‘Chandelier fragments?’
Jake checked the chandelier shattered into pieces over Klad’s shoulder.
Crash—
Right at that moment, a rock fell on top of the broken chandelier so he couldn’t see properly, but the color was different to be chandelier fragments.
Jake pressed down on the dark gray fragment. There was nothing he could tell except that it was hard.
‘It must be a fragment of something.’
Jake thought nothing of it. In a castle where everything was broken into small pieces, how important could one broken fragment be?
“Let’s go now. We don’t have time.”
“Ah, right.”
Jake inadvertently tucked the fragment into his chest and followed behind Klad.
Instead of immediately leaving the lord’s castle, Klad hummed a tune while placing his hands here and there.
“What are you doing, Klad?”
“Setting traps.”
Traps? For traps, Jake’s eyes couldn’t see anything.
“I’ve set it so it’ll explode if Duke West comes here trying to find something.”
“Such a terrible thing!”
Jake grabbed Klad’s arm in shock to stop him.
“What if someone other than Father accidentally enters and falls into the trap!”
“I thought you’d find the Duke exploding terrible, but I guess that’s okay.”
Klad lightly tapped the wall where he had just installed the trap magic.
“It’s a trap that only reacts to demonic energy.”
“Then it only activates for the demon tribe or people carrying objects imbued with demonic energy?”
“Right. I don’t know what that black orb the Duke has is, but there’s a high probability it’s imbued with demonic energy. Even if not, he’s making such a fuss about commanding the demon tribe—wouldn’t he have at least one object containing demonic energy? Still, since the Duke shouldn’t die, the explosion range isn’t wide.”
Klad spread both arms wide to the sides as if gauging the explosion range.
“I installed it to nullify the magic artifacts or protective magic the Duke wears. As a bonus, I can knock him out for at least a few hours to days.”
“Even if it’s not Father but a knight or someone deeply involved in this matter who brings related items, the trap will activate. That’s very wise. Excellent, Klad.”
“When the trap magic activates, an alarm will come to me so I can know right away. Depending on the situation, if necessary, I can rush here immediately and meet the unconscious Duke.”
“So that’s why you were so excited.”
“I can’t help but be excited.”
Klad smirked with a derisive smile and dusted off his hands. His attitude suggested what he was about to say wasn’t important at all.
“I can’t attack West bloodline because of a blood oath. So even if I want to, I can’t kill or attack the Duke.”
At Klad’s words, Jake’s lips twitched.
A blood oath. In Jake’s common sense, a blood oath was something that should never be done. It was on a different dimension from written contracts that were formed by signing on paper and could be forcibly terminated if you met a great mage.
A blood oath was magic that carved a contract into the subject’s heart, making it impossible to ever destroy.
Setting aside how forbidden magic that supposedly disappeared from the world hundreds of years ago appeared, why on earth would he go around with such a thing?
“Then this trap…”
“In this case, it’s different. What I targeted was ‘demonic energy’ or something equivalent. Since I installed a trap to attack something completely unrelated to the House of Duke West, even the blood oath can’t do anything to me. Logically, the House of Duke West shouldn’t be associated with demonic energy.”
It meant every contract had loopholes, and this trap exploited them.
“In other words, even if the Duke ‘coincidentally’ carries objects related to demonic energy and falls into the trap and gets seriously hurt or sick, it’s not my fault.”
Klad looked genuinely excited.
“Even if you installed it knowing this would harm Father, there’s no problem with the blood oath?”
“Right. The Duke personally coming all the way here and suffering is my wish, but actually the possibility is very low. Still, exploiting blood oath loopholes is tricky, and opportunities like this aren’t common.”
Klad approached Jake and placed his hand on his shoulder.
“In other words, I can’t harm you either.”
Klad’s blood oath wasn’t against a specific person like ‘Duke West’ but against the group called the ducal house’s bloodline. Jake was also a bloodline of the ducal house with the West surname. According to the blood oath, Klad couldn’t attack Jake.
From Klad’s standpoint, it was tantamount to revealing a tremendous secret.
When people know the other party can’t harm them, they tend to become cunning. Moreover, since breaking a blood oath results in losing one’s life or receiving an equivalent penalty, this could be a significant weakness.
Having learned even the detailed contents of the blood oath, if Jake wanted to exploit this, it would be entirely possible. For instance, deliberately provoking an attack to harm Klad.
