The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 50

Vice-High Priest Hakel was one of the previous generation’s Holy Mark bearers before Elise.

Once a saint is chosen among the Holy Mark bearers, the others lose the faint light their marks emit, thus losing their qualification.

Hakel never doubted that he would be chosen as the saint of the order since he was a child.

But reality was cruel.

He became a dropout who wasn’t chosen by the divine.

Hakel couldn’t overcome that sense of inferiority and decided to devour the order.

For that reason, he craved power and ended up learning dark magic through his connections with warlocks.

Thanks to that, he became one of the mid-level executives within the organization and gained the authority to command warlocks.

He had been steadily preparing to commit treason by gathering his followers within the order.

But now, it was all about to go up in smoke.

All because of a baby he missed ten years ago.

“Ten years! Ten years of work ruined! Damn Joseph!”

His aide asked him,

“So, what are you planning to do?”

“What do you think?”

He spoke in a voice that had grown weary from excitement, yet the malice within it remained.

“Strengthen the curse on the high priest to make him die faster.”

The high priest was not a real issue.

All they needed to do was speed up the curse.

The problem was that damn kid, Elise.

If she awakened her holy power and became a full-fledged saint, she would become the highest authority leading the order.

She would have everything he desired.

He couldn’t let that happen.

Vice-high priest Hakel spoke ominously to his aide.

“On the day of the awakening ceremony two days from now, intruders will attack. The saint will be killed by them. Kertel, unable to cure his illness, will meet a tragic end, and I will become the new high priest. Understood?”

Assassinating the saint.

The vice-High-priest showed no fear of divine punishment. Even his aide, a warlock who didn’t serve God, felt a chill and swallowed hard.

“Kabeton, contact ‘them’. With the saint as a new variable, we may need to take more forceful measures to solve this.”

At the vice-High-priest’s command, the aide kneeled and showed his respect.

“I will follow your orders, Vice-High-priest Hakel.”

“No, that’s not right.”

Hakel corrected the aide’s words, shaking his head with deranged eyes.

“I am Hakel, the ‘High-priest’. Don’t make mistakes.”

“…Understood, High-priest Hakel.”

“Yes, that’s it. Haha! The blessing of the Sacred Fire shall be upon me!”

The vice-High-priest looked like a beast consumed by envy and greed.

“Ugh, ugh…”

At that moment, a groan came from beyond the iron bars in one corner of the basement.

A low-ranking priest was restrained with a gag in his mouth, completely battered.

“Oh, I almost forgot. That’s the reason I came here in the first place.”

The man was a low-ranking priest of the order.

He was one of those periodically kidnapped by the vice-High-priest to gather ‘materials’.

Hakel had tried using ordinary citizens, but the effect was limited as they had no special abilities.

The vice-High-priest opened the iron-barred door and removed the gag from the low-ranking priest.

As soon as the gag was removed, the low-ranking priest trembled and begged.

“Vice-High-priest, please spare me! I didn’t see anything! Please…!”

“I’m sorry. I can’t do that. But don’t feel too bad.”

He wore a kind smile, but it was more eerie because of the incongruity with the situation, as he reached out to the priest.

His hand grasped the priest’s face.

From the vice-High-priest’s grip, a sinister dark aura emanated.

“You will become precious fertilizer for a great cause.”

That quiet night, the basement echoed with the horrendous screams of the low-ranking priest.

* * *

The day after the deal with Curse was made, Aden walked around the order’s grounds from the morning.

He checked whether the people inside the order were warlocks.

The result was more than he imagined.

“Damn it, one out of five people in the order is a warlock. That’s a lot.”

Out of 642 people staying in the order’s main compound, 125 were warlocks.

Aden clicked his tongue as he looked at the list he had compiled.

It was unclear whether these people had been warlocks from the start or had converted later, but their number was significant.

This investigation only covered those inside the main building, so he couldn’t even guess how many warlocks might be in Yulikan City.

“Now that the investigation is over, I should go. I don’t want to be late.”

Aden had been invited to Elise’s tea time… in simpler terms, snack time.

Joseph, Elise, and Aden himself gathered around a table, enjoying tarts.

Elise, with crumbs all over her cheeks, sparkled with delight at the taste.

“Daddy! This is really delicious! I want more!”

“Daughter, if you eat more now, you won’t be able to eat dinner later. You’ll have to be patient.”

“But I want more!”

She nibbled at the last piece of tart, savoring it as long as possible.

“Joseph, let her eat as much as she wants. Tomorrow is an important day.”

Tomorrow night, Elise would undergo the awakening ceremony to fully awaken her saintly powers.

She would become a true saint, not just in name.

“Will I do well tomorrow?”

Elise asked Aden, looking worried about the ceremony the next day.

Can I really be a saint?

Am I allowed to be?

Will anything go wrong?

It was natural for her to feel a bit anxious.

“Daughter…”

“Don’t worry about it. There’s no need to be nervous.”

Just as Joseph was about to speak to Elise, Aden interrupted firmly.

