Chương 65: Foolish Boy

Adolin was woken up by a maid and the kitten arguing. Well, it wasn't really an argument. The maid was trying to get closer to Adolin—presumably to wake him up—and the kitten was hissing at her every time she tried. He stretched his arms and yawned.

"What's up?" Adolin asked as the yawn faded. The maid looked at him with a relieved smile.

"Lord, I came to wake you, but you weren't responding to my calls. When I entered the room and tried to approach you, the kitten woke up and... prevented me from getting any closer," she said with a blush. Adolin chuckled and petted the little kitten on the head. The maid continued, "Sorry for disturbing you, my lord. The investigator arrived a few hours ago, and Sir Nicholas sent me to fetch you." He nodded.

"I'll meet them in a few minutes." The maid nodded and headed toward the door.

"Oh, could I also get some food?" Adolin said. She turned and bowed slightly.

"Right away, my lord." Adolin stood and stretched again before taking a look around the room. It was better than the inn he had stayed at. Even the mattress was better. Not as soft as the inn's, but still much better suited to his body. He quickly pushed aside the thoughts trying to compare it to the Garden Inn. He stared at the mattress for a moment longer before storing it in his inventory. Good sleep was crucial for healing the Count. He nodded to himself.

Breakfast arrived some time later, and Adolin sat down at the table. There were eggs, some kind of smoked meat, and vegetables fresh from the garden. As the maid had told him. A small plate filled with fish filets had been prepared for the kitten, who was already devouring it on the floor beside him. After they finished eating, Adolin left the building. A maid led him toward the investigator while the kitten rested on his shoulder, wide awake and watching the birds flying overhead.

They arrived in front of Eduard's estate. The front of the building was filled with guards, and random people sat on the ground surrounded by them. The butler was going from person to person, asking questions, after which they were let go. Adolin arrived just as Nicholas let go of the fourth person, a guard.

"That's it? You had guards drag me here at swordpoint just to ask those questions?" The guard looked irritated, but after a single look from the butler, he calmed down. Or maybe that was the wrong way to describe it. He looked pale as he walked away. Adolin nodded toward Nicholas.

"You've been busy." The butler nodded.

"The investigator was effective. He arrived earlier than expected, and three hours later, we had a list of possible suspects." Nicholas adjusted his monocle.

"The young lord didn't want to wait for more results and ordered everyone on the list to be questioned by me." He pointed toward the dozen or so suspects sitting on the ground.

"There are three more groups like this. Give it an hour or two, and the culprit will be found." Adolin didn't like the approach they had taken. It seemed Eduard was losing patience, and in a situation like this, patience was the most important thing of all. There was too much risk involved. If, by some miracle, the culprit wasn't on the list the investigator had compiled, they would already be on their way out of the estate. Or worse.

They could try to create a diversion before escaping, which would likely result in casualties. Or, in the worst-case scenario, they could attempt to cause as much damage as possible before being caught—or take their own life to avoid capture. He had been involved in more than a few cases where one of those outcomes had happened. And he certainly didn't want to experience the same thing today.

"What if the culprit is missed and tries to escape?"

"Don't worry," Nicholas said.

"Every knight on the estate is patrolling the perimeter and watching for anything out of the ordinary." The knights? Those should be the elite troops he had seen around the estate. But weren't there too many of them? In his world, knights were few in number. They were the best of the best. To be knighted, one had to be among the most powerful humans alive. But that wasn't enough. They also needed an impressive list of accomplishments to their name. Very few made the cut. Most kingdoms had fewer than fifty knights.

The larger ones might have had a dozen more. Yet there were over fifty of them on the estate alone. It was an irrelevant thought, and he pushed it aside. He didn't want to comment on whether the idea was good or not. He didn't agree with it, so he needed to make his own effort in finding the culprit. He hoped that he was wrong, because the chances of him discovering the culprit in an estate as big as this one would be low. Except if he used his spells efficiently and covered as much ground as he could.

But he would still need a few men to help him out. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"While you're here, can I have some men scout the estate and search for the culprit?"

"You can," Nicholas said.

"Speak with Captain Dane." He pointed toward one of the knights, who appeared to be acting as the Captain.

"He'll give you what you need." Adolin nodded.

"Call for me if you find him." Nicholas simply nodded. Adolin approached the Captain, and after a brief conversation, he was given twelve soldiers, two knights, and a mage under his command. It wasn't as many as he needed, but it was still better than searching the estate alone. He moved off to the side and sat on a bench set beside the walkway leading to one of the gardens. The men assigned to him would be summoned, and he would meet them there.

