Chapter 247 - Interrogation Inside a Trap
“Aaaagh...!!”
Viscount Rumot immediately tore off the cloth Count Baha’s subordinate had given him.
An unbearable, terrible pain had come from the eye covered by the black cloth.
It was a sharp agony as if someone had pried his eyelids open, pushed in their fingers, and torn out both his eyes.
The pain was so severe that he scratched at the eyes he had squeezed shut with hands clenched like claws.
The last thing he had seen before that was Youngest Son’s face through the Main’s vision.
That pale face and those blood-red eyes had not shown the reaction he had expected at all.
His emotions had been so numb and dry that they were conveyed soundlessly, only making Rumot feel his present pain all the more keenly.
“Haaagh... Haa...”
He barely managed to turn his body over from where he had collapsed on the floor and opened his eyes.
Within his face, soaked in cold sweat, his bloodshot eyes stared at the ceiling through his blurred vision.
He was inside the study of the private residence he had arranged in Parfe after leaving Count Baha’s ship.
Viscount Rumot, who had collapsed in the middle of it, barely rose on trembling legs.
He saw that the black cloth he had thrown to the floor was burning. It had already almost burned away, leaving not even ashes behind.
He moved his still faintly trembling gaze to the back of his hand.
“...This is still there.”
The black cross that Count Baha’s subordinate had carved into him still remained on the back of his hand.
“Damn it...”
Now that his eyes had recovered somewhat and his vision had begun to return, curses spilled out of him as well.
GLUG—
He poured golden liquor into a glass filled with ice.
As he did, the fragrance of the liquor naturally reached his nose and soothed his mind a little.
It was strong liquor, but he tossed it into his mouth before the ice could even chill it.
“Hoo... It was not for nothing, was it...?”
At the sudden worry that came to mind, he shook his head hard and simply poured more liquor.
“It was a result far below what I expected, but I still caught Count Baha’s eye. That alone is enough.”
He nodded repeatedly and emptied the glass once more.
And so the ice continued to meet lukewarm liquor without ever getting a chance to show its worth.
The man holding the bottle rolled the liquor around in his mouth regardless and recalled what had happened earlier.
The man who had fed the goat to the Main had handed him a cloth. It was the same kind of cloth the Main had worn.
Count Baha had said,
—Go somewhere comfortable and wear that cloth like an eyepatch. The moment you do, you and the Main will be connected, and you will be able to feel the beauty of this thing as well.
It had happened exactly as he said.
When he covered his eyes with the black cloth, he became the Main inside the iron cage and could move its body according to his will.
The terrifying strength that had brutally torn apart the sheep and its superior mobility had become his own as well.
The iron cage opened on its own, and he strode through Parfe through the Main’s vision.
Just as Count Baha had said, although the Main’s build was not small, it was stealthy.
Though it was abnormally thin, it was tall like a pole. Yet with the night as its backdrop, the Main was like a shadow.
It was as fast as a hummingbird, moving through the darkness, and no one noticed it.
Should he say it possessed both the strength of a knight and the stealth of an assassin at once?
“When I think about it, it was not a bad experience. It was the first time in my life I had ever felt such exhilaration.”
Moreover, the one who had handed him the Main was a count of the Empire.
Count Baha had said to him as he was about to leave the ship,
—Raymond’s mansion is on the outskirts anyway, so do not bother aiming for the social gathering hall. I have already taken measures so that you can ignore a barrier on the outskirts.
And so the Main had been able to move freely around the outskirts as if there were no barrier.
While it hid in the shadows of the Imperial Palace and waited for a chance, Fifth Son came out of the social gathering hall on his own.
Even so, Rumot could not attack him immediately.
With the Crown Prince, the Margrave, and that white-haired knight beside him, it was utterly impossible.
But Fifth Son moved all the way to the Training Hall on the outskirts of the Imperial Palace and, in the end, was left alone.
As he exchanged blows with the white-haired knight, Fifth Son steadily drained his stamina and strength. Rumot had aimed for that young, young blood kin.
“It was clearly the perfect opportunity...”
CREAK—
He gripped the glass in his hand as if he were about to crush it.
He had not thought he could kill him, but he had not expected to be defeated so miserably either.
With that much strength and that much speed, he had thought he would be able to reach him at least once.
But in the end, he had failed to break through the Skeleton Soldiers blocking Youngest Son’s path.
Even when he broke them and broke them again, they reassembled and aimed at his back.
Fortunately, the pain itself had not been transferred to him. If it had, he would have been rolling on the floor in agony even before his eyes began to hurt.
“Haa... The Main melted away and vanished. It would be better not to think any further about something that has already ended.”
He had failed, but there was no responsibility to bear. All he needed was to receive Count Baha’s favor.
Even so, that unpleasant feeling clung stickily to his mind and would not disappear.
“...I should go to sleep.”
He would sleep, leave this nightmare-like reality behind, and go on to meet a sweet tomorrow.
Without tidying up the bottle or the glass, he left them on the table and approached the door of the study.
THUD—
WHOOOOOSH—
Just as he was about to grab the doorknob, the window behind him opened.
A gust of wind strong enough to make the curtains flutter rushed in, and his hair briefly whipped about.
“What in the...”
Narrowing his brow slightly at the sudden gust, he approached the window.
“An unlucky day, fierce to the very end.”
CLACK—
After closing the window and locking it firmly, he even drew the curtains shut.
“My day was not exactly pleasant either.”
“...!!”
At the voice that came from near the door, he whirled around.
“It seems yours was the same, Viscount Rumot.”
The pale face and blood-red eyes he had seen moments ago through the Main’s eyes were there.
He unconsciously stepped backward, but his body soon struck the table.
