A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

25 – Uninvited Guest (3)

The border between the kingdom and the empire runs long from north to south, and there is a canyon in the center.

It is not a naturally occurring canyon, but whether it was created in the age of ancient dragons or something, it is used as a border in the age of mankind.

Among them, the inside of the canyon was occupied by the kingdom.

At the time when there was no gate, there were repeated advances and retreats inside the canyon, but as the gate was built, the road between the canyons became the kingdom’s territory.

The empire declared the land beyond the canyon as its own.

That happened at the same time as the beginning of the Nostrum Kingdom, so it happened about 500 years ago.

“Noir. Shall we teach history for a moment?”

“What, what…?”

“It’s common sense that anyone from Gibraltar should know. It’s called studying family history. Oh, something to drink.”

I ordered black tea from the maid.

“What are you doing? Don’t you bring it?”

“Ah, yes! I’ll get it ready for you right away, Master.”

The maid who received my instructions was dumbfounded as she boiled water and prepared tea leaves.

Is this a new maid who came in within a year?

He clearly looks nervous, as if this is his first time experiencing something like this.

‘This is a maid who recently arrived.’

On the day his father declared himself a traitor, several maids died.

Naturally, in order to fill her empty position, she had to hire a new maid.

He may have been afraid of the Count who suddenly killed his servants overnight-

‘Those who died were not very good servants.’

Those who were murdered in the restaurant did not behave very well.

And paradoxically, my father’s daily behavior had a positive effect.

-The dead maids must have done something very wrong. He cursed his wife in front of the Count.

Since it was actually like that to some extent, their deaths were in some way extenuating circumstances.

‘Right now, I don’t feel like messing with the servants in the family.’

Sure, should I throw it over once?

In order to do something big, you have to control your family first.

“Woah, I’m here.”

“Hmm.”

It’s a hassle to organize the servants, but I don’t want to suffer while eating tasteless food or drinking bitter tea-

“Oh.”

The tea smells better than I thought.

“Are you new?”

“Yes, yes! It’s the new girl, Marylee!”

“Hmm, I see.”

I didn’t ask for your name, but if you know how to brew tea to this degree, you pass.

‘Should I postpone cleaning the servants until later?’

I’ll have to do it someday, but right now, there’s no need to touch it since my father is there.

“Noir. You drink too. Letard…It’s better not to drink. Prepare warm milk.”

“Woah, Yuyu….”

“Didn’t you bring it?”

“Oh, no! I’ll bring it!”

It seems like there are still many things lacking, but I guess it doesn’t matter because I’m not the one feeling uncomfortable because of those shortcomings.

“Okay… Then Noir. You stayed silent while I was drinking tea for a moment.”

“Hee, hee hee….”

“You said we should study history, right? It’s a simple question. The 3,000 orcs my father killed. Whose land is it where they died?”

“Uh, um, my empire…?”

“Correct answer.”

Orcs died in the empire’s territory.

“Then, was that red wasteland the land of the empire even 500 years ago?”

“Uh, umm… Are you talking about when the Kingdom of Nostrum began…? At that time…”

“It wasn’t the current empire. It had a different name.”

The kingdom continued the Nostrum bloodline for nearly 500 years, but the area beyond the canyon was chaotic in many ways.

“Well, if you call it the current imperial land, it is imperial land.”

“That’s right. 500 Years ago, the owner of that land became an empire that unified the ‘western part of the continent’ beyond the canyon.”

I don’t know about other places, but the border centered around the canyon has not changed for 500 years.

“Then, was it a red wasteland like that back then?”

“Uh, um….”

“The correct answer is ‘no.'”

It is said that it was a green meadow at the time.

“Until 500 years ago, the area beyond the canyon was not a wasteland where not a single blade of grass would grow. What made that place like that? Huh?”

“Oh, a lot…Because I died?”

“Correct answer!”

Noirdo Gibraltar appears to be Gibraltar.

“There were countless bodies piled up, so there was no room for life to grow in that land. Thousands of people died every 10 years.”

It’s because he doesn’t have a head for studying, but he seems to have definitely inherited the Gibraltar family’s unique ‘field of war’ from his father.

“In the early days when the canyon was taken over by the empire, the bodies were collected, but later they were just left unattended.”

“Our ancestors killed so many people that it was difficult to deal with it…?”

“There is that, but there are also cases where the body becomes a weapon.”

