Chapter 28

An Unexpected Variable (1)

If Ian had the ability to return to the past, there was no reason for him to tell me it was the “last time.” He could go back and meet me again anyway.

“What if Ian didn't know he could return to the past?”

That would make sense. If he hadn't known about his own ability, I could fully understand why he had called it the last time.

“... No, that's not it.”

But that possibility was extremely unlikely. In fact, I could confidently say it was impossible. The proof was right before my eyes: the translucent text floating there.

==「Owned Skills」==

◆I Alone Level Up[EX]

: The player can accumulate experience to increase their level. Each level gained grants 1 stat point.

◆Player's Will[EX]

: Grants immunity to all effects that exceed the player's mental fortitude (curses, illusions, brainwashing, hypnosis, suggestion, etc.).

◆Predation[S+]

: Devour a living creature's heart to absorb its abilities and convert them into skills. However, this consumes mental fortitude.

◆Regeneration[B-]

◆Toughened Skin[D]

◆Nutrient Synthesis[C+]

◆Promote Metabolism[E+]

◆Dragon's Claw[A]

It laid out every ability the [Player] possessed in a clear, organized list. And this wasn't my ability. It was Ian's. In other words, just as it was explaining my abilities now, it would have explained every ability Ian possessed.

That meant Ian hadn't been unaware of his ability to return to the past. More accurately, he couldn't have been unaware. Yet he had still told me it was the last time, because...

“Was Ian trying to pass his ability to return to the past on to me?”

That was the conclusion I arrived at. After all, Ian knew about my Predation[S+]. He understood exactly how it worked.

I had only truly come to understand Predation[S+] myself after meeting him. In a sense, Ian knew more about it than I did.

Which meant it wasn't just his ability to return to the past. Ian had been trying to pass all his abilities on to me. Why he had decided to do that... I didn't know.

But if that really had been his intention, then I had acquired I Alone Level Up[EX] and Player's Will[EX], just as he had wanted.

But an unexpected variable had entered the equation.

“I didn't acquire the ability to return to the past.”

Predation[S+] wasn't a perfect ability. A single use couldn't give me every ability a creature possessed. The fact that I'd obtained only Dragon's Claw[A] from the Gelu Drake was proof enough.

So, upon returning to the past, Ian could only have had one thought the moment he opened his eyes.

'My ability to return to the past didn't pass on to Adrian.'

After all, he still had it himself. The very fact that Ian had returned to the past meant that the ability hadn't passed on to me.

Then Ian thinks again.

'I have to find Adrian.'

But in my previous life, I'd run away from House Whitewolf. Believing that I hadn't received his ability to return to the past, Ian would naturally assume I would behave exactly as I had in my previous life. It wouldn't occur to him that I had stayed with House Whitewolf.

“So that's why...”

That was why Ian still hadn't shown up after more than a month. He didn't think I would still be at House Whitewolf.

In that case...

“I have to find Ian.”

I had to seek him out myself. Whatever else might be true, one thing was certain: Ian had returned to the past. That meant I ought to leave House Whitewolf immediately, but...

“That's too hasty.”

Now that I was certain Ian retained his memories, his whereabouts were even harder to determine. Just as I had acted differently from my previous life, so had he.

Either way, I still didn't know where he was at this point in time. If I left the house, all I could do was search for him blindly. Rushing off without any plan was a bad idea, especially when I hadn't decided what to do about Seraphia, the Sovereign of Bitter Cold.

Whenever I left, I had to make certain I killed Seraphia first. I didn't know when, where, or how she would fall. Leaving the house under the current circumstances was therefore a bad idea.

In that case...

“I need to let him know I've returned to the past.”

Informing Ian was the best option. That way, I could get him to come looking for me at House Whitewolf.

“The question is how to let him know...”

I didn't know where he was right now. More importantly, if my guess was correct, Ian believed I had fled Whitewolf county as I had in my previous life. He would be roaming the continent looking for me.

Then there was a way. I just needed to create an organization that would gather information on Ian and find him in my stead.

“I'll have to establish a trading company.”

A trading company was ideal in several respects. As Chief of Covert Operations in the special warfare unit, I had undertaken not only special warfare missions, but also intelligence and espionage operations, including gathering, compiling, and distributing information.

“No organization is as sensitive to information as a trading company.”

A trading company would give me the fastest access to news from across the continent, allowing me to swiftly monitor the Emperor and the empire's movements. And that wasn't all. I could secure the funds needed to establish the allied army in advance.

Find Ian, monitor the Emperor and the empire, and secure funding for the allied army—all at once. The benefits of establishing a trading company were enormous.

But a trading company couldn't be established with words alone.

“I'll need some startup capital.”

I immediately set off. And right then...

◆A Territory Quest has arrived.

Translucent text suddenly appeared before my eyes.

==[Though Your Beginnings Are Humble, Your Future Will Be Great!] ==

[Details] - Establish a trading company and successfully complete your first trading expedition.

[Reward] - Unlock 「Management Mode」.

[Upon Failure] - Banishment from the county.

“A Territory Quest?”

... What was this now?

* * *

“The county's funds... you say?”

For a moment, Bernard, the head steward, doubted his own ears. Adrian had appeared out of nowhere and demanded that he hand over the county's funds.

