------------------
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
------------------
Chapter 103
“I, Christian, under the command of Madam Merian, Captain of the Black Shadow Knight Order of the main house, discovered during the investigation into the recent human sacrifice incidents that your uncle, Baron Bord, was colluding with some of the Dark Demonic House’s Mages.”
It was a lie.
He never actually investigated anything.
But it would turn out to be true.
‘Baron Bord’s collusion with Ashid is a fact that will be revealed later. Because of that, the Burssen Marquisate will be condemned as a nation in league with Devils and meet a horrific end.’
“T-That’s… that’s ridiculous… Even if he’s my uncle, something like that?”
Young Count Roy stammered, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“There’s a reason. Hasn’t your father, the Count of Burssen, been rapidly deteriorating in health recently? He’s always had a chronic illness, but don’t you think it’s progressing unusually fast?”
“!!”
Roy’s face turned pale.
“D-Don’t tell me you mean…?”
“Yes. It’s the effect of a curse-type black magic.”
Shocked beyond imagination, Roy swayed in his chair.
“That’s not all. Baron Bord didn’t just collude with a few Devils. He went as far as to deceive the Dark Demonic House itself.”
“What?”
“The recent human sacrifice incidents.”
“!!”
“They were all orchestrated by Baron Bord’s side. He dared to frame the main house, so now the Dark Demonic House intends to wipe the Burssen Marquisate off the map. Since the blame lies with your side, the Gold Cross can’t even protest.”
While such discussions never actually took place, it wasn’t entirely false.
At this rate, the Burssen Marquisate would face a similar end.
“T-That… No…”
As the pale-faced Young Count Roy groaned, Chris looked at him quietly and asked.
“Do you want to stop it?”
“!!”
“If you want, I’ll help you.”
“…You’ll help me? Why?”
“Well. Let’s just say it benefits me if this situation is resolved peacefully. And besides, not all of us Mages delight in bloodshed.”
Roy looked confused.
“What good is your help going to do? Or… are there other forces from the Dark Demonic House here with you?”
“No. I’m alone.”
“Then there’s no way you could take down my uncle…”
Roy looked at Chris with skeptical eyes.
He did seem fairly strong, but he was still just a boy, probably only in his mid to late teens.
What good could that do?
“You’re misunderstanding something. I’m stronger than you think.”
“…Is that so?”
Still doubtful eyes.
Chris smirked.
“Of course, that doesn’t mean I plan to recklessly charge in and take down Baron Bord with brute force.”
“A scheme?”
“You should use your title as the Young Count.”
It was a proposal to use Roy’s status as the Young Count to lure Baron Bord into a trap.
However, Roy looked skeptical.
“That’s impossible. My uncle isn’t someone you can take lightly. Even if we try to deceive him with a trap, he won’t fall for it. Even if by some miracle we get an opening, we won’t be able to defeat him. My uncle is a 4-star Knight.”
Chris nodded.
From what he had heard, Baron Bord wasn’t an ordinary schemer.
A half-hearted trick wouldn’t work on him.
And he was a 4-star Knight.
An opponent who had both strength and strategy.
However—
“Just leave it to me.”
“…What?”
“I mean it. Swear to entrust everything to me and obey me. Then, I’ll take care of the rest.”
Roy looked dumbfounded at Chris’s words.
What would I even be trusting?
That was the look in his eyes.
An expected reaction.
But—
“In any case, you don’t have any other options, do you? It’s your choice whether to sit and wait for ruin, or take the devil’s hand.”
It wasn’t wrong.
Roy was in a position where he had to cling to any rotten rope thrown his way.
Just what is he…?
Roy stared at Chris, confused.
Arrogant to the point of being offensive.
But at the same time, eyes that stared straight at him with unshakable resolve.
In the end, Roy clenched his fists and spoke.
“…If I really entrust everything to you, will you take down my uncle?”
“Yes. I promise.”
Roy swallowed hard and spoke, as if coming to a decision.
“…I swear to entrust everything to you and follow you.”
Chris grinned.
“You’ve chosen well. I accept your oath.”
At that moment—
Chris’s gaze darkened.
Fwaaash!
A blood-red magic circle flared into view.
“?!”
Roy’s vision was suddenly swallowed by darkness, and he lost consciousness.
And then, something unbelievable happened.
Even though he had fainted, Roy’s body didn’t collapse.
Instead, he smirked.
A smirk that was, shockingly, the exact same irritating grin Chris usually wore.
“It worked perfectly.”
The words coming out were the same.
The voice was Roy’s, but the arrogant and unpleasant tone was exactly like Chris’s.
The reason this was happening was simple.
Possession.
To be precise, Chris’s consciousness had inhabited Roy’s body.
One of the highest applications of the Oath of Obedience.
‘Link.’
A secret art that allows one to implant their consciousness into another’s body and move it as if it were their own. Chris had successfully executed it.
Now, Chris would become Young Count Roy and eliminate Baron Bord.
***
‘Link is a difficult technique even for me, but thanks to persuading him, it worked. If Roy hadn’t agreed at the last moment, I wouldn’t have succeeded.’
Originally, Link was a technique only those at 6-star or higher could attempt.
But with the status of a Half-Devil,
Ownership of a pledged soul as collateral,
And the other party’s oath of consent,
On top of that, by completely restructuring the spell with his insane genius, he had succeeded in possessing Roy.
