Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 236

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 236.
Not All Children Are Angels (6)
“Would the payment I gave you earlier be sufficient as your fee?”
Timil’s eyes widened—literally becoming as round as gold coins. One might have said his eyes had transformed into the shape of currency itself. Yet being a father, he soon raised his concerns carefully.
“So you’re saying… you’re going to pay an astronomical sum to take away this ten-year-old ruffian who’s been rolling around in our home and put him to work doing what, exactly?”
“So… you’re telling me you’re paying an astronomical amount of money to do what, exactly, with a ten-year-old brat who’s been rolling around in the corners of our home?”
“Well, education seems best for now.”
Timil’s face cycled through a visible parade of thoughts, each one appearing and vanishing in turn.
As he reached the conclusion that only a human trafficker would pay such a sum for a child with no particular talents, and that this pirate captain who called that man uncle must be—Franz spoke.
“My home is in Keltika, not far from here. Have you heard of Jade Ring Castle?”
“A castle?”
“If you haven’t, simply travel up the Bluet River and ask at any notable dock where Duke Arnim’s residence is. It’s the same place.”
Timil stiffened momentarily, then studied Franz’s face carefully. Even if he didn’t know the castle’s name, he couldn’t possibly be ignorant of what a duke was. Moreover, living near Keltika, he couldn’t fail to know the name of Duke Arnim.
Icabon, the first duke who founded Anomarad alongside the founding king.
Weiland von Arnim, who repelled the Lemme forces that advanced to the capital’s gates three times and earned the title “Guardian of Keltika.”
Lorain von Arnim, who opened his castle as a refuge when the plague called the “Blue Blight” threatened to spread to the capital, even admitting commoners.
Adelis von Arnim, who personally defended twenty-two merchants and saved them from the executioner’s block when they were falsely accused of conspiracy with enemy nations while attempting to establish a guild.
Arthur von Arnim, who during the “Grain Rebellion” sealed the capital until those who started the mill fire were found, and fed the poor by repairing the city walls with flour sacks.
Wasn’t this the House of Arnim, renowned for their deeds? The most popular among commoners, so much so that recent rumors suggested even the king viewed them with disfavor. Surely this man couldn’t be…?
“Could it be… you’re Duke Arnim’s secretary?”
Franz burst out laughing. Then he nodded and spoke.
“Let’s say that for now. I’ll write you a letter—take it to the nearest school and show it to them, and they’ll waive the boy’s entrance fee and tuition. For now, I’ll employ him until he turns twenty, and if he performs well, we’ll extend the arrangement. I’ll cover the tuition myself, and I’ll send the boy’s wages to you separately. Which school is closest? Tetrapul?”
“Tetrapul?”
When the name of a school he’d never dreamed of hearing was mentioned, Timil’s mouth fell open. Franz continued.
“However, if you’re interested in my proposal, remember this, Timil Belgen: you must not breathe a word to anyone about everything you’ve seen today. Not that you met me, not that you came here, not anything you witnessed in this place. Should you speak of even one thing, the offer will be void.”
Timil understood what he meant.
“Of course. I’ll do exactly that. Naturally, I must.”
Shortly after, Franz and Timil disembarked and were guided to a small cove on the opposite side from where they’d arrived. Timil’s ship was already waiting there—another mystery of how it had gotten there.
As the two boarded, Hispanie spoke.
“It’s been a while, and I regret we don’t have time for proper hospitality.”
Timil shook his head as if that were absolutely not the case. He had serious doubts about whether his head and neck would remain neighborly if he received any more “proper hospitality.”
Franz replied.
“Boarding this ship again, the one I’ve dreamed of so many times, was more than enough.”
“Don’t expect me to leave it to you for that. This ship belongs to the one born as a Demonic. In ten years, keep him alive and bring him back in one piece.”
Fran answered by bowing his head.
The two soon took up the oars. The eastern sky glowed bright. As their boat receded into the distance, Stilton, who stood beside Hispanie and looked like a secretary—because he actually was one—spoke.
“So you’re finally getting a successor, sir? I’m quite curious what kind of young master he’ll be. I wonder if he’ll be similar to you.”
Hispanie shook his head.
“I don’t know. The personalities of past Demonics have all been different. From obedient model students to arrogant madmen, from austere artists to cunning schemers—we’ve had all types.”
“Still, there must have been something in common.”
“Yes, there was. In the end, they all went mad.”
“Ah, you’re an exception, sir. If you teach him well, the young master should turn out fine.”
“That’s not all. There were some rather troublesome issues when he was young.”
Hispanie’s mouth had turned bitter, and he kept working his jaw. Stilton brazenly pulled a tobacco pouch from Hispanie’s jacket pocket, stuffed it into his own, and chuckled.
