Chapter 10
As expected, there was a kitchen near the dining room, so making tea wasn't that difficult.
Of course, while it wasn't difficult, it wasn't smooth either.
Every time I encountered cooks and maids, they dropped and shattered their plates.
Although I wasn't at fault in these incidents, I felt sorry wondering how much Damian must have tormented them in the past to make them react like this, so when I tried to help clean up…
"P-please... just spare my life... sob"
One of the maids burst into tears and prostrated herself before me, so I had no choice but to leave the maid be and exit the place.
Loraine definitely said he was only slightly delinquent, but...
No matter how I think about it, everyone's reactions were too extreme to be described as "slightly".
Feeling something was strange, I asked Loraine, who was waiting for me at the training ground, "Umm, Young Master, we're close, right? You won't withhold tea from me for telling the truth, right?"
Loraine glanced at me awkwardly, then smiled uncomfortably before finally telling me what Damian had done.
"He would often hit people with wooden swords and metal objects, deliberately pick fights, and then push people into ponds, oh! He once even tried to feed bugs to one of the maids."
...Some rather shocking things come out.
Realizing that he had done such detestable acts that would be reported as special news of abuse if they happened in modern times, I was feeling bewildered when…
Suddenly, a question arose in my mind.
Why do Damian's family members cherish him so much when he's the very embodiment of a delinquent?
If Damian's family were all steeped in aristocratic values and looked down on commoners, it might be understandable.
Although it was too early to judge after just one day, they seemed to be quite principled and upright individuals.
Even at a glance, the servants all showed pride in their work.
This meant it wasn't a continuation of the family's unique atmosphere.
Damian's solo deviation had degenerated into delinquency...
Knowing this, none of the family members tried to correct Damian and left him be, which was somewhat incomprehensible.
No... it felt like they were protecting him more than just leaving him be.
Not understanding this, I asked about it as gently as possible.
Loraine showed signs of contemplation before telling me the reason, "I don't know the details either, but I heard that the young master was very sick when he was young. I heard that overprotection started after that. Maybe that's why? And since there's a big age difference, and the young master is the youngest, maybe they just dote on him?"
The moment I heard those words, a question naturally arose.
Then why did a child who only received love grow up to be so broken?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't find the answer, so I shook off my idle thoughts and picked up a wooden sword.
"...Let's just train."
At my words, Loraine let out a sigh of relief and wiggled her wooden sword.
"Yes. Then, shall we start right away?"
The training method Loraine and I had been doing was simple.
We would continue sparring until I received a fatal wound, and when it seemed dangerous, we would replenish our strength and mental energy with potions and tea.
Then we would spar again, it had such a simple structure.
The downside was that too much blood splattered, dyeing everything around us red.
But this could be solved by using a magic tool imbued with cleaning magic at the end, so looking at the conclusion, it was a training method without any problems.
Of course, it seemed only I thought that way.
The knights in the training ground didn't seem to think so.
"...Is that right? Aren't they just trying to kill each other?"
"They're really going at it harshly."
Voices could be heard from all around.
In the North, there was a tendency to blatantly treat me as if I didn't exist, so they didn't express any opinions and I didn't know how other people felt.
Here, since there were no such people, I could tell that our training was a bit more extreme than I had thought.
Still, there was nothing better than this for improving skills, so I was about to ignore it and continue sparring when
Someone screamed at the entrance, "D-Damian?!"
Damian's older sister, Lilia Carsaril.
According to Loraine, she had a graceful and kind personality and was even evaluated as a saint by some knights.
She approached me with a shocked expression, examined my body, and said, "Are you okay? W... why is there blood on my youngest... Loraine, what on earth is going on?"
"Ah, that's..."
"I entrusted you with Damian's protection, but how could you be hitting Damian instead!"
"I'm sorry... I have no words even if I had ten mouths."
Loraine wasn’t at fault.
From the beginning, she had been reluctant to do this training, saying it was too cruel.
So, before poor Loraine could get scolded in earnest by Sister Lilia, I quickly added, "This is what I wanted, so there's no need to worry..."
"You be quiet, what right do you have to interrupt?"
"...?"
"No, you come here too. How can you act like this without knowing how to take care of your body? Do you know how sad your family would be if you got hurt?"
I looked around and asked Loraine for help, but Loraine just nodded with a dumbfounded expression.
