CHAPTER 244: TODAY'S MEAL

Whiskers Estate.

“Ummm.”

Nathan Whiskers was devoting himself to training, remembering Ethan’s teachings.

Nathan Whiskers was dedicating all his waking hours to training, feeling that the day was too short.

However, today he was heading to the market at Count Whiskers’ call.

“Didn’t you say you were going to the market?”

“We plan to make this area a new market. By expanding the site. Isn’t the market what makes our Whiskers estate special?”

The Whiskers estate was continuously expanding. Because of this, they had to keep enlarging the market to match its scale, and they were even expanding the residential areas separately.

“But that doesn’t look like a market building. What are they building?”

“A swordsmanship school.”

“What? A swordsmanship school?”

Looking closely, people in elegant clothing were leading the construction.

“Are you building a swordsmanship school in the market?”

“I’m thinking of dividing the areas. The estate’s development plan is quite complex right now, Nathan.”

“But who will run that swordsmanship school?”

“Ah, I didn’t tell you.”

Count Whiskers took a deep breath. He, too, had been tense ever since hearing about the swordsmanship school.

“It’s the Sword Saint.”

“…Pardon?”

Nathan looked bewildered.

“Do you see that emblem? Those people are from the Ramsdale family.”

“What?”

Nathan asked again, sounding foolish. His eyes trembled greatly.

A swordsmanship school run directly by the Sword Saint?

Was what he just heard true?

His mind was filled with the question: Why?

Why is a swordsmanship school directly run by the Sword Saint coming to the Whiskers estate?

“Don’t ask me. I don’t know either.”

In fact, Count Whiskers had the same reaction as Nathan when he first heard it.

It’s true that the Whiskers estate is developing at an incredible speed right now.

They were truly enjoying their heyday, gradually increasing their influence and absorbing neighboring noble families, stepping towards becoming a great estate.

But even so, they were just major provincial nobles, quite far from the central Twelve Families.

Yet one of the representative figures of those Twelve Families, the Sword Saint, was establishing a swordsmanship school in this Whiskers estate.

When the Sword Saint’s representative came and said everything was settled with Ethan, Count Whiskers, unable to understand the situation, was frozen, just listening to the representative’s words.

“No, what on earth did brother do in such a short time? No, how could it be the Sword Saint? The Sword Saint who achieved great feats with the sword on the continent?”

The Sword Saint was someone in a position so high that the Whiskers family couldn’t even dream of reaching. Moreover, he was the head of one of the Twelve Families!

“He’s not someone who moves for money or such things.”

No matter how much he thought about it, it was incomprehensible.

“You might not remember, but your brother was called a sword prodigy as soon as he picked up a sword.”

Count Whiskers smiled fondly.

“The Sword Saint must have recognized that. And he probably wants to discover more talents like your brother here. He must be establishing this after having sufficient talks with Ethan.”

“Huh…”

Nathan Whiskers gritted his teeth. His resolve to never defy his brother became even stronger.

***

“Lord Ethan.”

“You’re here!”

Yerica and Schudlen, looking exhausted, greeted Ethan.

As Ethan entered, Regia clapped briefly and told them to rest.

“It’s been about a day since you entered the imperial palace? To achieve such a thing on the first day. I think I gave the Red Silver Plate quite rightly.”

“I just did what I could do. Thank you for seeing it favorably, Lord Regia.”

“Too much humility becomes a sin. By the way, your two guards are quite excellent. Despite the intense education, they’re following along very well. They have quite high potential.”

Ethan nodded at Regia’s words.

Determination and potential.

They had sufficient amounts of the two factors necessary for rapid growth.

“Lord Regia, I have something to tell you separately.”

Ethan spoke, mixing truth and falsehood.

“Actually, I didn’t originally come here to receive education from you.”

“…Is it because of those guards?”

“Yes.”

Regia nodded slightly, as if he already knew.

“I could have taught them myself. I’m a teacher in my own right, after all. But when it comes to teaching, I’m no match for you, Lord Regia, so I came to ask for your help. I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s rather more interesting. It would have been fun to teach you too, but you’re doing too well, you see.”

Regia chuckled.

“You’ve earned this Regia’s trust by curing Evangeline’s illness. Thank you.”

Regia had been teaching Evangeline for a long time.

Because of this, he knew the deep despair Evangeline had.

Knowing in her head but unable to perform with her body.

The gap that comes from there.

The fear that she would never be able to shake off this gap for her entire life.

If her mental fortitude wasn’t strong, she would have gone mad long ago.

Regia, as Evangeline’s teacher, taught her everything he had, even a little more.

But there was a limit.

Although both Evangeline and Regia were pretending not to know that limit, as time passed, it reached a level where they could no longer ignore it.

And Ethan had solved that limitation.

