Reincarnated as the Descendant of a Fallen Noble

Chapter 10:  You Should Get Hit If You Act Cocky. (1)

Hardin awakened from his thoughts and muttered.

“I remembered...”

The Calpion Viscounty.

Those bastards... I had given them swordsmanship lessons a few times, and even financially supported them at the family level.

They were so hopelessly untalented that I had to struggle to teach them, and the memories remained vivid.

‘But, those guys became a Viscounty?’

In the span of 80 years, while our house had plummeted from a Duchy to a Viscounty, those bastards seemed to have climbed up instead.

Well, thinking positively, maybe it wasn’t completely in vain that I helped them.

‘The problem is that we fell.’

Hardin crossed his arms and asked.

“So, why did those bastards come?”

“They probably came because of the debt issue.”

At Gadolph’s answer, Hardin’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Debt? What debt?”

“I heard we cosigned a debt somewhere, and it went bad.”

“...Cosigned? We even ended up in debt to Calpion?”

“Yes, that’s what I heard.”

Hardin’s brow furrowed.

‘They really pulled every kind of stunt, didn’t they?’

He scratched his forehead roughly and asked again.

“How much do we have to repay?”

“I don’t know the exact amount.”

“...”

One mountain after another.

I had barely managed to keep us alive, and now the house is in debt?

‘Oh, God Faeron... Just how far are you going to test me?’

Hardin let out a long sigh, then shook his head.

‘Still, it’s not the worst.’

If it’s Calpion, they were once our vassals... Somehow, I should be able to handle it.

Hardin scratched his cheek, then waved his hand.

“Move aside.”

Then Gadolph answered.

“You’re going to go in?”

“Why are you even asking something so obvious?”

“B-but... Lord Donfell is inside. It would be better if you didn’t run into him...”

“Who’s that?”

“You don’t remember him either?”

“I said, who is it.”

Gadolph explained with wide, startled eyes.

“Who else? He was your classmate at the Academy. The master of Serpent Swordsmanship, Lord Donfell. You don’t remember?”

“Academy classmate? Then we must have gotten along well?”

A look of bewilderment flickered in Gadolph’s eyes.

Why is he making that face?

“Are you... joking right now?”

“What?”

“You don’t remember? What he did to you.”

“Stop beating around the bush and just say it.”

Gadolph spoke in a tone that sounded incredulous.

“He’s the one who shattered your mana circuits. Even if you forget everything else, you should remember that.”

“Huh?”

What kind of bullshit is this now?

Hardin’s face twisted mercilessly.

---

A little later, inside Daphne’s mansion.

“...”

In the middle of the lobby, a dozen or so men in chestnut-brown uniforms stood silently.

And opposite them stood the Daphne retainers.

They were divided evenly with the statue of the Wave Knight as the midpoint, and a subtle tension hung in the air as both sides’ eyes hardened.

At that moment, Hardin, standing in one corner of the lobby, asked Gadolph.

“So, which one is the bastard who stabbed me in the gut?”

“Over there, you see that tall man in the back? That’s him.”

“...That’s the Grand Young Lord?”

Where Gadolph pointed with his hand, a man stood with his arms crossed.

Hair sticking up like a rooster’s comb and a towering height of easily 2 meters.

Because of the bulging muscles, his clothes looked like they were about to burst.

His expressionless face and those large eyes that seemed to pierce right through their opponent.

It felt as though a giant gargoyle, not a person, was standing there, exuding a strange sense of oppression.

“...Hmm, he looks pretty strong?”

“He really is extremely strong.”

“How strong.”

“I heard that among the knights around here in his age group, there isn’t anyone who compares to Lord Donfell. He wouldn’t have earned the nickname ‘Steel Serpent’ for nothing.”

“Steel Serpent? What the hell kind of nickname is that.”

Hardin tilted his head as he asked.

“How would I know that.”

“Anyway, you’re saying I was academy classmates with that bastard?”

“Yes, I heard you were classmates at Windrun Knight Academy.”

“Hmmm...”

Windrun Knight Academy...

Hardin mulled over it for a moment, then asked.

“Then, before I lost my mana, I must have been quite strong too? If I even faced off against a guy like that.”

“Faced off? There’s no way that happened.”

Gadolph answered with a face that clearly said ‘don’t joke.’

“You didn’t have a duel or anything, you just got beaten up.”

“Huh? Beaten up?”

