Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 297

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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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Episode 67.
Finding the Cat in the Hearth (16)
When I spoke softly, Kelsniti’s voice drifted from behind the pillar.
「It does seem like I’m confined.」
“No one’s stopping me from leaving.”
「But you’ve never tried to leave either, have you?」
Joshua shrugged his shoulders in response.
“That’s true enough, but there’s no real reason to leave anyway.”
「I suppose you’re meant to rest until your body recovers, but still. Why not at least look outside for a bit?」
Encouraged by the suggestion, I walked along the wall and surveyed the area. The wall was quite tall—even at my height, I couldn’t see over it. There was nothing to use as a foothold. Only a few slender Japanese maples stood nearby, far too thin to climb. With no other options, I wedged one foot into the split base of a maple trunk and pushed myself up slightly on my toes.
Then a vast courtyard—or rather, a training ground—spread out below the retaining wall. I called it a training ground for a simple reason: roughly a hundred soldiers stood arrayed in formation.
“I had no idea this place was so elevated.”
「Indeed.」
At Kelsniti’s response, I let out an exasperated laugh.
“Keep your jokes to a reasonable level, would you? If you wanted, you could throw yourself headfirst down there, fly around in a circle, and come back up. Couldn’t you?”
「I haven’t done so yet, though.」
“I know you don’t want to give me that kind of privilege. You want me to live like a human should—inconveniently. I understand perfectly, so please spare me these pointless jokes, Priesthood.”
I surveyed the courtyard—or training ground—thoroughly. It was quite spacious, but the manor standing before it wasn’t particularly large. As I traced the layout, I realized I was in a separate annex, detached from that main residence.
“This won’t do. I’m uncomfortable here. I’d rather go home and rest. Wait—who’s that coming over there?”
The afternoon sun blazed fiercely, so I shaded my eyes with my hand to examine three figures crossing the courtyard. One appeared to be a soldier from here, while the other two were a girl and a boy—specifically, someone with brown hair swept back casually, wearing glasses….
“….”
My eyes widened slightly. When I said nothing, a low laugh escaped me.
「Why have you gone so quiet?」
Instead of my usual indifferent response, I tried to push myself up using my elbows against the wall. But the tree branch I was standing on snapped with a crack, my foot slipped, and the stone wall blocked my view.
I kicked the innocent wall once in frustration and muttered.
“Damn. I still haven’t recovered enough strength.”
「If you got any lighter than this, you’d need to be in a coffin.」
Yet vitality had already returned to my face.
“I just found a reason to leave this place immediately.”
I turned and sprinted toward the side path where I’d had that awkward conversation earlier. The soldier standing guard suddenly jumped to his feet and asked the same question as before.
“Where are you going, sir?”
“Out there.”
“But you should rest until your recovery is complete….”
“Ah, I’ve got the perfect remedy for recovery waiting out there right now.”
Whether my answer made sense or not, the soldier gripped his spear more firmly and prepared to speak with resolve.
“Sir Baiyer instructed me to ensure you remain here until your body has fully recovered. I will obey any other command, but this one….”
I suddenly leaned my face close to the soldier.
“Listen here. I am the Young Duke of Arnim. There is only one person in our family who can give orders to the Young Duke—and that person is in Keltika, not here. If you block my path, I’ll call another soldier and have them hang you upside down from that pillar. That’s not an order for me to leave, so you’d have to obey it too, wouldn’t you? Of course, I could think of even worse things. But what’s the worst that happens to you if you let me slip past? A beating or two at most? So before I come up with something truly terrible, it would be in your best interest to pretend you didn’t see me.”
“….”
While the soldier stood bewildered by this peculiar logic, I flashed the most charming smile I’d learned during my days as a masked actor, then swiftly slipped past his startled form and bolted away.
But then, from behind came the sound of giggling, followed by Kelsniti’s voice.
“Listen, the person was a man.”
“Who cares what anyone says? Stop nagging me.”
Sir Baiyer opened the letter with a cautious expression and began to read, but as he progressed, his face grew increasingly strange. Once he finished, he couldn’t even fold the letter properly, and with a peculiar furrow forming only on one side of his brow, he opened his mouth.
“…What is this?”
Maximian replied with an unperturbed tone.
“I am merely the person who brought the letter, so I know nothing of its contents.”
“Then you take a look at it.”
Maximian accepted the letter with the same unbothered demeanor. The letter began like this:
A basic cooking lecture that even the Duchess of Arnim would likely know.
