“You were very considerate.”
“Right.”
“You kept looking at the ledgers to a minimum, only checked what you needed, and left right away. It didn’t look like you had any other intentions.”
“Exactly.”
Viscount Depiros Gremory.
Once again, I felt that he was truly a noble among nobles.
&
Depiros Gremory left the mansion and walked toward the square.
Though night had fallen, the square had not yet fully gone to sleep.
Near the fountain, people who had stayed out late were conversing in low voices,
and from the shopping district, shops that had not yet closed spilled faint light.
Through that light, Depiros walked with an unruffled expression.
After turning into an alley lined with shops,
the place he entered was a tavern.
As the door opened, the smell of alcohol and people rushed out all at once.
A man sprawled over a table,
merchants noisily raising toasts,
hands dealing cards in a corner.
No matter who looked, it was an ordinary night.
When Depiros spotted a man inside, he smiled naturally and approached.
The two men smiled, shook hands, shared a brief embrace, then immediately sat down,
and soon cups were being exchanged.
The sound of cups clinking,
bursts of laughter,
pointless jokes.
Depiros’s laughter blended naturally into the commotion as well.
After quite some time,
the two rose from their seats.
They quarreled over who would pay,
and in the end, the man who seemed to be his friend reluctantly settled the bill.
After leaving the tavern, the two stood at the entrance, laughing as they exchanged farewells.
They shook hands and embraced once more, then parted in opposite directions.
Depiros headed straight for the inn where he was staying.
The first floor of the inn was still lit.
A few late guests sat before dinners that smelled of broth,
and the innkeeper, who had been organizing his ledger, looked up at him and smiled.
Small pleasantries passed between them.
A gentle smile.
A courteous greeting.
Depiros truly wore the face of a flawless young noble.
With familiar steps, he climbed the stairs to the third floor and stopped before his room.
He opened the door and stepped inside.
Srrr.
Thud.
The door closed.
“...”
He had entered the room,
but he did not move right away.
Standing before the door, he remained still, submerged in the darkness.
A moment later.
Tick.
With a small sound, the lamp was lit.
Orange light spread from the end of the room as if pushing back the darkness, but it did not reach Depiros.
And.
Within that light were three people.
They were already seated at the table.
“You’re here?”
“Couldn’t you have come a little sooner?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. What if Depiros had eyes on his back?”
The air was utterly different from the light atmosphere that had flowed through the tavern a short while ago.
Depiros still stood where the darkness remained.
At last, when he slowly took one step forward, his face gradually emerged into the space lit by the lamp.
And the expression revealed there
was different from usual.
There was no gentle smile,
no amiable grin.
His amethyst eyes, which had once shone so alluringly, had sunk coldly enough to send a chill through the room,
his soft smile was sealed shut with absolute firmness,
and his voice was low and solid.
“Sit.”
Though they had all been speaking casually,
at that single word, the three immediately corrected their posture and sat properly.
Depiros slowly took a seat.
The room fell quiet.
Only the sound of night air seeping through the window crack,
and the faint burning of the lamp wick could be heard.
“Ten years.”
Depiros opened his mouth.
“We have moved for the sake of this day.”
At that single sentence, the air in the room settled heavily.
The faces that had been making jokes vanished.
All three stared at him in silence.
“At last.”
Depiros continued slowly.
“The greatest current we planned has taken shape.”
The three expressions hardened,
and solemnity and anticipation spread across them at the same time.
Depiros paused for a moment.
Silence.
Then he slowly opened his mouth.
“Deharmont’s ledgers. I have grasped their flow.”
The eyes of all three flashed at once.
Deharmont’s ledgers, seen through the Infinite Carriage Merchant Company.
It was certainly only a portion.
But to Depiros, that was enough.
If one saw even a portion, the flow became visible.
If the flow became visible, the pattern revealed itself.
If the pattern revealed itself, the method could be seen.
And if the method could be seen,
he could bring it down.
“Ha!”
One of them could not hold back and burst into laughter.
“So it really is going to succeed in the end!”
“As expected... truly remarkable.”
“How many years did we move for this?”
Another twisted the corner of his mouth and said,
“Those merchant company bastards Depiros helped probably don’t even know they were used. Heh heh.”
Depiros lightly tapped the desk with his finger.
At that single sound, the room instantly fell silent.
“The flow has been created.”
He spoke in a low voice.
“But this is only the beginning.”
And he immediately added,
“No. It has finally begun.”
His gaze grew colder.
“So we must become even more covert.”
The three immediately turned serious.
“Then should we get rid of the ones in our way first?”
“Balterk failed, didn’t he?”
