What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 729

Magna Carta (2)

It was the darkest hour just before dawn.

A cold, heavy rain poured down on the royal capital of the Fenetian Theocracy.

– Swish, swish…!

“Giddy up, ha!”

– Clop, clop, clop, clop…!

“Hut! Let’s go!”

– Neigh!

The coachman’s sharp cry, the crack of the whip, and the horses’ nervous whinnies recklessly tore through Cain Street in the heart of the royal capital.

The black carriage, emblazoned with the coat of arms of the Sarghentini Duchy, resembled a hearse at first glance.

Inside the windows, a faint frost had formed.

The incessant rain beat noisily on the roof of the carriage, and the two passengers remained silent, staring at their gloved hands or knees.

The woman, who attended her master every day, glanced anxiously out the window. The Duke and Duchess’s conversation at the royal palace kept swirling in her mind.

‘What are you talking about? Entrusting the Schneider Duchy to the Sarghentini?’

‘Wilhelmina Schneider must have changed her strategy. Originally, she planned to completely win over the Princess and make her a puppet…’

‘Something must have gone terribly wrong on the battlefield.’

They were now heading towards the Schneider Duchy.

– Clop, clop, clop…!

“…”

The roadside, still dark and damp, came into view.

Usually, at this hour, milk and goat’s milk vendors would be roaming the streets, and diligent leather workshops and fabric store owners would be sweeping the streets before starting their business.

But today, there was really no one. Too many shops didn’t even have their lamps lit to blame it on the weather. It felt like it had been like this for almost a week.

The maid took a long breath of the musty air instead of a sigh.

Ever since that ‘leaflet’ appeared, the royal capital had been uneasy.

Not only the servants of noble families but even the beggars living in the canals talked about it whenever they gathered.

‘You too? Are you going down too?’

‘That’s right. You know our master’s personality. He pretends not to care on the outside, but he must be very worried. The madam is also making a fuss about taking the puppies [lap dogs] down quickly… It looks like we’ll be packing our bags this week.’

‘I guess I’ll see you at the Grand Festival next year. Is the South really safe?’

‘I know at least nine families who have already gone down. It must be safe.’

‘Well, the Kamingha Grand Duchy is also in the South, so…’

‘Our Count said he’s going to watch for a while. He says he doesn’t believe a single line of text without any basis. But honestly, I don’t think Marquis Citron would lie. Doesn’t he have a good reputation?’

‘I’ve heard that too.’

‘Oh, I don’t know. I just hope the war ends quickly. I’m too scared to sleep at night.’

‘Tell me about it!’

The maid had similar conversations whether she went out to run errands for bread and salt, went to pick up the ordered olive oil, or bought shoes for her family with her salary.

Most of the merchants she encountered were deep in thought, and the commoners had terrified faces.

Even though no one had actually seen the contents of the leaflet with their own eyes.

The atmosphere on the streets was getting harsher day by day.

– Swish, swish, swish…!

With even a downpour like this on top of that…

Everything was bleak, like a city drowning in a flood.

But the maid decided to use a more refined expression.

There was no need to upset her master by saying bad things.

“It’s raining cats and dogs, Duke.”

“Oh, my God. A hole in the sky.”

‘Don’t even say such ominous things.’ Ahata Sarghentini replied sternly.

It wasn’t just that she was trying to be mean to her subordinate; her face, which was already pale, was turning bluish.

It seemed she had made a slip of the tongue after all. Perhaps it was because of that incident when the sky had split open before.

Even though there was the joyous occasion of the Second Princess awakening as a Paladin on the day the rift disappeared.

The maid apologized in a barely audible voice, “I’m sorry.” It was around that time.

“Whoa, there!”

– Neigh!

“Ouch!”

‘Screech!’ With the unpleasant noise of wheels screeching to a halt, the carriage lurched forward and stopped.

Soon, the coachman, soaked from head to toe, opened the carriage door.

