Wiser than you think part 2

'what the hell is it with this noble? is he crazy? what is he trying to do? does he know? how? how? how?'

Dereth didn't know what reaction to give and stood blankly for a few seconds before deciding to deny.

"... I'm not sure I understand what you are saying, sir"

By this time Duke Erin stood up and revoked Rein.

"I understand and appreciate you Mr. Reinard but Dereth is my trusted secretary and I know he can never knowingly set a storage room with goods what of 7 million silvers on fire."

"I know it's rude to just butt in like this but would you like to trust me, sir, after all this is over you can punish me whatsoever way you like"

He talks as he moves closer to Dereth,

"if by the end of this you are not the one with all shreds of evidence I lay down, I will serve you... How about that?"

Dereth knew if he was not the one that caused it he had no reason to turn down Rein's offer, any further denial would just raise the duke's suspicion against him.

" Okay sir let's do that" Duke Erin sat back down...

"okay since Dereth has agreed there's no problem, but do not take it too far, it is thanks to Dereth consistent and sincere hard work that my business had come this far"

"Of course I won't"

Rein bowed slightly toward Duke Erin, he didn't know what he was doing in particular, but he had a hunch and was simply following his instinct which was an effect of his high insight, he now had a logical way of observing things and coming to conclusions due to his high insight, he was still immature in many areas though.

"Okay let's start!"

Rein pointed his hand towards Dereth in a jiffy which put Dereth in a slight shock which subsided immediately, Rein smiled and put his hands down.

"why do you address a lord you have been working for how many years now...."

Rein paused to wait for Dereth response,

".... Five... five years"

"...five years... Holy crap, and you still called him THE lord"

"Of course I should he is the lord"

"he is the lord and not your lord..."

Derek flinched for a moment because what Rein had just pointed out got to him, he had never for once considered Duke Erin dear even though, it looked like he did. He thought for a second if that was what he was tryna get at but soon dismiss the thought.

(he might be a noble that had gone to school, but he can't possibly be that intelligent to know what I harbor within me for years just by observing me in some minutes, I've not even told a single person)

He was wrong...

"what are you trying to get at sir?"

"You have never considered Duke Erin dearly to you, not even once, let me guess he has done something to you that you hated him for so gravely for you to stick by his side and destroy him bit by bit"

"what are you saying?! I love and respect the lord as my dear one!"

Dereth had lost his cool and shouted, what he thought would never happen was unfolding right in front of him.

Duke Erin also interfered,

"Mr. Reinard, Dereth has been good and truthful to me over the years, I appreciate his good works"

"so you won't call him my lord even when things are becoming like this.... guess you must've hated him a lot"

Rein turned to Duke Erin

"sire, promise you'll just watch, I'm trying to get at something

?"

Duke Erin who was still weak from the bad news he had received earlier, replied slowly

"okay if you insist but please don't take it too far it'll make my secretary uncomfortable"

"Sure sire I won't"

Rein bowed slightly as he finished his statement and grinned as he turns towards Dereth who was already pissed by Rein's interference.

"So you want to tell Duke Erin everything and hand yourself in"

"I don't understand what you are talking about"

Dereth continues to deny,

"well I don't expect you to tell me you know what I'm talking about, that would've been too easy... But listen to me carefully.

You claim that it was a fire caused by the harsh dry weather. Okay, I agree with you we are in the dry time of the year, to be exact it's January 1, 01XX... But I tell you the harsh weather, does not know the location of the storage room, that it would decide to set fire on the storage room alone, also activities were going on, it was a large market wasn't it, the activities of humans were going on, weren't they, if the harsh weather was going to ignite a fire in the environment trust me it would be an environment that has been abandoned or a forest, the weather cannot ignite a fire in an environment that is continuously active."

" Are you the weather, you aren't the weather sir"

"I don't need to be the weather, of course, we were taught in middle-school these things...

