Chapter 170

Big things always happen (3)

When living life, encountering things that deviate from expectations was something everyone inevitably went through at least once.

Especially for someone like Aiden Kellermain, who lived by applying plans to everything, it would be even more so.

From that perspective, even Aiden couldn’t help but occasionally feel dissatisfied.

Why was it that a person only experienced bad things sporadically?

Instead of facing only crises, shouldn’t there at least sometimes be help that one had never received before…?

“…….”

I did think that.

But I didn’t expect it to actually happen.

I blinked blankly as I looked at the black figure that had been rushing toward me.

I thought I was about to be devoured by it as it was,

“How are you like this?”

I rummaged through my head and pulled out information about the other party.

“Even if I take my eyes off you for just a moment, you always end up getting caught up in things like this?”

The name was… Elisha, was it?

Honestly, I didn’t even know if that was her real name, but since that was all the information I had been given when I was introduced, that was all I remembered.

If there was anything else I could recall, it was that she had previously sent people to monitor me, that she was entangled in a very uncomfortable relationship with Morrigan, and—

Above all, I remembered that, along with the Storyteller, she was one of the terrifying people always waiting to mess with me.

‘…Why is this person here?’

I stared blankly at Elisha as that thought crossed my mind.

Right in front of me, she was blocking the black figure that had been charging at me…

What was rising from her body was something I had seen several times before.

“What are you…?”

Where had she come from? Why had she appeared in front of me?

Various thoughts came to mind, but there wasn’t a single thing I could figure out.

“I’d like to explain a lot of things, but for now, it’s difficult.”

Elisha, who said that, quietly looked at what was in front of her.

“…I’ll have to take this up with Bailey later. Tell her to stop cutting in line.”

“…….”

“We’ll see each other again soon.”

And then,

It felt like I heard her say that at that time, a more important decision would be made.

-….

-!!

And then, with a crackling sound—

Both Elisha and the black figure disappeared at the same time.

“…….”

Then, time began to flow again.

“…Mr. Aiden?”

At the voice from behind, I snapped back to my senses and turned around.

“What’s wrong all of a sudden? You’re sweating a lot.”

When I looked down at myself at those words, my face really was damp.

“…I almost died.”

“Pardon?”

Leaving Noel Astrea Simus tilting her head in confusion, I hurriedly looked around.

Surely, in here—

‘…She’s here.’

There was a very high chance that Elisha, who had just revealed herself, was still hiding somewhere here.

And if she was here, then there was also a good chance that Bailey Varga was nearby as well.

Which meant—

Although there was no concrete evidence, there was a fair possibility that both the black aura and the white aura I often saw in that strange space were related to them.

“…….”

Even when I opened the System Window and scanned through it, nothing had changed.

Since anything related to the Main Story would be updated immediately, it meant that what I had just experienced had nothing to do with the Main Story.

‘…What the hell is going on?’

There were far too few clues to deduce how the situation was unfolding.

Just like last time, Elisha and Bailey were still watching me from somewhere, and I could at least tell that the hallucinations I had been seeing more frequently lately were influenced by them.

“…….”

But I had a feeling.

Unlike last time, this one was real.

A kind of instinctive premonition that facing them—and this time—would be the last…

“It seems the guest has arrived.”

As I thought that and walked inward step by step,

the moment I entered the building, I heard the Great Chieftain’s heavy voice settling over the space as he spoke those words.

At the very innermost part of the building, where all the personnel were lined up in perfect order, the man sitting on the most splendid seat spoke—and the atmosphere inside instantly sank.

Naturally, all eyes around us were directed toward us at once.

“Everyone, give them a grand welcome. They may be the ones to bring a new wind into the Tribal Alliance.”

“…….”

And it certainly wasn’t only me who felt something strange in that sentence. Right beside me, Noel Astrea Simus, and even Rania A‘Shan, who was following at the very back of the group, both had peculiar expressions on their faces.

No, I mean—

The way he was speaking felt a bit…

‘It really feels like he’s blatantly showing that there’s something he wants us to do?’

Beyond simply passing on part of his authority,

it looked like he was expressing with his whole body that he wanted something from me through it.

“…….”

Come on, couldn’t he just let this slide?

It was such a tightly forced progression that I couldn’t help but wish that.

▣

“…That guy, you know.”

Cretin, who was standing beside Rania, tilted her head as she watched me step forward and bow before the Great Chieftain.

“Does he even know exactly what it means to inherit authority from the Great Chieftain?”

“Hm?”

“Isn’t that something normally done only when selecting one of the chieftains as a successor? There won’t be just one or two people dissatisfied with this.”

“That’s true.”