“Yes, you got hit for interrupting Lord Donfell’s training, didn’t you.”

“...Really?”

When Gadolph silently nodded, Hardin let out a sigh and pressed his palm hard against his forehead.

‘A descendant of Daphne, getting beaten up by some vassal family bastard? And it wasn’t even a proper duel?’

...Oh God, just what kind of guy have you reincarnated me into.

Seriously, I could die of shame.

While Hardin was rubbing his nape hard, Donfell silently looked over this way and twisted one side of his mouth into a strange smile.

The corner of his mouth, contrasting with his blank face, looked... somehow grotesque.

“Hey, did he just smile at me?”

“Seems like it.”

“He was mocking me, wasn’t he?”

“Probably?”

“That bastard...”

Hardin’s face crumpled all at once as he started to approach Donfell.

“The Lord is coming out.”

A retainer approached the lobby and bowed his head, and behind him Cobalt Viscount followed out.

“You’ve come a long way. Lord Donfell.”

“Yes. It has been tiring.”

When Donfell curled his lip in a thin, fishy smile, Cobalt frowned slightly and replied.

“...We’ll send the money over ourselves, so you don’t have to come every time.”

“It’s fine. I’m not the type to trust others.”

A short, dry, emotionless answer.

At this, Viscount Cobalt’s brow twitched, and Hardin’s eyebrow began to quiver.

‘What’s with that bastard’s attitude?’

Even if I generously overlook him acting all high and mighty in front of the Lord,

But what? He can’t trust us?

So basically, he’s saying we’re so incompetent we can’t even manage to bring the money properly?

‘Bullshit...’

Just as Hardin scoffed to himself.

“Ahem!”

One of the Calpion retainers standing up front stepped forward and spoke.

“The installment repayment due from Daphne today is a total of 30,000 gold, including principal and interest. After today, the remaining debt will be 370,000 gold. Please... prepare the funds.”

“Wait a moment, the repayment will be brought shortly by the Third Young Master.”

“Yes.”

At Cobalt’s reply, the Calpion retainer nodded.

30,000 gold just for today, and the remaining debt is...

‘...370,000 gold?’

The moment he heard that, Hardin’s eyebrow twisted violently.

“Gadolph.”

“Yes.”

“How many times have those bastards come here?”

“About... four or five times, I’d say?”

“...So, they’ve already wrung more than 100,000 gold out of us?”

“I’m not that good with numbers...”

Then that must mean the debt we first owed was around 500,000.

‘...I’m going to lose my mind.’

It was obvious. We were buried under debt, and all the money was getting sucked into paying off the interest.

No wonder the state of the house was a complete disaster.

Hardin scratched his forehead roughly and asked again.

“How the hell did we even end up in debt?”

“I already told you. We cosigned the wrong guarantee.”

“I mean, what guarantee?”

Gadolph rolled his eyes, sorting his thoughts, then spoke.

“There was this merchant guild called the Vinter Merchant Guild that used to work with us... The guildmaster over there borrowed money from them and ran away.”

“...So now we’re repaying those bastards’ debt instead?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“...”

That bastard, the Grand Young Lord of Calpion, smashed a descendant’s mana circuits with his fist...

And now some merchant guild’s debt that we guaranteed was getting collected from us.

‘I’m going to lose my mind.’

If nothing else, one thing was clear.

Those bastards had absolutely no intention of repaying any past favors.

“Um, Young Master...”

“Hm? What.”

Gadolph cautiously edged closer to Hardin and asked.

“Could I have a word in private...”

“What is it?”

Hardin stepped back slightly to hear Gadolph’s whisper.

“...I’m just asking to be sure.”

“Say it.”

“You remember the money you gave me before. To buy the mana potion.”

“Ah, that? What about it.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way when I say this.”

“What are you getting at?”

“You didn’t... take that money from the house vault, did you?”

Hardin replied in a completely nonchalant tone.

“The house vault? What’s that?”

“You know, there’s that safe in your room, Young Master.”

“How did you know about that?”

“...Y-you’re serious? You actually took it from there?”

“Yeah, I did.”

In that moment, sweat broke out on Gadolph’s forehead, and his body began to tremble.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Young Master, you’re not joking, right?”

“I told you I’m not.”

“Then... aren’t we in big trouble now?”

“What do you mean, I’m going to earn it back little by little and fill it again.”

“That’s not the problem.”

“Then what is?”

“The money the Third Young Master said he was coming to collect... it’s... gone now, isn’t it?”

