Along with that yell, a glass of wine was thrown past the man who had brought in the report, hitting a wall, falling to the ground, and splattering wine onto the expensive carpet, giving the air a strong alcohol smell.
However, the man spoke again, despite being yelled at by the person in front of him……his master.
「As I said, the warehouse where the Silva family had taken the corpse of the abnormal species to investigate was attacked by someone. Furthermore, it seems it was set on fire.」
「What! Who ordered such a thing! It was true that young Vosk was being a nuisance, but he wasn’t a clear enemy of mine! Yet, here we are, openly antagonising them!」
There was a reason, of course, for Schaffner’s frustration.
The Silva family was headed by Vosk, the youngest of the three family heads that governed Exil. There were many adventurers in the Silva family who looked up to Vosk as sort of an older brother. Of course, even if they were corrupt, the Levisor family was also one of the three families. They still had a certain amount of strength, but it only reached so far.
At the very least, Schaffner didn’t think he could fight the Silva family head on……
What to do, what to do. If they fought, they would definitely lose. Then, how could they avoid fighting……
Like that, Schaffner pondered how to deal with the matter, but his subordinate continued to report.
「Don’t worry. It wasn’t the Levisor family that attacked the warehouse.」
At those words, Schaffner, who had been red faced in thought, suddenly froze as he spoke cautiously.
「……What did you say? Is that true?」
「Yes. At the very least, last night, the Levisor family didn’t make any moves. So it was probably a completely different group that attacked the warehouse.」
「Hmm……hmm……hmm! I see! Then there shouldn’t be any problems. Seriously, you shouldn’t have been in such a rush. But in that case……does that mean it was the Marschel family that attacked?」
There were currently only three families that governed Exil, the Silva family, Marschel family, and the Levisor family. The Silva family had been the one that was attacked and the Levisor hadn’t made any moves. In that case, the only family left was the Marschel family.
Reaching that conclusion, Schaffner exclaimed with pleasure.
「Hmph, that jewel freak finally did something useful for me. I never thought she’d be the one to show that young man pain instead of me. Hahaha. This is delightful. I hope that young man learns his lesson.」
Knowing that the Levisor family’s forces hadn’t been the one to attack, Schaffner naturally thought that he was completely safe as he poured wine into a new glass and lifted it up in celebration as he spoke.
「The young man is going to be in a world of pain for being on the wrong side. No, this is just an unfortunate coincidence. I don’t know what he did to that jewel freak to make her attack the Silva family, but it’s nothing but good luck to me.」
The man who had brought the report to Schaffner, who was in a good mood as he brought the wine to his mouth, stood quietly without saying anything.
Schaffner held no concern for the man, but looking at him, he suddenly thought of an idea.
「That’s right. Should I take this opportunity to hit the Silva family some more? ……Hey, get in touch with the Marschel family as soon as possible. Tell them I’ll allow them to work with me.」
At those words, the man who was quietly watching Schaffner spoke up.
「I understand. But, if there’s a big uproar here, it will naturally spread to the rest of Exil. ……Will that be okay?」
「Hmm? I don’t know what you’re worried about.」
「I fear the residents of Exil will be affected.」
I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Schaffner tilted his head as his wrinkled face contorted.
「Their numbers will quickly grow back. It doesn’t matter if a few of them die.」
Schaffner’s eyes as he spoke showed that he meant what he said.
The man lost his breath at Schaffner’s response, but gave a small nod before speaking again.
「By the way, what would you like to do about the Church of Holy Light? If we bring them over, I think they could be used as a decent force.」
「……Oh, there are those guys. But, they’re fools who would let abnormal species escape so easily. I think think they’ll be useful.」
「Then?」
「Oh, no. Even if there are only a few of them, there are still enough to form a wall. So far, they haven’t been of much use to us, but we can use them here. Hey, summon them……」
Summon them here. As Schaffner was about to say that, a man suddenly burst into the room.
「I-I-I-It……It’s terrible!」
「Ehhh-, what’s the matter? It’s a time to celebrate!」
Schaffner, who had thought things were going as well as they could for him, couldn’t forgive the person who had burst into the room, interrupting him.
However, the man didn’t seem to take notice of Schaffner at all as he continues speaking in confusion.
「The Silva family……the Silva family……」
「What happened with the Silva family? Were they finally crushed by the Marschel family? In that case, we’re doing very well……」
It seemed Schaffner was still somewhat drunk from the wine he had been drinking. He tried to spin the words while dreaming of the best outcome for himself……
「The Silva family’s forces are heading for the residence!」
「……」
Silence.
At first, Schaffner couldn’t understand what the man was saying.
He wondered if his hearing was off due to his drunkenness, but of course, that was impossible.
Slowly absorbing the contents of the man’s report in his mind, when he finally realised what he said, Schaffner tilted his head and asked the man what he was talking about.
「What? I’m sorry, but could you say that again? In my old age, it seems I misheard you.」
「I said, the Silva family’s forces are on their way here!」
「……Nonsense! If they were on their way somewhere, it would be towards the Marschel family, who attacked their warehouse! Why come to my residence? You must be mistaken!」
「It’s no mistake! Moreover, Vosk, the head of the Silva family, is leading his men himself.」
With those words, the room was filled with silence again.
