The Return of the Prodigal Son (4)

[You have encountered the designated target, and a scenario subquest has been triggered!] 

Main Objective: Reduce the suspicion level of Count Ertinez (0/1)

Achievement (High): Achieve suspicion level 1 of the count

Achievement (Medium): Achieve suspicion level 2 of the count

Achievement (Low):Achieve suspicion level 3 of the count

Quest Participants: Leonardo, Isaac

Time Limit: 0 hours, 59 minutes, 40 seconds

At the same time, an image of a gauge appeared next to the face of Count Ertinez, who was seated in the upper seat. The red needle was pointing at the number '5,' trembling precariously at its tip.

The servants lined up and brought in plates, filling the empty spaces on the table. As the plates piled up, the tablecloth became increasingly obscured, to the point where its colour was no longer visible, creating a lavish banquet. Vittorio looked a bit overwhelmed by it all.

In the banquet hall, there were Ferdinand and Count Ertinez, while one seat remained empty. When we glanced at the vacant chair, Ferdinand explained.

"I'm not sure if Leonardo told you, but he has a younger sister. However, she declined this seat, saying she wasn't hungry."

"Ah."

I couldn't tell if she genuinely wasn't hungry or if she was using it as an excuse to avoid the family dinner, which felt more like an interrogation session after her wayward brother returned home. The truth was currently shrouded in uncertainty.

At that moment, a servant approached to pour wine into Leonardo's glass. Leonardo shook his head while covering the rim of the glass with his hand. The servant, looking bewildered, asked,

"Sh-should I bring something else?"

"Just a fruit drink instead of alcohol."

"Pardon?"

The servant looked taken aback, as if witnessing the cooked fish dish on the table suddenly come back to life and start flopping around.

A clanging sound suddenly broke the tension, and I turned to see another servant dropping a dish and hurriedly picking it back up.

Even Count Ertinez narrowed his eyes and asked. The needle of the gauge floating beside him shook and tilted slightly to the right.

"I can't believe the day has come when you refuse alcohol. Are you putting on a show?"

Ferdinand raised an eyebrow and responded.

"A show? With Leonardo here, there's no one who would put on airs."

"….."

Count Ertinez briefly cast a glance at Ferdinand before quickly retracting it. He decided to drop this topic and steer the conversation in another direction.

"I heard from Sir Roald. He mentioned that you've been in Sinistra, and after that, you were discovered in the mountains following a search, and now you've returned here in El Dante."

The count's heavy voice filled the banquet hall. Sir Roald had mentioned that he was going to report about Leonardo while he was away.

"You vanished without a word, so I thought it was a short trip. You went missing for a month without a single message, and I'm to believe you're in your right mind?"

Count Ertinez' tone began to slowly heat up, like metal warming over a fire. It carried the rigid, stern demeanour of a military family, and I hadn't expected such a direct confrontation right from the beginning of the meal.

"Didn't I repeatedly tell you not to cause trouble outside of El Dante?"

His tone was stern, but was that all there was to it?

'Don't cause trouble outside of El Dante.'

Was it merely a scolding? I wasn't so sure. It sounded to me like he meant that while the Count could cover for his son's misdeeds within El Dante, he was unable to protect him once he stepped outside. 

In truth, he wasn't angry about Leonardo's behaviour but was pointing out how it had worried the family. More importantly, the script didn't indicate that he had given up on or hated his reckless second son at all. Count Ertinez didn't even bother to hold his utensils as he continued speaking.

"However, the baron couldn't properly explain how you spent the last month in Sinistra. He said you could explain that better yourself."

It seemed there was no saying in this world about not discussing sensitive matters during meals. With various dishes laid out before them, including quail eggs, shrimp adorned fried fish fillets, rolled beef marinated in soy sauce with boiled eggs, and tenderly cooked sea bass, Leonardo was left to respond without even touching the food.

"The situation was less than ideal."

I saw it clearly from my seat right next to him. Leonardo's eyes, as if in reflection, were desperately fixed on the beef roll.

'How pathetic.'

From the seat of honour, a blunt voice emerged.

"What kind of situation are you talking about?"

Sending a lingering gaze toward the plate, Leonardo recounted the scenario we had prepped before arriving at the banquet hall.

"After leaving El Dante, I wandered around while intoxicated, and one day I woke up in an alley in Sinistra."

Ferdinand responded with a thoughtful, "Hmm, I see."

"That's understandable. When you drink, you tend to act like that," he added.

