The Terminally Ill Young Master is the Mad Dog of the Underworld

[Translator - Pot]

[Proofreader - Kawaii]

Chapter 78: Constipation is a Serious Matter

After a good night’s sleep, I came out to a quiet training ground and was waiting for someone while patting my stomach.

“Why isn’t he here yet?”

The pre-arranged time had already passed.

“Is this perhaps a battle of nerves?”

“N-no way…”

Peter shook his head, saying that it couldn’t be. However, Olivier had a slightly different thought.

“According to what old man Ludan said, he is definitely a man with some kind of scheme. We should assume that his lateness also has some intention.”

“Olivier always understands me.”

I nodded.

“Then what about me?”

“About you?”

“Don’t I understand you?”

“Your self-love is too great, Peter. Try to be a little more humble.”

“You’re really too much.”

“Now that I think about it, Young Master.”

“Hmm?”

Jeffrey’s eyes were bloodshot but expression was bright, as if the three of them had become sworn brothers overnight also chimed in.

“Actually, I also heard something from my father.”

“What is it?”

“Inside the Duke’s castle, no, within the duchy, an unidentified mysterious person occasionally appears, someone that neither my father nor the Head Butler knows about.”

That was consistent with what Ludan had told me.

“That’s strange. That there’s someone even the vassals and retainers who have served for so long don’t know about?”

“They could be spies or assassins from outside forces.”

“They might be people who have to move while hiding their identities for some reason.”

“I think so too. Whether they are receiving orders from the head of the Clan, from the Council of Elders, or…”

“Whether they are receiving orders from in-laws, older brothers, or other retainers and vassals with ulterior motives, or from someone completely different, we wouldn't know.”

“That’s right.”

“…They might be people from the underworld.”

I even felt a little pang of conscience when I said this.

“My father’s ability to find fox footprints and fur has been recognized as top-notch. I’ve heard that even my father sometimes finds traces of unidentified things.”

“So, it's a trail that only a skilled hunter can barely find. They are quite secretive individuals.”

I nodded and asked Jeffrey.

“If the Royal Guards were to step in, would they be able to catch their tails?”

“It wouldn’t be easy.”

Jeffrey shook his head.

“Grunewald territory is very vast. The structure of the castle is also complex. It is impossible for us to watch over every corner of that vast area with just our eyes.”

Jeffrey was right. To keep this entire vast territory under tight surveillance, the Royal Guards and security forces would need to be ten times larger than they are now.

In that sense, a country's administrative power is limited to controlling points and the lines connecting them.

Even a country with the most powerful fleet, could it completely control the vast ocean?

‘No. At best, it would only control important islands and sea routes.’

That’s not much different even for the kingdoms that rule this continent and the nobles under them.

And the men of the underworld could be said to be birds that grow by feeding on those very gaps.

“…Anyway.”

While we were having this conversation and inferring the identity of my instructor, Venion showed no signs of appearing.

“He’s really not coming.”

“I know.”

“Peter, this is a battle of nerves, right? Isn’t it okay to get angry?”

“He was said to be a swordsmanship instructor and an examiner, so perhaps this is a kind of test of patience… or something like that?”

“Oh?”

We all looked at Peter at the same time.

“Why, why are you doing that?”

“That was good just now. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

“That was a good deduction, Peter.”

“Our attendant also has some clever aspects.”

Peter, who was hit with a triple barrage of praise, grinned with a foolish face.

“W-what is it! You’re all overpraising me. It’s not to that extent…”

I quickly nodded.

“Well, it’s not to that extent, is it? That was an overpraise just now.”

“You’re too much.”

While we were chatting in this atmosphere, the protagonist of today finally crawled out.

“Ah! I’m sorry. I’m a bit late, aren’t I?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

A man with ordinary attire walked towards us from afar with a strangely irritating pace.

It was to the point where it was hard to tell if he was hurrying or not.

If irritating gaits could be classified as a style of movement, this was truly a masterpiece.

‘Among all this, he’s strangely ordinary.’

Muscles that felt compressed for practical use, a build of about average height, and a vague impression. He looked harmless, like a human personification of ordinariness.

‘But there’s no way a man who is supposed to guide me by the orders of the head of the Clan and the Council of Elders would be this ordinary.’

