Little Tyrant Doesn’t Want to Meet with a Bad End

Regardless of which world or era one was in, the most important job a leader had to fulfill was to build a common sense of identity and a mission for their people. The Ascart House had been working hard on this for the past thousand years now.

However, instilling a sense of identity would have to start from within. Most patriarchs would usually leave some sort of heritage item for their descendants as a proof of existence and to pass on their legacy, and the most common proof was, of course, their portrait.

My son knows what I look like. My grandson knows what I look like. What about my great-grandson and great-great-grandson then?

Even the longest living transcendent couldn’t live forever. In order to eternalize their dignified stature, so that later generations might look upon their visage with reverence(?), the patriarchs of the Ascart House would usually hire an artist to do a portrait of them during their prime—around 20 to 30 years of age—and these portraits would be stored in the vault.

Roel used to look at those portraits often in his younger years. Not reverently, of course. What could a little brat possibly know of respect?

Just like most other rascals, the younger Roel had a sharp eye for judging people by their appearances, having once held a ‘beauty contest’ for the portraits. Of them, there was one particular portrait that left him with the deepest impression.

It was the portrait that depicted an ancestor whose name had spread far and wide several centuries ago, Winstor Ascart.

Winstor’s Adventure, this was the name of a book that was often read to Roel in his younger years. Later, when he awakened his bloodline, his curiosity about this ancestor, who had also awakened his bloodline too, further deepened.

It had been several centuries since Winstor’s era, so it was inevitable that many of the records concerning him were no longer around. Nevertheless, Roel still remembered his face clearly, which was why he could recognize him right away in the vision.

“I never thought that ‘Fief Lord’ would actually be him.”

Roel swirled the glass of fruit wine in his hand inattentively, causing the ice cubes to clink softly. His mind was currently wandering elsewhere as great curiosity and a slightly ominous premonition gripped his mind.

Had ‘Fief Lord’ been any other patriarch of the Ascart House, Roel wouldn’t have thought much about him joining a transcendent organization. However, given that it was Winstor Ascart they were talking about here, the situation was likely to be far more important than they initially thought.

Winstor Ascart was one of the top experts among all humans back in his era, so a transcendent organization he was involved in had to be anything but ordinary. On top of that, a minor detail that Roel noticed suggested that Winstor was not the leader of the organization.

In one of the snapshots during the vision, he remembered a bunch of people, split into two sides of a long rectangular table, holding a meeting. Winstor wasn’t sitting on the center seat of the table; on the contrary, he was located further to the end.

To be fair, the Winstor in the vision was still very young, presumably around 18 years of age. Nevertheless, according to historical records, he had already reached Origin Level 3 by then.

In the present Sia Continent, there were hardly any Origin Level 1s around anymore, which meant that Origin Level 2s were the most powerful experts at the moment.

Prince Wade, whom Roel met previously in the Witness State, was an example of how powerful Origin Level 2 transcendents were. Despite being severely injured and almost completely drained, he still wielded enough power to turn the tide of battle single-handedly. With this kind of power, one could easily lead an army to expand humankind’s territories!

While Origin Level 3s were slightly less impressive, their strength was more than enough to qualify them as generals of major countries.

Yet, despite Winstor’s great power, he wasn’t even ranked amongst the top on that long table. On top of that, it would appear that the queen of the then powerful Sofya Kingdom was also a member of the organization. That made it hard to even fathom just how terrifyingly powerful they were.

“Just what kind of transcendent organization is it that Winstor would join them?” murmured Roel inquisitively.

He might have chosen to help Charlotte for her money and goodwill at the start, but right now, he was more motivated than ever to get to the bottom of this mystery.

He had a hunch that the truth behind the short lifespans of the awakened members of the Ascart House lay at its root.

Were the missing patriarchs assassinated by their enemies, or was it just a coincidence? If there were really enemies out for their lives, who are they?

The countless questions floating in Roel’s mind left him feeling frustrated and worried. His brooding appearance swiftly caught Charlotte’s notice.

“Roel, what’s wrong? Your complexion looks awful.”

“Hm? It’s nothing much. I’m just thinking about the visions we just saw.”

“Are you talking about the visions of our ancestors joining the Twilight Sages Assembly?”

“Mm… Ah?”

Roel was still deep in thought when Charlotte’s words suddenly sank in, and he immediately turned his head over in astonishment, giving the girl a mild shock with his abrupt movement.

“Y-you know the organization they were involved in?”

“Yes, I saw the insignia on their chests during the vision. It was the insignia donned by members of the Twilight Sages Assembly.”

“What is the Twilight Sages Assembly?”

The name of the organization carried the strong stench of evil cultists to Roel. Back in his previous world, anything related to the word, ‘Twilight’, tended to be nothing good, especially when it came to organizations. Nine out of ten organizations with ‘Twilight’ in the name viewed the destruction of the world to be their calling.

My ancestor can’t be an evil cultist, right?, Roel wondered worriedly.

On the other hand, Charlotte didn’t appear too affected by this realization. She set aside the pillow she had been clutching to reveal her face, and after a moment to gather her thoughts, she answered hesitantly.

