Chapter 46 : Chapter 46

Chapter 46 - The Faceless Mother

Fourth Son Jamie.

He had come to his maternal family's home for the first time in a while.

A tranquil forest.

A quiet hill within it.

A rustic log cabin, built from the trees felled there.

The master of the Fantasy Gorge where the Black Giant Castle stood waited for her son on that green meadow.

All the while, her green eyes remained fixed on the coastline beyond the hill.

Forest. Field. The sound of crashing waves.

This place, where things that didn't belong together harmonized, was the land of the illusionist family.

“Mother!”

Not long after, an innocent voice called out from behind.

It seemed he could be gobbled up right there in her belly.

A small, precious life ran towards her, smiling brightly in his mother's eyes.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“No, Young Master. I was watching the waves over there and lost track of time.”

“Hahaha! I'm glad to hear that, but what brings you to call for me? Didn't you say you'd leave the War of Succession to me?”

“That sentiment remains unchanged. I simply have something I want to ask the Young Master.”

The Fourth Son spoke with a bright expression.

“If it's about Uncle Raygon, let's just drop it.”

“...He is the Young Master's uncle and my older brother. As his sister, is there any reason I cannot ask about that one thing?”

“Didn't I write down all the reasons in detail and send them to you?”

“That alone is not enough.”

The word ‘in detail’ did not match his handwriting.

─Mother! I had no choice but to kill Uncle Raygon! He committed a very grave wrong! He lied to me! In front of my younger brother, Dante!

That was all his handwriting said.

It was full of things that couldn't be understood.

“You had no choice but to kill him. He told a lie, which was a very grave wrong. In front of Dante, the Fifth Son. Did I understand that correctly.”

“Exactly!”

“Then that makes me want to ask even more. What on earth was the lie.”

The Fourth Son tilted his head.

“Hmm? Hasn't Uncle reported that to you yet? Uncle was quite the slowpoke. Did he not have even that much diligence while working in two buildings?”

“...Jamie.”

“It’s Young Master. Young Master Jamie. It’s a title Mother went through all sorts of hardships to obtain, so it would be troublesome if Mother herself doesn't use it sparingly.”

The Fourth Son stuck out his tongue and laughed foolishly.

Still, it was his mother's question, so a proper answer was needed.

“Uncle lied. I made a deal with Dante to kill Hinek, but Uncle colluded with Hinek and tried to kill Dante.”

“Isn't he a kinsman you had to get rid of eventually anyway?”

“No! He made a deal with me!”

“...Young Master. Hinek can be eliminated later with time.”

“When? Around the time Hinek becomes the Chairman? When the difficulty has gone up by a lot?”

“Why are you so obsessed with that citadel? This mother must have emphasized several times that you don't need to care whether the First Son gets it or not.”

The Fourth Son shook his head.

“No, no! Absolutely not! As long as the First Son is aiming for it, I will never hand over the Dusk Citadel!”

He was young.

And fiercely competitive.

If he had a rival decided in his heart, he had to win every fight against that rival.

In the short term, it was the Dusk Citadel.

In the long term, it was height.

The ambitious plan the Fourth Son had devised to become unconditionally taller than the First Son.

It was the ‘glass of milk every night’ project.

The sight of him seeking milk to win by his own strength, setting aside shortcuts like Beast Sorcery.

Such things could be passed over with a smile, but the citadel was close to stubbornness.

“So, have you obtained the citadel?”

“Nope? Not yet! But I will definitely get it before the First Son returns!”

“We invested a huge sum in the citadel to create two councilors on our side, yet you're saying there's been no progress.”

“Hinek is dead! With the First Son's man, the next Chairman, gone, aren't we the only candidates left?”

“What do you mean we're the only candidates.”

She continued bluntly.

“Edwin D. Hacid. Isn't there a young stationmaster who has ascended to the newly created position of Associate Councilor?”

What's this now.

The Fourth Son scoffed.

“He's just a lonely king trapped in a single district. It doesn't matter whose subordinate he is!”

