Zich, Hans, and Snoc shared their dinner together around a bonfire. The dinner menu was the same as yesterday: freshly caught game. However, Zich did not catch today’s meat. Since Joachim’s soldiers didn’t have any patients to take care of anymore, they could now hunt for themselves. Zich’s life of having to feed people was officially over.
The soldiers had caught a wild pig, and they skewered it on a piece of wood and cooked it over a fire—it was a super basic meal that had existed since the cavemen age. They had no seasoning or spice, so the pig’s nasty smell seeped right up their noses. Zich was not picky about his food; in the past, he once survived by drinking only water for several days.
But—
‘I’m slowly getting tired of this.’
Zich didn’t even want a fancy meal; he just wanted a basic meal like bread and stew. But he finished up the meal in front of him anyway. Hans and Snoc also finished eating their share, and like this, their rudimentary meal was over.
Hans asked, “How long do you think we will be here for?”
For the past few weeks, they had worked hard to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Even though Hans did not regret working hard to help people, he wanted to sleep on a comfortable bed. Snoc also nodded in agreement while hugging Nowem. Since it had not been long since Snoc started his journey, he was more exhausted than Hans and Zich. For a beginner traveler, this experience was definitely a hard-level course.
“Hmmm, I don’t think it will be easy to get out.”
“Do you think it’s because they think we got infected?”
“Well, that might be one possible explanation, but I don’t think it’s the main reason.”
The incubation periods for the diseases found among the villagers were all very short. It had already been over ten days since they camped outside. If they were sick, they would have fallen ill and died days ago.
“Then what do you think is the main reason?”
“I think it’s similar to what happened in our family.”
Zich looked at Hans and made a furtive smile. ‘What happened in our family.’ Hans grew pale as he remembered the events that had happened in Steelwall. He put his head down and moved away from Zich’s prying gaze. Zich laughed at Hans’ frazzled reaction.
But Snoc did not know Zich’s background, so he didn’t understand what Zich was saying and titled his head in puzzlement.
Seeing this face, Zich continued, “You know who’s in charge of this place right now, don’t you?”
Snoc replied, “Isn’t it Sir Joachim Dracul?”
“Yeah. And this place is part of the Dracul estate. This means that Joachim Dracul is one of the direct descendants that governs this estate.”
Even Snoc knew that much; he had heard all of this information while helping people out in the village. However, what Zich said next was something Snoc had never learned about as a miner who spent all his life mining: power struggles within a noble family.
“When infectious diseases are spreading in a village, families don’t usually send one of their members. Furthermore, Joachim Dracul is not just a distant member of the family. He is the Count’s second son. Moreover, the Count is not very healthy right now. No matter how you see it, it wouldn’t be a good idea for the head of the family to send Joachim here.”
“Then how did he come here?”
“The most likely explanation is this…”
Zich made a furtive smile and continued, “…They sent him here to get sick and die.”
“I-I can’t believe it.”
Snoc was shocked. Even though he was aware that intense power struggles existed among the nobility, it was difficult for him to believe that a person could send another human being to an infectious location for the sole sake of killing them off. It was difficult for Snoc to understand this kind of behavior from his perspective. On the other hand, Hans agreed with Zich’s analysis inside his mind; as a servant of the Count, he had hands-on experience with the power struggles that happened within the nobility. The relationship between Greig and Zich exemplified this.
‘But this power struggle must be really intense for them to send Joachim off to a village with a full-blown epidemic to kill him off. Would other noble families go to this extent?’
Even though Zich’s image in the Steelwall family was not good and many forces had worked hard to drive Zich away from becoming the heir, no one actively tried to kill him.
“Why are you like that? Compared to our family, are they too extreme?”
“…Yes, it seems a bit like that.”
Hans was getting used to Zich’s harsh, yet playful way of speaking and agreed easily to Zich’s statements.
“I don’t know what the atmosphere is like in the Dracul family, but I’m sure it’s a bit different from ours. In our family, everyone thought I was useless and supported Greig, right? I was not even worth killing, or to be more accurate, I was not worth the trouble to kill.”
Snoc and even Hans, who knew the truth of Zich’s background, froze at Zich’s words. Compared to them, Zich was calm; to him, what he said was not really a serious matter.
“Well, I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t leave the family. I don’t know about father and Greig, but I’m sure that with sufficient time, people who disliked me or supported Greig would have all wanted to assassinate me.”
“…”
As someone who adored the Steelwall family, Hans wanted to deny Zich’s words. However, the aristocratic society he knew was more than capable and vicious enough to do exactly what Zich said, so he could not say anything.
“Um-uh…”
Snoc broke the tense silence. His expression looked as if he was wondering if he could even speak in this heavy atmosphere. But he couldn’t stifle his curiosity.
Snoc asked with a tentative voice, “Sir Zich, if I may ask, are you a noble?”
“Well, to be more accurate, I used to be a noble. I threw it all away though.”
Snoc was completely shaken; he had not imagined in the slightest that the traveler he was learning various skills and knowledge from was of noble lineage. But it was not only Snoc who was surprised.
Zich raised his voice and said, “Sir, why don’t you reveal yourself?”
Who was he saying that to? Hans and Snoc looked around them. But soon, they found Joachim a few feet away from them with a sheepish expression on his face.
“I…I apologize. I just wanted to converse with Mr. Zich…”
“It’s alright. I wasn’t trying to hide my background anyways.”
Zich made space next to him. Joachim hesitated for a bit, but he finally accepted Zich’s hospitality and sat down next to Zich.