“The imperial palace will become quite noisy. Did Princess Evangeline not make any suggestions to you?”

“No, she just thanked me.”

“Then… it will become even noisier. You’ll be busy too.”

“It’s alright. I have no intention of getting deeply involved in imperial palace affairs.”

‘I didn’t come here to take anyone’s side in the first place.’

“Even if you don’t intend to, the flow might overwhelm you. A flow you can’t refuse.”

“If I can’t handle it, I’ll ask for help.”

“Make sure you do. I’ll help you to the best of my ability.”

After talking with Regia.

Ethan called the two guards separately.

“Have you been doing well?”

“It’s really hard. I didn’t know I could move this much.”

“I’ve been working hard!”

Yerica already looked like her mind had left her. On the other hand, Schudlen seemed to still have some energy left. But to Ethan, it was clearly a bluff.

‘They’re both extremely tired.’

“I received quite a lot of rewards for treating the princess’s illness. You can call me count now.”

“!”

Yerica looked surprised when she saw the parchment Ethan handed over. Then she smiled brightly.

“Congratulations, Lord Ethan! No, Count Ethan!”

“Count Ethan Whiskers!”

Schudlen, despite being tired, paid his respects and greeted him.

Seeing them both rejoice as if it were their own achievement, Ethan was quite pleased.

“Well, that’s not the main point.”

Ethan didn’t bring the two guards just to receive education.

“There’s something you need to do in earnest.”

“Just give us your orders.”

“There’s a succession struggle going on in the imperial palace right now.”

Ethan talked about the succession struggle taking place in the imperial palace.

“Princess Evangeline is talented, but she had stepped back from the succession struggle due to her illness. But now that she’s cured, she’ll likely proceed with the succession struggle properly. If that happens, the princes and princesses, and their representatives will keep moving. While you stay in the imperial palace, you just need to collect information related to this.”

The two no longer asked how Ethan knew such things.

They now clearly understood what a guard was.

“The movements of each prince and princess. Just knowing where they go is enough.”

“Yes, understood.”

“I’ll collect information naturally.”

“Don’t dig too deep. As you saw in the private meeting with Princess Evangeline, the guards here are incredibly skilled. They’ll see through all your movements. So there’s no need to take risks.”

Even trivial information was fine.

Ethan had the ability to assess the situation even with such trivial information.

‘This is why it’s good to have information.’

So these two just needed to act as Ethan’s eyes.

They just needed to observe the trends and understand how the situation was unfolding.

“Yes.”

The eyes of the two guards who received Ethan’s orders changed completely.

Where did their fatigue from just a moment ago go? Their eyes were shining brightly.

“I can’t just give orders without anything in return, right? I have more things I received from the princess.”

Ethan took out various potions.

‘It won’t have much effect if I drink it myself.’

Currently, Ethan was not in a state where he could become stronger just by drinking these things.

‘I’ve already drunk the potions that would be beneficial to my health, but…’

Since his mana had slightly increased in various ways after making a contract with Lyuka, he tried drinking them to see if there might be any new effects.

But his survival probability didn’t increase.

“What is all this?”

“These are potions that Princess Evangeline has been consistently taking. It should be enough to increase your lacking mana. I brought them all, so drink them consistently while you’re training with Lord Regia and make them yours.”

As Ethan opened the potion, a refreshing scent began to spread.

Yerica looked surprised at the smell.

“Is it really okay for us to drink this?”

“I drank a lot.”

At Ethan’s answer, Yerica frowned slightly.

At the words “drank a lot,” she suddenly remembered her mother.

Her mother who would take care of her daughter first even when she must have been hungry herself.

If it was Ethan who had asked Regia to educate her and Schudlen as guards, there was no way he could have drunk a lot.

He was just giving it up for them.

Yerica sniffled and nodded.

Of course, Ethan had really drunk a lot, but there was no way they could know that, so they were just deeply moved by Ethan’s thoughtfulness.

“We’ll drink it gratefully.”

Yerica and Schudlen drank the potions simultaneously.

Gulp, gulp.

“I’ll help you.”

These are precious potions. There shouldn’t be even a little waste, so Ethan thought to help their absorption directly.

Ethan put his hands on their heads.

Then he slowly prepared mana to help the potion they drank spread throughout their bodies.

Swoosh-

-Your survival probability increases!

‘Huh?’

As the two guards became stronger, the survival probability increased.

Ethan looked at the potions he had taken out of his spatial pouch for a moment.

Ethan drank two bottles, and the two guards drank one each, so there were sixteen bottles left.

Smiling, Ethan looked at the guards.

“You both haven’t eaten yet, right?”

“…Yes, but why?”

“Why are you asking that…”

The two guards answered with slightly uneasy voices.

“I don’t think you’ll need to eat today.”

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