aselheit’s sixth knight, but there were also several things he had to inform him about.

"The sword Lord Aselheit personally bestowed has a few symbolic meanings as well."

"What kind of symbolic meanings?"

Antonio pressed tobacco leaves firmly into his pipe and lit it.

Blanc thought, for some reason, that the sight of him smoking tobacco suited the mustache he had quite well.

"As you know, Lord Aselheit is the Knight of Knights. His honor is not lacking even when compared to any knights who have appeared in history."

Antonio inhaled deeply from the pipe.

"I am well aware that talking about Lord Aselheit’s honor is enough to make one’s mouth hurt from saying it twice."

Blanc chimed in with Antonio’s words.

Blanc was someone who had gained many benefits just with the title of Aselheit’s knight.

"The sword delivered to Baron Blanc is the same. It is an honorable sword. And aren't knights people who would die for the word honor?"

Antonio smiled with the pipe in his mouth.

"Excluding Lord Blanc, the person who most recently became Lord Aselheit’s knight is Lord Wesler Balthazar of the Anton Kingdom. That was a whopping twenty years ago."

"That is true."

Was it because of the acrid tobacco smoke?

Blanc was focusing on Antonio’s speech without realizing it.

"So there is a fact that has been temporarily forgotten in people’s memories."

Antonio pointed his finger toward the sword that Blanc now carried around without leaving it for a moment.

"That is the ‘Knight’s Sword’. It is a sword symbolizing Lord Aselheit, and this symbolizes honor."

Antonio lightly shook off the ash accumulated in the pipe.

"Soon, rumors about that sword will spread among the knights. Because Lord Aselheit’s sword is a legend."

"A legend?"

Blanc made a troubled expression as if he didn't know what Antonio was talking about.

It was obvious that Aselheit was a legendary figure, but what did that have to do with this sword?

Seeing Blanc’s expression, Antonio gave a good-natured laugh.

"Nominally, from the moment Baron Blanc holds that sword, you can request a duel from any knight. A match, not a fight to the death."

"……A duel? From anyone?"

He didn't know Aselheit’s sword had such a meaning.

Since Blanc was neither a noble nor a knight in his past life, he didn't know the ecology of knights inside out.

"Can request a duel from anyone…… Can they perhaps refuse?"

At Blanc’s question, Antonio winked one eye.

"A knight who receives a duel request from the Baron will unconditionally accept that duel if they think themselves honorable. Because that sword symbolizes honor."

If someone refused the duel requested by Blanc holding Aselheit’s sword, it would be no different from ignoring Aselheit.

There would be no figure who could ignore Aselheit, the Knight of Knights and the teacher of all knights.

"Furthermore, the figures designated for a duel will probably like it. Because they will think they were chosen by the honorable sword. Actually, when Lord Wesler Balthazar was in his prime, it is said that knights flocked around him like clouds wanting to receive a duel request from him."

"Like clouds……"

Blanc was thinking seriously about recruiting knights.

He was still unattractive as a lord, but thinking that the sword he was holding now would offset that even a little made his heart beat a little faster.

"If so……"

"So be careful."

As if he finished what he had to say, Antonio stood up from his seat.

"Because from now on, knights who want to make a name for themselves will come to Lord Blanc."

He picked up a mint candy placed on the table as he left.

"The title of Aselheit’s knight is not that light."

With those words, Antonio left Blanc’s room.

"……"

Even after Antonio left like that, Blanc sat still in his seat.

"Knights coming to me……"

Antonio wouldn't know, but no matter how heavy the title of Aselheit’s knight was.

"I am really looking forward to it."

It could not be heavier than the title of a Regressor who returned to the past to oppose the Void.

***

Rakshar felt very unfamiliar with Blanc’s private training ground, which was suddenly bustling.

"No! No! Are you really holding a sword for the first time?"

"Yes. Ex, except for a dagger used when skinning……"

"Ha! Then how did you survive in Tiday’s dungeon?"

"I, I am a Half-Werewolf so……"

And it was a situation where he didn't quite know why he had to be holding a sword either.

As soon as Hansen left the Tolome Knights and was recruited by Cadmus, he returned everything including the dormitory he used and his equipment, and came to Blanc’s private training ground.

Every time he returned Tolome’s things one by one, the knights and servants around were shocked and waved their hands, but Hansen eventually threw down the things Tolome gave him and came to Blanc’s side.

He was that kind of person. A person who definitely kept what had to be kept.

And the first thing he did after coming to Blanc’s knighthood was dealing with Simon and.

"This is really awkward. Is it because the body structure is different?"

Handling Rakshar.

Although Blanc didn't specifically instruct it, the old knight knew his role exactly.

He was a person who had to take the role of a whetstone that sharpened the swords that would appear in the future, rather than becoming Blanc’s sharp sword.

And since the swords Blanc held now were just about two.

"Sir Simon! If you can only overcome the fear of blood and reveal your true skill when emotions are heightened, how can you be called a knight!"

"Yes! Understood!"

Moreover, the condition of those swords wasn't very good.

In the Tolome Knights, things used to roll on their own even if he didn't necessarily do much.

He only stepped up when the knights' discipline became lax or when dealing with sudden situations.

However, the Cadmus Knights right now……

"Eek, eek! Back then, I was definitely fine even when covered in blood!"

"Is, is striking down like this correct?"

It was a situation where not a single thing worked properly unless it was him.

'At this point, motivation is actually surging!'

The old sword, having found its use after a long time, was inwardly glad about this situation.

"……Is it manageable? Sir Hansen?"

And Blanc, the original owner of this training ground, was sprawled out exhausted from training with Edwin as usual.

"It is a mess!"

At Blanc’s question, Hansen answered with a laugh.

"I will have to fix everything from one to ten!"

Blanc also answered with a smile to Hansen who answered happily.

"I look forward to working with you."

Although the old sword had come out of the magnificent scabbard it was originally in, it thought the scabbard it was in now wasn't bad either.

Because here, there were far more opportunities for it to be drawn out.