A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

20 – Gibraltar’s Invitation (4)

Gibraltar is a fairly static place.

Some are the westernmost part of the continent, some are at war with the empire, and some are because the Margrave rarely interacts with them.

“Master, that….”

“Shh.”

I went out into the streets with Robert in disguise.

“Don’t get caught.”

“Why this…?”

“That’s right, I came out to see if there were any orphans.”

“Yes?”

Robert’s expression was twisted, but I gave him a signal with my eyes and quietly handed him the bread.

“Watch closely. The movements of those looking for Gibraltar.”

“…Hey, if you’re talking about those running on the road-“

“What? What day is today?”

While we were holding our breath, a farmer approached a street vendor on the road and asked the vendor.

“Why are there so many carriages? What happened?”

Citizens of the earldom rarely see carriages running on the roads.

Especially if it is a luxurious carriage.

“I heard the Count is holding a victory celebration.”

“Today?”

“That’s right.”

Merchants have keen ears.

“Author, how do you know?”

Robert asked into my ear.

The knight’s whisper gave me goosebumps for a moment, but fortunately he wasn’t the type of person who had bad breath.

“Of course, when I bought food ingredients for the celebration, I bought it from them.”

“Ah.”

“Even if you buy things like wine from foreign merchants, it’s better quality and faster to buy agricultural products like cheese and vegetables from local residents.”

The county is basically self-sufficient.

This is because the county itself has long established a system to procure military supplies when a battle occurs in the canyon.

The only time people from outside come here frequently is for the fall harvest festival that takes place once a year.

“Oh my god. What day is it today? Is it even your wife’s birthday?”

Except for special days, only merchants come here often.

“Why are you running so fast just because you’re so busy?”

Their carriages are heavy, and most of them run slowly on the roads –

Coo coo coo!

“Ugh?!”

“Be careful!”

There has rarely been a time when carriages were running so frequently, traveling at a speed that could kill a person if hit.

“Ugh, straight ahead….”

“Hush! It’s a nobleman’s carriage.”

Apple?

A nobleman’s carriage was running, but a commoner near the road made a mistake.

That is usually the way of thinking of nobles.

“Hah… How could the Margrave hold a celebration for people like that…?”

“Are we supposed to know? We just have to do as we’re told. Discipline the kids well.”

“Okay. Don’t run into the road carelessly… Huh.”

In the future, it will become more frequent for people to be hit by carriages traveling quickly on well-maintained roads.

“Somehow, Gibraltar is starting to change….”

Starting today, nobles will invade Gibraltar every day.

“Oh, that’s right. We can’t just make kids be careful. For no reason, we tell adults not to cross the center of the road carelessly. They might get run over for no reason.”

“Sweet…. If you get hit by a nobleman’s carriage and die, what happens afterward? Who will take care of the children?”

“…….”

I chewed the bread in silence.

If.

What if there is an orphan who loses his or her parents within the territory?

If it was a carriage crash caused by a certain nobleman.

‘We can’t raise all orphans in orphanages.’

Although they are cold-hearted, those who can grow up in orphanages are talented people.

If you are unable to develop satisfactory talents, you will have to take care of your own needs.

“Robert.”

“Yes, master.”

“How should a child who lost his parents live when he has no talents?”

“Uh, um….”

“No matter how I survive until I become an adult, what happens after I become an adult?”

“…You have to do something yourself, right?”

“Right?”

When thinking about Gibraltar’s future, we must think about efficiency.

“Even if you don’t have talent, if your hands and feet are fine….”

Because there isn’t much to do.

“I guess I’ll just have to dig up the ground.”

Even if the work to be done is limited, I do not throw it away carelessly.

“As soon as I return home, I will issue a proclamation to the residents of the territory. The carriages will run frequently, so from now on, be careful when traveling on the roads.”

I am not a person who squeezes out the blood of the living like the emperor.

“Because I don’t want to create orphans or make my children have to have funerals for no reason.”

I don’t kill people on purpose.

What if he was already dead?

* * *

I’m not good at remembering people’s names.

The people I remember are important people who will have a big impact on my life when I return.

Other than that, everyone else is just an unrelated person.

The temporal distance between the future and the present is too great to say that the future humans I remember and the present humans are the same.

How a future traitor can become a current loyalist.

From the time I returned to the past, future information became just a ‘reference’.

‘What’s important is how I move based on that information.’

After returning to the past.

