Chapter 39
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: The Old Lord's Summons
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Was it a satisfactory answer?
TERN lowered his head and kept his mouth shut.
“…And one more thing. Promise me.”
“What now?”
“That you’ll be careful when you go to the main house.”
“Are you worried about me?”
“…I-I’m just telling you to be careful! If you keep acting all high and mighty and get your head chopped off, Father and Mother will be sad!”
Chris chuckled.
“Don’t worry.”
He rose from his seat.
“I’m stronger than you think.”
The achievements from his secluded training.
As a Majin, he was at the upper level of 2-Star.
It was an unbelievable achievement, but that wasn't all.
There was an even more important accomplishment.
In the realm of the Alliance, as a Starlight user, he had reached the 4-Star level.
* * *
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
Inside the moving carriage, Chris had his eyes gently closed.
He was on his way to the main house.
‘It would be more convenient to use a Warp Gate.’
The Cazar County and the Dark Magic House’s main family were connected by a Warp Gate.
However, it required approval from the main house to be used, and approval had not been granted.
Something about not being able to permit it unless there was a necessary reason for security?
It was a blatant power play.
‘Disdaining the branch families is common among noble houses.’
Chris didn't think much of it.
There were many noble houses in the Alliance as well.
The way things worked was more or less the same.
All glory and privilege were enjoyed by the direct lineage of the main house.
The branch families were nothing more than servants to the main house.
No, they were lucky if they were even treated as servants.
Many treated them like slaves or dogs.
It was nothing new, as the noble houses themselves revolved around a strict sense of entitlement based on bloodline.
[Young Master… you can do it. Look at me… and cheer up.]
Did she sense that Chris's mood had soured?
The banshee maid, Mari, flew around the carriage, acting cute.
It was the kind of cute act meant to say 'Cheer up~', but coming from a banshee, it was just eerie.
Chris looked at Mari for a moment with a gloomy expression.
‘…To think I still have to be with this banshee even after leaving the county.’
He couldn't shake her off because of their master-servant pact.
There were no other attendants besides Mari.
This was because the main house had limited his entourage to one person.
Thanks to that, Chris was riding in the carriage alone with Mari.
[My comfort… seems to have been a great help to you, Young Master. But still, if you look at me so passionately… my heart… goes pitter-patter, it’s trembling so much.]
“…That’s not it. And you don’t even have a heart.”
[I have a heart for you, Young Master. Ohoho….]
“……”
Ignoring her, Chris looked out the window.
A massive estate began to appear below the hill.
An estate so large it resembled the royal castle of a nation.
The Duchy of Baron.
He had arrived at the main house of the Dark Magic House.
* * *
“Young Master, you must stay safe.”
The coachman who came with him from the Cazar County bid him farewell with a grim expression.
“You must, you must not get hurt. You can’t become crippled. And you absolutely must not die!”
Chris looked bewildered.
There was a reason for the coachman's behavior.
The Dark Magic House's Sacred Black Ceremony was notorious for its danger.
Getting seriously injured was common.
There were even cases of being crippled or losing one's life.
“Anyway, you should head back.”
“Yes, sir. Please stay safe!!”
“…Just go already.”
After the coachman left, Chris crossed his arms.
He could feel eyes on him from all directions.
They were not friendly gazes.
But it was hard to call them hostile, either.
Hostility, after all, is reserved for those you consider your equals.
It was simply the contemptuous gaze one gives to trash.
[So that's the trashy scoundrel from the Cazar County.]
[I heard he'd changed?]
[Trash is still trash, no matter how it changes. To think a guy like that would come for the Sacred Black Ceremony.]
[He'll just embarrass himself and leave.]
[I hope he gets seriously hurt and becomes a cripple. Then he won't be able to tarnish the Baron name anymore.]
Chris shrugged.
He had expected such looks.
He had shown his changed self in the Cazar and Tiramin Counties, but those were events that happened outside the main house.
Since the Majin of the main house hadn't seen it for themselves, their prejudice remained.
No, even if they had seen it, they wouldn't have readily acknowledged Chris.
It was a daily routine for the people of the main house to look down on members of the branch families.
Just then, a voice came from behind him.
“Greetings, Young Master.”
“!!”
Chris frowned.
A handsome man with a pale complexion, looking as if carved from stone.
It was the Head Butler, Simon!
‘Still, it’s not like I couldn’t sense his presence at all this time.’
It was because his senses had sharpened after reaching the 4-Star level.
Simon seemed to have noticed this as well, a flicker of interest in his eyes.
“You seem to have changed?”
“A little?”
“It seems like more than a little. Heh heh, unbelievable. It's only been about half a month, yet you've taken another step forward. Truly remarkable.”
Chris just shrugged.
Meanwhile, it was the others who reacted with surprise at seeing Simon.
[The Head Butler came out of the Old Lord's villa?]
[For that scoundrel?]
[Why would the Head Butler be here for that scoundrel?]
From the looks of it, Simon only assisted the Old Lord and rarely made an appearance.
“You seem busy, why did you come?”
It didn't seem like he had come just to see his face.
Indeed, Simon said something unexpected.
“There is someone who wishes to see you, Young Master.”
“??”
“The Old Lord.”
Everyone nearby widened their eyes.
Simon smiled playfully.