Therefore, my conclusion is that this itself is a fabricated disguise.

“Uh… how should I put it? You’re more ordinary than I thought.”

Stop with the foolish talk, Peter. I looked into Venion’s eyes with a mind wary of something hidden behind the disguise of ordinariness.

“It’s exactly 30 minutes past.”

Olivier, who checked the time, whispered quietly. The coincidental accuracy was also a point that couldn’t help but be a little concerning.

“Excuse me, but are you Young Master Allenvert?”

“That’s right.”

My voice was somewhere between annoyed and nonchalant.

“Oh, I’m really sorry about this.”

Venion scratched the back of his neck like a simple-minded man.

“Actually, I was a bit late because I was taking a dump.”

“……!”

“……?”

“……”

I barely managed to reply, speaking for the three people who were momentarily speechless.

“Ah, I see.”

This guy is completely crazy.

But I was also known as a mad dog in the underworld.

“I understand. Constipation is a serious matter.”

At my serious reply, Venion also replied seriously.

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Constipation and diarrhea are trials from God that humans cannot control, so it is right to humbly endure them.”

As I added fuel to the fire, Venion’s eyes changed slightly. As if he was saying ‘Are you really saying this?’

‘As expected.’

He deliberately tried to shake me.

Remember, if you can guess the other party’s intentions, you can avoid getting caught up in their tricks.

“I will formally introduce myself. I am Venion, and I will be teaching the Clan’s martial arts to you from today.”

I offered him a handshake.

“It’s a pleasure. How should I address you?”

“Just call me Venion. I don’t like authoritarianism.”

“Master, Teacher, Mentor, Light of my heart, Great Leader… you don’t need titles like these?”

“Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.”

Venion smiled loosely. His gestures, his expressions. Every single one made him look easygoing and harmless.

‘But there’s no way my father would attach such an unremarkable man to me, even going through this kind of procedure.’

I didn’t let my guard down and tried to discern the essence hidden within this man’s disguise.

‘This is Karzan’s intuition.’

That man has a deep secret. I don’t know what it is yet. But it was also true that I felt a similar atmosphere from Venion as from the spies, assassins, and double agents I had met in the underworld before.

‘Above all, he has thoroughly hidden his power.’

Skill is required for concealment. This man was definitely an unusual instructor in every way.

‘Did my father know everything and attach this man to me? Or…?’

As if trying to cut off my train of thought, Venion said.

“It’s not much of an apology, but I have prepared something as compensation.”

“What is it?”

“A spirit medicine.”

“A spirit medicine?”

It was a tactic I couldn’t help but play along with, even though I knew it. Spirit medicines are always a serious matter.

“If you show me results that satisfy me, I promise to give you that spirit medicine as a reward.”

I chuckled and mocked Venion.

“It’s like teaching a child. It’s no different from saying you’ll give them a snack if they study hard.”

“Well, you do look like a child in my eyes. Ah! Don’t misunderstand. I mean that because of the large age difference.”

To dare to say and act like this to the fourth son of Grunewald. This is probably not innate rudeness, but because he has the skill and confidence to do so.

Or perhaps even this is part of a test being conducted under some grand intention.

“However,”

Whatever the case, I’m not the only one being pushed around.

“Do you perhaps have any questions?”

“Of course, I do.”

I subtly provoked him.

“Are you certain you have the skill to teach me?”

***

Having returned after an all-night mission, the external unit commander of the Special Operations Division, Rudgarda Angantyr, took off her helmet, loosening her sweat-soaked hair.

“You’ve worked hard, milady.”

At the words of a man of a different ethnicity whose face was covered with strange markings, Rudgarda sighed.

“I told you I don’t like being called milady.”

The giant grinned and retorted.

“To me, you are still the Angantyr milady I must protect.”

Rudgarda asked in a bitter voice.

“Even knowing that both you and I have been abandoned?”

“Yes.”

“…I can’t argue with that.”

Rudgarda shook her head and ordered.

“Take today to rest and rearm.”

“You’ve worked hard, milady.”

Without bothering to reply to those words, Rudgarda returned to her quarters.

“….”

She looks in the mirror.

Black hair and somewhat tanned skin, distinctly different from the people of the Grunewald family. The appearance of those called mountain people or barbarians.

