The Two Dukes (2)
The Empire's laws concerning title succession could be summed up in a single phrase: "Figure it out yourselves."
There was no codified statute on the matter—only a vague body of customary law. Who was favored more by the current title holder? Who commanded the greater support among the nobility? Thanks to that loose yardstick, the courts never knew a day's rest all year long; quarrels over inheritance broke out practically every other day.
After my father collapsed, the question of favoritism became moot. What mattered now was who could rally the greater share of noble support.
To settle that question, Uncle Ruka, Lucian of the Gray Trading Company, Thalia of the Frost Knights, and my father's adjutant Talon had all gathered in one room. These four formed the backbone of my faction.
"Lord Iden." Uld addressed me cautiously. "Is it really all right for me to be here...?"
"Of course it is," I said flatly. "If it feels like too much, just listen. Everyone here will understand your position."
Uld nodded, still looking uncertain. She wasn't the type to sit in a ducal residence keeping house—she was meant to be my partner someday. I couldn't leave her out of a gathering this important.
Shortly after, Ruka and the rest of my close aides filed into the meeting room.
"Greetings, Lord Iden," Lucian said in a bright, lilting voice. "And this lady must be Lady Uld, the future Duchess. Seeing her this close, I finally understand why people never tired of praising her beauty and her strength. For those two virtues to exist in harmony is truly a rare blessing."
"...Huh?" Uld was utterly flustered by Lucian's silver tongue. She seemed to have no immunity whatsoever to aristocratic pleasantries. Unable to watch any longer, I chimed in from the side.
"Take whatever this man says with a grain of salt. He's the biggest flatterer in the duchy."
"A flatterer? That's rather harsh, my lord. And here I remember when you called me one of your finest aides," Lucian said with a sly grin. "Besides, I wasn't wrong, was I?"
"...That's enough, I said. You're embarrassing her."
I really ought to keep this man away from Uld. He'd teach nothing but bad habits to a country girl who'd spent her life swinging a sword in the mountains.
"It's an honor, Lord Iden." Talon gave a silent bow. Then his gaze shifted to Uld.
Of all my father's retainers, Talon's reaction was the one I'd been most curious about. What would he make of my engagement announcement? Talon had served at my father's side longer than anyone; no one alive knew my father's mind better.
"Some time ago, my lord said something to me in jest," Talon began. "That he hoped his youngest daughter-in-law would be someone as strong as himself."
He smiled faintly. "Congratulations on your victory in the tournament, Lady Uld. That final move was truly remarkable."
With that brief greeting, Talon declared his support for both Uld and me. For my father's closest confidant to stand at my side, passing over my elder brothers, was enormously symbolic.
"Now that everyone's here, let's begin." I took the head seat and turned to Ruka. "Where do we stand right now?"
"Not good," Ruka said gravely. "The moment word spread that Mabel had the Emperor's ear, nearly half the nobles who'd put their names on the joint petition contacted us asking to have them removed."
"How could they...!" Uld cried out indignantly—then, catching the five of us staring at her wide-eyed, she clapped a hand over her mouth in a fluster. "S-sorry!"
"It's quite all right. I feel much the same," Ruka said with a laugh, his tone softening. "That's feudalism for you. A vassal's oath is worth less than the contract between a mercenary band and its employer."
"There's also the problem that the Emperor appears to be favoring Lord Mabel," Lucian put in. "Several circumstances work against us. The first is the news that Lord Mabel enjoys the imperial family's backing. Despite Count Kalman filing petition after petition, the palace has put off Mabel's punishment with one excuse after another—and has even restored House Hycliffe, Mabel's maternal kin, to standing."
The Marquess of Hycliffe had been imprisoned when the Floating Castle affair came to light, convicted of conspiring with the demon race. For a felon of that magnitude to be pardoned should have been unthinkable.
"And the second?"
"Second, the pro-Chris faction—once the most powerful force in the Esterzy Duchy—was forcibly dismantled by your hand, Lord Iden."
Shutting down the Ravenshade Trading Company had triggered a massive backlash. Plenty of upstart trading houses found room to rise in its wake, but plenty of others were ruined in the process.
"...Is there a third, by any chance?"
"Plenty more where those came from," Lucian said with an easy smile.
"Summarize as best you can."
"The third is your own reputation, Lord Iden."
"What's wrong with my reputation?"
"You are the Savior of Andrassy, my lord—but you are also notorious as the "Little Tyrant." Digging up the mausoleum to mine its ore, burning your second brother's legs and locking him in a tower, and..." Lucian let the words trail off, glancing sidelong at Uld. "...you do have a rather unusual birth story, don't you?"
"You mean the one about me freezing my mother to death on my way into the world?"
"That's the one."
