A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

250 – A Funeral, Not a Festival (1)

Now that Gibraltar’s policy has been decided, all that remains is to wait for natural death.

Someone may say, ‘Can’t we just remove that?’

There are some who say that rather than just taking a risk and waiting for it to explode, the way is to face the risk with a surgical blade and explode it in advance.

For example, when a cave collapses.

It’s not just a case of the cave collapsing, but someone is trying to force the cave to collapse.

It is possible.

But if I had chosen that, I would have prepared a sarcophagus for Baron Balzac in Lemberg a long time ago.

‘It won’t work because of the magic.’

There is a wizard in Nostrum.

Just as in the past when a former lord died in Seville and the process of death was discovered through magic, there is a magic that predicts the process of death based on the movement of mana through event reenactment magic.

‘Because we can clearly distinguish whether it was a natural death or an assassination.’

It is true that because of this magic, the police force and reasoning areas are not as developed as in the Empire, but it is also true that it is a great help in running the country by being able to clearly distinguish whether a dead person died naturally or was murdered.

A magic that reads mana’s memories of past moments.

It is a magic that many assassins criticize in that it embodies the time that has already passed as traces of mana, but thanks to this, there have been relatively few assassinations in Nostrum.

Although he is not immediately discovered as an assassin, circumstantial evidence that an assassination occurred is immediately revealed.

And in some cases, if you are unlucky, the reverberations of mana may leave a real person’s face, physique, gait, and even footprints, so assassination is a method that is rarely used.

That may be why duels became so widespread.

The act of duel is fair, and even if you kill from the front, as long as you kill with honor, no one will argue about it.

If so, ask questions here.

What could possibly challenge Baron Balzac Lembourg Gunther to a duel?

‘Nothing.’

No one will challenge the Baron to a duel directly.

Even if a duel agent were appointed, no one would challenge Baron Balzac to a duel.

If you try to suffocate a person who has already fallen, the act of reaching out to strangle that old man is itself an act of reproach.

So I decided to let Baron Balzac do whatever he did.

Even if he had a miraculous chance of discovering a gold mine, the contract stipulated that the Governor-General of Barcelona would own the gold mine anyway.

Isn’t it a side contract?

Have you ever gotten older and stopped noticing the small letters?

Not so.

No matter how old an old fox gets, his life experiences do not disappear.

Since the person involved has already done such trickery a hundred times, I am not a person who would not notice if I used something like that.

‘So I confidently wrote it down in the contract.’

Baron Balzac signed.

It was decided to pay a reward for discovering the right to develop a mineral vein, and to have the gold mine managed by the Barcelona Governor-General.

Of course, it was a huge loss for Baron Balzac, but how can the same rights be provided to those who enjoyed preferential treatment as those who bought the mining rights at auction at full price?

Everything Baron Balzac signed was his own will

If he didn’t want to fall, he had to cry and sign to eat mustard, so he picked up the pickaxe.

Until the last moment, he struggled to survive.

So I became curious.

Indeed.

“Young master!! We’re in big trouble!”

“Ah. I just heard the report directly from the scene.”

“Well, for now… “

“Take care and pray for the soul of the deceased.”

What was Baron Balzac’s condition like until the end when the tunnel he had dug for gold mine development collapsed?

“No. Is it still too early to conclude that he is dead?”

If a mine shaft collapses and he survives alone in a gold mine, he is definitely a great man worthy of respect for his will to live.

“If he died, it would be as if he died because of his own greed.”

On-site report.

-There was time to escape.

The reason I couldn’t escape in time was because I was old.

Or is there some other reason?

* * *

A while later, the entrance to the collapsed tunnel in area C7.

“It’s true! How can I lie about my safety?”

The old butler kneels on the floor and complains.

“It’s true! Excellency Governor! I didn’t run away from my master!”

“What is your name and position?”

“Sebastian! This is Sebastian! I work as the head butler at Baron Balzac, and I have come here to personally serve the Baron!”

The butler’s appearance was covered in dirt and was truly unbelievable.

Not only was there dust, but the black suit was all worn and torn, and the places where it had been patched were tattered, exposing the skin.

“Did you go hoeing with the Baron?”

“Yeah, yeah… “

The body was full of bruises and wounds that were not caused by hurriedly jumping out of a collapsing mine shaft, but were caused by people who did not do physical labor suddenly overexerting their bodies.

‘I made an old butler carry a pickaxe, so I must be ashamed of myself.’

It must have been that desperate.

Because they were so desperate, they must have thought, ‘Just one more piece’ despite the cries that the mine shaft was collapsing.

“Good. I called the wizard, so I can understand the situation as soon as those rocks are removed, but can you tell me the situation on the ground?”

“Well, I, the Baron, said, now we just have to dig a little more.”

Butler Sebastian’s voice contained a bit of disgust.

“I said, let’s finish today and go back! The vibrations in the cave are unusual, so let’s check again to see if there are any gold veins after the ground stabilizes to some extent!”

“I did, but it didn’t come out?”

“I tried to grab the Baron and pull him, but my strength was much less than the Baron’s. So…”

“So you couldn’t break the Baron’s stubbornness and ran away alone.”

“…”

Sebastian’s face turned red.

Whether a butler or a knight, abandoning their master and surviving alone is usually treated as a betrayal or betrayal in Nostrum social circles.

“Good job.”

“Yes?”

“You would have done your best to save your master. But is there a law that requires a butler to die with his master?”

