WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Whispers of a Scheming Demon ◈
Chapter 48: The Count's Knights (2)
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In the lord's castle corridor, Ilea stepped out of the office and chuckled.
“Those knights seemed quite flustered just now.”
Johan nodded.
“They couldn't help it. It was probably the first time they'd ever been treated that way.”
A moment earlier, Johan had treated House Staviana's knights as though they did not exist. He had not even spared them a glance.
He had shown nothing but blatant disregard.
He had trampled on the kingdom's greatest authority. A bastard from a lowly house, no less.
The knights could not help being flustered.
Ilea said,
“Their pride must be badly hurt. Won't they come rushing out soon?”
Johan gave a faint smile and looked behind him.
“Just as you said.”
The two knights burst out of the office. One of them had not even removed their visor.
“Wait!”
The knight strode over as though stomping on the floor and stopped before Johan.
Johan spoke expressionlessly.
“I told you I was busy.”
“As I said before, Count Staviana sent us.”
The eagle emblem on the knight's chest gleamed.
“Then every one of your actions reflects the Count's will.”
Johan's eyes met the knight's through the bars of the visor.
The moment their gazes crossed, the knight's bearing gradually weakened.
“W-well...”
The Great Saint's Eye was stirring strange feelings within the knight.
“As if bursting into another house's lord's office while armed weren't enough, you haven't even disarmed yourself while speaking with me. Are you saying this outrageous conduct, which goes beyond mere rudeness, was all ordered by the Count?”
Johan pressed on in a calm tone, and the knight could not say a word.
Johan added with a dark expression,
“Unless the Count desires war... I cannot see how your attitude can be explained.”
No matter how powerful House Staviana was, House Myatro was also one of the kingdom's long-established noble houses.
They had to observe at least a minimum of courtesy toward one another.
The knight had ignored that boundary. Their actions had likely been carried out with the Count's tacit approval.
‘Just like in the original.’
Using authority to test others. That was Count Staviana's method.
It seemed childish at first glance, but its effectiveness was difficult to deny.
In the original, Gryan had been unable to withstand the Count's pressure and handed the succession to his younger brother, Kryll.
Knowing how that story unfolded, Johan had no intention of playing along with such nonsense.
Once Johan openly showed his displeasure, the knight no longer acted forcefully.
Johan was someone over whom Staviana's authority held no sway. Of course, the Count also had measures for people like him.
“I will apologize in Kembell's place.”
The remaining knight approached Johan and bowed. They had removed their visor and disarmed themself.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Myra Beriel. I serve House Staviana.”
The knight appeared to be in their mid-thirties and had a tall, striking presence.
“I am Johan Myatro.”
“I have heard many rumors about you. You are every bit as bold as they say. I hear you recently answered the Great Saint Church's summons and traveled to the Southwestern Quarantine Zone. You are truly a model noble. To think that such rudeness was shown to someone like you... Please accept my apology once more.”
The Southwestern Quarantine Zone referred to the place where Kaiaje had manifested. It had not even been a few days since Johan left the Containment Formation, yet that information had already reached the Count.
As expected, the Count's eyes and ears spanned the entire kingdom, and they were watching Johan closely.
‘...I should start being more careful.’
A sense of unease slowly crept over him. The knight had likely mentioned the Quarantine Zone to create this very pressure.
Johan said,
“Forget the apology. State your business briefly.”
“Please spare us a little time. This may be a rather long conversation.”
“I am sorry, but I am busy at the moment.”
Johan had no intention of yielding to their rudeness.
They were neither invited guests nor expected visitors. They were nothing more than uninvited intruders who had arrived without notice.
Depending on the master's circumstances, they could be thrown out at any time.
“...Is that so? Then we will wait until you are finished.”
Johan clicked his tongue and looked at Gaf.
Gaf stood leaning against the office door, waiting with an expressionless face.
“Gaf, escort our guests to the reception room. I will see them once I am done.”
Gaf nodded.
“As you command.”
He wanted to drive them out, but could not bring himself to do so. Even if Staviana crossed the line, Myatro had to keep it.
That was the logic of power.
Justification and justice were ultimately mere pretenses.
‘Still, I need to hear what they want.’
Why had the Count sent two knights? For now, Johan could not clearly grasp the Count's intentions.
Knight Myra spoke.
“Take your time wrapping things up. We will wait patiently.”
“Then I will see you later.”
Johan began walking. He headed straight for the underground library.
* * *
Ilea, Johan, and Raguel faced one another around the round table in the center of the underground library.
Johan said,
“This is the first time the three of us have gone down together.”
“That is true. From your perspective, it must be a little disappointing.”
“Why?”
“If I weren't here, you could have kept all the treasures and relics sleeping in the Forbidden Archive for yourself.”
“No, I intended to share them with you from the beginning.”
As long as Ilea existed, Johan could never monopolize the Forbidden Archive.
A Witch's obsession with the unknown was like a living creature's instinct for survival. As long as she lived, that desire would never break.
Johan had only hoped to delay the day he would have to share the Forbidden Archive with Ilea for as long as possible.
Now, that wish had been frustrated.
Ilea had found the Forbidden Archive through her own efforts, so Johan had neither grounds to stop her nor any reason to regret it.
“If that's true, I'm touched. You really do want to stay with me until the end. Why, you said so before.”
She gave him a playful smile.
“Did I?”
“I would be disappointed if you don't remember. You said it here too, back then.”
Johan actually remembered, but for some reason, he did not want to admit it.
“You are certainly useful, so it would not be strange for me to have said that.”
“Useful? That is cruel. I am not an object.”
