The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter: 1

I was called a hero.

A hero who saved the world from the monster Demon Lord, who dyed half the earthly world with blood.

They called me the Dragon Slayer King, Aden Albireo.

“One who wishes to eradicate sin shall become a new sin. This is the imperial legacy.”

But what I gained from this was betrayal.

The betrayal of comrades who whispered friendship.

“The Lord of the Underworld is a being of succession. The one who kills him becomes the new Demon Lord, and he does not disappear.”

The Grand Alchemist, who had been a comrade, smirked.

“You are a powerful being who can wield the dragon’s mana. It would be a horrific event for you to become the new Demon Lord. Would you not sacrifice yourself for the Empire, Sir Albireo?”

They had known from the beginning.

They knew but hid it until the end, using me.

Until I killed the Demon Lord.

“We had no choice but to make this decision. I will not ask for your forgiveness, Aden.”

The Knight King, whom I considered a friend, told me not to forgive him.

“……”

The Iron-Blooded Saint, whom I considered a comrade, remained silent.

“Aden, you’ve worked hard until now. Please rest in peace.”

The Grand Mage, whom I considered a companion, smiled brightly.

– The Great Seal Spell, Gleipnir, is activated.

They sealed me in the endless abyss of the world, ‘Void.’

A place where time does not exist, a bottomless pit like an eternity.

As I fell alone into that eternal darkness, I thought.

‘Bastards.’

– You are confined to the ‘Void.’

I wanted to kill them all.

—

His consciousness drifted hazily in the darkness.

Then, at a certain moment, a voice suddenly echoed.

“Young Master.”

‘Young Master?’

A title I had never heard before.

Reacting to it, I furrowed my brows and slowly opened my eyes.

And I felt something strange.

‘My eyes are open?’

Realizing belatedly that I was alive, I regained my senses.

I was in an unfamiliar room.

A luxurious space that looked like it belonged to a wealthy noble.

“Young Master, are you awake?”

The unfamiliar title echoed loudly once again.

The man who anxiously called me ‘Young Master’ was dressed like a servant of a noble family.

There were also several other unfamiliar people around me.

“My goodness! Are you alright, child?”

“My son, you’ve awakened! Oh, thank God!”

The people were rejoicing and relieved.

Some even had tears in their eyes.

‘What is this……?’

I was utterly confused.

I was surely dead.

After the final battle with the Demon Lord, I had been betrayed by my comrades and met my death in the ‘Void.’

At that moment, countless memories flooded into my mind.

‘These are……?’

Someone else’s memories.

—

The House of Duke Remes.

One of the ancient founding families of the Empire.

It was a duke’s family on the southeastern frontier, whose influence had declined over the long years, falling below the level of a count.

The eldest son of such a ducal family, Aden Remes.

At eighteen years old, his name was more famous among nobles for another reason.

The delinquent prince.

He had a foul temper, and breaking things was just the beginning; he also abused his servants and spewed vile language.

Every day he drank and behaved disgracefully.

But was it karma?

On a rainy day, he went out drinking and frolicking as usual.

He sneaked out, leaving his guards behind, but it was a common occurrence, so no one paid much attention.

However, that day, the prince left the tavern while drunk.

Then, he fell asleep in the middle of the rainy street.

By the time the ducal family found Aden, he was soaked, with severe fever and hypothermia, on the verge of death.

Two days later, the prince miraculously regained consciousness.

His parents wept tears of relief.

The servants were relieved that it hadn’t come to an extreme situation.

But no one knew.

That the soul inside the delinquent prince was someone else.

—

“Sigh…….”

A sigh escaped from the mouth of the dazed prince.

He was alone in the luxurious room, sitting on the bed.

Rubbing his temples as if he had a headache, he looked into the mirror beside the bed.

In the mirror was a face that was both unfamiliar and strangely familiar.

The golden hair, once like a ripe barley field, had turned into a deep jet-black like charcoal.

The sky-blue eyes had turned as black as the night sky.

A handsome face that anyone would call beautiful at first glance.

The entity inside the body of Aden Remes muttered his real name.

“Aden Albireo.”

By coincidence, they shared the same first name, but their family names were different.

Aden recalled the current year.

‘Imperial Year 450.’

The year he died was Imperial Year 465.

In other words, he had returned to the past, 15 years ago.

“Unbelievable…….”

A curse slipped out in sheer absurdity.

He had died but returned to the past?

In another person’s body?

And that too, a delinquent?

If someone had told Aden, he would have grabbed them by the collar and told them to stop talking nonsense.

But since he was the one experiencing it, Aden was bewildered.

To calm himself, Aden carefully recalled his memories.

Aden Albireo, when he was young, lived as a pickpocket boy in the slums before being caught by the Mercenary King and taken as his disciple.

He had been caught trying to steal his money pouch.

“Haha! Kid, you have excellent bones!”

“Eek! I-I’m sorry!”

“Good. From now on, you’re my disciple!”

“……What?”

“I will train you to become the best mercenary. Hahaha!”

“W-Wait a minute. Uwaah!”

Twenty years later.

Aden escaped the shadow of the Mercenary King and earned a name for himself.

The Dragon Slayer King.

The slayer of the Mad Dragon.

One of the heroes who fought against the Demon Lord’s army of evil monsters from the underworld.

Aden fought alongside many others to protect the Western Continent and eventually won.

By stabbing a sword into the Demon Lord’s heart.

“I thought that would be the end…….”

Grinding his teeth, he recalled the past.

The moment the Demon Lord died, a curse that he had never known about attacked Aden.

The curse took possession of the one who killed him, stealing their body.

