Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Victory Ceremony (3)
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The surroundings erupted into chaos in an instant.
-Wh-what did the Family Head just say...? What? Vi-Vice Family Head?
-He said Vice Family Head, you idiot!
-Vice Family Head?!
-The rumors were true—he's announcing the successor right here!
Everyone was stunned beyond belief.
Even if they'd heard rumors that the successor issue might come up, there was a world of difference between hearsay and facing it head-on in reality.
-Th-then... what happens to all the succession candidates we've been hearing about? Sure, Torkel fell in battle, but what about Kincannon? Ansion?
-Leje and Kishar are still in the running too!
-Exactly! They haven't even competed head-to-head, and now this sudden decision...!
In the end, all eyes converged on one spot.
“Haha. Really now. The elders begged you not to leave the successor position hanging in uncertainty, but you never listened... and now you floor the accelerator like this?”
Leje glanced back and forth between his inscrutable father and Theo, who stared back from afar.
No official mention of who the vice head pick was yet.
But his father's intentions were as plain as day.
‘Lately, I've heard the uncles have been openly backing Theo. Did that sway him even more?’
No matter how hard Leje or the other candidates tried to win them over, Julius, the Black Dragon, and the Plum Palace Lord had been impossible nuts to crack.
They were the very pillars who had built the current Ragnar Family.
Yet Theo had burst onto the scene like a comet, won their favor, and now stood ready to soar with them at his back.
The one at the very bottom was rising straight to the top.
‘He's more than qualified, sure... but I'm not about to just bow out like this.’
The Troyvan territories were among the empire's finest.
Hand those over wholesale as Theo's base, and he'd fly even higher than now.
The imperial side might object, but so what?
Would Kyle even care?
Leje rubbed his chin, organizing his thoughts, when Ansion suddenly crossed his mind.
The guy who always played humble on the surface but burned with ambition underneath—what would he make of this?
“...This is too fast. What do we do? There has to be a way. Some way...”
Ansion gnawed at his nails, lost in thought.
His constant muttering betrayed serious unease.
‘That kid can't stand it when things don't go his way.’
She knew full well how Ansion had tried to form a faction against Theo, pulling in Torkel, the other candidates, and even some rivals.
But if the announcement dropped before that took shape, he'd have to start over from scratch.
“Big Brother. Big Brother... what are you planning to do?”
Finally, Ansion turned cautiously to Kincannon, seated beside him.
Unlike their younger siblings in their twenties or thirties, this man in his forties slowly opened his eyes.
His face was the spitting image of Kyle in his youth.
He hadn't uttered a single word throughout the entire victory ceremony.
-Sword Emperor Kincannon.
Even with Kyle and the Plum Palace Lord around, he'd already claimed the emperor title in the realm of the sword.
Without the towering wall that was Kyle, he could have sat on the Family Head's throne without question.
Naturally, not just Leje and Ansion, but all the family members watched his reaction intently.
“It's Father's decision after much deliberation. It wouldn't be right for us to question it.”
“Big Brother!”
“Lower your voice.”
“...”
A quiet warning.
Ansion looked like he had plenty to say but drew a long breath and nodded.
“You're right. We have no right to question it.”
Her smile seemed the picture of a loyal retainer submitting to the Family Head's solemn command.
But Leje just snorted softly.
‘As if those greedy foxes will sit still. Yeah, right.’
Ansion would double down on building her faction now, scheming to tear into Theo.
And Kincannon?
‘No clue. Can't read the guy at all.’
He'd always seemed utterly indifferent to worldly affairs, yet brimmed with ambition.
Leje quietly observed Theo and Kyle.
That was when Kyle spoke.
“Theo Ragnar, come forward.”
All eyes snapped to Theo.
He rose silently and ascended the platform.
* * *
Thump, thump-thump!
Theo's heart pounded wildly the entire way up the stairs.
‘Am I really being named Vice Family Head?’
Julius and the Black Dragon had dropped hints, sure, but hearing it like this hit different.
The position he'd craved in both his past and present lives was right there.
The gazes upon him fell into just two categories.
Admiration. Or envy.
Theo knew full well it was the inevitable fate of anyone gunning for the throne.
The key was making even the envious ones acknowledge and submit to him!
Clack!
Theo gave a slight bow of thanks and took the spot where the Conquering Dragon had stepped back.
He could feel the Conquering Dragon's burning gaze from behind.
“Theo Ragnar's achievements this time cannot be praised enough. From rooting out the Troyvan spies skulking in the main house like rats to finishing off these foes, it's no exaggeration to say the entire war with Troyvan began and ended by his hand.”
Theo briefly marveled at Kyle's eloquence.
“And his growth has already surpassed upper-grade swordsman level, reaching Dragon Gate swordsman grade, in my judgment. It won't be long before he exceeds that too.”
-Dragon Gate swordsman?
-I thought he just passed upper-grade exams—what's this now?
-He's lying to prop up the Vice Family Head...?