“Yes. Ten thousand gold should be enough.”

And he was asking for no less than ten thousand gold. Bernard had no idea how to respond. Ten thousand gold was a considerable sum. In Whitewolf county, a family of four could live for roughly two hundred gold a month.

“That is out of the question.”

Whatever the circumstances, he couldn't allow this. Winter was approaching. Those ten thousand gold were the very lives of the county's people. That money could not, and must not, be squandered.

“What if I order you as the young lord?”

“It remains out of the question.”

Of course, under royal decree, a territory ordinarily passed to the eldest legitimate son. If there were exceptional circumstances, such as a will, an application for adjudication had to be submitted to the royal court. Only after the court checked the will for forgery, verified its authenticity, and officially recognized it would it take effect. Until then, the house's eldest legitimate son retained the position of young lord.

But Bernard was House Whitewolf's head steward. It was a position of great importance, responsible for managing receipts and disbursements, administering the territory, and acting as the lord's representative in the lord's absence, among other duties.

“As the lord's representative, I will override your authority as young lord.”

Even if Adrian still held the authority of the young lord, Bernard had the authority to overrule him.

* * *

Bernard's stance was firm.

'I expected this, but...'

I still hadn't fully shaken my reputation as the count's wastrel son. There was no way a single month could erase more than ten years of living as a wastrel. Even so, Bernard was more stubborn than I'd expected.

Honestly, I wanted to ignore all of it. If I'd had my way, I'd have extracted the money by force if necessary. Even setting aside the Territory Quest that had suddenly appeared, I absolutely had to establish a trading company to find Ian.

But I couldn't resort to violence. If I used force here, that bastard Kai certainly wouldn't stand idly by, for one thing. And Kai wasn't the only problem. The biggest reason was that the royal court wouldn't overlook it either.

The head steward's authority was second only to the lord's. In an emergency such as the present one, with my father dead, the head steward held greater authority than I did as young lord. Because the position was so important, it was usually held by a noble.

More precisely, most were second or younger sons of noble houses who couldn't inherit a territory because it would go to the eldest legitimate son. They had nothing to gain by staying with their families. The territory was certain to pass to the eldest legitimate son anyway, and their presence merely made them a potential threat to his rights.

Thus, when the time came, younger sons left their houses of their own accord. Those with talent made their way in the world by serving as royal knights. Those without it chose to enter another noble household as head stewards. As nobles, they at least had an education, even if they were physically weak.

If they found employment with a great lord, particularly a count or someone of higher rank, they could even receive a title. Becoming a head steward was practically a path to advancement for the younger sons of noble houses.

If you must serve, serve a great lord. That saying existed for a reason.

By that measure, Bernard could be considered unlucky. Despite entering a count's service and remaining loyal to the house for decades, he hadn't received so much as a barony from my father. Still, considering how doggedly he remained here, foolish was probably a better word than unlucky.

In any case, if I intimidated Bernard, the head steward and current lord's representative, the royal court would brand me a traitor and order me hunted down and killed. Honestly, that alone wouldn't have bothered me much, but...

'It would interfere with establishing the trading company.'

The stigma of being a traitor's trading company would be a serious problem.

Above all...

'I can't afford to antagonize the royal court.'

There was someone at the royal court whom I absolutely had to recruit into the allied army. Leon. The man who would one day be called the Lion of the Allied Army. A field commander who had stood as my equal when I was known as the allied army's Predator.

Though he hadn't been counted among the allied army's heroes, recruiting Leon was every bit as essential as recruiting them. So I had to persuade Bernard, not threaten him.

And in a sense, Bernard was just like Kai. Meaning he was a rigid, narrow-minded bastard. Unlike Kai, however, Bernard remained with the house not out of loyalty, but because he valued rules and principles.

In other words, if I offered a justification grounded in those rules and principles—

“As I understand it, the inheritance of my father's private assets falls outside the head steward's authority.”

—I could have Bernard doing my bidding instead.

As far as I knew, my father had possessed considerable private wealth. And he had left every bit of it to Seraphia. I hadn't run away from the house in my previous life for no reason. My father hadn't left me a single penny.

But because these were the lord's private assets, they were not Bernard's concern. It was a dispute to be settled between Seraphia and me. And that dispute had already been resolved.

“Seraphia has entrusted all of Father's private assets to me.”

I took a neat sheet of paper from inside my clothes and held it out to Bernard. He accepted it carefully, then...

“Th-this is...!!”

His eyes soon widened.

Naturally. It was the written pledge Seraphia had given me earlier. Along with relinquishing the positions of lord and head of House, it stated that she would surrender all her inheritance rights.

'Good thing I kept it instead of throwing it away.'

This was precisely why I'd held on to the pledge despite having no intention of becoming either lord or head of House.

“A-are you truly saying... Lady Seraphia has relinquished all her inheritance rights...?”

“Isn't that what the pledge says?”

Bernard had no answer. Anyone with eyes could see what was written there. Naturally, I hadn't forged it. Seraphia had written the pledge herself, and she had personally affixed the seal at the end.

“By my lawful right as the eldest legitimate son, I will claim all of my father's private assets.”

Naturally...

“...”

Bernard neither objected nor had any grounds to do so.