[V8C14] Mysterious Stranger (Noble)

One day, Raul was harvesting turnips in the Roseberg estate garden (sometimes referred to as a vegetable field), when he heard from a servant that a friend had come to visit. Still adorned in his work clothes and a straw hat, Raul happily made his way to the main house.

The guest hadn’t been allowed inside the main house and was kept waiting at the entrance. Since the visitors were unannounced, the servants were uncertain whether to lead them into the main house or to Raul’s personal quarters.

Although Raul was technically the head of House Roseberg, the real power lay in the hands of his grandmothers. And it would undoubtedly reach their ears if these guests were allowed into the main house. There would be no time to enjoy playing with friends in that case, so the servant’s decision was correct.

After turning the corner of the flower bed, Raul greeted the group standing in front of the door with a cheerful wave.

“Hey there, Cyril, Monica! And Claudia too, it’s been a while! Oh and, um, you’re…”

The guests were a group of four: Cyril, Monica, Claudia, and a man with black hair, wearing glasses and a wide-brimmed hat that hid his eyes.

Despite the meticulous disguise and the scarf that covered his mouth, Isaac’s face was easily recognized by Raul, given all the ceremonies they had attended together.

“Uh, I guess it would be inappropriate to call you ‘Your Highness’?”

Raul knew the truth about the incident regarding the Second Prince, and he had heard a bit about the man in question becoming Monica’s disciple. But while he was acquainted with ‘Your Highness’, he had never met ‘Monica’s disciple’.

“…Can I call you ‘Mysterious Stranger’?” Raul asked.

Mysterious Stranger——Raul liked the sound of that. The pseudonym gave off a cool and intriguing aura. However, Cyril seemed unconvinced, offering a suggestion of his own.

“I think we need a more dignified touch, for example, ‘Mysterious Noble.’”

“My name is Isaac Walker. Nice to meet you.”

The Mysterious Stranger, aka Isaac, pushed Cyril aside and offered a firm handshake, which Raul reciprocated.

“Oh, got it! Nice to meet you, Isaac!”

After vigorously shaking Isaac’s hand, Raul turned to Claudia. He had visited the Highown estate on multiple occasions, so he had met Claudia long ago.

“Hey Claudia! Long time no see!”

“…”

“I heard you got married to Baron Maywood’s son. Congratulations! Oh, feel free to take some vegetables! I was in the middle of the turnip harvest!”

“…Onii-sama, are you going to bring up the main topic or not?”

Claudia lazily turned her head toward Cyril, who appeared to be frowning in hesitation. Beside him, Monica was also frowning awkwardly.

“What’s wrong you two? Got a stomachache or something? Need to use the toilet?”

While the Roseberg estate was an old building, it had been recently renovated, and the toilet was reasonably modern. Perhaps it was no match for the royal palace, but this was a toilet to be proud of.

Raul had another toilet for his personal room, but he would much rather prefer to show them the outstanding one in the main building. However, as Raul earnestly pondered the toilet situation, Cyril spoke in a solemn tone.

“Raul, I have a favor to ask.”

“Sure, I’ll show you to the toilet!”

“Fight me.”

Cyril was dead serious, and Raul knew that Cyril wasn’t the kind of man to joke about something like this. Cyril promptly took a letter from his bag and handed it to the stunned Raul.

“I even wrote a challenge letter too. Here.”

“…Why?”

Raul had been all excited to play when he heard his friends came to visit. Yet for some reason, he got challenged to a duel and even received a challenge letter. It made no sense.

As Raul grew increasingly puzzled, Claudia put on the wicked grin of a true witch.

“Well, well, Onii-sama, that’s quite impressive. Perplexing the man known for perplexing others, this is a feat few can hope to accomplish.”

Apparently, Claudia was content simply savoring the situation. She didn’t seem inclined to explain anything.

Meanwhile, Monica moved her lips in an attempt to speak, but she was too flustered to form coherent words.

With no other choice, Raul turned to Isaac.

“Hey, can you explain what’s going on, Mysterious Stranger?”

“It’s Isaac Walker.”

“Right, sorry about that. Please tell me what’s going on, Isaac.”

＊　＊　＊

To avoid continuing the standing conversation at the gate, Raul guided Monica and the others to a separate building of the Roseberg estate. This turned out to be a two-story mansion about a five-minute walk from the main house, which Raul and Melissa used as a workshop.

The classic architecture of the workshop and the main mansion was charming, but to put it bluntly, the buildings were incredibly outdated. Every piece of furniture and decoration was vintage, exuding the long history of House Roseberg.

“The right half is for my sister, the left half is mine, and the central dining room is a shared space,” Raul explained, leading Monica and the others to the dining room. He began rummaging through the cupboard in search of snacks.

The entire building seemed cluttered, with cupboard doors left open everywhere. Potions and beauty tonics were haphazardly placed alongside dried herbs and mushrooms. There was also a set of tableware following the recent trends, which likely belonged to Melissa.

“Is Melissa-oneesan out today?” Monica asked, causing Raul to nod while brewing herb tea.

