I Regressed to My Ruined Family – 57

 #I returned, and my family was ruined (58)

“If you want to die peacefully, just say so.”

The viscount flinched.

But only for a moment.

He sighed as if giving up and said,

“… Fine. I’ll tell you, but at least kill me mercifully.”

He had heard about the two barons. There was no way they would spare him. If that was the case, at least dying painlessly was better. “Alright.”

“…Have you seen that mark before?”

“Where?”

“The mark that the man who came to see me showed me. He seemed to be a skilled magician. He appeared in my office without making a sound.” “Did the commander of the knights not notice?”

“Yes.”

He must be a high-ranking magician.

“So?”

“He said that those who possess the mark can make a ‘deal.’ What they wanted was metal.”

“……Metal?”

“Yes. Of course, they didn’t want ordinary pieces of steel. They were looking for rare metals such as mithril, bloodstone, and diamond. They wanted to exchange them for their technology.”

“Is that why they used the Dragon Clan’s technology?”

“…Haha! Who wouldn’t covet a method that makes you stronger several times faster than the human way?”

Lokhan, who had been staring intently at Ethan, continued.

“Hehe… Even the western region, where the Duke resides, is slowly accepting their technology. What about other regions? We are just following the trend.”

The trend.

It seemed that the dragon tribe’s minions had infiltrated further than expected.

It was something he had half expected.

He asked while looking at the young man.

“Do you know anything about the identity of the magician?”

“Heh heh… To be honest, I’ll ask you the same question, Grand Duke. Do you think I can track down a magician whose skills are so high that even the Knight Commander doesn’t know where he is?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. Well, not exactly.”

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It was the moment when he grabbed the guy’s shoulder tightly.

The viscount began to scream as if he were being thrown into a dungeon.

“You may not know his exact whereabouts, but you seem to know something more about that wizard. Am I right?”

“Ugh!”

“Answer me. If you don’t, I’ll break your limbs.”

Ethan had seen countless people in his past life.

He was at least at the level of a prophet when it came to distinguishing the characteristics of liars.

To Ethan, it was clear that this man

definitely knew something more.

“I’ll… I’ll talk!”

“You should have said so sooner.”

The viscount said, looking at Ethan with trembling eyes.

“There… there is a middleman.”

“A middleman?”

“Mel… Melaisis… He’s a wizard… He’s active in the duke’s domain… Whenever we found metal, we always contacted him. When we contacted him, that high-ranking wizard would come soon after.”

“What kind of wizard is the middleman?”

“Ugh… To be honest, I don’t know the details. I did some background research, but he didn’t seem to be very famous. All I saw was a few basic spells.”

‘Could he be a specialized wizard?’

Just because a wizard was highly skilled didn’t mean they were good at all kinds of magic.

That’s why magicians usually had their own areas of expertise. For example, Ilia, who was famous for her craftsmanship.

Melaisis.

Perhaps he was also a magician who specialized in a particular field.

A group of magicians.

It was still unclear what kind of group they were and where their headquarters were located.

“Still, we’ve got a lead.”

If we take down that middleman, we’ll be able to get better information.

“Where is he?”

“…He’s near the viscount’s territory. Do you have a map?”

He drew a line on the floor with his broadsword.

A map similar to the Jajak Province was drawn in an instant.

“Point it out.”

Lord Rokan pointed to a part of the drawing with his finger.

“It’s not far.”

It’s about a day’s journey by carriage.

It shouldn’t be difficult to visit.

“You’ll keep your promise, right?”

You want me to kill him?

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I don’t know.

I didn’t like him from the start.

On top of that, he tried to hide important information.

If I hadn’t pressured him, I wouldn’t have known about the middleman.

Considering that,

“You broke the promise first.”

There was no reason to keep my promise.

In exchange for keeping the promise, Ethan wanted him to reveal all the information without leaving anything out.

“What… What? Wait!”

Ignoring his words, he escaped from the prison.

* *

Capital City.

Viscount Bloten and Popolence arrived in front of the royal palace. The dwarf swallowed hard when he saw the towering palace.

“Go.”

It was just as he was approaching the entrance.

“Greetings, Viscount. But who is the person with you?”

“My companion.”

“Then I will issue you a temporary pass. However, you will not be allowed to enter beyond the third district of the royal palace.”

Normally, those whose identities were not verified were not allowed to enter, but this was a special pass issued because the marquis had personally guaranteed his identity.

Popolence’s eyes lit up as he received the pass.

‘As expected of the House of Besos.’

With just a few simple words, he was able to obtain a temporary pass to the royal palace.

The power of the marquis was greater than he had imagined. The marquis smiled wryly as he looked at the dwarves’ bright eyes.

“There’s no need to look at me like that. It’s nothing special.”

“What? You mean a pass that allows me to enter the royal palace?”

“Twenty years ago, I could have gotten not just three, but six passes.”

The royal palace was divided into eight districts.

If the head of one of the seven royal families had brought a companion, they would have been issued a pass for six or even seven districts.

“In the past, the Hwagak family was definitely like that.”

The seven families of the kingdom.

The Besos Hwagak family was one of the families that had power that could rival even them.

Faded glory always brought bitterness.

The Hwagak family member, who had lost his appetite, looked at Popolens.

“Let’s go.”

The two entered the inner palace. As they passed through Zone 3 and entered Zone 4, a royal knight stopped Popolence.

“From here on, you must prove your identity separately.”

“Is this enough?”

The dwarf took his identity card out of his pocket. The royal guard’s eyes widened.

“This is…!”

A golden flame pattern!

It was a badge that proved his identity as the only person in the kingdom who enjoyed the same high status as the royal family.

