TLDWAE 31

Chapter 31

“Kariya… Hah, if I call her that, I might get an earful.”

Noah stared into the distance, muttering to himself, sometimes becoming serious and other times letting out a soft chuckle. The members of ‘Black Night’ who saw him all had the same thought.

‘The Captain has become strange.’

He was always a man who overflowed with self-confidence, boasting about his own face until his lips were dry, but after meeting the Pandemon Duchess, his nature had changed. While it was natural to do a background check on a major client, he had poured personal feelings into the investigation without holding back.

Every time the slightest fault was found, he would curse Duke Pandemon, whom he had never even seen, as if he were his parents’ sworn enemy. The Duke’s lifespan had probably been extended by at least ten years from all the curses.

“-Seems like it wasn’t her who fell in love at first sight, but him.”
“What did you say?”

Shagal, who had been grumbling in the distance, reflexively snapped his heels together and stood at attention under the sharp gaze of Noah, whom he had thought was miles away.

Noah stared at him with a blank expression for a long moment, then flicked his finger twice. Shagal, now full of military discipline, quickly dashed over and stood before him.

“You escorted the Lady properly to the end, I trust?”
“Yes, sir! We safely escorted her to the largest hotel in the capital!”
“Good. Did the Lady have any separate message for me?”
“No, sir! She did not!”

At his firm answer, Noah’s face instantly scrunched up in displeasure. Seeing his captain openly display his irritation, Shagal racked his brain and said, “Ah, but the Lady did say the Captain’s face is amazing, and that with a face like that, you have the right to be proud!” thus escaping the crisis.

Even though it was obvious flattery, Noah’s mood improved, and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards.

“But Captain, what if she really has fallen for you?”
“What do you mean, ‘what if’? Is that a problem?”
“You’re not in a position to date, are you? There’s… also ‘that matter’.”

Of course, Shagal and the other subordinates wished for their captain, whose life had been full of twists and turns, to find happiness someday. But unfortunately, he was not in a situation where he could be in a relationship right now.

Because every night, ‘that matter’ occurred to Noah, and they had left their homeland and were pretending to be a mercenary group here to find a clue to solve ‘that matter’.

“Ah… that matter.”
“Do you think Her Majesty the Imperial Concubine was really referring to the forest here? That forest seems rather strange no matter how you look at it.”

The only clue they had was the ‘forest’ mentioned by Noah’s deceased mother. She had seemed to know something about his condition, but no matter how much he asked, she never gave him a straight answer.

‘Return to the forest. If you go there, you will be able to find out why you change every night, and also the solution.’

Noah’s mother, who had been chronically ill since his childhood, passed away leaving behind those cryptic words. There was no way to confirm if it was a sudden deterioration of her health or someone’s scheme, but after his mother’s death, the dark ages descended upon his life.

Moreover, she had only said the forest was within the Kastaros Empire, without pinpointing its exact location. Noah and his group had wandered to every forest in Kastaros and had finally reached the forest located in the capital. But there was a big problem investigating this forest.

“Isn’t it bizarre that if you walk just ten steps into the forest, you end up right back where you started? It doesn’t look that big from the outside! It’s like being bewitched by a ghost or something!”
“It’s strange, so we must investigate it further. To find an answer for a magical matter, you must follow the magical happenings.”
“But we’ve been investigating for over ten years now without a single clue-like thing…”

Everyone’s frustration had long since reached its limit.

If only they could safely resolve ‘that matter’, everything else would proceed smoothly! They could reclaim their lost name, their status and glory, and their country.

As the atmosphere in the base grew heavy in an instant, Noah kicked Shagal in the shin.

Moping around won’t make a solution appear, so why bring up unnecessary talk and make a gloomy space even gloomier?

“Uh, the Duchess—no, the Lady’s carriage is here!”

Just then, someone who was looking out the window shouted that. Noah swiftly straightened up from where he was leaning. A light smile appeared on his face, which had been full of irritation.

Soon, trudging footsteps approached from outside the door, and then the tavern door opened.

“Is this the ‘Black Night’ mercenary group?”

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, the person who opened the door and entered was not Kariya but some middle-aged man. He was the coachman who had driven the carriage himself.

But something felt a bit off. Gray hair, red eyes, average height, average build… He had a plain appearance and wore ordinary clothes, but he gave off an inexplicably eerie feeling. He was clearly human, yet somehow he felt devoid of vitality—a strange man.

