“Karia… haha, if I call her that, I might get scolded.”
Noah muttered to himself as he stared into the distance, sometimes becoming serious, sometimes letting out a soft chuckle. The members of the “Black Night” all shared the same thought when they saw him.
‘The captain has gone crazy.’
He had always been boastful about his own face, endlessly praising himself, but after meeting the Duchess of Pandeon, there was a change in his demeanor. It was natural to conduct background research on a high-profile client, but Noah injected his personal feelings into it without restraint.
Whenever he found even the slightest fault, he cursed the Duke of Pandeon—whom he had never met—as if he were the enemy of his parents. Probably, the Duke’s life had been extended by at least ten years thanks to his words.
“-It seems like it’s this side that’s fallen in love at first sight, not the other way around.”
“What did you say?”
From afar, Chagall, who had been grumbling, reflexively stood at attention, heels together, when met with Noah’s piercing gaze.
Noah glared at him with a sullen expression for a long moment, then flicked his fingers twice. Chagall, now fully alert, hurriedly ran to stand before him.
“You served the lady properly all the way, right?”
“Yes! I safely escorted her to the largest hotel in the capital!”
“Good. Did the lady give any special instructions for me?”
“No! She did not!”
Noah’s face instantly darkened at the firm answer. Seeing his obvious displeasure, Chagall quickly thought of an excuse: “Ah, but the lady said your face is magnificent, and that with such a face, you can be proud!” With that flattery, he narrowly escaped trouble.
Even though the flattery was transparent, Noah’s lips twitched into a small smile.
“But Captain, what if she really did fall for you?”
“What do you mean? Would that be a problem?”
“You’re not going to date her, are you? And… there’s that thing as well.”
Of course, Chagall and the other subordinates wanted their captain, who had endured so much in life, to find happiness someday. But unfortunately, Noah wasn’t in a position to be involved with anyone right now.
Every night, “that thing” happened, and they were pretending to be a mercenary group here, away from their homeland, to find a clue to resolve it.
“Ah… that thing.”
“Could it be true that Her Majesty the Empress meant this forest? But there’s something strange about it.”
Their only lead was the “forest” that Noah’s late mother had mentioned. She seemed to know something about his condition, but no matter how much he asked, she never gave a clear answer.
“Go back to the forest. There, you’ll find the reason you change every night, and the solution as well.”
Noah’s mother, who had been sickly since his childhood, left him with those enigmatic words before passing away. Whether it was a sudden illness or someone’s scheme, there was no way to verify. After her death, his life fell into darkness.
Moreover, she only said the forest was inside the Castaros Empire, without giving an exact location. Noah’s group wandered through every forest in Castaros and finally reached a forest in the capital. But investigating it presented a huge problem.
“Isn’t it strange that if you walk ten steps into the forest, you end up back where you started? It looks so vast on the outside! It’s like it’s haunted!”
“That’s why we have to investigate further. To find answers for magical phenomena, we must follow magical paths.”
“But we’ve been investigating for over ten years, and there’s no real clue…”
Everyone’s frustration had long reached its limit.
Once “that thing” was resolved safely, everything else would fall into place: reclaiming the lost name, recovering their status and glory, and regaining their country.
The mood at the base grew heavy, and Noah kicked Chagall’s shin.
Sitting around with gloomy faces doesn’t solve anything; why bring up pointless topics to make the space even duller?
“Uh, the Duchess’s carriage—no, the lady’s carriage!”
One of the men shouted while looking out the window. Noah straightened up immediately, a light smile replacing the annoyance on his face.
Soon, footsteps approached from outside, and the tavern door opened.
“Is this the ‘Black Night’ mercenary group?”
Contrary to everyone’s expectations, it wasn’t Karia who entered, but a middle-aged man—the coachman who had driven the carriage himself.
Something about him was slightly off. Gray hair, red eyes, average height, average build… his appearance and clothing were normal, but there was an eerie, lifeless quality to him. He was clearly human, but somehow, he seemed devoid of vitality.
He didn’t move until he was addressed, and Chagall navigated through the tense mercenaries to speak to him with a polite, loyal expression.
“Yes, you’ve come to the right place. This is the Black Night. What business brings you here?”
The man’s gaze suddenly shifted to Chagall. Without raising an eyebrow, he nodded and went outside. He returned dragging two large sacks.
When he emptied them on the tavern floor, gold coins poured out. Two sacks, even larger than what Karia had brought before, and completely full.
“This is the master’s request. They want the same conditions as last time for converting it to cash. It’s slightly over three times the amount from before. They asked if three days would be enough.”
Though the man didn’t seem accustomed to physical labor, he moved the heavy sacks effortlessly, without sweating or gasping. He remained expressionless and stared only at Chagall, waiting for a reply.
“Three days… that should be enough.”
“Then I will inform the master. I’m done here.”
The man bowed lightly and left. The carriage soon departed with the sound of horses. Everyone exhaled; it seemed they all shared the same uneasy impression of him.
“What was that? Some Sword Master living in secret?”
“You’ve read too many books.”
Noah, still astonished, instructed his subordinates to move the gold. Although old, it would be worth a million, or even 1.2 million gold if sold.
Yet sending such an amount with only a single employee and no escort… was it careless or fearless?
“Wow, it seems the Duchess is going to buy that house after all.”
“That house?”
“Oh, she went to look at townhouses and ended up seeing that one. Three years ago… the one belonging to Count Lowell…”
Chagall didn’t bother explaining in detail. It wasn’t a pleasant story, and the incident of Count Lowell losing his daughter and granddaughter had been gossip for some time.
Noah stood with his arms crossed, gesturing for him to continue.
“The negotiations fell through after some back-and-forth. The count wrote down thirty petty conditions and threatened a million gold penalty if they weren’t followed, while the Duchess said she’d just give a million gold and be done with it.”
“With that personality, I don’t know how the lady has put up with it all this time.”
“But she got herself firmly disliked… it seems the count would never sell. I wonder what she’ll do.”
Chagall clicked his tongue in sympathy for Karia, who was wandering without property after declaring divorce. With her wealth, perhaps buying a small hotel with security would be better.
While Chagall worried over her, Noah, deep in thought, finally spoke.
“Where did Count Lowell usually go for coffee?”
[Flashback / Background]
“The direct-line royal family, with their heads so high! And that blonde hair, always a problem!”
Count Lowell was still fuming a day after expelling Karia and her party. Setting the penalty at a million gold was not because of money, but to ensure she treated the mansion carefully.
Yet she casually offered a check! He resented himself for even mistaking her for his daughter in a fleeting moment.
“Father, who is that lady?”
“Who are you talking about?”
The atmosphere had shifted, making recognition difficult, but Count Lowell had seen Karia from afar about three years ago—on the day of the Crown Prince’s appointment ceremony.
Among the extravagantly dressed nobles, there was a woman with a particularly gloomy aura. She silently followed her husband, head bowed, as if guilty, while Enze, the Count’s daughter, watched her with a complex expression.
She must be the Duchess of Pandeon, daughter of the Grand Duke.
In the capital, any political dealings meant knowing the Duke’s face. The blonde woman accompanying him could only have been the Duchess.
A direct-line royal, but not very noticeable as the Grand Duke’s illegitimate child. After marrying the Duke, she rarely appeared in society, but she couldn’t skip such events.
Count Lowell clicked his tongue at her, the family, and the Duke, but Enze seemed indifferent.
“Father, she looks just like me.”
“What do you mean? You’re far more beautiful.”
“No… she looks exactly like I did when I was with my husband.”
