Chapter 31

Raymond stared at Lucian, stunned, before letting out an incredulous laugh.

Reprimanding him if he ever got carried away by overconfidence?

‘What a ridiculous thought.’

Far from being drunk on confidence, Lucian had carefully calculated all the variables and even prepared countermeasures for the worst-case scenario.

And he had devised all of that in a matter of seconds, from the moment Sven, that mercenary, had appeared.

Raymond could never reach that level, and yet he dared think of giving him advice.

“Ha.”

He struggled to hold back his laughter.

During his service as a Black Lion, he had seen countless young people with potential.

Except for those who died prematurely due to unfortunate accidents, most flourished as expected.

But never, not even once in his life, had he seen someone so unpredictable.

‘When we return, I’ll have to ask His Highness to officially assign me as the third young master’s escort.’

He was barely sixteen and already showed such composure. How far would he go once he grew older? Witnessing that future by his side would be far from boring.

“…Impressive.”

Tristan could only say those brief words after seeing what Lucian had accomplished.

Any additional comment would be clumsy in the face of such an extraordinary result, but praising him too much wasn’t appropriate either, since they were still rivals.

So all he could express was pure admiration.

Even so, with just those two words, everyone present understood the magnitude of the achievement.

‘Of course, for someone so stingy with praise, saying just that is already enough to surprise anyone.’

“From now on, you’ll be in charge of directing the mercenaries. I’ll go with the family’s knights to inspect the suspicious areas near the border.”

Tristan’s face looked much more relaxed than before.

Even though he had to concede the credit to Lucian, being free of that huge nuisance was consolation enough.

“Of course, there are areas too large for the knights to cover alone, so we’ll need mercenaries in some zones. I’ll give you a map. Assign each group where you deem appropriate.”

“Understood. I heard the Imperial Liberation Alliance is appearing alongside monsters…”

“They’re marked separately. Red for the Alliance, blue for the monsters.”

Lucian took the military map handed to him by a knight and examined it carefully.

As expected of a border zone, the area they had to cover was too vast.

Naturally, without mercenaries, they couldn’t handle the shortage of personnel.

‘Good, the problem with the mercenaries is resolved. Starting tomorrow, everything should function relatively normally. But the Alliance alone is already annoying, and now monsters too, huh?’

Lucian’s eyes narrowed.

The zones where the Alliance and monsters appeared overlapped in several scattered points.

As wide as the territory was, that didn’t make sense.

In principle, humans and monsters were prey and predator.

Unless their territories were clearly separated, it was impossible for them to coexist so closely without clashing.

“Brother, is this information accurate? How the hell are members of the Alliance showing up in areas where monsters patrol?”

“They must’ve bought some minor artifact or used a repellent to drive off monsters. Wouldn’t be unusual, considering the ones showing up lately are kobolds and gnolls.”

“Kobolds and gnolls? Those two are appearing together?”

Kobolds were bipedal monsters shorter than a human, with dog-like heads.

Gnolls were also bipedal but looked like hyenas and were at least a head taller than a person.

Both had exceptional senses of smell and were good trackers, but they were also very sensitive to strong odors, so it was relatively easy to scare them off.

“Monsters of the same type tend to cooperate. Just like goblins and orcs group as green skins. It’s not strange.”

“No, it’s very strange.”

Tristan brushed it off like it was insignificant, but Lucian’s face turned extremely serious.

If they really were of the same type, like goblins and orcs, that would be one thing.

But kobolds and gnolls didn’t cooperate.

To gnolls, kobolds were prey. Not only could they not work together—they couldn’t even coexist.

“They might look similar at first glance, but kobolds and gnolls don’t cooperate. If anything, gnolls eat them. They’re not green skins, and they’re species that can’t coexist.”

“What? Then how are they acting together?”

“As far as I know, there’s only one method that can make something naturally impossible happen. You know it too, brother.”

Tristan’s face hardened. A heavy silence fell over the room. No one dared to speak.

Lucian looked around and finally spoke himself.

“Magic.”

“Watch your mouth.”

As soon as the word “magic” came out of his mouth, Tristan’s eyes gleamed dangerously.

“That’s not a word to be taken lightly. All recognized mages reside in the capital. What reason would they have to come all the way here?”

“Look at the reality. Humans moving through monster territory, races that can’t coexist acting together. The only way that happens is with magic.”

“Enough.”

As if he didn’t want to hear more, Tristan cut Lucian off.

“Don’t blow this out of proportion. The Empire is already in enough turmoil, and now you come talking about magic—I’m worried someone might hear it.”

“…”

“Besides, Father granted me full authority over this matter. It’s admirable that you achieved a merit, but don’t dig too deep. Just focus on directing the mercenaries and be ready in case something happens.”

With that, Tristan stood and headed toward the office door.

It was clear he considered the conversation over.

Lucian had no choice but to stand as well, though he had one last thing to ask.

“Have you finished interrogating the six captives from today?”

