Chapter 66

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: An Impossible Route
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What’s more, now that I looked again, even their hair color was a perfect match.

How had I not realized?

The lock-picking device, said to have been made by the ‘eldest’ in that house, was the kind of intricate tool only an assassin would handle.

It was also a house that Redius knew well.

All these facts pointed to one thing.

I looked up at Pielle, who seemed to be waiting anxiously for an answer.

There had to be a reason she was talking to me instead of just going to the village herself.

It was probably because…

‘Did Riel’s father lose his life on the battlefield?’

‘He did.’

Redius had smiled sadly.

‘He was a man who cherished his children more than anyone. I can still hear his voice, saying until the very end that he didn’t want to die.’

So the children he cherished were Riel and Pielle.

They didn’t seem to be on bad terms. There was clearly some other reason.

A reason why Pielle wouldn’t leave her post and was instead worrying about Riel from afar.

“Your brother is fine.”

At my words, Pielle visibly flinched.

“If you’re worried about your brother, you can go visit the village.”

But she shook her head firmly at my next words.

“I do not wish to leave my post with assigned duties.”

Her voice held something more than just a sense of duty; there was some other reason.

“…Then I’ll have someone report to you on Riel’s condition. Is that all right?”

Pielle shook her head slightly.

“I cannot receive such special treatment—”

“You said the Shadow Supply system was created to ease the worries of the Argenta on the front lines about their families.”

The one who had told me that was Pielle herself, when she had been handing over her duties to me.

“Ensuring you don’t have to worry is part of that supply. Right?”

At my words, Pielle slowly bowed her head.

“…Thank you, truly.”

Her voice was calm, yet it trembled slightly.

It was unlike her.

But perhaps this was the true self Pielle had hidden beneath her mask of coldness.

I looked at Pielle with fresh eyes.

Pielle, who had shown a friendly side since the first battle, seemed to like me more than I’d thought.

Of course, the same was true for me.

Unlike the original novel, which only described her as a perpetually cool-headed cleaner, the real Pielle wasn’t as cold as I’d expected.

Especially…

‘My lord!’

The sight of her grabbing Diello by the scruff of his neck at the pool and dragging him away had revealed the woes of a long-suffering subordinate.

She was more human than I thought, and at times…

‘This tea is good for fatigue.’

‘If it is difficult for you to rest, shall I give you a massage?’

She, who seemed accustomed to taking care of others, also gave off the feeling of an older sister.

“Anyway, this time it’s Alloje…”

I tilted my head slightly.

“It appears to be a ploy to create problems with the Shadow Supply and disrupt the supply system to sow chaos within Argenta.”

Pielle neatly organized the information floating around in my head.

When I met her eyes to express my thanks, Pielle gave a faint smile.

At times like this, I feel like Pielle and I get along better than I thought.

“Well, now that we know the enemy, we must prepare a countermeasure, right?”

I rose to my feet.

* * *

Late that night, Diello returned to the bedroom.

“I had urgent business. I heard there was a problem today…”

Diello looked at me with an apologetic expression as soon as he entered.

“I heard Croire handled everything well.”

I gave a slight nod.

“It was a serious problem, but not a difficult one to handle.”

“That’s because Croire is a capable person, I suppose.”

With those words, Diello poured me a fruit wine.

“This is an apology. And a thank you.”

A sweet apple scent rose from the wine.

“I heard it’s a drink Croire likes. Is that right?”

I’d heard the original Croire had a favorite drink.

I swirled the glass and savored the aroma.

It seemed the original Croire and I had perfectly matching tastes.

A smile spread across my face before I knew it.

“Yes.”

Clink.

After touching my glass to his, I gestured to him.

Following my gesture, Diello sat on the edge of the bed and looked at me.

“You’ve heard the full report, haven’t you?”

“Of course.”

Diello replied lightly, tipping his glass. Perhaps it was because he was a man who inherently carried heat.

When his uniquely strong scent mixed with the apple aroma, the sweet fragrance seemed to seep in a little deeper.

It was so dizzying that even a light breath felt like a full, deep one.

Is this a strong drink? I couldn’t tell even after swirling the apple wine.

“But I want to hear Croire’s thoughts as well.”

Just then, Diello turned to me.

I nodded. Hearing his voice seemed to clear my head again.

“First, of the seven main land routes, five of the empire's supply lines have been damaged.”

Swirling my glass, I stood up.

