NOVEL WEB chapter 4 cruel reality
The Duke of Robels was one of the four dukes of the Robels kingdom.
The Duke owned five percent of the entire land area of the country!
His father, the Duke, was a brother of King Robels; that's why they had the same last name.
In the Robels kingdom, there were two factions.
The Royal faction and the noble faction.
The royal faction was the Duke of Robels and the king, and the rest were the noble faction.
As for how the king's brother, a royal, became a Duke, that's because he married the daughter of the previous Duke, whose last name was Carroll.
Duke Carroll was Luther's grandfather, and his daughter was naturally his Mother.
He had only one daughter and no other children.
According to the antiquated laws of the kingdom, women couldn't hold titles, so Luthers's father took the title after Duke Carroll's death.
Duke Carroll's death came shortly after the marriage, which was very suspicious.
Then, after Luther was born, his Mother also died!
These incidents at that time enraged the noble faction, but because the Blue Light Academy ultimately controlled the kingdom and didn't like civil wars, the noble's faction backed down, and the war was averted.
Then, a month after his Mother's death, his father married another woman from the royal faction!
After he grew older, his father sent him to the blue light academy with the persuasion of that woman.
It was to send him away, as nobody dreamed he could become a mage!
Mage talent is rare, and without mage talent, people sent to the Blue Light Academy would be a servant, not having the autonomy to move around.
But they never expected that he did have mage talent, so their plot became a blessing in disguise.
Now, his father is dead.
"Is it the noble faction or that woman? or both?"
As for his father dying naturally, he didn't even think of that possibility for one second!
His father was a great knight, extremely healthy, and a coward.
He would never go anywhere dangerous.
Certainly, it was a conspiracy, most likely by that woman, to remove the possibility that one day, his father might make him inherit the title.
After all, the situation has changed!
When he left, nobody thought he had mage talent, but now, he is an apprentice mage, which is a massive boost in the race to inherit the title.
He is the eldest son, but his Mother is dead, and he has been absent for a long time, so he has nobody there loyal to him.
His father was the only person that might have been receptive to him inheriting the title, and now, he is also gone.
"But with my father gone, doesn't that mean me, as the oldest male hair, have the right to inherit the title?" he thought.
As the eldest son, Luther has a right to the title, but what if he dies? What if that woman forges a fake will from his father and gets a signature from the king, giving her son the right to the title?
Although he can challenge the will in court, he is not guaranteed to win.
"I have to get there as soon as possible before That woman gives the title to my brother." he thought.
He is short of money now, and the Duke is rich! It can make him rich if he gets the title of Duke.
He went and informed the academy about a prolonged absence and bought a ticket for Hobbs City!
Then he went and prepared his stuff.
...
Three days later.
Luther was sitting in the airship near the Duke of Robels's territory.
He is powerful now!
At the peak of an apprentice, he can use spells quickly.
Luther is fearless even when facing a great knight.
For this reason, he wasn't too worried about the dangers in the city.
He paid one magic crystal and got out of the airship After they reached the territory of his deceased father.
Nobody knew he was coming here, so nobody came to greet him, although he suspected they wouldn't send anyone to greet him even if they knew.
He landed in Hobbs City, the largest city in the territory of Duke Robles.
This city has a profound history, as it was the birthplace of an official mage, and that official mage did a lot to promote this city.
There were statues of that mage all around the city, and the name of the city was also the last name of the mage.
Luther moved on, and after a while, he saw the castle.
"It's still just as I remember, very luxurious from the outside, but dark and disgusting when you see the inside." he felt disgusted by everything about this place.
This castle was where his Mother died, his father died, his grandfather died, and the place he suffered all of his childhood under that woman.
"Sigh, I hate it, but I need it." he started, moving toward the castle with determination.
After a while, the guards saw him and stopped him.
They were just regular guards, not knights
; they had no idea who he was.
After all, he had been away for a long time, so even people who knew him then might not recognize him, let alone these guards.
"Stop there; who are you?" the guard asked.
The castle of the Duke was closed entirely to the public, and only authorized people could enter.
"I'm Luther Robels, eldest son of late Duke Robels; now, open the gates; I want to talk to my stepmother."
The guard was stunned but immediately refused and said," I can't let you in! Please return!"
Luther thought to himself," That woman! She told them not to let me in! She is really… .hateful."
