Chapter 202 – 20. Interlude (2)
The Principality of Rosengart, a country that has solidified its neutral status based on its excellent magic technology and diplomacy despite the long war on the continent, is therefore sacrosanct. On a small piece of land to the west of the city association of Brullin, celebrities from numerous organizations are competing today.
“Everyone? Mayor Wilhelm Kohl enters.”
Speaking of Mayor Cole of the Brullin City Association, he was a tycoon who stood out among them. Born as the only child of a commoner family, he was a great man who, in his youth, commanded dozens of cities as one and took the seat of the chairman.
The man, who was not yet middle-aged, was reborn as an object that powerful people from all continents were wary of. In terms of his political capacity and resourcefulness, he became a figure that no one could match. That is why luxuryists call this man, Wilhelm Kohl, like an awe-inspiring nickname.
“Youkai of the central region!”
“Look over there, it’s Bruhlin’s life market!”
“How did the untitled king come to Rosengart…”
His hair was swept back without an inch of disheveledness. His beard was shaved smooth, not leaving a single strand. Wilhelm, wearing a high-class but not extravagant suit, was a man who looked much younger than his original age.
But even so, it was forbidden to be careless.
His glimmering eyes, even at this moment, were quickly scanning the people who appeared at the ball today. It was to the extent that I already saw through many things when I saw a man approaching stealthily among people who did not dare to talk to me because of my status.
“Are you Mayor Wilhelm Kohl?”
Looking at the man approaching me with an expressionless face, Wilhelm nodded. The man was wearing a suit that appeared to have been ordered through a tailor in an expensive dressing room. He was wearing gold rings on all his fingers, reminiscent of his son-in-law.
The most impressive thing was the two front teeth that glittered with gold.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Max von Marx.”
In the mind of Mayor Yeonhap, who was memorizing new records, the list of Rosengart nouns began to turn over. Among them, the only count of the principality here and a businessman prospering in the gold trade knew that he was the man right in front of him and opened his mouth.
“Ah, Count Marx. Someone told me, you are the owner of Max Gold and Silver Trading Company.”
“Oh, you seem to know me?”
“Of course. As the closest aide to the Duke of Rosengart, he has a reputation in society.”
Count Marx Marx chuckled. It is always rewarding to have a person comparable to a country’s monarch recognize you. As a foreign leader, Wilhelm, who had an impression of being difficult to approach, approached because he was friendly, and offered a drink.
At the noisy ball, he went to a seat in the corner to avoid the glances of the people who glanced at him, and began to have a quiet conversation. As if the other person recognized you, so it’s polite for me to recognize the other person as well.
“I am grateful to you for taking good care of me. Duke Rosengart is busy taking care of his beloved wife who is sick. Fortunately, after showing signs of improvement, he wants to be by his side, so this Max is acting as a substitute.”
“I heard. I heard that it is a rare disease that is serious enough to shake his head in any name.”
“Because he is very old, he is struggling with treatment. But you’ll be fine. I know a healer who is knowledgeable about the disease you mentioned.”
The existence of a healer, a profession that restores people through magical action, is not very common. Especially in the midwest of the continent, it is rare enough to say that the seed is dry. Due to an incident that happened in Gaul a long time ago.
“Interesting. I heard that the lineage of orthodox healers are those who have settled in the kingdom of Gaul. It is also said that he went against the wishes of a certain duke, and even his family and relatives were accused of treason and assassinated, so he could not be found anymore.”
“Haha, yes. But there are survivors everywhere. Above all, nothing is permanent in this world. In this cruel and beautiful world, we constantly ask questions. Why should I be so unhappy? Why do we have to face the end of death?”
Count Marx, who quietly let go of his luck, was nowhere to be found with the frivolous appearance he had shown earlier. Union Mayor Wilhelm, who examined his image with narrow eyes, nodded. With a look on his face as if he was deeply troubled for a moment, he struggled to get his words out.
“Earl, excuse me for the first time, but could we have a conversation in a quiet place?”
“As much as you like.”
Count Marx with a sinister smile led Wilhelm down the hallway where the ball was held. This palace, which was originally the villa of the Duke of Rosengart, was full of places to share private talks. Stepping on expensive stone floors and Veda carpets, the two moved up the stairs to a study in the palace.
It was a place where the collection was tightly packed and items that appeared to be magical tools were scattered on the desk.
“This place?”
“Ah, as you know, our Principality of Rosengart is not very large. That’s why I don’t have anything to say. It’s embarrassing for a noble to use a part of the villa that the duke lent to me as if it were my own. It’s like my office, so to speak.”
“Okay.”
Wilhelm, who responded calmly with a cool, expressionless face, closed the door to his room. After that, he looked carefully, and then he turned to Count Marx and asked.
“Actually, not too long ago, my lover also suffered from a disease similar to that of the Duchess of Rosengart. All the top doctors shook their heads and said there was no cure. I was told that I could try my hand at a healer from the orthodox Gallia.”
“Oh, such an accident to Mayor Cole’s lover…”
“I’m going to ask you a question without hesitation. Would you like to introduce me to the healer who is said to be treating the Duchess? If that’s the case, I won’t be upset. I am willing to reciprocate even with political issues, not just money.”
Count Marx nodded. He said that he had taken a big leap in his heart, and he sang a mean delight. Taking a contemplative look as he scanned the market, which was white with concern for his lover, he soon gave a speech.
