A Fortuitous Encounter in the Game Becomes Reality Episode 8
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A Fortuitous Encounter in the Game Becomes Reality Episode 8
3. Battlefield (2)
After my participation was decided, there were many conversations among the family, but they were mostly emotionless, businesslike exchanges.
Selection of the scale of the troops, the staff officers, and the attendants and other support personnel.
Advice about the departure ceremony to be held the day after tomorrow and the route of march after we set out.
Everything was about the campaign: the rank I would hold after joining the Western Command, the precautions I needed to take, and so on.
Because not a single person worried about my safety, Mother's expression grew even darker.
"If that is your father's decision, there is nothing we can do, but if you bring disgrace to the family name, I will not let it slide."
Cedric warned me in a thoroughly condescending tone.
At twenty-three (twenty-five in Korean age), it is not such a young age, so I do not understand why his behavior feels so childish.
Is it because he was spoiled too much?
"I will do my best."
Perhaps he did not like my lukewarm answer, because Cedric seemed about to add another remark, but Father cut in at just the right moment and stopped him.
"Adrian, let's talk for a moment."
At the moment, besides the family, there were many attendants and retainers seated in the office.
Father dismissed even his bodyguards and led me out to the outdoor balcony, as if he had something to say to me in private.
Watching the night view of the territory spread out beneath our feet, Father spoke.
"Once this incident has settled down, I am thinking of relocating you and Sylvia to the royal domain. If there is a city you want, say it. I will provide generous support."
An unexpected topic.
This time, there is the justification of war, so it cannot be helped, but will Anna, who absolutely hates it when I go anywhere beyond her field of vision, really allow this?
"Consider it compensation for going to war in Cedric's stead. From now on, you can live doing what you want without having to worry about anyone else's eyes on you."
It seems he means that he has already talked with Anna as well.
However, since my level of trust in Anna and Cedric is at rock bottom, I could not accept Father's proposal at face value.
If that persistent woman decides to cause trouble, I doubt Father, who is very conscious of her family's opinion, will be able to stop her.
"I understand. I'll think about it."
So I answered in a formal manner, without attaching much meaning to it.
Still, is it because parents are parents?
Father let out a bitter smile at my reaction.
"Looks like you don't trust us."
I cannot help it.
When I was seven and there was an attempt to poison me, Father's response was disappointing beyond words.
"Regardless of trust, all of this is something to discuss after I return safely from the battlefield, isn't it?"
"That is true."
"Thank you for your concern. Let's talk about the rest after I come back."
Agreeing with my words, Father nodded and took out two rings set with blue gemstones from his coat and handed them to me.
"What are these?"
"They are artifacts imbued with a 5th-class Auto Shield and a 7th-class Great Shield."
High-grade artifacts that would greatly enhance my survivability.
In particular, an artifact containing a 7th-class spell was something that could easily be called a treasure.
Since it was a rather valuable item, I made sure to look quite surprised.
"Thank you."
I did not refuse and took both rings.
These days, interference systems that block spatial movement have become a standard option on battlefields, so escaping using Blink or Teleport was close to impossible.
That is why Father gifted me defensive artifacts.
"To survive, you will have to act with good sense."
"Yes."
If we are lucky, it may end as only a localized war, but if it develops into a full-scale war after hostilities begin, I will have to look after my own skin.
That said, even if it is not the Kroysen Empire, the Reinharts Kingdom is also a major power recognized across the Depteron Continent.
This time as well, we will form a united front with our allied nations, so even if it expands into an all-out war, it will not become a crisis that threatens the very survival of the state.
"Let's go back in."
When we turned from the balcony toward the interior, I saw Anna and Cedric staring fixedly in our direction.
Anna gave me a kindly smile as our eyes met.
It was an utterly shameless smile, but I smiled back at her.
Looking at her, Father carefully opened his mouth.
"You don't need to worry about Sylvia. Go with an easy mind."
Though he has disappointed me on several occasions, Father is still the only one among them whom I can trust to some extent.
I shot Father a look loaded with meaning and answered coldly.
"Of course you must. I'm counting on you, Father."
"...Very well."
* * *
Once Sylvia, whose eyes had been full of resentment, and Adrian, who had stayed calm to the very end, returned to their mansion, only the viscount and Anna remained in the lord's office.
"You haven't forgotten that you're not to interfere with those two, have you?"
"You..."
"I sincerely hope I won't have any further reason to be disappointed in my wife."