"Utter nonsense. My sister didn't die because of Iden—she was poisoned. Poisoned by that vile wretch Chris," Ruka denied hotly.
"The problem isn't whether it's true, but that so many people believe it," Lucian went on. "To some, you will look like nothing more than a tyrant who rages without rhyme or reason. Lord Mabel, meanwhile, will appear as the dependable eldest son who kept the domain safe and sound for years."
Chris had been diligently spreading slander about me through high society for ages. At the time I'd dismissed it as pointless mischief—busywork, nothing more. I never imagined it would come back to trip me up like this.
"Are there no favorable circumstances?"
"I can give you one," Ruka offered. "Money is pouring out of the Oradium mines. If Mabel comes marching in with an army, he's going to learn the North isn't as poor as it used to be."
It took me back to the day I visited the capital with my father. I'd been shocked to discover that mercenaries in the central provinces were better equipped than the knights of the North—when it was northerners who actually gambled their lives against monsters. So I had poured the Oradium profits into arming the duchy's knights and soldiers.
"Will we end up fighting Lord Mabel?" Uld asked, wearing the gravest expression in the world. "There can't be two lords over one territory, after all."
"Succession disputes rarely end in a courtroom. Most of the time, the two sides fail to find common ground and it turns into open war over the domain."
"Sorry you have to watch something so ugly," I said with a bitter laugh. However much I'd entered this engagement intending to make use of her, she had come for my sake. It felt wrong to open with talk of a war between brothers.
"I know you're not the brute the rumors make you out to be, Lord Iden. I've seen with my own eyes how you fight to protect people." Uld came to my defense, and I felt a touch embarrassed. Her purity was like staring into a mirror and finding my past self looking back.
"That's a favorable circumstance too, you know," Lucian said. "However much they smear you, your ability and your deeds are facts no one can deny."
"Of course," Ruka added with a nod.
Lucian went on. "It isn't only your defense of Andrassy County. You felled the flame giant, struck down the demon viscount alongside Count Kalman—you've been building your martial renown steadily since childhood. Even the people who hate you can't deny what you're capable of."
"The Steel Guard will stand at Lord Iden's side," Talon declared. "No man can claim legitimacy without the Steel Guard behind him."
"Thank you, Talon." I acknowledged him with a nod. "I'm curious where the vassal counts stand, too. In the end, the contest will turn on whose side they choose."
The Duchy of Esterzy counted five counts among its vassals. Depending on where they stood, the whole affair might pass without major upheaval.
"Count Abaro apparently can't stand you. His house has already issued a statement demanding you be stripped of the post of acting lord and that 'the true Duke, Mabel,' be installed in your place," Ruka said, wearing a scornful sneer as though the very notion were beneath contempt.
Count Abaro had stumbled into my trap and spent two years circling inside the formation before finally clawing his way out not long ago. In the meantime, his son Laszlo had disbanded the house's knights and wound up most of the family's assets. Which made him, as of now, my mortal enemy—a man who could no longer live under the same sky as me.
"House Bilroy is holding to neutrality, though they did sign the petition. The old Count Bilroy is still grateful to you for buying his manor at a handsome price eight years ago."
I'd thought I got the better end of that bargain. The building I purchased back then still serves as the knight order's headquarters to this day.
"Count Putterkey signed the petition as well, then abruptly changed his tune and demanded his name be struck from it. Worse still, he seems to be leading the charge in spreading gossip about you."
"I know the reason for that one."
A few days before the tournament, Count Putterkey had come calling to push his daughter on me. The implication had been clear enough: skip the tournament and marry his daughter instead. When I refused, he apparently took it as a personal affront.
"Count Andrassy says he'd gladly cross swords with the Emperor himself for your sake. He's apparently praying Mabel attacks, so he can put his newly founded knight order to the test."
We looked around at one another and laughed. Over the past three years, Count Andrassy and I had grown close enough to visit each other regularly.
"And last, County Benedek remains neutral. That makes it two against two. We won't find common ground through talk."
"They'll come with the full backing of the imperial family and the central nobility," Talon said. He was a seasoned hand at exactly this kind of territorial warfare. "There won't be just one or two knights disguised as mercenaries among them. It's dirty, but it's a time-honored method."
"It's a hurdle we'd have to cross sooner or later regardless," I said firmly. "I've resolved to become Duke. There is nothing Mabel can offer that would make me yield."
"Ah—we've left out one favorable circumstance," Lucian said, his gaze moving between me, Uld, and Thalia. "The fact that this faction boasts three Grand Masters."
"And it would be a shame to forget the dragon, too." I laughed, stroking Ruby. In high spirits, Ruby let out a happy squeak and nuzzled her head against my cheek.
"Of course. How could I ever forget," Lucian said, laughing warmly.