By the Grace of the Gods

Today, four chapters are posted simultaneously.

This is the fourth chapter.

We chatted for a while, and the conversation was lively... but I had something I wanted to ask.

"Um, may I ask a question as well?"

"Of course. Ryoma-kun, you are directly involved, and we also thought it was necessary to talk."

"Where should I start?"

"First, can we agree that this matter has been resolved?"

"Yeah, that should be fine. The mastermind is no longer alive. I gathered the evidence, stormed the mansion with the Royal Capital knights, and personally took him down. I hear you know who the mastermind was?"

"Based on what Mr. Eudam told me and if I’m not mistaken... the mastermind was Volcano, the former frontier count and current head of the count's household. He was the son of the former lord of the territory where Lord Reinbach, the previous head of the Jamir Duke family, gained fame as the 'contractor of the divine beast' in that incident."

Mr. Reinhardt nodded and explained the situation.

To summarize:

This is the story of when Lord Reinbach, the previous head of the Jamir Duke family, successfully contracted with the divine beast. To protect the territory and people from dragons that were attacking, the then frontier count led his army and fought desperately, managing to repel them once. However, the dragons attacked again and again, and they couldn't protect the city completely. Many were killed or injured, and the city was burned down by dragon fire.

Afterward, thanks to Lord Reinbach’s efforts, the incident was settled... but while Lord Reinbach was hailed as the greatest contributor and honored as the divine beast’s contractor, the then lord, the former frontier count, was scorned as "incompetent."

"The infighting among nobles was intense... Although many military nobles defended him, court nobles who had never seen battle and rival nobles irresponsibly criticized him behind his back, saying things like 'Why couldn't he protect the territory?' and 'Lord Reinbach solved it all alone.'"

With the loss of troops and funds, the lord leading the army was wounded, and the mastermind, his heir, was just born. The territory was temporarily confiscated to support reconstruction in place of the incapacitated former frontier count's family, but this backfired... a series of unfortunate events piled up."

"Originally, the territory should have been returned at the right time, and the family could have resumed the frontier count title. I heard a marriage proposal with a marquis family's daughter had been quietly arranged... but he probably couldn't accept that."

When Mr. Reinhardt stormed the mansion, only the lord himself and an elderly servant were there. All valuables had been disposed of. The lord had taken magic potions to strengthen poison and physical ability and attacked Mr. Reinhardt.

Moreover, at the end, he set fire to the mansion with a magic tool, trying to take everyone there down with him...

"There are nobles who sided with him, but none had the power or courage to openly oppose us. Some were also caught with evidence of other crimes. They won’t be plotting anything more—it's not even possible for them now."

"If anything, the involvement of the Dark Guild and the missing valuables from the count's family are concerns, but such large-scale crimes like this won’t happen again. The family members and knights left behind in the Royal Capital continue the investigation, and the assassin who targeted Mr. Serge also provides clues."

Speaking of which... I had forgotten, but the assassin who targeted Mr. Serge is currently detained in a special underground room.

After capture, when they disarmed him, they found he had ingested a slow-acting poison, detected by the poison slime check, causing a commotion. But a cleaner slime was used like a gastroscope to wash his stomach, and the poison sample left behind was collected, allowing the medical team to neutralize it in time.

He is quite exhausted now but his life is not in danger. I don’t know how much information that assassin has, but surely a harsh interrogation will come in due time.