“Guar—!”
“Shh.”
A gag, no, a bone, entered the mouth that was about to shout.
The bone that blocked his mouth with a thud continued down his throat and bound his limbs.
“Since both of us have had a poor day, shall we speak frankly and relieve ourselves?”
Youngest Son pulled over a chair and sat in front of Viscount Rumot, who had been forced to his knees.
“When I traced the connection with the Main backward, it was cut off around here. That did not matter in particular. One of the suspects had a mansion nearby.”
One of the suspects. It was the mansion of Viscount Rumot, one of the central nobles who had left the social gathering hall.
Youngest Son sat on the chair he had dragged before him and let out a deep sigh.
The fact that the Main’s developmental route had led to the Black Cross Order made a sigh leave him automatically.
That was why the fear and terror the viscount was feeling right now were pointed in the wrong direction.
“You see, right now, you should not be afraid of me. You should be afraid not of me, but of the people who branded that pattern on the back of your hand.”
The black cross pattern was clear on the back of his bound hand.
“You ruined your own life. When I think of that, I do not hold any particular grudge over the fact that you sent a Main after me.”
“……!”
Rumot’s eyes widened sharply.
“You must be wondering how I knew. You must also be wondering how I remained so calm even in front of that grotesque monster.”
He must have many questions, but I could not answer a single one of them. To begin with, I did not want to answer.
This man would die surrounded by questions.
There was no need for me to go out of my way to lay a hand on him. A few words would be enough.
“The Main. Count Baha told you about it, did he not?”
“…….”
“If you tell the truth, I will leave without doing anything. I did not come all this way just to target a noble with a mere viscount title.”
Youngest Son gently coaxed Rumot with his specialty.
“There is no evidence left anyway. What I need is only certainty. So if you feel like answering, nod your head.”
...Nod.
“Good.”
He removed the gag from his mouth.
At the same time, he naturally concentrated mana in his hand. He made it so that he could activate either a curse or sorcery instantly.
However, this preparation for an attack was not meant for Rumot.
“...Count Baha showed me that monster and said it was one of his collectibles. He also had his subordinate carve the pattern on the back of my hand. I do not even know what this is.”
“You accepted something without even knowing what it was. How admirable of you.”
“If I only accepted it, then my family, my bloodline, which had always remained at the level of a viscount, could rise higher. My descendants could become counts.”
That was a delusion so absurd that I could not even laugh at it.
“Descendants? You are going to die here.”
Viscount Rumot let out a hollow chuckle.
“A blood kin of Millesdusk... I did not expect you to keep your word, but it is just as I thought.”
“No. I intend to keep my word.”
CLATTER—
All the bones binding Viscount Rumot fell away.
“Farewell.”
“Huh...?”
After opening the door the viscount had been about to leave through and even waving his hand, Youngest Son closed it.
Even so, he did not let go of the doorknob. Instead, he counted five seconds.
Five... four... three... two... one.
One by one, his five fingers folded, and the moment they finally formed a fist, he turned the doorknob he had been holding again.
“I thought I was a sorcerer, but perhaps I was actually a magician.”
With that pointless joke, he looked down at the viscount lying on the floor.
The viscount was undergoing the same process as the Main he had taken down a short while ago.
Youngest Son sighed as he watched him foaming, boiling, and melting.
However, there were other traces here as well.
“...What a waste.”
He pulled a bone fragment embedded in the table free. A piece of cloth had been skewered on the sharp end of the bone fragment.
That piece of cloth gave off a smell difficult to describe in words. Whether it smelled good or bad aside, it was simply hard to explain.
But as an Easterner, one expression came to mind.
“The smell of a cemetery.”
[What kind of smell is that?]
“There is just such a smell. It is not a refreshing one.”
After loading his mana and closing the door, he had controlled the bones from behind it.
The bones that had bound Viscount Rumot had transformed from bindings into weapons, serving as a kind of trap.
“I thought that once I left, his subordinate would feel at least a little more at ease and make a move. He was faster than I expected.”
At least for today, the person called Count Baha’s subordinate had probably been watching from nearby the entire time.
Since things could go wrong or go astray, this was the safety device Count Baha had attached.
Youngest Son had anticipated it and laid a trap, but all he obtained was this single scrap of black cloth.
[What are you going to do now? Are you going to break that Count Baha fellow?]
“That is impossible here in Parfe. Since the viscount will look as though he disappeared without even a corpse left behind, the count will clearly try to smooth this over outside Parfe.”
[In other words, it is not your cleanup to handle.]
“Right. It is not my cleanup to handle.”
For now, he placed the cloth fragment into his Spatial Artifact and stepped onto the windowsill.
The window the viscount had closed moments earlier was open again. It was the doing of someone who had hurriedly escaped through it.
Youngest Son underwent Blood Demonization and flew into the sky. On the way here, he had run because of Bloodhound, but there was no need for that on the way back.
He turned his head in the sky and swept his gaze across the ground, but as expected, there was nothing to be seen.
‘I need to return to the social gathering hall first.’
The central nobles might have begun slipping away by now, but the Eastern blood kin were still there.
He moved his wings to correct his displaced position as quickly as possible.
From somewhere he could not locate, he felt a very unpleasant gaze.
It was easy to tell who the owner of that gaze was. It was the man called Count Baha’s subordinate.
By now, that man was surely calming his startled heart and making judgment after judgment.
But to the current Black Cross Order, the existence known as Youngest Son, the existence known as the player, was the sole variable.
That incalculable existence flew back to the Imperial Palace and landed near the social gathering hall.
And so, someone was waiting near the entrance.
“You have arrived, Fifth Son.”
It was Chancellor Gunter of the Empire.