Corpses are a tactically useful resource.

Just as the Empire used catapults to decapitate nobles over the castle walls during the battle to conquer the capital, there is no weapon that can demoralize the enemy.

Another way is to pollute the water by throwing the body into the enemy’s water source.

Another method is to use decayed bodies to spread the plague.

The empire ruled over several small kingdoms and unified the Western Continent.

“Of course our ancestors responded to that too. Do you know what they did?”

“Oh, I know that!”

Noir’s eyes sparkle.

“He cut the entrance to the canyon with his sword and made the wind blow in the direction of the empire!”

“That’s right.”

Originally, the canyon was a place where the wind blew freely.

“I left the width at the bottom the same and blew the sword towards the cliff to create a path for the wind to pass through. It was a one-way street.”

What did the empire’s magic engineers say?

‘I think it was said that the canyon was cut with a sword to create an air pressure difference, and then the wind flow was forced to blow towards the empire.’

It was not a natural wind flow.

The terrain was carved, making everything flow towards the empire.

“The bodies of 3,000 orcs, do you know where they went now?”

“…It flew towards the empire!”

“The corpses are not rolling around, but the wind mixed with the scent of blood continues to flow toward the empire.”

However, because nature was used to create an environment, a situation like today occurred.

“And the empire is in a position where it cannot just leave it alone.”

The stench of rotting corpses passes through the wasteland and eventually reaches the empire.

“Seeing as they even brought in the Marquis of Claydoll and protested like that, they seem to be quite serious this time.”

“Well, then a real battle…!”

“You have to watch to find out.”

I quench my thirst with slightly cooled black tea and look at the enemy soldiers seen through the projection box.

There are two possibilities.

“Father, will you be okay? Even if you climb the gate, that old man seems strong…”

“One of the generals that the empire is proud of. An old general with a fierce personality, fierce and ferocious, like a wild boar.”

“Hey…!”

One is, as Noir is concerned, if an all-out war is planned.

‘Three or four times every 100 years, tens of thousands of people seriously tried to cross the canyon.’

Even if the number is around 5,000, it is not against common sense to attack with the Master.

“Ha.”

“Tongue, bro. You’re worried… Aren’t you? Your father…”

“Is there any reason to be worried?”

What I’m really worried about is not the canyon, but this place, Count Castle.

“Noir. If I were the Empire, I wouldn’t have sent just one Master to deal with your father.”

“Well, then…”

“A simple demonstration of force.”

The second possibility, an ‘imperial’ strategy.

“After dragging my father into the gorge, they set up another schemer.”

“What’s the other plan…?”

“That’s right-“

I won’t tell you.

“You should think about it.”

Are you trying to negotiate with your father to charge the cost of recovering the body?

If my father doesn’t come out in person, he might be trying to occupy the first gateway and use it as his base.

Is this a move to calm the public opinion of the people of the empire, to appease their dissatisfaction with the rolling in of corpses?

‘This is the foundation of the empire itself.’

If the future emperor, the current crown prince, were to have a hand in this.

If I could intervene in this battlefield from the empire’s perspective.

“Sir Robert?”

“Yes, master!”

Sir Robert, who was standing behind me, answered immediately.

“Is there any noble who left something in the mansion or suddenly returned to the mansion? Among those who attended the banquet.”

“Nothing.”

“Now?”

“…It wasn’t there until I came in here. Can I go check?”

“Hmm.”

I thought there would be one person.

“No. I was just asking. I was wondering if there was a crazy person lying down in the banquet hall because he wanted to watch his father fight.”

I raised my glass again.

“But if there’s someone like that, please tell me. First of all, it’s my job to serve people like that.”

Not an imperial tactic.

If the crown prince’s plan goes into effect-

* * *

That time.

A road in the middle of the forest, at the end of the County of Gibraltar.

Rattling!

With a loud crashing sound, the carriage falls sideways.

Hee hee hee!

“aaah!”

The horse screams in surprise, and the person riding in the carriage screams in pain.

“What are you doing!”

The door of the carriage, which had overturned on its side, was thrown open and a middle-aged man, Baron Hervant Langur, pulled his fedora down and got out.

“I’m already angry because I couldn’t watch the battle, and you, Marcel, have to make me feel bad….”

The Baron was speechless.

Pushyuk.

Something, the sound of the wind falling.

