Chapter 47
Chapter 47: It’s a Bit Dangerous Right Now (1)
Trapped in prison, Skoban leaned against the wall, letting out deep sighs.
“Ugh, I must be crazy. Why did I do that?”
Common sense would dictate that no matter how skilled the Grand Duke was in swordsmanship, surviving in the Forest of Monsters would be impossible.
If it were that easy, they would have started exploring the territory long ago.
But the Grand Duke was so confident that Skoban unwittingly believed him.
“There’s not even one reliable piece of evidence.”
Because of his false report, the troops following the Grand Duke moved too late.
The Grand Duke likely asked for that on purpose, but… as a result, Skoban ended up locked up like this.
“Thanks to the Guard Commander, what do I even do now? Haah…”
Sitting beside Skoban, the handsome Ricardo mumbled gloomily.
He was wrongfully trapped just because he was Skoban’s deputy.
“Cough, sorry. But you’ll be freed soon.”
People were so valuable that, in the Perdium Territory, unless a person committed a significantly grave crime, knights or soldiers weren’t harshly punished.
Rather than imposing severe punishment to instill a sense of caution, it was more beneficial for the territory to give minimal punishment and maintain the labor force.
“Yeah, but what good is that? The Commander will lose his knighthood, and I’ll be sentenced to hard labor.”
For lazy Ricardo, hard labor was truly a horrifying thought.
“That’s assuming everything goes well; if the Grand Duke dies in the forest, it won’t end so easily, you know? We’d also be dead without a doubt.”
“Cough cough, there’s no way the Grand Duke would die, right? After all, he’s been lucky so far despite all the mishaps. He’s not fated to die easily.”
If the Grand Duke were to die, Skoban would have to bear the responsibility due to his false report.
It would be akin to treason against the Lord.
“Well, who knows? Let’s just hope the troops that followed can rescue the Grand Duke safe and sound.”
Ricardo clicked his tongue in response.
Skoban, unable to relieve his anxious mind, merely sighed more deeply.
After sighing for a while, Ricardo curiously asked, “What will you do once you’re freed, Guard Commander?”
“Hmm… I might just go back to my hometown and farm? Being a knight here doesn’t earn any money, just tiring and exhausting.”
“What’s your hometown?”
Skoban scratched his head awkwardly.
“Actually, I’m from here. Perdium.”
Ricardo shot him a contemptuous look.
“…Yeah, I’ll just let you farm. The territory is already short on people. After a few years of serving as a soldier, I’m sure they’ll let you be a knight again.”
“Ugh, I’ve just been living in Perdium for generations. Honestly, I’m bored, bored. I can’t even get married and have no savings.”
Ricardo questioned, puzzled, “Isn’t marrying easy? Even without money, you can still get married. I’m the one afraid of women fighting over me.”
Skoban unconsciously made a dumbfounded expression.
He turned to Ricardo and grimaced.
“…What an annoying guy.”
For handsome Ricardo, marriage might be an easy affair.
‘Hah, if I were born with that face, it would have been wonderful. Then again, isn’t he just living lazily?’
The soldiers of Perdium suffered from meager wages, but Ricardo lived comfortably.
Women who liked him formed social groups to often take care of him.
Skoban thought the world was terribly unfair.
He, too, possessed talents in his own right and had barely become a knight through grueling hardships.
Yet, that Ricardo guy barely did anything and still managed to live.
If appearance is talent, then that was truly a blessed talent.
As Skoban felt unjustly jealous and considered giving Ricardo a whack on the back of the head, a commotion began to stir from the entrance of the prison.
“Hmm? What’s going on?”
As Skoban pressed his face against the bars, Ricardo followed suit.
The group that had been talking with the soldier guarding the prison soon approached the cell where the two were trapped.
When they confirmed the face of the person at the front, Skoban and Ricardo’s eyes widened.
“G-Grand Duke!”
“Grand Duke! You’re alive!”
Ghislaine stood at the bars, waving her hand and smiling cheerfully.
