I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 60
Aldo cleared his throat and spoke.
“Ahem! You seem rather excited. How about we talk about this calmly?”
“Fine. But before we talk.”
Caesar extended his hand to Eric.
“Where’s my salary that I earned fighting on the battlefield for 3 years? Hand it over.”
“…”
“You see, My salary and combat allowance didn’t go into my account but into the family account. Weren’t you managing that account, brother?”
“The compensation hasn’t come in yet…”
“You must think I’m an idiot, but I was a wandering knight temporarily employed by the Empire. I wasn’t receiving compensation, I was a salaried employee. You think I can’t tell the difference?”
“Ahem…”
This bastard is trying to get away with it.
Judging by his expression, Brother Aldo didn’t know about this either.
“Come back to me with my money. If you really don’t want this to go to court. You know your reputation will hit rock bottom if word gets out that you pocketed a combat knight’s salary, right?”
Caesar looked back and forth between the stunned Eric and Aldo as he spoke.
“If you don’t like how I’ve been treating you so far, formally challenge me to a duel. I’ll arrange the Homigraph grand arena. Oh wait. Come to think of it, you already challenged my disciple to a duel first.”
Caesar looked at Aldo and said:
“When will the duel be, brother? If you’re going to continue with it, I’ll step in as Gloria’s master since I’m qualified as a great warrior.”
“I’ll cancel it. There’s no reason to duel now that you’ve returned alive.”
“You don’t understand duels very well, brother. When a duel is challenged, the right to cancel isn’t yours, it’s Gloria’s.”
Caesar looked at Gloria and said:
“What would you like to do?”
“What should I do?”
“In cases like this, the principle is to receive material compensation. You can buy a sword and armor with that money.”
“Really? How much should I squeeze out of them?”
“I can’t decide something this important on my own…”
Caesar thought for a moment and then waved his hand dismissively.
“Since I need to have a very thorough parent-teacher conference with Viscount Bellum about this matter, would everyone please leave my house for now?”
Aldo spoke while trembling with rage:
“Fine. But be prepared to pay the price for the humiliation you’ve given us.”
“Brother. Calculate carefully and come back. Whether you should expect consequences from me or hope for kindness. If you can’t grasp the situation right now, have a chat with Sir Gideon and then open your mouth.”
“W-what?”
“Jake! The guests are leaving!”
Caesar went into his house carrying the bulging bags.
***
As soon as Aldo entered the hotel, he smashed some furniture.
“How dare he! How dare he do this to me!!!”
Aldo was so furious he seemed ready to jump out of his skin.
He was angry that Caesar had humiliated him in front of others, but what made him even angrier was that there was nothing he could say in response.
“That damned bastard son was trembling before me just a few years ago, but now he dares to yell while looking me in the eyes?! How dare he?!”
Knock knock.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
Gideon briefly opened the door to check who it was.
It was Eric.
“…Let’s talk later. The young master is not in the mood to talk right now.”
“Neither am I. But what can we do? If we don’t resolve this quickly, we’ll all be screwed.”
Gideon let out a deep sigh and spoke:
“Alright. Let’s meet at the tea house downstairs.”
“Fine.”
Eric went down to the tea house and sat alone drinking tea, lost in thought.
‘He seems like a completely different person.’
Though he was too shocked to say anything at the time, Caesar seemed different from the Caesar he knew.
To be honest, Caesar had been lacking both as a knight and as a speaker.
But now he had changed so much that one could say he had become an entirely different person.
‘Did the war change him?’
Come to think of it, he heard that Caesar had changed his weapon too.
Caesar, the only son of his father to become a knight.
He took up the sword and trained in House Sylvatil’s swordsmanship to gain his father’s favor and went to war.
But now, for some reason, he was wielding an axe instead of a sword.
He had sensed it when Caesar went straight to Homigraph after being discharged instead of returning to House Sylvatil, but Caesar seemed to be trying to completely sever ties with the Silvatil family.
‘Then we’re at a disadvantage.’
Right now, House Sylvatil’s reputation was hitting rock bottom due to the succession battle.
Caesar was the only son who could raise House Sylvatil’s reputation.
To be honest, when he built up his fame in Dre, if he had said he would participate in House Sylvatil’s succession battle, it would have been a real headache.
Although he was a bastard son, he was the only one who could maintain the knightly lineage of the baronial family and even had a high reputation.
But the guy had lived his whole life without even looking at the family’s affairs, as if he had no interest in the baronial family from the start.
‘I was too hasty.’
If he had observed the situation a bit longer before making a move, his relationship with Caesar wouldn’t be this bad.
The bigger problem was the money owed to Caesar.
