The Classical Way (1)
"Very well."
Talon readily accepted Kalman's proposal to take command of the Steel Guard.
"To serve under the Sword Duke would be an honor for any swordsman."
Thanks to having fought alongside him in the Battle of Andrassy, Kalman's reputation among the northerners stood remarkably high.
At the time, he had been passed over for a commendation simply because he fought beneath the Emperor's banner. But his achievements were more than enough to claim first place outright — the number of demon officers felled by his Sure-Hit Sword had exceeded double digits.
And so Kalman was formally integrated into the duchy's command structure. Whether I could truly call him my subordinate remained an open question, but at the very least, a board was laid out for us to build something together.
"Wherever Sir Kalman goes, I will follow."
Irene also came over with Kalman. Despite having lost her arm twice, she remained as spirited as ever. Her swordsmanship was not yet at a level to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Steel Guard, but her aptitude for administrative work was exceptional.
Kalman favored her, and she had led the Empire's finest investigative team at such a young age — reason enough for the appointment.
But the two of them clinging together like needle and thread inevitably bred gossip.
For instance…
"It must be because she's in love with him."
Vitten declared with utter conviction.
"Sir Kalman had a reason to turn his back on the Empire. But Lady Irene didn't. She had no reason at all to follow a traitor of the Empire — and yet she threw away her entire foundation to come with him…"
"So you're saying it's affection, not loyalty?"
"That's right."
"If I went to war against the Emperor, would you cut me off?"
"What kind of absurd question is that? Of course not!"
Vitten shot up from his seat.
"That's exactly the point, Vitten. If that's how you'd act, there's no reason Irene would be any different."
"Hmm… I suppose that could be true."
"And you have better things to do than sit around here. Have you not heard that the Frost Knights and the Steel Guard will be holding joint training before long?"
"I-I have heard, but…"
Vitten wore an expression of pure dread.
"Then go and give it your all. From now on, the two knight orders will be doing everything together. How you're treated will depend on how you're evaluated, so you'd best bring your best."
Three years ago in the war, my knights had been defeated by Grimscale's knight order, the Grim Red. Their capabilities had risen far beyond those days, but there was still room to grow.
As it happened, the Steel Guard was searching for a new commander, so the plan was to keep stoking the rivalry between the two orders for the knights' development.
Kalman had brought me a brand-new headache. The moment he rose in the world, a 'fake mother' had crawled out of the woodwork to block her own child's path.
It was entirely plausible. I had learned from my own brothers that there exist people devoted to their desires far beyond what any ordinary person's common sense could comprehend.
The problem was that Uld, too, had been abandoned by her mother as a child.
What if the same thing happened to me? What if, the moment our grand engagement ceremony concluded, some con artist of a woman appeared claiming to be my mother?
And what if Uld, like Kalman, didn't even know her own mother's name — and insisted out of a sense of duty that the woman be accepted anyway?
"You called for me, Lord Eden?"
Uld opened the door and entered, bowing her head politely. She seemed to have been summoned in the middle of training — her hair tie had come undone, and her bobbed hair hung over her ears.
"Sit."
She looked nervous. She had every reason to be — between the two of us, I held the overwhelming position of power.
"I've set the date for the engagement."
"When…"
"April 15th. Twenty-four days from now."
A unilateral announcement. It couldn't be helped. I was the Duke, and every schedule in this domain revolved around me. April 15th happened, by rare fortune, to be one of the few open days on my calendar.
"I promise I won't put it off this time. Even if Mavel comes marching at the head of an army, the ceremony will go ahead as planned."
"Understood. I'll prepare as hard as I can, so that I'm no burden to you, Lord Eden."
She smiled awkwardly.
An unpleasant feeling welled up in me — as though the chain of status was binding not only her neck, but mine as well.
Perhaps all political marriages were like this. But of all people, I had to have Vitten at my side, and the easy, unguarded love he shared with Thalia ground against my eyes like a thorn.
That was when the real trouble began. The main event started now.
"I think it's about time we talked about your parents."
Uld flinched, her whole body stiffening.
