Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Northern Duke (13)
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"You want to learn our family's unique training method?"
"Yes. I've heard even mages can master it."
"I don't know where you heard that, but you're right. My uncle was a mage."
In the seat prepared to reward merit, I cut straight to the chase.
'I need to temper my body for the next plan. If he refuses...'
I'd worried about seducing the Duke's Daughter and becoming a live-in son-in-law if the Northern Duke turned me down...
'But I haven't even seen her face?'
Reflecting on my time in the North, I realized things had veered far from expectations.
'Eh, as long as the outcome's good.'
The Northern Duke addressed me as I pondered.
"What are you mulling over? Is that really all you want?"
"Pardon?"
I could forget how the nerfed Northern Duke, utterly smitten with the original heroine, handed it over easily.
Sharing a family's secret techniques with an outsider was never simple.
"Now it's my turn to think. What else should I give you besides our unique training method?"
"Can you really give it away that easily?"
I didn't need to ask, but I couldn't hold back.
"I could even give you my seat as Northern Duke... You thought I was joking?"
'Of course I thought it was a joke!'
I barely swallowed the words about to escape.
"Well, the Northern Duke position would just be a burden anyway, so I'll give you a reward on par with that."
"In that case, I have a request."
I cautiously outlined my future plans.
"Hmm... That's not a reward."
"It's more necessary to me than anything."
"Fine! You said you'd leave in at most two months, right? I'll teach you the unique training method myself!"
"Pardon? No, that's too much..."
"You think our family's training method is easy? Come to the training grounds right now."
The massive Northern Duke grabbed my arm.
"It'll be best for you if I teach you personally with all I've got."
"That's true, but..."
His reliable smile terrified me this time.
Two months flew by like an arrow.
"Get up, Eric! You can still do it!"
"Ugh... At least... take the iron weight off..."
"I know your body better than you do. You haven't reached your limit yet."
The Northern Duke sat on my back as I did push-ups face-down on the ground.
A massive iron weight rested on his shoulders.
'The original heroine mastered it easily, so I underestimated it!'
In the original story, the heroine mastered it in just two weeks before leaving the North.
I'd thought two months would suffice, but great trials awaited me.
"I'd love to watch you for another year, but time's truly up now."
The Northern Duke rose from my sprawled back on the dirt.
Instinctively, I began the mana circulation I'd repeated for two months.
Mana seeped into my battered muscles.
'Transform damaged muscles with mana... Honestly, I have no clue what's happening.'
I'd dreamed of a powerful physique, but my body looked no different from two months ago.
'Well, romance fantasy heroines can't bulk up with muscle.'
Muscle conversion progressed slower than expected, so I hadn't gained strength to overwhelm the savages.
But I'd at least met the minimum threshold.
As I circulated mana lying down, the Northern Duke approached.
"Here's the promised proof token."
He tossed me a dark brown twig etched with special patterns.
It looked like an ordinary branch, but gripping it revealed a hardness stronger than steel.
Even I, after two months of training, couldn't break it.
"Show that to Kargos. He's the two-headed brute among the barbarians, so you won't mistake him."
Twenty years ago, the Northern Duke defeated the savage chieftain in single combat but didn't execute him.
Instead, he made a pact not to attack the Great Barrier while the current chieftain lived.
For twenty years, the savages hadn't approached the Great Barrier.
'The problem is that oath is now broken.'
Oaths through duels were sacred.
Savages valued oaths above life, yet they invaded the Great Barrier despite their chieftain living.
"And... take this."
The Northern Duke handed me a white robe.
"This is..."
"A robe made by a mage tower archmage. Tailored for spatial magic use—you'll like it."
As sweat cooled and chill set in,
donning the robe brought a warm breeze.
"Temperature control and cleanliness are standard, and it'll make casting easier."
Testing with mana circulation, the robe's magic circle responded.
'This... efficiency will double at least?'
As I fiddled with the robe, the Northern Duke spoke.
"I used a robe production right I earned fulfilling a mage tower request. It might not be enough, but..."
"No, it's more than enough."
Spatial mages were so rare that robes made for them were scarce.
One crafted by an 8th Circle archmage was likely unique.
As I examined the robe, the Duke's Son approached leading a red horse.
"This horse will go with you. It's a specially bred breed—handles freezing cold or desert heat fine."
The red horse, well-trained, nuzzled my hand when I reached out.
"Please... take good care of our Alessandro..."
"If he's so precious, give me a lazier one?"
"You bastard! Insulting our Alessandro?!"
"No, that's not—"
As I soothed the angry Duke's Son, Ray approached from afar, where she'd watched my training.
"You won't ask me to come along, right?"
"Why? You want to?"
Ray smiled faintly.
Truth be told, heading alone into the savages' heart was terrifying.
I knew their habits from the original, but beyond the Great Barrier was uncharted even there.
I knew it was necessary, but trembling was inevitable.
"Just watch. I'll reach 5th Circle within the year... Next time, I won't let you go alone."