“It seems you've noticed he's the Fifth Son's subordinate.”

“Hmph. The Physicians' Council, which I kept in check during the deal. Jubel Maxman, whom the Physicians' Council keeps in check. Edwin, who Jubel Maxman was said to be supporting. It's an easy deduction.”

“Then why can you not see what lies ahead?”

She turned and slowly approached her son.

The lady and head of the Mystics family.

The Fourth Son did not look at that form.

Even if he looked, he could not see it.

He thought he saw, but it was not her form.

A bizarre appearance, as if scattering and gathering, then disintegrating and reassembling, just like a ghost.

The power of an illusion that was too strong.

As the price for bearing that power, it took away her ‘form’.

Before erasing the truth and showing a lie, it erased the truth of herself first.

All that could be heard was a voice tinged with a metallic clang.

“Just like my current form. The Fifth Son is hiding something about himself.”

“Are you saying that what he hid is what brought Dante this far?”

“That is all.”

It was difficult to make her young son understand a fact that she herself found hard to believe even as she spoke.

Nevertheless, she had to say it.

Because her smart son would somehow accept it in his own way.

“The Fifth Son... he ended his seclusion and even made a deal with our Young Master in just a few months. Is that correct?”

“Yes! Isn't our youngest amazing?”

“That, haah... let's move on for now. In those few months, the Fifth Son also succeeded in raising a single Branch Manager to an Associate Councilor. Is that correct?”

“Yes, yes!”

Moreover, Associate Councilor was a position that hadn't even existed.

That meant.

“The Fifth Son personally met with the Chairman and succeeded in negotiating something. With that sly old fox, no less.”

Furthermore, it was unlikely that old man would have seated just anyone as the first Associate Councilor.

“Edwin D. Hacid. We need to investigate more, but they say he's the hope and beacon of the common folk. Called a legend.”

“I'm not interested in bugs. Though if it's an animal Dante cherishes, I might have a little interest.”

The Fourth Son picked his nose and looked at his mother's face.

As always, it was not visible.

He did not know his mother's face either.

All portraits were burned the moment one became the head of the Mystics family.

So he was curious.

What kind of face, what kind of expression his mother was looking at her son with right now.

The Fourth Son turned his body away.

“I'll pick the next Butler myself. I'm sure you can find out about my news through the minions in the citadel, right?”

“...Then please grant me one thing.”

A mother asks for her son's permission.

It was somewhat strange, but not so when considering their other relationship.

A conversation between a Millesdusk kinsman and the head of their subordinate family.

Then it was right for the subordinate family's side to ask for permission.

“What is it?”

“I will test the Fifth Son separately.”

“Hmm... Well, alright!”

“...Really?”

“Yes! Wasn't that what you wanted to ask, Mother?”

“I under, stand.”

She quickly accepted before his reedy heart could change.

Still, she was curious.

“You seemed to cherish the Fifth Son quite a bit, yet you agreed so readily.”

“Yes! There's no way Mother would do anything bad to the Dante I cherish, right?”

“......”

“I'll keep my ears wide open!”

He cupped his palms to his ears like the elephants that southern merchants were said to ride.

This hill, created by illusion.

This place, a collection of damp, unpleasant, and half-rotten corpses, where even the sound of bugs gnawing seemed audible.

She had to be careful that no other news entered those ears.

For example, something like a misfortune befalling the Youngest Son.

“This mother will strive to ensure there is no bad news.”

“It's okay! Because I believe in you, Mother! I love you!”

Her son, who made a large heart with both arms before disappearing as if running away.

If his face had been visible, it would have been tinged with fondness.

Of course, what followed was the mask of iron blood that a Family Head should wear.

“I need one death-row inmate.”

“Will you be using him for the assassination of the Fifth Son?”

A reply in the empty air.

A voice that echoed from the empty air.

He had been standing here on this field, in this gorge, from the very beginning.

Ssssk─

The illusion faded.

