The Duke's Commission
"......"
Leaving Larissa behind with her cheeks puffed out in faint displeasure, I made my way forward.
The heart of the Grand Duchy was Velburg, and at the center of Velburg itself stood the Grand Duke's audience chamber.
I had been here once before, but seeing it again, the feeling was somehow different.
Last time, the pressure of the place crushed me.
I had done my best to hide it, but the truth was that Luke Bahen had utterly overwhelmed me.
Things were different now.
"We meet again."
"You've grown comfortable with your words."
"You seemed to prefer it this way."
Luke Bahen didn't answer. He simply stared at me for a long moment, and the silence was suffocating enough that Johannes, who had escorted me here, was beginning to turn pale—
"Young men truly are a pleasure to watch. Every time I see you, you've grown."
His booming laughter rang out, and with it, his mana spread in every direction.
Mana taking physical form from nothing more than a laugh.
Truly, a Grand Duke was a Grand Duke.
"So. Do you have some idea why I called you here?"
"I believe you wish to finish the conversation we couldn't have last time."
A strong North. A unified North.
Something about it felt dangerous, but in any case, it was what the Grand Duke of Bahen wanted as well.
I knew exactly what I lacked at present.
But for me, this was a declaration.
A declaration that I would stop the Great Northern Invasion and eliminate one of the apocalypse triggers.
Even if it painted me in a poor light before the central government.
I couldn't stop now.
Dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on.
"Bahen will not step forward."
"That's fine."
"You won't ask why?"
"Because of how it would look to the capital, I imagine."
He wasn't stepping forward—but he also couldn't step forward.
And honestly, that was the right call.
If a giant like Bahen moved without cause, the mad Emperor could very well brand the entire North as traitors.
The fallout from that?
The current Emperor wasn't the type to concern himself with such things. The man's mind was already slipping, and he didn't have much time left anyway—he wouldn't spare it a single thought.
"You do know how to think. Yes—if you want your unified North, you'll have to make it happen yourself."
"That's the plan."
"You've been doing quite well so far."
I squared my shoulders a little at his unreserved praise.
If I couldn't even manage this much, the title of headbutting dinosaur would be wasted on me.
"But as the second son of a barony, there's a limit to what you can do."
"You're probably right."
"No one in the North would dare talk back to my word. But anyone in the North could talk back to yours."
It was an obvious statement, nothing to be ashamed of.
The military might Bahen possessed, and the achievements Luke had earned. Both were undeniably impressive, but the single greatest reason no one could stand against him was simply that he was the Grand Duke.
Not that the order of things mattered.
A baronial house—and not even its head, just the second son. Compared to Bahen, I couldn't have been humbler.
My position was one where I couldn't even properly claim my inheritance.
My performance at the Subjugation Festival had changed how people saw my achievements, but the limits of my station remained unchanged.
"If it were up to me, I'd have you betrothed to Larissa, but the wishes of those involved matter most."
"Er... that would be more than I deserve."
"Don't tell me Larissa isn't to your liking?"
"No, it's not that..."
First my brother, and now the Grand Duke himself?
I was starting to get genuinely sick of it.
"I'm only teasing. What kind of Northern man scares so easily?"
Perhaps my reaction had been rather amusing, because he let out a dry chuckle—and then his expression changed.
"As it happens, a problem has arisen in my direct domain."
"What kind of problem?"
At the sudden gravity in his voice, I calmly raised my head and met his eyes.
His gaze was brimming with interest, as if asking how I would respond.
"Contact has been lost with the vassals I dispatched to a territory called Brücke."
Brücke was a city practically neighboring the Rashid domain.
And yet the whereabouts of vassals dispatched by the Grand Ducal house had gone dark...
"That's a serious matter."
"But I'm in no position to move personally."
He had a point.
The workload of House Bahen was truly staggering. It wasn't just matters within their own territory—they practically governed the entire North.
And on top of that, signs of civil unrest had begun stirring in the northeast.
"I want to entrust this investigation to you."
Brücke. Adjacent to the Rashid domain—practically a next-door neighbor.
But I knew all too well how important that region was.
The de facto bridgehead of the Great Northern Invasion.
Brücke was the logistics hub connecting the North's many territories. At the same time, it was the staging point from which the demons had launched their assaults on the surrounding cities.
That alone was problem enough, but...
the moment Brücke fell, the Rashid domain right beside it would inevitably be swept up in the tide.
After all, that was how Kain Rashid died in the game...
Yes. This has to be done.
It wasn't just about accumulating merit. Lives were on the line.
My life—and the lives of countless others.
"I like that you don't waste words. Investigate the truth of the matter and see it through to the end. Depending on your results, you may find yourself governing Brücke."
At those words, I simply bowed my head.
Brücke was a county-level territory, even in its current state of chaos.