Despite knowing that fact, laying everything bare to Jake was no different from indirectly saying ‘I trust you.’
“Even without such a blood oath, I trust that you wouldn’t harm me.”
“Even if not for that, it’s good for you to know in advance that I can’t directly finish off Duke West. Either way, our final target is the Duke.”
“I see. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Jake nodded. While steeling his resolve that if a moment came when someone had to swing a sword at the Duke, it should be him, not Klad.
“But if you have such restrictions, why did you suggest destroying the ducal house? Isn’t it a plan you can’t carry out if you can’t attack Father?”
“If what I need to destroy isn’t the Duke but the ducal house itself, there are plenty of ways to exploit blood oath loopholes. Whenever you feel like bringing down the family, tell me. I’ll help.”
With that conversation, the two left the lord’s castle. Klad planted trap magic in various places until the very last moment.
“Waaaah!”
“The lord’s castle collapsed, it completely crumbled!”
“T-this is terrible, the Baron… the Baron is inside…!”
Outside the castle was chaos itself. Countless people who had rushed over after hearing the explosion sound were buzzing around, unable to come close or flee far away.
Jake mounted a horse prepared in advance in the lord’s castle garden and went outside. Someone emerging from a collapsed castle being on horseback didn’t make sense, but it didn’t matter. The fancy clothes and conspicuously large horse were just minor devices to draw attention and add intimidation to the Hero’s words.
“H-Hero-nim…! It’s the Hero-nim.”
“Hero-nim came out from the collapsed castle.”
“Could it be Hero-nim…”
Perhaps because there were so many bad rumors, people were tense and wary rather than relieved at the Hero’s appearance. Jake quickly opened his mouth before that fear could spread.
“Something presumed to be explosives was discovered in the lord’s castle!”
Meanwhile, whether Klad had cast magic, Jake’s voice rang out louder and more resonant than usual. The street that had been filled with noisy commotion instantly became quiet.
“The culprit is the lord of this place, who attempted to blow up the lord’s castle and flee several days ago but failed and tried again.”
Murmur murmur, murmur murmur. Such an enormous amount of words poured out that it was impossible to distinguish what was being said. Jake gave the territory’s people a brief time to talk their fill, then continued speaking.
“I don’t know what Baron Nolson secretly researched in the lord’s castle, but daring to explode the lord’s castle and threaten the safety and peace of the Empire’s citizens is an unforgivable act. I, Hero Jake West, promise before everyone that I will surely find Baron Nolson, hold him accountable for this crime, and restore safety to the barony.”
“…Waah.”
“Waaaah!”
Waah, waaaah!
As cheers poured out from among the crowd, the territory’s people who didn’t understand Jake’s words also began shouting along. A Hero who staked his name and promised peace. It was far more trustworthy and worth believing than the preposterous rumor that the Hero summoned the demon tribe.
Waaaah!
Jake slowly advanced by driving his horse through the cheering territory’s people.
“We don’t know when the enemy might return to destroy the city.”
Jake changed the title for Baron Nolson from lord to baron, from baron to ‘enemy,’ making people recognize in their minds that Baron Nolson was the enemy. If someday these people remembered who sent Baron Nolson here, it would greatly help Jake’s progress.
“Everyone evacuate to the temple! The Lord God will be with you!”
Waaaah!
At the Hero’s words to evacuate to the temple, people rushed toward the temple. The temple here was very small in scale, but it was still where priests serving God stayed, so it would be safe even if the Duke deliberately attacked the city.
‘Hm? Those people are…’
As he continued forward, Jake discovered several familiar figures among the crowd. They didn’t recognize Jake, but Jake clearly remembered their faces. They were mercenaries who had stayed at the same inn and shared the training ground over the past few days.
They, who had come expecting work to increase with the demon tribe’s attacks, murmured for a moment then quickly ran toward the inn.
They must be planning to pack their bags immediately and move to another city. Because information was money.
‘I hope they spread rumors toward the capital.’
Someone Father planted would be reporting all of this anyway, but wouldn’t it be better if rumors spread widely? That way Father would become more impatient too.
“Let’s go, Klad.”
Jake watched the territory’s people head to the temple, then turned his horse.
With traps planted and alarm magic set so they could immediately detect if the Duke moved, the preparations were perfect.
Now it was time to go save the village before it was too late.
