Chapter 38
“Uh, why are you asking me to bring Sir Arbelche…?”
Fon trembled as he barely managed to open his mouth and ask.
If it had been Rettran standing here, he would have run straight to the Holy Knight training grounds, but Fon was not Rettran. Even if he had passed at the top of the entrance exams, he was still just a newcomer. And to be ordered to drag along Jamil, a priest ranked above him, without clear justification—that was impossible.
Not knowing the situation, Fon still gathered the courage to ask, even while enduring the Marquis Blanche’s fierce glare.
“Marquis Blanche, this boy is Fon. So call for Rettran and…”
“You are Fon?”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Silbert had been thinking the same—he’d intended to give the order to Rettran. But when Marquis Blanche realized the priest before him was Fon, he immediately raised his hand to stop Silbert.
“Were you aware that Jamil, the one responsible for the donation ledgers, belongs to the Kenis family?”
Fon recalled the day he was chosen through the Rebellion system, when he had run into the Clagens. Among them, Duke Linda had openly shown hostility. Fon had been so terrified his legs wouldn’t move, and he’d done everything he could to avoid crossing their paths again. He had thought he would never feel such fear again—but he was wrong.
The former knight commander, who had spent his youth on the battlefield, radiated an aura unlike any other. The Clagens’ hostile pressure was nothing compared to the presence of Marquis Blanche. But unlike then, Fon did not feel crushed. There was no hostility in Blanche’s gaze. On the contrary—it felt as if, unlike the Clagens, Blanche was looking at him as an equal.
“Ordinary priests who pass the entrance examination give up their family names, so I… I didn’t know.”
“Right. And if they wish to reclaim that name, they must retire. Only the High Priest and the Clagens can view their identities.”
“Then why do you want Priest Jamil arrested, when he’s from the Kenis family? The Kenis family has a reputation for integrity…”
“What did Viscount and Viscountess Kenis donate?”
“G-gold bars.”
Bang! Marquis Blanche slammed the ledger onto the desk.
“Gold bars don’t need to go to the temple auction. They can be exchanged directly for gold coins.”
“!”
“Those gold coins are then added to the donation totals. And the one who records it? Jamil. Now, does anyone here know the exact total amount of donations received? No, because Jamil manages it. Meaning he could easily siphon off funds equivalent to the gold bars, and no one would know. And more importantly, Jamil has already been embezzling little by little.”
“!”
“And what if Jamil and the Kenis couple are accomplices?”
Fon’s eyes widened in shock.
“In fact, I don’t even need to say ‘what if.’ Do you know why I’ve done nothing these past four days?”
“High Priest…”
“Because the investigation is already complete. That’s why I asked Marquis Blanche for help. The Kenis couple’s donations have mostly been goods that are easily exchanged into coins, and when compared against the amounts embezzled, the figures match—sometimes even exceed them. Occasionally they did donate items straight to the temple auction, but those were laughably cheap things.”
At last, Fon understood the whole situation, and his face showed his shock. Marquis Blanche rose and approached him, placing a heavy hand on his shoulder, meeting his eyes.
“No matter how guilty they are, you still bear some responsibility for the theft. So go, and take on your share of that duty.”
“Fon, take my knight as escort.”
“…Yes, understood. I will arrest Priest Jamil and deliver your summons to Sir Arbelche.”
Fon had already been blaming himself for the theft, thinking it had happened because he hadn’t done his job properly. Wanting to shoulder responsibility, he resolved to follow Blanche’s orders. If Jamil resisted arrest, Fon was determined to drag him back by force if necessary.
Without delay, Fon left with the escort knight. Marquis Blanche let out a long sigh.
“So that’s why you called me—you wanted to catch them all at once.”
“…”
“If you’d checked the ledgers yourself, Jamil would have suspected something.”
Silbert chuckled softly.
“Jamil could be seized anytime. But arresting the Kenis couple and searching their estate requires knights. That would alert the Clagens, and then Duke Linda would certainly intervene. To move knights independently of the temple, I needed influence equal to a duke’s. That would be you.”
Marquis Blanche clicked his tongue.
“Even a High Priest has to stoop to dirty work. Must’ve been hard for you to use your head for once.”
“You never hold back, do you? Still, thanks to you, this will all be resolved more smoothly. I owe you one.”
Most of all, Silbert was grateful for the problem he had agonized over the most being solved so neatly.
He had wanted to minimize Fon’s responsibility, but if Fon himself arrested Jamil—the thief and embezzler—even Duke Linda wouldn’t be able to interfere.
“Marquis Blanche.”
“?”
“How about becoming High Priest yourself? I’ll give you the seat.”
“Didn’t you just say being High Priest is a rotten job?”