(ops I shouldn't have said that I was too carried away)

... Now let me give a logical explanation that will let all this make sense"

Rein begins to pace around Dereth, intentionally pushing me to be nervous, if he truly was the cause.

"you see Sire earlier when we talked, I heard a lot of your stories, I had just thought maybe you were very unlucky like me, you've had too many consistent losses that seem to have been caused by natural phenomenons every time. But it's just too perfect to be true, the fact that you were getting used to the losses instead of searching for how to stop them proves that someone here, wants you to get used to those losses so much, that he when he hits you and probably destroys all your assets you won't even see it coming"

"why would anyone want that for me, Mr. Reinard?"

"you have probably wronged such person, who knows what you did?, you are a merchant after all .... And you Mr purple robe...

(damn his fashion sense is crap, who puts on purple outfits these days... No homo bro)

.... You have probably found your way to his side and decided to ruin him bit by bit, till you ruin him completely. What did he do to you?... To make this more intriguing...

He stops pacing and faces Duke Erin,

"what did you do to him sir, you must've done something?"

"what are you saying Mr. Reinard, I have never had any special encounter with Dereth of the sort, and he came to me, and turned out to be very useful...that's all"

"... Came to you huh... I guess I was right after all "

Dereth, who was standing silent and gritting his teeth as the Duke denied ever knowing him, of course, he never had any direct encounter with the Duke, but the fact that the Duke probably could not remember what he had done to him and everyone he knew pissed him so much that he could not maintain the calm look on his face.

(calm down, calm it, after everything I've done I'm just a step away from dealing him a final blow and he won't be able to afford running the marketplace. I'm just a step away... Damn it, who is this son of a dog, a scholar, I've always heard scholars are smart, I never thought it was to this extent. I'm done for anyway, with this noble scholar in this household. I'll eventually be caught, what pains me more is the fact that he can't even remember the decision he made that made all of us suffer... I'll settle the scores here and make you remember you old demon)

It wasn't like Rein was smart this was just a result of blindly following his instinct, his hunch was accurate and made him take note of every observable action of Dereth.

(oh he's about to lose it)

.... For a few seconds, everyone went silent in the sitting room, just then Dereth let out crazy laughter...

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahah..... I never thought I would be saying this like this...."

(finally uh...)

Rein smiled...

"Because of your decision hundreds of people lost their lives and you don't even remember"

Duke Erin frowned,

"what do you mean people lost their lives Dereth?"

"you know I had hoped and tried that you would be on the floor and be shedding your eyes out when I finally reveal my identity to you and remember you of your cruel decision. But thanks to some certain son of a dog that can't happen anymore, this loss is a huge one to you might never really recover from it"

"your father is a son of a dog, your mother is a hoe which makes you a son of bitch hehe"

(you think you are the only one that knows cuss word)

Of course Rein, only murmured beneath his lips, he knew how to read the atmosphere and knew that this moment needed to go smoothly, this was the scene where the character would try to kill so he can have his revenge... So it had to go smoothly.

"So it was you after all... I can't believe I trusted you!!"

Duke Erin gripped tightly the arm of the cushion he was seated on, his voice hard a growl underneath it and his face was squeezed, his neat mustache with the face he had on made him look like, a greedy villain that had failed.

" trust...?, did you just say trust, you are the reason hundreds of people were massacred, and you speak trust..."

"I have never killed a single soul Dereth, so what rubbish are you blabbing, explain yourself before I run out of patience!!"

He shouted, letting out the angry growl again.

(this man is scary, I should leave here as soon as possible I don't want to get shout at like that... I was planning to become a freeloader but no. Not with that face)

Dereth tightened his fist as he began to talk.

"The city of Artiok, the very land your multipurpose marketplace stands, was the city of Artek."

Duke Erin released the hand he tightened on the cushion arm and leaned back, sighing as though he had remembered.

"haaaa that was it"

His face had turned from angry to sad and his voice had gone soft.