“Yeah, she went to see a play in the capital. Apparently, she’s obsessed with some young actor from her favorite troupe.”

“I see…”

Monica found Melissa’s absence to be a bit disappointing, but she was glad to hear that Melissa seemed to be in good health.

Meanwhile, Raul served some baked raisin scones on a plate and brought up the main topic.

“So why do Cyril and I have to duel?”

Monica also found herself wondering why things turned out this way.

After clenching his gloved hand tightly, Cyril began to explain with an agonized expression.

“This is my trial given to me by the ancient artifact, the Key of Knowledge.”

“The Key of Knowledge? Oh, from the Forbidden Section of the Ascard Library! Wow, Cyril, so Marquis Highown has finally recognized you! Man, a trial from an ancient artifact! That’s pretty cool!”

Despite being challenged to a duel, Raul was delighted about his friend’s achievements. His cheer truly knew no bounds.

Either way, it was impressive how he immediately understood the situation after hearing about the Key of Knowledge.

While nibbling on a scone, Monica murmured, “Raul-sama, you seem pretty knowledgeable about this subject.”

“Yeah, since Grandma has been taking me to the Ascard Library since I was a kid. She and Grandma and other Grandma are all officers of the Ascard Library Society!”

“…Um, what?”

In House Roseberg, Raul and Melissa’s grandmas (plural) held the real power. Monica had previously heard a little about this, but she didn’t know the full details of their family structure.

As Monica was perplexed by the number of grandmas, Cyril interjected.

“I take it you are referring to Madame Abigail Roseberg, Madame Paulina Roseberg, and Madame Ramona Roseberg?”

“Yeah! You actually remembered them all, Cyril!”

Raul clapped his hands in joy, to which Cyril scoffed and said, “It’s only natural.”

“You see, I have a ton of grandmas. The late Third Thorn Witch was my great-grandma, but she has two sisters who are still alive… And both of them have four daughters.”

Apparently, the Third Thorn Witch was the eldest of the triplet sisters. The second and third of those triplets were the ‘Grandmas’ who currently controlled House Roseberg.

“When I was a kid, I could hardly tell who was who’s sister, mother, or daughter… My great-grandma and her two sisters were triplets, so they all had the same face, you know? Since everyone looked like a grandma to me, I just called them all ‘Grandma’. Oh, but when we have a family meeting, I distinguish them as Grandma Abigail, Grandma Paulina, and so on.”

“I-I see…”

It’s easy to imagine how confusing it would be if you had your great-great-aunts, great-aunts, and grandmothers living in the same house. This didn’t resonate that much with Monica, but she understood that living with a large family had its own challenges.

“Woops, this conversation went way off track. So the Key of Knowledge nominated me as Cyril’s opponent in the duel? …Why?”

“Ask him directly.”

Saying that, Cyril removed his right glove. On the right middle finger of his exposed hand, the gem of Sophocles shone with iridescent colors.

“Hmm? Huh? What is this place?”

Sophocles had been covered under the leather glove practically the entire journey from Sazandol to the Roseberg estate, so he seemed confused by the situation.

Without any word of explanation, Cyril lifted his right hand and directed the gem portion towards Raul. Meanwhile, Raul raised his hand with a beaming smile.

“Hey there!”

“…? Who is this man?”

“I’m the Fifth Thorn Witch, Raul Roseberg! Nice to meet you!”

Even when introducing himself to a magical ring, Raul made sure to flash a smile with his dazzling white teeth.

Sophocles fell silent for a few seconds before emitting a pained grunt.

“The Thorn Witch? You’re a… m-m-man!? N-No… this cannot be…!”

The despair was evident in his voice.

“B-But everyone said that the current Thorn Witch bore a striking resemblance to the first. She was supposed to be an incredibly sexy woman with a voluptuous chest…”

“Don’t make such tasteless remarks while on my finger.”

Cyril flipped over his hand, slamming the gem part of the ring onto the table. His violence towards the ring was becoming increasingly unrestrained.

After watching this exchange, Isaac muttered a quiet comment while resting his chin on his hands.

“I had been thinking this for a while now… but it seems the range of his knowledge is pretty lop-sided.”

In response to Isaac’s murmur, Claudia sighed with a face of undisguised exasperation.

“…Exactly. Even if everyone calls Sophocles the Keeper of Knowledge, all of his knowledge is outdated. He only knows what’s written in the books stored within the Ascard Library.”

Finally, Monica understood. This explained why Sophocles failed to recognize her as a member of the Seven Sages, or that Isaac was literal royalty.

Even after hearing Cyril constantly refer to Isaac as ‘Your Highness’, Sophocles still considered him as nothing more than a pastry chef. Perhaps Sophocles believed that Isaac was a pastry chef with the nickname of ‘Your Highness’, in which case, Monica would be his master in baking pies.

As Monica found herself pondering such things, Claudia continued in a voice loud enough for Sophocles to hear.

“In other words, he’s just an annoying old man who pretends to know a lot… So, when can we put an end to this farce?”

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