Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 401: How Dare You Stab Me in the Back? (4)
Unlike the excited Cale, the three people of the Lan Kingdom were in a state of extreme tension.
Tap. Tap.
The space was filled with nothing but the sound of footsteps.
Along this path King Tamahi walked, there was not a single warrior or servant.
There were only Tamahi, Cha Run, the head steward, Cale, and Eruhaben.
A small pavilion located in a corner of the Lan royal palace.
This place had originally been abandoned, but at some point it had become a place King Tamahi used for meditation.
In truth, it was the place where I met the Wanderers.
Tamahi could not forget the first moment she had met the Wanderer here together with Duke Hinpa.
Because that was when I submitted.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her heart pounded.
Tension wrapped around her whole body.
Gulp.
She heard the sound of Martial Arts Master Cha Run swallowing hard, unable to contain his tension.
When she glanced to the side, she saw cold sweat running down the forehead of her seasoned master, Cha Run.
She could also see the stiff expression on the head steward’s face.
Yes.
We are this tense—
and yet the dragon and Cale Henituse are calm.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Just looking at their faces made the pounding in her chest grow louder.
But Tamahi did not hate this tension.
...Whenever I used to come here, I was filled with helplessness.
The helplessness that deepened with time. The sense of defeat. The despair.
That was why, from a certain point on, she had stopped feeling tense whenever she came to this pavilion.
Because she had realized that nothing could be changed.
It’s different now.
But now, she, the Martial Arts Master, and the head steward were all tense.
Because now they were able to do something new.
And we’ve even gained a chance to hit the Wanderers and the forces of the God of Chaos with one solid blow.
How could her heart not pound?
The old Martial Arts Master Cha Run and the head steward were probably not tense because of fear either.
It was excitement.
Stay tense.
Tamahi immersed herself deeply in that tension.
Because in the current situation, this emotion was the right one.
“Open it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The entrance to the pavilion was so quiet it was dreadful.
At her command, the head steward quickly headed for the door.
In step with him, Eruhaben and Cale moved as well and opened the door together.
Creeeak.
When the entrance gate set in the middle of the stone wall was opened, the front courtyard of the pavilion came into view.
A front courtyard suitable for meditation, where nothing existed except barren earth.
And there, one person stood.
“.......”
A woman looking at her with a hardened expression.
The moment she saw her, Tamahi let her tension show in full.
The woman’s gaze passed over Tamahi and took in each person in the group one by one.
Then she looked back at Tamahi and spoke.
“Come in.”
The king could only enter this place after receiving the Wanderer’s permission.
It was truly a ridiculous situation.
And yet Tamahi, still tense, stepped into the pavilion.
“You will wait here.”
Even as she did so, she left her guard captain waiting at the entrance of the pavilion.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her heart pounded.
Creeeak.
The guard captain shut the door from outside.
Thud.
The door closed completely, and the king, cut off from the outside, stepped into the Wanderer’s domain.
“.......”
The Wanderer ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) was still looking at her.
Tamahi swallowed hard.
“.......”
The Wanderer, who had been silently observing her, finally opened her mouth.
“You are far too frightened. As if—”
Tamahi’s body stiffened with tension.
“As if you have far too much on your conscience.”
The moment the Wanderer finished speaking, Tamahi squeezed her eyes shut.
“.......”
The Wanderer fell silent.
Around her, standing in the center of the courtyard, not even a single breeze blew.
It was so very quiet, so utterly still.
And yet the atmosphere was peaceful as well.
“.......”
Not a single person spoke.
Everyone except Tamahi had their heads bowed, and the head steward was even bent at the waist, not showing the slightest movement.
“.......”
Tamahi opened the eyes she had shut.
Her gaze met the Wanderer’s.
A woman whose name she did not even know, whom she knew only as a Wanderer.
“Speak.”
At last, her permission was granted, and Tamahi slowly opened her mouth.
Her lips were dry, and the inside of her mouth was dry as well.
“Ahem.”
Because of that, the words did not come out right away.
She looked disgraceful, so obviously tense.
But Tamahi had no time to care about that.
“Th-”
The Wanderer simply watched all of it.
Tamahi barely managed to speak.
“Th-, yes. I do.”
To the question of whether she had much on her conscience, Tamahi answered.
“You would see through a lie anyway.”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Tamahi was tense.
A chance to strike the enemy.
The tension caused by that.
But to the enemy, that tension would only look like fear or terror.
“For a short while, I chased an illusion that would let me escape your grasp.”
“The martial arts tournament?”
“Yes.”
The king answered the Wanderer respectfully.
And at the same time, she let her grievance show.
“But that martial arts tournament also failed, and with things having turned out like this—”
“.......”
Under the Wanderer’s gaze, Tamahi avoided her eyes and continued speaking. Her voice trembled.
“I realized that I should not chase illusions.”
That’s right.
Not illusions, but reality.
“.......”
The Wanderer merely watched her.
