The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 51

‘The Knight King and Chaos’ warlocks are in an alliance.’

Crack.

Aden clenched his fist tightly.

In fact, he had suspected something was amiss from the moment Dayer’s sword broke at a critical moment during the imperial banquet, and the beasts’ movements became strange.

However, witnessing such direct evidence felt entirely different.

He was now experiencing extreme anger.

‘That bastard, Sylbeta !’

‘Why’ had they been fighting?

Wasn’t it because they loathed and raged against the heinous acts of the warlocks, fighting them for that very reason?

That’s why, despite countless deaths and farewells, they had been eradicating dark magic from the world.

—

‘Their evil is disrupting the world. I will stake my honor as a knight and eradicate them, for that is the chivalry of our Grand Duchy. Aden, your help has been a great strength. You are a comrade I can always trust.’

—

That was what Sylbeta had once said to Aden.

Sylbeta had been a comrade who, although stubborn, followed chivalry and was trustworthy.

Not only that, but all his comrades were honorable people with noble intentions.

At least, that’s what he ‘believed.’

After being betrayed by everyone following the final battle with Demon Lord, he learned that it was all a facade.

However, he never imagined they had been rotten from the very beginning.

They had been in cahoots from the start.

The long-suppressed sense of betrayal surged up again.

Mana began to boil within him unconsciously.

—

‘Calm down, Dragon Slayer!’

—

At that moment, Aden snapped back to his senses at Curse’s sharp reprimand.

He had almost made a mistake.

This time, he had Curse’s help.

Once he regained his composure, his mind cooled and became clear.

‘Did Sylbeta join hands with the warlocks and the vice-church leader for the succession?’

Keywords such as the church leader’s assassination, the rise of the vice-church leader, and the warlocks, combined with the keyword of the Sias Grand Duchy, began to form a picture.

‘To secure the succession, personal martial prowess is needed, but one also needs a supporting faction.’

How many excellent knights one had under them, how much support they received from the Holy Trinity Churches or the imperial family—these factors were crucial.

Come to think of it, at that time, Sylbeta had the support of the Lawful Church, while the second son, Dayer, had the support of the Sacred Fire Order.

Three years later, when the leader of the Sacred Fire Church, Kertel, died, the vice-high priest rose to power, and the church shifted its support from Dayer Sias to Sylbeta .

After losing an arm in the terrorist incident at the imperial banquet, Dayer was left crippled and fell into ruin without the church’s support.

‘But now Dayer is fine.’

Thanks to Aden’s cooperation, Dayer’s arm was unharmed.

Instead, he was treated as a hero by the imperial family, and his support solidified.

Perhaps, the leader’s death came sooner than in the past because Sylbeta felt threatened and hastened his actions.

That possibility was quite high.

Aden’s eyes gleamed fiercely.

‘Thank you, Sylbeta Sias.’

Aden had harbored a slight hesitation.

Even though the future had changed, he wondered if it was right to destroy the traitors for personal reasons.

But at this moment, his lingering attachment to Sylbeta disappeared.

‘Thank you for being rotten from the start. You’ve erased even a shred of lingering attachment.’

Aden felt confident that he wouldn’t waver when he met Sylbeta again.

He planned to repay that gratitude by dragging him into the abyss.

A chill ran down his spine.

At that moment, Aden felt a prickling sensation on his skin.

He quickly turned his body.

Shraaaak!

The red Aura Threads of the enemy knight sliced through the spot where Aden had just been, leaving a thin line of scars.

Aden had to land on the ground to avoid the Aura Threads.

The enemy knight clicked his tongue when he saw Aden in his black mask and night clothes.

“Tsk, like a bug. You even brought a rat with you.”

“Wait, I was being tailed? Ugh!”

The enemy knight grabbed Baketon by the collar and threw him aside.

“You, get lost. Watch how I handle this rat, and if you die, I won’t care.”

