The double life of a count’s bastard

Episode 10

While the boldness and skill with which Coulson overpowered him was the product of a master’s formal training, Tris realized in one clash that he was physically beneath her.

“You may have the skill, but you lack the strength, stamina, and experience, and with my upper body in your grasp, you’ve lost!

Tris was certain.

Walt and Walter were seasoned mercenaries who had fought alongside her in life-and-death battles many times over the years, so she was confident that they would be able to finish off her opponent’s lower body.

But then.

Kaang! Kaang-!

“Thud!”

“Thump!”

With a tremendous rebound, Rousseau’s and Walter’s swords, which were aimed at both knees at the same time, bounced back.

“Mu, what!!!”

Tris’s eyes widened as if they were going to pop out of her head, a situation she had never experienced before.

“My armor is expensive.”

Rousseau’s sarcastic tone of voice loosened the grip of the sword she was holding.

“So it’s a bit strong.”

Kagagak!

“……!!”

“Sorry. That was more like an eyeball popping out.”

Tris couldn’t even hear her opponent’s frowning voice over the common sense-defying hardness she felt as her sword scraped across Rousseau’s breastbone.

Cough!

Rousseau, trusting in the strength of his armor to deflect the blade into his chest, returned the favor, slashing deeply into Tris’s thigh.

“Ouch!”

As Tris recoiled from the searing pain, Rousseau spun her body like a top and slammed her collarbone with an elbow.

Kwajak!

“Kwack!”

Rousseau had quickly subdued even the best of the best, but unbeknownst to him and Walter, their leader had gone down in a single blow.

“You think I’m gonna let you get away with that?”

Rousseau, not wanting to end his battle with the mercenaries this way, quickly raised his sword and charged at the two remaining men.

With time to spare, Rousseau swung his sword at Walt and Walter as if in training, causing them to grit their teeth and parry.

Puck! Puck!

Walt and Walter collapsed, one after the other, their eyes white.

“This ……, this…….”

Xenophy’s face turned white at the realization that her plan had gone completely awry, but she was quicker to react than anyone else.

Thump!!!

“Sah, help me!”

Xenophy shouted as she dropped to her knees, her head hanging low.

“Now?”

Russo snorted.

“I’ll give you anything, as long as you spare my life!”

“Then pay off the debt.”

“……??”

Xenophy looked up and stared at Rousseau dumbfounded.

A debt?

What debt?!

* * *

“You devil!!!

Xenophy gnashed her teeth inwardly as she looked at Russo’s face, which had been robbed of her hidden emergency fund.

The payback.

The carcasses of the red bears and wolves they’d acquired in their pursuit of Rousseau.

They were discarded, byproducts of the time and labor they’d spent dismembering the carcasses.

But the man in front of him dared to demand payment for all of them.

He said.

‘What a vicious bastard, charging interest on top of top dollar!!!’

Normally, the price of a whole red bear carcass is around 10 gold.

On the other hand, if you take the time and effort to drain the blood by hand, skillfully skin it without damaging it, and sell each part, such as claws and tendons, you can get around 30 gold.

Preparing a carcass for a threefold difference is no easy task.

So Rousseau’s exorbitant price was only justified if the carcass was sold in a barrel.

However, the brazen man in front of him was having none of it.

“50 gold for a red bear carcass!

At such a ridiculous price, Xenophy’s blood had cost him all his money.

“Damn it! I didn’t think it was the goddess of luck, but the demon of misfortune that pushed me into the pits of hell!

If she could go back in time, Xenophy would go back to that point in time when she had picked up the right amount of red bear carcasses.

“You must be Xenophy, right?”

At the mention of her name, the young man in front of her, Rousseau, who was still very young, stared at her with narrowed eyes.

“Yes, Master Rousseau!”

Rousseau identified himself.

He was the third son of Count Slater and the famous bastard that everyone recognized.

It was a shock to realize that the other man was the scion of the Earl of Slater, but Xenophy was already fed up with Rousseau’s braggadocio about being a wretch.

“If I got caught, I got caught very badly!

Trespassing on the estate without a pass was bad enough, but daring to engage in profit-making activities (acquiring the carcasses of red bears and wolves) without permission from the Earl of Slater was an inexcusable felony.

Of course, it could have been resolved by turning himself in and paying the correct taxes, but it was obvious to any passing dog that Xenophy had no intention of doing so in the first place, so there was no point in talking about it.

Among other things.

No amount of money could make up for the fact that she’d stabbed the Earl of Slater in the back.

As it was, Xenophy had no choice but to go along with whatever Rousseau decided to do.

Rousseau, meanwhile, was even more horrified than he was by the deep pockets, realizing that the mean-looking Xenophy in front of him was the same Xenophy who would one day become the Marquis de Belay’s greatest benefactor.

‘He secretly joined forces with Viscount Collector, the man who screwed over this expedition, and made a fortune doing all sorts of dirty things, until he turned against him and became the Marquis de Belay’s patron.

A typical opportunist and despicable human being, this was something I had learned about in a dream.

However, I never saw his face because I never met him in person.

But Rousseau was beginning to be convinced that the xenophile in front of him was the right one.

“They look alike, and they do some of the same things, so it must be him, right?

