GDTEA Chapter 127

Heading East

After calming Sharti down and making sure she had fallen asleep, Ren quietly left the room. His mind was too cluttered for him to simply fall asleep. 

“I should get some air.”

The problem was that he had left the cloth he used as a blindfold in Sharti’s room. Clicking his tongue, Ren was just about to head back to her room when it happened.

“Who’s there?” 

“……!”

Ren hesitated and turned around to see someone standing at the end of the corridor, holding a candelabra. Since it was late at night and he could be mistaken for an intruder, Ren identified himself. 

“Ah, the Doctor’s…….”

The soft sound of indoor slippers approached, and Ren bowed his head deeply. There was no need for a count to exchange words with a mere mercenary, and Count Chelonar was just about to pass him by—

Dark brown hair……?

Count Chelonar glanced at Ren’s hair as it flickered in the candlelight, and reflexively swallowed a dry lump in his throat. It was because his dreams had been disturbed lately. The count slowly walked past Ren. 

“……!”

But the anxiety he had felt even in his dreams drove his hand on its own. The moment the count spun around and grabbed Ren by the collar, a pair of startled teal eyes briefly met his.

[I must head to the battlefield, so please take good care of His Majesty the Emperor while I’m gone.]

The teal eyes he had faced back then were now shimmering in the candlelight before him. Just then, the candle in the candelabra went out.

In the instant Count Chelonar’s lips parted, Ren slipped free from his grasp and gave a quick bow. 

“……I’ll take my leave.” With a brief farewell, Ren quickly departed.

Left alone in the dark corridor, the count gripped the candelabra tightly. It can’t be. It can’t be. It’s impossible. 

“……Grand Duke Gwendhill……?”

The owner of those eyes he had just seen was unmistakably Leodelt Gwendhill. The Grand Duke of Gwendhill, who had been branded a traitor and returned to this world as a corpse, was now inside his mansion. Count Chelonar’s entire body broke out in goosebumps.

****

With the competition three days away, Sharti received her first-ever lesson. 

“Huu…….”

A first lesson, a first teacher! She couldn’t help but be nervous. Just in case, she had asked Tein if he’d like to take the lesson together, but the boy had firmly refused.

[You are my one and only teacher! Our teacher is a magnificent teacher.]

Recalling Tein, who had shown such bursting pride along with his full belly, eased her nerves a little. Sharti worked to loosen the stiff muscles in her face, then carefully checked her bangs, the hair at her temples, and her baby hairs one last time.

[He’s a family scholar who has apparently been employed by the Chelonar family for generations, right?]

He was a scholar whom Count Chelonar had quietly invited to the mansion, calling the family trustworthy. Because Eryl was still young and had recently been ill, the scholar’s visit to the count’s mansion had been repeatedly postponed, but he had willingly accepted the invitation. However, there had been no response to the part of the count’s invitation letter regarding Sharti’s lessons.

“I’m worried.”

She was looking down at the silver ring she had been rubbing out of habit when it happened. The door to the study prepared for the lesson swung open without so much as a knock. Startled, Sharti turned her head to find a tall, thin, elderly man around Vireta’s age, wearing a monocle, striding in.

Just from the books tucked under his arm and his attire, it was clear the old man was the scholar Count Chelonar had summoned.

“A woman?” 

“……!”

The old scholar’s crooked hostility struck her along with the rude words, and Sharti’s face stiffened. But he was the scholar the count had personally summoned for her lessons. Sharti rose to her feet and gave the old scholar a polite bow first. 

“Hmph.”

Ignoring the greeting, the old scholar set his books down on the desk with an irritable thud. Then the way he crossed his arms was utterly surly. At a single glance, he radiated the air of someone not merely cantankerous but thoroughly set in his own ways.

‘As expected, he doesn’t like me.’

It was nothing new, but it did fully dispel her nerves. She had grown accustomed to warm gazes lately, but Sharti had lived a life far more familiar with looks like the one the old scholar was giving her now. 

Having been hardened over many long years didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t bear either.

“My name is Sha, Elder.” 

“Did anyone ask?” 

“I thought you should know who you’re teaching.”

Whether the old scholar was glaring at her or not, Sharti sat down and took out her book and a notebook for taking notes. She gripped her pen, straightened her back, and looked up at him, prompting the old scholar to let out an indignant cough, his shoulders heaving as if in disbelief.

