Chapter 21
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Demon God’s male Disciple]
[Quality Checker – Kawaii]
Chapter 21: The Goldpixie Duke (1)
“…Even if I take you there, you won’t be able to meet His Grace the Duke.”
Allan Demiche spoke with a face filled with fear.
Across from him sat Damien Haksen, who was gazing lazily out the window.
“I’m just a mere branch manager at best. I’m not even the CEO of Dash and Cash loan firm.”
[TL/N- Changing Dash and Cash bank to Dash & Cash loan firm, did a mistake back there.]
[PR/N- You are useless.]
[QC/N- Tsk.Tsk. you both are useless]
“I know, so could you please shut up already?”
At Damien’s remark, Allan tightly sealed his lips.
Fear emanated from his eyes and face, making him tremble.
“All you need to do is bring me in front gates of the Duchy, and I’ll do the rest.”
Damien didn’t know the way to the Duchy. He hadn’t even prepared for a long journey.
That’s why he specifically needed Allan Demiche to accompany him.
“…Do you really intend to participate in the duel?”
Allan Demiche cautiously asked. Damien only nodded.
“…So, does that mean you’ll make the Duke win in the duel?”
Damien nodded again.
Strong suspicion crept over Allan Demiche’s face.
“Do you know who is coming from the Ryan Bloom marquisette? It’s Michael Ryan Bloom, the monster of the Ryan Bloom family.”
The Goldpixie Duchy doesn’t directly train knights like the Marquis Ryan Bloom does. Instead, they receive knights from knightly families that are loyal to the Duke.
Thanks to this, the quantity and quality of knights in possession of the Goldpixie Duchy were not lacking compared to those of the Ryan Bloom Marquisette.
The reason they recruited knights for the duel from other sources was precisely because of Michael Ryan Bloom.
“Michael Ryan Bloom became a Low Class knight before even reaching adulthood. In fact, according to the rumors, he has already reached the Mid Class.”
Allan Demiche had witnessed firsthand how strong Damien Haksen was.
Yet, he didn’t believe that Damien could defeat Michael Ryan Bloom.
“You’re noisy.”
Damien interjected, making Allan Demiche cover his mouth with his remaining hand.
“I never asked you to worry about me.”
“I…I’m sorry.”
Allan Demiche bowed his head so low that his forehead touched the ground.
“If you understand, be cautious from now on.”
He trembled vigorously.
The journey to the Duke’s residence was comfortable.
Thanks to Allan Demiche generously spending money, they secured the best accommodations in every town they passed, and the food was also top-notch. He spared no expense, and even used the supposedly expensive magical tools to make the journey more comfortable for Damien.
As a result, even when Damien was not at his house, he could enjoy bathing in hot water.
“Feels more comfortable than being at home.”
Damien didn’t waste this time. He invested every moment of the rare resting time in building up his mana.
Except for sleeping, he constantly practiced his swordsmanship skills.
‘Right now, what I need the most is mana.’
When it came to skills and knowledge, nobody could match Damien.
But he lacked in many external aspects for example, his body wasn’t fully trained yet, and his mana was also insufficient.
‘If I could just acquire the mana of a Junior Knight, I could do so much more.’
So, five days passed.
The carriage arrived at the Goldpixie Duke’s residence.
The Goldpixie Duke’s residence stood tall on a vast field.
The castle was so massive that there were a staggering eight entrance gates.
At each gate, aspiring entrants stood in line in order to either meet the Duke or to get a job in the Duchy.
With Allan Demiche present, Damien didn’t need to wait. As the manager of Dash and Cash, he had the authority to bypass the outer inspections.
The carriage passed through the residential and commercial areas and reached the inner fortress walls.
“Halt.”
Soldiers guarding the inner gate blocked the carriage.
Allan Demiche, sweating profusely, addressed Damien,
“I…I can only guide you up to here.”
Inside the inner gate stood the mansion of the Duke Goldpixie.
Allan Demiche had never entered there even once.
“Then, I guess I’ll have to walk from here now.”
At those words, Allan Demiche let out a sigh of relief.
But soon, he realized something, Damien was staring directly at him.
