MFWSP 43

Chapter 43

Ray continued with her report.

Since Bleak disappeared, she had been handling a large portion of the butler’s duties along with Kent.
“The letter you mentioned last time was delivered to the Adelon family on behalf of Lord David… Oh, and you also asked for news from the social circles.”
“Did you hear anything?”
“The palace maids don’t know much… but I heard something about Duke Serve.”
“What is it?”
I asked, sharply focused.

Ray replied with an annoyed tone,
“He was planning to send reinforcements for the Kahknav War. But in the end, the First Prince won without any help. Now he’s upset about wasting all that money for nothing.”
“I see.”
I let out a small laugh.
“He says he won’t attend the victory banquet in two weeks either.”
“…I figured as much.”

Even while I was busy recovering after being possessed, Grace had already begun to move.
Not attending the banquet meant she was busy preparing to enter the imperial capital.
The one comforting thing was that Grace’s pace and actions were exactly the same as in the second timeline.
I had expected this.
According to legends, time-reversal magic always centers around one soul.
If I remember my past life, then Grace can’t remember her second one.

The proof was clear: the Serve family was clearly shaken by Karsiel’s quick victory.
I pressed my temples as I tried to organize my thoughts.

Too much time had passed before I could move freely. The bigger problem was that I still hadn’t gathered all the people I needed.
First of all, I needed a butler.

In a normal situation, I would have chosen someone experienced and elderly like other noble houses.
But Apellemyon’s future was unique.
To face Grace when she came to the capital, I needed someone skilled with money and information, someone who could adapt quickly to change, and someone who understood the social scene.
To be more precise, I didn’t need just a butler—I needed an aide.
And I needed more people like that.

“Let me go!”
“Shut it, brat!”
“Ugh! Let my brother go! I’ll kick your left leg if you don’t!”
“Let go of Rician or I’ll throw a rock—ah! Don’t take it from me!”

Suddenly, there was a commotion at the training grounds entrance.
I sent Ray and Kent away and turned to look toward the noise.

Juric was walking toward me, grumbling. Three figures dangled from his arms.

“Let go, you giant!”

Squinting my eyes, I realized the three lumps were actually people.
Because they were hanging from Juric’s massive frame, they looked like children, but upon closer inspection, they were around my age—or slightly younger.

The most agile-looking boy was being held up by the waist, while the other two clung to Juric’s pants, being dragged along the ground.

“What happened?”
Morve asked.

Juric sighed and dropped the boy to the ground.
“Just following orders from the Lord.”
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to me.

“I finished recruitment duty and was checking around the slums south of the capital. Then this kid tried to steal my gold coin.”
“You went to the slums today?”
“I’ve been going every day. You told me to catch every pickpocket in the southern capital. This one got caught red-handed.”

“Got any proof I stole it?”
The boy shouted defiantly from where Juric had dropped him.

“You brat! What do you think that shiny thing on your belt is?”
“It’s mine!”

As the two argued, I finally got a clear look at the boy’s face.
Tanned skin, brown hair, a lean, agile body with no fat. His nose was slightly crooked from being broken before, and his eyes were sharply slanted.

My eyes widened.
It was him.
The one I’d been looking for.

Then the other two must be—

“Let go of Rician, you jerk! What are you going to do with him?”
A small girl with golden hair and blue eyes quickly moved her hands. Something flew at Juric’s face.

“Ow! That stung!”

Hit squarely by a slingshot, Juric staggered backward.
The youngest boy, who had been trailing behind, took that chance to pull the other two away.

“Brother! Sis! Watch out! He moves just like that bear from before!”

My heart pounded.
It was them.
They looked a little younger than I remembered, but I was sure.

Their faces, the way they talked, the way they moved—it was all the same.

“Seriously, Lord. How long do I have to do this? Let’s just hand the thief to the guards already. You never even told me why we’re searching for these people…”

Juric scowled at Morve, who was still laughing at the “bear” comment.
“I thought maybe you were looking for someone, but this is just…”

“That’s enough.”
I cut him off.

“…What?”
Juric looked confused.

“That’s enough. I’ve found them.”

I never thought I’d find my old comrades so quickly.

“Thieves, huh.”
I addressed the three of them, who now stood together, on full alert.

“You three—state your names.”

“Uh, I’m Kyle, I’m 15. This is Lina, she’s 16, and the pickpocket guy is Rician, 18…”

“You idiot! He said he didn’t steal anything! And don’t just blurt out our names!”

Rician smacked Kyle on the head, and Kyle gasped and shut his mouth.
Watching them bicker made my chest ache.

Slightly crooked Rician, brave and lively Lina, innocent and dumb Kyle.

I swallowed down the flood of memories.

“Rician, you said that gold coin is yours?”
“Yeah!”

He stepped forward and shouted.

“If it’s not, show us some proof…”
“That coin was a special edition made long ago to celebrate a victory in Apellemyon. If you look closely, you’ll see the family crest. It’s different from normal coins.”

“Huh? Really? It looked normal to me.”

Kyle took the coin from Rician’s belt and examined it.
“You idiot…”

Rician and Lina both facepalmed at the same time.

“Wait a sec… this is just a normal—oh.”

Kyle realized too late that he’d been tricked, and clapped both hands over his mouth.

“You just confessed, huh?”
“Yeah, I stole it! So what? You’ve got plenty of money. It’s just one coin!”

Rician yelled and then suddenly darted forward.
He snatched Morve’s dagger from his belt.

“Get out of my way if you don’t want to get hurt! I’m leaving!”

“Whoa, look at this kid move.”
Morve muttered, impressed.

“I told you they weren’t normal. The girl’s got weapons hidden all over her sleeves, and the youngest figured out from my footsteps that I hurt my left leg years ago.”
Juric rubbed his forehead.

“That’s pretty interesting.”
Aken, who had been quietly watching, spoke up.

“What are you going to do with that dagger?”
“I—I could stab someone! If I win in a fight, then…”

“Really?”
I stood up from my chair.

“You think you can win? Against these three?”

“I’ve beaten knights before! I’ve never lost with a sword!”

“Beating knights and beating them is totally different.”
I smiled.

“But if you really think you can win, I’ll give you a chance.”

I walked up to Rician, who was trembling slightly with the dagger in his hand.
His eyes, so familiar, glared at me full of suspicion.

“Try beating Aken. If you do, I’ll let you go.”

I picked up a practice longsword leaning against the wall and handed it to him.

“W-what?”

“For reference, Aken has won the Western Continent Swordsmanship Tournament three times. All the imperial knights dream of dueling him just once. Consider yourself lucky.”

“What? The Western Continent… Wait…”

Rician, stunned, still accepted the sword.
Then I reached for the dagger he’d taken.

“Haha, this’ll be fun!”
Aken tossed aside his water bottle and stood up.

“If you can land even one hit on me, I’ll take you as my student!”

“Hah! If I land a hit, I should be the teacher, not you!”

“You arrogant brat…”

Before I could say anything, the two of them had already stepped into the center of the training ground and were facing each other.

“Well, this’ll be fun to watch.”
Morve rubbed his hands together.

“Come on! Give Aken a good beating!”

Juric, who had tossed Rician away earlier, now sat down looking for snacks.

Rician’s eyes burned as he glared at Aken, his teeth clenched tightly.