Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 417

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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 187.
In the Name of Loyalty and Vengeance (29)
5. Blasphemy
I wish everything you hold sacred would crumble and be trampled underfoot.
I wish it would be kicked by muddy feet, crushed, and swept away into the sewers.
Even if it takes that, I want to make you forget me.
In this world, there exists only our mad love—you and I.
“I wish my premonition had been wrong too.”
A large table stood within the spacious Grand Hall, and behind it sat Joshua, Maximian, Riche, and Milestone, who had arrived at The Island only recently, arranged in a row.
The Grand Hall was not a dining hall, and the table was not for meals. Joshua thought this hall resembled his Father’s Reception Hall at Jade Ring Castle, but the scale was incomparable. This one was far larger.
While Jade Ring Castle was vastly larger in overall size than this manor, the reason this Grand Hall was so expansive was simple: beyond the table, starting five paces away, hundreds of people stood shoulder to shoulder. There were more than those who had gathered on the beach. Those who lost the struggle for space and were pushed back filled the Corridor beyond the entrance and the area beyond it, with a considerable number peering in from the Garden as well. If such crowds were to gather, the hall naturally had to be spacious. Looking at the current situation, it seemed it needed to be even larger.
Though there was a safety distance of five paces, Joshua’s group had no way to escape. All five doorways were blocked by people. Of course, there was a side door behind them, but it seemed they couldn’t flee that way either.
“Why would you run? Isn’t this your home?”
Joshua hunched his shoulders and rested his chin on the table.
“It might be fine if it isn’t anymore.”
The crowd was intensely interested in Joshua’s every movement, even his every blink, but now they couldn’t tell whether he was resting his chin or not. This was because a small mountain rose between Joshua and them. In other words, the table was crowned with roughly ten thick books, bundles of documents bound with twine in equal number, fifteen notebooks that resembled ledgers, a birth registry in large format, and two stacks of individual petition documents—all piled with imposing grandeur. Hidden behind these, Joshua’s group, sitting in a row at the table, were barely visible above the chin.
The Grand Hall was quieter than expected. Had all those people been making noise, Joshua’s group wouldn’t have been able to exchange a single word. At last, the steward who had disappeared reappeared and approached the table.
“Whew, preparations are finally complete.”
“Preparations for what?”
“Why, of course…”
Richard Fell tapped the stacked books lightly. His expression seemed smug.
“The annual report and reception that hasn’t been held in decades.”
“A report on what?”
“Everything related to the assets of House of Arnim.”
With those words, the steward rummaged through the pile of books and pulled out one volume.
“Ah, here it is. The birth registry from the 940s. It’s organized by decade. Look at this first, then the 950s, 960s, 970s. And this is the 980s.”
Richard Fell stacked the thick large-format books in front of Joshua one after another. While Joshua stood bewildered, the steward pulled another pile of books toward him.
“This is the land registry. Of course, all land belongs to the Duke, and we merely pay taxes and use it. Review how the land usage relationships have changed over time, and next is the tax collection record. Oh, to review this, you’ll need to examine the revenue ledger for the entire Territory first. There’s quite a volume of this. It’s divided by industry and period. The records for the turquoise mine and pearl cultivation, coral harvesting, and maritime trade are filed separately here.”
Riche glanced at Joshua and spoke.
“I take back what I said about your home being nice.”
Maximian also spoke.
“Does the Duke himself review documents one by one without a secretary at your home?”
Richard Fell had been ignoring the remarks of what he considered mere children, but Maximian’s words seemed to irritate him, and he suddenly spoke.
“No matter how excellent a secretary is, documents naturally accumulate when decades pass.”
Maximian assumed an impressed expression.
“It seems you believe you could review all these documents in a single night, Steward. I must confess, it’s an ability I cannot even begin to imagine, and I failed to consider it possible. My apologies.”
Then he whispered in Joshua’s ear.
“That steward definitely set this up to make a fool of you.”
Joshua, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of documents being shuffled about and the steward’s momentum, leaned back in his chair before finally managing to ask one question.
“But what exactly is maritime trade?”
“I could complicate matters with elaborate explanations, but since you’re not an outsider and belong to the House of Arnim, I’ll keep it simple: piracy. As you know, it’s a tradition.”
Maximian’s eyes widened as he glanced at Joshua.
“So this wasn’t just ancient history after all.”
“Mm….”
Joshua shrugged once more. Then, casting a sidelong glance at the crowd filling the room, he asked the administrator.
“Do audiences typically gather this many people?”
“Not usually this many, but since it’s been such a long time, people gathered voluntarily in large numbers.”
The administrator’s natural demeanor only made Joshua more uneasy. Though he hadn’t intended to, he was about to reach for and examine the birth records when a middle-aged man standing at the front of the crowd spoke.
