Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“That, that little fox, that…!”

“Calm down. You can’t beat her anyway.”

Heath’s comfort didn’t help at all.

Michelle couldn’t hold back his anger and grumbled.

“Damn it, if only Mila were here!”

“Don’t bring up people who’ve retired. More importantly, that sword the Marchioness Blair was holding earlier was Raise Messer, wasn’t it?”

Bin’s gaze flicked toward Heath.

Heath knew it was because of the name that had just come up, so he nodded as if he hadn’t heard anything.

“It was.”

“Wasn’t it the Second Prince who was supposed to buy the sword? Why does the Marchioness Blair have it?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The Second Prince played Ray for a fool! I knew it from the moment he said there was no contract! This is why you can’t trust people in high places!”

“Say it properly. Ray didn’t choose not to write a contract. He couldn’t write one.”

“Damn the nobles! Damn the imperial family!”

Decades had already passed since the day his finger was cut off so unjustly.

Yet whenever he dwelled on that day’s rage and bitterness, the phantom pain still clung to the stump and throbbed.

Bin patted the back of Michelle, who was wheezing with renewed fury, and wore a worried look.

“What could the Marchioness Blair want with that sword?”

“It bears the First Emperor’s name, doesn’t it? Isn’t she going to offer it to the Emperor?”

“True, she is the Emperor’s loyal hound.

“Michelle.”

“What does it matter? There’s no one here but us.”

If even one person here had read the newspaper published that morning, the content of this conversation would have been different.

But a newspaper cost more than the beer and sausage set served at this inn.

No one here would spend that kind of money on a scrap of paper to be read once and thrown away.

“So how much do you think the Marchioness Blair won Raise Messer for?”

“Who knows…”

As far as Bin knew, the most recent relic of the First Emperor to come up for auction had sold for nine million larcs.

That was forty-three years ago, so he wasn’t sure it was a fair reference.

‘The winning bid we could expect if no variables came into play… is roughly ten million larcs.’

Even that was assuming things went well.

They had to keep the worst case in mind.

For example, that the Marchioness Blair and the Second Prince had secretly struck some kind of deal beneath the surface.

“Whatever that woman’s intentions are, you’d better not expect much from the winning bid.”

“Michelle, why are you throwing cold water on this?”

“Don’t you remember? She said she’d just closed the deal she’d been longing for. And she beamed over a measly two three-copper coins. Like some miser somewhere.”

“Ah…”

At Michelle’s words, Heath’s face darkened.

Seeing that, Bin bristled and shouted.

“What’s so strange about that? You get two whole three-coppers just for breathing, so how could anyone not be happy? Are you even human?”

Bin was the only one who didn’t find that strange.

Heath and Michelle locked eyes, then, as if they’d agreed on it beforehand, collapsed onto the table at the same time.

“Our Ray is ruined, I tell you, ruined!”

“What kind of talk is that? We don’t know that yet.”

“What do you mean we don’t know? I’ve already seen it. I’ve already seen Elpiers go completely bust!”

“Then want to bet on it?”

“A bet, at a time like this?!”

“I know this much: the bigger a person’s nerve, the more careful they are with their coppers. You’ve got a perfectly reliable living witness right in front of you, don’t you?”

“A cautionary tale, more like…”

Even as they grumbled, they couldn’t push back hard, because Bin was the one who had decided, back when Leonard first took on the Elpiers family’s debt, to empty out everything he had to help him.

“If the Marchioness Blair really won the sword for the Emperor, she wouldn’t have called out some mediocre bid.”

The value of an item sold at auction is judged by its winning bid.

If a relic bearing the First Emperor’s name sold for a pittance, the Emperor would hardly be pleased.

“Ten million at the least. That’s how I see it.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

Beside Michelle, who let out a shriek, Heath narrowed his eyes and asked.

“And if it’s lower?”

“If it’s lower.”

Bin planted a hand firmly on his belt.

“Every coin in here, I give to you two.”

“Deal! Ten million, my foot! You’re talking nonsense!”

“I’m in too.”

“Hmph, fool. Get ready to beg for just one mug of beer.”

Bin snorted at the two of them, who were acting as if they had already won.

“We’ll see who wins. If I win, all your money is mine.”

Bin was truly confident that he couldn’t lose on this bet.

Whatever the result, the money in this belt would all be spent on helping Leonard anyway.

‘Or else I’ll give up the title and run away in the night, and that’ll be that.’

It would be hard, taking along that young lady as well, the one Leonard doted on so dearly because they shared half their blood.

And it was doubtful she’d go along quietly.

But surely that was better than being dragged off by some perverted noble.

‘Still, she won’t adjust easily at first… I’ll have to buy a sturdy carriage to start with.’

