The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 24

The Troll and Orc fortress invasion incident had come to an end.

“Aden, it seems we have to leave this matter to the Slaughter Tower.”

The abnormal behavior of the monsters in the Wasteland of Death.

Tiried Sedus realized this was not something he could investigate on his own.

Such matters had to be entrusted to the Slaughter Cult, who were preventing the overflow from the Wasteland of Death.

He mentioned he would discuss it with Duke Fried later.

‘The appearance of the Grey Undead Legion. This is getting concerning for my territory as well.’

He thought he should return to his Sedus County soon.

The sun was already setting, and night was approaching.

Aden, the Border Count, Carl, and Lowe decided to stay at the fortress for the night and return the next day.

They were just about to finish up and leave.

Aden paused in front of the High Troll Shaman’s corpse.

“Hmm?”

Aden sensed something strange.

Normally, the High Troll Shaman’s body should have been left as an empty shell with all its power gone.

But he felt a faint energy around its chest area.

‘How is this possible?’

The power of Gluttony should have devoured all the energy.

Yet, there was still some energy remaining.

Aden stepped on the corpse and used his sword to cut open the Troll’s stomach.

The energy was coming from the stomach.

Slash!

When he cut open the stomach, half-digested chunks of meat spilled out, emitting a rotten stench.

And then he saw it.

Amidst the mush, a glowing red object was burning.

It was a round ball of fire.

And inside that ball, he saw the silhouette of a small bird.

‘This is…….’

Aden mumbled in disbelief.

“……a phoenix?”

A phoenix.

The existence was well-known.

A rare and mystical bird that burns its enemies with wings of fire, flying through the sky, and spreading flames—a fantastical species.

It had emerged from the Troll’s stomach.

‘Was this why the High Troll wielded the power of fire?’

It was said that those who consume a phoenix awaken an affinity for fire.

The High Troll must have been able to use fire because of this phoenix.

‘It’s in a state of suspended animation.’

A phoenix, when injured or endangered, goes to sleep to recover, surrounding itself with a shell of fire for protection.

It seemed to have been injured.

The High Troll had eaten the phoenix, and the shell of fire had kept it alive.

‘No wonder its firepower was weaker than in my previous life.’

Had another week passed, the phoenix would have been fully digested.

Then its power would have become the High Troll’s.

Aden remembered what the merchant Pobol had said.

‘There was a rumor about a ball of fire falling to the east at night.’

Perhaps he had witnessed the fall of this phoenix.

Aden stared at the phoenix in its dormant state.

Then he thought.

‘Should I eat it?’

Those who consume a phoenix gain an affinity for fire.

Aden coveted that power.

‘Yes, it would have become the High Troll’s meal anyway. No one can blame me for eating it.’

The beautiful flame enveloping the phoenix.

He wanted it more and more.

To eat it and gain that power……

‘I want to devour it.’

It was when Aden had such a thought unknowingly.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, the dark magic inside Aden pulsed strongly.

Chills ran down his spine.

“……!”

The wicked power made Aden’s spine tingle and his mind cleared instantly.

He flinched.

‘What was I just thinking?’

Aden realized he was being excessively greedy.

He felt something was off.

It was as if it wasn’t his own will but someone subtly urging him……

But that feeling disappeared.

Aden looked at the 72 Demon Sword, Baalzebul.

‘Was it because of this?’

It was said that powerful demonic objects could enchant people.

Moreover, this was the remnant of a fallen monarch.

It seemed he had been unknowingly enchanted by the sword’s evil spirit.

Aden’s face hardened.

‘What was that feeling just now?’

For a moment, intense dark magic emanated from the Demon Stone.

The energy drove out the power of Gluttony from Baalzebul.

Even though it was brief, he felt it.

The presence of someone he knew very well.

Aden soon realized why the Demon Stone was inside him and why this power felt familiar.

“Ha.”

He let out a hollow laugh.

Yes, that’s what it was.

Realizing something, he felt oddly relieved.

‘Alright, let’s just see what happens when we get back.’

