Mess 149
by Cristae149.
“Interesting people seem to gather around the Count on their own.”
Despite Pura’s rudeness, X showed no sign of displeasure; rather, he grew more interested and initiated conversation.
Eventually, even Pura, who had been steadfastly ignoring him, half conceded and joined the discussion with X.
Serapi, finding it bothersome to interject, kept her lips firmly shut.
The place the three arrived at was the construction site of a temple being built on the outskirts of the capital.
Though called a construction site, the building was nearly complete. However, due to the severity of the temple’s corruption scandal, entry had been forbidden.
Most of the people who had worked here were victims of the temple’s vicious predatory loans. Even after barely repaying their principal, the exorbitant interest left them stripped of freedom and forced into labor.
“By the way, how are your half-sibling and stepmother, whom you met thanks to the temple?”
“They’re staying in the annex at the mansion. Once things settle down, I plan to find them a small house and a job.”
Not only Serapi’s stepmother’s family, but all the workers from this site were currently under Validus’s protection.
‘Now, how to put this secured labor force to use….’
With that thought, Serapi stood before the fortress wall, letting out a brief exclamation.
“Wow….”
The fortress wall encircling the construction site loomed imposing as a citadel.
“The temple certainly didn’t skimp on money here.”
“And now it all belongs to the Count.”
X stepped aside, gesturing for Serapi to enter first. Willingly accepting his courtesy, Serapi stepped inside.
“…….”
And was utterly aghast.
The first thing that caught the eye was an enormous building. Judging by its appearance, it was clearly the main hall of the temple.
Around it stood several auxiliary buildings of similar architecture, scattered throughout the grounds.
Clustered tightly around these temple buildings were rows of small residential houses, and further back stretched a broad open space.
The entire layout, the arrangement of the buildings, brought to mind a residential district of the capital itself.
“…It looks like a village.”
X muttered, his expression anything but pleased.
“Hm.”
Pura nodded knowingly.
“This must be what they call ‘land hoarding,’ right?”
“Sigh….”
“Ugh….”
Serapi and X both let out heavy sighs at the same time.
‘Again….’
The construction being carried out by the temple on the capital’s outskirts had been known as the foundation for a second temple. Even the recently arrested high priest had revealed as much.
But now, seeing it firsthand, the truth was immediately clear.
Building the temple had only been a pretense to hide their true intentions.
The temple’s real goal was to scout and seize prime land outside the capital long before anyone else.
The empty village spread before their eyes was proof enough.
“Your Highness,” Serapi asked, “was there ever a plan to create a residential area outside the capital?”
“There have been discussions, but it’s only an internal matter—nothing that has ever been made public.”
X surveyed the site with a grim face. The eyes that used to curve in cheerful mischief were now sharply narrowed.
“Just….”
His voice, edged with anger, seemed to grind out from within.
“…Unbelievable.”
As if they were asking to die.
X was genuinely furious that the royal family’s confidential plans for the urban development of the capital’s outskirts had been leaked. To him, this was nothing less than a challenge and an insult to imperial authority.
Seeing this, Serapi nodded to himself.
‘The capital truly is at saturation.’
As the city grew, so too did its population, yet available residential areas only dwindled, making new measures necessary.
It seemed the Imperial family had settled on creating new residential zones outside the capital.
‘The real question is—how did the temple know?’
He had a guess.
Sadly, Serapi had experienced something similar before. The real estate speculation plotted by the Crown Prince and his faction in the Senate had been almost identical to this.
‘At this point, I’m not even surprised.’
Having endured all kinds of schemes over the past year, Serapi was no longer startled by a mere case of land speculation.
Had the temple not resorted to their usual tricks, that would have been far more shocking.
But that didn’t mean there wasn’t cause for suspicion.
Back then, the Crown Prince’s speculative ventures had clearly been for amassing secret funds, a view everyone—including Serapi—had ultimately accepted as fact.
This time, however, the temple’s land scheme felt different.
‘What are they really up to?’
From all indications, the Crown Prince might be involved again, yet this land grab felt like more than just a bid for slush funds.
Besides, there was no telling when the city expansion project might truly happen.
“Sigh….”
Growing frustrated, Serapi raked a hand through his hair and exhaled a deep sigh.
“Count.”
Following the voice, he found X and Pura peering down at the ground. On the still-unpaved earth, a thin, rectangular crack was visible.
“Here goes.”
Bending down, Pura lifted the slab at the marked crack, revealing a hole beneath.
“What could it be?”
“Who knows, maybe a sewer?”
Without hesitation, X dropped down through the opening.
“…A tunnel?”
It was just tall enough for an adult man to stand in, stretching long ahead. Pitch-black inside, with not a glimmer of light, yet it unmistakably continued on.
“Judging by the direction, it leads that way.”
