NOVEL NEXT Chapter 235
Chapter 235. Childhood Friend – Agnac Baron’s House
“Oh, I must have mistaken you for someone else. My apologies.”
Lev, having started the conversation, walked past Bryan and sat at a table in the corner. Leaning back on a creaky chair, he waited for a moment until the innkeeper, who looked like a sewer rat with his scruffy hair, approached. Lev ordered some alcohol and a simple snack from the visibly dirty innkeeper.
“Payment in advance…”
*Ting!*
A silver coin flicked by Lev landed in the innkeeper’s hand. Acting as if he were a Swordmaster with secret, unsavory tastes, Lev spoke loudly enough for Bryan to hear.
“Bring a woman too.”
“Uh… we don’t have women here.”
“Then bring your wife.”
*Ting!*
Another silver coin, this time flicked with his middle finger, hit the innkeeper’s chest. Bowing his head, the innkeeper hurriedly brought the alcohol and snacks before scurrying off somewhere.
Would he really bring his wife?
Lev hummed a tune, looking expectantly amused. Sipping the lukewarm drink, he kept an eye on Bryan.
Bryan was stealing glances at him, trying to gauge why such a great Swordmaster would be here and what kind of person he was.
He needed to appear a bit more approachable.
Just as Lev was about to finish his drink, the innkeeper brought a heavily made-up woman. Lev wrapped his arm around her shoulder and asked,
“I told the innkeeper to bring his wife… is that you?”
The woman pulled down one of her shoulder straps provocatively.
“Do you like that sort of thing?”
“No, but someone who follows me around seems to.”
“That’s a relief. I hate those types. I work next door. What do you do?”
Lev exchanged meaningless chatter with the woman.
Despite his actions, his tone was respectful enough that the woman re-tied her shoulder strap. Seeing that Lev wasn’t entirely a lunatic, Bryan stood up and approached. It was right when the drinking session was ending, and the woman was about to ask, “Shall we continue our conversation?”
“Excuse me. I have something I’d like to say.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a bit awkward to discuss here…”
Lev handed a silver coin each to the woman and the innkeeper. Since the place next door was a restaurant, they moved there, with the woman following.
When Lev looked at her questioningly, she said,
“I told you, I work here.”
She soon came back without makeup and took their order. No wonder her makeup skills were terrible.
“So, what business do you have with me?”
Lev asked, sipping an aperitif brought by the woman. Bryan cautiously inquired about Lev’s relationship with Count Simon.
“Do you know me?”
Originally, it should have been Lev who asked the questions. By turning it around, Lev engaged in the conversation with a bit of leisure. The one at a disadvantage and looking strange was the other side.
“I saw you at the castle gate during the day. Oh, I won’t tell anyone about what I saw today. It was nothing significant, but sometimes men have those moments.”
“Yes, keeping quiet will be in your best interest.”
He offered a weakness in exchange.
Lev listened expectantly to what Bryan would say next. Bryan began to speak.
“Please help me. Count Simon’s family is an enemy to me and the ‘Agnac Baron’s family’ I served.”
Not the ‘Agata’ Baron’s family?
Lev, sensing that things were indeed tangled, listened as Bryan began to recount his past.
+ + +
In the front yard of a roughly built mansion, two young boys were sparring with wooden swords.
They were prodigies.
Although the swords were held in small, childlike hands, their form was not ordinary.
One was a very handsome boy with blue eyes, clearly of noble birth. He swung his sword as if angry, while the other boy, with short eyebrows, reluctantly parried the noble’s strikes.
*Thwack!*
In the garden, where withered crops lay.
Despite much effort in tilling the soil and weeding, the garden yielded no harvest, and only the sound of clashing wooden swords echoed faintly. The boy with blue eyes soon turned away in a huff.
“I’m sorry, Lloyd.”
The young boy, Bryan, apologized.
But Lloyd, still upset, responded irritably.
“Why can’t you just become a knight? What’s so special about being a paladin… is it because our family is poor?”
“…Yes. But don’t misunderstand me. I will definitely return.”
His words were sincere. Bryan liked his young master, who was like a friend, and he loved the Agnac family.
Despite being a poor barony, always shrouded in the clouds of the Bomer Volcano due to the northwest wind every summer, it was his home. The Agnac Baron was a leader who set an example by working the fields himself.
Bryan vowed to dedicate his loyalty to this family. But he did not want to be a burden to the poor barony.
The salary of an honor-bound knight was small, but even that was too much for the Agnac family to bear. However, if he became a paladin and returned, if he could build a church in this land that didn’t even have one…
Bryan promised his young master. He would become a paladin and return. He believed it was a better choice than just becoming a knight.
And so, Bryan left.
The Baron of Agnac fully understood his intentions and advised him to seek help from his sister, ‘Agnes Agnac,’ in Lutetia.