Under that silent gaze telling her to continue, Tamahi opened her mouth again.
I have to do this well.
From here on, she had to mix lies and truth well.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her heart pounded.
She was sweating.
“You came to find the Wanderer So Hee and Duke Hinpa, did you not?”
Tamahi’s voice trembled.
“Duke Hinpa told me so.”
No, Duke Hinpa had said no such thing.
“He said that if I held a martial arts tournament, I would be able to draw in the Wanderers. And then—”
He had never said that.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The trembling of her heart gradually calmed.
Strange.
Why did she feel calmer while speaking lies?
“He said that once the Wanderers had been drawn in that way, he himself would deal with them.”
Cale Henituse’s words came back to her.
...To be honest, I am afraid of the Wanderer. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to speak lies comfortably in front of her.
Just take it easy.
Cale had said it indifferently.
Just pin everything on Duke Hinpa. That’ll do it.
Right. Do exactly as he said.
“He said that Duke Hinpa would deal with the Wanderers using his own forces.”
Duke Hinpa had never said any such thing.
“He also said that since his forces belonged to the God of Chaos, a Wanderer could never defeat a god. And he said that if we simply served the Order of the God of Chaos, they would not interfere in any part of the kingdom at all.”
Really, he had never said any of that. Duke Hinpa had never said such things.
But the dead could offer no excuses.
More and more strength entered Tamahi’s voice.
“To be honest, I judged that it was better to serve Duke Hinpa’s god than have the kingdom taken from me by Wanderers like you. So I carried out everything exactly as he said.”
She had no intention of serving the God of Chaos even if she died and came back to life.
“But—”
Tamahi stopped there for a moment.
“!”
A strange aura settled onto her shoulders.
“Mm.”
The head steward swallowed a groan.
Martial Arts Master Cha Run’s fingertips trembled.
The king squeezed her eyes shut.
It was ice.
Frost had settled on her shoulders.
And together with it, a chill that was cold and that made her whole body ache spread downward from her head.
Damn it!
The Wanderer.
This woman’s power appeared this soundlessly and froze everything all around her.
...The heart.
Once, the Wanderer had frozen the heart of one of Tamahi’s guards.
It must have been meant as a warning.
And Tamahi had been frightened.
That guard had died soundlessly.
Only his heart had frozen.
That freezing ice.
Who could possibly defeat that woman who created silent death?
This person has the power to cover the world with sight and ice.
Tension surged through her again.
But separately from that, Tamahi’s eyes became clearer.
But I have seen another sight with my own eyes.
The sight created by Cale, the Heavenly Demon, and Choi Han.
It had truly been astonishing.
If it were them, they would be more than capable of fighting the Wanderer standing before her now.
“But the moment I saw the helper Duke Hinpa brought, I realized I had made a grave mistake.”
The icy aura stopped for a moment.
“...A helper?”
For the first time, the Wanderer reacted.
“Yes.”
Tamahi closed her eyes.
“That helper subdued So Hee and brought all the chaos to rest.”
He—
“But unlike how he brought the chaos to rest, that person himself was nothing but chaos.”
“!”
A strange light flickered in the Wanderer’s eyes.
Tamahi opened her eyes.
“The fear he created left one with no choice but to bow one’s head. And his dominion over the space made it impossible to think of anything except that one had to submit to his control.”
The Wanderer could sense that there was no lie in Tamahi’s eyes, her voice, or anything else about her.
That was definitely the truth of something she had experienced directly.
“Fear and chaos.”
“Yes. I had never experienced such an aura in my life before, so all I could do was fall into confusion. And Wanderer So Hee was not able to resist properly at all. But—”
Tamahi paused for a moment, then continued.
“...That person fought Duke Hinpa.”
Strength filled Tamahi’s eyes.
“And Duke Hinpa exploded and died.”
For this to be a lie, Tamahi’s eyes were too clear.
To be honest, there was even joy lingering there over Duke Hinpa’s death.
That was not the sort of emotion that could be manufactured through lies.
“...I see.”
The Wanderer finally spoke.
And the frost that had settled on everyone’s shoulders vanished.
She accepted it.
The Wanderer had accepted Tamahi’s words.
Realizing that, Tamahi let out a sigh of relief.
She had simply acted without lying in how she behaved.
The Wanderer confirmed even that, then turned her gaze away.
“So this is the person who witnessed Duke Hinpa’s death?”
Information that Martial Arts Master Cha Run had given the Wanderer in advance before going to bring the king.
The explanation he had given for why they had no choice but to delay things by half a day.
“Yes.”
King Tamahi signaled to the head steward.
At that, the head steward pushed one person forward.
“We had to wait until this one regained consciousness so that we could hear his story, and we also needed time to present him to you.”
Even while Tamahi was speaking, the Wanderer’s gaze remained fixed on one person.
Someone whose face was wrapped in bandages over most of the area above the mouth.
In the parts that the bandages had failed to cover, there were faint glimpses of cut wounds and hideous skin that looked burned along them.