"You already know my family's history. My mother, Ophelia Rain, was poisoned shortly before I was born and died during labor. My father, Drek Esterzy, fell in his final clash against the Demon Duke Ragnor. So neither of them can attend the ceremony."
Listening to Kalman's circumstances, I had thought how cruel fate could be — but it turned out the story was far from someone else's problem.
"What about you, Uld? I'd like to hear about your parents as well."
"I…"
Uld could not easily open her mouth.
Whatever she said, I would let it pass. No one had ever bothered to record the lives of commoners. Even if she claimed she'd been found as a baby beneath a rainbow, there would be no way to verify it.
"…I grew up happy. Until my father was murdered by Ragnor, that is."
"When was that?"
"A very long time ago… I can't recall exactly."
"Ragnor has never once appeared before humans, as far as anyone knows."
"My father made his living as a hunter. The trouble was that he ventured too deep into the Demonic Realm."
There was no doubt that Uld's father was a hunter skilled enough to come and go from the Demonic Realm. Her own inherited talent made that plain enough.
"How did you know it was Ragnor who did it?"
"Because I was there."
A flicker of pain crossed Uld's face. I pretended not to see it and moved to the next question.
"And your mother?"
"She left a long time ago as well. She will never come back."
"I'm curious why she left."
"She said she hated me. She didn't like a single thing about me."
I could not press any further. If I did, I felt she would burrow straight into the ground and disappear.
But one thing was clear.
Uld's parents would not be appearing at the engagement ceremony.
Time flew by. While Mavel gathered armies from across the Empire, I turned my attention to developing the farmland of the Underworld.
On paper, it was no difficult undertaking at all. Drive in Oradium stakes to channel the dragon vein, then lay a barrier with talismans to keep the energy from leaking out.
The gist of the farmland project was this: supply enough qi from the dragon vein, and we could expect harvests as bountiful as anything on the surface.
Carrying the stakes Uncle Ruka had forged, I headed for Ruby's nest. The land that had once been full of Gurok mushrooms and red-capped fungi had been completely cleared by the Survey Bureau and turned into a road.
"I'm about to drive the stakes in here."
I turned to Ruby.
"But first, I'll need your permission."
"Peep—!"
Ruby lifted her head and gave a short cry.
"Much obliged, Ruby."
"Did Ruby actually understand you, Master?"
Laszlo asked, flustered.
"Of course. She's clever enough to learn Daoist arts on her own."
"Peep—!"
Ruby gave another short cry. It meant she was pleased with the compliment.
I used to cast the Shrink-Body Technique on Ruby from time to time. But for the past three years, there had been no need — Ruby had grasped the principles of the technique herself and was now casting it on her own body.
Which meant the old tale wasn't wrong — the dragon that herded black clouds and commanded the harmonies of heaven and earth.
And then, suddenly, a thought occurred to me. What would happen if I taught Ruby the Art of Transformation? Would she approach me in human form and strike up a conversation?
…Theoretically, it isn't impossible, I suppose.
"Laszlo, you drive in the stakes."
"Yes, Master."
Laszlo joined forces with the knights and drove the stakes into the ground.
Thud-thud-thud-thud——
The instant they sank home, the earth began to tremble.
"Raise the barrier!"
I spread my barrier with a sharp shout, and Laszlo chanted his incantations and unfurled his talismans.
For all that the plan seemed effortless, it demanded one crucial thing: the caster had to be strong enough to withstand the backflow of the dragon vein.
"Ghh…!"
I kept a sideways watch on Laszlo. His face was flushed to the point of bursting. Sweat dripped down, and the veins stood out on his neck.
He was struggling far more than expected. No — the power of the dragon vein itself was far greater than we had anticipated.
"Focus!"
I grabbed a handful of Qi-Release Talismans and hurled them out.
The dragon vein was, in essence, the star's own meridian. This situation was no different from an overflow in principle. If a frenzied meridian could be tamed with Qi-Release Talismans, then the rampage of the dragon vein could be brought to heel the same way.
As the vein settled, Laszlo's color visibly improved. Riding the momentum, we forced the surging backflow into the barrier.
