Chapter 33
"Since we don't have much time, let's save the details for later. If this information turns out to be false, Caligo will be held accountable," Caron said firmly.
Foina chuckled softly and said, "You're quite scary, but don't worry. We're all in the same boat now."
"Exactly, my brother Caron. Why would we lie to the Leston family?" Revelio added.
Caron sighed and said, "We'll talk later, Your Highness. For now, we're busy, so we have to head out."
Having obtained the necessary information from Foina, Caron and his group quickly left the room. Only Revelio, Foina, and Mason remained in the reception room.
Revelio gazed at the door with a satisfied smile and asked, "Did you like my new friend, Sis?"
Foina shot him a look of mild exasperation and retorted, "Friend? You just met him today, and you're already calling him your brother? I have no idea what goes through your head, Revelio. Don't you agree, Sir Mason?"
Mason, who had been silently observing, commented, "Well, this isn't the first time the prince has behaved like this. I gave up on trying to understand him long ago."
Foina let out a sigh as her gaze lingered on her so-called brother. She said, "I already dislike getting entangled with the imperial family, but getting involved with the Leston family is even worse. One wrong move, and our entire organization could be swept away."
"But it worked out well, didn't it? And I made a new good friend as well," Revelio said, taking a bite out of an apple that had been sitting on the table. The sweet juice filled his mouth as he continued, "Do you remember when you gave me that apple when we were kids? It was so sour back then."
"That was when I had just come to this city to rescue my people. I was broke, and you were practically a stray child," Foina replied.
"Let's be honest," Revelio corrected her. "I wasn't just a stray, I was completely abandoned. If it weren't for Sir Mason, I'd have been assassinated like my mother long ago. And even now, I'm still an abandoned child."
He paused, letting the memories of the past wash over him. They brought him back to a time when his mother was still alive.
Revelio could vividly recall his childhood, fleeing the imperial palace to survive the schemes of other royal concubines. His mother had been killed during their escape by assassins sent by an unknown hand. If Mason, the bodyguard sent by the emperor, had arrived even a moment later, Revelio himself would have met the same fate.
After that harrowing experience, he had spent his childhood years in Thebe. It was only when he was fifteen that he finally returned to the palace. For him, Thebe had always felt like home. It was a place where he could hide his identity and learn anything he desired. It was in Thebe that he had first met Foina, the Chairwoman of Caligo.
"I have quite a significant stake in Caligo, don't you think?" Revelio remarked.
"It was the payment I received for teaching you magic. It was a fair compensation for my work," Foina answered.
"Even so, it's hard to deny that the money came out of my pocket," Revelio replied with a smirk.
Foina quietly observed Revelio, remembering the hatred that had once filled his eyes as a child. She couldn't forget it. Even though he now masked that anger with a smile, she knew such deep-seated emotions couldn't simply have disappeared.
"I came here planning to sell my royal blood on the black market, but it seems I won't need to. I'll just save that for later," Revelio said.
"I'm guessing the rumors about the emperor's health not being good are true?" Foina asked.
"Yes, and it's thrown the nobles into chaos. Even though the emperor's role is practically that of a figurehead, that symbolism can't be ignored. Damn old man. I just hope he stays alive long enough for me to give him a heart attack myself," Revelio replied.
He had originally come back to Thebe to seek out new supporters. Unlike the capital, which was dominated by nobles, Thebe was a home to influential figures who could sway the empire without holding a title. However, this recent incident had unexpectedly brought him into contact with the Ducal Family of Leston. It was a stroke of luck he hadn't anticipated. Perhaps, he thought, all the misfortunes of his childhood were finally being compensated for.
"Thanks to those warmongering old coots, it looks as if I'll be the one to benefit," Revelio mused.
He was referring to the warhawks, fanatics who endlessly preached the need to unleash the empire's might upon its enemies. There was a high probability that these extremists had a hand in orchestrating the recent attack.
"It's obvious, especially since they've even sent down the Imperial Guards," he continued.
The Imperial Guards, the elite force of the imperial family, hadn't come to investigate the incident. Their real purpose was likely to cover up any evidence if things went awry. After all, there were factions within their ranks that supported the warhawks.
"What do you think will happen if the Leston family secures the evidence?" Foina asked.
Revelio grinned as if he had been waiting for that question, then said, "The sleeping giant will finally awaken."
