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Chapter 05
Light, fire, wind, and earth.
The four Holy Swords that carried the powers of the Creator God.
Raytan had been chosen by “Windis,” the Holy Sword of wind, and became a Grand Master.
But six years ago, when he retired to raise his child, Windis was placed in the Grand Temple, and even now it still had not chosen a new master.
“Callet, about that Holy Sword. If it doesn’t have a master, it can’t release the power it has stored up, so it goes berserk, right?”
“Yes. The Holy Sword’s rampage must be suppressed with divine power. I heard that for the past four years, a considerable amount of the church’s divine power has been used for that purpose.”
Receiving Count Travel’s gaze, Callet immediately reported what he knew.
Raytan also knew that Windis still had no new owner.
But he was now an outsider unrelated to the church. He felt sorry when he thought about Windis, yet he did not regret the choice he made in the past to protect Berry.
As if shaking off the last traces of attachment, Raytan flicked his finger.
“And the church wasting divine power is enough reason for Travel to move? Since when were you so devout?”
The Travel Count family and the church maintained a close relationship, but only because of mutual benefit.
Travel provided money, and the church provided conveniences in return.
Now the church was the one breaking that relationship.
“The church announced that starting this year, they will no longer bless the figureheads on our ships. They claim that divine power, which belongs to the Creator God, cannot be used for only one family.”
Callet explained in place of the Count, whose mouth had shut tightly in anger.
One of the Travel family’s main businesses was maritime shipping.
The blessed figurehead mounted on the front of a ship protected it from natural disasters.
Because of this, the Travel family donated enormous amounts of money to the church every year in exchange for blessings on their figureheads. It was essential for ships that regularly crossed storm-heavy seas.
“Shameless bastards.”
Count Travel ground his teeth.
He remembered the High Pope chuckling as he spoke a few weeks ago.
“However, things are different for the family of a Grand Master. They are people whom the Creator God allowed to wield supernatural powers. Surely the Creator God would be pleased if divine power were used for the sake of such a family.”
In other words, find the retired Raytan and make him return as a Grand Master.
Since the church’s own information network couldn’t locate Raytan, they planned to use the Travel family instead.
“They dared to say something like that?”
After taking hundreds of millions of Kona in donations earlier this year!
And then claiming it couldn’t be refunded because it had already been offered to the Creator God!
The Count hated their obvious greed and their attempts to threaten him, but there was no helping it.
“I’ll make them repay this debt someday.”
Not long ago, they had suffered major losses after trusting alchemists who claimed they had developed a way for ships to survive storms. The ships overturned in the middle of the sea.
Without blessed figureheads, disasters like that would continue happening.
This time, he had no choice but to dance to the church’s tune.
“If Young Master Raytan resolves this matter, it will greatly affect the evaluation for the next annex competition. You could likely rise to second place without difficu—”
“Shut up, Callet.”
Killing intent filled Raytan’s voice.
Achievements, family profit, succession rankings…
A world of beasts willing to bite even their own blood relatives for power.
“Father! Please…!”
“Shut up! Why are you getting involved in something that doesn’t even make money?!”
He was sick of it.
That was why he left.
Even after six years, nothing had changed.
Raytan let out a bitter laugh.
“I’ll persuade the High Pope as you wish. I’ll make him continue blessing the ship figureheads.”
“Mm.”
“But this is the last time. Berry and I will leave once this matter is finished, so never look for us again. Unless you want to see your troublesome son causing chaos everywhere.”
A faint blue aura rose from Raytan’s shoulders before fading away.
He had just warned his father and grabbed the doorknob when—
“Your child.”
Raytan turned his head.
Raksek looked deep in thought.
As expected, Raytan’s warning meant less than the flutter of a mosquito’s wings to the great Count Travel.
“How is her health?”
“…What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if she gets sick often.”
“……”
A strange silence filled the room between the father and son whose relationship had long been broken.
The doorknob did not turn.
Count Travel looked at his second son.
“Her eyes look exactly like your dead mother’s.”
- The Red Eagle Knights
When I woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
The shocking part was that nobody had woken me up.