Although the barony had next to nothing, his sister, who was actively engaged in the social circles of the capital, had recently become quite prominent and could likely provide assistance…
In the end, none of it turned out as planned. Neither the promise to Lord Lloyd, Bryan’s vow, nor the Baron’s recommendation.
– “You must come back!”
The young lord who had come to see him off was the last he saw.
Bryan never even met Agnes Agnac, the young lord’s aunt.
Bryan failed to become a paladin.
Here’s how it happened:
Agnes Agnac, a beautiful woman, created a sensation in Rutetia’s social circles. Despite her poverty, her noble demeanor and beauty captivated many men, and she knew how to adorn herself beautifully even with cheap fabrics.
Agnes’ status soared beyond the modest background of the Agnac Barony. She received marriage proposals from heirs of prominent families, and her future seemed bright and full of promise.
The climax came when the heir of the ‘Count Oscar’ publicly proposed to her.
The public’s focus narrowed to whether Agnes could wear the proverbial glass slipper.
The Oscar family was among the most prestigious in the Jerome Holy Kingdom and the entire continent, while the Agnac Barony was very humble.
Could a single noblewoman’s character and beauty secure a marriage that transcended her family’s status? Opinions were divided.
Romantics believed
It’s possible. Nowadays, even heirs marry for love rather than arranged marriages – they polished the glass slipper for Agnes Agnac.
Realists argued
It’s impossible. Despite the changing times, the Oscar family’s status is on another level. Moreover, the proposal was likely made impulsively by the young heir without his family’s consent, making it improbable – they pointed out the flaws in the glass slipper.
The glass slipper was also too small for Agnes’ naturally petite feet.
During this debate among Lutetia’s nobles, someone devised a scheme.
It was ‘Grünbaum Simon’, the head of the Count Simon family.
He paid a large sum to the Agnac Barony to adopt Agnes Agnac.
By elevating her status through a strategic marriage, both the Oscar and Simon families would benefit, and the failing Agnac Barony would gain the capital needed for new ventures, making it a win-win situation for all.
However, the dream-filled plan collapsed when Agnes, unknowingly adopted and renamed ‘Agnes Simon’, confessed in utter despair.
She had secretly fallen in love with the heir of the Berger Agata Barony in the capital and was pregnant.
Enraged, Count Simon immediately summoned Agnes back to the Simon estate. This coincided with Bryan’s arrival in Lutetia after his long journey.
Later, he learned why he couldn’t meet her. The young man who searched for her in vain had no choice but to knock on the doors of the capital’s church alone.
It was an unfavorable start.
Becoming a paladin, a knight devoted to the church, was highly prestigious. It brought honor not only to the individual but also to the patrons or family supporting them.
Thus, many aspiring paladins were born out of wedlock. They received noble patronage and sometimes personal training from royal knights, giving them a head start.
Bryan lacked such high-quality educational resources. That’s his excuse.
He had to compete with the talented and privileged, relying solely on his innate ability and the church’s training. Despite his relentless effort, he passed the first exam but failed the final second exam.
Bryan, dejected after his failure, was soon to be expelled from the training facility. He resorted to drinking and wallowed in despair until someone awakened him.
It was Sir Corin.
+ + +
“What? Did you say Sir Corin?”
Lev, sipping the well-brewed broth, unintentionally interrupted. Bryan, who had been calmly recounting his past, looked at him with wide eyes.
“Do you know him, sir?”
“…I’ve met him.”
“Oh, so you’ve been to Vidoriin Castle. Is he well?”
Lev quickly checked Sir Corin’s status with his {tracking skill} and nodded. However, his mind was tangled with thoughts.
[ Quest: The Life of Dop Bizan – Please help Dop Bizan break free from his shackles. ]
When Lev was an apostle of Barbatos, Sir Corin had thrown himself before the apostle of the evil god.
– “Oh, God. Do not forgive my sins. I… do not regret them!”
Uttering those cryptic words, he clashed with the giant black horse, Bante. At that moment, his body had burned a bright white.
So, there was only one conclusion.
‘Sir Corin has also broken free from his shackles.’
Over many tumultuous cycles, the childhood friend scenario had changed significantly.
With his father breaking free from his shackles, his deceased mother was now alive, and with Barbatos gone, the Bizan tribe, which should have been wiped out, was thriving. Unlike other Leos, Lev also retained his past memories, allowing him to notice how different the village atmosphere had become.
However, because he only remembered the ‘childhood with his father’s shackles removed,’ he had no way of knowing why his mother had died before. Sometimes, there were inexplicable changes, one of which was…
{Priest} event.
The paladin escorting the priest taking Leah to the capital’s church was not Sir Corin this time.
So many changes had occurred that he just let it slide (he hadn’t had time to think about it with Leah’s departure), but here was the missing Sir Corin popping up again.
Lev apologized for interrupting. Bryan, who had been eating bread awkwardly with his injured hand, resumed sharing his past.
+ + +
“Don’t be too discouraged. Failing to become a paladin isn’t something to beat yourself up over.”
