Episode 21: The Duke’s Estate (1)
”…Even if you take me with you, you won’t be able to meet His Grace, the Duke.”
Olan Dmishi spoke with a face pale with fear.
Across from him sat Damian, who was casually gazing out the window.
”…I’m just a branch manager, not even the president of Dash & Cash.”
“Yeah, I know. So could you just shut up already?”
At Damian’s curt remark, Olan clamped his mouth shut, his fear almost palpable in his eyes and expression.
“All you need to do is get me to the Duke’s estate. I never expected more than that.”
Damian didn’t know the way to the Duke’s estate, nor was he prepared for a long journey. That’s why he had brought Olan Dmishi along.
”…Are you really planning to participate in the duel?” Olan asked cautiously. Damian merely nodded.
”…And you think you can win against the Duke’s champion?”
Another nod from Damian.
Olan’s face was etched with disbelief.
“Do you know who the Ryunbloom Marquisate is sending? It’s the Grand Prince, Michael Ryunbloom.”
The Goldpixie Dukedom didn’t train knights directly like the Ryunbloom Marquisate. Instead, they relied on knightly families loyal to them. Thanks to this, the quality and quantity of knights they had were comparable to the Ryunbloom Marquisate.
The reason they were recruiting knights for the duel was precisely because of Michael Ryunbloom.
“Michael Ryunbloom became a low-class knight before he even came of age. Rumor has it he’s now aiming for middle-class.”
Olan had seen Damian Haxen’s strength firsthand. Yet, even he couldn’t imagine Damian defeating Michael Ryunbloom.
“You’re being noisy.”
Damian’s offhand comment made Olan clamp his remaining hand over his mouth.
“I never asked you to worry about me.”
“S-sorry.”
Olan bowed so deeply his forehead nearly touched the floor.
“Just be careful from now on.”
Olan shivered.
The journey to the Duke’s estate was comfortable, thanks to Olan Dmishi’s liberal spending. They stayed at the best inns in every town and dined on the finest food. Even the expensive magical devices were used without hesitation.
Thanks to this, Damian could enjoy a hot bath even when camping out.
‘This is more comfortable than being at home.’
Damian didn’t waste this time. He invested every moment of this rare respite into building his magical power. Except for when he slept, he constantly practiced his energy cultivation technique.
‘What I need most right now is magical power.’
In terms of skills and knowledge, no one could match Damian. But he had many shortcomings in other areas. His body wasn’t fully trained, and his magical reserves were too low.
‘If I could just reach the magical capacity of a junior knight, I could do so much more.’
Five days passed this way, and the carriage finally arrived at the Duke’s domain.
The Goldpixie Dukedom was built on a vast plain. The castle was so enormous that it had no fewer than eight gates. Each gate had a line of people waiting to enter.
Thanks to Olan Dmishi, Damian didn’t have to wait. As a branch manager of Dash & Cash, Olan had the authority to bypass the outer wall’s checks.
The carriage carrying Damian passed through residential and commercial areas before reaching the inner wall.
“Halt.”
The soldiers guarding the inner gate stopped the carriage. Olan, sweating profusely, turned to Damian.
“This is as far as I can guide you.”
Inside the inner gate lay the Goldpixie Duke’s mansion, a place even Olan had never entered.
“Looks like I’ll have to walk from here.”
Olan sighed in relief, only to realize Damian was staring at him intently.
“I’ve been thinking during the journey.”
“Y-yes?”
“I can’t bring myself to kill you.”
“S-so you’re sparing me?”
“But I can’t forgive you for insulting my family.”
Damian stood, blocking the sunlight streaming into the carriage. A dark shadow fell over Olan.
“So I’ll just cut out your tongue.”
“W-what? Wait…”
The sound of a sword being drawn was followed by a scream that seemed to tear through the air.
The soldiers blocking the carriage were startled and raised their spears.
Moments later, the carriage door opened, and Damian Haxen stepped out.
“This place is massive.”
Damian looked up at the inner gate, which was even taller than the outer one. He had to crane his neck to see the top.
“Who are you?”
“Do you know where you are, causing such a commotion?”
The soldiers shouted, pointing their spears at Damian.
Ignoring their threats, Damian asked, “I have business with the Duke. Could you open the gate?”
The soldiers erupted in anger at his question.
“What nonsense! Of course not!”
“You’re here to assassinate His Grace, aren’t you?”
It seemed clear that a peaceful entry was impossible.
“Looks like I’ll have to force my way in.”
Damian recalled what he knew about the Goldpixie Duke. He had never met the Duke but had heard plenty of rumors.
A strict meritocrat.
He would cast aside even his own children if they lacked ability. Conversely, he was generous to those with talent, even if they were enemies.
“If I have to prove my skills to enter the duel, showing them directly is better than trying to persuade them with words.”
Having made his decision, Damian nodded.
His calm demeanor left the soldiers incredulous.
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Do you need a beating to come to your senses?”
Damian bent his knees slightly. In the next instant, with a sound like the air bursting, his body vanished.
”…Huh?”
”…What?”
Instinctively, the soldiers looked up. There, they saw Damian suspended halfway up the inner wall.
“What the…?”
“Holy…!”
Damian kicked off the wall, propelling himself higher. He continued to leap up the nearly vertical wall, reaching the top in the blink of an eye.
