LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 30
Chapter 30: Grabbing the Tail (6)
Rumble!
The luxurious room, filled with ornate decorations, shook violently.
The cause of the tremor was the overwhelming aura emitted by Valdemar von Rustal alone.
“My lord, p-please calm yourself.”
Pierre, the family’s head administrator, struggled to speak. As an ordinary person, merely being exposed to Valdemar’s aura was enough to leave him breathless, but he still did his best to serve his master.
Perhaps recognizing Pierre’s effort, Valdemar quickly withdrew his oppressive aura.
“My apologies, Pierre. I showed an unbecoming side of myself.”
“N-no, my lord. You have every right to be angry in this situation.”
Pierre answered hastily.
When he first heard from Stefan Rustal about the impending audit, Pierre himself had been truly shocked. And with other issues also surfacing, he could completely understand Valdemar’s fury.
“No matter how much I think about it, I can’t comprehend it. Why would Elder Oriana cooperate with that brat Martin? After all the noise she’s made about founding her own family?”
When they had sent Martin away for the 100-day training under the guise of “training,” the branch family heads and the three elders had agreed to work together—until the main Adalbert family collapsed.
Yet, out of nowhere, Oriana had suddenly sided with Martin, even abandoning her own long-held ambitions.
Valdemar was perplexed. What could have driven her to abandon her dream so abruptly?
“If I may, my lord, I believe it’s possible that the young master Martin discovered a weakness of Elder Oriana.”
“He found a weakness that we didn’t know about?”
“There’s also the possibility that the previous head of the family revealed it to him.”
“Hmm. That’s true. The previous head was certainly capable of knowing things we didn’t. He maneuvered quite a bit to remain head of the family.”
“Exactly, my lord. But what’s most important right now isn’t Elder Oriana.”
“You’re right. The real issue is the White Dragon and Golden Dragon Knights. When are they expected to arrive?”
“They are scheduled to arrive tomorrow night, and young master Martin has stated that he and Lady Sien Igreet will be visiting the Rustal family via portal at the same time. Still, this situation feels strange. Tax evasion and slush funds are serious matters, but not to the extent of mobilizing two knight orders.”
“I had the same thought. Judging by the circumstances, it seems likely that Martin has already seen the contents of the ledger.”
Valdemar glanced at the vault in front of him.
The door was wide open, and its contents lay scattered across the room—artifacts crafted from top-grade mana stones, jewelry meticulously forged by dwarven artisans, each piece worth a small fortune.
These weren’t items that could be acquired simply with money.
However, neither Valdemar nor Pierre paid any attention to these treasures.
They were solely focused on the fact that the most important item—the ledger—was missing.
This absence had already incited Valdemar’s wrath, but the impending audit had only stoked the flames further.
“I’ve lived over fifty years, but life still never goes according to plan. It’s truly frustrating.”
Clench.
Despite his calm tone, Valdemar’s fists were tightly clenched.
It had been two days since the Blood Sword Guild had fallen.
During that time, he had poured his efforts into disabling the enchantments and curses on the vault, all the while fervently hoping that the ledger would still be inside.
But Valdemar’s hopes had been in vain.
Just as he had feared from the start, the ledger had ended up in Martin’s hands.
This meant that Martin now held the Rustal family’s leash.
“I thought Spatial Domination alone was ridiculous, but Martin managed to find the secret vault and take only the ledger. However, what we really need to be wary of is his intellect. I never imagined he would be able to decipher the code so quickly.”
“It’s hard to believe. Sure, the Dragon’s Curse supposedly made his mind sharper, but this is beyond absurd.”
For the past hundred years, only about two people per generation had ever been able to read the cipher of the Blood Sword Guild: the head of the Rustal family and the Guild’s leader.
In fact, as the years passed, the cipher had become more complex. Even Valdemar himself had taken a great deal of time to master it.
Yet Martin had managed to decipher the ledger’s code in just two days.
It was unbelievable, but Valdemar couldn’t deny it.
The mobilization of the White Dragon and Golden Dragon Knights was proof enough.
Soon, all the crimes committed by Valdemar, along with the sins the Rustal family carried, would be exposed.
Far from ascending to the position of head of the main house, Valdemar now faced the prospect of his entire family being wiped out.
“One way or another, we can’t avoid the fight.”
“Indeed.”
“And we can’t expect aid from other powers.”
“…That’s correct.”
The past heads of the Rustal family had used the Blood Sword Guild to assassinate numerous political opponents.
This time, they had even targeted the direct heir of the Adalbert family.
Regardless of Martin’s previous status as a powerless outcast, a direct heir was still a direct heir. Once it became known that they had targeted him, the Rustal family would be completely isolated.
In fact, Valdemar had to consider the possibility that other branch families might even side with Martin to help wipe out the Rustal family.
“I’m not afraid of the fight. I knew this day might come ever since I swore to break away from the main family. But there’s one thing that still worries me.”
“What do you mean, my lord?”
“I’m concerned that Martin might know about the slush fund vault. Of course, I know how unlikely that is. Even the previous heads of the Adalbert family haven’t uncovered it in 300 years. There’s no way Martin could know.”
While attempting to assassinate Martin and using the Blood Sword Guild was a serious offense, it was still an internal family matter.
It wasn’t enough to justify imperial intervention in the succession of the Adalbert family.
However, smuggling dungeon materials was a different story.