“How am I to teach a woman with no lineage!” 

In other words, it was his philosophy and pride that he could not teach someone of lowly standing with no family name. Sharti blinked.

“If you weren’t going to teach me, why did you come all the way here?” 

Responding calmly without being cowed, Sharti’s attitude made the old scholar’s eyes bulge as he glared at her. Sharti smiled faintly.

“It’s because of Count Chelonar’s request, isn’t it?” 

“You, you……!” 

“I have to be grateful for the opportunity the count has given me. Even if you say you don’t want to teach me, I won’t bat an eye.”

Meaning he should stop grumbling and get on with the lesson—Sharti put steel in her gaze. Faced with Sharti’s unyielding attitude, a look of bewilderment crossed the old scholar’s face for the first time. 

It seemed that most people would either get scared or have their pride wounded and leave.

‘And he might badmouth me to the count, saying I have a weak will.’

With Eryl’s treatment and the antidote still to be taken care of, she had no desire to fall out of the count’s favor.

But after only a brief pause, the old scholar let out a sigh and shook his head. 

“Having no lineage makes one so shameless!” 

“I think of it as being clever.” 

“Yo-, you! How dare you talk back to a noble!”

The old scholar’s eyes behind the monocle flashed. Feeling like she had provoked him too much, Sharti belatedly held her tongue.

‘I should have been more careful—I suppose hearing words like “lineage” and “woman” made me flare up a little.’

She watched with exasperation as the old scholar fumed with his whole body. Just then— 

“Calling a woman with no lineage a genius apothecary! Has he gone senile!”

The old scholar went so far as to raise his voice without hesitation to criticize Count Chelonar himself. 

Sharti deliberated. It seemed a childish method, but to break the stubbornness of a willful old man, she had no choice. 

She rummaged through her bag and took out a small ointment.

“This is an ointment I made.” 

“Are you asking me to evaluate it? I can already tell it’ll be some imitation from a street rat who skimmed through a single book.” 

The old scholar snorted with a deeply furrowed expression.

“No. I’m asking you to identify the ingredients.” 

“Ha! Yo-, yo-, since you have no lineage, you’re putting on airs that don’t even amount to anything?” 

“If you get all the ingredients right, I’ll go to the count myself and say I’m too lacking to be worthy of lessons.” 

“……Hmm?”

Wasn’t it usually supposed to be the other way around? The condition was supposed to be a plea for even a small chance to learn from that great knowledge if all the ingredients were identified. 

As the old scholar cast a look full of suspicion, Sharti smiled pleasantly.

“But if you can’t get all the ingredients right, you’ll have to apologize to me, Elder.”

 “Nonsense! Why would I, to a woman with no lineage……!” 

“Oh……. Are you not confident?”

Sharti tilted her head slightly, covering her mouth with her hand. It was fine even if her facial expressions and tone felt awkward. 

The old scholar, who held great pride in his own abilities, immediately reacted, eyes blazing.

“How dare you test me?! Hand it over!” 

The old scholar snatched up the ointment from the desk, huffing indignantly. Then he opened the lid, sniffed it, and dabbed a little on his fingertip. The old scholar let out a snort and cast a contemptuous look at Sharti.

“Hmph! It seems you’ve thrown in all sorts of things trying to imitate an apothecary, but the ingredients of a cheap ointment are obvious!” 

The old scholar confidently reeled off the ointment’s ingredients in rapid succession. Every time Sharti nodded, the corner of the old scholar’s mouth rose a little more.

“—There! How’s that! The ingredients of a woman’s ointment are plain as day!” 

“Oh, is that it?” 

“……Is that it? Are you saying there’s something more?!”

He seemed sure there couldn’t be, as the old scholar fixed her with a confident stare. Sharti shook her head slowly. Perhaps it looked like she was deliberately taunting him, because the old scholar’s face went red then blue.

“If you think you can make a fool of me with lies……!” 

“There’s sisiche poisonweed in there. Right there.” 

“Wha-, what? Sisiche?”

The old scholar was startled, and immediately smeared more of the ointment all over the back of his hand. 

“I soaked the sisiche poisonweed in water, crushed it, then wrung it out thoroughly before using it. That way, the poison disappears.” 

“B-, but why on earth use a poisonweed! What could one added ingredient possibly change…… Hm?”

Still denying it even after the explanation, the old scholar was suddenly taken aback and pressed down firmly on the back of his hand where he had applied the ointment. 

