Immortal's Ascending Path-48
Episode-48< Royal Wedding >
Axel the Marquis examined the young man's appearance. Young. It seemed too early to discuss age. Needless to say, if the age in question was hundreds of years.
However, the young man spoke of age. The young man, who looked younger than the Marquis' youngest child, claimed to have lived in the same era as the family's founder and to have seen him in person.
Could he have somehow found out about the family's history and be reciting it? But what the young man said was a history that even the Marquis didn't know. The question followed as to how a stranger could know a secret history that even the head of the family didn't know.
A lie, a rebuke telling him not to dare try to deceive him, surged up but got caught in his throat. The moment he opened his mouth, a certain person came to mind. He was a very old man. As far as the Marquis knew, he had come to this country, Osnover, more than three hundred years ago.
There were few people in Osnover who didn't know that name. There were also few who knew his face, though they knew his name. Because he hid his appearance in that far northern land.
"···You were the Duke of Ditmarsken."
The young man did not clarify whether that was the case or not. Instead, a deep smile appeared on the lips of Count Meyer Willem, who was sitting next to him.
Meyer had served only one person for hundreds of years as the head of the Hilderson clan, the foremost family. Would the head of such a family smile as he saw someone else regard another as his master?
The Marquis was convinced of his guess.
"I thought you would look older."
"That's what everyone believes. It's an understandable misunderstanding."
"How can you be so young?"
A magician, or a mixed-blood? The Marquis unconsciously stroked his cheek with his right hand. The Marquis, who was well over fifty, had a face full of wrinkles and a grizzled beard, but the human who had lived for hundreds of years had no wrinkles or even a single gray hair.
"Well. It's a question I always hear, but I have nothing else to say. Even if you try to figure it out, there's no way to become like me." And, Ulrich added, "This is not a place to discuss eternal life. Don't have any vain expectations."
"Anyone who has seen you would not be able to help but think that way, even if you say that."
"I understand."
The Marquis sat down and stared intently at Ulrich.
"You said you saw my ancestor in person."
How could that be, he asked.
"Axel, if you believe that I am Duke Ulrich of Ditmarsken, you will also believe that I have lived for three hundred and fifty years."
"I confirmed it at the Solna Grand Temple."
Immediately after the civil war ended, Marquis Axel investigated Ulrich Ditmarsken. Not only Axel, but everyone in Osnover did. He was the man who had ended the decades-long civil war in an instant, and the man who was believed to soon establish a new New King dynasty.
"Then you must have also confirmed that I am a foreigner."
The Marquis nodded.
The temple keeps records of many things, such as births, marriages, deaths, and inheritances. And among these, records considered important are sent to the archdiocese and reorganized once again.
According to the biography at the Grand Temple of Solna, the old capital, Ulrich Ditmarsken became the husband of Countess Hilde of Ditmarsken more than three hundred years ago.
When Hilde died half a century later, he inherited the title, but Ulrich's birth was described only with two words: foreigner and unknown.
Usually, even foreigners who were nobles should have had no omissions, but there were occasional exceptions. Like the great chaos of the Osnover civil war, the temple's records were lost, or it was difficult to find because the origin was a freeman or slave from another land.
The Marquis recalled the history of the Marquis family that Ulrich had mentioned a little while ago. He said that a certain man leading a mercenary band arrived in Osnover and disbanded the group, and the family's founder settled in this land.
"Does that mean you led him?"
Was that mercenary leader you?
"At the time, I used the name Césare de Guise."
"De Guise? You've given yourself a noble, fairy-like surname."
"There was a somewhat unique connection."
The culture of attaching a title between the name and surname was a very old fairy culture. In today's world, where the human era has continued for three times, it is rare to use a middle title.
Axel pondered the unusual name, but it was unfamiliar. It was the first time he had heard the name. In the first place, Axel didn't know much about his family's history. It wasn't a family wealthy enough to leave records, and the marquis title they had seized had lost its lineage in the chaos.
"Is there a way to prove it? I have never heard that the Marquis family had any connection with Ditmarsken when it continued its lineage."
"Ask Archbishop Vinicius. He knows that my previous name was Césare, and he also knows the connection between you and me."
The Marquis was about to say something, but he made a hmm sound and tapped his temple with his index finger. He wouldn't find it difficult to believe the archbishop's testimony, even if it were someone else.
"······I see. I've always been curious."
He thought for a long time before opening his mouth.
"I knew too little about my grandfather's ancestors. They were said to have been Lords for generations, but there must have been a beginning somewhere. Unlike you, we had too many omissions."
He muttered to himself that he hadn't even thought of vagrants.
"It doesn't seem disappointing."
"It's unexpected. But I'm satisfied that the relationship between you and the Marquis, whom you call old, has been revealed. It was close enough to be difficult to see as a mere vassal. I've been trying to find out the reason, but there are no records, and I've only heard that there has been a very deep relationship since ancient times."
