Chapter 44 : Chapter 44
Chapter 44. The Woman in the Black Veil (3)"Haha. You do not have to come out and see me off like this."
"You are Lord Antonio, the regional commander of the Torch Knights, so naturally I should come out to see you off."
Antonio stayed at the Tolome family for the past three days and talked a lot with Blanc and Bartomyu.
The Torch Knights spread all over the world chasing the movements of black wizards.
The information they possessed became a good gift for the people of the Tolome family who had firm influence only within the Felix Kingdom.
Of course, Bartomyu also tried to make it a mutually satisfying place of information exchange by passing on parts he could inform about the political situation or trends deep within the Felix Kingdom to Antonio.
"It was a meaningful meeting and conversation. I only came to welcome Aselheit’s sixth knight, but I am taking away many things."
And Tolome and the Torch Knights made a positive evaluation of their meeting.
This meeting, which finished excellently, might continue for a few more years.
"Then……"
Although Blanc could be dignified as a noble holding a barony now, he still saw Antonio off with a polite greeting.
The existence called the Torch Knights was a group that received much respect from people. It was a place where their value couldn't be expressed simply by the height of status.
So bowing his head to express respect to Antonio, one of the influential people moving that group, was not strange at all.
As the young Baron bowed to express maximum respect to him, Antonio stopped his action of trying to mount the horse and looked at Blanc for a moment.
Then he came close in front of Blanc and spoke quietly into his ear.
"Baron Blanc. I hope you establish your forces quickly. Along with the appearance of a new disaster, an unusual wind is blowing in Gartaria."
"……!"
Blanc realized instinctively. That what Antonio was saying now was information close to top secret and words he hadn't even said to Bartomyu, the head of Tolome.
"A new disaster, not black wizards, has appeared in the Anton Kingdom. We call it the Void and are closely watching it."
Antonio naturally tapped Blanc’s shoulder and fixed his collar.
From a distance, it would just look like exchanging words of blessing or so.
"And Prince Aleid, the 3rd Prince of Gartaria, seems to be plotting something. He is the hidden conductor of the Norington invasion and an ambitious man aiming for the throne of Gartaria."
Finishing his words, Antonio stepped back from Blanc and gave a good-natured smile.
"Raise a dignified flag that will not break even in the approaching storm. Young Baron."
With those words, Antonio mounted his horse and left the Tolome mansion with his entourage.
"May the Goddess' blessing be with the Knight of Aselheit!"
Leaving a greeting of blessing to the young Baron who had to walk a rugged path from now on.
Blanc watched their departing backs with deeply sunken eyes.
***
Although the initial discovery area of the Void tree in the past life was confirmed to be Norington, it wasn't known where the Void itself was first discovered.
It was an era of chaos and fear.
An era where everything became void.
Information originally possessed was often lost countless times. It was a time when they were busy just blocking the Void threatening humanity’s survival right now.
'Was the area where the Void was first discovered the Anton Kingdom……'
Blanc was approaching the truth he didn't know in his past life little by little as he returned to the past.
Today, through Antonio’s mouth, Blanc was able to find out about the mastermind who exterminated the Cadmus family as well as the Void.
'3rd Prince Aleid……'
The reason the Void could spread in the past life was that several adverse conditions occurring globally coincided at the same time.
If just a few of them hadn't occurred, the Goddess Order, the Human Three Kingdoms, the City of Elves Elbhenin, and the Dwarf Tribal Alliance Brotswav wouldn't have collapsed so futilely.
And one of them was the rebellion of princes that occurred in Gartaria.
Three princes built their own forces and plunged Gartaria into the abyss of endless civil war.
And thanks to the war between princes that continued for several years, the Gartaria Kingdom, which couldn't pay attention to the Void that started in Norington, couldn't handle the Void spreading rapidly inside.
It was the first moment humanity collapsed to the Void.
'3rd Prince Aleid. So it was you.'
Blanc found out the true mastermind who invaded Cadmus' territory through Antonio’s words.
No one knew that it wasn't an invasion started simply due to a justification fight between the three families of Gartaria and the Cadmus family of Norington, but they couldn't specify who was behind it.
Blanc of the past life only guessed that it would be a figure corresponding to the upper class in Gartaria’s power structure.
However, in this returned life, he could get a little closer to the truth.
'Of course, I cannot be certain.'
It was just Antonio’s passing remark with no evidence and not confirmed with his own eyes. A process of verification was needed to be sure of this matter.
- Baron Blanc, I hope you establish your forces quickly.
Antonio’s words were right.
Even if he knew all the truth, eventually power was needed to correct what was wrong.
He had to gather his knights, exalt the family, grow his influence, and equip power.
"I have to try."
Only then would he be able to block the Void approaching in the future.
Blanc decided not to be impatient. Because there were still a few years left.
The time for the crouching dragon to spread its wings was sufficient.
***
"This armor feels quite uncomfortable even looking at it in bright daylight……"
Hansen was walking far away, looking displeased at the armor loaded on the cart.
Although it wasn't combat armor, it was a magnificent armor engraved with antique decorations and patterns.
Rakshar was also staying a bit away from the cart and walking, just like Hansen. Only Simon was just bewildered without knowing the reason.
The armor and various ornaments Blanc was carrying on the cart right now were things brought from Tiday’s dungeon encountered in the Baum Mine last time.
They were all priced high thanks to the specificity of being a black wizard’s dungeon and the outstanding artistic value the original items possessed.
"These are items to gift to the person who will become my father-in-law, so I would like you to escort them certainly."
"Yes, yes. Young Mas…… Baron."
"Understood. Baron."
Hansen and Rakshar’s reactions were understandable.
Since they saw so many terrible things in Tiday’s dungeon, the armor lurking before their eyes would be creepy.
