Chapter 13

The Stench (1)

Isaac looked down at his palm.

It was the small, pale hand of a child—soft, without a single callus.

And yet, with this hand, he had taken a human life.

That was an undeniable fact.

Once again, Isaac realized the greatness, the danger, and the inhuman nature of magic.

Without even crossing blades, a man of such infamous size had been brought down in a single strike.

He tried to recall the emotions described in countless books about one’s first kill—

but none of them matched what he felt.

No sense of omnipotence.
No emptiness.
No fear.
No thrill.

Only one certainty remained:

That these hands would be stained with much more blood in the future.

And one decision:

That he would not hesitate when it came to protecting what needed to be protected.

He didn’t know how he had returned to the past—

but he had decided how he would live.

And when the time came to leave this life again someday,

he would depart without being crushed under the weight of regret.

“Young master, may I come in?”

Hans’s voice came from outside the door.

“Come in.”

“Good day, young master.”

Enette entered with Hans, lightly lifting her skirt and bowing her head with a small curtsy.

Isaac was glad to see her—

but he didn’t show it.

“I hear you went through quite an ordeal.”

“Yes. I paid the price for my foolishness. If you hadn’t persuaded the head butler, Clara, Hilde, and I would have been expelled from the estate. Thank you.”

“I just didn’t want the servants in the estate changing too often.”

Isaac answered as if it were nothing.

Even though everyone in the estate knew he had raised his voice and argued with Schiller.

“How are you feeling?”

“I was only held captive for a few days, so I’m fine. Hilde and Clara are the real concern. They weren’t mistreated since they were considered ‘goods,’ but being confined alone would’ve been hard enough. What happens in that place… it’s not something a sound mind can endure.”

“I can imagine.”

Isaac nodded unconsciously.

The sewer.

In Niers’s territory, the slaughterhouse used people as meat.

Even for Isaac—whose mental age far exceeded his physical one—

it had been a shocking sight.

For days, he couldn’t sleep properly, and he nearly threw up everything he ate.

Let alone the maids, who were still in their late teens.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“Does it matter? In the end, we just tried to run away and survived thanks to the bandits’ whim.”

Enette was just as Isaac remembered.

Her dark brown hair was neatly tied back, her eyes long and narrow, and her nose small and sharp.

The only difference was her demeanor.

Before, she always seemed shadowed—

but now, she felt more like a slightly sharp-tongued girl.

“I’m curious.”

“…If you insist, young master.”

Enette let out a small breath and explained everything concisely.

Hilde and Clara, who admired the noble lifestyle they had only read about in romantic novels, believed a ridiculous rumor—that southern women were unattractive, so noble heirs avoided marriage or kept concubines instead.

So they sought out a broker to go south—

and ended up in the hands of Niers’s organization.

The broker abducted Hilde and Clara one after another.

The reason?

To keep the “goods” fresh and minimize storage costs, while also avoiding suspicion from guards who hadn’t been bribed.

Enette went to find the broker when Clara, who had promised to send a letter upon passing through the capital, never contacted her.

And so—

she, too, was kidnapped.

Because Hilde and Clara had acted like madwomen, the slave traders refused to purchase them.

“They might actually have gone mad to some extent. The environment was… that kind of place.”

“…I see.”

“If I had stayed a few more days, I would’ve lost my mind too—one way or another. The cage door was broken, so I could have escaped anytime. The slave trader seemed to like me and planned to take me later. And right next to me… was Clara.”

“…Clara?”

“She couldn’t even control her bodily functions… and she laughed like she’d lost her mind at any moment.”

“That’s enough. I only asked.”

“…I’m sorry. You probably didn’t want to hear that.”

Only then did Isaac understand what Enette had meant in the past.

She had escaped alone—

leaving Clara behind.

Under normal circumstances, no one in the estate would have searched the slums and sewer so thoroughly just to find three missing maids.

“It must’ve been hard to talk about. Thank you. You can go.”

Isaac ended the conversation while keeping a respectful distance.

But Enette hesitated, remaining where she stood.

“Do you have something else to say?”

“The head butler said I was just imagining things out of guilt… but it’s been bothering me.”

Her hand tightly gripped the hem of her skirt.

“You seem like someone who would at least listen to us…”

“What is it?”

“When the bandits tied us up and sent us back to the estate, Hilde briefly regained consciousness in the carriage. As we got closer, Clara and I were relieved… but Hilde looked terrified.”

“Hilde?”

“Yes. She kept saying that if she returned to the estate… she would definitely die. It didn’t seem like she was just afraid of punishment from the head butler. She kept repeating it over and over.”

“She said she’d die if she came back?”

“…Yes.”

Isaac couldn’t immediately think of anything.

All he knew about this incident came from the information Jonas had given him about Niers.

He had neither heard nor cared about Hilde’s fate.

“Did she say anything else?”

“No.”

“…Alright. If something comes to mind, I’ll… try to do something about it.”

Isaac awkwardly wrapped up his words.

At that, Enette let out a small laugh.

She quickly looked flustered afterward.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything bad by it. Please forgive me.”

“Then why did you laugh?”

“I just thought… you really are a good person. I’m sorry.”

Though she kept apologizing, she didn’t seem afraid of Isaac at all.

More than anything—

it was the first time Isaac had ever seen her smile.

And it felt strangely new.

“I talked with Rosa yesterday. Ah, Rosa is a maid I’m as close to as Clara. She said… somehow, it feels like the bandits letting us go was because of you, young master. It sounds ridiculous, right? But… it also kind of makes sense. You’re the only one in this estate who would care about people like us.”