He also needed to pay the Count a visit and see how the curse was progressing, and whether there had been any changes to it. Now that he thought about it, if the culprit saw no way out, they might try to take out the Count before attempting to escape. And Adolin knew far too little about the curse to guess whether they could accelerate it. Adolin didn't waste any time and strode toward the Count's mansion. Along the way, a knight reported to him, but Adolin merely motioned for the man to follow and kept walking.

Fuck, he cursed inwardly. Eduard should have discussed this with him first. He would have probably advised the man to wait a little longer, at least until Adolin found a way to protect the Count from an attack through the curse. If it remained passive, as it had until now, the Count still had about a week left to live. He entered the mansion, and the guards stepped aside without protest. Voices were coming from the room where the Count was being kept. Then the door burst open, and a guard ran out.

"Something's happening!" the guard shouted. Everyone in the mansion rushed toward the room. Moments later, more than thirty guards stood outside it, blocking Adolin's path. Then the mansion staff flooded into the hallway, and mages began arriving from every direction.

"Move," Adolin said, but no one moved.

"Move," he repeated, louder this time, yet the result was the same. He wasn't sure whether the noise had drowned out his voice or if panic had taken hold, but no one was clearing the way for him. He cast a spell to amplify his voice.

"Move." The entire mansion echoed with his voice. The people in front of him were affected the most, scrambling to get out of his way. A few of the guards reached for their swords before recognizing him and paling. The noise died down, and Adolin entered the room. The room was crowded with guards as well. He stopped and turned toward the knight following him.

"Clear the room," Adolin ordered. The man nodded and stepped forward.

"Everyone who isn't necessary, leave the room." Some began leaving, but most didn't react. Their attention remained fixed on the Count, and they didn't even turn to see who had given the order.

"Now." His authoritative tone left no room for argument, and the guards and staff began filing out without complaint. The only ones that remained in the room were the nurses, the same ones he had seen when he woke up in the hospital room, and the alchemist. He stopped in front of the Count. The man was withering in real time. The curse was feeding on—or perhaps stealing—his life force. The spark was slowly fading. No. Slowly wasn't the right word. The fluctuations were gone. The curse was no longer dormant.

It was simply killing him. The Count was losing an hour of life every second. At that rate, he had less than two minutes remaining. And with every passing second, the damage became harder to reverse.

"Foolish boy," Adolin muttered. If the foolish boy had spoken with him first, all of this could have been handled far more safely. The worst part was that he could find the cursed item now that it was active. It would take time, but he could trace it no matter where it was hidden. And now, he didn't have that time for that; maybe he did, but it would be a close call, and betting with the Count's life on the line wasn't something he was comfortable doing. He turned toward the nurse.

"Take the little one," Adolin said as he handed her the kitten. The kitten clearly disagreed with his decision, but he wasn't in the mood to argue.

"And evacuate the building." People weren't moving fast enough.

"Now!" Adolin snapped.

"Please." That got them moving. He cast Mana Vision and a complementary spell to help him trace the curse. It was the best he could do with the limited time he had: find the general direction of the cursed item and, hopefully, the culprit using it. He closed his eyes and followed the flow of mana. It was coming from behind the main mansion. Somewhere to the right, near the estate wall. He opened his eyes and relayed the information to the knight.

"Send everyone you can there and find him. Leave a squad of guards outside the building, and don't let anyone in." He was beginning to understand why everyone listened to him. His tone was cold. And something else he didn't bother identifying. He was pissed off.

"And tell Eduard that he owes me twenty mana potions." Before the knight could respond, Adolin pointed toward the door.

"Go." The knight didn't hesitate and left the room. Adolin turned toward the Count and sighed. Why were his allies making his life harder? Why couldn't they just listen? The curse afflicting the man was at least Archmage-tier. That meant the culprit should have been an Archmage. But that didn't make any sense. If an Archmage had truly cast the curse, the Count would already be dead. That left him with only one other possibility. The culprit was burning their own life force and using it to strengthen the curse.

Which left Adolin with only one option. He had to isolate the room from outside influence and keep it sealed until the culprit burned through the rest of their life force and died, or until the Count's men found them and removed the cursed item. He took a deep breath as he pulled the mana potions from his inventory and placed them on the bed, uncorking three of them. He was still hoping he wouldn't need all of them. Isolate Space.

He cast the spell, and a powerful bubble of pure mana isolated the room, along with part of the building, from the outside world. Nothing could enter the barrier, including the influence the cursed object was exerting on the Count. His mana began draining the moment he cast the spell, and he downed the first potion. Moments later, he was drinking another. Then another. The spell finally stabilized after the fifth potion, but it continued devouring his mana at an alarming rate.

He was already seated on the floor in a meditative pose, using his meditation technique. The last two potions rested in his hands, their corks already removed. Just before his Mana Sense gave out, he sensed mana shoot into the sky like a flare.