WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
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◈ The Northern Grand Duke’s Mad Son-in-Law ◈
Chapter 48: Frightening
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‘You really came.’
Galahad narrowed his eyes at the man seated beside Pumpkin.
The man had been a nuisance to Galahad since their days at the Academy.
His father was a director who had secured his position in the Intelligence Bureau through connections. A director’s son should have been arrogant or scheming behind the scenes, yet this man had simply continued challenging Galahad and accepted defeat without complaint.
He had even refused his father’s help.
All for the sake of a “fair match” with Galahad.
Convinced he could not beat Galahad without magic, he had even learned magic himself.
A knight learning magic...
It was absurd bullshit, but he had become remarkably proficient.
By the end, he had become difficult enough to give even Galahad some trouble.
‘You followed me all the way here.’
Galahad knew the man was obsessed, but he had not expected him to follow him to the north.
Normally, Galahad would have disposed of him.
‘This isn’t bad, though.’
He needed manpower.
He had planned to visit an Intelligence Bureau safehouse and bring back someone suitable, but the man had come to him first.
He was a capable mage and an equally capable agent. He was far better than anyone Galahad could have brought from a safehouse.
By chance, he had drawn the best card possible.
But...
‘...What was this agent’s name again?’
Galahad looked the man over and muttered.
The man spoke first.
“Stop joking around.”
“Sorry, but I’m not joking.”
Pumpkin coughed softly, mouthing, “First! First!”
“Ah, Hurst. I didn’t recognize you because you’ve changed so much. Did you get taller?”
“It’s First, not Hurst.”
“Ah, right. That was your name.”
“Stop pretending you don’t remember. Your memory is better than anyone’s.”
“It’s true that my memory is exceptional. It isn’t infinite, though. I remember things according to their importance.”
“Ah, that certainly sounds efficient.”
Pumpkin nodded. First’s face twisted.
“So my agent name is not important to you? Ha. What a clumsy attempt to provoke me.”
“Ah, he’s always like this.”
Galahad nodded at Pumpkin’s explanation. Yes, First had always been like that.
“Haha, I was surprised when I heard you were suddenly marrying the Northern Grand Duke’s daughter.”
Perhaps trying to ease the mood, Pumpkin changed the subject.
“That’s how life goes. Much like the two of you becoming lovers.”
“We aren’t lovers.”
“Pumpkin!”
“Ah, we are lovers. Please don’t put your arm around my shoulders. Seriously...”
“Haha, Pumpkin is still very shy.”
“I think it’s closer to disgust than shyness.”
Pumpkin pretended to cough and knocked First’s arm away.
First casually asked another question.
“There’ll be a problem if that person finds out.”
“That person?”
At the vague reference, Galahad scratched his neck. Had that gotten out somehow? It couldn’t have...
“The Princess.”
‘Ah, right. There was that.’
Galahad relaxed at Pumpkin’s explanation.
Still, the Princess was hardly a welcome subject.
“The Princess and I are only connected through work.”
“Weren’t you the one who raised her from someone not even mentioned as a successor candidate, someone on the verge of death, to a leading candidate? It’s already famous how deeply she cherishes you because of that, so don’t deny it.”
Galahad frowned at First’s probing.
It was not a pleasant memory.
Galahad had made all kinds of efforts to stop the Demon King.
The Princess had been one of those efforts.
It had worked fairly well.
[You’re in danger. This is our best option.]
Until she made a foolish choice.
Their relationship had ended with that choice.
“It was only because I was competent. Nothing more. Besides, isn’t she soon to be married? Don’t say such disrespectful things.”
Galahad spoke firmly.
He had been quite involved with her, but that was in the past.
[So you dare say you’re leaving me?]
The ending had been a little messy, but endings were always like that.
“Ah.”
An awkward expression crossed Pumpkin’s face. First gave an irritating little snicker.
Galahad frowned at the strange mood.
“You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Hmm.”
First put a cigar between his lips. The smell of wet wood filled the air.
“The prince she was supposed to marry.”
The corners of First’s lips curled upward around the cigar.
Silence followed for a moment.
Then...
“He’s dead.”
First grinned broadly.
“Dead? He was a healthy man.”
Galahad asked with a frown.
Galahad knew better than anyone how healthy the foreign prince had been. He was the one who had acquired the list of potential matches for her.
Yet that prince was dead?
“They say he died suddenly. The Imperial Family is keeping it quiet.”
“A sudden death?”
“Yes. It was a recent assignment of ours, so we know for certain.”
Pumpkin added to First’s words. If it had been their assignment, it was confirmed. Galahad’s thoughts grew tangled.
First’s lips moved as though he could not wait to speak.
“...But there’s a very interesting rumor.”
“An interesting rumor?”
“They say he was poisoned.”
First raised the corners of his lips as though savoring the words.
‘...Poisoned?’