I left the bedside and approached a nearby table.

It was what I had been looking at just before he arrived.

Diello followed silently behind me.

His shadow, trailing behind me, flickered in the candlelight.

“Fortunately, the casualties weren’t high. There are some seriously injured people, but Nias said they’ll be fine after about two months of rest.”

That much was a relief.

“And the problem is that it’s the work of Alloje pretending to be bandits?”

Diello smoothly picked up where I left off. I nodded.

“Yes. It seems they’re planning to strike Argenta as soon as Diello’s lily disappears…”

Of course, the lily was still there.

There were still three lilies etched on Diello’s collarbone.

Still, we couldn’t drag this out for much longer.

From a common-sense standpoint, wouldn’t Argenta, which urgently needed a Pero awakening, be in a hurry to get rid of the lily?

In the first place, it might seem suspicious that the lily remained, given that we looked like a doting newlywed couple on the surface.

But I couldn’t say it was gone now.

We didn’t have a real Pero. We needed the awakening to properly confront Alloje.

The real Pero should have appeared by now, so why hasn’t it?

It had failed to show up for so long that I’d even ordered a direct search for it.

‘We are searching, but we have not found it yet. We apologize.’

But both Rick and Nirua reported that they couldn’t find even a trace of the Pero.

Why?

Could it be that, just like how my control over water grew stronger, the story's progression has gone completely awry?

Perhaps sensing my anxious expression, Diello took my hand.

“The knight’s division is also preparing for that.”

Diello said calmly. I nodded.

Alloje thought they were launching a surprise attack, but Argenta was already preparing for it.

I’d heard they had formulated a significant number of strategies using the information I provided—that ‘power is amplified near its source.’

Even if Duke Alloje himself were to attack, we would not be easily defeated.

That didn’t mean we had the advantage, though.

In fact, some were anxious about facing an Alloje who had completed the Pero awakening.

But Argenta, now free of spies, was uniting more solidly than expected around its lord and his leadership.

They had dared to touch the northwest, the location of our injured, so everyone, young and old, was said to be sharpening their blades.

“I heard they are preparing diligently. But.”

I stopped my train of thought and pointed at the map.

There was something bothering me.

This was why I had been staring at the map.

“There’s one strange thing.”

At my words, Diello looked down at the map.

“What is it?”

Does his gaze also carry heat?

Even as I thought the spot he was looking at felt strangely warm, I tried to push the distracting thought away.

I calmly brought up the issue I had been contemplating.

“This supply point and this supply point.”

The places I pointed to on the map were quite far apart.

A distance that would take at least a full day’s ride at top speed on horseback.

“Two places were attacked within half a day, and according to the injured, the attackers used the exact same weapons and had the same number of people.”

At my words, Diello lowered the hand holding his glass.

“…Are you saying the same people attacked?”

His eyes scanned the map sharply.

“Probably. Their faces were all covered, so we can’t know for sure if they were the same people, but.”

I frowned.

“There were over twenty attackers. They were said to look like well-trained elite troops.”

And yet.

“If two different groups attacked the two locations, that means at least forty elite soldiers left Alloje, and there’s no way our intelligence division would have missed that.”

“That’s certainly true.”

Diello tilted his head slightly.

“What about the possibility that they used their control over water to travel quickly along the river?”

His fingertip traced a path across the map.

It followed the winding river that flowed from the Alloje estate all the way to the points I had indicated.

—Tap.

Our fingertips touched for just a brief moment. I flinched at the heat, the reaction involuntary.

“…Even if they used Alloje’s ability to move troops by river, the distance to the second attack location is too far.”

Moreover, the victims at both locations said they were attacked while the sun was up.

“Hmm.”

Diello nodded at my words.

He understood what I was saying.

“Another way…”

They were clearly elite troops, and to use poison so naturally, they must have been assassins directly from the family.

Wait, assassins directly under Alloje?

“Ah.”

There was someone in Argenta I could consult about this.

“Pielle.”

I pulled the bell cord. Diello blinked, turning to look at me.

I gave him a confident smile, then gestured to Pielle as she entered.

“Bring Sir Nirua.”

As someone from Alloje’s group of assassins, Nirua might know the answer.

Not long after my command, Nirua came up.

And he offered an unexpected answer.

“They would have crossed this place.”

The spot his finger pointed to on the map was a wide expanse between the two points…

“…They crossed here? With troops?”

It was a swamp.