Only I Know the War Hero’s Secret Chapter 6

“It’s a shame that Lord Richard has already taken his leave.”

“How disappointing. This banquet might as well have been held in his honor, considering he’s practically the guest of honor.”

As he listened to the complaints of the high-ranking nobles, tinged with disappointment, Richard’s aide, Morris, broke into a cold sweat.

“His Excellency Lord Richard wishes to spend some time mourning the casualties and wounded from the war…….”

“Morning, you say……? If that is his wish, then I suppose we must respect it.”

Morning, my foot.

Morris felt his conscience pricking at him as he spun one blatant lie after another.

How much longer would the nobles continue to accept such polished excuses?

It wasn’t as though he could honestly tell them that their fastidious Commander-in-Chief found gatherings like this utterly tedious.

After all, his popularity was already soaring so high that it looked ready to ascend straight into heaven.

‘Nothing will happen, right?’

Thinking of his enigmatic superior, who had disappeared after merely saying he had run out of cigarettes, Morris felt a strange sense of unease.

Richard had always been cold by nature and was a man who rarely revealed his true thoughts.

But ever since returning from the extermination expedition, he had become even more indifferent and difficult to read.

The only time he showed even a hint of humanity was when he was with the members of the Black Knights, if anything.

‘……I’m probably worrying over nothing.’

Even so, Morris couldn’t help but feel concerned about the current state of affairs.

Recently, Grand Duke Cronell seemed intent on backing his incompetent second son, born to his second wife, instead of his eldest son, Richard.

But Morris’s family had staked its future on the capable and powerful Grand Duke’s eldest son.

So, praying that the day would pass without incident, Morris wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.

 

***

 

The moment Mona spotted Professor Thomas in a corner of the banquet hall, she clutched the paper hidden beneath her skirt.

At the same time, she recalled the script she had prepared in advance.

It went something like this:

[Professor, have you read my thesis?

Just as I thought! I figured you hadn’t, so I brought it with me.

I know you’re busy, but it’ll take only five minutes to look over.

I’ve arranged the thesis according to the required format, so you only need to check the final page, where I’ve marked the central hypothesis and conclusion.]

Of course, she had also prepared for the possibility that the bastard professor might refuse to review her thesis.

[Professor, did you know?

Apparently, if there’s no record of thesis supervision for an entire year, the Academy’s Academic Affairs Office may investigate your teaching history.

So, investing just five minutes would actually be in your best interest.

And if you truly can’t spare even that short amount of time, then please take just one second to sign this transfer of evaluation rights form.]

Satisfied with what she considered a flawless script, Mona was suddenly startled.

“Uh……!?”

Where did he go?

While she had slipped into a secluded corner of the terrace to pull the thesis out from beneath her skirt, the bastard professor had once again vanished without a trace.

‘He can’t have gone far, at least.’

Just as she had expected, Professor Thomas was crossing the corridor, chatting boisterously with the group he belonged to.

‘But where is he going?’

Watching the professor head out through the back door leading outside, Mona recalled what the mage had said earlier.

“Tsk. The victory celebration is just an excuse. They’re obviously going to sneak off to their social club.”

Was he really heading to that so-called social club right now……?

What should she do?

After hesitating for a moment, Mona soon began following the professor with a determined expression.

Under Imperial law, a head of household could force his daughter into marriage.

If she didn’t obtain her degree as soon as possible, her father might force her to marry some random man.

She wasn’t in a position to be picky right now.

‘If I’ve already drawn my sword, I might as well cut down a radish…….’

However, even after leaving the banquet hall, Mona’s pursuit did not go smoothly.

“Ugh!”

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

The streets near the Imperial Palace were overflowing with people who had flocked there hoping to catch even a glimpse of the war hero’s clothes.

Despite the chaos, Mona somehow managed to weave through the bustling crowd without losing sight of Professor Thomas and his companions.

Before long, she had left the busy central district behind and wandered into an unfamiliar neighborhood.

‘The smell of cigarettes…….’

A pungent, acrid odor suddenly assaulted her nostrils.

Frowning, Mona headed down the alley where the professor had disappeared.

“Hey!”

But a huge man suddenly stepped in front of her.

“Hey, you ugly girl with the glasses. You think you can walk into our salon looking like that? There’s a limit to how much you can ruin the atmosphere.”

“I just need to go in for a moment…….”

Anxiously watching the professor’s group disappear into the dim interior of the salon, Mona tried to explain, but the doorman shoved her shoulder.

“Now, now! Where do you think you’re sneaking off to like some rat? If you want to have fun that badly, why don’t you at least take off those glasses and put this on?”

“Ah!”

The doorman swiftly snatched her thick glasses away, tossed them into a trash can, and handed her a white mask.

