Despicable Hero
In the creation myth that the barbarian believers, who formed the core of the superpower Bigelow in the south of the Cardoso Mountain Range, believed in, an enormous monster that tried to destroy the world the gods had created appeared. The ones who rose up to defeat that nameless monster were the God of War Marid, who carried a lightning axe in his hand, and the demigod heroes who were descended from him.
“Fatih of the Crescent Moon” was a swordswoman who had her name entered at the bottom of the twelve heroes. Although she was of a small build and lacked strength, she handled her crescent-moon sword skilfully; it was said that she made the nameless monster give a cry of agony first.
Most Bieglow’s people would name their sons after the strong heroes such as Nusrad or Bahadur but, on the contrary, not many parents would name their sons Fatih.
That was because the hero Fatih was a beautiful woman dressed as a man.
Since arriving at the mansion of the House of Valiente on the outskirts of Buruan, Lucius and the others had been engaged in the work of sorting out the enormous amount of collected books in the former dining room.
In the mansion where about one-third of the vast residence had been burnt down, the number of books that were left behind in perfect condition exceeded two thousand. The work of scanning them one by one and then determining whether they were worth storing in Isaac’s library was more exhausting than they had imagined.
「…It’d have saved us the trouble if they were geography magazines and history books only」
Clearing his throat lightly, Hazard-kyou closed the book in his hand and put it by the north-side wall.
「There are many more books related to magic than I thought」
Books that they thought ought to be brought back on the south side, and books that they thought not to on the north side; as they wanted to roughly sort the books out first, the three people continued reading them the whole morning and noon.
Of course, secretaries from Villanova’s royal palace had been dispatched to help, but they didn’t have the knowledge to closely examine the contents of the books. Naturally, Lucius and the others did the main work; all the secretaries could do was help with routine duties such as either preparing meals and drinks for the three people or packing the books that had been decided to be brought back into wooden boxes.
Sipping black tea that was brewed slightly strong, Angel looked outside the window.
「…However, it looks like we can finish this in three days somehow if we do our best」
「No, we can’t use three days for the actual work. We have to prepare the carts by tomorrow and depart the day after tomorrow」
Lucius shook his head with a wry smile.
They could gallop their horses without thinking about anything when they were coming here, but they’d have to travel together with carts loaded with at least several hundred books on their way back. It was noteworthy that they wouldn’t be able to speed up as much as they did during the outward journey.
Hearing that, Angel scratched the tip of his freckled nose, looked up at the ceiling and sighed exaggeratedly.
「…That’s right. I forgot」
「Me too, Vice-Leader. I’ve been careless, thinking we have two more full days」
Hazard-kyou had a small coughing fit and then smiled wryly.
Perhaps it was because of having arrived here late last night and then continuing their work from early this morning until this late at night, all three people hadn’t stopped coughing. One could only say that a large quantity of books was a mysterious piece of equipment that would endlessly produce dust.
「…I can’t show such an appearance to my father and mother at all」
Hazard-kyou finally took off his mantle and undid the buttons on his uniform here and there, then wrapped the tie around his neck around his mouth and started reading. Certainly, as the son and heir of the noble House of Hazard, he couldn’t show this sort of appearance to his parents.
However, Lucius also understood his feeling of wanting to do so.
「Well, accomplishing the mission is our highest priority」
Lucius took off his mantle, which contributed to his stiff shoulders, and then removed his tie and wrapped it around his mouth as a substitute for a mask.
「Angel-kun, you should work in a comfortable attire as well」
「Ah, yes」
「…Vice-Leader-dono」
While Angel was pulling off his tie, Hazard-kyou knitted his brows and stood up.
「This book」
「What is it?」
「It’s a history book about Villanova, …but this part」
Hazard-kyou opened and placed the book in front of Lucius, then pointed at the blank section in the middle of the page.
「There’s strange writing here」
「…?」
Rather than letters, it looked more like some kind of drawing or shape. Perhaps they were modelled on some kind of flower; there were three subtly different designs lined up.
「There isn’t a single piece of writing in any of the books I’ve examined so far at all」
「Not even one?」
Lucius reflexively glanced at the mountain of books that was stacked by the wall.
「Yes. At the very least, there aren’t any in the books I’ve examined. All of them are clean and in good condition… which is precisely why this writing stood out, or rather, bothered me—」
「Now that you mention it, I don’t think there was even anything resembling writing in the books I’ve examined either…」
Angel left his seat and came to Lucius while saying so, then looked at the aforementioned writing and tilted his head to one side.
「What is it?」
「Ah, no. …I was thinking for a moment, but aren’t these drawings of some kind of magic crests?」
「Magic crests? But these sorts of magic crests are—」
As Orvieto’s son, Lucius had become familiar with magic from a very young age and had reached the point where he was able to master a multitude of magic; however, he didn’t recognise the magic crests drawn here. Lucius didn’t quite understand why Angel saw these and claimed that they might be magic crests.
Hazard-kyou mumbled through his tie, which was a substitute for a mask.
「In that case, if we ask Vice-Leader-dono’s relative, Richternach-kyou, won’t it become clear immediately?」
「Well then, let’s bring this book back as well, just in case」
Sighing lightly, Lucius glanced at the starry sky outside the window.
If everything had gone as planned, Dimitar, who accompanied Valeria on her royal visit, should have arrived at Romarikku already and was managing the official functions. Since Dimitar would be staying over there for five days, he’d probably come back to Roma several days later after Lucius and the others had returned to their country.
If Dimitar found out that the “Knight’s Room” had been turned into a library while he was absent from Roma, even the impudent him would surely be slightly surprised.
「—Vice-Leader-dono, what’s wrong?」
「It’s nothing… let’s make one more effort」
Lucius, who had taken a sip of his black tea, realised that it had already gone cold like water and called out to a secretary assisting them.
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Luminstia 