[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]

Chapter 299: A Body That Owes Many Debts

“We will arrive at Webern Port in four hours!”

Standing at the ship’s prow, I watched the scenery of the approaching port.

“Good, prepare to disembark!”

“Sir!”

Practical matters like commanding the troops and preparing for disembarkation were not my responsibility.

The role of the leader is to strut around looking important.

‘Has Zamuel arrived?’

I wondered, my eyes fixed on Severian, who was helping Jeffrey and Taris with their gear.

‘Adeline.’

While I was reincarnated as a seventeen year old boy, for her, those years had passed in full.

I was just now entering adulthood, while Adeline was already over forty.

‘Besides, I have to live the life of Allenvert now.’

No matter how I thought about it, there was no way we could be together.

‘And I even rejected her once.’

In the first place, until the Dark King was dead, was I not in a position where I could not even imagine a comfortable life?

That part was the same in my past life and my current one.

‘…It’s probably impossible to turn back the clock on a love that has passed.’

But what makes a farewell truly painful?

Is it not the fact that two people who once loved each other more than anyone else become worse than strangers, never to meet again?

In that sense…

‘Adeline, because I knew you were alive and had been doing reasonably well.’

My heart has already received some small measure of salvation.

‘…But it seems I really have no luck with women.’

“Goddammit. Should I just live alone?”

There was one person who, like a ghost, managed to hear that mutter. His name was Zizek.

“Don’t you have Lady Siena, Boss?”

“What about her?”

“Watching from the side, it seemed like the atmosphere between you and the lady was not exactly ordinary.”

I shrugged.

“Bullshit. What the hell do you know about romance? Guys like you start thinking up names for your grandchildren after making eye contact with a woman just once. You see, romance is…”

Zizek muttered as if his ears hurt.

“I say one thing and get an earful of insults.”

“My lady, you must be weary from the long journey.”

Siena expressed her gratitude for Kailan Webern’s hospitality.

“For the Count himself to come out and greet me, this is a sign of profound respect.”

“Haha. A Count? You are too kind. I have not yet been granted the title.”

“With the royal family in its current state, it cannot be helped.”

Siena nodded.

The fight between the princes was happening in top secret, but with the intelligence network of the Valkenhain Duchy and a tip from Allenvert, she knew the circumstances in considerable detail.

“In any case, you have reclaimed your ancestral lands by defeating Marquis Belorok, and you are in effective control, are you not? It is only a matter of time.”

Then, Siena added a joke.

“Alternatively, there is always the option of coming to our Valkenhain Duchy and receiving a title as our vassal.”

“Haha, I do not think Grunewald would take kindly to that.”

Kailan let out a hearty laugh.

“Then again, maybe that is not necessarily true? If Valkenhain and Grunewald were to be joined by marriage, that is.”

Siena reacted a bit sensitively to that particular joke.

“A marriage alliance between the two clans? Between whom, might I ask?”

“Haha. It is nothing.”

Noticing that Siena was becoming embarrassed, Kailan changed the subject.

“By the way, when are you thinking of holding the wedding?”

“Well…”

Kailan took his fiancée’s hand.

“We have not even finished putting our domain in order, and now a matter concerning the fate of the kingdom has broken out. I doubt we will be able to even think about it for some time.”

Siena, who had been watching the affectionate couple with a hint of envy, turned her head away.

“By the way, Your Excellency the Count.”

Her eyes took in the sight of the new city being built upon the scars of war.

“The reconstruction project is proceeding very smoothly.”

“Yes.”

Kailan smiled with satisfaction.

“We are gathering investments from all sorts of nobles and wealthy merchants. We are also in new negotiations with those who had invested in Marquis Belorok.”

Such was the skill of a man who started as the descendant of a fallen noble with no title or power and eventually reclaimed his earldom.

In just a few more years, Webern Port would re-emerge as one of the kingdom’s foremost centers of trade.

‘But Young Master Allenvert.’

Siena muttered to herself.

‘If he could annihilate Grimnar Angantyr in a single blow and even slice through a landslide, just how much stronger has he become since then?’

At this point, even if Gelberich came back to life, couldn't he annihilate him all by himself?

***

‘…He really is a bit of an asshole, isn’t he.’

Zamuel, his body concealed by a cloak, arrived in the city of Webern.

“Hmm.”

After surveying the port, which was under reconstruction, Zamuel gave a small nod.

‘The urban planning is well done. Are they planning to use this opportunity to expand the districts and reorganize the roads?’

During the time Marquis Belorok ruled, he had visited this place a few times.

‘It felt a bit chaotic back then. Once you were caught in traffic, there was no way out.’

It was only natural, given its status as a logistics hub.

‘It’s stating the obvious, but the aftermath of the war is significant.’

Many of the buildings and roads he remembered had been destroyed and were now being rebuilt.

“It must have been horrific.”

Although the scent of spilled blood had long been washed away by the sea, to his sensitive nose, the unhealed wounds of the city still gave off a faint stench.

‘You died so meaninglessly, Gelberich.’

An executioner the Dark King was proud of, and the inheritor of a terrifying demonic art.

For a long time, he had been an object of fear for Zamuel as well.

‘They say he caught that bastard? That fiend who could slaughter even 7th tier martial artists like dogs?’

