Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Identity Confirmed
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“You may rise.”
“How could I...!”
“Just stand up.”
“Yes!”
Yonas wiped away his tears and sprang to his feet.
He knew it was disrespectful, but Yonas’s gaze once again turned to Sion’s face and the sword sliding into its sheath.
His heart pounded once more.
‘No doubt about it! It has to be him!’
Even if it had become less frequent since becoming an adult, it was a face identical to the portrait he had seen hundreds of times since childhood.
‘Then the reason he’s always worn a mask since some point...’
It finally made sense.
The family elders had said the founder had fallen ill and his face was ruined, but the truth was different.
He had to hide the fact that he hadn’t aged a day in decades, remaining in that same form.
A face identical to the portrait, knowledge of the past known only to a few direct descendants of the ducal family, and even wielding the sword the founder had favored.
There was no room left for doubt.
But.
Was this even possible?
Could a person live for over a hundred years without aging?
The question that any rational person would naturally have lingered in one corner of his mind.
“There are still a few suspicious points lingering, right?”
And Sion hadn’t missed the change in Yonas’s expression.
“N-No, there aren’t!”
Caught off guard, Yonas raised his voice without thinking and hurriedly denied it.
“What do you mean no? Even with all the rumors, for someone said to have died decades ago to appear without having aged a bit—believing it outright would be the strange thing.”
With a faint smile, Sion turned his gaze out the window and spoke.
“In a few days, I’ll completely erase your doubts.”
Without being told, Yonas turned his head toward the window as well, and Sion’s voice continued.
“There may be none in the family, but in the Dukedom, there are still some who might remember me. You know that, don’t you?”
“...!”
Yonas’s eyes widened once more.
He was right.
No one in the ducal family had seen the founder in person and remembered him, but in the direction the founder was now looking, there just might be.
“Elves...”
Elves whom the founder had personally brought lived in Sion Dukedom.
Elves, with lifespans two or three times that of humans, were sure to have survivors who remembered the founder.
“Yeah, a few of them should still know me. Anyway, sit down already.”
“Yes!”
At Sion’s gesture from the head seat, Yonas carefully sat on the sofa.
Of course, the arrogant posture of leaning back like before was nowhere to be seen.
With his back ramrod straight and both hands neatly placed on his knees, he looked just like a new recruit fresh out of training.
“Sit comfortably, will you?”
Sion subtly suggested to his descendant, who had become a stiff rookie soldier at over forty, but Yonas replied sharply with his gaze fixed at a forty-five-degree angle.
“This is comfortable for this clumsy descendant!”
“Speak more casually too... Never mind.”
For now, it was better that he was in awe of him, so Sion changed the subject.
“You must have a lot of questions about me. What I’ve been doing all this time, why I’ve returned to the Dukedom now, why I revealed myself to you.”
“No, sire. How could this clumsy descendant presume to fathom the vast depths of Duke Highness’s intentions? Just issue your commands!”
“Jeez...”
In this atmosphere, it wouldn’t be surprising if ‘Long live our great leader!’ came next, so Sion could only smack his lips.
* * *
“Then rest well, Grandfather.”
When Sion permitted casual speech and the honorific of Grandfather, Yonas, nearly fainting from overwhelming emotion, bowed at a perfect ninety degrees.
“Yeah. Be careful with your speech around others.”
“I shall stake my life to...”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Only after swearing several more times that he would keep it an absolute secret from others did Yonas finally leave.
Even without being asked, he made grim promises like cutting out his own tongue and gouging out his eyes if he spilled it, leaving Sion dumbfounded.
But it did confirm that Yonas’s respect and loyalty toward him were utterly sincere.
‘Come to think of it, it’s actually fortunate that someone like Yonas came here.’
Even among descendants, if some half-hearted fellow had come, things wouldn’t have gone this smoothly.
Yonas was someone with little interest in accumulating personal wealth or fame, placing the ducal family itself above all else—Sion’s great-grandson.
‘The kid’s a bit rigid, but he’s exactly the type I need right now.’
What pleased him even more was that, despite having mountains of questions, he hadn’t asked a single one, instead strictly obeying Sion’s directives.
Of course, the excessive praise akin to ‘Our revered founder uses the Shrinking Earth Technique!’ was a bit much, but it wasn’t incomprehensible.
To the subjects of Sion Dukedom, especially members of the Sion ducal family, the founder Duke Sion was more than even the ‘Great Leader and Dear General’ of some twisted, failed regime up north.
Knock knock!
“Come in.”
Already knowing who it was from the knock, Sion spoke, and the door opened.
Jenna bowed politely and handed over the document binder tucked under her arm.
“I saw the noble from the ducal family in the corridor. Your conversation seemed to end earlier than you said, so I came right in. But...”
“Hm?”
As Sion took the binder and looked at her, Jenna cautiously continued, gauging his mood.
“That man seemed a bit odd.”
“Odd how?”
“Not smiling, not crying... When he passed me, he seemed to be managing his expression, but right after, he was pumping his fist in the air, breathing heavily like he’d lost his mind. Did something happen?”
“Nothing much. Probably because I told him who I am.”
“Ah, yes. Nothing mu—What?”
At the news that Sion had revealed his identity, Jenna’s eyes went wide.
But realizing her mistake, she hurriedly bowed her head.
