How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 122

Living as the Third Son of a Failed Novel – Chapter 123

As usual, I started my morning with sparring, like a squirrel on a wheel.

Hawkins and the three knights, having nothing else to do but watch me, devoted themselves to crossing swords with me.

Hawkins, who usually looked at me like I was crazy, adopted a serious look when sparring.

Does he think he’ll lose face if he loses to someone he considers a madman?

Well, even if that’s the case, there’s no way for me to know.

Anyway, as I swung my sword and sweated, I felt my complicated thoughts clearing up a bit.

“Baron Cain.”

A guard who came to the makeshift barracks was looking for me.

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“A visitor?”

Did the Lindayer family send someone?

But I’ve already made it clear to the Count that there’s no need to worry about me.

Besides, the Count isn’t the type to make a fuss when the person involved doesn’t want him to.

Ah, so that guy came?

Thinking he came faster than I thought, I looked behind the guard.

“Oh. Ruth?”

The person who appeared was Ruth.

His skin had turned a deep bronze color, probably from getting plenty of sun in the South, and his appearance, so different from the weather here, was striking.

“Yo.”

As I raised my hand and greeted him, Ruth frowned.

“What do you mean, ‘Yo’?”

Ruth then looked at the people around him and bowed his head.

“Could you give us some space? I have something important to discuss with the Third Son.”

“I can’t leave for long.”

“It will only take a moment.”

Hawkins, with a face that seemed to understand what kind of story they were going to have, took the others and headed outside.

“How long has it been?”

“It’s been almost three months. More importantly, what on earth are you doing, Young Master?”

“I’m not a Young Master anymore. I received a title.”

“Is that important right now?”

“Why are you so angry?”

“How can I not be angry? After hearing the whole story, I felt like my blood was running backward.”

“Why is your perfectly fine blood running backward?”

“How can I be okay when the person I serve is gambling with his life?”

“It’s not gambling.”

“What do you mean it’s not gambling?”

“If the win rate is 100%, you can’t call it gambling. Unless it’s a rigged game.”

“100%?”

Ruth, who was about to get angry, paused for a moment.

“Calm down first.”

“Hoo.”

After taking a deep breath with his head down for a moment, Ruth looked at me again.

“How much time is left?”

“It’s been almost two months since the initial agreement… so about a month left.”

“I sincerely hope that’s not your lifespan.”

“Of course not. I don’t plan on dying because I’d hate to waste my savings.”

“…Savings? What’s that?”

“It’s something. Something like that.”

I was reminded of the savings account where I had been pouring most of my salary every month, thinking there was nowhere for a soldier to spend money.

Thinking about that, I couldn’t die out of sheer spite.

“Anyway, it’s been a while, Ruth. Shall we have a drink?”

As I smiled and held out my hand, Ruth sighed with a frustrated look and shook my hand.

“Who can stop you, really?”

* * *

Afterward, I headed to my lodging with Ruth and opened the brandy I had been saving.

Ruth said, ‘What’s with the alcohol in the middle of the day?’ but as soon as he smelled the high-quality brandy, he seemed tempted.

“How was the South?”

“There was nothing special. Except the weather was really nice.”

“The South is famous for its beauties, isn’t it? Didn’t anything fun happen?”

“Beauties? I was just suffering while traveling around the archipelago.”

“Really? So, what about what I asked you to find out?”

Sensing that it was time to get to the point, Ruth rummaged through his clothes and took out a piece of paper with notes on it.

“First of all, I’ve been gathering information while traveling around the southern cities, but I couldn’t find any suspicious movements you mentioned.”

“That can’t be all.”

“Yes. So, I disguised myself and worked as a mercenary. As you know, the southern archipelago is a hotbed of pirates.”

“Mercenary?”

“Yes. I belonged to a merchant ship as a mercenary and gathered information. Merchant ships visit many coastal cities, so I thought it would be better than going around on foot.”

“So?”

“I couldn’t give you a definite answer. The suspicious things that happen there are just pirates, but that’s something that has always been there, like the monsters in the North. However, there was something strange.”

“Something strange?”

“Yes.”

“What’s so strange about it?”

“People are disappearing, they say.”

“People are disappearing?”

Ruth nodded at my question.

“Yes. They say people are disappearing more than usual.”

“More than usual? Is it just a simple disappearance?”

“No. The way they’re disappearing is what’s strange. As I said, the South is a place where pirates run rampant, so there are quite a few villages that are looted.”

“So?”

“When I looked into it, there were stories that the pirates’ looting was aimed at people, not just money.”

“People?”

“Yes. I heard that pirates mainly use galleys, so that’s why.”

“Galleys, then I understand.”

In the case of merchant ships, sailing ships are used in overwhelmingly large proportions because they can carry a large amount of cargo with a small number of people.

On the other hand, pirates prefer galleys that use oars to generate power.

They can move forward even in windless or headwind conditions, and because they use manpower, they are easier to control than sailing ships.

In addition, pirates, whose basic goal is to capture ships through boarding, need to maximize the number of people, so galleys would be the right choice in many ways.

“Looking at it, there’s nothing strange about it. The rowers on pirate ships must be in extremely harsh environments, so they die almost every day, and to replenish them, they have to keep finding people from somewhere.”

