Volume 4 Chapter 14: The Incident Unto the Darkness

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Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

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A few days had now passed since the incident, and Cain was kneeling in the audience room of the royal castle with a girl next to him.

“You may look up.”

Said the king, making Cain and the girl next to him –– Liltana, look up.

“The kidnapping incident here in the royal capital this time was solved due to your activities. Therefore, you will be rewarded. Cain von Silford Drintor, Imperial Princess Liltana van Baisas, I shall give you the reward of twenty platinum coins each. Also, Imperial Princess Liltana, I would like to express my gratitude for your help even though we are from different nations.”

“I gratefully accept.”

“Thank you very much, Your Majesty.”

The two of them bowed their heads again.

“Well then, that––”

“Wait a minute!”

A noble interrupted Magna, who was about to declare the audience finished.

“What is it… Corgino? Do you have some opinion on the matter…?”

Sitting on his throne, the king glared at Marquis Corgino.

Marquis Corgino stepped a step forward and knelt down.

“The truth is, I have a mansion given to me by the royal family, and yesterday, in the early hours of dawn… it was completely cut in half… this is not the work of a different country or monsters!”

““Pffft””

The king, on his throne, and Magna both exhaled sharply at the same time.

All the nobles there, as well as anyone who had gone past Marquis Corgino’s residence all knew that that was the case.

On one knee, Cain’s shoulders trembled a little as he looked downwards.

After glancing at Cain, the king looked back at Marquis Corgino.

“There are some rumours about that case floating about, so I have already heard about it. It must be hard for you, so do repair it soon… Having the mansion of a high-ranking noble in the royal capital be half-destroyed gives us a bad public image as well.”

“Your Majesty… well… any assistance…?”

“You are a marquis. As a higher-rank noble, you must, of course, cover for the expenses with your own money.”

“…Wha-…”

“–– then, that’s all. Prime Minister, take it away.”

After those words from the king, Magna declared the audience finished.

The king made his exit, followed by the higher-rank nobles, one after the other.

Cain too, left the room alongside Liltana, but was immediately stopped.

“Sir Silford, His Majesty has called for you.”

“Eh… really?”

“Yes… he’s waiting with Prime Minister Magna.”

Cain’s shoulders fell in despair, and he followed after the servant who showed him to the usual reception room.

The servant knocked on the door, then opened it, and the king and Magna were already waiting inside.

“Your Majesty, sorry for making you wait.”

Being gestured to sit down, Cain did so.

“Heey, Cain. You know what I want to say here, don’t you…”

“No, just what could it be…”

“––––Fine. Corgino’s having quite the hard time… right, Cain?”

“I don’t really understand what you’re saying, but… Your Majesty seems to be having a hard time too.”

“Mhm… especially due to you.”

“…Huh?”

“Aren’t both Corgino and you the same in thinking that if there’s no evidence it’ll be fine…? Well, anyway… I’m in a good mood today. You may leave.”

“Then, Your Majesty, if you would please excuse me.”

Cain gave a bow, then left the room.

“––––So I did overdo it, after all…”

Cain left the royal castle while muttering so.

◇◇◇

Let’s go back in time to just after the incident.

Having escaped from suspicion, Marquis Corgino stopped by a mansion on his way back.

It was the mansion of a lower-rank noble, a baron, to be precise, who happened to be Corgino’s protege.

“Marquis Corgino!? What happened, that you’re here at this late hour?”

Seeing Corgino’s severe expression, Bleed immediately showed him into the reception room.

Then, he had everyone else leave the room. Marquis Corgino, having confirmed that there was no-one else there, started speaking in a bad mood.

“Bleed, I want you to arrange for ‘That’ immediately. And I mean right now.”

“?! ‘That’, eh… understood. I’ll arrange for it immediately.”

Bleed snapped his fingers, and a man clad all in black appeared, then knelt down.

“You called?”

“Oof, are you always on standby…”

“But of course. You never know what may happen.”