“...Huh?”

Is that... how it works?

Hardin’s eyes grew as big as lanterns, and his mouth fell wide open.

---

At that moment, Donfell stood with his arms crossed, exhaling heavily as he looked around.

From the Lord to the retainers and knights.

Everyone who looked at him had fear filling their eyes.

‘Too easy. Like twisting a child’s wrist.’

He really couldn’t understand why Father was so obsessed with this pathetic house.

Donfell stroked his chin, recalling the Lord’s words.

 Donfell, no matter how far Daphne has fallen... Daphne is still Daphne. We must absolutely use them as our stepping stone.

Daphne once being our master, and back when those bastards still had something worth taking from them—

That was all just a distant story everyone had long forgotten.

To the current Donfell, having to even stand here facing these people was nothing but a bothersome, tedious chore.

Donfell spoke to Cobalt.

“It’s taking quite a while.”

“Wait a moment... They’ll be here any second.”

“It’s already been ten minutes.”

As an awkward expression rose on Viscount Cobalt’s face, Donfell’s mouth curled faintly upward.

‘A Lord... how pathetic.’

In the suffocating silence, no one knew how much longer they waited.

“They’re—They’re here!”

At someone’s shout, all the retainers turned their eyes toward the stairs, and Malion was seen coming down.

“...”

There was one strange thing...

For some reason, the Third Young Master’s face looked utterly blank, almost hollow.

His shoulders hung limp, and at a glance, anyone could see something was very wrong.

‘What’s with that expression?’

‘Huh? Did something happen?’

While everyone was wearing puzzled looks, the Third Young Master walked right up to the Lord.

“Malion, why are you so late?”

“The thing is...”

“Enough, just hand over the money quickly.”

Malion squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and adjusted his glasses as he spoke.

“...It’s gone.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The vault... the money has disappeared.”

A brief silence.

“...What did you say?”

Viscount Cobalt’s eyes widened.

“Don’t joke around. This is no time for that—”

“It’s true. The vault... was completely empty. Even I don’t understand how this happened...”

“You did check thoroughly?”

“Yes, I looked over it several times. But... there was nothing.”

“How is that possible? Money doesn’t grow legs. Where could it have gone?”

The entire lobby froze over, deathly cold.

---

Meanwhile, in a corner of the lobby.

‘...We’re doomed.’

Gadolph was dripping cold sweat from his forehead.

Lord, money does have legs. Legs named Hardin, Grand Young Lord.

“The money disappeared?”

“Good heavens.”

As the lobby erupted into murmurs, Cobalt sharply turned his head and spoke.

“Commander Mulgybson.”

“Yes.”

“You search it. We have no time to lose.”

“...Understood.”

But the result did not change.

When Mulgybson returned a little later, he spoke.

“...The Third Young Master was right.”

“What?”

“We searched every inch, left nothing unturned—but there was no money.”

“What kind of nonsense is this? Where in the world could it have gone?”

“There were... traces of the lock being forced.”

“What do you mean?”

“I believe... a thief may have broken in.”

“A thief? You’re telling me a thief came?”

His voice grew rough.

Tremble, tremble.

Pale as a sheet, Gadolph stared straight at Hardin and asked.

“W-what do we do, Young Master?”

“What do you mean.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to... confess now? That way, you might at least save your life...”

“Hold on, let me think for a moment.”

Damn it, this was getting complicated.

How was I supposed to know that money was what we had to repay to those Calpion bastards?

‘Just my damn luck...’

Meanwhile, the confusion in the lobby only grew worse.

“Just whose doing is this! Who would dare!”

“...W-we’ll search as well!”

Viscount Cobalt’s voice grew louder and louder, his face twisting up.

Retainers were running everywhere, and on the faces of the Calpion men watching, strange little smirks began to appear.

“How could this have happened!”

Viscount Cobalt, his face flushed red, spun around scanning the surroundings—

And in that instant, his gaze locked onto Gadolph.

“Hm?”

Tremble, tremble, tremble.

His legs began to shake.

“Haa... haaah...”

Clack, clack, clack, clack.

His teeth chattered violently.

Sweat streamed down his pale, drained face.

Viscount Cobalt’s eyebrow twitched as he spoke.

“Gadolph... could it be?”

I’m screwed. I’m really, truly screwed.

Sweat pouring from Gadolph’s forehead and his shaking wouldn’t stop.

.