The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

Episode 204: Collaboration (2)

After learning tarot card reading from the old fortune teller in Luin Park, Hastia tried to foresee Cyan’s future with the deck of cards she received as a gift.

The first prophecy that appeared was ‘Check your immediate surroundings.’

Following this, Cyan happened to overhear a conversation of Princess Arin, who had come to the park, and learned about the current situation of the imperial family and their interest in certain ruins on the Romar Plateau.

Whether it was a coincidence or the prophecy really fit, Cyan was pleased to have obtained useful information.

Could this so-called Blessing of Foresight (disguised as tarot reading) actually be worthwhile?

Without waiting, he urged Hastia for the next prophecy.

Hastia promptly delivered the second reading.

However, unlike the divine power of foresight that vividly shows the future through visions, tarot readings required the astrologer to interpret the drawn cards.

Still lacking in interpretative skills, Hastia uncertainly conveyed the second prophecy to Cyan.

‘Oh, go to an ancient place… that’s what it says.’

It was a vague and abstract prophecy.

But upon hearing it, Cyan immediately thought of the Romar ruins.

He didn’t know what might be there, but knowing that the imperial family and Princess Arin were interested, it seemed worth a visit.

Distance was not a problem.

There was a perfectly good mode of transport nearby.

Thus, they used the warp gate, a product of the hard work of the Garam Academy, to transport themselves to the Romar Plateau.

—Whooosh!

The chilly wind of the highlands greeted them.

Although not as cold as the frozen tundra, the air here was considerably chillier than the inland.

Cyan removed his mask and slowly looked around.

Nearby were leafless, withered trees rising up, and in the distance, high mountains abounded.

He naturally didn’t know where this was, nor did he know where to head to find the ruins.

“The warp gate is great and all, but this is a bit disappointing…”

As Cyan smacked his lips, he looked over at Hastia, who was tightly holding his hand.

“Where do we go now?”

‘…?’

Hastia blinked as if asking why he would ask her that.

“You’re the one who led me here with your blessing, right? You’re supposed to guide my path, aren’t you? Tell me quickly.”

The blessing was meant for a person ‘without answers,’ and it had long stopped showing anything.

It was not the Blessing of Foresight that had guided Cyan here, but the tarot reading.

However, revealing that here…

She would likely face the morning in the frozen tundra.

Hastia, unable to reveal the truth, fiddled with the cards, her hand hidden behind her back.

-Swish-

Just then, Cyan suddenly felt a presence behind him and turned around.

Behind a giant, withered tree, five men in armor were approaching where the two stood. Their mismatched gear suggested they were mercenaries.

As soon as the mercenaries saw Cyan, they drew their swords.

“What’s this? Which group do you belong to, being here?”

Strictly speaking, they were affiliated with Mist.

Cyan stood silently without responding, and the mercenaries scrutinized him from a distance.

Then, one of the mercenaries chuckled and sheathed his sword.

Seeing Cyan’s youthful face, he mistook him for a wandering boy mercenary.

“Looks like the young fellow came looking for work. Don’t know who told you to come here, but it’d be best to turn back the way you came.”

The mercenary then noticed Hastia, who was hidden behind Cyan but peeking out, and tilted his head.

“Is that family? Doesn’t look like it, so probably not. If you’re not alone, this is even less a place to wander.”

Some of the mercenaries openly leered at Hastia.

Feeling disgusted, Hastia gripped Cyan’s hand tighter.

“But if you really need work, try heading down to the village below the mountain. I don’t know about anything else, but it’s good to have an affiliation. Around here on Romar Plateau, wandering alone without one could very well end up dead without anyone knowing.”

With those words, the mercenary walked past Cyan, and the rest followed suit.

Only after the mercenaries were completely out of sight did Hastia convey her feelings.

‘These people… they give off a bad vibe…’

Cyan didn’t respond and looked towards the direction the mercenary had pointed, towards the mountain below.