Having climbed back out, X pointed to one of the auxiliary buildings. Without delay, the three made their way there.
“Hey, boss.”
As they approached where the tunnel seemed to lead, Pura spoke, his narrowed eyes turning razor sharp.
“…Is someone here?”
Serapi asked, to which Pura shook his head.
“That’s not it.”
His complexion, however, had gone pale.
“It feels wrong.”
“…….”
“It’s the same feeling I had when we met Marquis Iris.”
“If that’s the case, then there truly must be something.”
X’s mouth twisted into a difficult smile.
Though the outside of the building bore the temple’s signature white and blue, inside it was a disordered mess, more storehouse than sanctum.
And as suspected, there was that same rectangular crack in the floor.
Once again, Pura opened it and X climbed down to investigate.
“Hm?”
X’s gaze narrowed as he examined below.
“Count, do you know anything about ores?”
“I’ve only read a few books on the subject. Why do you ask…?”
“There are rocks down here that look like ore.”
The mere mention of “ore” sent a chill down Serapi’s spine. With Pura’s help, he descended into the tunnel.
The passage was wider than expected, and this was the tunnel’s dead end.
At the very end, piles of black, glittering stones were heaped.
“Don’t get too close,” Pura warned, eyes fixed on the minerals. Both Serapi and X nodded, stepping warily back.
“What could it be? Gemstones? Black diamonds?”
“If it were something so ordinary, Pura wouldn’t be reacting like this.”
“But it can’t be anything normal.”
“So then, what is it….”
As Serapi squinted, pondering, it hit him.
“……!”
Serapi’s face grew steadily paler.
“This…!”
His clenched fists trembled so hard his knuckles cracked audibly.
“These, these insane bastards!”
X and Pura flinched at the sudden outburst, but Serapi took no notice, barely suppressing a storm of emotion.
The day fire broke out at Mars Harbor.
‘Did you see the explosion?’
‘I did.’
‘What did it look like?’
Karl, who had witnessed the second explosion, had described it this way:
‘It burst like a firework.’
Having hurried home to the mansion, Serapi went straight to his study.
“You’re back? How was the—”
So urgent was his step that he dashed right past Lunima, who had greeted him.
“…What’s wrong with him?”
“I have no idea.”
“Poo, are you back? Oh, Esteer, you’re with them too?”
“Lu, by any chance, at the Mars territory—…”
Left behind, Lunima’s voice could be heard chatting with Pura and X as they followed, but nothing could slow Serapi’s determined stride.
Entering the study, he shut the door and threw open a desk drawer.
Inside lay a thick book bound in worn leather—the research journal that Peonia had sent through X, recording the period when House Validus operated a minting factory.
‘He said it burst like a firework.’
Flipping rapidly through the bulky volume, Serapi recalled the explosion incident at Mars territory.
Publicly, the fire at Mars Harbor had been blamed on employee negligence. But the real cause was an explosion—likely triggered by a new, unidentified explosive substance.
‘Even if the official cause was an accident, the intensity of that fire was anything but accidental.’
It burst like a firework.
A firework.
“You….”
Even while feverishly combing through the research volume, Serapi’s mouth let slip a quiet, venomous curse.
“If I ever catch you bastards… I’ll bury you alive up to your necks, then smear honey on your heads for bugs and beasts to feast on—!”
The curse was so dreadful that even the devil, quietly reciting multiplication tables in math class, would have raised a pinky finger in horror.
“……!”
His finger, skimming the page at breakneck speed, suddenly stopped.
Serapi snatched the hefty tome in one hand and brought it up to his face—the moment all that athletic training finally paid off.
“This ore….”
His voice quivered as he read the next lines.
“This ore has existed since ancient times.”
The flaming stones had once protected humanity from the dark of night; they were first called “Pos,” from an ancient word for “light.”
“However.”
Serapi swallowed hard.
“Danger always accompanied it.”
From this ore, mistakenly thought to be a divine gift, there could occasionally be found various byproducts.
Black, glittering stones; red or violet-tinged powders; and yellowish-white dust.
The most dangerous was the white dust. It was highly addictive. It ate away at the flesh; when consumed, it caused excruciating pain that lingered until death.
Moreover, it was incredibly flammable: once ignited, nothing could easily put out the fire.
There was only one way to quench it: let everything burn to ashes.
Even doused with water, the devil’s flame would flare up once more.
“Those who survived said…”
The fire burst like fireworks, consuming everything in its path.
“…….”
Having read through the passage, Serapi bit down hard on his lip.
“For gods’ sake….”
Now, this was a substance so dangerous its international classification had been raised, permitted only for handling by rare certified specialists.
Yet it had once been so common as to be used in match production.
“Truly, you mad bastards…!”
The true nature of the ore piled beneath the temple outside the capital—the very ore connected to the Mars Harbor fire—was the raw material for a newly developed explosive.