“Ah, you look like you have a lot of questions, but hear me out first!”

Such a sentence flowed out, still looking as chaotic as ever.

He took out something from his inner chest pocket.

…A key?

It was a key luxuriously decorated with jade.

The mark engraved on it indicated that it was used to access internal facilities in the Imperial Palace.

"This will allow you to enter anywhere in the Imperial Palace! It is an item managed by the Upper Nobles Association. I will give this to you!”

“...”

“And, also…”

Marquis Bogut winked as held the key out to me.

“Since the Imperial Palace is crowded with people and full of things for you to play with, it won’t be a problem if you take a few things you like!”

“...”

“If you’re caught, just tell them that the Upper Nobles Association told you to do it!”

From his words, this key didn't seem to be something that could be casually given away like this…

What he said afterwards made it sound even more so.

“...Why should I do that?”

“Because you will be able to pass the Last Ordeal of the Hero Selection that way!”

“...”

“You must be well aware of the thing that is ‘sleeping’ inside the Imperial Palace, right?”

Marquis Bogut continued while grinning.

“Anyway, you’ll definitely find something that you could use for your plan!”

“...”

Something…

Felt off…

His intention behind him suddenly giving me such a favor aside…

This bastard seemed to be very aware of the ‘principle of my actions’ and my ‘goals’.

Before the incident, I had to collect the items to solve it easily before planning in advance

He seemed to be aware that I ‘already knew’ about this world.

“...I assume that there’s something I need to take there.”

“Yes!”

Marquis Bogut’s gaze fell onto the amulet tied to my arm.

“...Along with the ‘Guardian’, it will definitely help you out!”

“...”

This bastard…

He knew about Caliban too?

My expression stiffened as I stared at him silently.

Where the hell did this bastard come from? What the hell was it that he wanted?.

“...Why are you doing this, Marquis Bogut?”

I asked in a low voice.

“You seem to know well that I could turn into your enemy at any time. Also, I am associated with your political opponents…”

I could not help but ask.

This bastard’s existence was mysterious enough to make me had the urge to force him to tell me his intentions.

“...Is that really something you want to ask me the most?”

Not only that.

His words made it sound like he knew everything.

“If you ask, I think I could explain why I’m doing this to some extent.”

“...”

I gritted my teeth slightly.

It felt like I was dancing on his palm, so I felt really reluctant about this…

But, I had no choice but to ask him the most important question in my mind.

“...Do you know my mother?”

If it was about my father, Viscount Armin Campbell, it wouldn’t be strange even if he knew about him in detail.

Given the cunning habits of the Empire’s nobles, it was safe to assume that they had investigated my personal information from A to Z since I began to receive their attention.

However…

If it was about my ‘other’ parent, it was a completely different story.

“Of course I do.”

Bogut answered, shrugging his shoulders.

He asked me another question, still looking relaxed.

“What about you?”

That question stabbed me deep in my heart.

“...By the look of it.”

He continued.

“You don’t seem to know ‘everything’, hm?”

Instead of replying, I just glared at him.”

“Thought so.”

Marquis Bogut continued again with a grin.

“Armin is not the kind of person who’d tell you stories about her so easily. He has always been like that ever since he was little.”

“...”

“That bear-like pink. So diligent and hardworking. Guess that was why Astrid liked him.”

I clenched my fists.

Astrid.

Astrid Campbell.

That was my mother’s name.

And the only information about her that I knew ‘for sure’.

“And I respect Armin’s decision.”

Marquis Bogus continued in a soft tone.

“If he didn’t tell you, then I won’t be telling you anything about Astrid.”

“...You’ve already told me a lot, Marquis.”

I said coldly.

Why is he trying to play dumb after making it so obvious that he was deeply related with my parents? Is he trying to make fun of me or something?

However, despite my reaction…

He only shrugged his shoulders as if it didn’t matter.

“...Then, since I’ve told you so much already, why don’t I be generous and tell you one more thing?”

At that moment, the grin on the bastard’s face vanished.

He continued his words expressionlessly.

This was the first time I’ve seen him looking so grave.

“...Astrid had asked me for a favor.”

This was getting really annoying…

“You've been talking in circles—”

“The reason why you’re here is to sound me out, right? Both the Empress and the Chancellor must be thinking of checking on me.”

“...”

I narrowed my eyes.

He didn't say ‘Her Imperial Majesty’.

As a vassal of the Empire, this was a violation that could get him punished for a lèse-majesté.

In other words…

He was openly expressing his ‘hostility’.

“...What are you thinking, Marquis Bogut?”

I didn’t know the reason why he suddenly did this.

There was no way that he wasn’t aware of the fact that both the Empress and the Chancellor weren’t pleased with him.

Then, why would he say something that would clearly make him earn my disapproval? I was someone who was deeply connected with them both.

“Currently, the movement of the Empire’s Upper Nobles Association is suspicious. In this situation where the Empire’s power is divided between the Empress, the Chancellor, and the Upper Nobles Association, a civil war will definitely break out and get out of hand if one side sets up a big fire. Am I right?”

“...”

This was something that I was also aware of.

Because this was the background of Chapter 5.

“That… is correct.”

“...”

I looked at him as if doubting my ears.

