Volume 5 - CH 3.07

Staring at the beautiful woman who had fallen face down, a line of red blood spilling from her lovely lips, Lucius sighed.

「Everything was a big gamble based on her resolution, huh… this is truly typical of her; her life was flashy to the end」

The beautiful woman’s name was Countess Purna Dryton—the mastermind of the assassination plot against Queen Almudena. For Lucius, the matter of Purna, who was cornered, personally ending her life was within his expectation, but for the people serving her, it must have been a bolt out of the blue.

Looking at the maids and menservants who had sat down hard on the spot, Lucius kept his sword in the scabbard and announced indifferently.

「Not a word to anyone about what happened tonight. Have all the people in the mansion thoroughly enforce it. …Do you hear?」

「Y, yes…! B, but, what about Madam-sama…?」

「The countess passed away because of a sudden illness」

「…Ha?」

「The madam passed away because of a sudden illness. Make the arrangements for her funeral service immediately. …The representative of His Majesty the King should come from Roma before long. Proceed with it so that everything will be error-free」

He must gather all the people working in the mansion here first and then have them begin the preparations for the secret burial.

「…Vice-Leader-dono」

Gazing at the menservants who had started to move awkwardly, Angel Saforcada loosened the tie around his neck.

「Is our job, um… only things like this?」

「That depends on His Highness. On an individual basis, I wish that there’s only work that is more open and above board, like the campaign not long ago」

「Like not long ago…?」

「Though they’re similarly jobs to protect the country, running around on a dangerous battlefield is probably much better than being witness to the last moment of a woman, right? …Hazard-kyou!」

When Lucius called one of his subordinates whom he had brought with him on this top-secret mission, he instructed him to secretly get in touch with the mayor of Taroma immediately. Although this manner of speaking was bad, he must make the mayor understand the cause and effect so that the people of this mansion wouldn’t blurt out thoughtless things in the future.

「U, um…」

Passing Hazard-kyou who left at a quick pace, the maid who had gone round to call the people of the mansion to this room came back and began to talk in a tone that was frightened in some way.

「I, I wanted to gather all the people in the mansion—b, but I didn’t see the figure of only one person」

「That person isn’t here?」

「Y, yes… it’s the gardener, a man called Niko Bonucci…」

When the maid spoke of that name, the surrounding menservants looked at each other simultaneously. As if the maid’s panic had spread, even the other people started to be noisy. It was unthinkable that such a reaction would appear just because one ordinary gardener had disappeared.

Lucius tilted his head to the side and questioned her.

「What kind of man is he exactly?」

「Niko was… formerly a thief」

「A thief?」

Angel knitted his brows and raised a wild voice.

「—Why is a thief working as the gardener of the countess’s mansion?」

「T, that’s…」

According to what the maids had explained, looking as if it was extremely hard to speak about it, the aforementioned Niko Bonucci was a young and reckless bandit. Hiding himself in the forest on the outskirts of Taroma, he made a living from aiming for the travellers coming and going and travelling alone on the highway; however, he was pursued by the authorities and was seriously wounded, and it seemed that he was captured when he tumbled into the premises of this mansion.

People who were not only robbed of their money and goods but even killed by Niko weren’t few, and a reward was offered for his head. Therefore, if it was true, Niko should have been handed over to the mayor of Taroma as he was and be sentenced to capital punishment.

Nevertheless—what kind of whim was it exactly—Purna didn’t hand Niko over to the government officials. It was unexpected that she’d treat his wounds, prepare clothing for him and let him live in a cabin in the corner of the grounds as a gardener.

「Why is that kind of—」

In contrast with Angel whose expression seemed to be puzzled, the maids cast their eyes downwards, looking as if it was difficult to give an answer. It seemed that this new chivalric order member couldn’t guess it, but Lucius could somehow understand the situation from the maids’ behaviours.

「…He was her secret lover」

「Eh?」

The face of Angel, who had raised a wild voice again, became red suddenly after one mora.

「Even though she was called Countess Dryton, the reality is that she was one of His Majesty the King’s mistresses… and His Majesty also won’t always be here. Rather, he’s absent for most of the year. That being the case, it isn’t so strange that the countess of loose morals would have another lover. …In short, it’s like that, right?」

「…Yes」

The maids nodded slightly.