Joachim carefully asked to confirm Zich’s words, “Sir, is it true that you are a noble?”
Zich nodded. “I used to be one.”
Joachim really wanted to know which family he was from, but he pushed back his curiosity. Zich said he ‘used to be one’—that meant Zich was no longer a noble. In that case, Joachim was not sure if he could ask which family Zich was from.
Instead, he asked a different question, “Would I be able to ask why you left your family?”
Recently, Joachim wanted to leave his family more and more as time passed. As his possible senior(?), Joachim wanted to get some advice from Zich.
“To summarize, it was because of problems with the succession. My father and everyone in the family wanted not me, but my younger brother to become the heir, so I left the family.”
There was nothing wrong with Zich’s statement. But Hans knew what Zich did before he left the Steelwall family, and he wondered if it was okay for Zich to summarize his “problems” like that.
Joachim said with a bitter smile, “…Your circumstances are similar to mine.”
“Sir, are you also struggling because your whole family is partnering up against you? Are you planning to give up on your right to succeed as the heir?”
Before he regressed, Zich used to call Joachim by just his name, but right now, their relationship was more formal. Therefore, Zich followed protocol and called Joachim ‘sir.’ However, as they became closer after working so many hours together, Zich spoke less politely now.
“It’s not to that extent. Since I’m the second son, my older brother has more legitimacy and he also has more followers. Honestly, it’s kind of laughable to talk about my followers, because they are just people I’m personally close to.”
“People who are obsessed with power would feel threatened by just that.”
“Yes, that is true, but I have no interest in becoming the Count.”
“Did you tell them that?”
“Yes, of course. I told them and also showed it through my actions. I even distanced myself from some of my close friends.”
“Then I can think of two possible scenarios: first, it’s because you are a really talented person and your old brother feels threatened by that; or second, your older brother is a very petty person.”
Joachim looked as if it was difficult for him to answer.
“I guess both of them are true.”
“No, it’s not like that. My older brother is just very stressed out because of the succession problem, and I’m also not very talented or skilled.”
“Okay.”
Zich said okay, but his expression or tone seemed as if he disagreed with Joachim’s statements. Joachim was about to add more, but he gave up; he realized it was futile for him to keep making excuses for his older brother. Instead, he changed the topic and asked how Zich lived after he left the family. Joachim wanted to hear a personal account of someone who left their family in case he really decided to completely separate himself from his family. Thinking back to their relationship in his past life, Zich gave various advice and tips to Joachim. After conversing for a long time together, Joachim left and felt more confident about his future.
Once again, only the three of them were left. Hans’ gaze followed Joachim’s back as he moved away.
“I wonder if that person is also thinking of leaving his family?”
“Maybe. But leaving and traveling around the world is not a bad idea either.”
Zich was the very evidence of that statement. If Joachim really decided to leave his noble family, Zich was also willing to give more advice and help him out.
After many long conversations, their dinner was finally over. Then after a week, a return order arrived for Joachim and his soldiers.
* * *
The soldiers headed towards the estate with light footsteps. It took a long time for them to go back. Soldiers who had family members back home missed their family members, and soldiers who had no family members missed their friends back home. Back at the estate, they could sleep on a bed instead of a smelly smock and eat a simple but loving, home-cooked meal. People’s faces were full of life.
It was the same for Snoc and Hans. They were both very happy about being able to live like a normal human again. Soon after they marched on like that, they heard a cry: “I can see it!”
They were finally at the capital city of the Dracul estate, Ospurin.
* * *
The room was luxurious. It was filled with expensive furniture and decorations. However, the interior was not well designed. Instead of wanting to decorate the room beautifully with expensive items, it gave off the impression that expensive items were stuffed into a room for the sole sake of showing them off. The haphazard placement of the furniture further heightened that impression.
The design of the room could be summarized into one word: cheap. On the other hand, the owner of this room—a young man—showed no embarrassment about his room and reclined on his expensive sofa. He scowled at the old man in front of him.
“That bastard eventually made it back up here?”
The young man also wore very expensive clothes. However, in contrast to his fancy clothes, he had poor manners and a cheap attitude. It was easy to see what his personality was like. Like his room, his clothes perfectly reflected the type of person he was.
“I sincerely apologize.”
“Take your insincere apology somewhere else. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to let him come back here? Why don’t you raid him and his soldiers on the way and kill them all? I don’t want to see that bastard Joachim here ever again!”
This young man was Joachim’s older brother and the current Count Dracul’s first son, Biyom Dracul. Even though Biyom and Joachim shared the same parents and were not half-brothers like Zich and Greig, Biyom’s attitude clearly showed that he didn’t consider Joachim as his family at all.
“Assassination is too obvious. There’ll definitely be people who would be very suspicious of you. If they happen to find evidence against you, they’ll use that against you to block your succession.”
“Damn it!”
Biyom lost his temper as the situation didn’t go according to his desires.
“How the fuck did that guy even survive? You told me that the disease there was so strong that it wiped out an entire village! You said that there were even some doctors and soldiers who died! I even sent them the least possible amount of resources! How did that stick-skinny guy even survive!”
“I can only say that he is very lucky.”
Biyom began to throw a tantrum. He kicked the table over and punched his sofa repeatedly. After a long time passed, Biyom calmed himself down.
With murderous eyes, Biyom said, “…Quickly make a new plan. A plan that’ll definitely kill Joachim!”
The old man bowed and left the room. A moment later, Biyom’s screams could be heard again as he vented his anger out on the objects in his room.