When the viscount told her to stop all forms of threats against Adrian and Sylvia, including surveillance, Anna clicked her tongue briefly and rose from her seat.
"Did you understand?"
"I understand!"
Then, after Anna left the office in a huff, the viscount sank deep into the sofa.
"Ugh."
But at that moment, an excruciating headache he could hardly endure swept over him.
Seeing the viscount's unusual state, the butler, who entered the office as if swapping places with Anna, ran over in a panic.
However, the viscount raised his hand to stop the butler and spoke coldly.
"Leave me."
"But..."
"Ahem!"
"Ah, understood."
As the butler fled from the office, the viscount, now alone, began fiddling with the ring on his right index finger.
"Pain relief."
When the blue light emanating from the ring wrapped around his whole body, the viscount's expression gradually eased.
Then, after leaning against the sofa like a corpse for a while, the viscount stood up as if nothing had happened, sweeping his disheveled brown hair straight back.
"So he really was just pretending to be mediocre."
Approaching the bar and pouring whiskey into a glass, the viscount thought of his second son, Adrian.
A child who, called a prodigy, had absorbed knowledge at a frightening pace.
After the attempted poisoning, he was no longer a prodigy, but the look in his eyes when they spoke about Sylvia's safety held a sharpness incomparable to that of the heir, Cedric.
So sharp that even he, who governed a whole region, had flinched.
If Anna had been on the receiving end of that gaze, she might have judged Adrian as a potential threat at any time and tried to get rid of him.
"That brat..."
That gaze was not something that should be directed at one's parents, yet the viscount's mood now was rather pleasant.
This belated interest in his second son might well stir up a storm within the family, but the viscount found himself increasingly intrigued by Adrian.
* * *
When we returned to the mansion, Mother finally let out the tears she had been holding back.
Saying she was sorry that she was too insignificant to be of help, she spoke as if my going to war were entirely her fault.
"You all, get out."
As I comforted Mother, I issued a decree of expulsion to all the attendants, telling them to leave the room.
"Sir? We..."
"If it's because of an order from my aunt, you don't need to worry. Right now, she would probably turn a blind eye even if I took my anger out on you."
A few of the people Anna had planted hesitated, but when I glared at them as if I would kill them, they bolted from the room as though burned.
My anger right now is entirely justified.
I am going to the battlefield in Cedric's stead, so there is no reason for Anna to get on my nerves.
Once I confirmed that the attendants had left, I gave Mother a smile.
"Mother, you really don't have to worry. You know your son handles himself well."
"But what if they drag you far away just to do you harm...?"
Mother knows at least this much: that my becoming merely average is not due to aftereffects of the poisoning.
Because she believes that I hid my abilities in order to survive, and that I acted the kind of incompetence Anna and Cedric would like, all because her own background is so humble, she is reacting this way.
"If they would go that far, it would actually be good for me."
"What?"
Was it because my reaction in the middle of our conversation was different from what she had imagined?
Mother wiped away her tears, her face filled with puzzled curiosity.
"The more charges I have to use to dispose of those two, the better, right?"
A line that shattered Mother's assumptions.
Her blue eyes widened, and she was so startled that her shoulders trembled.
"Ah, Adrian? What are you saying?"
Then she kept glancing around, worried that someone might be listening.
"Don't worry. Arcia is guarding the hallway outside the door."
"Even so..."
We do not need to worry about bugs or surveillance cameras.
No matter how much I pretended to be incompetent, the one thing I never allowed was exactly those listening devices and surveillance cameras.
Having become quite skilled at finding such devices, every time I discovered one, I calmly reported it to the territory's Public Safety Office the police.
Even if I don't have much power, if a lord's child files a report through the official channels, they have to produce some kind of result.
And that will certainly reach Father's ears.
Apparently not expecting my report, Anna hurriedly tried to cut off the tail, pinning the blame on some random person, just as she had during the previous poisoning attempt.
And since I repeated the same thing every time a surveillance device was discovered, bad rumors inevitably began to spread among the people of the territory.
In the end, Anna had to give up on equipment and resort to using personnel to watch me.
In other words, she would still keep me under surveillance, but within certain limits that was the unspoken agreement we arrived at.
"I have no intention of just sitting there and taking it. There isn't much time left. Please wait just a little longer."
"Y-you, what on earth are you…?"
Was it because the image of her once-naive son had disappeared?
Or because I had just declared war on Anna and Cedric?
With her tears dried, Mother's mouth opened and closed like a carp's, and then she suddenly hiccuped.