Chapter 12 - How to Seduce a Duke's Daughter
How to Seduce a Duke's Daughter
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 12. How to Seduce a Duke's Daughter
The meal at the Ashuhalt Duke's residence was a feast I hadn't seen even once in the past 10 years.
'Ha, with just this one meal, the people in the village below could feast for a whole week.'
A dinner table where I realized anew how Lorraine was treated within the family.
The light pouring from the flashy chandelier on the ceiling reflected off the sterling silver tableware, dazzling my eyes.
"Hmm, it's delicious."
"Funny guy. Usually, people get intimidated sitting in a place like this…. Looks like you've received a table like this before?"
"No way. Aren't you expecting too much from a commoner-origin mercenary?"
"Then how can you be so relaxed?"
I cut a piece of meat, popped it into my mouth, and retorted.
"Isn't it food meant to be eaten anyway? Food isn't a knight, who gets scared of food."
"Pff, pfft! Puhahahaha!! Right! You're right!"
The silver-haired girl sitting opposite me, Arisa Ashuhalt, burst into loud laughter, splattering food as if finding it hilarious.
"Ah, laughed loud for the first time in a while. Hey, Danel. I'll say it again. How about becoming my exclusive guard?"
Arisa proposed, pointing her fork at me.
"Sister Lorraine? Honestly, I don't dislike her. But this is Ashuhalt. If you have ambition, you should choose me, the real Ashuhalt."
I silently took a sip of wine.
The luxurious and clean taste flowed down my throat.
"Unfortunately, that won't happen. I'm quite loyal, you see. I've already finished the contract with Lady Lorraine."
"Haa! Frustrating, really! You call yourself a mercenary, why are you as stubborn as a knight?"
Arisa beat her chest as if frustrated.
"Fine, forget the guard. Instead, how about being my swordsmanship teacher? This can be officially recognized by the family too. It's a position even knights can't easily covet. I'll give you five times the pay Sister is giving you now."
"No matter what you say, it's useless. I just came here today to eat the promised dinner."
I picked up my fork again and focused on the meal.
Arisa flinched her eyebrows and fidgeted every time I took a bite.
To her, who was called a genius and revered by everyone, having her offer rejected flatly like this must be a first experience.
"……What do you want."
Arisa asked in a low voice.
'Hoh….'
I was quite surprised inwardly.
I thought she was just a child, but she pierced through to the essence quite sharply.
I wiped my mouth with a napkin and stared straight into her eyes.
"Even if I have something I want, it's not of a nature Lady Arisa can give."
"Ha, absurd. Cannot give to you in the inner room of Ashuhalt? What is it! Just say it! I told you I'm an Ashuhalt?"
I spat out briefly as if cutting her words.
"Aura Cultivation Method."
Instantly, Arisa's expression hardened subtly.
The playful atmosphere disappeared, and a sharp atmosphere befitting Ashuhalt's bloodline filled the place.
"……Cultivation Method? That won't be easy."
"I know. But there are many who work for the Duke's family and use cultivation methods without using the Ashuhalt surname. I just want to climb higher. Because a swordsman without Aura has clear limits in the end."
Arisa rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought.
Perhaps because she was still young, she seemed to harbor implicit antipathy towards nobles monopolizing the cultivation method, the source of power.
"I do want to give it to you but… this is outside my authority."
"I know. Didn't I tell you that you couldn't grant it?"
Arisa growled and thrust her face at me.
"You, really annoying."
"I hear that a lot."
Arisa huffed and gulped down her wine.
"Fine, I can't give the cultivation method right now. But there must be a second-best plan. On the condition of hearing my four bad habits, tell me what I can do for you."
I kept silent for a moment.
What is the best I can do right now?
I had many worries about whom and how to use 'Ahisha's Eye.'
That Expert-level knight who looked at me then? Or another strong person?
Nonsense.
It might be impossible to steal their mana flow at my current level.
Rather, Arisa, who has solid basics and just started learning the cultivation method, was the golden target for me to steal the secret technique from.
I hid my emotions and spoke calmly.
"The condition isn't much. Please don't think of your relationship with Lady Lorraine only negatively."
"……Tsk, not an easy request. As I said, I don't dislike Sister. But the family atmosphere is like that. Especially Brother Veron…."
Arisa shuddered.
"He hates the weak terribly. No, he's a person who can't tolerate weakness while bearing the name of Ashuhalt. Since that Brother treats Sister Lorraine like trash, other siblings have no choice but to read the room."
Veron Ashuhalt.
A big shot designated as the next head of the Ashuhalt Duke's family.
Since such a person loathes Lorraine, the air of the entire family has no choice but to be cold.
"Is the status within the family decided only by martial strength?"
At my words, Arisa smiled fishily.
"Oh? You know quite a bit? Right. Our family has a lot of work. If the achievements accomplished are outstanding, the status within the family can rise. Even if it's an achievement accomplished by a subordinate knight."
"Then I just have to achieve that accomplishment on behalf of Lady Lorraine."
At that, Arisa burst into laughter as if mocking.
"Puhahaha! Incredible confidence! Ashuhalt's missions are different in quality from mercenary corps' playing house. Monster legions and terrifying barbarians, you haven't even seen them properly."
I chuckled and nodded.
Playing house.