“Think of it as going to collect the compensation you’re owed for all your hard work. You’ve done all the hard work, not the god. The god owes you. So there’s no need to be nervous. It’s the god who should be nervous, being a debtor.”

“…”

“…”

It was a statement that would make any Sacred Fire Order believer foam at the mouth and curse him. It was a blatant disregard for reverence towards the divine.

As expected, Joseph, a former member of the Seven Star Council, was so shocked that his face turned pale, and he couldn’t say a word.

Such words were hard to utter even for non-believers, let alone those of the faith.

But Aden was confident.

‘If they don’t like it, they can strike me with divine retribution.’

Gods were restricted in their interference with the mortal realm.

Therefore, unless it was an oath made with a divine name or some special divine law, they couldn’t punish someone out of personal grudges.

“Is that true?”

Elise, who had lived outside the order, didn’t even understand what faith really was.

She was practically a blank slate.

So, she just blinked her eyes and tilted her head in confusion, not shocked like Joseph.

“Of course. If you ever meet that god, stand your ground and demand what you’re owed.”

‘A saint is the most loved and cared for by God.’

They were the almost exclusive foothold through which gods could influence the mortal realm.

Therefore, Elise had every right to leverage that superior position.

Elise smiled brightly and nodded.

“Okay! I got it!”

“Huh…”

Joseph, having missed the chance to reprimand, could only sigh in exasperation.

Curse watched Aden’s outrageous behavior with astonishment.

-…What on earth are you teaching the saint, Dragon Slayer?

What else? Precious life wisdom that will be her meat and drink.

* * *

That night, in the dark.

Kabeton, following the vice-High-priest’s orders, slipped out of the order’s building through an empty alley.

He headed to a predetermined location to contact his collaborators in case of emergency.

Since he moved along a route known only to a few, he encountered no one and naturally relaxed.

But because of that, he didn’t notice.

That a shadow was following him.

It was Aden.

‘I expected the vice-High-priest’s aide to make some move.’

That’s why he had been watching the aide’s actions, and sure enough, he saw him leave the order.

‘It’s been a while since I used stealth, but I’m glad I’m not rusty.’

Aden, dressed in a black mask and nightclothes he had prepared, melted into the darkness.

His steps were silent as feathers, and he moved quickly without making any noise.

In his past life as a mercenary, there had been missions to track and assassinate targets.

Stealth was a useful skill for many situations, so he had learned it.

Thanks to that, he followed without being detected.

Thump, thump.

When Kabeton entered a secluded alley, Aden followed from above, stepping on the buildings.

He saw Kabeton talking to a man hidden in the shadows.

“To think the grand plan would be thwarted. I’m disappointed.”

“We didn’t want this either! Who could have guessed that a child bearing the Holy Mark, whose fate was unknown, would return to the order!”

Aden, hearing the voice of the contact, found it familiar.

Aden furrowed his brows.

‘That voice sounds familiar.’

It was on the tip of his tongue.

Aden squinted, trying to see the man’s face, but it was hidden in the shadows of the building.

“Let’s not get picky. We’re tied together by mutual benefit, aren’t we? Hakel becoming the High-priest will benefit your master too.”

“Are you threatening my master?”

The man growled, showing his anger, and Kabeton shrank back

.

“N-no, that’s not what I meant. Who knew a knight would be so stubborn…”

“What!”

“N-nothing.”

A knight, huh. The contact seemed to be a knight serving someone.

The man, enraged by Kabeton’s words, stepped out of the shadows.

“Calm down for a moment. Ugh!”

In just a few steps, the man closed the distance and grabbed Kabeton by the collar.

“Watch your mouth. I can tear you to pieces right here.”

Thanks to that, the man’s face was revealed under the moonlight.

With red hair like blood and red eyes, and a long scar across one side of his face, he had a fiery and brutal appearance.

“…!”

As soon as Aden saw his face, he recognized him and was shocked.

‘That guy is… the Red Knight?’

The Red Knight, Benige Haimar.

He was the knight close to Sylbeta Sias, the eldest son of the Grand Duke Sias family.

In the Grand Duchy of Sias, outstanding knights or those with remarkable achievements were given epithets symbolizing their weapons or colors.

Dayer Sias’ epithet “Spear Knight” was one of them.

Incidentally, before Sylbeta became the Grand Duke and earned the title of Knight King, his swordsmanship was so fast it resembled a thunderstorm, earning him the title of Thunderstorm Knight.

The Red Knight was known for his striking red appearance and his love for bloodshed.

Wherever he went, a sea of blood followed, hence his nickname.

‘The Red Knight appearing here.’

Kabeton must have come out to contact his backers.

And Benige represented those backers.

‘Benige only follows Sylbeta.’

He wouldn’t do anything harmful to his master, and Sylbeta controlled his brutal nature.

His appearance at this moment could only mean one thing.

‘Sylbeta is behind the vice-High-priest. The Grand Duke Sias family is involved.’

And Sylbeta was working with warlocks.

Aden’s eyes grew cold.