These guards are nothing to him.
He could easily enter by force, but he chose not to do it.
He turned around and left and started looking for information in the city.
He specifically asked when his father died and didn't waste time asking about other things, as these ordinary people wouldn't know the inside story.
After asking around, he managed to find out some details.
It turns out that his father had died precisely 14 days ago!
He was delighted to hear this news!
Luther didn't love his father at all!
After his Mother died, his father immediately married this woman, and she made him suffer a lot, and his father never stopped her, and the best he did was to keep him alive.
Then, he agreed to send Luther away to the academy.
Sending him to the academy was equivalent to taking away his right to inheritance.
Because 99 percent of people don't have any mage talent.
Not even rank one talent!
Sending him to mage academy was just an excuse for exile, a mutual agreement only not to kill him directly.
Mage Academy had many regular servants from all countries and every group, nobles and peasants.
These servants are treated much worse than mages, and they dedicate their lives to the academy.
They get compensated for their work, but their freedom will be severely limited once they sign their contract.
Luther was expected to sign a 50-year contract!
Nobody expected him ever to come back when they sent him away.
It was a turn of fate that it turned out that not only did he have mage talent, but he also had rank two talent!
After that, his father sent him some resources, but that too stopped after a while, presumably by the intervention of that woman.
"It's only 14 days since his death, which means there is no way they can transfer the title to my younger brother in this short time."
According to the laws of the kingdom, the title is transferred to the oldest heir, that would be him; however, the laws also say that the current holder of the title can change the successor if he writes it in his will.
After his death, the will would be delivered to the king, who would then have to approve it.
However, the king can only approve it after three months pass, and in these three months, the title remains ownerless.
Anyone who wishes to challenge the validity of the will have this time to present his case to the king.
If the king does not approve of the will, the title would be transferred to the oldest male hair regardless of what the will says.
However, if these three months pass, the only way is to sue in court.
It would be countless times more difficult to convince the judge to transfer the title if it has an owner.
The laws around transferring the title are stringent
It only happens if the new title holder is not from the bloodline of the previous holder.
It happens if there is proof that the wife cheated on her husband!
As for why the system works like this, it's a compromise between the royal and noble factions.
Nobody holds the title now, which means that According to the laws, his 'stepmother' doesn't even have the right to stay in the castle, as the castle is the property of the title holder and must remain empty accordingly.
"She is breaking the law by staying in there; it's good; the more she breaks the law, the better it is for me!"
The Robles kingdom is an absolute monarchy in name.
However, Because of the balance between the nobles and royals, both sides must respect the laws to avoid conflict.
"I can sue her in court, but that's a waste of time, as even if she is thrown out of the castle, if my younger brother wins the title after three months, then everything is in vain, so its better if I just go to the capital and meet the king and convince him to reject the will that she faked, if I can do that, then I will get the title automatically." he planned.
Luther has already determined that this woman killed his father and faked a will.
He hated this woman, which may have clouded his judgment a bit.
As for how he can convince the king, he can tell the king that he is a rank one mage apprentice!
Although this is a secret, if he wants to have a chance to inherit the Duke's territory, this is his only chance to convince the king.
As he is also considered one of the royal faction, the king should be easy to convince that he is the better hair for the Duke of Robles.
That woman was married to his father not by the king's arrangement but at his father's insistence, so it's not certain that the king prefers that woman's son to get the title.
"I will tell him that I am rank one mage apprentice as a last resort if nothing else can convince him! Now, let's move quickly." he thought.
He moved out of Hobbs City and started moving toward the capital.
However, after a while, he sensed a few people chasing him!
"Are you serious? Is that woman so low that he sends people to kill me?" Luther thought.
He stopped his horse and looked at the group of people.
In total, there were nine people!
Three were great knights, and the rest were knights!
"To hire this many people, she must have paid them a lot!"
"She definitely didn't use Duke Robel's army, as all of them are registered with the capital and are easy to recognize."
"These people must be mercenaries! I'm lucky she didn't hire legendary knights!" Luther thought.
If there were any legendary knight, then his life would be in danger!
Luckily, legendary knights are hard to find and are often nobles themselves.
Still on the horse, Luther cast his spell!
"Airstrike!"
High-pressured air was like an arrow, hitting one of the great knights in the heart before he could react.
