I Became a Sick Nobleman

***

Ruel seemed to have adapted to the rapidly changing scenery; the wonder he once expressed was nowhere to be seen, and he merely yawned in boredom.

—Whoa!

However, Leo’s admiration continued incessantly, even though it wasn’t being expressed verbally.

Cassion paused to check on Ruel on his back, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah.”

At first, it felt strange, like being on a train without a roof, but now he had grown accustomed to the wind slapping his face.

Cassion spoke up to reassure Ruel, “There are no watchers or enemies nearby.”

“Is there anyone who could match your speed?”

In the past, Cassion might have boastfully declared there was none, but since Ruel had been injured in the stomach by the Great Man, he had changed. 

He truly did not take pride in himself and continued to look upward.

Cassion waited while Ruel inhaled Breath.

“I will resume our journey. Please let me know if you notice anything unusual at any time.”

“Alright.”

With Ruel’s answer, Cassion set off again.

Ruel gazed out at the sea that had finally revealed itself.

Although he had collapsed after opening the door, he had confirmed, just as Jan had said, that the door connected to the spirit’s house could be opened from anywhere.

He could only hope he would never need to open that door again.

***

“Ruel-nim, it’s time to wake up now,” Cassion shook Ruel out of his deep sleep. 

Perhaps due to the journey’s toll, Ruel struggled to shake off his drowsiness. 

Thankfully, there was no fever in sight.

Leo peeked his head out from Ruel’s arms.

The scent of the sea was overwhelming.

As Leo took in the surroundings and caught sight of the ocean, his eyes lit up with excitement.

—Have we arrived already?

But Leo quickly closed his mouth, sensing the atmosphere.

He had broken his promise to Ruel not to speak outside.

“That over there is Kran.”

Cassion pointed to the country floating above the sea, on the other side of the long bridge.

The only entrance to the Kran Kingdom was via this bridge, with the surrounding expanse being ocean; they had to walk the rest of the way.

—Is there nobody around?

Leo asked quietly.

Cassion nodded, and only then did Leo let out a joyful shout.

—Whoa!

At Leo’s voice, Ruel finally pried open his heavy eyelids. After inhaling Breath, he opened his mouth.

His throat was dry.

“People are truly amazing. I can’t believe I’m falling asleep in the meantime.”

As soon as night fell, the combination of sea breeze and winter wind made his long hair dance.

He had never thought of it as bothersome, but this time it was especially irritating.

As Ruel blinked, he finally realized that they had arrived in the Kran Kingdom.

“Cassion, would you like to rest briefly until Ganien arrives?”

Cassion had only managed short five-minute breaks for himself. He must be exhausted no matter how tough he seemed.

“I’m fine. I’ll prepare a meal once we’re in the Kran Kingdom.”

“Okay.”

Cassion had pre-prepared a snack and offered it to Ruel. 

Today, it was a sandwich instead of a meat pie, filled generously with vegetables.

—How delicious!

Leo’s mouth watered as he eyed the sandwich, while Ruel simply stared without interest.

‘More than half of it is vegetables.’

It seemed odd. Cassion surely knew his preferences. 

Looking at Ruel as if he were a finicky child, Cassion said, “Ms. Fran mentioned the benefits of eating plenty of vegetables, so I tried something new this time.”

“I’m just eating because I’m hungry.”

Ruel reluctantly took a bite of the sandwich and then chuckled. 

Despite the overwhelming presence of vegetables, the meat’s flavor was robust.

“Cassion, you could open a shop later.”

“Please don’t add to my workload here,” Cassion said, frowning. 

His current tasks were already more than sufficient.

“What about Ganien? Is he on his way?”

Ruel finally took in his surroundings, finding himself near a forest close to the bridge leading to the Kran Kingdom.

“He’s on his way,” Cassion replied, glancing back as Ganien hurried towards them.

—Give this body too.

Leo tried desperately to cling to Ruel’s arm, but it was futile with his short front paws.

“It might not suit your taste. It’s not sweet.”

Leo mostly enjoyed sweet foods. 

Ruel tore off a piece of the sandwich and gave it to Leo, then turned his head towards the beach, pausing.

“…!”

Spirits that looked like water droplets had gathered on the sandy shore, staring intently at him.

When did they gather?

—It seems they came out from under the sea because of the good smell. They’ve been watching you even before you woke up… mm, it’s not delicious.

Leo’s words trailed off as he choked slightly.

“See?”

Ruel took a delicious bite of his sandwich while watching Cassion busily prepare the medicine.

How could there be so many kinds of medicine?

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Ruel asked Cassion, offering him a piece of the sandwich.

“I’m fine with not eating.”