“Our mythology is history.”
“… ?”
“In the past, beings that transcended cognition stayed in this world and looked down on the lacking human beings. We called it the Age of Myth. They regarded them as gods and hoped for salvation and eternal prosperity.”
“Are you talking about the times when fairies and monsters mingled among us? You mean the time when the gods themselves chose someone to tell them to do their will?”
“That’s right. In the case of the Brulin City Association, I know that it guarantees religious freedom, so I’ll bring it up comfortably. The origins of Celestialism revered in Gaul and Hellas, Jishinism worshiped by the Nasrid Sultanate, Apostolicism blindly worshiped by the Kingdom of Aragorn, and the main religion of the Rus Empire are originally the same, aren’t they?”
The days when it was so absurd, so there are people who disbelieve even though the historical records are clear. All that was left of the divinity of the distant past was a few powers, starting with magic. Whether they existed or not, many people argue even today.
In addition, according to the field of interpretation, religions are divided and have reached the present day.
“The word is difficult. I want you to explain what the point is.”
“Aren’t you interested in completely overcoming birth, old age, disease?”
“… What?”
“Mayor Cole, if you intend to join our Order, we will heal your lover right now. And furthermore, I will give you a way not to suffer the pain of old age, sickness, and death forever.”
“It is very sudden. Are you playing with me?”
Count Marx grinned and took out the dagger from his bosom. He grabbed his sword in one hand, cut off the rest of his arm, and then uttered a strange incantation. He proved it by attaching his severed forearm at once while the dark purple mana was swaying.
“Do you doubt my healing arts?”
“… You were the healer.”
“Let me tell you something more interesting. Duchess Rosengart is actually dead. When I arrived, the car was already out of breath. But she told the former duke about the man I served, and in exchange for her full cooperation, she prevented his corpse from decaying. Furthermore, I gave a glimpse of the possibility of reviving it someday.”
The Count, who spat out words of astonishment, looked at Wilhelm’s complexion. Having captured so many powerful people, he usually knew the expression to come out of this part. A mixture of bewilderment and thrill, the expression of a weak human trying to hold on to the given rope somehow, holding on to swelling expectations.
“Found.”
“… Yes?”
However, the mayor, who had just been acting as if he felt powerless over his lover’s sickness, snapped his fingers with a cold, expressionless face as seen from downstairs.
Right!
Rather, on the contrary, he left the bewildered Count Marx behind and spit it out to a wanderer who suddenly appeared in the study.
“You’re right, wandering friend.”
He was Emilyen. He was everyone’s man who could have been an affectionate duke. A wanderer who crossed Le Moen in northern Gaul and crossed the Principality of Rosengart and the Union of Brulin cities smiled and stretched out his hand. While the startled Count Marx was about to use his nefarious magic, he bound him with pure and pure magic.
“Do you believe me now, Mayor Cole?”
Wilhelm nodded. Count Marx, imprisoned by an invisible force, groaned and screamed. He barely turned his head to the side and spat out as if he couldn’t be in a familiar face.
“Emilian, young master… ?”
“It’s been a while, Max.”
“How, me… !”
“Ah, how did I find you?”
Emilian, a wanderer wearing a windbreaker, walked towards me. Leaving Wilhelm Cole watching the situation with his arms crossed, he quietly opened his mouth.
“You are not the first.”
Count Marx Marx is not from an aristocratic background. His true identity is just an employee who left his home country behind his unfortunate past and got a job at a ducal family in Gaul. Thanks to his loyalty to do whatever he tells him to, he is the one who was selected as the subordinate of the Millennium Gong, performing assassination as if he were eating a meal.
“The servant Manuel disguised himself as the owner of a certain store in Pamplona, Aragon, and was dazzling the nobles. Her maid, Clemence, plays a wealthy aristocratic young lady from the Sultanate of Nasr and is attracting her influential people.”
“Eh, Manuel and Clemence?”
“Butler Max is conciliating money makers and magnates in the Duchy of Rosengart like this. And that, too, by scaring the curse I spread myself and pretending that it is some kind of serious disease, while deceiving me that I can cure it.”
Emilyen reproached him in a sharp tone.
“Max von Marx is not a healer or something, mayor.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s how it looks.”
“This man was my father’s filthy henchman. Maybe one of the characters he’s hiding in case his brother doesn’t listen. He is also the one who took the lead in the massacre of orthodox healers in Gaul a long time ago. I know how to handle magic, but it’s necromancy, not healing.”
Count Marx, whose identity was exposed, chewed his lips. He trembled, unable to come and go, being pressed by the spirit of the great wizard Emilian, the master’s son who was incomparable in terms of talent alone.
“Manuel and Clemence ended their lives as soon as their identities were revealed. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to hear the details. So this time I decided to approach it a little more cautiously. Fortunately, it seemed like you guys didn’t even keep in touch with each other, probably to avoid getting involved.”
“Ah, Dark Ball won’t be alone.”
“It would be better if you did. The bigger your brother’s movements are, the easier it is to observe. It makes me more comfortable to maneuver.”
The time has come. Emilian forced Max, the old butler, into a chair, who was tied up tightly, and gave him a violent slap on the cheek. And again, he asked quietly with an expression that he wondered if a friendly and sociable man could have made such a face.
“So don’t wait until now, tell me straight away.”
“Kuuuuu… !”
“How far has your father’s resurrection plan gone?”
