Chapter 56

56.

Dale Bergman looked around. The place where he was at was Bernhardt’s mansion.

Bernhardt is really something! A family that produced several knights, who were great men of the country, and a prestigious family that defended the royal family from generation to generation. It was quite moving that he, who had been knighted for more than 20 years, could also set foot here.

There were so many people who snooped around trying to step onto the threshold of the mansion. However, only a few outsiders were able to successfully enter the mansion.

Especially since he heard that the owner had an unsociable disposition, hence didn’t mingle with people. So it isn’t strange that rarely someone was invited by him.

“This way, Sir Bergman,” the servant politely guided him to the reception room. Embarrassed by the VIP-like hospitality, the unrefined man scratched his head.

“Madam will arrive soon, so please have a seat and wait.”

He hesitantly sat down on the sofa pointed to by the servant. Dale liked everything. He liked everything, but...

‘What’s with the mood here?’

He felt very uncomfortable with the servant guarding the door. In fact, he had never received such great attention. It was surveillance, not just attention.

I had heard and known that Duke Bernhardt and my lord were not close, but didn’t expect it to be this bad. Dale busied himself in quenching his oddly parched throat. So, in order to avoid looking around, he tried to appear aloof. He didn’t want to be misunderstood as tired.

“Duchess Bernhardt has arrived.”

Dale stood up when the servant announced. The Duchess, who opened the door and entered the room, had grown up a lot from what he saw her as a child.

Apparently, she had grown taller, and her hair...wrapped into a chignon was probably grown as well, and her face belonged to a completely mature person. She still looked very young for her age, but the girl of that time was nowhere to be seen.

‘Alas!’

He didn’t raise her, but seeing her all grown up made his heart ache. She was so cute when she followed Lord Caron around wanting to learn how to curtsy!

Dale snuffled, moved by how much she had grown up. Tears did not come out as his master was so rigid that his emotions had dried up.

Regretting that he could not produce a dramatic reunion, he put his hand on his chest and politely greeted, “Dale Bergman. It’s a great honor to meet the Lord of the great Sannar.”

Unlike his quivering heart, his greeting was very formal. Dale was proud that he kept his dignity in front of Bernhardt’s servants. But something was weird.

The maid’s gaze had suddenly turned fierce!

‘Wh-what’s wrong?’

Dale wondered about his mistake. He scurried through his memories, but nothing stood out. Perhaps finding it similarly strange, Ercella turned her eyes to her. Then, much to his surprise, the maid’s ferocious look disappeared in a blink.

‘Huh?!’

Dale was dumbfounded, but he lamented to himself that he couldn’t tell on her. It was then.

“Say it.”

“Y-yes?”

When Ercella suddenly asked, the maid asked back.

“Don’t you have something to say?” She seemed to have caught on to the dissatisfaction mixed with the maid’s expression. Dale was glad he didn’t reveal his expressions.

“How dare I—” Desperate, her maid shook her head. However, as Ercella didn’t avert her eyes, she hesitantly spoke in a crawling voice, ” But if you grant me permission to speak—”

“Granted.”

“Then...despite the topic...” with her lowered body, the maid carefully chose her words, “In my humble opinion... I don’t think Sir Knight used the correct greeting. While it’s true that Madam is the owner of Sannar, this is not Sannar, and she is the lady of this household, so it is only right to put Bernhardt’s name in Sir’s greeting.”

Dale amusingly watched the maid who quietly said everything she had to say. Although he lived like a carpet knight1 under the support of the marquis and had a careless personality, he quickly noticed the maid’s intentions with his usual sharpness.

Dale’s discourtesy of calling her the ‘Lord of Sannar’, not the ‘Duchess’, seemed to imply that he prioritized the ‘Lord of Sannar’, which belonged to the Marquis, over Bernhardt’s ‘Duchess’.

Meanwhile, Ercella felt strange. The maid always disappeared as soon as she finished her work and never spoke to her before.

But now, she insisted that Ercella belonged to Bernhardt. Ercella found it a little fascinating. I never realized she thought that way because she never expressed her fondness.

The maid was obediently and stubbornly looking down. She must have brought it up expecting to be scolded. The situation became increasingly difficult.

This is because she could not rebuke Dale, who came as a guest of the marquis, and even more so, could not scold the maid who said the right thing.

Eventually, Ercella turned to Dale, “That’s right, Sir.”

She is implying that I should finish this since I started it. Thought Dale.

‘I got knocked out.’

And that for a mere maid. He wondered how Caron would react when he heard this story. Sadly, instead of being upset, I think he’d just laugh it off and move to the next report. Dale gave up his insipid imagination and greeted again, “My bad. Dale Bergman. I greet Madam Ercella of Bernhardt.”

Only then did the maid withdraw in satisfaction. “Please call me if you need me.”

For a long time, Ercella’s gaze remained on the door that the maid just closed. An unknown sense of incongruity lingered under her feet. However, since she could not keep the guest standing for long, she decided to sit down.

“Long time no see, Sir.”

“Yes...truly.”

Dale looked impressed at Ercella, who greeted him with a mischievous grin. Ercella sat down, and Dale sat opposite her.

“How’s everything?”

