Chapter 97 – Spread the Wings (1)

‘…A quest?’

Until now, Henry had faced numerous messages, but this kind was a first.

Of course, the meaning itself was simple.

The Archmage instructed something, and if he performed it as it was, he could receive high rewards.

However, the important things were the reason he handed the quest, and also its content.

[The currently generated quest is as follows.]

1. Acquire the treasure of the Camilton family.

‘…What even is the treasure of the Camilton family?’

Henry had never even heard of the family possessing a treasure until now.

For Viscount Camilton had sold all valuable items to support Henry.

‘But it must exist. There must be something.’

The opponent was the Archmage. In fact, now he didn’t even know if he was really a wizard or what, but it was hard to think that he had made a mistake.

Perhaps Viscount Camilton did not know either, or it might be an item in a place other than here.

‘In any case, I must perform it.’

The Archmage was such an existence.

There was no way he would display a message with a lie, and his ability to find out hidden secrets was also more than enough.

Yet he was also abnormally favorable to Henry.

‘At the same time, I can also use it as broadcast content.’

The Archmage’s quest. Just by hearing that expression, it was clear that the viewers would feel interest.

But the moment he thought so.

The Archmage placed a restriction.

[Precautions]

* You cannot mention content related to the quest.

* A new quest will only be generated when the current quest is completed.

* If the quest fails, no new quest will appear for 30 days.

‘…It cannot be helped.’

It seemed the Archmage wished for this fact to not be known to the viewers.

Although he could not know why, he did not particularly wish to know either.

For there must be a reason of his own.

There were no additional messages popping up. Henry, who waited for a moment, headed to the outskirts of the estate.

***

Viscount Camilton.

Lucas Camilton was focusing on farming. Wearing a straw hat, and wrapped in thin cotton clothes, he was pouring fertilizer.

Although it was far from the dignity of a lord, Lucas had long since turned off his interest in such things early on.

In fact, thanks to Lucas’s attitude like this, they were able to naturally mix and live even in ‘someone else’s territory.’

Since he did not care about authority himself, the estate residents rather treated the Viscount politely, and the Redwood Viscount also showed a similar reaction.

“Ugh.”

Lucas, who was devoted to shoveling, straightened his waist.

For it was because he heard footsteps.

“For what reason would a guest at this hour…”

Although he murmured with the intention of treating them to a meal if it was one or two people, the guest was beyond Lucas’s expectations.

“Henry?”

It was his son. His son, who should have been at the academy, was approaching with a grin.

“I had some business, so I could not contact you in advance.”

“It is truly out of the blue.”

“For your son to visit and for you to say it is out of the blue is a bit…”

“Which means I am all the more glad. Welcome. I must speed up the meal preparations. Even if you couldn’t contact me, you must have come with an empty stomach?”

“Of course.”

Lucas smiled warmly and shook the dirt off his hands. He headed to the kitchen and prepared the tableware with clattering sounds.

A hum flowed out.

To Lucas, who always solved meals alone, a guest’s visit was a quite pleasant event.

Especially when the guest was his precious son above all else.

He boiled onion soup first, and began to grill two large chunks of meat. He did not forget salt and pepper either. After also grilling vegetables to accompany it, Lucas turned only his head to look at his son.

“Would you like to have a beer?”

“I would love to.”

Lucas poured beer into the glass with a satisfied face.

While other nobles were obsessed with wine, calling it a fairy’s kiss or Aquila’s gift, he was a beer person.

In fact, there were also no circumstances to do so.

The table filled up in no time. It was a table that was normally hollow and empty. Sitting face-to-face with Henry, Lucas pushed forward the glass with a grin.

A clear sound.

Emptying half the glass in one go, Lucas spoke.

“Let’s eat.”

Everyday conversation followed. It was an atmosphere no different from an ordinary dinner.

In fact, Lucas had many things he wanted to ask, but asking now was not the behavior to show to his son.

No matter how humble it was, this place was home.

Home had to be a place where one could return anytime and rest at ease.

Soon the two finished their meal.

Lucas roughly cleared the tableware, and cut and brought out a block of cheese to eat as snacks. The filled beer glasses were also together.

Only then did Henry begin to bring up the story he prepared.

“There was some business. There is no bad news. It is all good news.”

The story related to Austin Roderick came out.

He calmly listened to the problems that had arisen in the meantime, and how he resolved them.

“If it is Sir Melissa… that was the request you made to me back then.”

“Because I knew she would follow all the way here.”

When he visited this place in the past.

Henry had asked Lucas to ‘detach’ Melissa.

For he had planned to put forward ‘Viscount Camilton’s’ permission as a reliable shield if push came to shove.

“It is a good thing. You will visit the Knights?”

“I must. Since she invited me so much.”

“In my opinion too, that would be better.”

It was not a matter of joining or not joining.

Henry was in a position of having received help.

To decline even a request to simply visit was an action that went against basic courtesy.

“To think it is a situation where you can graduate anytime if you set your mind…”

“I plan to do it as quickly as possible. The Headmaster is waiting for an opportunity.”

“For what?”

“An opportunity to raise my body value.”

“…To think he is truly such a person.”

“He said if I am a 2-star knight, he will be able to receive 120,000 gold?”

“…You must truly graduate quickly.”

Although he spoke of 120,000 gold, if it was truly demanded as body value, it was an amount Lucas could never pay.

He was not in a position to ignore the practices of the Knight Academy either.

“By the way, Father.”

Henry’s atmosphere changed slightly. Lucas raised his eyebrows.

“Yes.”

“By any chance, do you have nothing to give me?”

“…Even without you saying so.”

Answering reflexively, Lucas laughed as if it was amazing.

