“Did you learn mind reading? I don’t sense any mana energy.”
“Ahem. Let’s say it’s our merchant guild’s special skill.”
I threw out a joke with a wink to lighten the mood, but as expected, Lampel didn’t budge. I guess you have to be about that much to dream of rebellion.
Lampel tapped his staff on the ground. Then all the luggage I had been packing neatly folded itself into the suitcase, and the packing was finished. Because of that, Mitche, who had been sitting on top of the suitcase, rolled off and grumbled.
“If you’re done packing, get out of here quickly.”
“Th-thank you. Hm?”
That’s when my eyes went to the small pendant embedded in the center of Lampel’s staff, and I couldn’t help but widen my eyes at the unexpected item I discovered.
A silver pendant shaped like a single wing.
‘It’s a divine artifact!’
If I just had that, I could immediately meet with Cedric and break the Addiction. But the problem was how to get it.
“Your Grace!”
Lampel, who was about to leave the tent, glanced back at my call. I had called out to him, but not knowing what to say to hold him back, I kept pondering before finally blurting out.
“I want to go exterminate the Mad Crows too.”
“……”
I knew this wasn’t it either, but this answer was the best. I couldn’t exactly say here, ‘I’m a fan! Please give me the pendant on your staff as a gift!’ The immediate plan was to spend time together and increase our intimacy. If I left here now, who knew when I’d see the Duke again.
However, Lampel was a more ruthless person than I thought, as he immediately turned his back and left as if there was no more value in listening. I hastily chased after him and grabbed the collar of his black cloak.
“No, really! I want to go too!”
Swoosh—the force of mana lifted me up and threw me.
“Ugh!”
I tumbled to the ground but quickly got up again and clung to the end of Lampel’s cloak.
“Let me join! Hyaak!”
—Swoosh.
“Let’s go together! Your Grace! Kkeuk!”
—Swoosh.
Even after being dragged and thrown to the ground several times, I got up like a roly-poly toy and persistently stuck to Lampel. At this point, it was out of spite. The principality soldiers around stared strangely at me clinging to his cloak and throwing a tantrum, but I had no choice.
The Yanox family is truly dirty and petty.
Only after being thrown down a total of 7 times did his patience seem to wear thin, and Lampel opened his mouth irritably.
“Puppy. What exactly do you want?”
“I told you I want to go on this operation together. Ow, my back.”
As I rubbed my back that hurt from hitting the ground, his handsome face contorted forcefully. Before he could show his refusal this time, I made the first move.
“I’ll go as bait together with Cesare! That way, we can shorten the operation time much more efficiently!”
The hardest thing about doing business isn’t selling the products—it’s getting customers into the store. Getting customers to stop by the store even if they’re not interested in the products. That’s one of the Mellans Merchant Guild’s secrets to success.
If he’s also of Yanox blood, if he’s truly Cesare’s biological father, he’d be terribly rational. He’d have no choice but to be swayed by the proposal to efficiently shorten time.
‘Please bite. Please.’
After a few seconds of silence that felt like eons, Lampel opened his mouth again.
“How.”
Yes! I cheered internally. If they came into the store, that’s already more than 50% won over. Now it was time to fleece them good.
“Remember when we killed the Mad Crows in the marshland earlier? I became bait then too to lure them, and Cesare supported me and gathered them in one place. Your Grace eliminated them in one stroke, so let’s use that plan again.”
Pick, pick. Pick anything and you’ll profit, customer. The boss is crazy, you see! Selling with no profit! Possessed by the marketplace spirit, I rattled on as if possessed.
“There are an estimated 15 Mad Crows. On top of that, they’re all creatures that can do aerial combat, so even if Cesare uses binding-type magic, it’ll be hard to gather them all in one place at once. But if I step forward, they might all become interested. Your Grace also saw earlier how the Mad Crows only chased me.”
“……”
Still not convinced, customer? You don’t have time to hesitate. The customer next to you might take the last item!
“If I join, the probability of gathering the magical beasts in one place increases, so the possibility of the principality’s army interfering will also decrease. The less the principality’s army is involved, the more you can crush the noses of those anti-Empire bastards who hate Your Grace, right? The Empire’s prestige rising is a bonus.”
With no reaction from Lampel, I was completely burning up inside as I carefully muttered while watching his expression.
“Also, if you tell him to go alone as bait to a horde of magical beasts, even Cesare would be scared. I can’t send him alone like this.”
Lampel, who had been silent all along, finally opened his mouth after a while.
“…That’s a tempting plan, but it won’t do.”
“Why!”
Damn it, I almost had him! What’s the reason!
“Our kid doesn’t like it.”
Ah. So your son doesn’t like it. So the customer’s economic power lies with your son… wait, no! What? Our kid?
Shocked by the word that seemed like it would never come out of this precious daddy’s mouth, I was gaping when one corner of his mouth twisted humorously.