“To think he’d accept something like that so readily—he doesn’t look stupid enough not to understand what it means to incur the dissatisfaction of the ruling class of that nation, especially those at the very top. So why accept it so easily?”

Moreover, the way the Great Chieftain was speaking right now didn’t even seem like he intended to hide his ulterior motive of achieving something indirectly through this transfer of authority.

Considering Aiden Kellermain’s usual attitude—someone who clearly showed he didn’t want to get entangled in anything—accepting something like this could only be called contradictory…

“…Well.”

Rania, who had been quietly listening, exhaled a puff of smoke from the pipe in her mouth and replied.

“If there’s one reason that comes to mind.”

“What is it?”

“Well, you’ll see.”

“…?”

Leaving Cretin tilting her head in confusion, the Great Chieftain’s dignified voice once again echoed through the interior.

“-Therefore, from this moment onward, I grant you the Great Chieftain’s right of inspection—the authority to monitor any suspicious signs among the chieftains without any restrictions. Do you understand?”

As those words were spoken, Rania glanced around at the expressions of the surrounding chieftains.

Indeed, just as Cretin had said, there were far more people showing dissatisfaction than those who seemed to accept it.

Those representing the moderate faction toward outsiders, led by Dunadan, appeared to either accept it to some extent or endure their dissatisfaction.

But those who had insisted from the beginning that outsiders should be excluded, especially with the important Harvest Festival just around the corner, didn’t even try to hide their irritation—and even a step beyond that, their hostility…

‘Even so.’

…There’s no way he wouldn’t know that.

Thinking that, Rania looked at me as I stood there, staring straight at the Great Chieftain.

While the other chieftains—and even Noel Astrea Simus and Princess Katya, who were not bound by the logic of the Tribal Alliance—were all bowing politely before the Great Chieftain, the fact that I alone maintained that posture suggested quite a lot.

In this place, right now, only that man possessed the authority to speak on equal footing with the Great Chieftain.

To begin with, inheriting authority was a formal procedure that granted exactly that.

“Yes.”

I, who had been listening to him until now, smiled faintly and answered the Great Chieftain.

“I understand.”

“-Then I shall conclude the ceremony. From this moment onward, Aiden Kellermain is my proxy in matters of inspection authority. Let everyone keep this in mind and conduct themselves appropriately.”

At those words, everyone finally raised their heads.

Especially Noel Astrea Simus and Princess Katya, who had been bowing their heads to someone who might have even ordered their assassination—their faces clearly showed relief that they no longer had to continue doing so…

“So, what do you plan to do first? You’ve practically obtained extrajudicial authority, after all.”

But the moment the Great Chieftain asked that question, the expressions on their faces instantly changed.

…It was likely because they had spent enough time with Aiden Kellermain to understand his tendencies to some degree.

And as soon as those words were spoken, the bright smile spreading across my face—as if I had been waiting for it—only amplified that feeling even further…

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll overturn everything.”

“…….”

“…….”

As expected, a statement that did not betray expectations at all made Noel and Princess Katya rub their faces in unison.

Of course, the reactions of the surrounding chieftains, who were not accustomed to me, were far more dramatic—but as always, I showed no sign of caring about that at all…

“If anyone has complaints, please speak now.”

“…And if there are complaints, will you listen to them?”

“No. Even if you have them, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway, so I might as well enjoy overturning everything even more.”

“…….”

Arrogance didn’t even begin to cover it.

“And.”

I swept my gaze around once, then turned my head.

“As promised, I’ll start by overturning you.”

“…….”

“Let’s have a one-on-one talk for a moment, Great Chieftain.”

“…….”

As a magnificent silence spread everywhere, Rania A‘Shan puffed on her pipe and turned toward Cretin, who was standing there with her mouth hanging open.

“Ah, that reminds me.”

“…Huh?”

“You asked earlier why he would accept something like that even knowing he’d earn everyone’s resentment, didn’t you?”

“…….”

“It’s simple.”

Well.

If I recalled correctly, someone from Aiden’s family once described him as being like a spring.

If it had been an assassination attempt targeting only himself, he probably would have just endured it and let it pass. He might not have even wanted to stir things up and would have quietly buried it.

But the problem was that others who had come along with him had all been dragged into the fight.

I heard that he himself hadn’t really done much during the fight, but that probably wasn’t important.

What mattered was that others had been put in danger because of him.

In other words—

“He’s just pissed.”

“…….”

“Since he’s pissed, he’s going to let everything loose, regardless of whether people look at him unfavorably or not.”

When dealing with Aiden Kellermain, the precautions were as follows.

First, never touch the people around Aiden.

Second, absolutely adhere to the first rule.

…Before long, it was certain that the Tribal Alliance would come to firmly understand that principle.