“S-Sorry. I was just so surprised.”
“Pretty shocked, huh?”
“Y-Yes. Until now, you hadn’t told anyone else besides me...”
Even to Piort, with whom she had spent several months warmly, Sion hadn’t revealed his true identity.
That was why Jenna had felt a bit smug, thinking she alone knew the secret, that she alone had been chosen by Sion in some way.
“Hm. I hadn’t planned to tell him originally, but it turned out that way. Seems like he’ll need to play an important role.”
“What kind of important role?”
“After weeding out the trash and turning the soil, the next step is obvious, right?”
“Ah...”
“Someone has to till the land again. And if it’s someone who cherishes and loves that land more than the farmers who were there before, even better.”
Especially if it was a farmer with absolute loyalty to the lord.
Yonas would become one pillar representing Sion’s will in the Dukedom.
“Anyway, that must’ve gotten the guy excited.”
“Uh... yes.”
Jenna swallowed the words that it didn’t seem like that and gave an awkward smile.
Now that she thought about it from Sion’s words, it did seem like he’d met his idol and gotten overly thrilled.
Of course, a man over forty acting like that was a bit creepy.
‘To a direct descendant of the Sion ducal family, Duke Highness is more than an idol.’
A hero known to the whole world, the one who built the Dukedom from nothing—Sion was the ducal family itself, perhaps even revered as a god.
And actually meeting that superhuman grandfather who defied common sense by not aging at all? It was natural for a descendant to get that excited.
“Your Highness. So how will the plan proceed?”
“We’ll stick to the original plan for now. You stay here, wrap things up, and keep gathering intelligence. It’ll be easier for you to operate here than in the Dukedom anyway.”
“Yes, understood.”
Jenna would remain in Ogreust Lord’s Castle with her subordinates from the Burgos Branch and some of the Janshtrik mercenaries.
They had perfectly seized the lord’s castle, but they couldn’t fully trust the local management and vassals yet, so someone had to stay in Sion’s place to handle things.
Moreover, given the nature of Jenna’s work collecting information for Sion, it was far better to operate from Ogreust Territory—connected to multiple Obla Kingdom territories and serving as the gateway—than from the peninsula-bound Sion Dukedom.
“There are plenty of ways to contact me, so no need to worry. If something comes up, it’ll reach me within a day.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The Dukedom was over a hundred kilometers long despite its narrow width—Jenna was curious how that was possible but didn’t ask.
If Sion said so, it was so.
He had never been wrong before, so it would be the same this time.
“Hm. Anything special?”
As Sion muttered while flipping through the binder, Jenna quickly replied.
“It’s in the report too, but we obtained information from the royal castle about Your Highness. Count Rundel, Crown Prince Philon, and Duke Lloyd’s side—they’ve grasped what you did in Burgos and Logos Territory. Same with Jetman Territory.”
“So, in short, the royal castle folks know about the mess I stirred up in the northeast?”
“Yes.”
Sion examined the binder closely and set it down.
“A bit faster than I expected. Where did the info leak from?”
“I hesitate to say, but it seems some leakage from our Intelligence Guild headquarters. We haven’t identified who yet, but we’ll pinpoint them soon.”
It wasn’t her fault, but Jenna tensed slightly, watching Sion’s expression.
“Just let it be. It was going to get out anyway, and being a little early changes nothing.”
“Understood.”
Whether Sion wanted it or not, the Intelligence Guild headquarters would definitely find and punish the leaker.
Beyond the mood of a VVIP client, this directly affected the guild’s credibility—and for an information guild like any other business, trust was the most vital asset.
‘Whoever it is, they’re done for.’
Job and head, both.
Sending a brief condolence to the bold mystery culprit, Jenna cautiously spoke.
“And there’s talk that Count Rundel and Duke Lloyd are sending people. Shouldn’t we prepare countermeasures?”
“No need to worry about it whether they send them or not.”
“Pardon?”
With a chuckle, Sion poured wine into his glass and continued.
“Didn’t you say Crown Prince and Duke Lloyd are fighting for the throne behind the scenes?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Whoever wins between them, the one sending someone to me will be out.”
“......???”
To Jenna’s baffled expression, Sion pointed upward with his index finger.
“No matter what they do, who makes the final decision? Right, the King.”
“...”
“Of course, even the King can’t completely ignore the royal castle atmosphere and high nobles’ opinions. But the King holds the final authority. And get this.”
Sion downed the wine in one gulp and smiled.
“Who’s the current King?”
“......Pardon?”
Jenna unwittingly asked back with a dumb look.
But true to her sharp mind, she quickly grasped Sion’s meaning.
“N-No way, His Majesty the King knows Duke Highness...”
To the astonished Jenna, Sion nodded.
“Yeah. The current King knows me. I hunted demon dragons with his father when he was a kid, bathed in the stream together—did everything.”
-You know my uncle?
-He was a hero. Took down a dragon with Father.
The over-eighty-year-old King, feared by Obla Kingdom’s top nobles, had known Sion since his pants-wetting days—like a nephew.
“Th-Then... you mean he knows what kind of person Duke Highness is?”
“Yeah.”
The King was also one of the very few who knew Sion hadn’t died and was still wandering around in his youthful form.
(To be continued in the next installment)