CH 20

Once again, he was recommended to safely return to the castle, but Ayra shook his head and refused. Instead, he followed Ginas and watched him handle this disastrous situation.

The governor was quite competent; those inside and outside the castle followed him without a protest–he must be highly trusted. This was fortunate for Ayra right now, but inwardly the young lord was worried. It was clear that such a competent and trusted man would be compared to him, a young lord that was faking his competence.

Clean-up and repairs for the earthquake weren’t over until the dark of night fell. Aside from how the shakes had collapsed the lower walls, the damage wasn’t that great. There were a few unlucky citizens that were unfortunate enough to be near the castle walls and were crushed to death by falling rocks; hundreds of citizens were injured–both trivially and critically–within their homes.

After finishing up his work; Ginas requested a private meeting with Ayra with an exhausted face. Even after all that, the young governor mumbled incomprehensibly. Ayra took the initiative first, “If there are no more problems, how about proceeding with the succession ceremony tomorrow, Sir Ginas.”

“……Well, there is a problem.”

When Ayra nodded and motioned for the other to continue, Ginas explained the situation with a gloomy tone, “I’ve requested commodities needed from businesses we frequent, but the supplies have yet to arrive. It’s not just one or two days late–we’re lacking various necessities.”

“Just proceed with a plain ceremony.” Ayra said straightforwardly.

But that wasn’t the only issue. “Many relatives or elders who’d usually participate in the ceremony are also excessively late.”

Ayra narrowed his eyes when he heard that supplies, kin, and elders were all delayed. No wonder these past few days the young governor’s face became gaunt, and deep shadows surrounded his eyes.

After some deep contemplation, Ayra firmly said, “If they’re not here, then let’s have the ceremony without them first. After that, I’ll try to settle everything. We can’t postpone the succession ceremony forever, waiting for people who may never come.”

Ginas–who listened to Ayra blankly, soul exiting his body due to anxiety and exhaustion–suddenly raised his head. Staring at the young lord with a strangely intense gaze, he nodded. “Understood. In such an inescapable situa–No, in such a bad situation, Ayra-nim has to be ushered into the Lord’s seat as soon as possible.”

Did he just change his words? From an inescapable situation to a bad situation?

Also, he said “he ‘has’ to be ushered” rather than “should be ushered.” Why did he word things so strangely? Ayra felt uncomfortable, but, before he could say anything, Ginas jumped up from his seat. “We’ll proceed with the succession ceremony at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning. I’ll take my leave since there’s a lot to prepare.”

In a flash 1, the governor gave his parting greetings and left through the door. It was like he was afraid Ayra would take back his declaration to become the lord. Anxiety welled up in Ayra; he simply wanted to take reign over the land due to doubt and suspicion that his family’s accidental death was actually a murder conspiracy rather than any great affection or responsibility he felt for the territory.

“It’ll be okay, right?”

Looking around, it didn’t seem like the land’s affairs were a mess…

First, Ayra laid in his bed early–the succession ceremony started at dawn. Though he was tired, he couldn’t fall asleep straight away and stared at the ceiling. Pebble fluttered forth and clung onto Ayra’s cheek.

“What kind of game genre are you?” Ayra asked.

The genre felt like a fusion–RPG like stat windows and choices, territory management. As Pebble removed itself from his cheek and wrung its hands, Janus came to mind. Ayra bit his lips until they hurt, so then he ground his teeth instead. “…I thought we became quite close after wandering around together for a few days.”

He didn’t just think that they had gotten close; he thought they were on the verge of a fling. The slew of bad ending options shocked him. It was true–anyone would turn hostile if they thought a mage was casting a spell on them. Still, though.

The wrinkles deepened on Ayra’s brow. “So, what does he mean by ‘accepting’ my trick?”

Moreover, because he wasn’t a mage with high combat potential, he was concerned about the other’s ability to bring about the so-called ‘bad ending.’ The mercenary’s sensitivity towards the stat window was also concerning.

Above all, that initial affection value of 1!

Anyways, Janus topped the list of people that resided in Ayra’s mind. Apart from personal feelings like affection and sorrow, it was clear that the mercenary was someone to be cautious of.

With pride, mood, and heart soured, Ayra fell asleep after tossing and turning for a long while. Because of that, when Botello woke him up for the succession ceremony, the young lord’s face was lined with fatigue.

After half-heartedly eating a filling breakfast, Ayra changed into his clothes. The garment worn by the previous lords, from generation to generation, for the succession ceremony had a long, dragging train; after plodding along, Ayra had stepped on the cloth several times and almost stumbled. In the end, Sir Bloom had to escort him by holding onto the young lord’s arm.

They climbed the winding mountain path behind the Solar castle. The ceremonial garb was thin, and the dawn air was particularly cold; Ayra couldn’t help but tremble. Pebble had already hidden within its master’s body. Bloom, who felt his lord vibrating through his arm, gave him a worried look. “Are you feeling unwell?”