‘Lady Lusatia was said to be even whiter than the Grunewald people.’

That foreign yet beautiful appearance was probably one of the reasons why she came to symbolize the friendship between Eisenach and Grunewald.

But she had a strikingly different appearance. Even in Grunewald, where various people from various countries gathered, she was more than enough to be called a ‘foreigner.’

‘A foreigner. And a border person who is not embraced by either side.’

She felt a renewed sense of her own situation and her chest felt tight.

‘Yes. The Angantyr have already abandoned me.’

A daughter abandoned by her father. That was Rudgarda.

Life as a hostage in Grunewald was not easy either. They neglected her, who had been thrown as a hostage, and sent her to the dangerous front lines. As if telling her to survive on her own.

“So, I survived desperately.”

Truly desperately. Truly tragically. Burning with hatred, with only the will to live.

Leaving behind the bodies of her compatriots who died to save her, while still protecting some of her compatriots…

Ulbhild.’

She was the only one among these Grunewald who treated her as a comrade and friend. Treated her, who was just a disconnected foreign hostage.

Therefore, she could not simply ignore her words.

‘Meet Allenvert?’

Allenvert.

Who was he? Wasn’t he the Young Master of Grunewald who lost his maternal grandfather to her father?

“That’s absurd. To tell her brother to meet the daughter of his enemy.”

What was even more absurd was the very fact that Allenvert had said he would meet her.

‘…He really has changed. They said he woke up from a fever.’

She threw off her armor and pondered Ulbhild’s words.

‘This will be something for both of us?’

She didn’t hear a detailed explanation. But how could that be possible?

‘…Is it ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’?’

Ulbhild would know the clear hatred she held towards her father. In that case, Rudgarda and Allenvert could become comrades who hated the same man.

‘But I don’t know yet. It’s not something that will happen right away anyway.’

The condition Ulbhild had put forward was for Allenvert to reach the 4th-tier.

Then, wouldn't it still be a distant story for him, who had just reached the 3rd-tier?

…This was the logical deduction.

She couldn’t possibly imagine that Allenvert, on the very night he received training, would have instantly jumped over the high and rugged wall between the 3rd and 4th-tier.

***

“You ask if I have the skill to teach you?”

Venion smiled enigmatically.

“Hahaha. You’re quite amusing.”

“I’m not exactly here to amuse you.”

“Well, you don’t have to be so serious.”

He scratched his head.

“I may not have any great skills, but I should be able to teach a novice young master.”

“Venion. I’m asking this to confirm something.”

“Yes?”

“Are you perhaps a distant relative of Grunewald that I don’t know about?”

At my pointed question, Venion laughed.

“Ah, it seems my attitude has offended you.”

Anyone can’t just make me angry. Usually, I’m the one who makes people angry.

“It’s not that I’m offended, but I’m curious about the confidence that allows you to do so.”

“To be clear, no. I don’t have any noble blood in me.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s also the strength of Grunewald.”

Venion gestured towards Peter and Jeffrey.

“Grunewald strength lies in accepting retainers regardless of their origins and employing them according to their abilities.”

As he said, the three men each had different statuses: a son of a vassal family, a fallen noble, and a son of a retainer.

“If you want to lead a group of this size, you need the flexibility to prioritize ability over origin. If they believed the duchy would run smoothly even if they placed incompetent but noble pigs in key positions, Grunewald would have already declined long ago.”

“That’s right. I also agree with meritocracy.”

“That’s unexpected. People born with noble blood usually dislike these kinds of stories.”

Venion clapped his hands, changing the atmosphere.

“Now, then.”

Venion pointed at Peter, Olivier, and Jeffrey in turn.

“I would appreciate it if the three of you could leave us now. As it is the first lesson between master and disciple, we have many intimate things to discuss.”

That was what I also wanted.

“Olivier, do so.”

“Understood.”

The other two, upon receiving Olivier’s signal, retreated without complaint.

“Young Master. You control your retainers better than I thought.”

“I tend to.”

I realized only after answering.

‘…Was this also a kind of light test?’

Or was it a random act without any meaning?

‘I don’t know.’

It was still difficult to gauge this man.

[Translator - Pot]

[Proofreader - Kawaii]