It would be very tight to pay Caesar’s salary and war allowance while in the middle of a succession battle.
If there was any consolation, it was that Brother Aldo would also have to pay money to Gloria?
As he was lost in thought, Aldo sat down across from Eric.
“You seem to have calmed down?”
“…Let’s get straight to the point. So what do you want to do?”
“What would you like to do, brother?”
Aldo frowned.
“I hate that habit of yours the most. The habit of openly testing people. You speak first this time.”
“Fine. We’re both too tired to argue anyway.”
Eric spoke.
“You should proceed with the duel, and I shouldn’t pay the money.”
“…And why is that?”
“Are you rich, brother? To be honest, I’m broke. That’s why we all came running to take Caesar’s wealth, didn’t we?”
“What nonsense is this when there’s no purpose for the duel?”
“What’s the purpose of the duel? It’s to take Caesar’s inheritance. Do you think Gloria will personally fight in the duel? She’ll obviously put forward her master, Caesar. After that, kill him either in a death match or by accident. Then take his inheritance and it’s over.”
Aldo’s eyes flashed at Eric’s chilling logic.
“Kill him because he didn’t die. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
Aldo was very suspicious of Eric’s extraordinary mind.
If Gideon wins the duel and kills Caesar, Gloria would no longer be able to claim rights to Caesar’s inheritance.
Then everything would return to square one.
At that moment, Gideon stepped in.
“Then Young Master Aldo’s reputation would be tarnished.”
“The same goes for your reputation. But what can we do? If we can’t prepare the compensation Gloria demands, we’re giving Viscount Bellum grounds to interfere in our succession battle. That would be a real headache.”
“We don’t know how much they’ll request yet.”
“He said they’ll request money to buy armor and a sword. They’ll ask for at least 500,000 del, but you don’t think they’ll request that payment from the baronial family, do you? If so, I’ll stop it by any means necessary. That’s not private funds, it’s public money.”
“It’s wealth you’ll have anyway once you become baron, Lord Aldo.”
“Say that after I become baron, like Caesar said. I’ll block it by any means necessary, so cover it with private funds.”
“This isn’t simply Young Master Aldo’s problem.”
“So who told you to challenge him to a duel? Why are you backing out after instigating it? At least take responsibility.”
Aldo shouted while slamming the table.
“Enough! Enough!”
Aldo took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking.
“Sir Gideon.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
“Can you win if you duel Caesar?”
Gideon hesitated for a moment at Aldo’s words.
The ‘pressure’ that Caesar used.
It wasn’t an aura manipulation technique that just anyone could use.
It was an advanced technique that even Gideon could only use after 15 years of being a knight – projecting aura externally to grip and shake the opponent’s emotions and body.
The fact that an 8-year knight was using this technique meant that Caesar had natural talent when it came to aura manipulation.
‘Did Caesar have that level of talent?’
When Gideon crossed swords with Caesar, he was definitely not at that level.
So how could he have reached that level?
Did he take some kind of enhancement?
Or did he gain enlightenment during the war?
“I can’t guarantee victory if you ask me to win.”
“…Really?”
“But if you tell me to kill him, I think I can do that.”
Winning a duel and killing are clearly different.
There are dozens of victory conditions besides death matches after all.
At Gideon’s words, Aldo rubbed his face and spoke.
“Let’s see how much Gloria requests first and think about it. And… If Sir Gideon kills Caesar.”
Aldo glared at Eric murderously.
“Know that you won’t get a single penny.”
Eric shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, let’s talk about that later. I do acknowledge that you have the larger share though.”
He couldn’t read the mind of this snake-like younger brother at all.
Why was he pushing Aldo like this?
Could it be that he thinks Caesar will defeat Gideon?
Dueling and war are different.
Gideon is a veteran of a hundred battles while Caesar is just an amateur who hasn’t even received an official ‘rank’.
So why…
Just then, a waiter approached the two.
Gideon blocked the waiter and spoke.
“What business do you have?”
“A letter from Viscount Bellum.”
At those words, both their expressions hardened.
Aldo received Viscount Bellum’s letter and opened it on the spot.
Putting aside all other contents, he checked the amount being demanded.
“…That guy Caesar wants to fight too.”
Gideon received the letter from Aldo and checked the compensation amount.
10 million del.
Gideon crumpled the letter.
***
So many people visited Caesar’s house that the threshold was wearing down after hearing he had returned alive.
Of course, Joseph and Tina came too.
“Are you really alright?”
“Yes. Look at me. All my limbs are still attached, aren’t they?”
Joseph bowed his head to Caesar.
“I’m truly sorry. If only I had killed Andromalius, Sir Caesar wouldn’t have had to go through such hardship… It’s because my training was insufficient.”
