Grand Duke of the Heibern House

＜Episode 17＞

Around the time the news of the clan grand banquet was spreading all over the dukedom.

The Heibern family’s vassals were mobilizing local residents to bring supplies needed for the banquet into the family castle.

It is a rare spectacle to see rare specialties from all over the world gathered in one place.

Of course, Dane wanted to see the procession of carts rushing in like a wave, but he couldn’t fulfill his wish.

It was because his older brother scolded himself with a determined face.

＜Everyone is busy preparing for the banquet. In the midst of this, if you and I are on the lookout and walk around the family, will they be able to do their job properly? The servants who carried the burden on each of the four routes would bow down and bow, and of course they would struggle even more. If you are an aristocrat, you should reduce the movement as much as possible when there is a big event.＞

‘Sheesh. Who cares about that?’

As a Dane who had been immersed in the privileges of the nobility since childhood, he had never thought about the plight of his servants.

Servants are those who live for the nobles they serve.

Of course, Dane wasn’t the only one with such dissatisfaction.

“No, why are you in my room!”

Deache in a plain dress was pouting her lips as she looked at the uninvited guests.

Ruin smiled softly and patted Deash’s head.

“If you’re going to be holding your breath, wouldn’t it be nice to have a pretty lady’s room? For black guys like us, it feels endlessly good.”

Deache covered the reddened blush with both hands and glared fiercely at Ruin.

“What, what… … Everyone get out quickly! Get out!”

“You don’t want to hear more about your mother?”

“Are you talking about mom?”

“My mother always loved Deahche the most. I still have a story to tell you.”

“hurry! do it quickly! I want to hear you all!”

“Yes, Deash.”

Only then did Wiphone come running.

“brother! Any more stories about me?”

“… … Yes.”

“Then I want to listen!”

Ruin’s face was filled with pity as he looked at Wipon.

By the time her mother passed away, Wipon was a newborn baby.

Unlike Deash, who vaguely recalls the image of her mother, Wipon will not have any memories left.

“Mother… … .”

Dane looked at his older brother and younger siblings who were getting into old memories after arguing like that, then walked towards the terrace.

When it reached the level of 4 stars, the speculation inside it was wriggling without even trying.

That’s why I wanted to cool off the fever of speculation by being blown by the wind.

When I went up to the terrace, the clear blue sky spread out in my field of vision.

Feeling much lighter from the breeze blowing, Dane immediately began to operate his newly evolved fighting spirit inside his body.

Tutuk!

The muscles in his whole body swelled up as if they were about to explode.

I wanted to hold the real sword and burn my fighting spirit right away, but I couldn’t because I remembered what my brother had said.

＜The most common mistake made by those who have just reached the state is to intoxicate themselves with new powers and recklessly use their powers. You have not yet grasped the limits of your newly acquired power. If you get drunk with joy and overdo it, and your body is damaged, your future may go backwards.＞

＜Thus contemplating the acquired power is the first step. Observe and test how hard your body and mind have become, and how far you have achieved as a warrior. Grabbing the sword is after that, Dane.＞

Hearing his brother’s words like that, Dane was truly heartbroken.

It was obviously a long-standing teaching that came down as a family vision, but it was forgotten for a while.

The story of knights who became devastated after overindulging in speculation without knowing the limits.

It was a lesson I had heard countless times from my swordsmanship master since I was a child.

‘gradually.’

Dane gradually expanded his speculation.

Every time that happened, every corner of his body that felt overcrowded screamed.

The limits of what the body can endure and the scalability of such speculation were closely examined. He looked after his body more carefully than usual. It was a trance to the point of forgetting the time.

When Dane opened his eyes again, it was late afternoon when the sun was already going down.

In the distance I could see the gloomy twilight rolling in from the mighty Montdelilla Mountains.

“You are doing well.”

Louin’s voice suddenly came out.

Dane stared to the side of the railing.

“brother? when… … .”

“It’s been a while.”

“ah. sorry.”

Louin laughed.

The arrogance of the swordsmanship genius had subsided a little.

“Do you even know how to apologize?”

Dane was staring blankly at his older brother’s face.

It was still hard to read his emotions like a person shrouded in thick fog, but for some reason he looked serious.

Dane silently followed his brother’s gaze.

Where he was looking, the villagers were constantly handing out their luggage to the attendants.

“There is a proverb that says you can know the capabilities of a lord by looking at the faces of the people of the province.”

Dane stares at his brother again.

“If the reign of the lord is good, the faces of the territories are lively. Relaxation, generosity, laughter, respect, such positive things come out.”

Ruin’s cold eyes shook slightly.

“On the contrary, if the reign of the lord is incompetent or vicious, the faces of the territories will only be filled with devastation. Despair and sadness, lamentation and frustration, anger and resentment… … All kinds of suppressed emotions show on their faces. However, there is still hope to that extent. Being angry means you still have the will to live.”

Dane, who was curious, followed Ruin’s gaze again and looked at the faces of the local people.

Then his whole body stiffened.

Whether positive or negative, the faces of the young people did not show any of the emotions mentioned by the older brother.

“okay. you must have felt it too They are already empty. The strength to be angry and the heart of resentment are all gone.”

“… … .”

“Even if they are taken away and trampled on, they are not angry. It’s about forgetting emotions. No matter how resentful and angry they were, they realized that their lives were in their place in the end.”