Did that mean it was okay to live like a lazy bum in the Travel family?
My excitement vanished instantly.
“Sleeping in is only allowed today.”
Dad picked out cufflinks from the velvet case a maid was holding as he spoke.
Seeing him perfectly dressed from head to toe made an impressed sound slip out of my mouth.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought so, because the maids nearby kept secretly glancing at him too.
“What about starting tomorrow?”
“You wake up and eat breakfast. Even if you don’t change out of your pajamas.”
While I had been sleeping soundly, Dad had already washed up, eaten breakfast, and even changed clothes.
Meanwhile, I was still in pajamas getting my hair brushed by Sherry.
Sitting on the sofa in Dad’s room with my legs stretched out, I covered my face with both hands.
“Ugh. Life is harsh.”
When I grumbled, Dad placed a hand on top of my head and lightly shook it.
“You’re growing, so it can’t be helped. They say children should wake up and eat breakfast during their growth period.”
The citrus scent from the perfume sprayed on his shirt sleeves tickled my nose.
Sniff sniff.
Dad smells like a nobleman.
“But why are you dressed to go out? Where are you going?”
I asked even though I already knew.
High-ranking priests were waiting for him at a nearby temple because of Windis.
“To the nearby village. I’ll be back before dinner. Sherry also has to visit the main house, so you can play nicely by yourself, right?”
Dad removed his hand from my head and lightly snapped his thumb and middle finger together.
That was our secret code.
Keep being talented a secret.
Act childish around other people.
I nodded to show I understood.
“Okay! Why does Sister Sherry have to go to the main house?”
“We need to squeeze more ingredients out of the head butler, I mean, receive more ingredients.”
Ooh.
That was good news.
“So for a few hours, Dad won’t be here, and even the head butler won’t be paying attention to Pebble House?”
I secretly cheered inside.
There would be far fewer eyes watching me now, meaning I had a chance to meet the future ally hidden somewhere in the Travel estate.
The only small problem was that one of the people remaining here was a spy planted by my relatives.
“Then what should I do for fun? It’ll be boring without Dad and Sister Sherry around.”
I looked around the room as if searching for a toy, and my eyes met a maid’s.
“Anne. The maid Aunt Marianne planted here.”
I smiled brightly at her.
“Will you play with me, unnie?”
“Huh? Shall I?”
Anne looked openly delighted, probably because she never expected me to talk to her first.
Well, that made sense.
Ever since coming to Pebble House, Anne had been getting anxious because she couldn’t gather any useful information to report back to Aunt Marianne.
Dad’s cold personality made him hard to approach, so she seemed to be trying to target easy little me instead.
“But I’m the one who knows your weakness.”
Anne was extremely weak against cute things.
And honestly, it felt embarrassing to say this myself, but in one month, Anne would adore me so much she’d want to carry me around in her pocket.
The Travel estate covered about three hundred thousand pyeong of land.
The enormous property was divided by giant stone walls into the area where the direct family members lived and the area where the people belonging to the Travel family stayed.
And guarding it all were the Red Eagle Knights of the Travel Count family.
Their training grounds were located west of Count Travel’s residence, inside the walls.
“Hrahh!”
“Hyaah!”
The shouts of sweating knights echoed loudly.
This was the indoor training hall on the first floor of the annex building.
Standing before more than thirty knights was Commander Rex, a man with short gray hair.
“Focus! A knight’s strength comes from spirit and stamina!”
Commander Rex’s booming voice filled the hall.
His huge body matched his nickname perfectly.
The Charging Gray Bear.
His log-like arm muscles twitched as he shouted.
“Anyone caught slacking off will receive special training!”
“Yes, sir!”
Special training.
“You’ll remember how comfortable the dirt floors of the battlefield were as a bed!”
Absolutely not.
“Yes, sir!”
But despite their energetic answers, the knights had been getting distracted by the same thing for a while now.
Boing. Boing.
The window facing the hallway.
Something kept appearing and disappearing there.
“What is that?”
“Pink…”
“A fluffy ball?”
