The crown prince left, leaving behind only meaningful words.
After seeing off the crown prince and returning to his office, Deon sat down at his desk and picked up documents as if nothing had happened. Contrary to his calm demeanor, his gaze as he looked at the documents was slightly out of focus.
Deon thought as he stared at a corner of the document with his shiny bright red eyes.
'What do you know?'
And how much do you know?
What did the Emperor intend to convey with such words?
"...Master?"
"..."
He stiffened for a moment at the voice that broke his thoughts, and then put down the document he was holding with a small sigh. How preoccupied would he have been to not even notice his existence?
He looked at Dan with an expressionless face.
As his dull gaze was directed straight in his direction, Dan, who had been standing up from the sofa and carefully examining him, flinched slightly and took a step back.
"...Are you okay?"
His voice was trembling slightly.
While he was staying at this mansion and learning various skills, he was familiar with the story about the owner's personality going back and forth between extremes.
In fact, he saw that side of him firsthand when he immediately asked him to take him away.
'What on earth happened?'
But now it was on a different level than then.
The atmosphere that was flowing out as if he was feeling uncomfortable was sharpened and aimed in all directions as if it would tear everything apart.
How else could he explain the feeling as if countless blades were pointed at him as soon as he could speak?
"...I thought you said you had something to say."
"Yes, yes!"
"Say it."
"It's nothing much..."
Was it really okay to say this to him in this mood?
Dan, who had been pondering whether or not to say the words he was going to say over and over again in his mouth, eventually couldn't resist the glare from Deon, so he closed his eyes tightly and opened his mouth.
"I need you to lend me some money."
"...What?"
A voice full of absurdity returned.
What happened like this must definitely come to an end. If he stopped like this, they would only end up with a huge misunderstanding.
Dan added hastily.
"It's not that I'm greedy for money. I just..."
"...?"
"...I want to make money."
Deon's head tilted.
He slowly got up from his seat while silently listening to Dan's words that he would give him all the profits he received by rolling the money.
He walked around the office desk, sat down on the sofa across from Dan, slowly crossed his legs, tilted his head, and touched the corner of his mouth.
It was an action that seemed innocent at first glance, but the voice that came out next was so low that it gave him the creeps.
"Did you know how to make money from the beginning?"
"...No."
"That would mean you learned it here. Isn't that strange? What you wanted to learn must have been swordsmanship. Did I mishear, or did the butler disobey me?"
Bright red eyes shone blood red.
Dan stopped breathing for a moment at the unique look in his eyes that was secretly revealed by a crazy person.
Eyes that wre a mixture of all kinds of dark, thick, and creepy emotions that made you feel like your breathing was constricting just by looking at them.
Even though he stopped breathing, a smile began to bloom on his lips.
It was not a fake smile. Deon's eyes narrowed at the sincere smile, but Dan couldn't pay attention.
Because he was really happy.
'If it's a disaster, it has to be like this.'
After all, he wasn't wrong.
As Dan, who had blown away any remaining doubt, was trembling from uncontrollable emotions, Deon uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.
Like a wild beast heading towards its prey, he leaned on the table and pushed his upper body beyond it, bringing his face close to Dan's face. The red eyes that filled Dan's field of vision slowly hid between his bent eyelids.
"I wondered what your purpose was. You said you would follow me, but you didn't expect anything from me."
"..."
"It's the same even now. All you asked me to do was to make some money? And you're giving me all the profits you make from it?"
This did not even fall into the level of 'desiring'.
He liked the emotion in his eyes and accepted it, but that didn't mean he thought nothing of it.
There was no way you would follow a complete stranger without any reason.
Deon knew this truth very well, so he made two assumptions.
"There are two guesses so far."
"..."
"What you are asking for is so great that you may be trying to build trust first."
"..."
"Or perhaps following me itself is your goal."
And now he could vaguely feel his smile.
Deon slowly straightened his lowered upper body and returned to his original position, leaning against the back of the sofa.There was a meaningful smile on his lips.
"I won't pry into how you tricked the residents of this mansion and what you learned from them."
"...!"
"You said you wanted to make more money than that, right?"
***
Remember came in, carrying papers at his side.
He greeted me in an uncomplicated manner, as I was in a daze as I had not yet recovered from the shock of the sudden visit of the crown prince, and then suddenly said something out of the blue.
"Calling this old man means that a conclusion has been reached."
"?"
"I think the conclusion was made to invest, is that correct?"
"...Invest?"
I felt like the spirit of running away from home has come back. Were you suddenly investing?
While I was losing my mind about this, I was suddenly struck by lightning.
Even I, who was not interested in investing, knew very well that if you made a mistake in investing, you will end up in trouble, but what was this? I was about to ask in more detail, but someone interrupted me.
