CH 109

Almost at the same time…

In one corner of the capital’s noble district, several figures had gathered. They were all dressed in different clothes and they also seemed to belong to different noble ranks but strangely, their unrestrained bloodlust was the only thing that they shared in common.

“Because the girl has disappeared, the mansion must be in an uproar now. We should be able to lure out the person called Welner that Gezarius-sama was talking about if we attack the mansion and kill everyone inside one by one starting from the young ones.”

“Right.”

“Well, they all will die in the end.”

“I remember Welner’s face. Don’t eat their faces, so we could confirm that he has died.”

They all had the appearance of humans and yet the way they acted was far from human, as they finally decided to throw away their disguise. They walked until they could finally see the Zeavert mansion and rushed toward it. They were not affected by the darkness of the night.

“Let’s go!”

When the person leading them finally revealed himself as a werewolf and was about to jump over the wall, a shrill shriek resounded. Surprised by the sound, the rest of the figures stopped their track.

Then, arrows rained down, from the mansion of Count Stormer located in front of the Zeavert mansion and from the Zeavert mansion’s second floor. The devil who was supposed to be making a surprise attack ended up being overwhelmed by arrows.

At first, the sounds of the devil’s angry shouts could be heard but before long, those angry shouts were replaced by screams, and eventually, only the groans of despair could be heard.

“Keep calm and shoot. They wouldn’t be able to escape.”

The person who was calmly giving orders from the Zeavert mansion’s second floor was Count Muhe. Muhe came to the mansion by posing as Ingo in the Zeavert family’s exclusive carriage. He was entrusted with leading the reinforcement that came from the mansion of former Baron Diehl which was located behind the Zeavert mansion and he was also the commanding officer on this battlefield.

Viscount Krank was also present in the Zeavert mansion. He successfully entered the mansion by posing as Welner. His role was to guard the back of the mansion just in case, but it seemed like he would not have any chance to shine. 

The butler of Zeavert mansion, Norbert, approached Count Muhe and offered him a cup of tea.

“Please enjoy, Count.”

“I will. Thank you.”

After taking a sip, Muhe breathed a sigh of satisfaction with an impressed look. Then, Muhe asked Norbert, “Our enemies must have been constantly watching the people leaving and entering this mansion so how were you able to contact us?”

“It was thanks to Welner-sama’s idea.”

By reflecting the light of a magic lamp using a mirror, a code containing a simple message could be delivered outside. After all, the reflection of the magic lamp was still bright enough to be seen outside of the window in the daytime. The table containing the key of the code had been delivered to the Royal Guards before and the people of Zeavert mansion also had this key.

(T/N: Welner delivered a ‘table’ to the Royal Guard’s lieutenant in chapter 99. This is not referring to the rotary table.)

The mansion of former Baron Diehl which was currently under the custody of the lieutenant of the royal guard was located behind the Zeavert mansion as such it was possible for Lily to use a mirror and magic lamp to send a message to that mansion.

After receiving Lily’s message, the knights in the former Baron Diehl’s mansion discreetly sent messengers to various places. With that, the message reached Ingo, Welner, The Crown Prince, the Royal Guard, and the Palace Guard in the palace. Receiving the message, the arrangements were made in order for everyone to be able to move swiftly according to plan.

Although this was the first time Muhe was entrusted with the command of a reinforcement, Muhe didn’t feel his job was difficult. After all, the plan regarding what would be done if someone came to seek out Mazell’s family using Mazell’s name had already been decided since the night of the day Welner showcased the prototype weapons. All Muhe needed to do was follow that plan.

“Although I did not expect that devils would appear.” 

“Even His Highness and Sir Welner didn’t have any definite proof that devils were still lurking in the capital but if they were, both of them said that now would be a perfect time for the devils to make any moves.”

Muhe responded to Norbert’s words. In fact, the plan was made just as a precaution, but the scene in front of Muhe proved that there was no such thing as being over-prepared.

The reason why Muhe of all people was chosen to lead the reinforcement was that Muhe had little to no relationship with the Zeavert house. Crown Prince Huber even considered the possibility that people who were close to Welner were being watched by their enemy so he chose Muhe.

And Count Muhe himself perfectly executed the Crown Prince’s order. On this day, all devils who were hiding in the capital were completely exterminated.

“But Count, you did something quite bold.” (Norbert)

“The effect of the caltrop when used on a stone pavement was tremendous. The clean-up would be a hassle though.” (Muhe)

Muhe had laid out caltrops on the stone pavement of Zeavert house’s mansion beforehand.

In fact, he even used the excuse of ‘the Count was coming home late’ in order to ensure that unrelated people didn’t visit Zeavert house during this time. Of course, if he still failed to protect the Zeavert mansion after all these preparations, he might lose his position… was something that Muhe knew but didn’t say.

Considering the fact that the caltrops laid out by Muhe near the mansion’s fences successfully obstructed the Werewolves, the hassle of cleaning them up after was nothing much.

After the battle ended, Muhe also gave instructions to throw torches on the road in order to make sure that there were no survivors.

“I wonder what is the situation on the other side,” While throwing a torch, Muhe mumbled.

At the same time in the mansion of Count Bachem…

“Suppress them! Kill anyone that resists!”

Count Witthoft led the knights of his house to attack the mansion of Count Bachem. The Count’s knights were disarming the confused knights and servants of the Count Bachem’s mansion and from time to time, the knights of Witthoft house used the handle of their weapons and their fists to knock down the people of Count Bachem mansion.

Baron Kupfernagel who was accompanying Count Witthoft, Erdogan, looked at the Count’s rough way of dealing things with a bitter smile.

“I don’t know what has happened but His Highness is also quite evil.”