A miraculous feat that other dark mages wouldn’t believe even if they saw it.
‘Still, I won’t be able to maintain it for long. I’d better move quickly.’
Chris moved Roy’s possessed body and returned to the Count’s estate.
His original body had been laid in a coffin he had prepared in advance. If any danger approached the original body, the Link would immediately break, and his consciousness would return.
But once he arrived at the estate, something felt off.
The Young Count had returned, yet no one seemed to care.
He was being ignored.
Everyone only gave him brief glances and then looked away.
‘Even though he’s the Young Count, what poor treatment.’
A sight that clearly showed Roy’s standing.
Then, the sound of a tongue clicking was heard.
“Drinking again, Young Count? When will you finally grow up?”
It was the estate’s butler.
According to prior investigation, one of Baron Bord’s men.
The butler let out an openly disdainful sigh.
“The Count is bedridden, and yet his son is always drowning in alcohol. With you always like this, do you even know how worried Baron Bord is?”
“…….”
“Because of you, the Baron suffers so much. Honestly, I can’t understand how someone like you ever became the Young Count.”
That last part was muttered.
But loud enough to be heard—clearly meant for him to hear.
Chris lifted the corners of his mouth.
‘Interesting.’
In any case, that insult wasn’t directed at him. It was aimed at Roy, the owner of the body he possessed.
So there was no reason to be offended.
But—
‘I needed a way to attract attention anyway. This is just right.’
"Hey."
“Wh-What is it?”
The butler responded with a disrespectful tone, hardly imaginable for someone addressing a noble.
“Are you done talking?”
“…What?”
“I asked if you’re done talking.”
“!!”
Did he sense something different than usual?
The butler flinched.
But he pretended to be angry and raised his voice.
“Wh-What I said wasn’t wrong, was it? With how disgraceful young master has been acting, people are saying he’s unfit to be the Young Count…!”
It was at that very moment—
Smack!
The atmosphere froze.
Chris raised his hand and slapped the butler across the face!
And it didn’t end with just one.
He struck again, and this time, with such force that the butler crashed to the side.
“Wh-What is this?!”
The butler, coming to his senses late, was about to shout in anger—but suddenly froze in place.
Fwoosh.
A cold blade was at the butler’s throat.
Chris smiled gently as he spoke.
“Why don’t you try saying that again?”
“Y-You…”
“What? Can’t do it? Makes sense. If your head’s screwed on right, you’d know better than to run your mouth. You dared to challenge the authority of this nation’s lord, His Excellency the Count.”
The butler looked bewildered.
“Ch-Challenge the Count’s authority? What do you mean?”
“Who do you think made me the Young Count? It was all His Excellency the Count’s will. Even if I’m lacking, the only one who can judge my qualifications is His Excellency himself.”
“!!”
Shing.
The blade dug into the skin of his neck.
A trickle of blood began to flow.
“Or are you perhaps harboring some dark thoughts in your belly?”
“!!”
He was talking about treason.
The butler turned pale and shouted.
“N-No! That’s nonsense! I would never!!”
“Hmm? Is that so? Hard to believe when I think about the things you were spouting earlier. Might be better to just dispose of you and appoint a new butler. One I can trust—someone loyal.”
“!!”
The blade pressed in deeper.
The blood ran thicker.
Facing Roy—or rather, Chris’s gaze, the butler’s body began trembling like a leaf in the wind.
It was different from before.
Cold and indifferent.
A chilling gaze that looked like it could sever a neck at any moment.
“P-Please. It’s a misunderstanding!! F-Forgive me…!”
At that moment—
Chris smirked.
“Just kidding.”
“…What?”
“I said it’s a joke.”
Clang.
Chris carelessly tossed the sword behind him.
“There’s no way I’d really kill a butler, right?”
“Ah… Ah… Y-Yes? Y-Yes, of course.”
“So make sure you behave from now on.”
“!!”
“I’ll be watching.”
Again, a cold shiver ran down the butler’s spine.
It was certain now.
This was no longer the same useless Young Count from before.
And the change in the Young Count didn’t stop there.
“I’ve got somewhere to be. Lead the way.”
“W-Where are you headed?”
“To my father.”
“!!”
Chris grinned.
“Figured I’d show some filial piety for once.”
* * *
Count Burssen.
As the name suggests, he was the sovereign of the Burssen domain.
Now aged and sickly, but once, he was a lion who achieved great military exploits on the frontline against the Dark Magi.
The Cursed Lord.
Chris instantly grasped Count Burssen’s condition.
A high-level sorcery had been used to disguise it as illness, but it couldn’t fool Chris’s eyes.
‘Still, it’s an incredibly subtle spell. No wonder no one noticed. This isn’t the work of just any skilled black magician.’
A suspect immediately came to Chris’s mind.
‘Count Ribery’s handiwork.’
Count Ribery was one of the few black magicians among the Dark Magi who had reached the 6-star level in Curses.
‘Even so… I didn’t expect Count Ribery’s cursecraft to be this refined. Quite unexpected.’
It was a curse as delicate as a carved piece of art.
This wasn’t something achievable with high-level skills alone.
It required a profound, almost fathomless understanding of black magic. To think Count Ribery possessed such mastery?
‘…Or perhaps, he made use of some other means.’
------------------
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
------------------