It felt as if I had one done over me.

Currently, this bastard was the only one who was capable of causing a ‘Great Turmoil’ in Chapter 5, but the problem here was the fact that he admitted to it calmly.

…But why?

In the end, I went back to that question.

What would he gain by bringing this up now?

“Dowd Campbell.”

As I pondered such thoughts, he called out to me.

“Aren’t you curious about what kind of favor Astrid asked me for?”

“...Sorry?”

“Because of my promise with her, I can’t say it outright… But I guess I can give you this much as a hint.”

Marquis Bogut said while sipping the wine in the glass he had taken with him.

“Astrid had entrusted me with ‘you’, the greatest masterpiece she had created.”

“What does that mea—”

“To put it simply, I’m thinking of making you ‘great’.”

“...”

He was just saying words at this point.

This bastard was the first ‘variable’ that rivaled even the Prophet since I came to Sera.

I frowned hard as I looked at him.

Then…

He continued without waiting for my reply.

“You may pass this on to the Empress and the Chancellor as it is. Listen carefully.”

Surely enough.

What he said next was also something that was beyond my ‘expectations’.

“I am going to burn down the Empire. All of it.”

“...”

He said those words so calmly that they failed to register for a while.

“I’m not going to start something lame like a civil war or something. Because my goal is not the throne.”

As if he was saying an obvious fact, his tone was so light.

“I will kill every imperial citizen over the age of ten. Men, women, kids, elderly—everyone without exception. Fairly. Hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions. All of them. Every single one of them.”

As if telling me he would go for a walk the next morning.

“I am going to restore this whole country to nothing.”

“...”

Then…

When those words finally registered, my breathing grew ragged.

“...You.”

If he was a madman or a villain, thus declaring the huge conspiracy he was plotting…

I would’ve at least understood.

But this punk…

Was fucking sober…

And he told such a ridiculous and lunatic plan…

In such a dry tone…

As if this was something that he just had to do.

“And I want you to prevent that from happening.”

No kidding.

“I beg you.”

He said all of that ever so calmly.

“...Haaah…”

After parting ways with Marquis Bogut.

I was walking outside on the terrace, down the corridor.

A deep sigh, the kind I’ve never let out even once since I first came here, ever so naturally came out of my mouth.

In my hand was the key that I had received from Marquis Bogut in the banquet hall.

…What the heck is that bastard?

I didn’t get it.

It was the first time I had ever felt so hopeless since I met the Prophet.

Especially since he knew something about my mother that I didn’t know. It seriously gave me the creeps.

[...Come to think of it, you said that it’s better not to know about your mother not too long ago.]

That voice came out of the Soul Linker.

[Did you say that because you knew about her to some extent?]

“No, I didn’t.”

[What?]

Caliban responded as if he was dumbfounded. Then, I forced myself to continue.

“I’ve never even seen her face and there’s only one thing I know about her.”

Back when I was little.

When I was very little.

Before I became ‘Dowd Campbell’.

When the original owner of this body was so sick that he couldn’t even move properly.

[Ah, is that so? You said that you were cured miraculously when you were seven, no?]

“No, I wasn’t cured.”

I replied with a sigh.

“What happened was, I died once.”

I had looked it up in my father’s library.

When Dowd Campbell was six, lost his battle against a chronic disease and died.

There was even a record of them calling an undertaker to hold a funeral.

If anything, I came back to life ‘miraculously’, not cured.

“...And the one who caused that miracle was my mother.”

[...What does that mean?]

“She resurrected the dead.”

Of course I had played tricks of coming back alive from death several times before, but I had never ‘completely’ died, so her feat was on another level.

Astrid Campbell.

Had resurrected her completely dead son.

[...What?]

Caliban asked again, he sounded lost.

[Even the Great Priests of the Holy Land who could perform all kinds of miracles can’t do something like that. No, even the Pope himself will never be able to do that! It’s something you only see in fiction…!]

“Well, I’m here now because she did exactly that.”

[...But how?]

I know, right?

Honestly, I don’t know how either.

“...”

Right.

Even though I was in a fantasy world, this was the shit that came out of a fantasy.

Resurrecting the dead—it was a kind of miracle that couldn’t be found even in the Devils’ Authority.

The most likely explanation was that I didn’t actually die in the first place and they had mistaken me for dying when I was just in a state of suspended animation. But there was no way that my father would make that kind of mistake.

…I know nothing about my mother. Nothing.

How the hell did she resurrect a dead person?

What happened to her afterwards? Where was she now?

How did she meet my father? Where did they get married? What kind of life did she live?

I knew nothing.

Because that was all my father had told me about my mother.

As Bogut had said earlier, my father was terribly reticent when it came to my mother.

“...Whatever.”

I said with a sigh.

“If I don’t know, then I'll find out.”

That was the only way.

In order to find out what that bastard was up to and how he knew about my mother.

I’d have to get into it myself.

“Anyway, I guess I should ask Her Imperial Majesty and the Chancellor for their permission and get away from this social gathering immediately, Caliban.”

[...Where are you going?]

“There’s a place I have to drop by.”

I turned the key I received from Marquis Bogut in my grip once.

“This has something to do with you as well.”

To be exact…

I can’t go there without you.