Everyone was stunned by the current situation. The Steelwalls’ heir had flown across the room from someone’s kick. They couldn’t believe what had happened even after witnessing it in person. The knights in charge of guarding Greig felt this even more so and were horrified to see a random assailant attack the person they were supposed to protect. Perhaps, this was what it meant to feel shivers down one’s spine. In addition to shock, worries about what they would face from this incident weighed heavily upon their hearts. They had failed to do their jobs, and there would be consequences. Fear about the future heightened one of the knight’s rages, and he grabbed his sword.
“You bastard…!” Without even thinking of checking to see who his opponent really was, the knight moved to slice his opponent.
Slap! The knight stopped pulling his sword halfway. Zich had blocked the knight’s sword hilt.
‘When did he…?’ The knight felt shivers in his bones for a different reason now. His opponent had approached him in an instant and blocked his sword; it was clear this was a formidable opponent. Now that the knight thought about it, even though he had paid less attention to his surroundings than he should have because of Greig’s annoying ruckus, he realized that he hadn’t felt anything right before Zich assaulted Greig. It seemed clearer now that the man in front of him was a skilled fighter. The knight gained a new resolve and decided to move to kill his opponent.
But when Greig muttered, “B-Brother?” the knight had no choice but to stop moving.
‘Brother?’ the knight thought. From what he was aware of, Greig only had one older brother—the one who had been the incompetent eyesore of the Count family until he completely flipped people’s views on him. Now, almost everyone regretted how they had treated him before. This brother was also the one who turned Greig into a completely incompetent heir now.
The knight opened his eyes wide and studied his opponent. Zich appeared older than what he remembered, but the man’s face was clearly Zich’s.
“…Young Master Zich?”
“You guys do all remember me.” Zich took his hand away from the knight’s sword, and the knight no longer tried to attack Zich. The other knight who had been trying to stop people from getting in hurriedly rushed inside. He planned to wrap up the chaos as the situation turned in an unexpected direction.
“Y-young Master! You can’t use violence!”
Zich waved his hands like he thought the situation was bothersome. Then, he walked toward Greig. The knight approached to stop him. Even if Zich was Greig’s older brother, Greig was the official heir to the Steelwalls and they couldn’t let him be exposed to any more violence. Even the kick that Zich landed on Greig before was a crime since Zich no longer had any connection to the Steelwalls after giving up his succession.
“Don’t worry. I won’t hit him anymore.” Zich picked up a random chair on the ground and placed it in front of Greig.
“Tch, tch! What a state you are in.” Zich almost sounded like an older brother worried about his brother. Yet, neither Zich, the speaker, nor Greig, the one being addressed, thought that way. The relationship between the two was not so brotherly.
“Why are you here?” Greig glared aggressively at Zich, but when Zich met his eyes coldly, Greig flinched and turned away. This hurt his pride very much. It would’ve been unthinkable when Zich had lived in the Steelwalls that there would come a day when Greig wouldn’t even be able to meet Zich’s eyes. Yet, even when he tried to resist, Greig’s eyes kept turning in another direction and whenever their eyes met, he remembered what had happened last time—the incident that made him like this.
Flinch! Greig’s body trembled unconsciously. He remembered what Zich looked like as he tried to rush at him with a thick coat of blood covering him from head to toe and a mad look gleaming from his face. It was the sight he had seen hundreds and thousands of times in his dreams. Seeing this, Zich was satisfied that Greig couldn’t even meet his eyes.
‘The seed I planted is firmly rooted into place,’ Zich thought. Greig would have become an even greater and more competent heir after overcoming that loss, but it seemed like he hadn’t been able to like Zich had expected.
‘I mean, why else would he be making a ruckus in a place like this?’ Greig had fallen so picturesquely that Zich wanted to dock some points off for his lack of creativity. It wasn’t a bad feeling though. After all, Zich loved to see guys who ignored him rolling on the floor like trash.
“Don’t worry. I only came back because I have something to take care of at the estate,” Zich said. Zich sensed the knights from behind him show slight disappointment.
‘Has he lost this much support?’ It showed how lowly people thought of Greig that they hoped for the eldest son, who had openly defied the Count and given up the succession, to make his return. Of course, it probably helped that news of Evelyn’s case in Westillburd had spread across the kingdom, and that Zich and Hans had incredible skills. On top of that, Zich was also a Karuwiman Holy Knight. Yet, if people weren’t so disappointed in Greig, they wouldn’t have displayed their feelings so openly. Fortunately, for the knights, Greig hadn’t noticed their response since he was too focused on facing Zich.
“I was wandering around the city when I heard a ruckus and decided to check it out. So, I found you causing a scene here to get more alcohol. How unexpected of the esteemed heir of the Steelwall family to do such a thing.”
Greig’s face turned bright red. Even he was aware of how pathetic he appeared, but the last person he wanted to hear from about this was from Zich.
“You left the family on your own feet. What does it matter to you now? Mind your own business!”
