Chapter 19
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Count Kreuz's Ultimatum
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Welcome, Count Kreuz."
I greeted him with a bitter breath exhaled into the harsh northern wind.
Count Kreuz, with his stern and sharp gaze accentuated by a neatly trimmed mustache, bowed his head to me.
In the meantime, I eyed the soldiers and knights lined up behind him.
They were his escorts.
It stood in stark contrast to Winterguard, where most soldiers had vanished due to Cassius's frenzy over the years, leaving only thirty knights behind.
At a glance, there were clearly more than thirty men here.
Though the Kreuz family's fief was somewhat distant from the direct territories, I had to question whether mobilizing such numbers was truly necessary.
But I soon noticed their gazes fixed on me and understood.
They bowed their heads to me, following their sworn lord Count Kreuz, but they couldn't hide the subtle fear rising within them.
The real reason they had come wasn't to escort the count all the way to Winterguard's direct territories.
It was to protect their lord with their lives if Cassius were to succumb to frenzy.
On the other hand, Count Kreuz's expression remained unchanged.
Kiiiek...
I headed to the reception room that Alf had prepared in advance.
Count Kreuz followed behind me.
As we passed through the corridor, I felt a faint gaze—too subtle to notice—scanning my body.
It was Count Kreuz's gaze.
My body tensed instinctively.
Fortunately, thanks to Yelena's help drilling etiquette into me over the past week, I managed without issue.
"......"
"......"
Clink.
The only sounds filling the room were the servants preparing the teacups and leaving.
I had no idea what Count Kreuz was thinking, but I focused every nerve on him, watching the situation closely.
And finally, Count Kreuz spoke.
"Your Highness, the North can no longer serve a lord afflicted with frenzy. Please step down."
He opened with the strongest possible gambit right from the start.
"Step down..."
"Over the past five years, Your Highness's aberrations have ruined much of the grand duchy. People have fled, traditions have crumbled, and the grand duchy has begun to stagnate."
With that, Count Kreuz began listing all the misfortunes of the past five years.
Even listening to him, I couldn't help thinking... had it really deteriorated that much?
"So, stop swinging your sword in madness and step down."
Indeed, in modern Earth, stepping down responsibly would have been the right call.
But through his words, which bordered on rebuke, I realized something.
A realization that perhaps the past week's etiquette lessons had been meaningless.
'He doesn't care about etiquette at all.'
I noticed the tension gripping his hand.
"Your Highness."
And through that, I discerned what Count Kreuz truly desired.
"I refuse."
The past five years could be seen as the absolute worst period in the grand duchy's two-hundred-year history.
The reason was none other than Cassius Winterguard, the lord of the grand duchy.
'When his mind lost its grip, every part of his body began acting on its own.'
Even the families who had sworn loyalty to the Winterguard family began to decay and corrupt as Cassius lost his sanity.
On the other hand, those who upheld their loyalty sought their own paths to survival, such as plotting independence from the grand duchy to protect their own fiefdoms.
Many died or fled in the process.
Cassius Winterguard's frenzy was that grave a matter.
The hardest hit was none other than the direct territories governed by the Winterguard family itself.
Among those who fled the direct territories, some even made it as far as the count's family.
At first, it was a choice to survive even for a short time.
But as five years passed and the grand duke's frenzy continued unabated, whispers began circulating among the vassal families.
We must force Cassius Winterguard to step down as grand duke.
Otherwise, they all seemed doomed to perish together.
'......Especially, the movements in the imperial palace are far from ordinary.'
To be precise, rumors swirled that a certain faction within the palace was watching the grand duchy very closely.
Whether that was positive or negative remained unclear, but in such chaotic internal times, caution never hurt.
Thus, consensus slowly built among the vassal families to pull Cassius down, but no one acted on it.
It was simple. Who would dethrone Cassius Winterguard?
Who would sacrifice themselves to topple the ruler of the North, a man with power even Swordmasters couldn't handle?
The grand duchy had two Swordmasters. One was the captain of the Winterguard family's Storm Knight Order.
If he upheld his loyalty and stood by the grand duke... they would effectively face two Swordmaster-level foes.
So no one stepped forward.
Meanwhile, Count Kreuz gradually came to be revered among the vassal families as a new grand duke.
This was because most family heads knew of the loyalty he had upheld since the previous grand duke's time and the monumental achievements he had accomplished.
