Capítulo 16: Chapter 16
Longtail, having acquired a new home, underwent a remarkable transformation.
It wasn't that his appearance had changed, but rather the ambiance around him.
Doesn't someone's air itself seem different when a person gains confidence?
This had a similar effect.
Gazing at his reflection in the still water, Longtail mused to himself.
Who am I?
He was Longtail, the owner of "Hannam The Hill." [1]
[1] (A/N: A high rise luxury apartment complex in Seoul.)
With Ian's help, Longtail, now the proud owner of an amazing nest, had nothing left to do but seduce women and sire Longtail II, III, IV - becoming a distinguished male.
[I owe you a big debt.]
Longtail's gratitude towards Ian was immense, beyond words.
Yet, Ian had no intention of holding this debt over Longtail.
"[A debt? If friends start tallying debts, are they truly friends?]"
[Hahahaha! You're right!]
Ian and Drake laughed happily together.
Suddenly, Ian felt a peculiar ringing in his ears.
'...Huh?'
A sharp chime, followed by a sticky sensation under his nose...
'What?'
Startled, Ian wiped his upper lip.
He found that blood was streaming from his nose.
'Why...?'
Thump!
Ian collapsed, unconscious, as he struck his head on the floor of Longtail's nest.
[Friend! Are you okay? Wake up! Friend!]
Longtail, panicking, called out to the unconscious Ian.
'What should I do?'
Being a drake, Longtail was clueless about human health.
So, with Ian lying there, all he could do was pace around, filled with worry.
That's when she appeared.
A human woman emerged from the bushes.
She was likely one of Ian's companions, but Longtail, who was not the best at remembering human faces, didn't recognize her.
"Wait! Drake! Listen to me!"
Krurrr...?
"I'm a friend of Ian's! Don't eat me, I'm a friend!"
Longtail couldn't understand her words, but he had caught one familiar name – "Ian."
Just as humans looked upon the mysteries, the mysteries also looked back at humans.
Longtail, like Ian who had mastered summoning magic, remembered the name of his summoner, something that bridged the language gap.
Longtail watched silently as the woman approached Ian.
Seeing no threat from Drake, she cautiously approached Ian, checking under his nose for his breath, and confirming whether he was alive.
'Thank goodness. He's still breathing.'
The woman, Lucy Talian, sighed in relief.
'...What time is it?'
Ian's eyes fluttered open in the dark nest.
To a drake, it was a splendid house, rivaling a luxury apartment, but for humans, it was merely a spacious cave.
Ian instinctively reached for his smartphone.
But, someone gently held his arm back.
"Are you awake?"
"Huh?"
Ian lifted his head. The cave was dark, but Ian, who had an affinity for darkness, could see everything as clearly as in daylight.
"Cassie?"
It was Cassie.
The woman who had always concealed her hair and face under her robe, only revealing occasionally a stunningly beautiful face.
Ian was puzzled.
Why was Cassie here?
Cassie had gently placed Ian's head on her lap, a soft alternative to the hard ground.
'It's soft.'
Ian, feeling slightly embarrassed, tried to sit up.
"Stay down for a bit."
"No, I feel bad. How long have you been here?"
"Don't worry about it. I'm fine."
Talking with Cassie always gave Ian a peculiar feeling.
She seemed like a medieval fantasy character, yet she radiated an intelligence that transcended the era.
The only other person with such wisdom that Ian had met was his master, Eredith.
"Are you a wizard?"
Cassie's eyes widened at the sudden question.
"No?"
"Then how did you get here? Past Drake?"
"He let me in after I said that I was your friend."
Ian was now even more curious.
How did she communicate with Drake?
Did she know Maronius?
An awkward silence ensued.
Cassie eventually broke it.
"Wizard Ian. I have something to tell you."
"A confession?"
Ian sat up, knowing it was important to listen attentively to such serious matters.
"Hmm. Go on, speak freely."
Seeing Ian's eager demeanor, Cassie felt slightly annoyed but continued.
"...The attack last night. It was my fault."
Ian was taken aback by her admission.
"Were you working with the bandits? I knew something was wrong!"
Her beautiful face, he thought, was perfect for deception.
So, Cassie was one of those cunning women who lured in unsuspecting victims for bandits!
"No! How could you think that I'm a bandit!"
"...Because of your face?"
Ian, influenced by modern misconceptions, believed that, in fantasy tales, beautiful female bandits were a staple of the genre.
But she had a beautiful face and was not a bandit?
In his view, that was almost like a betrayal of expectations.
She should be reprimanded for not fulfilling the stereotype!
Cassie, blushing, clarified.
"My real name is Lucy! Lucy of Talian!"
"Your real name? So, Cassie was a pseudonym?"
"Yes! And it's an important secret, so please don't mention it to anyone!"
Ian, recalling the previous night's events, pondered over this revelation.
"Could it be that they were kidnappers, not bandits?"
"...Not bandits, yes, kidnappers."
These individuals knew Lucy's name.
And they had been there to take her.
"Why would kidnappers be after you?"
"...You really don't know anything... Ah, right. You're a wizard."