Schaffner broke it as he slammed the glass he was holding onto the table.
「That……young bastard! He’s using this to do something to me!? That’s right, what are you doing? Prepare to intercept them immediately! Also, order the Church of Holy Light to send reinforcements. Oh, and the Marschel family. Tell them to keep me out of their fights and to come with their forces right away!」
His rapid fire instructions, even in his old age, were enough to show that Schaffner was the head of the Levisor family.
Even if his premise was wrong.
THe two men in the room immediately left to carry out his orders.
Watching them leave, he angrily slammed a 30cm tall barrel of wine that had been on the table onto the floor.
The wine spilled over the floor and was absorbed by the carpet, creating a strong alcohol smell. However, Schaffner didn’t seem to be bothered by this as he grit his teeth.
Fortunately, it was still daytime and he wasn’t that drunk. If it had been a night raid, the Silva family would have attacked when when he was completely unable to think in his drunkenness.
「Thinking about it, it’s still not the worst thing that could have happened.」
Muttering, he began to move to face the Silva family’s forces heading for his residence.
「Stop, stop-!」
On the road leading to the Levisor residence, Vosk, the head of the Silva family, led those that were indebted to him or looked up to him.
Most of them were adventurers, but some could be considered ordinary people who were good at rough tasks.
Furthermore, there were also those of slender build who weren’t accustomed to rough work.
There were about 300 of them. The Silva family was indeed one to be reckoned with, able to gather so many people with one voice.
Against them, a group of men from the Levisor family appeared and called out to the Silva family.
Compared to the Silva family’s force, there were considerably less of them, but they still numbered over 100.
One of them called out to Vosk, who was at the front of his group, as if to deliver a message to all of them.
Although he was addressing someone of equal standing to Schaffner, his master, there was no respect in his tone.
He had constantly heard Schaffner refer to Vosk as a young man, and above all, he had no intention of showing any respect to anyone who would attack the Levisor family.
「……So, are you going to stop us with that number of people?」
As one of the three governing families, the Levisor family naturally had a large road built right up to their mansion. Especially after Schaffner, who care about his appearance, became the head of the Levisor family, the road had been paved with bricks, making it wide and beautiful.
On this wide road, that could easily accommodate 10 carriages side by side, the Silva and Levisor families faced each other.
With murderous intent from both sides, the disadvantage in numbers could be felt. There were many people on the Levisor family’s side that were likely to run away immediately if anything went wrong.
「Stop at once, what are you trying to do! How dare a man in your position as governor of Exil use his own military might to attack the Levisor family……who has done nothing wrong!」
「Shut up!」
Done nothing wrong.
The moment he heard those words, Vosk pulled out his huge claymore, his favoured sward, and swung it.
The man stopped talking at the swing that seemed to shatter the air.
Vosk glared at the man with a fixated look in his eyes before suddenly turning around and giving a signal.
Seeing that signal, several people brought a cart pulled by a horse up to Vosk’s side.
「……Look. This guy, you should be familiar with him?」
Vosk pointed the tip of his sword towards the corpse of a man that was in the cart.
At the sight of the corpse, the face of the man who had been talking with Vosk contorted in astonishment.
It was a young man in his late teens or early twenties. The clothes he was wearing were covered in numerous cuts and scratches, there were also traces of blood that had been discoloured and darkened.
However, it wasn’t the young man’s corpse that surprised the man.
As an adventurer, he was used to seeing corpses, both monster and human.
Stil, he was surprised to see the corpse of the man on the back of the cart because, as Vosk had said, it was someone he had seen before.
「This is……」
「Why are you so surprised? This is a man who, until a few days ago, had been employed by the Levisor family.」
Vosk implicitly said that it was the Levisor family that had created the cause of this conflict, but the man couldn’t admit that so easily.
If he admitted it, the fault of this conflict would be blamed on the Levisor family.
「Sure, the man was hired by the Levisor family, but he had already been forced to resign because he acted in a way that wasn’t in accordance with the wishes of Schaffner-sama. I don’t know what the man did, but he has nothing to do with the Levisor family!」
「……Huh? Hey, where the hell do you think we found this guy’s body?」
The man spoke up again, as if he didn’t care what Vosk said, trying to suppress his own anger.
「I don’t know! Again, that person has already been fired by the Levisor family. No matter what they do, it has nothing to do with us!」
Hearing those words, Vosk started to get angry.
As an adventurer, he was always aware that his fellow adventurers could die. That was why if they had been killed my monsters or died due to lack of strength within the dungeon, he would have been saddened but not angered.
But not this time. They had died inside the city, where they should have been safe……and probably because they were attacked by someone who didn’t want to reveal the problem with abnormal species appearing in the dungeon.
That was why Vosk lifted his claymore and pointed it towards the man serving the Levisor family.
「This guy was found inside the warehouse where we were researching the abnormal species after the attack. Why do you think he was there? Of course we didn’t hire him. Shortly before the attack, he was fired from the Levisor family as if he had nothing to do with you anymore.」
Vosk’s voice echoed out between the Silva and Levisor families as they faced each other.
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