CH 64

“Brother, maybe we shouldn’t be doing this. I think it would be better for us to go to him.”

“Nonsense. He was the one who entered our family’s ancestral land without our permission. He needs to show proper respect.”

The eldest son, Nestor, gave a firm response to his brother, Geor. He was currently out patrolling due to the frequent appearance of roamers and bandits in his family’s land.

Nestor wasn’t in a good mood.

Perhaps he could be generous and forgive the troops for entering his family’s land without notice or permission. However, the problem was with the commander of the troops. The commander was an unknown knight from the outside, so how could he be a lord? Nestor had endured long years of hardship as an aide before becoming a knight. However, he had not been sworn in even though he had vanquished numerous bandits and roamers over the past two years!

“But even father stamped his seal on the approval document. Let’s not pick a fight with him and invite him to the castle instead.”

Aor, Geor’s twin, could not hide his excitement as he agreed with his twin. “I think that would be a good idea as well! He’s a Wyvern Slayer. If we invite him to the banquet, we could hear all about how he was able to accomplish it. I’m very curious as to how he killed it. Rumor has it that he is over 2 meters tall. Is it because he’s extremely strong?”

“Tsk! How old are you to believe such nonsensical stories? He must have been lucky enough to kill a roamer. And I heard that he has more than one hundred subordinates. It would have been disgraceful if he couldn’t kill a single wyvern chick with such a force.”

“Is that so? I still think he must be an amazing knight. It seems he’s killed some trolls near Maren as well.”

“Rumors have always been exaggerated.”

Nestor was certain. Either the young, naïve knight was extremely lucky, or he had a great noble as his benefactor. Perhaps both were true.

“Huh? Brother, over there!”

Everyone’s eyes shifted.

They could see two knights leading a group of soldiers with the flag of a black dragon.

“….”

Nestor gulped anxiously. He could intuitively sense that the leading knight was equipped with plate armor that was extremely valuable. Moreover, he was dispirited after seeing the countless soldiers following behind the knights. Surely, such a large force could not be disregarded even if they were participating in a war between great nobles.

‘This is the power of silver. This is only possible because he’s rich. People like them are nothing when it comes to skill. They’re nothing.’

Nestor attempted to deny the intimidation he felt and bit his lips. The antipathy and jealousy he felt towards his opponent continued to grow.

“Are you the sons of Lord Feedren?”

The eyes of the brothers filled with shock when Eugene took off his helmet. The young knight was incomparably beautiful, and he was incomparably young as well.

‘Wow…’

The twins were awestruck, but Nestor became enraged and surprised after discovering that Eugene appeared similar to him in age.

“That’s right. Nestor of Feedren.”

“Hmm?”

“What?”

“How crude and disrespectful. Did Lord Feedren teach you to speak like that when meeting other lords?”

“Kiek!? What the hell is wrong with this brat!? How dare you! Sir Eugene, do you want me to spit in his eyes or something!?” 

Mirian attempted to put her plan into action, but Eugene stopped it by immediately shoving her into the leather pocket.

“….!”

Nestor was flabbergasted. Although he had been rather impolite, he never expected Eugene to respond in such a manner.

“Oh, my. A child who doesn’t know his manners nor honor. Since we met, I will get going. I do not have time to spare playing with impolite little brats,” Eugene declared coldly before starting to put on his helmet again. 

Nestor shouted. “Sir! Take that back!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Did you not say that us Feedren do not know honor and manners!?”

“B-brother.”

The twins attempted to dissuade their brother when Nestor suddenly burst with rage. “What!? Are you fine with being called that? Are you cowards?”

“No, that’s not what we’re saying…”

The siblings started to argue, but Eugene quickly intervened. “Stop. You children can continue bickering at home. I will let you off the hook for the sake of Lord Feedren’s name, so get going.”

Eugene was clearly belittling the brothers. Although it was somewhat cold, his attitude could not be considered rude. His actions could be considered rather normal since he was addressing a lower-ranking nobleman as a lord. In fact, it could even be considered accommodating to the siblings.

“Eek!”

