Chapter 54 - Retribution

... And evidently, things would not always get off to a smooth start.

Inside the mansion they had entered at Grand Duke Aslan's invitation, Aiden looked around with a dubious expression. They had been shown inside, but...

'The atmosphere is a little...'

Wasn't everyone rather on edge?

Never mind the generally unwelcoming air of the people coming and going through the mansion—not a single person seated in the hall watching them looked friendly.

And some were particularly blatant about it.

"I don't like the way they're looking at us."

"Please put up with it."

Aiden murmured the weary reply to Katya, who had spoken with a smile.

She was essentially a ticking time bomb, so remarks like that always made him unbearably nervous.

'Not that I don't understand.'

This time, though, the other side's attitude was so unpleasant that he couldn't really bring himself to blame her.

With that thought, Aiden surveyed the people glaring daggers at them.

They were all Grand Duke Aslan's retainers, but served different people under him. Their attire made their affiliations clear.

'Damian Aslan, Liza Aslan...'

The grand duke's eldest son and second-born daughter, respectively. The principal players in the succession struggle giving the entire Empire a headache.

Neither appeared to be present in person, only their subordinates, but those subordinates' gazes were brimming with hostility toward Aiden's party.

Even with a table as vast as the open sea between them, putting them so far apart they could barely make out each other's faces, that hostility came across quite clearly.

"I imagine they're wondering why we think we can meddle in another family's affairs."

Taking a seat alongside Aiden, Noel murmured with narrowed eyes. Given the looks they were receiving, her own demeanor was hardly mild.

"You and I are generally seen as belonging to His Majesty the Emperor's faction. They're probably wary of political interference."

"... Isn't the Night of the Hunt about to begin?"

Whatever the duchy's internal circumstances, they had been invited here to help with an impending disaster.

If these people were still intent on squabbling over their interests with something so serious looming, he had no words for them...

"That would be the sensible response. But..."

Noel let out a brief sigh.

"... The retainers of the ducal House of Aslan have never enjoyed a good reputation in that regard."

Self-preservation. Protecting their turf. Fighting over vested interests.

Weren't they already notorious throughout the Empire as the greatest blight eating away at the distinguished martial House of Aslan?

As those thoughts passed through his mind, a voice rang out from across the table.

"You must be exhausted after such a long journey!"

The speaker was a man with a distinctive goatee. Judging by his epaulets, he served the eldest son, Damian Aslan.

He had raised his voice to carry across the distance, which only made his intent clearer.

"I'm sure you have no end of business to attend to. What brings someone as illustrious as the Lionhearted to a backwater like this?"

The sneering implication was plain: Why had the likes of them come crawling here?

"..."

Noel tilted her head askew, her gesture practically saying, Just as I expected.

"My fiancé received an invitation from the duke. With the Night of the Hunt approaching, we're here to assist."

The goateed man's expression changed abruptly, as did those of everyone around him.

Her statement implied that the central figure here was not Noel, but Aiden.

In short, the duke was more interested in the Lionhearted's husband than in the Lionhearted herself.

Every gaze shot toward Aiden at once. The goateed man looked him up and down, then delivered a succinct appraisal.

"A fellow like that?"

At the incredulous chuckle accompanying his words, Noel's expression stiffened. Katya's face twitched even more violently.

'... Well, I can see why.'

Aiden didn't find the reaction all that strange.

Unlike Noel or Katya, he wasn't especially recognizable, nor was he someone who enjoyed that sort of fame.

Still...

"... Your Highness."

"I know, I know. I won't cause trouble."

Katya answered in an even voice. There was no particular sign of anger on her face, either.

"It's fine. For now."

... Though to Aiden, she was already beginning to resemble a bomb with its fuse lit.

"Well, if His Grace invited you, I'm sure he had his reasons."

Fortunately, the goateed man apparently had no intention of pressing the matter further, and left it at that.

"We have no intention of interfering in your family's affairs."

Following that lead, Aiden spoke up, doing his best to keep the conflict from escalating.

"We intend to resolve only the matter His Grace requested, as peacefully as possible, and then lea—"

"Oh, of course."

He would have managed to maintain that attitude, if only the goateed man hadn't cut him off before he could finish.

"I'm sure you do."

"..."

Aiden narrowed his eyes at the unmistakable sneer.

... However he looked at it, this clearly wasn't a situation in which they could keep smiling at one another until the end.

▣

Indeed, the atmosphere as they continued showed no sign of departing from that impression.

No major friction had surfaced openly, but every word and gesture seemed to grow increasingly barbed.

"Could we at least obtain information on the magical beasts that frequently appear in the domai—"

"That's confidential. I'm afraid we cannot provide it to outsiders."

"... Then how much support can we expect in supplies and personnel?"

"Why not consult His Grace directly? I'm afraid I wouldn't know."

"..."

This man was infuriating.

That was the only possible response to this parade of answers.

