Mess 142
by Cristae142.
“I am Count Validus, scheduled for a visit.”
Pura handed a letter of introduction to the soldier guarding the door and spoke. The guard glanced at Seraphie as he checked the letter.
Blue bobbed hair.
That hair was the most iconic image associated with the name Validus.
“You may enter.”
Soon, the door opened with a bizarre creak. The high-pitched, scraping sound of metal was enough to send chills down one’s spine.
“Count Validus.”
The warden, waiting inside, approached to greet them. He was a middle-aged man with a gaunt face and thick green hair.
“Thank you for coming all the way to such a humble place.”
“A place dedicated to your hard work can never be called humble.”
At Seraphie’s words, the warden’s eyes widened in surprise. But he soon chuckled and bowed courteously.
He personally guided Seraphie and Pura.
“As we notified you in advance, the allowed visitation time is ten minutes. If you’ll take a seat, we’ll bring him to you shortly.”
The warden led Seraphie to a room, then left.
The barren visiting room was divided in two by a heavy steel grille. Seraphie sat down in the lone chair at its center.
After a moment, someone appeared on the other side of the bars.
“…….”
“…….”
He was thinner than Seraphie remembered, his malice less keen, yet his hostility toward her remained as sharp as ever.
“How have you been?”
Seraphie greeted him.
“Father.”
Much had transpired before this reunion of father and daughter.
The daughter in her own way, the father in his, struggled to adapt to their rapidly changed circumstances.
So the daughter had become an influential grand noble of the empire.
And the father was reduced to a prisoner, clad in a moldy, tattered uniform.
“The last time we met was spring, last year, wasn’t it?”
“…….”
“You really were hell to deal with, right up to the end. And I, for my part, ran for my life to get to where I am now.”
Given how their last encounter had ended, these words, even with the greeting, were about as kind as Seraphie could muster.
“…….”
But the former Count Validus only frowned in visible displeasure.
Seraphie wasn’t expecting a civil answer anyway, so she let it pass.
“Your illegitimate child has made an appearance.”
With so little time, Seraphie cut straight to the point.
“Do you know anything about this?”
“You think I’d just answer if you asked?”
“Hmm, no?”
In fact, she hadn’t really expected a proper conversation.
But there was one thing that had prompted Seraphie to come all the way to the prison to see her father.
“There’s something I found out while repaying your debts.”
She had first suspected the temple’s strange involvement while preparing for the forced inheritance trial.
“Most of the debt you ran up went towards gambling and drink.”
When their gazes met, the former count instinctively held his breath. His previously arrogant posture slowly straightened.
An almost indefinable pressure seeped from Seraphie in that instant.
“But among those debts…”
“…….”
“There was an unexpected creditor.”
Loan-sharking was, strictly speaking, illegal in the empire, so most operations ran underground.
Because of that, a few names were notorious, and Count Validus had borrowed from one of them.
“Father.”
Seraphie asked,
“Did you borrow money from the temple?”
The sudden appearance of a supposed illegitimate child had raised her suspicions, but they became even more acute a few days ago.
‘Um, my lady.’
Gran, the Validus family’s legal advisor, furrowed her cute, squirrel-like face in concern. Then, in a deep, bassoon-like voice, she asked carefully,
‘How did you get involved with this, my lady?’
‘Hm? With what?’
‘This, here.’
Gran produced a document—receipts from when Seraphie had painstakingly repaid her damn father’s debts.
Gran pointed to one in particular.
High interest rates are common among loan sharks, but this one stood out, even by those standards.
‘It’s one of my biological father’s old debts. But why?’
‘Do you know anything about this lender?’
‘I’ve kind of wanted to bash their head in with a shovel if I got the chance, well, at least deliver a lecture with a shovel.’
‘It’s good you didn’t act on that impulse.’
Then came the shock.
‘This place is run by the temple.’
‘The temple does loan-sharking?’
‘Anyone who’s in the know, knows. I’d wager even the secretary is aware.’
So Seraphie called for Luni at once.
‘Of course I knew.’
Luni was more amazed at Seraphie’s ignorance than anything else.
‘Still, it’s strange.’
Luni saw something odd.
‘The temple’s loan-sharking always targets commoners. Nobles pay generous donations, so loaning to them serves no purpose…’
‘So what does that mean?’
‘Usually, they exploit commoners under the guise of charity, then, claiming they’ll forgive a portion of the debt when people default, they force them into labor.’
The temple’s methods were truly heinous. Their interest rates could outstrip any ordinary loan shark. Many commoners found their debt’s interest alone soon exceeding the principal, with their bodies and spirits ruined in the process.