"The situation is getting chaotic," Foina remarked.
"And I bet that at the center of that storm will be Caron Leston. What do you think, Sir Mason?" Revelio replied confidently.
Mason, who had been quietly listening, spoke up. "A boy who can reach 4-Star by the age of thirteen is exceptional, even compared to Duke Halo at that age. And that sword he carries... It even frightens me."
Mason had seen many of the famed swords of the Leston family, but Caron's frightening sword couldn't be compared with the ones he had seen before. When he first saw the sword, he had mistaken it for a cursed sword, not a legendary one.
"He will undoubtedly grow into a monster," Mason continued.
"Isn't he already a monster compared to others his age?" Foina asked.
"He'll become something far more terrifying," Mason replied with certainty.
It wasn't just a guess, it was a firm belief. He had seen the look in that thirteen-year-old boy's eyes. That was a spirit that refused to break, even in the face of a superior foe. Those who had such an indomitable spirit were destined to ascend to greatness. And spirit, Mason knew, was something one could only be born with.
"Sis, my judgment might be questionable, but I trust Sir Mason's instincts," Revelio said.
"I don't need Sir Mason to tell me that. Even I could feel it," Foina said. She then exhaled deeply before continuing, "Humans are truly strange. What were they thinking, provoking the Leston family?"
Duke Halo, the head of the Leston family, was the greatest hero of the continent. He was the one who had dethroned the ??Malevolent Emperor and ended the dark age. To Foina, it was incomprehensible why anyone would dare to cross such a figure.
With a casual tone, Revelio responded, "It's because they haven't experienced it firsthand. That's just how humans are."
It had been nearly fifty years since the Leston family last involved themselves in imperial affairs. After dethroning the Malevolent Emperor, they had retreated to their lands, living quietly under Duke Halo's guidance.
Humans, when shown continuous kindness, inevitably began to mistake it for entitlement; that was especially true when greed clouded their vision.
"I don't understand why they keep making choices they'll regret," Foina remarked.
"When greed blinds you, that's just how it is. If humans never did things they'd regret, we wouldn't even have a word for it," Revelio replied, closing his eyes as he relaxed on the sofa.
"It's like a cow stumbling and accidentally catching a mouse," he added with a chuckle. "That's what makes the world so amusing. Who could have predicted such a coincidence?"
"We got lucky," Foina acknowledged.
"Sis, luck is a skill too. And we usually call things like this fate," said Revelio.
Foina let out a long, weary sigh and took a sip of her tea. It was the same tea she always drank, but today, it tasted different. She murmured, "...It feels almost as if I can taste blood in the tea."
Somewhere in this glittering city, the information she had provided would lead to a bloodbath. But she decided it wasn't her concern. After all, it was just the price foolish humans would have to pay.
***
Late at night, in the western region of Thebe, there stood a grand mansion. It belonged to the head of the Oyun Trading Company, a major player in the city's council. The mansion's beautiful garden was as luxurious as the residence itself; but tonight, instead of its usual tranquility, the garden buzzed with activity. Servants hurriedly loaded luggage onto carriages, their faces tense under the weight of the night's work.
The head of the Oyun Trading Company, Oyun himself, sighed deeply as he looked down at the scene from the second floor of his mansion. He wondered where it had all gone wrong. He took a sip from his glass of liquor as the bitterness settled in his expression.
"Imperial Guards will be dispatched soon to erase all evidence, so you have nothing to worry about. Once this is over, we promise you'll have a noble title."
He realized that his first mistake had been agreeing to cooperate with their plan. They had asked him to procure explosives, and he had just delivered them. But never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that they would use those explosives to attack the Leston family. Oyun chuckled bitterly as memories of the past washed over him.
"It's all my fault," he muttered.
As a commoner, he had accumulated more wealth than most could even imagine. That should have been enough, but he had turned to the allure of a noble title. It was a status he had long coveted. Oyun wanted his children to be treated with the respect he had never received. He wanted them to live a noble life rather than be dismissed as commoners.
So, he had begun pulling strings in central politics, funding certain individuals and handling their dirty work for the past fifteen years. All of it had been for the goal of securing a noble title. He had thought this latest task was just another step in that direction.
