Viola pondered for a moment before speaking casually.
“What if someone were to reveal that there’s someone behind this incident, and people ‘accidentally’ find out who the suspect is?”
It was a question suggesting that by preemptively exposing the culprit, the power struggle within the royal family could be prevented.
Ian chuckled softly.
“I don’t think that would change the situation.”
Even if the culprit were exposed, the emperor’s illness wouldn’t be cured, and the dead crown prince wouldn’t return.
The bloody family history of the royal family was already unstoppable.
How did he know?
Because Ian, as well as other players, had already tried it.
If exposing the culprit outright could earn them merit and trust, they wouldn’t have had to persuade the duke with such ambiguous words.
In fact, having too much information might only invite more suspicion.
Still, the duke would likely deal with the culprit somehow…
‘But in the end, it would only eliminate those who might stab us in the back.’
The remaining two princes would still fight.
On the way back to the Endran Ducal House after her conversation with Ian…
The mercenary captain—no, the knight captain disguised as a mercenary captain, Rick, turned to Viola and asked, “My lady, what are you thinking about?”
“I was thinking about the young lord of Schrantz. He’s a man who’s hard to figure out.”
“Indeed… I heard rumors that he was an irredeemable troublemaker, but listening to the conversations of the locals, it seems completely different.”
While Ian was asleep, they had conducted some investigations, and what they found was completely different from the rumors they had heard.
‘Young Master Ian? He’s an amazing person! He fought on the front lines for people like us!’
‘Young Master? Don’t even get me started~! He’s so upright and brave~! Everyone else was trembling in fear, but he didn’t even blink!’
‘I heard he used to be a troublemaker, but maybe it was just childish behaviour, or perhaps rumors spread by those who wanted to slander him?’
According to the locals, that’s how it was.
The evaluations were far from the rumors.
In fact, the praise for Ian was most prominent among the soldiers.
From single-handedly taking down dozens of goblins to leading from the front, the soldiers who had seen him in action were practically deifying him.
‘The rumors and reality are too different.’
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Even Viola, who had spoken to him face-to-face, found it strange that he didn’t match the rumors.
‘He’s completely different from the rumors. It’s not like he’s a different person.’
Viola couldn’t possibly think that he had actually become a different person.
Could the spread of the rumors about him being a troublemaker, and the indifference to those rumors, be part of some scheme?
She was reaching the point of near-delusional interpretations.
‘One thing is certain: the contents of the letter didn’t come from someone else’s mind.’
After speaking with Ian, she had to admit that the speculations about the royal conspiracy in the letter had all come from Ian’s own mind.
He answered unexpected questions and doubts without hesitation.
He didn’t stumble even once, so it wasn’t just someone else’s opinions written in the letter.
However, there were still oddities.
‘He seemed so sure that this would happen.’
Though he appeared to be pondering, to her, it seemed like he was only pretending to ponder.
He kept adding phrases like “this is likely to happen” or “I think so,” but the way he answered so smoothly was highly unusual.
‘It was as if he had experienced all possible scenarios.’
To others, it might sound like delusional rambling, but Viola knew that many of his confident predictions were things that could actually happen.
‘And he seemed very wary of me.’
Other noble children either became too nervous to speak or overly flattering in her presence.
But Ian showed none of that.
‘I wonder what made him so cautious.’
Could he have seen through something about her?
She didn’t recall doing anything that would make him think that.
‘He’s a man who has seen through my father’s ambitions. Maybe he sensed something even from my subtle expressions.’
Perhaps he had seen through her intention to use him after just a few words.
‘He doesn’t want to be used so easily, does he?’
Thinking that far, Viola suddenly chuckled.
‘Maybe I’m overthinking it.’
He might have just been nervous, or perhaps he was being cautious because he was dealing with the full authority of the Endran Duke.
‘But if my impression of him is correct, he might be trying to use these rumors for something…’
The more she thought about it, the more mysterious he became.
It was hard to tell what was real and what was fake.
‘It’s one of two things.’
Either he’s an exceptional dreamer who dares to think the unthinkable, or he possesses near-prophetic judgment.
In any case, his insights were more than enough as reference material—they were overflowing.
‘He seemed to have already concluded that the situation couldn’t be stopped.’
It was the same when she asked if there was any way to prevent this situation.
His soft chuckle was undoubtedly a mockery directed at her and the Endran Ducal House.
‘He clearly saw through the fact that my father wouldn’t stop, even though the stage was already set.’
Even if the culprit were exposed, the remaining princes would still fight.
‘The culprit is the youngest, the Fourth Prince, and the one to side with is the Third Prince, right?’
Of course, since the culprit hasn’t been fully exposed yet, we’ll have to wait and see.
‘A storm of blood will sweep through the empire.’
And the Duke Endran would willingly step into that storm for his own ambitions.
Ian slumped back in his chair, his face drained of energy, and let out a deep sigh.
“Ugh, I thought my heart was going to shrivel up.”
