I was well aware of Count Caesar of the Heatstone.
He was the Marquis of the Southwest and the leader of the nobles in the region, serving as a shield against the raiding nomadic tribes and the Amirs behind them.
An old man with a sunburned brown face, wrinkled with countless years under the desert sun, and deep purple eyes.
And the highest-ranking assassin who has killed more people than there are wrinkles on his face.
His swordsmanship was at the knight level, and his movements were so stealthy that he couldn’t possibly be found.
He and the assassins he trained had troubled the invasion army for a long time even before my return, and it was only when Jeilliris, unable to bear it any longer, dropped a meteor on the city where he was rumored to reside, completely annihilating it, that things quieted down a bit.
However, his body was never confirmed, and every time mysterious deaths occurred among the court nobles in the capital, rumors of the Count’s revenge spread.
I couldn’t let the same thing happen in this life.
That was why I had managed to contain my emotions to the point of splashing boiling tea on this old man whom I had stabbed in the foot.
Caesar laughed as if it were nothing.
His stained gold teeth were noticeable.
“Isn’t it alright as long as no one is dead?”
“Shut your mouth. The sandworm blades are still fresh in my mind.”
“I’ve heard that these days in the capital, it’s popular to invade first and then sit down at the negotiation table. It was the same in the West and in the center. I just did what everyone else did; why are you being so rude?”
As the smiling old man spoke in a suspicious voice, only his purple eyes sparkled chillingly.
“…”
I recalled several of the misdeeds I had committed upon seeing that glare.
This was my story.
Planities, Purioaito, Gremoryus, and their vassals and servants, or other high nobles wanting to pin the blame on them.
All of them had enough reason to want to kill me or my precious people.
In other words, what the old man just said meant that assassinations on my behalf were coming in from everywhere.
And by telling me that, it meant he had refused them.
It also meant I owed the old man a debt.
Having thought that far, I just managed a bitter smile.
“…I thought you would go to His Majesty’s palace as the rumors say, but why did you come here?”
Caesar sighed softly.
“I originally intended to do that. I was thinking of taking a knife at night and threatening him. But as soon as I entered the capital, I felt it. Absolutely not.”
“Hahaha.”
“Well, it may not be something to say in front of my twin brother, but she is not human.”
Caesar shook his head.
“An assassin is one who is born to kill quietly, not one who embarks on the task of hunting down beings that might be gods or monsters. That’s the job of heroes or champions. Yes, I’m scared. I never thought I would feel fear at this age.”
With exaggerated hand motions, he raised both hands and smiled lazily.
He didn’t seem like the legendary assassin who had killed the chieftain of the nomads before he turned ten.
Dressed in a turban, he looked like a common southern merchant you might see in the capital.
I found his demeanor quite agreeable, and I asked with a sly smile.
“What were you planning to demand with a knife?”
Caesar let out a shallow sigh.
“What do great lords wish for in these times? Before I am an assassin, I am a lord overseeing millions of subjects. The safety of my family and my people is my utmost priority.”
“So, you want to build a castle and fortress at the borders?”
“Exactly.”
“You want to dam rivers to create reservoirs. And when the nomadic tribes cut off the waterway and come raging, you want to drag them into an all-out war, chasing them beyond the Amir Dukedom’s borders?”
“You know well. Have you taken a woman from the Southwest as a concubine? Or a male concubine?”
“Don’t say that! It’s been less than two years since the prince’s great purge. Anyway, then…”
I briefly recalled the movements of the Amir Dukedom before my return.
These people worshiped desert gods and all manner of ancient evils instead of the God of Radiance.
The most thriving cult was the one serving a powerful ancient being called the ‘Demon Sultan’ as the highest deity.
They were also the ones who invaded into the southwestern part of the empire and turned our wheat fields into wasteland when I had gone north to subjugate Seberik in a previous life.
In short, they were beings I couldn’t deal with, the future nest of infiltrators.
The plans for a crusade were already in Jeilliris’s drawer and Matheos’s bookshelf.
The problem was that Caesar might start war before we were prepared.
Having thought that far, I cautiously asked.
“You have no intention of launching a preemptive strike, do you? Because you got some diplomatic backlash for crossing the border, you won’t just ensnare the regional lords there?”
“As much as I am the leader of the Southwest, I can’t unilaterally instigate a great war between empires. I repeat, what I want is the stability of my subjects.”
“Then that’s good.”
I smiled and continued speaking.
“I will convey your message to His Majesty. After the oath of loyalty, you will hear what you desire in the decree.”
“!”
Caesar’s eyes widened momentarily.
He looked completely taken aback.
If I had held out until the end, he might have tried to draw his sword again.
“The great lord of the empire and the Marquis of the border is trying to do his duty in stopping the nomadic tribes, and while I cannot help, it would be a crime to obstruct it. I, Valenciaunos, will gladly assist you.”
The assassin’s marquis appeared profoundly moved by my words.
“Truly, thank you, Duke Valenciaunos. I will not forget this grace.”
Whether that was genuine or false, it seemed at least that this old man would not come back swinging a sword.
Rudi concealed his newly acquired sword in the inner sheath of his thigh and said.
“It went better than I thought.”
I nodded.
“Lords act out because there’s reason enough. In other words, once those problems are resolved, they are just people burdened with a lot.”
“That’s amazing.”
“Honestly, it was easy. The royal family didn’t have to do anything this time. They just need to ask that their castle and fortifications be understood and that some disputes with the Amir Dukedom be forgiven. That was all.”
“I see.”
“It’s a hundred times better to boldly allow them to hunt down the nomadic tribes than doing a deadly hide-and-seek with that old man daily. After all, they were ones we needed to hunt down someday.”
Rudi’s eyes asked, “Why?”
I pointed to the glass blade Rudi had received from the Marquis.
