How a Two-Life Scoundrel Lives - Chapter 88
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 88】
“So… you’re saying you’re really a dragon?”
“Have I been living a lie all this time?”
“Yeah.”
“I told you. The reason I was in that mage’s laboratory was because I couldn’t hatch.”
“Why couldn’t you hatch?”
“That’s personal business, so I can’t tell you.”
The baby dragon said curtly.
“You need to tell me so I can decide whether to believe you or not.”
“Can you tell me all your secrets, butler? Even the secrets you’ve never told anyone?”
“Well… no.”
“Then the conversation’s over. Don’t ask me anymore about the secret of my birth. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Then it’s certain that the royal family never had prophetic ability from the beginning?”
“Yeah.”
The baby dragon spoke in a slightly irritated tone.
“Prophecy is actually advanced wisdom and insight. It’s about unconsciously calculating information you see, hear, and feel to derive results. It’s impossible for human intelligence to control that. Those called prophets are that type.”
“So it doesn’t exist at all?”
“I told you. It’s something that happens unconsciously. At most, you see fragments through dreams or visions. Even then, it’s often wrong, and most are frauds or mentally ill. There are no prophets in the world who can see, hear, and feel everything. And inheriting prophecy through generations? Nothing could be more ridiculous.”
“Hmm.”
“For that to work, real prophets would have to marry each other and have descendants to develop the ability through bloodline, but would that be possible? Real prophets appear maybe once every hundred years. And if you keep doing incestuous marriages… you know what would happen, right?”
At the baby dragon’s words, Carlisle looked back at Maranello.
“Has the royal family ever maintained their bloodline through incestuous marriages?”
“As far as this old man knows… no.”
“Then what it’s saying is convincing?”
“But it’s too dangerous, Young Master.”
Maranello’s expression became quite serious.
“This is a problem that could shake not only you, Young Master, but our family, and furthermore the Northern Region as well as the entire United Kingdom. If we make a mistake, the entire kingdom could fall into chaos, and the system that has been maintained for hundreds of years could collapse.”
It was a valid point.
The reason the United Kingdom had been able to maintain itself until now was thanks to the royal family’s prophetic power, and because everyone feared it.
Wasn’t the United Kingdom maintained by the twelve families pledging loyalty to the royal family, and the royal family appropriately utilizing that?
“That’s revolution.”
“Pardon…?”
“Breaking down the existing system and opening a new world. Isn’t that the definition of revolution?”
“That’s correct, but isn’t it too dangerous? In an uncertain state…”
“That’s why I’m saying let’s test it once. Whether the royal family has prophetic power or not.”
“Why don’t you understand that even that might be within the royal family’s calculations?”
“…There’s no answer.”
Carlisle closed his eyes tightly as if exhausted.
This was reality.
‘Is this why brainwashing is scary?’
People on the continent learn from childhood that the royal family has prophetic power and that they see through everything.
Even if suspicious events occurred, they would consider even those as part of the big picture the royal family was drawing and become even more afraid.
How much must it be for even the legendary knight Maranello, called the Northern Region’s death god, to be unable to escape that mindset?
How could he change Maranello’s thinking even a little…
‘I have no choice but to try that method.’
Carlisle suddenly thought of a way to persuade Maranello and opened his mouth.
“Maranello.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Shall I show you something interesting?”
“What kind of…?”
“Here, look.”
Carlisle drew Grimgand from his waist.
A rusted longsword.
A sword with chips missing in several places, making it questionable whether it could even cut a person.
An inheritance sword known to people as [Wanderer] made by Lumpen van Sigmund.
But its true identity was…
“You who sleep in the heart of chaos. According to the blood pact, reveal your true form.”
Slowly…
Grimgand’s blade gradually turned black, then soon revealed its true appearance.
A jet-black blade.
The magic sword imbued with the Chaos King’s will gleamed with fierce sharpness in Carlisle’s grasp.
“Th-that is…”
Shocked muttering flowed from Maranello’s mouth.
“Grimgand… Chaos King Cain’s sword…!”
“That’s right.”
Carlisle nodded.
“I was chosen by Grimgand at the Cradle of Swords and inherited the Chaos King’s will. You wouldn’t think it strange for me to speak of revolution, would you, Sir Maranello?”
“I, Maranello… welcome the true heir of the Chaos King.”
Maranello knelt on one knee toward Carlisle with a trembling voice.
* * *
Maranello finally understood everything about Carlisle’s transformation.
‘He matured mentally after nearly dying and coming back to life, and was completely changed by inheriting the Chaos King’s will.’
That reasoning was far from the truth, but from Maranello’s perspective, thinking that way would be the most rational judgment.
“I received a revelation.”
“What kind of revelation…”
“When I first grasped this sword, I had the opportunity to speak with the Chaos King through Grimgand.”
“What did the Chaos King say?”
“He said the royal family had lost their prophetic power, so I should complete his unfinished business.”
“…!”
Of course, it was a complete lie.
It was true that he had met the Chaos King, but even he couldn’t predict that the royal family’s prophetic power had disappeared.
“I already knew. That the royal family has no prophetic power.”
“Such a thing!”
“Still can’t believe it? Should I go find another dragon and ask?”
“No.”
Maranello shook his head.
“Young Master, you were chosen by Grimgand and inherited the Chaos King’s legacy. How could this old man doubt you?”
“Of course, since you’ve believed that way your whole life, it would be hard for your thinking to change in a short time. You’ll continue to feel anxious and doubtful.”