Was she always this talkative? Isaac wondered.

He remembered her as someone who only spoke when necessary.

“S-sorry. I talked too much.”

Under Isaac’s steady gaze, Enette’s face flushed red.

“I’ll take my leave.”

Enette gave her courtesy and hurried toward the door.

“Enette.”

“Yes?”

Isaac called her to a stop.

“Thank you… for saying that.”

“Ah…”

“And… no. I’ll tell you later.”

“Yes, then.”

Enette looked puzzled, but soon bowed lightly and left.

‘An unexpected talent… right here.’

Isaac smacked his lips thoughtfully.

Not long after killing Niers, one more mana circuit had formed—bringing the total to five.

Strangely, from that moment on, his mana perception had sharpened noticeably.

Because of that, Isaac could sense the size of Enette’s mana vessel.

Perhaps… she might be worth teaching magic someday.

Of course, not now—only when he had the time.

“Hans.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Stop smiling.”

“…Yes.”

Isaac glared at Hans, who was smiling as if it were his own business.

But Hans made no effort to hide it.

“Go find Bill and bring him here.”

“Understood… kind young master.”

After the three maids returned, the estate became noisy.

Their ragged appearance—unable to eat properly, unwashed and reeking—was enough to stir gossip.

But what drew even more attention was the conflict between the head butler and Isaac over their treatment.

The head butler insisted that maids who had once left the estate could no longer be trusted with duties.

Isaac, on the other hand, ordered that they be given another chance.

No matter that Isaac was the eldest son of the Goethe family—

the head butler had served the house for decades and managed all affairs within the estate.

For Isaac to interfere in such matters was clearly an overstep.

And so, a heated argument broke out between them.

Depending on how the story was spun—

Isaac became either a lecherous brat…

or a prince in shining armor.

“So, Bill, what do you think the truth is?”

When it came to rumors like this, Bill was never left out.

Exaggerating stories with just the right embellishments was his specialty.

Some people disliked such nonsense—

but most listened eagerly, pretending not to.

“Hey, Bill!”

“What is it now? I’m busy as hell.”

Bill replied bluntly, carrying a sack over one shoulder.

“I’m asking what you think! You’re the one who started that maid scandal story!”

“….”

Bill looked at the faces gathered around him with a tired expression.

“You pathetic lot. Do your damn jobs. If you spend all your energy gossiping like this, don’t expect anyone to stand up for you when you get fired.”

That was all he said.

Then he walked off toward the barn.

“What the hell’s wrong with him?”

“What’s his problem?”

“When did he stop loving this kind of talk?”

The servants muttered in disbelief.

Bill heard the confusion and curses directed at him—

but he paid them no mind.

After stacking the sacks in the barn, he collapsed into a crouch beside them.

“…Haah, damn it… how did it come to this…”

Bill. Bill. Bill.

You idiot.

An idiot’s life.

He had always thought he’d crawl through life pathetically and end it just as miserably.

But who could’ve imagined it would end like this?

Now—

Bill was the leader of the sewer crime organization.

The second Niers.

Not because he wanted to be—

but because Isaac wanted it.

More precisely, because of the magical contract that forced him.

The slums, the sewers—

runaways, refugees, drifters would keep pouring in.

Even if you destroyed a criminal organization, another would rise.

So Isaac’s idea was simple:

Plant a seed of control instead.

It sounded reasonable enough.

The problem was—

he passed all the responsibility onto Bill.

Now, whenever gangs clashed, Bill would be the first to lose his head.

If an ambitious subordinate tried to rise to the top—

Bill would be the first to be killed.

“You called us, boss?”

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me that?”

Bill snapped irritably.

But the two burly men he had summoned merely shrugged.

“Fire.”

Bill took out a pipe and put it in his mouth.

One of them stepped forward and skillfully struck flint and steel to light it.

“Phew…”

Smoke drifted from Bill’s mouth.

The only comfort he had—

was the fleeting pleasure of wielding even this tiny bit of power.

Of course, considering the price was his own neck…

it left a bitter taste.

“You sure you’re the only ones planted in the estate?”

“That’s right. The boss—…the former boss—told us to keep an eye on it.”

“…That bastard Niers wasn’t just insane, huh.”

Despite his reputation as a necromancy-obsessed madman,

Niers had been surprisingly meticulous.

Though now—

he was dead.

Killed in just a few gestures from Isaac.

“…Damn, why does it feel so cold?”

A chill ran down Bill’s spine.

The weather was already cold—

but thinking of Isaac made it worse.

A hidden monster.

And now his life was bound by a magical contract.

Dying naturally? Not a chance.

“If you hear any strange rumors about young master Isaac, shut them down.”

“Got it.”

“Now get out. I want to be alone.”

“….”

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

Bill waved his hand dismissively—

but the two men remained still.

“…Payment.”

One of them suddenly extended his hand.

“…What are you talking about?”

“The knight. Payment.”

Bill frowned in confusion.

The other man explained.

“The payment we give to the knight around this time of year.”

“…What knight?”

“Didn’t the previous boss tell you?”

“What would he tell me? I cut his head off before that.”

“We were able to settle in that sewer because the knight backed us.”

“…So who is it?”

“Don’t know. They just send someone to collect the payment. We don’t know their face or name. Just that they’re a knight from the north.”

Bill’s brows furrowed.

He smelled something.

Money.

And in the back alleys—

money always came with a foul stench.

A few days later—

the Count returned.

Bringing a condemned prisoner with him.