The room was dark, lit only by moonlight.

GRRRR

The section of floor beneath the bed sank, revealing a staircase. Far below, a flickering light was drawing closer.

A man sprang up through the opening, blocking the approaching light. Dust and soot covered him.

Once inside the room, he hurriedly searched the floor. Finding what he wanted, he pressed several stones.

GRRRR

The sunken floor rose again, shutting out the approaching light. The heat gradually faded.

CLUNK

Once the floor had closed, he sighed and sank to the ground. Moonlight fell across him. His clothes and face were filthy, but he was easy enough to recognize: Martin, the marquis’s illegitimate son.

He got to his feet, looking exhausted, and turned his head. “Why are you here?”

“Because I’ve been here since yesterday.” I stepped out of the corner as I answered.

“Isn’t this Adria’s room?”

“You didn’t think they’d leave someone who gave away an important secret of House Hierro right where she was, did you?”

“So you knew everything. Is Adria all right?”

“Weren’t you planning to kill them all anyway? Well, she’s somewhere safe. Adria is an important link between House Gresia and House Hierro. Unlike you, she’ll be alive and well for a long time to come.”

“Ha... So the illegitimate son is the only one who gets cast aside in the end.”

I’d slipped in a jab, but Martin paid it no mind.

“If you’re here, then your whole party must still be here, despite seeming to leave this morning. Did none of the mercenaries get out?”

He was right. After officially leaving the lord’s castle, the party from House Gresia had secretly returned to the city. Simon and the knights had gone to the temple at the secret passage’s exit, while I had come to Adria’s room to see how things ended.

The marquis’s knights were guarding the part of the castle where his room was, and the duke’s knights were guarding the temple, so I had come to Adria’s empty room. The fact that no one was here was one reason. The other was that I thought Martin would come here if he survived. His target was nearby.

“Your plan must have failed. Why come here alone instead of waiting for another chance?”

He gave a short laugh. “Are you mocking me? I know I can’t escape... Then again, I only just learned that.”

Just as I thought, Martin had never intended to run.

“Besides, what I wanted was different from what the others wanted. Their goal was to use me to take control of House Hierro. Mine was revenge itself.”

He looked around the room with a weary face. It was the neat, understated room of a noblewoman. Perhaps it reminded him of his younger sister; his expression darkened.

“Even when my family was driven out because my sister became pregnant after the marquis’s two beastly sons had their way with her, I tried to endure it.”

It was as I’d suspected. If it had been an ordinary pregnancy, they would never have cast out Martin, who was useful to the house.

“Life was hard again, financially, but being together as a family wasn’t so bad. And thanks to my ability, I could make a living as a mercenary.”

He bit his lip as he spoke.

“But not long afterward, they killed my sister because she hadn’t gotten rid of the baby. Our mother saw it happen and killed herself. When I came home and found my family’s bodies, what else was there for me to do but take revenge?”

He spoke as if the words were tearing their way out of him.

It was tragic enough, but I neither shared his feelings nor offered him sympathy. He didn’t want it, and I was in no position to pity him.

“If you’re telling me all that, are you asking me to step aside?”

He looked at the sword in my hand. I’d acquired it after my last one broke. It was another mass-produced sword, but it was new, so it ought to hold up for a while.

“If you were any other knight, I’d deal with you quickly and move on. But you and I are in the same position.”

I shook my head. “Surely not. You resolved to kill Adria too. I doubt you’d spare a thought for a complete stranger like me just because we’re in the same position.”

He smiled bitterly. “I suppose not... To tell the truth, it’s because getting past you doesn’t look easy. I sensed it when we sparred, but now you’re even harder to gauge. How is that possible at your age?”

I raised my sword. Filled with mana, it gave off a faint glow even in the dark room. Unlike when we’d sparred, I was letting all the mana I possessed show. It surged beyond my body, where it clashed violently with Martin’s.

“Don’t tell me you were the one who ruined this operation—and that you were the little spy, too.”

“Who knows?”

My flat reply left him looking deflated. He stared at me in disbelief, then spoke again.

“With skills like that, no wonder the duke entrusts you with work. But no matter how well he treats you, don’t trust him. He’s a noble, and you’re only half one. We’re neither nobles nor sons to them, just tools. Once we lose our value, they throw us away and erase us.”

He was trying to persuade me by drawing on his own experience. But there was no need. The duke had never treated me well, and I’d even been killed several times. I didn’t trust him or want his approval. I only wanted to defeat those trying to kill me and keep living.

When nothing he said changed my expression, Martin raised his sword. “So you mean to fight after all? I see. If we fight here, I won’t achieve my goal even if I beat you.”

He was right. Even if I couldn’t beat him, I could buy enough time for people to hear us and come running. But stopping him wasn’t why I’d waited here.

