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Chapter 36

As expected, the atmosphere quieted down like everyone had been doused with cold water.

It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence for me.

As I stood there innocently, one of the Council of Elders spoke up.

“What are you trying to say—”

But I’d been waiting for that, and I quickly interrupted with my reply.

“Every single one of them was an assassin.”

Before these old fogies could even point out my rudeness, I continued talking.

“I don’t know how it happened. Did they kill the original knight order and impersonate them? Did they join House Bednicker while hiding their impure motives? Maybe they changed in the course of their duties for some reason? Regardless, they were the worst kind of assassins.”

“...Do you have proof of this?”

“Proof...”

Their question amused me.

If they could truly see through all truths and lies, they wouldn’t need something like “proof.”

Meaning...

—There was no need for you to be scared about going to the Trial Room! It’s not like they could actually see through all truths and lies.

—And there’s a restriction.

—That room only works on the blood of Bednicker, and they can’t use it often.

The words my bigmouth brother had spoken in my past life were true.

He always exaggerated and bluffed so much that I hadn’t really trusted him at first...

“Of course,” I said.

“Do you have it on you?”

“Yes.”

“Show us.”

What’s with their tone?

I grumbled inwardly as I followed their command.

I pulled the dagger and note from my inner pocket and laid them out on the table before me.

A ray of light came down from the ceiling and brightened the table.

“That symbol...!”

“The mark of Hadenaihar...”

A small commotion occurred within the Council of Elders.

“How could this be?”

“You mean to say the servants of the Six Demon Lords infiltrated Bednicker?”

“Since when did the agents of the cult—”

The demon lords and the gods of disaster were one and the same.

The cultists called them gods, whereas the Great Houses called them demon lords.

There wasn’t a big reason for this difference.

The more conservative groups felt it was too much to call those horrifying beings “gods.”

That was the extent of my knowledge...

I honestly didn’t know much about the gods of disaster.

I‘d never had any contact with them, nor did I care to.

From the start, I hadn’t even known there were six of them. I knew them as the Five Demon Lords.

“Did you truly obtain that dagger from the Fang Knight Order?”

“Yes.”

“...”

The Council of Elders fell silent.

What did this silence mean?

Unlike what I’d expected, they didn’t seem to be too surprised by the betrayal.

But they weren’t completely calm either.

Which means...

They’d known of the existence of a traitor, but they hadn’t known the traitor’s backing... That was the most natural explanation.

“...Is that all?”

“The objects you recovered from the assassins.”

I’d known they would ask this as well.

“No,” I replied. “There was a note and a map as well. The map had information about most of their activities in the mountain range.”

“A map?”

“Show us.”

Huh?

Look at these bastards.

I wasn’t that much of a pushover.

“Why should I?”

“What?”

“These are mine. As a descendant of the Great Houses, I killed the members of the Church of Darkness and obtained these trophies in return. I gave up the dagger as proof, but there’s no need for me to share the map as well.”

Information on the cult was precious. I wasn’t going to let them have it for free.

Even if I didn’t know the specifics, if I put this up for auction for the heroes of the Great Houses, I would be able to gain quite a pretty penny.

Those guys who called themselves heroes were all a little crazy.

“You dare.”

“Say that to us?”

“Where do you think this is?”

“A place to explain myself. And I am explaining myself,” I said with a smirk. “And now I’ve finished explaining myself. Was there anything else?”

“...”

The room became silent once more.

This part was unexpected.

It wouldn’t be odd for them to go mad with rage at the sight of such a little kid acting so rude.

I guess they’re not that easy.

The Council of Elders...

They were the old monsters of Bednicker who led the house in place of the Lord of Blood and Iron whenever he was busy in the outside world.

Maybe their presence as the supreme authority figures in this house is also just a mask?

“...You have not fully explained yourself.”

“Luan Bednicker. You haven’t explained the most suspicious parts.”

“What are they?” I asked.

“How did you kill the servants of Hadenaihar?”

“It could not have been possible with your skills.”

The most uncomfortable question finally came.

Of course, I had been expecting it for quite a while.

The Trial Room.

A place to discern truths from lies.

If that was the case...

“I had an advancement during my training. The result of that training allowed me to defeat them.”

I wasn’t lying.

Of course, the training I was talking about was the training I’d received on Spirit Mountain... but regardless, that training was what had allowed me to kill Osel.

“...”

There was another moment of silence.

However, I could tell that the Council of Elders was oddly bewildered.

Just like I wanted.

If this room really had the ability to discern the truth, they would know that my words were also true.

If I had just said all this without any confidence, no matter how concrete the evidence I presented was, these old fogies wouldn’t have accepted it easily.

“Interesting.”

At that moment, a new voice joined in.

It was a relatively younger voice.

“Among the insects of the cult, the assassins of Hadenaihar are some of the most annoying. Even one of the current heroes could lose their life in vain depending on the place and situation. However, you killed many of them by yourself?”

“Yes.”

A slight chuckle could be heard.

“What happened to the rest? You said all members of the Fang Knight Order were killed.”

I furrowed my brow.

“My ally who was with me at the time killed them.”

“So you had an accomplice. Who was it?”

“It was Arzan.”

“Arzan.”

It wouldn’t be odd for the Council of Elders to know about Arzan.

They likely knew more about her than about me.

Who is this person?

This person who had suddenly interjected had a different feeling from the rest of the Council of Elders.

It wouldn’t be wrong for me to say he was annoying.

“I can see the general flow of what happened. Quite clever, Luan Bednicker.”

“...”

“No, beyond that, you are wicked, Luan Bednicker.”

“Why is that?”