He stood completely still until he heard an answer. Shagal Desimone pushed through the tense mercenaries and confronted the man with the friendly face of a loyal capital citizen.

“Yes, you’ve found the right place. This is Black Night. How may we help you?”

At Shagal’s reply, the man’s gaze swung sharply towards him. Without batting an eyelid, he nodded and went back outside. He returned, dragging two large sacks.

When he dumped the sacks onto the tavern floor, antique gold coins spilled out. They were two sacks, larger than the ones Kariya had brought. And they were full.

“It’s a request from my master. She wishes to exchange them for currency under the same conditions as last time. It’s a bit more than three times the amount from then. She asked if three days would be sufficient.”

The man didn’t give the impression of someone used to physical labor, yet he wasn’t even breathing heavily, let alone sweating a drop, from moving the large sacks. His face was still expressionless and impassive. Among the many people in the tavern, he looked only at Shagal and waited for an answer.

“Three days… three days will be sufficient.”
“Then I shall inform my master accordingly. I will take my leave now.”

Having finished his task, the man gave a slight bow and left. Soon, the sound of a horse neighing signaled the carriage’s departure. Held breaths were exhaled from all around. It seemed everyone had felt the same sense of incongruity about the man.

“What was that? Some kind of sword master hiding his identity?”
“You’ve been reading too many books.”

Noah instructed his subordinates, who were still frozen in bewilderment, to move the gold. It was still old gold, but if they handled it skillfully, it would likely be worth a million, no, 1.2 million gold.

But to send this amount of gold with just one hired hand and no escort… Was she truly indifferent or just defenseless?

“Wow, it seems the Duchess actually went and bought that house after all.”
“‘That house’?”
“Ah, the Duchess was looking for a townhouse and even went to see that one. The one from three years ago, that, Count Lowell’s…”

Shagal didn’t elaborate further. It wasn’t a good story, and the incident where Count Lowell lost his daughter and granddaughter had been noisy gossip in social circles for a while.

Noah stood there with his arms crossed and motioned with his chin for him to continue.

“But they bickered and the sale fell through. The Count listed about thirty trivial conditions and said if they weren’t met, he’d demand a penalty of a million gold. The Duchess just said, ‘Fine, I’ll give you the million gold, now take it and get lost.’”
“I don’t know how the Lady has survived this long with that temper of hers.”
“But he’s thoroughly taken a dislike to her… I thought the Count would absolutely never sell. I wonder what she’ll do.”

Shagal clicked his tongue sympathetically, feeling sorry for Kariya, who had declared divorce and was wandering around without a home or means. If she had this much money, why not just buy a small hotel and hire guards?

As Shagal was sincerely butting into her living arrangements, Noah, who had been deep in thought, spoke up.

“What was the name of that café Count Lowell frequents?”

“She’s a direct imperial relative, so her nose is stuck up in the sky, I tell you! It’s the blonde hair, that’s the problem!”

A day had passed since Count Lowell had thrown Kariya and her group out, but he was still fuming, unable to let go of his anger. He had set the penalty at a million gold not because he needed the money, but because he wanted the buyer to cherish the estate that much.

And then she just casually presented a check? The Count resented himself for momentarily mistaking her retreating figure for his daughter’s.

‘Father, who is that lady?’
‘Who do you mean?’

The atmosphere had changed so much he didn’t recognize her at first, but Count Lowell had seen Kariya from a distance once before.

It was about three years ago, on the day of the Crown Prince’s appointment ceremony. Among the lavishly dressed nobles, there was one woman who stood out with her particularly gloomy aura.

She kept her head bowed as if she had committed a crime, silently following behind her husband. The Count’s daughter, Anze, watched her with a complicated expression.

‘That must be the Duchess of Pandemon. The Grand Duke’s daughter.’

Working in politics in the capital, one naturally memorized the face of the Duke of Pandemon. And the only blonde woman likely to be by his side was the Duchess.

A woman who was a direct imperial relative but was the Grand Duke’s illegitimate child and didn’t stand out much. It was said she never showed her face in noble society after marrying the Duke, but it seemed she couldn’t skip such an event.

Count Lowell had merely clicked his tongue at her cowering figure, directing his disapproval towards her family and her husband, the Duke, but Anze seemed inexplicably drawn to her.

‘Father, I mean that lady. She has exactly the same face as me.’
‘What nonsense? You are far more beautiful in every way.’
‘No, that’s not it… It’s like she has the exact face I had when I was with my husband.’