Sevens (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 91

Chapter 91 – As a Father
『Answer me! Are those vermin more important than us!?』

The young Sixth──Fiennes was yelling angrily at the Fifth, Fredericks whose white hair was starting to stand out.

But, Fredericks was taking care of the animals dressed in a way that was unthinkable for a noble.

The place was── the Walt House’s mansion.

A part of the garden was surrounded with fence where the animals were let free to move. There was even a shed for the sake of the animals.

Fredericks who was wearing fatigues that was easy to move in was piling up dried grass.

『──It has nothing to do with you.』

When Fredericks answered like that, Fiennes grabbed him.

『It has everything to do with me! You’re sending my little brothers and little sisters all over the place for political marriage, and are you going to keep only these vermin on your side huh!?』

It looked like the result would be clear if the huge Fiennes and the small Fredericks fought each other.

However, Fredericks easily threw away Fiennes with martial art.

Fredericks looked down on Fiennes.

His eyes were really cold.

『Your training is insufficient. If you’re free than go sweat some in the training ground.』

Fredericks said that before resuming his work. Fiennes didn’t say anything back and stood up before leaving the animal shed while gritting his teeth.

Then, the scenery was dyed in grey color and all movements stopped.

The Sixth folded his arms while,

『What do you think? Irritating right?』

「This is a bit horrible. Or rather, was there something that happened?」

When I asked for more detail, many horrible stories about the Fifth came out.

『Lyle, do you know how many brothers and sisters I had?』

「I don’t know the precise number.」

『There were 36 including me.』

「──Eh?」

I was surprised that there were that many.

『Including my mother, he had five wives in total both legal wife and concubines. The Fifth wanted a lot of children. What’s more he wanted them to be used as political tools.』

It seemed it had been decided where the many children would go to since they were born.

Most of the boys would be taken into another house as son-in-law, while sometimes they would also be made to become independent.

Regarding the girls, all of them married into other houses.

Perhaps it couldn’t be helped but, all of those marriages were political marriage.

「Eh, but, that──it was different with Milleia-san wasn’t it?」

Milleia-san──the great grandmother of Miranda and Shannon came from the Walt House. She was also the Sixth’s little sister.

Regarding Milleia-san, it should be the head of the Circry House who asked for her hand in marriage.

『Certainly it was because the man said he wanted to marry Milleia. But, the house of Miranda and Shannon is a Viscount house in the capital. It’s also a fact that it was convenient for the Walt House. Besides, Milleia was blind.』

If her hand wasn’t asked for marriage, she would be made to marry into a house that was convenient for the Walt House anyway.

The Sixth said that and watched the animals inside the scenery that was dyed grey.

「Dog, cat, horse──there are a lot.」

『That shitty father was indulgent towards animals after all. He was making a face that he never showed even toward his family. I hated him when I was a child seeing that.』

He made use of his children thoroughly for the sake of the house.

But, he was showing his soft side only towards animals.

I thought that it was horrible even just from listening like this, so who knew how great the anger inside Fiennes, who was right in the middle of it, was.

「──Does the Sixth, hate the Fifth even now?」

The Sixth scratched his head.

『I don’t know. Because there are also the things that I learned later on.』

The expression of the Sixth was complicated.

『He was affectionate to the animals rather than to us. There was even a time that I envied them when I was a child.』

「Err, his wives didn’t say anything about it?」

『They didn’t say anything. No, based from what I know, I didn’t think that they said anything.』

Speaking of the Fifth’s wives, his legal wife and concubines were woman from the eastern region of Bahnseim.

Because there was the circumstances of how they married into the Walt House in exchange of their house receiving support, perhaps they were unable to say their opinion strongly.

I thought that was also a horrible situation.

『Now then, next is』

The Sixth raised his face and the surrounding scenery started to be colored.

There was a slight change to the animal shed.

The animals inside the shed changed, and then a voice could be heard from inside.

It was the voice of the Fifth talking to the animals.

His voice was really kind.

『May, are you already fine? ──I see, that’s great.』

When I peered inside, over there was──

「That’s a strange horse.」

『Wrong──that’s a qilin.』

There was a filly there with white scales and gold mane.

The Sixth said that it was a qilin.