“Liar Skoban! How have you been? Ricardo, your face shines even in prison. If being handsome is a crime, you’d be sentenced to death, not imprisonment! Hahaha.”
“I’m really glad you’re okay!”
Skoban and Ricardo offered heartfelt greetings.
Now, there would be no punishment for causing the Grand Duke’s death.
The two felt relieved by this alone, but Ghislaine had no intention of leaving them in prison.
He turned to the soldier who followed him from the prison entrance and commanded, “Hey, open this up.”
“Yes?”
The soldier guarding the prison blinked, surprised by the order.
He hadn’t received any command to release the two.
“Oh, it’s fine. I already got full permission. Do you trust me?”
“But….”
The soldier was paralyzed.
The Grand Duke had a history of causing trouble while lying more than once, making it hard to trust him.
After all, Skoban and Ricardo were caught because they were lying due to Ghislaine’s instigation.
Ghislaine chuckled at the bewildered soldier.
“Wow, how awful. Treating me like a credit defaulter.”
As Ghislaine shrugged, Gillian stepped up.
Crack!
Gillian directly grabbed the lock mechanism and smashed it to bits.
However, even with the door opened, Skoban and Ricardo did not rush out carelessly.
Though Skoban could escape using mana, there was a reason he remained still.
If he really broke out, it would escalate the situation even further.
“Are you sure? Come out already. It’s a full pardon.”
As Ghislaine urged, Skoban and Ricardo awkwardly chuckled and stepped out of their cell.
“Thank you.”
“Are we really being released?”
“Yeah, you both just need to return to your original posts.”
Ghislaine patted the two on the shoulder a few times and pulled out two pouches from his outfit.
“Here, take this.”
The two opened the pouches with curious expressions.
Inside were bags filled with gold coins.
“W-Why this?”
“Because you let me enter the Forest of Monsters without being bothered. This is your reward. Receiving compensation for a job well done is only common sense.”
Unlike other nobles, Ghislaine didn’t rely solely on loyalty to bond followers.
It stemmed primarily from his identity as a mercenary, but nonetheless, he believed that solid rewards must accompany successful deeds to earn loyalty.
“Thank you!”
“I’ll use it well!”
Skoban and Ricardo smiled widely, deeply bowing in gratitude.
Being released without incident was joyous enough, but receiving such a large sum of money was even more delightful.
“Alright, see you later. I’ll call on you again when I need you.”
“Yes, just call me anytime!”
“Take care!”
The two bent at a right angle, offering sincere bows.
Certainly, a good person is one who gives good money. Ghislaine chuckled inwardly as he left the prison.
When Homern finds out about the destroyed prison door, he’d probably scold him a bit… But he should’ve opened it with words long ago.
After Ghislaine left, Skoban, who had been fiddling with the gold coin pouch for quite a while, asked Ricardo.
“This is quite a bit. What are you going to spend it on?”
Ricardo thought for a moment before answering with a cheerful smile.
“Since I’ve just been mooching off others daily, I figured I’d throw a party for my social group. I guess I should give back a little. With this much, I think it’ll be quite the bash?”
“Not saving up?”
“What for? If I need something later, I can just ask the social group.”
“…What an annoying guy.”
Once again, Skoban felt the world was unfair and kept twitching his lips.
While Skoban felt both joy and frustration, Ghislaine was heading to visit Belinda, who lay in bed.
Her complexion was still pale, but when she saw Ghislaine, she smiled as she welcomed him.
“Still not washed up? How’s your body feeling?”
Ghislaine smiled as he replied to her question. “I’m fine, but you should recover quickly, Belinda.”
Belinda was currently unable to move normally due to a mana reflux.
She had raised her mana beyond its limit to block the attack of the Blood Python, but it hadn’t completely mitigated the shock.
The injury itself was severe, but the sudden influx of mana had twisted everything up, causing a problem.
In such a situation, there was no choice but to rest until her mana stabilized.
“Have you eaten? What does the lord say?”
Even in such a situation, Belinda was scolding Ghislaine.
She was worried about being punished for being dragged away due to defying the lord’s orders.