Then, suddenly, he started taking off his cloak,

‘…?’

and draped it over Hastia.

He pressed the hood deep down to just below her forehead so her face was completely hidden.

“Let’s go.”

Moved by Cyan’s thoughtfulness, Hastia tightly held onto Cyan’s hand and the cloak as they descended the mountain.

* * *

The village at the foot of the mountain was a typical resting place for mercenaries.

Pass one building, and there was a tavern; pass another, and there was an armory; and in every alley, mercenaries with cigarettes dangling from their lips could be seen.

Some mercenaries were openly dismembering carcasses of creatures, indistinguishable whether they were beasts or demons.

Most of the mercenaries were burly men of considerable size.

Thus, despite being covered in cloaks, the petite figures of Hastia and Cyan inevitably stood out among them.

Aware of this, Cyan casually entered a nearby tavern that came into view.

The chatter and clinking of glasses filled the air until the mercenaries’ eyes turned towards them.

A brief, eerie silence followed.

Cyan, unfazed, proceeded to an empty table and sat down.

A bald man, presumably a waiter, soon approached, silently placed a bottle of liquor and a few pieces of bread on the table, and then extended his hand.

The upfront payment method was particularly unpleasant.

Cyan briefly considered slamming the bald waiter’s head onto the table but instead, tossed a silver coin onto it.

The waiter quickly scooped up the coin and left.

Afterward, Cyan sat silently staring at the table for a long while.

Across from him, Hastia hesitated between reaching for the bread and pulling her hand back.

Just then,

Two mercenaries from a table behind approached Cyan’s table.

They bypassed Cyan and sat down casually on either side of Hastia.

“What brings such a cute lady to a rough place like this?”

Startled, Hastia shrank back and clung to Cyan’s cloak.

“Giggle! Think you can hide with just that? No need to be scared! We just want to have a drink with the lady! We’ll be more fun than that skinny boy over there!”

The mercenaries helped themselves to Cyan’s liquor and filled Hastia’s glass as well.

“Come on, don’t shrink away like that, have a drink with us!”

“And take off that cloak too! We’ve been watching since you walked in, and your skin is so pale…!”

-Crack!

Cyan caught the hand of the mercenary who was trying to remove the cloak and twisted it.

The mercenary screamed in pain.

“Argh! You bastard!”

The other mercenary, reaching for the liquor bottle to swing it, looked directly into Cyan’s eyes.

Their pupils dilated in fear upon meeting his gaze.

The mercenary held by Cyan wasn’t just a big guy bluffing his way around; he had been active in the Romar Plateau for a long time, often getting into fights with other mercenaries in this tavern and had smashed heads with liquor bottles more than once.

But at this moment, the mercenary realized.

If he swung the bottle in his hand at this refined man’s head,

he would simply be doomed.

Valuing his one and only life, the mercenary quietly put down the bottle.

Cyan also did not go any further and released the mercenary’s fingers.

The mercenary quietly left the table with a colleague who had not yet grasped the situation.

The atmosphere of the bar chilled instantly.

Soon, a bald waiter with a different expression from before approached and began cleaning up the messy table, saying,

“First time seeing you here, I don’t know where you’re from, but if you want to be a mercenary, it’s better to quickly join a group. People here don’t like lone wolves trying to stir up trouble.”

Affiliation.

The mercenary he met on the mountain slope earlier had said the same thing.

Exactly which place he was referring to was unclear, but it seemed certain that it wasn’t under the Imperial Royal family or the local administrators of this region.

It was an interesting town in many respects.

Even though it was an outer region, it was still territory of the Ushif Empire.

But looking at the way things were, it seemed there was no real lord managing this place.

At least, there was no such place in the empire Cyan had known in his previous life.

Mercenaries seek battlefields.

Whether it’s against humans or non-human entities, wherever they can fight and earn money is where a mercenary’s values lie.

But this was not a battlefield.

Despite not being a frontline area, there were still hundreds of mercenaries staying here.

Why?