“My knowledge of this organization is limited to only its name and insignia. As for how I came to know about it… Well, as you know, the Sorofyas’ intelligence network is second to none in the whole of Sia. Since our martial strength is lacking, we have been pursuing close relations with plenty of transcendent houses, and one of them is the renowned house of assassins, the Karash House…”

As Charlotte spoke, Roel continued swirling his wine glass lightly while listening attentively to Charlotte’s story. Soon, he came to understand what was going on, and there was one particular piece of information that stood out to him.

The Karash House was not to be trifled with.

The Karash House used to be known as the world’s strongest assassin house, their reputation on par with Hassan-i Sabbah in Roel’s previous life. However, instead of being a religious group’s Order of Assassins, assassination was more of an art form that was part of their heritage.

It was rumored that the Karash House’s Origin Attribute was something related to assassination. WIth their arts passed down and refined through the generations, their long-established business naturally received plenty of good reviews from its customers.

However, it was a particularly talented individual of the Karash House that brought about its rise to fame.

That person was the patriarch of the Karash House in his era. As an assassin, it was only normal for him to receive requests, but no one could have imagined that he would actually accept a request to assassinate the crown prince of the Austine Royal Family.

And what was even more shocking was that he actually succeeded.

To be fair, this usually wouldn’t be anything huge to the Austine Empire because its emperors tended to be really good at sowing seeds, so it was not too tough to find a replacement for him. However, the situation was a little peculiar this time.

Namely, the crown prince who was assassinated wasn’t just any normal crown prince—he had been holding onto his position for 40 years now. The old emperor was already ailing and on the verge of death, which meant that the crown prince had lost his life right before he was about to be inaugurated. Was there any greater tragedy than that?

As history had shown, there was.

The sudden death of the crown prince brought about an unexpected opening for the crown, which led to many ambitious factions making a move in a bid for power. As a result, the Austine Empire descended into an internal war that lasted for ten whole years, emptying out its coffers and weakening its overall military strength.

For the next few decades to come, it was too busy licking its wounds to continue annexing any weak nearby neighbors, and that led to a massive change in the political climate of the Sia Continent.

The Karash House rose to fame in that battle, and it was deemed as the Uncrowned King of Assassins for the next few generations to come. However, its glory was doomed to be fleeting. The kill order the Austine Empire had set on the Karash House led to its eventual decline. As soon as Rosa successfully broke away from Austine and established their merchant confederacy, they immediately pounced into the embrace of the Sorofyas seeking asylum.

The Karash House, by that point, was already nothing worthy of note, consisting of just the remnants of the defeated. Nevertheless, they were still able to provide plenty of inside information regarding the past. One piece of traded knowledge was the reason why they had chosen to assassinate Austine’s crown prince back then.

“According to the records of the Karash House, their ancestor was a member of a transcendent organization known as the Twilight Sages Assembly. That assassination was a mission from the Assembly, and the insignia of the Assembly is the same as what I saw in the vision earlier.”

“I see. Does the Assembly still exist?”

“They have long ceased to exist. The evidence lies in the downfall of the Karash House. Considering the huge sacrifice they made in this mission, the Assembly should have protected them from the wrath of the Austine Empire. Yet, several centuries ago, the support given to the Karash House suddenly came to a halt, and ever since then, the Assembly hasn’t gotten in contact with them again.”

Roel’s eyebrows shot upward in response.

Larger transcendent organizations tended to be protective of their members, especially those who had contributed greatly. Needless to say, no one would dare to put their lives on the line for an organization that couldn’t or wouldn’t offer protection.

With members ranging from the queen of the Sofya Kingdom, Winstor Ascart, to the Uncrowned King of Assassins, Karash House, the Twilight Sages Assembly clearly possessed tremendous prowess. It was so powerful that it was capable of pulling off an assassination on a member of the Austine Royal Family. So, how in the world did such an organization suddenly vanish into thin air?

Such a powerful, secret organization couldn’t just be disbanded. There were simply too many interests at stake, given the members involved in it. If so, that only left one possibility.

It was eradicated.

“… It feels like the mystery is only growing deeper. What does ‘Egg’ in the letter refer to then? Also, what’s the goal of the organization Winstor and the rest were involved with? There are still many unanswered questions here.”

“Indeed… However, we did receive quite some important information here too, no?”

“Hm? And that is?”

“I’m referring to the relationship between Queen Isabella and Mister Winstor.”

Suddenly feeling incredibly shy, Charlotte snatched up her pillow and hugged it tightly once more. She looked at Roel with a reddened face.

“I think that they are a couple.”

“… That does seem to be the case. Hahaha, what a coincidence.”

“I-indeed.”

“…”

A bizarre atmosphere drifted into the room, lingering over Roel and Charlotte. Their ancestors were a romantic couple, and the two of them were an engaged couple now. Even though there were several centuries separating them, such a coincidence should be rather uncommon in the world.

It felt like fate had crept-up on them from the past, silently shrouding the two of them.

Charlotte felt her mind fuzzing out as her heart thumped harder and harder to the point that it was starting to hurt a little. She had no idea just what was happening to her at the moment. On the other hand, Roel was taking sips of his wine a little too often, hoping to use the chilled alcohol to calm his raging heart.

Silence persisted between the two of them as the atmosphere grew weirder and weirder. The feverish shouts that could vaguely be heard from the party outside suddenly sounded a little too jarring.

“L-let’s go to sleep.”

After a long hesitation, Charlotte finally overcame her frayed nerves and spoke up shyly.