"My lord, there is urgent news from one of the missions."
Herman frowned and looked at Herbert before answering the man outside the door.
"You man enter. Just leave the report here and wait for my next orders."
Seeing his father who was once again about to work, Herbert naturally excused himself.
"I will now take my leave here."
Simply nodding his head, Herman did not stop Herbert from leaving. As Herbert went outside the room, he brushed past the man who is the current spymaster of the Ravenmoon family. This was the person who had given him the poison and antidote that he had used on Lady Elena.
After nodding his head politely, the two soon went their ways. Once Herbert had closed the door, he suddenly heard the sound of glass breaking from the inside of Herman's study. However, Herbert did not pay this any mind, he knew that his father must have seen something that had displeased him.
The sound of him furiously scribbling down something on paper should be proof that there seems to be bad news for Herman to react in such a way.
This had also piqued Herbert's interest, after all, he had no idea what could have caused such a reaction from his father. So, he decided to wait outside near the corridor where he would try to pick up whatever it was that was happening. To make it not so blatantly obvious, Herbert acted as if he was just tying his shoes or something just to make him look busy so that he could appear more natural.
Reaching the Transcendent rank had improved Herbert's senses which included his sense of hearing. So, with his ears strained, Herbert tried to listen for whatever it was that was happening, and all of a sudden, he heard his father's whisper.
Although he wasn't sure of what it was at the beginning, it should have been something along the lines of the words "Sword Saint, assassination, failed. Assassins sent, disappeared.". After hearing his father mention it a couple more times, Herbert had become certain that those should have been the words that his father had uttered.
With this information at hand, Herbert quickly retreated and soon reached his room. He almost couldn't believe it. He then remembered all of the simulations that he had done in his head before he had met his father.
He had specially made it clear when he mentioned more than once that they should not provoke the protagonist, yet in the end, his father still did something and made a move to assassinate him, thinking that he can get it done quickly and silently.
"How? How can he be so foolish? So stupid? So naive? How can he be so….? So gullible!"
The news had brought a smile to Herbert's face. While thinking about the reasons for the how's and the whys of the protagonist's success in killing him in the original book, Herbert realized one fact, and that is every time that the protagonist gains the guts to go against them, the whole of Ravenmoon had not been focused on dealing with the protagonist.
This was because none of the decision-makers that were in charge of the Ravenmoon had ever taken him seriously. This time, Herbert initiated their interest in the protagonist. By doing so, he can establish how strong he is supposed to be and subvert their original expectations.
As long as his father was the head of the household, he would never have the chance to fully control all of the resources that the Ravenmoon family can offer to make a proper attempt at the protagonist's life. So, Herbert decided to instead take control of his father's decisions by slowly guiding him into the path that he wants.
Besides that, there was one thing that Albert had kept hidden from the rest of the family. And it was this secret that he had made sure to protect with all his might.
"After all, they shouldn't know that the real and original Herbert has become the reincarnation of the Sword Saint. Ah, how funny would it be to see father and son having a nice fight to the death battle."
Saying so, Herbert closed his eyes and imagined how he should move from now on. However, his earlier words had distracted him and almost made him laugh. After all, it sounded so ridiculous. But no matter how ridiculous it appears, the original author of the book somehow managed to pull this off as the plot twist of the story. Although in the original book, the protagonist did not get to fight a personal one on one against Herman, this time, with Herbert's meddling, they might do so.
"How ironic, my strong twin brother's soul had been completely swallowed by the ego of the Sword Saint. Even his appearance had been altered to suit the Sword Saint's tastes, while I, with my pathetic and meager strength, had managed to reach an equilibrium with the other Albert that came from Earth."
While thinking about this, Herbert soon popped out from his earlier reverie. He then suddenly remembered Ingrid calling him Albert. Out of everyone that he had met in this world, it was only her that did not follow his expectations, everyone seemed to follow their character types similarly to how they did in the original story, however, it was only Ingrid that managed to show and flash out an entirely different character.
"Speaking of this, I never got the chance to investigate how she knows that I am Albert."
He had been too busy trying to make things work out somehow and now that he once again had free time, his thoughts that he had temporarily discarded had once again come crashing back. Although he still had no idea how to confront her about this, Herbert had decided on the next thing that he should do.
With the end of winter nearing them, Herbert knew that now should be the time for him to settle the matter of the tax collector. He had been sitting around the territory all winter. Once the winter snow had finished thawing, Herbert decided to make a trip back to Tenebra city and prevent people from setting a fire in his backyard.