Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 13 - Chapter 1.5

5

“Impossible!” Ciluel shouted. “Why are you here...? What were my men doing?!”

“Oh, the members of the militia carried out their duty just fine. It was a real shock, seeing such a huge unit deployed along the highway,” Kamyua Yoshu said with a grin, his gaze turning toward Donda Ruu. “Donda Ruu, the three hunters from your clan that I borrowed have safely returned. Since they don’t have passes, they met up with the group of hunters standing by near the gates.”

The Ruu clan head silently nodded.

Having been thoroughly brushed off, Ciluel started stamping his feet again.

“You’re under suspicion of sending bandits to the plantations! It couldn’t be... Did you kill soldiers of the militia?”

“Of course not. We appealed to their hearts and minds and had them open the way to us. You may say I’m under suspicion, but it’s not as if there’s an official warrant out for me, after all.”

Kamyua Yoshu really was just the same as always.

Thanks to the long journey, his clothes looked a bit filthy, but his aloof attitude and grin hadn’t changed a bit. And with one of his long, spindly arms, he gestured toward the still-open door.

“By the way, I brought along one more guest. Melfried, the pass you gave me didn’t go to waste after all.”

The young man who then appeared looked exactly as you’d expect of a noble. He had black hair, unusual for a westerner, and his skin was an ivory white that didn’t seem like it had ever been tanned much by the sun. He had a medium build and a youthful face, but he wore a serious look. As for his attire, since he had on the same sort of long cloak as Kamyua Yoshu, I could only see that he wore some high-quality leather shoes.

Everyone’s piercing gazes were fixated on the man, trying to see if it was someone they recognized.

“This is Lord Welhide of the Banarm ducal house. He is the second son of the duke’s younger sister, placing him sixth in line in terms of succession.”

“Th-The Banarm ducal house?!” Ciluel shouted, his voice cracking.

Though his mouth remained firmly shut, the man’s light brown eyes turned toward the militia leader.

“The leader of the envoys who were attacked ten years ago was Lord Welhide’s father. I believe he also has a right to know the truth, and so I asked him to accompany me,” Kamyua Yoshu nonchalantly replied with a smile.

As he shot the aloof bodyguard a stormy glare, Cyclaeus quietly asked, “Jimon... are these two the only guests...? If so, hurry up and close the door.”

“Yes, lord...” Jimon replied while showing a bit of hesitation. Ultimately, though, he offered no retort to his master and just slowly closed the heavy door.

“I really am sorry for not only showing up later than agreed, but also bringing along more guests than expected. Ah, you don’t need to prepare any more seats. Leito, could you give yours to Lord Welhide?”

“Of course,” Leito replied as he stood, and Welhide silently went ahead and seated himself.

“Kamyua Yoshu... What exactly is your aim here...?” Cyclaeus asked.

“My aim?” Kamyua repeated, tilting his head. “Well, let’s see... I had already planned on inviting Lord Welhide in advance. After all, since you’re just as influential as Duke Genos himself, I figured I needed a witness who wouldn’t be intimidated by that fact. Lord Welhide seemed a suitable candidate due to his ties to the matters in question, and I’ve been trying to convince him to join in even up to yesterday.”

Cyclaeus just sat there silently glaring.

“Melfried prepared me a letter of introduction, but that didn’t change the fact that I was just a traveler with no one else to back me up. It took quite a bit of time to obtain a meeting with the noble ducal house. Then in the meantime those bandits dressed in the attire of the forest’s edge started appearing around Genos, but since we were in Banarm from the sixth of the white month until the thirteenth, we at least couldn’t possibly have been involved in those crimes. And considering I have the looks of someone from Mahyudra and there were three people of the forest’s edge along with me, the guy running the inn where we were staying certainly wouldn’t fail to remember us.”

If I remembered correctly, those bandits were active until the day I was released from Cyclaeus’s manor, on the ninth of the white month. It was possible Kamyua Yoshu had openly remained in Banarm in order to secure an alibi.