"Even though we had an immature and greedy lord, at least we had our home, we were happy people so far we had Artiok, the empire didn't care about us, we were neglected but we were not bothered, the war affected us a lot because Artiok was the empire's eastern border, but we still didn't care, we had a peaceful life, we were hardworking. Eventually, our Lord died. We received a new lord... But the next thing we saw was the private soldiers in green armor driving us out of our own home.

We had nowhere to go, we were pushed out of the border towards the battlefield."

His nails tore his palms and blood dripped slowly as he tightened his fist more, and bit his lips to hold in his tears.

" The battle of the Empires was intense, it had reduced now, but even you knew how it was seven years ago. We roamed, no one sheltered us, there weren't many tribes willing to accept the people of the Forgan empire, we were discriminated against everywhere we went. Nobody wanted to see us, we were spat on, stepped on, we who had a beautiful home to always return to had nowhere to call home. Eventually, we became captives and were killed by our so-called Empire, they didn't care, we were not worth the trouble, we were insects to them.

Do you even know how I survived... "

Tears began to roll down his eyes as he could no longer hold them in.

".. My parents rubbed their blood on me, and laid me beneath them as they died, they died on me, to hide me from the soldiers of our very own home that massacred us. It was finally over. Artek was the only place I knew, the only place I could return to, however when I got there, I saw my home buzzing with people from different parts of the world selling things I didn't even know of, then I heard you own the place, it was you who own the place, you were the new lord that was appointed. I swore to myself I would destroy the very market you hold dear and watch you regret what you did... But... *hiccup*... But *hic*... "

He could not continue his statement anymore as he was now crying, he fell on his knee as he groaned in pain, he cried aloud and shouted.

"i..... *hic*... I still feel their weight... I still feel it on me..... *hic*... I would never forgive you!!!"

He hurriedly stood up and ran towards the Duke, he had pulled out a knife already and was determined to slit the Duke's throat, but a larger force enclosed on his head from his right side and slammed him to the ground.

[target has received 54 damage]

[target has entered bleed state]

Rein pinned him with his hand pressing his head to the ground.

"Let him be Mr. Reinard"

Rein seized away from the knife from Dereth and left him, Duke Erin stood up and walk towards Dereth.

"it wasn't me?"

"huh?"

Dereth who was already standing was surprised to hear the next statement Duke Erin said.

(this fat fart, is he trying to deny right now?)

Even Rein was startled

(photo denying right away, no wonder he's stinky rich, I should avoid him at all cost)

The Duke continued...

"It wasn't me that was appointed the lord seven years ago, it was Duke Veralmotte, seven years ago I was only a Marquis, and I was a nomadic merchant, however, 6 years ago Duke Veralmotte was exiled for embezzlement of the empire funds, and I was promoted as my riches had exponentially grown, I was giving the land Duke Veralmotte ruled, when I got there, I saw what he created, no doubt Duke Veralmotte was a smart money maker, I continued his leftover of the marketplace which seemed to have failed, I continued the business and grew it up to this point. "

The Duke fell to his knees right in front of Dereth, not only Rein was startled, even Dereth was.

"After I found out about the history of that land, I have always carried the weight of it on my shoulders, what I'm doing now is not an excuse because regardless of anything even after knowing that Duke Veralmotte drove the people out of their home to launch his business, I continued, so I am willing to pay for Duke Veralmotte sins."

No one saw that coming

(i knew he was humble but I'm still surprised he's this humble)

Rein smiled at his thought,

(mehn he would be an easy pushover, I suddenly want to freeload here for life)

Dereth who was bewildered at what he just heard, all his revenge was directed towards the wrong person, he had suffered an innocent man for the sins he did not know of, he didn't know what to do next, he now looked like the only fool in the room, The Duke had even cornered him and put him in a tight spot by kneeling, he didn't know what to say or do.

"I'll resign"

TN: ( )/ ' ' = thoughts, ( ) was first used but will be changed to ' ' in later chapters

" "= normal conversations