Chapter 3
“Why are you acting like you don’t know? Between us? You’ve known since the day I was born that you raised me. In a way, that just ties us together, doesn’t it?”
To Kraush, Aliod was both a father figure and a treasured person.
But there was one terrible rule that applied to the butlers of the Balheim family.
That rule dictated that the rise of the direct descendant they served would determine their own fate within the family.
They had to follow their master for life.
Even if that master ended up being sent to the Green Pine Hall.
There was only one way for these servants to escape this cursed structure.
When the direct descendant they served died.
Of course, when their master died, they typically retired as well.
However, Aliod’s case was different.
Because Kraush’s third brother had made him a certain proposal.
That proposal was none other than Kraush’s assassination.
He promised Aliod that if he poisoned Kraush, not only would he secure a new place to live, but he’d also receive a hefty sum of money.
‘My third brother really hated me.’
The root of his third brother’s disdain stemmed from none other than their fourth sister.
There were five direct descendants in the Balheim family.
Among them, two actually shared only half of the bloodline with the others.
The first three brothers were born of the former wife, while the fourth and youngest, Kraush, were the children of the current mistress of the Balheim family.
Among them, the fourth sibling, Kraush’s sister Charlotte Balheim, was the biggest problem.
‘The greatest genius ever born in Balheim.’
Charlotte, gifted with such ridiculous talent that one could expect it only once in a millennium, turned the ranking within the Balheim family upside down in an instant.
As a result, not only did her third brother lose rank, but even the second sister was robbed of her position by Charlotte.
The third brother harbored deep-seated anger from that moment onward.
The family openly supported Charlotte, leaving the third brother in a humiliating position.
‘Where did his enraged gaze turn? To me, of course.’
The youngest sibling, with blood ties as poor as his own, and the very one his mother, who had just married into the family, despised.
When he saw Charlotte rise through the ranks, all of that anger poured onto poor Kraush.
To the extent that he truly wanted to kill Kraush.
‘He can’t deal with Charlotte. He probably just vented it all on me because I bore some resemblance.’
For Kraush, it was a mind-boggling situation, but he held no strength to fight back.
Even the butler who was supposed to be serving him eventually fell for his brother’s scheme.
“Well, that’s fine. If you’re going to pretend you don’t know, then I won’t worry about it.”
Kraush didn’t particularly scold Aliod any further.
In the end, it was his own foolishness that led the butler to his third brother.
The only reason Kraush was alive was that the attempt on his life failed.
And that was perfectly understandable.
On the day that Aliod decided to execute the assassination,
‘That guy ended up killing himself right in front of me.’
Aliod took the poison that was meant for Kraush and drank it himself just before Kraush was about to eat from the poisoned stew.
“I’m so sorry, Young Master! I’ve committed an unforgivable crime! You are as precious to me as my own child, how could I dare—”
The image of Aliod, who died that day, begging for forgiveness, remained vividly etched in Kraush’s mind.
“Instead, why don’t you follow me?”
But that was that; Kraush had a separate request.
“……Yes.”
Had his mindset changed, perhaps?
Aliod replied quite readily.
Kraush, not paying much attention to Aliod’s demeanor, moved forward.
‘At this time, there must definitely be one.’
Hoping he was right, Kraush headed toward the library of the Green Pine Hall.
A place filled with countless books, though in reality, it served merely as window dressing.
Kraush knew well that most of the books here were not worth reading.
The Green Pine Hall was certainly not a place for those discarded by Balheim for no reason.
There was supposed to be nothing useful within the Green Pine Hall.
Except for one thing.
“Master Kraush, are you looking for a specific book?”
Suddenly, when Kraush entered the library, Aliod questioned him.
Kraush, without answering, continued walking.
He stood right in front of the bookshelf.
“Aliod.”
“Yes?”
“Clear this out.”
Aliod appeared puzzled.
However, there was something about Kraush’s command that made it difficult to refuse.
‘Where have I felt this before?’
The head of the Balheim family.
But he quickly shook off the thought.
It was still too early to compare him with Kraush.
Aliod meticulously removed every single book from the shelf and cleaned it out.
What was revealed was just a normal wall in the library.
“This wall, cut it.”
“Pardon?”
You want me to cut the wall after clearing the shelf?
It was utterly incomprehensible.
But Aliod was Kraush’s butler.
Having no choice but to obey his master’s command, he drew his sword.
A bluish aura began to swirl around his blade.
A butler of Balheim was expected to possess the skills of a high-ranking knight.
That was the bare minimum if they were to assist a direct descendant of Balheim.
“I shall cut it.”
With the risen sword aura, Aliod slashed through the wall.
As he faithfully followed Kraush’s orders, a resounding KAGUNG! rang out as he executed a clean cut.
Moments later, a section of the wall fell back, severed from the external wall.
In that moment, Aliod realized something.
Beyond the wall of the library, space existed.
Could it be that he had known about this place beforehand?
It was a location even Aliod, assigned to the Green Pine Hall, was unaware of.
As Aliod stood there, engrossed in his thoughts, Kraush stepped over the cut wall.
“Well done.”
Kraush offered a brief compliment to Aliod and stepped inside.
Aliod, as if entranced, followed after him.
Shortly after, they faced a massive lock.
A lock larger than a human hand was securely fastened to the door.
Kraush stood before the dusty door, locked with that imposing padlock.
“Do we need to cut the lock too?”
“No, that’s enough.”
The wall behind the library.
When Kraush had visited this place before, everything had been burnt to a crisp, rendering it meaningless.
But now it was different.