“It seems like I’m suspected of directing those bandits, but ultimately, there’s no proof to that claim. When I explained that I needed to escort Lord Welhide, a noble of Banarm, to Genos, the men in the militia all willingly opened the way to us.”

“You... You went so far as to involve the Banarm ducal house in your wicked plot?”

“I’m not the one who mixed them up in all this. That’s down to whoever attacked those envoys ten years ago. If it weren’t for that tragic incident, Lord Welhide likely would’ve never even set foot in Genos,” Kamyua replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

And then from beside him, Welhide finally spoke up. “I... I came here to learn the truth. I was told that if I came to this place, I would find out the true circumstances behind my father’s death... And I intend to apologize directly to Duke Marstein Genos later on for rudely passing through the gates without notice.”

Leito and this young man’s circumstances really were a lot alike, both having lost a father to those attacks ten years ago. For sure, he didn’t come because Kamyua Yoshu asked. It was the culprit behind those murders that drew him here.

“Now then, it looks like we’ve got all the players gathered together... I really, truly am grateful that you came here today, Bartha.”

“I’ve been hesitating this whole time over whether I would or not, but last night I finally worked up the nerve.”

Bartha’s ferocious stare met directly with Kamyua Yoshu’s mysterious gaze.

By hurrying here as a witness, Bartha set herself to be judged as a criminal... and Kamyua Yoshu must have known that right from the start. For a long moment, his penetrating gaze lingered on her before turning back toward Cyclaeus.

“From what I can see, it looks like the interrogation has more or less come to a close. We’ve got the first son of Duke Genos, Melfried, Lord Welhide of the Banarm ducal house, and if I’m not mistaken, even the legal officer from the castle. You still haven’t admitted to your crimes, even when faced with all these elites, huh?”

“Kamyua Yoshu... Why are you so determined to cause harm to our fair land of Genos...?”

“Cause harm to Genos? Not at all. All I want is a fair trial and for Genos to prosper,” Kamyua Yoshu said with a grin as he waved his right arm in a wide arc. When his long cloak trailed behind him, it looked as if a huge bird was spreading out a single wing or something. And then, he placed his left hand over his heart. “My god is the western god Selva. Fifteen years ago, I renounced the northern god Mahyudra. And all I desire is peace for Genos, a part of Selva’s territory.”

“How insolent... If you perform such a ritual to the gods untruthfully, your soul will be ripped into four...”

“Yup. And is there really reason enough for me to want to bring harm to Selva so badly that I’d sacrifice my very soul? It’s true that the western kingdom didn’t exactly welcome me with open arms, but that was nothing compared to how I was treated in Mahyudra.” With a grin, Kamyua folded his arms again. “Otherwise, why would I need to change gods in the first place? I might have been born in Mahyudra, but my mother and I were persecuted constantly there. So after my mother passed, I had no ties left to that place and changed gods. If I were going to curse any blood in my veins, I’d think of causing trouble for Mahyudra, not Selva.”

Cyclaeus quietly glared.

“But fortunately Genos is pretty far removed from Mahyudra, so it’s rare for anyone to persecute someone like me. Thanks to that, I can freely wish for Genos’s prosperity without any reservations. Still, are you certain you aren’t the ones who cursed the world, Count Cyclaeus?”

Still no response.

“You two didn’t wish for Genos’s prosperity, or even glory for the Turan house. All you wanted was to boost your own fortunes. Looking back, wasn’t that the start of all this tragedy?”

Even as he nonchalantly chuckled, Kamyua Yoshu’s eyes had begun taking on that piercing look. It was a mysterious light in his eyes that somehow reminded me of Granny Jiba.

“From what I’m told, you were originally a second son, Count Cyclaeus. And here in Genos, just being part of a count’s house isn’t all that valuable. I’ve heard Lord Polarth of the house of Daleim lament that second sons have no choice but to live their lives in the shadows.”