“I am here on behalf of the Duke of Ardan. I have something to report to His Majesty.”

The guard hesitated, then stared at the badge and nodded.

It was clearly a genuine badge of identity.

“…Yes. You may enter.”

Poporen and the marquis entered the fourth district. The guard watched them and sent a message to the inner palace.

The representative of the Duke of Ardan.

This was such an important matter that it had to be reported to the high-ranking officials of the inner castle as a top priority. And so, the two entered the inner castle of the royal palace.

A moment later.

They were able to attend the morning court meeting that was held every week.

The nobles seated in the conference room turned their attention to Viscount Bloten. To be more precise, their attention was focused on the stocky dwarf sitting next to him.

“Who is that?”

The dwarf was one of the most familiar figures to them.

Wasn’t the kingdom’s master blacksmith a dwarf?

However, even as the kingdom’s master blacksmith, he had rarely appeared at court meetings.

At best, he would occasionally show his face when delivering swords to the royal family.

His curiosity was short-lived.

“His Majesty Delphrion is entering!”

This was because the king was seated at the head of the table.

The king’s eyes lit up as he looked around at the nobles. It was because of the dwarf standing next to Viscount Bloten.

“Who are you?”

“I am Popolens, an external director of the Greston Blacksmiths’ Guild, Your Majesty. I am also the representative of Prince Ethan.”

“The representative of the Grand Prince?”

The eyes of the king and the other high-ranking nobles lit up.

Ethan Ardan.

His name was now widely known even in the capital.

Wasn’t he the one who, as soon as he awoke, destroyed the ten branches of the royal family one by one and made a name for himself?

In the western region, where the duke’s domain was already established, rumors of the return of a hero were spreading. It was a rumor that even the king could not ignore.

Ardan’s name carried that much weight.

“…So, what brings you here?”

“The Grand Prince asked me to deliver this to Your Majesty.”

Popolence humbly handed over a document. The attendant who received the document handed it to Delphreon.

“…”

The king, who had been quietly reading the document, laughed in disbelief.

“Are you saying that the kingdom’s master blacksmith was in direct communication with the dragon tribe?”

“…”

The reactions of the high-ranking nobles varied. Some were completely unaware of this fact.

Others began to glare sharply at the dwarves.

“Prime Minister?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Would you read it?”

“Yes, I will.”

The prime minister read the document.

It began with the distribution of a book called the Dragon Clan Scriptures, and continued with the location of the place called the printing house and the dwarf symbol written on the printing press.

“What do you think, Chancellor?”

“It seems that there is some connection.”

“Hmmm…”

Delphrion tapped the throne. Seeing this, the nobles refrained from speaking.

It was one of the actions the king took when he was displeased.

Was it because of the dwarf who reported the unwanted information, or because of the blacksmith who was in collusion with the dragon tribe?

The reason was still unclear.

Silence continued in the conference room.

* *

“He should be entering the royal palace by now.”

He received a message from Viscount Bloten. It said that he was scheduled to attend the royal council meeting in the morning.

He would probably receive the results of the meeting in a few days.

“It was Melaisis, wasn’t it?”

Elena, Prexian, and Silvia were in charge of reorganizing the viscount’s domain.

They were starting with persuading the existing knights and then moving on to internal affairs.

These matters would be handled by talented individuals. Now that he had some free time, it was time to find him.

Just as Ethan stood up from his seat,

knock!

Someone knocked on the door.

A childish voice was heard immediately after.

“Ahem! I have something to report. May I come in?”

“Yes.”

Ilia entered the room and said with a puff of breath.

“We have successfully restored the items! Not only that, but look here…”

She handed him the documents and continued talking as if she were reciting a speech at high speed.

The summary was simple.

They had successfully restored the items.

Their performance had been improved to be far superior to what had been previously stated.

She also said that the materials had been replaced with ones that were a little easier to obtain.

“Yes.”

Just as he nodded, Ilia puffed out her cheeks and said,

“…Human. Stingy praise lowers work efficiency.”

“Well done.”

“…”

His cheeks deflated instantly. Looking closely, I could see his hands clutching his collar trembling.

It was obvious that he was overjoyed.

“He’s worth every penny.”

If a single word of praise could improve the item this much, then I could easily give him more praise.

However, the reason for not overusing praise was simple.

It was to make them realize that praise is something very difficult to receive.

That way, even after exploiting them to the fullest, he could get away with just a single word.

Soon, Ilia, who had been watching him closely, cautiously spoke up.

“Hmm… I think it’s still a little lacking…”

“Then bring me better results. Nothing in this world is free.”

“…”

Ilia trembled.

Did he think I would give him another compliment if he asked for it?

What a terrible person!

However, deep down, he still craved his praise.

“…Why does the author’s praise feel so different?”

It was more than praise.

He had heard those words countless times when he was dealing with the upper class as an old woman.

At that time, he felt nothing.

Why did the Grand Duke’s blunt praise sound so good?

Even Ilia, who was called the Grand Magician, did not know the reason. “Then let’s go.”

“…Do you have something to do?”

“I’m going to find a magician.”

“…A magician? Who are you talking about? I know everything there is to know about magicians.”

‘This guy.’

Come to think of it, he was the Grand Magician.

Ethan asked.

“Do you know a wizard named Melaisis?”

“Melaisis… Ah! That stingy old man?”

Ilya asked with a bright expression.

No matter how he looked at him, he seemed to know the wizard he was looking for very well.

“Do you know him?”

“Of course! I know him very well! Hmm! If you’re going to meet him, I can help you.”

Ilya said with sparkling eyes. The archmage was communicating with his eyes.

Take me with you.

Since you’re going to visit him anyway, it would be better to go with someone you know.

Ethan nodded readily.