The Biography of Albrecht - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Translator: Nezu

Editor: Daed

Diego didn’t answer. He merely looked at Albrecht with an impassive expression.

“Why aren’t you answering?!” Albrecht yelled.

It was frustrating. Still, Diego remained silent.

Do you resent me? What did I do wrong? I saved you from isolation, brought you all the way here and protected your gemstones. What right do you have to resent me?

Both groups were confused by this situation. Rutger’s side wondered if they should fight, while the Great Families wondered if they should attack Albrecht.

The corner of Diego’s mouth lifted. His face showed a gentle smile. Although he stayed silent, his smile seemed to be saying a lot of things.

‘I don’t resent you, we’re still friends’ was what it seemed to say.

That wasn’t certain yet Albrecht decided that his smile was enough for now. He turned around and went back to Rutger.

Rutger looked at Albrecht with a serious expression. Albrecht returned his gaze and immediately averted his eyes as if he wasn’t interested. The leaders of the Great Families watched this development with interest. Then their gazes met Rutger’s.

***

The cross galaxy once again covered the sky. Stars and several lanterns illuminated Albrecht’s figure as he thought about a plan.

He sat on the bad and looked at the pendant sprawled on the table, looking lost in thought. Elisa, who was lying in bed behind Albrecht while gazing at him, reached out to touch his lower body.

He pushed her hand away.

“Not now.”

“Guess you’ve grown tired of me now,” Elisa said with a sad, vague smile.

“It’s not like that.”

Albrecht laid on the bed next to Elisa with his back facing her. She hugged him from behind without doing anything else. For the first time, the two spent a day without getting entangled.

It had been a long time since Albrecht woke up early. He opened the window and the cold morning air swept through the room. He ran around like a child who had received a gift. Elisa frowned in her sleep and kicked off the blanket.

Albrecht glanced at her before he got dressed and grabbed his sword. He also took his axe and put the pendant around his neck. Then he left the Wolf’s Den and rode his horse somewhere.

Rutger was watching Albrecht’s every move from the window on the third floor.

Without looking back, he commanded the man behind him, “Release the swallows.”

The man listened to him and left without a word.

Citizens started their day early, cleaning up the counters, checking their goods and basically just preparing for the whole day. When they saw Albrecht riding a horse, they were all startled and quickly ducked inside to hide.

Riding horses was not banned in the city, but it was implicitly imposed. Nevertheless, no one stepped up to stop Albrecht.

There were no citizens who didn’t know him. They had all witnessed for almost half a month how he walked around the city and brutally slaughtered mercenaries. To them, Albrecht was not a man, but a beast.

Albrecht passed by several corners for a long time until he saw a two-storey brick mansion. It was not as splendid as the houses on modern Earth due to the limitations of this era, but it looked great and large enough compared to the buildings around.

As Albrecht approached, two soldiers standing guard at the main gate were surprised. One ran inside the house and the other stayed, holding his spear with a trembling hand.

“S-state y-your business.”

Albrecht looked down coldly at the soldier, “Put that away if you don’t want to die.”

Still, the soldier held on to his spear. Albrecht admired the soldier who remained faithful to his work despite his fear of death.

He drove his horse towards the soldier, grabbed the spear, and pulled it up. The soldier fell forward and lost his spear. He tried to stand up right away, but then he noticed the blade of his spear was now aimed at his neck.

“I’ll let you off the hook for now,” Albrecht said and drove the spear into the ground. Because the force was so strong, the spear’s other half got stuck in the ground.

After a while, soldiers armed with spears poured out of the mansion. The fallen soldier rushed to their side. Among them was a mercenary wearing chain armor and a helmet, who quickly commanded all the soldiers.

“Don’t attack yet, surround him first!”

Dozens of  soldiers surrounded Albrecht. Albrecht remembered that he should have taken his shield too, but he didn’t feel scared. He could already picture in his head how this fight would go.

An old man wearing a fur coat came out of the mansion and shouted, “What outrageous behavior are you all showing? Put down your weapons now!”

Despite the old man’s words, the soldiers only hesitated for a moment and didn’t put down their weapons.

“What are you doing? Didn’t you hear what I said?!”

They were all forced to bring down their weapons. The old man gave them a scolding look that became gentle when he looked at Albrecht.

“Please forgive their rudeness. Come inside.”

Albrecht answered calmly, “I didn’t come here for you. I came to see Diego.”

The old man was unfazed and answered with a gentle smile, “Of course. Let me arrange a place for the two of you to talk.”

With a wave of the old man’s hand, one of the attendants grabbed the reins of Albrecht’s horse and guided Albrecht.

Unexpectedly, the interior of the mansion wasn’t very fancy. Northern style carvings were seen on the mansion’s pillars, doors and furniture. The furniture were made of Northern fir trees. The carved pieces were full of wheat and fish patterns. The carpet on the floor was designed simply with a Northern mountain, far from the splendor of the Eastern or the Southern Continents.

Overall, the whole mansion looked quite antique. Rutger’s superficially decorated room seemed gaudy compared to this.

Abrecht waited in a separate room. He didn’t drink the tea that sent a subtle scent to his nose, leaving it alone.

A few minutes later, Diego entered the room. He wore a tunic and pants made of fine cloth and brown boots. He also had the sword Albrecht had given him at his waist. He had gained a lot of weight and he looked like he had been practicing his swordsmanship. His figure looked very dignified and strong.

Albrecht was pleased, but he didn’t know what to say.

Sorry? Did I make a mistake? What did I do? How are you? Is everything fine?

Many questions went through his head but none of them came out his mouth.

It was Diego, who sat across him, who spoke first.

“It’s been half a month since we last saw each other, right? It’s so nice to see you again. I’m glad you look good, Albrecht.”

“Uh, uh, yeah. I always look good. How have you been?”

“Me…”

Diego was just about to answer when Elena, Martina, and Anna entered the room as well. They walked towards Albrecht and put their arms around him. Albrecht paused for a moment before he hugged them back.

Everyone sat down after their awkward reunion.

Martina sat next to Albrecht and said, “We thought Rutger had gotten a hold of you.”

“Why would I be vulnerable to Rutger? If you don’t like him, then I could just kill him.”

Diego and Elena looked at each other.

Elena replied, “I’m not sure about what you think of us now, but we just thought that he was going to take us hostage and threaten us. Even if he wasn’t, he’s probably planning to do something else to us.”

Albrecht thought that he needed to sort things out first.

“No, no, I still consider you as my friends. But I… really… It never crossed my mind that you’d be held hostages.”

He couldn’t tell them that he got enchanted by Elisa.

Diego said, “Let me tell you about why we’re here first. Then after that, I want to hear about what happened to you.”

“Oh? Oh, okay.”

Albrecht didn’t know how to bring Elisa up.

Unaware of his embarrassment, Diego talked about what happened to them after the meeting with Rutger.