Even at that, Cyclaeus remained silent.

“Still, Lord Polarth doesn’t seem to have enough ambition in him to push aside his father and older brother in order to grab hold of prosperity for himself. What was the case for you, though? Just what sort of emotions festered in your heart at having been born as a mere second son of a house given just the small Turan territory to rule over?”

“You intend on slandering me even further...?”

“This isn’t slander. It’s an accusation,” Kamyua Yoshu readily replied. “In those incidents from ten years ago involving the people of the forest’s edge and the Red Beards... You had the leading clan head Zattsu Suun attack the merchant caravan heading for Sym, the envoys from Banarm, and the previous militia leaders. Those are the three incidents I’ve been able to clearly identify, but I’m sure you’ve done much more aside from those. Going even further back to thirty years in the past, I suspect that you also murdered your father and older brother, the previous Count Turan and the next in line.”

“You...”

“There was no way you would be able to bear living a life in the shadows. And that’s why you took care of your father and brother, right? I couldn’t find any proof on the matter, but first your older brother fell from a totos and broke his neck, and then less than a year later the previous count passed away from illness. I’m assuming that ‘illness’ came from poisonous herbs from Sym.”

“You... You dare try to bring me, the head of the noble Turan house, down without any proof whatsoever...?” Cyclaeus retorted as he glared at Kamyua Yoshu’s tall frame as if he was staring at an amoeba.

As for Kamyua Yoshu, he just kept on looking back with that mysterious gaze and a relaxed smile.

“You want to charge me for acting disrespectfully toward a noble? If you really turn out to be innocent, then go ahead. After all, I intend to keep heaping on more disrespect from here on out. What I’ve discussed up till now have all been crimes far in the past... But you don’t have any intention of curbing your ambition from here on out, now do you?”

“You insolent...”

“I tried going ahead and stretching my imagination to its limit. First you murdered your own family, then employed slaves to expand your fortune, and used the people of the forest’s edge to secure even greater prosperity... So just what sort of plans have you drawn up for the future beyond that?”

Cyclaeus was silent.

“Among the houses of the three counts of Genos, the Turan now hold the most power. So much so that you can stand shoulder to shoulder with Duke Genos himself. In that case, your next target can’t be anything else but Duke Genos’s fortune. You started off by taking control of the trade of foods, and now you’re expanding into metalwork. Just last month, I hear you entered into an exclusive trade contract with Jeland, the town in Jagar famous for its steel.”

He must have been talking about the merchant group led by Diel’s father.

“From what I’m told, those metalwork traders visiting from the south have been entrusted with providing all the cookware sold in the castle town, as well as the weapons used by soldiers. Once that’s all set in place, are you planning on taking control of the stonemason or construction groups next? While Duke Marstein Genos is occupied with official business, you plot to plunder all the profits earned in the castle town, don’t you, Count Cyclaeus?”

“It goes without saying that that is all baseless slander...”

It felt as if I could sense a pitch black miasma rising inside Cyclaeus’s small body.

His pale eyes had finally taken on the glare of an injured beast. And opposing him, Kamyua Yoshu just kept wearing the same thin smile.

“So without proof, you can just wave everything away by calling it slander, eh? Well, the only matters I can accuse you of with raw logic are those incidents from ten years back. But if I can prove those crimes, that would be enough to bring home a clear victory, so I’ll have to leave the rest to Duke Genos at that point.”

“You accursed fool...! The blood of Mahyudra runs in your veins, so who would ever believe what you have to say?!” Ciluel exploded for the first time in a while. “Sir Zylus! As the vice-chief legal officer, I would like you to make a clear statement! Is it not fitting for that scoundrel to be whipped and then driven out of Genos?!”

“If you intend to make claims of disrespect, that should be properly judged according to the laws of Genos,” the old man calmly responded. “However... Before that, it is necessary to hear out and examine this Kamyua Yoshu man’s claims regarding the incidents ten years ago.”

