< 45 : Prelude (3) >
In a small study room at the Meyer Count’s mansion,
the Countess of Meyer looked at her loyal knight, Kedol.
Kedol was a knight who had accompanied her from her family when she married into the Meyer house.
He had always been a bridge between her and her parents, keeping them in touch.
He was also a person who handled the noisy matters in the count’s house, along with the maid Amy.
The Countess of Meyer, who had a book open on the table, whispered a secret story to her knight, Kedol.
“Sir Kedol, the news I told you last time, it seems to be true.”
“Are you talking about Palios?”
“Yes. Don’t you know that Palios is no longer following that Lex guy around?”
Knight Palios was an outstanding knight who followed the first prince, Lex Meyer.
He was a person who had sworn loyalty to the Count of Meyer, and he was escorting Lex according to his belief and the count’s order.
The loyalty of Knight Palios, who always protected Lex, was a very annoying factor for the countess, who wanted to get rid of Lex.
But recently, he seemed to distance himself from Lex.
It was not hard for the countess, who had been watching Palios and Lex, to find out the reason.
Since the day Lex said he had been attacked while going out, a strange knight had started to follow him around.
“It must be because of that Evan guy.”
Knight Evan.
He was a knight who had saved Lex from an ambush while he was out and swore allegiance to him anew.
Lex had taken in Evan, who had been a free knight, and with his strong support, he had easily gained access to the castle.
Evan had pushed aside Palios, who had been the closest aide, and took his place. It was natural for Palios to avoid Lex, according to the countess’s thought.
“Sir Kedol. I think this is an opportunity.”
“An opportunity to execute the plan we have been postponing?”
Of course, the disappearance of Palios, who had been a thorn in her eye, was a kind of opportunity for the countess.
She had not been able to touch Lex recklessly because of Palios’s family and his power.
Now that Palios, who had been a problem, was gone, she could act as soon as the count left his seat.
The countess and Kedol had countless plans to eliminate Lex in their minds.
She nodded her head with a satisfied expression at Kedol’s words.
“Of course. I can’t let that child go on like this forever.”
“That’s right. For the sake of Prince Max’s future, we have to get rid of Lex Meyer as soon as possible.”
Most of the count’s family, including the countess’s parents, already supported Max.
The successor was practically decided.
No matter how hard Lex tried to reverse this situation, he had a big limit due to his lack of supporters.
Still, the reason why the count was postponing the declaration of the successor was because Lex Meyer, the firstborn, was still holding on.
As the countess, she wanted to quickly dispose of Lex and secure Max’s position as the successor.
“The sooner he gets proper education, the better.”
“I’m looking forward to when Prince Max, who has received good education, becomes the count. He will surely be a great lord.”
Those who followed Max also wanted to confirm the succession as soon as possible.
They had lined up quickly to get the benefits that came with it.
To get something out of it, they had to hurry up the process.
Kedol was also waiting for the benefits that came with the succession of the count.
As Kedol flattered her with an expectant face, the countess laughed out loud with a fan in her hand.
“As expected of Sir Kedol. You know my heart so well.”
“It’s only natural, since I’ve been serving you for the longest time.”
“Good. Sir Kedol. Let’s think of a way to get rid of that incompetent Lex for that future.”
The first thing they had to do for their goal was to select a plan to deal with Lex Meyer, who was a thorn in their eye.
Even if she was the countess, she had to be careful when it came to killing a noble.
If she openly killed Lex, she would have a pile of troublesome problems.
Keeping face and justification was essential for nobles.
So she had to choose an appropriate time and place to deal with Lex and his knight.
“He will go out in half a month.”
“The count is going out… Then we have to send Lex out of the castle too.”
It had to be a situation where the count was absent for sure.
It was to buy enough time to clean up the incident.
Also, depending on where the commotion occurred, the person who would be blamed for it changed.
Naturally, it was difficult to cause trouble in the castle.
If Lex died in the castle, there was a high chance that it would become a problem between the countess and the count.
If they were going to do it, they had to do it in a place that wouldn’t cause any trouble.
“What would be the best way to deal with Lex?”
“How about giving him an opportunity?”
“An opportunity…?”
The countess listened to him at his words.
Giving an opportunity to someone they were going to kill.
It was hard for her to empathize with him as the countess.
Kedol continued to explain his strategy to the curious countess.
“Give him a chance to earn some merit and send him out.”
