Act 39

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“Yo, Young Master Joshua, I’ve come to change your towel.”

Joshua, his cheeks flushed red, was holding a towel to his face. He looked at the maid who had entered his room with cold water and a clean towel with half-opened eyes.

“Change it!”

“Yes, yes…!”

The maid, tense at the sharp tone, replaced Joshua’s towel, which had become lukewarm from the heat of his cheeks.

The towel turned cold again.

But, contrary to that, a flame of anger rose in Joshua’s heart.

‘How dare someone of an inferior branch…!’

Joshua gnawed his lips, thinking of the person who had caused his cheeks to be in such a state.

A man with the characteristic grey hair of the Crypart family, yet born to the less prestigious branch. Julian Crypart Frason.

Joshua could not contain his boiling indignation at the outrageous actions of that presumptuous man.

-‘The moment you draw your sword, you stand before me not as Joshua of the Crypart family but as the swordsman Joshua.’

Arrogant tone.

A contemptuous sneer that looked down on everyone.

An attitude unaware of his own position.

-‘Would that be alright with you?’

Despite being a man unsuitable for the noble ‘Crypart family’, Joshua found it hard to respond to his question immediately.

The confidence in his own swordsmanship that he could feel in his skin.

It was because it had already surpassed the realm of nobility.

Therefore, Joshua could not hide his volcano-like boiling anger.

Why him?

Among the members of the Crypart family, why did it have to be that inferior branch?

Why did the sword saint have to be such an insignificant 

splash-!

As Joshua was questioning this to himself, he slowly turned his head towards the direction from where the water had splashed on his face.

“Yo, Young Master Joshua, I’m sorry!”

There stood the maid who had changed his towel.

In the process of soaking the extra towel in cold water, some of it had splashed on Joshua’s cheek.

His gaze turned colder than the towel pressed against his cheek. As he slowly got up and approached the maid, raising his hand high.

“Did you call for me, Young Master Joshua?”

A familiar voice.

As Joshua remembered calling someone, he lowered his raised hand and slowly turned his head towards the direction of the voice.

“Alphas.”

Alphas Meyend.

A notable figure who had risen to the position of vice-captain of the ‘Blue Lion Knights’, known for their strength even in the empire.

Though he had been stripped of his knightly status for dishonorable deeds, his skills as a swordsman were still recognized in the empire.

Upon seeing Alphas’s face, Joshua gestured irritably with his hand, sending the maid outside.

“Do you see my cheek?”

Then Joshua pointed to his swollen cheek with his finger.

“Yes, I can see it, Young Master.”

“What were you doing somewhere else while my cheek became like this, as a member of the guard?”

“Young Master Joshua, I was following the Lord’s orders…”

“That’s not what I asked! Your role is to protect the direct lineage of the Crypart family!”

Joshua, giving himself over to anger, trembled his lips.

He knew it was nonsensical, but for Joshua, venting his boiling emotions was a priority.

“Indeed… it was a mistake to include a loser like you in the guard.”

“I am sorry, Young Master Joshua.”

Joshua scoffed at Alphas, who admitted his mistake.

“You’re sorry, huh? You must have been too scared to do anything in that situation anyway.”

Dismissing him, Joshua then grabbed a towel soaked with water.

Slap!

He threw the towel straight at Alphas’s face.

“Stupid fool.”

The wet towel slid down Alphas’s face.

His neatly groomed hair became disheveled, scattering in every direction, and his uniform top was full of water stains.

Despite such humiliation, there was no change in Alphas’s expression.

“Insulted by a half-bred branch member, and even scolded by Brother Herand! Do you know how humiliating that is for me?”

“I am sorry.”

“I don’t want to hear ‘I am sorry’! I want you to find a way to avenge this disgrace right now!”

The fire demon in Joshua’s heart showed no signs of calming down.

“Young Master Joshua, do you wish to take revenge on Julian?”

Alphas threw logs onto the fire raging in Joshua’s heart.

“What?”

At Joshua’s question, Alphas tidied his messed-up hair.

“Do you have some kind of brilliant plan?”

“Yes, that is…”

“Then speak now!”

Joshua interrupted Alphas, shouting as if to command him, and Alphas, having no choice, opened his mouth.

“Julian is indeed strong now. A swordsman with overwhelming skill, beyond what ordinary knights can challenge.”

As expected.

An unwelcome reality, yet undeniable.

“However, the foundation of that strength is aura. The massive amount of mana he possesses within his body.”

“And what’s your point with that!”

“Enhanced concentration, posture correction, muscle strengthening, etc. The peak of utilizing mana which he has in abundance, and his signature technique, the Moonlight Sword.”

“So what? That’s not what I want to hear!”

The man before him, Alphas, was one of the monsters stationed throughout the empire, in name and reality.

While paling in comparison to Julian’s abilities, he was still one of the stars of the empire.

Hearing about Julian’s strengths from Alphas was far from pleasant.

‘What is needed now is purely Julian. A way to trample the high nose of that despised branch family.’

“I want to say that if we are in an environment where Julian cannot use his strength, the Aura, then there might be a possibility for Lord Joshua as well.”

