Chapter 64
"Helena de Bolivian."
"What is it, Callias?"
A subtle coquettishness oozed from her as she tilted her head in question.
But I know.
It's merely a facade.
Showing a flawless exterior is the basics for a merchant. Born into a merchant family and becoming a Pilgrim, her life must not have been smooth sailing either.
However.
"Why are you here."
That is the question.
Why is Helena in the North?
"Isn't it obvious? I came because the North called for me."
"You?"
"Yes. Didn't you know? The Lord of the North requested our family."
Elberton did?
"How curious."
To think he would call for the Bolivian Merchant Group and Helena out of all the many merchants.
"What's so curious about it? Our Bolivian Merchant Group handles corpses and byproducts of demonic beasts at the highest prices, so isn't that why the Conqueror of the North called for us?"
"I suppose that's true."
Well. I still don't fully understand how the political world works.
The Bolivian family is a commercial family with a promising future, but I didn't know their name value had already risen that high.
"Of course. Otherwise, would I be crazy enough to come all the way to this freezing North?"
Unaccustomed to the cold, Helena's nose and cheeks were tinted red.
Behind her was a stoic-looking man of similar age, and judging by his attire, he seemed to be a servant or a family retainer.
The sword at his waist.
His heavily guarded gaze was quite annoying.
"Callias. Is this how the North treats its guests? I'm cold, you know?"
"You're the one who went out of your way to wait for me outside."
"That's because you haven't shown your face for days since I arrived!"
"Why are you getting mad?"
"I'm not mad? This is hilarious."
Good grief! Seeing Helena snort and walk towards the castle, Brans whispered quietly.
"She's an insolent wench. To dare show such disrespectful behavior to my Lord!"
"Brans."
"Yes! My Lord. Shall I go give her a piece of my mind right now? In the back alleys of Trista, men and women alike would piss themselves at a single word from me..."
"Shut your vulgar mouth."
Brans's mouth snapped shut instantly.
"And, she is not an opponent you can handle."
Helena is a daughter of a merchant family.
A Pilgrim who has already finished her pilgrimage.
A Paladin who finished her pilgrimage by turning her own rosary into a scabbard.
"Do you see the dual swords at her waist?"
"Ah, yes."
"A Pilgrim's rosary becomes a scabbard once their pilgrimage is over. She is a Paladin I'd rather not fight if I can help it."
Quite surprised by my answer, Brans asked with wide, rabbit-like eyes.
"Are you saying she is strong enough that even you would be reluctant to fight her?"
I didn't bother answering.
It's true that she's strong.
Having a scabbard made from a rosary means she has already become one with her sword.
There's nothing to gain from fighting a Paladin who has assimilated with a sword possessing a unique ability.
'If I were to house the Thunderclap Sword in a rosary right now.'
I would be able to use the unique ability of the Thunderclap Sword.
I would be able to emit Thunderclap from my entire body without even drawing the sword.
The divine aura contained within the rosary, along with the owner's blood and soul, makes it possible.
Body-Sword Unity (Shenjian Heyi).
It is the mixing of the awakened soul with one's own soul to become one.
'Therefore, one can use the sword's abilities as freely as if they were one's own.'
Of course, the Thunderclap Sword is a demonic sword that already has a scabbard, so it's useless.
Because they are already mixed.
'The same goes for the Devouring Sword and the Body-Strengthening Sword.'
The Judgment Sword might be possible, but there's no need to do it.
As for the Tyrant Sword I obtained this time...
'If I were to make a scabbard for the Tyrant Sword.'
The power to manipulate gravity would become quite versatile, and its intensity would also become noticeably more powerful.
However, you only get one rosary in your lifetime.
Because it is created by forming a defect in the soul, there is no second chance.
'The Tyrant Sword is certainly a good sword, but...'
It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I didn't want to consume that opportunity on a Spirit Sword.
At the very least, an Illusion Sword.
If it wasn't at least at that level, wouldn't it be too precious an opportunity to waste?
"My Lord, then do you happen to know the ability of the sword she possesses as well?"
Helena's sword is a pair of dual swords, making it hard to forget.
And the unique ability it possesses is also rare.
Classified under the trait-type.
"Snake and Shadow."
* * *
The dining room within the castle.
At the meal where the deal between Zerban and Bolivian was made, Elberton and Helena.
And I were present together.
"I didn't know the two of you were acquainted."
"We had a bit of a connection. When he first set out on his pilgrimage. God bestowed many trials upon him, after all."
Trials my ass. They were just lunatics rushing at me to kill me.
"They were bastards who didn't know their place."
"Still, if it weren't for my help back then, Sir Callias would have been in quite a bind."
She's not wrong.
If my luck was bad, I would have died.
Otherwise, I would have been captured and imprisoned by those crazy women.
"So you are my son's savior."
"Not at all. It was all God's will. They say God's blessings only come in through an open mouth. Callias. Didn't all your accumulated efforts gather together to create the fortune that is me?"
Her words are smooth and flowery.
In the end, it's nothing more than lip service dressing herself up as fortune.
However.
Elberton seems to know it but doesn't really mind it. His gaze towards her is full of interest.
"Lady Helena. Do you have a fiancé?"
"Pardon?"
Has that old man lost his mind?
Surely he isn't planning to take a new wife now?
"N-no, I don't, but..."
"Is that so. I just asked because it looks good to see a young man and woman together. It's a relief that you don't."
"What relief is there?"
When I shot back, he put down his cutlery as if it was a matter of course and said.
"Callias. You are also twenty-six now. The Lord of the North must also think about his heir, shouldn't he? Even though it's already very late, of course."
So he was talking about me, not himself. I had misunderstood for nothing.
"What lady would discuss marriage with a guy like me?"