“I’m not so twisted an adult that I’d break a toy my son seems to cherish.”
‘Why do you only cosplay as a person with normal common sense at times like this!’
It seems cosplaying as a normal person in strange places is hereditary too.
Reading my despairing face, Lampel cleared his throat slightly and made a proposal.
“But simple is best over complicated, so that operation isn’t bad either. If you convince Cesare, I’ll consider it. Puppy, follow me.”
When Lampel tapped his staff on the ground again, my body floated in the air. As he walked forward, my body also floated along following him. A thin blue mana extended from him and connected to me, making me feel exactly like a pet balloon.
Floating at a height where I seemed about to fall but didn’t, I trapped the excited Mitche bouncing around in my hand and said with difficulty.
“Y-Your Grace! I can walk! Please put me down! Uuk.”
“Hey. That kid, looks like he got on the Yanox Duke’s bad side.”
“Ugh. With no one to bully, now he’s bullying that young thing. Indeed, the rumors about him being an eccentric mage aren’t wrong.”
“Even if you feel sorry for him, don’t make eye contact. You’ll get picked on for no reason.”
The principality soldiers at the base camp looked at me pitifully then turned away.
“Your Graaace. *sniff* Please let me gooo.”
I kept calling to him with a tearful face, but Lampel kept walking as if he couldn’t hear. Somehow, he seemed to be walking while whistling lightly.
The father of the villainous sub-male lead was more vicious than expected.
* * *
The sun set early in the gorge.
The sunset that started at an early hour instantly covered the area, and throughout the base camp, the only lights were the campfires lit by soldiers.
Cesare also settled by a large campfire and sat silently, sipping the soup distributed as the soldiers’ dinner. Normally it was thin soup he would have gotten angry about, asking how could he eat this, but right now he didn’t care. Because thoughts of Lionel wouldn’t leave his mind.
‘Lionel’s group should have arrived at the inn near Ilbrun by now.’
‘If only I hadn’t loved you….’
Lionel’s words, muttered with a reddened nose while completely dejected, kept echoing in his ears. If he hadn’t loved him, then what? What was he going to do? Was he saying he’d hate him? On one hand, his blood ran cold thinking that if he hadn’t cast the Addiction, Lionel really would have come to hate him.
But thinking that the relationship was maintained because he cast the Addiction also felt strangely bad. In the end, either way, thinking about Lionel kept making his brow furrow.
“Haaah.”
With no particular conclusion, all that came out was a deep sigh. He needed to sleep early to go exterminate the Mad Crows tomorrow, but in this state, sleep wouldn’t come, so Cesare just kept staring at the campfire.
Actually, he’d been in a bad mood ever since hearing at the meeting that they were sending Lionel to the Mad Crow horde. He didn’t like people babbling that Lionel seemed to have some kind of ability, and he didn’t like Cedric’s insidious intentions of coaxing him to send him to a dangerous place either.
Lionel had to remain just Lionel. A fool with no abilities but lots of money. Who loved him passionately.
‘That idiot giggling at Cedric. And magic doesn’t work because of the bracelet that priest put on him!’
Cesare, who threw a branch into the fire for no reason, gloomily recalled Lionel again. How much he looked like he was going to cry when he criticized him for being distracted by a kiss.
‘I shouldn’t have said that much….’
“Huuu.”
As he let out another deep sigh.
—Thud.
“This is a scroll I made recently, you should use it.”
“Ah, Father.”
The man who sat down beside him, placing magic scrolls down, was his father, Lampel Yanox. There was no time they’d spent affectionately together. No, the time they’d spent together itself was little. He was always busy exterminating magical beasts on the outskirts, and even when they were together, he strictly taught magic.
In the Yanox Ducal House, there were mostly just Cesare and the hired help, and since he started attending the academy, he handled most things alone, so Cesare was also uncomfortable with Lampel. No, to be precise, he disliked him.
Because Lampel was the most selfish man in the world.
Even though the Imperial Family was tightening their stranglehold on them day by day, he didn’t even think of returning to the ducal house and only went out. Cesare had long been sick of his attitude that it didn’t matter what happened to the ducal house.
Wasn’t he treating him businesslike even though this was his son he was seeing for the first time in 5 years? He hadn’t even expected a bouquet or hug, but to him who didn’t even ask about the ducal house’s well-being, Cesare also silently just received the scrolls.
“A pretty decent operation came to mind for tomorrow, so you need to know about it.”
“An operation? Are there changes?”
“Two baits to drive them in. One more person will be added besides you.”
“One more?”
“Puppy. Come out.”
Soon, a small head popped out awkwardly from beside Lampel’s shoulder. The moment he saw that face, his mind went blank, but somehow all the energy to be angry disappeared at that foolishly innocent face—Cesare.
