Chapter 57 : Chapter 57
Chapter 57. What Was Inside the Cadmus Vault (1)
It was a wind so cold it chilled to the bone. No matter how many layers one wore, the fierce wind eventually burrowed and crawled through them. The man full of scars huddled his body while pulling his collar tight, but his gaze was held straight, looking at the darkness beyond the wooden fence. As if he feared the things beyond the darkness more than the cold currently stealing his body heat, he did not turn his gaze.
The sound of someone's presence approaching from behind the man, who had been staring for a long time, was heard.
"Supplies Officer?"
"Blanc Scar. The scarred Baron lord."
An old man who looked to be in his 60s visited me while holding a bottle of brandy in one hand.
"A Baron, what nonsense..."
I spoke like that, yet I snatched the brandy bottle from the old man as if I were glad to see it. It was low-quality brandy, but the situation was such that almost no human production facilities remained. Right now, I was only grateful for even this kind of brandy.
"I've heard everything. They say the possibility of you being selected for this regression plan is high? To think you really were the successor of the Cadmus family."
Not only in the Liberation Front but even when I was living as a mercenary, the people around me used to snicker whenever I said I was the successor of the destroyed Cadmus family. However, once it was revealed through close analysis and comparison that I, who had been selected as a candidate for this regression plan, truly was the successor of the Cadmus family, the people around me could not hide their surprise.
"Do you think you will be selected as a regressor this time?"
"I'll have to see to know that."
I spoke while struggling to open the cap of the frozen brandy bottle. The old man made a pitiful expression while looking at me like that. His own destiny that brought him here was unfortunate, but he also couldn't believe that this man full of scars was actually a noble from a baronial family.
"By the way, why this?"
"Because I have a favor to ask."
"What favor would the Supplies Officer have to ask of me?"
On the contrary, I was the one who usually made requests; I was puzzled by the statement that the chief Supplies Officer, who was responsible for the Liberation Front's supplies, had a favor for me. The old man stared blankly beyond the wooden fence and then lifted a finger to point at one spot.
"The place in that direction is Bigrove. It was a city I could never forget in my life."
The old man looked at that place endlessly with a gaze full of remorse. Having finally succeeded in opening the brandy bottle, I took a sip of brandy and asked the old man.
"So what is the favor?"
The old man exhaled a large puff of white breath and looked at me.
"Yes. Please do me a favor."
The old man's lifelong regrets and remorse entered the eyes of the man covered in scars.
***
A white two-story mansion. Looking at the numerous alchemy instruments prepared in one of those rooms, the woman with reddish-brown hair could not hide her surprise.
"What is... all this?"
"These are materials and equipment to be used for alchemy. They are things I purchased by receiving advice from your parent's family, the Neudorf family."
The first thing I did after returning to Baltimere was to set up alchemy equipment for Ciella. Ciella was my primary wife and the mistress of the Cadmus family. she was the person who could be called my greatest supporter. her potential had already been proven in the future thirty years away. If I held a hand that was certain to succeed and didn't use it, there would be no waste like that.
"I-I am not an alchemist, and I have never properly learned it. I only watched from behind my father..."
However, from Ciella's perspective, it was a bewildering thing. In this era full of patriarchal atmosphere, women were expected to simply look after the household unless they possessed special abilities or had a corresponding motivation. Therefore, the action I was currently taking toward Ciella was extremely unconventional from the perspective of this era.
However, I was a regressor from thirty years in the future. That era was a time when both men and women struggled for survival, so it was an era where it was essential for even women to develop their own abilities to survive.
"Cadmus currently has no business and nothing particular that must be done. Furthermore, since I must continuously be away from home, I want you to find work that suits your aptitude and develop your abilities during that time."
"But I do not even know how to do alchemy..."
"Your parent's family is the prestigious alchemy house of Neudorf, so they should be able to teach you simple alchemy quickly. What are you so worried about?"
I had purely meant for her to learn alchemy from the Neudorf family, but to Ciella's ears, it was no different from a bolt from the blue. Ciella had lived through harsh and malicious gazes as a woman who killed her husbands within the two families she had married into. Although I was supporting her with utmost sincerity, Ciella was still like a fragile vessel.
"Are you... telling me to return to my parent's family?"
Ciella misunderstood my words and had tears in her eyes as if she had been waiting for them.
It's not easy to handle.
I had plenty of physical experience with women, but I had almost no experience comforting a wounded woman. Because Petrica, my lover from the previous life, was a woman like a wild flower who would even chew up and spit out a man like me. I sighed, wiped away Ciella's tears that had just begun to fall, and said.
"Wife, did I not tell you? I said that I need you."
"B-but."
I lifted a finger and said to Ciella.
"I am a person who does not easily let go of things that have come into my hands. That applies to you as well."
I POKE tapped Ciella's forehead with my finger.
"So do not even think about being abandoned by me, and only think about helping me. Wife."
Even after several months of marriage, Ciella still could not believe that my age was only fifteen. The man before her eyes was someone who refused comparison with the men she had seen so far. Although I was fifteen, I already possessed everything a male should have and was a man who emitted it without reservation. Ciella could not dare to make eye contact with me and had no choice but to answer that she understood.
"Ah, and."
I took the Phoenix's egg from my bosom and placed it in her hands.
"I checked last night and it seems to like your bosom, so please hold it for the time being, wife."
Ciella carefully received the egg I handed her with both hands.
"What kind of egg is this that you are doing this?"
"It is a Phoenix's egg."
"Do not joke."
As an absurd statement came out of my mouth, Ciella thought I was playing a joke on her, but...
"It really is a Phoenix's egg though?"
