Whispers of a Scheming Demon - Chapter 107

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Whispers of a Scheming Demon ◈

Chapter 107: An Untimely Amusement

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Butler Haman left the study.

Watching his retreating back, Johan tapped the armrest of his chair.

‘Hmm.’

He sank into thought for a moment.

‘...The Count hired someone that clueless as a butler?’

No matter how he thought about it, he could not understand.

The Count was an extremely meticulous man.

He always paid attention even to trivial errands.

There was no way he would handle personnel matters carelessly.

‘Did he just pick someone at random because they weren't originally this household's butler?’

That did not seem likely.

Johan was currently very important to the Count.

The Count had to be mindful of Johan.

He would not want to offend Johan over a minor mistake.

He had no choice but to do his best in matters concerning Johan.

He had to save his wife, after all.

Yet he had hired such a sloppy butler. Johan found it impossible to understand.

After pondering for a while, he rifled through the stack of documents.

‘Found it.’

Among the documents the Count had given him was a personnel list for the estate.

Johan examined the information concerning Haman.

Haman von Regash. The youngest child of the Regash Family and top graduate of Yebinwon. He was such an outstanding talent that the royal court had sought him out personally.

Doubt filled Johan's face.

‘...A noble? And Yebinwon's top graduate?’

Some butlers came from noble families.

When they were the youngest sons of impoverished families, they usually could not inherit property, so they sometimes entered the service of other nobles.

Haman was one of them.

Even that was unusual, but another phrase caught Johan's eye.

Top graduate of Yebinwon.

Yebinwon was a gateway to official positions for commoners and lower nobles.

The moment they graduated from Yebinwon, even commoners could enter government service.

Most were employed by great nobles or assigned menial work in the royal household.

But it was different for a top graduate.

They were immediately appointed to minor royal administrative posts.

They were the best of the best.

Johan let out a hollow laugh.

‘That guy graduated top of Yebinwon?’

The difference between his first impression and what the documents said was too great.

Johan stared intently at the papers.

The portrait on the page was identical to Haman's actual face.

‘Maybe he's the type who's good at studying but weak in practical work.’

There were people like that sometimes.

The kind called airheads.

Johan clicked his tongue and closed the documents.

It seemed the Count had hired Haman based on his grades alone.

‘That was careless of him, for a Count.’

The Count must have been extremely busy lately.

He probably had not had the time to handle everything perfectly.

That was all Johan thought of it.

He had no intention of dismissing Haman.

In truth, Haman's expertise was not especially important to Johan.

They would only see each other a few times anyway.

Johan had merely been curious about the Count's personnel arrangements and the person named Haman.

All his questions had been answered.

The Count had been careless in his work, and Haman was simply an airhead.

The moment he reached that conclusion, every thought related to the matter vanished from Johan's mind.

Another concern took its place.

‘...Horentz Marcano.’

He would meet him tomorrow.

The goal of this meeting was simple.

First, make a good impression. Johan needed a good relationship with the Marcano Family for his plans to proceed without trouble.

They were one of the royalist factions loyal to the king.

The royalist families would never recognize Myatro's right to self-government.

If Johan wished to become a Duke-King, he had to win over the royalist nobles first.

Four of the Council's families were royalists.

Among them, the Marcano Family was the easiest to recruit.

Unlike the other royalists, who were utterly bound by loyalty, Viscount House Marcano moved solely according to its interests.

True to their merchant origins, the Marcanos were extremely shrewd with calculations.

They would probably accept Johan's offer.

Johan knew well what the Marcano Family desired, and he was confident he could use it.

Johan read through the documents the Count had given him.

He was reviewing information about the Marcano Family one last time.

Flip. Flip.

For a while, only the sound of turning pages filled the room.

“That should do it.”

Mapheltan stretched deeply. The arms visible at his sides had turned black.

Before he knew it, he had become a demon.

He looked out the window.

The sun had fully set.

Mapheltan stared blankly outside.

Beyond the estate walls, the streets were still full of lights.

True to its nickname as the city that never sleeps, the Royal Capital was as bright at night as it was in broad daylight.

Only the space around Mapheltan was dyed in pitch-black darkness.

Emptiness suddenly washed over him.

“What do I do now?”

There had been no time to be bored in the Baron's territory, even at night.

Raguel, Ilea, Zalkarin, Gaf, Hakain, and others. Whether he talked with them, trained, or did anything else, Mapheltan's surroundings had always been lively.

The Royal Capital was different.

Once the sun set, Mapheltan could do nothing.

He could not leave the estate or walk through the city.

The moment he strolled the streets in a demon's body, he would be as good as dead.

The Royal Capital was filled with countless powerful people, and Mapheltan had to act outside their notice.

In other words, he was confined to the estate.