The relationship between Witthoft house and Bachem house wasn’t particularly good but it wasn’t too bad. Yet, the Baron saw the Count’s face turn pale when the Crown Prince ordered him to take control of the Bachem family’s mansion, who had plotted against the hero’s family, with a sincere smile, so the Baron also understood that the Count had also done something himself.

However, even if it was under the order of the Crown Prince, once the news of how fiercely Erdogan attacked the Count Bachem’s mansion spread, the Witthhoft family would have a capricious standing in the royal court in the future.

A man, who appeared to be the leader of the Witthoft family’s knights, was wielding his weapons on the battlefront. From his bearings, he seemed to be a young nobleman. The baron guessed that he was most likely the Count’s heir. Remembering the rumor of the heir in the royal court, the Baron could guess what was going on, albeit only from one aspect.

The Witthofts were a family of military men and Count Witthoft also constantly boasted about his son’s military power in the royal court. But recently, his son’s achievement in the military pale in comparison to the achievement of the heir of the Zeavert house. Because of that, either the heir or the count himself or perhaps both must have held some resentment toward the Zeavert house.

The situation of the Witthoft family’s domestic economy wasn’t good, a thing that commonly happened to the noble house of the military faction. Because of that, the Count was planning to marry his son to the second daughter from the Fleethem house, a noble house that belonged to the civil faction. According to the rumor in the royal court, the Count’s aim in marrying his son to a daughter of Fleethem house that belonged to the civil faction was the dowry.

But Valeritz, the heart of Fleethem County, was destroyed by the devils. This was a painful and unexpected blow to the Count as the destruction of Valeritz meant that the Count had lost his possible future financial supporter.

On the other hand, because of their trade with Lestlatga, Bachem house’s financial situation was pretty good. But in terms of reputation and merit in the military aspect, Bachem house basically had nothing. In this country, that would make others look down on the Bachem house.

Zeavert and Bachem were both Count’s household, but while the heir of the Zeavert house was known as a capable military man, the Baron never heard anything about the heir of Bachem house, so it was quite easy to imagine how the members of Bachem house felt inside. 

The Bachem house and Witthoft house both had some bone to pick with the Zeavert house, as such, it was highly possible that Count Bachem had offered some kind of deal to Erdogan.

Because the Crown Prince mentioned the hero’s family, it was quite possible for the Baron to guess the behind the scene circumstances of this battle.

“So Count Bachem’s motive must be jealousy toward the Zeavert house. Then, that jealousy was used by someone else. Although, I think Count Bachem must have never expected his partner, Count Witthoft, to stab him in the back.” (Kupfernagel)

But for the Baron, a feeling of pity toward the Bachem house wasn’t needed. While instructing his subordinate to be careful so they didn’t start any fire in the Bachem mansion, the Baron kept carefully observing the battle situation.

Later on, Count Bachem was arrested in his own chamber with his upper body naked. The Count was arrested together with a dancer from Lestlatga. The Baron was the one that ordered the dancer to be arrested when the dancer was trying to escape via the window.

As for the heir of Bachem house, he escaped from the backgate when Count Witthoft was attacking the Bachem house and was arrested by the guard who had been waiting for him. The heir was apparently trying to go Lestlatga embassy.

“You impolite imbecile! I am the heir of Bachem house!”

“How can you not understand that is exactly the reason why your action can’t be forgiven?”

“…Your Excellency, Grand Duke Seyfart…?”

The heir looked up and saw Seyfart walking toward him along with his bodyguards. When the guards who arrested the heir wanted to bow, Seyfart stopped them. “I still don’t know which one was puppet and which one was the puppeteer, but that would be something I would be able to find out in due time. Although that information is no use for me,” Seyfart said with a cynical tone.

“You..Your Excellency… that…”

“His Highness the Crown Prince is furious. Prepare yourself.”

The heir’s face paled at the Grand Duke’s words. A statement like that from someone who had a position of a Grand Duke meant that there was no need for the guards to hold back. With an attitude as if they would not care if they had to break the heir’s bone if he resisted, they took him away.

At this time, Seyfart actually expected the Count to escape so he stayed in the mansion and helped to block the road. After all, it would be troublesome if the Count used his position to force his way through to escape. Never in his wildest dream did the Grand Duke expect that when the sun had gone down, the Count would be found in his room with a dancer. The Duke shrugged his shoulders with a complicated expression when he first heard this news.

“Your Excellency.”

“Good work. How’s the situation?”

Seyfart, who witnessed the heir of Bachem House being taken… No, being dragged away turned his head toward one of the guards that called him.

“We have received confirmation that Count Zeavert’s mansion is safe. The ambassador of Lestlatga has also been taken into custody.”

“Hooh, the ambassador didn’t try to run? He would be able to run to his own country if he used that magic tool.”

While putting his hand on his chin, Seyfart nodded, then he asked the guard, “Any other thing?”

“One of the secretaries of the Lestlatga ambassador has revealed himself as a winged devil.”

“Then?”

“The devil has been exterminated by the second squad of the First Division.”

After thinking for a while, Seyfart shook his head.

“We can assume that the ambassador doesn’t know anything about the devil. It seems like there is also discord in the Lestlatga. Well, that’s for the Minister of Foreign Affair to worry,” Seyfart muttered, then he looked around his surroundings.

Right at that moment, a low, long howl of a beast filled with hatred and humiliation shook the capital. The palace and the capital became tense but nothing happened in the end. Just like the plan, the Bachem family was thrown into the underground prison as a sinner.

Later the same night, under the order of the Minister of Foreign Affair, the homes of Lestlatga people in the capital were put under surveillance and the Lestlatga people were put under house arrest.