And he was trembling violently, his body drawn in as tightly as possible.
No—his whole body was shaking.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Though it was not cold, the way his teeth chattered made it clear just how terrified he was.
“He was one of the low-ranking servants who attended Duke Hinpa.”
Tamahi explained who he was.
The Wanderer opened her mouth toward the servant, who could not even look at her.
“Is conversation possible?”
At that question, King Tamahi let out a sigh.
“Mm.”
She shook her head.
“He only repeats the same thing. To be honest, I do not know if it is even useful information. I brought him so that you could speak to him directly.”
“.......”
The Wanderer observed the servant for a moment, then finally spoke.
“What did you see?”
In truth, she still did not fully believe King Tamahi’s words.
So Hee is not weak.
Even if her individuality was only around the middle rank, she possessed a tenacity that surpassed those Single-Born who had the qualities of a hero.
And yet someone like her had been taken down this easily and gone out of contact?
Of course, the last message So Hee had sent had said that the “God of Chaos” had attacked her.
...There is a high chance that part is true.
It would have to be someone on the level of the God of Chaos to deal with a Wanderer.
No matter how much the king tried to resist, she could never have subdued So Hee like that.
The severed connection with Duke Hinpa.
The vanished So Hee.
Everything pointed to the God of Chaos.
And these days, stories about the God of Chaos have begun to be heard little by little in New World.
That side was definitely doing something.
But she still was not completely sure.
This is a time to be careful.
This was the final stage for the Absolute God.
At a time like this, even the smallest thing had to be treated carefully.
So if it really was the God of Chaos interfering—
The God of Chaos.
If that side was the one that had interfered.
If that was the conclusion—
she would never leave them alone.
They dared to interfere in our work.
The final stage.
The final stage the Five Colored Blood family had long wanted.
No one should be allowed to stand in its way like this.
“What did—”
She asked again, still addressing the servant who kept trembling without even looking at her,
“What did you see?”
That was when it happened.
The servant slowly raised his head.
His trembling hands covered his face.
The servant opened his mouth, and at the moment she heard his words, the Wanderer became certain of one thing.
“E-e-”
Words spilling out while trembling.
The words of someone incapable of holding a proper conversation.
“Eyes, e-eyes...!”
At those words, the Wanderer became certain.
The God of Chaos.
This one had seen the power of the God of Chaos.
Eyes.
That was not something one could know without experiencing it directly.
“G-gray eyes, the eyes are rushing... at me...!”
“!”
Rushing at him.
She knew that too.
One of the powers the God of Chaos often used involved eyes within a wave-like gray aura.
The servant continued repeating words containing that fact.
His body shook more and more.
Like someone terrified, he curled himself up tighter and tighter, paying no attention to the Wanderer at all.
As if he were facing waves pressing in from all sides, or a wall.
He hunched in on himself and muttered only about the “eyes.”
“Ha.”
A laugh escaped the Wanderer before she realized it.
It’s the truth.
The God of Chaos had truly captured Wanderer So Hee, and they truly were trying to interfere with the Wanderers’ work.
She lost interest in the servant who never once looked at her, who kept avoiding her gaze.
That was when—
“My goodness!”
Martial Arts Master Cha Run moved in visible alarm.
“!”
The Wanderer turned her head and paused.
The servant was trying to strangle himself.
He shouted,
“Return... return to the beginning...! Offer your life...!”
“My goodness, stop!”
But the servant’s attempt did not continue.
Cha Run and the head steward quickly bound his limbs.
Cha Run pulled a rope from his robes and tied the servant up tightly.
The servant was now in a complete mess.
As the Wanderer looked down at him, a strange light flickered in her eyes.
Return to the beginning and offer his life?
In this place, only she would fully understand the meaning of those words.
“I apologize. He kept saying those words and trying to kill himself, so in order to calm him down, we had no choice but to delay this meeting.”
“That is fine.”
The Wanderer barely listened to the king’s excuse as she thought,
Primordial Night.
The place beyond mere believers of the God of Chaos, where fanatics existed.
The place where those lunatics committed madness in the name of creating a holy land for their god.
“I see.”
...Now I can see the picture.
The Wanderer now knew where she needed to aim next.
There was one final thing she needed to confirm.
She suddenly asked the king,
“Why did Duke Hinpa die?”
“I do not know. Not even a body remained, so we could not determine the cause of death.”
The king shook her head.
At that, the Wanderer nodded.
“I see. You do not know.”
If she had tried to excuse herself by saying she did know, the Wanderer would only have become more suspicious.
No lie could be seen in King Tamahi. She truly did not know the exact reason why Duke Hinpa had exploded and died. After all, he had simply been fighting Cale and then suddenly self-destructed.
“.......”
After the servant had been bound and had gradually started to calm down, the Wanderer looked at him for a moment where he lay sprawled on the dirt ground.
He had apparently struggled so violently that he was covered