In one stroke, I would gain a new title.
There was no reason to refuse.
"I will see it done."
"Oh, and one more thing... that trade you spoke of. It was settled for far less than I expected."
Slowly, I followed the Grand Duke's gaze toward Johannes.
Startled to suddenly have eyes on him, Johannes looked flustered.
And at the end of that gaze rested Winterbane, sheathed at his waist.
"Winterbane is one of the famed swords passed down through House Bahen. I will pay you a reward befitting it."
As he finished speaking, an attendant approached carrying something.
"This is..."
What he held out was a single book.
A book titled Berserk (Frenzy) — Revised (Change).
A skill book.
One of those precious skill books.
◈ Description: An old shamanic rite handed down in the North, improved by House Bahen. Upon use, physical abilities greatly increase and mana efficiency improves. Inflicts a minor berserk debuff.
A simple description.
Reading it, I couldn't help but smile.
I never expected to get this here.
Under normal circumstances, this wasn't a skill you could obtain at this point in time.
It required fulfilling quite a few Demanding—no, demanding conditions all at once.
You had to raise Northern favorability to a high level, and on top of that, grind affinity with every member of the Bahen family.
I was the one who discovered it in the first place, after all.
At the game's starting point, Larissa Bahen was already active in the capital. After maxing out her affinity, I'd been digging through the North looking for any lead that might stop the apocalypse—and this was the skill I found.
Unlike ordinary berserk skills that boosted physical abilities only to immediately slap you with a debuff, this one amplified the effects while reducing the drawback.
Strictly speaking, it doesn't stray too far from the Northern warrior build.
This was a combination the Northern warrior crowd had gone absolutely wild testing out. The conclusion was that Berserk-Revised and the build had decent synergy.
Cold Heart's mental resistance could minimize the berserk debuff, letting you pocket the physical enhancement while ignoring the cost.
Like I said—not bad at all.
But it wasn't a perfect match for the build either.
The Northern warrior build centered on baiting openings and countering, which made this skill better suited to something a bit more aggressive.
Naturally, my mind went straight to other applications.
What if I just built an entirely different build around it?
There was nothing inherently flawed about the skill itself, so I judged it would work perfectly as a core component. And among the many builds I'd designed back then, one of them was...
The Bahen Grand Duke build.
Extreme Attack, Berserk-Revised, and beyond that, an aggressive swordsmanship style. Since the build was nearly impossible to run without ties to Bahen, some clever soul had named it that—and it sold remarkably well.
It proudly claimed a top spot on the build power rankings, too.
Hard to complete, yes—but its sheer performance made it wildly popular.
Another strength is that the build branches in several directions depending on which swordsmanship you pair with it.
It synergized well with just about any decent swordsmanship style—a build with outstanding versatility and efficiency. And I'd even stacked the groundwork needed to learn that style.
With that thought, I slowly raised my head and looked at Luke Bahen.
"Thank you. For something so precious..."
"It's a fitting reward. As I said."
Luke Bahen watched me with an air of indifference—then the corner of his mouth curled up slightly.
"So see to it that this matter goes well. I have high expectations."
"Understood. Please, do expect great things."
With a small bow, I slowly made my way out of the audience chamber.
Tarian, waiting outside, turned to look at me.
"Nothing unusual happened this time either, I trust?"
"Oh, something happened."
I flashed him the skill book.
"We've got somewhere to go."
"...?"
"Brücke."
A new destination. Perhaps it was unexpected, because Tarian tilted his head slightly.
"I thought you would be returning to the domain, my lord?"
"We'll stop by first, but after that we're heading straight there."
"Understood. I'll make the preparations."
Just as he said, our first stop was the Rashid domain.
While Tarian readied things for departure, I went to find Larissa.
"Come with me."
"Okay, got it."
A refreshingly quick answer.
She'd agreed to grant my requests for the time being, but I hadn't expected there to be no hesitation whatsoever.
"Leaving right away?"
"Ah, yes."
"I'll get ready."
With that, Larissa strode off quickly. I stared after her, still a little dazed—
"Where are you going?"
"Why do you care?"
"Take me with you if you're going!"
"What?"
I sighed at Johannes, who had somehow crept up and blurted that out.
"Why would I?"
"W-well, I have to repay you for the sword..."
"The Grand Duke already compensated me for that."
"...I want to grow stronger too, watching your swordsmanship and learning from it."
He hesitated for a moment before saying it.
"Ah... and I want to watch Tarian's sword and my sister's too."
He added it belatedly, but the sincerity showing through his fidgeting expression drew a small sigh out of me.
"If I take you, will you behave?"
"Of course! What do you take me for?"
"......"
Not convincing in the slightest.
I hadn't planned on bringing him, but still—
Not a bad addition.
One way or another, I'd picked up a fairly useful asset for the road ahead.