Bin couldn’t have imagined it.

That at dawn the next day, at the market he’d stopped by early, planning to haggle down the price of a sturdy carriage, he would hear the rumor that the Roelle Auction House’s record for the highest winning bid had been broken.

* * *

‘What is that supposed to mean? A contract? You’re saying I made a contract with you? Then bring me the contract. Surely you aren’t claiming I made a contract with you without even that?’

‘Snapping after a single clash of blades! One can guess the caliber of the Elpiers, clinging to such a decrepit sword as a family treasure! One hundred ten thousand larcs… well, shall I count it as alms for a beggar?’

“Count? Co-o-ount!”

“Gah, you startled me.”

He shouted so loudly that Leonard’s ears were ringing.

As Leonard cupped his ears with both hands and frowned, Edward pouted sullenly.

“What on earth were you thinking about that you couldn’t hear me talking right in front of you? You weren’t sleeping with your eyes open, were you? Though you do look awfully tired.”

Belatedly, worry colored Edward’s face.

He even asked whether Leonard might be ill, and Leonard waved a hand lightly to say he was fine.

“I just slept badly. I only managed to fall asleep toward dawn.”

“Why?”

“It’s just… I had a nightmare.”

“What kind of nightmare?”

Having answered reflexively, Edward stole an anxious glance at his face.

Leonard didn’t notice and rubbed a hand down his face.

‘A dream of being despised by the Second Prince and mocked by Lloyd Matthias.’

When he protested, asking why the contract hadn’t been honored, the Second Prince had stonewalled, asking when they had ever made any such contract.

And Lloyd, who had taken Raise Messer for a mere 110,000 larcs, had snapped the sword in half right in front of Leonard.

How vivid the sneers on their faces had been.

If the Marchioness Blair hadn’t joined the auction, and Lloyd had truly won Raise Messer, it felt as though that would really have happened.

“Ahem, hmm, so, Count. Won’t you tell me now?”

“Tell you what?”

“About Raise Messer. …How much did it sell for?”

Leonard quietly regarded Edward, who was watching his reactions a little too carefully.

Then, as their eyes met, Edward flinched and bit down hard on his lower lip.

“I knew it… So that’s how it is.”

“What is?”

“I suppose even if Raise Messer is a relic left behind by the Great Emperor, it wouldn’t be enough to settle a debt of thirty million larcs…”

Since he worked as Leonard’s one and only aide, Edward knew the exact amount of the debt the Elpiers owed.

But he knew nothing about the verbal contract Leonard had made with the Second Prince.

That had been a contract made not as Count Elpiers, but as the “Golden Lion of Weinberg.”

“Sigh… Count. You know, I’m aware that you’ve treated me very well.”

“What’s with that, like a farewell speech?”

“If it’s a farewell, then it’s a farewell. The Elpiers family is going bankrupt now, isn’t it?”

“What?”

Edward, not knowing Leonard had let out a short, dumbfounded laugh, clenched his fist.

“Even so, Count! I’m nothing without my loyalty, you know! At least until the Elpiers family goes bankrupt, that’s right. I’ll work without pay!”

What was this, a windfall rolling right into his lap?

Leonard narrowed his eyes and stared at Edward.

“Can you take responsibility for those words? Do you even know when the Elpiers will go bankrupt?”

“The repayment deadline for the principal is only a few days away… so at the very latest, next month, wouldn’t you say?”

“Ah, so your loyalty comes to a mere three hundred thousand larcs.”

At that, Edward’s eyes went round.

“Mere? Count, three hundred thousand larcs would pay for two whole months in this inn. Sure, there are bugs here, so it’s not great, but anyway, three hundred thousand larcs is an enormous fortune!”

As Edward spat spittle and argued passionately, Leonard clicked his tongue.

He hadn’t been like this originally; Bin had ruined a perfectly decent kid.

Still, maybe he should be grateful that Edward, at least, wasn’t obsessed with every last copper the way Bin was.

‘They must be worried about me by now, too.’

Just as he recalled Heath, who had patted his shoulder with a silent face, and Michelle, who had raged that the man was a swindler and that Leonard must never go to the capital, someone knocked on the door of the room they were staying in.

“Huh, who could that be? Did you send someone on an errand?”

“Ah, that’ll be the newspaper. This morning I asked them to bring me whichever paper came out first.”

“Why a newspaper?”

While Edward asked back with a puzzled look, Leonard walked to the door himself, handed the staff member a tip, and took the newspaper.

Then, standing right there at the door, he read the headline.

Unable to disturb him, Edward had been staring blankly, but he couldn’t hold back his curiosity and quietly got to his feet.

“What article are you reading? Is there some interesting news…”