At the same time, Hein-Marchel, who should have been sitting in the coachman’s seat, fell sideways.

The horse, whose rope was released, was startled and ran away, and something flew in front of the Baron.

“That’s why I don’t drink much…! Argh! How much does that cost-“

The Baron saw.

“Huh?”

The cross section of the rope passing in front of you is not broken but sharply ‘cut’.

“This can’t be right-“

And beyond the fallen Marcel, unidentified people covered entirely in black were holding daggers in their hands.

“Hey, hey?!”

“Are you sure this is you?”

A voice that cannot be distinguished as male or female.

“Ervant Langur. I’m sure.”

The conversation between the masked people was casual and emotionless.

Like the coldness of the daggers they held in their hands.

“Who, who are you? I am Baron Ervant Langur, a proud noble of the Great Nostrum Kingdom-“

Phu-wook.

A dagger was inserted into the Baron’s neck.

Without another word, he collapsed into the carriage, a fountain of blood spurting from his neck.

“It’s annoying to clean up….”

“It’s the Kingdom who cleans up anyway. We just have to clean up this.”

One of the masked men lifted the body of the dead coachman.

“Take whatever money you can from the Baron.”

“Isn’t it time to get sick of the scenario where a servant robs a nobleman?”

“There is a reason why classics are masterpieces. If you have any complaints, you can ask the [Grand Prince] Who wrote this scenario.”

“Tsk.”

The masked man muttered and entered the carriage.

“Oh, by the way. Don’t you do that? A ‘something left behind’ scenario.”

“Gibraltar said they were not the ones to be fooled by such a number.”

“So? Just leave the last name alone?”

“No.”

Pueueuuk.

“Bury this in the ground, and you and I will go directly.”

“Aren’t we dangerous?”

“He told me to use this too.”

One of the masked men took out a white paper bag from his arms.

“If you get caught, won’t you be in big trouble?”

“You’re not working with the intention of getting caught, are you?”

“That’s right. Can you help me?”

“Don’t just talk, come and pick up a shovel.”

In a moment.

“Go first. I leave footprints and then don’t follow.”

“You have to run away like the ugly middle-aged man who stabbed his owner and ran away. You know?”

“Who can say anything?”

The coachman, completely stripped without a single thread, fell into a deep pit.

In a moment.

A crow sat on the broken window of a fallen carriage.

“Oh my. Sorry. Did I rob you first?”

Something shiny jumped out and passed over the tree.

Grumble.

The crow turned her head away from something shabby that didn’t sparkle at all, and flew back into the dark night sky.

* * *

As expected.

“Noir. Letard. You two, you must never leave here until your father returns.”

Take advantage of the banquet to send someone.

No matter what the process is, as long as the result is successful, that’s enough.

‘There is no more effective method than taking the enemy general’s family hostage.’

After all, sword masters are also human.

Especially if you are a father.

Everyone doesn’t know yet that the mother is more valuable as a hostage than the child.

‘Luckily, there are none of the maids who came here.’

Putting sleeping pills in black tea or giving poison.

‘It’s their basic skill to insert spies among newly hired maids.’

Hororok.

‘Isn’t that the extent of it yet?’

I checked by drinking all the residue on the floor, but fortunately it seems to be safe to drink now.

Kkiik.

The door opens.

“Ah!”

“Mom!”

“Are you here, mother?”

“…Okay.”

My mother opened the door and came in, looking a little tired and escorted by several knights.

“Huh?”

And after that.

“Lord Mente?”

I saw a familiar face.

“What’s going on here?”

“…Lord Gibraltar’s orders.”

Sir Mente pouted his lips, looking somewhat dissatisfied.

“When I said I would accompany you to the battlefield, he told me to guard this place.”

“…….”

After all, he is my father.

“That’s right, Mom. You can sit here too. We are helping our father by staying here until he comes back.”

My mother silently nodded her head and sat down on the sofa, and I held the empty glass up to the maid.

“One more drink. And I’d like to eat something. Please grill me a steak.”

“Yes, yes…?”

Everyone looks at me strangely.

Now, in this situation, is it too much to eat?

“What’s wrong? You have to eat. Cook it well. Oh, and don’t cut it up and serve it to me…”

I raise my empty hand as if holding a knife.

“Bring a knife that can cut tough tendons like a cake.”

Lightly, he lowered the air.

“Because I’m going to cut it and eat it myself.”