“Administrator, we’ve been maintaining our composure and keeping quiet as you instructed, but this situation is becoming difficult. We can’t wait indefinitely for the Young Duke to finish reviewing all the documents, can we?”
The administrator nodded.
“That’s true.”
“It will take an extraordinarily long time, after all.”
A woman spoke, and others murmured their agreement in low voices. Yet they didn’t speak loudly. The person before them, despite his youth, was Arnim.
“I understand. I’ll explain. Young Duke, it would be best if you met first with those who have petitions. As you well know, the tradition is that on this one day of audience that comes once a year, all the stories of the visiting residents must be heard. This was established by the First Duke of Arnim.”
“Wait, surely not all of those people are petitioners?”
“Of course, most are merely spectators. They’ve gathered here hoping to catch a glimpse of you, Young Duke.”
It wasn’t only Joshua who exhaled in relief. Maximian, Riche, and even Milestone all breathed sighs of relief.
Apparently satisfied with this explanation, the first person quickly stepped forward. He was an elderly man who looked like a fisherman.
“First, I must say, I’m very pleased to see the Young Duke of Arnim before I pass from this world. My name is Thomas Milden. But you see, regarding the Kalbawi Coast, there’s a rocky outcrop area there where sea bass used to come to spawn, but this spring, would you believe the population dried up completely? What in the world could have caused this?”
“I beg your pardon?”
The question was so abrupt that Joshua could only blink, unable to find an answer. Sea bass, to someone who’d only just arrived today?
Fisherman Milden, it seemed, hadn’t expected an immediate answer and continued without hesitation.
“The way I see it, I suspect it’s the work of those Shell Peninsula pirates who’ve been lurking about lately. Those scoundrels have swept away all the sea bass in the nearby waters, so there’s no breeding stock left to come to the coast—that’s my thinking. I’d like to know what the Young Duke thinks about this.”
“Do pirates fish these days?”
He lacked the spirit to argue against being called “Your Highness.” Everything he was hearing was unfamiliar enough as it was.
“Why wouldn’t those pirate dogs do anything that brings profit? Wouldn’t they? Aren’t they the sort who’d swallow not just the island but our very island whole? If those villains sweep away the young sea bass with their nets and take everything, what are we fishermen supposed to live on? Shouldn’t we end up like the cormorants chasing after those wretched creatures?”
The fisherman, who had initially tried to maintain courtesy, grew excited and his speech became tangled, eventually reverting to his usual dialect. Joshua, already struggling to concentrate on unfamiliar matters, found himself unable to follow. Whether the ones taking the sea bass were pirates or neighboring fishing boats, whether piracy and fishing could be conducted simultaneously—these distinctions were already beyond his grasp.
“So… what would you like me to do about this?”
“Well, those fellows should be….”
The administrator raised his hand to stop the fisherman’s words.
“Please speak in words the Young Duke can understand.”
The fisherman, flustered, nodded repeatedly.
“Ah… forgive me. What I mean to say is, I’m asking that you build a breakwater in front of the Kalbawi Coast.”
“A breakwater?”
No one understood why the conversation had shifted from pirates to breakwaters. Whether the fisherman sensed this confusion or not, he began explaining enthusiastically.
“A breakwater would first protect the coast when storms come, and it would also protect the children when they swim far out, which would be good, and when gathering clams or oysters….”
At this point, Joshua had lost track of whether the sea bass had even disappeared in the first place, let alone the pirate problem. For someone who’d merely stopped by the island briefly, being asked to build a breakwater made no sense whatsoever. Unable to bear it any longer, Joshua asked.
“Wait. More than anything, it seems to me that a breakwater would actually make it harder for sea bass to approach the coast….”
At that moment, Maximian, sitting beside Joshua, nudged him with his elbow and whispered something in his ear. Joshua immediately understood and replied.
“Yes. I’ll give it serious consideration. Next, please.”
The fisherman withdrew with a grateful expression at Maximian’s words of consideration. Maximian narrowed his eyes and stifled a yawn. At this rate, it seemed he would need to endure many more such interruptions.
The second visitor was a well-dressed woman who appeared to be in her fifties. She bowed with considerable grace before speaking.
“It is infinitely honorable to meet you. I am Lydia Veil. Young Duke, you truly embody the distinguished bloodline passed down through the House of Arnim—a figure of such elegant bearing that all who have seen you, whether born on The Island or hailing from the Continent itself, must speak of you with eternal admiration and….”
Richard Fell interjected, cutting her short.
“Get to the point. There are others waiting.”
The woman proceeded directly to her purpose, as if she had been anticipating this.
“Yes. Young Duke, you intend to select a bride from The Island, do you not?”
Joshua found himself giving the same expression and the same answer as before.
“Pardon?”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright of this book belongs to the author and 14 Months Publishing.
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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