The Return of the Talented Monopolist is Special

“That guy refused to come when I asked him to go, but now he’s acting all pathetic, doing something on his own. What is he up to?”

The reason Eugene had come to this tavern in the first place was to meet the bodyguard of the Inse brothers.

Eugene squinted his eyes as he heard Gold Blade muttering to himself.

“Seems like he’s often coming back late at night, and it turns out he’s been having drinking parties with the bodyguards. Huh?”

“No, I drank with them to build a relationship with the bodyguards for you, Lord Eugene! It wasn’t for the sake of just drinking… ouch!”

Eugene pinched Gold Blade’s thigh. It would surely bruise soon.

As trainees gathered around Eugene, the bodyguards also naturally became close with Gold Blade, forming bonds among themselves.

“Gold Blade, let’s talk about this later.”

“Ugh…”

Meanwhile, the Inse brothers’ bodyguard stood up from his seat and began walking out of the tavern.

Eugene and Gold Blade secretly followed him.

***

The bodyguard of the Inse brothers avoided the well-lit areas, sticking only to the dark paths.

Still, he gave off a faint presence, as if deliberately allowing it to be noticed.

Eugene, while keeping an eye on him, tried to gauge his intentions.

It seemed the bodyguard was heading toward a small mountain behind the mansion where Sirius and the Inse brothers were staying.

After climbing a little up the mountain, the bodyguard stopped at a corner of an open space located halfway up.

It was a place somewhat hidden from the mansion, obscured by trees. The sound of birds gave the area a peaceful and serene feeling.

***

The bodyguard of the Inse brothers closed his eyes as if lost in thought.

“What is he doing…”

Gold Blade tilted his head as he watched.

The bodyguard muttered quietly.

“This is a place that doesn’t reach Sirius-sama’s eyes. To be precise, it’s a place shared only between Prince Jaimes, Prince Aines, and myself.”

It seemed he already knew that Eugene and Gold Blade were following him.

Finally, Eugene and Gold Blade revealed themselves.

“Looks like you deliberately made noise to let us follow.”

“I thought this was the best way.”

Gold Blade, still skeptical, took a step back as Eugene asked.

“Why do you think I’m the best person for this?”

It seemed like there was something strange going on, and Eugene’s question made the bodyguard turn around.

“Because you were the one who got along best with Prince Jaimes and Prince Aines. If you were close friends, I thought you’d be interested in this matter.”

“Close friends…?”

Eugene was momentarily taken aback. He had only advised those muscle-heads a few times, but someone had interpreted it as him being their close friend.

‘Well, those guys have too much pride because they’re direct descendants and don’t even associate with the collateral branches. And Eldo treats everyone so coldly, so I guess it was only me. What about Raul, though? Does he not count as a friend?’

It seemed the bodyguard didn’t know about what had happened earlier in the training grounds.

Eugene, pretending not to know, asked.

“How is Jaimes doing? I haven’t seen him around lately.”

“His condition… is not good. He said he was going to the training grounds just now, but did you see him?”

“Yeah, I saw him.”

Eugene couldn’t bring himself to say that he had just beaten Jaimes up on his way here. Instead, he continued.

“Like you said, his condition isn’t great. I came here to see you because I’m worried about him as a friend.”

At those words, the bodyguard’s eyes suddenly filled with tears.

“Indeed… having a close friend is something money can’t buy…”

“Well, it’s not exactly that close, but… yeah.”

He was quite sentimental, unlike the Inse brothers.

Thinking about it, his personality might be the reason he tolerated the Inse brothers’ mischievous behavior and ended up becoming a bodyguard.

“Let’s get to the point. What did you want to tell me?”

“Please help our lords!”

The bodyguard wiped away his flowing tears and then knelt on one knee, speaking with a firm voice.

“No, first of all, don’t kneel. Let’s hear what this is about before—”

“This is something only you can help with! After solving the Glampustan incident and having a private meeting with the head of the family, Lord Eugene, I believe you can assist us.”

“So what exactly is this about?!”

The bodyguard looked at Eugene with a desperate gaze.

“I’m not entirely sure about the details, but I do know that the Inse brothers have occasionally shown signs of becoming noticeably violent about 5 or 6 months ago.”

“I didn’t notice anything like that during training.”

“That’s because…”

Eugene’s eyes narrowed sharply in an instant.

‘If it was 6 months ago, that was around the time of the Trial of the Lion. Then…’

“Is it intermittent, by any chance?”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s not all the time….”

“So, do they mostly act violently at night?”

“Yes! That’s correct! At first, it wasn’t so bad, but over time, they started having nightmares or experiencing seizures during the night.”

“And when did things take a turn for the worse?”

“Things started deteriorating when you were away in Glampustan. The frequency of these incidents seemed to increase after that.”

Eugene seemed to have an inkling of what was going on and asked another question. If he could get more information, he’d be able to make a more certain judgment.

“Tell me more. Even small details would be helpful.”

This was Eugene’s specialty.

‘Even small details often become crucial information.’

Collecting scattered pieces of information to uncover the truth—this was Eugene’s forte, especially when it came to identifying weaknesses and goals.

“If it’s something everyday… their appetite has increased. They’ve always eaten a lot and had an obsession with protein, but lately, it’s become even more intense.”