“What?! That’s utterly ridiculous! It’s all slander by this man, meant to unjustly bring about our downfall!”

“In that case, it is important to prove that it is in fact slander. And as you can see, they have gone so far as to prepare a witness,” Zylus said, glancing over at Bartha. “We must start by determining in an official trial whether this woman Bartha’s words or your own are the truth.”

“Insanity! Are you claiming the words of some bandit hold the same weight as a noble’s?!”

“This bandit has gone so far as to acknowledge her own crimes in order to testify against you. And so I would say the question of the weight of one’s words is not relevant here.”

“Sir Zylus, you... You come from a branch of the Saturas bloodline, do you not?” Ciluel murmured, looking even more cornered than his brother.

And as Ciluel got all worked up again, Cyclaeus once more closed his eyes.

“So the house of Saturas has been spurred on by the foolish second son of Count Daleim to turn on our Turan house, has it?! You intend to use this conspiracy to bring about our noble house’s downfall, do you?!”

“Your statement just now is what I would call baseless slander. I was invited here not as a member of the house of Saturas, but in my role as legal officer.”

“As if anyone could believe such words! You formulated this plot aiming for our fortune! You’re nothing but a mundt, scrounging for carrion flesh to pick clean!”

Zylus deeply furrowed his brow, looking truly displeased. “I ask that you hold your tongue, Lord Ciluel. You have used muddied words, intimidation, and outright avoiding the questions asked of you not only now, but also with the reasonable queries posed by the leading clan heads of the forest’s edge. It should be clear to anyone just whose words are more reasonable here, without needing to wait for an official hearing.”

“Who cares what the people of the forest’s edge have to say?! They’re nothing but a group of filthy barbarians who slurp down giba blood!”

It was obvious Ciluel had completely lost it.

Zylus gave a sour look as he held his tongue, while Kamyua Yoshu flashed a smile and took up the reins.

“Lord Ciluel, leader of the militia... In actuality, I’ve only raised a single point so far without firm proof. But I suppose I could see you writing off those words as slander with that in mind.”

Hearing that, Ciluel turned in utter bewilderment to face Kamyua Yoshu.

Still wearing a faint smile, the aloof bodyguard narrowed his eyes as he stared back.

“Everything I’ve discussed up till now required an unshakeable pact between the two of you in order to carry out. Since Count Cyclaeus is the head of the house of Turan, I had suspected him as the primary offender, but...now that I’m finally getting a good look at you firsthand, that assumption has been shaken.”

Ciluel sat there, his body trembling.

“Could it be...that it was you rather than Count Cyclaeus who drafted up this whole plot, Lord Ciluel?”

The instant those words slipped free from Kamyua Yoshu’s lips, Ciluel’s hand shot to his hip.

However, there was no sword attached to his leather belt. Thanks to that, nobody instantly reacted. What was there instead, though, was some small silver ornament, which didn’t look in any way like a weapon.

Actually, it seemed more like a bell or something, which Ciluel soon rang, signaling the large curtain behind him to audibly swing open.

Just as Ai Fa had sensed, there were dozens of soldiers waiting there, and all of them were holding drawn bows notched with arrows.

“Nobody move! If you do, I’ll send every last one of your souls to Selva!” Ciluel shouted, with a loud bark of triumphant laughter.

“I can’t believe this...” Zylus sputtered in shock. “H-Have you gone mad, Lord Ciluel? Both Lord Melfried and the son of house Banarm, Lord—”

“If they’re all dead, then their rank doesn’t matter in the least! Our foolish father and brother proved that full well!” Ciluel shouted, ducking down atop his chair. Was there a steel plate to protect him from stray arrows or something hidden in its huge back?

Half of the soldiers kneeled down while the others remained standing, meaning they were prepared to fire their arrows from two separate rows. And there had to be at least thirty of them in total. If they all fired their bows, there wouldn’t be anywhere to escape here in this room.