“The Old Lord wishes to see you, Young Master.”
“!!!”
A summons from the Old Lord, Nordian!
A commotion stirred in the surroundings.
It was a story that couldn't help but be surprising.
The Old Lord, Nordian, had been living in seclusion, not interfering in the family's affairs at all.
It was an unexpected event for him to want to see anyone, let alone that scoundrel.
‘This is unexpected.’
Chris was also slightly flustered.
He never imagined he would see the Old Lord as soon as he arrived at the main house.
But his bewilderment ended there.
‘I'll just meet him.’
Chris composed himself.
He was, after all, one of the key figures of the Age of Ruin. Among those he had met back then, many were far greater than the Old Lord Nordian.
So, there was no reason for his heart to pound now.
“You’re not surprised?”
“I’m sufficiently surprised.”
“You don’t seem like it.”
“I’m going to see the respected Lord of the house. There's no need to tremble in fear, is there? Rather, I should be delighted by the honor.”
At his eloquence, Simon burst into laughter again.
“As expected of Young Master Christian. Yes, you are correct. There is no need to be afraid at all. I hope you will show the same splendid demeanor before the Old Lord.”
Simon said meaningfully.
“Because if the grandson he had high hopes for shows a pathetic side, the Old Lord will be disappointed.”
* * *
He followed Simon.
After passing the large main building, a forest appeared.
From the outside, it didn't look that large, but once inside, there was no end in sight.
‘A formation.’
Chris thought to himself.
It was clearly a formation designed to make one wander the forest forever until they withered and died if they took a wrong turn.
Chris followed Simon, memorizing the shape of the forest, or more precisely, the pattern of the formation.
After walking for a good while, a small villa appeared.
It was where the Old Lord, Nordian, resided.
‘This is my first time meeting Nordian.’
Chris was acquainted with all sorts of famous figures, but he had never met Nordian.
Nordian dies before the Age of Ruin arrives.
Not just the Old Lord, but most of the highest-ranking figures of this southern demonic nation, including the 'Demon King of the Clear Stream', die before the Age of Ruin truly begins.
It was because of a bloodbath that would occur later.
The southern demonic nation is submerged in a terrible sea of blood even before the Age of Ruin begins.
In any case, that was something for a little later.
“Please enter.”
Simon creaked the door open, and Christian stepped inside.
The moment he stepped inside.
“!!”
Chris sucked in a breath.
His vision went dark.
It wasn't a magical phenomenon.
His senses were momentarily paralyzed by an overwhelming presence.
Deep inside.
An old man stood leaning on a staff.
Nothing else was visible.
Frozen in place, Chris's eyes could only see the old man's presence.
It was the Old Lord.
“It's been a long time.”
A gentle voice and smile, like a grandfather calling his grandson.
But Christian couldn't look at the old man with any sense of ease.
The soul-crushing presence made it feel as if his breath was being choked off.
A sinking feeling, as if being submerged in the deep sea.
He couldn't move a fingertip, and his knees felt like they would buckle before the old man on their own.
But Chris quickly came to his senses.
‘It's a test!’
The reason the Old Lord revealed his presence without filter, knowing Chris couldn't withstand it, was obvious.
He was trying to test Chris.
To be precise, he was testing his mental strength.
‘This kind of pressure can be endured with mental strength.’
If the Old Lord had unleashed his magi, it would have been impossible to endure, no matter how strong his mental fortitude. The magi emitted by an 8-Star Majin possessed a potent killing power on its own.
But the Old Lord hadn't moved a single speck of magi.
He had merely revealed a part of his immense existence.
An ordinary person would have succumbed to that presence alone and knelt, but Chris was different.
He had experienced the pressure of beings far greater than the Old Lord countless times.
Compared to those times… this was bearable.
He took a few deep breaths, and gradually, Chris's mind found its calm.
“I greet the great lord of the Dark Magic House, His Grace, Duke Baron.”
At his calm voice, the Old Lord's eyes widened slightly.
But it was only for a moment.
The Old Lord spoke again with a gentle smile.
“Yes, it is good to see you after so long. I haven't seen you since you were a child, so I don't know how many years it's been.”
“……”
“Were you not surprised that this old grandfather summoned you so suddenly?”
Chris was silent for a moment.
“I wasn't surprised. I thought you would want to see me.”
“And why is that?”
“Because a new star has appeared in the family.”
“…What?”
The Old Lord asked back for a moment.
Merian, who had been standing quietly to the side, glared at Chris with wide eyes.
Just now, Christian had referred to himself as a new star.
And he had dared to do so in front of the Old Lord!
‘Well, it’s true, isn’t it?’
The Old Lord had likely summoned Christian because of what he had accomplished in the Tiramin County.
He must have been summoned to verify his potential as a promising scion of the family, so what Chris said wasn't wrong.
“Hoho. You make this old man laugh. A new star. Yes, that's right. I called you because I was curious what kind of child you were. Both Merian and Simon praised you so much that I wanted to see if you were indeed the child I had heard about. This old man is always eagerly awaiting the appearance of an outstanding bloodline.”
The Old Lord said gently.
“However.”
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed.
His gentle smile remained.
But a blade-like tension filled the air.
It was as if the very air around them was watching the Old Lord's mood.
“I can't quite tell yet.”
“!!”