Falman's Side
"Dad, wake up!"
"Wh-what happened?!"
Falman carried his father into the Gloriosa Trading Company branch in Gunjou City and laid him on the sofa in their private room. After checking the hallway, he shook his father awake.
The jolt of Falman's panicked voice and the shaking of his body jolted his father upright, and he scanned the room several times over. He had just woken up and clearly couldn't piece together what was going on.
"Dad, we're in deep trouble."
"Before that — why am I here?"
Still clueless about the situation, his father demanded an explanation from Falman, and managed to recall everything up to the point where he'd nearly lost consciousness.
"That 'Dragon-Slaying Tenma' has been fed all sorts of lies by Anli, and he's furious with you. And that's not all — the Sanga Duchy, the Samons Marquisate, and even the heir of the Houst Margraviate, all of whom have ties to Tenma, sided with him just to curry favor!"
"Wh-what did you say?! So — and the Viscount Abyss, what did he—?!"
"The Viscount Abyss serves the Sanga Duchy, so there was apparently nothing he could do about it."
"No way…"
At Falman's words, his father clutched his head and slumped forward. Falman pressed on:
"If this keeps up, the Gloriosa Trading Company could be destroyed. It seems Tenma has connections to the Jei Trading Company — he plans to pick a fight over you, shut down our shop, and install the Jei Trading Company here in Gunjou City!"
"The dirty scoundrel… Isn't there anything we can do?!"
Thinking to himself that the nerve of the man to say that while ignoring his own faults, Falman nonetheless nodded in agreement on the surface.
"There might be a solution, apparently."
"What is it?!"
When Falman put on a deliberately coy tone, his father immediately seized on it.
"When I asked Viscount Abyss for help, he said he couldn't do anything if we came at it head-on, but with a few conditions, he might be able to manage. Those conditions are that you take responsibility for this whole affair and leave the trading company, and..."
"No one could accept conditions like that!"
His father cut Falman off with a shout.
"Just calm down for a second, Dad. There's no need to take this at face value. You just have to pretend you're stepping down."
"R-Right..."
"Let me continue. First, you resign as president of the trading company, taking responsibility for offending the heir to the Duke Sanga family instead of Tenma. This way, rather than bowing down to a commoner named Tenma, it looks like you're being considerate toward the Duke's heir and Viscount Abyss. Then, if you put it in writing that you're transferring all your assets and full authority over the company to me, Viscount Abyss will cover for us from there."
"M-Mmm... But do you really need to transfer everything? Couldn't we leave some assets out?"
His father seemed bothered by the idea of handing over everything and tried to change part of Falman's plan. But—
"You're being too naive, Dad. Tenma has already gotten rid of numerous opponents over the years. Among them were nobles. The fact that it's never been treated as a problem means he has connections with powerful people on that level. So if you put it in writing that you're giving up everything to take responsibility, and then we appeal through Viscount Abyss to the Duke Sanga family and get their approval, even Tenma shouldn't be able to lay a finger on us. Besides, even if the documents say everything was transferred to me, it's not like it'll actually be confiscated. The registered owner just changes — everything else stays the same as before."
"I see. You're right, there's no need to blindly follow what the documents say."
"That's exactly it. Now, hurry up and sign these. We need to get them to Viscount Abyss immediately and have him settle this, or we'll be in real trouble."
Falman held back a smirk as he handed his father a sheet of paper. The document stated that all authority over the Gloriosa Trading Company and all of the Gloriosa family's assets were to be transferred to Falman, and that he would retire. Falman's signature was already on it, and all that remained was his father's.
"M-Mmm. Understood."
His father was surprised by Falman's efficiency, but signed the document without any suspicion. The urgency that the Gloriosa Trading Company might be destroyed if he didn't act immediately seemed to do the trick.
"Oh, and these three sheets here are for submitting to Viscount Abyss, Duke Sanga, and the Council. The content is the same, so just sign your name on these as well."
"Mmm!"
Believing this was a race against time, his father signed without a shred of doubt. Falman checked the signatures, then grinned.
"There, that should take care of it. Everything's going to work out."
"Yeah, that's right."
Falman took the four documents and held them close, tucking them carefully under his arm.
"I am ready, Viscount Abyss."
He called out toward the door. As if on cue, the door opened, and several members of the Gunjou City Knights filed into the room alongside Viscount Abyss.
