Chapter 11 – Job Hunting (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Four months had passed since Roria became Duke Altia.

There were now only five years left until the original story began.

Winter had given way to spring, and as the world turned soft and lazy beneath the warming air, Evan looked at Alon and said:

“Young master. Or should I be calling you Count now?”

“The formal succession ceremony hasn’t happened yet.”

Strictly speaking, that was true. But in practice, Alon had already moved past being merely the heir of House Palladio. He could now use the title of Count Palladio for himself.

“Even so, you’re a count in all but name. It feels strange, seeing you like this.”

“Does it?”

Alon smiled faintly.

It was really more of a wry smile.

This was never part of the plan.

From the start, his goal had not been to become a count. His goal had been to keep the title of noble and live a leisurely noble’s life somewhere quiet.

Unfortunately, Leo, who had originally been supposed to inherit the title, had been assassinated out of nowhere, and so Alon had ended up here instead.

The result was not entirely bad, though.

There were parts of his old plan he still missed. Spending his days in Rodmill toying with magic, eating toast, and living quietly had held a certain appeal. But the seat of a count had its own benefits. It allowed him to enjoy the comfortable life he wanted in a more refined and luxurious way.

Naturally, that came with responsibilities.

Even so, after half a year of dealing with a count’s work as the acting heir, Alon had concluded the work-life balance was still excellent.

He had never expected it, but being born into a family of delinquent nobles turned out to be useful.

Nobles were usually busy not only because of their territories but because of politics.

House Palladio, however, was not involved in politics at all unless something truly urgent happened. That made a relaxed life possible by default.

And though the assassins who erased Avalon had done an immaculate job, they had not taken any of the money the organization had made. Unless Alon chose to become outrageously extravagant, the fortune already sitting in Palladio hands would let him live comfortably for another five years without difficulty.

“By the way, did you find anything new?”

“About the assassins who killed Leo?”

Alon nodded. Evan shook his head.

“Nothing yet. Even the information guild seems to be handling it carefully. They say they’ve never seen a case like this.”

“I see.”

Alon clicked his tongue softly.

He had not been investigating because he wanted revenge on Leo’s killers.

He was investigating because the past itself was beginning to shift.

A butterfly effect, I suppose. Not that I didn’t expect one.

He had interfered everywhere, rescuing the Five Great Sins and cleaning up future problems in advance. That was not the flutter of a butterfly’s wings. It was closer to creating a hurricane with his own hands.

Of course the past would change.

Still, some of those changes baffled him.

The clearest example was Roria. In the future Alon originally knew, she should already have been dead.

Instead, she was alive, had become Duke Altia, and was frighteningly successful in expanding her influence through the underworld.

Which part of what I did changed that outcome?

He thought it over for a while, then gave up.

There was no point.

Instead, he turned back to Leo’s killers.

“That’s enough. Stop looking into it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I still have questions. But if even the information guild can’t uncover their identity, digging further won’t help.”

There was another reason as well.

Some knowledge is better left unknown.

The information guild had at least scraps of information on almost everything in this world, because its leader also ran one of the hidden organizations called Darkness at Night’s End.

Alon knew of only a few groups capable of slipping beyond that network.

And as luck would have it, he also knew from game lore that learning their names was rarely helpful. Dig too hard, and all you earned was a steady stream of assassins trying to keep their secrets buried.

So he dropped the matter.

He had only wanted the information so he could prepare for danger ahead of time. If learning the truth would only make the danger worse, there was no reason to pursue it.

Besides, if Leo was struck by a group even the information guild couldn’t identify, they wouldn’t be interested in attacking me.

Secret societies obsessed over secrecy more than anything else. Unless you exposed them or directly interfered with what they were doing, they generally left you alone.

“Understood.”

Evan turned to leave, then remembered something and came back with a letter.

It was from Yutia.

“I brought it myself since I needed to report in person anyway.”

Alon unfolded it.

Yutia’s letters were always full of daily life at the orphanage, and lately they warmed him against his will.