Aden set aside the empty realization.

For now, he decided to focus on the phoenix in front of him.

Free from the sword’s enchantment, he no longer coveted it.

He was a swordsman.

What good would increased fire affinity do for someone who wasn’t a mage or a spiritist?

‘Of course, I could sell it somewhere, but…….’

A phoenix was a rare existence.

He could surely sell it for a fortune.

But Aden didn’t really want to do that.

‘The Troll corpses we caught here are enough money.’

He decided to just let it go.

Aden made his decision.

However, if left like this, the phoenix would remain dormant for hundreds of years.

‘They say phoenixes don’t forget grace.’

Aden decided to help the phoenix recover a little.

It would probably repay him, big or small.

Aden had the orcs stack ten Troll corpses.

Then he poured oil on them and placed the phoenix covered in a shell of fire next to them.

Fwoosh!

The phoenix’s flames started to burn the Troll corpses.

All the smoke created was drawn towards the phoenix.

It looked like the fire was consciously devouring the corpses.

The fire grew hotter and more brilliantly reddish-yellow as it absorbed the smoke.

Finally, when all the corpses were completely burned.

Fwoosh!

The shell of fire burst, and a streak of light shot into the sky.

The phoenix soared into the dark evening sky, flapping its wings.

-Screeeeech-!

It let out a cry, similar to a falcon but resonating far with a mana echo.

Fwoosh!

The phoenix soared, joyfully scattering reddish-yellow flame feathers everywhere.

It was like watching a fireworks display during a festival on the Eastern Continent.

“Ohhh!”

“That is the legendary phoenix!”

“Beautiful……!”

Everyone who saw it was mesmerized, staring blankly.

Thump.

Aden picked up a feather that had fallen to the ground and smiled faintly.

The phoenix’s feather was not hot but emitted a gentle warmth.

‘This isn’t bad either.’

A phoenix’s feather is a valuable magical material and an alchemy catalyst.

Though not as valuable as the phoenix itself, it was still worth quite a bit.

The phoenix soared joyfully in the sky.

Suddenly, the phoenix flew towards Aden.

It circled above his head a few times.

“Oh my goodness……!”

“The phoenix is staying near the young master……!”

The soldiers exclaimed in admiration.

Phoenix feathers rained down on Aden’s head.

And the feathers, like magnets, gathered around Aden, melting and being absorbed like snow.

“Th-that is…….”

It was a sight so holy, like a priest blessing a believer.

Someone among the soldiers murmured.

“Beautiful……. It’s like the phoenix is blessing him.”

No, it was indeed a blessing.

This was the phoenix giving Aden a kind of blessing.

‘Blessing of the Phoenix?’

Aden checked the system information in detail.

<[Blessing of the Phoenix]>

The Blessing of the Phoenix……

He had hoped for some reward but didn’t expect this.

Aden smiled and spoke to the phoenix.

“Thank you.”

The phoenix cried briefly in satisfaction…….

Flap-!

It spread its wings of fire and soared into the sky.

Then, like a meteor, it quickly flew somewhere and disappeared.

The reddish-yellow feathers were the only traces left shining brightly in the Attila Fortress after the phoenix’s departure.

* * *

Before they knew it, night had fallen with a pale full moon.

Gulp.

Aden’s younger brother, Carl Remes, was drinking alone in his room.

The room was unlit except for the moonlight, creating a lonely atmosphere.

Carl, his face flushed, poured more liquor into his empty glass.

It was a lot to drink alone, but he didn’t care.

He just felt like getting drunk now.

His eyes were filled with emptiness. Carl thought.

‘I wanted to become the next head of our family.’

He wanted it.

Because he was better than his older brother.

When his brother was getting drunk and playing with women, he studied territorial administration.

When his brother was abusing and cursing at the subordinates, he trained in swordsmanship every day.

He didn’t want to be like his good-for-nothing brother.

He thought it was only right for someone as talented and diligent as himself to inherit the Duke’s position.

What was lacking in him that the succession rights went to his delinquent brother instead of him?

