The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 13



Only Noblemtl

Dalgrak.

For a while, the sound of Lien clearing away the dishes echoed monotonously throughout the room.

Enoch took a moment to carefully observe the maid finishing up the arrangements in front of him.

Silver hair slightly covering her silver-blue eyes.

An attitude as transparent as ice and infinitely emotionless.

A girl about the same age as Enoch now.

Nevertheless, she was a fairly mature and cool-looking beauty.

Enoch’s eyes, which had been watching her for a while, narrowed slightly.

‘As expected, this is the person you should pay the most attention to.’

After a few days, I was able to get a rough idea of ​​Enoch’s usual lifestyle.

Enoch’s meals are taken quietly in his room, befitting the miserable treatment within his household.

And all the things related to Enoch’s life were taken care of by a maid named Lien.

Apart from her, no servants ever came or went in this room.

But the only exception is that maid.

‘The person who has probably seen Enoch the most recently is Lien, who only serves this place.’

So if there’s anyone whose condition is the most suspicious, it’s that girl. She’s the one who’s been watching Enoch the closest all day, which is an exception.

Besides, that wasn’t the only thing that made her a person of interest.

‘First of all, Lien is not a character in the original work.’

What that means is that even the most seasoned person doesn’t know how to deal with her.

However, even in this situation, it is not the case that there is no breakthrough.

First, we need to observe Lien as we are doing now and gradually gather information.

“…master?”

At that moment, Enoch, who had been lost in thought, turned his head in surprise at the sound of Lien’s voice calling him.

Before I knew it, Lien, who had been cleaning up the dishes, was approaching me.

“You’ve been sweating a lot. I’ll prepare some clothes for you to change into right away.”

Now that I think about it, since I came out of the inner world earlier, sweat has been pouring down like rain.

Once I entered the inner world and came out, strangely enough, the fatigue remained clearly in my body.

After all, swordsmanship is also inherited from the inner world and used in reality. So, it is natural that the fatigue from battles there also accumulates to some extent in the body in reality.

“Here it is.”

Lien took a new shirt out of the closet and brought it over. Enoch slowly accepted it.

“thank you.”

“you’re welcome.”

Lien trailed off quietly.

Throughout tea time, the room was silent. But Lien was almost certain in that silence.

‘… He is not the master.’

To be exact, it was the day that Enoch’s expulsion was officially decided at the meeting.

Enoch had been acting strange since that morning.

Besides, this was already the second time.

─He said he was grateful to himself.

She couldn’t believe that this was the Enoch she knew until now.

There was no way that he, who had always supported him, could not have been unaware of this fact.

Lien glanced at Enoch for a moment.

“Your complexion doesn’t look so good. Are the wounds you had treated last time feeling okay?”

“Thanks to you.”

Enoch gave a short answer to Lien’s question.

There weren’t many injuries to begin with, except for the wounds on his arms and legs, but he took care of all the parts that were bothersome.

There must be several resident healers in a large guild like Elseid, but I didn’t want to create unnecessary contact with others yet.

“Well then, that’s great. I’ll take my leave and prepare for the after-dinner tea time.”

Lien bowed her head politely.

Her silvery white hair flowed down her transparent white cheeks.

Enoch, who was watching her go out the door, changed into the shirt Lien had given him.

Scrub

I took off my damp clothes, hung them on a chair, and put on a new shirt. The feeling of the soft clothes made me feel a little better.

Let’s wait a moment, Lien came in with a white cart with teacups and light refreshments.

Enoch glanced at her as she naturally set the tea set on the table.

“…I prepared it with simple snacks as usual.”

While she poured the tea, an odd silence fell in the room.

Enoch secretly hoped that this awkward silence was nothing more than the usual between him and Lien.

When the tea was finally ready, Enoch took his cup as unashamedly as he could.

And the moment he put the tea to his lips,

Lien’s blue eyes narrowed slightly.

‘As expected, he is not the young master.’

For a moment, memories of him from the past flashed through Lien’s mind.

‘Since that incident, the young master has not had tea time at all.’

Enoch retches and spits out dark red blood on the floor, along with a shattered teacup.

He didn’t even glance at her who had come running in a hurry, and he smiled twistedly, chewing on his pain.

The back of Enoch from the past, who desperately stood up alone, staggering and refusing even support.

‘I tried it just in case, but it’s true.’

Since that incident, Enoch has never had tea, meaning he never has a ‘normal’ tea time.

I still remember it clearly.

That day. It was the first time that Enoch, who couldn’t even feel at ease within his family, realized what kind of person he should be.

What about the person involved?

Lien watched him from behind.

He was definitely not the Enoch she knew.

Doesn’t she, who has watched him from the side, know best how much Enoch has been ostracized from his family and how much he has endured the gazes of those around him?

Even though he was about to be expelled, Enoch could not have changed so suddenly.

Sarak

Lien quietly placed her hand on her thigh. Her thin, white fingers brushed past the cold object beneath her maid’s skirt.

But she soon shook her head slightly.

I am quite certain that he is not Enoch.

But for some reason, she could never harm him.

Swish

Lien stood behind Enoch, quietly lifting the shirt he had taken off while changing and holding it to his face.

She closed her eyes slightly and sniffed the area where the collar of his shirt touched.

As expected, a very familiar smell reached the tip of her nose.

‘… The scent of the master.’

There was no way I didn’t know.

Because the young master knew everything.

