TNRSF 19

Chapter 19

The Dragon Slayer’s Castle (1)

“Wow, then does that mean the Duke of Polwyvern was a Dragon Slayer?”

“The founding duke was. Thanks to that, he went from an unknown adventurer to an imperial duke in one stroke.”

The place the Duke of Polwyvern family invited me to was Hellian’s villa, located in the western part of the Leinrant territory.

‘They call it a villa, but this is basically a palace.’

Just seeing the vast garden stretching from ten minutes before arrival, the detached buildings, and the countless servants made a sigh escape on its own.

‘One single villa is bigger than our main family’s mansion.’

While I was thinking that as I looked at the grand exterior of the estate, the carriage arrived in front of the mansion’s main gate and the door opened.

“Klein Leinrant, Young Lord.”

Hearing the butler call my name, I rose from my seat.

When Arin and I stepped out of the carriage, an elderly gentleman with slicked-back brown hair was bowing his head toward me.

“Thank you for accepting the invitation. I am Gordon, the head butler of the Duke of Polwyvern family.”

“I am Klein Leinrant. Thank you for inviting me.”

When I did not rashly speak down to him, a glint passed through Head Butler Gordon’s eyes.

“…Please come inside. Duches Hellian is waiting for you.”

But only for a moment. Gordon, having erased his emotion at once, guided me with a polite gesture.

“Wow~ It looks at least three times bigger than our mansion.”

“In reality, it’s probably even bigger than that.”

It was while Arin was admiringly looking around the mansion, full of curiosity.

“It has been a very long time since a member of the Leinrant ducal family visited Polwyvern.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

When I responded to what Head Butler Gordon brought up, he continued speaking.

“And so, His Grace Duke Roke, my former lord, also had many worries.”

“…….”

As a close aide to the head of the house, a butler was someone who knew most of the information that arose within the family.

There was no way such a person would speak to me first without any meaning.

‘Hellian, who currently holds real power, is from Leinrant. In other words, an outsider. From the standpoint of those who served the duke himself, the current situation wouldn’t be very welcome. If that’s the case….’

While I was thinking that, the butler spoke to me without turning his gaze away.

“However, now that Young Lord has come, many things will change.”

“…Change, you say.”

After hearing his final words, I came to a conclusion.

‘The existing faction that served the Duke of Polwyvern still remains. The reason Hellian is building power is to suppress them.’

As I reached that conclusion, Gordon led me to a gigantic door at the center of the mansion.

From inside came the sound of music, the clinking of tableware, and the laughter of people dancing.

“A ball… this is the first I’ve heard of it.”

I asked Head Butler Gordon that, but he merely bowed his head slowly.

“Young master, are you okay? We didn’t bring any formal wear.”

Hearing Arin’s words, I examined my appearance.

After two days of carriage travel, my hair was matted, and my travel clothes were stained.

If a Leinrant young lord entered a ballroom looking like this, I would surely become a laughingstock.

‘So this was the plan from the start?’

A twisted smile hung on my lips.

This was a kind of opening gambit.

A ploy meant to show off the difference in power by surrounding the ragged-looking Leinrant young lord.

“…….”

I turned my eyes and examined the expression of the butler looking at me.

The brown-haired elderly gentleman held his position without a hint of mockery or contempt.

‘He intends to watch. To see how I respond.’

After observing my actions here, he would decide how to respond going forward.

Whether to stand by as Hellian and I cooperated, or to interfere.

If it was the former, it meant I would be perceived as a resource without value.

If it was the latter, it meant he intended to kill me.

‘Everywhere I look, blades are being sharpened.’

A hollow laugh escaped on its own.

From the moment I opened this door, the probing battle between the two factions would begin.

And me, caught in the middle.

If I misspoke by even a single word, my head would be gone while I slept.

This situation was truly….

Utterly laughable.

“Arin. There’s a cloak in the bag, right?”

“A cloak?”

“Yeah. The one with our family crest on the shoulder.”

When I said that, Arin nodded and took a cloak out of the luggage she was carrying.

“Here you go! But is it okay to wear a cloak here?”

I took the cloak from the tilting-headed Arin and draped it over myself.

A field cloak with the crest of the Leinrant ducal family engraved on the shoulder.

Not a silk ceremonial or protocol cloak, but a practical one made of wool.

“I’m ready. Please open it.”

When I said that while wearing the black cloak, a crack appeared in Gordon’s expressionless face.

“A cloak used on the battlefield, into a ballroom…?”

“I thought this would be the most appropriate attire.”

I said that to Gordon as he trailed off.

For warriors of the continent, wearing a cloak meant, in other words, going to the battlefield.

Realizing that, Gordon gestured toward the guards standing by the door.

“The second young lord of the Leinrant ducal family! Klein Leinrant is entering!”

Along with the booming voice that echoed through the ballroom, the door leading into enemy territory opened.

Kiiiiii—!

Beyond the opening door was a pigsty decorated in gold.

Pigs draped in silk one couldn’t even see in the North.

Their forelegs were densely packed with colorful imperial ornaments.

“Is that one Young Lord Klein?”

“I heard he cut off Randel’s wrist, but isn’t he just a young boy?”

“What’s with that cloak, does he intend to go to war or something?”

As I walked among them, the pigs who had been deep in conversation all turned their gazes toward me at once.

‘Just hearing their voices makes me want to vomit.’