Her eyes drooped. She was pretending to be hurt.
Raguel, who had been listening to their conversation, cautiously spoke.
“You two have become very close. At first, I think there was all that talk about killing and whatnot. Ha ha.”
Raguel still remembered the first meeting between the Witch and the demon.
Threats disguised as persuasion, barbed mockery, and smiles hiding their intentions. Nothing but uncomfortable tension had passed between them.
The tension from that day had almost completely vanished and was now difficult to find.
Ilea said with a smile,
“What would have happened if things had gone wrong between us that day? Even if I searched the entire world, there would be few subjects more stimulating than Johan. I can't believe I nearly closed off those endless possibilities with my own hands.”
Most things surrounding Johan remained hidden behind the unknown. As a Witch, Ilea could not help feeling an interest in Johan that bordered on obsession.
Johan let out a dry laugh.
“You talk about me treating you like an object, yet you treat me the same way.”
“I can't help it. I'm a Witch. Even now, my heart is racing. Today, another layer of Johan's veil may be lifted.”
They intended to descend into the Forbidden Archive and approach the crack above Johan's head.
What lay within that pitch-black void? Interest flickered in Ilea's eyes.
“A veil.”
Johan murmured quietly. He too was curious about his own identity. The moment he touched the crack, perhaps he could grasp even a single thread of the truth. He certainly held that hope.
As Johan's mood darkened slightly, Ilea cautiously spoke.
“...Did my words upset you? There is no need for that. I actually have quite a favorable impression of Johan himself as well.”
Johan frowned slightly.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You just seemed disappointed.”
“How did you get that impression?”
He had merely been lost in thought for a moment.
“Then never mind.”
Johan found it difficult to keep up with her.
The air became slightly awkward.
Raguel gave an embarrassed smile.
“W-well, in any case, we need to go down to the Forbidden Archive, right?”
Johan nodded.
“That is right. Please, Raguel.”
As usual, Raguel lightly bit his index finger. After smearing the blood that seeped out across his palm, he pressed his entire hand firmly against the center of the round table.
Biometric authentication. The moment Raguel proved his bloodline as a member of House Myatro, the round table blazed with white light.
Johan and Ilea quickly climbed onto the table.
At the same time, the ground shook.
The round table fell deeper underground.
* * *
A vast hall unfolded before them.
Countless sacred relics, displayed in orderly rows, ceaselessly spewed Holy Power.
Had Johan come in his demon body, he would have suffered as usual.
But now, he felt nothing. Johan was human.
Ilea, on the other hand, did not look well. Her eyes trembled, and her lips gradually turned blue.
She was suffering from the excessive Holy Power.
It was an unusually weak sight from her.
“I'll lend you this for a moment.”
Johan handed Ilea Kazan's Corrupted Ring.
She weakly reached out a finger.
“Put it on for me.”
Johan stared at Ilea with an incredulous expression.
“Do it yourself.”
“I have no strength.”
“How did you manage last time...?”
Ilea had definitely descended into the Forbidden Archive alone before and brought back the First Original of the Ominous Book.
“Hurry. It hurts too much.”
Johan clicked his tongue. After hesitating for a moment, he sighed and slipped the ring onto her index finger.
Only then did color return to Ilea's face.
She touched the ring with a satisfied expression.
“Now that you are done, hurry up and bring that thing.”
To approach the crack, Johan needed to be able to perceive it.
Unfortunately, Johan's magical ability was not enough to perceive even a fragment of a higher dimension.
They needed a way to break down that barrier, even briefly.
Ilea had found a solution in the Forbidden Archive.
“Alright. Please wait a moment.”
The item was classified as a treasure rather than a sacred relic.
Some treasures were extremely dangerous simply by existing, so they were handled quite differently from sacred relics.
There was a separate treasure vault inside the Forbidden Archive.
Johan could not yet enter the higher treasure vaults. An unknown treasure might cause him to lose his sense of self or even his life.
That did not apply to Ilea.
In her current state, she had enough ability to enter at least the Fourth Tier treasure vault or below.
Anything beyond that would likely be difficult even for her.
Fortunately, the item they needed was located in the Fifth Tier treasure vault.
At the edge of the hall, one of the white doors lined up in a row opened and quickly shut.
A moment later, Ilea appeared again. In her hand was a small gold-rimmed monocle.
It was unfamiliar even to Johan, who had read the original.
Ilea approached and said,
“It is the Telescope of Vain Desire. It shows objects and phenomena that exceed the wearer's current ability to perceive.”
“You found something like that.”
“I saw it during my last visit. There is nothing the Forbidden Archive does not have.”
“So I just put it on?”
“Before that, wait a moment. There is something you must hear. Normally, when an intelligent being encounters a phenomenon far beyond their own level, they cannot maintain their sense of self. The moment you perceive the crack through this monocle, Johan's mind may collapse.”
It was a setting Johan already knew well.
“I was fine even in the presence of Apostle Beris and Kaiaje. I don't think simply seeing the crack will cause a problem.”
“I agree, which is why I proposed this method. But there is one thing you should know. When you encountered Beris and Kaiaje, Johan had a different form from the one you have now.”
Back then, he had been demonized.
“My soul is the same.”
“That is right. Usually, the rank of one's soul determines an intelligent being's worth.”
“Then that settles it.”
“...Still, just in case, it would be safer to use mental protection magic as well.”
They could not use magic in the Forbidden Archive.
An unknown sacred relic that reacted to Mana or Demonic Energy might attack Johan and Ilea.
Johan nodded.
The three returned to the underground library.
* * *
Once all preparations were complete, Johan put on the monocle.
The density of the world he saw changed.
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