Galahad frowned at the ominous word.
‘Surely not...’
He shook his head.
Her intended husband had been the legitimate son of the largest kingdom in the Kingdom Alliance.
She was insane, but she was also intelligent. She could not possibly fail to understand what would happen if she killed him.
[I will correct my mistake. Wait just a little longer.]
Her whisper came to mind.
Galahad’s mouth went dry.
‘It can’t be.’
That would not be correcting a mistake. It would be tearing it apart, then rubbing salt into it.
He knew she was mad, but...
‘No matter how mad she is, she wouldn’t cause something that big.’
Galahad shook his head.
Yet the more he did, the more unease rose inside him.
What if she had done something so foolish and insane?
Galahad snapped his fingers twice.
He ran the calculations again. The result was the same.
From the moment she made that bad move, she had no chance of becoming Empress.
It was not a possibility worth reconsidering.
“What does that have to do with me?”
Galahad asked, brushing his bangs back.
Pumpkin’s expression tightened, while First smirked.
“That’s the Galahad I know. Ah, then she...”
“That’s far enough. She is forbidden territory in the Intelligence Bureau. I don’t want to kill you.”
Galahad warned him, cracking his fingers.
First’s smile disappeared.
Pumpkin looked at First’s stiffened face and muttered quietly.
“He got scared.”
* * *
‘He’s gotten stronger.’
First instinctively sensed that Galahad had reached a higher level.
Galahad had always been a monster.
But he had grown even stronger...
‘That’s what a worthy rival should be like.’
First smiled with satisfaction.
Out of respect for his rival, First changed the subject.
“So why did you come to the north?”
“Why? Because I was told to.”
First coughed out a laugh at Galahad’s calm answer. Smoke scattered from his lips.
According to Jamit, an imperial decree had sent Galahad to the north.
It could not have been the Emperor. There had been no news of the Emperor waking up.
It was likely an order from someone with authority comparable to the Emperor’s, dressed up as an imperial decree.
Even so, an imperial decree was still an imperial decree.
It was only natural that it could not be refused.
Yet Galahad was not someone who bowed his head because of an imperial decree.
Galahad was not the sort of man who could be forced to move. If he hated the choice before him, he would have faked his death to avoid it.
There had to be a reason he came to the north.
The most likely one was...
“Are you still looking for the Demon King?”
Galahad’s fingers went still as he tapped ash from his cigarette.
‘That’s the answer.’
The Demonkin were not a major threat to the Empire right now.
They rarely appeared in the central regions to begin with, and even when they did, they were not especially dangerous.
Assignments targeting Demonkin were considered sweet jobs.
At present, the Kingdom Alliance was a greater nuisance to the Empire than the Demonkin.
The Intelligence Bureau was an organization driven by the Empire’s interests and calculations.
“I’ll say it again. The Demon King is inevitable. If we do not prepare for him, one day he will turn the entire continent to ash.”
Galahad’s voice was full of certainty.
Just as when he first said it... No, his certainty was even stronger than before.
First frowned, about to argue, when Galahad raised a hand.
Galahad hated being interrupted. First shut his mouth. Pumpkin clicked her tongue quietly.
“Did you receive information about the north?”
First’s expression hardened at Galahad’s question.
Before coming to Galahad, First had received information about the north. Gathering information about an assignment was the foundation of an agent’s work.
“I did.”
“What did you think?”
“It was garbage.”
First answered honestly.
“I agree. Even if the Intelligence Bureau has little influence in the north, this was far too lacking. I was shocked when I first saw the reports. There was not even basic information about the north.”
“Basic information?”
Galahad’s dark eyes fixed on First.
“The strength of Demonkin changes according to mana concentration. Just like magic.”
First let out a low sound at those words.
He had not determined it precisely, but the mana concentration in the north was several times higher than in the capital.
If Demonkin were affected by mana concentration...
“So the Demonkin in the capital are several times weaker than the ones here?”
“And powerful Demonkin do not leave their territory.”
That meant every Demonkin they had encountered in the central regions had been insignificant.
Even if that were true, they would not pose much of a threat unless the mana concentration in the capital changed.
“Recently, dark mages here opened something called the Demon Realm. It is Demonkin Territory.”
Galahad added the words as though he had read First’s thoughts.
“...The Demon Realm?”
At that moment, the door flew open.
A man who looked like a knight entered.
“Captain, I heard some strange bastards arrived! What kind of bastards are they?!”
Galahad’s expression changed. It was subtle, but he seemed more at ease.
“You came at the right time. Sir Gilbert, these are temporary recruits I picked up. Take them and show them the Demon Realm.”
“We’re already short on people. Why are you bringing in temporary recruits?”
“Just take them for a little while.”
“Yes, sir! Hey! What are you standing around for? Move it!”
At Gilbert’s roar, First and Pumpkin rose from their seats.