Barely sparing a glance at his bewildered father, Viscount Abyss looked over the documents bearing the father's signature — documents he had only just signed moments ago.
"So you're certain about this, Falman?"
"Yes."
After confirming with Falman, Viscount Abyss signed every document except the last one. Then he declared—
"Seize that man! And take Falman with you as a key witness!"
He ordered the knights to arrest Falman's father and instructed them to escort Falman away as well.
"What is—what is the meaning of this?!"
The knights seized the father by both arms and forced him to his knees. As for Falman, one knight simply stood behind him and did nothing further.
"These documents contain all the misconduct you've been hiding from the public — and what's more, they bear your own signature admitting to it!"
The document Viscount Abyss thrust before the father was the final one Falman had prepared, detailing the crimes the father had concealed up to now. For the record, the first document resembled the initial transfer of rights to Falman, but its contents stipulated that every right transferred from the father would, in turn, be transferred by Falman to Daniel and Henri. The second was an oath of severance — the father and Falman would cut all ties with the Gloriosa family and the Gloriosa Trading Company.
This was an outright ambush by Falman on his father — a scheme bordering on fraud — but with Viscount Abyss's signature as a nobleman on the papers, they would be recognized as official documents no matter where they were presented. For the father to overturn them, he would need to appeal to a noble of higher rank than Viscount Abyss — in this case, Duke Sanga — or to a national authority. Doing so, however, would trigger a thorough investigation to verify the contents of the documents.
If the father were to appeal to Duke Sanga or the state, the ensuing turmoil could severely disrupt the trading company's operations. That was precisely why Viscount Abyss had deliberately left the last document unsigned.
In other words, by keeping the criminal charges off an official document for the time being, he was offering the father an escape route. The choice was simple: be exiled as a convicted criminal, or be exiled without charges. If he was exiled as a criminal, he would either be thrown into prison or condemned to a brutal life as a penal slave. Even if he was simply exiled, there was no guarantee that those who bore grudges against him would leave him alone — though with enough luck, he might yet slip away.
This was uncharacteristic of Viscount Abyss's usual methods, but an agreement had been reached: should everything succeed, Daniel would use the Gloriosa Trading Company's name to provide as much restitution to the victims as possible. Truth be told, turning a blind eye to Henri's wedding gift had also played a role in the arrangement.
"Guh… ahhh…! Traitor! Why?! Why would you do this to your own father?!"
Realizing that no matter how things turned out, every last one of his rights and assets would be seized — and worse, his very life would be in danger — the father turned his fury on Falman, whom he had believed to be his loyal ally. But Falman said coldly:
"My father…? There is no blood tie between you and me. Even after being taken into the Gloriosa household, I never once considered you my father — not even once."
The father stood speechless for a time, unable to grasp what had been said to him. But the moment the meaning sank in, he began screaming abuse at Falman and Falman's mother at the top of his lungs — so viciously that Viscount Abyss and the knights standing nearby couldn't help but wince.
Taking advantage of Falman's silence, the father grew increasingly heated, but—
"Silence."
"Ngh! G-gah…"
Falman's front kick connected squarely with his face, and the father crumpled, blood streaming from his nose. But even as he writhed in agony, he tried to open his mouth once more — only to be cowed by the fury blazing in Falman's expression. Instead, he turned to Viscount Abyss and the squad members, desperately trying to appeal to them about Falman's brutality, but—
"Finally, it's quiet… Your words were so unbearable that I couldn't help but cover my ears and look away. But tell me — why on earth is your nose bleeding?"
He pretended not to have seen a thing.
"Well, that's neither here nor there. For now, take him to the dungeons at Knight Order headquarters. He can receive treatment after he's locked up."
The squad members, following Viscount Abyss's orders, forced the father to his feet and half-dragged him away. The father screamed something desperately the whole time, but whether it was the blood from his nose or simply his incoherence, Viscount Abyss couldn't make out a single word.
"Falman, what you just did was hardly praiseworthy — but I understand the feeling. If you need a moment to calm down, I can wait."
"I'm fine. Thank you."
Although Falman was technically on Viscount Abyss's side, he was simultaneously a key witness, so he was escorted by the squad members to Knight Order headquarters.
— End: Falman's Side —
"Viscount Abyss, thank you for your hard work yesterday."
"Not at all, I didn't do much. It was Falman and Lady Primera's subordinates who bore the brunt of it."
