Dream Life Vol 3 Chapter 28.3: “Knight Harrison Gunnel: Part 2”

~Gunnel’s Perspective~

　Zacharias approached me and said my name, “Harrison Gunnel, right?”

　I neither affirmed nor denied, but said, “How are you alive? What are you?!” I shouted. Then, forgetting that my leg was injured, I must have tried to jump on him.

　My memory of that moment is vague, but the moment I tried to jump at him, the soldiers hit me, and I fainted.

　And I am tied to a chair in a room that looks like an interrogation room somewhere.

　It was probably an interrogation room at the headquarters of the Order, but it was a windowless room, and I could not tell how long I had been unconscious.

　When I became conscious, I found Baron Brailsford, the leader of the First Order, and a knight who seemed to be under his command standing there.

“Harrison Gunnel.” (Manfred)

　I obediently nod in response to the Knight Commander’s question. I had come to the conclusion that even resistance would be futile at this point.

“I’m going to have you tell me everything you’ve ever done…” (Manfred)

　I decided to tell him everything.

　It was my atonement. For the crime of not being able to avenge the death of Master Desmond, to whom I am greatly indebted.

　The reason why I came to serve Desmond was because I was betrayed by a powerful nobleman in the Imperial capital.

　That man was a general in the order to which I belonged. I was not a direct subordinate of that nobleman, but we fought on the same front. He then proposed that I infiltrate Lux and carry out sabotage. That suggestion was adopted, and my unit penetrated deep into the enemy country.

　He deliberately leaked our information to Lux’s side and planned to strike the enemy who responded to it. His schemes succeeded brilliantly.

　At that time, my unit was repeatedly assaulted by the enemy, and Lux seemed to have launched a large-scale mopping-up operation. My unit was completely surrounded by more than ten times as many enemies and then annihilated. My allies took advantage of the opportunity to seize an important stronghold, and then placed an ambush in the path of the enemy, who was pulling up further, and kicked the enemy out.

　From the outside, it must have been a brilliant victory. We had taken an important base and had placed an ambush force in the path of the enemy, who was pulling up.

　At that time, I lost my only son and all my subordinates. And I myself was seriously injured and captured. I was then subjected to torture for several months at a dungeon in Lux.

　I escaped with the help of one of my collaborators. That collaborator was Olaf Ouellette, a man who claimed to be the chairman of the Ouellette Trading Company, which was responsible for Master Desmond’s downfall by having him create the medicine that became the Blood of Lucidus, the god of light.

　With Ouellette’s help, I was able to return to the Imperial City.

　I was already supposed to have been killed in action, and neither my wife nor servants were left in the mansion. I had been deprived of my knighthood and fiefdom by being forced to take responsibility for the annihilation of my troops.

　I had lost everything. However, Oulette had told me about this beforehand, so he wasn’t upset.

　I tried to take revenge on the nobleman who framed me. In retaliation, I used that deadly poison.

　I was able to kill the guards one after another, and I was able to corner him to the point where all I had to do was to kill the person who had set me up. But my bad luck was strong. I used up all the poison just defeating the guards and failed to assassinate him with it. Still, I thought I could kill the man who had lost all his guards, so I tried to kill him with my sword. But when I had cut off both of his arms, another group of guards appeared.

　I ran away from the scene. However, his relatives relentlessly pursued me. I was on the run for several days, but I was gradually cornered by a search using the power of that great aristocrat.

　Injured and in a daze, I happened to meet Master Desmond. He not only arranged for a healer for my wounded body, but also helped me to blend in with the Northern Governor’s army and escape their search. At the time, Desmond was still young and did not have the authority to let me slip through the cracks. If I had been discovered, he would have lost his newly acquired position.

　I was lucky to escape to Welburn.

　It was there that I first raised the question, “Why did you help me when you are risking your position?” he replied,

“I just hate incompetent people who only hold titles. Especially those who wield it… If I help you, I can give you a chance. That’s the only reason for me.” (Gateskell)

　But that was obviously a lie.

　If he just wanted to give me a chance, he wouldn’t have gone looking for a tight-lipped healing magic user himself. Nor would he have given up his own belongings to make room for me in the wagon.

　In the end, for reasons unknown, I felt indebted to Master Desmond and decided to pledge my allegiance to him.

　I changed my name to Harrison Gunnel and became a knight in the service of the Viscount Tysburn.

　Master Desmond was capable but inexperienced, and it seemed to me that he was in danger. I took it upon myself to eliminate anyone who might be an enemy of our Lord or an obstacle to his prosperity.

　About five years ago, Ouellette came to me. At that time, he was a merchant of Aurella.

　He made me a proposal.

　He asked me if Patrick Roswell, the legitimate son of a frontier count, might be in the way.

　I don’t remember his argument too clearly, but I believe it went something like this.

　In order for Master Gateskell to continue to climb the ladder of success, the prosperity of His Excellency, Viscount Tysburn, is essential. For that to happen, the Viscount must take control of the Count Roswell.

　Certainly, Ouellette’s point is understandable. However, I have to hesitate when I consider the risk of being discovered.

　He handed me two drugs. He told me that if someone ingested the two drugs their heart would gradually weaken, and they would die of a debilitating disease. However, if they did not take both drugs, they would not show any symptoms at all.

　I took Ouellette up on their offer. I knew that Patrick liked to go for long rides, and I soon learned that there was a village where he often stopped. So, I put the first medicine in a water bottle at the village chief’s house, where we always stopped. I also mixed another medicine into the seasoning in the kitchen of the Frontier Count’s house.

　There was no problem at all even if the poison was discovered. This was because it was the knights who accompanied him on his excursion, and they never ate together.

　And then Patrick died. The announcement from the Frontier Count attributed it to a heart ailment.

　Ouellette never asked for anything after that, except for the production of the drug “Blood of Lucidus,”. On the contrary, he contributed to the development of Viscount Tysburn’s territory by providing large loans and slave labor. That is what I thought at the time.

　I did my own research on Ouellette but found almost nothing. The only thing I could find out was that he was a merchant who ran a wholesale medicine business.

　However, I had heard rumors that the Church was experimenting with drugs on human subjects at Lux’s. I wondered if Ouellette was involved in this. Ouellette must have been a person related to or close to that organization.

　I could easily imagine that Ouellette’s goal was to cause chaos in the empire.

　I did not care if there was chaos in the empire. I was even willing to lend a hand if the corrupt aristocrats in the imperial capital could be dealt a blow.

　However, Ouellette’s idea was completely different from my own. He thought that the turmoil was centered in the northern region and centered on Viscount Tysburn and Master Desmond.

　I realized this when he suggested a rebellion in the northern region…

　When I finished speaking, I noticed that Knight Commander Brailsford was clenching his fists tightly.

“I didn’t know that you, made Master Patrick… You made him a tool of Lux…” (Manfred)

　I thought I was going to die from this.

　My only regret is that I wasn’t able to avenge Master Desmond’s death, but I don’t think that person would wish for that.

　After the interrogation was over, I was left in the room with the guard guarding me. This is because the knight commander heard my confession and left in a hurry.

As the sun began to set, a boy entered the room. That boy was Zacharias Lockhart.

T/N: Tragic but still inexcusable. Killing innocents should always bring swift and cruel justice like this. If only real life reflects this.

I hope Zack gets an earful from the girls. Not even an observer/backup from a distance was stupid. Good thing the plot armor saved him. He would’ve died if he was a side character.