Chapter 21: The Bait

“Young Master!? Your breakfast is……!”

“Esna, sorry. Later!”

“Where are you going in such a hurry……!”

Whoooosh.

Poof.

Before Esna could even finish her sentence, she could only stare blankly, mouth agape, at Muno's back as he disappeared down the hall like the wind.

“……please?

I worked so hard preparing 20 servings.

Hmph.”

Esna, staring at the 3-tiered serving cart piled high with food with a sullen expression.

Leaving that scene behind, Muno was running frantically toward the lord's office.

Grrrrrumble.

The energy he had spent dealing with the magician was demanding to be replenished, but it wasn't so bad that he would collapse right away.

Besides, there was something more urgent right now.

Bam!

“Father!!!”

I roughly threw the door open.

“Muno?”

“……you should postpone the Hunt for now, hmm?”

Besides my father, there were two other people in the office.

The old man, Palmer, whose monocle glinted as he turned from his report, and standing next to him, a middle-aged man with a gentle impression.

“Young Master Muno?

You're quite energetic this morning.”

His brown hair and eyes of the same color, a moderately pot-bellied physique that wasn't too large, and a gently smiling face made him look like a good-natured neighborhood uncle to anyone.

But he was a 3-Star knight and also the head knight of the Drasen Barony.

“Sir Gunter.”

And he was the most good-natured uncle among the adults Muno had seen since he was a child.

“His Lordship was about to summon you regarding yesterday's incident anyway, but you came knowing in advance. Hoho.”

I had heard just yesterday that this very man was a torture technician more skilled than anyone else.

Was that why?

“Ah, yes. Is... that so? Ha. Ha.”

Suddenly, Sir Gunter felt awkward to me.

He was someone who had been nothing but happy to see me when we met again with my changed appearance not long ago.

“What is the matter?”

Gunter just tilted his head, still smiling as usual.

‘Right, well, he's on our side.’

Just as I was about to smile and greet him again, a bloodstain on the end of his sleeve caught my eye.

“Ah, this? It's fine. It's not my blood. Please don't worry.”

……Right.

Even if he was on our side, I'd avoided people with a hidden side completely different from their appearance even back in my Han Munho days.

It seemed it would take some time before I could smile at Gunter again.

“Ah. Yes…….”

As Muno stood there awkwardly, his father's voice was heard.

“Anyway, why did you come running in such a hurry?

Well, it's good for me since I'm not wasting any time.”

“Ah! It's that, I had a dream…….”

“A dream?”

The moment he heard his father's question, he became conscious of Gunter and Palmer's presence and trailed off.

Both were undoubtedly trustworthy people, but he had promised to never speak of his past or matters related to the demon to anyone other than his father.

Fortunately, his father was quick-witted.

“Ah. Palmer, we'll postpone the Hunt for just one day and start tomorrow.

I know the situation has become noisy, but what needs to be done must be done, right?

We can't have the nobles and knights stay in Drasen forever.”

“As you wish. Then, the rumors…….”

“Just announce the facts that are already known, and add that His Excellency Enoch personally stepped in. That should quiet things down.”

“Understood.”

“Gunter, you too, make sure those bastards don't die. Just keep them breathing.”

“Then, do I not have to squeeze them anymore?”

“Yes. It doesn't seem like any more important information will come out anyway.”

...They're not rags, what is there to squeeze.

As Muno, who had a creepy thought, tried to look away, turning his head.

“You two may leave. I need to talk with Muno first.”

“Understood, my Lord.”

“Yes, Lord.”

Palmer and Gunter, the two people in charge of Drasen's administration and military operations, withdrew without any sign of disappointment.

And.

“A dream, you say?

What dream?”

The moment his father's eyes turned to him, Muno relayed the entire story of the vivid memories that had surfaced through his dream last night.

A moment later.

“An Archbishop……. So those evil cult bastards were really just a part of it?”

The lament coming from his father, Ryan's, mouth felt incredibly heavy.

“I also just thought that the remnants of those bastards had survived, I never considered that the Demon Cult Leader had a superior…….”

“But it's clear. That bastard……!”

“The one you said was in charge of that place, is he the white-haired magician with red eyes and a cross-shaped scar on his face?”

“Yes, that bastard's name is…….”

“Kraymal.”

“……Yes, that's right.”

“Hah…….”

The name that came from his father's mouth was the ringleader of the evil cult, caught by the 6-Star knight Enoch Trian and his knightly order after immense sacrifices.

“A 6-Circle magician was really just a subordinate? Hah…….”

With the successive sighs, Muno's expression also grew heavy.

A group from the evil cult, called the Demon Cult at the time because their exact name was unknown.

Among them, the Demon Cult Leader Kraymal was the worst criminal in the Iron Kingdom, still talked about even after 10 years, and was the disaster of Trian itself.

That was why it was an even bigger problem.

“A superior to a 6-Circle magician?

There's no way those magician bastards would follow someone inferior to them…….”

Because they were known for not even treating magicians of a lower circle than themselves as human, let alone commoners.

And.

“Did he really seem to be afraid of that person called the Archbishop?”

“Yes, definitely.”

According to Muno's memory, Kraymal had clearly tried to offer him as a sacrifice 'to avoid even the slightest reprimand from his superior'.

It wasn't the attitude a magician would show to someone of the same level but merely a higher rank.

In other words.

“Then that superior is a 7-Circle magician, a mage

. You know that only a few Magi exist even in the mage Empire, right?”

“……Yes.”

It meant that someone among the strongest superhumans in this fantasy world was behind that evil cult.

A knight of 7-Stars or higher, or a magician, spirit master, or priest of 7-Circles or higher.

Superhumans who were treated as a one-man army based on their individual abilities alone.