「Eh, but it doesn’t have any horn.」

『It can put its horn in and out freely. Normally it will keep it hidden and when it’s being wary it will let out its horn. When I came near, this fellow always let out its horn.』

Because there was a wound on its neck, the filly had bandages wrapped around its neck──the small qilin was fawning on Fredericks.

It rubbed its forehead on him, demanding to be patted.

Fredericks had aged quite much compared to the one in the memory just now.

But, he had a very kind expression.

It was a face that even I never saw before.

『Pops──the Fifth had mellowed a lot but, he wouldn’t show this kind of face even inside the Jewel. He really loves animal more than his children.』

「That’s──」

『Yeah, I’m being sarcastic. ──Forget I said that.』

The relationship of the Fifth and the Sixth couldn’t be simply said as good.

Right now I thought that they were in a relationship that recognized each other but──there was also deeply rooted matters between them.

After a while, Fiennes entered the shed.

Because he had grown compared to before, I could feel that several years had passed since the previous memory.

『Pops, a letter came from the palace. Looks like they really want to take a look at the qilin that the Walt House obtained.』

The qilin hid behind Fredericks hearing those words.

A small golden horn was coming out from its forehead.

I looked at the Sixth,

「You’re really hated.」

『It can’t be helped. After all I and the rest of the family were considering it as a tool somewhere inside. It was only pops who purely loved it.』

Riches and fame──qilin symbolized good fortune. Many people tried to approach them because of that.

The Sixth and his family at that time also weren’t exceptions to that.

But, the young qilin didn’t become emotionally attached to anyone other than Fredericks.

『At that time many nobles, merchants, and various other people came uninvited demanding to be shown the qilin. Pops turned away all of them though.』

But, when the request came from the palace it couldn’t be easily refused.

Fredericks made a serious face.

Fiennes snorted seeing Fredericks like that.

『They’re going to tell you to present that qilin anyway, so start preparing to hand it over. I’m looking forward to how much compensation we’ll get from a single qilin.』

His insinuation toward Fredericks was filled with various negative emotions.

The Sixth looked slightly ashamed watching his young self.

『At this time──I still, didn’t know anything. I didn’t even consider pops’ feelings.』

「His feelings?」

『Pops also had various circumstances. But, I myself also harbor dissatisfaction at him. It’s complicated.』

The Sixth said that he still couldn’t sort out his feeling and watched his young self.

『If only, he told me sooner.』

With those words as the trigger, the surrounding scenery subtly changed again.

This was the third memory just in this animal shed.

The third time looked like not much time had passed since the second memory.

And then, there was nothing at the spot where the qilin was at.

Fredericks was only cleaning the shed.

Fiennes entered there and yelled.

『──You let the qilin get away huh!』

Fredericks stopped his cleaning work and turned toward Fiennes.

『What about it? I’ll make an excuse at the palace. If something happen it’ll be my responsibility. You’ve nothing to complain with that right?』

『You’re going to protect it until that far? You, who thought of the house as more important than anything else──you’re going to do something that harms the house just for the sake of an animal without batting an eyelid? You’re a failure as a house head──no, a failure of a father.』

Fredericks smiled at Fiennes’s words.

It wasn’t the kind smile he directed towards animal, but a shadowed scary smile.

『You only noticed that now?』

Fiennes attacked but, he was manhandled by Fredericks easily once more.

The Sixth didn’t look weak.

It was the Fifth that was strong.

「The Fifth is strong isn’t he?」

『Hm? Aa, I guess. It seems he got taught various things by mothers. I heard there was a time when he was desperate to become strong. After this I also trained seriously. I’ll win if we fight now.』

The surrounding scenery vanished as though it was washed away by wind. When I noticed we were in the room of the round table.

The Sixth stood in front of me.

『Now then, this is my memory. What do you think, he’s a horrible guy right?』

The Sixth was also horrible but, certainly the Fifth was also horrible.

He should be a bit──I thought that it would be fine if he directed kindness toward his family.

『The Fifth was knowledgeable about qilin is also because he had actually looked after one. He is concerned perhaps is also──he’s recalling that fellow he looked after in the past.』

Fredericks gave a name to the qilin.

If I remembered right──was it May?

He was really affectionate to it.

The Sixth patted my head.

My hair got messed up, and he was doing it strongly that it felt slightly hurt.