“I want to, but you are my brother. Of course, I can’t help but care.” No brotherly affection existed between the two, and both sides knew that Zich’s words were simply nothing more than mockery. Greig gritted his teeth again, and this only made Zich happier. Zich wanted to aggravate Greig even more, but he decided to back away for now.
‘There’s no need for me to clash head-on with the Steelwalls,’ Zich thought. If it was necessary, Zich wouldn’t hesitate to swing Windur, but he needed to do something inside the Steelwall Estate. Furthermore, if he made a bloody mess now, it would make a dark blot on his plan to gain the title of a hero.
‘This is really bothersome. Did Glen Zenard deal with this dilemma every time he regressed?’ Glen’s ability to carry out his obsession was one thing Zich found really admirable about Glen.
Then, Zich got up from his seat. “If you’ve stuffed yourself, get up and go home. Don’t cause any more trouble and leave.”
“It’s none of your business!”
“You've completely become a child. Stop causing a scene and go.”
“I told you it’s none of your busin….!”
Greig could not finish his sentence because Zich had grabbed his neck. Greig’s eyes rolled back, and he immediately collapsed.
“Y-young Master!”
Zich saw that the knights behind Greig did not know what to do. However, Zich paid no attention to them and put Greig on his shoulder like luggage.
“Let’s go.”
“Sir, what?”
“I said let’s go. If you guys bring this guy in this condition by yourselves, all of you will get in trouble anyway, right?”
“Um—well…” The knights would already get into a lot of trouble for letting the situation get to this point. However, it was a different story if Zich brought Greig back to the mansion.
“Or do you plan to just bring this guy by yourselves? Then, won’t all of you get in trouble? You know that you guys are supposed to arrest me, right?”
The knights looked troubled by Zich’s words.
“If you can’t arrest me immediately due to various circumstances, you’ll at least get into less trouble if you bring me with you. You can also make the excuse that you didn’t know how to respond to me, so you wanted to ask the higher-ups first.”
The two knights stared at each other and nodded. “Sir, we’ll accompany you.”
Like this, Zich returned to the home he hadn’t visited in a long while.
* * *
Zich was lying down in a soft bed. The beds that they used in their previous lodging were also luxurious beds, but as expected, they were not good as the beds for a noble family.
‘Man, this feels weird.’ Zich was in his hometown that he was born and grew up in, but he had also left it all behind him. Even though it hadn’t been part of his plan, it was his first time returning home on his own two feet. The room that Zich was in was the Count’s guest room. It seemed as if they changed up his room.
‘Well, I’ve taken the first step here.’ When he realized that the destination that Windur was pointing towards was inside the Count’s mansion, Zich had to brainstorm a lot for ideas. First of all, he had been expelled, and he didn’t have a good relationship with the Count and his family. If he went in suddenly and asked to meet the Count, there was a low chance that he could meet the Count.
‘It was good that I met Greig.’ Even though he met Greig coincidentally, Zich immediately made a plan after seeing Greig’s condition. Couldn’t he use this situation to get inside the Count’s mansion? He was the person who beat up his son after all. Since Zich was his first son that left the family, there was an even higher possibility that the Count would personally confront him whether it was to show his anger or protest.
‘I even thought of the possibility that he would immediately force me into prison, but I guess that’s not happening.’ However, even though the Count forced him into a guest room, it didn’t change the fact that Zich was locked up. The Count was probably going to call him after figuring out the whole situation.
‘If nothing worked out, I was going to try using my status as a Karuwiman Honorary Knight to try to meet him, but this is much better.’
Under normal circumstances, there was a low possibility that the Count would agree to meet him, and even if the Count met him, there was a much, much lower possibility that the Count would give him permission to search the mansion. However, Zich had a plan if he used Greig.
‘I wonder when they’ll come back.’ Before he went to the Count’s mansion, he asked the staff in the store to send a letter to his companions, so that they wouldn’t wonder about where he was. Zich leisurely waited in the mansion he grew up in.
Knock! Knock! “Sir Zich, the Count is calling for you.”
Zich smiled brightly at these words.
* * *
Zich walked on the thick carpet in the hallway. He saw the simple ornaments that decorated both sides of the wall, which seemed slightly too humble for a count.
‘This is making me think of the past.’ After he regressed, this was the path he used after he beat the crap out of Hans and Biner with great excitement and headed towards the Count’s room. Zich and the servant reached the front of the Count’s room, and the servant knocked on the door. “Sir, I’ve brought Sir Zich!”
“…Let him in.”
The servant opened the door. He thene bowed towards Zich and gestured towards the inside of the door with his hand. Zich walked inside step by step. The inside of the room was the same as before; there was the same furniture, the same decorative plant, and even the Count’s long beard like a long steel wire.
Zich smiled brightly and walked in front of the Count. Then, he slightly bowed towards him. “It’s been a while, Sir Count Steelwall. Since you look healthy, it seems like I don’t have to ask how your health is faring.” Zich clicked his tongue inside his mind. He planned to make an ordinary greeting first, but his words came out dripping with sarcasm unconsciously.
‘Well, whatever. It’ll all work out.’ While everyone around them looked shocked, Zich saw the Count’s lips twist into a frown. Zich calmly looked at the Count.