“I’ve pondered during the journey, you know.”
“Yes…yes?”
“It weakens my heart to kill you, you know.”
“T…Then, will you spare me?”
“But then it’d be hard to forgive myself for sparing you, as you tried to harm my family.”
Damien rose from his seat. The sunlight from the carriage obscured him.
A dark shadow enveloped Allan Demiche.
“So, let’s settle on by just cutting your tongue.”
“Yes…Yes? W…Wait…”
The sound of a blade being drawn echoed in the carriage.
Soon, a piercing scream spread in all directions, tearing through eardrums.
The Duke’s soldiers who blocked the carriage were taken aback and raised their spears.
A moment later, the carriage door opened, and Damien stepped out.
“It’s quite massive when you see it like this.”
Damien observed while looking up at the inner gate.
The inner gate was much taller than the outer one. You had to tilt your head as far back as possible if you wished to see the end.
“What’s going on here?”
“What do you think this place is?”
The soldiers aimed their spears at Damien and shouted.
Ignoring the soldiers’ threats, Damien asked,
“I have matters to discuss with the Duke. Could you open the gate?”
In response to Damien’s query, the two soldiers burst out angrily,
“What nonsense! How can we allow a filthy brat like you to go in and meet His grace!”
“It seems you’re aiming for His Grace’s life!”
Judging by the soldiers’ reactions, peaceful means might not let him cross the inner gate.
“In that case, there’s no choice but to force my way through.”
Damien recalled his past experiences.
He had never personally met the Goldpixie Duke, but he had heard plenty about him.
A strict meritocrat.
[PR/N- Meritocrat here means a person who selects or favors someone based on their abilities and merits, and not their status or authority.]
If one lacked ability, even if they were his children he wouldn’t favor them. Conversely, if one had talent and abilities, then he would treat them leniently even if that person was to be his enemy.
‘If I’m going to participate in the duel anyway, I’ll have to prove my skills. Showing is better than just talking, right?’
Damien, having made his decision, nodded.
His composed demeanour astonished the soldiers.
“What nonsense have you been saying since earlier?!”
“Maybe a few hits will sober him up.”
Damien slightly bent his knee.
Immediately after, with a burst of air, Damien’s body vanished.
“Huh?”
“What?”
Instinctively, the soldiers looked up. And there, they could see it.
Damien floating midway up the inner fortress wall.
“W…What’s that?”
“Huh…huh!”
Damien stepped on the fortress wall, then leaped up again.
Continuously propelling himself, he started going up the fortress wall.
In the blink of an eye, he reached the top of the wall.
“Ughhhh…”
“Hey, you’ll catch flies in your mouth.”
Soldiers were also standing atop the wall. Damien landed between two of them.
“Huh? What’s this?”
“W…What?”
The two soldiers stared at Damien in bewilderment.
Whether they reacted or not Damien didn’t care, he just admired the view below the wall.
“Wow, what a view.”
Then, the soldiers aimed their spears at Damien.
“Intruder!”
“Die!”
Damien leaped again, avoiding the spears, and flew down the wall.
The two soldiers, startled, looked down.
Despite the height of his fall, Damien seemed unscathed.
“Where’s the Duke’s mansion from here?”
Damien strolled confidently. His demeanour left the soldiers’ eyes widened.
“Intruder! Sound the alarm!”
“This isn’t an ordinary one! We need the knights!”
The noisy clanging of bells echoed throughout the entire Duke’s estate.
Despite the alarm sounding, Damien didn’t rush.
He strolled leisurely, almost as if he were out for a walk.
Surprisingly, the ones who were worried were the people from the Duke’s side.
“There he is!”
About ten knights rushed in, surrounding Damien.
“Reveal your identity immediately!”
“Who sent you?”
“What’s your purpose?”
The knights shouted questions one after another.
Damien glanced over them. They were all Junior Knights.
“Tsk, these fledglings come out first.”
Fledglings.
At Damien’s words, the Junior Knights were bewildered. Shortly after, they became angry.
“How dare you disrespect us?!”
“Shall we cut off his arms?”
Damien shook his head.