「Wha, what is it?」

『Just, feel like it. Don’t become like the Fifth. After that, I think it’s impossible but don’t become like me too. It’ll be better if you get along with your wives──with everyone.』

「No, what is it so suddenly?」

『That’s why, I just feel like it.』

「I won’t become like the Sixth!」

『Liar! You’re already keeping that many women! Even I only kept three, and yet you’re already surpassing me if it’s only in number!』

The Sixth laughed and patted my head. I escaped from him and returned my consciousness from the Jewel to reality.

.

It was still dark when I opened my eyes.

I opened my eyes on the inn’s bed and passed the time for a while doing nothing.

The morning and evening was still cold.

The entire party was sleeping in this room where it felt like beds were crammed in as much as possible into a single room.

I was sleeping in the same room as the girls but, it somehow felt awkward to be the only man.

「I’m jealous of Damian who is living in his Dump Car.」

It was only chilly on the skin but, it was hard to get out of the blanket with my sleep-addled head.

I wanted to sleep once more like this but, I also couldn’t do that.

Today we were going to gather information again.

We would investigate the reason how the Laukaan Kingdom’s business condition became better while investigating about the qilin too.

While thinking that, a voice came from the Jewel that I placed beside the bed.

It was the Fifth.

『Lyle, how long you’re going to stay half-asleep? Get up quickly and prepare. You have to investigate about the qilin after all.』

Everyone was asleep, but when I started preparing Monica who was sleeping while standing opened her eyes.

The outside was still dark, but the sun would show up before long.

When I yawned, I heard the Fourth and the Fifth talking.

『Shouldn’t investigating Laukaan Kingdom be prioritized?』

『They’re hiding a dungeon anyway. That a qilin came is the proof. That’s why, it’s better to prioritize the qilin.』

『Aren’t you forgetting the plan to obtain the dungeon’s treasure?』

『In the first place, if there is only a single dungeon here, the qilin won’t deliberately appear openly. Perhaps there is a dangerous dungeon, or perhaps the number of dungeons is many──we will reach the dungeon if we follow after the qilin.』

The Third concluded the talk.

『Then, won’t it be better to search for the hidden dungeon? I think we’ll be able to meet the qilin like that.』

The Fifth sounded dissatisfied,

『That can also work.』

He said and then fell silent.

I could hear the Sixth’s clicking tongue. It was noisy since the morning.

「──Guess I’ll do my best today too.」

Monica immediately opened her eyes when I started moving.

Her red eyes were shining inside the dark room. It was slightly scary.

「Good morning, chicken dickwad! I’ll immediately do the morning preparation. Oops, I forgot the daily morning kiss. Now, let’s kiss with Monica!」

「There isn’t any daily routine like that.」

「It’s fine to start it from today. Let’s kiss with Monica in order to begin the first step starting from today!」

「Don’t wanna.」

「Your tension is low since the morning. If a boy in his puberty gets approached by a beautiful girl like Monica, it won’t be strange for their heart to pound hard.」

Monica who was making jokes loudly was high-tensioned since the morning.

Eva got up in a flash hearing that voice and moved her neck to look around.

Her eyes were half opened. Her bed-hair was in a horrible state.

Her mood was bad from waking up.

「──It’s noisy. Be quiet.」

Then she covered herself until her head with her blanket and slept again. I talked with a small voice in consideration of her.

「I got scolded. This is your fault Monica.」

「I have no concern to the riff-raff who isn’t chicken dickwad, so this can’t be helped. More importantly, what to do for the breakfast?」

Although the inn set up a price that was relatively high, the service here was bad.

We could ask for hot water to be prepared, but they didn’t offer meals.

「There is also no place to cook, so we’ll eat somewhere.」

Several of my companions were stirring restlessly on their bed.

Everyone would wake up soon at this time.

「This inn’s service is really bad. Putting that aside, what is chicken dickwad’s plan today?」

I got out of my bed and stretched while answering.

「Information gathering.」

.

──Laukaan Kingdom’s adventurer guild.

Aria and Sophia asked around there. They were talking with a man who came from another place.

「Qilin? I’m not interested with it.」

They tried bringing up qilin in exchange of greeting, but the man didn’t look interested.

「Why’s that? I heard that the reward is extraordinary.」

Aria asked the man back.

