Chapter 62, Found (4)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

Arsene listened very seriously to the words directed at him.

 

That was not to say he could not distinguish between words that should be taken with a grain of salt and words that should be taken at face value. Arsene was someone who listened seriously and acted upon only those words that were advantageous to him.

 

For example, previously when Arsene had directly relayed Count Hale Latran’s profanities to Kalian, it was not because he wanted to curse at Kalian. Rather, because he wanted Kalian to properly feel Hale’s insolence and severely punish him.

 

Really.

 

Anyway, the important thing was that Arsene was certainly not a naive fool who lacked discernment.

 

‘You must not harm them first.’

 

Therefore, Arsene also easily distinguished which parts of Ian’s words he should take seriously.

 

So, when Arsene magnificently exploded Gray’s carriage. It was not an act of uncontrollable anger over Gray’s Knights unilaterally assaulting Kyrie, who had stood in their way to prevent them from harassing Hina. Rather, it was the result of a thoroughly calculated action.

 

Really.

 

* * *

 

Arsene and an explosion.

 

Could there be a stranger combination?

 

Kalian’s eyes quietly lowered to the floor.

 

Tessyd Reddington immediately approached the window to look outside. However, nothing particular could be seen from the reception room window. So, Tessyd called for his butler to check what was happening.

 

Of course, Gray also instructed a Knight who was outside to check the situation.

 

And Kalian, instead of moving rashly, was concentrating on the surrounding energy. He was trying to determine if he could sense more of Arsene’s Mana, but he could not feel anything beyond that.

 

Ian approached Kalian concentrating and spoke in a careful voice.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

Kalian’s eyes, still directed downward, quietly moved to Ian. That was when he saw the expression clearly revealed on Ian’s face.

 

Ian was considerably perplexed right now.

 

He was concerned about Kalian, not the sound from outside.

 

From Kalian’s mouth came a voice which had been subdued after dealing with Gray. It flowed out before Ian could properly organize his thoughts.

 

“There is an explosion outside, but you’re checking on me?”

 

“Ah…”

 

“What is it?”

 

Ian, faced with Kalian’s question, momentarily seemed at a loss for words. He was worried about how Kalian would react the moment he mentioned that something had happened to Kyrie.

 

Ian, slightly blocking Kalian’s path, said.

 

“I’ll go down and check, then come back.”

 

His intention was obvious.

 

He did not want Kalian to personally go.

 

Kalian looked at Ian’s face once more. Then, he walked around Ian and steadily moved toward the stairs. A moment later, Kalian, who had stopped between the upward slope leading to the rooms and the downward slope leading outside, pointed his finger toward the outside and spoke.

 

“Lord Hertz is making that commotion while calling for me. And you don’t want me to go down there?”

 

The reason Kalian judged that Arsene was ‘calling for him’ was simple. It was because Arsene had made an explosion.

 

The fact that an explosion was heard meant that Fire Magic had been used. But Arsene was originally a Mage who used ice. So, he had purposefully caused an explosion.

 

If there had really been an urgent matter, Arsene would have sent an ice spear toward the opponent instead of using Magic he rarely employed. So, that explosion must have had a different meaning.

 

At Kalian’s words, which accurately pinpointed his inner thoughts, Ian closed his mouth. Instead, Kalian spoke again.

 

“That’s why I asked for the reason, but you do not wish to answer. Now, I have no choice but to go see for myself.”

 

Ian, after a moment of trying to choose his words, quickened his steps and once again blocked Kalian’s path.

 

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

 

Kalian frowned at him, looking at him apologetically for blocking his way. If Ian was going this far, Kalian could roughly guess what kind of situation it was. However, before Kalian could move his feet again, Ian quickly opened his mouth in a small voice.

 

“Your Highness. You must not clash further with the Count here. If you misstep, you will be at a great disadvantage. You know that well, don’t you? Please don’t act rashly.”

 

Kalian, who had been staring at Ian’s eyes, opened his mouth.

 

“First, report what they’ve touched.”

 

And then he started moving his feet to go downstairs.

 

* * *

 

When a pale Mage suddenly appeared and created a fireball the size of a horse’s head without a word, Gray’s Knights were taken aback. And when that horse-head-sized fireball flew toward them, they all shrank back in fright. The fireball, passing as if grazing the Knights’ heads, went straight ahead and blew up Gray’s carriage.

 

*Boom!*

 

A tremendous sound blew up, which shook deep into their eardrums.

 

The four Knights, who had unconsciously bent their waists, slowly raised their heads and checked what had happened behind them. Out of the three carriages, it was none other than Gray’s carriage that had ‘disappeared’.

 

Upon seeing this, Hector, the Knight who Gray trusted the most among the Knights, approached Arsene with murderous intent.

 

“What are you trying to do!?”

 

Regardless, Arsene stood with his back turned to Hector. And he first properly restored Kyrie’s soiled clothes with a Clean Spell. The clothes, dirty with soil and blood, became clean again. However, he could not do anything about the wounds that had already been inflicted.

 

At a glance, there did not seem to be any major injuries, but there were scrapes and bruises here and there, making it an ugly sight. Arsene clicked his tongue and asked Kyrie.

 

“Why did you just take the beating?”