“Is that common when you reach your level? You don’t need to sleep or eat?”

“I think it’s relative. As you know, I don’t have a big appetite to begin with.”

“But how come you cook so well?”

“What if I told you I learned to cook to poison you?” 

“Uh…”

Even with Cassion’s harsh words, Ruel just turned his head away, puzzled.

Because he heard footsteps.

“Am I late?” Ganien gasped, clutching a tree for support.

“Cassion, wait a moment.”

Ruel handed the sandwich to Cassion.

“Late…?”

As Ruel approached, Ganien hurriedly pulled a watch from his pocket.

He was indeed a little late.

“I know this sounds like an excuse, but the reason I was late is…” Ganien began explaining, but Ruel cut him off.

“Don’t dodge,” Ruel cautioned, adjusting his wrist.

“What?”

“If you dodge, my hand might break,” Ruel warned with a smirk before throwing a punch. 

In an instant, Ganien’s body reflexively moved back, but if he continued, Ruel would lose his balance and fall.

Ultimately, Ganien had no choice but to step forward and take Ruel’s punch.

Thud!

“…?”

Contrary to expectations, it hurt.

Ganien looked at Ruel with a bewildered expression.

A cloth-like shadow was wrapped around Ruel’s hand.

“Ha, now I feel a bit alive.”

Ruel joyfully laughed and returned to his original spot to finish eating his sandwich.

“Ruel?”

Ganien approached Ruel, still wearing a dumbfounded expression.

“What?”

“Why did you hit me?”

“That’s the price you pay for that damn title.”

“What? Did I do that? It’s cooler than I thought.” Ganien smirked.

Ruel wanted to throw another punch at that smug face, but his wrist ached.

Expecting this, he wrapped his wrist in shadows.

“Let’s go.”

Ruel stuffed the last piece of his sandwich into his mouth and donned the fox mask that Cassion had prepared.

“Aris…”

He started to call out to Aris but stopped, recalling that he would be coming with the delegation.

He could disguise himself, but what about Cassion and Ganien’s faces?

“Don’t worry. His Majesty knew this would happen and took care of it. Voila.”

Ganien took out two bracelets.

***

“Ugh. The smell of blood is no joke. Just how many have died?”

As soon as Ganien entered the Kran Kingdom, he spoke softly.

“You smell blood?”

Ruel and Leo sniffed the air almost simultaneously.

—This body doesn’t quite understand. There’s just too much smell. Ruel’s scent is the best!

“I can’t tell.”

“Not knowing might be better. It’s the stench of death that’s lingered for a long time. He probably smells better than me, though?”

Disgusted, Ganien pointed at Cassion.

Ruel and Leo’s gazes turned towards Cassion.

“It seems there are many monsters and people who died quite a while ago.”

“Well, that’s that. Now, how should we address each other?” Ganien chuckled softly.

He seemed to be subtly expecting a certain response.

They had come disguised as adventurers in a team together.

A team needed a captain.

Seeing through Ganien’s intentions so clearly, Ruel didn’t want to play along.

“We can just call each other by our names, Gaft.”

“That’s right, you dumb Gaft.”

—So Ganien was Gaft? This body is confused.

Ganien had chosen “Gaft” as a name derived from the ends of Ganien Croft, but Leo couldn’t have known that.

“Hey, don’t turn me into the naive fool who just wants to be the leader.”

Ruel ignored Ganien’s words and inhaled Breath.

The chattering voices of children, the ordinary conversations of people, the loud calls of vendors promoting their stalls, and the still biting cold wind that slapped against their faces.

People here were too peaceful, not knowing what beings lurked or what events might unfold.

Ruel thought the calmness around them resembled a sandcastle that might collapse at any moment.

—There’s a blue roof shop selling cakes!

At Leo’s cheerful voice, Ruel patted him on the head, shaking off his pointless thoughts.

“It is said that the Kran Kingdom prepared separate rides for the gathering adventurers as monsters started to rampage.”

Cassion quickened his pace, about three more steps ahead.

“This way.”

***

The site of the monster rampage was located at the far northwest end of the Kran Kingdom.

Ironically, the only place accepting mission requests for resolving the monster rampage was the capital, so they inevitably had to pass through it.

There were no restrictions on adventurer ranks for the requests, and since there were no limits, the dangers involved were significantly high in terms of personal risk.

Ruel boarded the elongated carriage designed like a bus and began to skim through the materials that Cassion had passed him.

They had deliberately chosen a carriage with fewer passengers, making the surroundings relatively quiet.

Rustle.

His hands turned quickly through the pages.

The person in charge of this year’s monster rampage incident, ‘Glen Syria,’ had been responsible for managing it for the last twenty years.

