Chapter 60

Companionship 

“It’s only been a few months since I last saw you, yet you’ve grown to an astonishing degree.”
“And you’ve become that much more dangerous.”

Maybe it was because we were inside the ducal estate, or maybe something had changed in his state of mind.

Garrison’s way of speaking to me had returned to how it used to be.

“Hahaha! Young Master, dangerous? What an awful thing to say.”

As if he’d just heard a joke, Garrison let out a hearty laugh, his body swelling slightly.

“To think I’m standing before a vile necromancer without beating him to death, yet you still say something so hurtful?”

Speaking politely while making no attempt whatsoever to hide his fighting spirit and killing intent.

It sent chills down my spine.

As expected, he was at least three times more dangerous than when I’d met him before.

“So you’re saying you’ll protect me? The Church’s Executor personally?”

“Hahaha, protect you? What nonsense.”

Brushing aside my sarcasm, Garrison covered his face with a smile.

“We merely share the same goal. Do you really think I’d care whether a vile necromancer lives or dies?”

“Oh, is that so?”

Looking at him now, I realized something anew.

That lunatic priest had gone at least three times crazier since the last time I’d seen him.

“So when you say we share the same goal?”

As I asked that while referring to Helian, Garrison answered without hesitation.

“A woman who went mad from power and desire and became a monster. Of course she needs to be beaten to death.”

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, was it?

Now I understood why Heinkel had allowed Garrison into the estate.

“Ah, right.”

After our silent standoff continued for a while, Garrison and I eventually arrived in front of my room.

“Please give this to Miss Arin.”

Saying that, Garrison held out a bundle toward me.

Inside the pouch were countless candies he always brought back whenever he went out.

“She’d probably be happier if you gave it to her yourself.”

I said that as if probing him, and after a brief silence, Garrison shook his head.

“That’s no longer possible.”

It was hard to guess what expression lay beneath the face hidden in shadow.

“I’ll see you at the carriage. If you run away, I’ll kill you.”

Leaving behind that utterly terrifying farewell, Garrison turned his back.

“Hey, Priest!”

When I shouted toward his retreating back, Garrison stopped and turned only his head to look at me.

“Thanks for saving me back then.”

As I brought up what happened when we departed for the Wall, strength entered Garrison’s shoulders.

“Shut up, necromancer.”

His tone changed instantly, as if warning me not to speak to him familiarly.

‘Damn, he’s terrifying.’

Looking at Garrison’s deeply irritated face, which seemed ready to lunge at me at any moment, that was all I could think.

With that, Garrison disappeared.

“Phew…”

I couldn’t tell whether it was a sigh of relief or one of regret.

Unable to distinguish even that myself, I opened the door and stepped inside.

“Young Master!”

“Here. The priest said to give this to you.”

I handed the candy bundle to Arin as she greeted me.

“Wow~!”

“He said it’d be hard to see you often from now on, so he prepared a lot.”

As I patted Arin on the head while saying that, Dunkel approached me carrying something long wrapped in cloth.

“Young Master.”

“Is it finished?”

Dunkel handed over the object he’d been carrying toward me.

“As expected, the craftsmen of our house work fast.”

After unwrapping the cloth and checking its condition, I nodded in satisfaction.

“With this much, it should be manageable.”

Along with the knighthood, there had been an unexpected gain as well.

The damage to my body had been unforeseen, but this much should be bearable.

With this, most of the preparations were complete.

“Truly… impeccable timing.”

While I was thinking that, Dunkel, who had been observing my actions closely, suddenly spoke.

“Impeccable timing? What do you mean?”

I asked as though I didn’t know, and Dunkel crossed his arms, his expression stiffening.

“You suddenly ran away from the estate, came back with a knighthood, and that thing was completed exactly in time for Paul wyvern’s civil war.”

Looking at the long bundle resting on the table, Dunkel asked as if to confirm something.

“Did you… prepare all this from the beginning, expecting something like this to happen?”

“I did. Though I didn’t expect it to spiral into this much of a disaster.”

As I said that, I opened the desk drawer and began checking the reagents, research records, and spell formulas.

“Haa…”

Seeing me like that, Dunkel lowered his shoulders and let out a quiet sigh.

“When I see things like this… I really start to suspect you.”

“Suspect me? Of what?”

When I joked like that, Dunkel spoke while still keeping his arms crossed.

“The way you plan everything so thoroughly… you really seem like a villain.”

“Haha, so that’s what you meant.”

Waving my hand dismissively, I spoke casually while examining the materials inside my luggage.

“I told you already, didn’t I? I really am a villain.”

“The Second Young Master of House Leinrant, Sir Klein Leinrant, has arrived!”

The door opened alongside the sentry’s booming voice.

The Imperial Army garrison where Laia was in seclusion.

The fortress was already packed to the brim with Imperial soldiers.

“They really gathered a disgusting number of troops.”

This was Paul wyvern territory, not Imperial land.

Yet with Imperial troops already occupying the majority of the fortress forces, it had become hard to tell who the true owner of this place was.

“This is enough to drive someone insane.”

My feelings as I looked around the fortress were nothing but suffocating.

“The guests have completely become the masters.”

Imperial troops had been stationed at every important strategic point in the fortress.

The spires, watchtowers, even the guards.

“A well-organized deployment.”

“It is. Someone might mistake them for an occupying force rather than a mediation army.”

Answering Garrison as such, I stepped down from the carriage.