“Threats didn’t work either, even after we touched his daughter.”
One of them grinned.
“Then should we just kill Aileen, Seraphinlie, and those girls? A guy like Ian Lucevalt will become annoying later if we leave him alone.”
Depiros immediately shook his head.
“Think about what will happen the moment they die.”
“...”
“We would be handing the other side justification for a purge.”
The three shut their mouths.
Depiros looked at the lamplight and said,
“While we were creating this flow, the other side also detected us.”
“...”
“So that method ends here.”
He paused briefly, then continued.
“Above all, it is no longer necessary.”
Only then did the three slowly nod.
And Depiros said in an extremely low voice,
almost as if speaking to himself,
“In any case, everything can be predicted.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Rather.”
A brief silence.
“Rayon Signal.”
It was an unexpected name.
The three looked at one another.
“Not Baron?”
“Yes.”
Depiros nodded calmly.
“He is the most unpredictable.”
“To that extent?”
“He is the only one who ruined our plans. Not just once or twice, but several times.”
His voice was composed,
but the weight of those words was not light.
“Of course, they were small plans, so it does not matter much.”
One of them clicked his tongue.
“Ah, the territorial war?”
“It’s true the Signal family ruined our picture. But that was because of Rayon Signal?”
“Wasn’t it just because the people we ordered acted stupidly?”
At that moment, a somewhat larger figure exuded killing intent.
“Should I kill him?”
Depiros shook his head again.
“Rayon has now become a person with enough influence. Therefore, he must not die suddenly.”
He swept his fingertip once across the desk.
“And.”
A very faint smile passed over his lips.
“As I said, there is no need.”
At the words that followed, the expressions of the three changed completely.
“The Deharmont family will collapse before long.”
There was no wavering in his voice.
Only certainty.
“The Infinite Carriage was a small poison we had scattered.”
His eyes narrowed.
“That poison ultimately drew out their shameful secrets, and the poison I planted has already begun seeping into that place.”
He continued slowly.
“What Deharmont holds is not only money. Military grain drafts, the settlement of provincial nobles’ debts, credit guarantees for major merchant companies, control over key logistics flows.”
Each time he pointed one out, the breathing of the three grew faster.
“We must seize those.”
“The current dynasty won’t just sit still.”
“Of course they will respond quickly.”
Depiros gave a faint laugh.
“But.”
That smile was cold.
“If even one of them is properly consumed, that will be enough.”
He raised one finger.
“If even one is breached, the rest will quickly be poisoned.”
His expression was full of confidence.
“Because the poison we have already scattered around them will become sharp fangs the moment a gap opens inside, and bite deep.”
At those words, the three rose from their seats almost at the same time.
“We have to move at once.”
“I can’t calm my excitement either.”
“Finally.”
Unable to hide their excitement, the three left the room.
Even after the door closed, Depiros did not move for a while.
He sat still, staring at the lamp’s flame.
Such a small flame.
A flame that looked as if it would go out at the slightest tremble.
And yet.
In his eyes, it looked different.
“Ten years.”
He murmured.
“No. Two hundred years.”
His gaze deepened further.
“I will take it back.”
Slowly rising from his seat,
he approached the window and unlatched it.
Unlike before, a cold wind rushed into the room all at once.
Far in the distance,
the Deharmont mansion could be seen.
Even though it was late at night, it was bright.
Countless windows held light within them,
and that enormous mansion shone as though it were still a fortress symbolizing the kingdom’s wealth.
In contrast, the light of the small lamp before him was shabby.
“This small flame.”
His voice was extremely low.
“Will soon blaze again like the sun.”
His gaze turned once more toward the Deharmont mansion.
“Devouring that light.”
A brief silence flowed.
“Our Solaris family will shine brilliantly once more.”
***
The incident was resolved.
The Infinite Carriage Merchant Company had tampered with the randomly assigned military provisions,
and even the insider who had helped them was caught.
The company’s assets were confiscated,
and they were barred from ever again touching any merchant business connected to Deharmont.
In effect, it was the end.
It meant they would not be able to continue merchant company work normally anywhere.
Seraphinlie personally announced this fact at a meeting where the Deharmont nobles and the master of the merchant guild were gathered.
How it had been uncovered.
Why that punishment had been handed down.
And what would happen if they did the same thing again.
She explained it very clearly,
in a way that no one could refute.
Everyone who saw that moment must have realized it.
That Seraphinlie Deharmont was a person fully capable of leading Deharmont from now on.
The head of the Deharmont family also seemed satisfied.
That night,
his laughter echoed through the mansion for a long time.
“Thank you. It’s thanks to you two.”