‘Stripped of national merit…’

Ruel noted that Glen had led a fairly ordinary life, but one notable incident in his life was that his father, a national meritorious person, had been stripped of his title.

His father, an ordinary teacher, had died while trying to save a student, but as time passed, the incident seemed to be forgotten by the public, leading to the revocation of his status.

‘His mother tried to appeal to the country, but it failed.’

That was an unsettling conclusion.

“Is that all?”

As Ruel turned the page, expecting more information, he found none and turned to Cassion for answers.

Aside from the fact that he had requested the Leponia Assassin Guild to kill him, the information felt rather dull.

Even if he tried to blackmail him, there was nothing to threaten him with.

“That’s all for now.”

Ruel frowned at Cassion’s words.

Wasn’t this vastly different from the normal trajectory set by the Red Ash?

According to the information, ‘Glen Syria’ was just a low-ranking noble who had lived a normal life with support from the Red Ash.

Was he supposed to believe this nonsense?

“Anything else?” Ruel inquired.

Cassion glanced at Ganien, who was entertaining Leo, and then pulled out another document.

“The investigation on this is still ongoing. There’s much more to review.”

“Just hand it over.”

Ruel snatched the document and began to examine it.

“Wouldn’t it be a shame to miss out on the meat pie while you’re engrossed?”

Before Ruel could respond, Cassion handed him a meat pie.

Crunch.

The satisfying sound caused Leo’s ears to perk up.

—Meat pie! This body loves meat pie!

“Where are you going?”

Ganien looked on regretfully as Leo dashed over to Ruel.

“Beast, yours is right here.”

Since Ruel was beginning to focus, Cassion preemptively blocked any distractions.

Crunch.

Leo took a bite of the meat pie that Cassion held in his hand.

“Cassion.”

When Ganien called Cassion, he spoke firmly.

“There’s none for you.”

***

Before long, the sun was setting in the west.

Ruel furrowed his brow and looked up.

‘Treitol Kran is investigating the Red Ash?’

That couldn’t be right.

Something felt off.

There were a total of six princesses and princes in the Kran Kingdom.Among them, aside from Adea Kran and Treitol Kran, the only one currently entangled with the Red Ash was Princess Jayel Kran.

Adea Kran and Treitol Kran, born to the same mother, were Jayel Kran’s half-siblings. 

Given the kingdom’s hereditary nature, Adea Kran, the eldest, was set to inherit the throne. 

‘So it turns out that it is not the second, Treitol Kran, but the fourth, Jayel Kran, who is trying to keep things in check.’

If one were to look at Treitol Kran’s previous actions, it appeared he had been supporting his elder brother, Adea Kran, from behind the scenes.

“Cassion, are you certain about this?”

Ruel questioned, clutching the documents tightly.

Based on this information alone, it seemed Treitol Kran had grown distant from his brother due to misunderstandings, yet he was depicted as a noble prince dutifully working for the kingdom by investigating the Red Ash, as well as a good younger brother willing to sacrifice for his elder brother.

Cassion, slightly puzzled, affirmed, “The investigation results are accurate.”

“Reinvestigate. Not just the results, but the whole process.”

“Why?” Cassion asked with a hint of confusion.

It was the first time Ruel had so vehemently denied his own research findings.

As Ruel inhaled Breath, he started to notice sounds coming from another direction.

They weren’t the only ones here.

“It’s fine.”

Though Ruel didn’t provide a clear answer, Cassion understood his concern and nodded in acknowledgment. Ruel opened his mouth to speak again but scanned the surroundings instead.

Wasn’t it too quiet?

Ganien and Leo had already fallen asleep.

‘Sleep well.’

Ruel briefly smiled and then turned his gaze back to the documents.

The Great Man was in Kran.

He thought and thought and thought about whose body he might be in.

Although it was too early to conclude, Ruel found it difficult to erase the feeling of being trapped in a spider’s web when shaking hands with Treitol.

Why did he feel that only with Treitol?

After meeting Treitol, he suddenly shed blood, and strange things happened to his body, almost causing his death.

It seemed far too coincidental to chalk it all up to mere chance.

Ruel spoke cautiously, “I think Treitol Kran is the Great … Man.”

“…” Cassion was taken aback, but he didn’t rush to voice his thoughts.

His master was that cautious.

Although not certain yet, there seemed to be some suspicions.

Without further inquiry, Cassion replied, “I’ll review the process, as Ruel-nim suggested.”

“Yes, don’t miss a thing.”

Ruel doubted but did not have conviction.

There were only suspicions, and it was just one of many possibilities, so he had to keep his ears open.