Chapter 220: The Old House
When Armand arrived at the old Scassia family house, it was already nighttime.
It wasn’t exactly the best time to visit, dark skies and strong winds, but Armand didn’t care about that anymore. In fact, he thought that if Viscount Scassia really was hiding something, then nighttime might actually be the best time to deal with it.
Compared to the new house with two strong men guarding the entrance, this old house looked almost completely abandoned.
Before coming, Armand had taken the time to ask around about the place. He heard that the house had been sold to pay off debts and was bought by a merchant from another city. The merchant said he would move in once he started doing business in the capital.
But because the capital’s economy was already very stable and hard to break into, the merchant never ended up moving in. He owned the house, but only sent people to clean it from time to time. No one actually lived there.
As for whether the merchant had rented it out to someone else, Armand didn’t know.
Unlike the new house, this old house was basically just a building. It wasn’t very big, and there was no fancy garden. Even though it was in a wealthy neighborhood, it wasn’t in the area where the old noble families lived.
It was late, but there were still people walking around, and the knight patrols were going on as usual. To avoid drawing attention, Armand didn’t wear the uniform of the Knight Commander. He just threw on a coat, and underneath, he still wore his work-style shirt.
Armand figured that since this was a normal residential area and there were people around, it probably wouldn’t turn into a fight. So he didn’t bother with any disguises, and he didn’t need to sneak in through a window either.
Anyway, he had always been trained to ‘go through the front door.’
Knock knock knock.
He even politely knocked on the door. After all, he only wanted to talk to Viscount Scassia. No need to show too much hostility and scare him off.
Of course, Armand had made some preparations. Around the old house, besides the regular patrolling knights, there were also a few trustworthy and tight-lipped knights he had personally selected. If things did turn violent, they would handle the fighting and help get civilians out safely.
Their main job right now was to keep a close eye on every exit of the house, to make sure Viscount Scassia didn’t try to escape.
Knock knock knock.
After the first three knocks, a few seconds passed with no response. Armand knocked three more times. Still, there was no answer.
“……”
Armand stood in front of the door and slowly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
If no one was inside, he’d have to break the lock and enter. It wasn’t exactly by the book, but if he wanted to make it legal, he could always find a way.
Click.
“!”
The sound of the door unlocking came at the same time as the soft clink of his sword brushing against the scabbard as he started to draw it.
But before the door was fully opened, while the person inside still couldn’t see him clearly, Armand quietly put his sword back.
“Hello?”
The person who opened the door was a man.
He had short, light brown hair that looked like it hadn’t been trimmed in a while. His bangs hung low and covered his eyes. He was wearing a simple white lab coat, and there was a cute pen shaped like a popular cartoon character sticking out of the chest pocket, something that was very trendy with kids lately.
Armand had thought about buying some of those for Rachel once, but she turned him down, saying they were “too childish.” So instead, he just bought her a knife.
Even though the man’s bangs covered about a third of his face, it was still clear that he was a young man. He wasn’t as tall as Armand, and since he was casually leaning on the door handle to open the door, the height difference between them stood out even more.
“Excuse me, are you the owner of this house?”
Armand looked down at the young man who was staring up at him through the gap in his messy bangs.
“Hmm… No, I’m not the owner. I’m just renting the place,” the man said.
His voice and movements were lazy, and he looked very tired. With the thick dark circles under his eyes, framed by black glasses, Armand thought he looked like the kind of person who lived off coffee and worked for days without sleeping.
“I’m here to find Viscount Scassia. Do you know anything about him?”
“Yaaawn…”
The man let out a tired yawn, then stood up and brushed his bangs aside, revealing a pair of bright orange-red eyes.
Surprisingly, he was actually quite handsome. Though his hair was a bit messy, his face, aside from the dark circles, was clean. With those glasses, he gave off the vibe of a quiet bookish type.
“Hmm… I’ve heard of him, yeah… That guy used to live around here—ah, right, I think he was even the previous owner of this house?”
“That’s right. He used to live here. Do you know where he is now?”
“...Hmm…”
The man thoughtfully pinched his chin.
“I have seen him before. He’s an older man. But as for where he is now… I’m not sure.”
“I see.” Armand clicked his tongue in frustration. “Would it be okay if I take a quick look inside? He’s involved in a case, and I need to look for clues.”
“Ah, I see.”
The young man nodded after seeing Armand show his knight’s badge. He stepped aside politely to let Armand enter.
“But please, Sir Knight, try not to mess things up. It’ll be a pain to clean if things get scattered.”
“Alright, I unde—”
“Meow—!!!”
“—?!”
Just as Armand stepped into the house, hoping to see if there was anything Viscount Scassia had left behind, a black cat suddenly jumped out from beside his feet. It seemed startled by the presence of a stranger and leapt at Armand from the top of a cabinet.
Armand instinctively wanted to swat the cat away, but then remembered this wasn’t his house, and the man had just warned him not to mess things up. So instead, he just blocked the cat gently with his hand. Even so, the cat scratched him and left a few bloody marks.
“Ah—bad kitty.”
The man quickly grabbed the black cat by the back of its neck, holding it up and gently pushing its head down toward Armand, as if forcing it to bow in apology.
“Meow, meow—!”
“It’s saying, ‘I’m very sorry, Mr. Knight~’” the man translated lazily in a joking tone.
But Armand could tell from the cat’s defiant expression that it wasn’t saying that at all.
“...No, it’s fine. It’s just a cat.”
Armand took the handkerchief the man offered and wiped the blood off the back of his hand. But his attention wasn’t really on the cat, it was on the strong smell of different medicines that filled the house the moment he stepped inside.
“Even if it wasn’t fine, I wouldn’t pay for it.”
“......”
Armand paused for a moment, helplessly.
In a way, it was hard for him to deal with people who thought so differently or acted so unpredictably.
“I wasn’t planning to sue you or anything…”
He said that while walking into the living room.
The man took back the now-bloodied handkerchief and carefully placed it back into his coat pocket.