‘Beasts or demons…’

There might be non-human creatures inhabiting this plateau that are lucrative for mercenaries.

Cyan concluded as much.

Incidentally, one of those non-human creatures was right in front of him.

‘Eek! I thought it was water, but it’s so bitter! What is this, Lord Cyan?’

Hastia, unable to contain her curiosity, had sipped from the glass and grimaced.

Cyan involuntarily snorted in amusement.

Hastia blinked, not understanding why Cyan laughed.

Then, a middle-aged man not wearing armor sat down at Cyan’s table.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Hastia startled and stood up.

“Ah! I mean no harm to the lady! I’m here for this young fellow! Pleased to meet you! I’m Rick from the ‘Rusted Sword’ clan!”

The man named Rick introduced himself and poured a drink for Cyan.

“I saw how you subdued that Henderson fellow with just a look! You’ve got guts not typical of the young folks today! How about you join our Rusted Sword clan?”

A scouting offer.

However, Cyan hadn’t come here to engage in mercenary tasks.

“How long have you been here?”

“Me? About three years?”

“I heard there’s a ruin nearby?”

As soon as the word ‘ruin’ was mentioned, Rick’s expression changed drastically.

He glanced around cautiously before covering his mouth and whispering quietly.

“Did you come here not for mercenary work but to find the ruin? It doesn’t seem right to talk about it here. How about we move? Come to the back alley once you’ve finished that.”

With that, Rick left his seat.

Cyan wasted no time and immediately headed to the alley with Hastia.

Just then, clouds gathered in the sky, casting a deeper darkness over the alley.

Greeted by Rick in the alley, he looked around to make sure no one was listening before he cautiously spoke.

“This Romar Plateau, you see. Even three years ago, not even mercenaries, but no one ventured here. You can see for yourself, can’t you? What could be in this barren land?”

The image of Romar Plateau that Cyan knew was just that.

“But from one day, rumors spread of strange beasts roaming this area. They looked somewhat like the magical creatures inhabiting Lemea Valley. Of course, they weren’t real magical creatures but later it turned out they were mutants influenced by a certain energy.”

“Mutants?”

“Yes! We just call them magical creatures for convenience. The important thing is, it was discovered that eating parts of these creatures, like their blood, horns, and organs, enhances the eater’s strength! What do you think happened next? It became a lucrative hunting ground for mercenaries as word spread among them!”

Rick was careful not to specify exactly what kind of strength was enhanced.

“Then, here arises a question, doesn’t it? What kind of energy could transform ordinary beasts into potent enhancers? Truthfully, most mercenaries weren’t very concerned with that. As long as it made them money, the cause didn’t matter! But I know the truth.”

By this point, Cyan had a hunch.

“The cause of the beasts turning into magical creatures… is it related to that ruin?”

Rick nodded, smiling.

“When the empire’s knights started frequenting this place recently, I followed them and found out. They are strictly controlling the area around the ruins to keep mercenaries out. There are also those who unknowingly approached and disappeared without a trace.”

After finishing his story, Rick extended his hand to Cyan.

“Anyway, you want to go to that ruin, right? I’ll guide you in exchange! I’m interested in that ruin myself.”

“What interests you?”

“If the land that’s been ignored as barren is now being visited by royal knights, there must be something tremendously valuable there, right? Whatever we find, let’s split it half and half!”

A proposal for collaboration.

It sounded like a reasonable offer at first, but Cyan thought to himself:

A scam or just hot air.

Mercenaries are always driven by money.

Would it not have been better to simply ask for a guiding fee, rather than proposing to split whatever might be found in a ruin he knew nothing about?

Anyone who fell for this was a fool.

There was no reason for Cyan to agree.

He could just rough up this Rick enough to coerce him into guiding willingly.

Yet, something about that felt unsatisfying.

Something clicked in Cyan’s mind, and with a meaningful smile, he took Rick’s hand.

“Let’s do that.”

(To be continued in the next episode)