“No, I’m just cold…”

Somehow, it felt like the weather had been growing colder ever since Ayra had come to this land. Contrary to his childhood recollections, the young lord could hardly believe it was summer right now. The days could and would grow much colder…

After hearing Ayra’s answer, the lines of Sir Bloom’s eyes and lips hardened. It seemed like he couldn’t believe that someone would shiver in this sort of temperature. “I see–you’re not feeling well.”

“I said I’m just cold!” As he shouted that he was in good health, Ayra almost fell down, stepping on exposed tree roots. Sir Bloom had murmured an affirmation, but he clearly assisted his lord with a doubtful expression. Ayra felt like he’d become an old man in the knight’s eyes. The young lord huffed and puffed–unused to waking up so early and climbing the mountain path–furthering the knight’s misunderstanding.

[Bloom’s affection stat has increased by 1.]

Current Affection: 66

Why did his affection rise after seeing someone struggle…?

Fortunately for Ayra, the ceremony location was not at the top of the mountain. There was a huge boulder in a moderately wide meadow located midway up the mountain; it overlooked the territory and the castle. Though hidden in the early morning, the rock revealed its presence in the sunlight.

The boulder was made of the same material that made up the castle walls; a dragon laying down on the ground had been engraved on the rock face. The Solar territory had once been a vast land where a dragon had made its home; the current territory had been rebuilt after the place had collapsed with the dragon’s death. The dragon-engraved rock was a trace of that fallen fiefdom. Bloom explained that the people of this land believed that the boulder was the dead dragon’s corpse.

A stone altar was placed near the dragon’s head. Several people, including Ginas, stood lined up in a row and were waiting for Ayra near the altar. Perhaps because no supplies had arrived from the territory to the north, there was really nothing there but tables to match the dragon decor and no attending guests. There really were no splendors.

‘Those that participated in the banquet gathering last time are in attendance again today, right?’

It was clear that anyone of importance was collected and made to attend events like the funeral and the hurried succession ceremony. Ayra could see how hard Ginas tried to make this work from the serious expression on Ginas’s face. At the very least, the red light from the rising sun decorated and brought some color to the ceremony.

Ayra approached the altar that had been washed by the red sunlight. A wine glass large enough to need both hands to hold was placed on the altar. Blue jewels that were embedded along the border of the glass refracted the light.

Cautiously, Ayra grabbed the wine glass that was clearly this territory’s most valuable treasure. The glass was icy cold, so his fingers became frigid and numb. He turned around, careful not to wet his fingers with the freezing alcohol that was in danger of overflowing.

“I, Ayra–child of Solar, will rule  and protect this land from this day on until my death.” Voice trembling, Ayra lifted the glass.

The retainers, loyal to the Solar family, bowed down. Each of them had a small wine glass in their hands. “We welcome the owner of this land.”

As the rising sun’s rays were captured in the wine glass, the transparent liquor gained a reddish hue. When Ayra brought his lips to the glass and drank, the retainers also tilted and drank from the glasses in their hands. Ayra, who had drunk thoughtlessly, was startled.

Was this alcohol or poison?

The alcohol was so strong, it burned the esophagus all the way to the stomach; in an instant, his face and neck flushed red. It seemed like Ayra wasn’t the only person who found it toxic; he could hear quiet coughing noises here and there. Ginas was the only person to take a shot of that strong liquor without flushing. He walked next to Ayra and said, “With this, from this day forth, we vassals shall serve Solar Xing Ayra, owner of this land and the 25th lord.”

His attitude was polite and gracious–as if he had never built walls between him and Ayra. He continued, “According to tradition, a celebration banquet would be held for four days after the succession ceremony. However, unfortunately, the previous lord had suddenly departed from this land due to an unfortunate accident. Since disaster had also  struck our territory just yesterday, My lord has opted to skip the banquet.”

As soon as Ayra became the lord, Ginas changed–almost scarily fast–how he addressed the mage from ‘Ayra-nim’ to ‘My lord.’ His tone became more respectful as well.

Ginas asked courteously, “My lord, would you like to descend the mountains now?”

“Alright. Let’s all go down.” Ayra, who had been waiting for the chance to leave, commanded. Drunk from the strong alcohol, several vassals stumbled as they descended the mountain pass. Ayra was also tipsy, but he fortunately had Sir Bloom on hand. Trembling, the young lord descended with the knight’s arm as his walking stick.

A notification window manifested before his eyes.

[From today on, User, ‘Solar Xing Ayra,’ has become the lord of the Solar territory. Congratulations!]

[The conditions for territory management function have been met.]

*GM Spirit (2/2)

*Succession Ceremony conducted (1/1)

Finally, the long-awaited territory management function had been opened. Slightly excited, the young lord shouted ‘Territory Window’ within his heart; immediately, the window popped up with a ringing sound.

Territory name: Solar

Lord: Solar Xing Ayra

Area: About 2,300 genta 2

Citizen population: 156,347 people

Special Notes: 233 days left until ruin

“It’s a small, cold, and wretched territory–it wouldn’t be too strange for it to be destroyed in about a year or so!”

TL: It’s a few hours late, but here’s the new chapter! Ayra has finally ascended to the lord’s seat–now we can finally start to change things around!