「However, after Niko became the gardener, his manner which was like a mad dog when he was captured changed completely, and the change was as if you could say that he was extremely obedient towards Madam-sama… or rather, he was worshipping Madam-sama」

「Was he feeling a debt of gratitude, being a bad person, or—」

Drawing in a breath greatly, Lucius stopped his words midway there. Witzel-kyou, who had been guarding the rear of the mansion, came here at a quick pace.

「Vice-Leader!」

「Did something happen?」

「The horse is missing!」

「Horse?」

「Even though there’s a carriage, there’s no horse in the stable」

「—」

When Lucius narrowed his eyes and stared at the maid, she shook her head as if she was frightened again. She probably wanted to say that she didn’t know anything.

Lucius then spoke to Witzel-kyou.

「Witzel-kyou, please remain here. Hazard-kyou should be coming back with the mayor soon, so I’ll leave the subsequent matters to the both of you」

「That’s not a problem, but what’s Vice-Leader going to do?」

「Just one man disappeared from the mansion. It seems that leaving him alone will become a troublesome matter」

Leaving that place to Witzel-kyou, Lucius took the remaining members along with him and left the mansion.

「What are we going to do, Vice-Leader-dono?」

「We’ll pursue Niko Bonucci」

Lucius answered Angel’s question laconically.

「Do you know where he escaped to?」

「I can more or less guess. …But then, I hope that such a conjecture is wrong though」

Lucius returned to the place where they had tied their horses on the opposite side of the lake almost at a run, put his foot on the stirrup and smile wryly.

「If my conjecture is wrong, then it doesn’t matter at all even if Niko Bonucci escapes somewhere like this. —However, that’s probably not going to happen」

「…I’m sorry」

Angel, who had similarly sat on top of the saddle, bent his head slightly to one side and asked again.

「What does that mean exactly? Where in the world did that gardener escape to—」

「The clandestine love between a countess who had too much time on her hands and a gardener, speaking of common, is common, but it’s a slight problem that the both of them are all bad people. …Especially all the more so if the gardener worshipped the madam like a goddess」

Lucius and other members, eight people in all, started running in the forest at night. Although it was along a lane, if they missed one step, that place was a sea called a forest covered up by cold darkness, and they’d probably go astray immediately if they were careless.

「—If Niko Bonucci learnt of the death of the woman whom he worshipped as a goddess, what kind of action do you think he’ll take?」

「That’s… he was formerly a bandit who was skilful at rough things, so as expected—it’s revenge?」

Angel, who had answered so, surveyed his surroundings, looking slightly tense.

「It’s not wrong to think like that first… but his target probably isn’t us」

「W, why?」

「The fact that he had been a bandit for a long time in a dangerous forest, where wolves, bears and people in the same trade were prowling about, without losing his life or getting captured or forming a faction meant that that man is probably quite strong. And he most likely must be more cautious and cunning」

That was why Lucius was thinking he’d never attack them in a simplistic manner. No matter how skilled a man Niko was, it was impossible that he’d challenge Lucius’s party to a fight by himself and then ended safe and sound. He’d probably lose his life easily without even fulfilling the matter of carrying out revenge for Purna.

「—That much can be understood even without thinking deeply. Besides, the revenge won’t be accomplished just by killing us, who had driven the madam to commit suicide. Niko Bonucci probably should have known that too」

「Don’t tell me—the queen!?」

「If Purna Dryton had told Niko Bonucci her own real intention, then that’s not impossible」

As long as Queen Almudena didn’t exist, Purna’s ambition could have been achieved. It could also be said that it was because of Almudena that Purna’s dream had been shattered and that she committed suicide—the possibility of Niko, who thought so, trying to kill Almudena again wasn’t zero.

「Normally, at the point of time when one’s own lover began to say that she wanted a son of a man other than himself, he’d be driven by jealousy, and then he’d turn to violence… but perhaps to Niko, the madam might really be an existence like a goddess. Not a lover but simply an object of worship—」

Urging his horse on as if to compete with Lucius, Angel spoke.

「—Where’s the queen now!?」

「I don’t know the exact location, but she most likely has arrived at the vicinity about two days to the royal capital along the highway from Gloom. Even if Niko is aiming for Her Highness the Queen, in terms of distance, it’s impossible to ambush her during the journey. —In that case」

Confirming the relative positions of Taroma, Gloom and Roma on the map inside his mind, Lucius kept his mouth shut.