If there was even the smallest difference, she could tell. So she concluded.

‘At least the body is definitely his.’

Lien unfolded the shirt he was holding with such confidence.

‘Then the problem you have is not with your body but with your mind… .’

She watched the back of the man drinking tea.

I don’t know exactly what happened to the master now, but at least I could tell by his scent that it was his body.

In that case, this side couldn’t move rashly either.

Since that body belongs to Master Enoch.

***

Meanwhile, Enoch was also finishing his analysis of Lien.

‘As expected, you are suspicious.’

It was clear that Lien was suspicious of this side.

But I’m not really that embarrassed.

Because it was something that was already expected.

He couldn’t play the perfect Enoch now.

Although he is said to be able to share memories as a trait, he still only has a vague sense of Enoch, and does not fully know the previous Enoch.

In that case, we had to think about how to deal with her.

‘First of all, it’s too obvious to kill or chase them away rashly.’

Although Lien was clearly a potential threat, it was even more difficult to touch her because she was the closest person to the protagonist.

‘Lien. What on earth is your relationship with the original Enoch?’

The only person in the family who was attached to Enoch was Lien. Naturally, the other family members could not have been unaware of this fact.

But what if she is suddenly murdered or kicked out?

‘Of course, attention will be focused on it.’

That kind of situation is something that we, who must not reveal our identity, absolutely do not want.

Besides, there were too many questionable aspects to touch Lien rashly.

The regular meeting that I was dragged to on the first day I became Enoch.

There, the attendant called her ‘Lien-nim’.

How can the chief call a mere maid ‘sir’?

I still don’t know how that’s possible.

In many ways, there was too little information available to know what to do with her.

‘… Well, whoever Lien is, killing him right away won’t solve the problem.’

If Lien were killed, Enoch, who was already out of the public eye, would become a topic of gossip again.

Being noticed means that there are more eyes watching you.

Rather, the sudden action of killing Lien out of the blue was likely to spread suspicion about Enoch throughout the entire family.

That kind of situation had to be avoided.

‘And secondly. There’s something about Lien’s behavior that doesn’t make sense.’

Enoch thought about it the other way around.

‘You suspect me to this extent, and yet you haven’t reported it to your family?’

If that was the case, then there must have been a reason for that. Things were going quite interestingly somewhere.

As my thoughts continued to wander like that.

Lien’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Your Majesty. Now that I think about it… .”

Lien tilted her head slightly and opened her mouth in a polite tone, as if she had just remembered something.

“Chief Skye has prepared a small farewell dinner within the family as is customary in preparation for the young master’s nomination ceremony.”

Enoch frowned at Lien’s words.

The Skyl family was a vassal family that served Count Elseid.

The current head of the household and custodian, Granthal Skyl, is the representative figure of that side.

‘Come to think of it, it was Granthal who said that Enoch would be expelled from the regular assembly.’

I’ve encountered this old man while on a mission this time, but I have no idea what he’s thinking.

Lien continued.

“But my lord, even now that you are seventeen years old, you have never learned formal dining etiquette. So I am worried that you might make a mistake.”

Enoch quietly put down his teacup.

‘That’s a lie.’

Because he remembered exactly the phrases in the script that appeared in the game.

“Even though Enoch had the bearing and manners of a nobleman at the young age of thirteen, there were few who treated him as a true nobleman, even though he was not a magician.”

It was still unclear what Lien’s intentions were.

But since I knew that what she had just said was a lie, the key to action was in my hands.

“So what are you trying to say?”

“The steward asked me to inspect the banquet hall in advance when no one was there and to educate me on the dining etiquette for formal occasions.”

Enoch chuckled to himself.

‘You’re skilled.’

But even though I saw through the lie, I couldn’t just turn down her offer without any particular reason.

If you do that, you never know what will happen on the other side.

Besides, Enoch had something to ask her on the other hand.

‘I know nothing about Lien, the person closest to Enoch.’

It would be a shame to leave the person who is already suspicious of him alone.

In the end, both of them had to see the end.

“… Good. I heard that they’re preparing for other dinners tomorrow, so they’re emptying the tableware today. Good timing.”

“Then, would you like to go now?”

Enoch nodded in response to Lien’s question and stood up.

Since I already answered, there was no point in wasting more time here.

And I also guessed what she meant when she said these words now.

Now that no dinner date has been set, it will most likely be an empty space.

A place where you won’t know what happens until a few hours later.

In that place where no one is watching, why does the maid, who is blatantly suspicious of Enoch, want to have a private meeting with him?

“I will serve you.”

If Enoch’s identity was to be revealed to other family members, there would be a better time and place.

At least they wouldn’t have chosen an empty venue like a banquet hall where no banquet was held.

There is a possibility that they are trying to kill him, but if so, it makes the choice of location even more ridiculous.

Conversely, a banquet hall where people come and go even after a short while is the worst possible place for a murder.

That is, she has no intention of harming Enoch.

I have no plans to reveal my identity.

At least for now.

He slowly got up from his seat.

He was not the original Enoch. If he had been, I don’t know how he would have acted.

However, as a veteran of , I clearly understood what kind of play I should do now.

– ? Condition for absorbing the experience of the next stage: Create a collaborator to overcome the current Enoch situation.

Enoch stood up, recalling the last message from the inner world once again.

A small smile appeared on his lips as he clutched the black cloth bag.

‘It’s about time to create an assistant.’