Chapter 237

Chapter 237 - Disruption

After finishing his first lesson and completing his report to the main body, the Clone Son returned to his quarters.

The private rooms given to the blood kin inside the Black Ship were not cramped. However, since they were still aboard a ship, they could not be compared to the Dark Moon Grand Castle.

Because of that, if someone was inside, he could tell at once, whether by sight or by his sixth sense.

“Head Maid.”

“Young Master.”

Just as the Gatekeeper did, Mirea treated the Clone Son as though she were dealing with the main body.

With both hands gathered before her and her head respectfully lowered, she reported what had happened while he was away.

“Lady Josephine and Prisoner Tolan visited.”

“For what reason?”

“It seems the matter you warned Tolan about before has actually occurred.”

“I see.”

The Clone Son answered as though it was nothing significant and sat down on a nearby chair made of snakeskin.

What he had warned about was something he had expected, so there was nothing to be surprised about. If there was anything worth being surprised over, it was that Tolan had confessed of his own accord.

In addition, the fact that Josephine, who had been tightly bound to him through an ill-fated relationship, had come with him was also surprising.

“Was that the only reason?”

The Head Maid shook her head.

“According to Tolan and Lady Josephine, they suggested spreading false information to the Family Head in the dream in order to disrupt our direction of advance.”

“Hmm.”

The Clone Son let out a faint breath and drank the tea the Head Maid had brewed for him in advance.

“It is not a bad plan, but simply feeding false information through a dream will be discovered before long.”

“Because Wisdom will also scatter mages as far as the neutral zone.”

“Yes. They will watch the sky as well as the ground.”

If that happened, the truth or falsehood of the information Tolan had given would be exposed on the spot.

That would make it meaningless, so the Clone Son rested his chin on his hand and smiled faintly.

“If we are going to deceive them, we should do it properly.”

At this point, the Head Maid anticipated her master’s next move.

“I will bring Tolan and Lady Josephine here.”

Before long, the Head Maid brought the two members of Wisdom with her.

“Why are you here?”

“I followed them.”

With Akiell, who happened to be nearby, there were now three mages in total standing inside the Clone Son’s private room.

“Dante. I heard you listened to what we told the Head Maid.”

“Mm. Yes.”

The clone was still not used to hearing the main body’s name, but Josephine stubbornly insisted on using it.

So he simply let her be, while Akiell continued to examine various parts of the clone.

He was straining himself to find even the smallest difference from the main body, or anything that seemed awkward, but it was a meaningless effort.

The Clone Son turned his head toward the oldest of the three mages.

“Tolan.”

“Y-Yes.”

“What did the Family Head promise you?”

“…He promised me a Magic Tower mage instructor position .”

“Heheh.”

At the same time, Akiell let out a laugh. Even so, Tolan could not so much as glare at him.

He knew it as well. He knew just how excessive that position was for someone like him.

Akiell drove the nail in completely.

“If it had been you before you were captured as a prisoner, you would have bitten your tongue and tried to succeed no matter what.”

“…Yes. I certainly would have.”

The Clone Son gestured at him with his chin.

“Then are you saying that is no longer the case?”

“Yes. It is not. Absolutely not.”

Tolan denied it several times. All the while, his eyes never once avoided the bloodshot gaze.

Even the clone’s ears immediately judged his words to be true. The prisoner’s heart was not lying.

“Then what do you want from the Fifth Son?”

“I want freedom.”

“Be specific.”

“I want the freedom to live anywhere in the lands of the East.”

After hearing that answer, the Clone Son looked at the Westerners one by one.

“It does not have to be the East. If this war of conquest succeeds, you may live in the West as well.”

“…!”

Tolan’s eyes widened. The same was true of Josephine, as well as Akiell.

Of course, they had known that this was a war of conquest. But they had not truly felt what it meant for a Great Family to fall.

If a Great Family disappeared, the law that governed the western part of the world would disappear as well.

“The same goes for you, Josephine.”

“H-Huh?”

“When this is over, you do not have to stay in Eclipse. You may live in the West instead of the East. That is also what the main body thinks.”

“I… I…”

Josephine could not answer right away.

She had already decided to cut herself off from the West, but once a path back opened, she could not help longing for it.

At this point, the Clone Son lightly clapped his hands.

“But that sort of worry is only possible after the war of conquest succeeds.”

Snap—

He lightly flicked his finger.

Spatial storages opened, and Undead Private Soldiers walked out into the room in a group.

They were undead wearing robes like rags, torn or ripped on one side.

Akiell, who recognized their identities at once, flinched.

“…The large-scale teleportation team.”

“I wiped them out while they were coiled up in the neutral zone. From what I saw, these mages were well versed in barriers.”

Among the three, Akiell, who knew the most about them, answered the Clone Son’s assessment.

“If the family dispatched them all the way to the neutral zone in the East, they must have been elites. They were probably specialists in group magic.”

“What are you planning to attempt with them?”

“They are specialists in group magic, and they are well versed in barriers. Should I not have them do what they are good at?”

The Clone Son continued speaking to Tolan.

“Report to the Family Head of Wisdom that we are heading toward the Tower of the Sky in the direction of Numbers 34 to 37.”

Startled, Tolan’s shoulders trembled.

“U-Understood. But…”

“Is there a problem? Having lived for a long time as a collateral blood kin, you should know at least the unique numbers of the Towers of the Sky.”

“Th-There is no problem. I was only wondering how you know the locations and numbers of the Towers of the Sky so well…”

Akiell, another mage from the West, and Josephine, who was a blood kin despite being an illegitimate daughter, both looked surprised.

The Tower of the Sky was on the front lines, so information about it was handled in secret, and the same was true of its location.

Yet the Clone Son had indicated a direction using tower numbers. Of course, since he was not the main body, he could not answer.