I tried to trace who there were during the nearly 20 years, but I couldn’t remember much.

‘I wasn’t too interested in my surroundings.’

I wasn’t particularly interested in what was going on in the world.

No matter what laws the empire made for the colonies, as the margrave, I simply ran the territory as is.

As a result, there were only people around me who were commonly called ‘traitors’, and they also changed frequently.

Either die from addiction.

You fall over while driving a horse while drunk.

I met a lover at a bar, and that lover was an assassin from the revolutionary army.

Even though I think, ‘Someone died like that,’ I can’t remember exactly who or where they lived.

Even if I remember, I don’t know where I live at this point.

‘I can remember only a handful of people.’

But on the other hand, am I remembering accurately?

‘You must always pay attention.’

Caused trouble with me.

I recognized it as quite important.

It had quite a big impact on my life.

It belongs to one of these three, so you need to pay a lot of attention to them.

‘Are you going to recruit?’

But should we wait until such people appear?

‘A 10-year-old child travels across the continent in a carriage accompanied by a driver?’

Do you have to travel far away to recruit someone like that?

‘There is only one person like that.’

If there is anyone who can go to an empire that is almost like an enemy camp and bring it back, there is only one person.

‘There is no need to do that other than that person.’

For the rest, it’s either good if they come to Gibraltar for the next 10 years, or not.

If they become enemies.

If an incompetent king or emperor reaches out to them, or if we have trouble with them and the ‘future strong’ reject us.

‘It’s enough to raise a counterpart to them.’

There have been many powerful people in history.

However, there are many people who have lost their petals before they can truly make a name for themselves.

In other words.

‘After raising about 100 people, if a person with a memorable name pops up, all he has to do is check their talent.’

If you’re going to go through all the trouble to find one person who has the qualities of a master, why not just raise 100 knights?

Why?

‘First of all, the Master has Noir.’

As long as your younger brother is not obsessed with a woman and accidentally gets sick, you can definitely use Noir.

Of course, the actual operation of the orphanage will be different from other knight training centers.

‘Imperial style operation.’

If you look at the fundamentals, running a daycare center is not my idea.

Emperor.

This is a method borrowed from the numerous ‘academies’ he has been running since his days as the crown prince and even at this very moment.

-I have operated academies throughout the empire since I was the crown prince.

One day, I went to an academy run by the empire with the emperor.

-A place where anyone, even commoners, can learn. Here, I examined countless commoners, selected the talented among them, and made them soldiers for me.

Recruiting talented people in the name of equal education?

From what I hear, it’s ideal.

-Scholarships were given to the poor, and dormitories were built for those without parents.

But in reality, that was not the case.

-Not knowing that I was playing a prank on their parents.

The emperor used any and all means to create people who were loyal to him.

-Children who have lost their parents definitely need someone to become their parents.

The emperor forcibly filled the empty seats of his parents.

-Accidentally getting hit by a carriage and dying. You might lose news while traveling. Among those who stand out in the academy dormitory, there are many who have experienced suspicious accidents. Is it a curse from God or something?

I asked.

-Wouldn’t you have rather said that someone from the kingdom killed your parents?

When I said that.

What kind of expression did the emperor make?

It was a fleeting expression, but I don’t remember it well.

At that time, I wanted to just go home and rest more than I wanted the emperor to look at me.

-Anyway, I just became a loving father to children who lost their parents in a sudden accident. Ha ha ha.

When the emperor told me that story, what did I think?

Wow.

‘Efficient.’

I thought so.

And that thought does not change even now.

‘If you want to do it, you can still do it.’

However, you cannot choose that method.

‘Accidents and manipulations are easy if you use good people.’

Getting rid of guardians is certainly an efficient and effective way to protect them.

‘It doesn’t matter as long as I don’t let people know I’m behind it. Just like the emperor did.’

I think it’s okay as long as the fact is not discovered.

‘If you did something like that, the emperor would notice.’

The emperor is collecting the future.

We are gathering talented children who have lost their parents’ shelter.

However, if I jump into that ‘market’ in the same way, the emperor will definitely be on the lookout.

‘If he thinks he’s ruining his business, he’ll turn his attention this way.’

Even if the children I collect are much younger than me, much younger than the academy students in their mid to late teens whom he collects.

It’s unfortunate, but it’s the emperor’s way to force those who have parents to become parentless.

‘It’s okay.’