“No. You don’t need to say such things. Andromalius was a demon with four horns on his head, wasn’t he?”
Originally, it was an unwritten rule that a demon with four horns on its head needed to be confronted by two orders of holy knights.
It was actually incredible that Joseph alone managed to hold his own against Andromalius to some extent.
Tina took a sip of tea before speaking.
“I’m curious, how were you able to return alive from that situation?”
Time for the lies to begin.
Caesar brought out the excuse he had carefully thought about for the past two weeks.
“I’m not really sure myself.”
“…Really?”
“After I killed the demonized Viscount Duken, I was too exhausted to fight Andromalius. Isn’t that right, Sir Joseph?”
Joseph nodded in agreement.
“At the time, Sir Caesar looked so tired it was strange he could even hold his axe. In fact, winning against Andromalius in that state would have been impossible.”
“Shamefully, I passed out while resisting Andromalius. He probably intended to take me to his secret laboratory for experiments. But when I came to, Andromalius was dead along with numerous demons.”
Tina gave Caesar a very suspicious look.
What are you going to do about it if you look at me like that?
Huh?
Ah, I’m telling you I don’t know how I survived either.
Caesar used psychometry on Tina.
-It definitely wasn’t Caesar’s battle traces.
-It seems like a very powerful classic-type knight must have helped.
-But there’s no way someone like that would be in Homigraph…
-Who could it be?
-Seems like he’s hiding something.
Clearly, Tina didn’t think Caesar had dealt with Andromalius.
The problem was that she was somewhat suspicious of Caesar.
But based on 3 years of spy experience, trying to explain this would only deepen the suspicion.
It was better to either let her remain slightly suspicious and come to her own conclusions, or let time pass until it faded from memory.
After thinking for a moment, Tina spoke.
“Then how did you find the locations of Andromalius’s laboratories? I heard that you entered the labs and brought back a lot of evidence.”
Caesar pulled out a map from inside his clothes.
“This is a map showing the locations of secret laboratories that I found on Andromalius’s corpse.”
Actually, this map was obtained from the laboratory.
But who’s going to question it if I say I got it from Andromalius’s possession?
It’s not like there are CCTV cameras or anything.
Tina and Joseph’s eyes widened at the mention of secret laboratories.
“Is this real?”
“Yes. Just in case, I visited a laboratory near Homigraph alone. Fortunately, there were no alarm or trap spells…”
Caesar then handed over a box.
“I seem to be quite late.”
Joseph and Tina opened the box.
Inside were rusty, blood-stained emblems of blue flame.
Joseph’s hands trembled.
“…Were there no remains?”
“There were armor and swords. They were too heavy to bring everything. Instead, I’ve marked the laboratory locations, so you can go retrieve them.”
Joseph shed manly tears.
“Thank you so much. Truly thank you, Sir Caesar.”
“I haven’t looked around everything yet. You should gather the holy knights and go to the secret laboratories soon.”
“Yes, understood. And… This kindness you’ve shown us will never be forgotten by me and the Dre Order.”
Ah, You better not forget.
Why else would I go through all that trouble to bring these?
I expect I’ll receive quite a large gift soon.
Caesar handed a small box to Tina.
“And this is for the Royder Order.”
It wasn’t just holy knights who were tracking Andromalius, but also heresy inquisitors.
Tina opened the box.
Inside were artifacts that only heresy inquisitors could carry.
“…Thank you.”
Tina bowed sincerely in gratitude.
But Caesar knew.
Tina had no real feelings about dead colleagues.
She only cared about the living.
“Anyway, that’s all. Do you have any other questions?”
“No, none.”
Though she said that, Tina was still suspicious.
However, she knew that pressing Caesar now would only result in denials, so she gave up.
Isn’t it strange to begin with to question why someone returned alive?
Even if circumstances don’t add up, there aren’t many people who can touch the current Caesar.
And truthfully, Tina wasn’t very interested in how Caesar survived either.
-I want to go find the laboratory quickly.
-I need to gather evidence of heresy.
Could there be anyone else who loves their work as much as Tina?
As if Caesar didn’t matter at all, she was filled with thoughts of driving stakes into heretics’ bottoms as soon as possible.
Joseph spoke up.
“By the way, I heard that your eldest brother challenged Gloria to a duel. Is that true?”
“Shamefully, that’s what happened.”
“Would you mind telling me why this occurred? If I can help resolve it, I’d like to.”
“This involves revealing family shame, so…”
“Ah, is that so? In that case…”
“Still, everyone will know soon anyway, so I’ll tell you first.”
Caesar revealed everything that had happened yesterday.
TL NOTE:
Schedule: Every {Wed-Sat}
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