Chapter 72

The noble of House Zahar, who had come out of Meisa's room, did not leave the mansion immediately but instead headed to the reception room on the first floor.

The elderly maids, unlike before, greeted her with energy.

"Oh my, why are you out already? Aren't you going to talk more?"

"She was sleeping soundly. So I just left the book she was looking for and came out."

"The sun hasn’t even fully set yet..."

"It seems like she’s been sleeping more and more these days."

"It's because she’s unwell. She needs to eat something to regain her health."

"But if she doesn’t want to eat, we can’t force her, can we?"

The women chattered on without realizing that Turan was standing right behind them in concealment.

Thanks to this, he effortlessly learned that the noble’s alias was "Reto" and that she was none other than a personal maid of the head of House Aravion.

It was already shocking that a noble of House Zahar was inside the main house of House Aravion, but to be the head’s personal maid?

'How in the world?'

From what he knew, the servants in the main house were thoroughly raised from childhood among the families of knights. Given the nature of nobles, who aged slowly, it would be difficult to maintain a commoner disguise for long periods.

Perhaps she was using a magic artifact similar to the one he had, but even his sense for sacred relics detected nothing.

'She either used some ingenious method to disguise herself, or... House Aravion is secretly harboring nobles of House Zahar?'

For nobles, bloodline abilities served as a kind of boundary.

If someone possessed the same ability, they were kin; if they had a different ability, they were an outsider.

This also involved religious and political elements.

Nobles’ bloodline abilities were originally bestowed by the gods, symbolizing their divine right to rule.

For this reason, nobles strictly gathered within families based on shared bloodline abilities.

Of course, cousin marriages were frowned upon, so external bloodlines were often brought in. However, even in such cases, if a child’s bloodline differed from that of the family, they could not remain within it.

For example, if the head of the House of Enchanters married a noble of the Healer Bloodline, and their child inherited the Healer Bloodline, that child would have to be adopted into the Healer family regardless of being the head’s offspring.

Violating this rule by assimilating nobles of a different bloodline into one's house was called "bloodline theft", which was considered as severe as robbery and murder committed for magic power.

But after all, taboos and rules existed because there were those who broke them.

Perhaps House Aravion had been raising nobles of House Zahar for quite some time.

It was too early to be certain which case it was.

Lost in thought, Turan eventually noticed that the women’s chatter had ceased and that Reto had left the mansion.

He intended to follow her while remaining concealed but had to stop soon after.

The place she was heading to was none other than the residence of the head of House Aravion.

'Following her inside... that wouldn’t be wise.'

Only Meisa’s residence had such strangely lax security. The head’s residence was likely well-guarded.

Turan was confident he could escape from anyone else, but he had to avoid facing the head.

If the head decided to attack, he could die instantly before even having the chance to react.

Instead of following further, he stealthily plucked a strand of hair from Reto’s maid uniform.

He even used tracking magic to confirm that it was indeed her own hair and not a wig or someone else's.

'Good, with this, I can track her wherever she runs.'

Tracking magic worked by setting specific conditions and using heightened senses to locate a matching target.

The more precise the conditions, the wider the range that could be searched with minimal magic power. Using a part of the target’s body was one of the most efficient tracking methods.

In other words, with just this single strand of hair, Turan could track Reto even if she was thousands of kilometers away.

There was a reason why people feared the tracking abilities of House Zahar.

After securing a way to track Reto and letting her go, Turan returned to Meisa's room and opened the book.

Contrary to his expectation that it would contain some important information about the family, it was nothing more than an ordinary collection of fairy tales.

The Woodcutter Who Dropped His Axe, The Prince Who Became a Frog, The Star Child,

'These are all familiar fairy tales.'

Each one was a story his mother, Bije, had told him at bedtime when he was a child.

Thinking about it, it made sense that the daughter of an Aravion knight would only know fairy tales originating from this region.

He skimmed through the book multiple times, wondering if there might be some hidden code or message, but nothing seemed particularly special.

Besides, if there were such a thing, it wouldn’t be much of a code if someone like him, a complete outsider in this field, could easily decipher it.

As Turan read the fairy tales, he was momentarily lost in old memories. However, he soon snapped out of it, closed the book, and turned to look at Meisa.

'Did she just want to read fairy tales?'

Unfortunately, since she was asleep, he couldn’t get an answer. So, he left the room and resumed patrolling the mansion.

He was searching for a suitable place to use as a base, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that, like the first floor, all the rooms up to the fifth floor were completely empty, with their doors wide open.

To make matters worse, even the attic, which was a common feature in mansions like this, had rotting floorboards, exposing everything inside.

Turan quickly realized that it was impossible to use this mansion as a base.