“Merit? What do you mean?”
“There is an abandoned fortress in the southeast. Its value has dropped as the empire’s territory expanded, and more importantly, it’s old and ruined and no one takes care of it.”
“There was such a fortress?”
“Yes. So we tell Lex that the bandits who occupied the fortress are causing trouble, and send him to subjugate them with some soldiers.”
Lex was already desperate to secure his position.
If the count suggested to Lex to subjugate the bandits, Lex would have no reason to refuse.
To the countess, Kedol’s plan seemed quite feasible.
She liked Kedol’s plan and asked him for more details.
“Are you going to prepare the bandits?”
“Of course. As well as hiding some assassins in a suitable location, Lex will never come back alive.”
“That’s a good plan.”
“But things like the number of soldiers or the plan to send Lex out… I think you have to persuade the count yourself.”
“It’s not hard for me to move him. Sir Kedol. Proceed as you said.”
It had been almost ten years since the countess married into the count’s house.
For her, controlling the count was not a difficult thing.
The count was a person with a fiery temper, but she knew how to deal with someone like him.
It was easy for her to help Kedol’s plan.
“Soon we’ll see Max as the eldest son of the count’s house.”
If the plan went as planned, there would be no more obstacles in front of Max Meyer.
Chwak.
The countess folded her fan and smiled as she thought of the bright future.
She had no idea what would happen to her in the future.
***
“They’ve done it cleanly.”
Cloud’s first-class investigator, Agent Period, muttered as he looked at the empty village.
Plates filled with food.
And the scorch marks on the floor.
Except for the people who had lived in this village, the traces of life were left as they were.
Only people had disappeared from the village.
It was a strange sight for anyone to see.
“So this was what they reported.”
What the Agent saw in the village was what had been reported once before.
If there had been a battle, there should have been some bloodstains somewhere, but there was no trace of blood anywhere in the village.
Only the traces that they had been alive were left cold.
The soup that looked like they had left for eating was already swarming with flies.
The village had been neglected for quite some time.
If they could make people disappear from a village of this size in an instant, it was also understandable that an inquisitor had gone missing.
“It’s no wonder that the inquisitor disappeared in this situation.”
The villagers who had disappeared without leaving any trace of movement.
As far as the Agent knew, there weren’t many people who could do this.
A cult of the evil god.
Or a high-level black mage who deals with corpses.
The cultists offer human lives as sacrifices to the evil god, and the black mage uses the dead as his own power.
The sight that existed in front of him was something that only those people could access.
Either way, they were dangerous enemies.
“It would be faster to deal with the black mage than the cult. But I’m worried about the fact that the missing person is an inquisitor.”
Black mages usually don’t form groups because of their unique personalities.
Therefore, if the enemy was a black mage, Agent could try to subjugate him alone.
But if the enemy was a cult, it was a different story.
No matter how strong Agent was, he couldn’t fight against all the members of the cult by himself.
He had to match numbers with numbers.
To subjugate the cult, he had to bring enough personnel from Cloud.
“Hmm…”
This was also an efficient method for searching for the cult or the black mage.
If he brought more investigators from Cloud, he could find the enemy’s location faster.
The cult and the black mage.
Agent decided to weigh more on the former between the two.
The news of the hero’s appearance had already spread throughout the empire.
The reason why the inquisitor of the holy land came around the same time was probably because he was chasing after the traces of the cult.
Besides, there was no harm in being prepared thoroughly.
“I’ll have to mark the location for now.”
Agent took out a map from his pocket after making a decision.
The map of Centrius region was only allowed to Agent, who was the chief investigator in Cloud.
Agent had been drawing his own map whenever he had time.
It was to check the location on the map whenever a large-scale incident occurred.
He took out a map with approximate locations of villages marked on it, and engraved a mark on each place where reports had come up and where he had visited.
The villages marked on the map tended to cluster in similar areas.
“If I investigate a few more places, I might be able to guess their direction.”
The marks engraved on the map were evidence of the enemy’s activity range.
If he calculated their direction based on the order of disappearance of villages, he could also calculate their movement.
If he brought a team of investigators from Cloud and calculated the range of disappeared villages, he would be able to find their location soon.
After making a rough judgment about the enemy, Agent moved his steps toward his horse that he had tied up.
Thud. Thud.
Only Agent’s footsteps echoed in the desolate village.
