How a Two-Life Scoundrel Lives - Chapter 96
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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 96】
‘Does this make any sense?’
Carlisle felt wronged.
After fighting ten real battles as a mere private and proving his qualifications, now they’re telling him his promotion is canceled? What kind of nonsense is this?
Moreover, to kill three heroes.
Heroes.
In other words, [Barbarian Heroes] referred to barbarian warriors of 5-star rank or higher.
The barbarians called their foot soldiers up to 4-star rank [Warriors] and those from 5-star rank [Heroes].
In other words, it meant killing three barbarian heroes of 5-star rank or higher.
For the current Carlisle, this was by no means an easy mission.
Of course, thanks to sharing various elixirs with Frey from the Sigmund Family Secret Warehouse, Carlisle had already grown to 4.5-star rank.
“Are you serious?”
“What do you mean?”
“The promotion cancellation, are you really serious?”
“Would I be joking about this?”
Grand Duke Guntram raised his eyebrows.
“Isn’t this too much? I didn’t actually kill him.”
“Christan’s military rank is Major. Just pointing a sword at the neck of a Major, who is an officer, while being a private is punishable by death. According to principles and military law, if this had gone to court martial, a death sentence wouldn’t be strange at all for such a grave crime.”
“Then I’ll stand trial.”
“What, what did you say?”
“I said I’ll take the court martial. I’ll die, whatever.”
Carlisle spoke with an expressionless face.
“Young Master!”
“Good grief!”
“That crazy bastard!”
“That lunatic!”
The members and retainers of House Sigmund were shocked by Carlisle’s statement.
When he should be grateful for being let off this lightly, how dare he provoke Grand Duke Guntram and get on his nerves.
“Do you really want to do that?”
“Hy, hyung!”
Even Selena and Frey were reproaching Carlisle, showing how serious the situation was.
“A mere private dared to commit insubordination against Major Christan, so I should pay the price. I’ll take the court martial.”
Tremble…!
Grand Duke Guntram’s eyes trembled.
‘Are you really going to do this?’
‘What do you mean.’
Carlisle answered Grand Duke Guntram’s gaze with his own.
‘I’m trying to let this slide, but you insist on kicking it away.’
‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘…’
‘I’ll just get executed, whatever.’
‘Kugh.’
Grand Duke Guntram barely held onto his sanity, desperately suppressing what felt like his blood pressure rising to the point of madness.
“Just accept it.”
“I said I don’t want to.”
“It’s an order.”
“Tch.”
In the end, Carlisle only stopped his rebellion after Guntram forcibly issued a command.
“Carlisle van Sigmund’s promotion is canceled. However, as a form of atonement, if you eliminate three barbarian heroes, I will arrange for you to regain officer status. That is all.”
Grand Duke Guntram rose from his seat.
“Carlisle.”
“Yes?”
“Follow me.”
Thus, Carlisle’s promotion went up in smoke, and a one-on-one meeting with his father, Grand Duke Guntram, was arranged.
“Ha.”
While following Grand Duke Guntram, Carlisle locked eyes directly with Christan.
“You know what.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Christan responded to Carlisle’s whisper.
His expression remained expressionless, and his tone was as stiff as ever.
“I’ll make you a promise.”
“…?”
“You’ll die by my hand within a year.”
“…”
“So have all the fun you want until then. There isn’t much time left.”
“Do you have the skill for that?”
Christan looked back at Carlisle with a cold smile.
“There are many ways.”
“I look forward to it.”
Christan spoke as if daring him to try.
“Can’t you come quickly?”
“Ah, I’m coming.”
At Grand Duke Guntram’s urging, Carlisle hurriedly moved his steps and brushed past Christan.
“I’ll have to do my best to live up to expectations. Yes, look forward to it.”
Carlisle gave Christan a meaningful smile and followed Grand Duke Guntram.
* * *
After moving to a different location.
“Can’t you please just behave yourself?”
“I was behaving myself.”