Since history began to be recorded, only one or two superhumans had reached a level higher than that in any given era, so people collectively called those practically supreme superhumans the Seven-Stars.

And the majority of them held the highest level of power in their respective countries, befitting their abilities.

“……We'll have to hope there's an unknown, reclusive Seven-Star in the world. Or that your dream was wrong.”

They were beings for whom Ryan's lament was not at all strange.

But he couldn't just sit there sighing.

“That's why we must make it known and root them out, isn't it?

This isn't just Trian's problem; it could escalate into an event that overturns the kingdom.”

As Muno expressed his conviction.

“……That's not as easy as it sounds.”

His father's answer was disappointing.

“Pardon?”

“There's no proof, no evidence. We also have to consider His Excellency Enoch's political standing.”

Political standing?

What was this about?

As Muno frowned, his father sighed with a regretful look.

“Of course I trust your words. His Excellency Enoch would also trust me if I strongly insisted. But other people will not.”

“Ah…….”

A cold wind finally blew through the mind of Muno, who had run over in excitement as soon as he woke up.

“Furthermore, if evidence emerges that there is a bigger power behind the evil cult, which was thought to have been wiped out 10 years ago, Trian's position, having claimed to have annihilated the Demon Cult after subjugating only a part of it, would become very difficult.”

Ah…….

“……I see.”

It felt like a bitter taste was spreading in my mouth.

But as he accepted it and lowered his head, his father asked back with a strange expression.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes, it's not a difficult story.

I'm not a fool anymore.”

“No, that's not what I mean.

I'm asking if you accept the situation where you can't openly subjugate the bastards who are also your enemies.”

“What can I do if I don't accept it? The situation is what it is.”

“Are you saying you'll give up?”

“Of course not. I just have to find another way.”

It would be nice if things went my way, but if not, it can't be helped.

The spirit of the petty citizen Han Munho, who had never expected the world to move according to his will, did not waver in the slightest.

Then, his father, who had been watching his eyes carefully, let out a chuckle.

“As expected, even if everything else has changed, your damn stubbornness hasn't.

You mean you'll try to do something, even if it's by yourself, right?”

But his father seemed to have misunderstood him slightly.

It wasn't that he would step forward and do something right now.

“……Just as an individual has a disposition, wouldn't an organization formed by those individuals also have a specific disposition?”

“What?”

“If they are the bastards I know, they won't just leave me alone after failing this one time.

They will cause trouble again soon enough. In that case, I just have to catch their tail for sure then.”

He was certain that even if he stayed put, they would make the first move.

At those words, his father's expression stiffened slightly, but soon that hardened face changed into a smile full of fighting spirit.

“……Good. As a father, I can't pretend not to know.

For now, I'll also report directly to His Excellency Enoch.

He's someone who knows what's important, so even if Kane opposes, it can't be helped this time.”

……Kane? Opposes? This time?

As he was bewildered by the incomprehensible words, his father came over and patted his shoulder.

“Even in the worst-case scenario, he is someone who will take at least minimum measures, so let's wait for now.

And as you said, if those bastards target you again, let's prepare to snatch them for sure then.

Well, you're not thinking of hiding away inside the Inner Castle, are you?”

“Of course. The bait has to look easy to eat for the prey to pounce.”

“……That's right. That's my son.”

A son who would be bait himself, and a father who encouraged it—neither seemed ordinary.

There wasn't a hint of hesitation on the faces of the father and son who were about to face an organization that they had just said might have a powerful superhuman behind it.

The moment the father and son faced each other with smiles full of fighting spirit.

Grrrrrumble.

The sound that rang out from both their stomachs at the same time made them feel awkward.

“A-ahem.”

“……Let's eat first, before that.”

“Let's do that.”

At that same time the Drasen father and son were steeling their resolve.

In some corner of the world, a conversation was taking place exactly as Muno had predicted.

[Failure? I sent him with Cartan's staff, no matter how insignificant he was, and he failed?]

At the words spat out by the shadow in the crystal sphere, the robed figure flinched and lowered his head.

Cartan's staff, which allows the use of magic up to the 2nd Circle without incantations.

Although it was low-grade, a magical tool itself was a rather expensive item.

More so than the life of the one who was given it.

“It seems... he was eaten by the Knight of Gluttony.”

[Hmph. Knight of Gluttony? That's nothing but an empty name. How could a knight see through that 'Veil'!]

“W-well, the one we sent was in charge of the experiment, so it seems he got too greedy.

There's information that a shower of fire erupted from the lodging. It seems because of that…….”

Detailed circumstances that hadn't even been properly reported to Count Trian flowed from the robed figure's mouth.

[Hah……. I told you to be so careful. Failing to capture a single experiment…….]

“What should we do?

I believe cutting our ties with Viscount Connell and pretending we know nothing is also a good method.”

[Nonsense! We must find out why that bastard Kraymal died so absurdly. It's obvious the clue lies with that experiment who was said to be offered as a sacrifice.]

“Then…….”

[Send a hand that can neutralize even the Knight of Gluttony and retrieve it without fail. Even if it means using all the tails we've planted in Trian.]

“I will do as you command.”

[There must be no failure this time. Dispatch at least a reliable 3-Circle, no, a 4-Circle veteran.]

“To that extent……!?”

The robed figure flinched at those words, but.

[It is necessary! But tell them not to even think of fighting the Knight of Gluttony. The target is only the one experiment. Do not forget. Well, if you can't be trusted, it would be good for you to go yourself.]

At the gaze of the person beyond the motionless crystal sphere, he soon docilely lowered his head again.

“I will follow your command.”

With those final words, the space where only the light of the crystal sphere existed sank into darkness.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.