“Where’s the Duke? I have urgent matters to discuss with him.”
At his words, the knights’ faces reddened as if about to explode.
“…You’ve come to target His Grace!”
“It’s not that there’s an urgent matter that I have to discuss.”
“Shut up!”
The knights drew their swords, pointing the sharp blades at Damien.
“You’ll pay for your actions right now!”
The knights charged at him. Damien scratched the back of his head.
Right now, Damien could easily eliminate them all with a single sword strike.
However, Junior Knights were valuable forces that could be immediately deployed in combat.
Killing ten of them?
It would be tantamount to declaring war against the Duchy.
That’s why Damien didn’t draw his sword.
He skillfully deflected all the blades coming at him barehanded.
The bewildered expressions on the Junior Knights’ faces at his actions struck Damien.
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
Then Damien’s body disappeared.
He approached the Junior Knights, landing quick strikes at their chins.
His speed left an afterimage behind.
The Junior Knights were knocked out without even realising they were under attack.
“Oh, I forgot to ask where the Duke is.”
That’s when Damien regretted.
One knight, whom he thought had passed out, groaned.
“Wh…What… Uhh…”
He hadn’t completely lost consciousness; he was just not in his right mind.
Damien approached, somewhat sympathetic to the daze of the knight.
He grabbed the knight’s hair and lifted his head.
“Where is the Duke?”
“T…The Grace… is in the meeting room…”
Thanks to the partial loss of reason, it was easy to extract information.
Damien lowered the knight’s head and looked toward the mansion.
“He’s over there.”
Damien moved again.
Recently, the Duke Goldpixie had been troubled by one thing.
“You still haven’t found a knight to challenge Michael Ryan Bloom?”
The attendants seated in the meeting room all bowed their heads. Seeing this, the Goldpixie Duke let out a deep sigh.
“Money isn’t an issue, just bring someone even if you get it from abroad.”
No one among the attendants raised their heads. The Duke Goldpixie sighed deeply once more.
In truth, the root cause of all this trouble was the Duke himself.
The Duke Goldpixie and Marquis Ryan Bloom had been at odds since their youth.
It all started when the he set his sights on a lady of the Ryan Bloom family, which the Marquis intercepted and married.
As the time passed however the emotions didn’t fade in fact, they grew even stronger.
Amidst all this, a gold mine was discovered at the boundary between their territories.
To settle the ownership of the gold mine, the Duke and the Marquis gathered for discussions.
However, despite lengthy talks, the ownership remained undecided.
Why not settle this with a duel? It would be much cleaner.
The Duke rejected the Marquis’ proposal, well aware of the terror that the Ryan Bloom family’s monster was.
‘Running away again without acting like a man. That’s why Elise chose me.’
Elise was the name of the lady who was taken from the him.
At that moment, the Duke lost his temper. By the time he regained his senses, he had already accepted the duel.
It was too late to take back the words already spoken. He hurriedly sought a knight to challenge Michael Ryan Bloom.
However, finding such a knight, both domestically and internationally, proved exceedingly difficult.
“This is giving me a headache.”
The Duke rubbed his forehead with his hand.
At that moment, a commotion was heard from afar.
Lowering his hand, the Duke asked his attendant,
“What’s that noise? Go and find out.”
The attendant went out and soon returned, his face showing concern.
“Y…Your Grace! There’s an intruder!”
Rather than being surprised, the Duke felt puzzled by the news.
“An intruder?”
“Yes! He is completely breaching the building right now! You must evacuate immediately!”
Numerous thoughts about the fortitude of the castle and the thoroughness of its defences crossed the Duke’s mind.
Realistically, an intruder entering was impossible. However, denying what had already happened would be futile.
“Who dares to disturb the Duke’s residence!”
“Ah, that’s not clear yet!”
“Gather the knights immediately! They must eradicate that audacious group!”
The Duke naturally assumed there were multiple intruders.
But the attendant contradicted the Duke’s assumption.
“I…It’s not a group!”
What kind of statement was that?
The attendant, looking quite serious, said to the Duke,
“There’s only one person!”
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Demon God’s male Disciple]
[Quality Checker – Kawaii]
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