“Do you know why you were suddenly summoned the day before the Blessing Ceremony?”

There were probably a lot of reasons, but by bringing it up now...

“To verify my claims ahead of the Blessing Ceremony?”

“That’s right. And that is also why you are embellishing your actions.”

“Embellishing?”

“The lie of having killed the servants of Hadenaihar.”

“...”

The Council of Elders continued to talk.

“We understand what happened in the mountain range.”

“You did suffer a grave danger.”

“However, you speak as if you evaded the danger with your own strength.”

“Although I didn’t do everything, I still think I did my part.”

“No. You just avoided losing your life.”

“Arzan must have been the one to solve the situation.”

Look at these assholes.

“If you are that doubtful of me, why don’t you ask Arzan?”

“Don’t make us laugh.”

“Although she worked for the main house in the past, that is not the case anymore.”

“For you, it is not unlikely that she would lie to us.”

“...”

The situation would be different if the Trial Room could be used on Arzan as well...

But the room’s effects only worked on the Bednicker bloodline.

They had no method of figuring out whether Arzan’s words were true.

“The most disgusting part of all this is that you truly believe that you were helpful.”

“The blessingless dreg of Bednicker.”

* * * * *

* * * * *

I see.

I had a decent idea of how this room detected the truth.

It wasn’t absolute.

Even if one didn’t speak the truth, if that person truly believed what they were saying, perhaps the system couldn’t differentiate?

That was why the Council of Elders thought I was a delusional lunatic.

I understand where they’re coming from.

At this point in my life, it wasn’t odd for Luan to be treated like this.

I wouldn’t have believed me either.

Yeah, I can understand them...

But as I heard them continue to claw away at my heart, I ran out of patience.

Honestly, at times like this, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“So, what are you saying?”

“Prove yourself.”

“Prove myself?”

“Prove that you indeed fought against the assassins of Hadenaihar.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?”

“You can prove yourself in a fight.”

“Hmm.”

I scratched my head.

As I thought, this was the most certain method...

“We will prepare your opponent.”

“You have no need to worry. They won’t be stronger than the assassins of the cult.”

“I don’t really mind, but my current condition isn’t that good.”

“Your condition...”

I thought I heard a snicker.

“Then when do you want to fight?”

“...In about three days?”

I said this because that was when I expected to fully recover from the aftereffects of Flaming White.

As I said that, an obvious laugh was heard.

Naturally, I looked at the Council of Elders. I had never joked with them.

“So you continue to harbor nonsensical thoughts.”

“You are gambling with time after having already given up.”

Gambling?

“In three days? That is not the case.”

“You are aiming for the Blessing Ceremony tomorrow.”

“Your intention is obvious.”

“If you can receive a new blessing, you will be able to defeat the opponent we will prepare to fight you.”

Their rudeness slipped my mind as I couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.

“Heh.”

They were just arranging the situation as they pleased.

“You will not be able to attend the Blessing Ceremony.”

“And you will be punished for your contempt against House Bednicker.”

“When did I act with contempt against Bednicker?”

“You confessed to a false truth.”

“As a descendant of Bednicker, you lied about something you must never lie about.”

I lied?

“Keep this in mind.”

“The subjugation of the Church of Darkness is not a light matter.”

“You are lucky you stand here as a Bednicker. If you had said something like that outside, the honor of our family head would’ve been damaged.”

I smirked.

“Is the family head’s honor so useless that a few words from me can damage it?”

“Luan Bednicker, did you just insult the—”

I cut off the Council of Elders’ growling.

“‘I’m trying to use the Blessing Ceremony to gain an upper hand in this situation.’ That’s an interesting assumption. Then can’t you just get me an opponent that can flip that advantage?”

“What do you mean?”

“Prepare a difficult opponent that I will have a hard time defeating even if I receive a good blessing.” In a sarcastic tone, I added, “Or... one of the members of the Council of Elders could fight me.”

“...”

The room immediately became quiet.

Naturally, this wasn’t because they thought “That’s a great idea!”

Bzzt, bzzt.

I could feel my skin becoming numb.

These old men didn’t even think to hide their killing intent.

“...So you finally crossed the line.”

“It’s done. You have nothing to prove.”

“As you stand there, you will need to pay the price.”

“Are you going to punish me? Without the permission of the family head, you’re going to punish a direct descendent of the Lord of Blood and Iron?”

“That’s right. While the family head isn’t here, we are—”

“That’s a funny lie,” I said with a smile. “Isn’t the family head at the main house right now?”

“...”

Although I couldn’t see any of their faces, I could tell the Council of Elders had frozen like stone at my words.

“...What do you mean?”

“The family head is currently away.”

“It’s the opposite,” I said.

I knew of the Lord of Blood and Iron’s authority.

For example, the end of some random hallway, the inside of an empty guest room, the bustling dining room, the main hall opened for the Exchange, the rose garden I’d seen on my way here...

No...

Where I was looking in the middle of the Council of Elders, and even beyond that.

A thought I’d had from the beginning...

“Family head.”

Was it really the Council of Elders that had summoned me?

“You’re here, right?”

“....”

Silence.

And then...

“Impressive.”

For the first time in a while, I felt goosebumps from just hearing a voice.

The Council of Elders flinched before parting to the sides. Between them was a warping darkness.

It wasn’t like someone had revealed themself from an unseen position...

It was more like someone surrounded by darkness was moving that darkness away.

And then, I witnessed him.

They were completely different from mine, his black hair and dark-red eyes.

“It’s been a while.”

“...”

The Bednicker family head and the Lord of Blood and Iron.

My father.

Dellark C. Bednicker.