The orphanage is not a major setback in the ‘Children of the Canyon’ plan.

‘Because there are many orphans anyway.’

I don’t know how many people will survive.

‘Even if it doesn’t take 10 years, I think I can create at least one master.’

If you do not have talent, there is also a way to make yourself a master.

Because the emperor said so.

* * *

The day of the festival has dawned.

Social parties are usually held in the evening, but Gibraltar’s party is unusually held in broad daylight.

‘I’m telling you to turn it off quickly.’

It means not to stay up late in the evening and go to bed, but to go home by carriage before sunset.

Gibraltar It’s been like that for generations, but my father’s party is more like that.

Although it is quite different from the party in the royal capital-

‘That means 20 families have already arrived.’

There are already more than 20 noble families that I have met at the main gate of the mansion.

Some people came early in the morning, while others stayed at the county hotel for several days and waited for the party.

Kkiik.

Right now, like a middle-aged nobleman with a fedora and a thin mustache who got off the carriage.

“Welcome to the Earl of Gibraltar.”

“Hmm.”

The nobleman looks at me with a subtle look.

The reason I hold my head upright even after seeing the seal of Gibraltar on my chest is, of course, because I am a 10-year-old kid.

“The sentence engraved on the tie is….”

However, it is natural for a child to pretend to know something.

“Are you Baron Ervant Langur?”

“Yes. Do you know me?”

I don’t know.

I don’t remember it.

“Yes. I understand that your father and I are alumni of the academy and were in the same class.”

“Hoo.”

I just crammed it into my head based on the invitation I received from my mother and the family tree of the nobles in the kingdom.

Even if people don’t know it, they can solve the problem by memorizing the family crest and background.

“Welcome. My father is in the banquet hall.”

“It’s surprising. The Margrave’s son knows me.”

“It is a culture that a noble of the kingdom must have. Are you coming separately, wife and daughter?”

“hahahaha. Did you know that you have two daughters? That’s amazing. At that age.”

Of course.

I memorized it until today.

To the point where I thought about switching places with Noir, who was swinging a sword outside.

“I’m sorry, but no one would carelessly bring their wife and daughter to Gibraltar.”

Baron Ervant advised me in a soft voice.

“Yes?”

“Hmm. No. That’s nothing.”

The Baron’s expression hardens.

Of course, I am a 10-year-old who has learned etiquette well, so I don’t ask any more questions.

‘I brought my wife and daughter to suffer some kind of humiliation.’

When her wife sees the face of her margrave, she will regard her husband as an insect.

The daughters will be in love with a married man in his mid-30s.

“Have a hard time.”

“Yes, butler, please guide me.”

“Understood, young master. Baron Ervant Langur is entering.”

After leading the Baron to the butler, I gently grabbed the bow tie that was tight around his neck.

“Huh.”

I don’t like parties very much.

To be exact, I don’t really like these ‘boring’ parties.

Even as a young child, it is frustrating not to be able to enjoy the party.

It’s not that Gibraltar is boring, but these kingdom-style social parties are just static and old-fashioned.

‘Let’s just think of it as work.’

In the first place, it is also work.

If the party hall where the father and mother are located is a place for fellowship.

Right here, at the entrance to the mansion – the place where I stand is where I look for political allies for the traitorous Gibraltar.

“Hmm…?”

Kkiik.

A carriage stops.

“Wow.”

The sentence engraved on the outside of the carriage looked familiar to me, and a chill went down my spine.

“Crazy.”

That person knows where this is.

“Viscount Hex Romana.”

In the past, a man who slapped his mother.

‘Why was this crazy guy who confessed to his mother and then got angry and slapped her because they had a difference?’

As much as his father is Archduke Morgania, he is a man he hates even more.

‘Have you come to be murdered? Color the celebration not with wine, but with your own blood-‘

“……Huh?”

When Viscount Hex got off the carriage, someone completely unexpected followed him.

“…Write.”

A person whose name, age, origin, and background I know exactly.

“Viscount Hex Romana. And….”

I bowed my head towards the woman, who was a head taller than me and whose hair was suspiciously mint-colored.

“Meet Sir Mente.”

A female knight from a commoner background.

Currently, one of the knights belonging to the Duke of Morgania.

“Do you know me?”

“Yes.”

Future.

“I know very well.”

The vanguard of the empire.

“Nice to meet you. Sincerely.”

A sword master abandoned by his parents and abandoned by his kingdom.

Not now.