The enemy knight drew his sword and aimed it at Aden. Aden cursed inwardly.

‘Damn it. That bastard already knew about me but pretended not to.’

Whether it was when Aden showed hostility toward Sylbeta or from the beginning, he didn’t know.

One thing was certain: there was no way to escape quietly now.

Baketon’s aide fled without looking back.

But Aden couldn’t follow him.

The enemy knight blocked him.

The enemy knight was a master of the highest-level sword aura, a formidable opponent that Aden couldn’t defeat with his current skills.

The enemy knight spoke to Aden.

“Hey, rat. Where did you come from? Speak now.”

Fortunately, he was wearing a mask.

The enemy knight didn’t seem to realize who Aden was.

“…What if I refuse?”

“I haven’t tasted blood in a while.”

The enemy knight licked his lips with a creepy smile, looking excited.

He liked to torture his enemies for information and crush them with his aura so no one could recognize them.

He was probably excited about doing that now.

…He seemed like a psycho knight mad with bloodlust.

Aden felt like he was facing a priest from the Slaughter God Sect.

If he was like that, why didn’t he join them instead of causing this chaos under Sylbeta ?

Aden’s eyes narrowed.

‘There’s no avoiding it.’

The only option left was to fight.

The enemy knight took a step forward with a bang and rushed at Aden like a bullet.

Boom!

Aden’s sword, Baalzebul, barely blocked the enemy knight’s blade.

As Aden’s sword aura intercepted the enemy knight’s red aura, his eyes flashed with interest.

“For a rat, you’re quite good!”

The enemy knight’s sword aura stormed towards Aden.

Snap, shraaak, clang, chaang!

Aden used his seasoned combat senses and skills to block or deflect the enemy knight’s offensive.

‘He’s strong!’

However, the enemy knight was also an experienced butcher.

Their swords clashed, merging the butcher’s and the mercenary’s techniques.

Aden was so busy fending off the enemy’s attacks that he felt dizzy.

In truth, using Banshee’s Spirit Shield would have solved everything.

If he could activate the Spirit Shield and triple his overall stats, Aden could match the knight’s strength.

Given his superior skills, Aden would surely win.

The problem was that Banshee’s Spirit Shield was currently unusable.

—

– Bound Artifact, Banshee’s Spirit Shield Cooldown: 34 hours, 12 minutes, 4 seconds.

—

The shield, reverse-summoned by Priest Bali, hadn’t fully recovered.

The timing couldn’t have been worse.

In the end, Aden had to face this psycho without the shield’s help.

‘I need to refrain from using the Ring of Swiftness, too.’

Given his current abilities, killing the enemy to destroy the evidence was almost impossible.

Therefore, he had to be cautious about using artifacts that could reveal his identity unless it was a crucial moment.

—

< Due to the Unbeatable Swordsman achievement, attack and defense are enhanced.>
< Due to accumulated merits, the achievement has been upgraded from ‘Temporary’ to ‘Semi-permanent.’>

—

The semi-permanent Unbeatable Swordsman achievement was also a significant help.

Aden and the enemy knight exchanged blows.

However, as the fight progressed, the enemy knight’s face hardened.

“This, this swordsmanship…!”

Recognizing Aden’s swordsmanship, the enemy knight’s eyes filled with alarm.

It was the swordsmanship of the Sias Grand Duchy that he was familiar with.

Aden smiled inwardly.

‘He finally noticed.’

Aden had exchanged techniques with his old comrades extensively.

As a result, he had also mastered the grand duchy’s swordsmanship that Knight King Sylbeta Sias used.

The grand duchy’s swordsmanship could only be learned by those of the Sias bloodline and their retainers.

Aden incorporated the essence of the Mercenary King’s swordsmanship into the grand duchy’s swordsmanship to block the attacks.

To the enemy knight, it appeared as pure grand duchy swordsmanship.

Now, think about it.

