Chapter 31 - The Way I Survive
Edwin returned to the carriage.
Still in his flashy attire, now adorned with the Stationmaster's badge that seemed to shine even brighter.
Seeing Cailin alone, he asked quizzically.
“Where has the Fifth Son gone?”
“I don’t know either. He just said ‘second-oldest brother’.”
“Se, se, second-oldest brother….”
Edwin was so shocked for a moment that he nearly choked.
The Youngest Son’s second-oldest brother.
The only one who could be called by such a title was the little giant of Millesdusk, the Fourth Son.
“What did he say he was go, going to do…. No. Don’t tell me. It’s better not to know these things.”
“He said he was going to find a way to beat up a councilor named Hinek, the Physicians' Council, and the Fourth Son all at once.”
“Aah….”
He had heard it.
Worse still, the names that came from this girl’s mouth belonged to people of untouchably high status.
It was just like when he first met the Fifth Son.
The only problem was that this time, the Fifth Son was truly targeting them.
“Why is he after such heavenly figures again….”
Cailin looked at the despairing Edwin and asked.
“Why are you so late? Dante left a long time ago.”
“The Fifth Son told me to make the inauguration speech as long as possible. To be honest, I was practically kicked out just now.”
“So it’s over?”
“Yes. It’s over. We can leave right now.”
“Then tell me a story on the way.”
“What… kind of story are you talking about?”
Cailin spoke as if asking the obvious.
“The legend of D, of course.”
“Wh-what legend?”
Cailin grabbed his hand and pulled him into the carriage.
“I’m ready to listen. I was stuck in the village for a while and got really curious about the outside world, and Dante told me you have amazing adventure stories.”
“…….”
Just a moment ago, he had been worried about him, hoping he was safe.
Edwin changed his mind about the Fifth Son.
‘Just drop dead!’
…Was that a bit too harsh?
‘Just get into some huge trouble that doesn’t kill you!’
The D-District Stationmaster, having cast a curse with meticulous detail, had to spend the entire journey back making up a legend that didn’t even exist.
“Uhm. So it goes like this….”
A story embellished based on what Cailin had heard.
The problem was the embellishments he had thoughtlessly added, assuming he would never have to tell it again.
“Wow….”
“That man? He’s more amazing than I thought….”
He was completely unaware that The Fangs, who were escorting them, were also listening to the legend.
***
The airship, Mariella.
But recently, without the ‘air’ part.
Because of a ridiculous order from the Citadel, the Mariella had become just a ship.
Marvin irritably brushed his bangs aside as he reported.
“The councilors won’t even meet with us, and the stationmasters just repeat the same thing. That it’s not possible because the griffins are dangerous. It’s because of the griffins. Blah, blah, blah.”
“Hmm.”
“You should contact the Young Son soon. If we keep this up, we might not have enough supply when the promotional effects kick in!”
“Yes. I know that too. The griffin problem can be solved immediately, and since I know this, the Young Son must know it as well.”
However, instead of resolving the Mariella’s problem, the Youngest Son had returned to the estate.
“The top priority for the Young Son is the money earned from the Plague Demon business. While he had fun with the profits from the frontiers, that was literally just for fun.”
“So? So you’re saying we should just sit around here because the Young Son has a plan?”
“Exactly.”
“…….”
Jubel chuckled, rolling a copper coin in his hand.
It moved up and down smoothly.
Marvin felt like he was about to explode with frustration, but the copper coin, oblivious, just moved smoothly.
“Since when did you trust people so easily?”
“What about it.”
“Of course, there’s nothing wrong with trusting a business partner, but with the aerial supply cut off and no solution by land, how can we just wait!”
Jubel’s copper coin stopped, and he shook his head.
“I don’t trust the Young Son. I trust the ambition he showed me when we first met.”
“Ambition…?”
“Yes. That avarice that calculates even a plague in terms of money, and then calculates the subsequent profits and business. And that greed. That is what I trust.”
In Jubel’s mind, he and Dante were of the same kind.
Being of the same kind, they thought alike and understood each other quickly.
“The one who must prioritize money above all else is not you or me, but the Young Son. And yet, the fact that he went to the estate instead of coming to us means.”
“There’s a good reason for it?”
“Yes. There must be a good reason for it.”
“…Do you realize you’ve been talking in circles since a while ago?”
“Just wait, Marvin. The one who has the most to lose here is the Young Son. Slowly. And think long-term.”
Marvin grunted and shut his mouth, then calmed his temper and sat down.
“It’s just frustrating. We can’t get our hands on the money right in front of us for some trivial reason.”
Jubel smiled.
“Only by yielding to a trivial reason now can we ensnare our opponent with a trivial reason later. Have patience.”
“Ye-yes.”
He stuttered for a moment.
It was only for a split second in Jubel’s eyes as he said to have patience, but.
He thought he saw a glimpse of an immense fury toward the councilors, toward their interference.
The money-grubber, even as he clenched the copper coin as if to crush it, kept a smile on his face.
“All we need to do is prepare more perfectly during this time. For now, let’s go see Miss Josephine. I heard she has prepared a new technology.”
“Isn’t Miss Josephine also a partner of the Fifth Son? Though he doesn’t know it.”
“Well. I don’t think they’re quite partners. It’s more correct to see it as a sponsorship relationship. Her investment will also see the light of day soon.”
Even to Jubel’s eyes, Josephine’s technical skills were improving daily.
Once she had a certain amount of capital and equipment, her development was nothing short of dazzling.
She was a genius, preparing and waiting to take flight, just like the Mariella here.
***
Under the cover of night, a griffin landed behind the estate.
The reason for visiting again was to observe formalities.
Having cleaned himself and dressed neatly, the Youngest Son intended to see his own blood for the first time.