Contrary to Rakshar and Hansen staying far away from the armor, Tarania was looking closely at the items said to have come from Tiday’s dungeon with eyes full of curiosity.
It was natural for Tarania, who researched breaking black magic, to have interest.
'This should be enough.'
The wedding was being prepared by Tolome and the dowry by Neudorf, so Blanc only had to prepare his body, but life wasn't something where you could just let it flow as it goes.
Even if he was a destitute pauper with nothing, there was a need to express sincerity to the best of his ability as a son-in-law and as a noble.
Fortunately, Blanc had loot obtained from Tiday’s dungeon this time.
The items loaded behind were things sufficient in value to gift to a noble. They were items that even a Meritorious Noble like Berger would decorate in his house and boast that his future son-in-law brought them.
Of course, even if Blanc brought meager items, Berger wouldn't have minded.
Berger had also grasped Blanc’s desperate financial situation, and knew well that Blanc’s value lay in the person Blanc himself, not his surrounding situation.
"We have arrived. Baron."
Simon, who was leading the group at the very front, reported to Blanc.
"Hmm…… Right."
Blanc raised his head and looked at the mansion in front of his eyes.
If the Tolome family mansion gave a vast feeling based on wide land.
'It is tall.'
The Neudorf family mansion was built high like a wizard’s tower.
"Let's go in."
However, Blanc did not feel intimidated or shrink back at the highly built mansion.
This place was the Neudorf family mansion, but from Blanc’s perspective, it was a place no different from Tiday’s dungeon.
'I hope to see the end today.'
Because inside, Ciella Neudorf, the Red Widow Spider who ate eight husbands in the past life, and a colossal curse swallowing her were waiting.
Blanc entered the Neudorf mansion with the mind of a knight facing a dungeon, not the mind of a son-in-law going to meet his father-in-law.
***
"Welcome!"
Berger Neudorf came out in advance to welcome Blanc.
"Have you been well in the meantime. Count."
Berger, seeing Blanc being polite, smiled satisfactorily and guided him inside the mansion, wrapping his arm around Blanc’s shoulder as if telling him to come in quickly.
"I have been well! Would I have suffered more than you who broke through a death ground in a black wizard’s dungeon!"
Berger could not be unaware of the fear of the era spreading widely in the Felix Kingdom.
'As expected, he was a figure!'
Berger had already concluded that Blanc’s potential was full, but his growth speed was easily surpassing his expectations.
'I cannot miss him!'
Berger knew well that families were lining up asking Bartomyu to break the engagement with Ciella and marry into their families.
So he absolutely couldn't miss Blanc.
It wasn't just simply calculating Blanc’s development potential. Berger loved Ciella who resembled him exactly.
Berger had no intention of marrying her off unless it was an excellent young man who possessed character as well as conditions.
Blanc was a man who had already brought Moonlit Grass through the threat of the Black Centipede for his cousin Iselin.
Even looking from the aspect of character, there would be no better son-in-law.
"Lord Berger, I have selected and brought the best ones among the loot obtained while conquering the black wizard’s dungeon."
"No, it would be tight for even you to use……"
Hearing Berger’s words, Blanc answered him in a serious tone.
"I am taking the Count’s most precious and valuable thing, would I spare merely this? I am rather only sorry for not being able to prepare something more precious."
It was a polite and sincere remark that one couldn't think came from a fifteen-year-old who just became an adult.
'Good! It is good!'
How much heartache had he suffered watching the marriage proposals coming in for Ciella all this while.
They were all just people frantic to see profit by lowering and disparaging the value of his precious daughter.
But how about Blanc in front of his eyes?
He sincerely wanted his daughter. politely and with manners.
Berger, choked up by Blanc’s sincere attitude, raised his voice without realizing it.
"Since Baron Blanc has shown me something precious, it is only right that I do so as well!"
Originally, it was etiquette for the bride and groom not to meet carelessly before the wedding, but Berger decided to show his daughter.
Because he wanted to capture Blanc certainly in this spot.
Berger was confident. Because there had been no man who didn't fall for his daughter after seeing her.
Berger raised his voice and called out for his daughter.
"My beloved daughter! Come down and look. Come down and see the newly rising sun!"
"……"
Not long after Berger’s words ended, there was a woman coming down along the spiral staircase from above.
'Finally!'
Although Blanc didn't show it outwardly, he looked at the woman coming down the stairs while preparing to emit Aura at any time.
Not yet.
She wasn't his wife yet.
The woman coming down now was a woman harboring a curse. If he didn't stay alert, he would end up being eaten.
Everyone here looked at the woman coming down the stairs.
Although her face was covered by a black veil and couldn't be seen, the reddish-brown hair exactly resembling Berger’s hair color seemed to show her vibrant vitality instead.
The straight white fingers holding the railing seemed to sparkle even though there were no ornaments.
The three people who followed Blanc swallowed their saliva without realizing it upon seeing her figure.
Although showing such behavior to the lady who would become the mistress they serve in the future was disrespectful, the overwhelming charm she showed was taking away their self-control.
Even Sir Hansen, who had accumulated countless experiences, couldn't take his eyes off the sight of Ciella coming down the stairs.
'As expected, there is something.'
Blanc was certain seeing his knights looking at Ciella without coming to their senses.
Ciella Neudorf who ate eight husbands in the past life.
She was a woman emitting strangely intense charm.
Blanc lowered his gaze and looked down at the silver ring on his finger.
There was no reaction.
'……It doesn't solve easily.'
While Blanc was lamenting seeing the silver ring showing no particular reaction, Ciella had come down and stood facing Blanc.
And the moment she lifted the veil and made eye contact with Blanc.
'Ugh……!'
A hotness rushed in from Blanc’s left shoulder.
At the same time, Blanc’s silver ring was glowing red.