With the conversation proceeding like this, Aiden could barely find anything to say. Noel and Katya were looking increasingly hostile as well.

"... At this rate, obtaining any cooperation will be difficult."

Dame Noel whispered to Aiden, her voice carrying a considerable amount of anger.

"I understand they're busy fighting among themselves, but this is going too far. Isn't safeguarding civilians the bare minimum expected of those in power?"

... He could only agree.

Aiden tilted his head in displeasure.

"I'm getting annoyed myself."

With a massive outbreak of magical beasts imminent, watching them obstruct outsiders simply to protect their own turf was truly ugly.

Especially given the present circumstances.

'... This isn't some ordinary incident, either.'

Even in the original game, the outbreak was too enormous to handle without outside help. The duchy plunging into chaos was a foregone conclusion. If this was how they treated people who had come to help, outsiders or not, it was painfully obvious that making progress would be difficult.

Aiden surveyed the people still making their unwelcome abundantly clear, contempt in his eyes.

'Even the prince was better than this.'

At least that man possessed more than enough of a ruler's fundamental qualities.

The people here were a cancer. Bunglers so blinded by their own gain that they couldn't see what was coming right at them. People who valued their power more than human lives.

Which meant there was no particular reason to treat them as fellow human beings.

'Hmm...'

Aiden tapped his fingers on the table, sinking into thought.

His priorities and objectives passed through his mind once more.

As always, he had two main goals.

Resolve the Main Quest, and copy the skills of Important Characters.

So, ultimately, the course of action he needed to take to accomplish both was...

"..."

Aiden swept his hair back and sighed.

Well.

Lately, he felt his personality was gradually changing, too.

Outrageously insane ideas like this really shouldn't come to him so casually.

"Dame Noel."

At his sudden words, Noel turned to him, her eyes widening slightly.

Her expression froze the moment she heard what followed, however.

"Do you trust me?"

"..."

An intense flash of anxiety swept through Noel's eyes.

"... I do."

"... That took you an awfully long time to answer."

"Would you put your hand on your heart and reflect on everything you've done so far?"

"..."

"Why do you think it took me so long?"

... He didn't really have a response to that.

When he started causing trouble, he did it so spectacularly that even Katya had admitted he pulled no punches.

"Please, really trust me. I have it all thought out."

"..."

"So would you go along with me without objecting?"

"..."

The more Aiden spoke, the more worry clouded Noel's face.

"... Go ahead, then."

Still, permission came more readily than he had expected.

She was signaling that, reluctant though she was, she would go along with him.

That was quicker than expected, Aiden thought, tilting his head as he stood.

Well, he had permission now. He might as well do it.

He gathered an armful of wine bottles from the table and strode toward the goateed man.

"... If you're asking me to share a drink, I must decline. We're hardly close enough for that."

Aiden stared at the man and his sneering smile, then tilted his head and spoke.

"I don't particularly want to, either."

"... Pardon?"

"Actually, I was thinking on my way over. If you'd all been just a little less rude, I might have felt guilty."

"What is that supposed to—"

"But I don't think I'll have to."

Then, before the goateed man could question him again, Aiden swung a wine bottle with all his might and brought it crashing down on the crown of his head.

Glass shards scattered in every direction. Red wine and even redder blood spurted into the air.

As the goateed man lost consciousness on the spot and collapsed onto the table, the people around him let out something between screams and shrieks.

"W-w-what the hell are you doi—!"

A wine bottle crashed down on the head of the person attempting to scream that, too.

Another body collapsed beside the goateed man.

"This is an outrage! Who let this lunatic into the domai—!"

CRASH!

One more person collapsed.

"Guards! Call the guar—"

CRASH!

One more person collapsed.

"..."

"..."

Silence filled the hall.

Having knocked several more people unconscious in the blink of an eye, Aiden looked around, still wearing his usual slightly tired expression.

"Anyone else want to shout?"

"..."

"No one else wants to be rude, either?"

"..."

"No one?"

"..."

Every gaze fixed on the several wine bottles still cradled in Aiden's arms.

His tone was exceedingly calm, but that only made his message spectacularly clear: say anything now, and he would introduce one of those bottles to the top of your head...

"Then I'm going to ask a few questions now. I'd appreciate sincere answers."

"..."

"Shall I take your silence as agreement?"

While everyone stared in silence at Aiden's politely delivered lunacy, Noel dragged both hands down her face.

"... Aiden."

She barely managed to form the words, her voice trembling.

"... Didn't you tell me to trust you because you had a good idea...?"

Seeing that Dame Noel plainly couldn't understand what she was supposed to trust here, Aiden nodded.

"It's all right, Dame Noel."

"... What is?"

"With this sort of thing, you have to keep hitting them until they can't even squeak in protest."

"What?"

"I mean I haven't even properly started yet."

... It struck her all over again.

This man seemed to be growing more deranged by the day.