“Yawn…”
“Hey, you’ll swallow a bug.”
There were soldiers atop the wall as well. Damian landed between two of them.
“Huh?”
“What the…?”
The soldiers stared at Damian in shock. Ignoring them, Damian looked down from the wall, impressed.
“Wow, what a view.”
Just then, the soldiers regained their senses and thrust their spears at him.
“Intruder!”
“Die!”
Damian leaped again, dodging the spears and diving off the wall.
The soldiers peered over the edge, astonished to see Damian unharmed despite the height.
“Let’s see, the Duke’s mansion should be that way.”
Damian strolled leisurely, leaving the soldiers wide-eyed.
“Intruder alert! Sound the alarm!”
“He’s no ordinary man! We need the knights!”
The entire Duke’s estate echoed with the clamor of alarm bells.
Despite the alarm, Damian didn’t hurry. He walked as if on a leisurely stroll, while the Duke’s estate buzzed with activity.
“There he is!”
A group of ten knights rushed forward, surrounding Damian.
“Identify yourself immediately!”
“Who sent you?”
“What is your purpose?”
The knights shouted one after another.
Damian glanced at them. All were junior knights.
“Tsk, tsk, sending out rookies first.”
Rookies.
The junior knights were taken aback by the term, then their eyes flared with anger.
“How dare you belittle us!”
“Shall we cut off an arm?”
Damian shook his head.
“Where’s the Duke? I have urgent business with him.”
The knights’ faces turned crimson with rage.
”…So you’re here to target His Grace!”
“I told you, I have urgent business.”
“Silence!”
The knights drew their swords in unison, their blades gleaming as they pointed at Damian.
“You’ll pay for your crimes now!”
The knights charged as one. Damian scratched the back of his neck.
In his current state, Damian could easily dispatch them all with a single strike. But junior knights were valuable assets, ready for immediate deployment.
Killing ten of them would be tantamount to declaring war on the Duke’s estate.
So Damian refrained from drawing his sword. Instead, he deflected all the incoming blades with his bare hands.
The knights’ faces filled with confusion at the sight.
“Huh?”
“What?”
Damian vanished again, appearing next to each knight and delivering a swift blow to their chins.
His speed left afterimages, and the knights didn’t even realize they had been struck before they collapsed unconscious.
“Oh, I forgot to ask where the Duke is.”
As Damian lamented, one of the knights, not fully unconscious, groaned.
“Uh… uh… ugh…”
Though not completely out, he was far from coherent.
Demian approached the knight with a glint of excitement in his eyes.
He grabbed the knight’s hair and lifted his head.
“Where’s the Duke?”
“His… His Grace is… in the meeting room…”
Thanks to the knight’s half-lost composure, Demian got the information he needed without much trouble.
He released the knight’s head and turned his gaze toward the mansion.
“So, he’s in there.”
With that, Demian moved again.
The Duke of Goldpixie had recently found himself with a rather vexing problem.
“Are you telling me we still haven’t found a knight to face Michael Ryanbloom?”
All the retainers seated in the meeting room lowered their heads. The Duke let out a deep sigh.
“I said I don’t care how much it costs, and that we could even bring someone in from abroad.”
Not a single retainer dared to meet his eyes. The Duke sighed again.
In truth, the root of all this trouble was the Duke himself.
The Duke of Goldpixie and the Marquis of Ryanbloom had been rivals since their youth.
It all started when the Marquis stole away a dancer the Duke had his eye on.
Time did nothing to dull their animosity; if anything, it only intensified.
Then, a gold mine was discovered on the border between their two estates.
To settle the ownership of the mine, the Duke and the Marquis met face to face.
But no matter how long the negotiations dragged on, they couldn’t reach an agreement.
-Why don’t we settle this with a duel? It would be much cleaner.
The Duke refused the Marquis’s proposal. He knew all too well how terrifying the Marquis’s heir was.
-Running away again, I see. That’s why Elise chose me.
Elise was the name of the dancer the Duke had lost.
In that moment, the Duke lost his temper. By the time he regained his senses, he had already accepted the duel.
It was too late to take back his words. The Duke scrambled to find a knight who could face Michael Ryanbloom.
But finding such a knight, whether domestically or abroad, proved to be nearly impossible.
“This is driving me mad.”
The Duke rubbed his forehead with his hand.
Just then, a commotion could be heard in the distance.
The Duke lowered his hand and asked his attendant, “What’s all that noise? Go find out.”
The attendant left and quickly returned, his face pale.
“Y-Your Grace! There’s an intruder!”
Rather than shock, the Duke felt a sense of disbelief.
“An intruder?”
“Yes! The intruder is wreaking havoc throughout the building! You must evacuate immediately!”
A flurry of thoughts about the fortress’s strength and its thorough defenses flashed through the Duke’s mind.
An intruder getting in seemed impossible. But denying the reality of the situation was pointless.
“Who dares to challenge the House of Goldpixie?”
“We haven’t identified them yet!”
“Summon the knights immediately! We must eliminate this villainous threat!”
The Duke naturally assumed there were multiple intruders.
But the attendant contradicted him.
“N-No, it’s not a group!”
What on earth was he talking about?
The Duke frowned as the attendant continued.
“The intruder is just one person!”