I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 13

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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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Inheriting a Beautiful Wife and Estate Episode 013

13. Cliff and Teobaldt

‘Finally, they’re making their move!’

Cliff hadn’t actually withdrawn his surveillance on Aren.

He had merely made it appear as though he had. Since the initial watchers had been discovered by him, this was something he could do by pretending they weren’t spying.

Cliff had assigned the surveillance of Aren to two organizations from the very beginning.

And this plan worked out exactly as expected.

Aren, thinking the surveillance had disappeared, left the village.

“What should we do?”

“What do you mean what should we do. You go report to the Lord Deputy. And I’ll continue following this bastard.”

The one who had been watching Aren quietly followed behind him.

The process went smoothly.

Aren’s group moving with torches from a distance.

Though few in number, their movements were clearly visible like will-o’-the-wisps.

‘Indeed. Are they heading to the mountains?’

Old, who had been following behind, was impressed by Cliff’s foresight.

As expected, Bellman had hidden away much wealth. Or if not that, then Aren was hiding something.

Now was the time for that hidden thing to reveal its true nature.

‘There was a mountain lodge here.’

A mountain lodge built in the territory where Shadow Wolves lived.

Old’s eyes darkened upon seeing this. However, the situation that followed confused him even more.

Aren, who had come this far.

He met some man at the mountain lodge and was immediately cut down.

“…!”

That movement was too fast for Old’s eyesight to follow.

Fast.

And strong.

Indeed, he seemed like someone who had been living in this land of Shadow Wolves.

‘Who is he?’

It was bewildering.

His heart pounding.

The opponent’s identity couldn’t be determined. What made this situation even more tense was that the man’s eyes were looking toward where Old was hiding.

‘Surely… I haven’t been discovered, have I?’

That couldn’t be possible.

Even though he wanted to think so, the situation didn’t unfold that way.

“I know you’re there. You don’t seem to be one of these scoundrels’ gang… Did the lord send you? To follow these ones?”

A start.

“If you’re going to keep hiding… that’s fine too. But then I’ll consider you my enemy and cut you down as well.”

“I, I’ll come out!”

Old hurriedly came out.

Old met Teobaldt’s eyes at that moment.

‘What kind of person has eyes like…’

Teobaldt’s eyes reminded him of ruins.

Empty eyes that seemed to have lost all color. Old himself was reflected in those eyes.

From Old’s perspective, it was troubling.

It wasn’t yet clear to him which side Teobaldt was on.

“Did the lord send you?”

Once again, Teobaldt asked Old.

After pondering briefly, Old soon nodded with a resolute expression.

Anyway, he didn’t know Teobaldt’s true intentions. He didn’t know his identity either. In that case, there was no benefit in hiding it unnecessarily.

“As you say, sir. I was following orders from Lord Deputy Cliff, who has newly become the master of Elimis, and was monitoring Aren.”

“Hmm. I’ve heard news that a new person was coming. That he would marry the lord’s daughter. It seems he has arrived. So now he’s my master?”

Teobaldt spoke while nodding his head.

He remained a tense and unknowable subject to Old until the end.

That suspicious Teobaldt opened his mouth.

“Guide me. I’d like to meet this Lord Deputy.”

After saying that, he took something from Aren’s belongings.

Though he couldn’t see it properly, it looked like parchment.

Teobaldt, who had taken it and kept it in his bosom, urged Old on.

“Let’s go. To meet the Lord Deputy. You have to report this matter anyway, don’t you?”

“That’s… true, but…”

Would it be alright to bring Teobaldt before Cliff like this?

‘Oh, I don’t know.’

Anyway, he was right.

Since Aren, the surveillance target, was dead, this had to be reported.

In that process, it would be easier to say he was killed by this person rather than by some unknown individual.

‘Please don’t let him be a dangerous guy.’

Seeing how he cut down a person without hesitation, he was certainly dangerous, but he decided to ignore this.

So they headed back toward the village.

Even on the way, Old observed Teobaldt.

‘I thought he would at least say something…’

It was a very uncomfortable companionship.

First of all, Teobaldt didn’t utter a single word.

In that silence, the two men just walked toward the village. And they arrived at the village in the dead of night, before dawn had even broken.

Having gone to the village, he headed to the Manor.

“…Huh?”

Upon arriving here, Old was surprised again for a different reason.

Nigel, known as the second-in-command of the estate, was standing in front of the mansion.

“Are you just arriving now?”

And his reaction suggested he knew he would come here.

His eyes widened slightly upon seeing the suspicious Teobaldt following behind, but there was no further reaction.

“Guide the guest. I’ll bring the Lord Deputy shortly.”

A series of bewildering moments.

Nigel’s words were as if he already knew a guest would be coming.

At that attitude, this time even Teobaldt showed puzzlement in his expression. But his mouth didn’t open beyond that.

He was simply guided by Nigel to the mansion’s reception room.

“Please wait here for a moment, guest. The Lord Deputy will come shortly.”

“…I understand.”

“Old, come see me for a moment.”

“Yes, butler.”

Nigel and Old went outside.

Roughly, Nigel would ask Old about Teobaldt. Teobaldt smiled slyly.

“…For an old man, he’s quite capable. This isn’t the kind of handling you’d expect from a frontier butler.”

He thought Nigel’s response was excellent.

A stranger had appeared.

But Nigel’s face showed no disturbance in dealing with this. There was only momentary surprise, but even that lasted only an instant.

