Chapter : 146

Unlike my bold intention to take a rest, my body felt restless when I actually tried to relax in my room.

Figuring there must be at least one thing to do, I headed straight for the general affairs office.

“Didn’t you get the message to rest?”

“No, it’s not that, I just get fidgety when I’m alone in my room.”

Helping out with work wasn't that difficult. More than anything, being alone in my room made me keep thinking about all sorts of things.

“Just give me some simple tasks.”

“That won’t raise your grade, you know.”

“Isn’t it already a perfect score?”

When I asked with a slight smile, Yuno didn’t particularly argue.

After all, I had worked really hard for half a month. It was possible because of my Korean tenacity; if there was a student who could do better than me, I dared them to step forward! With this, I must have saved some face for my father regarding my first-semester grades.

“Just organize these documents.”

Following Yuno’s instructions, I began organizing the documents with a familiar hand.

“I heard there was a complicated incident.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

Yuno usually didn't talk while doing paperwork, but it seemed he was concerned.

“Are you okay?”

It seems I’ve gotten really close to Yuno over the past month.

Yuno asking if I’m okay, that's really awkward, isn't it? But if I said that, Yuno would get annoyed, right?

“Yes, I’m not bad.”

Belle’s death was shocking, but to be honest, I wasn’t that close to him.

If anything, it was strange for me to be moping around for so long.

“So you’re not saying you’re good either.”

Yuno is surprisingly perceptive.

“How did you know?”

“Because kids like you tend to feel responsible for things they shouldn't.”

His words hit the nail on the head. I was at a loss for words and just fidgeted with the papers.

It was true that I was feeling an unnecessary sense of responsibility for Belle’s death.

None of the mercenaries had blamed me, and in fact, they had accepted it calmly, yet I was the one dwelling on my lingering emotions.

“It’s a life that could end at any moment.”

“That doesn't mean it’s okay for them to die.”

There is no life that is okay to lose.

I wasn't unaware that I couldn't save everyone, but thinking it in my head and facing it in reality were two very different things.

“Am I thinking too hard about it?”

“No, you’re right too.”

It was a straightforward acknowledgment.

Yuno was genuinely trying to comfort me. And I didn't dislike that comfort.

Because Yuno seemed like the type of person who, no matter how much goodwill he had, would say what's wrong is wrong and what's right is right.

“Even so, that mercenary’s death is not your fault.”

“Thank you for saying that.”

“Right, so stop dawdling and get to work.”

At Yuno’s firm urging, I chuckled and started working.

I felt like I could probably be a little more lighthearted than before.

* * *

After finishing helping Yuno, I hesitated for a moment before eventually heading to the mercenaries’ campsite.

The campsite was a bit messy as they were preparing to leave.

Well, they had defeated the dungeon boss, so the request was over, and they said Belle's body would be sent back to his hometown, so they were probably planning to leave soon.

“Theo!”

“Mister, is there anything I can help with?”

“It's okay. Laurel already came and helped out.”

While I was visiting Yuno to sort out my complicated feelings, it seemed Laurel-sunbae had come here.

Should I have come here too? I felt a belated regret.

“Are you leaving the fief right away?”

“Yes, Count Lisitoel cast a spell to prevent decomposition, but we can't ask for magic forever, so we have to hurry.”

“You can take your time a bit more.”

“It's just, it seems everyone wants to leave this place quickly.”

I understood that too. It was the place where they lost a comrade, so staying wouldn't be entirely pleasant.

“You’re not worrying, are you? Laurel came and ended up bursting into tears, I swear.”

“Really?”

“So in the end, Lilia had to come and stop her. She scolded her, saying the mercenaries were the ones who needed comforting, so why was she making them comfort her.”

It was so typical of Lilia-sunbae that it was a little funny.

Scolding Laurel-sunbae was definitely Lilia-sunbae's role, so I could easily picture the scene.

“I was in a daze because of Belle's death, but now that I think about it, I forgot to thank you.

We survived thanks to you. Thank you, Theo.”

“No. I put you in danger too, after all.”

“For a mercenary, that much danger is nothing!”

Haha! With a hearty smile, the old man clapped my shoulder a few times.

He must have used quite a bit of strength, but I was somehow proud of myself for enduring it. It seems my durability has gone up a bit.

“Anyway, don’t worry too much about Belle.

No one is going to blame an innocent student!”

Just as I was smiling awkwardly at the old man's smiling yet strangely precarious appearance, my father suddenly appeared.

“The investigation results are out, and you were right here.”

“Ah, yes. I was just about to head back to my room.”

“It doesn’t seem like a story you should hear too, so it would be better for you to go back.”

“I don’t mind hearing it, Count.”