“Why would you……!”

Before she could even demand to know why he had thrown them away, the doorman hurried over to a group of men wearing extravagant masks.

“Ah, welcome! Welcome, gentlemen! This way, please. I’ll show you in, my lords.”

Mona stared blankly at the doorman as he hurried off with the new customers.

In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to retrieve her glasses from the trash can, which was piled high with vomit and liquor bottles. With no other choice, she put on the mask.

‘Damn it.’

Pressing down her bangs to conceal her now-blurred irises, Mona swallowed a curse.

She had been so focused on following the professor that she had only belatedly realized something was strange about the place she had entered.

As the sun went down, gaudy magical lights began flickering on here and there, and people dressed in increasingly revealing outfits started appearing.

‘I thought a social club would be some sort of refined gathering, but it’s actually a pleasure district salon.’

Mona, who had naively assumed that a social club was a place where people gathered to play cards and socialize, felt thoroughly out of her depth.

She had come all this way, but was she really going to have to give up and go back……?

As much as she hated to admit it, finding the professor in a place like this was beyond her abilities.

In the end, Mona trudged back the way she had come, feeling dejected.

‘……Wait, is this even the way I came?’

As darkness fell, the flashing magical lights completely changed the atmosphere around her, throwing off her sense of direction.

All she could see were suspicious-looking stalls that seemed to be multiplying by the minute.

The farther she walked, the stronger the bitter, acrid smoke and smell became. Coughing repeatedly, Mona approached one of the stall vendors.

“Excuse me…….”

“Heh heh. Looking to buy some cigarettes, miss?”

She had only intended to ask where she could find a carriage, but the vendor stubbornly pulled out a box and thrust it in front of her.

“Take a look. We’ve got all the latest popular products.”

The moment the vendor opened the box, a familiar herbal scent brushed against the tip of her nose.

‘This is…… Almaris.’

Almaris was one of the ingredients Mona had handled most frequently while conducting her research on ‘becoming friends with monsters,’ so there was no way she could mistake it.

But why was that flower being used in cigarettes?

Almaris was a flower classified as a ‘plant-type monster,’ much like a mandragora. It wasn’t poisonous, but it subtly distorted the flow of mana around it.

That was why it was considered a dangerous ingredient……

“Hey! If you’re not buying, get lost!”

When Mona remained silent, her lips pressed into a tight line, the vendor snapped at her before turning to solicit another customer.

‘It seems they’re selling illegally manufactured cigarettes here…….’

That meant this was a place where Imperial inspections were unlikely to reach. It might even be more dangerous than the pleasure district salon.

‘Has something cursed me today or what?’

Swallowing her nervousness, Mona hurried through the alley as quickly as she could, almost fleeing.

But as soon as she left the alley lined with cigarette vendors, the scenery changed in an instant.

The stinging smell of tar faded, replaced by an inexplicable chill that clung to her skin.

……What was this?

Mona’s eyes widened.

‘The flow of mana in this space is strange.’

She had always been sensitive to mana, but thanks to the heightened perception caused by the side effects of an experiment, she quickly sensed something unusual.

The mana in this area was circulating ever so slightly in reverse.

Some people called it an unholy force, referring to it as ‘demonic energy.’

Her heart began pounding violently.

It wasn’t quite scary. Some part of her was practically bubbling with excitement.

After all, the only beings capable of circulating mana in reverse were monsters, creatures that did not conform to the natural flow of things.

Why could she sense the presence of a monster in a place like this?

……And what kind of monster could it be?

A mere slime couldn’t possibly cause this degree of mana distortion.

She was so curious that she couldn’t bring herself to take another step away.

Mona knew better than anyone that curiosity killed the cat. After all, an experiment gone wrong had left her with a huge scar on her shoulder.

But even after that failure, Mona was still a crazy cat who continued pursuing her research on ‘becoming friends with monsters.’

‘Well, I’m still alive, aren’t I?’

When it came to monsters, her field of interest, Mona completely lost her rationality. As though bewitched, she began walking in the direction where the distortion in mana was strongest.

In truth, she did have one thing going for her.

She was naturally capable of getting along with monsters, so surely she could somehow…….

“Aaaaaaagh!”

Just then, a rough scream, sharp enough to tear through the air, violently pierced her eardrums.

“Guh……! H-hhhk. Lord Richard, please…… Please, spare m……!”

Crack. Crunch.

After the sounds of flesh being crushed and bones twisting passed through the air, a deathly silence settled over the area once more.

Lord Richard……?

She had just heard a name she shouldn’t have heard. Mona froze in shock.

Then, from within the pitch-black darkness, she came face-to-face with a pair of beastlike eyes, gleaming a vivid blood-red.

They were not the eyes of a human being, but of a predator.