'If the mansion was deliberately kept in this state to prevent nobles of House Zahar from infiltrating, then it was surprisingly effective…'

After all, concealment magic couldn’t last forever, and at some point, he would have to release it and rest. But here, that was impossible.

Even the slightest movement would cause the half-rotten wooden planks to creak, and the walls and floors, full of gaping holes, would do nothing to muffle any noise.

If he so much as snored, the keen hearing of the nobles would likely pick it up from the first floor.

The only viable option was to reveal himself to Meisa and share her room, but he hadn’t gathered enough information to justify that yet.

At the very least, he needed to find evidence that House Aravion was plotting something, similar to what he had uncovered in case of Solif, before he could convince Meisa.

*

Leaving the mansion, Turan used both concealment and flight magic as he searched for a temporary hideout.

Streetlights cast their glow, but they provided just enough light to push back the darkness, making it easy for him to remain hidden in the sky.

He heightened his sacred relic’s perception as he observed the people passing by. After a few minutes, he spotted a family of four walking in the distance.

One of them possessed magic power on par with a high-ranking noble.

"Today's performance was really fun, Father!"

"I didn’t think so..."

"Oh my, but you cried earlier, Dora."

"I did NOT cry!"

"Don’t be so embarrassed. It’s okay to cry if something moves you."

The middle-aged noble, chatting with his wife and children as they walked, had a familiar face.

Was his name Cadrum?

Turan vaguely recalled that he was the vice-captain of House Aravion’s Dark Elf subjugation force.

Keorn had once mentioned that he was the half-brother of the head of House Aravion and one of his most trusted aides. If that was true, there was a good chance Turan could gather valuable information from his residence.

Judging by the man’s level of strength, even if an alarm were triggered, Turan was confident he could either escape or subdue him if necessary.

After confirming that Cadrum and his family had entered their mansion, Turan maintained his concealment magic and used telekinesis magic to unlock a window near the roof before slipping inside.

The room appeared to be an attic that was rarely used, but it was still far cleaner than Meisa’s residence.

It seemed that keeping the interior in a state of ruin wasn’t a preference among House Aravion’s nobles but rather Meisa’s personal taste.

Turan deactivated his concealment magic, removed his mask, and let out a deep sigh.

"Hoo..."

As the magic power he had been slowly consuming began to recover, a wave of fatigue washed over him.

As long as he wasn’t caught right in front of the head of the house, Turan was confident he could escape. However, that didn’t mean he felt no pressure about infiltrating the stronghold of a great noble family.

Turan took out the Mimic Relic and absorbed a small amount of magic power from the Barrier Master Bloodline before setting up barriers on the attic’s door and windows.

Judging by the thick layer of dust accumulated in this place, it didn’t seem like anyone would be coming here anytime soon. Still, it was best to be prepared for any situation.

With his safe zone secured, he took a light nap for a few hours.

Once his fatigue had faded and his magic power had recovered, Turan checked the mansion and confirmed that only one or two servants were awake, standing night watch. Without delay, he began his exploration of the estate.

Naturally, his target was Cadrum’s study.

After all, the easiest place to find someone's personal secrets in their home was the room where all sorts of documents were stored.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to search through the entire mansion to find it. He could sense that one room in the corner of the second floor was sealed with a magic artifact.

If it wasn’t a study, then why would it be secured even more tightly than a bedroom?

'This much is nothing.'

Cadrum may have thought he had locked it up securely, but against the Mimic Relic, this level of security was meaningless.

Turan examined the flow of magic within the artifact sealing the study’s entrance and then went to Cadrum’s bedroom, where he found a key that seemed to be its pair.

Cadrum, who had just finished an intense s*x session with his wife and fallen into deep sleep, didn’t even notice that an intruder had entered his room.

'The security inside is surprisingly lax. Almost ridiculously so…'

Turan had been able to enter quickly thanks to his mask, but if someone was willing to take the time and effort, other nobles of House Zahar could just as easily infiltrate by disguising themselves as servants.

That woman he had seen earlier might have used a similar method.

And if an infiltrator decided to go on a killing spree, how exactly did they plan to respond with such poor security?

Clicking his tongue at the weak defenses of House Aravion, Turan entered the study.

Inside, he found a desk, about ten bookshelves, and numerous books and documents neatly arranged.

Now, it was time to check whether any of them contained the information he was looking for.

'Let’s see…'

As expected, the documents spread across the desk were of little value.

Approval records for the distribution of supplies within Morgen City.

Considering that most nobles had no interest in such matters, it was likely that Cadrum merely stamped his seal on them without paying much attention.

After neatly organizing the documents back in place, Turan began pulling out and checking the papers stored in the bookshelves, one by one.

This was an ordinary book on general knowledge, that one was a religious text, and this, an Aravion noble family genealogy...

