‘As expected, you have come?’
Roan was greatly shocked inwardly.
He and Pichio’s meeting was a fact that only Clay knew even in Baron Tale’s house.
“Did you know that I would come?”
At the cautiously asked words, Pichio shook his head.
“No. It wasn’t specifically you, but I felt that someone would come visit tonight. It might be hard to believe, but I just felt that kind of feeling.”
A bitter smile hung from his mouth.
As if this kind of thing happened quite often, the light in his eyes wasn’t that of hoping to be believed.
However, the sincerity that filled his eyes showed that what he said just now wasn’t a lie.
‘Is this that instinct……’
Roan inwardly nodded his head.
Clay’s judgment was correct.
Unlike others, Pichio’s sixth sense was unusually developed.
“Then you don’t know who I am?”
At the abruptly thrown question, Pichio, who had been making a bitter smile, made a slightly surprised face.
It was because Roan was the first who didn’t repeatedly ask back even after listening to his unbelievable words.
‘Does he trust my words?’
It was a fresh feeling.
Staring at Roan’s face, he exhaled a short sigh.
“I remember that you are Henry, a porter a.s.sociated with Charity Trust. Of course, that’s probably a lie.”
Roan smiled bitterly at those words.
“Yes. That is a lie. Reluctantly, I had to hide my ident.i.ty.”
On one hand, he was slightly shocked.
‘He remembered something that happened four months ago.’
There was merely two meetings.
And amongst those times, they had only talked once.
However, Pichio clearly remembered him.
Roan inhaled deeply, and then formally introduced himself.
“My real name is Roan Tale. I am a baron of the Rinse Kingdom.”
His voice was calm.
He thought that Pichio would be greatly shocked.
However, Pichio instead murmured quietly with a calm face.
“Ah…… as I thought, you are the Crimson Ghost.”
At those words, Roan made a surprised face.
“Could you tell even that kind of thing from your feelings?”
“No. About three months ago, a letter was sent from the capital to each border gate. It was a order to watch thoroughly because Baron Roan Tale of the Rinse Kingdom may pa.s.s through the border.”
“Ah……”
Roan nodded his head with a quiet exclamation.
The things he had done in the Pershion Kingdom must had reached the Istel Kingdom’s palace.
There were only two methods, either pa.s.sing through the Byron Kingdom or the Istel Kingdom, to go from the Pershion Kingdom to the Rinse Kingdom.
The Istel Kingdom, in case Roan may possibly cross the border, had sent out an official order to strengthen the guard a step late.
They hadn’t possibly expected that Roan had pa.s.sed through the borders already.
“I had thought that, perhaps, the Charity Trust’s porter called Henry may be Baron Tale……sir.”
Of course, that was only Pichio’s thought.
Because the hara.s.sment from the guards including the gate captain Dosen worsened since about three months ago, he couldn’t dare bring up a such story.
‘Most of all, we couldn’t even see Charity Trust after that……’
Charity Trust, after that day, was using the border gate in the Tale Barony instead of Lancephil County’s border gate.
“Have you perhaps came to cut off my head?”
Silencing through murder.
What came mind at the moment was about that much.
But.
‘I don’t feel nervous.’
His feelings at the moment didn’t held such dreadful sensation.
Roan looked at Pichio’s complicated expression and deeply lowered his head.
“Mister Pichio. I must really apologize.”
“Eh? Wha, what is……”
Even Pichio hadn’t predicted such a sight.
To think a foreign kingdom’s n.o.ble, and especially the Crimson Ghost Roan himself, would lower his head at him.
‘And apologizing for some unknown reason too……’
The inside of his head became tangled.
With a soft voice, Roan explained the goal of his visit.
“In truth, after mister Pichio suspected my ident.i.ty……”
He fully revealed how he got a big interest in Pichio’s ability and talent and used unreasonable schemes to take him.
“It was like that. Dose and the guards hara.s.sing and tormenting mister Pichio were all because of what I’ve done. It isn’t because of mister Pichio’s fault.”
“Hmm.”
Pichio exhaled a quiet groan along with a long sigh.
In fact, he did feel an uneasy feeling from Dose and the guards’ actions.
But.
‘They weren’t very kind people before that either……’
The hara.s.sment was there even before, and only the intensity had became a little stronger.
They thought unpleasant of Pichio’s sharp instinct.
A discontent person all wrapped up with suspicion.
In the eyes of Dose and the guards, Pichio was only that much of a person.
“I’m really sorry.”
Roan lowered his head once again.
“Did you perhaps even crossed the border just to make that apology?”
Pichio was amazed.
Because he hadn’t ever received such treatment before, it may have been even more amazing.
Roan nodded his head.
It was a situation where one man’s life could had been destroyed due to his greed.
‘I cannot pluck off a flower that hasn’t even bloomed.’
To Pichio, who had endlessly fallen and became dispirited, he wanted to tell him the truth that there was no fault to him.
“You’re an amazing person in many ways.”
Pichio was genuinely amazed.
He lowered his head deeply.
“Thank you for honestly telling me.”