Although Viola had left immediately after their conversation, Ian’s nerves were still worn, and his heart hadn’t fully calmed down.
“What kind of person asks so many questions?”
The three-hour-long conversation with Viola had been filled with her relentless barrage of questions.
Why did he think that way? Why did he believe the story would unfold like that? And so on.
He had struggled to answer each one.
While Ian knew the general flow of the story, he had skipped most of the details, so his knowledge was inconsistent at best.
However, there were a few storylines in Meta Pangaea that he knew well.
One of them was the royal family storyline he had just shared with her.
The reason was simple.
Because if he skipped the story, Viola would keep coming after him.
In the story, after being forced to kill Duke Endran, Viola’s attacks began.
At first, he thought it was an attack by a loyalist of the Endran Ducal House, as she attacked without any explanation (from the perspective of Ian, who skipped the story).
While trying to figure out who she was, he discovered the answer in a branching storyline related to the royal family.
In Ian’s case, he had chosen the path of becoming an enemy, and that’s when the Stalker of Death began her relentless assaults.
‘Even though I’ve experienced a friendly relationship with her in multiple playthroughs…’
Perhaps because the shock of their first encounter was so intense, in his mind, she remained a woman consumed by vengeance.
Every time he saw her in subsequent playthroughs or passed through places she had attacked, he would startle.
‘I tried not to show how tense I was. She probably didn’t notice, right?’
It had been a perfect act, and she hadn’t shown any signs of suspicion, so Ian assumed he had pulled it off.
‘Well, whatever. It’s not like I’ll see her again after today anyway.’
He hadn’t outright given her the answers, but he had dropped plenty of hints, so she could figure it out from there.
He was too busy trying to survive to worry about the royal family quest.
“Oh, right, I haven’t allocated my stat points yet.”
Ian immediately opened his stat window.
He had leveled up significantly from this quest, reaching level 15.
‘It was tough, but the experience points were insane.’
He allocated the remaining points as he usually did.
Name: Ian von Schrantz (Lv.15)
Race: Human
Class: Noble
Occupation: Knight
Title: Troublemaker Tyrant
Strength: 62
Agility: 45
Magic Power: 31
Command: 31
Leveling up was great, and boosting his Command stat was a bonus, but he never wanted to go through a quest like this again.
This wasn’t a game where he could save, rest, and continue the next day.
Knock knock!
“Young master, are you inside?”
It was Dwayne.
“Come in.”
With Ian’s permission, Dwayne entered.
“You’re alive too.”
“Yes, I’m glad to see you’re safe as well.”
“Good. What is it?”
“I came to report. We’ve handed over 100 of the monsters we defeated to the mercenaries, and the remaining 780 or so have been dismantled and loaded onto carts.”
Ian had given 100 monsters to Viola’s group as they left.
Since they had come disguised as mercenaries, it was to ensure their identities remained hidden when they returned to their territory.
The payment was made in the form of monster carcasses.
‘It hurts to give away 100 orcs, not even goblins.’
Still, their role in securing victory was undeniable, so he decided to let it slide.
‘They didn’t even ask for the money they spent coming here disguised as mercenaries. That’s something, right?’
He figured it wasn’t a total loss.
“Then let’s start preparing to return.”
The quest was over, but he still needed to collect the rewards.
Ian’s return was swift.
He began preparations to leave the day Viola visited, allowing him to depart for Rosen without being delayed by village events.
“Long live Young Master Ian!”
“Long live!”
Upon returning to Rosen, where the lord’s castle was located, Ian was greeted by the locals from the moment he entered.
“It’s like I’ve become a triumphant general.”
Seeing the locals welcome him as if he were a hero who had saved the nation, Ian couldn’t help but comment.
“It’s not an inaccurate description, is it?”
Oswell’s reply made Ian nod in agreement.
After all, he had saved the territory from a crisis that threatened its very existence.
“It wasn’t like this when we returned after hunting monsters last time. Did someone arrange this?”
“Hmm…”
Ian immediately guessed it was Hugo.
Oswell hesitated, neither confirming nor denying.
While it seemed unlikely that the busy locals, who were in the middle of harvesting crops, would gather on their own, it wasn’t impossible if Hugo, the doting father, had a hand in it.
Soon, Oswell replied with a firm tone, as if he had never been unsure.
“Surely not. They must have come to welcome you of their own accord.”
If Ian hadn’t stopped them, not just Vilcen but Rosen would have been trampled by the Greenskins.
‘They’re probably thinking, “That troublemaker saved us, so we should at least give him this much respect.”‘
Still, since everyone seemed happy, Ian made his way to the lord’s castle.
The knights and soldiers accompanying him stood tall and proud as they followed him to the castle gates.
As they approached the castle, knights and soldiers lined up on either side.
At the end of the line stood Hugo and his retainers.
“To Young Master Ian von Schrantz, draw your swords!”
“Draw! Swords!”