How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 160

“I didn’t expect the Head of the Royal Household to come in person. Had I known in advance, I would have greeted you outside.”

Ruth and Rihas, who had been blinking at my courteous attitude, snapped to attention upon hearing the title ‘Head of the Royal Household.’

“No need for greetings. Don’t treat me like an old man.”

Marquis Irfe, hidden beneath his coat, was still in good shape.

To have such muscles despite being a civil official far removed from combat… Considering his age, which was approaching middle age, he was indeed remarkable.

“Is this where I sit?”

“Let’s go to the third floor. There’s a quiet study.”

“Quiet… I like that.”

The Marquis picked up the bottle of wine from the table and moved toward the stairs.

“I’ll bring a new one.”

“No need. This is enough. Taylor!”

The Marquis, smiling affably, gestured to his attendant knight, Taylor.

“You stay here.”

“Marquis.”

“It’s alright, just stay. Yes, you can play a game of chess with those friends.”

With that, the Marquis left his attendant knight behind and ascended to the third floor with me.

After entering the study, the Marquis looked out the window at the increasingly heavy raindrops and sighed.

“I’m worried about the journey back.”

Clicking his tongue, the Marquis sat down, and I placed the glasses I had brought on the table before sitting opposite him.

Pour, pour…….

The Marquis, holding the glass, looked at the wine I was pouring and began to speak.

“Was the last time I saw your face at the National Foundation Day celebration last year? It’s been exactly a year.”

“Has it already been that long?”

“People are so heartless. If you receive a task, shouldn’t you provide regular progress reports? I’ve been waiting all this time, and you only come now. I’m quite disappointed.”

The Marquis grumbled, mixing in a joke.

Anyway, a task… He must be referring to the task of finding the culprit behind the attempted assassination of Princess Bashrun last year.

“I apologize. I did my best to investigate, but it wasn’t very fruitful.”

“Everyone says they do their best. What I want are results.”

“I only have suspicions without concrete evidence yet.”

“The night is long. And we have wine to enjoy.”

I nodded at the Marquis’s words as he raised his glass to savor the wine.

“Then I can’t delay any longer.”

“Are you going to unravel the story now?”

“To start with the conclusion, according to the information I’ve gathered, the base of the guys who led the assassination seems to be in the Southern Islands.”

“The Southern Islands?”

“Yes.”

“Rodkius’s territory, then?”

I nodded at the implied question of whether Rodkius was the culprit.

“It seems that Rodkius is indeed involved.”

Setting down his glass at my answer, the Marquis bared his teeth.

“Rodkius, those rotten hyenas. I knew it.”

“There’s no evidence yet, though.”

“What does it matter? Our capable investigator will find it soon.”

“Still, I don’t think it’s time to show anger yet.”

“What do you mean, ‘not yet’?”

“Rodkius is involved, but there are still many unresolved points to consider them the sole culprits.”

“Unresolved? Are you saying another family is involved besides Rodkius?”

“No. It wouldn’t be a noble. It’s hard to explain. Let’s just say it’s an unidentified organization for now.”

“An unidentified organization that isn’t a noble family? So, you’re saying commoners gathered to create it? And they possess top-tier experts, few even in the Royal Knights? Truly amazing.”

The Marquis’s reaction was lukewarm. He probably dismissed what I was saying as a simple conspiracy theory.

“Yes. That’s probably it.”

But the Marquis’s indifferent attitude changed at my assertion.

“What’s the basis?”

“I found out during the mediation of Bashrun’s territory war this time.”

“In the territory war?”

“Yes. While suppressing the inside of the castle, three knights appeared to assassinate me. They introduced themselves as Unholy Knights and admitted to being involved in all of this.”

“Unholy Knights? Unholy knights… Look at the way they name themselves. So, are you sure they were knights?”

“Yes. They wielded mana. I crossed swords with them directly, so there’s no room for doubt.”