“…That’s easy for you to say, having quit being a paladin yourself.”
Bryan hiccupped as he confided. He had sneaked in alcohol, something he had little experience with, and had been caught by his instructor, Sir Corin.
Bryan, resigned to his fate of being expelled next week, displayed a defiant attitude. Rudely, he dismissed his instructor’s advice, comparing it to his instructor’s own circumstances.
In truth, Sir Corin wasn’t a paladin anymore. He had once been, but he voluntarily quit, refusing to expel heathens serving other gods as the church demanded.
However, one couldn’t just quit being a paladin at will.
Like priests, paladins shared divine power and had to transfer it to another cleric when they resigned. Sir Corin was repaying the church for his education by serving as an instructor at the training facility.
This was his last class. Sir Corin, preparing to leave the instructor position, softened his authoritative tone.
“I won’t say it’s pointless. It’s a noble pursuit. But it’s not everything in life.”
Sir Corin sat beside the drunken youth, taking the bottle from Bryan’s hand and pinpointing the root of his disheartenment.
“There must be something you want to do. Why did you want to become a paladin? Just for the title?”
“…No.”
“That’s a relief. Too many are like that. So, what will you do now? Is what you want to achieve something only a paladin can do?”
“…Yes. I wanted to build a church in my homeland. The Agnac Barony, near the Bomer Volcano…”
Young Bryan shared his story, mentioning the promise to his friend, the young lord, and his desire to help the Agnac Barony.
“You’ll have to give up on building a church. Reality must be faced. But,”
Sir Corin concluded,
“Building a church and becoming a paladin were just means to an end. Your goal is to help the Agnac Barony and the young lord. So, this isn’t the time to be idle.”
“…!”
“Go wash your face. There’s no need to stay here; pack your things right away. I was also wondering what to do next with my life. This works out well. Let’s go together.”
In life, sometimes you don’t achieve what you desire. But that’s no reason to give up, and often, it’s not the only path.
Enlightened, Bryan washed his face with cold water. He quickly packed his belongings and set off with Sir Corin towards the Agnac Barony…
Dear God, what has happened?
The Agnac Barony had been annihilated. There were no survivors after an attack by the Simon family, and the barony was under the count’s control.
Bryan looked around the burnt mansion in despair. The courtyard where he had sparred with the young lord was now desolate, the wind whispering a chilling breeze, planting deep despair in his heart.
In life, there are things beyond human control.
There are tragedies so immense that even Sir Corin couldn’t find the words to address them, despite his firm heart and strong will.
Through inquiries among the townspeople, they learned that Count Simon, who had adopted Lady Agnes, had flown into a rage upon hearing of her pregnancy.
Hoping for a slim chance, Count Simon forcibly induced an abortion by making Agnes take medicine. However, the Oscar family dismissed the engagement as a rash action by their heir that had not been approved by the family.
Furious, Count Simon held the Agnac Barony responsible for raising such a daughter poorly.
But the Agnac Barony, with nothing to offer, couldn’t placate the situation, and the count eventually erased the barony from the map.
Bryan harbored resentment.
Though he resented Count Simon, his anger towards Lady Agnes, who caused this mess, was even greater.
Soon, however, he learned of Lady Agnes’s miserable condition.
With her family ruined and gone, her child lost, and imprisoned by the Simon family, Agnes attempted suicide several times. However,
“You have to stay alive so we can legally own that land! You worthless idiot.”
Count Grünbaum Simon didn’t even allow her the solace of death. Despite being adopted, she was the last surviving bloodline of the Agnac Barony.
Agnes led a wretched life. Yet, someone saved her from her desolation,
‘Baron Berger Agata.’
Convincing his parents and hurriedly inheriting his family title, Baron Agata didn’t abandon the woman he loved.
He sold most of the Agata family’s lands to pay a dowry to the Simon family, agreeing not to interfere with the Agnac Barony’s land, and married Agnes.
‘Agnes Agata’ couldn’t conceive again, perhaps due to the medicine she was forced to take, but Baron Berger’s feelings never wavered.
The two lived quietly in the only remaining property of the Agata family, Vidorinin Castle.
“…What will you do now? I think I’ll go find Baron Agata. He seems like a good person, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to join him.”
Sir Corin asked. Bryan thought it would be a good idea but found himself saying something different.
“If you are going there, I will not. I have something I need to do.”
He couldn’t forgive Count Simon.
Parting ways with Sir Corin, Bryan headed alone towards the Simon family. Though he was just a mere swordsman without a title, that very fact gave him a chance. If he could hide his intentions and get close, even the count wouldn’t survive.
…Or so he thought.
+ + +
Bryan fidgeted with his injured hand.
He couldn’t complete his revenge with his own hands and now found himself begging a young swordmaster, as young as he once was, to take up his vendetta. If only I had been as strong as he is at that age… no, if I had even half his strength, could the outcome have been different?
Sighing, Bryan continued his story. His severed tendons left his index finger and thumb hanging limply.