That was a matter from quite a distant future.
‘The Green Pine Hall is definitely a place for those discarded by Balheim.’
That’s why even a fool like Kraush was sent here.
He had languished here.
But the Green Pine Hall was not originally constructed for such malicious purposes.
Though it had faded in meaning over time since the founding of Balheim, the original purpose of the Green Pine Hall was to provide assistance to those born without talent, so they could see the light of Balheim once again.
However, that original purpose had changed due to one incident.
The worst disgrace of the Balheim family, the very devil who sought to obliterate Balheim.
By none other than Demaris Balheim.
‘Thanks to that, this place was hidden away.’
Someone like Demaris must never be born again.
That’s why this place was concealed.
The secret library of the Green Pine Hall.
A place for the foolish of Balheim.
Unless one was the head of Balheim, even other direct descendants were oblivious to its existence.
Arriving at this location, Kraush placed his hand on the massive lock.
By its nature, even Aliod, a high-ranking knight, couldn’t easily remove it.
Yet he was different.
What was the first thing to do to steal something?
It was to pick the lock.
For Kraush, who had picked countless locks, the lock of the secret library in the Green Pine Hall was an easy feat.
‘Let’s see if I can show off my current skills.’
Kraush activated the Black Hood immediately.
The Black Hood, which steals what the target possesses.
Of course, this applied equally to objects.
Unlike living beings, there was no need for value judgment when it came to objects.
Especially if it had been long abandoned by its owner.
CLINK!
In that moment, the ring of the lock found itself in Kraush’s grasp.
THUD!
The massive lock, having lost its ring, crashed to the floor.
Seeing this sudden turn of events, Aliod’s eyes widened in shock.
In the meantime, Kraush casually tossed the ring onto the ground.
“……Master Kraush, did you perhaps make a contract with the gods?”
Aliod, looking astonished, asked if Kraush had made a contract with a deity.
What Kraush had just shown was undoubtedly a skill.
Skills were bizarre and operated under strange principles.
Thus, as Aliod inquired, Kraush gave him a sideways glance.
It seemed like at this point, he hadn’t established a contract with any deity yet.
“Well, it’s just some mediocre god. You can inform my father if you want. As for the secret library, it’s no concern.”
All reports from servants went straight to the head of the family.
Knowing this, when Kraush said as much, Aliod fell silent for a moment before bowing his head.
“I will remain silent until at least your business is concluded, Master Kraush.”
The response was quite unexpected.
In Kraush’s memory, Aliod was an ambitious man.
And the cause of his ambition stemmed from nothing other than his daughter’s incurable illness.
Every penny he earned as a servant of Balheim was used for his daughter’s treatment.
Yet even that money was still insufficient.
As a result, he needed to acquire even more money.
That was why he had accepted the assassination proposal from Kraush’s third brother and ended up poisoning the stew.
The stew he had intended for Kraush was actually for himself, all ultimately for his daughter.
That day, seeing his daughter in danger drove him mad.
Finally on the day he attempted the assassination for better treatment options, his daughter succumbed to her illness.
Aliod, utterly distraught at her death, regained his senses just in time to consume the poisoned stew meant for Kraush.
The sight of him, begging for forgiveness at the end, filled with guilt for not helping Kraush grow due to being born a fool himself, still haunted him.
Yet here he was, displaying such an attitude now.
‘In the meantime, has he seen some vision for me or something?’
A transformed Kraush in the blink of an eye.
A situation that should be utterly incomprehensible.
But if he had indeed made a contract with a deity, that would change everything.
Even a fool could suddenly change overnight, depending on which god he had contracted with.
The skills granted by a divine contract were that valuable.
Thinking this, Aliod reconsidered.
If the Kraush before him was indeed capable of achieving greatness, perhaps he could finally see the light again.
‘At this point, Aliod had only received the proposal from Kraush’s third brother; he hadn’t moved to act on it yet.’
So if he considered it carefully, he hadn’t really betrayed Kraush either.
As long as Kraush didn’t dwell on the past, it was something that could easily be overlooked.
‘So that’s it. This must be the downside of regression.’
Kraush vaguely grasped why Arthur had grown to loathe regression.
Aliod now was not the same man who had poisoned the stew.
And both of them would undoubtedly move along different paths.
Kraush had undergone a transformation.
Arthur likely wouldn’t have been able to endure that dissonance and had ultimately found his regression stolen from him.
‘The issue lies with Aliod’s daughter.’
Aliod was useful.
He had the competence to assist as the head butler of Balheim.
It seemed best to have Aliod by his side until they were at least out of the Green Pine Hall.
Moreover, Kraush knew exactly what kind of incurable illness Aliod’s daughter had.
And he knew how to solve it as well.
‘That can be addressed gradually.’
For now, the secret library took precedence.
Kraush felt a flicker of excitement after a long time.
With that feeling, he opened the door to the secret library.
WHOOSH!
A gust of dusty air blew out from inside.
Perhaps because he’d been rolling around in the midst of the world’s erosion, he didn’t mind this much dust at all.
So Kraush boldly stepped inside.
As his eyes adjusted to the dark, the interior gradually came into clearer view.
The first thing to catch his eye was a shelf full of ancient books.
The books here contained the knowledge of sorcery from their ancestors.
For a natural genius like Balheim, sorcery books were indeed meaningless.
They would already embody all of Balheim’s blessings from the moment they were born.
So why were such sorcery books present in Balheim’s library?
The answer was simple.
‘This place is solely for fools.’
The sorcery books in Balheim were crafted by the fools of Balheim.