 

Kyrie made a small smile without answering. Perhaps because he knew they were Beurisen Knights, he was worried that Kalian would face difficulties because of him. Arsene’s voice came out sounding like a gentle reprimand.

 

“You. I don’t know what will happen, but don’t expect any praise from the Prince.”

 

Since it was a remark out of concern, Kyrie was about to express his gratitude, but Hector, who could not stand by watching their conversation any longer, stepped forward. Then, pointing at the carriage that had conveniently changed into firewood, he roared with a ferocious aura:

 

“You! Do you know whose carriage that belongs to!?”

 

Then Arsene pointed at Kyrie.

 

“You! Do you know whose person this boy is?”

 

It was a bit saddening to compare the carriage and Kyrie to be on the same level. However, Arsene purposefully answered back.

 

Hector smirked and said again.

 

“Then, are you the Third Prince’s lackey?”

 

Since Arsene received criticism for being involved in this incident because of him, Kyrie frowned. However, Arsene nodded without hesitation and answered.

 

“That’s right.”

 

Those words were a bit rough, but was it not true that he was Kalian’s ‘lackey’?

 

“Then are you the dog of the Marquis’s son?”

 

This time, he felt sorry for comparing that kind of person to a dog, but regardless, Arsene still asked back.

 

Hector’s face turned red. He looked like he was about to draw his sword.

 

Regardless, Arsene took out a handkerchief from his chest and held it out to Kyrie, who was beside him. Blood kept flowing from the torn corner of his eye.

 

“Thank you.”

 

As Kyrie accepted it, Hector stepped forward once more. It was because he was angry that Arsene did not seem to care much nor fear him. Then, a large ice spear struck the ground in front of Hector’s foot.

 

*Crack!*

 

Startled, Hector withdrew his foot and looked at Arsene. Arsene, who had sent the ice spear in front of Hector’s foot, answered with a calm face:

 

“Mages don’t like people with swords coming close. I can hear everything from where you stand, so don’t come any closer.”

 

Having nearly had his foot pierced by the ice spear, Hector burst out in an anger.

 

“You bastard! Do you know who I am!?”

 

To those words, a reply was heard from far away.

 

“My lackey already told you. A dog.”

 

It was Kalian.

 

Kalian’s voice, walking from quite a distance, was not very loud. But strangely, what Kalian said could be heard clearly by everyone. Thanks to this, everyone took their eyes off each other and looked at Kalian.

 

Kalian, without stopping his steps, briefly turned his head. He smirked seeing Gray’s carriage. After that, he briefly asked Arsene:

 

“The cost of the carriage, do I have to compensate?”

 

Arsene lowered his head slightly and then answered politely:

 

“It can be deducted from my salary, Your Highness.”

 

At those words, Kalian softly chuckled. Kalian was not unaware of how much Arsene’s salary was. To deduct the Count’s carriage from his salary would mean not receiving a penny for several months.

 

As Kalian chuckled, Ian, standing behind Kalian, had very anxious eyes. Because he knew that Kalian had checked Kyrie’s face first as soon as he came out of the building. It would not be strange if he ordered those Knights’ necks to be cut off right away, but instead, he was laughing as if it was amusing. So, Ian could not help but be anxious.

 

Whether aware of such feelings or not, Kalian approached Arsene with the same pace of steps and asked.

 

“My lady-in-waiting should have been here. Where is she?”

 

He was talking about Hina. Ian could have answered that, but as Ian opened his mouth, Arsene’s words came out first.

 

However, Arsene was not explaining where Hina was, but why she was not here.

 

“They did not know she was Your Highness’s lady-in-waiting, he says.”

 

Until hearing those words, Kalian was maintaining his composure quite well. Although it was a very infuriating situation, he was controlling his anger, thinking that he should not escalate the matter further.

 

“Seeing a pretty-looking mute girl, they thought the Count would like her, he says.”

 

The honest Arsene nudged Kalian.

 

Kalian smiled, it was deathly white.

 

As for Ian, he turned deathly pale.

 

A transparent light gathered in Kalian’s hand as he lost just a tiny bit of reason.

 

* * *

 

By the time Gray went outside the building, everything was already over.

 

Kalian did not explain anything about cutting out the tongues of the four Knights who had harassed the Prince’s lady-in-waiting and stripping them of their titles for also harming the Prince’s attendant.

 

Seeing Gray glaring at Kalian as if he wanted to devour him, while not caring about his subordinates’ wrongdoing, Kalian held back for now.

 

As much as he wanted to cut off Gray’s neck right away, he stopped at that point for now.

 

With calm eyes, he only said this.

 

“The cost of the carriage that Lord Hertz has accidentally destroyed will be paid by Lord Manasil when we reach Cyriesus, so not to worry.”

 

And then, he returned to his room just like that.

 

Gray could not utter a single word of objection. It was because everything had happened in front of all of Tessyd’s stable servants and soldiers.

 

In the end, Gray decided to leave Reddington Castle right away. Because of this, he wanted to borrow a carriage from Tessyd, but Tessyd apologized to Gray, saying that unfortunately, the carriage’s axle was broken and under repair.

 

Gray could not get angry about it either.

 

In the end, Gray had his two pretty concubines move to the carriage used for carrying luggage.

 

Gray, who had torn off all the fluttering pink curtains and decorations with pearl beads, screamed in the carriage heading toward Cyriesus.