“The sticky feeling typical of ointments has disappeared, hasn’t it? Instead, there’s just a cool sensation. It turns out that when sisiche poisonweed comes into contact with the base ingredient of that ointment, it produces that effect.”

“Oh my, is that so! ……N-, no! I-, I refuse to acknowledge it!” 

The old scholar, who had been excitedly squeezing out more ointment with gleaming eyes, shook his head vigorously as if to say he would not let this pass.

“Then would you like to try once more with a different ointment?” 

“Agreed!”

And so the old scholar didn’t raise his white flag until he had emptied every last ointment from Sharti’s bag. Having alternated between outrage and amazement, the old scholar slumped back onto the sofa. 

Sharti, on the other hand, was elated. Having received what was an evaluation disguised as a wager felt good.

“……Why is a woman like you doing this here? You should immediately go to the Academy—no, be my assistant—no, take my letter of recommendation straight to the Imperial Palace……!” 

“You said I had no lineage.”

Thanks to the old scholar, who had even staked money on the wager by the end, Sharti couldn’t keep her cheekbones from rising. Gambling was bad, but she decided to think of it charitably as pocket money from an elder. 

If she tried to give it back, that towering pride of his would refuse it and raise his voice again, and at his age, that could send his blood pressure dangerously high.

“That’s right. No lineage…… Lineage, ……yes! I shall take you on as my disciple, woman!”

The old scholar, leaping to his feet so abruptly that his monocle nearly fell off, took Sharti’s hand. 

“Of course, you’re still far from being worthy of this body’s disciple, but how could I turn away from your passion, woman! You’re not quite up to my standards, but I shall lower my eyes ever so slightly…….”

“Elder.” “…….”

Sharti smiled with her eyes and slowly shook her head. The old scholar quietly pressed his lips together. 

“You owe me an apology, don’t you? To me.”

After that, instead of an apology, Sharti received a peaceful lesson full of praise.

****

BOOM! 

As the sun was setting, one of the weapons shops on Bibanten Street exploded. 

“Help, cough cough, help me!” 

The owner, who had been slammed into the wall of the weapons shop, cried out to the people around him while bleeding from his nose. 

Naturally, the eyes of the people on the street turned toward the weapons shop, which was beginning to crumble.

From within the cloud of dust, a swordsman with pale blue hair strode out, sword in hand. 

“Answer—.” 

“Huh-, cough cough, so, I really don’t know either……!” 

“Depending on your answer, I’ll cut your throat.” 

“Hiieek……!”

The androgynous-looking swordsman was merciless. The weapons shop owner clung to the swordsman’s legs, sobbing. The owner looked into those ash-grey eyes that showed not a single trace of emotion and shook his head frantically.

“I truly don’t know where this sword came from! Really! Why would I lie when my life is on the line!”

The swordsman was holding two swords—the one that had started the whole incident was the one in his left hand, a sword still sheathed in its scabbard. 

Swish……

 The blade in his right hand touched the owner’s neck.

“I got it from a smithy! That’s the truth!” 

“A smithy?”

At that, the swordsman hurled the owner aside. Ben then went around practically every smithy in Bibanten. Following the sword’s trail, Ben eventually traced it back to the Mongdia gang.

“Yes. I sold it on someone’s behalf. Asked as a favor.” 

“Whose favor? Tell me.” 

The Mongdia gang, faced with Ben’s arrival—dangerous at a glance—quickly spilled everything. And then Ben, upon hearing that there had been a man who had asked them to sell the sword he had been searching for so desperately, leveled his sword at them.

“What did he look like?” 

“H-, his face, I c-, can’t remember! He had such a forgettable impression!” 

“Not helpful. Be specific.”

The Mongdia gang swallowed hard. Loyalty mattered. Above all, the fellow who had asked them to sell the sword had been the companion of Doctor Sha, who had helped them before leaving. But……

“He said he didn’t need the sword anymore, so we sold it! That’s the truth!” 

“…….”

Ben’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. There’s no way he wouldn’t need it. Given the crisis his master was currently in, what else besides a sword would he need?

“I’ll cut the mouth that lied.” 

“A bear!”

The sword he was about to swing stopped in midair. One of the gang members, who had caught Ben’s gaze, swallowed dryly.

“He was huge—like a bear—and he, he said he was heading east!”