Episode 36.9

Nirfut took light of his job this time.

He must admit that.

He thought it was not a job that necessitated Nirfut himself to go in person.

They had been working on winning over Goncourt family members, all that left was to assassinate Dopus Goncourt.

Initially, this scheme of Boldrin house taking over Goncourt House of Vouka was intended as a countermeasure against Kogurus, aka Zack Zaikaz.

Boldrin believed it was only a matter of time before Zack took over Vouka. Once he succeeded, he would use Vouka as a base and set his sight at Vantaroy next. They had to secure a base to gather intel before that came to be. This was Boldrin House's ruler, Cassandra's thought process.

In which case, their targets are naturally limited. The foremost candidate of a house with financial prowess big enough to weather Vouka under Zack's rule would be Goncourt. The fact that they don't have many young men as successors also makes things easier. On top of that, Boldrin has longstanding business connections with several of Goncourt's family members already.

And since it's a profitable house, usurping it would be good to Boldrin either way, monetarily speaking. While the plan was in motion, Zack himself came to Vouka. In a panic, Boldrin used up lots of resource to win over more Goncourt family members. And just when they were about to seriously go forward with the plan to usurp Goncourt, the situation shifted.

First of all, Zack went back to Kogurus. This was confounding Boldrin. They never expected Zack giving up on Vouka.

Then, Vouka showed its first sign of flourishing. Its growth is still early in its infancy, but Cassandra surmised that this boon would continue for the next several years. It might even develop into an important commercial city that connects northern part of the country with the central.

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Another reason, Cassandra vomited blood at the end of last year.

Cassandra who did not have long in this world chose usurping Goncourt as her last great undertaking. She sent her right hand, Nirfut to Vouka.

His mission was to assassinate the last adult heir to Goncourt, Dopus Goncourt. By doing thus, Goncourt shall become a property of Boldrin. Goncourt is just right to be a center of intel gathering, and they're also the biggest stakeholder of Chaney Company, so they're economically advantageous as well.

Cassandra made Kusandria, a Goncourt who was married into Boldrin, believe that her third son should be Goncourt's heir. Then she made Nirfut accompany Kusandria and Horkassa visiting Goncourt mansion.

However, Cassandra's true goal was never about making Horkassa the heir. Inducing Goncourt House to name Gaipus as the successor due to them pushing Horkassa as one was her true goal all along.

Once that's done, Boldrin will have a complete control of Goncourt. Because the surefire pick for Gaipus's guardian, Don Cospe has been under Cassandra's thumbs ages ago. Of course, the person in question doesn't actually want to sell Goncourt over to Boldrin. He plans to enrich himself by letting Boldrin manipulate Goncourt.

Still, taking assassination path shows how much Cassandra is fretting. That is a path that leaves a trail to oneself. But she's got no other choice this time around. Cassandra doesn't have much time left.

Thus, Nirfut arrived at Vouka. Thrice Kusandria pushed the idea of making her third son Horkassa as Goncourt heir to Prado. When it looked like Prado's patience was finally wearing thin, Nirfut assassinated Dopus. It was a simple task. Goncourt has no knights or capable soldiers. He could have done it with his eyes closed.

And now he's just got to watch over the family council's proceeding and goes back to Vantaroy. Or so he believed at the time.

Naturally, Nirfut wasn't allowed to participate in Dopus's funeral. None of the Boldrin was. Which is only right.

And when Knight Kaldan asked to let him in the council as a guard, Nirfut believed he would be totally rejected. Yet for some odd reason, they were allowed in to wait for Prado's judgment. Kusandria, Horkassa and two other people.

That was no decision Goncourt butler, Kanner, had any right to. There must be some sort of underlying motives. But Nirfut cannot fathom these motives.

At any rate, they got the permission to attend. Knight Kaldan and one other person can get in. Nirfut decided to watch this family council himself.

He was flabbergasted when he saw Norma sitting next to the present master. His intel did not have this person as a member of the main family.

Then another individual that gave him so much more shock entered the room.

Knight Jinga Tauer.