“Someone who was behaving himself points a sword at his superior’s neck?”
“The situation called for it.”
“Even so, with so many eyes watching, is it acceptable for a private to point a sword at a knight with the rank of Major?”
“What’s wrong with it.”
Grind, Grand Duke Guntram clenched his fist at Carlisle’s back talk.
He was clearly enduring with superhuman patience the urge to give him at least one knock on the head.
“I don’t know about other things, but insubordination against a superior cannot be overlooked.”
“Yes.”
Carlisle understood Grand Duke Guntram’s words.
Decaron was a territory where military power took priority over everything else, and if military discipline became lax in such a place, the very foundation of rule could be shaken.
“Three heroes shouldn’t be too difficult a mission, so don’t be too sharp about it.”
“Heroes are on a different level from warriors. You know that.”
“Haven’t you also become that much stronger?”
“What?”
“Seeing how much stronger you’ve become in just a few days, it seems like you went somewhere and got something good to eat. Isn’t that right?”
“How did you know?”
“Do you think I wouldn’t know that much?”
Grand Duke Guntram glared at Carlisle as if finding him ridiculous.
“Your brother Frey has also grown considerably stronger overnight. Did you two share something good together last night?”
“….”
Carlisle inwardly clicked his tongue at Grand Duke Guntram’s keen insight.
‘He’s like a ghost.’
It wasn’t for nothing that Grand Duke Guntram was called the strongest in the United Kingdom.
“Since you seem to want to hide it, I won’t ask for details. Still, it’s admirable to see you looking after your brother.”
“….”
“Please don’t cause any trouble and serve quietly. Once you defeat three heroes and get promoted to officer, I’ll teach you the cultivation method.”
“Can’t you teach me now?”
“You’re still far from ready.”
Grand Duke Guntram shook his head.
“At your current level, you can’t handle the cultivation method. You’d be devoured by it.”
“Is that so…?”
“Until you reach a certain level of skill, the cultivation method is too much.”
“Then there’s no choice.”
“A letter has arrived from the Royal Family.”
“Ah.”
Carlisle smiled coldly as if he understood.
“How was it? Was my prediction correct?”
“Yes, not even an inch off.”
“Heh.”
“Of course, even that could be part of the Royal Family’s scheme, but anyway, that’s how it turned out.”
“What scheme.”
Carlisle snorted.
“It’s just insight and manipulation born from overwhelming intelligence network.”
“Can’t you be certain?”
“No.”
Carlisle said firmly.
“I’m certain. This one said so too.”
Carlisle briefly showed the baby dragon sleeping in his arms.
“Of course, dragons are wise beings so they wouldn’t be wrong, but isn’t it still young?”
“Do you need more confirmation?”
“It would be better if there was some.”
“Sigh.”
Carlisle let out a deep breath.
“What would it take for you to believe? Should I go find a dragon?”
“Go find a dragon?”
“Hey, hey.”
Carlisle woke up the baby dragon that was sleeping soundly.
“Why are you waking me up when I’m sleeping? Mmph mmph.”
“It’s father. Say hello.”
“Hello, papa butler.”
The baby dragon rubbed its sleepy eyes and greeted Grand Duke Guntram.
“….”
Grand Duke Guntram was slightly flustered.
He never expected to meet a dragon in his lifetime, and to be called [papa butler] by a baby dragon at that.
“I have something I’m curious about.”
“Hm?”
“Could I meet a dragon?”
“That’s not difficult.”
The baby dragon spoke as if it was nothing.
“Humans who dare approach dragons would become a gulp meal, but with me around, it would be a different story. Yes, of course.”
“Could I possibly meet the dragon that’s said to have contracted with the Royal Family?”
“I’d need to know who it is to meet them. I’d also need to know where they live.”
“Hmm.”
Carlisle thought for a moment, then asked Grand Duke Guntram.
“What was the Royal Family’s legend?”