'Ah.'

After a few minutes of searching, Turan’s eyes landed on a report about the recent Dark Elf subjugation.

The first page detailed the procurement of large trees at low prices from settlements near the western forest region.

As he flipped further, he found something about himself.

The report described him as a mysterious noble, recognized for his contributions to the Dark Elf subjugation and personally favored by Meisa.

The following page contained a document detailing his personal background, likely included to supplement the previous entry.

'Ooh…'

It included a magically drawn portrait that was nearly identical to his real face, along with a summary of his past actions.

In essence, these few pages outlined House Aravion’s current perception of Turan.

[A noble of the Barrier Master Bloodline, origins unknown. His primary skill is stone-throwing using a slingshot. Combat power rating: 4.]

[Rescued Ashiz of House Berk from the Dark Elves and remained as a guest, forming a connection with the runaway heir.]

[It is presumed that the recent Dark Elf invasion was retaliation for those killed in that battle.]

[Currently ruling an abandoned city in Kalamaf, located in the Gray Zone.]

[Has bound a Golden Eagle Magical Beast through Soul Bond.]

The fact that his departure from Kalamaf and its transfer to another noble house wasn’t recorded likely meant that the report hadn’t been updated with the latest information.

For Turan, traveling back and forth in just a day or two by riding Bije was easy, but for ordinary people, the same distance would take several months to traverse.

The fact that there was no mention of Hisaril Hill suggested that Keorn had truly kept quiet about Turan when speaking to the Aravion upper class.

As Turan continued reading, his expression hardened at the last part of the document.

Judging by the fact that there were at least three different handwriting styles, it seemed that multiple people had taken turns writing it, as if exchanging letters.

[Status update: Returned to House Berk and attempted contact with the heir. Excessive closeness is a concern. Elimination recommended.]

[The noble in question has a combat power of at least 7. Cannot be easily eliminated.]

[Reto?]

[Too extreme. First, block letters and observe the reaction.]

[Remember what happened when the heir was broken.]

[How did his combat power increase from 4 to 7 in less than six months? Verify for errors.]

Reto, the name of the noble from House Zahar he had seen earlier.

From this, Turan confirmed that she was affiliated with House Aravion or, at the very least, that the Aravion high-ranking nobles were aware of her existence.

They had sent a noble from House Zahar to assassinate him, fearing that he was getting too close to Meisa!

'The letter was sent three weeks ago. I was this close to fighting an assassin from House Zahar.'

Turan had never encountered a noble of House Zahar using concealment abilities before, so he wasn’t sure if he could detect them with the Mimic Relic.

If he could, the battle would be laughably easy, but if he couldn't, even a weaker opponent couldn't be underestimated.

No matter how many defensive measures he had, including the Guardian magic artifact, a blade to the vital points while asleep would still be fatal.

More than that, what did they mean by "remember what happened when the heir was broken"?

He needed to gather more information to understand the full context, so he carefully put the document back in its original place, committing its location to memory.

Now that he knew where it was, he could always return and retrieve it later if necessary.

'Besides, it’s unlikely that this guy is the only one keeping such records.'

At least three high-ranking nobles had the authority to command nobles from House Zahar.

Whether the head of the house was among them or not was uncertain, but since no one had realized Turan had infiltrated yet, he still had plenty of time.

The subsequent document search was as tedious as expected.

Even though most of them were administrative records, he had to read through each one just in case something valuable was hidden among them.

Then, amidst his search, a single old letter slipped out from between the books, landing with a soft rustling sound.

Turan carefully unfolded it, ensuring the fragile paper didn’t crumble.

[To my uncle,

Life here in House Nagin is rather quiet.

All of my mother’s relatives are strangers to me, so it’s only natural that we are distant.

I suppose I’ll just have to take my time and gradually grow closer to them.

Sirel keeps writing that he’s doing well, but honestly, his letters often feel insincere. Could you check if he’s slacking off on his studies?

Also, Meisa suddenly sent me a letter calling me a murderer. Did something happen within the family?

-Renaud]

Turan immediately reopened the Aravion family genealogy he had examined earlier.

Renaud Nagin, Sirel Aravion, and Meisa Aravion.

All three names were listed under the head of the house, Badal Aravion. The first two shared the same mother, with "Anieta Nagin" written beside their names.

'Now that I think about it, Ashiz mentioned something like this before.'

Digging into his memory, he recalled the first conversation he had about Meisa.

The head of the house had three children, but the eldest was sent to another family because they inherited the maternal bloodline.

'Meisa sent a letter calling her half-brother a murderer…'

Turan read the letter over and over, committing it to memory.

Though he had no solid evidence, he had a gut feeling that this letter held the key to understanding why Meisa was hostile toward her own family.