“Nothing special. How have you been, Sir? My brother said he’s a welcome guest... And rightly so.” Ercella looked at Dale. When she was a child, he was someone who made Ercella smile cheerfully whenever he called her, ‘Our Little Lady!’

Dale could see Ercella when she used to be at the marquisate, but not after she got married and Caron succeeded the previous Marquis.

“...”

“It could be poison. Over there, Ludelcia is said to have rare poisonous herbs. If that’s the case, the doctors here might not know.”

“That can’t be. The blood was still red during bloodletting.”

If you drink poison, your body undergoes certain changes. It’s impossible that the doctors could not point out symptoms related to poison.

“Hm, then it’s unlikely to be a poison. Are there any other distinctive features?”

“Let’s see, except that the blood is slightly viscous...”

“Viscous, you say?”

‘The blood is viscous and dries up faster than normal. However, it may vary for each person, so it is difficult to confirm the diagnosis. Even if it’s a disease, it’s my first time seeing such symptoms... My apologies, Madam.’

Among the countries derived from the Leones Empire, Rentua, which had the most advanced medical council, couldn’t find it either.

“Pardon me, but may I know who is suffering from this disease? Perhaps everyone is keeping it hushed, and it may be a hereditary disease continuing through generations of families.”

As Dale said, it could be a disease passed down from generation to generation. And it wasn’t that Ercella didn’t think of it at the time, and under Caron’s permission, she scoured Visaride’s archives, but she couldn’t find a record of an ancestor that suffered similar symptoms to her.

“I can’t tell you who it is for personal reasons, Sir. But it’s not hereditary.”

“Is that so...” Dale seemed disappointed.

Ercella felt sorry for Dale because she didn’t seem to know as much as she thought, “I’m ashamed that I don’t know much.”

“Ne-nevermind that. First of all, since it’s a disease that doesn’t exist in Grania, I’ll look for it in other countries. We have enough manpower to do that. Even right now, I have my people set in other countries...”

“Other countries?”

When Ercella asked back in surprise, Dale pounded his chest proudly, “As I said, I spent a harsh time under the Marquis. We’d gather only the top-class men...” Dale hesitated for a moment.

“Is he creating an information guild?”

“Huh?”

At Ercella’s question, his eyes rolled around nervously. He seemed to be trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. However, in order to be natural, he feigned ignorance. But, it was too late.

“You must have a lot on your mind, Sir.” A soft voice wrapped around Dale’s ears.

“Haha. It’s a secret,” Dale immediately affirmed, knowing it was already useless to deny. Ercella sighed. Father was Father, but Caron is a step further.

“Isn’t it risky?”

“Very! But it’s safe, so don’t worry.”

No. It’s actually very, very not safe. It’s not uncommon to be stabbed while infiltrating the enemy camp to get information.

But, how could he bring this fact up to the Duchess? Even he was a knight. It was natural to live in the war. Although the social status was different, war was war. Dale thought of changing the subject first before Ercella said anything else. “However, we don’t know how long the search will last, and I expect that we’d need to expend a significant amount of resources. It will cost quite the sum.”

Certainly, it will be useful to collect information from a guild spread all over the world. However, there were practical limitations to it. Money was an important factor when working on anything. It’s the most basic thing in human life...

“Is 10 years’ worth of Sannar income enough?”

Important factor...

“Huh?!” Dale’s mouth opened wide. What...? 10 years’ worth of Sannar’s profit? Did I hear it correctly? He doubted his ears about five times.

“If you need more, I think I can manage up to 12 years...”

He didn’t hear wrong. Ercella even added two more years’ worth of income to it. Dale’s head pounded as if he had been hit by a hammer.

Sannar is a fief that accounts for as much as 30% of Grania’s gold mine. In addition, there were several mines, so the gains and losses were enormous compared to other areas. Sannar’s 12-year income? Aside from that, it was more than enough, it was an amount of wealth he couldn’t dare think of.

That was already surprising, but Ercella even added. “...If it’s not enough, I can sell my jewelry.”

She’s even wasting jewelry after offering so much money! Dale was slowly losing it from the absurdity of it.

However, at Dale’s nirvanic laughter, Ercella opened her lips feeling hopeful. “Perhaps...more?”

“No!” It was so devastating to hear that Dale struggled to shake his hands.

“No, that’s enough... I can do it.”

He wanted to turn his back on Caron and work for the Duchess. It’s easy work and I’ll be making lots of money! Dale looked at the Duchess, still eighty percent sure that it was a joke.

“They must be a very precious person.”

“What?”

“That the Duchess is willing to give this much to help cure their illness.”

“Ah...” unable to find words to answer, she just smiled. Ercella could have sold the whole Sannar to Dale if she could.

She didn’t do this thinking she would become precious to Vicente. She had been neglecting Vicente for fifteen years. Even if she couldn’t fill in for those fifteen years, she wanted to love him for at least half of it. Three years was too short a time.

“You’re right. It’s someone important. That person wants to do a lot of things. I don’t want them to die without fulfilling their wishes. So, please help me, Sir.”

Her blue eyes filled with determination shined eagerly. Dale couldn’t refuse his little lady even when she was young. Dale Bergman placed his hand on his chest and bowed silently.

“I, Dale Bergman, pray that their dreams become reality and I’ll gladly offer my help.”

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