They had already put on the dumbfounded expressions of new recruits.
Disguises were the most basic skill for Intelligence Bureau agents.
Galahad watched the two of them get dragged away by Gilbert for a moment.
Then he saw a familiar face through the open door.
“Ah.”
It was Adrianna, her brows drawn down slightly.
“You could have knocked before coming in.”
At Galahad’s rebuke, Adrianna opened her mouth, then closed it again.
* * *
‘...Fuck, what kind of brutally harsh training is this?!’
Pumpkin desperately held back the curse that was about to burst out.
She did not like the strange environment of the Demon Realm to begin with. Still, she could endure that much.
Pumpkin was a capable agent, even if she could not be compared to Galahad or First.
The problem was Gilbert’s brute-force training.
The Demon Realm already made it hard to breathe just standing still. Combined with Gilbert’s mindless training, even Pumpkin struggled to endure.
Still, she could not collapse.
“Can’t even endure this much training?!”
She had seen Gilbert frothing at the mouth as he kicked a soldier who had collapsed.
“So it was true.”
First spoke in a low voice. His face looked exhausted, but Pumpkin knew it was an act.
If he were truly tired, his voice could not be that steady.
“W-what...?”
“The mana concentration is incomparably higher, and Demonkin grow stronger in proportion to mana concentration.”
First caught the swaying Pumpkin. Pumpkin leaned on his hand and caught her breath.
“The Intelligence Bureau’s main targets are the Kingdom Alliance, high-ranking officials, and anti-imperialists. The Intelligence Bureau has no interest in the north to begin with.”
“That is true. Still, the safehouse had a fair amount of information, sparse though it was. Headquarters, on the other hand, lacked information about the north.”
“Are you saying someone at headquarters is tampering with information about the north?”
“We do not know yet.”
“Stand up straight over there!”
At Gilbert’s roar, First let go of Pumpkin’s hand. Pumpkin gritted her teeth, tensed her body, and endured.
“One of Galahad’s assignments was an espionage operation. Its purpose was to destabilize the growing Kingdom Alliance. Do you know what Galahad did?”
Pumpkin frowned at First’s question. Why the hell did he memorize other people’s assignments? She was too short of breath to say it aloud.
“Normally, a spy would infiltrate the strongest kingdom. If you shake the strongest side, the rest will shake too.”
Unaware of Pumpkin’s thoughts, First began talking eagerly. Pumpkin tried to curse, but only drool came out.
“But Galahad chose the weakest kingdom. Then he began building it up. It was the complete opposite of what everyone else would do.”
Couldn’t care less...
Pumpkin breathed out raggedly.
“As a result, the smallest kingdom grew large enough that it could no longer be ignored. The balance of power shifted, and the Kingdom Alliance was destabilized. I asked him why he deliberately chose such a difficult path. Do you know what he said?”
Don’t know, fuck...
Pumpkin could only choke out, “D-don’t kno... Hack!”
“The rewards are greater that way, he said. Isn’t that funny? While everyone else only thought about succeeding at the assignment, he considered the size of the reward that would come after success.”
So what?!
Pumpkin coughed. Her breath caught in her throat. First patted her back, and only then could she breathe again.
“I believe his actions this time are the same.”
“...What do you mean?”
“He...”
First’s eyes sharpened.
Here comes the crazy talk.
Pumpkin spat.
“He chose the north this time.”
‘He chose the north... Then is the Empire his opponent?’
Pumpkin frowned at the absurdly arrogant statement.
She knew Galahad was the best among the agents.
Still...
“He’s only one person.”
Pumpkin answered uncertainly. No matter how remarkable Galahad was, he was alone.
What did it matter if he chose the north?
“That is true. He is alone.”
First’s nostrils flared.
Here comes the bullshit.
Pumpkin muttered a curse under her breath.
“For now...”
First even paused for effect.
After moving his lips for a moment, he continued.
“But if I, First, Galahad’s eternal nemesis and rival, join him? Hoo...”
First exhaled hot breath.
“Frightening.”
Pumpkin was genuinely frightened too.
* * *
“So Galahad sent you?”
Eight frowned at the man looking up at him.
The man’s glittering eyes and groveling posture made him the perfect example of an incompetent opportunist.
Eight hated people like him most.
Why had that person gotten involved with someone like this...?
“That is correct. Are you Corton?”
“Yes! That’s right! Oh dear! An Executive has arrived, and I failed to prepare anything! I’m sorry!”
Eight fought down the nausea rising at Corton’s groveling.
“Send word to the higher-ups. Tell them I brought the Monster Tamer’s magic circle.”
“The higher-ups? Yes! Understood!”
Eight clicked his tongue at the man, who asked the question before flinching in alarm.
Eight disliked him.
Still, if a report came from someone like that, even the Society Head would believe it.
The Society Head loved incompetents more than anyone.
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