Although it was three against one in the end, from what he heard of the battle, the rampaging Gelberich’s might was worthy of being called a one man army.

‘There can be no doubt that Young Master Allenvert is an incredible genius.’

At that level, it was understandable that Karzan would work under such a man as his shadow.

‘He must be a truly remarkable figure. I heard he is even as handsome as an elf.’

Just how handsome does a man have to be for rumors to spread based on his face alone?

‘What an asshole.’

Just as Zamuel muttered the exact same words as Siena, a thought came to him.

“Hmm?”

Sensing an unusual presence, Zamuel turned his head.

Walking atop the city wall were Siena, Kailan, and Liliet.

‘Strong. …Is that the Lady of Valkenhain?’

Heightening his vision, Zamuel identified her by the Valkenhain crest on her armor.

‘No, was the Lady of Valkenhain always that strong?’

She seemed far stronger than he had heard. She had reached the peak of the 6th tier.

‘She is beautiful, too. Another asshole over there.’

Zamuel had heard the stories of how Allenvert and Siena had subjugated Marquis Belorok together.

‘Are the dukes planning to marry the two of them?’

As he imagined the handsome pair, Zamuel suddenly sighed.

‘Compared to them, our poor boss couldn’t even accept Adeline’s heart…’

If the two of them had gotten together back then, wouldn’t they have a child that age by now?

‘If the child took after Adeline, they would be handsome, and if they took after the boss, they would be ferocious, but anyway.’

After breaking up with Adeline, whenever Karzan drank, he would just sit there with a long face.

“If you are going to be like that, why don’t you just go meet her? Tsk tsk.”

“Shut up. Are you telling me to ruin Adeline’s life because I cannot control a single emotion?”

Of course, he knew well what Karzan feared.

‘Living a life like a mayfly, he must have been afraid of starting a family, afraid that his family would live miserably after losing him.’

And in reality, Karzan died. At the hands of the Dark King, who was wary of his talent.

So how could anyone blame Karzan for being a coward?

‘…But the life of Adeline, who was left behind, was not so happy either.’

One cannot say what was right.

But now that he himself was entering middle age, he had come to understand how precious such a connection was.

‘…If the boss were really alive.’

Zamuel’s thought was cut short.

“Why are you here?”

At the voice from behind him, Zamuel slowly turned his head.

“Do you know me?”

A giant of a man with his eyes covered by black glasses, Ghir Svaltalfar, was staring at Zamuel.

“Of course I do. Old man, are you not a big shot in the northern underworld?”

Ghir was right.

Although he did not move conspicuously due to the presence of the Black Society, Zamuel was active in the shadows as a powerful figure whose name was not widely known.

“I just earn a humble living, that is all.”

Zamuel shrugged.

“By the way, now I think I know who you are.”

A giant wearing black glasses was a conspicuous appearance, yet strangely, the passersby paid Ghir no attention.

“A stealth technique as natural as breathing, black glasses to hide demonic eyes, a faintly perceptible killing intent. Are you the young head of the Svaltalfar?”

Ghir shook his head.

“A good inference, but unfortunately, I am the older brother.”

“Hmm?”

Zamuel tilted his head.

“Really? I heard the older brother was a lunatic.”

“Well, due to certain circumstances, some of that madness has faded.”

“So you have matured, I see.”

Zamuel nodded.

“So? Why are you here?”

To that question, Zamuel countered with one of his own.

“Do I have to answer?”

“Not forcing you, just curious.”

“Hmm, when you put it like that, my heart weakens.”

Zamuel said, rubbing his rough beard.

“I am here to meet someone.”

“Who?”

“Do you know someone by the name of Karzan?”

“…Why him?”

“Hmm?”

The two men looked at each other with expressions of mutual confusion.

“You know Karzan?”

“You too, old man?”

.

.

.

“Karzan is Allenvert?”

Having moved to another location and heard the full story, Zamuel frowned.

“That is absurd. What kind of bullshit is that?”

“Bullshit or not.”

Ghir shrugged.

“I saw him with my own two eyes, running around wearing a mask.”

“…”

Zamuel thought for a moment, then asked probingly.

“Was that not an impersonator?”

“Who knows? I have heard that there was a swordsman with that name in the old underworld of Flanders.”

For Ghir, it was a name from a generation closer to his uncle's.

It was not so strange that he did not know much about him.

‘…I see.’

It was Zamuel himself who, suspecting an impersonator, had sent Severian in as a spy.

But he never imagined he would hear that Karzan was the same person as Allenvert.

‘What in the world happened? The two of them cannot be the same person.’

Had Karzan not already shown circumstances that could not be faked or acted out, things that made you think he could be none other than Karzan himself?

‘Besides, Allenvert is still only seventeen.’

How many people in the duchy had watched him grow up, people who could attest to the purity of his bloodline? It made no sense to say that all of them were part of a lie.

‘It makes more sense to think that Allenvert is impersonating Karzan.’

“…It seems there is a lot to talk about when we meet.”

Hearing Zamuel’s mutter, Ghir asked.

“By the way, are you an enemy of Karzan?”

Am I Karzan’s enemy?

At the utterly preposterous question, Zamuel laughed, his shoulders shaking.

“This body owes that man many debts.”

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]