Does she call seeing the bottom of human malice where blood splashes, betrayal and conspiracy, assassination and murder with a borrowed knife, and selling people themselves occur, playing house?
Ashuhalt might be higher in martial power level, but mental difficulty, well.
But I didn't show it.
"Becoming stronger is my share to strive for. How is it, my proposal."
"Fine, I like it. I'll try to get along well with Sister Lorraine. Then tell me my weaknesses now. And I'll give you a gift too. Your sword looked very old? I'll give you a famous sword I kept stuck in the warehouse because I don't use it."
If it's a famous sword of Ashuhalt's direct line, even if not a treasured sword level, it would be a hundred times better than the old mercenary sword I use now.
I started to design the board in earnest.
"Then I'll tell you quickly. First, when attempting an attack mixed with a feint, your right shoulder lifts minutely. Second, when a combo leads to a spinning slash, your center of gravity leans on your heels. Third, you have a habit of processing your gaze three times. If you look three times, an attack always comes there."
"……What?"
Arisa made a blank expression as if dumbfounded.
"Would you like to spar again? I'll point them out one by one."
At that, Arisa waved her hand.
"Forget it, does that make sense? How do you see crap like that?"
"Well, let's call it experience. Because if you don't see it, you die. That's why."
"…Mercenary life isn't easy either. Then what's the last fourth one?"
I calmly designed the final trap.
"The last fourth. The total amount of Aura is insufficient."
"What? That's not something you can do anything abou…."
Before Arisa could finish speaking, I took out the mushroom I received from that unidentified man from my bosom.
It was a strangely shaped mushroom emitting a cold blue light.
"This is a spiritual elixir called 'Cold Blue Stone Fungus (Han-Cheong-Seok-Gyun)'. Do you know it?"
"!!!!"
Arisa's eyes grew big as if they would pop out.
She jumped up from her seat and stared piercingly at the mushroom on my hand.
"T-That is… From the land of barbarians! The crystal of mana that grows only deep in the caves of the permanent frozen soil?"
I don't know why that unidentified man gave this to me, but I had already finished investigating.
This mushroom contains immense mana, but for me who cannot use Aura, it was no different from deadly poison that could burst my energy vessels and kill me if eaten.
But for someone like Arisa who just started learning the cultivation method, it was a precious tonic more valuable than anything.
"How much will you buy it for?"
"Kuh, I don't have enough cash to buy that……! Instead, the sword I mentioned earlier, I'll change it to a treasured sword level!! Instead, I need to get some permission! Since it was a gift from Brother!"
"Good. Go get permission right now."
"R-Right now?"
"Should I just leave?"
"N-No!! W-Wait! Wait just a moment!!"
A while later, Arisa sent a servant and obtained Vince's permission.
With a short message saying 'It's your item so do as you please.'
Seducing one Duke's daughter, well, it's an easy win.
"Lady Arisa's biggest weakness is that the total amount of mana is shallow. Even if you're a genius, you're still young and haven't learned the cultivation method for long. Eat this and operate the cultivation method. You will be able to handle much larger energy than now."
Arisa's eyes were dyed with expectation.
"G-Give it right now!"
"Sword first."
"Tch! Thorough guy!"
Arisa immediately had the sword kept in her room brought.
A famous sword containing a cool chill.
I cheered inwardly as I accepted the sword.
Arisa's goodwill, cooperation for Lorraine, and a famous sword.
I bought all this with one spiritual elixir.
But this is just secondary income.
The real reward starts now.
"Take it."
Arisa snatched the mushroom as if fishing it and her eyes sparkled.
"Stand guard for me! I need to eat it right now."
I was worried about how to induce her to operate the Aura cultivation method, but she asks me to stand guard herself.
"……Will you be okay with me? Isn't standing guard entrusted to the most trustworthy person?"
"Huh? If you touch me, you won't make it out of this castle alive anyway? And you said you're a guy who keeps loyalty."
"True, I suppose."
Arisa swallowed the mushroom in one bite without hesitation and sat cross-legged on the bed.
Gulp—
The moment her throat moved, the air in the room began to cool rapidly.
The vast mana of the Cold Blue Stone Fungus was swirling inside her body.
It was then.
I took out a bead clear as crystal from my pocket.
Crunch—!
I crushed 'Ahisha's Eye' in my hand without hesitation.
Broken bead fragments turned into fine powder and seeped between my eyelids.
Instantly, the world flipped along with severe pain like needles stabbing my eyeballs.
"Kuh…!"
I bit my lip and held back a scream.
And when I opened my eyes, my vision was no longer ordinary.
Tens of thousands of glowing blood vessels penetrating Arisa's internal body, and the flow of blue mana huge like a storm flowing along those vessels were visible.
'Found it!'
Through what path the mana starting from Arisa's dantian passes through the heart, and through what nodes it circulates to the fingertips.
That complex and bizarre map of energy began to be imprinted on my brain in real-time.
I activated 'Trace' and commenced tracking Ashuhalt's Basic Cultivation Method.
The cultivation method Arisa uses must be the essence forming the basis of all Ashuhalt's martial power.
No need to be greedy. Stealing just that one perfectly is sufficient for now.
I opened my eyes wide.
To not miss a single tremor, a single node's flow.
One hour allowed by Ahisha's Eye.
During that time, I began to engrave the blueprint of that absolute power monopolized by the strongest family in the North into my eyes and soul.