Although Joshua does not possess the military power to rival the stars of the empire, he is skilled enough in swordsmanship to defeat an ordinary knight.

After a moment of contemplation, Alphas pulled out a small gemstone from his pocket. It was a gemstone emitting a faint blue light, known as ‘Resonance Stone’ in the world, something Joshua was aware of.

“Isn’t that a Resonance Stone?”

“This is not the Resonance Stone currently being produced but a ‘failed Resonance Stone.”

“…Failed?”

“Yes. Originally, Resonance Stones are designed to forcibly suppress the demonic energy held by demons, inducing a psychological aversion.”

“I know.” Joshua was about to say this, but Alphas continued.

“However! This failure not only suppresses the demonic ‘energy’ but also inhibits the flow of regular ‘mana.'”

“Mana too?”

To answer Joshua’s question, Alphas handed over the failed product to Joshua. Suddenly, Joshua felt an anomaly in his body. The mana that had been clearly perceptible in the atmosphere and within his body now seemed as if obscured by fog.

“A makeshift barrier created with this will disrupt the flow of mana. Then, Julian would not be able to use his Aura or Moonlight Sword either.”

If they formed a barrier with this Resonance Stone, it would indeed create an environment uncomfortable for using Aura.

“But, if that’s the case, wouldn’t I also be unable to use Aura?”

“Even so, wouldn’t it narrow the gap between you and Julian?”

Surely, it could narrow the gap. But by erasing one advantage, could he catch up to the capacity of the ‘Smiling Executioner’ monster?

While Joshua was swirling with these doubts, Alphas seemed to catch onto his questioning and once again pulled out a small box from his pocket.

“A horn?”

What was contained in the box was a small demon’s horn, emitting an uncomfortable demonic energy.

***

‘It’s a relief that Herand readily agreed.’

Having finished the conversation, I left Herand’s mansion. Unrelated to Dawn Society or the Sword Saint, and thus no concern of related parties approaching, an outsider. Surely, unless something significant happened, it wouldn’t be discovered.

I had managed to alleviate one worry. While I was thinking this, trimming the Orchid that I had left in the ‘Closed Eyes’ office.

Suddenly!

“Lord Julian! Several members of Dawn Society, harboring grievances against you, have gathered and are plotting a surprise attack!”

Startled, the end of the Orchid I was trimming slightly bent at the sudden entrance of Razlot’s words.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I heard it directly from the Kenmel Monastery.”

“Is there… any bishop involved?”

The sudden plot of an ambush left me bewildered, but what I needed to find out first was the identity of those conspiring. Especially if a ‘bishop’ was involved, it would be more than just a nuisance. On the surface, the Archbishop might be the center of ‘Dawn Society,’ but the bishops under him joined for their own interests. It wouldn’t be surprising if they sought to eliminate Julian for their own benefits.

“Ah, it’s unlikely that any are involved.”

“So, people other than bishops are planning to ambush me? Haha.”

That’s a silver lining. More precisely, I felt relieved that there were no bishops openly hostile towards me yet, as I gently stroked the broken tip of the orchid.

Suddenly, a ‘purple miasma’ began to swirl above Razlot’s head, a clear emotion of ‘fear.’ Why? All I did was touch an orchid.

“What will you do?”

Even as he asked, Razlot’s gaze did not stray from the twisted tip of the orchid.

“Well, since they haven’t acted yet, we have no choice but to wait, right?”

I knew they were conspiring, but without solid proof, acting on mere suspicion would yield no benefit. I knew that as well. Let’s take a step back and watch how things unfold. There’s no need to stir up trouble prematurely. After all, a conspiracy is just that until it translates into action. Maybe the plan will just fall through.

Gulp.

While organizing my thoughts, I noticed Razlot’s expression, still distinctly colored with ‘fear.’ Perhaps the role of a double agent was uncomfortably burdensome for him, as his face was marked with awkwardness.

Aren’t we going to be relying on each other from now on? With that thought, I decided it might be nosy, but I should try to ease his tension with some small talk.

What could be good… Ah, yes.

“Normally, a healthy orchid wouldn’t have its leaves crumpled like this.”

“Yes?”

You seemed interested in the orchid just now, right? It seemed like you might be curious, so I thought I’d share a tip.

“In most cases, the problem lies in the roots.”

“Really?”

Hearing Razlot’s response, I gently shook off the soil from the pot and carefully pulled out the orchid. As expected, a multitude of roots revealed themselves, with one root discolored yellow.

“Just as I said, one of the roots is rotten. Such a root can gnaw at the entirety of the orchid.”

“Yes, yes…”

Leaving Razlot’s response behind, I touched the root.

“But when managing orchids, we also prepare for this by pushing one root to the outer edge.”

In case a root gets damaged, it won’t affect the others.

“Like a decoy.”

Crack!

After cutting the root with my hand and placing the orchid back into the pot, I looked at Razlot’s face with satisfaction. Such trivial small talk should be enough to ease the tension, right?

“Indeed… the reason for standing by is to uproot all opposing forces in this opportunity…”

However, contrary to expectations, the ‘fear’ above Razlot’s head did not disappear. Instead, it flared up even more intensely.

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