“That was made from the teeth of the sandworm.”
“Yes.”
“When that monster fully matures, it grows about 500 m long. It swims through the sand like it’s in the sea, making it enormous.”
Rudi’s jaw dropped.
Lady Trentia also looked surprised.
“I didn’t know it would be that big.”
“But when the nomadic tribes race across the wasteland and desert making hoofbeats, they hear the sound and rise from the ground?”
“Yes.”
“Of course, they should run away. The problem is that the method of doing so involves leading it toward densely populated cities. Showing it other prey. And those cities are all imperial cities.”
“!”
“?!”
Rudi and Lady Trentia were horrified, and I massaged the nape of my neck.
“Of course, a city won’t fall because of a single monster. There have been incidents like that before, so we’ve prepared well. However, there will inevitably be a grudge against the entire nomadic tribe.”
Just imagining it made me feel exhausted again.
“Even if we offer them land to come settle in the empire, they would say they can’t leave the land their ancestors have lived on.”
“Is it a sacred place?”
“No. Their main income comes from trading between the Amir Dukedom and nearby tribes and the empire. If they leave the wasteland to settle down, they must farm and live, and then they can’t keep living in luxury as they do now. They’re truly scoundrels.”
As I gritted my teeth, Rudi looked troubled, and Lady Trentia followed suit.
“We should dry up the seeds.”
Rudi, trying to change the atmosphere, smiled kindly and asked.
“When you were leaving, they seemed really reluctant to part with these items. Are they valuable?”
She was hiding the glass daggers and short swords made from the sandworm’s teeth in various sheaths.
I had received a few from Caesar as tokens of “friendship.”
In other words, this could also be called “friend payment,” but that wasn’t important.
“They are valuable items indeed.”
“How much are they worth?”
“Enough to compensate for what pierced your foot? You can think of them as decent magical swords.”
That was a lie.
I strained to prevent my face from distorting reflexively.
…When a sandworm dies, its teeth shatter into dust from the shock of rigor mortis.
In other words, to make that dagger, I would have to pull the teeth from a living sandworm.
Considering the difficulty of pulling teeth from the mouth of a 500-meter beast and how it could puncture my palm, that dagger was an item that only the current Sycarioius marquis himself could use.
It’s possible that one or two of those swords might even be family treasures boasting hundreds of years of history.
I recalled Caesar and the assassin with the purple eyes.
Within that short time, the marquis who had realized I regarded Rudi as more than just an ordinary maid and left that precious weapon behind was someone qualified to survive until he became an old man in that harsh southwest.
“I’ve received fair payment. I’ll use it gratefully.”
Rudi bowed her head.
With a strange smile that seemed to say “do not lie.”
*
The night steadily deepened.
“I’ve come!”
Sererassie entered, holding a staff in one hand and a bag in the other.
“Oh my! Sister. You’re here.”
Valenciaunos welcomed her in a slightly slurred voice.
Sererassie sat down with a weary face but wore a mysterious smile.
“I checked the seized items, and everything went well. Today, I sent all the students home too. Ah, really, there’s no guild master as kind as me.”
Valenciaunos filled her cup while grinning.
“Are you drunk already? You haven’t even had any alcohol. What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
Sererassie stored some electricity in her fingers and poked Valenciaunos in the neck.
“You’re the one drunk, you know. What’s with that way of speaking to your sister?”
“Ow, ow!”
She continued to grit her teeth as if her anger hadn’t subsided.
“Right! His Majesty said something strange. Chief Mage of the Imperial Magic Engineering Institute, Sererassie. The deputy is Marcus. What does that mean?”
Valenciaunos wore a true victorious smile.
“I told you about this earlier, didn’t I? Where did that boasting memory go? Pure research will be entrusted to the Ivory Tower, and the court mages will be responsible for coordinating research and product development. Why do you look so glum? I’ll increase the research budget.”
“Shut up! I’m still wealthier than you. Do you think I do magic for money? Magic is becoming work for me!”
“Mwahaha! Accept your fate. Work tirelessly for the empire and His Majesty!”
“Ugh!”
Sererassie let out a shrill sound, while Lady Trentia and Rudi snuck smiles.
That lasted only a moment, as Sererassie regained her usual cold demeanor and handed Valenciaunos the bag filled with magic tools.
“I found what you were looking for.”
“…Thank you.”
Valenciaunos quickly calmed his flushed face.
He opened the document bag he had brought and called another maid who wasn’t Rudi to fetch high-quality ink and pens.
Wondering what was going on, Lady Trentia cocked her head, and Rudi trembled with unexplained tension.
“Your Highness?”
Valenciaunos rose from his seat.
His white hair glowed brilliantly under the chandelier light, and his golden eyes exuded an atmosphere that was both sacred and savage.
“Rudi. Kneel.”
It was a voice imbued with royal authority.
“Y-Your Highness?”
“Hurry.”
Compelled by an irresistible tone, Rudi quivered lightly and knelt before the Bandit Duke.
Valenciaunos opened his mouth with profound emotion.
“You have served me for a very long time.”
“Even when I was one of the many royals, and when I was the twin being monitored by the emperor, and when I was a favored minister.”
“When I was sick, you brought me a cool towel, and when I said I wanted to study, you brought me precious books, and when I was in danger, you wielded the sword and magic cannon.”
The maid who once took care of my meals and cleaned the room became a sword user capable of wielding the magic cannon from the Ivory Tower and the holy sword of the Heatstone, but she still remained as Valenciaunos’s maid.
“I too wish to repay that unwavering devotion.”
Valenciaunos took out a document from the bag.
The papers were stamped with approvals from the court and Jeilliris, indicating that Rudi would be ennobled as a court noble.
“Count Ludie Consecratius. Rise.”