“Increased appetite, and what else?”

“They’ve become more emotional. They get angry over the smallest things or start crying if something makes them a little sad. As I said, it’s especially noticeable late at night.”

Eugene asked a counter-question to avoid confirmation bias.

“That could just be a sign of someone going through mental or emotional stress, right? If the training is too tough, people can start acting differently. Especially someone with a strong sense of purpose might show obsessive behavior.”

“I thought that too. But… there’s one crucial point.”

“What’s that?”

The bodyguard whispered.

“Originally, the two young masters were afraid of Sir Sirius, so they rarely visited his office, but over the past six months, they’ve been visiting frequently. Just from what I’ve seen, it’s more than once a month.”

That was certainly suspicious.

However, while this was a key clue pointed out by the bodyguard, it wasn’t an outright reason to suspect anything yet.

There were many possible interpretations. After all, a father would naturally want to see his children, right?

Perhaps the training was tough, and they went to their father for help.

Because of this, Eugene tried to assess the situation as objectively as possible.

“I understand that for now. Now, tell me something trivial. Something that seems completely unrelated to the situation.”

“Something unrelated…?”

Although Eugene had a feeling this matter was connected to Sirius, he couldn’t jump to conclusions and act rashly, so he asked again.

“Hmm… maybe something like looking for a childhood stuffed animal, suddenly throwing utensils, or recently paying extra attention to their clothing…?”

“Wait, they threw utensils? What do you mean by that?”

“Sometimes they’d eagerly dive into their food, but other times, they’d grab the utensils, get startled, and toss them aside, eating with their hands instead.”

Eugene had a sudden realization.

“Did that happen on the weekend?”

“Weekend…? Oh, yes, yes! Now that I think about it, it happened during the weekend breakfast.”

Eugene’s eyes sharpened.

“You know that they use silver utensils on weekends, right?”

“That’s… uh, wait? If that’s the case…”

At Pencel, there was a tradition of using silver utensils on weekends to express gratitude for the meal, rather than using the usual golden utensils, as a way of observing a form of fasting.

Everything clicked together like pieces of a puzzle in Eugene’s mind.

“Violence, increased appetite, seizures at night, and, most importantly, fear of silver utensils.”

When combining all the symptoms, one conclusion emerged.

‘They fed them the blood of the Black Dragon.’

The Blood of the Black Dragon.

Eugene knew that the blood of the Black Dragon had characteristics that matched all these symptoms.

Feeding someone the blood of the Black Dragon was a method used by the Sun God Church to manipulate high-ranking enemy captives.

It would lead to rapid physical growth, but excessive use would destroy the person’s personality, and self-restraint, and cloud their judgment.

It was like creating a strong, obedient puppet.

‘Of course, knights who have surpassed a certain level of strength have an aura that resists the blood of the Black Dragon, so they would regularly feed them the blood and use drugs to suppress their violent tendencies.’

Relatively strong knights could resist the blood’s effects, so a doping effect would occur.

‘Sirius must have fed the Inse brothers the blood to increase their strength, aiming for his rise in status. But…’

Why would he choose such a dangerous method?

Even for someone like Sirius, who was willing to sacrifice his children for his benefit, this seemed excessive.

Of course, considering what Eugene knew about Sirius from his past life, it wasn’t entirely surprising.

‘But the research on the blood of the Black Dragon started in Pencel… Did the Sun God Church acquire the information from Pencel when they gained influence over the north and then improve upon it?’

Doubts expanded, and many questions arose, but what Eugene needed to focus on right now was one thing.

‘I need to reveal the side effects of the Black Dragon’s blood to everyone. This could blow up into something big.’

If Sirius was feeding the Black Dragon’s blood not only to the Inse brothers but perhaps to others connected to his interests…

If that were the case…

‘I may need help. I’ll have to contact Uncle Muel.’

Having completed this line of reasoning, Eugene nodded.

“Got it. We have more to discuss here, so we’ll head out first.”

“Lord Eugene…”

The bodyguard grabbed Eugene’s hand with both of his, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Please. Our foolish young masters… I can’t help but think they’re losing their minds, and I haven’t been able to sleep at night.”

“I understand, I understand…”

“Please, I beg of you.”

“Alright, alright, calm down.”

The bodyguard also bowed his head toward Geumgeom, who had been scratching his head beside them.

“Geumgeom, please help me out too. I’ll treat you to something big later…”

Geumgeom’s lips curled up into a smile.

“Your family might go bankrupt over this.”

“I don’t care. Just do it.”

“Alright. I’ll do what I can.”

Sensing Eugene’s gaze, Geumgeom cleared his throat, and the bodyguard stepped aside.

Eugene spoke to Geumgeom in a quiet voice.

“Set up a meeting with Uncle Muel as quickly as possible.”

“You do have a plan, right? Muel is in poor health, and with the recent reprimand of the young master, he might be reluctant to meet…”

Eugene shook his head.

“No, Uncle Muel won’t be like that with me.”

‘Uncle Muel, this time, I need your help.’

“Oh, Geumgeom.”

“Yes?”

“I’m letting it slide this time, but if you stray to a tavern in the middle of it, you’ll be on your own.”

“…Tch.”

The Return of the Talent Devourer is Special