Click――

After turning the doorknob I entered while holding my sword in one hand, I saw old man Gerg standing beside his desk.
The office was an excellent room with a sword hanging on the wall as decorations.

“If it isn’t Carlo-sama, what brings you here on a night like this?”⌈¹⌋

Regardless of his real intentions, he not only had the gall to ask me that in a friendly manner he also was shameless enough to sit down at a time like this.
Even though one could hear the sound of fighting beyond the door he had a smile on his face.

“I just happened to coincidently pass by here and even though I thought I would be a nuisance I still had to stop by.”⌈²⌋

“No, no, you’d never be a nuisance. You’re welcome anytime –”

This guy being a noble is used to hiding his real intentions.
Is this also a kind of fight?

“Welcome, huh? A blond brat like me?…… Excuse me.”

Twitch.
His eyebrows slightly twitched when I said “blond brat”.
I wonder if he’s now trying to figure out who leaked this information.

“Hoho, I don’t know from whom you heard this but this person is surely planning to fracture our relationship. Pay it no heed.”

“Mine and Gerg’s relationship? When talking about close relationships wouldn’t it be between you and Prince Armandi?”

When I sarcastically uttered this sentence Gerg’s expression changed.
It seemed like he realised who leaked the info.

“I see now. It’s those masked people, right? I don’t know what you heard but you can’t believe in the words of such uncivilised people.”

“Masked people? What on earth are you saying? I have no idea what you mean.”

As I feigned ignorance Gerg spoke to me with a serious face.

“Carlo-sama should know about the frequent kidnappings happening recently, right?”

As the Imperial Guard Order had a battle with the kidnappers today Carlo should know about it.

“I have been chasing the criminals for a long time now.”

“Hoh, and?”

This is taking a somewhat interesting turn.
I’m kind of interested in what kind of excuse he’ll come up with.

“Recently I finally discovered the criminals. They are called Akatsuki and Crescent Moon, a male and female mercenary wearing suspicious masks. Today I nearly got them.”

“Akatsuki and Crescent Moon, a male and female mercenary wearing masks, interesting.”⌈³⌋

It’s a fact that the kidnappers were two people.
If I asked the Imperial Guard Order they would be able to confirm this.
You thought about this quite well, didn’t you, old man?

“If you consider this, those people, being cornered, in the end tried to accuse me of a crime in front of Carlo-sama, don’t you think?”

“I see, now that you say it I feel like the Imperial Guard told me about those people.”

When I said so, Gerg made exaggerated movements with his hands and nodded.

“I was right after all! Carlo-sama, please hand over those two people to me. I shall interrogate them closely and will make them confess all their sins.”

After those two people confessed you’ll arrange for them to die in an unexpected accident during the interrogation.
At that moment I started to think carefully.

“Is that right, Gerg? They didn’t seem to lie to me.”

“What did they say? You must not listen to their words! Or do they have any evidence that it was me? If they do have some let it be judged in front of His Majesty the King.”

“Evidence, huh? There’s none.”

When I said so Gerg gained more and more momentum.

“I thought so! I’m not Carlo-sama’s vassal in the first place even if our social positions are different. We are both nobles who equally got their peerage granted by His Majesty the King. You made a mistake in thinking it would be over with this riot!”

This old man finally assumed a defiant attitude.
Well then, shall we draw the curtain?

“A mistake? I don’t make mistakes.”

“Then can you prove anything!?”

“I don’t need evidence. I certainly heard it with my own ears.”

I slowly took that out from my chest and put it in front of Gerg.

“Y, you are the mercenary, Akatsuki!”

“That’s right, you directly told me everything. Oh, Now that I think about it, there is evidence. It’s Fraudia. My men should be protecting her right about now. How is it? Do you still want to be judged in front of the King?”

As I put on my masked and started to laugh Gerg’s face was distorted by anger.

“You, you planned all this! However, whatever you ******* may say Rejum-sama will protect me!”⌈⁴⌋

Like I thought that old man is completely connected with Rejum.

“Unfortunately, that’s impossible. You’ll die now in this place.”⌈⁵⌋

“Wha, what did – -”

After having understood my real intentions Gerg leapt to the sword hanging on the wall.
I waited until Gerg pulled out the sword.⌈⁶⌋

“If you lay your hands on a noble you ******* won’t get away with it. Even if the King might forgive you Rejum-sama won’t, you *******!”

“What if I tell you that this is what I wanted?”

“You *******, are you targeting Rejum-sama? Unforgivable! Die, you blond brat!”

Gerg lost himself in anger and was about to attack me.
But his attack was slow and weak probably because of his age.
I thrust my Oricalcum sword into his heart as he tried to swing his sword.

“Y, you, I will curse you from the afterlife……”

As Gerg vomited blood from his mouth I pulled out my sword and let him collapse on the floor before he ceased to breathe.

So this is what it’s like to kill a person.
It doesn’t feel comfortable even if I know that my opponent was an evil person.
But there will surely be many people I have to take care of in the future.
Because I’m the villain, Margrave Carlo de Medici.
Old man, wait for me in hell.⌈⁷⌋

“I kept you waiting”

When I opened the door after putting away my mask I saw F and Lunos waiting in front of it.
Zackary got killed a while ago and his corpse was leaning against the wall.

“What happened to Viscount Gerg?”

“After he confessed his crimes I killed him. How’s the situation downstairs?”

“It’s over. All men died and all women we considered to be hostages are safe.”

“The casualties are?”

“None. About two were wounded but it’s nothing more than a scratch.”

As I received the report and went downstairs the members of the Imperial Guard Order were standing in a row.
The women were huddled together as a group near a wall, frightened.
I heard that there was a room underground somewhere, where they were locked up in.
Alright, Fraudia is also there.

“You worked hard. We’re going to return now. Lunos, go back to the mansion together with these women. Fitzgerald, choose five people and stay here with me.”

“Yes!”

After I made sure Lunos took the women with him I let F give the order to set the mansion on fire.
The fire instantly engulfed everything and the mansion turned pitch black while shrouded in burning red flames.
I left Gerg’s corpse inside.

“This will cause an uproar tomorrow. Everybody in town saw Carlo-sama leave with soldiers. Regardless of his true nature he seemed to be loved by the people.”

F who minded my reputation started to talk to me but I didn’t care about it.

“I don’t care. More importantly, I have to quickly go to the capital. I have to start working before Rejum hears about this.”

“Prince Armandi? Were Viscount Gerg and he connected?”

“That’s right. That’s why I couldn’t put him on trial. He would have gotten in the way.”

“He’s a very difficult opponent”

“Hmpf, I won’t lose.”

“Please tell me in which way I can be of help.”

After having made sure that the mansion completely burned down I returned to my mansion together with F.