He guided Teobaldt with a calm face and then set about gathering information from behind.

‘It almost feels like I’m visiting by appointment.’

The attitude of knowing a guest would come.

That was quite remarkable. Meanwhile, the voices from outside reached Teobaldt’s sensitive ears.

‘Who is that man? He doesn’t look like an ordinary person at all.’

‘There was a lodge in the Wolf Mountains. I met that man at that lodge.’

‘There’s a lodge?’

‘Yes. Seeing how Aren went there, it was probably…’

‘Bellman’s hidden hideout.’

‘It seems so.’

The conversation they were having.

He could constantly hear them speculating about his identity.

Meanwhile, new footsteps joined them. Also, according to Teobaldt’s senses, this person was different from before.

‘The scent of mana.’

Definitely a mana user.

The skill level itself wasn’t particularly impressive.

But in this domain, just having mana was praiseworthy. And the energy this mana user possessed was pure, even if weaker than Teobaldt’s.

Mana learned through superior techniques.

‘Looks like someone from a prestigious family…’

That person’s identity could be learned through Nigel and Old’s dialogue.

The acting lord.

The target Old had mentioned on the mountain.

That acting lord listened to Old’s report while looking tired.

No, could this really be called listening to a report?

‘Aren is dead, right?’

‘Huh? Ah, yes. He’s dead…’

‘And the one who killed him seems to be here as a guest now.’

‘Yes, that’s right…’

Old looked puzzled about how Cliff knew this.

And Teobaldt, who was quietly waiting in the reception room, felt the same.

‘Did he sense my presence?’

If his senses were sharp, that might be possible. And since his presence appeared along with the watcher, did he assume Aren was dead?

While he pondered this inwardly, Cliff entered.

“Yawn. That’s disappointing. I was hoping for a beautiful female knight, but it’s a man…”

“Hah. Sorry about that.”

Cliff had entered.

He checked Teobaldt while yawning.

He seemed genuinely disappointed.

Then he continued with strange remarks.

“The rule is that the protagonist should have a stoic-faced female knight who’d say ‘Hah. Kill me.’ But what appeared wasn’t such a female knight… but a strong man who gives off a beastly feeling. Well, I heard you killed my retainer. Could you tell me why you killed that retainer?”

“…It feels like I’m being interrogated.”

Teobaldt frowned as if displeased.

It was ridiculous that he suspected Aren like that, yet still called him a retainer even when that suspicion was confirmed.

It was already absurd that he entered talking about female knights, but to think he’d even call him a retainer.

And Cliff probably knew.

At least the fact that there was a skill gap between him and himself.

‘Knowing that, he still wants to pressure me?’

It was absurd.

Teobaldt looked at Cliff with that emotion. However, at that moment, Teobaldt also felt a strange emotion.

‘Something… feels like I’m being rude.’

It felt like he was doing something he shouldn’t.

In front of Cliff who was shrugging his shoulders, Teobaldt eventually answered his question.

“Sigh. I cut him down because he claimed to be my master when he wasn’t.”

The frustration in his chest was relieved with his answer.

Teobaldt felt something strange.

He examined Cliff again. He was a young man with a noble, handsome face and blonde hair.

He still only sensed a faint scent of mana from him, though pure.

‘The techniques he learned must have been excellent, but his mana reserves are at a trivial level. He’s definitely not enough to threaten me.’

Strange.

This time Teobaldt asked.

“Did you know… I would come here?”

Though the other was a noble, he didn’t want to bow down yet.

He planned to offer his slave document himself eventually, but until then he intended to maintain this attitude.

Cliff, who received the question, didn’t answer this time either.

“…Slave Knight?”

Instead, as if guessing his identity, he uttered one word.

And seeing Teobaldt flinch at this, he nodded.

“I see. Bellman had been hiding one knight-level fighter. I don’t understand why he used such a person as a storehouse keeper rather than his personal guard, but well… that’s not incomprehensible either.”

For such a person, wealth would be more important than his own body.

And the hired swordsmen alone would have guaranteed safety within the domain.

‘Above all, he couldn’t entrust his wealth to just anyone.’

He had to entrust it to someone who wouldn’t betray him.

Cliff opened his mouth.

“Perhaps killing Aren was also for that reason. Was it the last order your master gave? Maybe to kill whoever harmed him if something happened to him.”

“…Damn. The acting lord of this place was a ghost.”

What did he say to have all his cards revealed like this?

To Teobaldt who uttered crude words, Cliff spoke.

“Then first of all, you must have something to give me?”

Cliff said this while looking at Teobaldt.

Teobaldt, as if resigned, handed over the document he had kept in his chest to Cliff. The document he had taken from the dead Aren. It was Teobaldt’s slave document.

Cliff’s lips curved into an arc upon receiving it.

‘I never thought such a person would be here.’

It was disappointing that it wasn’t a female knight, but a rough man wouldn’t be bad either.

Because this was the moment his lacking military power would be supplemented. Cliff reached for the slave document.

“So now… would you tell me? You already knew I was coming, didn’t you?”

Teobaldt’s tone became much more respectful.

Cliff opened his mouth.

“Rather than knowing someone would come, I knew Aren was dead.”

“…?”

To him who was curious, Cliff smiled.

That was really all there was to it.

‘Because the Quest was suddenly completed.’

As the Quest was completed, his status window also changed.

This time his lord level had increased.

And he had invested points in his lord status window before coming here.

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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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