When cooking, above all else, washing the ingredients thoroughly is important. As you well know, one cannot make delicious dishes from vegetables caked in dirt, can one? However, there are some things that are better not washed too thoroughly. Mushrooms, for instance.
Ah yes, today I thought I might make borscht with beets. It would be nice to prepare beef, pork, and lamb all together, but if circumstances don’t permit, prepare just one or two kinds. Instead, add plenty of sausage or bacon. With vegetables, you must not forget tomato and potato. Cabbage is necessary too. Come to think of it, mushrooms don’t go in this one.
The ingredients are roughly settled, so first let me show you how to make sour cream, which is absolutely necessary for making borscht. But wait, you’re not reading carefully. You there, the one who complains about food! …
Around that point, Maximian wore an expression similar to Sir Baiyer’s. Before even finishing the letter, his hand holding it trembled.
“This old woman… who told her to write such a thing.”
At that moment, Sir Baiyer, who hadn’t quite caught Maximian’s muttering, let out a cough.
“Ahem, ahem. Well then, I would like to discuss the contents of the letter.”
“Ah, yes.”
Maximian quickly changed his expression and looked up at Sir Baiyer.
“In my opinion, I believe the beautiful woman beside me… no, my assistant might know something about this situation.”
Of course, the “assistant” was greatly flustered. Sir Baiyer’s expression grew even more peculiar as he now looked down at Riche.
“W-well, that is, I think… Ah! Perhaps it’s a letter brimming with a mother’s affection for her son?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Yes! It’s telling him not to go hungry while away from home and to cook delicious things for himself. Ah, haha….”
“….”
Maximian looked up at the ceiling, while Riche looked down at the floor. Then Sir Baiyer looked between the two of them before speaking.
“You’re not trying to make a fool of me, are you? Did this letter truly come from the Duchess of Arnim?”
By this point, Maximian also knew his options were limited. There was no way around it. Once he opened his mouth, the words flowed forth regardless of the consequences.
“Of course, as a mere errand boy, I did not receive it directly from the Duchess. The person who gave the order to the Duchess was her close attendant, Lady Trivia, and I merely accompanied her as her retainer.”
Lady Trivia had been elevated to the position of the Duchess’s close attendant.
“However, just before crossing the Hyacan border, our entire party was surrounded by mysterious individuals and forced to pay a ransom. At that time, Lady Trivia released one person and persuaded us that if the letter was not delivered, we would not receive the ransom either, so I alone came to this place. I suspect those individuals were fallen Recordable Mercenaries living as bandits. In any case, the situation was so urgent at the time that I cannot say whether the letter was switched by the bandits’ trickery during that process. However.”
Maximian suddenly fixed Sir Baiyer with a confident gaze.
“Originally, the Duchess specifically instructed that the letter be delivered to Count Armorique. For you to have opened it on your own authority simply because you serve the Young Duke, I find it most disconcerting. It would not be a good example for your subordinates to witness.”
Sir Baiyer looked at Maximian with eyes filled with new suspicion. The gleam in his eyes beyond his dusty spectacles was far from ordinary.
“It is unreasonable to ask a mere errand boy to discuss the contents of the Duchess’s letter. I am not favored enough to see through the Duchess’s heart, so I have nothing to say. But regardless of what the letter contains, please summon Count Armorique to this place and show me you delivering the letter to him. Only by seeing that will my task be truly complete, and afterward I can return to the Duchess and report on this situation.”
The story seemed both plausible and implausible, but it was subtly convincing enough not to dismiss it as an outright lie. Moreover, even if he were a dusty boy, he claimed to have come as the Duchess’s messenger or her representative, so as a knight serving Duke Arnim, it was difficult to call him a liar outright before his subordinates.
“I will deliver it, so you may return.”
“That won’t do. Rather, let me deliver it myself, so please return the letter to me.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I’m simply fulfilling my duty.”
At that moment, someone who appeared to be an adjutant rushed in from outside the door and whispered something into Sir Baiyer’s ear. The expression on Sir Baiyer’s face shifted as he nodded.
“Withdraw. I haven’t the time to quarrel with you.”
Sensing the sudden change in circumstances, Maximian’s expression transformed as well.
“Is that so? You intend to make a unilateral decision regarding matters pertaining to House of Arnim without even consulting the Young Duke’s wishes? Shall I return and inform the Duchess precisely how you have been treating the Young Duke?”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Moon Books
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Moon Books.
To reuse all or part of the contents of this book, written consent from both parties is required.

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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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