The New Master of House Frucus
The succession ceremony and the engagement ceremony were held on the spot.
A few vassals raised objections, but nothing so minor could make Ention take back a word he had already spoken. House Frucus was structured so that power concentrated in the head of the family. Within Frucus territory, the count was king.
I took the seat Ention had occupied, and Yuria sat beside me. We were not yet formally married, but seating her there already treated her as my wife.
Looking around from this place… the feeling is strangely new.
The count's chair stood at the highest point in the Great Hall. From it, you naturally looked down on everyone, and everyone looked up at you.
In the original, Kyle reached this seat fairly easily.
In the original work, I had not existed. Kyle had handled someone like Zent without much trouble. If Kyle had never been here, I probably would have claimed the countship several years sooner myself.
I fixed a few of the vassals with a hard stare — the ones who had opposed my rise, and the ones who had clashed with me more than once. Most of them dropped their eyes to the floor at once. A stubborn minority, as if clinging to some principle, refused to look away and kept their defiance to the end.
Those bastards are marked for execution. I'll find a pretext and kill them. If I can't find one, I'll invent one. And if even that fails, I'll have them assassinated.
They were useless even if they stayed. And I needed an example — something that would show I was not a man to be trifled with.
"I cannot accept this!!"
Zent shouted. Every gaze in the hall swung toward one point. It was not far from me. Zent was making a scene at Ention.
"Father! The war is not over yet! I can still pile up more merit than Eugene!!"
Zent paid no mind to the stares gathering on him. I had to give him that much — his shamelessness was genuine.
"Zent. Stop forcing it. The gap in ability between you and Eugene has already been made plain. The only one who could stand against Eugene was Kyle."
"If I had been given time and money, the story would have been different!!"
"Time flows equally for everyone. …No. As the eldest, more time has flowed for you than for him. As for money, I supported no one. Eugene earned his own coin without anyone's help and fought this war on his own purse."
"…Kh. Father! I will not ask for much! Keep the word you first gave! Postpone the succession until the war is finished!"
"Whatever you say, the succession is already done. I have passed the family seal to Eugene. Zent, serve the new head of House Frucus. Eugene is your brother."
"I cannot accept this!!"
Zent's pigheaded stubbornness came out in full. Ention let out a long breath.
"Zent. I thought the war had tempered you. Looking at you now, you have not moved an inch. Zent. Do not turn your face from reality. The difference in ability between you and Eugene has been shown, and no one can deny it. When you took one fortress, Eugene took three. While you struggled in the south, Eugene pacified the north. On top of that, Eugene won Kyle's support. You could not even win the support of your own younger brothers."
"……!!"
Zent's face twisted. He clenched his teeth and crushed his fists shut so hard that his nails bit into his palms and blood dripped steadily to the floor.
"Father. I am the eldest son of House Frucus. The count's seat was mine by right…!"
"Only the capable may sit as master of House Frucus."
"…That capability. I will prove it myself…!"
Ignoring Ention, Zent strode straight toward me. He pulled the glove from his hand and flung it at my face.
I snatched it out of the air before it could touch me. Throwing a glove at another man was a formal challenge to a duel.
"Eugene Frucus! I challenge you to a duel! If I win, hand the countship of Frucus over to me! That seat does not suit you!"
"Fine. I accept."
I rose from my seat.
Even as I did, something felt off.
No matter how cornered he was, he could not have forgotten that I was an Aura Master.
That left two possibilities. Either he was spitting out whatever his temper threw up, or he had something else prepared. The fact that his expression did not change even after I accepted the duel pointed to the latter.
"So you insist on going through with it."
Ention's voice, thick with lament, reached me. Stepping down from the count's seat seemed to have aged him all at once. I pretended not to hear and walked toward Zent.
People made space at once for the rare spectacle. An open circle formed in the center of the Great Hall. Zent and I both ordered servants to bring our swords.
Ention would preside over the duel.
"This is wartime. And you are brothers who share blood. Do not take each other's lives."
Ention put weight on every word. The will behind it was plain — kill the other, and he would not stand idle.
"I had no intention of killing my younger brother either."
Zent said it. The lie slid out as naturally as breathing. If he had never meant to kill me, he would not have sent assassins.
"Neither did I."
Killing him would have been far too easy. I was going to strip Zent of everything he had.
I won't kill him. But he raised a hand against me, so he pays a price. One arm comes off.
Zent and Kyle — both brothers reduced to one-armed cripples. The sight would be worth watching. People would marvel at how brotherly they were, each missing an arm, and call them a pair of deep fraternal affection.
Sword in hand, I first raised an Aura Blade to crush Zent's spirit. A vivid blue Aura Blade bloomed along the edge, and gasps broke out around the circle. The knights' eyes burned hottest of all.
"Brother. It isn't too late. Stand down."
I offered words I did not mean. Honor was on the line. I said it knowing Zent would never take them.