A mere 4th Circle Ray joining in such a place would likely be a liability.
Aware of that, Ray busied herself preparing for 5th Circle promotion using mana stones from conquering a top-tier dungeon.
"You really don't need an escort?"
"Considering their customs, none is safer."
"Right, they have that culture of going to dangerous places on coming-of-age rites."
Posing as on a rite, blending in—any protector-like companion would hurt that.
"A saintess appeared in the southernmost Northern village. I tried blocking her as much as possible, but..."
"I'm leaving now, so it doesn't matter."
"She claims she's here for my daughter, but... her real target is you."
The Duke's Daughter had her curse lifted via the pendant from the dungeon's end.
But her weakened body required intensive treatment.
"Make sure to meet my daughter... Ahem. Go safely."
The Northern Duke swallowed his words under Ray's intense gaze.
"If you die, I'll chase you to hell."
"I'm not going to die."
Ray's gaze now pierced me.
"I'll hit 5th Circle tomorrow if needed, so come back quick."
"Jeez, you'll die first at that rate."
"I'll keep watch, so don't worry."
"Does the Northern Duke have nothing better to do?"
"The work's done by those guys."
The Northern Duke smiled, shifting his gaze.
Following it, I saw men laboring under knight supervision.
"A hundredfold payback for the damage they caused. That should let them live as Northerners again."
"Won't run out of work?"
"Once the annex repairs finish, off to the Great Barrier."
The men who'd intimidated merchants hauled heavy stones.
Those who'd joined the Black Boar Mercenary Corps received labor sentences matching their inflicted damage.
Furious merchants tallied the costs, making sentencing straightforward.
"We'll be late at this rate. Head out."
"Next time, I'll return with the savages—no, barbarians."
"Come back safe."
"Hurry back. I'll hit 5th Circle by tonight."
I departed for the Great Barrier amid their farewells.
'Next targets... the barbarians.'
Barbarian and savage meant the same, but the author didn't know—the tribes beyond called themselves barbarians.
Savage was the Northerners' derogatory term.
Barbarian was their self-designation.
In the original, barbarians detonated mana bombs at the Great Barrier, attacked the North, and got annihilated by the heroine.
What shattered their oaths and beliefs to invade the North?
The original never explained.
'Didn't think much reading the novel...'
Their suicidal assault must have a reason.
I stepped toward the unknown lands.
While Eric trained under the Northern Duke's methods, inside the academy.
"Elly, hear about it? A space mage interfered with an archdemon's subspace in the Northern Duke's territory!"
"Uh, yeah? Really?"
The pink-haired woman forced an awkward smile, replying to the brown-haired woman.
"They say he saved the Northern Duke? Name was..."
"Eric, probably?"
"Huh? Oh yeah! Heard from a friend in the other class... How'd you know?"
"Uh... well..."
I'd answered unconsciously, and the brown-haired woman pressed me.
I glanced at the status window floating in my vision.
★ Northern Duke Route has been deleted.
★ Northern and Empire Cold War arc has been deleted.
★ Virus detected. Find and kill the virus.
Virus: 5th Circle Space Mage Eric von Berg
'Of course it popped up ages ago! So many changes!'
I recalled the message from class two months prior.
'Northern Duke route gone, fine... But cold war's standard in romance fantasies, and that's deleted too?'
I briefly reviewed the original plot.
The heroine meets the Northern Duke sunk in despair after losing father and sister.
I didn't know what followed, but...
'Eh, they'd probably get all lovey-dovey. Seen a few.'
Lost in thought, a woman's voice reached my ears.
"Elly, you..."
Maybe because I'd gone quiet too long.
The brown-haired woman eyed me suspiciously.
I hastily fabricated an excuse.
"No, I think I heard it somewhere..."
"You bought magazines outside academy behind my back!"
"Huh?"
An unexpected retort.
The brown-haired woman's suspicion turned to certainty as she slowly grinned.
"Always begging me to buy new ones! Found a good publisher?"
"N-no, that's not—"
"What I saw just said '5th Circle space mage,' but my friend's secret publisher named him Eric! And since he's a young man, rumors say he might be the one the Papal Court thought died last year..."
"Tell me more?"
A woman's voice came from behind.
Familiar from club time every Friday.
I quietly swallowed.
"...So the cardinals... Huh?"
The brown-haired woman, chattering excitedly, whipped around at the voice.
Her gaze caught red hair.
The ever-present trademark dark circles.
Skin faintly blue-tinged from mana depletion warning signs.
The academy's celebrity: half a year at 4th Circle, yet rumors swirled of imminent 5th Circle.
"Well... It's just what I heard..."
The brown-haired woman desperately rolled her eyes for rescue, but
'Sorry. Gotta survive.'
I quietly looked away.
"Just tell what you know. I'll meet the Northern Duke next month as 2nd-year magic department rep anyway. I can ask him directly."
Her tone calm, but Scarlet's gaze on the brown-haired woman was anything but gentle.