However, I am a human being who is far from Nostrum’s perception.

“It would be a foolish death not only to fall to the enemy’s sword while protecting the castle in a territory, but to die by being crushed by a stone with someone who didn’t get out of the cave even though they clearly knew it was shaking.”

“Cho, Excellency the Governor…”

“Thank you for informing me of the circumstances of the incident. I don’t think there is any need to use magic to investigate. If what you say is true.”

“…”

Looking at Deacon Sebastian’s reaction as he sighs in relief, it seems that it is not one of the possibilities I had thought of.

A collapsing tunnel.

Two people running away in a hurry.

The Baron tripped and fell and a pile of stones fell from the sky.

Sebastian, the butler, ignores the gestures for help and runs away, looking only at the exit.

Or what if, instead of falling, the butler Sebastian tried to kill Baron Balzac by knocking him down or pushing him away?

‘If you investigate, everything will come out, so there’s no need to worry about it right now.’

There is no motive.

Sebastian is a true butler who followed Baron Balzac to Barcelona, and is a loyal servant in his own right, even going so far as to pick up a pickaxe and dig for gold for the Baron.

There is no reason for him to kill Baron Balzac on purpose.

‘Really?’

I don’t believe it.

Motivation is simply thinking ‘maybe it doesn’t exist’ based on the given information.

There may be other situations that I don’t know about, and as a traitor, Gray, I have seen too many such cases.

“Deacon Sebastian.”

“Yes.”

“If Baron Lember Gunther dies, who will inherit the barony?”

“Well, that is…”

“It’s not that I specifically want to inherit it. Rather, it’s a burden to me.”

Debt is also said to be an asset, but it is a different story if it is called ‘lemberi’.

“It’s just because I don’t believe it. It’s not like I have a lot of assets right now, and I barely managed to grab a lifeline in a situation where I was on the verge of collapse, but if I were to be killed by someone, wouldn’t there be a reason for that?”

“Say, kill! What an absurd thing to say!!”

“Did I even say that you murdered the Baron? Why are you jumping around like that?”

“…”

You can know it through intuition, observation, and experience.

“I will believe it. Butler Sebastian, you did not kill the Baron.”

“Kill him, huh? Well, I guess I didn’t save the Baron…! I was just a coward…! Ugh…!”

“I see.”

The situation is like that.

“Well.”

“Well, I am…!”

“Well, don’t worry too much. Since my maternal grandfather ended up in this situation, various possibilities came to mind.”

“Well, I never did any harm to you, Baron!”

“I hope so.”

Deacon Sebastian cried as if he felt unfairly treated by suspicion, but since everything has not been clearly revealed yet, it is not strange for him to be suspected.

‘Actually, it seems the most unlikely, but my intuition tells me that the culprit is the emperor.’

There is no information yet.

It is not even confirmed whether he is dead or alive.

But a few scenarios are drawn in my head.

Baron Balzac has lost stamina after hoeing a dangerous coal mine for several days.

Suddenly, the gold mine shakes violently and the mine shaft threatens to collapse, and Sebastian, the butler, chooses to take his own life rather than drag his master out by the collar due to his hardships.

It is not surprising that the Emperor of the Empire uses some of the shadows to determine Baron Balzac’s movements, then uses Nostrum-style event reenactment magic to explode a mineshaft in a location where no traces are visible, trapping the Baron in the mineshaft.＜ Br＞

Motive?

Because you bother me?

‘An emperor would be that kind of person.’

It is possible enough to call it speculation, and in fact, I think there is a 97% probability that the emperor is behind it.

Otherwise.

“Your Excellency the Governor! The tunnel has been opened!”

Administrators, including Sir Carlos, worked hard to remove the collapsed stones from the mine shaft.

By mobilizing knights rather than ordinary workers, the road opened faster than expected.

“What’s inside?”

“Well, that is.”

“You’ll know when you see it.”

“Yes, master!”

“It’s okay. At least it doesn’t collapse now.”

I patted Sir Carlos on the shoulder and headed into the tunnel.

There is no vibration.

There is only silence, and only the pungent smell of blood irritates my nose.

After taking out the magic stone with the luminescence spell, lighting up the darkness, and going down for a while.

“Tsk.”

At the end of the tunnel, there was an old man crushed by rocks.

I was dumbfounded to see the direction of the fallen body facing the wall inside the tunnel.

“You didn’t stop using the pickaxe even though rocks were falling from the collapsed ceiling.”

Is it because of rigor mortis?

The dead old man’s hand was tightly gripping a pickaxe.

It was as if he thought there would be something if he dug a little further with a pickaxe.

Did he ever think that there would be a light of hope beyond this pile of dirt, rather than the light outside that slowly began to disappear as the tunnel collapsed?

“It’s so unfortunate…”

If he had been killed by someone, there would be room for extenuating circumstances, but if he had died like this, I wouldn’t be able to say anything properly.

Just-

“…?”

Ahead, between the dirt piles, something seemed to sparkle.

“…”

I took out the wand, filled the tip of the wand with aura, and stabbed it towards the area where the traces of the pickaxe were left.

“…Tsk.”

At the tip of the wand, I felt the aura ‘spreading out’.

The moment I retrieved the wand and saw the hole I had created, I sighed as the gold sparkled from the inside with the light of the luminescent magic.

“Have you not been able to give up your greed until the end?”

I just have to say that.

He said he hastened his luck.