At the same time, the dawn sky flashed brightly.

“Duke, Schne…”

– Rumble! Crash!

“…My goodness. The weather is really bad.”

“Duke, we have arrived at the Schneider Duchy.”

The maid and the coachman spoke almost simultaneously.

The royal capital, with the Sea of ​​Abundance to the east, was famous for its mild and pleasant weather throughout the year, but looking at the dark clouds of the past few days, it didn’t seem to be the case.

Sarghentini looked out the door with a determined expression, then nodded as if she had made up her mind.

The maid quickly opened a cloth umbrella.

– Splish, splash, splish…

– Pat, pat, pat…

– Screech…

As the two people who got out in front of the huge mansion began to walk, a black gate made of iron bars began to open in the distance.

Someone must have already informed them of the arrival of the Sarghentini Duke.

The maid was puzzled that there was no one to greet them—it was customary for the highest-ranking servant to greet the distinguished guest outside the front door—but anyway, today’s visit was an exception in everything.

From the beginning, the Duke had brought her, a maid, despite having several other capable servants, and she had not informed anyone of this outing.

The Duke Consort had already returned to the southern duchy with the seven young masters.

– Click, screech!

“…Welcome, Duke Sarghentini. I have been waiting for you.”

Finally, the door of the mansion opened, and what appeared was an old man with rough hands and a bent back.

He looked more like a handyman than a servant, and he smelled of fish and a butcher shop all over his body.

The Sarghentini’s maid folded her damp umbrella and looked around.

“Oh…”

To exaggerate a little, the Duke’s mansion, as magnificent as the royal palace, was empty. There was not a single piece of furniture.

Except for the finest wallpaper and marble floors, there was really not a speck of dust left.

The places where tables, cabinets, and curtains should have been were all empty.

It was like looking at a house that had been robbed of all its valuables.

It seemed that the only person left here was this old man, except for the knights who opened the gate.

The maid stood at the door, not knowing what to do.

She hadn’t been to a noble house often, but this was the first time she had experienced such a bleak atmosphere.

– Clink.

“Here, this is what Duke Schneider left behind. He said that if the coat of arms of the Sarghentini family is seen outside the window on any day, you must deliver this to the head of the family.”

“…You stay here. I’ll be right back.”

“Yes, Duke.”

The maid quickly nodded and lowered her gaze.

A bunch of old keys was placed in her master’s palm.

She quickly pretended not to notice, fearing that it might be something she shouldn’t see.

Sarghentini roughly swept back her hair, which had been splattered with raindrops, and walked alone in the direction the old man pointed.

‘The rose garden, now there’s only the rose garden left.’ It seemed like she had muttered something like that. The place she was heading to was not the guest room or the reception room.

It was the basement.

– Step, step, step…

The Duke’s footsteps gradually faded into the ground, and soon all that lingered on the ground was the sound of the rain outside.

The maid tensed up and rubbed her palms on her pants.

She couldn’t even understand why she was so stiff.

“It’s raining cats and dogs.”

“Yes?”

She was startled and turned to look beside her.

The old worker was talking to the maid a few steps away.

The moment she met his kind eyes, she felt a strange chill.

“I’m talking about the weather.”

“…Ah, yes. That’s right. Haha.”

But those words, the Duke said they were ominous.

The maid suddenly thought, even though she knew it was meaningless small talk.

Well, if a hole really opened in the sky, there would be a big commotion. Like last time.

“Do you have a place to return to?”

The old man asked again. The maid blankly asked back.

“Yes?”

“A hometown, I mean a hometown.”

“Ah, yes. My family lives in the southern part of the royal capital. It’s quite far from here.”

“…It would be good to go far away. Of course.”

“Because of the war?”

“It’s because of the judgment.”

The old man said calmly, looking out the window.

The maid nodded roughly and looked in the direction her master had disappeared.

But the silence did not last long.

