Chapter 249 - Product Purchase Request
Count Baha could not smile as he walked among the collection he had placed inside his sky-flying Airship.
If they were precious enough for him to keep aboard the ship, they were cherished collectibles. Simply looking at them should have made him smile, yet today, he could not.
He had even released a favorite animal of his, but an incompetent fool had ruined the amusement.
It was enough to make him sigh, and to soothe that feeling, he walked among his collection with his hands clasped behind his back.
Before long, however, there were two sets of footsteps, and the count stopped walking.
“Did you not say the Main I bought this time was high quality? For that, it was far too... unimpressive.”
He spoke to the Main seller’s subordinate, who was following behind him.
The man, who had pale skin and deep shadows beneath his eyes, spoke in a flat voice.
“The viscount is dead.”
“It could not be helped. He must have been prepared for that much, so I doubt the fellow would feel wronged.”
“As you instructed, I left no corpse behind.”
“Was that also done through the power of the pattern?”
The man did not answer. Whenever Count Baha tried to dig even a little, the man closed his mouth like this.
“Please handle the aftermath.”
He did not answer what he was asked and only said what he wanted to say. Count Baha did not feel especially offended. After all, most things could be forgiven if one was capable.
The count laughed lightly and nodded.
“You need not worry about that. The Viscount's sons are all ambitious. Dangle even a small carrot before them, and they will dig their father’s grave with their own hands.”
More importantly...
Count Baha looked at the cage that had become empty after the iron bars had been opened a short while ago.
“Tell your master that I wish to buy a new Main.”
“Do you have any requirements?”
“I had none before, but I think I may have some now. Until now, I bought on trust, but today, I feel as though that trust has been betrayed.”
“…….”
There was no change in the man’s expression. Yet the count caught that change.
“Do you have an excuse to offer?”
Having survived at the center of power long enough for his beard to turn entirely white, he leisurely stood with his hands clasped behind his back and prodded the man with his tongue.
“The explanation I heard was that if it launched a surprise attack, it could draw blood even from the blood kin of a Great Family at least once.”
Both the seller’s subordinate and Count Baha had seen exactly what the Main had seen through the power of the black cross pattern.
It was what Viscount Rumot had seen, and in his vision, Fifth Son had been astonishingly calm before the Main.
Was it because, of all the Great Families, he was a Millesdusk? He had been indifferent, as if he did not even feel the instinctive discomfort a Main gave off.
After remaining silent for a moment, the man opened his mouth.
“That was not a surprise attack. Fifth Son was prepared after his battle with the knight, and his stiffened body had also been fully warmed up.”
“I saw that the undead were prepared as well. I admit Fifth Son’s response was good. But to be neutralized in five minutes was rather disappointing.”
“...There are areas where its regeneration is slow and areas where it is fast. However—”
“Somehow, Fifth Son just happened to attack only the slow areas by luck?”
“…….”
The man could not finish speaking. That was because even he could not understand it.
He knew that Fifth Son had once encountered a Primitive Main, but this was an entirely different form.
Its method of birth and its process of development were different, yet Fifth Son had stabbed into one weakness after another.
When the man remained silent at odds too unbelievable to call luck, Count Baha shrugged.
“Well... I am not entirely convinced, but let us say that is the case. You are more knowledgeable about Mains than I am.”
Count Baha backed off at this point. To fill the empty cage, he needed the liaison before him.
“It is truly regrettable that this has become the longest conversation I have had with you, but I will make one thing clear.”
“Please speak.”
Count Baha slowly walked over and stood before the man.
“The Main I receive next will be far better, will it not?”
CRACKLE—
Purple electricity sparked from the pattern on the man’s neck. Knowing what that heralded, the count’s lips curved upward.
“It has been a while, Cardinal.”
The man’s eyes, whose pupils had vanished and left only the whites behind, met the count’s gaze.
Count Baha could not directly see the person connected through the pattern, but he was familiar with those pupil-less eyes.
“I have come to meet you like this because I thought it would be better for me to convey matters concerning the purchase of a Main.”
“That is convenient in many ways, so I will speak plainly as well.”
“By all means.”
Count Baha spoke to the being he called Cardinal.
“A single individual three times stronger than the previous one. If you dislike that, then sell me five Mains at the same level as the one I bought.”
“If it is the former, our Order will be able to satisfy you.”
The count’s brow narrowed slightly.
“Why can I not buy several at once? I will pay any amount.”
“It is one of our Order’s few rules. I ask for your understanding.”
“Tsk.”
Count Baha clicked his tongue and repeated the condition the Cardinal had accepted.
“Three times. Is that truly possible?”
“It has only recently become possible. It is thanks to the continued interest you have shown in our Main products, Count Baha.”
“Spare me the flattery.”
“I am only speaking the truth.”
The Cardinal spoke to the count, whose expression had softened somewhat.
“We will send it to the usual transaction location within a month. This time, you will surely be satisfied.”
“I will look forward to it.”
“Yes. Then I shall take my leave...”
“One moment. There is one last thing I wish to ask.”
The buyer spoke of the one who had ruined his product.
“That Fifth Son of Millesdusk.”
“...Yes.”
For the first time, the seller’s answer slowed slightly. Even in the voice that had remained composed from beginning to end, an opening appeared.
The seasoned politician instinctively caught that opening and dug into it deeply.
“He seemed strangely knowledgeable about Mains. Cardinal, I suspect that information about your Order may be leaking.”