Since he had this question, he became obsessed with the position of the family head.

The next head of the Duke’s family.

He was captivated and desired that pretentious title.

Thinking his brother shouldn’t become the head.

Thinking that it would be better if he, who was smarter, became the head.

He thought it was the right thing for the territory that he succeeded to the family head position.

The position he believed the younger brother, who was more capable than the

eldest son, should have had.

But experiencing the events at the fortress today, he realized it was arrogance.

‘I couldn’t do anything.’

The meeting to decide whether to abandon the fortress and flee.

Carl couldn’t help but be seized with fear like a coward.

The weight of deciding the lives of hundreds, thousands of territorial residents by less than ten people at the meeting overwhelmed him.

Even though he tried to persuade and appeal to them, no one supported him.

The sense of alienation and fear made him want to run away.

That’s when he realized.

That those who ascend to high positions must bear the weight.

And that they needed the power to sway people’s hearts regardless of whether they were above or below him.

He didn’t have that power.

‘I’m not suited to be the family head.’

But his brother was different.

He had a peculiar power to attract people’s hearts.

First, he won over the apprentice knights.

Then the knights.

After that, he even managed to align the fortress soldiers and the Sword Master Border Count Tiried with him.

‘I was wrong.’

Carl remembered again.

The scene of his brother stabbing the High Troll Shaman in the neck with his sword.

The sight of the soldiers trembling with excitement, praising and cheering for his brother.

Carl murmured.

“I…… was wrong.”

Carl felt a bitter sense of defeat and kept drinking.

* * *

At that time, Aden was also locked in his room.

Aden had taken the best room in the fortress.

Ordinarily, it should have been used by the Border Count Tiried given his status, but it was a courtesy to the hero of the victory.

Aden lay on the bed, relieving his accumulated fatigue.

He was so tired he could fall asleep right then.

‘But I shouldn’t sleep now.’

There was still something left to check.

Aden got up and sat on the bed’s edge.

“When I think about it, it was a simple matter.”

Aden spoke as if talking to someone, even though there was no one else in the room.

“Why do I have the Demon Stone?”

Why did he hear the voice of the Demon Lord for a moment?

Yes, it was something anyone could guess when they thought about it.

He had unconsciously avoided it because it would have been too unpleasant if true.

“I was cursed by the Demon Lord when I was imprisoned in the ‘Void.’”

It was a curse of dormancy.

A curse that allowed one to take over the body of another and resurrect with a new body.

Aden thought the curse had been erased when he returned to the past.

“But it wasn’t.”

The curse hadn’t disappeared.

It was still writhing inside his body.

Aden grasped Baalzebul.

Then, the sword’s spiritual essence transmitted its emotions to him.

It was very shrunken.

He felt it.

Fear, shock, terror, denial.

The sword’s spirit was very frightened now.

Sensing the ‘certain existence’ inside Aden.

Aden spoke with cold, sunken eyes.

“Now that you’re noticed, come out immediately, you bastard.”

At that moment, the dark magic inside Aden stirred violently.

Then it gathered toward the Demon Sword Baalzebul.

The sword was engulfed by the dark magic.

Baalzebul trembled.

-Aaaah-!

The sword’s spirit let out a horrendous scream.

The sword’s spirit was being devoured by something else.

The will of Gluttony was being consumed by another entity.

The sword’s spirit’s horrible pain and fear were conveyed.

Soon, the scream subsided.

The sword’s spirit had been annihilated.

And another entity took its place.

Aden felt that presence.

-Hehehe. You found out.

Then he heard a voice in his head.

A voice all too familiar.

The voice of the one he once hated the most in this world.

“Of course, I would know with such a noticeable sign.”

Aden smirked coldly.

Then he uttered the name.

“Demon Lord.”

The sole ruler of the underground world Under, the Demon Lord.

The lord of Talos and the monster who would drench the continent in blood in the future.

He never wanted to deal with him again, but now the Demon Lord spoke to him warmly.

-Nice to see you again. Dragon Slayer King, Aden Albireo.