「That’s because there are a ton of dark rumors about that kind of quest since the past. Imagine that you capture the qilin and presented it. If the nobles killed the one who captured it, then their objective is accomplished while they also don’t have to pay any reward. It’s nothing but profit for them.」

Sophia was bewildered while,

「Isn’t that, overthinking it too negatively?」

「You’ll live longer by being careful like this. While the others are absorbed with the qilin, I’ll earn money steadily.」

Aria and Sophia looked at each other and nodded before entering the main topic.

「Hey, more importantly have you heard about the rumor of hidden dungeon?」

「That’s a popular rumor. Laukaan’s hidden dungeon. Do you know something about it?」

Aria handed a golden coin. The man accepted it secretly without being noticed by the surroundings.

The man moved only his eyes to watch the surrounding warily while answering.

「──It’s better if you two don’t sniff around. The rumors about it are circulating around but, I know some guys who investigated it and vanished. Though if I’m asked whether the dungeon really exist or not, I think it exists.」

The man taught them the things that he noticed after coming to Laukaan Kingdom.

There was area with increasing presence of monster recently.

There was a rumor that the dungeon wasn’t only one.

After finishing talking about the rumors,

「I’ll head to Beim with my companions after earning some amount of money. After all this isn’t a place you want to stay around for long. If the rumors are true, then the dungeons might rampage. You two, be careful too.」

The man said that and left the two──

.

──Bar.

Even though it wasn’t the operating time, Miranda entered inside and talked.

She sat on the counter and drank her beverage.

The tables had the seats placed on them while a waiter was cleaning the floor.

The master warned the young waiter who kept glancing at Miranda.

「You can clean the floor later. Go clean outside.」

「Ye, yes.」

The waiter who looked somewhat unreliable had his eyes hidden by his unkempt long hair.

He went outside the bar in hurry and stumbled. He fell down outside.

The master sighed.

「I hired him recently but, I don’t understand whether that guy is usable or not.」

The middle aged master grew beard and his stomach was really big.

Thick arms could be seen from his rolled up sleeves.

Miranda resumed talking.

「Looks like the business situation in this country is booming.」

「──It’s from around ten years ago. Outsiders are now coming here. It becomes unpleasant with so many people everywhere. This bar is also losing the regular customer. Instead adventurers who look like thugs are coming. It’s bothersome.」

It seemed the master wasn’t thinking well of the current situation.

Miranda kept talking with him to listen about the situation in more detail.

「That’s troubling. Is there anything else?」

「Things like the increase of price and so on, but there is a lot of the most suspicious rumor.」

「Rumor? Is it about qilin?」

「This isn’t about that auspicious creature. Do you know about the alliance of countries? It’s an alliance that is assembled from the countries around here but, there is no alliance leader. Anyway, even though it’s called alliance but it’s only a gathering of countries with nothing getting decided by them,」

There was no country with strength that could lead the assembled countries.

The master grumbled that if their neighbor wasn’t a large country like Bahnseim, the alliance would be dissolved for sure.

「These countries quarreled with Bahnseim, but there are also many skirmishes within the alliance itself. Well, it seems that this situation is the same no matter the country though. The merchants who came from Beim also said it. There is also an alliance that assembled the small countries around there too. ──I heard that there is also a lot of wars there.」

Miranda looked disheartened.

「What an unpleasant story isn’t it? And?」

「His majesty introduced himself as candidate to be that leader. Thanks to that there is rumor that this time’s battle won’t end with just a skirmish.」

Laukaan’s king introduced himself to be the alliance leader.

The neighboring countries didn’t accept that.

Certainly it was problematic.

The master said to Miranda.

「You’re also an adventurer who come to search for the dungeon right?」

「You know?」

「People who come here are all like that after all.」

「It’s not certain that there is dungeon right?」

「It’ll be stranger if there’s none. Because of that there’s also rumor that the neighboring countries are getting impatient too. They suspected that perhaps this country is hiding a dungeon and making it run wild. The business is good but, it’s uneasy to live in a place where you don’t know when monsters will come swarming.」

Hearing the master’s true feeling, Miranda broached the main topic.

