The winter in the royal capital is colder than in Ashwood territory.
I had wanted to go to the Arirakk Dungeon, but the snow that had fallen for several days had turned the ground into silver, so I decided to hold off for now.
On such a day, Lord Dardale arrived.
There were wooden planks laid from the entrance of the neighboring mansion to our door. Where did they bring those planks from?
“The Bettenbums Territory’s brewery has been closed. Furthermore, it seems that Viscount Fiatt had been forcing craftsmen to work there, and he was taking all the profits for himself.”
The brewery is closed, and the King of Liquor is being collected from the market. However, it seems difficult because it had already been sold in large quantities to regular customers.
Although a complete recovery might be impossible, the King and the Pope have jointly issued a decree to avoid further consumption of the King of Liquor.
“What will happen to Viscount Fiatt?”
“He has been detained by the Kingdom’s Knights. The Viscount claims he didn’t know about the poison, but since he was taking all the profits, he can’t just say he didn’t know.”
At best, he will be stripped of his title; at worst, he might face the forfeiture of his family estate, Lord Dardale says.
“Also, after interrogating Viscount Fiatt, it seems that Marquis Lightstar is involved in this matter.”
“Did Viscount Fiatt say this?”
“No, from the seized documents, we found that the profits from the King of Liquor were flowing to the Lightstar family.”
It seems Lightstar had stolen the sake yeast, and Viscount Fiatt took it to produce the King of Liquor. Since Viscount Fiatt might sell out Lightstar to save himself, it’s a possibility.
“It depends on Viscount Fiatt’s testimony, then.”
“That seems to be the case.”
It seems my grandfather is also doing everything he can to corner Lightstar, and this case involving Viscount Fiatt may also contribute to that.
“After that, the kingdom will handle it.”
Since this is about the kingdom, the temple will leave the investigation and punishment to the authorities, including Viscount Fiatt. However, because the poison in the King of Liquor was discovered due to the temple’s actions, they will receive a detailed report.
That night, I was working on a transformation in my room.
Thanks to the focusing lamp, the house was bright even at night, which was helpful.
Once the snow melts, I want to go to the Arirakk Dungeon in the royal capital.
As I was concentrating on the transformation, I suddenly felt a shiver.
The double-leaf wooden window that I had closed was now open. It must have opened by the wind, as it was an old window.
Just as I stood up to close it, I felt something strange and instinctively jumped back.
Then, a short sword stabbed into the floor.
“Huh?”
“Tch.”
I heard a click of the tongue, and another short sword flew at me.
I flipped the table and caught the sword.
Things on the table fell loudly onto the floor.
“Who are you?!”
There was someone in black clothing, almost like a ninja.
Since I was inside the room, I didn’t have any weapons. This was a bad situation.
= ・ = ・ = ・ = ・ = ・ = ・ = ・ =
Entity Name: Berg
Species: Dark Human
Info: Male, 33 years old, Basilisk Fang member, healthy
Title: Assassin
Rank: B
Element: Darkness
Blessing: Dark Swordsman
Level: 180
Skills: Dark Swordsmanship Level 4, Shadow Movement Level 3, Throwing Level 3
Life: 1,555
Stamina: 1,820
Mana: 1,480
= ・ = ・ = ・ = ・ = ・ = ・ = ・ =
I couldn’t help but glance at the black-clad assassin’s stats.
He’s an assassin!
“You’re sharp.”
“Are you an assassin? Who hired you?”
Instead of answering, the assassin sliced the table in half with his sword.
I jumped back and rolled on the floor. Berg chased me and tried to stab me with his sword. I rolled further to dodge.
At that moment, a sword suddenly rose from the floor, and I was stabbed in the left shoulder.
“Ugh!? That was…”
It seemed like a technique from dark swordsmanship. He must be attacking through darkness or shadows.
It was difficult to defend against a technique like that. It was a skill suited for assassination.
“Tch, I aimed for the heart, but you dodged it.”
I twisted my body in time, but blood was flowing uncontrollably from my left shoulder.
However, that dark swordsmanship technique couldn’t be stopped. I needed to end this quickly, or it would be bad.
“I won’t let you escape.”
“I’m not going to die here!”
“Guah!?”
As I activated my transformation, blood spurted from Berg’s left shoulder.
“What? What’s happening… What!?”
Seeing my left shoulder’s blood stop, Berg’s eyes widened.
“You, what did you do?!”
“I’m not going to tell you that!”
The tables had turned. I quickly closed the distance and delivered a flying knee to Berg’s face.
I felt a satisfying impact as my knee crushed his nose.
Berg was sent flying and crashed into the wall, sliding down powerless.
At that moment, the door was suddenly thrown open. Thinking it was enemy reinforcements, I tensed up.
“Thomas, what happened!?”
“Thomas!?”
“What’s going on!?”
Ben, Charmy, and the temple knights burst into the room.
“You bastard!”
When Ben saw the black-clad figure, he readied his weapon.
“Hey, is he dead?”
“No, he’s just unconscious. Can you restrain him?”
The temple knights restrained Berg and removed his mask.
He was a man with dark skin and a deeply chiseled face.
“Thomas, your shoulder…”
Charmy rushed over and tried to cast a healing spell, but I stopped her.
“It’s fine, no injuries.”
Using my transformation skill at Level 4, I changed the condition of both my and Berg’s left shoulder.
My injury was transferred to Berg, and I got his uninjured shoulder.
Berg must have panicked when he suddenly felt pain in his shoulder.
This transformation used up a lot of mana, and I lost 15,000 points in an instant.
If it had been a full-body injury, I wouldn’t have been able to manage it with my current mana.
I sighed deeply and sat down on the floor.
“Phew, that was a surprise.”
It was a good thing my level was high.
If my level had been low, I wouldn’t have been able to handle this situation.
Later, my butler, Rude, and others arrived to help with changing clothes and cleaning up the room.
Since blood was splattered everywhere, the cleaning took some time.
Rooms with blood stains are naturally scary.
To make matters worse, Lord Dardale arrived after hearing about the commotion.
“How could a thief get into Lord Thomas’s private room? What is the point of the security!?”
It was rare for Lord Dardale, who normally didn’t raise his voice, to shout angrily. He didn’t seem hot-tempered, but when he did get angry, it had a peculiar force.
“I apologize!”
Rudol Bach, the temple knight and security chief, deeply bowed his head.
He was in charge of the security for the royal capital’s Roxfall mansion.
Since Captain Susanna is in charge of the guard team, she doesn’t deal with mansion security.
“I’m sorry, Lord Thomas. We will increase security to make sure this never happens again.”
“Well, if it gets too strict, I’ll feel suffocated…”
“We must increase security personnel! Now that we know someone is trying to target you, we have no choice!”
Lord Dardale’s breath was heavy. He wasn’t backing down.
“Who would try to kill me, though?”
“The most likely culprit at the moment is someone connected to Viscount Fiatt. I can’t say for certain, but we will conduct a thorough investigation at the temple.”
“The temple will investigate?”
“The temple is responsible for the Roxfall mansion. Since a thief has entered, the temple has the right to investigate.”
I see. Interesting.
At this moment, I thought Berg wouldn’t crack under questioning…