“That’s right. That’s why I said there’s nothing strange about the process.”

“Is there something more?”

“Yes.”

Ruth nodded and moistened his throat with brandy.

“In the past, pirates only took strong men who could be used as slaves, but from some point on, they started sweeping away everyone, regardless of gender or age.”

“Everyone?”

“Yes. The villages have to be maintained so that there will be something to loot again in the future. So, the pirates have been leaving at least the minimum number of people to form the village, but now it’s different.”

“Ha.”

Bad memories came to my mind.

Was it when I was subjugating the Blade Song tribe?

The gruesome sight of orcs sacrificing humans was still vivid in my mind.

Could the current situation have nothing to do with that?

If there is a connection, if they are capturing people and offering them as sacrifices to do something ominous, what is the detailed story?

“What about the information on the pirates who are capturing those people indiscriminately?”

“I don’t know the details. Pirates don’t operate with a definite main body. It’s close to a point organization, so it’s hard to find out. I caught a few pirates who happened to be passing by and asked them, but each one had a different leader. They must be operating in their own areas.”

“Then that means we have to catch those leaders to get something out of them.”

“That’s right. But it seems impossible for me to do that kind of thing alone…”

“I’m not telling you to blame yourself. I know you’ve suffered enough.”

I comforted Ruth and changed the subject.

“So, what is the reaction of the southern lords now?”

“There have been movements to wipe out the pirates before, but they are not the kind of guys that can be eliminated overnight.”

“Don’t you know any other strange rumors or suspicious movements?”

“Yes. There were many strange rumors because it’s such a notoriously lawless neighborhood… but there was nothing that seemed particularly useful.”

“What about the coastal cities? Have you been to the archipelago?”

“Oh, don’t even mention it. It was so hard to find a captain who would go there. I managed to find a few sailors who were struggling with debt and took a look around the archipelago.”

“And?”

“Practically everyone living in the archipelago was clearly connected to pirates. Even the few I managed to contact were extremely secretive and unwilling to talk.”

Does that mean that those living in the archipelago are forming a cartel with the pirates?

“Are the lords just letting that happen?”

“From what I can tell, they seem to think it’s best to leave it alone within a reasonably controllable level.”

“Leave it alone?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re receiving regular tributes [payments for protection]. But that doesn’t mean that method is particularly wrong.”

“That’s true.”

If you can’t completely eradicate them, it’s better to leave them alone.

That’s not wrong.

Even if you spend a lot of resources to wipe them out cleanly, a new pirate group will inevitably appear, aiming for the demilitarized zone.

In that case, it may be better to draw a line and control them so that they don’t become too powerful.

It’s a despicable trick, but if you appease them like that, you can use them to keep other families in check.

“What about the jungles of the archipelago? Have you investigated them?”

“I looked into it a little… but that was also impossible for me alone. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. In fact, I didn’t get any information.”

“Okay. It’s a shame, but what can we do?”

There were still some parts that were not satisfactory, but there was nothing I could do. It would be greedy to try to find out everything by sending just one Ruth.

“I just think the pirates might suddenly get upset and grab people indiscriminately, but I guess your idea is different.”

“Yes. I’m sure there’s something more to it.”

I sent Ruth because I couldn’t just believe Ebony’s words and act, and there were signs similar to what the Blade Song tribe had done in the past.

At this point, I had achieved my initial goal.

That meant that if I cracked down on the pirates and the residents of the archipelago, something would come out.

“Then I’ll have to look into it properly again later.”

“I guess so. After solving the immediate problem.”

At my words, Ruth’s expression became quite serious, as if he had finally remembered the current situation.

“I heard that Princess Fleta and Ilia were captured as prisoners.”

“Yes. I received the list of prisoners. Both of them are still safe.”

“You mean ‘still’…”

“Because you never know what will happen in the future.”

“Could something go wrong? No, more than that, how are you going to solve this? I’m dying of curiosity.”

I smiled at Ruth’s question.

“There’s nothing I can do right now. It’s a problem that time will solve.”

“Time? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Will they suddenly change their minds and back down as time goes by?”

“Maybe.”

“Young Master!”

“I’m a Baron now.”

I shrugged at Ruth’s annoyed and anxious question.

“Well, even so, there are still many uncertain elements. So, there’s something I need you to do.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Even so, shouldn’t we have some insurance?”

“…”

At the word ‘insurance,’ Ruth sighed deeply with an expression that he really didn’t understand anymore.

I understand. He must be frustrated.

But what can I do? No matter how much the other person is Ruth, there’s no way I can tell him that I’ve entered the novel.

* * *

After that, time passed again, and the Duke, who had temporarily left the military camp, rejoined with his troops.

The promised time was really running out.

The Duke must have been aware of that, as he had been intensifying his surveillance of me even more in recent days.

He must be worried that I might run away.

Of course, there was no reason to run away.

Because the incident had already begun.

“Baron Cain. The Duke is looking for you.”

The Duke is looking for me.

It was a highly anticipated development.

And the reason for that was not difficult to guess.

Thud.

Before meeting the Duke, I threw the official letter I was holding onto the table and began to put on my uniform.

The phrase written on the thrown letter was very simple and clear.