Viscount Abyss had come to the Sanga ducal mansion to report on the events that had transpired at the Gloriosa Trading Company the day before. He had exchanged initial pleasantries with Albert, but after that had spoken exclusively with Primera, which left Albert looking rather sulky. In the corner of my vision, I could see three shadows eyeing the sulking Albert with mischievous intent, so no doubt today would bring yet another round of festive chaos.
From what I gathered listening to Primera and Viscount Abyss's account, the father had been given two options: become a criminal slave and be sent to the mines, or be severed from the Gloriosa Trading Company and his family and face exile. He had fought tooth and nail against both, but ultimately chose exile, and would be taken away to parts unknown by Viscount Abyss's retainers within a few days.
As for Falman, he had not been directly complicit in his father's crimes, but he had acknowledged that he had condoned them and helped cover them up. However, by reporting his father's crimes, cooperating with the arrest, and offering compensation to the victims, his sentence had been reduced to several years of community service under Viscount Abyss's supervision. The compensation for the victims was to be covered by Falman's own assets, with the Gloriosa Trading Company footing the bill for any shortfall.
As for why the father, despite having his wealth and rights stripped away, received only exile while Falman was assigned years of service — it was because the father had earned too many enemies and was expected to have his life targeted from various quarters going forward. In short, the punishment imposed on the father was to deliberately place him in a vulnerable position so that he would henceforth live in constant fear of being attacked.
Falman's punishment, by contrast, was designed to serve a dual purpose: compensating the victims financially and having him work off his guilt through community service. At the same time, making it known that harming Falman would mean spitting in the face of Viscount Abyss — and the Sanga ducal family who had sanctioned this arrangement — served as his protection. Of course, there was always the possibility that someone might attack him without anyone knowing, but Falman, under noble supervision, was a harder target than his father. Besides, going after the father would be the easier outlet for anyone seeking revenge. Even so, the chance of Falman being attacked wasn't zero — but by his own account, he had already steeled himself: "If they come for me because of this, so be it."
And as for why Falman resented his father — it had to do with Falman's mother and
The True Father
It seems it was related to his true father.
Falman's biological father, it was said, had died in an accident just before marrying his mother. In reality, however—since "father" is confusing here, let's call the biological one his father and the other his false father—this was a scheme orchestrated by his false father to win his mother over. According to the story, just a few days after his real father passed away, the false father forcibly took possession of Falman's mother. Then, Falman was born, but he was actually the child of the deceased father.
The false father, unaware of this, visited Falman's mother only a few times a year, as if remembering. Yet each time, he felt Falman looked more like him (though in truth, they didn't resemble each other much), and he doted on him more than his own children, causing a rift between Daniel and the later-born Henri.
Falman's mother had submitted to the false father—even harboring disgust toward him—in order to protect the Falman in her womb. But one day, while dealing with the severely drunk false father, she learned the truth by chance and came to hate him fiercely. Before she could seek revenge, however, she fell gravely ill. The false father, upon learning of her illness, ceased visiting her altogether, robbing her of any chance for vengeance. In the end, she succumbed to illness and a sickness of the heart.
Falman had cared for his ailing mother from a young age, and through that process, he learned of his true father and the grudge held against the false father. Having always seen the false father as "the one who torments my mother" and despising him, Falman had sworn that one day he would take his revenge.
"Still, starting with that backstory, it’s remarkable he turned out as well-adjusted as he did."
"As well-adjusted... well, I wouldn’t go that far. But the fact he didn’t involve Henri and the others is perhaps surprising."
To my muttering, Albert, who had been looking somewhat sulky, replied. It was true he wasn’t exactly well-adjusted. Yet, given the situation where it wouldn’t have been strange for him to seek revenge against everyone in the Gloriosa family, the fact that he limited the sacrifice to just the false father and minimized the damage to the Gloriosa household was, as Albert said, surprising.
"About that—according to him, for the first few years after being taken in, he intended to take revenge on everyone in the Gloriosa family."
As I was talking with Albert, Viscount Abyss suddenly interrupted his conversation with Primera to interject.
"However, even in that situation, Henri's mother was apparently kind to Falman. And seeing the young Henri being affectionate overlapped with images of his own mother from the past. That, he says, is what led to the outcome we see today."
"As expected, a mother's love is truly powerful."
"Indeed, Lady Primera."
The Viscount, who had been speaking with a completely serious expression, broke into a grin the instant he heard Primera's words and turned his back on Albert and me.
