CHAPTER 125. This isn’t a real bird
Right after Aster left.
Shine, who had been sprawled out in comfort, suddenly flashed both eyes and straightened up.
“Hehe. Hehehehe.”
Recalling Aster’s request from just moments ago, Shine let out a sly, sinister laugh.
“Lortel, Lortel, huh…. So this is how a point of contact with those bastards shows up?”
Honestly, it had been a dilemma.
How should Shine create a point of contact with Lortel?
The easiest way would have been to ask Aster for help, but it didn’t seem like that treacherous bastard would help so easily.
And yet—Aster came and started the conversation first!
‘How can luck be this good!’
In a way, Aster’s judgment that “there’s something going on” had turned out to be correct.
Because Shine hadn’t accepted the proposal out of pure intentions in the first place.
In truth, it hadn’t been that long since Shine started wanting a point of contact with House Lortel.
It began from pure curiosity.
- Got it, blabbermouth?
- Uh… so, you want me to go learn the history of the famous great houses… is that what you’re saying?
- Yeah, something like that.
- Why do I have to….
- Tsk.
‘Honestly, I was curious.’
Two hundred years had passed.
They’d all be lying in coffins by now, but what kind of lives did the bastards who used to get beaten around by me back then end up living?
It wasn’t that I missed them.
I was just curious.
And then it turned out to be entertaining.
- Um, Shine-nim. I looked it up, yes I did. First, House Dolanfe, see….
‘What? That rockhead from House Dolanfe became Head of House? Over the Heir Apparent?!’
We weren’t particularly close.
It’s just that the guy kept challenging me even while getting beaten daily, so beating him was… no—because it was admirable, I humored him.
It felt like just yesterday—him getting pounded every day, boiling with resentment, crying bitter tears….
‘And that guy was the Ironblood Head of House (鐵血家主)?!’
What could be funnier than that?
Of course, it wasn’t like I could learn rumors about every connection that easily.
Two hundred years was plenty of time for even a person’s news to vanish, and Raileigh wasn’t a professional informant.
But while looking into things, there was one piece of information that kept sticking in my ear.
- Uh, about what you told me to look up last time. That—Lortel’s 13th Head of House.
- Ah, right. I did. So, who was it.
- It was Shamid von Lortel, yes I said.
Up to there, it wasn’t different from what I expected.
‘Of course. Shamid. So it was you.’
Even back then, Shamid had been a fairly strong candidate for Head of House.
The competition with siblings wasn’t over yet, so Shamid hadn’t received the title above “Heir Apparent,” but talent-wise, Shamid was unquestionably unrivaled.
If there was one regret….
‘Support. That was the problem.’
Was it because of being a bastard child?
Back then, Shamid had no supporting faction within the family.
So why had Shine expected Shamid to rise to Head of House anyway?
The answer lay in the last meeting with Shamid.
More precisely, in the “gift” Shine had handed over.
‘If you can’t become Head of House even with that, then I should just go die.’
The last seat held right before storming the Imperial Palace for House Lehmann’s revenge.
- Think again. Do you really have to go?
- I’ve thought a hundred times, and a thousand won’t change my mind. Enough—there’s no time for either of us, so take this.
Shine left Shamid one gift.
Honestly, it would be more accurate to say it was thrown away rather than gifted.
‘It’s not something I can just toss onto the roadside.’
But leaving it somewhere quiet like a cave also felt wrong.
More than anything, the thought of some unqualified punk getting their hands on it made my guts twist.
So I handed it to Shamid….
And Shamid, receiving it, said:
- …I will keep it.
- You’re going to?
- Come back and retrieve it yourself.
- I’m telling you I won’t come back alive. Just—carry it around and use it yourself, or something.
- Then I will wait. Until you return. Or until a descendant of House Lehmann comes. No—until your disciple comes.
It wasn’t even funny.
A descendant of House Lehmann?
Sure, that could exist.
Over House Lehmann’s long history, there were plenty of collateral branches that had split off.
A disciple of mine… well, that was also possible.
You didn’t have to pass something down to be called a disciple. If someone claimed they learned something from me, they could call themselves a “disciple.”
But still.
‘It’s still not even funny.’
What kind of gutsy bastard would claim to be a descendant of Lehmann?
For Shine—standing on the brink of assassinating the Emperor—it felt impossible.
But apparently, that bastard didn’t see it that way.
“Back then, I figured you’d use that ‘thing’ to secure your footing… but in the end, it seems you kept your promise.”
Puh-heh heh.
Thinking of that old friend—so foolishly stubborn—Shine smiled with a faint, distant softness.
Never imagined Shamid would actually keep a promise made one-sidedly like that.
So then—what was that “thing”?
The beginning and the end of House Lehmann.
A Demon Sword (魔劍).
Protius.
When Shine heard that Lortel still had only two Demon Swords, Shine was honestly surprised.
Because that meant Shamid had not used House Lehmann’s Demon Sword. If Shamid had used it, then Lortel wouldn’t have two Demon Swords now—it would have three.
‘Honestly… it wasn’t like I had some grand intention, either.’
Shamid was one of the few I had some level of acquaintance with, but it wasn’t some deep bond.
It was simply….
That after my death, the thought of Lehmann’s Demon Sword falling into the Imperial Family’s hands was more unbearable than dying.
Anyway, that was why Shine so readily accepted Aster’s proposal.
“Lortel… I always figured I’d have to go there someday.”
Of course, when I heard the treacherous bastard’s plan, it was literally nothing more and nothing less than “a point of contact will be created”….
But either way, what mattered was that point of contact.