I only turned away while shrugging my shoulders. I repeatedly requested her to cradle the Phoenix's egg well.
"Stop joking and just return safely."
Even if it weren't for my words, Ciella intended to cradle that egg with all her heart anyway. Because it was a precious egg given by her husband. she didn't know what would come out of that egg, but she felt that if she hatched it, I would smile at her. The Phoenix's egg in Ciella's hand was TREMBLING as if it felt good.
And there was one maid watching that scene while hiding at the end of the hallway.
"What are you looking at?"
"Young master... you have truly become a man now."
It was Emilia, looking up at me with deeply moved eyes.
"I was originally a man. You foolish maid."
"If only Madam had seen this, how happy she would have been..."
Emilia could not overcome her surging emotions and wiped away her tears with her clothes.
Women are dying to cry whenever they see me.
Starting from Ciella to Emilia and Iselin. Thinking of them, I TSKED my tongue and walked toward the office.
***
"In that case, Sir Hansen shall stay to guard the Cadmus mansion this time, and I will only take Simon and Rakshar."
Hansen was an old knight. His skill was sharp, but the more a sword was worn out, the more it had to be maintained properly.
"If you are excluding me because you are worried about my physical strength..."
"I am trying to entrust you with the mansion that is like my heart, but have you not considered that I trust you instead? Sir Hansen?"
Hansen had already faced the fierce winter wind while traveling to the Iron Bank. It was true that I was trying to exclude him from this journey to Bigrove because I was worried about his age and his aging body, just as he said. However, it was also true that I trusted Hansen and was thus entrusting him with the mansion, so Hansen had no choice but to accept my words.
"I am worried since you are only taking those two without me."
"Then please turn them into reliable knights as soon as possible."
Hansen smiled and answered me.
"There are not many reliable knights in this world even at a young age like you, Baron. The completion of a knight is something time takes charge of."
Seeing Hansen gloss over the situation slyly, I just laughed it off.
"I leave the mansion to you."
"Please travel safely, Baron."
My destination this time was Bigrove. Bigrove was a territory owned by the Count Lacie family, and geographically, it was a count's fief located between Baltimere, the capital of the Felix Kingdom, and my hometown, Norington. Due to the nature of the feudal system, the Cadmus family had been more mindful of the Lacie family, which was geographically closer than King Frederick of the Felix Kingdom and exercised influence in the southern region.
But they did not help.
However, neither in the previous life nor this life did the Lacie family particularly send rescue or help for Cadmus. Seeing how the Lacie family, which claimed to be the overlord of the south, just watched the invasion of another country, I thought that perhaps Pallard Cadmus had failed to properly form relationships with the surrounding territories.
I felt a bitter sensation in my mouth. Whether loyal to the King or relying on the power of a Count's family, in the end, it was the law of this era that one must protect one's own territory. I only felt regret that my father, Pallard Cadmus, had not been able to prepare more thoroughly.
"Prepare Simon and Rakshar so we can leave tomorrow morning."
"Understood, Baron."
***
I gave Ciella, who followed me to the mansion entrance to see me off, a kiss and then mounted my horse and left Baltimere. Having left the capital, I, Simon, and Rakshar were galloping on horseback over the snow-covered main road.
"It has been a long time. This road."
"Y-yes. Young mas... Baron."
The road they were currently moving on was the King's Path they had walked before. Two years ago, the thirteen-year-old young me had traveled up this road while hiding in a merchant caravan to avoid the pursuit of the three families of Gartaria, but now I was going down to Bigrove as a dignified head of a baronial family.
I fell into thought while riding along the King's Path. Perlman, the manager of the Iron Bank, had transferred the Cadmus family account to me. About 366 gold was deposited in that account. It was a small amount of money incomparable to the 10,000 gold Ulrich had given, but looking at that account filled down to the silver and copper units, I couldn't help but feel moved.
That money was a trace of my father. It was money containing Pallard's agony and effort to run the Cadmus family. I decided not to use this account unless the worst moment arrived. Because I wanted to carefully preserve my father's traces, which I didn't have in my previous life, if possible.
However, in the case of the vault kept at the Bigrove branch, it was necessary to open it at least once. The Cadmus mansion in Norington must have been looted and burned, leaving no traces of Cadmus now, but it was highly likely that something of the Cadmus family was contained in this vault. Having become the head of the Cadmus family, I had the duty to open this vault to confirm and take those things.
However, I did not have high expectations for the Cadmus family account and vault from the start. From the beginning, they were not the primary purpose of this journey to Bigrove.
They said he was there around this time.
There was a person I had to find. The current Cadmus family was in a situation where useful talent was severely lacking. Although I had received a promissory note amounting to 10,000 gold from Ulrich, there was no person who could accurately roll that money, so I was still keeping it in the Iron Bank account.
However, if the person I was currently looking for would work for the Cadmus family, I would no longer have to worry about such things. The Liberation Front was an organization that sought to exterminate the Void and plan for the survival of humanity through military force, but no matter what purpose or means one had, administrative personnel to handle internal affairs were eventually necessary to run an organization.
And the person I was currently looking for was the person most loved by the warriors of the Liberation Front, who were always famished and hungry. Bonas Gwendolyn, the administrative Supplies Officer whom even Gornas Balthazar and Berger, the heroes of humanity, had highly praised.
"Halt, group ahead! State your name and affiliation!"
"I am Baron Blanc Cadmus of the Felix Kingdom! My family's signet ring proves it!"
I came here to find him.
"Welcome! Baron Blanc Cadmus! Welcome to Bigrove, the territory of the Lacie family!"
The bitter aftertaste of the brandy I had received from him on a winter day when even blood seemed to freeze still felt like it remained on the tip of my tongue.