The Kingdom's greatest ruffian, a prodigal son.
That is the eldest son of Zerban.
So who would seriously discuss marriage?
"Callias. Your surname is Zerban. If you set your mind to finding a marriage proposal, it's not impossible to find one."
He's not wrong.
One of the Four Great Noble Families that founded Karpe.
Weren't the Four Great Noble Families precisely the nobles among nobles, whose bodies were graced by God's blessing?
Among them, the shield of Karpe that firmly held the North and had never been breached for nearly a thousand years.
The pillar of Karpe is Zerban.
There would be no shortage of ladies who would marry into this place for political purposes.
If Elberton just quietly gave a single word, various nobles would appear to sell off their daughters.
That's how high Zerban's prestige was.
However.
"I have no such intentions."
But marry a woman like that?
Nonsense.
I'm already busy enough just keeping my own life, what marriage?
That would be true luxury.
"Is that so. If there is a woman in your heart, I can wait a little."
"There is no such woman."
Even if there is, there isn't.
Besides, I have Emily.
I don't want to unnecessarily complicate the situation, nor did I want to make the child worry for nothing.
I didn't want to show any more disgraceful behavior to a child who couldn't even call her father 'Father'.
"I heard, Lady Helena, that you saved Callias's life."
"Pardon? Ah, that was just a coincidence..."
"It is common for a man to fall for the woman who saved his life."
A vein bulged on my forehead.
This is the kind of conversation that makes me understand why Callias became a scoundrel.
If it were up to my feelings, I wanted to flip the table over, but...
'Huh?'
At the same time as the thought, my hand flipped over the long, rectangular table.
The table spun in mid-air, scattering tableware and food.
Crash, bang!
It was smashed to pieces.
"Kyaaa!"
As the table slammed into the wall with a loud boom, the waiting knights and servants jumped out in surprise.
Several people rolled their wide eyes, seemingly unable to understand what was going on.
The absurdity of it was the same for me, but.
I maintained a calm exterior.
Wiped my lips with a napkin.
Stood up and threw it down.
"What kind of behavior is this in front of a guest!"
It's already been done.
I felt angry for some reason.
So it's better to say it now.
"You've already been gifted with an excellent granddaughter named Emily. There's no need to think about marriage."
"……!"
Elberton probably didn't know.
That I knew.
"You shouldn't treat your granddaughter as if she doesn't exist. Anymore. Don't make her keep her mouth shut."
* * *
After the commotion had settled.
Within Jaivarsh Castle, rumors spread as if they had legs.
They spread rapidly.
"Really? No wonder. Sir Callias cherished her so much."
"Definitely. I also saw Sir Callias frequently guiding Lady Emily's sparring. But to think she was his daughter."
Allen and Aron, of course.
"Now that you mention it, they do look alike. Maybe because she resembles Sir Callias's features, Lady Emily is also quite noble-looking."
"I really didn't know. I was so surprised."
Orfin and Jack.
And even the other knights.
The fact that Emily's birth father was actually Callias spread in an instant.
"Did you find out?"
"Yes. The servants of Zerban are truly tight-lipped."
"So? Who is Emily?"
Helena and Alfredo walked to the backyard of the castle for a moment.
There, a child was sparring alone against the knights of Zerban.
Ash-gray eyes, the symbol of Zerban.
And short, black hair.
"That child is Callias's daughter? She's huge? She must be around fourteen."
"I heard she's twelve years old."
"What!? Only twelve? She's twelve and sparring with knights? She's fighting incredibly well right now..."
Her skills are considerable.
It's not the swordsmanship of a mere twelve-year-old kid. It's practical, and although there's still a little excess, the lines are clean.
It's definitely not a twelve-year-old's swordsmanship, and her physical growth is also at a level where she can't be seen as a little kid.
"Emily von Zerban is a child who suddenly appeared about ten years ago. They said she was abandoned in front of the castle gates."
Abandoned children are common in this era.
But what if the child's eyes were ash-gray?
The residents of the North were not ignorant enough to pass by after seeing the eyes of a crying child.
"Later, it was known that the family head's illegitimate child had appeared, but after putting together various stories, that doesn't seem to be the case."
"Could she really be Callias's daughter?"
"It's not certain, but wouldn't it be so? He said so himself."
He himself said so above anyone else.
So it must be true.
"Hah... True. The term 'prodigal son' didn't come out of nowhere. Who could the mother be?"
"Well. It's hard to pinpoint."
Because he messed around with so many ladies.
"But could it be real? Callias has a younger sister, right? Couldn't it be her daughter?"
I heard Callias's younger sister also left home a long time ago and hasn't shown her face.
"It's not that I haven't thought about it, but wouldn't she be too young if it was ten years ago?"
Callias's younger sister.
There's a bit of an age gap between him and Violet, so it's an impossible story.
"They say the child named Emily originally had a condition where her Holy Blood was blocked."
"Really?"
"But now, after experiencing something, she suddenly made her mark during the war."
And behind that.
"They say Sir Callias was there."
"It's really fascinating."
"This information will be quite valuable."
It will be.
But it's unexpected.
"Did he mature after having a child? I didn't know he'd be so sensitive to talk of marriage."
For a family like Zerban.
It wouldn't be strange even if there were a few illegitimate children.
But didn't Callias get that angry for his daughter?
"Unexpectedly family-oriented."
"Are you interested?"
"No way. He's just handsome, so it's a feast for the eyes looking at him. He's totally not marriage material."
"Sir Callias's influence has spread throughout the North due to this war. The talk of him being a hero isn't for nothing. Since the succession of his title is already in progress, he's not a bad marriage partner. Marrying Sir Callias would be no different from becoming the mistress of the North."
The mistress of the North.
That title also tempted Helena.