"Being broke and completely drunk for days left me in the worst shape. If it weren't for my luck, I could have easily died there. No one recognized me in that disheveled state, and I was lying in an alley when Isaac took me in."

It was the perfect moment to boast. With a smile, I maintained an innocent and cheerful expression. This was much easier than acting as a shadowy informant in the dark.

I had heard a few times about the somewhat dubious impression I gave, but if I just softened my gaze a bit and relaxed my expression, I could easily change that.

"Well, it just so happens that I was running an inn. Since I had plenty of spare rooms, it wasn't difficult to give him one."

I glanced at Leonardo, making a face as if I still couldn't believe it.

"But I did set the condition that he work as a helper. If I had known back then that he was a young master of the Ertinez family, I wouldn't have been able to do that…"

Of course, it was also me who informed Leonardo that he had possessed the body of the second son of the Ertinez family and referred to him as "young master." 

However, lightly ignoring that detail would be more advantageous for smoothly building the story's coherence. Vittorio knew a bit of this truth but was skilled at pretending he didn't, so his expression revealed nothing, while Leonardo briefly looked elsewhere.

"Leonardo, you were a tavern worker?"

The Ertinez count mumbled as if trying to piece together words that shouldn't exist in this world. Although it was only a month and a few days ago, the early days felt oddly distant, and I smiled as I recalled them. This smile didn't even need to be fabricated.

"After bringing you in, I just left you to figure things out while throwing a bunch of work at you suddenly, making you work your tail off. I thought that would keep you from thinking about anything else, but now that I think about it, what must have been your first impression of me?"

At the beginning of the scenario, I had really left him alone and worked him hard like a brute. He claimed he liked it for muscle training, but…

"It must have seemed a bit strange depending on the perspective."

And there was certainly a part of me that had tried to appear that way, but Leonardo quickly retorted, "I didn't mind it."

His tone was slightly flustered; he was genuinely caught off guard, not acting at all.

"Really."

The count's suspicion gauge was about to rise again. I nudged his leg under the table, sending a signal to calm down a bit.

Ferdinand, who still couldn't believe that Leonardo had worked as a tavern helper, asked, "Did Leonardo follow your orders willingly?"

"Yes. He did his tasks on time and never drank a drop of alcohol while staying at the tavern."

"Hmm." Ferdinand sighed.

"I ordered Leonardo to abstain from alcohol, but none of us have ever succeeded in that."

If we were in modern times, the original Leonardo would have been in and out of a gastroenterology clinic like it was a diner. Here, alcohol tends to be consumed like water, but there is still a clear boundary between being tipsy and fully intoxicated. The original Leonardo exists outside that boundary.

In fact, the information panel for 'Leonardo Ertinez' also states that the original Leonardo died from acute alcohol poisoning. The needle on the suspicion gauge floating next to Count Ertinez' face wobbled precariously and then tilted to the right. This meant it was hovering between levels 5 and 6.

"You must be aware that Sir Roald goes to the villa in Sinistra every summer. Did you not think to ask him for help?"

To that, Leonardo replied calmly, "I didn't feel the need. I wasn't eager to return."

Before attending the dinner, Leonardo and I had a moment to piece together the puzzle. It was a process of re-establishing a character by stitching together the script of 'Leonardo Ertinez' and the information that had been relayed through others, like patchwork.

Script – [The second son of the noble knightly family, the Count of Ertinez, known for its swordsmanship. However, due to his lazy and arrogant nature, his physical abilities are at a dismal level. Having relied on his family's prestige, he is a notorious scoundrel with a terrible reputation.]

To shape a nobleman filled with contempt for his family, feelings of inferiority, and repressed anger, and to build coherence in the story through his perspective.

While I may not truly know what kind of person 'Leonardo Ertinez' was, the dead do not speak. Only the narratives relayed through others and reflections on his past actions remain.

"He's not the Leonardo of the Ertinez family who relied solely on the family's reputation and did nothing while living comfortably— if I say that the time he spent as Leo was more fulfilling, would you believe it?"

Leonardo shot me a rebellious glance. To me, it looked like the expression he often made when he was hungry, but the Count seemed to accept it as plausible. His suspicion gauge tilted to the left, pointing to the number '4'.

"I didn't necessarily want to return, but after problems arose in Sinistra and Isaac's inn caught fire, everything fell apart. And… when I was nothing, he took me in, so shouldn't I help him now that the situation has reversed?"

The Count asked, seemingly incredulous.

"So that's the only reason you brought him here? To take responsibility? Are you saying that if I pay your 'friend' for taking care of you these past months, that's the end of it?"

"No, we're going to live together."

"!"