“Don’t you already know that well? You must be familiar with the story of how the first king, the Blind King, gained prophetic power by contracting with an ancient dragon with golden scales.”
Then the baby dragon suddenly interjected.
“Golden scales means the Wisdom Clan.”
“What’s the Wisdom Clan?”
“Literally a wise clan. They’re called that because they’re the smartest among dragons.”
“Ah.”
“If it’s the Wisdom Clan… there wouldn’t be many of them. Probably less than ten.”
“Really? Hmm.”
Carlisle thought for a moment, then looked back at Grand Duke Guntram.
“Would there be materials about the Royal Family’s legend?”
“If we look, there should be quite a few.”
“Then let’s start from there. After identifying the dragon that contracted with the Royal Family, let’s go meet them and ask directly.”
“It would be dangerous.”
“I’ll handle that myself, so don’t worry. And if father starts investigating openly, the rats will catch wind of it and report to the Royal Family.”
Carlisle smiled coldly.
“As you can probably guess, there are eyes and ears of the Royal Family everywhere. It’s like a rat’s nest.”
“That would be the case.”
“I’ll have Maranello and Evangeline quietly investigate that separately, so act normally as if you know nothing. And absolutely don’t tell anyone.”
“I was planning to do that anyway.”
“Then that’s settled.”
Carlisle stood up from his seat.
“I’ll be going. I’m a bit busy.”
“What busy work do you have?”
“Usually none.”
Carlisle said with a blank expression.
“But it’s not like I have absolutely nothing to do.”
“Please just don’t cause any trouble.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Sigh.”
Grand Duke Guntram’s blood pressure rose again because of Carlisle, and he grabbed the back of his neck.
* * *
A few days later.
Carlisle left home and headed back to the Blood-Soaked Land of Kuberin.
“Please take care and return safely, Young Master.”
“You must stay safe. I’ll send another letter, Young Master.”
Carlisle left Decaron at dawn, seeing off by Maranello and Evangeline.
Carlisle returning to his unit was not alone.
Ten knights and about fifty soldiers were with Carlisle, but not for escort purposes.
Carlisle did not return to his unit empty-handed.
Clatter, clatter.
Carlisle’s party moved while pulling several large carts, which were loaded full of various weapons made by the dwarfs and tools for magic stone mining.
In other words, the soldiers of Bowden Fortress would now be able to use weapons and tools crafted by dwarfs thanks to Carlisle.
“…What’s this.”
Carlisle frowned upon seeing that Bowden Fortress, which he had returned to, looked completely different from before.
The Bowden Fortress he remembered was closer to a mountain stronghold surrounded by wooden palisades.
However, Bowden Fortress, which he had returned to after just one month, was surrounded by castle walls and had quite the proper appearance of a fortress.
Moreover, seeing that the scale had grown about five times larger than before, it seemed there had been fortification work to reinforce the fortress during the past month.
When Carlisle nearly reached the fortress, scout members came rushing out as if they had been waiting.
“Second Lieutenant Carlisle has arrived…”
Scout captain Begman was about to salute Carlisle, but became bewildered upon seeing that the rank insignia on his collar was still that of a private.
“But why is your rank insignia still private?”
“Promotion was skipped.”
“Pardon…?”
“They wouldn’t promote me because I committed some insubordination.”
“Wh-what do you mean.”
“That’s how it turned out.”
Carlisle replied curtly.
“Is it because of that incident back then?”
“Well. It’s understandable since he held a sword to an officer’s neck while being a private.”
“Having promotion skipped is getting off easy. Originally it would be execution.”
The scout members each chattered away as if it was understandable.
“But why did the fortress scale suddenly become this large?”
“We merged with other units.”
Begman answered.
“We’ve been reorganized into a battalion-level unit now. There are 4 companies total, and we’re the 3rd Company. Sir Helen became our company commander.”
“Ah?”
“It’s not particularly good though. The battalion commander is… Phew.”
Begman let out a deep sigh as if just thinking about it was frustrating.
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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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