Chapter 128

Sansio and Susanna were twin merchants.

Sansio had earned a large fortune from his dealings with the Empire and Susanna had been the leader of the merchant caravan heading to Schmeizen with Dussell Duke.

“Hey, Sansio.”

“What, Susanna.”

The twins glared at each other.

“Is that how you talk when your older sister is speaking to you?”

“And is that how you speak to your older brother?”

Who was older and who was younger.

This was the most crucial question posed in the lives of Sansio and Susanna.

From a very young age until now, they had always fought to establish a clear hierarchy.

They glared at each other before lifting their beer mugs and pouring the contents down their throats.

They gulped as if in competition, but even setting down their mugs was simultaneous.

It had been like that their whole lives.

Even when they competed, a clear winner was never decided.

Rather than bickering further, Sansio and Susanna decided to talk about something else while they were getting tipsy.

“By the way, did you hear?”

“What?”

“About Verchello.”

“Ah, I heard.”

Sansio bit into a chicken leg.

Ever since he had made a fortune from his dealings with Cordis, his spending habits had become extraordinary.

The chicken was cooked so well that it made a crunching sound when he bit into the leg.

Seeing Susanna's longing expression, Sansio willingly gave her the other chicken leg.

This, too, he considered the duty of an older brother.

“They say Verchello is entering a carriage in the Harvest Festival.”

“It reminds me of the Verchello carriage I saw when I was young. It was so beautiful.”

“They say they’re using that same carriage after repairing it. With Sir Arellay’s skill.”

“This year’s Parade of Seven Carriages is going to be something to see. It was getting boring being the same every year.”

It is said that Merion was pioneered by seven families who arrived in seven carriages.

The Parade of Seven Carriages at the Harvest Festival is to honor them.

It was so long ago that six of them have disappeared into the annals of history, leaving only Verchello.

For such a family as Verchello to participate in the parade holds a very great meaning for the people of Merion.

The twins chattered on.

They also drank beer without pause. ‘What are you doing after the parade? Let’s just drink, Susanna.’ ‘I’m going to dance.’ ‘What? With who!’ ‘Guild Master Beranio.’ ‘No! This older brother does not approve!’ ‘Hey! Am I a kid!? I’m almost thirty!’ They got angry, they shouted, they giggled. In one way or another, being twins who had seen each other their whole lives, they got along perfectly.

“It’s strange that Del Conti is staying quiet.”

“Del Conti has been taking it down a notch lately.”

“That’s a relief. Those guys are just so……”

“I know, so……”

Susanna and Sansio shook their heads.

The Del Conti family, those cuckoos!

They had a lot of money, and thanks to them, Merion had become more prosperous, but!

Though they were grateful, they just couldn't bring themselves to like them.

They were fed up with their attitude of treating their long-standing traditions like garbage.

By tradition, the streets of Merion should be filled with the smell of freshly baked bread from freshly milled wheat, and people dressed in shoes and clothes made by stubborn leather craftsmen and tailors should be walking about.

The twins, whose families had lived in Merion for generations, believed this without a doubt. Their love for their hometown was close to stubbornness.

“Will Verchello’s time come again?”

“I hope so.”

“I hope so too.”

“Lady Serena, too, has been through so much……”

At the name Serena de Verchello, Susanna chuckled. She had a mischievous, girlish look on her face.

“Hey, Sansio. I heard a very interesting story, are you curious?”

“...What is it?”

“I’ll tell you if you call me big sister.”

“Ah, what is it!”

Susanna didn't answer and just smiled.

At the twin's smile that held a secret, Sansio felt like he could die from annoyance.

He was angry, but his curiosity was even greater.

He finally, slowly, parted his lips.

“Su... sanna...”

“I can’t hear you very well.”

“Please tell me, big sister Susanna!”

“My little brother, so cute!”

He would have been even cuter if he wasn't losing so much hair!

Susanna laughed triumphantly and emptied her beer mug.

“The thing is, they say Verchello has a very big-shot sponsor.”

“A sponsor? So that’s why Verchello has been……”

“But that sponsor, with Lady Serena……”

“What!? No!”

Sansio shot up and shouted.

The people around them glanced over but soon lost interest.

The sight of Sansio and Susanna getting drunk and shouting wasn't exactly a rare occurrence.

“I cannot allow it!”

“Who are you to decide?”

At Susanna’s blunt question, Sansio grit his teeth.

“In any case, not the young lady!”

Serena de Verchello, the young lady struggling alone to raise her fallen family.

Her tall stature combined with her beautiful black hair made her more than worthy of being the object of admiration for the men of Merion.

Sansio, being one of the men of Merion, couldn't help but throw a fit.

“...No, damn it, but if the young lady is happy, then that’s what matters. I guess that’s how it is……”

“Hey. It’s a rumor, a rumor. We don’t even know if it’s true or not.”

Susanna’s half-hearted consolation gave Sansio a tiny bit of comfort.

Sansio gulped down his beer and muttered.

A sponsor must be rich, and to have wooed the young lady, he must be no ordinary man…….

“Who the hell is he?”

“Right, who could he be?”

***

“Shion is a very good person.”

Serena de Verchello carefully laid down her worries.

“That’s why I’m not sure.”

She lifted her teacup. Fre Leaf Tea, it was of good quality and had a nice aroma.

“Is it okay for things to be this good? Why is he so good to me? He's the first person like this, so……”

The thing called worry itself was always familiar.

Her life had been plagued by a host of heavy problems, any one of which would be burdensome to face in a lifetime, such as the fate of her family, the responsibilities entrusted to her, and the threat from Del Conti.

