The Lazy Swordmaster

Chapter 6 - Nightly Guest (Part 2)

‘Why is Lazy Sword…?’

The black haired boy in front of him was the same person that he and Lady Orelly had deemed pathetic.

“Really? Didn’t you want me to reveal myself?”

Riley questioned the hooded man.

Riley continued to walk towards him until he was but a breath away from him.

“What, were you frightened that much?”

The man was armed with a dagger, but Riley remained as calm as ever.

In fact, he went so far as to knock on the man’s forehead with his right hand.

Asking him to not just stand there, and speak.

‘This…’

It was hard for the man to believe this was the same person who cast away his sword after a single strike in the training ground.

‘Is this really the same Riley?’

The hooded man did not dare to make even the slightest move.

He felt as if any sudden movement would result in his body being sliced into shreds.

“This will be boring if you don’t have any reaction.”

Riley continued in his leisurely manner while clicking his tongue.

“I guess it’s going to be difficult to have an intelligent conversation with such an untimely guest.”

Riley folded his arms, glanced at the dagger on the man’s side, then asked with a cold look.

“I’ll ask you only once. There’ll be no second chance.”

“…”

“If you answer, I’ll let you go.”

He had just seen the pathetic strike Riley had made a few moments ago.

And now blackmail?

What a joke.

Yet…

He could not let out a laugh, instead his entire body just stood motionless.

“What I want to know is…”

His cold eyes grew narrow.

Feeling his heart pounding, the hooded man swallowed his saliva.

He was finally allowed to do so.

“…Why did you visit Lady Orelly’s bedroom?”

“…”

By the time the hooded man noticed it, his lips began to tremble.

The calm moonlight that lit the corridor slowly began to fade away.

***

Late in the evening, Iphelleta mansion library.

“Young master! Where are you? Young master!”

Ian abruptly entered and looked for signs of Riley.

There were traces of an incident here, causing Ian to investigate.

“Young master!”

Riley, who was lying on a couch with a book on his face, groaned and turned his body.

“Young master, wake up!”

“Ah, what? What’s it now?”

Riley looked at Ian while rubbing his eyes drowsily.

His frown looked as if asking ‘Why did you interrupt my sweet nap?’.

“If you want to talk about the sword again…”

“I will get back to that later. But that’s not important right now!”

Riley, who was expecting endless lectures from Ian, tilted his head in questioning.

“What is it then?”

“A body was found in the mansion.”

“Hm?”

“A body! A corpse!”

Riley looked at Ian as if he had gone crazy.

“What the hell are you on about?”

The Riley of now was nothing like how he had been when Iris had collapsed.

“Haaa…”

His eyes had potential when he grabbed the sword, although the result was quite lacking.

Ian sighed as he remembered of the expectations he had before.

“It is a good thing I made it.”

When Ian mumbled to himself, Riley’s face turned even sourer.

“A better explanation please.”

“An unknown man dressed in black was found. In front of Lady Orelly’s room.”

“Huh, really?”

Riley asked, as if unable to believe it.

“It seems like Count Stein has heard of Lady Iris’s condition as well. Basically the entire mansion is getting turned upside down.”

A stranger had managed to sneak into the mansion.

And poison had been found in the soup.

Although a body was found, it was hard to say whether there was only a single invader.

The reason Ian mumbled ‘I made it’ was because he needed to ensure Riley was safe from the unknown assassins.

“In any case, it is dangerous for you to be alone.”

Ian spoke with a bittersweet expression on his face.

“I do not believe you could win against an assassin.”

He hoped that this might stimulate Riley to take action.

But…

“Hmmm.”

Riley lazily turned his eyes towards the book that was on his face.

“I guess it’s got nothing to do with me then.”

“Pardon me?”

“You can go, but I hope you didn’t leave my mother alone by any chance?”

“Y-Young master, did you listen to what I said?”

“Yeah, I heard it. But it’s got nothing to do with me right?”

Riley nodded without even turning his head to Ian.

“…”

His manner of composure indicated that he was not even the slightest bit concerned from what Ian had just told him.

Ian couldn’t keep himself from the rising anger resulting from Riley’s indifferent attitude.

“Just what is…!”

“Ah, wait!”

Ian stopped at Riley’s remark.

“I almost forgot.”

Riley clicked his finger then produced something from his pocket.

“Here, take these.”

“…?”

Riley conferred to Ian a handful of seeds which Ian had never seen before.

“These are…?”

“Use them to make some tea for mother. It should be pretty effective. Don’t lose it, it’s quite rare.”

Riley rolled his shoulder then pointed to the book he was holding.

The title was ‘Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Seeds’.

This was all for Iris who had collapsed earlier.

“W-When…?”

“Just now. I was tired from trying to find these so I tried to take a nap…and then you came all of a sudden. What do you think I felt like?”

“…”

“I’m going back to sleep.”

Riley went back to the couch as he ordered Ian not to disturb him again.

***

“We have searched every nook and cranny of this estate, even with our senses. He is the only invader.”

The first son, Ryan, spoke while looking down on the corpse.

The second son, Lloyd, followed the conversation.

“To invade on his own, and without a weapon as well, he must have underestimated us quite a bit.”

Count Stein, who had been listening to his sons, scanned the area for any evidence. He thought of another possibility.

“On the contrary, perhaps there’s another accomplice within the mansion.”

“…”

The body was located right in front of Lady Orelly’s room, so she had no choice but put on an act of detective work.

‘Impossible…’

She looked pale with worry, as if asking ‘what’s going on?’, but what her mind was going through was the complete opposite.

The assassin she had called in secret has been killed instead, and placed in front of her room.

It was no trifling matter.

“From the way he is dressed, he is likely a thief or someone from the Assassin Guild. Should we start from there?”

“Of course! Search the entirety of the lands, starting from Iffa village! How dare they challenge us by setting a foot into the Iphelleta mansion!”

Count Stein grinded his teeth and swore to catch the person responsible for this.

‘Just how did this…’

Lady Orelly gulped in fear.

While she was afraid of her temperamental husband, the worst thing was that something was missing from the body.

A dagger with the guild’s seal on it.

The dagger which should have been on his waist had disappeared into thin air.

‘Just…who?’

It would have been convenient if the evidence was destroyed by the assassin himself, but there was little chance that happened considering how his corpse looked.

Then who?

Just who could have taken the dagger?