“… … .”

“Do you see such empty people as truly human?”

It was a huge shock to Dane.

This family is the Hibern family, the standard bearer of the kingdom.

Truly the best family, the one and only duke in the kingdom.

Those who were protected by such a valiant monarch, the dukedom’s territories, all believed that they would live in glory.

But living your life without even feeling that it is unhappiness?

“Can’t you admit it? That will be too. There is no need to look far for the problem of this great swordsman. It’s because of people like you who can’t face reality even after seeing it. Even you, a young person who has not yet been stained by the world, has this kind of reaction.”

“Oh no! It must be because it is difficult to carry the burden! Don’t overanalyze! There’s no way the Hibernian territories are like that!”

Luin laughed bitterly.

“The problem of our family is that it is an absolute fief that no power in the kingdom can do anything about. A traditional swordsmanship that has produced countless riders of the kingdom. A grand duchy next to royalty. That authority, like an iron castle that lasted for a long time of a thousand years, made this family stagnant and rotten.”

“brother!”

Ruin looked at the family flags fluttering all over the watchtower.

“An absolute fiefdom where any outside intrusion and the migration of territories are prohibited by royal decree. Our family, who had been complacent, forgot how to compete for a long time. There were no political comparisons with wise lords, nor did they fight over territory with powerful lords. I just watched the nobles fight and proudly spread my wings and boasted only elegance.”

Ruin’s words pierced Dane’s chest like a dagger.

But Ruin didn’t seem to want to stop.

“Isn’t it funny? The fact that the family’s fief has been reduced for hundreds of years has not been taken away by defeat. It just turned into an unexplored land when there were no people to cultivate it. Over many generations, the number of territories itself has decreased. So, more than half of the family’s territory is empty.”

It feels like the entire history of the family has been denied.

In the end, Dane’s eyes were filled with intense anger that seemed to burn.

“My family name… … ! Don’t insult my father!”

Ruin’s gloomy gaze cut through the air.

when it comes to the end.

The people of Heibern’s territories were the first to volunteer to become ‘his’ people.

The swordsman king, who lost most of the territories and even his family’s property, went mad in anger and madness.

Having lived like a dead man, he eventually went on a reckless expedition with only a handful of troops.

However, the place where the swordsman king appeared with his troops was a completely unexpected place.

The final battlefield chosen by the swordsman king was not ‘Tenebriga Castle’, where the devil ‘he’ of the continent was gathering.

Rather, the place where he appeared was on the side of the allies.

It was the camp of the swordsman who led the last human knights.

match!

“How long will you be caught up in the illusion of honor as a jockey and ignore the reality! Do you want to become a brave lord again, Dane!”

Dane, who had become absurdly frozen while holding on to his flushed face.

“If you have such doubts, go patrol the territory yourself! I mean, lift up each of the territories who fell down after seeing you and look at their faces again!”

Momentarily caught up in the anger of the past, I poured out even the words I shouldn’t have said.

But Ruin couldn’t back down from here.

If he wanted to make a Dane a wise monarch, he had to weed out the Hibern family’s chosen consciousness from his heart, which was deeply engraved in his bones.

“Look at it, Dane!”

Dane looks at the young people again.

“Where is the glory among those innumerable riches heading to the original family! It is a crop harvested with an empty heart! It is the result of those who gave up on being human! Are you saying that you are so proud of this huge fortress built by piling up such empty wealth?”

Dane’s open eyes were closely examining all the residents of the territory.

However, no matter how I looked at it, the result was the same.

Their faces were completely empty, unable to read any will or emotion.

The reality revealed before his eyes was too stark to dismiss his brother’s words as sophistry.

Dane was suddenly ashamed of the armor he was wearing.

This expensive armor is also the result of their empty hearts.

Jockey’s honor.

Duke’s pride.

All the noble values that Dane had never doubted in his life were being shattered like that.

“brother… … .”

Ruin hugged the collapsing Dane with an expression as if he was about to burst into tears.

“Don’t cry. I didn’t allow the tears.”

Kwak.

Ruin bites his teeth and embraces Dane even more strongly.

“Right now, there will be no place to rest your heart. everything will be suspicious. That is why the knight’s belief is not to be made by someone else, but to be perfected by oneself.”

Ruin grabbed Dane by the shoulders and looked straight into his eyes, which were shaking in the raging waves.

“Don’t collapse here, Dane. You can become stronger.”

“I am… … .”

Ruin firmly nodded.

“You can, Dane. Your passion is higher than anyone else. If you can’t, no one in this family can.”

If Dane’s heart hadn’t been twisted in the past, everything would have been different.

Ruin was convinced that he would become a stronger knight and a great lord than anyone else.

“I will make it. certainly.”

Looking at his older brother with eyes as calm as a lake under the setting sun, Dane finally realized.

If he becomes a true knight, it will be the result of growing up watching his older brother’s back.

Even if he etched his name into history as a great monarch, it would also be the result of pursuing the values his older brother desired.

“… … I will not doubt you.”

Louin opened his eyes wide.

“I will follow. older brother.”

Ruin could finally feel that he was ready.

The new grand duke of the Hibern family.

A great lord who would be unprecedented in the history of the kingdom, he was a Dane.