After the incident was concluded,
Aileen, Seraphinlie, and I found a separate place and lightly shared food and wine.
The wine in the glasses swayed red beneath the candlelight.
“Right.”
Seraphinlie gave a small laugh.
“I’ll make sure you’re well rewarded.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Aileen also smiled as she turned her glass.
This time, Seraphinlie looked at me.
“Rayon. You too.”
“I don’t know what help I was... but if I was helpful, then that’s enough. I’d feel too uneasy accepting anything.”
I lightly waved my hand.
Seraphinlie laughed as if she found it unbelievable.
“Didn’t you hear Viscount Depiros Gremory? Our family can’t live while owing debts.”
“Yes, then... I will gratefully accept.”
Only then did Seraphinlie’s smile turn satisfied.
We lightly clinked our glasses.
A clear sound rang out briefly.
But then.
After taking a sip of wine,
Aileen’s gaze changed.
“Seraphinlie.”
“Mm?”
Aileen did not continue right away,
but looked at me first.
From that gaze alone, I understood what she was about to say.
I also quietly turned my head toward Seraphinlie.
At our reactions, Seraphinlie narrowed her brow.
“What is it?”
Aileen spoke first.
“The Infinite Carriage Merchant Company, and the insider who helped them.”
“Yeah.”
“Investigate them a little more thoroughly.”
Seraphinlie’s expression hardened.
“The investigation is already more than enough. We uncovered their relationship as well. That’s why I announced it.”
“No.”
Aileen firmly shook her head.
“Who is behind those two.”
Only then did Seraphinlie stop speaking.
The investigation within this incident.
That was finished.
But that was not what Aileen meant.
She was telling her to dig beyond this incident.
“Why?”
At that moment, Aileen looked at me,
and this time, I continued.
“The ones who attacked Aileen.”
“...”
“And the ones who attacked Marsha.”
Seraphinlie’s eyes changed.
“They are all the same organization.”
“The same... organization?”
I slowly nodded.
“And perhaps the ones who tried to meddle in Marsha’s territorial war, as well as Viscount Halsen, who declared a territorial war against our side, may also be connected to that organization.”
“What...?”
Serafinlie’s expression gradually hardened.
Because what she was hearing was far more serious than she had expected.
I did not stop speaking.
“That’s not the end of it.”
“...”
“Perhaps the very reason territorial wars have begun breaking out again is because of them.”
At those words, even Aileen’s eyes widened for a moment.
“Truly?”
“That’s what I think. The timing all lines up.”
Aileen fell into thought in an instant.
And soon, she nodded.
“That could be.”
Then she spoke as if certain.
“Because they need to create chaos.”
“That’s right.”
“Distrust toward the current dynasty has to build, and people will come to expect someone to resolve that distrust for them.”
In that brief span of time, she had grasped a great many things.
Serafinlie cut in with an irritated voice.
“Explain it properly.”
Aileen calmly began to explain about the old dynasty.
What had happened to me.
The leather emblem I had obtained.
The things we had confirmed through that emblem.
And even the traces Aileen’s family had uncovered while pursuing them.
“We already knew there were movements of the old dynasty within the kingdom.”
“...”
“They’re extremely covert, and they’ve spread deeper than we expected. Commoners, religion, nobles. All of it.”
Serafinlie’s brow furrowed.
“The old dynasty...”
Fortunately, her reaction truly seemed to be that of someone hearing it for the first time.
Aileen steadied her breath and continued.
“Perhaps from now on, we may end up entangled with them quite a lot. They actually tried to make contact with us, too.”
Serafinlie’s brow furrowed even deeper.
If that was the case, there was no way they had not approached her own family as well.
“So we need to prepare from now on. We have to find out who they are, and we have to be ready to clash with them at any time.”
“Ha.”
Serafinlie laughed shortly.
“This is quite serious.”
Aileen answered immediately.
“They would have contacted you as well.”
I nodded at that too.
“The Deharmont family may be a target for contact, or they may be a target they’re trying to swallow in secret.”
“How dare they.”
Serafinlie gave a faint laugh.
“Those mere remnants of the past.”
After letting out a sigh, Serafinlie nodded.
“Understood. I’ll investigate again.”
At that moment, Aileen tapped the desk with her finger for emphasis.
“There probably won’t be many traces. Instead, look for places where the trail suddenly cuts off. That was always what I saw.”
Serafinlie also nodded seriously.
The three of our glasses lightly clinked together once more.
And I,
as I lightly drank my wine, suddenly felt that this situation was very strange indeed.
Because I felt that I was standing at a point,
where things were becoming completely different from my previous life.