Chapter 59

Chapter 59. Secret (2)

A secret passage behind a bookshelf.

“If it were conventional, it really would be the most conventional place possible....”

I grabbed the bookshelves on both sides and tried pushing them, then pulling them.

But contrary to my expectations, the shelves did not budge in the slightest.

In situations like this, there was usually some kind of hidden switch....

If I did not care about what happened afterward, I could just smash the whole thing apart, but right now I needed to move as quietly as possible.

I examined the shelves carefully.

They were filled with serious books—works of philosophy and history.

And I had already read every one of them back home. The books in the baron’s personal study could not even begin to compare to the collection the Duke was so proud of.

As I looked down the rows of books, my brows furrowed at the title of one volume near the bottom.

“Why is this book here?”

Beside the complete set of [The Life of Sir Carlos the Hero], which told the story of the first king of our kingdom and the ancestor of the Duke’s line, there was one utterly out-of-place book.

[The Return of Sir Carlos the Hero]

Judging by the title alone, one might mistake it for another volume of the biography, but this book was definitely a novel about Sir Carlos the Hero’s love life. It was fanfiction, really.

Since it was a romanticized novel about the founding king, it had naturally been designated a forbidden book, so hardly anyone would have recognized it.

I only knew it because I had seen it once, rolling around in storage under a thick layer of dust.

“Anyway, why would a novel like this be tucked in here?”

On a whim, I lightly grasped the book and carefully pulled.

Click.

As expected, the book did not come out. Instead, I heard something open somewhere behind the shelves.

I let go of the book and stepped back.

Then I watched the shelves with eager eyes.

But even after a long moment, nothing about them changed.

“In films, this is usually where the shelf slides open and a secret passage appears.”

So that book had not been the switch after all?

Thinking that, I approached the shelves again and tried moving them.

Srrrk.

And then, absurdly enough, the shelves slid smoothly to the side, utterly unlike before.

Unfortunately, the secret door in this study was not automatic.

The lack of drama was a little disappointing, but behind the opened shelves I could see a staircase leading down underground.

The stairs were pitch black with no light at all, but once I poured mana into my eyes, descending them did not seem difficult.

I lowered my footsteps and quietly went down.

Step, step.

After a while, the staircase gave way to a passage.

Just as I had thought, this secret passage also seemed to be one that led outside, like the one in the marquess’s mansion.

Could he have gone outside the estate?

That thought crossed my mind, but fortunately, before I reached the exit of the passage, I spotted a closed door set into the wall.

Light leaked through the cracks in the wooden door, and along with it came the murmur of voices.

“...Just wait a little longer. He got away by luck, but my daughter will bring us good news soon enough.”

It was unmistakably the baron’s voice.

He was speaking to someone else.

Was it the person I had expected?

The words the baron had whispered into my ear before I died came back to me.

“So you had a hand in driving Maria out, did you? Foolish brat, crawling out beyond the territory like that. The Duke is difficult to touch, but a cur like you, one that crawled out of the estate, can die right here on the spot. This is Maria’s revenge.”

How stunned I had been when I heard that.

That was already years ago now, to the point where I hardly even thought about it anymore.

And yet here I was, in a place like this, about to die because the second duchess I had helped cast out wanted revenge. It was honestly ridiculous.

At this point there were no other eyes here, and I had even overheard part of the conversation, so there was no longer any need to be cautious.

I tightened my grip on the greatsword and drove mana into my legs before kicking the door.

Crash!

The door exploded apart with a loud noise. Though I had kicked it with a small foot, the door shattered into pieces thanks to mana’s assistance.

I burst through the fragments and rushed inside.

Beyond the door was a small room that looked like some kind of converted storage chamber.

One side was piled with assorted objects, while on the other stood a bed, a table, and several bottles of wine.

The baron was seated in front of the table. He turned around with a startled expression.

So there was the baron.

Then I looked at the space opposite him.

I saw the woman he had been speaking to.

No, not a woman. It was a painting of a woman hanging on the wall.

In that painting was Maria de Gresia, looking somewhat younger than she did now.

While I stood there staring blankly at the portrait—

“How did you get in here?”

The baron, having recognized me, reached for the sword lying beside him.

Whoosh.

The sword flew into his hand.

That sight snapped me back to myself.

A sword moving on its own? Did he have an ability similar to his daughter’s?

Damn it, then this was a very dangerous situation after all!

Startled, I immediately raised my sword and prepared for his attack.

But contrary to my expectations, the baron did not strike at once.

With the sword in hand, he was panting heavily.

He looked exhausted just from using that ability a moment ago.

No, was that it? Was it a similar power, but much weaker?

Either way, I could not waste the opportunity before me. I rushed forward in a single stride and swung my greatsword at him.

Apparently, he had at least some training, because he raised his sword and tried to block my blow.