“Will you forgive me?”
Pichio cheerily smiled at Roan’s words and answered.
“There really isn’t anything to forgive or not. My relationships weren’t very good in the first place.”
His voice and smile were mixed with self-deprecation.
Roan quietly stared into Pichio’s eyes, then spoke up in a careful voice.
“It’s truly shameless to say this after making the situation like this, but……”
He planned to tell him the second goal of his visit.
The second reason why Roan went out of his way to cross the border, meet a foreigner, and apologize.
“Would you like to go with me?”
Pichio was that much of a desirable talent.
‘Hph!’
Suddenly, Pichio slightly trembled as if hit by a lightning.
His head and heart electrically numb.
Within his life until now, there were several times he felt like this.
‘When I was going to dig mountain herbs when I was young, when I almost died in the battlefield……’
At the time, he felt an electrifying sensation as if hit by a lightning and an ominous feeling.
Because of the monstrously fearful and horrifying feeling, he ultimately gave up on going to dig mountain herbs, and moved to a different battlefield than where he was originally going to.
‘Later, I heard that the people who went to dig the herbs met a tiger and became a tragedy. And in the battlefield I was originally going to go, the enemy troops were hiding in ambush.’
It was an arousal of a strong instinct that happened very seldomly.
It wasn’t something that was hazily felt, but a strong instinct that would shake his entire mind.
‘Thanks to that, I could save my life. But……’
Even though it wasn’t a situation where life came and went, an electrifying feeling as if being hit by a lightning, just like at those times, wrapped through his entire body.
Of course, there was one thing different than back then.
‘What’s this amazing happiness?’
Instead of unease and fear, happiness and expectations wrapped around him.
His heart beated rapidly and the blood raced quickly.
His face became brightly blushed and his ears became numb.
It was a feeling elated enough to shout out in joy.
‘This is……’
There wasn’t any need to forcibly try to understand why he felt like that.
Since the arousal of strong instinct was something that happened regardless of his will.
Pichio inwardly made a bitter smile.
‘So it’s telling me to go with him.’
He quietly stared at Roan’s eyes.
They were clear eyes without a hint of lie.
‘So there’s someone who sees me like this too.’
A different feeling of satisfaction and pride, unlike the happiness that wrapped his body, arose.
Slowly, Pichio nodded his head.
“I will follow Sir Baron Tale.”
“Ah……”
With a quiet exclamation, Roan grabbed Pichio’s two hands.
Although his instinct wasn’t as great as Pichio, he was certain of at least one thing.
‘He is someone who will become a big influence to me.’
His thoughts weren’t wrong.
In the later days, Pichio would cause a great influence to Baron Tale’s house in many ways.
Although, whether they are good influences or not was something that needed to be watched.
*****
“Hmm. It seems there isn’t a need for me to step up.”
Clay looked at a small b.u.t.terfly sitting on top of his finger and faintly smiled.
‘A sixth sense. It’s only embellished and called a sixth sense, and is merely an instinct. A man who judges and moves using not his head but his instinct……’
He was a significantly interesting existence.
A man who stood on the opposite end to himself, who judges everything logically.
‘Anyhow, since the lord has resolved it well, I should throw away the plan I separately prepared.’
Clay lightly swung his finger.
Suddenly, the office’s door slightly opened and a cat showed up.
“Come here.”
Clay brushed the cat’s head as he murmured unintelligible words.
It was a druid’s spell.
“There is no need to spread the rumor that Pichio is secretly working with the Rinse Kingdom. All return to the fief.”
At the end of the spell, the message he intended to send was attached.
Originally, he had prepared a backup plan of his own in case Roan failed.
He had planned to create a situation where Pichio could only leave the Istel Kingdom and come to the Rinse Kingdom.
Clay lightly tapped the cat’s back.
Meow.
The cat lowered his head once, then soon went out of the office.
Clay faintly smiled as he watched that sight.
‘My lord. Although the work this time was resolved rather well, being so soft can instead increase the work.’
The smile hanging on his mouth became much thicker.
‘Someday, you will realize that my method is correct.’
His expression was confident.
Although he had stepped back from the matter with Pichio due to Roan’s order, he didn’t think that his method was wrong even so.
‘Now, now the next is……’
Clay closed his eyes and smiled.
He was already planning the next, no, a different work.
*****
“Isn’t it much too good than what we thought?”
“It’s good. It’s really good. We were living in a dilapidated building leaking with rain just a few months ago, but now we got a shiny guild building and each of us got a house.”
“Not only that, even the support fund is seriously full.”
“Thanks to that, the number of mercenaries in our guild is increasing quickly.”
Wild looking young men conversed in quiet voices that didn’t fit them.
A bald middle-aged man sitting at the head of the table frowned as watched that sight.
‘It’s dangerous.’
With a large fist, he slammed down on the table.
Boom.
Instantly, the ones chatting this and that all closed their mouths.
With startled faces, they looked at the bald middle-aged man.
“Master. You surprised me.”
“Why would you slam the table so suddenly?”