His armor was like paper before this spell!
The remaining killers were shocked but soon sprang to action.
The two great knights moved quickly, trying to kill him before he could cast another spell.
The knights spread, trying to close his escape route!
Luther smiled and cast a 'light shield!'
A bubble that shone with light appeared around him and his horse!
One of the great knights with a huge beard hit the shield with all his strength!
The shield cracked but resisted the strike!
'Airstrike!'
Another arrow made of pressurized air flew and hit the bearded man in the face!
The man died immediately when the arrow made a big hole below his left eye.
You could see the other side of that hole.
The power of airstrike can even penetrate a big tree!
A human head is nothing.
When the other great knight saw this, he gave up and ran with all his strength!
Every knight also started to flee!
"I can't kill all of them, but I can kill that great knight." Luther thought.
He wanted to kill all of them to remove any chance that his first-grade apprentice would be leaked.
But he can't do that.
'Airstrike!'
Another compressed air arrow flew and hit the great knight on his feet!
He screamed and fell to the ground.
'Bind!'
Immediately, the great knight was bound by a magical rope.
Luther got closer and said, "You can live if you tell the truth!"
In great pain, the man screamed, "I'll tell you everything!"
Luther smiled and started listening!
...
The capital of the Robels kingdom, the city of Mata, is just two days away from Hobbs City.
Luther only took time to rest and eat and didn't meditate.
Soon, he reached Mata City and entered with the great knight, his prisoner, and witness.
When entering, he paid a few gold coins to enter.
That was, of course, a bribe to the gatekeeper for bringing the grand knight prisoner in!
The entry fee is just a copper coin!
Every city had a wall surrounding it, and they let people in only after they paid the entry fee unless exempted.
Exemptions include selling products, working in the city, being too young to pay, and many other exemptions, all spelled out clearly in the laws.
People who sell or work in the city pay taxes in other ways, so it wasn't a loss for the city.
Soon, he reached the king's palace and looked at it.
It was the second time he had seen it, the last time he was five years old and came here with his father and that woman.
He has many bad memories from that travel.
"As expected, nothing has changed here either." he thought.
There was no war in the last 100 years anywhere around this city.
The reason was not that people here are very peaceful.
Nobles are all very greedy and would tear each other apart anytime they have the chance.
It was the blue light academy that completely dominated all surrounding kingdoms and prohibited wars among kingdoms.
The dean of the Blue Light Academy is a rank five mage, and her words are like God's verdict, so nobody dares to disobey.
Of course, behind the scenes, they will poison and stab each other in the back, but nothing on the surface.
It can be said that Blue Light Academy is a blessing to all ordinary people.
Luther liked the academy because it was very righteous and fair.
He wished he had other choices other than hiding his mage level from the academy, but unfortunately, he hadn't any other choice.
The dean might be a good person, but the official mages below are not like the dean.
If any of them doubted him and thought he had a treasure, then decided to deal with him in the dark, he had no power to defend himself and could only die resentfully.
The guards saw him and, like the castle in Hobbs city, they stopped him and asked his origins.
The guards here were knights, showing the king's strength.
According to his latest knowledge, the Duke of Robles has 100 knights, eight grand knights, and one legendary knight.
As for the king, it is rumored that he has thousands of knights and ten legendary knights!
This is why only the king and Duke of Robels can rival all other nobels.
There was no reason the king might try to kill him, so Luther wasn't afraid.
He told the guards who he was and his reasons, and they informed their superior.
Soon, he was allowed in, and they even let him meet the king!
He was pleasantly surprised and was soon escorted to a room extremely luxurious.
The great knight was not allowed in, but the guards reassured Luther that he would be safe in their custody.
Luther was uneasy, but his options were limited.
Right now, leaving the great knight with the king's guards is the best option.
Even if something happened to the great knight prisoner, Luther could blame the king for it!
He entered the room and looked at the man before him.
He had black hair and black skin, long curly hair, extremely muscular, and sharp facial features.
His eyes were like an eagle's, and he had a slightly larger than his average nose and lips.
Strangely, he had very luxurious and beautiful glasses on his eyes.
It was out of tone with his huge, muscular body.
The glasses were colorful, with mixed red, green, and yellow colors.
The red light was exceptionally bright!