“That is something we also suspect, and although we have weeded people out several times, we found no one with a connection to Fifth Son.”
“Then it cannot be helped... But this is merely the concern of a customer who wishes to maintain a friendly relationship, so do not take it too seriously.”
The Cardinal bowed his head deeply.
“Thank you for your patronage.”
CRACKLE—
With one final crackle of electricity, the pupils returned to the man’s eyes.
However, Count Baha had nothing more to discuss with the subordinate.
Count Baha once again strolled among his collection. The smile had returned to his lips.
***
“Exia. So this is where you were.”
“Older Brother.”
The Crown Prince found Exia in the back garden of the Imperial Garden.
Recently, this place had become her favorite, and the reason was obvious at a glance.
“Do you like that ice statue so much?”
“...It is a good place to think alone. It is quiet too.”
“Yes. It certainly is quiet. Perhaps because I have just been in a very noisy place, this place feels even quieter.”
Crown Prince Exil approached her side in front of the ice statue.
“You saw that Uncle had come, did you not?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you not greet him? He is an uncle you have not seen in a long time, and it will be difficult to see him again.”
The golden eyes that had been looking at the ice statue lowered slightly.
“If I go to greet Uncle, I will hear talk of a marriage arrangement with Fifth Son of Millesdusk again.”
“Hahahah. You really do seem to dislike it quite a lot. Even though you like the ice statue he made for you this much.”
“Did you come to take me back?”
“Yes. The social gathering hall is slowly coming to a close, and the central nobles are practically gone. There should be as little discomfort as possible.”
Exia let out a faint sigh and nodded.
“All right. I will go.”
“You made the right decision.”
Holding his younger sister’s hand, he returned from the back garden to the social gathering hall.
On the way, the Crown Prince excitedly told her about what had happened in the Training Hall a short while ago.
“After you left, while I was greeting Uncle, we had a small argument. It was about who was stronger, the white-haired knight called the next Margrave or Dante.”
“Mm-hm. I see.”
“Naturally, I said Dante, and Uncle said the opposite. But do you know how it turned out? Dante won splendidly.”
The Princess merely nodded indifferently as she entered the social gathering hall.
There were even fewer people than before, and only those who would remain were still in their places.
Two of the Three Generals, who would keep their positions until the next imperial command.
The Margrave and his knight were also there, but the two of them were looking in one direction as if watching something amusing.
The helmets of the Three Generals were also subtly tilted in the same direction as their gazes.
At the end of those gazes stood two more people.
The Chancellor of the Empire and Fifth Son of Millesdusk.
***
“...Count Baha, you say?”
“Yes. Unlike you, who are gazing at twilight, Count Baha still has quite a bit of life left. Once you set, he is the sun that will rise for a while.”
Words about twilight and setting were rude, but the chancellor’s focus was elsewhere.
“Why do you regard Count Baha as an enemy?”
“He is the same as you. He is a potential enemy.”
If there was any difference, it was that Count Baha was a potential obstacle with an infinitely high chance of becoming an enemy in the future.
The chancellor, on the other hand, was skeptical.
“Do you think so? I considered Count Baha quite a promising talent worth cultivating.”
It was not that Youngest Son could not understand the chancellor’s thoughts.
If he had not discovered the Black Cross Order, Youngest Son would not have paid much attention to Count Baha either.
However, from the moment he discovered the Order’s pattern and faced the Main, Count Baha became someone to be wary of.
Youngest Son nodded and replied.
“I know. He is versatile, easily sees through people’s hearts, and is a strategist skilled in various power struggles.”
The chancellor had made the same assessment, and Youngest Son knew that well.
“Is that not why you have considered him as the next chancellor?”
“...That is groundless.”
The chancellor avoided the answer, but since it was already obvious, Youngest Son did not bother asking again.
Instead, he changed the question.
“Do you trust Count Baha?”
“I do not.”
“Then do you trust me?”
“Of course not.”
“Then that means we are on the same line. You must continue to maintain that state. Observe that man as you observe me. You must suspect the count as much as you suspect me.”
Doubt appeared in the chancellor’s narrow eyes.
“The count has been loyal to the Empire for a long time. His father was the same, and so was his grandfather.”
“People and history are not the sun. The sun will rise tomorrow as well, but other things can change at any time.”
“I am speaking of probability. Which is more likely to cause a problem: a vassal who has shown loyalty for generations, or an outsider?”
“Do you like probability? Then what about this? Which problem would be greater: a problem caused by a vassal who has become part of the Empire through loyalty, or a problem caused by an outsider?”
The chancellor and Youngest Son faced each other sharply without yielding an inch.
The chilled wine grew lukewarm, and the hot food cooled.
By the time the contents of the glass and the plate had reached similar temperatures, the two negotiated.
“I leave the Imperial Palace at this time tomorrow. Investigate this by then.”
He handed the chancellor the piece of cloth the bone fragment had torn off.
“Everything. What material it is, where it is commonly sold, and what it is used for.”
“I have no time for such menial tasks.”
“I know. To begin with, there is no need for the chancellor to handle such a menial task.”
Youngest Son continued with a smile.
“Entrust it to Count Baha. Have him personally find out what this cloth is.”
“That would not be difficult, but...”
“You were about to ask what this is, but I will replace that answer with something else.”
Youngest Son leaned forward and brought his mouth near the chancellor’s ear.