“Is that so. Actually––”

The day’s happenings were explained to the man. And how there was evidence that would definitely incriminate Corgino if found.

“––Can you dispose of it all?”

“Please, leave it to me. Also, could you leave it all to us, please?”

“Alright. As long as no harm comes to me, it’s fine. I’ll leave it to you.”

“Yes, then, I will get started immediately.”

The man covered from head to toe in black disappeared.

“What a strange person… now, just don’t make any mistakes.”

“Yes, but of course.”

The two of them laughed suspiciously.

It was midnight––

Inside the Narnis Company’s building, which had already undergone a simple search and been decided to be looked through more thoroughly the next day, and where the broken doors had been given basic repair and made so nobody could enter, several men were moving about.

“Burn all the evidence. Don’t leave a single one behind.”

Instructed a leader-like man. Oil had been poured everywhere it could reach from the underground cells to the topmost floor inside the building.

The men, having finished pouring the oil everywhere, escaped through a window. Then, one of them shot fire magic at the building.

“With this, there should be no problems any more.”

Inside the now unpopular Narnis Company building, the fire spread rapidly with help of the oil.

While the building was made out of stone, the interior was basically all wood. With the oil poured everywhere and lit on fire, there was no way to stop it.

The guards rushed inside, trying to fight the fire, but by the time they had put the fire out, the whole interior of the building had been transformed into charcoal.

The next day, having heard of the torching of the building, Cain summoned Darmeshia and thought about how he should react.

“So the connection between the Narnis Company and Marquis Corgino is all ashes…”

“Yes… I’m terribly sorry. To think they’d move so soon, overnight… humans really are greedy.”

Demons didn’t really move much in the shadows. While that didn’t mean that there weren’t any at all that did so, they basically always went head-to-head, competing in pure strength.

As such, it was inevitable that Dalmatia would not be able to see into human nature, and predicted such a turn of events. However, Cain hadn’t been expecting them to do that either, so he didn’t hold it against Darmeshia.

“I shall release my insects inside Marquis Corgino’s house today. But… while I might be able to spy on him, that won’t be enough as proof.”

“I know. But, I still want information. So, could you please investigate?”

“Understood. Well then…”

Bowing, Darmeshia sank into the shadows.

The information Cain wanted had been gathered soon after.

It turned out that Corgino had indeed arranged for it to happen. However, information from familiars would not amount to conclusive evidence.

So, at midnight, Cain and Darmeshia appeared in the sky above Marquis Corgino’s mansion.

“Do you have any good ideas…?”

Asked Cain, thinking, his arms crossed, to which Darmeshia tried giving him advice.

“How about causing a bit of a commotion and then sneaking in while they’re distracted? I’ll do the sneaking in…”

Cain nodded at Darmeshia’s proposal.

“Then, I’ll hit them with magic, and while they’re distracted by that, you go in. Breaking down the door should be enough, right.”

“That would be perfect. Then, during that, I shall…”

If a fire were to start, there’d be a huge fuss. So, Cain chose wind magic.

[Air Cutter]

The blade of air headed towards the door, released from Cain’s right hand.

However, as it flew towards the mansion, the blade of air rapidly grew in size, until it was huge.

And then –– the whole mansion was cut in half.

Starting with the cut-off half, the mansion gradually collapsed.

Seeing that disastrous scene, Cain was lost for words.

“……”

“…Cain-sama… I do think that was really overdoing it… while the door has indeed been destroyed, cutting the whole mansion in two is…”

Cain had wanted to use beginner-level magic, but thanks to his ridiculous amount of magical power, it had turned into a huge disaster.

And, if the scale of destruction was large, the sound accompanying it would be equally as loud. And the sound of this had resounded all around and throughout the surrounding mansions.

“––Darmeshia… let’s go home for today…”

“––Yes… as you say, Cain-sama.”

The two of them disappeared, having used Transfer magic.

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