"It may be a magic treasure," Luther thought to himself
Regardless, the king was very handsome.
The king looked so different from Luther's father because the king's Mother was different from Luther's father's Mother.
The king's Mother was a princess from the Kobi kingdom.
The people of the Kobi kingdom were all black-skinned, so the king was naturally black-skinned.
As for whether other people liked that their king was black, they didn't dare to say anything as he was a legitimate king, approved by the Blue Light Academy, and very powerful and majestic.
Luther was very impressed!
The king had the breath of a legendary knight and even had an aura of a rank one apprentice mage!
The king, Owen Robels, smiled and said," Luther, I'm pleased to meet you; how are you?"
He stood up from his majestic seat patted Luther on the shoulder, and then pointed to the servants to bring a drink.
"I'm great, Your Majesty! My father's demise saddened me, so I took time off from the academy to meet you!" he said respectfully.
"I heard that, and I'm also sad about what happened. It's regrettable," Owen said
"Your Majesty, I'm here to discuss the matter of succession," Luther said.
The servants brought two cups of wine.
The king took them both, gave one to Luther, and started talking while drinking, "Yes, I heard that your stepmother has a will from your late father."
Luther started drinking and said," Your majesty, I'm begging you not to believe her; she is…cough."
Luther started coughing up blood and looked at the king with disbelief!
"Your majesty, you…cough cough!"
Luther immediately started casting healing spells, but the poison was so strong that it was like pouring a cup of water on a burning house!
He thought," It's rank one poison? How can he have rank one poison? No, I can't die here! I absolutely can't die here! How is it possible?"
As his eyes started to blur, he desperately took out the pill container and begged with his last strength," Please, if you hear me…save me, please!" he was crying while coughing.
Rachel was also stunned at seeing how her first host was dying.
"It's unbelievable! I thought he was the protagonist, but now it seems he is a side character. Maybe he somehow is saved by someone or something?" Rachel thought.
One thing is clear: the thing that saves him wouldn't be her!
It's not that she doesn't want to save him; it's just that she doesn't have any skill in healing hosts.
She can give Luther a poison pill, but not a healing pill!
"But why?" Luther screamed with difficulty while looking at Owen.
Owen was looking coldly and only said two words: "Nothing personal."
As time passed, Luther lost his energy, and his world darkened, and he died with his eyes open, resentful and full of regrets!
Owen looked at all this and asked himself, "Why is he talking to a pill container?"
He went forward personally, picked up the pill container, and opened it.
Inside, there were a lot of pills with a strong aura, all precious pills.
Besides the pills inside, the container itself was very luxurious and beautiful, with mysterious patterns on it.
He was astonished, having no idea how Luther got it.
He put the pill container in his pocket, intending to test the pills for poison, and if they were okay, he decided to give them to some of his mage apprentice subordinates to use.
"This pill container looks very beautiful; I might use it to store my pills," he thought.
The pill container looked beautiful, more beautiful than any pill container he had ever seen.
Then he looked at Luther's dead body with regret!
The reason Luther ended up dead was simple, very simple!
Three light fate magic treasures!
It was an extremely precious treasure of the royal family, transferred from king to king, and a very well-kept secret.
Its shape was like glasses with red, green, and yellow colors.
This rank three magic treasure had only one function: deducing fate!
Anyone who is not a danger to the user would be green.
Anyone who might be a danger would be yellow, and anyone who is a fatal danger would be red.
Luther was red, so Owen didn't hesitate and used his most potent poison to kill him!
This treasure was always right.
If fate is uncertain, it will show gray, so when Owen sees red, he won't hesitate even for a second!
Don't look at the royal family like this!
Every kingdom around Blue Light Academy has some relation to mages, and the Robles kingdom is no exception.
The ancestor of the kingdom is a rank four mage in the Blue Light Academy!
Otherwise, any rank one mage would have been able to destroy the entire kingdom alone!
It isn't just Robel's kingdom; every other kingdom comparable to Robel's kingdom has rank four ancestors in the Blue Light Academy.
The kingdom's position is solid as long as the ancestor is alive.
To be a fatal danger to Owen, the king of such a kingdom, Luther must have great luck.
Owen dared not even capture him, fearing that he would run away!
After killing Luther, he signed and had a bitter taste in his mouth, so he drank more wine and ordered the servants to take the corpse away.