While Cassius Winterguard remained oblivious, Kreuz was increasingly treated as the new grand duke.
Count Kreuz... had no intention of becoming the new grand duke.
'I am inept.'
He had always believed that had he not been born into the Kreuz family, he would have been a knight in the Storm Knight Order.
The sole reason he had become Count Kreuz was his birth, and what had truly made him a knight and noble was the previous grand duke to whom he had sworn loyalty.
He had striven solely to uphold loyalty and protect everything in the grand duchy.
Even when the previous grand duke died, he rallied those seeking division and encouraged the new grand duke-to-be, Cassius.
But Cassius fell to frenzy, unable to manage even his own body, let alone the grand duchy, and the foundations built by the Winterguard family over centuries began crumbling one by one.
In the end, even Count Kreuz, who sought to uphold loyalty, faced a choice.
Loyalty to the dead grand duke, or betrayal for the sake of the living.
Just as he was about to step up as the new grand duke at the behest of the other families...
The news arrived.
[......The Mage Association tried to scam His Highness the Grand Duke and ended up paying compensation.]
After Cassius fell to frenzy, many sought to exploit it.
Most either succeeded without consequence, amassing wealth, or were swiftly discovered and beheaded by his hand.
But compensation?
Upon investigating the incident, Count Kreuz realized.
......This was not a judgment a frenzied man could make.
Ultimately, Count Kreuz made his final decision.
Resolved to sacrifice himself if need be, he would assess Cassius's condition.
"Your Highness, the North can no longer serve a lord afflicted with frenzy. Please step down."
If Cassius succumbed to frenzy here and struck him down, his waiting subordinates would spread the news to all the grand duchy's families.
Rebellion would erupt, much blood would flow, but Cassius would ultimately fall.
But if...
If he had truly recovered from the frenzy...
"I refuse."
"......Pardon?"
Count Kreuz's eyes widened as he stared at Cassius.
His cold, dark black eyes seemed to glimmer blue for a moment.
"This grand duchy is the territory our family has ruled. And I am the rightful heir of the Winterguard family, the new ruler of this land."
Thud.
Cassius set down his teacup with a dull clunk, defying etiquette.
But that was irrelevant now.
"I have no intention of yielding this seat to anyone. I have no hobby of giving away what has always been mine."
"......Then how will Your Highness take responsibility? What of the aftermath from the chaos Your Highness wrought over the past five years?"
Count Kreuz half-rose from his seat without realizing, retorting sharply.
It even looked like protest, or outrage, directed at him.
He was right.
But beyond his protest and anger, there was one more thing he desired.
"I'll shoulder it all and restore our past glory."
Cassius spoke with an arrogant smile.
The moment Count Kreuz saw that smile, something boiled deep within his heart.
"Mere words cannot change the grand duchy's future."
"That's why I'll change it one step at a time. For example... like with the Mage Association."
"......"
"I have the will to rectify five years of mistakes in one go. But since things don't work that way, I'll build it up gradually."
[Carmen, Your Highness! It's dangerous! More monsters are swarming! We must abandon the territory!]
[No! I refuse! The grand duchy has endured before, and it will not change now! Like the eternal frozen soil, we will hold our ground steadfastly! So take up your swords and mount your horses—follow me!!]
[Count Kreuz. Someday, just as you swore loyalty to me, I hope you offer your fealty and strength to my son Cassius.]
[......This body, this life, was saved by Your Highness from the midst of a massive monster horde. So... I shall do as Your Highness wills.]
[Good. I trust you. That child will one day... bring even greater glory to our grand duchy. He is both our blessing and our curse...]
Cassius's words were arrogant and grandiose.
Who would believe them from a man lost to frenzy for five years?
But in that moment, Kreuz recalled the past.
The time when monsters overflowing from the Anantasasha Mountains threatened to devour the grand duchy.
He remembered the previous grand duke, who led all knights and soldiers to peace with a single spear and sword.
Cassius Winterguard was that previous grand duke's son.
"Count Kreuz, I seek to improve. To revive the past and shoulder the future."
Crack.
The teacup in Cassius's hand froze over.
Yet the tea inside remained unfrozen, steam still rising.
It was powerful proof that Cassius wielded the Winterguard power by his own will, not frenzy.
"......Will you follow."
That was all.
"......The Kreuz family pledges loyalty to Grand Duke Cassius."