"There is no standing down. I will win this duel… and reclaim what is mine."
Zent called up his aura. The flaring energy began to gather along the blade.
Aura Blade.
"Impossible! Lord Zent is an Aura Master as well? All three brothers of House Frucus are Aura Masters!"
"Are your eyes broken? Look carefully. Lord Zent's Aura Blade is unstable. He has only forced aura together for a moment to form one. Against a true Aura Blade, it will not last long."
"I thought this would be a one-sided duel… but it is turning out rather interesting."
Zent was a top-tier Aura Expert.
I remembered him as nowhere near this level.
So the war did grow him after all, at least a little.
Even so, Zent had not broken through the wall. I had had my own stroke of fortune. Zent had not.
Crackling light ran along the blue Aura Blade, blue lightning flashing through it. Ignoring the spectators' shock, I charged Zent.
KAAANG!
Sword met sword, and a great crash rang through the hall.
I was at ease. Zent's face twisted. A single exchange had shown him the gulf between us.
I raised my blade high and brought it down with everything I had. Lightning chased the arc of the cut.
KRRAAAANG!
"Khhhaaaagh!"
Zent somehow blocked the strike, but the lightning that followed shocked him and forced him back. His shoulders sagged. Both legs trembled hard.
He can't answer the lightning at all.
That was what came of forcing an Aura Blade into existence. Properly, you managed mana with room to spare and used it to keep current from running through the body — a defense against shock.
Has he barely ever fought someone like me? More disappointing than I expected. No trump card either?
Zent counterattacked. He dropped as low as he could and sprinted in. Coming in on my right, he went for my left leg, aiming to strip me of mobility. But my eyes already had him completely. I had never lost him.
One step back. One step to the side.
Zent's blade skimmed past my thigh by a hair. Time to answer. Using the left foot planted ahead as a pivot, I whipped my right leg around. Thud! The roundhouse kick smashed into Zent's face.
He flew backward, then shoved himself upright at once. His nose was crushed. His mouth was split open and blood ran freely. Both eyes still burned. Zent's fighting spirit had not gone out.
After that I traded about ten more exchanges with him. There was no real point to it. Ending things too quickly would have felt wasteful, so I played with him just enough — giving the crowd a show while I toyed with Zent and made my skill plain.
KAAANG! Kang! Kwang!
The Aura Blade Zent had forced into being was already on the verge of shattering.
Time to finish it. Kyle was useful, so I took his left arm…. Not you. For you, it's the right.
I knocked Zent's sword aside. His arm swung wide open. A perfect chance to take the right arm. I stepped in and started the cut — and saw the corner of Zent's mouth twist up.
Charna.
A faint light gathered on Zent's shoes, and the brooch at his chest flared.
Two artifacts. So that was what he was counting on. The shoes — automatic movement? He's sliding back on his own. The brooch…
Zent's muscles swelled, and his unstable Aura Blade snapped into sudden stability. Body enhancement. He forced the path of his blade off course and drove it toward my shoulder.
He prepared well enough.
It did not matter.
My sword reached his right arm before his blade could touch my shoulder.
Severing cut!
Zent could not even react properly to the strike accelerated by Charna. The right arm that held his sword was cut clean and rolled across the floor.
"GAAAAAAAGH!"
A scream tore out of him, and red blood fouled the stone.
"The duel is over! Eugene is the victor! Use the prepared potions! Mages! Healers! Treat Zent's wound at once!"
Ention shouted to the room. A healer snatched up Zent's arm and moved to set it back to the shoulder. I caught the healer by the shoulder and stopped him.
"Father. I am the victor of this duel. I will exercise the victor's right. Do not reattach Zent's arm."
"…Zent is your brother."
"I know. But Zent was the challenger. He challenged the authority of the count. I will forgive that crime for the price of one right arm."
Ention hesitated, then spoke.
"…I will follow the will of the head of the house."
I watched in silence as Zent was carried out.
Afterward I held a banquet. The feast ran late into the night, but wartime cut it to a single day.
I had prepared a purge, but I did not carry it out at once. Wartime made people watchful, and quite a few still sat on the fence.
Zent's limbs, however, still had to be cut off — not his real limbs, but the figurative ones. Using the assassin band he had sent after me as justification, I executed eleven retainers who supported him.
That merciless round of executions left Zent's remaining men shaking. Some fled into exile in other kingdoms. Others offered me their fortunes and betrayed him.
I had assassins kill every man who ran. The ones who brought me bribes I left alive for the time being. Yuria had advised that a show of mercy made the rest easier to manage. I would deal with them properly later.
Ention, stepped down from the count's seat, did not retire. He returned to the army. He seemed resolved to live out his days on the battlefield. That suited me. Alongside Kyle, it gave me another usable piece.
If he keeps trying to play the old man and lecture me, I'll kill him.
I was the master of Frucus now.
Seated as head of the house, I smiled in satisfaction and returned to reality.
Ending the amusement.