Every month, her letters described the ordinary lives of the children and the once-fated Sins in enough detail to make him feel absurdly soft.

Lately Deus had become obsessed with puppet shows.

Seollang had gotten hooked on games with her friends.

Rine still spent her days quietly reading and making things.

Radan, of all people, had developed a taste for landscaping.

The effect of those reports was dangerously close to giving him a father’s smile.

At this point, it might be time to let them go completely.

“Evan.”

“Yes, Count.”

“How old is Yutia now? Or rather… how old are all of them?”

“Yutia should be nineteen now. The others you personally ordered rescued are around that age too. Rine is seventeen. Radan should be twenty. Why the sudden question?”

“Because it feels like time to send them out into the world.”

Evan nodded.

In this world, unlike the modern one, people were effectively considered adults from around sixteen onward.

“Weren’t you deliberately keeping them together?”

“I was. But that doesn’t mean I can keep them gathered forever.”

The whole point of gathering them had been to stop them from becoming the Five Great Sins and destroying kingdoms in the future.

Once they had stabilized, there was no reason to keep them tied to the orphanage.

And if I place them well, each of them has more than enough talent to secure a place for themselves.

He remembered the descriptions that had once accompanied them as bosses in the game.

Yutia had talent for faith.

Deus for the sword.

Rine for inquiry.

Seollang for the path of the warrior.

Radan for the path of the apostle.

He pulled out paper and began writing.

The games had never explained the precise limits of their talents, only that they were absurdly gifted. Still, he had no doubt they would manage.

And if he was sending them out, he might as well do it properly.

He decided to give each of the five a final gift.

He had always intended to, sooner or later.

By the time he finished writing the five letters and sealed them for Evan to deliver, Alon was in a very good mood.

If they do well later, maybe I can skim off a little of the benefits.

* * *

A few weeks later, in the underground room beneath the orphanage in the east, the five recipients read the letters Alon had sent to each of them.

Deus spoke first.

“…The Great Moon orders me to go to the land of knights, Caliburn.”

“Mine says Colony in the desert. Ugh. I hate deserts.”

“…I got the labyrinth city, Lartania.”

“Mine is the pleasure city, Laxas.”

Seollang, Rine, and Radan each read out their destinations in turn.

Then Yutia quietly looked down at hers.

“…The Holy Kingdom of Rosaria.”

Deus frowned slightly.

“What is the point of sending us to these places?”

“Didn’t your letter say?” Seollang asked innocently.

“It told me to become a knight in Caliburn, yes. But why a knight? That part I do not understand.”

Yutia answered at once.

“I’ve told you this before, Deus. We don’t need to judge. We only need to follow.”

Deus nodded.

“And you’ll understand once you get there. The letters all say what we’re supposed to do first.”

They looked again.

She was right.

Along with instructions for what sort of profession to take up, each letter mentioned that support would continue and described where to find the Great Moon’s “gift.”

“You’ll understand once you see it for yourselves.”

Then Yutia added one last warning:

“And remember this. No matter where you go, never speak the words Blue Moon unless he says them first.”

Thus the five who should have become the Great Sins, but had instead become members of Blue Moon, left to follow Alon’s commands.

Three months later, the first notable rumor reached Alon.

“Count, did you hear? Deus was formally knighted in Caliburn.”

“Really?”

Alon heard the news while he was studying Babylonia’s incantation phrases.

Three more months passed.

“Count.”

“What now?”

“Deus formed his own knight order.”

“…A knight order?”

“Yes.”

“Wasn’t he only knighted two months ago? And don’t you need to be at least an Expert to establish an order?”

“You do.”

“…Ridiculous talent.”

“That’s my view too. The rumors are spreading so fast that Caliburn must be in uproar. Some people are already saying the kingdom might gain its fifth Master Knight within ten years.”

Alon nodded, impressed.

Then six months passed.

“…Count?”

“What is it?”

“They say Deus has already become one of the five Master Knights of Caliburn.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“…?”

That all happened within a year of the five leaving the orphanage.