“I do not know why I know. I am only a messenger. Ask the main body for the details.”

“Y-Yes.”

Tolan’s role as a messenger had now been assigned. The only ones left were the two mages.

“Akiell. From now on, every night, you will work with me to modify the group magic of the Undead Private Soldiers.”

“Modify it? No, before that, are you saying these undead can use the magic they knew while they were alive?”

“Yes. And Josephine.”

“Y-Yes!”

The illegitimate daughter of Wisdom, whose name had been called, quickly rose from her seat.

Since she had already been restless aboard the ship, her hands seemed to be itching to work.

“You will have to make one item for me.”

“Just say the word, and I will make anything! …is what I want to say, but I do not have my equipment here, so there will definitely be limits.”

“That is fine. You only need to modify something that already exists.”

“…Something that already exists?”

The Clone Son nodded.

“I will hand over the relevant authorities. Once I do, you should be able to connect your mana to the Black Ship’s power source. From then on, adjust it however you like.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. I want the barrier created by their group magic to grow large enough to cover the Black Ship, using the power source as its foundation.”

“Mmm. In that case…”

Josephine took out her notebook and began fleshing out her ideas.

By her hands, another kind of magic would unfold here aboard the Black Ship.

Thanks to the many magitech buildings inside Eclipse, Josephine was already thoroughly accustomed to large machines.

Since she would be able to turn the demands placed on this Black Ship into reality, the Clone Son could turn his gaze elsewhere.

“Akiell, follow me. We have to modify the mages’ mana-wave blocking barrier and Visual-Blocking Barrier so they use the Black Ship’s power.”

Akiell roughly ruffled the back of his own hair and let out a deep sigh.

“Damn it…. Fine. Let us try it.”

Another day aboard the Black Ship flowed busily by.

***

The Youngest Son was staying at Raymond’s Mansion, but Raymond no longer remained there as much as before.

He went out into the sky aboard the mothership, following the same schedule he had maintained before the Crown Prince was bedridden.

Because of that, the mansion was less watchful than before and relatively quiet.

Raymond had now even assigned David, his own attendant, to the Youngest Son.

The Youngest Son asked David, who had now begun staying by his side at all times, about the Imperial Palace, which had recently become noisy.

“Was the Imperial Palace not originally a quiet place? The barriers are not as dense as they were before either.”

“His Majesty has withdrawn the order forbidding the feudal lords from coming to the Imperial Palace under the pretext of the Great Families’ delegations. That is why the feudal lords are visiting the palace one after another.”

He said it in a complicated way, but the point was this.

“They heard that the delegations from the East and West came and went, so they have come to sound out what His Majesty is thinking now, have they not?”

“I-I cannot answer that.”

The Youngest Son smiled faintly and looked out the window. The sky was still filled with airships that had yet to take their places at the landing platforms.

“So all of those bear the flags of the feudal lords.”

The sky was in disorder, but what about the ground? If this had not been Parfe, the widest city in the world, it would have been paralyzed long ago.

However, the eyes of the feudal lords who covered the ground and sky were not on the emperor.

“Do you think they came to see His Majesty?”

“H-Have they not?”

“Half right and half wrong. The other half is on me.”

The Youngest Son drank the tea David had brewed. It was disappointing compared to the Head Maid’s, but it was still somewhat drinkable.

“Just let half a day pass. All sorts of people will appear around this mansion and start snooping.”

His words truly came to pass.

Until Raymond returned, David broke out in a cold sweat dealing with the servants of the feudal lords who flooded into the mansion.

“General Raymond is not here at the moment. Please visit another time.”

Even as he rejected them again and again with that reason, the servants persistently held out letters.

“Just this! I do not need to go inside! Please, only deliver this!”

The letters written by the feudal lords were addressed to the foreigner currently staying at the mansion.

David accepted them with a sigh. Since both his hands were not enough, he even brought a basket.

Just like the feudal lords’ ships that had covered the sky in disorder, the basket was also in disorder, filled with all kinds of stationery.

Carrying the baskets, David climbed the stairs again and came to the Youngest Son’s room.

“Phew…. It really is just as you said, Young Master. These are all letters from the feudal lords to you.”

“Is that so?”

The Youngest Son, who had been reading a book the whole time, did not even glance at the basket.

Only David, who was not the owner of the basket, opened his mouth in awe as he looked at the seals stamped on the letters.

“Wow…. I can see several seals from count families, and even some from the great merchants of the Empire.”

“Yes. They are all lofty people. Why would people like that send letters to me? Guess.”

“I suppose it is because they are curious about you, Young Master. You pushed aside the Wisdom delegation that came first and won His Majesty’s favor, so perhaps they hope to gain some benefit—”

WHOOSH—

“Ugh!”

The entire basket burst into flames from Bloodflame.

“Y-Young Master…!”

“Everything here contains nothing more than what you just said. I have no interest in such content, so it is fine to burn it all.”

The letters and the basket vanished completely without even leaving ashes behind.

The Youngest Son looked down for a moment at the floor, where only faint scorch marks remained.

“Also, the feudal lord who interests me would never send a letter like this.”

“Is there a feudal lord you are waiting for?”

“Yes. That feudal lord’s temperament is not suited to letters. It would be another matter if he came in person.”

Srrrrrk—

A shadow fell over the Youngest Son, who was lying on the sofa.

It was too dark to be a cloud. David was startled and checked the shadow’s identity outside the window.

However, the Youngest Son, still lying down, realized who it was.

“He came sooner than I expected.”

“Th-The Margrave is here…”

David did not know what to do. After all, none other than the Margrave had stopped his warship above the mansion.

“He is quite a fiery person, unlike the place where he lives.”

The Youngest Son closed his book and stood up.

It was time to receive a guest.