“Yes, that would be so.”
“Don’t worry. It’s true that the royal family has no prophetic power.”
“If that’s the truth… what happens from now on? Do you truly intend to follow the Chaos King’s will and complete his unfinished business?”
“I’m not the one who will complete the unfinished business. I’ll just quietly help from behind. Being in the forefront is absolutely not my thing. Northern independence. Complete liberation from the royal family’s subjugation. It will be Father, or perhaps Sister or Frey who achieves that.”
Maranello felt his blood boiling at Carlisle’s words.
Northern independence.
And complete liberation from the royal family’s subjugation.
There could be no greater dream to make the hearts of Northerners race than that.
“Then, what can this old man do to help? If I can complete the Chaos King’s legacy, would I spare this body of mine?”
“First, we need to shatter that belief. That belief that everyone has held firm for hundreds of years.”
“Hmm.”
“Like he said, let’s disguise it as some kind of accident and catch them off guard. Then we’ll find out whether the Royal Family has prophetic power or not.”
“Just imagining it is frightening, but… having seen Young Master become the owner of Grimgand, I will gladly participate.”
Maranello decided to actively cooperate with Carlisle, despite his lingering anxiety.
The Royal Family’s prophetic power was truly fearsome, but this could perhaps be the most important turning point in Decaron’s history…
“I don’t have any immediate clever ideas, so let’s think about it.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Then the Baby Dragon spoke.
“How about trying this?”
“What?”
“Well…”
The Baby Dragon shared its thoughts.
“Oh? That’s not bad.”
“That method seems quite worth attempting.”
Carlisle and Maranello thought the Baby Dragon’s opinion was quite excellent.
“Hehe. The saying that dragons are wise beings isn’t there for nothing.”
“Indeed.”
Carlisle nodded in agreement as he watched the Baby Dragon strike a proud pose.
“I thought you were just a picky glutton, but you’re quite useful. And smart too.”
“Are you done talking, Butler? Graaah!”
The Baby Dragon growled at Carlisle.
“Ah, sorry. Should I give you something delicious? Cake? Cookies?”
“Cake. One made with yogurt cream. It’d be good if it has fruit too. And cookies?”
“Chocolate, of course.”
“Did you hear that?”
Carlisle turned to look at Maranello.
“Yes, Young Master. I’ll prepare them personally and bring them up.”
Maranello hurried off to prepare the Baby Dragon’s snacks.
* * *
Thanks to Carlisle rubbing the Crown Prince the wrong way, Grand Duke Guntram’s worries only deepened.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, please forgive my worthless son’s rudeness.”
“It’s fine, so don’t worry about it. Since I brought this upon myself, how could I blame the Grand Duke or your second son?”
Though the Crown Prince said this, his displeasure was clearly evident.
And such an expression from the Crown Prince brought considerable discomfort to Grand Duke Guntram.
Why?
Because the Royal Family was never magnanimous.
“Of course, separate from the matter with your son, I plan to raise the tax rate by an additional 5 percent for this fall only.”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, that is…”
“Please understand, Grand Duke. I plan to lower the tax rate again starting next year.”
“I shall obey your command.”
In the end, the Crown Prince’s displeasure returned as retaliation in the form of a tax increase.
‘Why couldn’t he just endure that.’
Grand Duke Guntram resented Carlisle, but he couldn’t really blame him.
It was the Crown Prince who had requested the meeting with Carlisle, and hadn’t Carlisle treated him with proper courtesy in his own way?
‘Should I send that child to the Royal Family by force? No, no. I’ll be loyal to the Royal Family, but I can’t give up everything. There will be a price to pay, but I have no choice but to bear it.’
With such thoughts, Grand Duke Guntram looked over the documents containing Carlisle’s proposal.
Carlisle’s opinion was to reduce the tax burden by replacing the magic stones used as fuel with magic coal, and instead sell off their magic stones to profit from price differences.
‘I have no choice. I can only trust what that boy says.’
Grand Duke Guntram reluctantly decided to accept Carlisle’s opinion.
Since the Crown Prince had raised the tax rate by 5 percent on the spot, Grand Duke Guntram had no real choice.
If he continued to force the magic stone mining operation, he couldn’t even imagine how much Allied Forces casualties would increase, so for now he had no choice but to replace fuel magic stones with magic coal.
‘Is even this within your palm, Crown Prince?’
Grand Duke Guntram ground his teeth as he recalled the Crown Prince’s face.
No matter how he thought about it, he could only think they were dancing in the Royal Family’s palm, and historically, that had been the truth.
Whatever they did, whatever happened, it was always revealed that the Royal Family was behind it all.
‘When will the Northern Region be able to escape from the Royal Family’s clutches? Is the complete independence and liberation of the Northern Region nothing but a dream?’
Grand Duke Guntram caressed his Inheritance Sword with a frustrated heart.
In his heart, he desperately wanted to rise up immediately and crush the Royal Family.
But if he did that, not only House Sigmund but the entire Northern Region would be trampled by the Royal Family and other houses, and the lives of Northerners would become even more miserable.
‘Someday when that day comes… if such a day comes while I’m still alive and breathing… I will never forgive them. I will make them pay the price for oppressing and persecuting the Northern Region and Sigmund for hundreds of years.’
Crack—Grand Duke Guntram’s grip tightened forcefully around the hilt of his Inheritance Sword.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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