"Albert... let's leave Primera to handle this and go prepare for our departure, shall we?"
Ignored, Albert and I abandoned Primera with the Viscount and left the parlor to prepare for our departure, which was now just two days away.
"Well, 'prepare' might be an overstatement—there's not much to do. But we could look for some souvenirs, I suppose."
I took the still-somewhat-dejected Albert and went out. We spent about three hours purchasing souvenirs and groceries before returning to the mansion. Waiting for us was Primera, fuming because she'd been left behind. Apparently, if she'd stayed to continue listening to the Viscount's story, Grandpa would have shown up too, and she'd have been stuck conversing with two elderly men. Worse, during that time, the conversation shifted from Celsa's wedding to Primera's own marriage, and the Viscount ended up revealing stories from Primera's childhood—including embarrassing ones. Realizing he'd upset Primera with his own stories, the Viscount had slipped out before we returned, and Grandpa, in solidarity, had fled somewhere as well.
The two escapees left Primera with no outlet for her anger. So when Albert and I blithely wandered back in, her rage reignited—and doubled, at that.
"Hey Albert, we won't be able to see each other for a while soon, so why don't you two siblings have some time alone together today? I'll go around saying my hellos to the rest so I'm not in the way."
"Huh! W-wait, Tenma!"
"There are probably things about Duke Sanga's household and the domain that you don't want outsiders hearing, so don't hold back on our account—"
"go talk it out."
"See ya!"
I gave Albert a shove toward Primera, and he reflexively tried to dash back toward me, but Primera grabbed his shoulder before he could.
"Tenma, let's go already!"
The instant Primera had Albert in her grip, Amour seized my hand and bolted outside. Right on our heels, Cain, Lion, Jeanne, and Aura also squeezed past Albert and Primera and came flying out.
"What about Chris and Reni? Don't tell me they couldn't get away in time?"
Once outside, we all gathered in a spot hidden from the front entrance—but Chris and Reni weren't there.
"Chris is holed up in her room, petting Shiromaru. As for Reni..."
"I'm right here."
The moment Amour called Reni's name, she popped out from a nearby bush.
"At the time, I was standing a little further away from everyone... so I thought it would be rude to dash right past them, and I snuck out through the window instead."
"Grandpa ran off first, Chris is tripping out in her room... so that's everyone accounted for."
"Uh, Albert's still stuck, though..."
"Lion, they're siblings who haven't caught up in ages—don't go butting in."
"If you're gonna say that, why don't you ask the two of them to let you join, Lion?"
"No way—we can't interrupt their alone time! Come on, let's get moving already! If we hang around here, we might end up disturbing them!"
Even as I thought "Yeah, right!" I figured that if we kept lingering, we'd probably get spotted sooner or later, so I followed Lion's lead and headed off into the city—through the back gate, not the front.
And so, with Albert as our sacrifice, we went sightseeing around Gunjou City, enjoying some shopping and street food, but...
"Please listen to me, Tenma. My brother is really terrible!"
The moment we got back, Primera caught me and made me listen to her complaints. It seemed like all the anger she'd been holding in before running off had been directed at Albert and dissipated, so I could count myself lucky that she only vented verbally... but this time, it was my turn to feel like unleashing my anger — at Cain, Lion, Amour, Jeanne, Aura, Ren, and the rest of them...
Those six — the instant Primera called out, they shoved me forward and fled. And not only that, but the women said something about repaying us for letting them use the mansion, cleaning while keeping an eye on me... and just when I thought that was it, Cain and Lion showed up too. What were they planning? They brought Grandpa along and sat at a corner table, pretending to chat while watching me. Albert seemed to have retreated to his room exhausted — I hadn't seen him since we returned to the mansion.
"Primera, this one's on Cain and Lion. Have a drink and calm down."
"Thank you."
Primera took the drink that Amour said Cain and Lion had asked her to bring, accepted it, and downed it in one gulp. Just when I thought there wasn't one for me, Amour quickly brought one over, so I took a sip and—
"Wait, that's... alcohol?!"
I frantically looked over at Primera, only to find she was already asking Amour for a refill. Amour had apparently already prepared one when she brought mine — before I could stop her, she handed another to Primera, who downed that one immediately too. And then she asked for yet another refill.
At this rate, Primera was going to get drunk and start pestering me! ...or so I thought, when—
"Snuu..."
After downing the third refill, she immediately started snoring.
"Mission accomplished!"