“I think I might know what you mean? But I never even saw your childhood—so why do I have a feeling I understand?”
Hispanie smacked the back of Stilton’s head, then retrieved his tobacco pouch. He straightened his jacket and spoke.
“I’m worried he’ll take a very long detour to get here. But come he will. I have a plan that will finish things for me.”
Act 1. Another
1. Arnim
“People said he must have hatched from a sea swallow’s egg. That bird abandons its nest and flies north immediately if it lays too late. Awakening alone, he walked slowly from the cliff down to the village, took on the form of a child, knocked on that door, and said, ‘Hello. Do you have anything to eat?'”
The year 975, one year after Duke Franz von Arnim met his pirate uncle Hispanie and returned.
The Demonic Joshua had turned two years old. And in the Kingdom of Anomarad, an earth-shattering event unfolded. The Friends of the People, a secret organization of republicans, launched a rebellion, took the royal family hostage, and sealed off Keltika.
The republicans’ plan was meticulous. First, every gateway into Keltika was blocked. Simultaneous rebellions erupted in the outlying stronghold cities as well.
It took only days for a quarter of the territories surrounding Keltika to fall into the republicans’ hands. Along with that, thousands of nobles found themselves trapped in Keltika.
“What? The madman leading these republican dogs is Count Dansburg?”
No one had anticipated it. Count Dansburg, the northern lord, was a distant relative of the royal family. How could he be a republican?
Dansburg had long cultivated republican forces within his own territory, but no one knew of it. The king’s stupidity had been a great help.
The nobles caught up in Elbant III’s capricious absolute monarchy games had all kept their eyes fixed on Keltika’s high society. The provincial lords who had given up joining that game had been completely pushed from public attention. In such circumstances, there was no way Count Dansburg—who suffered from gout so badly he refused to walk ten paces—could become a topic of conversation for anything he did in his territory.
Dansburg appeared to be a recluse, but he understood very well how the relationships between the royal family and the nobility operated. He waited for more nobles to abandon the management of their territories and flock to Keltika. And he, of course, was no gout patient.
Elbant III favored those who eliminated private armies and donated their forces to the king. Soldiers whose allegiance changed overnight in such fashion found their command structure thrown into chaos and their pay distribution became a mess. Naturally, their futures felt uncertain and unstable, and discontent ran high.
Dansburg and the republicans seized the opportunity of Elbant III’s birthday celebration—an event that forced even the provincial lords to come to the capital. That night, Dansburg orchestrated what came to be called the “New Moon Betrayal,” capturing the royal family.
It is said that Elbant III was greatly shocked that day when he saw Count Dansburg, who had arrived in a sedan chair because of his gout and could barely perform proper etiquette, striding toward him without so much as a grimace.
When word spread that the lords were trapped in Keltika, the expected events unfolded in each territory. Internal rebellions. The relatives who had been temporarily entrusted with the territories saw this as a heaven-sent opportunity. Second sons who had been hated by their fathers, wives suffering from their husbands’ violence, nephews discontented with the previous generation’s inheritance distribution—all of them rushed to claim their share. Young heirs were murdered one after another, retainers faced off against each other, and conspiracies and counter-rebellions erupted.
With lords changing multiple times overnight and everyone claiming their side was right, soldiers didn’t know whom to follow. Some, relying on their commanders’ personal judgment, inadvertently became mercenaries. In such chaos, even if someone cried out for unity and an advance on Keltika, there were hardly any to answer. The recapture of Keltika gradually became stalled, an empty echo.
The nobility had completely failed in their initial response. Just as the hastily assembled army was engaged in localized attrition warfare near Keltika, an announcement came that Elbant III had appointed Dansburg as Prime Minister.
“Is that so? Has His Majesty given up as well?”
“Since he wasn’t deposed, Dansburg doesn’t seem to be a complete republican either?”
“It’s just that the Prime Minister changed, isn’t it? Whoever the Prime Minister is doesn’t really affect us, does it?”
“So we can just live like this?”
Before long, people adapted to the unfamiliar situation. Except, that is, for the nobles trapped in Keltika.
In the early stages of the republican rebellion, many nobles in Keltika had their estates seized. They were taken away and confined in a heavily guarded Tower. Some quickly attached themselves to Dansburg and survived by declaring their support. But those killed in the days immediately following the rebellion numbered several times more.
Yet there was an exception that belonged to neither group.
The first three days after the rebellion were a festival for those intoxicated by the overturned world. As such people roamed about in groups, ransacking castles and estates, one band burst into Duke Arnim’s Jade Ring Castle.
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Books
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Months Books.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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