“I was just about to speak. Just how did you find out?”

“I felt that it would be so for some reason.”

“To think you felt it would be so…”

“For such a thought came to my mind. That no matter how bad the situation became, Father is not a person who would ever sell the symbol of the family.”

“The symbol of the family.”

“I am not asking if there is gold to inherit. Only, what should I say… Although it might not be for other people, it is the kind of item that holds significant meaning to those who use the name Camilton, right?”

The corners of Viscount Camilton’s mouth went up.

Where would there be words more grateful than this?

If one thought of the usual Henry, it was also a reason fully understandable.

“Although it was also so when I saw your appearance last time, now I truly obtain the conviction that I may do so.”

“…What kind of conviction?”

“You spoke just now, right? That you felt I wouldn’t have sold the symbol of the family.”

It was an item that would have fetched a massive price if he had wished to sell it. However, Lucas did not do so. For it was an item he had to pass down to Henry somehow.

“The Camilton of the past was a prestigious family, Henry.”

Lucas spoke while bearing eyes full of pride. It was not a word he laid out to dress up the roots for his child, but was truly so.

Lucas stood up from his seat, then stopped and stood in the middle of the cottage.

“Beneath this is the token of our family.”

The floor of the cottage was lifted. It was an entrance that seemed as if it would appear in a storyteller’s heroic tale.

Henry looked at Viscount Camilton with a face showing dumbfoundedness.

“There was such a thing in the house?”

“It has been here since before this cottage was built. Follow me.”

Under the floorboards lay stairs. They were old and dusty wooden stairs.

As Viscount Camilton, who led the way down, tapped somewhere on the wall, the lights turned on brightly.

“Is it magic?”

“It is magic.”

“This place must be more expensive than the cottage.”

“It must be.”

At the unexpected sentiment, Lucas Camilton ended up laughing again.

Usually in this kind of situation, isn’t wondering about the contents the priority?

But his son was not ordinary.

‘How admirable.’

Despite facing an unexpected situation, he did not get excited. He did not show any sign of being thrilled either. He merely kept a thorough composure, just as he always did.

‘It is a necessary virtue for a splendid knight.’

Around the time Lucas Camilton was having such thoughts.

Henry too was digesting a busy moment in his own way.

“Settling down in the Redwood Viscounty was not a coincidence. Even if this place was the middle of another territory, you would have managed to secure a residence somehow.”

[Private broadcast is in progress.]

[The recorded video is uploaded to the channel in a ‘private’ state.]

To use the manager’s expression, Henry was currently ‘filming a video.’

The broadcast conducted privately was registered to the channel, but only the manager could verify the content.

The disadvantage was the fact that it was impossible to communicate with viewers in real-time. Also, the advantage was the part where he could continue a progression suitable for an ‘upload video.’

“It is probably a space passed down for generations. Because when I entered the academy, our family did not have money. Newly preparing such a space was impossible.”

Perhaps hundreds of years ago, this place might have been the territory of the Camilton family.

They prepared a place to store important items in the middle, but going through generations, Camilton lost the land bit by bit.

If Henry had not become a knight?

He would have ended up unable to protect even this tiny cottage.

“If such a moment had arrived, Father might have given up too. That is, if I could not graduate from the academy and could not inherit the name Camilton.”

However, a sliver of hope remained.

Lucas Camilton endured, and that time was finally shining.

How far had they gone down?

Suddenly, Lucas stopped walking.

“It is here.”

“The door is not worn out at all.”

“Because it is indeed an item on which magic was cast. Also, this is not a door just anyone can open.”

Saying so, Lucas brought out the needle he had packed.

He lightly pricked his thumb, and brought the gathered droplet of blood to the doorknob.

“It is made so that only those who received Camilton’s blood can enter.”

Along with a clicking open sound, Lucas Camilton spoke.

And beyond the opened door.

There was a space of considerable scale.

“…It is an empty space.”

Henry spoke. It was a word directed to the viewers, not Lucas.

The area was considerable, but only a hollow chill was lingering inside.

Storage cases and display cabinets. The interior, which would have once been filled with all kinds of treasures, had reduced its amount bit by bit as it went through generations.

Although it was Lucas whose heart would have grown heavy just by looking at this sight in the past, it was different now.

“The treasures stored here were those that could be changed to money anytime, Henry.”

“You used them all for my academy admission, right?”

“Not to that extent. In any case, this one thing is different.”

Just one.

In the middle of the emptiness, there was an item occupying one side of a glass storage case.

It was a ring. However, at the place where the jewel should have been, a dragon pattern spreading its wings was engraved.

“It is the crest of the Camilton family.”

“You remember.”

Lucas smiled as if proud. He carefully opened the display cabinet and brought out the ring.

“It is slightly different from the image of the heirloom I thought of. Since, just looking at its appearance, it feels like a simple family seal. However, Father spoke that there was not only symbolic meaning to this item.”

It could be sold. There was also a conviction that he could receive a substantial price. However, this was an item that must not be lost.

“And it is also visible in my eyes. The mana contained in the ring is overwhelming. I could not even think that such immense mana could be contained in an item as small as a ring.”

Henry’s eyes were speaking.

This was an item precious to the extent that it could not be compared to the artifacts he had faced in the black market.

“The necklace the Headmaster lent me was S-grade, and the pair of daggers I presented to Austin was the same.”

A larger amount of mana was contained in an outstanding item.

The to that, Henry was able to sweep up artifacts.

And now.

“If I compare it with the necklace I am currently wearing.”

Henry was in a state of genuine admiration, not for the sake of the broadcast.

“In this ring, there is mana contained that is at least a hundred times that.”

BJ Swordmaster