-Don't talk nonsense! Would the Family Head do that? He's the one who values the law of the strong above all!
-I know, but this doesn't add up...!
-Is he seriously hitting Nine Dragons before twenty...?
“Taking all his merits, potential, and promise into account, I hereby entrust the Vice Family Head position to Theo Ragnar,”
Every murmur cut off dead.
“and grant him the former Troyvan territories as fief,”
Time itself seemed to freeze.
“as well as 'Hrunti,' the blade Troyvan's Granada favored, as spoils of war,”
No one could even breathe.
“and permit the creation of Squad 6 in the White Dragon Knights, tasking them with eastern security and northeast maritime patrols.”
Kyle's voice rang crystal clear, even to those seated at the far back of the victory ceremony—not just the Nine Dragons and executives.
“The Black Dragon and Plum Palace will provide full support without stint.”
“Understood!”
“Understood!”
The Black Dragon and Plum Palace Lord's rising cries shattered the silence.
-The Vice Family Head has been appointed!
That single announcement hammered the back of every head there.
“...”
“...”
Kyle's gaze remained locked on Theo, unwavering.
For a fleeting moment.
Theo thought he glimpsed a faint smile.
* * *
[Ragnar Stuns with Vice Family Head Appointment!]
[Theo Ragnar, the Enigma—How Did He Win the 'Dragon Incarnate's' Favor?]
[Theo Ragnar Revealed as 'Theodore's' Son]
[Basque Merchant House: 'Our Grandson Makes Us Proud'—Boasts Ties to Theo]
[Rising Comet: All About the Yaksha Star]
[Yaksha Star Heads East—What World Shifts Lie Ahead?]
Newspapers raced to publish on Theo, drowned out by far more voices of concern and skeptical stares.
Some peddled outright conspiracy theories without shame.
-Kincannon's represented Ragnar for ages, and now they shove a sixteen-year-old kid in there?
-Lately, all these special features on Theo Ragnar, shaping opinion—coincidence...?
-Coincidence? It's all staged. Hero-building groundwork.
-Wow, that's scary if true.
-Scarier still: Theo Ragnar's Cecilia's son?
-Cecilia who?
-You know, the beauty who lit up theater twenty years back. Married into Ragnar, quit cold turkey—huge scandal. Now heads 'Theodore.'
-So...?
-Yeah. 'Dragon Incarnate' gets old, falls for pillow talk. Youngest son's at peak cuteness too.
-Insane. Massive.
Rumors flew from Cecilia pulling strings to Kyle finally losing it with age.
They wouldn't dare say it openly, but most thought it.
Handing such a heavy role to a mere sixteen-year-old Theo made no sense.
Especially with Kincannon still there, head and shoulders above the other candidates.
“You must know how massive the concerns raining down on you are, judging by these.”
Alone now with Theo and Kyle.
Kyle tapped the newspapers with a finger, a slight smile playing.
That smile.
Always impassive or brutal—never this. Awkward, almost.
“Yes. Natural backlash to the suddenness, I think. But if he can't handle that, he doesn't deserve the Ragnar name.”
Was that the right answer?
The smile deepened.
“Then you know why I passed over Kincannon and Leje, whom I've been building up, for you?”
“Yes.”
Theo nodded solemnly.
His eyes darkened.
“A bait to fully draw out the Holy Demon Cult, who could just go into hiding otherwise?”
“Correct.”
The smile thickened.
“With their vanguard Troyvan crushed, the Mad Dragon Emperor can't sit still. Just like before, you'll be the bait again.”
“Act as occupying force?”
“Exactly. Everything Troyvan held goes to you as spoils. But.”
“I'll shoulder their grudge too.”
Theo nodded.
He'd expected Kyle wouldn't hand him vice head for nothing.
His father never had.
The type to use even his own children as tools for the family.
That's why Theo actually liked this choice.
The Mad Dragon Emperor, Holy Demon Cult, and [Nameless Lord] were targets he itched to eliminate upfront.
‘Father uses me, I use Father. Same difference.’
“You're not asking why I gave you the Mad Dragon Emperor's sword?”
“I figured you had your reasons. And... it's gotten me out of plenty of jams, truthfully.”
“Most would resent being used as silent bait. You're different.”
...From the other kids.
Theo pretended not to hear Kyle's mutter.
Even that iron-willed father might have his own burdens, he mused.
“The Mad Dragon Emperor will come for you himself someday. He craves not just the power of disgrace, but the Selector’s power too.”
Theo's eyes widened slightly.
Reviving his frozen regression ability?
“Torkel shows it: his madness has a hypnotic pull. No immunity? You're done. That's why I gave you that sword.”
Kyle had armed Theo with resistance, just in case.
“But the 'real' thing dwarfs that simple resentment. You'll need to build more immunity.”
Theo realized what Kyle intended next.
“The sword's orb, infused with disgrace aura—must've supercharged the resentment, right?”
“Yes.”
Theo nodded.
Kyle meant to fully unseal the sword's orb, long locked tight.
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