At the old man’s words, my father hesitated for a moment, then seemed to give up on sending me back and opened his mouth.

“First of all, Belle’s cause of death was not from a snake bite during the move.”

“Then what was the problem?”

“A curse was found.”

A curse? Who on earth would curse Belle, who was just an ordinary mercenary?

The old man's expression contorted as if he was thinking the same thing.

“He wasn't the kind of kid to hold a grudge against anyone.”

“The same curse was detected in the potion you provided.”

At those words, the old man collapsed as if he was half-broken.

I hurriedly tried to support him, but his legs seemed to have given out as he tried to stand up several times only to collapse again.

Only then was he able to stand by leaning on me.

I couldn’t even ask if he was okay.

This was really too much… asking if he was okay seemed like it would only torment him more.

“Ray definitely said it was okay, that there would be no problem. Was it wrong from the start?”

“Father, is that true?”

“I requested a reliable alchemist to analyze the potion, and the result is certain.”

Is the alchemist my father is talking about perhaps Lerwon-sunbae?

Either way, wouldn’t the mysterious Academy graduate who gave them the potion be Iris Viden?

In the end, this mercenary group was toyed with by her from beginning to end.

“Tell me in detail about the mercenary named Ray.”

“Ray? Ray? Was there a mercenary named Ray?”

“…Traces of mental magic.”

A curse, and now mental magic. Amidst the storm of information, the old man clutched his head and let out a hollow laugh.

“I’d like you to stay in Viscount Loren's fief a little longer for a detailed investigation. Is that possible?”

“I will. Please investigate everything you can.”

Should I have just left when he told me to? I felt like I had heard something I shouldn't have.

As I stood awkwardly between the mercenary captain and my father, my father's voice echoed in my head.

[I know you asked Fel to investigate the Gold.]

[How do you know that, Father?]

[A man who was once 'Ferdiel Levian' is openly in the Academy. Do you think this father of yours would not even check what he is doing?]

Uh... that's not it.

Accepting him regardless of his past because he had enrolled in the Academy and leaving him alone without caring what he did were two different stories.

I wondered if I had made a mistake by asking Fel, but at the time, there was no one else I could trust, and more importantly, it became a clue to understand the Gold a little faster, so I decided to consider it a blessing in disguise.

[You were trying to get involved in a dangerous matter again.]

[That wasn’t my intention….]

It was just that Iris Viden had been too quiet until now, and it bothered me.

Though in the end, I got deeply involved in a dangerous matter again this time.

[Anyway, to conduct the investigation, keep it a secret from this mercenary that this incident might be related to the Gold.]

[...I understand.]

Since nothing has been revealed yet, it would be better that way.

* * *

“Ah, that was close.”

When Iris, covered in the basilisk's gastric juices, appeared, Mordegard, who found her, quickly handed her a towel.

Wiping off the gastric juices that soaked her body with a top-quality towel that cost dozens of gold a piece, Iris let out a smirk.

“Ah, this is really fun.”

Under a dim lantern, in the faint light, Iris stared intently at her arm.

“Should I prepare some water?”

“Yes.”

At Iris's simple command, Mordegard withdrew, and Iris tidied her loosened hair.

Soon, darkness would fall, and within it, Iris met a pair of jet-black eyes.

“What brings a person of your stature to a gutter like this?”

“A gutter? You exaggerate.”

“Says the one who acts like it.”

When Iris pointed it out with a giggle, the figure in the darkness neither denied nor affirmed, but simply stared at Iris.

“Put your worries aside. I will do the work you entrusted to me. Surely, you’re not going to say you don't trust me now.”

Iris Viden was a person of deep distrust. She did not trust anyone easily and would never trust a person with hidden cards.

Therefore, he had to tell Iris Viden many things to gain her trust.

His true identity and even what he intended to do, everything.

Though that was probably not all of him.

“The preparations are perfect.”

Iris, who was fiddling with the ends of her hair that had been slightly melted by the gastric juices and were now rustling, snorted.

Iris would gain the power to turn the world upside down as ‘he’ had promised.

With that power, she would greedily take everything.

From the son she had let go, to those coveted eyes, everything.

“Haha!”

Just imagining it is exhilarating. I wonder if you can still be human in the face of the death of the savior you believed saved you.

“Mistress.”

With a knock, the door opened and Mordegard came inside.

“I have prepared hot water.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As Mordegard entered, the person in the darkness disappeared.

So cautious. Well, considering those eyes, it would be better to be careful.

After all, Mordegard was one of the few who had seen ‘him’ before.

“See you next time, Theo.”

With a light step, Iris left a viscous smile.

“I'll come for you—”

My precious son.