Silbert’s smile deepened, directed toward his old friend who had solved the matter without even needing to be asked.
About forty minutes later, Theodore knocked on the door, checking whether Fon had properly carried out Blanche’s orders.
“Greetings, High Priest, Marquis Blanche. I was delayed because I had to change clothes after training.”
“It’s fine. Thank you for coming despite being busy.”
Theodore remembered the trembling young priest who had come to him, repeating again and again how urgent the matter was, yet seemingly unaware himself. Still, Theodore had sensed something was wrong.
He hadn’t been called here for idle chatter. Proof enough of that was the knight accompanying the High Priest.
Realizing this was no ordinary situation, Theodore frowned, but Silbert waved his hand slowly.
“Has something happened?”
“It’s not… too grave a situation.”
“Don’t tell me it’s nothing.”
“Quiet, Blanche.”
“Hah, I didn’t come here to babysit.”
Theodore already knew the two had once fought back-to-back in their youth, but he hadn’t realized they were this close. He forced his eyes downward while Silbert cleared his throat and continued.
“To put it simply, a priest and nobles colluded to commit embezzlement.”
“…That sounds very serious.”
“Theodore is right. Why are you putting it so mildly?”
“Anyway, Jamil should be under arrest by now, so it’s half resolved already. Must you keep interrupting me?”
Theodore bit his lip. An embezzlement scandal was as serious as it got, but watching the High Priest and Blanche argue with their eyes almost made him laugh.
Just then, Fon burst into the chamber without even knocking, the escort knight right behind him.
“High Priest! Marquis Blanche! It’s terrible!”
Fon shouted, breathless.
“Priest Jamil has disappeared!”
“Whatever shall we do about my lady…”
Anna sighed heavily, her voice full of worry. The beautiful young lady she served, and the tiny but lately plump and cute Aria, had both become her biggest sources of concern.
That day when strange black liquid had flooded the corridors and Aria’s room, only after Aria had cried herself to sleep could Anna finally wash and change her. If it had ended there, things might have been fine—but Sue had stopped eating and grown weaker by the day, and Aria clung to Charlotte, unwilling to be separated. Anna hadn’t even dared to mention that the black sludge had contained a mouse corpse and shredded letters.
Something is definitely wrong with Aria. She always liked being in my lady’s arms before, but now it’s like she’s terrified of being apart and insists on staying with her constantly.
Lost in thought, Anna staggered and stopped repeatedly as she walked. She had come down to the village to send letters before the blizzard hit, but had been too preoccupied with worry to do so. At last she focused all her thoughts on the one most likely possibility.
“…Did she really read the letter from Baroness Bubel?”
But no—the letter had been torn to shreds. Aria couldn’t have read it. And if she had, surely she would have thrown a tantrum, begging not to be sent away. Anna fretted, not even watching where she was going, until she suddenly bumped her nose hard against something solid.
“Ow…”
“You’re Lady Blanche’s maid, aren’t you? Anna, was it?”
“Hello…”
“You sound so down. Something the matter?”
“There’s plenty. Too much, really.”
“Hmm, well, if you’ve got worries, these old fellows will hear you out. Go on, tell us.”
Should she say anything? Drawing on years of experience as a maid, Anna pondered carefully whether this was something she could confide to outsiders.
The sudden appearance of that strange black liquid. Aria’s growing clinginess. Sue lying sickly and weak. These weren’t just her lady’s private affairs, nor were they trivial household disputes. This might actually be something worth seeking advice on.
My lady only said not to speak of it to Duke Balian. She never said anything about keeping it from the Snow Mountain trackers, did she?
And above all—the image of that black liquid still haunted her eyes. If it was some plague or infectious disease, they needed to know right away. Speaking up might actually be the wiser choice.
“Excuse me, are any of you married men?”
“…”
“No? Then, has anyone had black liquid appear in their home, causing trouble?”
“Black liquid?”
“Yes. Sticky, slimy, with a horrible stench. And even Sue—”
“Sue?”
“She’s the northern fox His Grace gifted my lady. Sue seems to have eaten some, and now she won’t eat at all and just lies there sickly.”
Anna’s face grew grave, and the burly snow trackers huddled together, taking her words seriously.
“Mold?”
“No.”
“Bugs, maybe?”
“No.”
“Maybe it’s just filth from not cleaning?”
“…I’m leaving.”
“Anything else unusual?”
After thinking hard, Anna finally forced herself to add:
“The liquid had… mouse corpses stuck in it.”
“Ugh!”
“You’re scared of mice but not monsters? And it even smelled like something burned…”
The trackers, who had flinched at the mention of mice, instantly stiffened when they heard burned smell.