“No. Answer a few questions, and I’ll step aside.”

“You’ll step aside if I answer?” Martin, who had been about to move, looked bewildered.

“I’ve accomplished everything I came to do. Whether the marquis’s sons die or you do makes little difference to me. Either way, Adria will be heartbroken.”

I had no desire to do anything more for House Hierro. By saving Adria and Bianca, I’d repaid my debt from my previous life.

He nodded. “You still look so young... Was everything you did for Adria?”

He seemed to have gotten the wrong idea. Rather than correct him, I asked my question.

“Who’s backing you—no, the mercenaries who helped you?”

“Your skill at your age was hard enough to understand. Now you’re trying to investigate who was behind a fight you’ve already won? Just what are you?” He stared at me as if I were the strangest thing he’d ever seen. But I’d seen that look from other people plenty of times already.

“Well, now that it’s come to this, there’s no need to keep it secret. Count La Palma is backing them.”

Count La Palma? I shook my head. “No. Count La Palma is being used, just like you.”

Martin nodded. “Is that so? Come to think of it, Benjamin and Noah did speak rather casually about the count.” Apparently, he’d suspected something himself.

“Sorry, but I had no intention of looking any deeper. I would have joined hands with the Demon King if it meant getting my revenge. Other than Noah and Benjamin, I doubt anyone knows who hired them.”

Should I have gone to the temple instead? At this point, all I could do was hope Simon did well.

“But Noah and Benjamin seem to have spent time in the north before coming here—probably in the empire. Things they’d let slip when talking, the way they spoke... They had the feel of that region.”

“The Tsar Empire?”

It was a northern power, one of the countries that had claimed to carry on the old empire that fell after the Great War—and the one whose claim to the name of empire had been recognized by other nations. Another kingdom lay between us, putting it some distance away, but rumors often reached us of what a fearsome place it was.

The unexpected information drew a sigh from me. Affairs within the house were already more than I could handle. A distant empire, not even a kingdom? This was hardly something for me to investigate.

Seeing my interest fade, Martin scratched his head. “That’s all I know. So do we have to fight after all?”

We’d been speaking easily enough, but our mana had been clashing fiercely in the air all along. At his words, his mana flared more sharply. I drew back the mana I’d released.

“No. I’ll let you pass.” I lowered my sword and stepped back.

Martin stared at me. “Letting me go could cause trouble for you...”

“It won’t. No one knows I’m here right now. And no one knows you came here.”

He gave a short laugh, understanding what I meant. “Right. As long as I don’t say anything, no one will know.” If there was no one left to tell, the secret would stay buried.

He drew back his mana too and walked past me. Before leaving the room, he looked back.

“If the marquis offers you a gift before you leave tomorrow, ask for the sword I used when I lived here. It’s tough enough to withstand my strength.”

He waved and left the room. The female mercenary must have told him my sword had been broken. Was this his way of repaying me for letting him go?

But I wondered whether the marquis would be in any state to give me a present. If Martin achieved his goal, he’d be busy with a funeral. Maybe I should go out and stop him after all.

As I considered it, I heard swords clashing and shouts in the distance.

“An intruder!”

“An assassin! Get the young masters to safety!”

Martin’s voice rang out amid the shouting. “Ha ha ha! What made you think you didn’t need to run, you filthy little brothers of mine?”

“Stop him, all of you!”

“Let’s fall into hell together and stay there forever!”

“Stay back!”

Hoarse screams and shouts continued, but I left Adria’s room and headed for the guest room.

* * *

After the commotion had gone on for some time, I got an account of what had happened from a soldier running through the corridor. It seemed Martin’s revenge had been more than half successful.

The marquis’s eldest son had died by Martin’s sword. The second son’s life had also been in danger, but with a priest’s help, he seemed to have survived at the cost of one arm.

Would that make the surviving second son the marquis’s heir? Well, it made no difference to me who inherited.

And, as expected, Martin had died there. After killing the marquis’s eldest son, he cut down four of the knights guarding the brothers. Other knights killed him before he could cut off the second son’s head.

It was an extraordinary showing for a half-nobleman cast out of House Hierro, but after that day, no one spoke of it. The marquis himself had silenced them.

Soon afterward, the official story was that his eldest son had died of illness and his second had been injured during training.

Simon and the others from House Gresia had no choice but to leave without even attending the funeral. People who had officially departed returning for it would have been more than enough to start strange rumors.

I also received a sword from the marquis. He offered me a gift to keep me quiet, and I asked for Martin’s sword.

It was far too large for my body. Simon grumbled that I’d asked for a sword I couldn’t even use, but to me it was something to remember Martin by.

Before our party set out again, I made one last visit to Mercenary Street. There was someone I needed to see before I left.