The Young Lord of Loenheim

Honestly, it was an awkward question to answer. I didn't need to dwell on it, though. Judging by the way Lucas usually carried himself, if he didn't feel like answering, he simply didn't.

"Before that, isn't there something you ought to say first?"

"What?"

"Father. Before you demand an answer from me, wouldn't it be proper for you to give me one?"

Kaiser's face creased at the defiant tone. I paid it no mind and went on.

"I learned swordsmanship, and I paid for it in jewels. You misunderstood that, scolded me, and went so far as to humiliate me before the family council. So I fought the duel to prove my innocence."

"......"

"So tell me first. I won the duel. Does that prove I was innocent?"

Perhaps I had copied Lucas a little too faithfully, because anger rolled off Kaiser. Even so, what I was asking wasn't wrong, and he answered while holding on to that anger.

"Yes. Your innocence is proven. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The punishment prepared for you is canceled. And I will permit you to remain in the ducal house."

The moment the words left him, a window sprang up before my eyes.

"......"

I stole a glance at Duke Kaiser, wary of the window that had appeared out of empty air. Fortunately, no one else seemed able to see it. He gave no reaction at all, and simply went on.

"But now that you are remaining in the ducal house, you too must fulfill your duties. Do not think of making excuses and slipping away as before. Do that, and a disciplinary council will be convened again."

As eldest son of the ducal house, Lucas had work he was meant to do—assisting in the governance of the territory and seeing to the affairs that came with it. The Lucas of until now had apparently neglected and abandoned all of it. Kaiser glared, making it plain he would tolerate that sight no longer.

"...Understood."

I nodded. I had no complaint about it. I might be imitating Lucas for the moment, but I had no intention of loafing and living off the house as shamelessly as he had.

"How unusual, for you to accept so readily. Very well. Around next week, I will entrust you with a task. Now get out."

That was the end of the conversation. I left Kaiser's office as if I had been thrown out.

"Hah. Short fuse on that man."

There were still a few things I had wanted to ask, and I had been dismissed for nothing. I turned to go, and found Walter waiting outside the door.

"Were you practicing swordsmanship out there?"

The look in his eyes was a little different from before, when they had been sunk in irritation. Lucas had slipped out of the house every day to drink and gamble, and Walter had gone looking for him every time. Like Kaiser, he seemed to be under the mistaken impression that I had spent those hours secretly practicing the sword.

"And if I say I was?"

"Why did you never say a word of it to me?"

"I wanted to surprise you."

At the flippant answer, Walter closed his mouth. Perhaps because he had once tried to teach Lucas the sword, a faintly wounded look showed through the indifference on his face. The air turned awkward, so I changed the subject.

"Father said he would give me a task next week. Any idea what sort of work he might hand me?"

Walter tipped his head. He seemed less puzzled by the question itself than by the simple fact that I was taking any interest in a noble's duties.

"Most likely a monster subjugation. Harvest season is drawing near, and the monsters in the mountains and forests are running rampant."

"Monsters? Are they strong?"

"At their strongest, orcs, I should think. But for you, young master..."

He let the rest trail off. I didn't need to hear it. Every monster in Crius Saga was built on the monsters of the Gates, so an orc ought not to be all that strong. Against this body of Lucas's, though, it was an enemy as vast as a mountain.

So I have to grow enough to face an orc within a week.

The thought nearly drew a hollow laugh out of me. By any ordinary means, forget fighting an orc—it would take half a year just to work this mass of flesh off me. But I had a special method. The cash shop. If anything could turn that impossibility into reality, it was the vicious monetization of Crius Saga, which had followed the pay-to-win formula to the letter.

"Then please rest."

With Walter's farewell I returned to my room and immediately brought up the Crius Saga screen. The cash shop still showed a reassuring 7.5 billion Blue-White Stones—more than before, as if the donations had grown in the meantime. Even so.

"There's hardly anything worth buying."

Only a handful of cash items were listed. I should have been greeted by the five memberships that had to be purchased at set intervals, the game pass renewed each season, and dozens of packages made for every kind of currency. What floated there now was a single category: Consumables.

"Consumables..."

Just as the name suggested—recovery potions, elixirs that raised your stats a little for a set time, and the like. Nothing impressive, as cash items went.