"Well? What do you think, Laszlo?"
"…It's truly staggering."
Laszlo pressed his palm against the ground and marveled.
"If it hadn't been for you, Master, I would never have believed such a thing was possible."
What he sensed was the writhing of the dragon vein beneath the earth's crust. A portion of that colossal power was turning against its natural course, being channeled into the stakes.
The power we had handled was the very source of the star itself. Only an infinitesimally small fraction of it — but even that would be more than enough to farm the land.
"All that's left now is to do this another hundred and one times."
"Haha…"
Laszlo slumped to the ground where he stood.
"Then I'll rest just a little, Master."
The lad was fast asleep before he'd even finished answering — dead to the world.
Master Zahersun used to push me to my very limit the same way. A dantian, he'd said, was like a storehouse — the more you emptied it, the larger it grew.
I instructed the knights to keep a close eye on Laszlo. This region was secured by the Survey Bureau, but caution never cost anything.
That was when it happened.
"Who goes there!"
The knights barked fiercely. From the north, an armed company came walking into view, and at their head stood a figure so towering he could hardly be mistaken for a man. I recognized his identity from the silhouette alone.
"Srudal!"
Srudal could no longer be called merely an ogre knight. Broad-brimmed hat on his head and a pocketed vest over his torso, he looked every inch the field ecologist.
"Lord Prince Eden, is that you?"
Srudal asked. Behind him appeared his expedition party of scholars and soldiers. Srudal's face split into an enormous grin — assuming I was reading an ogre's expressions correctly — and he came thundering toward me.
"It has been half a year since I last saw you, my lord. I have missed you terribly."
"And I you, Srudal."
It had been so long that the news of my changed station hadn't yet reached him. Well, plenty of people besides Srudal found it confusing. It wasn't as though I'd held a proper coronation.
I had skipped the ceremony out of deference to my father. Since I hadn't formally inherited the title, throwing a feast for myself hadn't seemed right.
"I have a great deal to report. A great many things have happened."
"I don't doubt it. And I have more than a story or two for you as well."
"First, regarding food resources: we have discovered seven additional species of edible plants and three species of insects. I have personally tasted each and confirmed them to be safe. We also found one beast suitable for domestication. Its odor is foul, but it produces a great deal of milk and breeds quickly. Furthermore, we have located another of Sir Ivan Esterzy's camps. Sir Ivan was heading north. According to the documents recovered from the camp—"
"Hold on, hold on, Srudal."
I stopped him with a laugh.
"Yes, my lord."
"Rest comes first. Get washed up and have a proper meal. Look at your team members — they look like they'll keel over at any moment."
"Ah. So they do."
Srudal said sheepishly.
"Then I shall compile the report and present it to you properly later."
"Good work out there."
I was curious what he'd been up to for half a year underground. But I was no tyrant so heartless as to make exhausted subordinates stand at attention while I listened to reports.
The expedition team returned to the surface. I stayed at the nest for several days, continuing the barrier work with Laszlo. From the second installation onward, he no longer blacked out — it seemed my Master's 'empty storehouse theory' was proving exactly right.
Only after a week did I finally come up to the surface. And to my bewilderment, an extraordinary number of people were waiting for me: Vitten and Thalia, Opils, Lily, and even Kalman.
"If this is about engagement preparations, I was planning to start on them soon."
I offered the excuse reflexively, under Lily's piercing stare.
"This is not about the engagement. There is an urgent message from the Empire."
Opils stepped forward as the spokesman.
"Adras?"
"Lord Mavel, my lord."
"What business does my brother have?"
"He wishes to negotiate. Face to face, with His Grace the Duke — that is, with you alone."
I wondered if I'd heard him right. Negotiations, at this late stage? He was the one who'd kicked the mediation proposal aside in the first place.
"It appears Lord Mavel's campaign has not gone as smoothly as he hoped. He wishes to settle matters the classical way."
"The classical way?"
"A duel."
Kalman said, arms folded. The corner of his mouth had curled up, just slightly.
"Seems he's confident he can beat you."