Aden resisted the curse and asked for help from his comrades.

But their expressions were as cold as ice.

As if they knew this would happen.

When he approached them, unable to accept reality.

Thunk.

What he got in return was a dagger stuck in his chest.

After that, Aden was confined to the boundary between worlds, the ‘Void,’ by his comrades.

To ensure that the existence of the Demon Lord could never appear in the world again.

“Damn…….”

They had known all along.

That the one who killed the Demon Lord would be cursed.

Aden realized what he had been to them.

A hunting dog.

A dog that chases its prey and is devoured after the hunt is over.

In the end, Aden died in despair and hatred within the ‘Void.’

He unleashed his mana in a burst and committed suicide.

At least he wanted to die as himself.

But then……

“I never expected to come back to life like this.”

The problem was, this wasn’t the only issue.

Two sets of memories were mixed in his head.

One was the luxurious and decadent memories of Aden Remes.

The other was the harsh and grueling memories of Aden Albireo.

The mix was confusing.

‘Am I really Aden Albireo?’

Aden started to doubt even his own memories.

‘Wait, could it still be there?’

Suddenly, a thought came to mind, and Aden’s eyes widened.

Swallowing hard, Aden cautiously opened his mouth.

“……System open.”

Swoosh.

Then, lines of text appeared in Aden’s mind, as if engraved there.

[Aden &?@#$].

Race: Human

Titles:

King of Mercenaries (Unavailable)

Reaper of Warlocks (Unavailable)

Nemesis of Talos (Unavailable)

(Ellipsis)

– Titles marked as unavailable will have their restrictions lifted sequentially upon qualification.

The system.

Access rights to the compendium of all information, the Void Log.

Originally, this power belonged only to transcendent beings like dragons or gods, but Aden Albireo had gained this ability by consuming the heart of a Mad Dragon.

‘The part after my name is broken.’

Aden couldn’t understand why.

But one thing was clear.

The power Aden Albireo possessed still remained within him.

“Haha.”

A laugh escaped involuntarily.

Aden felt the tension release from his body.

“……It wasn’t a lie.”

It wasn’t a delusion or a dream.

Aden could now be sure.

He was indeed Aden Albireo.

His face soon twisted.

Confirming his memories meant that the pain and betrayal he experienced were all real.

As soon as he felt relieved, anger filled the void.

Killing intent surged.

Then.

Knock, knock.

A servant entered, holding a drink, and opened the door.

“Prince, I brought something to drink…… Huh.”

The servant froze at the sight of Aden’s murderous expression.

He trembled slightly, frightened.

“D-Do you need anything else, Prince?”

He asked cautiously, thinking to himself.

‘Is it another outburst?’

This was the first time he’d seen such a menacing look.

How much more was he planning to break this time?

Seeing the servant’s expression, Aden withdrew his killing intent and composed his face.

“No. Leave the cup there and go. Thank you.”

“Excuse me?”

The servant’s jaw dropped in surprise.

‘Did he just say thank you?’

The servant couldn’t believe it.

Did that delinquent prince just say thank you?

When the servant didn’t leave and stood frozen, Aden glared at him.

“Is there a problem?”

“N-No! I will take my leave now.”

Click!

The servant, pale-faced, hurriedly exited, and Aden rubbed his forehead.

He heard the servant’s voice faintly from outside, exclaiming, “My goodness, he didn’t throw anything!”

“Sigh.”

Aden sighed deeply.

He thought he understood why the servant acted that way.

‘Aden Remes, you were an irredeemable brat.’

The original owner of this body was the epitome of a delinquent.

Abusing and verbally assaulting the servants, breaking things, and drinking.

Fortunately, he at least listened to his parents to some extent and didn’t cross certain lines.

Though he was a delinquent, he never forcibly took a woman.

Drinking with women clinging to him at the entertainment district was another matter.

Aden picked up the gooseberry juice from the table.

It was a drink the delinquent prince, Aden Remes, enjoyed.

A rare fruit drink that commoners only tasted on special occasions, enjoyed by wealthy nobles.

Aden drank it and immediately frowned.

“……It’s familiar.”

He felt bitter that such a rare drink felt familiar to him.

He realized he had become someone entirely different.

—

Once he calmed down, rational questions filled Aden’s mind.

‘I am here.’

Then what about himself in this time, Aden Albireo?

Was he living separately in this timeline?

‘Or…….’

Aden frowned at the ominous thought.

Fifteen years ago, he was just a few years independent from his master.

His master had recently disappeared, and he was still known as the Mercenary King’s disciple.

He was a famous enough name that even nobles had heard of him.

‘I need to find out.’

Aden rang the bell to call a servant.

Philip, the servant who had brought the gooseberry juice, came.

“Yes, Young Master Aden. What do you need?”

Young Master Aden……

To him, who had been a mere commoner before being knighted for slaying a dragon, it was an unfamiliar title.

Yet it felt strangely familiar due to the delinquent prince’s memories.

“I need to ask you something. Do you know anything about the Mercenary King Balkan’s disciple?”

“The Mercenary King? Why do you ask all of a sudden……?”

“Stop talking and answer. Philip, are you defying me?”

Recalling the delinquent prince’s behavior from his memories, Aden glared fiercely.

“N-No! You can be curious! Of course!”

Philip shook his head vigorously and cowered.

“But, Young Master…….”

Philip hesitated and then spoke in a small, uncertain voice.

“When did……”

Aden couldn’t believe his ears at the following question.

“Did the Mercenary King ever have a disciple? He was famous for never taking one, wasn’t he?”

There was no disciple of the Mercenary King.

** Note **
Underlord has been changed to Demon Lord