For someone not of the Sias bloodline to use swordsmanship only taught to their lineage implies that someone from that bloodline must have taught it to their subordinate.

Given that Aden was an enemy, he couldn’t be on Sylbeta ’s side.

There was no way the Grand Duke would have done it either.

He wouldn’t interfere with the succession competition.

That left only one possibility.

“You, you must be one of those despicable Dayer faction bastards!”

As Aden intended, the simple-minded psycho was completely fooled.

He thought Aden was a secret agent of the second son, Dayer Sias.

Aden confirmed this by lifting the corners of his mouth in a sneer.

“Did you think you’d be safe after involving warlocks, you bastard, Benige Hyma!”

Calling out the full name solidified the enemy knight’s suspicion.

The simple doubt turned into certainty.

Honestly, Aden felt a little sorry for Dayer.

He had just framed an innocent man.

But Dayer and Sylbeta were brothers and sworn enemies, each aiming for the other’s throat.

A small false accusation wouldn’t make much difference.

“Grr! Shut up! You’re just a spear knight’s dog!”

The enraged enemy knight condensed his sword aura into threads and swung them.

Or tried to.

Gurgle!

The enemy knight suddenly vomited blood.

The once ferocious enemy knight stared in confusion at the blood flowing from his mouth.

He didn’t understand why he was vomiting blood.

“What, what is this…?”

Aden chuckled as he watched.

‘Got him.’

The technique was Resonance, a skill Aden devised with his excellent mana control.

He had used it during his duel with Border Count Tiried.

Each time the swords clashed, Resonance synchronized with the opponent’s aura and rhythm, shaking them internally.

A key feature of this technique was that the initial impact was so minimal it could be mistaken for an illusion.

Its subtlety infiltrated the body, causing increasing internal chaos with each successive attack.

Like a spreading poison.

If the opponent had been more alert, they might have detected the abnormality early.

But the enemy knight was naturally hot-tempered and impulsive.

Aden’s light provocation had made him charge without realizing his insides were being shaken.

And now, the cumulative effects of Resonance were manifesting externally.

The result was clear.

“Cough! What have you done to my body, you wretch?”

The internal injuries caused the enemy knight to stagger and spit blood.

Even so, he didn’t retreat or give up on Aden.

Given his skills, the enemy knight could still defeat Aden despite the internal injuries.

“Well, take care of yourself.”

But that was assuming Aden continued the fight.

He had no intention of doing so.

Whoosh!

Aden threw something at the enemy knight’s face and fled.

The enemy knight instinctively slashed at it with his sword aura.

Bang!

But as he cut it, a pungent smoke exploded.

He was engulfed in the smoke.

“Argh! My eyes! You wretch!”

The enemy knight screamed, covering his eyes, nose, and mouth.

The smoke was painful.

Inhaling it felt like hundreds of needles were stabbing his throat and lungs.

His eyes burned so much he wanted to pluck them out and wash them.

What Aden had thrown was a special ‘Smoke Bomb Potion’ made by Cassie.

—

– Oh dear, handsome lord. You always order strange things. I’m curious about where you use them.

—

No matter how skilled a sword aura user, humans felt the sting and irritation of the smoke the same.

Even with enhanced bodies and the ability to use sword aura, they couldn’t filter out the smoke.

If Benige had been a sword master, he could have blocked the smoke with his passive aura, but that was beyond his current level.

Whoosh!

Instead, the enraged enemy knight swung his sword, dispersing the smoke with a blade wind.

“You damn wretch!”

He opened his bloodshot eyes wide, but Aden had already vanished with the smoke.

The enemy knight quickly tried to sense Aden’s presence.

But…

‘My senses are scrambled!’

The internal injuries from Aden’s Resonance had twisted his mana veins.

Although the injuries weren’t severe, and he could recover in a day or two with rest, his ability to sense was disrupted.

‘To think I, I got played by that scum…!’

The silent screams of the enemy knight echoed through the dark alley.