Pigs bloated with fat, soaked in alcohol, extravagance, and indulgence.

The very images of the rotten nobles I despised filled this ballroom.

“Welcome, Klein.”

A voice that sounded as if it had been layered with grease three times called my name.

Pushing aside my displeasure, I bowed my head and paid my respects to the pig who had invited me.

“It’s been a long time since I last saw you. Aunt.”

When I raised my head, her figure—especially greasy even among the pigs—came into view.

As she looked me up and down on the day I arrived at the ballroom, a smile formed at the corner of her lips.

Hellian Leinrant.

The center of the Leinrant collateral faction, and the true power of the Duke of Polwyvern family.

And the very person who had ordered the death of my mother, Duchess Claire.

“Yes. It’s nice to see your face again after so long. However….”

She, holding an unfolded folding fan in her right hand to cover her face, looked down at me as she spoke.

“Really…. You’ve come dressed in quite an unusual outfit.”

A single line filled with mockery.

When Hellian said that, snickering laughter could be heard from all around.

They were the collateral nobles who followed her.

“If you meant to cover up your dirty clothes, you could have told the head butler. How could you come wearing such a filthy cloak….”

“It’s the opposite. Aunt.”

Interrupting Hellian mid-sentence, I slightly lifted the cloak I was wearing and showed the travel clothes underneath.

Travel clothes dirtied from not being changed for two days.

Clothes with soil and dust from the campsite clinging to them here and there.

“If something dirty were to get on these clean clothes, wouldn’t that be a problem?”

When I said that to Hellian with a faint smile, the mockery directed at me stopped midway.

‘She’s figured out what I’m saying. Pretty sharp for a pig.’

I thought that while not hiding the smile that surfaced on my face.

If they had prepared the ball anticipating my appearance, reports must have been coming in from the moment I departed.

I wore the cloak at the ballroom, one I hadn’t worn the entire way from the Leinrant estate to here.

To put it plainly, it meant this.

‘Compared to the dirt roads I’ve traveled so far, this ballroom you lot are standing in is far dirtier.’

“Hahahahaha-!”

Just then, a clear laugh rang out from one corner of the ballroom.

When I turned my head and looked up, the owner of that laughter came into view.

‘That woman is…?’

A group who seemed displeased with the ball, having turned their gazes away.

At the center of them sat a woman around my age.

“Ah, khm…!”

When our eyes met, she pretended nothing was wrong, but I could still see the corners of her mouth twitching.

“Th, that little thing…!”

“Trusting only in the hollow prestige of his family!”

In the meantime, murmurs from nobles rose from all around.

Some had faces flushed red, while others rested their chins in their hands as if amused.

‘What matters is the expression on the face of the one being provoked….’

Thinking that, I looked once more at Hellian’s face, and a snort escaped on its own.

‘Wow, look at her eyes. If she had her way, she’d have killed me already, wouldn’t she?’

The provocation had succeeded.

She was forcing herself to maintain a smile, but the veins standing out on her forehead and neck were plainly visible.

“You’ve grown into quite…. a bold child, since I last saw you.”

After saying that and letting out a breath, Hellian regained her former composure.

Then, wearing the same smile as before, she gestured toward me.

“Come in. Let’s have a little family talk, since it’s been so long.”

The place Hellian pointed to was a salon set up in one corner of the ballroom.

In that classically decorated space, a man with the same red hair as Hellian was glaring at me.

‘Family, huh…. In other words, that means that guy is Hellian’s son.’

Having judged that while looking at the two of them, I readily followed Hellian.

“Young master. What about me?”

“Go eat some snacks over there. I’ll be right back.”

“Wow, really? Awesome!”

Hearing my words, Arin ran off to one side of the ballroom, luggage bag in hand.

“That bag’s going to become a snack bag soon.”

Muttering that, I followed Hellian into the salon and sat in the chair she offered.

Before I knew it, reddish wine, venison, and vividly colored fruits were laid out in front of me.

“You really have…. grown bold, Klein.”

When the curtains were drawn, the noise of the ballroom subsided.

Now, only Hellian and I remained here.

And her son, hiding in a corner and watching me.

“To not be intimidated in this situation, and instead confront it head-on.”

“I was taught that tricks should be answered with straightforwardness.”

Tricks.

At my remark pointing out the obvious intent to pressure me in the earlier situation, Hellian let out a laugh.

“A guest is coming from the main family. Shouldn’t we prepare at least this much?”

Saying that, Hellian lifted the glass before her and took a sip of the red wine, narrowing her eyes.

“The back of the letter. You examined it carefully, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

I answered her, responding to her voice that had changed in an instant.

The back of the letter Hellian had sent me.

It contained an offer to join the collateral faction, along with the rewards that would be given to me.

“If you’d been an ordinary mediocrity, I was thinking of tossing you some suitable imperial high official post. But today, I’ve changed my mind.”

Having said that to me, Hellian set the wine glass down with a sharp clack.

“I’ll make the offer again. Klein Leinrant.”

Eyes filled with greed and ambition turned toward me.

They were the eyes of a monster corrupted to the extreme.

“If you become my person, I’ll make you the Duke of Leinrant.”

A ducal title.

As soon as those words were spoken, the mana I’d been faintly sensing grew noticeably stronger.

Confirming that, I let out a long sigh, then looked at her face and said,

“I refuse.”