The Xenophile, who easily fell to his knees when the situation changed, was a vicious top dog, doing all sorts of dirty things with the Marquis de Belay on his back.

At first, she dabbled in illicit commerce, but once she caught the eye of Viscount Collector, she began to actively pursue profitable endeavors.

In particular, he becomes one of the most powerful men on the continent as a slave trader.

Where does it end?

Murder, robbery, smuggling, trading in secret information, and more.

The notoriety at the top of Xenophy was immense.

Nevertheless, his rise to the top of the continent’s top 10 was supported by the support of the highest nobility, who paid him a lot of money.

“The human trafficking organization was great, but you said that the real powerhouse was the private assassination squad.

Xenophy’s private assassination squad had a reputation for scratching the itch of the Marquis de Vilay and other nobles.

Rousseau himself had been a pariah and had been criticized by many, but he could not even name Genopi in terms of quality.

“This is the real bad guy.

Rousseau was even more determined to leave Genofi alone, as he was to become one of the Marquis de Villay’s greatest benefactors, a man who would interfere in every aspect of Count Slater’s affairs.

“Should we just kill them all here?

For a moment, killing intent flashed through Rousseau’s eyes.

It would be a terrible idea, not only for Xenophy himself but for the mercenaries who followed him and were hired by him, for something that hadn’t even happened yet.

‘It’s obvious what you’re doing. Nip it in the bud from the start.

It’s the easiest, cleanest, and least messy way to go.

But is it enough?

The Marquis of Belay is a man who would take any top, even if it wasn’t Xenophy, and use it as a leash.

Quite a few other tops have paid off the Marquis of Belay, not just Xenophy.

So killing him here wouldn’t hurt the Marquis of Belay, now or in the future.

It’s just getting rid of one of the bad guys in the future. Of course, another of his ilk would take his place.

Rousseau glanced over at Xenophy, who was still trying to plead for his life with some semblance of grace, and then made up his mind, his eyes narrowing.

“You have alcohol, right?”

Rousseau asked, his voice softer as he relaxed his gaze, and Xenophy jumped to her feet.

“Of course, I have a precious liquor that Master Rousseau would be very pleased with!”

As if her ass were on fire, Xenophy scrambled to her feet and pulled a sturdy, luxurious wooden box from the depths of a large upwardly mobile bag.

She opened it to reveal a leather cloth wrapped around a stone, which she unwrapped to reveal a clear glass vial.

Its bluish hue immediately caught his eye, and Rousseau recognized it at once.

He had only tasted it once before, in a dream.

“Tears of Hermes?”

Considered one of the three great liquors of the continent, the Tear of Hermes was famous for its bright blue color.

“How does a man of twenty recognize it?

When Rousseau recognized the Hermes Tear, Xenophy looked at him with even more astonishment.

Then she realized that this was the son of the Earl of Slater, and she thought she might know enough.

“You are very discerning indeed, Master Rousseau,” she said, “and you are the son of the Earl of Slater!”

“Are you insulting me because I was born into a good family and have been drinking since the age of ten?”

Rousseau retorted, causing Xenophy to fall to the floor from the knees again.

“I, I didn’t mean to imply that at all! I, I was just trying to…….”

“You’re not even wrong, so what does it matter, just give me a drink. I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never tasted it. My family’s rich, but we’re too stuck up to drink this expensive stuff.”

“…….”

Rousseau’s attitude, calling the Earl of Slater, the most respected man on the continent next to the Emperor, a mere “rascal,” made Zenophy think that he was no ordinary rascal.

As if he didn’t care what Xenophy thought of him, Rousseau wetted his lips with his tongue in thirst and stared into Hermès’s tears.

“Here you go.”

Taking Hermes’ tears from Xenophy’s hand, Rousseau immediately opened the stopper.

POP!

With a clear sound, a refreshing fruity aroma and a faint smell of alcohol rushed into Rousseau’s nostrils.

“Ooooooo!!!!”

Rousseau, who had been drinking alcohol for a long time and could tell from the aroma alone that this was indeed fine liquor-as he had done in his dreams- boldly took the bottle to his mouth.

Clink, clink, clink, clink!

“You crazy bastard! How much does this drink cost? You’re so ignorant………….

The Tear of Hermes is a high-end liquor that costs a whopping 100 gold per bottle.

It’s so expensive that even Xenophy herself hasn’t tried it yet. The reason he carries it with him is in case he ever meets a high-ranking noble.

It was a liquor for entertaining, and when Rousseau drank it as if it were water, it made her stomach turn.

“Khaaaaah!!!”

His eyes widened at the taste of the liquor, which was incomparable to his dreams, and he felt that all the liquor he had been drinking was garbage.

After gazing at the bottle with admiration, Rousseau gulped down a few more sips before he closed the stopper with a sigh of regret.

He casually wrapped it in a fine cloth and tucked it deep into his backpack.

“One bottle?”

“It’s so expensive, I can only afford one bottle…….”

Rousseau narrowed his eyes, considering Xenophy’s lie, then nodded as if it were the truth.

Rousseau cleared his throat, looking more serious than she had ever seen him before.

“For daring to cross the Slater estate without a pass, and for raising a sword against Slater’s blood, you deserve to have your head cut off!”

“Hmph!!!”