News of the greatness of Zich’s party spread across the entire Steelwall Estate. People’s attention especially gravitated to the mages since mages usually gathered in their magicians’ tower and rarely moved outside of it unless they received a command from the king. Yet, Zich’s party had two of these rare mages.
Lyla and Elena rarely appeared on the training ground because it was also important to learn theory for magic, unlike sword fighting which placed the utmost importance on ingraining physical techniques into their bodies. Yet, the little magic they showed for practice caught the attention of everyone around them. A place like Steelwall that placed special attention on military might was particularly excited to see them.
Just having the title of a mage was impressive, and people were awed by Zich’s ability to have two such people as companions. Accompanied by their disappointment in Greig, people began to regret that Zich had been chased away from his house even more. Yet, no one would speak these words in front of the Count, Countess, or Greig.
Almost everyone in Steelwall had looked down on Zich and treated him terribly. Although people tended to turn away from facing their past wrongs, they couldn’t keep doing so forever when the abilities of Zich and his companions continued to remind them. Yet, Zich paid no mind to what the people at Steelwall thought of him and continued Greig’s treatment—while not forgetting his original goal, of course.
“Is it here?” Lyla asked.
Zich and Lyla were in the estate’s back garden. The garden looked like a small forest, and it was the place where Zich used to practice swordsmanship in his youth.
“Yes.” Zich tried shaking Windur. Its blades were pointing to the floor that they were standing on.
“Thank goodness that it’s not below the estate building,” Lyla said.
Although Zich gained permission to ruin some parts of the estate under the condition of treating Greig, it was clear that the people at Steelwall would certainly not like it if he did so. Lyla was relieved to see that they wouldn’t need to get involved in unnecessary conflicts. Yet, Zich snorted.
“What do you mean, thank goodness? I was hoping that I could destroy the Count’s bedroom or office as much as I wanted with this chance.” Then, Zich shook Windur harder. “Hey! Tell me the truth. There’s something in the Count’s bedroom or the office, right? I know you are just hiding this fact because you are worried that I may still have affection for the Count and it would hurt me too much to dig up the place. But you don’t have to worry about that. Even if my heart is torn to pieces, I wouldn’t turn away from the important task of freeing the World Tree. So, quickly point to those places now. You don’t even have to point all your blades. Just arch one of them, hmm?”
“What are you doing with your sword?” Even if Windur was a sword that had a slight sense of will, it was unbelievable that its master was spouting his yearnings to it, especially for a reason such as screwing his father over.”
“Wait a minute. Don’t you see how I’m trying hard to persuade Windur?”
“I can see how you are clearly wasting your time.”
Zich’s persuasion continued on, but Windur didn’t even budge and pointed at the ground they were on. Eventually, Zich gave up. “Tch! Does it think it’s some martyr of a nation or something?”
“Stop joking around. Are you going to dig up this place now?”
Zich looked below him and shook his head.
“Since I haven't finished treating Greig yet, I’ll get an earful from digging up this area now. Let’s do it later.”
Zich returned Windur to its original form and hung it on his back. The two conversed about other topics and planned to return to the estate when Hans approached them.
“Did something happen?” Zich asked, seeing that Hans’ expression didn’t look good.
“There’s a guest at the estate.”
“What about it?” It wasn’t a surprising thing for a guest to visit a high-class noble family like the Steelwalls. Seeing Hans’ expression, Zich could easily tell that a rather unwelcome guest had come, but he didn’t care too much about it. Yet, Zich stopped when Hans spoke again.
“They are from the Flaud Count family.”
“What, really? Why are those guys here?”
“I’m not sure, sir. When I asked, people seemed to avoid answering me.” Unlike Zich, no one had ill-hearted feelings for Hans, and Hans still maintained good relations with his past relationships. Thus, it was surprising that people were hesitant to discuss any matters with him.
“Is it about me?” Zich asked.
“That seems to be the case.”
“If that’s the case, what they came here for is obvious. Seriously, they are so greedy.” Zich smirked. After listening quietly, Lyla asked, “Where is the Flaud family from?”
“They are the guys who made Steelwall gain the title of the kingdom's Iron Fortress.”
“So, are they enemies?”
“Yes.” Count Flaud was the margrave of the neighboring kingdom of Cesteel. Like most kingdoms that bordered each other, the Cronon Kingdom and Cesteel Kingdom didn’t have a good relationship. It wasn’t just bad—they often got into disputes, and whenever these disputes arose, the first ones called were the nobles in the bordering regions of these two kingdoms: Count Steelwall and Count Flaud.
Naturally, the relationship between the two counts was full of animosity. They clashed countless times. Besides the wars between the two kingdoms, there were also numerous fights just between the two estates. Although Count Steelwall held the superior forces, Count Flaud’s forces were also formidable. They were also a strong military family that had fought against the Cronon Kingdom, more specifically against the Steelwall family, for a long time.
“They are still complete idiots though.”
“…Is that all you have to say, sir?” Hans asked, baffled, and Zich burst into a chuckle.