"Haha..." Oyun chuckled, because he knew that there was no one to blame but himself. His greed had led him to this point. The only solace he found was that he had already sent his family away. The moment he sensed something was wrong, he had sent them out of Thebe, ensuring they had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
The Imperial Guards will be here soon, he thought to himself.
He'd heard that the Imperial Guards had arrived in Thebe to conduct an investigation. He knew it wasn't truly an investigation, but rather an effort to eliminate evidence. In the end, he had been nothing more than a disposable pawn. The Imperial Guards effectively acted as the war faction's enforcers. They would clean up all traces in the city, then come for him as the final loose end.
As Oyun stared out the window, resigned to his fate, a thunderous explosion suddenly echoed outside, followed by the sound of screams.
"Aaaah!" a person screamed.
"Please, spare us!" another begged.
"W-We didn't do anything wrong—" yet another protested.
It seemed someone had breached this place. Not long after the commotion began, a terrified servant burst into the bedroom and cried, "Sir, sir! We're in big trouble! Knights, they've just stormed this place without warning!"
"...They're Imperial Guards," Oyun said, realizing that the moment he had been dreading had arrived.
But the servant shook his head frantically and said, "N-No, sir. It's the Oceanwolf Knight Order! The Leston family's knights are here!"
"How could they be here so soon—" Oyun began, but before could finish his question, it was cut short by another loud sound. The bedroom door broke down as two young boys walked in. Oyun recognized their faces immediately.
"We've met before, haven't we, Councilor Oyun? I apologize for visiting late at night, but given the circumstances, setting up an appointment didn't seem feasible, don't you think?" Caron asked.
They were Caron and Leo Leston, the grandsons of Duke Halo, who had nearly died in the accident earlier that day.
"Were you planning on moving? Your servants seemed busy loading up the carriages when we arrived," Caron continued.
In his right hand, there was a blood-stained sword. The metallic scent of blood began to permeate the room.
"Did you kill the servants too? They had no part in this..." Oyun said.
"Oh, this blood? Don't worry, it's not from your servants. We're not murderers who kill indiscriminately," Caron answered. He revealed a sly smile, approaching Oyun with a small pouch in his left hand. He continued, "Moving out is your choice, but you should settle your debts before you go, right? It's rather careless of someone running a trading company to be so sloppy with their accounts, don't you think?"
Oyun couldn't move a finger. The deadly aura coming from the young boy had frozen him in place, leaving him overwhelmed by the sheer hostility. All he could do was stare at Caron in terror.
Thud.
Caron tossed the pouch in front of Oyun and said, "I figured you might try something drastic, such as drinking poison or biting your tongue, so I came prepared. Why don't you take a look inside?"
A wave of dread washed over Oyun as he picked up the pouch with trembling hands. His heart pounded rapidly. He worried that they had discovered his family. Since they had already broken into the mansion, he thought that they had to have found evidence. If that was the case, then what lay inside this pouch was...
"Can't open it?" Caron asked mockingly, raising his sword. "Should I help you with that too? I already had to draw the sword for you earlier... People these days are so lazy."
Clash.
Caron's sword flicked outward, slicing through both the pouch and Oyun's wrist. Blood trickled from the shallow cut on Oyun's wrist, but he was too overwhelmed to even notice.
Thud.
Several severed hands tumbled out from the slashed pouch. The moment Oyun saw those hands, he shuddered uncontrollably. He stuttered, "D-Did you find... my family? How... How could you..."
"Why? You tried to kill my family. Did you think it would be unfair if we retaliated?" Caron replied calmly. He then instructed, "Oyun, take a closer look at those hands."
Oyun, his vision blurred by fear, examined the hands again. He sighed in relief as he saw that they were covered in calluses, realizing they weren't the delicate hands of his wife and children.
"We've secured your family, but someone was sent to kill them, so we brought you the hands of those who made the attempt," Caron said.
"My family... Are they really alive?" Oyun asked nervously.
"Of course. Like I said, we don't kill the innocent. Well, I mean, nothing has been revealed right away, but during the investigation, something suspicious could be found, right?" Caron replied.
"My family... They've done nothing wrong..." Oyun stuttered again.
"Let me give you a piece of advice," Caron said as he kicked Oyun's legs, sending him falling to the floor. He then stabbed his sword into the ground beside Oyun's neck. He lowered his voice and whispered, "The only person who can prove your family's innocence is you. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
A sinister smile full of malice spread across the young boy's face.