“…Old man. What do you mean by judgment?”

“If the Main God looks down on us on the day the continent is destroyed, wouldn’t he be very disappointed?”

“…Ah.”

That’s what you mean. The woman nodded her head roughly again.

The people of the royal capital are secular, so they don’t believe such words right away, but if you go a little further into the countryside, there are many more naive believers.

As she was organizing her thoughts, the old man suddenly pointed out the window.

“Look there, another noble family is leaving today.”

“Oh, who is it?”

“Look over there. They’ve seized a good opportunity to save their lives.”

The maid pressed her nose against the glass and observed outside.

It was not clear because of the rain, but a carriage with a glittering coat of arms was indeed hurriedly leaving the main street.

Judging from the number of carriages following, it seemed to be a refugee procession.

The old man murmured in a calm voice.

“With high-ranking officials like Sarghentini taking the lead, they can’t help but run away…”

“Then why aren’t you running away and staying, old man?”

The maid asked. It was not a challenge but pure curiosity.

No matter what her master’s orders were, the old man was now the only worker left in the vast Duke’s mansion.

If he was so scared, he could have packed his bags and run away in the middle of the night.

“This old man also has deep fears, but there is still work left for my lord to entrust to me.”

“Work? The garden isn’t even taken care of. There don’t seem to be any furniture to wipe either.”

“Hahaha…”

The old man looked up at the sky with a good-natured smile.

The maid looked at his profile and scratched her arm.

For some reason, she kept getting goosebumps.

It was then.

– Bang!

“Mommy!”

Suddenly, from the basement, there was a roar like an explosive had gone off.

The maid was so surprised that she jumped in place.

But the old man never turned around.

With a relaxed face, he slowly opened the front door where the rain was pouring in.

‘Bang! Crash!’ Even at that moment, terrible noises continued to echo from the basement floor. The woman looked at him in terror.

“Old man! What’s that noise from downstairs!”

“Yes.”

– Bang!

“Hey, shouldn’t you go see?! Our Duke has gone down too!”

“Aaaaaaack!”

As soon as the words were spoken, the Duke’s scream tore from the stairs leading to the basement.

The maid, now with a pale face, threw down her umbrella.

“Duke! Duke, are you okay!?”

The moment she grabbed the railing and looked down—

“Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom!”

“I want to get out, I want to get out, I want to get out, I want to get out, I want to get out…!”

“Heuaaaack!”

From the pitch-black darkness, bloody people poured out.

Dozens, no, hundreds of people.

“Aaaaaack, don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! Aaaack!”

The maid, in a panic, screamed at the top of her lungs.

The group that poured out of the basement like ants was all in bizarre shapes.

They were swept out like sewage through the front door that the old man had opened.

Some had vines instead of arms, and some dripped water instead of blood from their severed legs.

One with three eyeballs. One with a tongue burnt black. One withered like a skeleton. One with a neck half-severed and dangling….

– Thump!

“You, you, why are you okay? Did, did, you not participate in the experiment?”

“Keuaaaaack!”

The one who had almost exposed his white eyeballs asked, grabbing the maid’s shoulder tightly.

She frantically shook him off and ran out the door without thinking.

Nausea kept rising from inside. The rancid fishy smell and the butcher shop smell clung persistently to her nose.

Her whole body was instantly soaked with rain. But the old man was right.

“Huk! Huk, cough…!”

She had to run far, as far as possible.

*

Ah. I expected something.

As expected, what came out of Micah Lasso’s study was a document written in Latin, the language of the gods [ancient Roman language used by the Church].

I looked up at Father Herrit and asked.

“Sir John, what does it say…”

“…”

To be exact, I was about to, but I flinched.

It was because the light in his eyes, which had read the letters, was sinking coldly like the north wind.

Why is he suddenly like this?

“…Líttĕra Apostólicæ.”

The Cardinal added a beat later.

“It means ‘Apostolic Letter.'”