Mapheltan swallowed a groan.

“...This is going to be boring for a while.”

It was unbearable to think of wasting so much time.

He needed to find something he could do at night.

Mapheltan gazed blankly at the ceiling.

He sank into thought.

His thoughts continued for a long time.

How much time had passed? Mapheltan's brow suddenly furrowed.

‘What was that?’

Rustle.

He heard a sound from somewhere.

Mapheltan listened closely.

An Apostle's keen senses spread through the estate like a web.

He heard faint footsteps.

There were hushed whispers as well.

Someone had entered the estate.

Mapheltan frowned.

‘Haman, that idiot. I told him so many times.’

It seemed a few servants had remained in the estate.

With a long sigh, Mapheltan activated his Authority.

His form vanished like a mirage.

He hid within Nightfall Immersion.

No one could sense Mapheltan's presence.

Blending into the darkness, Mapheltan heightened his senses to their limit.

He heard voices.

They were too far away for him to make out the conversation.

Mapheltan drifted through the darkness and left the study.

A long corridor stretched before him.

There was no one there.

Only footsteps could be heard.

‘The stairs?’

Mapheltan glided toward the center of the second floor.

‘Ha!’

Two humans in black masks were cautiously coming up to the second floor.

Anyone could see they were thieves.

Mapheltan found it absurd.

‘Thieves on the first day?’

He was quite flustered.

Then something even more absurd happened.

One of the thieves pulled out a map from inside their clothes.

Mapheltan approached and checked what was on it.

‘What is this?’

The map showed the estate's layout in detail.

Information about the estate had already been sold.

After checking the map, one thief pointed somewhere.

The other nodded.

They inspected various places around the estate, then soon headed for the study.

Mapheltan silently followed them.

Creeeak.

A thief carefully opened the study door.

Naturally, no one was inside.

The two immediately entered and began searching through the room.

One of them grew excited and raised their voice slightly.

“Look at this.”

They held a large backpack in their hand.

Several dazzling sacred relics could be seen through its open gap.

They were items Mapheltan had taken from the Forbidden Archive.

The other thief spoke, eyes gleaming.

“I found something too.”

They held a bundle of parchment.

They were documents concerning the Council that Johan had received from the Count.

“What are you going to do with scraps of paper? Just leave them.”

“Idiot. Read a few lines of what's written here. You'll change your mind.”

The documents were packed with information worth more than gold.

“Fine, let's get out of here quickly.”

“What's the rush? Let's look around a little more. When will we ever get to rob a haul like this again?”

“I'm worried sick. Isn't it strange that this is going so easily? Doesn't it seem odd that a mansion this large doesn't have a single soldier?”

“What is strange about it? That's what the Guild's information said. Some Watcher of Narak or whatever came up from the countryside. He probably doesn't know how frightening the world is.”

Mapheltan carefully considered their conversation.

Since they had mentioned a Guild, it seemed information about the estate had been fully disclosed to the thieves' guild.

Only one day after arriving in the capital, the estate's circumstances had become public knowledge.

Mapheltan let out a hollow laugh in the darkness.

‘This is ridiculous.’

Who could have sold information about the estate? It was probably one of the servants.

One thief spoke.

“Either way, I'm too uneasy. Rob the rest by yourself. I'm leaving.”

“Tch, coward. Fine, get lost. Just don't come crawling back later.”

Mapheltan swallowed a groan.

The thieves were exceptionally low quality.

They possessed no sense of professionalism at all.

They were probably low-ranking members of the thieves' guild.

It was not normal for such riffraff to break into the estate of a Council family.

If someone truly intended to rob this place, people much higher up should have been involved.

That was what Mapheltan thought.

One thief slung the backpack containing the sacred relics over their shoulder and started walking.

“I'm going. Wrap things up and come out too. Don't get caught and hold me back.”

Just as they were about to leave the study, a sinister voice echoed through the room.

“From now on, I will ask a few questions.”

The thieves froze where they stood.

The voice carried a power that made humans freeze.

The thief who had stolen the sacred relics stammered.

“W-Was that your voice just now?”

“...No. Behind you. That thing.”

The eyes of the thief holding the documents shook violently.

A vicious being was reflected in their pupils.

A massive black back, wings that completely covered the study, and two pure-white horns jutting above the back of its head. A being that should have appeared only in the Ominous Book had somehow positioned itself between the two thieves.

“Behind me? What do you mean...?”

One thief turned their head with a creak.

Their pupils widened.

They were meeting crimson eyes.

The thief dropped the backpack.

Overwhelming fear consumed their entire body.

They could not even scream.

Mapheltan slowly opened his mouth.

“First question. Who did you buy information about this estate from?”

There was no response.

“G-Guh...”

Only ragged breathing could be heard.