That was one of the most severely punished crimes in the Empire. If it were exposed, the Imperial House would be forced to intervene.
Even if Valdemar managed to defeat Martin, remaining a noble of the Empire would become increasingly difficult.
“That’s impossible, my lord. If the previous head had truly found the slush fund vault, he would have exposed it immediately. After all, he was desperate to suppress the branch families. He wouldn’t have let an opportunity like that slip by.”
“That’s right. As I get older, I can’t help but worry unnecessarily. Is there anything they could catch other than the slush fund vault?”
“If the financial inspectors from the main house come and scour everything, they might find some minor issues. But that’s all it would amount to.”
“What are the chances that they could manipulate the ledgers during the audit?”
“That’s impossible too. To fabricate things perfectly, they’d need to mess with the adventurer guild’s records as well. No matter how much power the young lord has, interfering there is too difficult. At most, they can verify the documents.”
Pierre, the secretary, spoke with conviction.
Only then did Valdemar feel completely reassured, nodding his head.
“Right now, we just need to focus on defeating the White Dragon Knights and the Golden Dragon Knights, and capturing Martin Adalbert.”
“I’ll gather all of the family’s forces, including the Green Dragon Knights.”
Though it meant confronting the main house head-on, Valdemar von Rustal remained composed.
He had never imagined a day would come when the Rustal family would face the Adalbert family in battle.
But he wasn’t worried.
It was true that the White Dragon Knights and the Golden Dragon Knights were strong, but they weren’t strong enough to overwhelm the entire Rustal family.
Valdemar calmly resolved to defeat Martin.
But the very next afternoon, his composure was shattered in an instant.
“Martin Adalbert has taken control of Mount Cheloti with the White Dragon Knights and the Golden Dragon Knights!”
At the mention of Mount Cheloti, both Valdemar and Secretary Pierre turned pale.
Only two people in the entire family knew.
What was hidden in Mount Cheloti.
“A-And….”
“Don’t drag it out! Spit it out quickly! Are you going to keep the family head waiting?”
“I’m sorry! Martin Adalbert has declared that the family head… hired the Blood Sword Group to assassinate him. He also exposed that the Rustal family has been skimming off dungeon byproducts for centuries….”
Crunch.
Valdemar ground his teeth without realizing it.
He could let the Blood Sword Group matter slide, but how in the world did Martin find out about the Rustal family’s slush fund vault?
“Martin Adalbert!”
Valdemar, who had been holding it in, finally exploded.
* * *
The outskirts of Talonia City, Mount Cheloti.
Martin stood midway up the mountain.
Originally, he had planned to use a portal and head to the Rustal family estate today, but instead, he left the main house yesterday afternoon with Sien.
From halfway up the mountain, he looked down at the Rustal family mansion in the heart of Talonia City.
It was a strange feeling.
To see the place he had once burned down with his own hands.
‘It will probably meet the same fate again.’
Once the fires of greed start to rage, they don’t die out until death. Even if it meant facing destruction, Valdemar would definitely rebel.
“You must be dazed, Valdemar von Rustal. You can’t use that proud brain of yours at all.”
Valdemar was certainly a formidable opponent.
He was skilled in devising schemes and plots, and his prowess, having reached the 7th Circle, allowed him to solve problems with sheer force.
In fact, in Martin’s past life, he had nearly died several times due to Valdemar’s tricks.
But no matter how smart he was, without the right information, he couldn’t act properly.
Now that Martin had monopolized future information thanks to his regression, Valdemar had no choice but to be helpless.
“I acknowledge your strength, which is why I’m taking you down first. You can even feel proud of yourself.”
“Ugh, such a personality.”
Sien, who was behind him, made a remark, but Martin ignored her smoothly.
“Now then, shall we rob that slush fund?”
“Is the vault really here, Martin?”
“Yeah. To be exact, it’s below us.”
“Underground? Don’t tell me we have to dig our way down, do we?”
“Of course not. There’s a portal set up. We just need to go through it.”
Martin answered without hesitation.
In his previous life, he had personally severed Valdemar von Rustal’s head.
And Kalain had hacked Valdemar’s pocket dimension, successfully uncovering everything about the slush fund vault.
That’s why Martin still remembered it now.
Not only the location of the vault, but also how to access it.
Wooong.
Martin immediately activated his Distortion of All Things, and golden streams of light began to spread out.
The threads of light expanded like a web, steadily covering more ground, providing Martin with an abundance of information.
Before long, he detected a place where mana was compressed and withdrew his mana.
It was at that moment—
Step, step.
The commander of the White Dragon Knights, Lucas Hoffman, approached Martin and Sien, leading his men.
“The Golden Dragon Knights will stay here to keep an eye on the Rustal family’s movements. If they show any suspicious signs, Commander Philip will attack immediately.”
“That’s enough.”
After responding to Lucas, Martin moved toward the portal’s location.
Upon reaching the spot, he channeled mana through the soles of his feet.
Flash!
With a brilliant flash of light, a circular magic formation appeared on the ground.
It was a portal that would transport people to their desired location.
Wooong.
As the light grew brighter, the space around them began to distort.
The group was engulfed by the light, and as they felt their senses twist, Martin and the others experienced a disorienting sensation.
But it didn’t last long.
The light faded first, and their senses soon returned to normal.
When they opened their eyes, they saw it immediately.
A vast underground cavern, and within it, a massive structure.
It was the Rustal family’s slush fund vault.
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