"Yes, Master said he would entrust the money to me."
It's a surprise! Did you say Dan? Since when have you been here? Or rather...
I said that?!
"I see. It's not a bad decision. I personally confirmed Dan's skills."
These people were talking about something that seemed very important without me. Should I act like I'm crazy and step in and stop him right now?
Just as I was rolling my eyes trying to understand the situation, something caught my eye.
This wads the document stuck to Remember's side.
It's not because the amount was crazy large. Rather...
"That document... it seems like a small amount..."
"Ah, this is what you mean. It's all thanks to that man named Dan."
It's Dan again.
Unlike in the beginning, when he was quite wary of what had happened while I was away, he looked at Dan with warm eyes and started saying things that Remember had not asked him to do.
"After looking at the backlog of documents, he said he wanted to help and asked for guidance, so I only taught him the basics and he did the job very well."
As he said that, he looked at me for some reason.
For some reason, I felt like I can hear a voice saying, 'more than the Count.' I guess it was just my mood.
So was it favorable?! Because there were fewer documents to process?
"We even went so far as to pick out inefficient systems and change them to be more efficient. This is the result."
His finger pointed to the stack of papers in front of me.
Unlike before, there was a large amount of documents that could be easily processed in 4-5 hours.
...No way.
I raised my head. I made eye contact with Remember, who had a happy expression on his face.
Instead of asking directly because I was worried that I might be disappointed if I had expectations, I asked cautiously with my eyes.
'Is this really the end?'
'Yes that's right.'
I understood why Remember was so friendly.
"So... do you want me to leave the money to you?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Do whatever you want. Remember will allocate the budget."
"Ah...! Thank you. I will never disappoint you."
"Then go out."
It doesn't matter whether you succeed or fail. Remember will give you enough money that you won't suffer even if you lose it.
Rather, seeing as Remember wasn't leaving, I feel like he had something to say.
Sure enough, no sooner had Dan left, saying thank you until the end, Remember put down the thinly-organized documents on the desk in my office.
Even though the amount had decreased, I still hate paperwork. I sighed softly and sat down in front of him.
As I picked up the top document, I immediately heard Remember's explanation.
"The handover of Hardt territory has been completed."
"Ah..."
Is this what you wanted to say? Immediately my expression darkened. From the subject of being taken away to the handover being done according to the procedures. I felt dirtier. It's as if I agreed.
'No, it's true that I agreed, but still.'
I didn't want to hear any more, so I just nodded and changed the subject.
Still, since he was a butler, I had to tell him where I was going.
I can't say I'm going to the demon realm, but I also can't just disappear without a word.
"I'm going to be away again for a while."
"Is that so? It seems like you've finally regained your former self, but it's a shame."
You say that, but why are you looking at my dark circles? Is this fatigued look my true self?
Still, considering he didn't ask me where I was going and for what purpose, I should say I was glad.
I touched my darkened eyes again and sighed.
"I will leave as soon as I am ready. So please get ready as soon as possible."
"Can I keep the estimated travel time the same as last time?"
"Yes."
"Alright."
Remember, who was about to leave, let out an exclamation of 'ah' and turned back, as if he had forgotten something.
"And that man named Dan whom the Count brought in."
"...Yes."
The one that made me invest.
He said he would only learn the sword, but he also taught him paperwork, and if that wasn't enough, he made an investment.
Of course, I wasn't saying that it was a bad thing that he learned accounting, but when I thought about it again, I felt like I was tricked. Anyway, it was a bit of a strange feeling.
"As the Count ordered, we monitored him to see if there was anything suspicious, but we didn't see any unusual behavior."
"Yes?"
"I'm not sure if it's because we're still building trust or if there really is nothing..."
"Yes?"
"In this old man's personal opinion, I think it's probably the latter."
No, wait a minute. I ordered it? Surveillance? When?
And the deacon's 'personal opinion'. This was literally just his personal opinion. The goodwill was dripping from your eyes.
"He's quite talented in swordsmanship. I heard he's not a genius, but he's quite good still."
This was almost like a grandfather who was infatuated with his grandchild.
How could Remember be made like this with just paperwork? Was he that great or was I just that bad at doing paperwork...?
"Above all, where he clearly excels is in paperwork. I'm sure you know this."
"Ah, yes."
After seeing the reduced documentation, I even invested.
It was a bit uncomfortable, but I have no regrets. We must capture these talents. Especially if all he wants is to entrust a portion of the money to him.
...But a little while ago, I thought Remember would be able to sort things out on his own...but now that I looked at it, I felt a little uneasy.
"Anyway, so this guy named Dan seems like a pretty nice kid."
"..."
He's not giving him a lot of money just because he's pretty nice, right...?
I couldn't help but look suspiciously at this foolish grandfather.