And the temple exploited even that, wringing labor from their victims.
Learning all this disturbed Seraphie greatly. But she soon composed herself and quietly set her agents to work.
She then wrote to the warden, requesting a visitation with her biological father.
“…So now, after all this.”
At last, the former count spoke for the first time.
“Are you here to give me a sermon? Because I borrowed from loan sharks?”
“Please. Don’t flatter yourself.”
Seraphie scoffed.
“Sermons are only worth the trouble on people who still have some sense.”
“…….”
“You think I’d waste that sort of effort on you?”
He was about to snap back, but—
“But business is still business.”
Seraphie extended her hand, her face wearing an almost charitable smile.
“Is your current accommodation uncomfortable?”
The convict’s eyes faltered.
“If you answer my questions truthfully, I can arrange for you to leave this place.”
It was a tempting offer.
For all he was a noble, the former Count Validus had never endured such conditions. There were always bugs crawling across his bedding at night; the food rations were abysmal. When it rained, what little window there was let the water pour in, and mold inevitably blossomed the next day.
He had never imagined such a place could exist.
“…What do you want to know?”
His tone was already a notch gentler, and Seraphie smiled faintly.
Their negotiations were complete.
“Why did you borrow from the temple?”
“Because the other moneylenders would no longer lend to me.”
So it had been that simple.
Seraphie crossed her legs, watching him in contemplation.
“The property outside the capital, the one the temple took as collateral—it’s not listed among the family’s official holdings.”
“I’d always been siphoning assets like that to cover my funds. Other nobles do the same.”
“Would you be legally liable if this came to light?”
“…….”
He clammed up, eyes wary.
‘Judging by that reaction…’
The punishment must be severe.
“Hm.”
After a moment’s thought, Seraphie asked next:
“Are there many others who’ve borrowed from the temple?”
“Just look at that new temple they’re building outside the city!”
The ex-count sneered. Behind his lips, Seraphie caught a glimpse of teeth ruined black with rot. She wrinkled her brow—looking at him was physically painful.
“Nearly everyone working there’s a debtor.”
“…….”
“Come to think of it, if you hadn’t paid off my debts, I might have died sick in here.”
Maybe I should have left him to rot.
Seraphie muttered to herself.
The more she spoke with him, the more she thought even this prison was too good for him.
Yet despite her distaste, she couldn’t help but let a sly grin slip out.
‘I was right to come.’
She masked her real feelings with a serious face, covering her mouth with a hand as she put the final question to her father through the prison bars.
“One last question.”
In some ways, this was the most important thing she needed to ask her parent.
“What should I name my little sister?”
“…….”
Even the shameless former Count Validus was left speechless.
And thus the visit ended.
“Kis!”
Seraphie returned to the manor, beaming.
“When did you get here?”
She ran up eagerly, and Orchis, coming toward her with just as much purpose, pulled her into a tight embrace. Held close, Seraphie couldn’t keep her laughter inside.
“Even waiting for you was a joy.”
“My, you can say things like that?”
“It’s reserved for you alone, Sera.”
As if on cue, the two exchanged a kiss. What began as gentle, teasing pecks soon grew deeper, until tongues began to intertwine.
“……”
Luni happened to witness all this, her eyes turning as lifeless as a corpse dug up a week after burial.
Seraphie and Orchis reluctantly stepped apart.
“Do you two think you’re alone here? Save it for someplace private.”
“Someone’s forgotten everything she did with Kall…”
Seraphie wiped her lips with her sleeve, mumbling.
“That’s enough,” Luni said, moving on to the latest news.
“There’s a message from the Magic Tower in the Validus domain. Glake’s delegation has arrived, and the factory should be operational within days.”
“They’ve finally made it.”
Orchis nodded. “Their knowledge was coveted even by the former Marquis of Iris. It will be a tremendous asset for the foundry.”
Seraphie clenched her fists in triumph.
“I really went through hell to make this happen…”
The memory caught her off guard, and for a moment she pretended to sob—and it would not have been odd to genuinely cry, after such an ordeal.
“What’s the first thing you’ll produce?”
Orchis slid her arm around Seraphie’s waist, asking quietly. Seraphie, ignoring the tickling touch, answered.
“A very long, thin line.”
“A line?”
“A line.”
“What’s it for?”
“That’s still a secret.”
Grinning, Seraphie stepped away. Orchis glanced wistfully at her empty arm, then shrugged.
“Let’s move to the office, then.”
At Luni’s suggestion, the three took their conversation to the study.
“I looked into the so-called illegitimate child the temple is sheltering…”
And then Orchis revealed the true reason for her visit.
“As I thought, there is no Validus blood there.”