"Come to think of it, there weren't many at the start, were there?"

The state of the shop seemed tied to the timeline inside the game. Crius Saga had been in service for more than ten years, and the story within it had shifted several times along the way. Early on it had been a fantasy in which nobles and an imperial house still stood. Later the Empire fell, and the world became a fantasy apocalypse in which demons ran wild. That was the clearest example.

If I'm sitting in a noble house... this really is the early days of the service.

In the story, every noble house ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vanished with the fall of the Empire at the midpoint. This was still a peaceful world, with no sign of that ruin or of any great threat. Which meant the scenario of Crius Saga had not even properly begun.

Around open beta?

Back then the developer of Crius Saga was still a small company, and the monetization was clumsy as well. Even so, this was far too bare. Was there some separate condition that unlocked the rest?

"...No idea."

There was nothing I could work out for now. It was a shame I couldn't buy all those packages, but among the consumables there were things I could put to use at once.

Crius Saga had no levels. A character's stats themselves grew through action, and this elixir of growth was an item that sharply increased the speed of that growth. The price was seventy Blue-White Stones. In real money that came to 1,300 won—barely a dollar—so it might not look expensive.

But there was not only one elixir of growth. They were divided into lesser, intermediate, greater, and supreme, and with each grade both the effect and the price doubled. A supreme elixir devoured a full 560 Blue-White Stones an hour—10,400 won, close to eight dollars—and in return granted sixteen times the experience for that hour.

Raising a stat to 30 was not actually that difficult, so rankers who had lost their minds to spending, people like me, only used the thing when raising an alt.

For me, as I am now, nothing beats this.

It was the perfect cash item for dragging Lucas's current stats upward. I bought the Supreme Elixir of Growth without hesitation. A hundred or so. The drop in Blue-White Stones was hardly noticeable. Perhaps because they could not be given to anyone else, the elixirs I purchased were not physical objects. They were deposited into an inventory only I could see. Using one did nothing but lower the count on that screen by a single number. In exchange, a buff reading Exp Up appeared at the corner of my vision.

If it worked like this, I could drink as many as I liked without anyone else ever catching on. I kept looking through the consumables. There were a few more things worth buying—buff potions that raised stats for a set time, of course, and stamina potions to recover endurance, which were an absolute necessity. Once I had bought every potion I needed on top of the elixirs, I got to my feet. What remained was simple. For now, I had to run.

"......"

Walter was doubting his own eyes. He stood in the training ground of the Loenheim ducal house—more precisely, the space assigned to Lucas, the eldest son of the house. Not once had he seen that ground put to its proper use. This moment was different.

Far off in one corner, a heavy body was moving in a strange way. It was less a run than a desperate shaking of flesh, feet dragging themselves forward. The figure looked ready to plant itself in the dirt at any second, and it was unmistakably Young Master Lucas.

What wind has blown over him?

Walter recognized the bewilderment twisting inside him. Swordsmanship, and now exercise? The usual Lucas would never do such a thing. Even so.

"How long will it last this time..."

He did not believe the change would hold. Lucas was as fickle as he was vicious. And just as he expected—

"Huff... huff..."

Lucas stopped before he had even finished a single lap of the ground. Given that bloated body, managing more than half a circuit was something worth praising.

"Bring something to wipe him down."

Looking at Lucas, soaked through with sweat, Walter gave the order to a servant. The servant bowed deeply and withdrew. Before the man could even return—

"Hm?"

Lucas broke into a run again.

"He's overdoing it."

Walter shook his head. Running blindly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like that, how many more steps could he possibly manage? But he was wrong. Lucas did not stop his feet halfway. In the end, he completed a full lap of the training ground.

"......"

Walter caught his breath. A single lap of a ground like this would not be difficult even for an ordinary man. Set against Lucas's usual stamina, it was unimaginable.

He was clearly pushing past his limit, and Walter, a knight, knew well how much that process hurt. Vision blurring. Head spinning. Lungs burning away with every step, every joint in the body screaming. And Lucas was enduring that pain? That wastrel, who had flown into a fit of irritation at the smallest scratch?

Is this really the young master I know?

Walter could only stare, blank, as the young master gathered himself to run again.