“You’re a fool, Kamyua Yoshu! And so are all of you who let him smooth-talk you! After every last one of you is dead, the house of Turan will rule over Genos for all eternity!”

Even as Ciluel raged away madly, Cyclaeus just kept sitting beside him with his eyes closed. The smile had vanished from his bluish-gray face, and without it, he just looked like a sickly, decrepit old man whose power had left him.

As for Ai Fa and the other hunters of the forest’s edge, they all didn’t look shaken in the least, just profoundly angry.

“So you’ve gone and acknowledged your crimes without even needing to wait for the trial?” Kamyua Yoshu casually asked. “I’d like to say you’ve saved us some trouble... But it’s not like you’re avoiding judgment either way. You’re just trying to cover up your old crimes with new ones.”

“Silence, you insolent fool! Every last one of you will die here and now!”

“You really intend to make enemies of the ducal houses of both Genos and Banarm? You may be a member of a count’s house, but even you won’t be able to escape being executed for this.”

“During the meeting, our guests from the forest’s edge suddenly grew violent... We had no choice but to order our men to fire their arrows in order to protect ourselves,” Ciluel said in a voice like boiling sludge, moistening his thick lips with his tongue. “Though it was truly unfortunate, Lord Melfried and our guest from Banarm got caught up in what followed... I’d imagine Duke Genos will be quite distraught at having lost his precious heir.”

“I see. So you had that in mind when you took away Melfried’s blades too. Still, he’s just as skilled and brave as the hunters of the forest’s edge, so—”

“The time for arguing is past!”

For a second time, Ciluel reached out and rang that silver bell.

Instantly, the arrows went flying... or at least, that’s what I figured.

I wasn’t exactly able to see it myself, after all. That was because the moment the bell rang, someone kicked out the legs of my stool and the world flipped around me.

As my back thudded hard on the ground, I heard two strange sounds. The first of them was someone’s muffled groan, while the other was a sharp grass whistle blown by a hunter of the forest’s edge.

“You’re not injured, are you, Asuta?” Ai Fa asked from overhead.

Sure enough, she had been the one to knock over my stool. Glancing up at her, I saw that she was now kneeling right next to me.

She was holding onto the legs of a stool, which now had numerous arrows stuck in it. With nowhere to run, she had apparently acted swiftly and used her own seat as a shield. Considering those soldiers looked to only be around five or six meters away, that really was an astounding feat of reflexes and pure physical ability.

As I lay there on my back, I glanced around and saw that the other hunters had protected the rest of our comrades in the same way. Gulaf Zaza and Gazraan Rutim stood imposingly in front of the former members of the Suun clan, Melfried had Zylus covered, and Bartha protected Welhide. Not a single person present looked to be injured.

Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Kamyua Yoshu’s voice whispered into my ear, “Whew, that was a close one. I never imagined they’d resort to such forceful methods.”

I figured he sounded awful close, and as it turned out he was on his hands and knees right behind me. And underneath his cloak, he was cradling Leito like an infant. Since he didn’t have a stool to use as a shield, Kamyua Yoshu had hugged the ground behind Ai Fa in order to escape the danger.

“Wh-What about Cyclaeus and Ciluel...?”

“No worries there. Looks like they’re dealing with an unexpected visitor, though.”

Not getting what he meant, I sat up, and what I saw was definitely unexpected.

Ciluel’s weighty frame was hanging in the air. And the one holding it was Donda Ruu. In his left hand he held a stool riddled with arrows, and in his right he had grabbed Ciluel by the collar as he stood in the center of the room.

“You damn criminal... How dare you attempt to do such a thing to my comrades,” Donda Ruu’s voice rumbled as Ciluel desperately gasped. At their feet, his weighty-looking chair had tumbled over.

And then, there was Cyclaeus.

The older of the wicked nobles wasn’t exactly able to move freely either. As to why, it was because a figure clad in a hunter’s cloak had pressed a crescent-shaped blade up to his throat.