Complaints flowed out.
The bald middle-aged man, Powell, the one who was called the master of the guild, answered with a greatly twisted face.
“It looks like you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds have lost your minds for a moment since your backs are warm and your stomachs full, so what was the reason we moved the guild’s base to the Tale Barony?”
“Khm.”
At those words, awkward coughs came out from here and there.
With absolutely furious light in his eyes, Powell continued his words.
“Listen clearly. We infiltrated the Tale Barony upon Sir Count Jonathan Chase’s order. Infiltrated. When Sir Count Chase’s order comes later, we have to put our lives on the line and fight Baron Tale’s house. Understand?”
The moment his words finished, the mercenaries smacked their lips and nodded their heads.
“We know.”
“We know that. Who forgot it?”
“I’ve engraved that in my mind every day.”
Although their words were like that, bitter looks were plain on one side of their faces.
That was also the same for Powell who shouted.
‘How did we, the Rinse Southern Mercenary Guild, get like this……’
At one time, they were an enormous mercenary guild that ruled the battlefields while receiving chunks of money.
But now, they were receiving orders from a ambition-tainted n.o.ble and playing spies.
‘If we can just finish this work well, we can raise the guild once more.’
They won’t have to do dirty works like this anymore.
But paradoxically, the guild was already prospering much more than before.
Roan and the Baron Tale’s house’s sponsorship was that great.
‘d.a.m.n it. If it wasn’t for this work, it would have become quite a nice relationship, but……’
His mouth pointlessly felt bitter.
To throw away the distracting thoughts within his head, Powell took out a different topic.
“Come to think of it, we need to pick new managers, right?”
“Yes. Because the number of mercenaries and mercenary guilds that joined have greatly increased, we need to pick about five new guys.”
Powell nodded at those words and asked their opinions.
“Is there someone good?”
As soon as he spoke those words, all the mercenaries spat out a word.
“If it’s someone good, it’s Griffith and Moffett.”
“I’ll recognize Griffith, but Bauls is better than Moffett.”
“Agree with Griffith. And I like Kwoles with that.”
“Kwoles is good. And Sweeney and Coleman there are good too. Of course, Griffith is the best.”
Powell, who had been listening, quietly nodded his head.
It wasn’t as if there wasn’t anyone.
“Good. For now, make a list of suitable people. After that, we’ll pick the new managers based on the current managers’ recommendations.”
“Yes. Understood.”
All of them answered in one voice.
They were bright and energetic answers as if a bright future had spread in front of their eyes.
But they did not know.
Of the truth that a shadow had been thickly casted within the guild.
*****
A secret room.
Several small candles were barely pushing away the heavy darkness.
“For now, it’s going as planned.”
“Yes. in the list of new manager nominees, five people have put up their names. Of course, Lepis, no, Griffith is the most likely candidate amongst them.”
At the report that continued on, a young man nodded his head with a satisfied expression.
He was in fact Keep of the Tenebra Troop, Baron Tale’s House’s intelligence agency.
“For now, tell them to continue and earn the trust of the guild master and the managers.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The young trooper hid into the dark as he answered.
Keep looked down at the doc.u.ments spread out on top of the desk, and slightly creased his brows.
‘Certainly, multiple suspicious circ.u.mstances are being discovered.’
But the situation was still not enough.
They had to find more definite evidence.
‘The infiltrating troopers, including Griffith, need to do well.’
With a short sigh, Keep closed his eyes.
Countless intelligence missions that were happening all over the kingdom filled his head.
Currently, he was one of the most busy retainers in Baron Tale’s house.
*****
Winter had ended.
It was already the second month since Spring had came.
Pichio, who had became a Baron Tale House’s retainer three months ago, gazed at the Mediasis Castle that developed remarkably every day and smiled.
‘A broad street extending straight from north to south and the small roads that are interconnected. And even houses and shops placed in an orderly manner. Mediasis Castle is truly an excellent castle.’
Especially the castle wall, which was just finished three days ago, showed off an incredible splendor that seemed like it will never allow an invasion of monsters and enemies.
At that moment.
Vvuuuuuu!
A sound of horn was heard from the north gate’s side.
However, there was no one who panicked.
‘It seems Sir Count Io Lancephil and Sir Baron Aaron Tate have arrived.’
Once Winter had pa.s.sed and the Tale Barony had more or less settled, the two, whose relationship with Roan was close, had visited the fief.
Through multiple announcements, Roan had already notified the Mediasis Castle’s residents of this fact.
Thanks to that, the castle’s citizens didn’t panic and were pa.s.sing a peaceful day like usual.
‘I should soon go down as well.’
Pichio’s current rank was the captain of the Mediasis Guard who oversaw the Mediasis Castle’s public order.
His steps, coming from the watch tower that rose high down to the street, were very light and confident.
On his face, even a bright smile had arose.
‘If the meeting this time goes well……’
Because he knew what the next thing that would happen after that is.
The smile became much thicker.
Now, the Baron Tale House was about to start a great wing stroke towards its first goal.
< Tale Barony (7) > End.