Boom!

But there was no way he could properly stop a strike backed by the strength and speed of someone above knight-class.

His sword shattered, and he went flying into the wall behind him.

Crash!

He smashed magnificently into a pile of objects stacked against the side, scattering them before collapsing onto the floor.

“Surely he did not die from that? I struck him with the flat of the blade.”

He had gone flying so easily that I was honestly worried I might have killed him too quickly.

“Ghh....”

Fortunately, he did not seem dead. I walked over toward him as he twitched weakly beneath the heap of broken objects.

Now it was time to hear the full story from him.

---

The words I had heard from the baron when I died not long ago—

“This is Maria’s revenge for what you and the Duke did to her!”

Because of those words, I had expected to find the second duchess here.

Instead, it was her portrait that greeted me.

A portrait hanging here by itself—what in the world was going on? Well, if I heard it directly from the man himself, I would know.

I pulled the baron out from the wreckage he had fallen into.

Though I had not yet fully grown, my body was stronger than that of a full-grown man thanks to mana, so dragging him out posed no difficulty.

“Cough, cough.”

Even after I dragged him free, he gasped in pain.

I could see several wounds where he had been cut by fragments of his own shattered sword, his arm appeared to be broken, and a few ribs seemed to have cracked as well, making it hard for him to breathe.

Still, he looked perfectly capable of speaking.

I tapped the center of his chest with the tip of my foot.

“Ugh.”

Just as expected, he snapped fully awake.

“Hello. We have met again, and yet I never properly greeted you.”

I bowed politely to the newly conscious man.

Standing there with the greatsword planted against the floor as I gave a knight’s greeting, I saw him looking at me as though I were something incomprehensible, even while his face twisted with pain.

“You... what in the world are you?”

“It is better to behave with proper courtesy when there are no other eyes around as well. As you know, even if I am young, I possess strength on the level of a knight.”

Only then did he seem to realize his mistake.

To look down on me just because I was young, even though I clearly lacked no real power. He had probably been carried away by the shock of the situation, but that did nothing to excuse the error.

Not that I minded. It was a delightful mistake as far as I was concerned.

“Ghk... How did you find this place? And... how did you come back? I heard you had already left the territory.”

Now that his mind had cleared, the questions seemed to come flooding in.

So he had men watching behind us.

Perhaps there had been an unexpectedly thorough side to him after all. Though none of that meant much now.

“I would rather be the one asking questions. Why is there a portrait of the second duchess in a place like this, and why did you try to kill me?”

Strictly speaking, the version of him before me had not yet killed me, but he had just tried to, so it was not an unfair accusation.

And more than that, I genuinely wanted to know why the duchess’s portrait was hanging here.

“How dare you! Barging into another man’s house and spouting such nonsense, you brat! Ghh—did the Duke fail to teach you properly because you’re only a half-blood? Or is it simply because you come from such low stock?”

Perhaps the pain had eased a little. Frowning all the while, he launched into a pompous stream of “adult reprimands” instead of answering.

Naturally, it had no effect on me whatsoever.

No—scratch that. It had an effect, just in the opposite direction.

I lowered the sword upside down onto his chest, where I had just nudged him with my foot.

Then I loosened my grip on the hilt ever so slightly.

Press.

“Ghh!”

A choked cry escaped him as his body jerked.

Thanks to that, the blade sank a little lower, and a thin line of blood appeared across his chest.

“It seems your base blood is showing, so I will have to turn this from questioning into an interrogation.”

“Ghh. Y-you...”

He raised his arm as if to do something, but his mana had already been scattered by the mana coating my sword.

“Let me ask again. Why were you trying to kill me?”

“Ghh. When the Duke cast Maria out, you were the biggest reason for it! The reason is absurd, yes, but it is more than enough reason for you to die!”

The explanation was full of contradictions, but as far as motive went, it more or less matched what I had guessed from the words he had spoken when he killed me before.

“Did the duchess complain to you about it? Did she say she had been wronged and ask you to take revenge for her?”

What I truly wanted to know was how deeply the duchess herself was involved.

I had driven her out and erased her from my concerns, only to be stabbed in the back like this. Depending on how the baron answered, I might have to revise my future plans.

“You dare try to heap yet another false charge upon poor Maria! Who would possibly believe such nonsense—that a lovely and pure blossom like her was accused of trying to kill a half-baked wretch like you and then cast out for it!”

As he shouted, the baron’s expression went hazy and rapturous. Staring at the portrait on the wall, he continued.

“I loved her from the very first moment I saw her. She knew I loved her too. I staked everything on her. To kill you and destroy the Duke—that is the purpose of my life now! And....”

Was it because of the strange, cloying scent in the room? Or was it some delusion he clung to in order to escape the pain?

Either way, he kept babbling on without pause.