The boy had flaming red disheveled hair and skinny limbs, and was clearly a hunter of Masara who I could never mistake even from behind.

“Jeeda... What are you doing in a place like this?” Bartha quietly asked.

Jeeda stayed turned away, offering no response.

Instead, the one to answer was Ai Fa, as she pulled me up while still keeping on guard with the stool.

“He has been hiding up in the ceiling, it seems. I sensed his presence slip out several times, but you didn’t notice, Bartha of Masara?”

“Embarrassing as it is to admit, I didn’t notice a thing. Apparently I’m not on the same level as you or that idiot son of mine as a hunter.” Bartha’s face looked somewhat sad as I stared at her from the side, her long hair hanging down. “Jeeda, don’t hurt him. What he needs to face isn’t a blade fueled by revenge, but the law’s judgment.”

Even still, Jeeda didn’t respond.

If he had been hiding up in the ceiling, he must have also heard Bartha’s words brimming with resolve. When that thought came to mind, it caused me to choke up a bit too.

“Well, what are you going to do? As you can see, your masters have fallen into our hands,” Donda Ruu solemnly proclaimed.

The soldiers up along the inner wall had all frozen in place with their second volley of arrows at the ready.

“You can’t silence us with such piddly arrows. How about you try drawing those blades at your hips next? Not that it will change anything...”

Thanks to the face guards on their helmets, it was impossible to read the expressions on those soldiers. However, I could see a number of them glancing over toward Melfried.

“What are you doing?! Kill them!” Ciluel shouted as he was suspended high in the air. “You fired arrows at Melfried! If he makes it out of here alive, you’ll all be hanged! If you value your lives, you’ll kill every last one of them!”

“That is untrue. The crimes here all belong to the traitor Ciluel,” Melfried emotionlessly stated. “You members of the militia were unable to go against his orders. However, as of this moment, this man has lost the right to act as your leader. From here on out, you are to follow my orders as leader of the ducal guard.”

“Don’t be fooled! If you lay down your weapons, your whole family line will be wiped out!”

While the bows remained taut, the tips of the arrows swayed as if searching for a target.

It was then that the door behind us suddenly flew open and Jimon came tumbling into the room. Well, not that he entered of his own will, though. As his back slammed down into the carpet, the man started twisting and groaning in anguish.

“Gahaha! You certainly went all-out here, Donda Ruu! I was getting nervous and starting to think I wouldn’t have a chance to shine!”

It was Dan Rutim.

And Ludo and Darmu Ruu were there too, brandishing their weapons as they stepped inside.

“You didn’t enter through the window, Dan Rutim?” Dari Sauti questioned, only for Dan Rutim to give another hearty chuckle.

“This room’s windows have iron bars over them! So we had to clamber up to the neighboring room’s windows and let ourselves in that way! Deek Dom’s group stayed behind to hold back the soldiers outside!” Dan Rutim replied, rubbing under his round nose. “Still, this sure is one awful smell! It may be convenient, but we don’t need any giba warding fruit in the Rutim settlement!”

I had completely driven it from my mind, but apparently Dan Rutim had followed the smell of the giba warding fruit to this room. And then the grass whistle Gazraan Rutim blew must have acted as a signal for them to come running.

At any rate, it seemed to have clinched our victory.

Dan Rutim, Ludo and Darmu Ruu, and Rau Lea were all standing there with blades in their hands and the wrath of hunters burning brightly in their eyes. While there were only four of them, they were strong and imposing enough to completely overwhelm the thirty soldiers facing them.

“Cast aside your weapons and surrender. If you follow that command immediately, I promise that you shall not face any greater punishment than confinement,” Melfried stated, at which point the soldiers lowered their bows.

“You fools!” Ciluel angrily roared. And then, Donda Ruu firmly threw the man’s body down at his feet. Ciluel writhed in pain and moaned like a toad on the verge of dying.