“Did you capture them?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“You killed them, then. But I still can’t understand. Why would knights create such a bizarre organization and operate?”

“It’s not a lie. My knight who was with me also confirmed it.”

“The knight who was with you….”

“He’s probably playing chess downstairs right now.”

“Can you swear to it?”

“I wouldn’t have brought it up if I couldn’t.”

“Ahem.”

The Marquis cleared his throat lightly and adjusted his posture.

“Let’s summarize. There are Unholy Knights trying to cause division in the kingdom, and they are cooperating with Rodkius because their interests align. Did I understand correctly?”

“Roughly.”

“And the location of those Unholy Knights is in the Southern Islands?”

“It’s just a guess, though.”

“……”

The Marquis shut his mouth at my answer.

He must be feeling conflicted.

After being lost in thought, the Marquis let out a small sigh.

“A damn situation.”

“What do you mean?”

The Marquis looked at me as if I were pathetic at my question.

“What do I mean? Are you testing me right now?”

“……I apologize if I was rude.”

“It’s alright. I can’t blame you for checking if your partner is sane.”

The Marquis nodded and continued.

“You said you met the Unholy Knights at the last territory war. And you cut them down and killed them. Then wouldn’t they have started to suspect something was wrong?”

“That’s right.”

“The fact that they realized we’re chasing them is a serious problem. A rat that feels threatened won’t come out of its hole. Originally, I was going to mobilize the Royal Knights to quietly deal with them as soon as we secured evidence, but now that’s gone too.”

The Marquis was right.

If we could have secretly found evidence, we could have had a happy ending by mobilizing the Royal Knights and suddenly arresting Marquis Rodkius.

But that method is now gone, as the Marquis said. Unless Rodkius is an idiot, he will now hole up in a safe place and not come out.

“I thought it was an opportunity to catch and kill Rodkius, but it’s a real shame.”

The Marquis sighed lowly.

“Since it’s come to this, we’ll have to leave Rodkius alone for now and chase after the Unholy Knights. If we can catch them, there might be a new way.”

“But wouldn’t that be difficult too?”

“Hmm, do you think so too?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because the Southern Islands are Rodkius’s territory.”

“A predictable answer to a predictable question.”

It was a simple problem.

To catch them, we have to go to the Southern Islands.

But the Southern Islands are Rodkius’s territory. Would they really let us rummage through their home?

But it’s not time to be disappointed yet.

“Then why don’t we just go with the direct approach?”

“The direct approach?”

“Is there a reason to secretly capture them? As soon as you find evidence, summon Marquis Rodkius by royal decree.”

“Are you saying that seriously right now?”

“Yes.”

The Marquis stared at me at my confident answer.

“Summon by royal decree? Are you asking because you don’t know how things will unfold?”

“Shall we think about how things will unfold?”

“Is that even a question to think about? Isn’t the answer obvious?”

“I want to go through it one by one.”

After speaking, I took out a small folded map from my pocket and spread it on the desk.

Then, I picked up a quill and first pointed to the South, which was full of Rodkius and his followers.

“First, Rodkius will probably not quietly appear just because the royal family issues a summons. He will probably immediately raise an army and resist. The external justification will be that the royal family is oppressing nobles with fabricated evidence, something like that.”

Picking up the quill, I wrote ‘Rebellion’ above Rodkius’s territory.

“If he raises an army like that, the royal family has two choices. Withdraw the summons, or punish him for disobeying the royal decree.”

“……”

“But it’s impossible to withdraw a royal decree in the face of a mere noble’s rebellion. So, they will probably have to choose the latter. If that happens, it’s a civil war, but unfortunately, the royal family doesn’t have the power to suppress Rodkius, so they will request support.”

“You’re not starting this story to mock the royal family, are you?”

Despite the Marquis’s rebuke, I marked Bashrun in the West and Lindayer in the North with the quill without answering.