"Amour, Cain, Lion... come here for a second."
I called the three of them over and interrogated them about whether they'd slipped her some kind of suspicious drug, at which point they confessed to giving her a cocktail laced with a sleep-inducing liquor.
"For now, I'll be reporting the three of you to Duke Sanga. Actually, I'll leave that to Albert. Jeanne, Aura — take Primera to her room and put her to bed."
Jeanne and Aura seemed to sense the ominous atmosphere, and quickly supported Primera from both sides, carrying her off to her room. They'd probably come up with some excuse or other not to come back.
The three of them looked around the room as if searching for help... but Grandpa and Ren, who moments ago had been watching me and Primera with the same scrutiny as the other three, had at some point vanished from the room without a trace.
"Now then... shall we have a little chat?"
"Y-Yes..."
Though there was an element of luck in that Primera had fallen asleep, what the three of them had done employed methods that could reasonably be considered criminal, so I made sure to give them a proper warning. Incidentally, once I had finished talking things through with them, Albert and Chris showed up, having been summoned by Grandpa and Ren, and the three of them ended up getting scolded on top of everything else. By the way, I also tried questioning Grandpa and Ren about the cocktail incident, but since both of them stuck to their "we know nothing" act in perfect unison, I had no choice but to let it slide. In exchange, though, I banned drinking during meals and before bed for a while, which at least dealt some damage to Grandpa if not to Ren. Well, Grandpa put up all sorts of resistance, but I got him to accept it by framing it as shared responsibility.
And then came the day of departure.
"Idiot!"
"Stupid, idiot!"
"Stupid stupid, idiot!"
"Aura, right! Reni-tan, left!"
""Roger!""
Even though it was moments before departure, a three-on-three Team Battle was underway. How many fights had broken out since arriving in Gunjou City, nobody could say, but it had become a spectacle that neither we nor the people who'd come to see us off could be bothered to worry about.
"Tenma, thank you so much for everything."
"Nellie, cover Millie!"
"Not a chance!"
"No, I'm the one who should apologize. I've caused you nothing but trouble."
"Opening!"
"My buuutt—!"
"It really was an incredible wedding. If possible, I would have liked it if you'd come to mine as well."
"Lily, Millie, heeeelp!"
"Secret technique: Shrimp Scoop Hold!"
"Right there! Shut it!"
""Y-Yes...""
"Oh, just like always... it's lively, isn't it?"
While I was talking with the people who had come to see us off, six people were rampaging around us, which was annoying, so I raised my voice and told them to shut up. Primera, who had been watching from nearby, opened her mouth as if to help the six, but she seemed unable to come up with anything good to say, so she trailed off.
"Amour and Aura, I can understand... but why even Lady Reni..."
After all, Lady Reni had supposedly come to educate Amour... I was thinking about this when—
"I understand what you're getting at, Tenma... I was curious about it too, and I even asked her directly."
Chris came over and gave me the answer. Apparently, Lady Reni had been teaching that keeping other women away from her husband was also a wife's duty.
"A wife's duty..."
"Well, I suppose that's one way of thinking about it. What concerns me more is that it looks like Amour is using this to have fun for herself... There's no chance that it's the other way around and Reni is actually the one being influenced by Amour, is there?"
Chris's prediction was terrifyingly plausible... but I wasn't all that worried about Lady Reni. That was because she apparently had a boyfriend down in the south, so she couldn't be stationed in the Royal Capital permanently. Well, she would probably come to the Royal Capital every now and then to see Amour, but...
Every now and then...
...I could endure that. Probably.
Thinking all of this, I still went around saying my farewells to the people who had come to see us off — Primera, along with the proprietress and Soleil, Flute, along with Selna and Henri, Marx and the others. The reason the old man and the guild master hadn't come was simply that they both had work to do and couldn't get away, but they had already said their goodbyes beforehand, so there was no problem. Still, I asked the proprietress and Flute to pass along my regards once more. Meanwhile, Amour and the others had quietly continued their battle.
"Hey! It's almost time to depart!"
"Damn it!"
"I missed my last chance!"
"Curse you... Amour, Aura, I swear..."
"Hmph... I win!"
"A complete victory!"
"Well done, My Lady!"
I didn't know what had motivated the match, but it ended with Amour's side winning.
"Well then, we caused quite a bit of trouble. But we'll be back, so please take care of us again next time."
And so, just as I had three years ago, I was seen off as I departed Gunjou City.