Because of that, the trivial worry of having a man on her mind felt unfamiliar and even embarrassing.

“...What do you think, Bishop?”

“Well, Serena.”

Bishop Hille showed a benevolent smile.

He was simply happy about this situation.

That Serena was having worries appropriate for her age, that she had chosen him as someone to rely on.

Though it would be nice if she could rely on someone else a bit more.

A hint of pity was in Bishop Hille’s eyes.

Serena had lived her life crushed under an undue weight.

As a result, she was unfamiliar with lightness. She considered her own heart to be trivial.

However, a man who has lived as long as Bishop Hille is bound to realize that sometimes, one’s own trivial feelings are more important than anything else.

“I’ve met him a few times personally.”

“You have? I thought the duel was the only time you saw him.”

“...Ah. Um, he runs a gallery, you know.”

Bishop Hille didn't tell the truth and skirted around it.

He couldn't very well say that Shion was acting as Merion's fixer and that he, as the head of the Merion parish of the Original Ladder Church, had hired him to handle several problems.

Serena was not fully convinced but did not press further.

She had learned that much consideration from a young age.

“In any case, I could tell just from seeing him a few times. He can’t be a bad person. It’s also certain that he is a help to Verchello. How much help has he been to Verchello?”

He stepped up as the champion in the duel with Del Conti, saving them from shame.

He introduced Agent Dussell Duke to the mill.

He gave Verchello the credit for solving the problem with Merion's sewers, and he is pouring in a huge amount of gold coins under the pretext of sponsorship.

Above all, he is constantly keeping Verchello’s greatest enemy, Del Conti, in check.

‘No, wait a minute…….’

As he was counting the things Shion had done in Merion, Bishop Hille’s eyes grew sharp.

He hadn't realized it until now.

But counting them like this, it was strange.

‘...Everything he’s done has directly or indirectly helped Verchello.’

If so, could it be that his purpose from the very beginning was to help Verchello?

‘No, that can’t be. It must be a coincidence.’

Bishop Hille shook his head slightly.

It was impossible.

How could he have known that Del Conti would challenge them to a duel.

How could he have known that Dussell Duke would fall for Yeni and run away, or that a problem would arise in Merion's sewers?

‘It’s impossible unless he came from the future.’

Even if he came from the future, it would be impossible.

To remember all these trivial things one by one and use them for a single purpose, it couldn't even be attempted unless one was a person who lived every moment with thorough secrets and plans.

‘I must be getting old. My useless delusions have increased.’

Bishop Hille decided not to judge.

Because it was something that had not happened yet.

Even if his thoughts were true, it had not happened yet, so it was right not to judge for now.

Instead, he put on a benevolent smile and reassured Serena.

“Did you ever imagine it? That the day would come again when Verchello presents a carriage at the Merion Harvest Festival.”

It had been nine years since Serena’s father, the former lord of Verchello, passed away.

The declining family fortunes began to decline even more rapidly from then on.

To the point where presenting a carriage at the Harvest Festival became something they couldn't even imagine.

“I used to think it was a very trivial thing.”

“You only know after you’ve lost it. Though it’s a painful thing to say so easily.”

Serena smiled and listened intently to Bishop Hille’s words. Bishop Hille felt both proud and sorry for her.

A young person who respects what they have not experienced is rare.

But it also means there was a reason she had to become that way.

“Shion, he is a man of many secrets. I can’t say he doesn’t have a dangerous side to him.”

Even in Bishop Hille’s eyes, his depths were completely unfathomable.

On the outside, he looked like a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, but he didn't seem that age at all.

That made it even more difficult.

He brought in the Agent Dussell Duke as if it were nothing, and he seemed to hide an endless mire in his heart, but still, something bright that could not be hidden peeked through.

Something like a hot brilliance that allows for no excuses.

“Let’s wait a little longer and see what he will do, how Verchello will change.”

“……”

He could guess what was in Serena’s heart.

She must be anxious.

Her life was so full of unresolved matters that even expectation was bound to be filled with anxiety.

Bishop Hille felt sorry for her, but he knew he had to wait.

It was a matter of the heart that Serena had to overcome on her own.

He could only watch.

This powerlessness was the duty of an old man.

“Sometimes, it’s okay to have expectations.”

***

Kukulo Del Conti was thrilled.

He licked his thin lips excitedly.

“How refreshing!”

He giggled.

For the first time in a while, he opened a bottle of old Dacheta and poured it into a glass.

The amber-colored liquor was very fragrant.

“All of Merion was looking forward to Verchello’s revival. Saying they might be reclaiming their former glory!”

He tilted the glass.

The intensity of the liquor pleasantly struck the back of his nose.

Followed by a heavy woody scent.

He started humming to himself.

He poured some Dacheta for Onseu Om, who was sitting across from him.

Onseu Om gladly accepted it.

“So what happened to the carriage, Onseu Om?”

“I minced it up real nice, Kukulo.”

“This is a joyous occasion. So much so that you, who always call me by my name so casually even when I tell you to be respectful, look lovely!”

Onseu Om smirked and drank the liquor.

He was on his way back from turning Verchello’s carriage into powder, not just pieces.

He had also gotten rid of the guy who stood in his way.

He had high hopes because he was an Agent, but he was more pathetic than he thought.

Or maybe it was because he had gotten stronger after getting his brass arm.

Either way, it was very happy news for Kukulo.

“You should have been more thorough, Verchello. You should have been more vile, owner of the Herteu Mine!”

The sound of glasses clinking was loud.

“The Harvest Festival is tomorrow, what are you going to do without a carriage?”