“The families to request support from would be Lindayer and Bashrun, the representative forces of the royalist faction. With the power of these two, they could defeat Rodkius, but unfortunately, Lindayer has to protect the Northern Mountains, and Bashrun has to protect the Great Forest. Moreover, considering the long distance to the South where Rodkius is, they can’t send such overwhelming forces.”

“……”

I wrote ‘Rodkius’s Slight Disadvantage’ in the middle of the map.

“The problem isn’t just that. Which side will the lords who have been neutral until now take? Yes. They will naturally side with Rodkius, saying they can’t stand the royal family’s tyranny. If there were nobles who would welcome the day Rodkius falls and the royal authority soars, they wouldn’t have claimed neutrality in the first place.”

Erasing the slight disadvantage, I wrote ‘Equal Power’ again.

“Of course, you might still think it’s worth fighting with this much. Because we have the Royal Knights, a well-honed sword. But now the situation has changed a bit.”

I wrote the name of the Unholy Knights above Rodkius’s territory.

“An ominous force possessing top-tier experts close to the master level. Maybe there are even more skilled people. Everything is unknown.”

“So?”

I put down the pen at the Marquis’s short question.

“A civil war started under these conditions will probably have no winner or loser. Everyone who joins will end up with fatal wounds and end up in a mess. Countless innocent victims will be created. It would be fortunate if the kingdom, unable to withstand the aftermath, doesn’t collapse, let alone punish Rodkius.”

“……”

“Yes. Looking at it this way, it seems difficult to punish Rodkius as the Marquis said. The royal family’s power is ridiculously insufficient.”

Even after hearing my whole story, there was no particular change in the Marquis’s expression.

Probably because what I said was too obvious.

After a short silence, the Marquis moistened his throat with wine and opened his mouth indifferently.

“If you started by scratching like that, then a reasonable proposal should come next. Continue.”

“The solution seems to have already come out. It turned out like this because the royal family has no power, so naturally, the problem will be solved if we increase our power.”

“……Are you saying that seriously right now?”

Hmm, should I stop here? The Marquis’s eyes are too scary.

“Increasing power. The reality is that it’s not as easy as it sounds. The direct territory is ridiculously insufficient to raise an army, and the nobles are constantly checking the royal family’s efforts to raise private soldiers.”

“I didn’t tell you to continue to hear such obvious nonsense.”

“Yes. So, I came up with another way to increase the royal family’s power.”

I picked up the quill again.

Then, I pointed to a place I had never touched before.

“……The East?”

The Marquis’s surprised voice flowed out.

The place I pointed to was the East.

After that, an arrow starting from the East continued straight to the South. And that meant that the balance that had been equal until now was completely broken.

“It’s simple. If you can’t raise private soldiers, why not use those who already exist from the start? Like mercenaries.”

“Mercenaries?”

“Yes. The warriors who have been staining their hands with blood for hundreds of years in the most barbaric and ferocious land in the Midlands.”

“I was a fool to listen patiently. There are clearly deeply rooted conflicts from the beginning, so in that situation, do you think they will move according to the royal family’s wishes? Or are you perhaps telling them to kneel down and beg? Either way, it’s an absurd story!”

I shook my head slightly at the Marquis’s reaction, who was expressing his emotions and scolding me.

“There’s no need to kneel down and beg.”

“What did you say just now?”

“I said there’s no need to beg. All that’s needed is the royal family’s generosity like the sea. If we show generosity, the East will gladly become a loyal hunting dog and bite Rodkius.”

“What on earth are you…….”

It was a decision I had thought about for a long time.

Even though we have to reduce power consumption in preparation for the Second Tribal War, no matter how many times I think about it, Rodkius is ultimately close to a tumor that needs to be cut out.

‘So, if we have to face each other anyway.’

It would be the right answer to overwhelm them to minimize the damage.

Nodding slightly, I continued.

“I will now explain my plan in detail, Marquis.”