“Everything has been solved. Don’t worry.”
Upon seeing Ghislaine smiling nonchalantly, Belinda finally seemed to relax and closed her eyes.
Considering her already poor health, she would faint if she knew a show of force was executed with mercenaries.
Ghislaine decided to hold his tongue for even a moment.
He glanced at Belinda and soon took her hand.
“I’ll help you recover quickly.”
“Eh? How will you help me, Young Master?”
Belinda looked at him with a puzzled expression.
Without a word, Ghislaine merely shrugged his shoulders and forcefully pushed his mana into Belinda’s body.
“What’s suddenly… Don’t do this. It’s dangerous.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
As the foreign mana entered, the mana within her body began to rebel.
Belinda sweated profusely, desperately trying to suppress her uncooperative mana.
If a mana clash occurred, Ghislaine would be hurt too; there was no other choice.
Meanwhile, Ghislaine’s mana gently began to embrace and subdue Belinda’s turbulent mana.
Before long, Ghislaine was drenched in sweat, concentrating intently.
Gillian remained tense, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.
If anyone interfered, both Ghislaine and Belinda could be in grave danger.
Sizz!
Not long after, a red mist began to rise from Ghislaine’s body, scattering into the air.
Simultaneously, Belinda’s complexion visibly relaxed.
Surprisingly, Ghislaine succeeded in stabilizing the refluxing mana.
“W-What is this? Young Master, how…?”
Belinda’s face regained color, flush with a slight blush, her eyes widened in astonishment.
As it was occurring within her own body, she felt it all too vividly.
Ghislaine’s mana control was unbelievably delicate.
To handle mana with such finesse required a realm beyond ordinary mastery.
Ghislaine carefully retracted his mana and withdrew his hand.
“Phew, that worked out. A few days of rest and you’ll be back on your feet quickly. Feeling a bit better now?”
Belinda gazed at Ghislaine with a complex expression before slowly speaking.
“You’re not cultivating the family’s Mana Circulation Method, are you?”
The Perdium family’s Mana Circulation Method doesn’t emit a red aura.
Not only the light of mana but also the aura it radiated was different.
Rough yet stable, unlike Perdium’s, Ghislaine’s mana carried a distinct thrill.
It’s expected that the characteristics of mana differ depending on which cultivation method one has practiced, but Belinda couldn’t comprehend where Ghislaine learned a method that was not from Perdium.
The abnormal growth rate and delicate mana manipulation were undoubtedly thanks to the method he had learned.
Ghislaine rubbed his chin a few times, looking troubled as he replied.
“Hmm, I made it myself. To be precise, it’s a modified version of the family’s method. Tailored perfectly for me.”
“Hah, is that something you don’t want to share? Then just say you don’t want to.”
To modify and tailor the Mana Circulation Method for oneself is something a genius might struggle to accomplish.
The concept of the mana cultivation method had developed incrementally over long periods.
If it were so easy to modify a magic cultivation method, clans or organizations that held them would have kept it a closely guarded secret.
“I’m serious. When I have time later, I’ll teach Belinda as well. I’ll tweak what you’re learning a bit more, then you can believe me, right?”
“Oh, come on. Just let it be. What I’m learning is also good enough.”
“Alright. Take care of yourself and recover quickly because I’ll be busy moving about soon.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Now that I have plenty of money, it wouldn’t hurt to have some fun without worrying about money.”
Ghislaine shook his head at Belinda’s comment.
“No, I need to take a short rest and then get back out there.”
“Eh? Where are you going? Ah, to the Runestone shop?”
“Well, sort of… but there’s something I need to prepare. Time is always tight; we need to move quickly.”
Belinda blinked a few times and then asked again.
“Considering what happened in the Forest of Monsters, why the rush? What are you planning to do? Isn’t there something we absolutely have to do now?”
“Honestly, I don’t want to rest either. But the situation is a bit grim.”
“What’s this situation? Tell me.”
Belinda’s voice was laced with anxiety. Ghislaine smiled faintly as he said,
“Unfortunately, our territory is currently in great danger.”