The Head Maid, while straightening his clothes, spoke with a worried tone.
“It will be dangerous.”
“I know.”
“Your life may be in danger.”
“I know. Isn’t that why I’m not taking you or the luggage carrier with me?”
“Then why are you taking the Gatekeeper?”
The Gatekeeper himself, having been mentioned.
He stood outside the door with a sullen expression, dressed in a worn gambeson and a guard's surcoat.
“It’s awkward to tell him to keep guarding an empty estate, and he looks like he has nothing to do, so I’m taking him.”
He said this, but the reason was different.
Of course, the Gatekeeper, who had long since noticed such a reason, quietly added.
“I will not be protecting you, Young Son. I only guard the gate of the estate; protecting you is not my duty.”
“But it’s not like you’d move if I changed your post to a guard, would you.”
“…….”
The Youngest Son smiled faintly.
“Don’t worry. An occasion where you’ll have to draw your sword will rarely happen. You may act according to your own judgment.”
“…If that’s the case.”
The Gatekeeper watched the Youngest Son, who was gazing at the moonlit night, from a few steps behind.
He didn't know what he was thinking, but his gaze was not its usual self.
There was no trace of playfulness; it was that of someone thinking and worrying about the future.
It was definitely not the eyes of a living corpse walking into his own grave.
The Fifth Son truly believed that the path to survival lay in the Fourth Son’s Black Citadel.
The Gatekeeper didn’t know what he wanted, but he sighed inwardly.
‘How long has it been since he came back alive from the werewolves, and now after the Balum family, it’s the Fourth Son?’
If one looked closely, he seemed like a guy itching to die.
But he came back alive every time.
‘This time I’ll be by his side, so I’ll be able to watch closely.’
The way the Youngest Son had survived until now.
The way he was able to defeat the Executioner Knight.
The way he drew in the man called the greatest merchant and eccentric of the merchant companies.
The way he raised his once-faint presence with potential alone.
This time, he would be able to witness it clearly.
Furthermore, that potential was something anyone from the Fifth Son’s estate could recognize at a glance.
“We are not taking the carriage. This is the best way to get to the Black Citadel quickly.”
It was something Lubosch hated to even look at.
A griffin with red feathers.
As he mounted it with the Fifth Son, the Gatekeeper said.
“Young Son. How about you stay at the estate and handle matters from there?”
“Why?”
The griffin, about to depart, spread its wings wide.
Watching it, the Gatekeeper continued.
“Young Son, you have acquired a flying undead in a short time. This is something that took even the First Son a long time.”
“I know. So what.”
The Gatekeeper hesitated slightly before opening his mouth.
“…What I mean is, just stay at the estate and quietly build your strength like before.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the Gatekeeper’s words.
In his eyes, it would seem as if my immense potential and genius had belatedly manifested, causing these results to literally pop out.
But behind these results was a vast amount of information and the agony of racking my brain to use it.
At the end of that agony was a sweetness, like this griffin, like Jubel, like Josephine.
It prolonged my life and brought me to this position.
This flight in the dead of night was also a choice made at the end of agony.
So, after this agony, there would be sweetness as well.
Thus, I answered a certain Gatekeeper.
“That is not how I survive.”
His bloodshot eyes turned toward the half-demolished estate.
“I rotted here for a lifetime. To stop rotting, I must flow, and to flow, I must break the things that block my path.”
The Gatekeeper nodded.
There were no more questions, no more advice, no more judgments.
Kuuuung─!
The griffin soared into the air.
***
The Fourth Son’s faction. The Black Citadel.
Under the perpetually gloomy sky, in the darkish-colored citadel, there was one unusually bright person.
And since that person was none other than the lord of the castle himself.
“Yahoo! I think my younger brother understood my feelings! He says he’s coming here now!”
The Butler didn’t even think of stopping him and reluctantly played along.
“…It is truly something to be happy about.”
“Right? Uncle Butler thinks so too, right?”
“Shall I order some snacks that the Fifth Son might like?”
While the Butler was wondering if he should prepare blood for him, a member of the vampire lineage.
The Fourth Son shook his head repeatedly.
“No! Just good tea is enough! I can treat him later, I want to talk to him now! A whole lot!”
Excluding the Second and Third Daughters, conversations between siblings were extremely rare in Millesdusk.
The only instances one could point to were declarations of war or surrender.
If not that, then it was either a curse or a last will.
Whatever it was, it was a far cry from sitting face-to-face over a cup of tea and talking like this.
The Fourth Son, overjoyed to the point of jumping, suddenly turned to look at the Butler.
“Uncle Butler. What happened with Councilor Hinek? You said the ledger was already gone when the Physicians’ Council got there.”
“I have prepared a countermeasure. In fact, it’s hardly a countermeasure.”
Like the Butler, the Fourth Son’s lips drew a long arc.
“The Physicians’ Council that took Hinek’s ledger will attack him, so we just have to add a spoon to drive Hinek out?”
“Yes. That is precisely it. We can move our councilors into the newly vacated seat.”
“Yes, yes! While the First Son is far away in the Ash Pile Mountains or wherever, we need to get this done quickly!”
The only ones with a councilor faction in the Dusk Citadel were the First Son and the Fourth Son.
The Second and Third Daughters had no desire for the Citadel, so it seemed Hinek was destined to become the next chairman.
That would be no different from the First Son, who controlled Hinek, taking over the Citadel.
The Fourth Son could never accept that fact.
No. Even if it wasn’t the Citadel, he didn’t want to hand over anything to his siblings.
Even if it was the right to decide the life and death of his only younger brother.
“Haaa…. Dante. Come quickly. This older brother is waiting with open arms.”
The Fourth Son rested his arm on the windowsill and admired the moon, which was shining exceptionally brightly today.