Chapter 136
Hestia’s group decided to spend one more day with Sylvester before parting ways.
“Thanks to you, I had a good time. I got to visit places I normally couldn’t during a regular outing.”
“We were honored to accompany Your Majesty.”
“Are you heading straight back to the palace?”
“I should. If I return before my uncle, I will get into trouble.”
“I wish you could come with us to Noveli Town! I want to be with you longer!”
As Leonhard openly expressed his disappointment, Sylvester chuckled and patted his head.
“I feel the same. But we’ll meet again soon, won’t we?”
“We will?”
“Yes, there’s a big event in two months.”
“Oh, right!”
The national event that starts at the end of the year and ends on the first day of the new year.
It was already mid-October, so it wasn’t far off.
“Let’s meet again then. Also, if I stay longer, I think Karl will be angry, so I should get going.”
While the two whispered to each other, Hestia quietly spoke to Karl.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“…Now I can finally catch my breath.”
After finishing their farewell, Sylvester returned to the palace, while Hestia’s group traveled around the south before heading back to Noveli Town.
The rest of the group, who had been relaxing there, warmly welcomed them back.
“His Majesty didn’t run into any trouble, right?”
“Of course not. He enjoyed himself and returned to the palace safely.”
“Still… if he really left the palace alone, I’d have scolded him harshly.”
Kenneth grumbled about lecturing Sylvester when he got back, then left Noveli Town.
And now, it was time to say goodbye to others as well.
“It was a short time, but I had a lot of fun.”
“I’ll come visit again soon.”
It was time for Brina and Yovan to return to the Noveli Kingdom after their short break.
“Let’s hope the war is over by then!”
“It won’t take long. We might return after a ceasefire.”
Yovan patted Leonhard, who clung to his waist.
“Please… stay safe.”
“I’ll pray no one gets hurt.”
Hestia and Luciard said goodbye with heavy hearts, but the two gave them bright smiles.
“Don’t worry about us!”
“We’ve survived dozens of battles! So let’s meet again!”
Sad farewells didn’t suit the Blaze Mercenaries.
As always, they left with smiles.
“Captain, why are we here when we’re already super busy?”
“If we’re heading back to Noveli, it’s a long way.”
“If you’re just going to complain, go ahead without me.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll be quiet.”
Two men with a bow and a spear followed the man in a headscarf.
They were members of the famous Blaze Mercenaries.
The one hiding his hair with a scarf and a deep scar over his right eye was their leader—Luciard.
They had been part of the Noveli civil war since last year and had grown strong enough to affect the outcome of the war.
So why was this key figure now in the Pasteen Empire?
Neither Neville nor Ivan knew.
Their captain had suddenly decided to go to the empire mid-war, and they just followed.
‘Well, the war is almost over, and we’re not exactly essential anymore.’
‘The vice-captain and others can handle things while we’re gone…’
No matter how much they asked, the captain never explained.
At first, they enjoyed the break from the battlefield, but not knowing the reason made them uneasy.
Rumble…
“Hm?”
They froze as a faint rumble echoed around them.
“Landslide?”
“But it didn’t rain.”
“Could be the ground weakened.”
As Neville and Ivan spoke, Luciard narrowed his eyes, focusing on the faint sound.
Then he realized the sound was coming from above. And just as he did—
CRASH! BOOM!
Explosions like those from a battlefield rang through the forest. The ground trembled.
“What the heck?!”
“If it was a landslide, we have to get out of here— Hey! Captain!”
As the two panicked, Luciard suddenly ran toward the direction of the explosion.
Seeing that, they quickly followed.
“Captain! It’s dangerous if there’s a landslide!”
“Why run toward it— huh?”
They saw Luciard suddenly stop and looked ahead.
Their eyes widened.
“Don’t tell me… that noise wasn’t a landslide…”
“Whoa… this is bad. Ivan, look! That cliff is insanely high.”
Below the cliff was a shattered carriage, torn like paper.
They looked up and gasped at how high the cliff was.
“How did a carriage fall from there?”
“Wait, are there any people inside?”
“At that height, they’d be dead…”
Still, hoping to find survivors, they searched the wreckage.
“Captain, stop staring and help!”
They called out to Luciard, who just stood frozen.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s always weird. Let’s just keep looking.”
They brushed it off and resumed their search.
Meanwhile, Luciard clenched his fist tightly.
‘That crest…’
His eyes were on a broken piece of the carriage, which bore a partially destroyed but familiar emblem—
a tree sprouting from a turtle shell.
The crest of House Winston.
Luciard had never told anyone, but he was Winston’s illegitimate child.
He ran away at 12, wandered the world, and eventually became a mercenary captain.
One day, he stumbled across a newspaper article—
the Duke and Duchess of Winston were dead.
It was an old paper he had almost burned. The article was already two years old.
At the time, he recalled that his older half-brother had been somewhat kind to him.
Wondering how his nephew was doing now, he had traveled south to the Pasteen Empire.
He had learned bits and pieces about what happened after the Duke’s death.
People said the boy had a good guardian, so Luciard had planned just to watch from afar.
‘What the hell is this…’
Why was a Winston-marked carriage found smashed at the base of a cliff near Chest?
Oddly, there were no horses—usually, horses would fall too.
Yet only the carriage remained.
No horses were seen on the cliff above.
Luciard frowned at the strangeness, then suddenly looked up.
He sensed someone’s presence.
Thud—
A pinecone fell from above. He looked up.
And saw—
A child hanging limply from a tree branch.
Red hair, just like his own.
Eyes wide, Luciard rushed up the tree and carefully cradled the child.
“Ugh…”
The child was in terrible shape. A broken arm, bruises all over.
Luciard instinctively realized—this child had been in the carriage.
The face…
He looked just like Luciard’s half-brother—and like Luciard himself.
Just to be sure, he lifted the child’s eyelid—
Crimson red eyes.
“…What happened to you?”
His 10-year-old nephew had clearly been in a terrible accident.
Fearing for his life, Luciard carefully carried him back to the others.
“So weird… there’s no one here.”
“Maybe it was an empty carriage?”
“I hope so… but something feels off.”
“And the captain’s gone too?”
“Where did he— Oh, there he is.”
Soon, they saw Luciard emerge from the woods, carrying the child.
“Huh? Who’s that kid?”
“Whoa… he’s a mess.”
Their shock grew as they saw the child’s injuries.
“He must’ve been thrown from the carriage.”
“Wait, he was in the carriage?”
“Looks like it hit the cliff once, and the kid got flung through the window.”
“Wow… lucky to survive. If he’d stayed in, he’d be dead.”
“We need to get a doctor, fast. He won’t last long like this.”
“Also… doesn’t he look kind of familiar?”
As Neville and Ivan stared, Luciard wrapped the child in his cloak.
“Stop talking and move. Let’s go.”
They followed him out of the forest to a small village about two hours from Chest.
Luciard checked the child’s head—thankfully, no major injuries.
He wrapped a cloth around the child’s red hair to hide his identity before seeing the doctor.
“A little later and he could’ve had permanent damage. But he’ll recover with rest and food.”
“Thanks, doctor. When will he wake up?”
“No idea. But he won’t be out for too long.”
While Neville and Ivan stayed by the sleeping child, Luciard followed the doctor outside.
“I’ve got a question…”
The doctor turned to him.
“After Count Humphrey became the guardian of the Winston boy… what happened?”
Luciard felt something was off.
The rumors he heard weren’t matching what he’d seen.
So he decided to dig deeper.