Looking at Loraine like that, I thought, “Well, he has been used for a long time,” and then lowered my gaze.
It would be better to do sparring somewhere else next time.
Deciding to do it in a remote area where people didn't come often if possible, I added to Loraine to reflect a bit.
***
After Sister Lilia's nagging ended, I served tea to everyone in the training ground.
In the North, even when I tried to serve tea, everyone ignored it without even taking a sip, so it was impossible to share it.
But here, everyone politely accepted and drank the tea without exception.
At first, the reaction wasn't that strong, but by the time everyone had drunk a cup of tea, they were expressing their impressions of the tea with exclamations of shock from all around.
"No, this effect is amazing! It feels like all the fatigue that's built up is disappearing!"
"What's with all this fuss... Oh my, Young Master, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to this fellow. Yes, yes... Huh? What's this? Huh?"
"These days, even when I took elixirs, my fatigue wouldn't go away at all, but after drinking this, my fatigue is completely gone?"
Recalling the reactions Loraine usually showed me, I could roughly understand why they liked it so much.
I was smiling slightly seeing everyone enjoying it when my brother approached me and started praising it.
"Where did you learn this? It's amazing. It's incredibly delicious, and it really relieves fatigue too."
"I just learned it while doing this and that."
"Really? That's incredible."
By the way, among those who drank the tea, Sister Lilia especially liked it.
It seemed she had been suffering from severe headaches recently, so the moment she drank the tea, all her headaches disappeared, and she showered me with praise.
"My little one is making his sister live in luxury. I'm usually not one to cry... but I feel like I might tear up."
Not knowing how to react, I just smiled awkwardly.
Sister Lilia forcibly hugged me, stroked my head, and said, "Come here, let your sister hug you. There."
With an age difference of about 6 years, it seemed treating me like a baby was unavoidable.
It wasn't bad, but I couldn't help feeling embarrassed, so I quickly tried to escape, but Sister Lilia looked at me with an expression full of sadness.
"Does this mean you've grown up now?"
"..."
Having no choice, I decided to just let her pat my head and fell into contemplation.
I wonder why Sister Lilia gets assassinated.
She didn't have an abrasive personality, so she wasn’t the type to make enemies, and she wasn’t just an ordinary noblelady but the eldest daughter of the Carsaril ducal family, which had the strongest influence in central politics.
In other words, this meant she wasn’t someone who needed to be assassinated at the risk of creating massive repercussions.
Yet I couldn't understand why she was assassinated, and my worries deepened.
An investigation is needed.
And it was right to start that investigation from Sister Lilia.
I asked Sister Lilia, who was still stroking my head, "Are you having any difficulties or problems?"
"Hmm? Ah... I've been having severe headaches recently. But they were solved after drinking the tea my little one gave me earlier."
Headaches. I nodded, thinking that this might be related to the assassination incident.
***
Since assassinations were basically carried out without the person knowing, I talked with Sister Lilia, extracting information appropriately, then immediately left and started wandering around the mansion.
I might be able to get some information.
I forcibly dragged Loraine along.
To familiarize myself with the paths inside the mansion, I thoroughly searched the interior, checked unused rooms, and so on.
I searched all sorts of places but couldn't find any useful information, so I fell into contemplation.
If I had just known exactly when it happens, I might have been able to get a grasp on it.
In novels, the villain's past was often not explained in detail.
Unfortunately, I didn't know the detailed information about that.
All I knew was...
After Sister Lilia was assassinated, much later, around the middle of the novel,
The protagonist Dale visited the Carsaril territory and discovered “black magic” and exposed it.
Wait, black magic?
Come to think of it, it's strange.
Does the Carsaril family, who lacks nothing, really need to dabble in black magic?
No. Even if they did, it could be replaced with something else.
Then why does black magic appear?
The moment I realized this, I felt something was off.
I need to find out right away.
I told Loraine, who was following behind me, to prepare for an outing, then took out the spirit from my pocket.
"Myeong!"
The spirit seemed happy that I called it out and rubbed its face against my palm affectionately.
I stroked the spirit's head and moved my feet.
The Sun Spirit hates black magic.
In other words, it means it greatly dislikes even the slightest trace or remnant of black magic.
So I judged that I could get definite results if I searched the surroundings with the help of the spirit's power, and when I went outside, what I discovered was, the remnants of black magic spread throughout the city.