“Did something happen between those people and Zich?” Lyla asked. Hans had said that someone from the Flaud family came for a reason related to Zich. The men’s current attitude seemed to indicate there was something more to the Flaud family than simply being the Steelwall’s enemy. Lyla wondered if Zich had clashed personally with the Flaud family before he left his home.
‘Isn’t Zich too calm for that to be the case?’ After all, Zich was the type of person who would’ve immediately gone off to screw someone over if he had some previous conflict with them.
“They are my mother’s family.”
“…What?”
“The Flaud family is my mother’s side of the family. In other words, she used to be part of the Flaud family before she got married.”
* * *
Count Steelwall sat crookedly in his seat as he looked at the man in front of him. He was the envoy sent by Count Flaud—the Steelwall’s generational arch-nemesis and his family-in-law.
“Have you been well, Sir Count Steelwall?”
“Well, it hasn’t been bad.” Count Steelwall had recently experienced the worst days of his life, but this was information he didn’t need to tell the envoy. After all, the envoy was sent from a group of people who would jump at every weakness he showed and try to shred him apart with it.
“Thank goodness. I’m sure our Lord will be very glad to hear that too.”
“When have we ever exchanged heartless greetings to each other before? Don’t waste any more time and tell me what you’ve come here for.” The Count spoke extremely rudely, but the envoy didn’t pay much attention to it. That was simply the relationship between the Steelwalls and Flauds.
“Then, like you said, I won’t waste any more time and I’ll get to the point. Did you find Sir Zich?”
The Count’s lips twitched. He had expected what the envoy would say, but hearing the words directly had a different impact.
“I told you before, but don’t meddle in the matters of other estates.”
“We wish to, but Sir Zich isn’t a stranger. Although he is your child, he’s also our lord, Count Flaud’s precious grandson.”
“Precious, my ass.” The Count dropped all formalities and cursed while snorting. Although he had been outright insulted, the envoy showed no expression on his face. Between the two families, the Count’s actions couldn’t even be considered rude.
“I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you have, but it’s true that Sir Zich is our master’s grandson. Furthermore, our lord deeply treasures his daughter, who unfortunately passed away, and his grandson.”
“And I suppose he treasured them so much that he declared war on me?”
The marriage between Count Steelwall and Sara Flaud had been the marriage of the century. Moreover, it was between family members from the direct head of the line, and the goal of this marriage was obviously one thing only—peace.
After their marriage, the two regions had quickly stabilized, and it almost appeared as if the choice of marriage was perfectly responsible for this situation. Yet, this peace had been merely a short illusion.
“My father-in-law is surely an amazing person. To think he would use his daughter as a tool to catch his enemy off-guard.” The Count emphasized the word ‘father-in-law’ mockingly.
The envoy shrugged. “Since you are also a noble, I believe that you would also know. Authority stands above all. There are times when you don’t have any options even when the child and grandson you love are in danger.”
The Count waved his hand. “Stop blabbering and leave. If I listen to you any longer, I’m going to pull out your tongue. Don’t think about intervening in the matter of Steelwall’s heir anymore. Zich already gave up his position as the successor, and there’s no way that guy would return here any more.”
“There’s nothing that’s absolutely definite in this world.”
“Tell that to Livil Flaud. There’s no place for you guys in the Steelwall heir position. Even in the very unlikely scenario that he resumes his position as heir again, there’s no way he would deal with the likes of you. Why would he join hands with guys that are clearly trying to use him as a pawn!”
“You can’t be sure of that, Count. But I understand for now and will take my leave. I hope you keep in mind that in our Cesteel Kingdom and in your own Cronon Kingdom, the rule is that the eldest son succeeds the family. Please keep that in mind, sir.”
“Get out, you bastard!” The Count chased the envoy and afterward, he clutched his head.
“Trell.”
“Yes!”
“Make sure those guys don’t know Zich is back. They are probably going to do bothersome things if they find out.”
“Yes, I understand,” Trell said. However, he couldn’t guarantee it since the Flaud family’s envoy had come so unexpectedly and the rumors surrounding Zich and his companions had spread so far and wide.
* * *
“…Oh, so that happened?” Lyla roughly heard what happened between the Steelwall and Flaud families.
“In the first place, the reason why my mother’s personality became completely ruined was because of that incident. She married her family’s enemy in the name of peace, but her side of the family showed no concern for her and declared war. That pushed her off the edge. She probably treated her servant cruelly and ruled over the household with an iron fist because she worried that she could be divorced and chased away at any time. Perhaps, she might have thought she would even be killed. It probably drove her crazy that my father even took in a concubine. If you think of it like that, it’s sort of understandable why she tormented Greig and his mom so much. She’d been psychologically cornered.”
Zich continued, “But whatever her reason was, she lost all support in the estate because of that. She made the wrong choice, and because of that, I also suffered and became an outcast.” Then, Zich added one more line. “Well, even without that incident, my mother’s personality was always really nasty though.”
Lyla’s jaw dropped while Hans turned away.