Lucy Talian marveled at Ian's ignorance, before remembering that he was an extraordinary wizard. It made sense that he wouldn't know the name "Talian."
Why?
Because he was a wizard.
Wizards often lived in a world of their own.
With a deep sigh, Lucy began to explain.
"I'm betrothed."
"Already? How old are you?"
"Eighteen."
"So the same as me?"
"Nobles often marry young."
Ian was surprised by Lucy's revelation.
"You're part of the nobility?"
"..."
Lucy was truly shocked.
This wizard was remarkably talented but knew so little of the world.
"For the Talian family, I was engaged at the age of seven."
"To some crazy pedo... No."
Ian quickly corrected himself.
"It was a political marriage, then."
"That's not it either."
He had momentarily lost his composure, shocked by the idea of a seven-year-old being married.
But, even in a medieval setting, it seemed unlikely that anyone would eagerly marry a child.
Lucy's engagement was clearly a political move.
"My fiancé is a knight, a former mercenary. He's thirty-three."
"Hmm... Congratulations?"
The age gap was significant, but it wasn't unheard of in modern times.
However, Lucy continued, grinding her teeth,
"But, that bastard...! He poisoned my parents!"
"!"
Ian was stunned by this unexpected medieval family drama.
Wow!
A noble's son-in-law poisoning his in-laws?
Was this Crusader Kings? [2]
[2] (A/N: Old medieval video game.)
"But why?"
Lucy explained:
The Talian Family, a baronial family overseeing the Pianleb Region, had too few knights to defend their lands.
Threatened by external forces and fearing that they might become puppets to some rising knight, the Talians planned to marry their daughter to the leader of a renowned mercenary group for protection.
The mercenary leader, upon seeing the 7-year-old kawaii loli bride, did not fall in love at first sight... but agreed to the engagement after seeing the baron's wealth.
For a mercenary, finding a place to settle down whilst having a spouse was only a dream for most, one that offered them a chance to leave behind a perilous life.
And this leader was no exception.
Initially, he was content with being the son-in-law of the baron.
However, human greed was not so easily satisfied.
Naturally, when one sat down, they would want to lie down, and when lying down, they would want to sleep.
That was human nature.
Having become the son-in-law of a baron, he had realized that he could never truly integrate into noble society.
It was a realization that came naturally to anyone who sat at the same table with nobles for even a day.
He was not really the son-in-law of nobility; he was just a dog guarding their property.
Naturally, the mercenary leader began to build his own power after realizing the fact.
For over ten years, a strange standoff ensued.
A standoff between the baron family, who used the mercenaries as a shield to protect their territory, and the mercenary leader, who was trying to increase his power as the baron's son-in-law.
And, the first to draw their swords was the baron.
"My parents wanted to annul my marriage with that man, and the reason they gave was his promiscuous affairs with other women."
"..."
It was a ridiculous reason actually.
After all, was a man who was engaged to a seven-year-old girl really supposed to wait like a monk until his bride grew up?
Even if you looked to the other side of the coin, if he did something inappropriate with his teenage fiancée (a minor), that would then mark him as a crazy man.
As an adult male, it was natural for him to seek out women to satisfy his desires.
But, the baron used that as his reason for the annulment.
Of course, that was just a superficial reason.
The real reason was likely that he couldn't just stand there watching the mercenary leader build up his own forces.
However, the fact that a man engaged to someone was fooling around with other women remained unchanged...
Thus, the mercenary leader found himself at risk of being chased out of the lands he had toiled in for ten years.
Therefore, the mercenary leader chose a ninja-style response.
Assassination.
Yep. If you didn't know them anymore~ Then you could just kill them all~
So, at a banquet, the mercenary leader poisoned the baron and his wife.
Officially, it was a case of food poisoning, but even a five-year-old could figure out that the mercenary leader was the culprit.
Naturally, the baron's faction rebelled.
Unfortunately, the mercenary leader, along with his subordinates, wiped out the opposing forces.
After all, how could those with pens stop those who ruled with their swords?
The mercenary leader wasn't stupid; he had spent ten years cultivating a force that would support him.
In the end, it seemed like his bloody coup was successful... but then a problem arose.
Lucy Talian, the mercenary leader's fiancée, had escaped the territory with the help of her nanny!
The mercenary leader thus found himself in a dire situation.
He needed to marry Lucy to become a noble; without Lucy, the mercenary leader was just a commoner with a sword.
In the eyes of the nobles, a commoner with a sword was no different from a bandit.
Oh?
So there was no baron in the Talian's Territory, and only a bandit lived there?
As most readers of fantasy novels knew, bandits equaled experience points.
And so it meant that the first to the hunt would gain the most.
Thus, for the sake of farming experience points, the neighboring barons and counts would hurriedly come running, making it obvious what would happen next.
Now, the mercenary leader, facing the risk of losing the territory he had dearly cultivated for the last ten years to neighboring nobles, had to risk his life to find Lucy.
"So, the people last night were..."
"They were his men."
Lucy Talian's words carried a mix of anger and bitterness.
"And they're trying to recapture me..."
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