「People say that qilins will destroy dungeons. If that qilin comes, then it will destroy the dungeons for us.」

「That’s not certain. If that story is true, then it’s strange that there are countries that got destroyed by dungeons running wild in the past. If the qilin will take care of dungeons then I hope it does it thoroughly.」

「Do you know something? Like the place where the dungeon might be located?」

「──The rumors say that the area with increasing number of monster is suspicious but, recently there are a lot of monsters everywhere. But, yesterday a customer said that the monsters in the south decreased. Perhaps the qilin appeared there.」

Hearing that, Miranda thought that there was possibility if it was at direction other than south.

「Thank you. I’m leaving.」

Miranda placed the information fee. The master took it and smiled.

「I’ll tell you one last thing. The soldiers and knights are the ones managing the dungeon. Perhaps those with debt will talk easily.」

The master said that and taught Miranda the bar where knights and soldiers often visited.

Surely that place would sell information to customers who came searching for information about dungeons in order to earn small change.

However, Miranda didn’t trust that information easily.

She said thanks outwardly and left the bar.

「Now then, can he be trusted or not──」

She sensed that she was tailed after she left the bar.

That was why, she walked for a while before entering a small path that was formed between the lined up buildings.

She walked until the dead end of the back alley and turned around.

「Waiter-san, how about you come out soon?」

When Miranda said that in that place that seemed to be empty, the bar’s waiter showed himself while scratching his head in embarrassment.

「You noticed?」

His eyes were hidden by his forelock like before but, he was smiling.

He didn’t carry any weapon.

But, Miranda drew out her weapon without hesitation.

Then, the man lifted both his hands in front of his chest and began to look flustered.

「Stop that miss! I don’t have any intention to harm you.」

「──I’ll kill you if you make any strange movement.」

Miranda didn’t let her guard down. The man revealed his identity to her.

「You heard it just now right? That the neighboring countries are being troubled by Laukaan. I’m like a spy from there so to speak.」

The man said that and warned Miranda.

「That master looks like he is selling information about dungeons, but that’s only at the surface. He plans to sell you out to the knights and soldiers. He is connected to them behind closed doors.」

「That seems likely. But, I also don’t know whether you’re saying the truth or not.」

「I myself am waiting for those who seem strong. No matter what you say my homeland is in danger. There is no way I can let a dungeon run wild.」

After Miranda thought for a bit, she told the man.

「I’ll let you meet our leader. We’ll make decisions there.」

The man was slightly perplexed.

Even though he thought that he would be doubted, he was taken by surprise that he was being believed.

Miranda made a deliberate movement of putting her left hand forward and threw something toward the man.

「Oops」

It was just a rock but──because the man caught it, his gaze went away from Miranda for a moment.

Without delay Miranda produced string from her hand and jumped to the rooftop.

When the man’s gaze returned, Miranda’s figure wasn’t there anymore.

「I’ll come to pick you up. ──It’s useless even if you run away.」

The man who was left behind was sweating coldly seeing Miranda vanishing instantly──

.

Night.

The man who I met with Miranda wasn’t harboring hostility towards us.

But, perhaps the man was wary toward us. The Sixth’s Art was showing the color yellow──a color that meant he wasn’t ally or enemy.

Even using Shannon’s mystic eyes, it looked like the man didn’t intend to harm us.

After confirming that, we invited him to a room inside an inn where we could talk without getting bothered by anyone else.

The man who was sitting in front of me looked nervous.

Inside the Jewel,

『Miranda is really unbelievable. How did she find someone like this?』

The Seventh was puzzled.

『This too must be because of her habitual good behavior. After all Miranda is Milleia’s great grandchild!』

The Sixth who favored Miranda praised her feat.

I looked at the man while,

「Let’s hear what you have to say.」

「Yeah, let’s.」

It seemed the man was bewildered, but his atmosphere was firm when the talk began.

「First I want to confirm this. There is no mistake that your group’s objective is to destroy dungeon is it?」

When I nodded, the man continued in relief.

「That’s good. We can cooperate with each other. First, I’ll tell you the general locations that my side has grasped. But, if possible I want you to destroy the dungeons only after the locations of all the dungeons have been found out.」

「As I thought, there are more than one.」

「Yes. There is no doubt of that based on our investigation. We also investigated the places where the knights and soldiers are often sent in rotation. But, we don’t know the precise locations.」

Sophia interrupted our talk.

It seemed she was doubting the man who looked frivolous and unreliable. Her voice was hard.