‘Even the knights’ order’s capital isn’t this excessive. This is practically…’

There were simply far too many troops for a force supposedly stationed here merely for mediation.

‘If they wanted to, they have enough soldiers to suppress Helian’s faction… or crush Laia’s faction instead.’

As I stepped down from the carriage and began organizing my luggage—

“Young Master Klein Leinrant.”

Someone called my name in a stiff voice.

‘…And who’s this lanky bastard supposed to be?’

A thin build that didn’t look martial in the slightest, eyes tilted upward, and that uniquely arrogant posture of looking down on others.

A man who looked like the very embodiment of noble privilege itself was approaching me.

“It is a great pleasure to finally meet someone so renowned.”

I alternated my gaze between the man in his extravagant Imperial military uniform and the scene of the fortress behind him.

“The Second Young Master of House Leinrant, Klein Leinrant.”

As I clasped his white-gloved hand and introduced myself, the man gave his own name.

‘Yeah, so this bastard’s the commander of this occupation force, huh?’

Even while thinking that, I answered his greeting behind a smiling mask.

“The commander of the peacekeeping force, Count Pensta Landen.”
“Count… Pensta.”

The moment I heard the name Pensta, I repeated it weakly, as though my strength had drained away.

‘So they’re not peacekeepers. They’re a suppression force.’

The Pensta Count family.
A great landholding house located in the central-western Empire.

A territory where dozens of uprisings broke out every single year due to their absurdly high taxes.

And a military house infamous for crushing those rebellions through bloody suppression.

Not to mention one of the names on Laia’s list—an accomplice secretly exchanging bribes with Helian.

‘Peacekeeping and mediation are just excuses. This man is already practically part of Helian’s faction.’

At this rate, Laia’s forces, currently opposing Helian, were like a candle flickering before the wind.

In other words, this civil war had been orchestrated from the very beginning according to the Empire’s intentions.

“Disgusting.”

After staring at Count Pensta for a moment, Garrison spat those words out and turned away.

My feelings upon witnessing this scene were no different from his.

‘I was only thinking about taking down Helian, but to think they’d make their move through political scheming like this…’

As if he had sensed my thoughts, Count Pensta displayed the Emperor’s insignia pinned to his shoulder and spoke.

“Since this was the young lady’s request, we granted you special permission to enter. However, I suggest you remember the meaning of this insignia.”

As someone appointed by the Emperor, we, as members of the Empire, had no choice but to acknowledge his authority.

“Do not act rashly, Young Master Klein.”

With those words, Count Pensta turned his back and walked toward the command headquarters.

‘Bastards.’

It was while I was suppressing the boiling anger inside me—

“Klein!”

A voice called out to me from one side.

When I turned my head, I saw Laia approaching.

“Oh, I’m relieved to see you’re looking well, Lady Laia.”
“You can still joke in a situation like this? My entire family is falling apart right now!”

So she wasn’t even going to bother acting refined in front of me anymore?

Muttering that inwardly, I casually shrugged.

“The way you look, it doesn’t seem like you need protection.”

“You really never let a single comment slide, do you?”

Saying that, Laia led me toward her residence.

“I never imagined the Empire would act like this.”

Unlike the last time I visited, the estate was deserted.

Sensing something strange, I asked while looking at her back.

“Where did all your knights go?”

At my question, Laia stopped in place and silently shook her head.

“Other than Gordon and a dozen or so men, they’ve all disappeared. By now, they’re probably already—”

“No.”

I cut her off midway as her shoulders slumped.

“They’re alive.”

At my near-certain declaration, Laia narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t try to comfort me. How could you possibly know—”

“No, seriously. They’re alive.”

Saying that, I unfolded a scroll before her eyes.

The life-detection map created from the Banshee at the Wall.

I had simplified it and applied it to the scroll.

“This is… magic?”

“Not magic. Something a bit different.”

As I said that, I infused black demonic energy into the scroll.

‘If Helian dies, Laia will most likely become the next Duchess. I need to completely pull her onto my side with this opportunity. And…’

I glanced at the mace hanging from Laia’s waist.

To break through Helian’s forces, I’d need her strength as well.

And if I wanted to persuade her, I couldn’t keep hiding my identity forever.

“What you’re about to see must remain secret from everyone else.”

Fssssssss…!

Reacting to the demonic energy, glowing blue lines spread out, forming a map of all Paul wyvern.

“This is…?”

“Look. Those white dots.”

As I spoke, I enlarged the map of Paul wyvern and indicated a space beneath the castle.

White dots clustered together in one place.

Not the souls of the dead, but the living spirits of the living.

“They imprisoned everyone underground…!”

Apparently recognizing the castle’s internal structure, Laia’s eyes widened in shock.

“So contrary to what you said, there are survivors after all.”

A ray of hope appeared on Laia’s previously dark expression.

“We don’t know how long they’ll survive! We have to hurry and—!”

“We’ll save them. Isn’t that why you called me here?”

When I said that to Laia, she stared at me silently for a long moment.

“…What is it? Why are you staring at me like that?”

Without waiting for my response, Laia continued speaking.

“No mage on the continent can use detection magic this detailed.”

She was right.

“And detecting souls… this isn’t magic, it’s…”

“Necromancy.”

At my answer, Laia froze in place as though she’d lost the ability to speak.

The day of Helian’s banquet.

I had single-handedly fought against Nakyeop, captured them alive, and disguised Hector’s death as the work of a necromancer.

Now it seemed every mystery had finally been resolved for her.

“Your accomplice… was a necromancer, Lady Laia.”