There had to be at least a minimal link if Shine was going to keep an old promise or not.
And if things went well and that “Demon Sword” returned to Shine’s hands again….
‘…That day. You will kneel at my feet.’
“Hoo, hehe. Hehehehehe.”
Shine smiled, imagining that day.
A past stained through and through with humiliation—this was a struggle of vengeance to wash it away.
- Parasite!
- Hey, parasite.
‘Your power doesn’t have much time left.’
A grand heart born of petty-mindedness, if ever there was one.
Late at night.
After finishing studying, before introducing Shine to Parun, I walked through Hazen’s night streets.
‘Shine definitely has some scheme going on, but….’
I couldn’t get a grip on what it was.
To be honest, it wasn’t hard to predict Shine might have a connection to Lortel.
Back when Shine had just regained reason after becoming a Death Knight—didn’t Shine ask then, too?
- What about Lortel?
- Then… did Shamid become Head of House? I’m asking what the 13th Head of House’s name is.
That was why I’d laid out this whole thing as it truly was in the first place.
But Shine’s reaction was definitely unexpected.
‘Unexpected, sure… tsk. Whatever.’
I pushed thoughts about Shine to the back of my mind.
Honestly, I don’t care what that bastard is plotting.
Like I said, with the Pact (盟約) in place, betrayal isn’t even something Shine can dream of—and at worst, it’s just going to be another round of “who’s above who” clawing at each other, right?
I could think about Shine’s situation when the time came.
But still….
“There’s something that bothers me.”
The Infinite Chain matter.
I told Parun “there’s a possibility it’s a trap,” but I could be half certain.
‘This… is a trap.’
It was a vicious trap Deculan set, aiming for me and Parun.
Of course, you could call it an overreach.
For this trap to work, it required the premise that Parun was gathering information about the Infinite Chain.
No matter how much Deculan “leaked” information, if our information-gathering ability was lacking, it would be a meaningless trap.
To put it bluntly….
‘Yeah. Shadow boxing.’
Throwing punches all alone without an opponent.
It was the kind of thing where you’d get exhausted and collapse all by yourself.
But.
‘If the one doing it is Deculan, it’s different.’
Those bastards are like that by nature.
It’s not just that they have snakes in their bellies—there are venomous vipers with gleaming fangs crawling all over inside.
And they would likely think like this, too.
“Either way… it’s fine. It’s fine if you step on the trap, and it’s fine if you don’t.”
If we step on the trap, they can grab us by the collar even without the Infinite Chain, so that’s good.
And if we don’t, they’ll still get the Infinite Chain, so catching us is only a matter of time.
That’s surely the scheme they’re harboring, and yet….
‘…Is it really only Hollend?’
My thoughts deepened.
A deal between one great house and another.
No matter how strong a mage Hollend is, it isn’t proper etiquette to meet Lortel alone in a deal between famous houses.
‘But if it’s only Hollend, Lortel might welcome it.’
If Deculan sends a whole swarm to “keep up appearances,” Lortel would only get a headache wondering what those bandit-like Deculan bastards are plotting.
Normally, no great house would rob the counterpart who came out for a deal—but when have Deculan bastards ever been normal?
So if Hollend goes alone, Lortel might not show displeasure at all—if anything, they might feel relieved.
‘However.’
Even if you waved away the etiquette like that, there was still a question.
“No matter how much it’s a deal that’s ‘fine if it works, fine if it doesn’t’… it’s still a trap, so with just this?”
If it’s a trap, shouldn’t you need at least a minimum amount of manpower?
‘Did they lay out Troubleshooters? …No, that can’t be it. Lortel wouldn’t stay still.’
So is it really just Hollend alone?
Hollend is the textbook combat mage.
In brute force, sure—but for a trap like this, where mobility and information warfare have to back it up, Hollend isn’t that suitable.
And it’s not like Deculan can mobilize other manpower like Troubleshooters either. Was there someone in Deculan who could back Hollend alone?
‘…Hmm.’
Piiiiiik—!
It was right then that Breakfast No. 1’s cry rang out above my head.
‘That f*cking….’
Even at this hour, it was watching people.
Like it was telling me that if I’m done studying, I should stop wandering around and go back to sleep, it circled over my head.
“Hoo…. Get lost. From now on, it’s personal time.”
I waved my hand twice as if annoyed, and only then did Breakfast No. 1 disappear into the night sky.
Its pure white feathers soaked into the darkness and shone black.
But why?
“…Huh?”
Watching Breakfast No. 1’s figure recede, something came to mind.
It was like a vague memory that made me feel disgusting… and made my irritation surge up violently.
‘What is it? Something….’
A fragment of memory flashed through my mind at that exact moment.
“…Ah!”
It was a memory of one person.
“…Crow.”
This isn’t a real bird.
Just like the Troubleshooters were called No. 1, No. 2, and so on, it’s simply called “Crow.”
‘How did I not think of that?’
The moment Crow’s existence surfaced in my mind, Deculan’s choice of personnel made sense.
Sending only Hollend—was that sloppy?
‘No. It’s absolutely not sloppy.’
Crow.
If that bastard is attached as support, then Hollend alone would be enough.
No surveillance network? With Crow, there’s no need for any surveillance network.
Crow’s detection ability alone covers an entire city.
What does that mean?
‘…If I went in thinking it was only Hollend, I almost would’ve gotten myself killed.’
At the chilling thought, my body shuddered without me even realizing it.
But only for a moment.
“Tsk. Then we’ll have to hurry the plan up a bit.”
It felt like things were about to get a little busier from here on out.
