“I heard from the maid this morning. She said she met my son yesterday.”

Count Furst’s words were calm after taking the first bite of his breakfast. But a small expectation was hidden within them.

“Yes.”

The count briefly glanced up at me, then pulled a distant soup bowl closer and ate from it.

“What… did he say?”

“Not much. He saw the cane and magic book I was carrying and asked if I was a mage.”

“And?”

“So I told him I was.”

“……”

Count Furst moved his lips several times. But in the end, he didn’t speak.

Since I had also spoken with Fabre, I pretended not to know and asked.

“The maid yesterday, and now everyone else. Why are you all acting like this?”

The count nodded slightly.

“My son has never spoken a single word until now. I’ve never heard his voice in my entire life. So isn’t it sufficiently surprising to hear that you had a conversation with my son?”

“……”

“It’s going to be a long day today. Even if you don’t feel like eating, you should eat well.”

The count stood up and reached across the table to grab food, eating as he did so.

This was contrary to his usual strict adherence to etiquette.

Is it because we’re at home?

Or is his heart fluttering at the news that his son spoke for the first time?

Anyway, I should fill my stomach too.

Since we’re going to the New Continent Trading Company.

I took a chicken dish in front of me and started cutting it.

“There was an intruder yesterday.”

“……”

“……”

The dining room suddenly fell silent, as if frozen.

I put a piece of meat in my mouth and chewed slowly while looking at Count Furst.

As expected, there wasn’t a flicker of emotion on his face.

“I heard from the maid. But Ran, wasn’t that your imagination?”

He turned his head to look to one side.

There stood a man with a stern expression.

It was Count Furst’s knight commander.

He was wearing full plate armor like other knights, but it seemed to be of the highest quality and strong enough to deflect musket bullets.

These days, you can’t really be a knight without special bulletproof armor.

He answered in a loud voice.

“That’s right. The mage must have imagined it. An intruder? That’s impossible. If someone had intruded, we would have known, Count.”

Count Furst turned his eyes back to me.

“Since the maid was with you, you didn’t see it directly. On what basis do you say there was an intruder?”

“It’s simple. I heard the sound of death and smelled it too, yesterday. Someone died. In the mansion.”

“……”

And I even saw the corpse that had turned to bare bones.

“But I couldn’t find the body. It just disappeared, poof! Anyway, something like that. So I think some protective magic on this mansion might have activated. Do you know anything about that?”

“This mansion was built by my grandfather to stand for hundreds of years without collapsing. There are many secrets hidden that even I don’t know. It could be one of those.”

I thought he would just ignore it, but seeing him think seriously, he seems to know something.

I calmly continued my lie.

“I wanted to investigate more, but it disappeared without a trace. Besides, I don’t know much about that kind of thing. My magic, as you saw then, is about moving natural elements…”

The knight commander cut off my words with a strong tone.

“Count! I guarantee. No one has ever intruded into the castle.”

He must have felt insulted. My ears were about to burst.

The count looked back and forth between me and the knight commander, then said monotonously.

“Alright. So how do you plan to resolve this?”

“Resolve?”

“Ran. Didn’t you cross the sea with me to protect me?”

Oh, so he’s playing it tough now?

I flashed a bright smile.

“You asked me to protect your safety, and my master agreed. That’s not an obligation for me.”

“…..”

“But I’ll do my best as far as I can.”

The count glared at me for a while before turning his gaze back to the food.

“Fine. I’d like you to let me know as soon as you find out anything. Whether it’s an assassin, or protective magic on the mansion, or whatever.”

Once again, I feel that the count is a man who knows his limits well.

“Alright.”

* * *

After breakfast, we prepared separately and then boarded a luxurious carriage.

It took two hours by carriage from Sangria Port to the New Continent Trading Company building.

The distance wasn’t far, but we were considerably delayed passing through the city.

Getting off the carriage, I looked at the New Continent Trading Company building. It was slightly smaller than the one at Marshal Harbor.

“You really put a lot of effort into Marshal Harbor, Count.”

“I did. Originally, I had no intention of returning for nearly 10 years. Let’s go in, Ran.”

I wonder if Legless Monkey ruined that.

Anyone would be angry if a 10-year plan was ruined. Especially someone who lives as meticulously as the count.

Legless Monkey will probably gradually become systematically unhappy.

I followed the count inside.

Inside, countless people were working. They looked no different from what I had seen in Marshal Harbor.

“Ah! You’re here! Count!”

“The shareholders?”

“They’re all gathered.”

He nodded and quickly climbed the stairs.

We soon arrived at a large conference room.

As we approached the door, all kinds of curses could be heard from inside.

Well, given the severe losses, it’s actually fortunate if they’re just cursing.

Bang!

When Count Furst opened the door, all sounds disappeared and silence fell.

About twenty diverse characters were sitting inside. They all seemed tense, but only one among them caught my attention.

That man in his mid-forties, wearing loose-fitting priest’s robes, was glaring at me in return.

A mage.

And he also noticed that I was a mage.

Interesting.

Dangun

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