Nestor had never been treated this way, even when he was serving as a knight’s aide. 

As a result, he committed a taboo. He brought his hand to the handle of his longsword.

‘Well then.’

Eugene felt rather listless. How could the brat show such an immediate reaction when Eugene had barely scratched his pride? As expected, having access to high-quality education did not mean that all nobles were smart. In particular, young noblemen and knights were usually unable to tolerate being ignored or dismissed by those with similar status to them.

It had been said jokingly that half of the young knights born every year died in duels fought for no particular reason. Now, it appeared that it wasn’t simply nonsense.

‘I hope I keep coming across idiots like him.’

Eugene hid his true thoughts and delivered a final blow to set off Nestor. “What? Are you going to draw your blade and ask for a duel?”

“You…”

“Brother! No, you can’t!”

‘At least the twins have a working brain.’

“You will regret it if you draw it,” Eugene hurriedly sent another provocation, just in case Nestor regained his calm.

It worked excellently.

“Regret? There is no such thing as regret in Nestor Feedren’s…”

Thuck!

Nestor was halfway through pulling out his longsword when he was knocked back and subsequently fell off from his saddle after being struck in the head with a rondel dagger.

“Ah!”

“Brother!”

The twins hurried forward to their brother. Fortunately, the handle of the weapon had struck Nestor instead of the blade. He had fainted with a small cut on his head.

“Here. For treatment and the toll,” Eugene continued coldly after throwing a pouch filled with silver coins to the twins.

“I stopped here to save Lord Feedren’s name. However, I will definitely bring today’s matter to Lord Feedren. Tell Lord Feedren that I will be looking forward to seeing what kind of an apology I will receive. Understood?”

“Y-yes!” 

The twins nodded hurriedly after hearing Eugene’s horrifying words.

“What a waste of time. Let’s go.”

“Yes!” The troops answered vigorously before following behind Eugene.

“I can’t believe he attacked a lord. What a crazy brat.”

“Consider yourselves lucky. If Sir Eugene was serious just now, your brother would have had a hole in his head by now.”

“A hole? That’s not right. He wouldn’t have a head at all!”

“You’re right. Kekeke!”

Several mercenaries threw insulting remarks as they passed by, but the twins remained silent. They were afraid that the knight would return for them if they protested as well.

“W-what should we do? We are going to be in huge trouble if our father finds out.”

“What else? We still need to tell him the truth. It seems like they are on an expedition to someplace, which means they will be coming back through this way, right?”

“Ah…”

The twins stared at the departing troops with gloomy expressions, then turned towards each other as if something had come to their minds.

“But where are they going?”

The twins simultaneously muttered the same words, then once again turned toward the direction that Eugene was headed towards.

“That’s the way to the Archivold marquisate.”

Although the glory of the past had faded somewhat, the Archivold marquisate was still teeming with the most influential and powerful nobles of the Carls Baggins Peninsula.

***

“Master, why did you act like that earlier? If we grabbed those kids and took them to the lord, we could have ignored the toll and even received compensation.”

“Hmm. That was my original plan. However, I remembered that Lord Feedren was one of the nobles who signed the document officializing my lordship.”

“Huh? Really?”

The name had been rather unfamiliar at the beginning, but Eugene suddenly remembered the names written on the signed document. Moreover, he recalled that the first name on the list belonged to Lord Feedren.

“So you let it slide because he is our neighbor? It is not a bad idea, but it’s never good to condone insolent brats.”

“Who said I was going to let it slide?”

“Hmm? Then why?” Galfredik expressed his puzzlement. 

Eugene responded with a smile. “Lord Feedren was the first one that Baron Beogalan decided to send the document over to since he was the first to sign it.”

“Is that so? But why does that matter?”

“That would mean that he is very close to Baron Beogalan, or someone that Baron Beogalan finds limp.”

“Hmm?”

“He would not have asked any random nobles to validate my lordship, right? The baron is not a fool.”

“Hooh. That’s definitely true…” Galfredik stroked his chin. But it didn’t seem like he fully understood Eugene’s chain of thought.