「Your group didn’t investigate that?」

「We won’t be troubled if we can do that. The knights and soldiers of this country are guarding the dungeons. It will be a big problem if foreigners like me are found out snooping around. But, right now is a good time.」

Aria seemed to notice.

「You mean the qilin?」

「That! They’re splitting manpower to search for the qilin, so the security should be thinner. In fact, there are a lot of knights and soldiers coming back.」

This person looked unreliable, but it seemed he had unexpectedly investigated a lot.

I faced the man.

「If that’s the case won’t it be better to search it yourself?」

「Gathering information in the city and exploring the fields are different. There was another group in charge of that but, they got found out. Honestly I can’t still believe it. To think that person could lose.」

The man said that the dungeons were located in places that were out of the way.

The person who investigated those locations seemed to be really skilled.

But even such person got discovered. In that case, did this mean that the Laukaan Kingdom also had someone skilled?

「Because of that, our side is also short on manpower. We can’t sneak in to investigate. That’s why I sought cooperation from your group.」

Clara joined the talk.

「──Taking into consideration how this country has maintained the situation for ten years, doesn’t that mean that they have established the know-how to manage a dungeon? Perhaps the possibility of a dungeon running wild now is low?」

In response to that question the man was,

「That’s if they’re managing a single dungeon. But, from the condition of this country, it won’t develop this much just from a single dungeon that suddenly appeared. There should be multiple dungeons here without doubt. That’s the information that we obtained. Don’t you think that’s dangerous?」

This country must be increasing the number of dungeon in succession, thinking that they had succeeded.

That was certainly a dangerous situation.

I heard that it was difficult to manage even a single dungeon.

Here it seemed they were putting their hands on dungeons one after another──there was no way the neighboring countries would be able to calm down.

But, the Sixth was laughing here.

『Lyle, the true intention of these guys is different. They can’t allow the Laukaan Kingdom to become the alliance’s leader. That’s why they want to crush the dungeons that become the source of this country’s influence. Them saying rampage and what not is just for appearance. They don’t like Laukaan earning a profit. They want the dungeons to vanish so they can sleep in peace is secondary benefit while they’re at it.』

If it was like that then it was a horrible story.

It made me want to sympathize with the Laukaan Kingdom.

『But, this is also convenient for us so let’s destroy those dungeons.』

I was exasperated with the Third who was like usual. But then he added in dissatisfaction.

『This is a necessary fund gathering in order to defeat Celes. Lyle, you won’t be able to do anything without dirtying your hands. Besides, it’s also doubtful whether Laukaan really has the proper know-how. You won’t be able to ascertain that without seeing it by yourself.』

Shannon looked at the man.

She half-opened her eyes and made an expression as though she was looking at a dodgy person.

「What’s wrong?」

「This person, he’s hiding something.」

Miranda took out a knife hearing that.

Aria also drew out a short sword, while Sophia took an axe and blocked the door.

The man stood up in panic.

「Wa, wait! I’m not hiding anything!」

I raised my hand and told everyone to put away their weapon. Then I resumed talking with the man.

「Let’s hear the information that you have. We will search for the locations of the dungeons then.」

「Haha~, it’s great that the leader can be talked with.」

I decided to investigate the dungeons from tomorrow by relying on the man’s information.

.

Novem talked to me after the man returned.

「Lyle-sama, I have something to say about the man just now.」

The location was the inn’s corridor.

It seemed she talked to me after checking that there was nobody around.

「You mean about what he is hiding right? Perhaps, he want us to destroy the dungeons because he doesn’t want Laukaan to become the alliance’s leader. He wants to crush this country’s source of economic power for that.」

This was what they called the circumstance of other countries according to the ancestors.

「So you’re aware.」

Novem’s expression looked somewhat happy. I felt a bit guilty seeing that.

The ancestors were the one who noticed.

Novem changed her expression to a serious one.

「Everybody has their own circumstance. Even so, Lyle-sama still intend to destroy the dungeons?」

What Novem wanted to say was whether I would destroy the dungeons while ignoring Laukaan’s circumstance.

Laukaan would be harmed for the conveniences of us and the surrounding.

「──Even then I’ll do it.」

Even though I thought she would be astounded or disappointed──

「I’m happy to see that resolve.」

Novem praised me.