"It's probably because the beginnings were the same if you think about it. You guys left the same hometown and settled here. It seems that you have forgotten that beginning over the generations."
"It would be more accurate to say that we erased it rather than forgot it."
Which aristocrat would proudly talk about the past that their founder was a vagrant? They would rather choose to gloss over it by saying that the lineage was lost.
"I even hoped that maybe we were distant relatives."
"So you inherited the Marquis' surname as it was."
"I also had my own loyalty."
The Marquis smiled bitterly.
"Duke of Ditmarsken, do you remember their appearance?"
"I don't remember their appearance. I can only grope at what kind of person they were."
He said it was four hundred years ago, with one hundred added four times. He could recall what kind of person they were in terms of their actions, but it would be impossible to recall their appearance.
The Marquis, who had suddenly wanted to ask if he resembled his ancestor in appearance, let out a long sigh with a regretful tone.
"Well··· What is the reason you sought me out like this? Are you trying to give me a sense of familiarity by bringing up my unknown history? Are you trying to side with your adopted son or prevent a conflict?"
"I won't say no. As you know, this country has shed blood for too long. And it hasn't even been 5 years since the blood stopped. I don't want that to be repeated."
The Marquis stared at Ulrich for a moment before shaking his head.
"I also don't want to repeat that terrible behavior. But··· what can I do? What change would there be even if I alone changed my flag? Rather, I would be branded as a traitor and excommunicated. Also, I am not a person who represents the entire aristocracy, but only a part of it."
"If it were just you alone, that would be true."
Just one person? The Marquis stared blankly at Ulrich with a questioning look. It sounded like there was another past.
"Axel, you have power, but you are not a real power broker who controls everything. Therefore, even if you change sides alone, it will only cause a little surprise, but it will not break the will of those who intend to oppose Richard and the Hilderson."
But, Ulrich added.
"What if I meet a few more people next?"
The Marquis stared blankly as if he was dumbfounded.
"You are······ a person with many connections."
"It's because the rough years have been quite long."
#
A little later, Ulrich left Marquis Axel's mansion with Willem. There was no send-off. In order to avoid being caught visiting them, they turned off all the lights inside and outside the mansion and sent the two men away as if they were being chased out when the darkness had completely descended.
It was unnecessary worry. There was no one on the streets of the capital, Icelandburg, at night. Because the festival called the national wedding was overshadowed by the crisis called the civil war, only tension lingered in the city.
"Ulrich-nim. You spoke about the Marquis' ancestors earlier."
Willem followed Ulrich one step behind.
"It's a rude question, but how do you know about them?"
"Are you wondering if the relationship is too weak?"
"Yes."
Willem felt that it was too much to see Ulrich remembering the ancestors and descendants of Marquis Axel. After they parted, he knew too much about them and their descendants. As if he had observed them directly.
The Ulrich that Willem knew was not that kind of person. He would occasionally look at how the passage of time had changed relationships, but he was not a person who would easily go beyond that.
"Pantheon, no, Cormilius taught me."
Willem flinched when that name came out.
"I am not a dragon. Even if I want to remember everything one by one, I can't. Memories are erased every moment. Nevertheless, what is the reason why I know the history of the Marquis so well?"
"Wasn't it just the imperial crown that they handed over to Ulrich-nim?"
"They handed me a booklet along with the crown."
It was a booklet that summarized all the footprints that Ulrich had left in Osnover.
"It was a booklet that summarized how the relationships I made in this northern land had flowed. It should be called the cause, process, and result. They even tried to capture the relationships that I had passed by without remembering."
Willem let out a hollow laugh.
"They are persistent."
Willem knew that Cormilius was following Ulrich's actions and using tricks to put him on the throne, but he never knew he would chase him so persistently.
"It's helpful that I skimmed through it and returned it."
"The current situation is what they created, though."
"Hmm."
At that time, footsteps were heard from the front. It was Fritz. Willem's son came out of the shadows of the night and stopped in front of the two men. Willem frowned at his son's stern expression.
"Fritz, what's wrong?"
And he turned his gaze behind his son. The person who should have appeared next was not visible. He was not by his side, the one whom Ulrich had searched for but had no news of, so he had sent someone.
"Archbishop Vinicius and Roberta Priest?"
Before Fritz could answer, Ulrich took a step.
The three went to the temple. The temple had its front gate half open. The outside was at least visible because of the moonlight, but the inside was darkness itself because even the windows were closed.
However, an orange light emanated faintly from one place. It was under the altar at the end of the corridor. An oil lamp spread light, and Roberta knelt with her back turned. She was praying. She was praying to the old man who had fallen in front of her, Archbishop Vinicius.
The red cassock symbolizing the Archbishop was absorbing blood, giving off a dark color.