“In any case, Baron Beogalan is either capable of easily controlling Lord Feedren, or they are close associates. What do you think Lord Feedren will do when he learns of today’s incident?”

“Hmm. Well, he would probably ask the baron about master… Huh! Does that mean… you provoked the rude bastards because…”

Eugene nodded. It appeared that Galfredik was finally catching on.

“That’s right. He will try to find out more about me since I even sent a warning saying I would complain about today’s incident. Moreover, he was the first to sign. Would he not spread my information to other nobles as well?”

“Kuhahahaha! He must be scared shitless right about now! His child was beaten up after causing an incident without permission, so he must be going crazy. The oldest bastard might really get a hole in his head. Puhaha!”

“Is that so? Well, it’s none of my business.”

Eugene shrugged at Galfredik’s joke.

***

Thuck!

“Agh!”

“You idiot!”

“M-my lord!”

“Please, restrain yourself, my lord!”

Lord Feedren was pummeling his eldest son with his fists, and the people around were in a frenzy to dissuade him. Nestor’s head was left with a small hole due to the sealed ring on Lord Feedren’s finger. He bowed as blood continued to flow from his head.

“I’m sorry, Father! But that man was insulting our family and…”

“It doesn’t matter! Insult or assault, whatever! Thank the heavens he continued on his way. If he brought you here, do you know what would have happened!? What were you thinking!?”

“T-that’s…”

“He is a knight that Lord Beogalan personally vouched for! Lord Beogalan certified him as a lord! Moreover, as if that wasn’t enough, he had me and other lords sign a document! Do you not realize its significance? Lord Beogalan himself recognized the knight as his equal! Your head must be filled with goblin shit, you brat!”

Lord Feedren cursed for the first in a long time. He had restrained himself from speaking harsh words ever since being appointed by Marquis Archivold. Moreover, it was towards his eldest son, who was to be the successor.

“Huff, huff.”

Lord Feedren eventually collapsed into his seat and caught his breath, as if he had run out of energy.

“So, he is coming to bring the matter to me?”

“Yes, Father.”

“He said he would be looking forward to how we would apologize.”

The twins answered in turn.

“Ha…!”

Lord Feedren felt like he was about to collapse as his vision darkened. He was planning to wait and quietly watch as things played out since there was no reason to provoke nor lie down and roll over to his new neighbor. But everything was now in ruins thanks to his eldest son.

It appeared that the stupid, boiling blood of youths had spilled into his son’s brain, eroding his common sense which ended up ruining all of Lord Feedren’s plans.

‘What should I do? First, I should warn the other lords not to behave rashly…’

Lord Feedren was quick-witted and intelligent, even though he was rather gutless compared to others.

‘What should I send to him as a gift? Silver? That’s only natural. What else?’

Lord Feedren came to a conclusion after a moment of thought.

“Bring me paper and ink! The one decorated with silver foil.”

It was always best to ask when one was unsure.

‘Phew, that’s a relief.’

Eugene was currently on the road with his troops. As such, Lord Feedren would receive an appropriate answer if he summoned and asked Eugene’s administrator, who would be much easier to deal with. 

He could keep his pride and show his sincerity, and it would be much less burdensome than chatting with the young knight.

‘This is killing two birds with one stone.’

Lord Feedren became relieved. However, he never even dreamed that the administrator, who was supposed to be ‘easier to deal with,’ was a member of the Night’s Tribe and was previously an intermediate official of the Roman Empire.

Two days later, in the late evening…

The administrator of the neighboring territory came to visit Lord Feedren. He was dressed in black clothes and a black hat as if he were a mortician.

“My name is Delmondo, sir. I heard that there had been a blunder towards my lord. That is very unfortunate. As someone who represents Lord Eugene, the one inheriting the cold, noble blood, I can relate to the substantial, burdensome honor that he carries as the illustrious and distinguished…”

“….”

Lord Feedren intuitively sensed that something was wrong as soon as the ‘amateur land administrator’ started speaking freely in the imperial language of the Roman Empire, which was only used by the royal family and renowned nobles.