“Your name is Melfried, isn’t it? Since you’re the son of the lord of Genos, I’ve got a question I’d like to ask you,” Donda Ruu said, slowly turning to face the young noble. “It’s been made perfectly clear today that this Ciluel man is guilty. But it isn’t definitive yet just how deep Cyclaeus’s crimes go... So does that mean we have to keep treating him as the representative for the lord of Genos?”

“Ciluel’s guilt is indeed clear... As for Count Cyclaeus’s crimes, we will have to hold an official trial,” Melfried replied, his gray eyes still keeping their usual chilliness. “Until that trial is finished, the laws of Genos say that he is to be removed from all official duties.”

“I see... But isn’t it possible he’ll manage to push all his crimes off on his brother in order to escape punishment?”

“As long as he isn’t truly innocent, things won’t play out that way,” an unfamiliar voice interjected.

Rau Lea had been closest to the door, so he swiftly turned that way.

“Who are you? Were there even more troops in hiding?”

The new group clad in white armor was eerily silent as they pushed their way into the room.

Ludo Ruu and the other hunters all immediately moved to face them, but after lining up to block the exit, the soldiers all stopped with machinelike precision.

And then, the tall man right in the center of the group stepped forward without any hesitation.

He was a middle-aged man, and he had long medium-brown hair. His mustache looked pretentious, to put it bluntly, and he had a slim, elegant figure. He was dressed in a nice-looking yet not gaudy Jagar-style collared vest and cylinder-legged pants. As he approached, his handsome face broke out in a relaxed grin.

Though he was dressed like someone from Jagar, his skin color marked him clearly as a westerner. Overall, he looked to be a noble man overflowing with strength and confidence, and he had a youthful yet majestic air about him.

“Ah, it’s been some time, Lord Welhide. Not since the wedding of the first daughter of Banarm? Anyway, I’m glad to see you doing well.”

Welhide had been pale as he watched Donda Ruu and the others have their exchange, but now he swiftly hung his head. And the soldiers who had tossed aside their bows had started moaning in fear.

“I ordered the soldiers out front to lay down their blades too. It didn’t seem like any of our comrades from the forest’s edge were injured, so that’s certainly a relief.”

Donda Ruu just silently met that grin with a glare.

And from beside me, Kamyua Yoshu casually called out, “Well, well. I never imagined a slouch like you would drag himself all the way here.”

“What are you saying? You are the one who sent a messenger to inform me of Lord Welhide’s arrival, aren’t you? I couldn’t exactly loaf around after hearing of that.” Then, the man looked over to Cyclaeus, who still had Jeeda’s blade pressed to his throat, and sighed. “It truly is a shame that things turned out this way, Count Cyclaeus. You’ve been most skillful at managing the Turan lands, so it’s really making my head hurt thinking of how things will go from here on out.”

As he still sat pressed down into his throne-like chair, Cyclaeus slowly opened his eyes. At once, his face went deathly pale, and a cold sweat started forming on his deeply wrinkled skin.

“It seems my fate is sealed, then...”

“That’s true. I’ll handle things from here to the best of my judgment, so you can just take it easy and wait for your trial.”

“Hmph... I’d certainly like to hear just how you’ll be handling things, and in detail,” Donda Ruu chimed in.

By this point, everyone must have realized just who the man was. And while still grinning, he bowed to Donda Ruu.

“From what I can tell, you seem to be one of the new leading clan heads of the forest’s edge, correct? My first task will surely be reforging a proper bond with all of you. By my name of Duke Marstein Genos, allow me to offer my apologies for my impoliteness up until now.”

It had been roughly eighty days now since I first arrived at the settlement at the forest’s edge. And now, I had met with the highest authority in all of Genos face to face.

Well, not that he had clearly seen my face just yet, though. It would still be a few hours more before I would talk to him directly, after all.

At any rate, that was how the curtain closed on the chaotic third meeting between Cyclaeus and the leading clan heads of the forest’s edge.