Like washing away filth with a splash of water.

The illusion flowed away, and the smell of countless flies and rot rose up just as it was.

The man in the silver mask who had been standing behind the illusion.

The woman who commanded him added a word.

“A conversation with a slightly strong tone. An unfortunate accident that arises from it. A death-row inmate to cause those things.”

The reason for specifically seeking a death-row inmate was to eliminate any connection to the Mystics.

The acquisition itself would also proceed secretly.

Because they had to avoid the Fourth Son's information network, which had its ears perked up.

“Propose that if he succeeds in the task, he will be freed from his death-row status and released from prison.”

“Will you be choosing the death-row inmate yourself?”

“...If he is still alive, I would like it to be that man. The man who was once famous as a vampire hunter.”

“You mean the one who eventually went mad and voluntarily went to ‘the Sea’.”

“Yes. That's him. If it's that beast, it should be fine to lead negotiations with the cure for his curse. If he's alive, that is.”

“I accept your command.”

The silver mask disappeared, heading for the ocean beyond the eastern coastline.

In that ocean one would never want to set foot in.

There was a prison that might be the largest on the continent, beyond the East.

***

A gatekeeper's morning.

There was nothing special about it.

Just wake up at the set time, guard the main gate at the set time.

And just standing there was the end of it.

Since it was a dilapidated mansion where no one would visit anyway, it was fine to just comfortably pass the time.

But since sometime ago.

To be precise, ever since the deal with Jubel was sealed, merchants and people from various families kept coming and going.

At first, it was because of money, and now it's because of land.

I pricked up my ears to find out what was going on.

“Eclipse... heh heh...”

A hollow laugh escaped even as I said it.

It had been a long time since the corners of my mouth had risen, but I never thought they would rise like this.

“There are all sorts of ways to go to one's death.”

How could it be that just when this guy seemed to be doing a little better, he would go looking for a gravesite as if he had been waiting for it?

It had reached a point where I was now genuinely curious.

Of course, every time he kicked away the tombstone that was about to be planted on that gravesite, the Youngest Son grew stronger.

But that growth was merely a stepping stone to kick away the next tombstone.

…He is a strange one.

“Is he used to death lurking around him? Or is he just crazy to begin with?”

“Why don't you watch from the side and see which it is.”

At the voice from behind my head.

“Young Master.”

The gatekeeper greeted him calmly.

“There's no need to suddenly straighten your posture now. My hearing is just as good.”

“...What brings you all the way here?”

“Well, it's for a reason similar to last time.”

“If you mean last time...”

The Black Giant Castle.

That time when I was abandoned in a forest out of season, beyond the Black Giant Castle.

An unpleasant memory surfaced, and my brows furrowed on their own.

“Are you intending to accompany me to Eclipse?”

“Just as you've noticed. You can't refuse. You don't have to be my guard there, but you can't refuse to accompany me.”

“......”

“Cursing isn't just done with the mouth. You can do it with your eyes too.”

“Please forgive my rudeness.”

-he said, but his eyes, glaring like a bird of prey, did not calm down.

Did 'forgive me' mean 'forgive me and just endure it'?

It didn't matter either way.

“On top of that, there's something else you have to do. This is more of a personal request. Not an order.”

Fwoosh─

A bright red flame flickered in his hand, and a dark-colored longsword shot out.

The eyes of the man with a few wrinkles on his face grew even wider than before.

It was an expression as if he had seen an unbelievable magic trick.

But behind that expression, there was another meaning.

“...This. Isn't this a Magic Sword?”

“Yes. It's a Magic Sword.”

“Are you handling a Magic Sword with the power of Demonization?”

“The principle is roughly like that. What I'm asking of you here is─”

“To teach me swordsmanship. Isn't that it?”

This, too, was a roughly correct answer in principle.

However, it was an answer, not the correct one.

“One more thing has to be added to that.”

At the words that followed, the gatekeeper's expression twisted.

“I want to learn your unique swordsmanship.”

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