“…Not yet.”

“Do it properly. The key to understanding what’s going on might lie there.”

Tristan didn’t respond.

Seeing that reaction, Lucian let out a sigh.

With that attitude, it was more likely he’d just kill them to silence them rather than extract information.

‘Looks like I’ll have to move on my own.’

A bitter smile crossed Lucian’s lips.

He had a feeling this wouldn’t end easily.

***

“Magic, he says… This has become far more serious than I imagined.”

Raymond and the Black Lions frowned in unison.

When the Imperial Liberation Alliance and the monsters appeared together, they had thought it was just the coincidence of two nuisances.

But for magic to be involved—

While everyone remained silent, Hugo spoke with a face full of worry.

“Are we in trouble? After the mage rebellion 300 years ago, any unlicensed mage is labeled a dark mage by the Imperial Family. If it became known that a mage is involved…”

“The Imperial Family would mobilize immediately. Even if the mage escaped, the imperial guards sent by the Palace would search every corner of the region. In the worst case, all of Bornholm would be engulfed in a witch hunt.”

In principle, aside from a rebellion, the Imperial Family did not intervene in the internal problems of a vassal.

That was an unwritten rule of the Empire.

But if an unauthorized mage was involved, that rule ceased to exist.

The mere presence of one was equated to that of a ringleader of treason.

“Even if Father is on the imperial side, we’re talking about more than 300 years of hatred toward magic. If magic really is involved, there will be no leniency.”

“And what did the first young master say?”

“He seems to be planning to cover everything up. I understand him, but if there really is a mage, the damage could become uncontrollable.”

The Imperial Family had a problem they reacted with irrational violence to anything involving mages.

But it was also true that they were the organization with the most experience fighting them.

Ordinary knights, who had never seen even a glimmer of real magic, would be wiped out without being able to react.

“But reporting directly to the Imperial Family would also be the worst option. It could turn Bornholm into a wasteland in the middle of the hunt.”

“Exactly. We don’t have enough information to decide anything.”

Lucian brought a hand to his chin, deep in thought.

In his past life, he had never heard that anything had happened in Bornholm.

If the Imperial Palace had intervened, it would have been an enormous scandal.

That left only one possibility Tristan had completely concealed any connection with mages.

‘He must have buried everything by force. The problem is that because of that, I have no idea what really happened.’

There were only two things he could deduce.

That the incident ended on a small enough scale to be covered up.

And that even so, it was not favorable enough to be boasted as a victory.

‘If it had been something easy to hide, they would have pretended they defeated only the Alliance and left it at that. But if they didn’t, it means the result was almost a defeat.’

Even if they won, it must have been a victory with deep wounds.

In other words, if they let everything proceed along the course Tristan took in his past life, even if the cover-up succeeded, the result would be disastrous.

They needed to intervene and change the direction of the plan.

Lucian sighed and stood up.

“First we need to gather information. With so little, I can’t design any strategy.”

“Are you planning to interrogate the captured members of the Alliance? But the first young master won’t allow it.”

“When did I say I’d go with them?”

Lucian smiled at Raymond’s doubt.

“If I can choose, I’d rather extract information from a man freshly captured than from one who’s been rotting in a cell for half a day. We’ve already offered a bounty in silver. Let’s see how motivated those mercenaries are.”

No matter how much the Alliance frequented the area, they wouldn’t know that the perimeter had suddenly been reinforced. At least one of them would fall within a couple of days.

Lucian only had to direct the mercenaries and wait calmly.

***

The forest surrounding the walls of Bornholm was known as the “Yellow Forest.” The branches of the large trees were so dense that the small plants below received no light and died.

For that reason, the ground was covered with yellowish, twisted leaves. At night, the forest took on an even more gloomy atmosphere.

That place was avoided even during the day, as it was a common route for monsters.

In that somber forest, two shadows approached stealthily.

“Halt. If the ray of heaven falls—”

“May it punish the guilty of the throne. It’s me, comrade.”

After exchanging the password, both verified the other’s face and moved closer. Both wore black hoods and were already around middle age.

They had been together in the Imperial Liberation Alliance for more than a decade; they were well aware of each other’s presence.

“What’s this about? Just a few days ago we agreed to speed up preparations and focus on our tasks.”

“Precisely because of that. Something went wrong. I’ve been informed that the mercenaries, who had been loafing around for weeks, reached an agreement with the Valdeck family today.”

“What? How? That situation couldn’t be resolved in one or two days. Did they decide to pay what was demanded?”

“Impossible. According to reports, someone sent from the main house resolved everything in a single day. It seems the grand duke sent one of his trusted aides.”

“Well, well, how marvelous. Who the hell could it be to untie such a knot with a single pull?”

The man on the right frowned. A problem they had planned to exploit had vanished in an instant.

To resolve something so critical in a single move, it had to be a strategist very close to the grand duke.

And if they sent someone like that, perhaps they already suspected their plan.